19. Children instinctively respect authority if deliberately and justly exercised.

20. There is no conflict between firmness and kindness.

21. The foundations of good government are justice and benevolence. The best system of government is that which reaches its ends indirectly; either by making obedience a matter of self interest, or by removing motives to such a distance that obedience seems a matter of self-choice.

22. The following are mistakes sometimes made by teachers with respect to government: To be continually repressing the activities of childhood; to censure trifling errors too severely; to complain or grumble much; to invoke higher authority except as a last resort, such as referring matters of a not very serious nature to the principal, superintendent, or board of education; to be careless about personal habits and appearance; to sit much while teaching; to give a command when a suggestion will do instead; to allow pupils to be frequently troublesome without notifying their parents; to make unkind remarks before the class about notes received from parents; to annoy parents unnecessarily; to show temper in dealing with parents; to teach without having good order; to suppose that children like to have their own way at school, and that they like disorder better than order; to treat pupils as though they were anxious to violate the rules of the school; to make too many rules; to be demonstrative in maintaining discipline; to speak in too high a key; to be variable in discipline; to ridicule a pupil; to punish without explanation.-Adapted from various pedagogical works.-Springfield (Ill.) School Report.

Suggestions on Teaching Primary Reading.

DIVISION OF LESSONS.-Do not make the mistake of supposing that because a lesson covers a certain number of paragraphs or pages you must assign all of it for a single lesson. Use your judgment. Assign such a quantity as pupils can prepare thoroughly. A few lines or a single paragraph well prepared and well read is more beneficial than as many pages taught imperfectly or glanced over hastily. Every teacher must determine for himself how much his pupils can do well and profitably.

Too Much DRILL.—Nothing tends to discourage pupils more than a constant drill on the same lesson. Give your pupils variety. Rather let them read a lesson but moderately well, and give them some supplementary reading, than keep them drilling on a lesson until they tire of it. Many teachers in their anxiety to secure thoroughness fall into this error, and nauseate their pupils with constant and senseless repetition. The child, like the man, delights in acquiring new ideas, in fighting new battles, and in testing its strength in overcoming new difficulties.

RIGHT HABITS IN READING.-The most valuable teaching of reading is that which secures correct habits. The children must in the reading class be required to speak and read correctly, but it is equally important that they speak or read correctly in all other classes, even in the giving of a definition in geography, the spelling of a word, or the repetition of the multiplication tables. Right habits of this kind formed will make children good readers permanently.

THE EYE SHOULD ANTICIPATE THE VOICE.-Those whose reading has the best effect on an audience are they who are able to look the hearers in the eye at least a part of the time. To be able to do this, the reader must be trained to look ahead, taking in not only a few advanced words, but sometimes a whole sentence at a glance. Only long and patient training will enable a reader to become thus proficient, and the training cannot begin too early.

READING ALOUD AT HOME.-As a step toward securing intelligible reading, and as a help in creating a taste for fireside reading, children should be encouraged to read aloud at home frequently, even though their reading be imperfect. It will do them good, and be an incentive to improvement.

REPRODUCTION ON SLATE.-An exercise of great value is that of the teachers' selecting some interesting story or description and have the pupils listen to him while he reads it to them, they to reproduce it afterward on their slates or on paper. The exercises give valuable culture to the power of attention, and the subsequent writing of it is an excellent language-lesson.

HOLDING THE ATTENTION.-If the class seem inclined to be inattentive, an exercise somewhat as follows may be given: Begin with a pupil, and let him read until the name of some other pupil is called. Suddenly call upon another, who takes up the sentence or the paragraph precisely where it was dropped by his predecessor and proceeds to read until he in turn is interrupted by the teacher's calling upon another. Should any of those called upon be not ready to proceed, the teacher should lose no time, but call at once upon some one else, and thus keep close attention and constant interest.

READING PARAGRAPHS.—In reading paragraphs the exercise may be varied by having several pupils in succession read the same paragraph, each giving expression to the sentiment of the paragraph according to his own mental apprehension of it, and then again having each of his pupils read a different paragraph. This will give variety to the reading exercise and add to the interest of the recitation.

INACCURACIES TO BE CORRECTED.-The teacher should give careful attention to the pupil's speech at all times, and by an occasional hint or suggestion set him aright where his pronunciation is incorrect or his articulation faulty. It is not enough to correct the words as mispro

nounced in the reading class. Many more words are likely to be mispronounced in conversation or in the recitations in other branches. It would not be wise, of course, for the teacher to break into a conversation in order to make a correction. There are many other times and occasions when he may reach the error and correct it without necessarily wounding the child's feelings. Thus, a list of mispronounced words heard during the day may be placed on the blackboard, and the attention of the whole class be directed to them for a few moments, and the necessary corrections be made.

LOCAL ERRORS.-There are probably few communities where some provincialisms do not mar the elegance and beauty of oral speech. It may be the sound of w for v, or ch for j, or j for ch, or the dropping of the r in horse, or the addition of r in idea, or the dropping of h in heat, or the adding of the h to such words as in or on, or the pronunciation of to as if spelled two, or the pronunciation of such words as calf with the short sound of a, or other equally flagrant errors.

