Announcement of National Educational Association.

PLACE OF MEETING IN 1886.

In the Preamble to its Constitution, this Association declares its chief purposes to be: "To elevate the character and advance the interests of the profession of teaching, and to promote the cause of popular education in the United States." It therefore is clearly the duty of those who are intrusted with the administration of the affairs of the Association, to consider how these purposes can be attained; and, in doing this, the following conditions demand careful attention:

FIRST. The means of achieving these purposes exist by and through the meetings and membership of the Association; therefore, it becomes chief in importance that the places selected for its meetings shall be readily accessible to the largest number of teachers who desire to attend.

SECOND. The place chosen for a meeting must have ample accommodations, at moderate rates for board, for all who will probably attend; and suitable halls for holding the meetings of the Association and its departments; also an active interest among the citizens, that will insure a cordial welcome and efficient attention to all local matters pertaining to the needs of the Association.

THIRD. The facilities for reaching the place of meeting, and the expenses of travel, must be such as to present inducements for a large attendance.

Earnest efforts having been made to ascertain in which place the foregoing conditions are most favorable for holding the next meeting of this Association, the Executive Committee have decided in favor of the City of TOPEKA, Kansas, for the meeting, to be held July 13, 14, 15, 16, 1886.

The following are some of the conditions relating to Topeka :

1. Within a radius of 500 miles there are 100,000 teachers. The State Teachers' Associations of three of the States thus included voted in favor of holding the meeting at Topeka. One of the ballots on places for the meeting in 1885, resulted in a tie between Topeka and Saratoga Springs. At the meeting of the Board of Directors, at Saratoga Springs, last July, after listening to the able presentations of the respective claims of Topeka and Denver, the ballot for deciding which place should be selected was a tie. Denver is more than 500 miles west of Topeka.

2.-Accommodations for 6,000 teachers-hotel rates, $1.25 to $2.00 per day--and 5,000 teachers tendered the hospitality of its citizens at the nominal rate of one dollar per day-halls for all the meetings free. The Governor of the State, and other State officers, Mayor of the City, President and members of the Board of Trade, President of the Board of Education, Judges of the Supreme Court, Presidents of the Banks, editors, hotel proprietors, and many other leading citizens, have pledged their cordial attention, and the co operation of efficient committees to carry out the promises made.

3.-The railroads of the West have given assurances of rates for round trips, at fare one way; also, very low excursion rates are promised from Topeka to and throughout Colorado, to Utah, California, and other attractive regions of the far West.

In behalf of the National Educational Association, and of the Executive Committee,

I hereby acknowledge the earnest invitation of the Board of Education of the City of

Denver, and the generous offers of the Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade of that city, which they so kindly extended to this Association.

More definite information in relation to the next meeting will be announced in

January.

New York, November 30, 1885.

N. A. CALKINS, President.

Virginia Superintendents.

A good thing keeps; and one especially good pamphlet which deserved earlier notice is, "The Proceedings of the Third Annual Conference of County and City Superintendents of Public Free Schools, and Principals of High Schools of Virginia," held in Richmond last February. This association now includes nearly two hundred members, under the presidency of State Superintendent Hon. R. R. Farr; and, by report, certainly held a valuable session. Addresses were delivered by Professor McGilvray, General Armstrong, Dr. Newell, Dr. Ruffner, Professor Painter, Professor Vawter, and other speakers, with the usual entertainments and discussions. An exhibition of school-room work, the first in the State was made. But the most valuable part of the conference was the presentation of some thirty brief papers, by the county superintendents, containing a history of education in the county. Some of these gave the entire record from the settlement of the county to the present day; and all told the deeply interesting story of the past fifteen years of the public school system in Virginia. Altogether we have not fallen upon a hundred pages of more valuable reading for many a day; and we trust the Virginia Conference will push this matter till every county in the State has made its report, and then invite Dr. Ruffner to write the history of the public school movement, begun in 1870. A generation hence no reading will be more attractive to the school-men of the whole country than a fair history of education in the South, magnifying nothing, and doing full justice to the educational public and its great leaders from the earliest day. Now is the time to gather materials for such a work; and this can only be done by local effort, which will recall the history of all movements for public schools, with the record of notable collegiate and academic institutions, and the romantic chronicles of private family instruction. The North would be surprised to learn how many of its most famous men and women began life by teaching in Southern schools and families in the old days, and how many of its own celebrated men came North from Southern schools and homes. The record of eminent teachers brought to the South from Europe, especially from Great Britain, would be an interesting chapter in this history. If the teachers' association of every Southern State would begin at once the work of making such collections, the man will surely be found who will complete this great work in due time.

