KEEP your mouth shut when you read, when you write, when you listen, when you are in pain, when you are running, when you are riding, and by all means when you are angry. There is no person in society but will find and acknowledge improvement in health and enjoyment from even a temporary attention to this advice.

DR. FRANKLIN meant a good deal when he said, "A good kick out of doors is better than all the rich uncles in the world."

QUESTIONS FOR WRITTEN EXAMINATIONS.

EXAMINATION OF THE GRAMMAR SCHOOLS, CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL, 1865.

SECOND GRADE QUESTIONS.

ARITHMETIC.-Forty-five Minutes allowed for this Exercise.

1. How many yards in length of carpeting, that is of a yard wide, will it take to cover a floor that is 27 feet long and 24 feet wide?

2. A man owning 160 acres of land, sells 57 acres, 1 rood, and 15 square rods, and then divides the remainder equally between his four sons. How much land does each son receive?

3. A man digs a cellar 150 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 5 feet deep, upon a contract of 50 cents a cubic yard. How much money does he receive for his work? 4. Find the value of 15.75 x .0186, and give the rule for pointing off in the multiplication and division of decimals.

5. Find the sum of the following numbers:

6.

One hundred units and fifteen thousandths.

One hundred and five millionths.

Fifty units and seven hundredths.

One ten thousandth.

Subtract five tenths from one unit and one hundredth.

7. How many bushels of potatoes at six shillings a bushel will it take to pay for 75 yards of cloth at $2.50 per yard ?

GRAMMAR.-Forty Minutes allowed for this Exercise.

1. Write one sentence containing a verb which affirms an action; containing a verb which affirms a state.

one sentence

2. Write a sentence containing a transitive verb; a sentence containing an intransitive verb.

3. Write a sentence about the capture of Richmond which shall contain a verb in the active voice, and another sentence which shall convey the same idea by the use of the verb in the passive voice.

4. Write a sentence containing the verb go in the indicative mode, perfect tense, third person, plural number; one containing the verb come in the subjunctive mode, pluperfect tense, first person, singular number.

5. Correct all the auxiliaries that need correction in the following sentences, and state which need no correction.

1. I will drown, for nobody shall help me.

2. May I leave the room?

3. Thou might have been promoted last month if thou hadst studied.

4. I was at home before he has left.

HISTORY.-Thirty Minutes allowed for this Exercise.

1. From what port, in what year, and with how many vessels, did Columbus sail?

2. What large river was discovered by Ferdinand de Soto, and what portion of the present United States did he traverse before its discovery?

3. What settlement was made in the year 1607, and by whom was the settlement made?

4. From what country, and for what purpose, did the Pilgrim Fathers emigrate ? 5. What do you know about New England Witchcraft?

SPELLING. - Benefited, maintenance, receptacle, supersede, precede, proceed, independence, surrender, indelible, deleble.

THIRD GRADE QUESTIONS.

ARITHMETIC.-Forty-five Minutes allowed for this Exercise.

1. Multiply the sum of one million sixteen thousand four hundred and six, and five hundred twenty-five thousand and nineteen, by one thousand and eight,

2. Having the divisor, the quotient and remainder, how will you find the dividend.

3. Divide the difference between one thousand one hundred and sixteen, and nine hundred and eighteen, by thirty-seven.

4. Find the least common denominator for the following fractions: one-half, five-sixths, thirteen-eighteenths, and eleven-twelfths.

5. Subtract 117 from 173.

6. Give the rule for finding the least common multiple of two or more numbers; and find by the rule given the least common multiple of 15, 9, 12 and 36.

7. Find the value of× 5-6 ÷, and give the rule for division of fractions.

GRAMMAR.-Forty Minutes allowed to this Exercise.

1. Define a vowel; define a consonant.

2. Give one Rule of Spelling, with an illustration; give one Rule of Syllabication, with an illustration.

3. Write one sentence, containing all the Parts of Speech, and underline the adjectives, pronouns and prepositions.

4. Write the correlative of each of the following words: Father, niece, heir, executor, hero, man-singer.

5. Compare the following adjectives: Good, holy, benevolent, bad, able.

GEOGRAPHY.-Thirty Minutes allowed for this Exercise.

1. Give the name and the location of the capital of each of the following States; The largest State in the Union; the smallest State in the Union; the most populous State; the State last admitted to the Union.

2. Draw a map of the State in which you were born, if in the United States; if you were not born in the United States, draw a map of the State east of Illinois. 3. Bound the State of which Richmond is the capital.

4. Name the States that lie upon the eastern bank of the Mississippi river, in their order, commencing with the one farthest north.

5. Name and describe at least two of the principal mountain ranges in North America.

SPELLING. Lieutenant, forfeiture, reservoir, brigadier, rehearsal, dungeon, emaciate, acquaintance, obeisance, rheumatic.

EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE.

