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The Magazines.

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THE SOUTHERN BIVOUAC for August, will be a "Battle Number." J. M. Wright contributes an article entitled "A Glimpse of Perryville." A. P. Ford describes the “Last Battles of Hardee's Corps.' Samuel Seay gives "A Private's Recollection of Stone River." Major Saunders, in his papers on "Hood's Campaign "reaches Nashville and describes that great battle His article will be accompanied by a colored map of the Fattlefield, and portraits of Generals Thomas, Hood, S. D. Lee, T. J. Wood, H. D. Clayton, and E H. Pettus Bragg's Campaign in Kentucky in 1562" is described by Basil W. Duke, from the Confederate standpoint, and by General C. C. Gilbert, of the Federal Army. POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY for August-Contents: Concerning the Suppressed Book, by Edward L. Youmans; Genius and Insanity, by James Sully; An Experiment in Primary Education, I, by Dr. Mary Putnam-Jacobi; On Leaves, II, by Sir John Lubbock, illustrated; The Future of National Banking; The Mechanics of Hanging; Diet in Relation to Age and Activity; Building and Ornamental Stones of the United States; The Darwin Memorial, Addresses of Professor Huxley and the Prince of Wales: Modern Bronzes; Measures of Vital Tenacity; Curiosities of Time-Reckoning; Sketch of M. Chevreul, with portrait; Editor's Table: The New Tyndall Scholarships-Officialism in Education-Curious Excuses for War; Literary Notices; Popular Miscellany; Notes.

THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY for August -Contents: The New Portfolio, XIV-XVI, Oliver Wendell Holmes; The Port Royal of Mère Angélique Maria Ellery MacKaye; A Country Gentleman, XXIV-XXVI, M. O. W. Oliphant; A Nocturn. Edith M. Thomas: On Horseback, II, Charles Dudley Warner; Should a College Educate? E R. Sill: Hermione, I. The Lost Magic, 11, Influences, III, The Dead Letter, IV, The Song in the Night, Andrew Hedbrook: A Stranger in the City, P. Deming; An Interlude; Miss Ingelow and Mrs Walford, Harriet Waters Preston; The Constant Friend, Kathaleen Wright; The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains, XV, Charles Egbert Craddock; The Story of San Tszon, Wong Chin Foo; Two Anniversary After-Dinner Poems, I, Harvard Commencement, June 24, 1885, to James Russell Lowell-II, At the Dinner of the B. K. Society-To the Poets who only Listen, Oliver Wendell Holmes; Ormsby's Don Quixote; Stepniak and Russia; Marius the Epicurean; Literary London; The Contributors' Club; Books of the Month.

THE AUGUST CENTURY.-The Midsummer Holiday Number of the Century opens with a lively, anecdotal account of life at "Camp Grindstone," the summer meeting place, for games and races, of the American Canoe Association, in te Thousand Islands. It is profusely illustrated. W. D. Howells, in his picturesque series on Italian cities, writes of his walks through Siena.

A portrait of William Lloyd Garrison, is the frontispiece of the number; there is also an interesting group portrait of Garrison, Wendell Philips, and George Thompson.

The fiction of the number embraces "A Story with a Hero," the concluding part of "Silas Lapham," and the seventh part of "The Bostonians."

The August contribution to The Century War Series besides Mrs. Burton Harrison's recollections of "A Virginia Girl in the First Year of the War," which has a story interest also in its picture of Southern ways, and its amusing anecdotes of civilian life in camp, contains papers by General Fitz John Porter on Malvern Hill-"The Last of the Seven Days' Battles," and another chapter from the "Recollections of a Private"; both being illustrated.

ST NICHOLAS for August.-Contents: Frontispiece, "Little Dame Fortune;" Little Dame Fortune, illustrated; A String of Birds' Eggs, poem; A "Constitutional," on the Beach, picture; Coasting in August; The Harvest Moon, picture; The Little Stamp-Collector, versea; Mrs. Grimalkin and the Little Grimalkins, picture: Personally Conducted, Little Pisa and Great Rome, four illustrations, Frank R. Stockton; Up goes the Eagle! picture; A Pleasant Walk, illustrated; The Unlucky Urchin, jingle; Sheep or Silver? chapters V, VI, five illustrations; The Reign of the Roller-Skate, a page of pictures; Driven Back to Eden, chapter VII, E. P. Roe, two illustrations; What the Flowers Said, verses: The King Drinks, picture; From Bach to Wagner. V, Beethoven: The Brownies at the SeaSide, porm, Palmer Cox, four illustrations; His One Fault, chapters XXV, XXVI, J. T. Trowbridge; The Japanese Creeping Baby verses; Ready for Business, III, A Housebuilder; The Great Blue Heron, poem, Celia Thaxter, illustrative head-piece; Among the Law-Makers, continued, two illustrations; A Water Museum, illustrative head piece; The Children of the Cold, VI, three illustrations; For Very Little Folk, illustrated, The Long Train; Jack in the-Pulpit, Illustrated; The Letter-Box; The Agassiz Association. illustrated; The Riddle-Box, illustrated; Cartoons for Children

