translate the whole to give the class a bird'seye view.

In Cicero, if the Catilinarian orations be read, there is at hand a great deal of auxil. iary matter, such as Sallust's Catiline, some of Cicero's own letters, etc. These the teacher may translate himself, or assign to the brighter members of his class. But above all things he will see to it that the pupil grasps the setting of the oration, and that he has a sufficient understanding of Roman judicial and legislative procedure to make the oration intelligible. I would not dwell upon this were it not that experience with candidates for entrance to college has shown that many who have read and been credited with six orations of Cicero have not even the crudest idea of such terms as consul, proconsul, prætor, or tribune.

The wise teacher will remember the dictum of Plato, "Nothing studied under compulsion abides in the soul." He will try in every way possible to enlist the interest and sympathy. And few periods of history will so kindle and hold the interest as that of Cæsar and Cicero, the death agony of the Republic.

I subscribe heartily to the opinion that Latin, as often taught, is more than monotonous. But it is the fault of the teaching, not of the Latin. Let the teacher take his students that show no interest, make them feel that they are reading orations that swayed either rabble or Senate as if by magic; let him reproduce the scene in Forum or Senate House; let him tell in simple language the life of Cicero with its remarkable vicissitudes, or Cæsar, who, "equally capable of commanding men and of courting them, of yielding to events and of moulding them, maintained his course firmly and fearlessly, without a single false step, till he attained the topmost summit of human power." Two-fold will be the reward of that teacher; the dull eye will brighten, the next lesson will be more vigorously attacked.

Many other matters of importance crowd upon us. There is the question of Latin prose composition, an indispensable aid to the mastery of the syntax. We might well pause over the value of the historical training, for if Latin is rightly taught it will give us an insight into the problems of the ancient world; and in large measure, the questions before the American Republic of to day are merely new phases of problems which the Roman Republic had to face, two thousand years ago. But time forbids longer discussion. I wish merely to call attention to one more essential of good teaching, which in point of importance should stand first. I refer to the equipment of the teacher. It will not do to assume that one who has mastered the primer is qualified to teach the primer, or that one who has read only three books of Cæsar should attempt to teach Cæsar. And yet this is too often the case. During the past twelve months, I have come

in contact with three teachers who frankly stated that they were teaching the Latin primer without ever having completed it. Much of the deplorably superficial and uninteresting work done in Latin is due solely to the insufficiency and incompleteness of the teacher's preparation. How can the teacher who has had only two or three years of training in Latin hope to enjoy that breadth of vision which can come only from wide and extended reading? How can he, if a novice himself, distinguish the essentials from the non-essentials? He inevitably becomes a slave to his text-book, presenting the ideas in the order and manner in which they are presented there, for his own grip is all too uncertain to permit him to think or plan for himself. Therefore his work lacks individuality and freshness. How can a teacher who has not steeped himself in ancient geography, Roman history, mythology, political institutions, private customs, hope to illuminate the pages of Cicero or Virgil? How can the blind lead the blind? This is said not at all in criticism of our teachers, but in criticism of our present system and standards. It is admitted that the Germans are getting better results from the teaching of Latin and Greek than are we. May not these better results be, in large measure, due to the very much more thorough equipment and training possessed by their teachers?

That there should be a revolt against the classics in this commercial and utilitarian age was inevitable. But the revolt has been strengthened by the palpable errors and absurdities of much of our classical teaching. We need carefully-trained teachers, whose hearts are in the work, not young college or normal-school graduates, who are teaching merely as a stepping stone to another profession or to matrimony. As teachers, we must know why we are teaching Latin; we must avoid everything that is superficial; we must enlist the interest. In short, we must demonstrate the value of Latin in our school curriculum, for this iconoclastic age will never retain it merely because it was the chief intellectual diet of our fathers.

