HIGH SCHOOL VS. COLLEGE EDUCATION.

SUPT. J. M. GREENWOOD, KANSAS CITY.

A good high school education is a liberal education in itself, and in my opinion the best general instruction given to American youth today is in the high school. This does not go to say that high school teachers are better scholars or more learned than college or university men, but as a class they are better teachers, because their methods are modernized and they study the subject of education more carefully and a great deal more thoroughly. I am speaking of averages. Of course, there are some college and university men who are superior teachers, but they are the exceptions. Some of the poorest instruction I ever saw was in institutions whose fame is heralded from one end of the continent to the other. This is not a matter of great astonishment when it is remembered that only a few college and university presidents and professors ever attend educational meetings. Notwithstanding this stricture the American high school has its distinctive place in our system of education-its function, so to speak.-Educational News.

WALT WHITMAN.

The death of Walt Whitman removes one of the quaintest characters in American literature. School teacher, printer, editor, poet, he journeyed on foot all over the United States and Canada, studying men and things. His chief work, "Leaves of Grass," exhibited an abrupt departure in the methods of metrical composition, his peculiar style being a cross between rhythmical prose and verse. His poem elicited a storm of hostile criticism, but the author was quite as warmly defended by writers who looked upon his work as a monument that would stand for generations. Whitman served as a volunteer nurse during the war, and subsequently filled a clerkship at Washington. Despite the eccentricities of his genius he had many extravagant admirers in the eminent literary circles of England as well as this country.-Chicago Graphic.

NOT A TEACHER IN PUBLIC.

A lady school teacher in Boston, who is rather proud of her profession than the reverse, is not pleased at having her Not occupation thrust forward when she meets strangers. long ago, at a reception, the hostess regularly mentioned her occupation in introducing her.

At length the hostess presented a young man, adding to the introduction, as usual, "Miss Faneuil is one of our school teachers."

The gentleman bowed, but Miss Faneuil said:

"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Allen, but I did not catch what the gentleman,s business is."

"What his business is?" repeated the hostess, in perplexity. "Yes," Miss Faneuil said. "I thought it only right that this acquaintance should start fair, and as you told him my employment, it seemed only fair that I should know his."

The point was understood and taken good naturedly, but the teacher was no longer introduced in her professional capacity. Youths' Companion.

FOUNDER'S DAY IN NEW ORLEANS.

The public school children of New Orleans celebrated "Founder's Day" May 6, in memory of John McDonough, the miser-millionaire of New Orleans, who, misunderstood and scorned, practiced self denial all his life and at last made the magnificent bequest of the public school buildings to the city. All that he asked in return was that "the children of the public schools should come once a year and plant and water a few flowers above his grave." The exercises in observance of the day were elaborate and embraced the entire city, which claims twenty eight handsome McDonough schools representing $1,000,000 in value. In all the schools collec tions were taken up for the purpose of erecting a public testimonial in the shape of a monument to the great school benefactor.-School Journal.

BE OBSERVANT.

Girls, when you are drying the dishes to night look on the backs of the plates and tell us to-morrow where your dishes were made and by whom made.

Where were your brooms made?

Look into your clock and find where it came from.

While you are warming your feet, just find out where the stove was made.

Your boots, where did they come from?

Boys, look about the barn, examine pitchforks, rakes, mowers, binders, cutting boxes, and find where they were manufactured.

Coal, oil, salt-what country sends them to you?— Canada Educational Journal.

MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON.

A few years ago the location of these mountains was con tinually shifted by the geographers, for the simple reason that the interior of Africa had not been explored and the attempt to locate them was mostly guesswork. Stanley was the first to explore the Mountains of the Moon. They lie between

the Albert Edward Nyanza and the Victoria Nyanza. On his first march to the Albert Nyanza Stanley saw the peaks of this mountain range in the distance. To some of them of peculiar conformation he gave names, calling them Mount Gordon Bennett, Mount Edwin Arnold, and Mount Lawson. He prefers, however, to keep the native name for the loftiest peak of all, Mount Ruwenzori, which means the "Cloud King." In June, 1889. the expedition having marched southward through the valley of one of its tributaries, the Awamba, advanced to the very foot of the mighty mountains. His second in command, Lieutenant Stairs, attempted an ascent of the Ruwenzori, and actually reached a height of 10,678 feet above the level of the sea. A peculiarity to be observed in this range is the intense depth of the ravines or gullies between the spurs of the hills. Though the streams start from almost the summit, still they have very little fall, comparatively, as their channels appear to be cut right into the heart of the mountains. In some places the ravines down which these streams flow are quite 6,000 or 7,000 feet deep. The School Journal.

