In truth, the most charming thing about youth is the tenacity of its impressions. If we had the time and courage to study a dozen verses to day, we should probably forget eleven of them in a fortnight; but the poetry we learned as children remains, for the most part, indelibly fixed in our memories, and constitutes a little Golden Treasury of our own, more dear and valuable to us than any other collection, because it contains only our chosen favorites, and is always within the reach of reference. Once, when I was very young, I asked a girl companion-well known now in the world of literature —if she did not grow weary waiting for trains, which were always late, at the suburban station where she went to school. "Oh, no," was the cheerful reply. "If I have no book, and there is no one here to talk with, I walk up and down the platform and think over the poetry that I know." Admirable occupation for an idle minute! Even the tedium of railway traveling loses half its horrors if one can withdraw at pleasure into the society of the poets, and, soothed by their gentle and harmonious voices forget the irksome recurrence of familiar things. THE LIBRARY IN SCHOOL USE. A paper read by the editor of the Journal of Education at the meeting of the Department of Superintendence at Brook、 lyn. The school of our fathers cannot be the school of our chil student cracks one rock to advantage a thousand others have cracked a thousand rocks with the telegraph echoes the world around. No man living has money enough, brains enough, or time enough to own or use for himself the books he needs if he proposes to accomplish anything worth his while in any direction. Mr. Depew's after-dinner oratory is not famed for its grace, wit, brilliancy, or fervency as much as for the fact that he knows when to send to the libraries for the latest fact and fancy upon any thing upon which he is invited to speak. No man who is at his best ever takes the time to look up all the facts he wishes to know. As an editor I receive more than a thousand questions a year from subscribers who wish to know facts that it is easier to ask for than to search for, and 99-100 of these are answered, but the editor rarely spends his time looking them up. There are 10,000 children in the schools to-day who will earn a good living in positions in which the skillful use of libraries will be a special commendation. A school is almost a curse to a graduate if it has given him the impression that he has "learned it all"; it is little less mischievous if it has given him the idea that it has pointed out the books in which he can learn all that he needs. All the books ever written upon New England history prior to 1891 may be learned word for word, and yet we cannot "speak by the book" upon New England character unless we have read Alice Morse Earles' The Sabbath in Puritan New En dren. The facts of yesterday are scarcely worth knowing gland. No library is of service to mankind to-day over which to-day, even the discipline of to day will not meet the emergency of to morrow. It matters less what one has read than what one is reading, and even what he is reading is of less consequence than what he will read. A base line is the most useless thing in the world except for purposes of projection. School reading is practically a waste of time so far as its own value is concerned. It can never be of great service, and the chances are that all one learns from it will be worse than useless. Arithmetic, despite its eminent abuse, is about the only thing that the child learns, that he knows that he will not have to unlearn. Dates, whose abuse is the delight of "reformers," are the only things in history that one can place much confidence in. They have an arithmetical flavor The only things that Irving really knew about Columbus were the dates of sailing and discovery. Think of the multitudes that read Irving's "Columbus" and died before the days of Winsor It would have saved us all a deal of trouble and some humiliation if we had either died before Winsor or had not been born until now. In my teaching days there was no language sufficiently expressive of the superior value of the facts of science. Thirty six of the latest and best works in chemistry adorned my li brary regardless of expense. The same was true "for substance of doctrine" of botany, zoology, natural philosophy, and astronomy. Those were not absolutely ancient days and yet so far as I can judge, about the only thing I taught that both pupil and teacher have not had to unlearn is the mathe matics and these sciences. Only as the pupils learned the importance of reading upon the subjects taught; only as they learned that it was as important to read the tick of the telegraph wire as the crack of a geological hammer, did I do them service. While one or in which, there is not an expert who knows what book, and almost the page of the book, that lends the latest artistic touch to every fact in history, science, literature, art, and invention. It was worth while yesterday to get enthusiastic over the telephone that used its "poky old wire," but to-day it is a waste of time; we need our wits and time for the understanding of Edison's latest, by means of which his instrument speaks into the heavens, and may be caught from the air by any one who has the companion instrument within a range of It was all right to admire the phonograph yesfifty miles. terday, and the