Supt. Ulysses G. Smith, of Meadville, continued the discussion of the question by reading the following:

There is probably no other subject in the whole programme of high school education, the real value of which is more generally misinterpreted than that of Latin. It is apt to be viewed as a mere embellishment which might easily be dispensed with in a practical education or that it is a study, valuable only as a formal discipline, which might as well be accomplished by pursuing a more practical subject. This prejudice comes from those who fail to appreciate the value of Latin as a formal discipline, and from those who fail to see in it anything which will help a boy make for himself a place in the practical world.

Good Latin teaching will aim to overcome this prejudice and win for the study of the language a higher estimation in popular education. In order to accomplish this end, the essential first in importance is the teacher endowed with a mastery of more than she is expected to teach, and filled with the spirit of the subject and an enthusiasm to impart to students. She must be cognizant of the difficulties pupils encounter in the different stages of progress, and sympathetic with them in their endeavor to overcome those difficulties. She must have in mind a well-defined aim and admit only what will minister directly to that object.

In the accomplishment of her task, the first question that must be answered is, How to teach pronunciation, and to what extent should refinements be taken up at first?

Most of us will, doubtless, agree that the old way of beginning the first lessons with rules for pronunciation should be discontinued. Since pronunciation is a vocal exercise depending upon the acquisition of power to control and manipulate the vocal organs, and a training of the ear in readily recognizing correct sounds, it must be taught by imitation. Sounds are more readily learned from the lips of the teacher than in any other way and, besides, the pupil not only hears the correct expression, but he will enjoy the advantage of the teacher's help and suggestions until he himself has acquired the power to produce sounds correctly. This I believe is a greater task for beginners than we are apt to consider it. Its accomplishment demands great concentration and much practice on the part of the student and patient direction on the part of the teacher until the power is fully acquired.

If we may accept the German standard as our guide, only the rudiments of the refinements of prununciation should be taken up the first year, attention to be directed to the last syllables only, and to accent. We believe it better to give but little attention to quantity until the study of verse is taken up, and then, in the high school, only to such an extent as the teacher may see that the class is able to master thoroughly. But why we should teach the Roman rather than the English pronunciation is not clear to me, while I am quite well convinced that, if we taught the latter, pupils would recognize more readily the Latin in our own language, and their classical knowledge would contribute more to an appreciation of the force of words in our mother tongue. What the pupil would gain in this would more than compensate for the loss of philological accuracy. A well-known Latin professor is authority for the statement that philologists are beginning to look upon the introduction of the Roman pronunciation as a "fundamental error and its retention a serious mistake."

The next important essential to be

achieved is the acquisition of a large vocabulary and a thorough mastery of the forms of declensions and conjugations. Nowhere should system and thoroughness be more vigorously carried out than here, for lack of vocabulary and mastery of forms is the chief obstacle in the way of rapid and successful reading and an appreciation of the literature. We are of the opinion that a great improvement could be brought about in results by making the Latin period in the daily programme sufficiently long to enable the teacher to direct, personally, the pupils in the greater part of their preparation as well as in the recitation of lessons. By such an arrangement, a great deal of the misdirected effort and bad habits in study could be eliminated. A judicious direction of the teacher by suggestion here and there would, in many cases, encourage pupils by their own effort to accomplish what they ordinarily depend upon getting from some one else in the preparation or recitation of the lesson. Much could be done to strengthen the vocabulary by selecting and emphasizing words of frequent occurrence in the classics which are to follow, and by varying the exercises in reading so as meet more nearly the needs of the individual members of the class in fixing in mind and acquiring the power of ready recognition of words and forms.

Ordinarily the high school Latin course begins at the time which marks the beginning of a broader and more critical study of English than the pupil is accustomed to, and as he is able to make the limited inflections of the English a stepping-stone to the grasping of the more complex Latin inflections, so the Latin grammar should be made to contribute to an understanding of the laws of English grammar, for in the Latin is to be found the logic of our own language as it cannot be found in the grammar of any modern language. On this point we quote from Mr. Mill, who, after reviewing and summing up the value of grammar in general, concludes by saying: In these qualities the classical languages have an incomparable superiority over every modern language, and over all languages, dead or living, which have a literature worth being studied." The exactness and order of the Latin must be made to contribute to exact and orderly thinking in English, and the classical element of our language should be made to deepen the feeling of the necessity of a knowledge of the source of that element for a complete understanding of the English. A greater emphasis of this feature of classical study will convince the popular mind of the utility of the classics and the spirit which they contribute to our literature.

