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radiant with the light of an ideal world in which he lives, the first of men, and now oppressed by wants and by sickness, for which he must thank himself, none is so poor to do him reverence. He resembles the opium-eaters whom travellers describe as frequenting the bazaars of Constantinople, who skulk about all day, the most pitiful drivellers, yellow, emaciated, ragged, sneaking; then at evening, when the bazaars are open, they slink to the opium shop, swallow their morsel and become tranquil, glorious and great. And who has not seen the tragedy of imprudent genius struggling for years with paltry pecuniary difficulties, at last sinking, chilled, exhaustless and fruitless, like a giant slaughtered by pins.”—Emerson.

-"To spend too much in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules is the humor of a scholar; they perfect nature and are perfected by experience; for natural abilities are like natural plants, they need pruning by study; and studies themselves. do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use, but that is a wisdom without them and above them, won by observation."-Francis Bacon.

-"But, indeed, conviction is worthless till it convert itself into conduct. Nay, properly, conviction is not possible till then; inasmuch as all speculation is by nature endless, formless, a vortex amid vortices: only by a felt indubitable certainty of experience, does it find any centre to revolve around, and so fashion itself into a system. Most true is it, as a wise man teaches us, 'that doubt of any sort cannot be removed except by action.' On which ground, too, let him who gropes painfully in darkness or uncertain light, and prays vehemently that the dawn may ripen into day, lay this other precept well to heart, which to me was of invaluable service: Do the duty which lies nearest thee, which thou knowest to be a duty.' Thy second duty will have already become clearer."-Sartor Resartus.

"The associations of literature are a world of pleasure in themselves. The cultivated mind finds beauty and delight everywhere that its bright presence has lingered; its sympathies will cling to the barren rock or the most desolate hearth, where the shadow of genius has fallen and its footsteps have trod. Greece is something more than Greece to him; it is the land of Homer and of song, of Plato and of the academy, of Phidias and of sculpture. Italy is not so much the seat of the Caesars as it is the synonym of the Ciceros and the Virgils; and, more recently,

of those great names in art which have been well said to be the admiration and despair of all modern successors. And so it is still; for the truth is, that from genius embodying itself in literature there emanates an all-hallowing influence extending even to the inanimate of nature. Whatever it touches it consecrates; whatever it breathes upon it rescues from oblivion. The hamlet, which but for this would never have looked out from its depth in the greenwood, has risen into the world's regard and becomes the Mecca and Medina of many a willing pilgrim."-Old Book.

A PICTURE OF THE NEXT CENTURY." If nature, with her interminable fecundity, pours forth millions of human beings for whom there is no place on earth and no means of subsistence, what affair is that of ours, my brethren? We did not make them; we did not ask nature to make them, and it is nature's business to feed them, not yours or mine. Are we better than nature? Are we wiser? Shall we rebuke the great mother by caring for those she has abandoned? If she intended that all men should be happy, why did she not make them so? She is omnipotent. She permits evil to exist, when with a breath of her mouth she could sweep it away forever. But it is part of her scheme of life. She is indifferent to the cries of distress which rise up to her in one undying wail from the face of the universe. With stony eyes the thousand-handed goddess sits, serene and merciless, in the midst of her worshippers, like a Hindoo idol. Her skirts are wet with blood; her creation is based on destruction; her lives live only by murder. The cruel images of the pagan are truer delineations of nature than the figures which typify the impotent charity of Christendom—an exotic in the midst of an alien world."-Casar's Column.

A PICTURE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.-"My friends, if you would see men again the beasts of prey they seemed in the nineteenth century, all you have to do is to restore the old social industrial system, which taught them to view their natural prey in their fellow-men, and find their gain in the loss of others.

No doubt it seems to you that no necessity, however dire, would have tempted you to subsist on what superior skill or strength enabled you to wrest from others equally needy. But suppose it were not merely your own life that you were responsible for. I know well that there must have been many a man among our ancestors who, if it had been merely a question of his own life, would sooner have given it up than nourished it by bread snatched from others. But this he was not permitted to do.

Though a man sought it carefully with tears, it was hard to find a way in which to earn a living and provide for his family except by pressing in before some weaker rival and taking food from his mouth. Even the ministers of religion were not exempt from this cruel necessity.

It is hard to understand the desperation with which men and women, who under other conditions, would have, full of gentleness and truth, fought and tore each other in the scramble for gold, when we realize what it meant to miss it, what poverty was in that day. For the body it was hunger and thirst, torment by heat and frost, in sickness neglect, in health unremitting toil; for the moral nature it meant oppression, contempt and the patient endurance of indignity, brutish associations from infancy, the loss of all the innocence of childhood, the grace of womanhood, the dignity of manhood; for the mind it meant the death of ignorance, torpor of all those faculties which distinguish us from brutes, the reduction of life to a round of bodily functions."-Looking Backward.

Practical Hints and Examination Papers.