phonographic-telephone this morning, but now, nothing less than Edison's photographic-telephonic-telegraph is worthy our attention. The school has as one of its highest missions the teaching of its graduates how to know the how of every latest important thing in his own field so as to make the most of himself, through the best ef everything, for the greatest good of the greatest number for the longest time. This is only possible when a large part of the time and effort of the school is given to teaching the art of acquiring a taste for the best, and only the best, in the classic classics, in scientific science, in artistic art, and ingenious invention. Teach a child where to go for a book, what book to get when he gets there, when and where to open it, and when to close it. The "final" is as vital as the initial in the use of books. The teacher must know and teach the alpha and omega of the library problem. If the teacher is not equal to this thing no one is. The teacher of yesterday did the work of that day well; the teacher of to morrow will be ready for the day and its demands. New necessities, new books, new libraries, new librarians, will be utilized by the teachers of to-morrow. Sufficient unto the day is the privilege thereof. PENMANSHIP. PROF. D. C. MURPHY, PENNSYLVANIA. The subject of Penmanship is one that should engage the attention of every person engaged in the profession of teaching. Every live teacher should make a study of it as it is an art and practiced by the mass of people in transacting the business of life. While it is important that every man and woman should be able to write his or her own name, it is of absolute importance that the teacher should be educated in the science and art of Penmanship. As an art we must master the subject in detail before we can make it a fit instrument for the expression of thought. No art has more pupils and fewer masters than Penmanship. It is almost the only art reduced to practice in the public schools and there is no subject more widely criticised yet fortunately none more highly valued by the masses of people. The small child likes to write because it gives him something to do, and his first writing is truly something wonderful to him. There is a peculiar fascination to the child in the very idea of being able to express his thoughts on paper. The art of writing is appreciated by people in general for its usefulness and to no small number for its beauty as a full art. So important a medium of thought cannot properly be outranked by any art or science taught in the schoolroom. Yet the neligent manner in which this valuable subject is frequently taught calls for more than a passing notice. Teachers allow their attention to be diverted from the writing, or to be divided between teaching and some other study. The first steps in the practice of writing are very important since the force of bad habits contracted in primary classes will not only embarass the pupil throughout his entire career but may effectually prevent him from ever becoming a good penman. So in order to make writing a facile instrument to the child his earliest efforts should be directed to the simplest parts of processes of letter-making. The science of Penmanship takes the letters apart and says to the child "You can easily learn to make these simple parts, when you can do that you will have learned to make the letters." In order to make Penmanship interesting we must not only give them a chance to practice writing frequently but we must create in the mind of the child a good idea of the forms of letters. When pupils once gain an idea of the letters, their form, construction and elementary parts, it gives life to their practice and writing becomes a pleasure rather than a task. Writing should not be done in a haphazzard way. Sydney Smith was sufficiently conscious of at least one of his faults. He once said, "My writing is as if a swarm of ants escaped from an ink bottle and had walked on a sheet of paper without wiping their feet." It was no credit to Horace Greely that there was but one man in the United States who could read his manuscript. It is said that Greely once discharged his foreman in writing The foreman, carried the document to another city and offered it as a recommendation. The editor of the paper to whom he applied being unable to read what Greely had intended for the "discharge" of the man employed him, thinking that any one whom Greely would recommend would make a faithful employee. If we could only realize the amount of time and energy spent over poor writing, we could appreciate in some degree the importance of good instruction in this branch. A college student who was reproved for his bad writing,said, "It is well enough to tell me of my faults in writing, but if I write better people would find out how poorly I spell." So we find people trying to cover one brand of ignorance by using another. Poor writing in almost every case is traceable directly to early neglect in the first lessons in holding the pen or the posit ion at the desk. The careless habits of pupils in this branch go uncorrected by the teacher. Position and Pen Holding are the most trying parts to teachers in a writing exercise, and to induce forty pupils whose physicial organizations are as varied as their numbers to sit in the same position and to hold their pens the same way requires great care and judgment on the part of the teacher. Ye