Next to the mastery of pronunciation, vocabulary, and forms, syntax comes in for a share of attention-a share, however, which is subordinate to the others in high school work. Only the principal construc

tions and the simplest rules should be undertaken, omitting all that are unusual or peculiar to more advanced work. Whatever

is

undertaken should be accomplished, mainly, through the study of the vocabulary and forms. Whenever rules are employed, they should command the undivided attention of the teacher in calling for a sufficient variety of parallel constructions from English to prevent the exercises from degenerating into the deception of the glib recitation, or the mechanical copying and reciting illustrative examples.

We believe that the practice of translating English into Latin, in the high school, for the purpose of increasing the vocabulary and enlarging the knowledge of syntax, is of doubtful value. Reports of Latin teaching in the German schools, reveal the fact that very little translating of the mother tongue into Latin is called for in the lower grades, but much oral drill is given with easy sentences. This method has the advantage in that it affords an opportunity for drill in correct oral expression of the Latin, and more sentences can be given in the same time. It also affords the additional advantage of causing all the work to be done under the direction of the teacher, who is able to bring in such variations in case, mode, and tense as the needs of the pupils may demand. Such an exercise cannot but be of greater value than the writing of such sentences as are usually given in our Latin books by copying the needed forms from the paradigms and declensions, as is usually done whenever such a lesson is assigned to be prepared out of class. And should it be prepared out of school, if often happens that two or more will work together with the brighter of the number doing the work and the others copying from his paper. If the time which is usually spent in translating English into Latin were spent in translating Latin into good idiomatic English, under the direction of the teacher, with drills on the forms found in the text, there will be ample opportunity for the study of syntax, and at the same time a study of the idioms and constructions of our own language. We believe, also, that much of the deadening drudgery, now attending the Latin recitation, would give way to spirited study.

A successful reading of the classics will amplify all the foregoing together with a study of the content of the several classics, and will strive to bring the pupils fully into the spirit of the author. The reading of Cæsar affords an opportunity to study the Roman military system, campaigns, and the countries and people described by him. The study of Cicero readily leads to the study of the Roman constitution, the function of public officials, the growth and power of the senate, and the administration of government in the foreign provinces. Here is a great opportunity for drawing parallelisms with modern history, and, especially with our own country and institu

tions. These things properly emphasized by an enthusiastic teacher can not fail to interest pupils and prepare them for a deeper study of ancient history as the source of principles upon which modern institutions are founded. Much interest and force can be added to the study of Cicero by studying the circumstances which attended the delivery of the several orations, the line of argument in each and the language with which each argument is clothed. A skillful handling of the subject along this line can not fail to bring students into a closer sympathy and spirit of Cicero's times, which is the proper attitude for most efficient work.

Classical study in the high school should be continued into the study of Latin poetry, where Virgil seems to be the most generally accepted author. Here the student must, of necessity, be introduced to quantity, ictus, word-accent, and elision. As Cæsar and Cicero led the way to a knowledge of the military and civil life in Rome, so Virgil must lead the student into an acquaintance with the very soul of the Roman and that which determined his destiny. Here the study of mythology must not be overlooked. "It is the eternal soul of things embodied in the myth, which has kept the stories green in the memory of the ages, and it is this that gives them their real value to-day. The myth maker was no odd fellow who described strange and impossible situations, but that universal man who wrote a confession true for one and true for all." The myth supplies us with the key to ancient worship, it is the handmaid to the study of English literature, a supplement to ancient history and classic authors, an interpreter of the conceptions of masters in ancient and modern art. It will enable the student to associate the living spirit of the present with a dead language of the past, and what seemed to him but dry bones will become clothed with the flesh and spirit of inspiration to possess himself with thoughts not bounded by geographical area or limited with time.