THE CONVICT'S BABY.

Early yesterday morning a knock was heard at the big door of the Fulton County jail. Jailer Miller opened the door

and a ragged man came in. There was a haggard look on the fellow's face. It was Jim Wessen, the moonshiner, who escaped from the Fulton County jail a week ago to go home to see his sick baby. "I'm sorry, Mr. Miller," he said in a broken voice, "I hope you and Cap'n Morrow don't care, but I heared the baby-" He stopped a moment until his lip quit quivering so, and went on: "I heared the baby was sick, an' I thought about wife watchin' of it at home, and I just had to go. I was sorry, an' I wrote you I'd come back; an' I done it. They done buried the baby, an' I come back, an' I hope you ain't mad."

Captain Miller did not-could not utter a word of reproach. "I'm glad you have come back, Jim," he said.Atlanta Constitution.

TEACHING THE DEAF AND DUMB.

Much interest is being taken in the training of deaf and dumb children to articulate by the new method of lip-reading. The child places its hand on the teacher's throat and on its own, in order to feel the movements of the vocal chords that produce the sounds it cannot hear. It is then taught to imitate these movements of tongue and lips as nearly as possible. After a little practice the sounds which are at first unintelligible becomes easy to understand. In this way they are taught, first the vowels and consonants and then the words. In time they learn to accurately distinguish what is said by the movement of the lips of those speaking, and also to speak. They are still deaf, but not dumb, and then deafness is not so hard to bear.-Louisville Courier-Journal.

OBSERVANCE OF COLUMBUS DAY.

The proposal that the public schools of America lead in the commemoration of Columbus Day is one of the most sensible suggestions that has been made for appropriately marking the four hundredth anniversary of our existence as the American race. There is an especial fitness in giving this prominence to the American public school. There are many reasons why every friend of free education should aid in making the Columbus Day exercises a marked success. The day will be put to the highest educational use if the school children in every section of the country can be simultaneously commemorating the greatest event in secular history.

The dedication of the Exposition buildings and grounds will be an event of great significance. But it is not sufficient that this four hundredth anniversary be allowed to pass with an observance of merely local scope. The discovery of the New World broadened immeasurably the horizon of men and nations. Its effect was far-reaching, the whole order of European destiny being transformed by it. It should be celebrated by a demonstration of equal extensiveness.

DELSARTEANISM.

She bendeth low! She kicketh high!

She swayeth gently to and fro, She treadeth only on her toe; And when I asked the reason why, The lissome maiden doth reply: "Dear Edmund Russell doeth so." "And who may Edmund Russell be ?” 'Tis thus I catechize her.

She looketh in amaze on me:

She saith, "In truth I pity thee !"
She crieth, "Shame to thee; why, sir,
The high priest of Delsarte is he;
A type of wan flaccidity.
Our dear devitalizer!"

She fluttereth her wrists
Just like that matchless man :
She battereth her fists,
She doeth wondrous twists,
Though I don't see how she can.
She whirls and spins; insists
She likes it, till vague mists
Swim round her, and she's wan:
Just like that prince of priests,
The pale Delsartean.

- Buffalo Courier.

THE ART OF FINDING FAULT.

Three times out of four fault-finding is merely an expression of impatience, writes Li'ian Freeman Clarke in the June Ladies' Home Journal, and the only good it does is to relieve the irritable feeling caused by the carelessness, stupidity or other defects of those with whom we have daily intercourse. To begin with, on every occasion where there is no reasonable hope of doing good by fault-finding, seal your lips as with a bar of iron.

MAN AS A TEACHER.

BY HENRY L. BOLTWOOD.

There are masculine and feminine elements to be recognized in every human being. No parent desires that his son shall have none but girls for his companions, however excellent the girls may be. No mother wishes her daughter to have none but boys for her playmates and associates. Outside the schoolroom the quality of sex is recognized as a thing to be considered and provided for; but in the school, in the formative period of character, the youth are left together or almost to the influence of one sex. It is tacitly assumed that women are more moral than men; hence, more likely to im press their own character upon pupils. Much is said of the healthful influence of an educated woman upon lads of a certain age. Admitting this as a matter of course, it may be said with equal truth that it is an excellent thing for girls of a certain age, and especially for those whose social advantages are small, to come under the influence of an educated and cultured man, whose age and position give him the right to say plain things, and who often will be so far superior to those men whom they have known and with whom they associate that they will gain their first conception of genuine manliness through him. But as far as the boys are concerned, a man can generally do more for them in many directions than a woman can possibly do. A man of the right sort sympathizes more fully with a boy's feelings, temptations and enthusiasms than most women ever can. He can mingle with them on the playground and in their out-of-door life." He may be their leader in athletic sports and in other matters dear to a boy's heart, and thus teach them manliness and self control in everything.