we must bear in mind that with all this diversity of natures white the muscles are elastic and pliant the pupils can much more readily be trained in correct habits of pen holding. had felt at finding the name of the little boy in 'Ole Shut Eye' the same as my own, and that half unconsoiously I had appropriated his experiences and half believed them to be my own. "This little confession seemed to have touched Andersen strangely. Tears filled his eyes; he seized both my hands and pressed them warmly. "Now you understand,' he said, 'what a happy lot it is to be the children's poet.' "I rose to take my leave, but lingered talking; and on my expressing a desire to hear him read, he half rose upon his sofa, adjusted his pillows, and began to recite from memory "The Ugly Duckling.' "His manner was easy and conversational, full of caressing inflections, such as one employs in telling a tale to a child. In the pathetic passages he was visibly affected, and he closed almost solemnly. 'It is the story of my own life,' he said. 'I was myself the despised swan in the poultry yard, the poet in the house of the Philistines.' I felt suddenly as he finished his recital, that I understood the man. I had caught the keynote of his character. All that was good and noble in him rose in vivid Too many teachers labor under the erroneous impression that imitating the copy in writing is all that is necessary and that once the pupils are set to work in the writing exercise they can be left alone, but such unguided practice is not pro- light before me. I never saw him again. ductive of good. The writing period needs extra exertion on the part of the teacher to relieve it of the monotony which is apt to creep into it. The first requisite in any employment requiring the use of implements is a full knowledge of their capabilities and uses. Good materials are essential in order that children do good work in writing. Some penmen claim that they can "write with anything." It matters little to them whether it be good or bad pen. a Poor writing has brought about many complications in the business world, as the following will show. A merchant in Baltimore wrote an order to a business firm in New Orleans asking them to send him "100 boxes of collars." He was greatly surprised a few days later to receive "100 bales of cotton." He protested saying he "gave no such order." He lost in a lawsuit, for neither judge, bar, witnesses or jury could make anything else out of it but "100 bales of cotton." Another merchant wrote to the Indies for a lot of "Mangoes" and received by a return vessel a lot of "Monkeys." These complications grew out of poor or careless Penmanship. A pen when in the proper position and wielded by the hand of a master is an implement capable of producing an endless gradation of the smoothest and most graceful curves. Or in the words of Spencer: "Let the pen glide like a gentle rolling stream HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. From a paper on Hans Christian Andersen by Prof. Hjlamar H. Boyesen, in the March Century, we quote as follows: "The conversation then turned upon his writings, and I told him how his stories had been the dearest books of my childhood, and seemed associated with all that was delightful n the memory of it. I told him how happy and flattered I INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. (From PAYNE'S SCIENCE AND ART OF EDUCATION.") Let us consider the relation of the educator to the intellectual education of his pupils. However willing he may be to repudiate his responsibity for the training of their bodies, he cannot deny his responsibility for the training of their minds. Here Dr. Youmans' words apply with especial force-"A knowledge of the being to be trained, as it is the basis of intelligent culture must be the first necessity of the teacher," and few perhaps will venture to argue against those that follow: "Education," he says, "is an art like locomotion,mining, and bleaching, which may be pursued empiracally or rationally-as a blind habit, or under intelligent guidance, and the relation of science to it are precisely the same as The educator of the mind ought to be acquainted with its phenomena and its natural operations; he ought to know what the mind does when it perceives, remembers, judges, etc., as well as the general laws which govern these processes. He sees these processes in action continually in his pupils, and has thus abundant opportunities of studying them objectively. He is conscious of them, too, in his own intellectual life, and there may study them subjectively; but the investigation, thus limited, is confessedly difficult, and will be much facilitated by his making an independent study of them as embodied in the science of psychology or mental philosophy. This science deals with everything which belongs to the art which he is daily practicing, will explain to him some matters which he has found difficult, will open his eyes to others which he has failed to see, will suggest to him the importance of truths which he has hitherto deemed valueless; and, in short, the mastery of it will endow him with a power of which he will constantly feel the influence in his practice. His pupils are continually engaged in observing outward objects, ascertaining their nature by analysis, comparing them gaining mental conceptions of them, recalling these conceptions, inventing new combinations of them, generalizing