Schaeffer invited all present to remain and attend its sessions.

COUNTY DIRECTORS' ASSOCIATIONS.

Supt. Foose called attention to a bill prepared by Supt. Taylor of Lackawanna county and introduced into the Legislature, making provision for organization of County Directors' Associations.

On motion of Supt. Harman, Supt. Taylor was given the floor to present the plan of his bill.

Supt. Taylor: I desired the privilege of presenting this matter to this body, because it is deeply interesting to the county superintendents, and I hoped you would give it some help, though it may not benefit you very much directly. The bill is intended to legalize county associations of directors, called once a year by the county superintendent, to consider matters of school administration. It is made their duty to attend, and provides for their traveling expenses at three cents per mile and other necessary expenses not to exceed $2 per day nor more than two days in the year. It is proposed to employ competent instructors and lecturers as for teachers' institutes, and for this purpose $1 for each director is appropriated from the county fund, limited to $100 in any one year. This bill was introduced in the last Legislature, and passed the House, but failed in the Senate. The Directors' Conventions have twice endorsed it, also the State Superintendent; and we only need a little help from the friends of education to get it through. The cities and boroughs have their directors and superintendents living among them, all within easy reach to consult and advise. In the country it is different; they are all scattered, and often remote from centers of intelligence. I believe this bill would uplift the schools in country districts. The schools anywhere cannot rise above the ideals of the directors. This bill will give us greater results even than the institute law. When Directors are enlightened we will need no "minimum" salary. Many times these officers vote against progressive measures, not because they are parsimonious, but because they lack light to see the good in them. The Institutes have been helped by the legislature; the Normal schools also; why not the Directors? He would be glad if this body would pass a resolution recommending the passage of this important bill.

On motion of Mr. Spayd, the Committee on Resolutions were so instructed.

INSTRUCTION BY PHONOGRAPH.

Dr. Schaeffer called attention to the method of giving instruction in languages by the use of the phonograph, and said that Prof. Aall of the Scranton Correspondence school, would illustrate the plan at the close of this session. [Those who remained for this witnessed a very remarkable exhibition of the value of the instrument for this work.]

Department adjourned till 8 o'clock.

WEDNESDAY EVENING.

LO by Miss Ella Ryan-" Repentance (Gounod) was the opening. number, after which Principal C. S. Davis, of Steelton, read the following paper on

THE HIGH SCHOOL-ITS FACULTY.

The literature bearing on the work of the teacher is assuming immense proportions. Much of this applies equally to the elementary and the secondary teacher. The great advance in the number and character of high schools throughout the country has been for some years attracting more and more attention to this group of teachers who occupy a place between the elementary teachers and the supervisors. This rapidly increasing importance of the secondary teachers, now including the supervisors, numbering about one-sixth of the whole teaching force, accounts for the appearance of this subject on the programme and the infliction of this paper upon your convention.

Since I do not this evening enjoy the advantage of being far away from home, as most of you are, I wish to have a very distinct understanding that anything good I may have to say about superintendent or faculty has come within my personal experience, while anything about either superintendent or faculty that may not be flattering, has come to me only by hearsay from distant parts of the State.

One of the educational problems of the day is how to bridge the gap between the grammar school and the high school so as to prevent the dropping out of so many pupils at the end of the grammar school course or during the first year in the high school. This is due to several causes, among which the most important are the changed teaching conditions in the high school and the beginning of entirely new branches. Many remedies have been tried with varying success. To familiarize the pupils with new teaching conditions, transfers are sometimes made before the close of the regular school year, say about the first

of April; in other schools the same end is striven for by extending the departmental system to some branches of the upper grammar grades. To avoid the break caused by the introduction of new branches, in some schools Latin and algebra are begun below the high school. All probably agree in endeavoring to make the first year's work in the high school as light as possible.