What shall the teacher do? In general, he should try to make his own speech conform to the best standards, and as far as possible train his pupils to imitate him; and yet he should not be over-nice in his distinctness of articulation, or over-rigid in insisting upon the pupil's giving the exact vowel sounds where custom differs so widely among educated and cultured scholars as it does on the sound of a as found in the words ask, glass, and similar words.-Henry Raub.

What Does the Child Need?

BY SARAH L. ARNOLD.

Is the question often asked by teachers, or is it oftener forgotten! What is uppermost in our thoughts in our school work? Miss A. is endeavoring to teach "long division," and her pupils make little or no progress. Investigation reveals the fact that they can neither add, subtract, nor multiply without counting upon their fingers. Work with large numbers in unknown combinations does little to enlighten their darkness. Then why is it continued? Why not teach the foundation facts that are wanting? "Why, they are supposed to have had that. The work of this grade is division. I am following the course of study," is the explanation. So she systematically continues her plan, in spite of the finger process, as one might stupidly knit on after several stitches had been dropped. What is the work of my grade?" is the question which determines her course, and, possibly, bounds her knowledge.

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Miss B. is faithfully following the same standard. Her pupils come from intelligent homes, where they have always been familiar with books. They read easily and well, and know almost by instinct the correct forms of language. But her slice of the course of study demands attention to a certain Fifth Reader and marks of punctuation. She does not swerve from minute adherence to its demands, as she interprets them, and the children become indifferent because kept upon work which demands no effort nor endeavor. The plan of study has become monarch, not minister, and the thought in the plan has been forgotten in adherence to the detail. The question of the child's need is overlooked.

Miss C. is an enthusiastic student of "methods," so-called. If her method arranges a certain order of procedure, she never deviates from that order. Her pupils frame sentences to use every word which they spell, whether it be "hat" or "eleemosynary." She leads her class through careful formulas to measure" 25 by 1, and they subtract ones from the original number with a patient obedience worthy of a better Evidently it has not occurred to her to question the advantage of the occupation. It is supposed to be necessitated by the method, and that is enough. What of the child's need? Has he not always known— we almost ask-the fact over which he is droning?

Miss D. has her way of doing things," and binds herself fast to a narrow routine that becomes day by day more hopelessly petty and narrow. Habit determines her course. Her reason for doing anything is

because she always has done that thing. She "always gives checks for whispering," "always has children pronounce syllables," "always has voice fall at a period." Nor can she discover that any new mode of action may prove more helpful to the child. His need has little relation to her plan.

And yet a thoughtful consideration of his need would go far to correct all the mistakes which have been cited. It would prevent wasting time, labor and energy upon tasks for which the pupil is unprepared, or trifling with processes or rules whose difficulties he has already mastered. It would lead teachers to look for the principle in the method, and to question the value of the accustomed mechanical routine. It would do away with rote teaching and hasten the dominion of common sense.

No teacher should assign a lesson to her class without having in mind a definite result which the lesson should help the pupils to reach. Not to fill time, not to keep the class quiet, not to comply with a certain form, but to help the child should the lesson be given.

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"How can I know what the child needs?" some teacher asks. By studying the child. That does not necessarily involve pondering over psychologies and learning technical terms. It would almost—yes, surely— be better for the one who asks the question to ignore for the present all books which present theories regarding childhood in general, and devote

herself to observing in particular the children with whom she has to deal. Thoughtful observation and good sense will do more than books for the time being. If Johnny fails in his number, let her ask herself why he failed. Are there preliminary steps which he should have taken? Go back and take them. Was the problem too complex? Use a simpler

one applying the same truth. in all his work strive to fix the old forms? Try new ones. determine the remedy.

Is he inattentive? Teach him to see, and habit of attention. Is he indifferent to the Seek for the cause of the failure; let that

What does the child need?—what will supply his need? are the two questions to be asked. These answered, the path is plain. Knowing what ought to be done, let us do it.-American Teacher.

Courses of Reading.

Everybody is now planning the winter's work, and rushing into social and domestic duties, courses of study and reading, with all the energy gathered and stored up during the long, restful summer.

Systematic planning for useful and continued work shall not be underrated, but we cannot resist giving a word of warning and possible comfort to some readers who are starting in upon an ambitious and inspiring course of reading, and who will find that they are not deriving the benefit said to be gained by a faithful reading of so many pages per day.

We would counsel those who are becoming discouraged because the prescribed books do not interest them, not to begin to doubt their love of reading, their need of information, their capacity for improvement, but to stop at the thought that perhaps the special course on which they have entered is not suited to their needs.

An older generation held that what was unpleasant and distasteful must necessarily be beneficial; but it has been proved that study can be made earnest and improving, and at the same time wholly delightful.

A special book is no more suitable for all readers than a special color, a special article of food, or a special form of amusement. The peculiarities of your mind deserve to be consulted as well as the color of your hair and eyes, the idiosyncrasy of your digestive powers and the oddities of your likes and dislikes.

Our advice to beginners in culture always is to go to the source and dip for themselves, instead of taking what others have saved up and made ready for them. We cram far too much, and have our learning condensed for us to such a degree that it becomes quite indigestible material for ordinary minds.