by inductions from particulars, verifying these generalizations by deduction to particulars, tracing effects to causes and causes to effects. Now, every one of these acts forms a part of the daily mental life of the pupils whom the educator is to train. Will not the educator, who understands them as a part of his science, be more competent to direct them to profitable action than one who merely recognizes them as a part of his empirical routine? Suppose that the object is to cultivate the power of observation. Now, the power of observation may vary in accuracy from the careless glance which leaves scarcely any impression behind it, to the close penetrating scrutiny of the experienced observer, which leaves nothing unseen. Mr. J. S. Mill has pointed out the difference between observers. "One man," he says, "from inattention, or attending in the wrong place, overlooks half of what he sees; another sets down much more than he sees, confounding it with what he imagines, or with what he infers, another takes note of the kind of all the circumstances, but, being inexpert in estimat ing their degree, leaves the quality of each vague and uncers tain; another sees indeed the whole, but makes such awkward division of it into parts, throwing things into one mass which might more conveniently be considered as one, that the result is much the same, sometimes even worse, than if no analysis had been attempted at all. To point out, he proceeds, "what qualities of mind, or modes of mental culture, fit a man for being a good observer, is a question which belongs to the theory of education. There are rules of self-cul ture which render us capable of observing, as there are arts for strengthening th limbs." But to return to our educator, who, having been educated himself in mental science, desires to make his pupils good ob servers. He recognizes the fact that, to make them observe accurately, he must first cultivate the senses concerned in observing; he must train the natural eye to see, that is, to per ceive accurately-by no means an instinctive faculty; for this he must cultivate the power of attention; he must lead them to perceive the parts in the whole, the whole in the parts, of the object observed, calling on the analytical faculty for the first operation, the synthetical for the second; he must invite comparison with other like and unlike odjects, for the detection of difference in the one case, and of similarity in the other, and so on. Is it probable that the teacher entirely ignorant of the science of psychology, and the educator furnished with its resources, will make their respective pupils equally accurate observers? It would not be difficult to show that a knowledge of logic as "the science of reasoning," or of the formal laws of thought should also be a part of the equipment of the accomplished educator. The power of reasoning is a natural endowment of his pupils; but the power of correct reasoning, like that of observing, requires training and cultivation, "NOT DOWN SOUTH," NEITHER. Here are two suggestive facts. On Jan. 22, Miss McLaughlin, teacher in Lima, Ohio, punished three pupils, 12 to 17 years old, for misdemeanor. They attacked her so violently that her recovery is doubtful, and when her brother Frank, twelve years old, interferred to defend her they turned upon him and beat him so severely that he died.-Just before New Year's Maggie Harrigan, who had been discharged for insubordination from her position as teacher in Peoria, Ill., walked up behind Supt. Dougherty and fired two pistol shots at him, one of which pierced his right ear.- -School Bulletin. HONORARY DEGREES What are college degrees, and for what purpose were they instituted? The true and most natural answer is, they are rewards of merit, incentives to study, and certificates of proficiency. At first, one who had a degree affixed to his name was accepted as a scholar. He did not have to prove himself one. He was so held until he proved himself not one, and this was a great benefit to a young man just beginning his profession. But from the action of some boards of trustees, it seems that the real meaning and purpose of degrees has been forgotten, if we judge from the number of honorary degrees annually conferred. They seem to have lost sight of the fact that the scarcer an article, the more precious it becomes, and on account of their carelessness in conferring them, degrees have to a great extent lost their significance. But the boards are not to be severely censured, for they are merely following a custom which arose when our colleges were young, and a general education was saught instead of a special one. Then it was right that an Alma Mater should recognize the worth of an old graduate by honoring him with a degree. No one thought of devoting several years at college in the pursuit of some special study after he had obtained his graduate degree. These honorary degrees were naturally a benefit to an alumnus and to his Alma Mater. But, in justice to the institution and the recipients, conservatism should have ruled. But instead, the real purpose. was forgotten, and success, and not merit, was recognized as the basis on which to confer them. They were conferred on some whose names are not to be found on any college register, and on many who had not taken a graduate degree. A minister has only to preach two or three "big sermons" and be appointed to some important station to obtain a D.D. A teacher has to be elected principal of some school with an attendance of twenty five or thirty pupils and in two or three years he will hove the honor of affixing "A. M." to his name, though he may not have taught in a class higher than Freshman.