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Romans, Archimedes was so completely absorbed in the solution of a geometrical problem that he was first aware of the enemy by receiving his death-wound as he was bending over and drawing a diagram in the sand.

Joseph Scaliger, when a Protestant student in Paris, was so engrossed in the study of Homer that he became aware of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and of his own escape, only on the day after the catastrophe. Cardan, the illustrious philosopher and mathematician, while upon a journey, became so lost in thought that he forgot both his way and the object of his journey. To the question of his driver, whither he should proceed, he made no answer, and when he came to himself at night-fall, he was surprised to find the carriage at a standstill directly under a gallows. The life of Sir Isaac Newton is full of striking incidents illustrating the complete concentration of his mind upon the objects of his study.-Dr. Edward Brooks.

One Way of Teaching and Hearing Spelling.

Suppose a teacher has a school of forty or fifty pupils. It is not likely that he will have time to go round the class every day and give each pupil a word, hence it is important to have the attention of all the school, and that all may have the benefit of the words that are spelt.

Let No. 1 spell the first word, then the class in concert, then all write the words on their slates.

Let No. 2, spell the second word, then all in concert, then all write the word. Proceed in this way with all the words the teacher desires to have spelt.

The next step is to see if the pupils have written the words correctly. This may be done, if the teacher has time, by examining each slate or by monitors. Another method is to require the pupils to spell the words, as they wrote them, from their slates, calling upon one to spell the first word that was given out, another to spell the second, &c. The teacher may then allow the school a few minutes to study the words which have been written, then let the slates be laid aside and hear the words without the aid of the slates.

ADVANTAGES of this Method.

1. Each word is spelt three times in the hearing of the class, and then written.

2. It secures the attention of all the class, as every pupil is obliged

to attend to the word that is spelt orally in order to write it correctly.

3. It keeps all busy.

4. It combines the oral with the written.

5. Every pupil has every word.

6. The pupil acquires skill in reading script, especially his own. This exercise may be made more interesting by requiring the class to stand during the recitation, with slates down, until the teacher says: "Write." Then all raise the slates together and write the word. As soon as the scholar has written the word, let him lower the slate as before, so that the teacher may know when all the class is ready for the next word. T. P. CRUMP.

The Isle of Content.

There's a land in a latitude near to us all,
Where each dweller may follow his bent;

It is under no monarch's tyrannical thrall,
And is known as the Isle of Content.

It's a wonderful spot: if you ask, it will bring
To you quickly whate'er you desire;
What it cannot produce-(it's a singular thing),—
That is just what you never require.

By the balmiest zephyrs of Happiness fanned,
It is neither too cold nor too hot,

And the lassies and lads never care in this land
Whether school is in session or not.

In Content, tho' but poor, yet you feel, ne'ertheless,
You are equal in wealth to a king,

While a tear in the trousers, or darn in the dress,
You consider a capital thing.

If you haven't the money to purchase a meal
(I have been in that strait once or twice),
Take a reef in your vest, and you'll instantly feel
(If you live in Content) "very nice."

When I notice a lad with a bright sunny smile,
That extends for three inches or more,
Then I nudge myself inwardly, thinking, the while,
"He's encamped on Content's happy shore."

I have dwelt on this beautiful island at times,
While inditing small verses for you,

And I often have wondered if, reading my rhymes,
You were there as a resident too.

[S. Conant Foster, in ST. NICHOLAS for November.

Diagram

This Diagram is based on the methods of Harvey's Grammar and has

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for Parsing.

been used with excellent success in the Richmond schools. It aids greatly ideas clear and distinct.

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Removing Difficulties.

BY JACOB ABBOTT.

An effective way to excite interest, and that of the right kind in school, is not to remove difficulties, but to teach the pupils how to surmount them. A text-book so contrived as to make study mere play, and to dispense with thought and effort, is the worst text-book that can be made, and the surest to be in the end a dull one. The great source of literary enjoyment, which is the successful exercise of intellectual power, is, by such a mode of presenting a subject, cut off. Secure, therefore, severe study. Let the pupil see that you are aiming to secure it, and that the pleasure which you expect that they will receive is that of firmly and patiently encountering and overcoming difficulty; of penetrating, by steady and persevering effort, into regions from which the idle and the inefficient are debarred, and that it is your province to lead them forward, not to carry them. They will soon understand this, and like it.

Never underrate the difficulties which your pupils will have to encounter, or try to persuade them that what you assign is easy. Doing easy things is generally dull work, and it is especially discouraging and disheartening for a pupil to spend his strength in doing what is really difficult for him, when his instructor, by calling his work easy, gives him no credit for what may have been severe and protracted labor. If a thing is really hard for the pupil his teacher ought to know it, and admit it. The child then feels that he has some sympathy.

It is astonishing how great an influence may be exerted over a child by his simply knowing that his efforts are observed and appreciated. You pass a boy in the street wheeling a heavy load in a barrow; now simply stop to look at him, with a countenance which says, "That is a heavy load; I should not think that boy could wheel it," and how quick will your look give fresh strength and vigor to his efforts. On the other hand, when, in such a case, the boy is faltering under his load, try the effect of telling him, "Why, that is not heavy; you can wheel it easily enough; trundle it along." The poor boy may drop his load, disheartened and discouraged, and sit down upon it in despair. It is so in respect to the action of the young in all cases. They are animated and incited by being told in the right way that they have something difficult to do. A boy is performing some service for you. He is watering your horse, per

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