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and sharper, and vast peaks covered with snow towered on our right, introducing us to our first sight of Mont Blanc. The wind blew piercingly cold down the valley; and soon as we ascended, we were obliged to dismount in spite of the streams which tore down the narrow path, because we must obtain some warmth by exercise. Colder and colder and fiercer and fiercer came the blast, while the clouds shut out the sunlight and settled over the tops of the Col de la Seigne where we must pass. Across the new snow and over the rocks the practised eye of our guide found our path, but no practised eye could find the view when we reached the summit; for, save the nearest mountains, all was covered from sight. So minus the view so highly eulogized by Ritter, and caring at the time very little for anything but shelter and a fire, we plunged down the opposite side where an inn gave us both. A walk through a valley for an hour or so after dinner brought us to the foot of the Col du Bon Homme, and another inn of very modest pretensions, and here our guides held a council as to whether it was advisable to attempt the pass. The weather was not favorable, but there was no prospect of better the next day, and so they concluded to permit us to go on. The Col du Bon Homme is composed of slate rock in very thin layers, lying at such an angle as it crops out from the surface, that the whole mountain seems to be a very ancient graveyard. The path, a steep ascent, runs at first over grassy slopes. The mountains continually opened out before us, giving glimpses of others higher, towards whose summits we proceeded. Grass refused to grow at last as we mounted, the mule stepping slowly and cautiously over and between the ledges, where it almost seemed as if no foot could find a hold. Then the clouds shut down more and more, till between their threatening edges one could see only a strip of sunlight away down in the valley. Soon that too was lost, and then came the snow driving in a blinding whirl, beating against our faces in balls that felt as if they cut every time they struck, covering the tracks, whirling in little drifts around us. But still we went on, guided by the tall signal posts which assured us that we were right, and seemed like human hands pointing us the way. And at last the summit, and the steeply descending path brought us out of the snow cloud, and we walked to the inn at the foot on the other side, glad

The two sides of this mountain
The rocks seemed different as
The next day brought us over

to be on our own feet once more. seem to be of different formation. soon as one has passed the summit. another pass, that of the Col de Voza, on the top of which the rain came down pitilessly, and for three hours we were in it, at last through the valley of Chamouni, leaving Mont Blanc on our right, to the village of Chamouni. Here we waited for pleasant weather, which came finally to reward our patience, unveiling "the monarch mountains," from base to summit, and giving us the glory of an Alpine sunset, where the whole range glowed as with internal fire, long after the valley was at rest.

A day, a perfect day through the most beautiful scenery, brought us over the Tête Noire to Martigny, and there we came upon the railroad and so to Freiburg, and its organ. That organ should be in Switzerland; no other country has a right to it, for it belongs to the Alps, and listening to it in the duskily lighted cathedral, where no other sense disturbed the pleasure of the sense of hearing, we relived all our Alpine life, now lying behind us, like a beautiful dream. Storm and sunshine and snow, the glacier and the lovely Alpine flora were all there; the musical bells of the grazing herds on the steep slopes rang through the tones at intervals, and the vox humana which startled us in its imitation, what was that but the human part of our journey, the kindly hearts and ready hands we had met, the gentleness, patience, constant care of our faithful guide who had shared our journey for four weeks, seeming more like a friend than a servant, whose strong rough hand we took this morning for the last time as he went from us back to his village home of Amstag and the music of the Reuss river, to find other strangers and to make friends of them all.

Franz Fedier has been guide for more than twenty years. All summer on the mountains, through difficulty and danger, always ready to take the responsibility, the toil, always ready to cheer the way with song or jest, all winter at work in the woods felling trees in the snow and cold, living all his life in one little village and yet making friends from all parts of the world. It is a strange life to lead. And he is only one of hundreds of stalwart men who follow the same line, a line marked out for them by the land in which they

live. They never seem tired, or weary. They are simple, and I believe almost invariably honest and faithful. Nothing of our trip will be a pleasanter memory than they have left in our minds.

Here we have left the Alps behind, and have stopped for one day to have our last view of them in the distance. Our faces seem turned homeward, for Europe to us is Switzerland. And so we come back to home and work, that work which should be better and more finished for the beauty, for the utter enjoyment which lies as "a joy forever" in the memory.

ST. LOUIS, MO.

TRUANT CHILDREN.