The real difficulties of these changed conditions were brought home to the writer when, for a part of the English test, the first-year pupils were asked to write on their first year in the high school. As these papers were not written for their regular teachers, were not to be returned, and were not, therefore, subject to comment and comparison, the pupils wrote very frankly. No teacher could read these essays without realizing the importance of this step to the pupils, and their confusion and trials before they became accustomed to the change; nor could he read them without being more than ever determined that he will meet the difficulty in the future with more kindness, more sympathy, more helpfulness than ever before. It is possible for the teachers of the grammar schools and of the high schools to do much to keep the pupils in school. The former can lead his pupils to see the advantages, almost the necessity in this age, for every boy and girl to have at least the complete work of the high school. To do this he must have a clear idea of exactly what is included in the high school course and its advantages to the pupil in life. And the high school teacher must reach down to aid. He must understand clearly and intelligently the work done by the lower grades, how it is to lead up to the high school, and exactly how well the new class is prepared to take up the new work. He must clearly realize the difficulties of the newly-admitted pupils his whole attitude must be one of sympathizing helpfulness. The lower grade teachers should feel that success in the high school is to be determined largely by their efforts. Permit me to state here that there is no intention of making here that plea so easy to make and so soothing to the high school teacher, that the converse of this proposition is also true-that failure in the high school is to be attributed to lack of preparation in the grammar grades. As to the character of the preparation for the high school, the teachers of the latter would be a unit in stating that the most efficient preparation is not so many yards of arithmetic and so many garlands of language, but rather the formation of correct habits of study-correct methods of "attacking" a lesson-how best to "husk the lesson" to secure the kernels of truth.

On the other hand, the high school teacher should feel that a good high school is an immense inspiration to the pupils below it. This inspiration will not be secured by a wholesale slaughter of the innocents on their entrance. It is, however, only in a thor

oughly unified system of schools that this inspiration is possible, but this unity is easily attainable under a tactful, forceful superintendent when he secures co operation -the key-note of this paper.

When this desirable unity is broken, it is usually between the high school and the lower grades-a tendency to regard the high school as a thing apart, quite distinct from the other parts of the system and not what it really is-simply the upper four rongs of the common school ladder. It would not be safe climbing on a broken ladder. Where this detached condition exists, it is sometimes due to a lack of tact on the part of the superintendent in interfering with the details of the school which belong within reasonable limits to the principal and his faculty. But the break is more frequently caused by a desire on the part of the principal or his faculty to make a new declaration of independence, to cut their domain off from that of the superintendent. This is all wrong. Where such differences occur, they come before the board of control, with the result that prestige is lost by both superintendent and principal, but the high school is the chief sufferer. Even when the board finally decides for unity at the expense of either one or the other of the claimants for superiority, the damage to the prestige of the survivor and to the high school has been done, and only years of care and hard work can bring things back to their former state. The common sense arrangement seems to be for the course of study, the selection and assignment of teachers, and the general regulations for the school to be largely the result of the intelligent and friendly cooperation of superintendent and principal, whose recommendations should be submitted to the Board-and adopted. The superintendent then holds the principal responsible for getting the work of the high school done in the most efficient manner. At the same time the superintendent by helpful visitation to the individual members of the faculty assists the principal to get the very best results. Then the comparison of the notes of superintendent and principal as to a teacher's work determines that teacher's success or failure, and consequent retention or dismissal.

It is becoming more and more customary, owing to the tendency towards specialization, for superintendent and principal to decide on the selection and retention of members of the faculty, for Boards are coming to realize that this should be done by those most competent to judge of the fitness of the teacher for the special work he is to do. Their opinion should be submitted to the Board and promptly ratified, for their judgment has carefully weighed scholarship, character, experience or special training, and personality. Of these qualities scholarship seems the easiest to get, but it takes the others to make it effective. If personality be discarded in the choice, or experience