From these reports, several important facts appear: first, that the new free school system, begun in 1870 in Virginia, under great disadvantages, has had the varied experience always encountered; second, the gratifying success of the movement; so that to-day, in the number of children and youth at school, the amount of funds raised, the willingness to submit to taxation, and the overcoming of prejudice, there is a more favorable showing than ever before; third, that this has been accomplished

along with a corresponding growth in the secondary and higher education. Virginia was never so well schooled as this year The establishment of State Normal schools for both races is the last notable achievement. All this is especially important because Virginia was the leading Southern State in the higher education before the war, and has, on the whole, done the best for the free schools of the eleven States most deeply affected, considering the circumstances, since 1865. The lesson for every State South is that the people have made up their minds to the free school, and the sooner their representatives in Congress make themselves" solid " on National Aid, the better will it be for their own States and the whole country.-New England Journal of Education.

-A SPLENDID CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR YOUR PASTOR. History of the Christian Church. Apply at this office.

A copy of Neander's

EDITORIAL PARAGRAPHS.

SECOND TERM OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT FARMVILLE, VA.-We have just received from Dr. Ruffner the following circular, which we insert as a matter of general interest to our readers:

The Second Term of the Normal School will begin February 1, 1886, and continue until June 2. A new class to begin the course will be formed at the opening of the Second Term; and hence this will be a favorable time for the entrance of new students. It is our purpose also to graduate classes at the end of the First Term each year, as well as at the end of the session.

We desire that students who come here should be well prepared on the primary branches, particularly on Arithmetic and Grammar. This will enable them to get the full benefit of the professional modes of studying and teaching the same branches, as well as of other branches not previously studied. We have, however, a preparatory school where deficiencies may be made up; but this, of course, prolongs the time necessary to the completion of the course. All students should, when they come, be far more concerned to master the studies than to get through in any given time.

All who wish to come as State Students must receive the recommendation of their respective County Superintendents of Schools, and sign a promise to teach in the public schools two years after graduating. As long as we do not have the maximum number of students, we can receive as State Students all who apply, without reference to the number who come from any one county. It is so important to every county to have normally trained teachers, that we are particularly anxious to have students from counties which hitherto have sent no representative. School officers, and particularly School Boards, could secure this result by a decided expression of favorable opinions and wishes in regard to this matter. So long as the school officers show but little appreciation of the superior advantages of professional training, their teachers will be equally indifferent; and the style of teaching in such counties will be correspondingly poor and unprogressive. The State Board of Education will surely have an eye to this matter. County Superintendents might bring this subject to the attention of their people through the newspapers.

Expenses.-State Students pay no tuition, and the price of board and washing runs from $12.00 to $16.00 a month. The cost at the boarding department of the school is $12, and a few places are now vacant. Families near by will give good accommodations at from $12 to $15 a month, washing $1.25 extra. Hence the cost here to State students will be about fifty dollars ($50) for the four months of the

Second Term. To pay students it will be $15 more. Travel on the Norfolk & Western railroad costs two cents a mile to our students who receive a certificate from me, or their County Superintendent.

No teacher, young or old, and no young lady looking forward to being a teacher, could spend $50 to $75 to better purpose than in attending this school during its next term. Everything is working well here. We have an able corps of expert teachers-10 in number, and over 150 names on our register. At the end of every term we will send out a class of graduates, who will immediately make themselves felt; and already we have indications that the best schools of the State will look to this institution to supply them with teachers within the range of our course. This is a matter in which every community, every family, and every person, is interested. Above all, should it engage the prompt and vigorous attention of school officers.

We can furnish a limited number of applicants with our last catalogue, and I will take pleasure in supplying any additional information that may be wanted.

Concerning boarding in families, apply to Mr. A. D. Watkins, Secretary, Farmville, Va.