THE JOURNAL OF SPECULATIVE PHILOSOPHY for January, 1885.-Contents: Bradley's Principles of Logic, 8. W. Dyde; Platonism and its Rel-tion to Modern Thought, L. J. Block; Henry James, The Seer, C. Lockland; Dantis Purgatorio Susan E. Blow; The Human Form Systematically Outlined and Explained, W. H. Kimball; Hume and Kaut, G. H. Howison; Notes and Discussions. EDUCATION for July-August.-Contents: The Preparatory Schools and the Modern Languages Equivalent for the Greek, Charles E. Fay, A. M.; Olympia Fulvia Morata, H. L. Bartlett; Training of Teachers, Iola Rounds; Inspiration and Naturalism in Dramatic Art, Henry Irving; Froebel's Principle's in Primary Schools, W. N. Hailman; Manual Training in General Education, C. M Woodward, Ph. D.; Methods of Classical Instruction, A. C. Richardson, A, M.; Industrial Education and the Colored People, Wm. Preston Johnston, LL.D; Two Great English Educational Societies, Wm. Soleman; Foreign Notes.

THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW for August-Contents: Can Cholera be Averted? Drs. J. B Hamilton, J. H. Ranch, J. C. Peters, H. C. Wood and Ch. A. Leale; The Animal Soul, Dr. Felix L Oswald; A Profane View of the Sanctum, M. S. Savage; Temperance Reform Statistics, Prof. W. J. Beecher; The Price of Gas, C H. Botsford; The Spoilation of the Public Lands, G. W. Julian; Comments.

OUR LITTLE ONES AND THE NURSERY for August has been received and is fully up to the usual high standard.

OFFICIAL DEPARTMENT.

R. R. FARR, Superintendent Public Instruction, Editor.

[The Journal is sent to every County Superintendent and District Clerk, and must be carefully preserved by them as public property and transmitted to their successors in office.]

Peabody Normals.

These schools, which, with the exception of a few incidental expenses, have been run with funds furnished by Hon. J. L. M. Curry, agent of the Peabody Education Fund, have all closed, and never in the history of Virginia has so much good been accomplished with so little money.

Staunton, Fredericksburg, Marion and Danville, the towns at which the institutes were held, met all the incidental expenses of the

same.

The following statement shows the enrolment of teachers and the cost of each normal to the Peabody Fund:

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In arranging for the normals we were compelled to distribute the small amount of money at our disposal upon the assumption that the attendance upon them would be about equal in numbers, which accounts for the seeming inconsistency of giving the same amount of money for an institute with a small number of teachers enrolled that is allowed for one with a large number, and proves that the only way we can get the full benefit of the means at our disposal is to have large institutes.

The Staunton Normal, which was conducted by Prof. Winston, was

the largest institute that has ever been held in Virginia; and exceeds by nearly two hundred the one held at the University of Virginia in 1880.

The conductors have all made their reports; they are interesting and valuable, and will be published in the next annual report of this Department. We regret that our limited space prevents giving

them in the JOURNAL.

We desire to return our personal thanks to the citizens of Staunton, Fredericksburg, Marion and Danville for the hospitality extended to the teachers during their stay among them, and to the faculties, the superintendents and local committees, in charge of the respective normals, for the active and effective work done by them.

Each normal was a complete success, and the aggregate work done this year in educating our teachers, marks an epoch in the school history of Virginia, and demonstrates that, if our Legislature will furnish the means, it is possible to enroll each year more than half of our teachers in normals.

School District Not Entitled to Funds Until Provision is Made for School-Houses, &c.

[Extracts from School Law.]

SEC. 103 No school district shall receive any part of the funds unless it has made provision for school-houses, furniture, apparatus, textbooks for indigent children, and all other means and appliances needful for the successful operation of the schools.

When State Funds to be Paid for School Purposes.