So long as mixed schools exist, it is self-evident that if the building of character be left exclusively in the hands of either sex it will be deficient or one-sided. Our best female colleges wisely do not exclude men from their faculties, either as teachers or lecturers. They recognize a masculine quality in teaching that is different from feminine; not necessarily superior, but required as a complement. If colleges dealing with comparatively mature and already well balanced minds recognize the need of masculine aid, how much more is it needed for the less mature pupils of our public schools! -Chicago Herald.

POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS.

In

While the United States is in the first stages of a political campaign that promises to be one of exceptional bitterness, nearly every country in Europe is similarly situated. England the issue is still doubtful, although the Conservatives are more confident of victory than they were before the speech of Lord Salisbury in favor of protection. In Germany both the National Liberal and the Freisinnige parties have been holding conventions, the former at Eisenach, the latter at Mannheim. Among the topics discussed by the prominent political leaders from all parts of the Empire were universal suffrage for Prussia and certain electoral reforms. In italy, the issue is the maintenance of the present relations wtih the Triple Alliance and the reform of taxation. -The Chicago Graphic.

PRESIDENTS AS SCHOOL TEACHERS.

It is asserted by some biographers that Andrew Jackson taught a country school for a term or two before he entered the army, but the statement is doubted by others, there being no conclusive evidence on the subject. Millard Fillmore, when eighteen years of age, taught a country school for a term, and subsequently, while carrying on the study of law, he taught for four successive winters to secure means to enable him to continue his studies. Franklin Pierce also taught a country school for three months during the second or third year of his college course-not because he needed the money for his studies, as Fillmore did, since his father, Benjamin Pierce, of Hillsborough, N. H., was a well-to-do farmer, and willing to supply his son's necessary expenses at college. But young Pierce took the school, partly because the wages offered-$13 a month-would give him a supply of pocket money, not in those frugal days to be despised. Jas. A. Garfield was a teacher, as every one knows, beginning his work in that line in a country school during the winter of 1849 50, after his first term in the seminary at Chester. He taught classes at Hiram College, during his student course there, and after taking an additional course at Williams College, he became a professor in the Hiram institution. The next year, 1857, at the age of twenty-six, be was made president of this college, which position he held until he entered the army in 1861. Chester A. Arthur supported himself in part during his college course by teaching, and after his graduation continued in that occupation several years, meanwhile devoting himself to the study of law. Grover Cleveland also taught for a time, becoming in his seventeenth year a clerk and assistant teacher in the New York Institution for the Blind, in New York City, in which his elder brother, William Cleveland, was a teacher. He held that position nearly two years.

Inter-Ocean.

A HAIR TURNED THE SCALE.

"As fine as a hair" could well be the praise accorded the wonderfully delicate weight tester for coins at the mint. As the coins run down into it through the long spout, the tester needs to balance them but for an instant, immediately shoot ing those that are not found wanting into the expectant and open mouthed sack at the end of a lower spout. If too light they are tossed out through another spout, and if too heavy through a third one. Not long ago an astonishingly large number of coins were tossed into the "too heavy" spout. Surprised at this unusual rejection of so great a load of the silver pieces, investigation was made and it was found that a single tiny hair caught in the scales had made overweight for every coin passed through.-Philadelphia Record

One of the most useful small terriers we have heard of is one which helps an English electric light company to carry wires through the pipes laid underground. The terrier has been so trained that when a light cord is attached to him he runs through the conduit from one manhole to the next, dragging the cord with him. After each performance he is treated to some favorite morsel, and he has thus come to consider his work a pleasure. -Our Animal Friends.

RECREATION IN SCHOOL.

During the physical exercises in a school visited a few months ago, the teacher said to the children, "You may be babies, and I'll see you grow."

In a moment every child stooped until but a few inches from the floor; then, as the teacher said, "Now you may grow tall," they gradually raised themselves until each one was repeated several times.

The teacher then said, "Play you are in an orchard under an apple tree. What kind of apples can you see on the tree,

Tommy?"

