as to what precise methods shall be employed for the moral or scientific enforcement of temperance, the laws are silent. It is safe to say that, whatever those methods may be, they should be in harmony with such pedagogical principles as command general acceptance. In teaching spelling, for instance, it is not regarded as a sound principle to put bad spelling before the children to correct. There is great danger that the wrong thing a child is cautioned against may make the deeper impression upon him, and sway him more than the right thing. Of course, since the child goes frequently astray, it becomes the duty of the teacher to look sharply after his blunders, and in this way attention is necessarily focused for a time on departures from good standards. But this does not affect the main principle that, in the initiative of all instruction, the sound thing, the wholesome thing, the right thing, should be presented first; that the minds of children should be directed. upward and not downward; that love of higher things is a stronger motive than fear of baser things, or if, unfortunately, not a stronger motive, a better motive for first presentation; that, in short, the true way to keep bad things out of the mind is to put good things into the mind.

Applying this principle to instruction in temperance, it seems to be psychologically a bad method to make the woes of intemperance the main reliance in an endeavor to save people from them. The sad fact, indeed, remains that innocent children are frequently exposed to the repulsive pictures of intemperance, and that, in certain cases, effective lessons for good can be drawn from such experiences; but, as a general principle, there is more virtue in setting before children the joy of right living, with the scientific basis therefor, than the sorrow of wrong living. It is difficult to draw a satisfactory line between the two policies, but the principle is sufficiently conveyed if we say that, whatever attention it may be necessary to give the diseased, the criminal and the awful in intemperance, these are pictures upon which the curtain, if raised at all, should be quickly let fall. The main policy should still be the higher one of filling the soul with good ideals, and of inspiring the pupil, through the exercise of his will, to strive for their attainment.

Instruction in temperance should be scientific, it is true;

but science for little children must be exceedingly simple, very much like the science involved in that nature study which is now growing in favor with so many of our schools.

It must not be overlooked that lessons have a deeper meaning and weight for children if they are given and enforced by teachers whom the children respect and love; so that we finally get back in temperance instruction, as in every other kind of instruction, to the living teacher as the most potent influence for good.

In the revised Course of Studies for Elementary Schools recently issued by the Board of Education and printed in the appendix of this report, some general principles are given for the guidance of the teacher in his temperance work.

During the latter part of 1894 the secretary was permitted by the Board of Education to employ a special agent to help the teachers of the State in physiology and hygiene, with special reference to methods of temperance instruction. The expense of this work was met out of an unexpended balance for agents' salaries,- a balance due to the fact that an agent of the Board was on leave of absence in Europe.

Mrs. Ella B. Hallock of New York, a teacher of much experience and of wise views in her chosen field of work, was engaged during the months of November and December for this service. She had previously commended herself to favor in this State by her addresses at two or three of the fall institutes. Her primary school methods, in particular, were so sensible and feasible as to overcome prejudice and to win confidence and approval. During her brief engagement Mrs. Hallock gave fourteen addresses before State institutes and forty-five addresses to teachers specially assembled in their several towns to listen to her. She visited in all thirty-four towns and cities. She reports that she found "teachers, as a rule, not prejudiced or indifferent, but willing to teach the subject and waiting for instruction and help;" but there was a lack of clearness in aim, a lack of application of good methods and principles of education, a lack of time for the proper teaching of the subject, and a general lack of a wellarranged course in physiology and hygiene."

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Ordinarily, if the Board of Education desires to reach the teachers of any town for an educational purpose, it is done, as

it ought generally to be done, through the regularly employed agents of the Board. Ordinarily, too, if it is desired to employ any person who has exceptional qualifications for presenting and enforcing methods of work in a subject, there is full authority for doing so in connection with the State institutes. But when, as in the present case, there is a golden opportunity, with the aid of an expert to do important work for a difficult subject, directly and steadily, for a considerable time, with the teachers of the several towns, it cannot be done unless such person is appointed a temporary agent of the Board, and that is not feasible, unless there is money available for the necessary expense for such service. If the appropriation for the salaries and expenses of agents of the Board were made a little larger than the sum actually needed for the agents regularly employed, this would give the Board of Education the desired margin for such exceptional work, to be expended or not, as need requires.

The transcendent importance of training our youth to temperate habits as well as of strengthening the temperance sentiment of the Commonwealth may well justify the utilization of any special agencies that commend themselves for their discretion and effectiveness.

THE EDUCATIONAL MUSEUM.

This museum has been established in accordance with an act of the Legislature of 1894. This act directed the sergeant-atarms to provide a suitable place for it, and appropriated fifteen hundred dollars annually for its care and maintenance. The basis of the museum is to be the Massachusetts educational exhibit at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This exhibit to the extent of one hundred boxes is now stored by courtesy of the city of Boston in the basement of the Latin School building. In the fall of 1894 the governor and council assigned for its use four rooms on the upper floor of the State House extension, two for immediate use and the remaining two when they shall be no longer needed as legislative committee rooms. These four rooms will answer very well for a beginning, though they are hardly adequate for such a museum as the State ought ultimately to have. Plans for fitting up these two rooms have been made by the architect of the State House

extension; but at the time of this writing (January, 1895) the State House Commissioners have suspended further consideration of the matter until they see precisely where they stand in account with their appropriation for furnishing the State House extension. The fitting up of these rooms, of course, could not have been contemplated in the original estimates for furnishing the extension. It is hoped, however, that the commissioners will speedily see their way to the prompt equipment of this authorized addition to the educational department of the Commonwealth. Meanwhile the Board of Education has done everything in its power to start the museum, even having gone so far as to obtain additional material for it in France and Germany and to engage a competent person to care for it.

MANUAL TRAINING.

In accordance with an act passed by the last Legislature, every city of twenty thousand inhabitants or more is required to teach manual training as a part of its high school system, the act to take effect after Sept. 1, 1895, and the course of instruction to be subject to the approval of the State Board of Education. This act affects the following cities (census of

When all these cities conform to the law, manual training will be brought within reach of more than half the population of the State (1,249,298 out of 2,238,943).

It is much more difficult to establish and organize a high manual training school than an ordinary high school. Practically but little more than a year was allowed the cities by the Legislature in which to obey its mandate, rather scant time under other than the most favorable conditions.

A high manual training school has come to be a sharply defined institution. The definition of such a school, as inferred from the courses of study generally pursued in the high manual training schools of the country, contains the following ele

1. A course of study from three to four years in length, with a marked trend towards that of the greater length.

2. Freehand and mechanical drawing throughout the course, one hour daily.

3. Shop exercises, two hours daily.

4. Academic work, three hours daily, two or more of them devoted to recitations.

5. The use of power.

6.

Woodworking, including the study of tools, materials, and the elementary processes of carpentry, joinery, wood turning, pattern making, and, if advisable, carving.

7. Ironworking, including forging, chipping and filing, and the elementary processes of machine work.

8. A session six hours long or longer, with a suitable allowance for recess and lunch.

9. A correlation of the academic work, so far as feasible, with that of the drawing room and the shops.

It is not possible, of course, to attain this standard at once; but a standard like the foregoing, modified by local conditions and improved as experience suggests, should be kept steadily in view if a city would do as well by its pupils as other cities with fully established manual training schools have done.

Whatever plan, in view of proper economies, may be deemed advisable in the initial stages of organizing such a school, or in the smaller cities, it is more satisfactory, in the long run, at least for the larger places, to give the school a full plant of its own and a separate management.