-B. H. Mitchell, in Trinity MORE DON'TS. Goldthwaite's Magazine makes the hackneyed "Don't" a vehicle for some excellent geographical suggestions in the following article: Don't say or write Austro-Hungary. The best writers prefer Austria-Hungary. Don't call the Chinese "Mongolians." It is better to reserue the latter name for the people who live north of China proper. a Don't speak of a native of China as Chinaman. You would not say that you had an Ireland man digging in your garden. It is better to call John a Chinese. Don't, please don't, say that New York City is located on Say New Don't speak of China as our Antipodes. Our Antipodes is the point on the other side of the world reached by a straight line passing through the place on which we stand and the center of the earth. Our antipodes is the ocean southwest of Australia. Don't forget that Oriental names ending in "an" have the accent invariably on the last syllable, as Teheran, Belooch is tan. Don't imagine that the spelling of geographical names in the newspapers is necessarily accurate. It is safe to say that one half of the place names in Africa and Asia, as they pear in our daily press, are mangled almost beyond recognition by the cable or the types. ap speaks of the "inky-blackness" of the nights he experienced there. Of course anybody ought to know that the month of January is the height of the Antartic summer, and the entire month is one continuous day. REFORM IN WOMAN'S DRESS. GRACE DANFORTH, M. D. In every boarding school for girls, there should be a female. physician to teach them the principles violated in the present mode of dress. Not any especial system of dress reform, but principles involved in the anatomical and physiological con. struction of the human body, and a generation of women so educated would cast aside their present costume as a locust does its outgrown shell. At present. to the masses, any alteration in woman's dress means adopting man's attire. Educated women know better, and out of the elements of present fashion women of the future will envolve a costume vastly superior to man's in point f beauty and utility. The lesson of fifty years ago is still remembered, and oman's growth in hygenic law is expressed in garments not open to public criti. cism. The union suit is gaining in favor, as close fitting garments are light and warm, while skirts with tight bands about the waist, which afford a maximum of weight to minimum of warmth, are growing less in number and volume. The corset, which originated to emphasize female virtue, is being replaced by waists of various kinds, which admit of free motion and do not compress the vitals. Dresses are being made more and more to hang from the shoulders. Realizing the Don't call Bermuda "a North American Island" as a wri- necessity for better dress, the ladies interested in the World's ter in a New York newspaper did the other day. There are plenty of North American islands, but Bermuda is not one of them. It is an oceanic, not a continental island, Don't be mystified if on one map in your atlas Hudson Bay seems to be larger than the Gulf of Mexico, while on another sheet of the same atlas the Gulf of Mexico appears larger than Hudson Bay. The apparent discrepancy is due to the different map projections employed. You know, for instance, that areas far removed from the equator are much exaggerated as they appear on maps of the Mercator projection. very Don't say the compass points to the true North, for it does not except iu certain places. The compass points to the magnetic north, which is at present considerably west of the North Pole. When Lieut. Greely was at Lady Franklin Bay, the declination of his needle was found to be very great, the needle pointing toward the magnetic pole in a direction nearly southwest. Don't make the mistake some people do of thinking the word "alluvium" to be synonymous with "soil." One of those soils which is the result of the deposition of sediment by running water can properly be called alluvial soils. Don't for mercy's sake, say "The Smithsonian Institute." The name is The Smithsonian Institution. When you are writing a novel don't get your geographical facts so badly mixed as to reflect discredit upon your early training. In one of the dopular novels of the day the Azores are referred to as in a southern latitude. The writer also in troduces his hero into the Antartic regions in January, and Fair, are planning a business suit for officers that will enable them to discharge their duties better than they possibly can in tight waists, long skirts and uncomfortable shoes. It is idle to talk to women who do not think, and merely accept the world as they find it. The work, like every other reform, must begin in the school room. A properly educated generation of mothers will never raise their daughters so poorly that their health will break under nature's effort to develop womanhood, and their life strings snap under the ordeal of motherhood. Trained nurses will be a potent factor for dis seminating principles of hygiene, but intelligent instruction in the school-room will aid both physician and nurse. - Texas Sanitarian. |