SEC. 104. No State money shall be paid for a public free school in any school district, until there is filed with the county superintendent a written statement, signed by the chairman and clerk of the board of district school trustees, testifying that the school has been kept in operation for five months during the current school year, or that arrangements have been made which will secure the keeping it in operation that length of time: provided, that in case of the unavoidable discontinuance of a school before the expiration of the time required, the Board of Education shall be allowed to relax the requirements of this section, and to decide the case on its merits.

We desire to again call the attention of Superintendents to these sections and their requirements, and to say that they must be enforced.

We are surprised to find from the annual reports of Superintendents for the year ending the 31st of July, 1885-now being re

ceived at this office-that in some school districts, and even in whole counties, this law has been grossly violated, especially in reference to the length of session. The law says: "That no State money shall be paid for a public free school in any school district until there is filed with the County Superintendent a written statement signed by the chairman and clerk of the District Board of Trustees, testifying that the school has been kept in operation for five months during the current school year, or that arrangements have been made which will secure the keeping it in operation that length of time." It is the duty of the Superintendents to require every district board to file with him this certificate before the law allows him to apportion one cent of the State money to the district. And yet, in face of the law, we find that some Superintendents report an average school session of less than four months. In one county especially (name withheld because there may be others, and we want to report them all together) we find that the average length of session was only 3.33 months. this county there were enrolled 1,085 children, with an average daily attendance of 788, with 33 schools, and the treasurer reports teachers all paid for the session of 3.33 months, with a balance of $498 on hand.

In

We don't see how there could be a balance when the schools were not run according to law; $498 would have extended the time to four months at least, and that would have helped some, though they would still have been below the legal requirement.

No school that has a session of less than five months can receive any public money, and Superintendents who allow this law to be violated lay themselves liable to prosecution.

The Board of Education has ordered $166,000 to be apportioned to the cities and counties for the pay of teachers for the school year commencing August 1st, 1885, and the secretary is directed to withhold the amounts apportioned from those counties whose reports show that the average session of the schools in any district has been less than five months, until the Superintendents report that the section quoted has been complied with.

In arranging for the schools for the present year, it will be well for all school officers to see that no more schools are opened than can be run-with the funds which ought to be received-for at least five months.

Small schools are expensive and cannot be afforded with our preSee that your schools are located so as to secure a

sent revenue.

good average.

Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute.

The Summer session of this institution, for the benefit of colored teachers and those who expect to teach, has closed its term of eight weeks. Over 140 teachers were enrolled. The instruction was conducted by Principal James Storum, assisted by the regular faculty, and was very successful. This enrolment, with the 175 at Danville, makes 315 colored teachers under instruction this Summer-the largest number that was ever enrolled in one Summer before.

Applicants for Peabody Scholarships.

At the Staunton Normal the following class was examined: F. J. Best, Frederick; Miss Mattie W. Coulling, Richmond; G. W. Crist, Rockingham; W. P. Earnest, Charlotte; C. H. Gilkerson, Augusta; Miss Byrdie Lee Hill, Richmond; Miss Bertie P. Lackey, Rockbridge; W. H. Landers, Warren; Miss O. C. Lewis, Fluvanna; A. G. Parr, Culpeper; George R. Root, Augusta; W. A. Snead, Augusta; Miss Jennie Weston, Charlotte.

Scholarships have been awarded to this class as follows: A. G. Parr, whose average grade is 83.45; Miss Byrdie Lee Hill, average grade 80.54; and Miss Mattie W. Coulling, average grade 80.72.

At the Fredericksburg Normal the class consisted of J. Willard Brister, Petersburg, whose average grade is 93.75; Miss Mattie H. Chapman, Fairfax, average grade 98.33; Miss Fannie B. Stoneham, Accomac, average grade 96.66; Philip M. Tyler, Accomac, average grade 96. Scholarships have been awarded to each of these.

At the Marion Normal the following were examined: A. A. Cannaday, Floyd; Samuel N. Hurst, Pulaski, Jno. J. Owen, Pulaski; and J. H. Black, Washington.

A scholarship was awarded A. A. Cannaday, whose average grade is 83.88.

One more scholarship is yet to be awarded. This will be done as soon as report is received from Superintendent W. W. Logan, who has charge of a special examination of an applicant in Shenandoah county.

School Work for Year Ending July 31st, 1885.

We received up to the 31st of August annual reports from eighty counties and cities as follows: Accomac, Alexandria, Alexandria city,

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