-The International Magazine, Education, for November and December, published by the New England Publishing Company, 3 Somerset street, Boston, and devoted to the science, art, philosophy and literature of education, is at hand, and contains an unusual amount of valuable reading for thoughtful readers on education. Dr. Harris, of Concord, contributes an article on the Methods and Limits of Psychological Inquiry; Dr. Millikin, of Ohio, discusses Education as Related to Physiological Laws. The Essentials of Linguistic Training are presented in an able paper by Dr. Greene, of New Jersey. The General Outlines of Education in Japan are described by S. Tegima, the Japan Commissioner of Education at London. Miss M. K. Smith gives an account of the recent Educational Congress at Havre, with Reports on Education at the New Orleans Exposition, presented by Hon. John Hancock, Prof. J. M. Ordway, Hon. M. A. Newell, Hon. Warren Easton, and others. Other articles, both home and foreign, are valuable contributions to the literature which the New England Publishing Company have done so much towards elevating and extending.

WHITNEY AND LOWELL CALENDARS FOR 1886.-The fact that the writings of James Russell Lowell and Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney are used for these two new calen. dars (published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston) is in itself enough to make them unusually attractive; but apart from this the Calendars are among the prettiest in their decorations that have yet appeared. The Lowell Calendar has an excellent portrait of the poet and a view of Elmwood, his house in Cambridge. The Whitney Calendar is printed in gold and light tints. The design is emblematical of the four seasons, which are symbolized by figures of little girls dressed in "Kate Greenaway" style, bearing a garland of Spring and Summer flowers, Autumn fruits and Winter holly. The color printing is excellent, and shows a marked advance over recent work of this kind.

The popular Holmes, Emerson, Longfellow, and Whittier Calendars are reissued this year, their selections being newly arranged. All these Calendars measure nine by twelve inches, and are sold at the uniform price of one dollar. It seems as if, wherever they go, they must have an educating influence, artistically, as well as in a literary sense.

They may be had of West, Johnston & Co., 911 Main street.

Publishers' Notes.

The Library Magazine, for November, fully carries out its promise to furnish a repertory of the best periodical writing of the current month or two. This number contains about half a score of the most carefully conceived and best written papers in the English Reviews. Among these is a thoughtful essay by the Bishop of Carlisle, entitled " Thoughts about Life," being really a review of Herbert Spencer's Principles of Biology. Very readable is the "Dialogue upon Novels," by Vernon Lee. Mr. William Henry Hurlbert, well known as an American literateur, furnishes a well-considered paper upon "Catholic Italy and the Temporal Power." Mary Howitt, now eighty-five years of age, is now writing a series of Autobiographical Reminiscences. Perhaps the most interesting of these is that upon her “Girlhood,” which appears in this number of the Library Magazine. Mr. Richard A. Proctor's paper upon the "New Star in Andromeda Nebula," is worth more than the space which it occupies. Captain Vernon Lovett Cameron writes a sensible paper upon "The Future of the Soudan." New York: John B. Alden, publisher, $1.50 a year.

Latine et Graece.-A journal of classical philology, edited by Edgar S. Shumway. Eight numbers-during the academic year. Two dollars and fifty cents a year, in advance.

With the fourth volume this journal enlarges its scope to include not only Latin, but also Greek. To the teacher and the lover of the classics it presents its claim for a place on his table. The moderate price at which it is published brings it within reach of all. That its new year may be one of growth and improvement, it asks not only your subscription and commendation to your friends, but also suggestions, notes, hints on methods, criticisms of text-books, etc., etc.

Address, Latine et Graece, New Brunswick, N. J.

Pocket Lesson Notes on the International Lessons for 1886, by Rev. and Mrs. W. F. Crafts, 12mo (trimmed for pocket). Issued quarterly, 96 pp., each part. Illustrated with blackboard designs. Introductory price, 15 cents, scholars' edition, 5 cents. Funk & Wagnalls, 10 and 12 Dey St., New York.

This is, in many respects, a new departure in Sabbath school helps. It is the first one to put a standard commentary (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's) into a help for scholars, besides which, they have both the Common and Revised Versions (with all notes) side by side, and marginal references, such as are found in Teachers' Bibles. Home readings and daily memory verses are put into this margin in such a way as to show the exact point in the lesson on which they throw Bible light. The questions are arranged on a novel plan that cultivates the art of making original questions. The fact thas every lesson should have an object as well as a subject is steadily kept in view, and the lessons are taught with a view of leading at once to religious decision or action. The study of the Bible as a whole, and the habit of reading and memorizing daily a portion of it receives special attention.

A VALUABLE BOOK.-We have just received from the enterprising publishers, A. H. Andrews & Co., a most useful little volume suggestively called "Look Within for Five Thousand Facts that Everybody Wants to Know." It contains 75 pages