There is an evil under the sun: It is the vicious, rebellious boy who contaminates a school, but who is kept therein, because the generous-minded feel it a wrong to turn such a lad upon the streets to finish his education in sin. But would he not better finish it, or find his salvation in a reform school, than be allowed to pollute the fiftyfour others to whom a teacher's time and help justly belong? When the boy has passed a balance in the equation of his position, does not the public school owe the higher obligation to the fifty-four than the one? The State has provided for these cases education under a special discipline, and is the public in the wrong when it asks the guardians of such a boy to take advantage of this provision?

-There is an evil under the sun: It is the teacher who has crystallized upon his own axis, and who is jealous of all means of advancement in his profession. He never gains anything new at associations or at institutes. He would have the Normal school abolished, because its State diploma does not, forsooth, cover such experience as his. His acrimony extends to all his fellows who have attained advancement in the educational ranks, and he views all high principles advocated, or noble projects advanced, as means used only to attain personal ends.

-Here is more evidence to show the fallacy of the limited vocabulary theory. The editor of the Michigan Moderator says that a superintendent of one of our Michigan schools has been making an inventory of his six-year-old's vocabulary. The test proceeded carefully for eight months, beginning at the time the child was six years old.

This

It was found that she knew the meaning of 1,243 nouns. coincides with our own experience, says a contemporary, and we feel justified in saying that we think the extent of most children's vocabularies has been greatly underestimated by educational theorists.

QUESTIONS-ARITHMETIC.

1. Write in the Arabic notation (a) nine hundred and twelve tenthousandths; (b) a number containing seven units of the second decimal order and four of the fifth; (c) write in words the decimal required in b.

2. (a) Write an improper fraction whose denominator shall be 23, and reduce it to an integer; (b) reduce 6 qts. to the fraction of a bushel.

3. Find the prime factors of 350, 175, and 150, and from these prime factors find the least common multiple of the given numbers. 4. 5 yd. 8 in. is what fraction of 3 rods?

5. A cabinet-maker paid $27.27 for 487 feet of walnut lumber. Required the price per M.

6. A has 245 head of cattle, and B has 175 head. (a) What fractional part of the whole number has A? (b) What per cent. of the whole number has B

7. In the proportion 31: 42::? : 29.4 days, find the missing term. 8. Find the interest on $1 for 2 yrs. 5 mo. 14 da. at 5 per cent. per

annum.

9. If a dealer buy a lot of text books billed at $85.40, 25 per cent. off, terms 5 per cent. discount for cash, how much ready money will pay the bill?

10. A wood rack is 8 feet long and 3 ft. 4 in. wide. must it be to hold one cord?

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6. (a) 2. (b) 413 per cent.

7. 21.7 days.

5 × 5 × 7; 150 = 2 × 3 × 5 × 5:

8. $.122.

9. $60.85.

10. 4.8 ft., or 4 ft. 9 in.

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Every school is apt at times to become languid and listless. such times try this excercise to wake up mind and body. Have the pupils stand, open a window or two just far enough to admit an extra amount of fresh air. Call out rapidly such as: "Right hand out, left hand up. Left hand out; right hand up. Right hand up, left hand Both hands up." Have the arms extended and palms open. Give the orders quickly and positively. Occasionally repeat the same

out.

order, changing the order of statement or varying the emphasis and inflection. When this gets too easy, have the children watch you while they obey orders as before, being careful not to imitate when you fail to obey your own. If you ever played "Simon says thumbs up," you have an idea of the game. After two minutes of this waking-up process your little men and women will be in good trim for mental work.-Selected.

I send you, this month, twenty pieces of advice, which I made out for two girls just beginning their teaching in a country town. They may be of value to others in the same place. They are made by a practical teacher for young teachers, and if followed, would save many troublesome days and much weariness.

I. Let nothing prevent you from thoroughly preparing every lesson—no matter how simple-that you are to give the next day. Never go into the school-room without knowing exactly, even to details, what you are to do.

II. No matter what happens be sure you keep your temper.

III. Don't omit to visit all the families who send children to your school. Make a friendly call. Don't wait for them-and show yourself really interested in them and their children.

IV. If any trouble occurs with any child, or there is danger of any -best go and see the parents and get their co-operation.

V. Don't be in a hurry about punishing, if necessary. Waiting to think it over never does any harm.

VI. Be sure everything about your dress, desk and school-room is always in perfect order.

VII. Try and make the room attractive, so that the children will find it pleasant.

VII. Remember always that it is the best interest of the children and school-not your own that you are to work for.

IX. Be sure that you carry out exactly all the directions you give. Think well before giving them but then carry them out.

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X. You must be entirely and wholly and always just. If not, you will not command respect-and not to have that, means failure. XI. Be VERY careful in your dealings with other teachers in the Never give them occasion to think that you set yourself above Be always pleasant and friendly-you can learn from them. If you are working for the schools, there can be no jealousy-make them welcome in your rooms. Seek to know them. You can both give and get help, if you work in the right spirit.

XII. Dress perfectly-simply. Celluloid collars and cuffs will save washing, and can be always neat and clean. Dress should be plain, without much trimming. It it were not for washing, I would say, wear white aprons in school.

XIII. For arithmetic classes. Do all the examples yourself at home before the time; then you will know what you are about, and can tell where the error is. Keep ahead of your class.

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