"I can see big green ones, with red stripes on them," answered Tommy, as he looked critically at the school room wall.

"Play you have a basket on the desk, and fill it with apples," said the teacher, and the next moment the eager children were standing on the tips of their toes, and their tiny hands were reaching for imaginary apples, to fill an imaginary basket.

It was a play they all seemed to enjoy, and it called into action all the muscles in their bodies.

Again the teacher said, "We will play it is snowing very hard. What do you like to do when it snows?"

Thick and fast came the answers, "Slide!" "Coast," "Make snowballs!"

"There is harly room enough here to coast," said the teacher, smiling, "but you may make some snowballs if you wish."

"Make them round and hard," she added, as the children filled their hands with imaginary snow.

"What do your balls look like?" she asked after a moment's pause, during which time the children worked as busily as though the snow were real.

"Like spheres," was the answer.

When they had seemingly made quite a pile of them, she said, "Jimmy, take your balls, and stand by my desk."

Jimmy, smiling, came to the desk apparently carrying an armful of snowballs.

"Now," said the teacher, "you may all throw a ball at Jimmy, and he may throw one at any one of you."

"Be sure you hit him. Now!" Every hand was in the air, and the imaginary balls were thrown with such accuracy that, had they been real, Jimmy must soon have been buried beneath them.

And now the fun increased as the balls were thrown first at one point and then at another designated by the teacher, until a touch of the bell sent them to their seats, smiling, panting and happy.-Lizzie M. Hadley, in Ohio Educational Monthly.

The old "Parliamentary Oak," Clipstone Park, England, is believed to be 1,500 years old. The tallest oak in that country, called the "Duke's Walking Stick," is higher than the spire of Westminster Abbey, and the largest is the "Cowthorpie," which now measures seventy eight feet in circumference, and, at one time, with its branches, covered more than an acre of space.-Public Opinion.

At the Ohio State University one young lady is taking a course in electrical engineering. She is a sophomore and has made an excellent record in her studies.

SCRATCH A TOAD'S BACK.

Toads are a valuable acquisition to a greenhouse, for they are always ready and pleased to dispose of a bug or a beetle, and their sudden darts invariably bring down their prey. They can be easily tamed, and, when once they find out that no harm is intended them, their friendliness is extreme. There are few things more amusing than to watch a toad submitting to the operation of a back-scratching. He will

at first look somewhat suspiciously at the twig which you are advancing toward him. But after two or three passes down his back his manner undergoes a marked change; his eyes close with an expression of infinite rapture, he plants his feet wider apart and his body swells out to nearly double its ordinary size, as if to obtain by these means more room for enjoyment. Thus he will remain until you make some sudden movement which startles him, or until he has had as much petting as he wants, when, with a puff of regretful delight, he will reduce himself to his usual dimensions and hop away, bent once more on the pleasures of the chase.-Our Dumb Animals.

The forces behind William II are such as have never been cultivated in Russia, whose czar lives in hourly dread of assassination, whose people are so many items of an official budget, so many units in a military report. The German emperor walks about the streets of his towns as fearlessly and naturally as any other man, although the life of his grandfather was twice attempted. One day in November of 1890 he was walking through the narrow and crowded streets of a city not far from Berlin. The sidewalks were narrow, and, as the emperor is a fast walker, he frequently had to step out into the street to pass other pedestrians, and especially clusters of people who stopped for a chat. His companion, who had been in Russia, was struck by the democratic manner in which the emperor rubbed in and out among porters, fishwives, peasants and the rest of the moving crowd, chatting the while and acting as though this was his usual mar.ner of getting about. He was struck still more by the fact that no precautions against a possible murderous fanatic appeared to have been taken and ventured to speak of this. The emperor laughed heartily and said: “Oh, if I had to stop to think of such things I should never get through my day's work."-Poultney Bigelow, in the May Century.

HAMILTON COUNTY IMPROVEMENTS.

Twenty-eight school houses, of from one to six rooms each, have been built in the county since January 1887, and thirty-eight schools supplied with improved desks. Can any other county in Tennessee show such a record?-Southern Teacher.

Those who are striving merely for approval may be cast down; those who care only for the prizes of life may be disappointed; but the delight which is taken in the effort for excellence can never be shaken while the effort continues. The consciousness of earnest effort, the knowledge that we are doing our best, is a joy which no envious tongue, no bitter criticism, can banish.—Insurance Economist.

TEACHING HISTORY.