THE FIRST STEAMBOAT.-About the year 1794, there was a man living in Providence named Elijah Ormsbee. He was born in Rehoboth, but had worked for a season near Albany. While there, his observation of the difficulty of navigating the Hudson by sails alone, led him to think of steam as a propelling power. While employed at Cranston, repairing a large steam engine employed for pumping water from an ore bed, he was called on by David Wilkinson, and communicated to him the idea of a steamboat. He offered to furnish the boat, provided Mr. Wilkinson would provide the engine. The proposition was accepted. Mr. Wilkinson went home, made his patterns, cast and bored the cylinders, suggested two plans of paddles, and the boat was finished. At a retired place called Winsor's Grove, about three miles and a half from Providence, Ormsbee completed his arrangements, and, on one pleasant evening, made his first trip to Providence. On the following day, he went in his steamboat to Pawtucket to show her to his friends, and the two ingenious mechanics exhibited her between the two bridges. "After our frolic was over," says Mr. Wilkinson, in writing of the matter more than half a century afterwards, " being short of funds, we hauled the boat up and gave it over."

It is fair to claim that had the Pawtucket been a larger stream, so that steam had been as important for it as for the Hudson, or had some discerning capitalist been ready to afford the pecuniary aid needful for testing and perfecting the invention, the chaplet that adorned the head of Fulton might have been woven over the brows of Wilkinson and Ormsbee, and the Pawtucket river Narragansett bay would have had an additional claim to fame.-Centennial Address, North Providence.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS FOR SCHOOLS.-In the school-room, music is invaluable as a study and as a recreation, and is fast becoming appreciated as a means of moral, mental and physical culture.

The chief obstacles to the general use of music in schools has been the difficulty of introducing it without the aid of a suitable instrument, and the considerable expense thus involved; the cost of a good piano-forte placing it out of the reach of many, while the various reed instruments, procurable at less prices, have often been unsatisfactory. Recently, however, an instrument of the latter class has appeared, which is worthy of high commendation, and as it seems to be a suitable instrument, of moderate cost, we feel that in directing attention to it, and pointing out its peculiar features, we shall be advancing the interests of our schools. We allude to the Mason & Hamlin " Cabinet Organs." In these instruments the tone is produced by a vibrating metallic tongue, or “reed,” as in the melodeon, but with a difference in the relative length and thickness, insuring better results. The quality of voice is remarkable, being round, smooth and free from the thinness of tone by which the reed is usually characterized.

In other respects, also, improvements have been made; but we particularly advert to only a few points, showing the advantages of the cabinet organ as a school instrument.

Obiously, one of the first objects in musical instruction is to give the learner clear and accurate ideas of what is technically termed the pitch of musical tones. As there is no worse musical fault than that of singing out of tune, it is evidently of the greatest importance that the ear and other organs of the pupils should, from the beginning, be correctly and carefully trained. This must be done by the constant presentation of a correct model. For this purpose the teacher's voice can not be entirely relied upon; it would be too great a task for his vocal organs, and, moreover, very few are sufficiently accurate in this respect to serve as models for imitation. On the other hand, if an instrument is good and in tune, it can be depended upon for something like mathematical accuracy in pitch. The piano, manifestly, is too liable to be out of tune. It is easily affected by changes in the temperature and humidity of the atmosphere, and to be kept in tune requires a degree of attention which in most schools is impracticable.

Now, it is one of the merits of the Cabinet Organs, and it will be seen that it is a great one, that their tones, being produced by reeds, have very little liability to vary in pitch. They are not affected in any material degree by atmospheric changes. Hence this instrument is an appropriate model with which to train the ear, as it admirably retains its accuracy. In one of the musical journals, the experienced teacher Mr. George F. Root alludes to this subject, stating that he has observed much more accuracy in pitch in the singing of those who, while studying music, had practiced with an instrument not liable to be out of tune.

We have enlarged upon this one advantage of the Cabinet Organs, because it will not be likely to receive the attention which more obvious features will secure. But it has other advantages,- great power of expression, quickness of utterance, and a steadiness and roundness of tone admirably adapted to sustain and guide the voice and illustrate differences in musical rhythm.

Affording these advantages at a moderate cost, the Cabinet Organ is certainly worthy the attention of all who are interested in school music.-Am. Ed. Monthly.

EDUCATIONAL APPOINTMENT.-D. W. Stevens, A. M., of Mansfield, has been elected Superintendent of Schools in the city of Fall River, and accepted the position. Mr. Stevens has been for many years prominently identified with the cause of education, in which he has shown himself an enlightened and devoted laborer. For the last four or five years he has conducted successfully the Literary and Scientific School at Mansfield, which has just closed its most prosperous Summer term, with an excellent prospect for the future, should it be placed in equally competent hands; and he was, also, at the time of his present appointment, the Superintendent of the Public Schools for that town. A gentleman of thorough education and decided tastes for scientific study and educational pursuits, as well as of large experience in his chosen field of labor, we doubt if a more fortunate selection could have been made for the position named, which, we trust, may prove to be both pleasant and remunerative.-Taunton (Mass.) Daily Gazette.

A Frenchman has just discovered the process of fixing the natural colors of objects photographed.