A. C. B.

[The following interesting letter - which we owe to the kindness of a friend- from the Hon. A. D. Briggs, Mayor of Springfield, describes a new step in the perfecting of our public school system which we cannot but think of the highest importance, and a movement towards the solution of a question which in our large cities is growing every day more pressing, the question how best

to dispose of the vagrant children from the streets. We trust that in the reformatory school manual labor will be introduced, and that the "half-time system," described in our January number may have a chance to be fairly tried.]

DEAR SIR: Your favor of the 12th inst., asking for "a little account" of our Truant-school System, is at hand, and I cheerfully comply with your request, though the system is not new, but is in force in some other cities of this Commonwealth. It is simply this:

The teachers in the ordinary schools search out an absent pupil, follow him up, find his parents, learn the cause of his absence, and seek to bring him into school again. This is called the "first step," but it does not secure the desired result for the worst class of truants, nor does it reach at all those whose names are not found upon the School Register, who are simply "children on the street." For such a "second step" is taken. A truant school is established, and not only truants, but the turbulent, the disobedient, and the refractory from any of the schools are sent to it till they redeem their character. They are then permitted to return to their proper school, or the one most convenient for them to attend. The master

of this truant school is made a truant officer, so that he may if necessity requires, enter houses and bring out the truant. He has an assistant teacher who takes charge of the school while he is absent in search of truants, or on other duty devolving upon him as master or officer. The effect of this "step" is most excellent upon the other schools of the city. The number attending it thus far ranges from twenty to thirty. But there are some in every city who with their home training and street discipline bearing heavily against them, cannot be rescued at this "step," and for such a "third step" is taken. A portion of the almshouse property has been set apart and assigned as a "House of Reformation." A convenient school room and suitable sleeping rooms are made secure with grated windows, etc. A large yard is surrounded by a high fence, in which the boys are allowed to play certain hours of the day. The Mayor, City Marshal, the Superintendent of Schools, and a number of our Police are made a Commission, and when a boy cannot be reformed by either of "steps" No. 1, or No. 2, or is found idle and roaming about the streets and public places of the city, this commission makes complaint before the Police Judge, who has jurisdiction in the case, and the boy is sent up to the "House of Reformation." It is only at this "third step" that any extra expense is incurred. Here the boys are fed, and in some cases clothed at the expense of the city. The school is in the charge of a judicious and resolute woman, and now numbers thirteen scholars, who are, as might be expected, very backward in their studies, but whose faculties have been fearfully sharpened by the half gypsy life they have heretofore led. The prospects for the system are very flattering, though it has been in operation here but a short time. We intend to introduce some light work to occupy a portion of the time of the boys when they are not engaged at their lessons, and thus inculcate habits of industry, and at the same time defray a portion of the expenses of the school, and so far as possible make it self-supporting. To my mind one thing is clear, that if we are to continue to have "a government of the people, by the people, and for the people," the masses must be educated, voluntarily if possible, compulsorily if necessary.

This system is authorized by the provisions of Chapter 207 of the Laws of 1862.

TOO MANY STUDIES.

To the Editor of the Massachusetts Teacher:

I propose, with your permission, to say a few words in regard to a fault to which private schools are more prone than public, but from which few of any sort at the present day are free, that of pursuing too many studies at a time. The inevitable result is either to overload and weary the mind, or to weaken it by dissipating the attention and frittering away the time.

There is no question that any person of ordinary powers can study two branches at a time to better advantage than one; probably most persons can do as well with three as with two; but further than this it is not often advisable to go. Continuous and regular attention are necessary in order to secure the most rapid and thorough progress in any intellectual work. The mind has its friction and inertia as well as a railroad train, and if it requires rest and change, which a railroad train does not, it is none the less true that any irregularity or interruption beyond what is absolutely required for the health of the mind itself, involves a direct loss of power. It is, therefore, a fundamental principle, in the arrangement of school studies that each study should, so far as possible, come every school-day, and at the same hour of the day.

It is probable that in the good old times when "the three R's" [Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmetic] formed the staple and almost the sole substance of the boy's education, the scholar left the public school with a better trained mind (I do not say better stored) than at present. The cause of this is the neglect of the principle above referred to. It would not be possible, and no one would desire, to reduce the common school curriculum to its former meagreness, but I am sure that some mean must be found between that and its present exuberance, and that the principle of unity of attention must be more distinctly recognized in practice, if we would secure vigor and power of mind, as well as extent of information.

The temptation to have the course of studies embrace everything that is worth knowing is one of the strongest to which teachers and committee men are subjected. There are three ways in which we may meet and partially solve the difficult problem presented here.

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