BELLE ANDERSON.

Children of the grammar grades may be taught a great deal about historical persons by frequent ten-minute talks. Though often familiar with names of eminent personages they have very faint ideas as to the reasons these same personages were or are famous.

I will describe the mode of conducting one of these "talks." The subject was Joan of Arc. A full page picture of the Maid, cut from an illustrated paper, was exhibited in the schoolroom on Friday.

The appearance of the picture immediately attracted attention, and a warm discussion arose. Some declared that it represented a man, others knew the long hair proved it to be a woman, some thought the fierce look indicated bravery, others thought only insanity could be conveyed by that expression. The armor was strange to a number who had not access to books, and the teacher gave a little talk during the The name at day on different kinds of armor and its use. the bottom of the picture, Jean d'Arc, also required some explanation.

All day Monday following the interest in the picture did not flag.

Tuesday noon the teacher told the story to the school, ing them in the pronunciation and meaning of such words as Rouen, Domremy, etc.

On Friday the children were asked to tell the story, which they did with all the details. One very little fellow remembered and gave the name of the saint whose sword was carried by Joan.

At another time Longfellow was the subject, and for review the pupils gave not only the story of his life, but recited in conflert some of his choicest selections.

There seemed to be no difference in quality or amount of interest expressed by the children in these two very dissimilar characters.-Colorado School Journal.

A danger that seems peculiar to this country is school mechanism. We keep the best order in the world; children probably never sat so still before in any country, yet the nature of the American child is activity itself. No country

but England lays such stress upon marks, and perhaps nowhere is so much text book recitation done. The weak point of our American schools, I am convinced, is that our teachers do not lead, command, inspire their classes; they do not put their best energies into the actual work of class teaching nor keep their pupils as eager and active minded as in the best European schools. We have fallen in love with the monotonous rows of the nursery till we are losing taste for the free growth of the forest. We overestimate the relative value of general information. Thus our schools are helpless in the presence of talent or even superior children; not recognizing or not knowing how to deal with individuality, ability is often sterilized, bright children are made commonplace, and our schools, from one end of the country to the other, are far more alike than in any other land and far less individualized. -G. Stanley Hall.

nets.

A QUARTZ CAVE.

The quartz cave in the side of Mount Stephen, in British Columbia, is said to have been almost entirely rifled of its contents by tourists and dealers. It should have been preserved in its integrity as a natural curiosity. It may be com、 pared to an immense geode, for the roof and walls were covered with fine large crystals, equal in transparency and size to those of Ellenville, that are to be found in the older cabiThis magnificent peak, one of the most stupendous in form and bulk and steepness on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, has other treasures in its rocky heart. On one side is a mine that yields silver and lead, and in the gray strata that line its castellated front is such a mass of fossil trilobites as can be found nowhere else on earth. These fossils are flattened in clay state that is fragile. As the mountain has never been climbed much higher than the timber line, is is impossible to say what else may eventually be se cured there. Minerals.

There is in the city of Pittsburg, Pa., quite a big bakery. There is nothing remarkable in this fact of itself, for other cities have big bakeries. The particular establishment in question, however, took pains last year to make a record of the materials used during the twelve months, and some of the figures which are presented are quite remarkable in their magnitude. For instance, in the item of eggs alone, 1,985,ooo were required to meet the demands-a number which would quite appall even the most industrious old "biddle" that ever cackled in triumph over her latest and freshest production. In the department of fine cake this bakery used over five tons of the highest grade creamery butter within the space of four months. It also consumed the entire milk and cream production of the largest herd of thoroughbred Holstein cows in the State, that of the Clover Crest Dairy Farm in Washington county.-Good Housekeeping.

GEORGIA TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.

The Georgia Teachers' Association meets at Atlanta July 4-6. An interesting program has been arranged for the daily morning and afternoon sessions.

The executive officers, and the council of education will have their headquarters at the Kimball House. The local committees will transact their business at the Capitol, where all sessions of the general association will be held in the Hall of Representatives. Department meetings will be held in the Girls' High School building.

A medical waiter says: If mothers notice thot the brains of their little ones conjure up uncanny sights and thoughts from the shadows of a room more or less dark, let the light burn brightly. To force a child to become accustomed to the darkness is a grave error, if its nervous system be so organized that this forcing is productive of fright. The nervous system of a child is a very susceptible organization, and the deleterious impressions made upon it will often make their influence felt throughout after-life. If the child asks for a light under such circumstances, do not refuse it.-Exchange.