CALL TO SCHOOL CHILDREN.

OCTOBER 21 IS TO BE OBSERVED AS A GENERAL HOLIDAY.

President Harrison, complying with the Act of Congress of June 29th, has issued his proclamation making Friday, October 21, a general holiday. This is the recognition of the movement to put the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America into the hands of all the people by giving it to the institution closest to the people and most characteristic of the people -the public school.

The movement was undertaken by the National Educational Association, through an executive committee, which has so presented it as to gain the endorsement of the press and general popular acceptance in advance of this proclamation. The proclamation is as follows:

Whereas, by a joint resolution approved June 29, 1892, it was resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, "That the President of the United States be authorized and directed to issue a proclamation recommending to the people the observance in all their localities of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America, on October 21, 1892, by public demonstration and by suitable exercises in their schools and other places of assembly;"

Now therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, in pursuance of the aforesaid joint resolution, do hereby appoint Friday, October 21, 1892, the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus, as a general holiday for the people of the United States. On that day let the people, so far as possible, cease from toil and devote themselves to such exercises as may best express honor to the discoverer and their appreciation of the great achievements of the four completed centuries of American life.

Columbus stood in his age as the pioneer of progress and enlightenment. The system of universal education is in our age the most prominent and salutary feature of the spirit of enlightenment, and it is peculiarly appropriate that the schools be made by the people the center of the day's demonstration. Let the national flag float over every schoolhouse in the country, and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship.

In the churches and in the other places of assembly of the people, let there be expressions of gratitude to Divine Providence for the devout faith of the discoverer, and for the Divine care and guidance which has directed our history and so abundantly blessed our people.

GOOD ENGLISH.

There is an old story of the advice William Cullen Bryant once gave to a young man who offered him an article for The Evening Post, which is so good that it will bear frequent repetition:

'My young friend, I observe that you used several French expressions in your article. I think, if you will study the English language that you will find it capable of expressing all the ideas that you may have. Be simple, unaffected; be honest in your speaking and writing. Never use a long word when a short one will do. Call a spade not a well-known oblong instrument of manual industry; let a home be a home, not a residence; a place, not a locality, and so of the rest. When a short word will do, you always lose by using a long one."-School Education.

SCHOOL DIRECTORS.

Take foul air from near the floor. Air should be fresh, pure and warm. Every school-house should have a rear yard. Adapt the height of seats to the size of children. Water-closet arrangements should receive great care. Light should never enter school-rooms from opposite directions.

Light should come from above the pupils' heads and from their right.

Nothing in school is worth so much and costs so little as good ventilation.

School walls and ceilings should be tinted in subdued but cheerful colors.

In the case of furnace or steam heat it should enter above the children's heads.

Rid your school of double desks as soon as possible. They cause the spread of vermin and disease.

Blackboards should extend entirely around every schoolroom. For the teacher's sake the top should be 61⁄2 feet from the floor, and for the children it should come within 2 feet of the floor. Journal of Education.

HOW TEXAS WAS NAMED.

BY JAMES T. DE SHIELDS.

When and how Texas received its present name, history does not inform us. 'Tis a beautiful tradition that when La Salle landed on the shores of Matigorda Bay he was met

Done at the city of Washington this 21st day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninetytwo, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and seventeenth. BENJ. HARRISON. By the President:

JOHN W. FOSTER, Secretary of State.

The Esterbrook Steel Pen Co., 26 John Street, New York, are offering $1,000.00 in Prizes for Poems on Esterbrook's Pens. Send them postal for Circulars explaining.

language meant friends. Some writers claim that Tehas is of Celtic origin and means plain or prairie. Others assert that Texas was derived from the Spanish word " Tejas," meaning roof, and was given to a tribe of Indians by early Spanish explorers because they found them living in houses with tiled roofs. This, however, does not seem probable since tiled roofs were quite common in Mexico. Another and more plausible tradition is to the effect that Texas is an Indian name derived from the word "Tehas" or "Tecas," which signifies paradise and, applied to the country in the vernal beauty of its virgin existence, was certainly an appropriate name.— The Great Divide.

SPONGES.

The gathering and preparation for market of sponges is an industry of peculiar interest, and, notwithstanding their very extensive use in all countries, the details of the work are known to but comparatively a small number of the general public. Sponge fishing has been conducted in the waters off the southern coast of the United States for many years. Clumsy little boats manned by four or five dusky-skinned natives, skirt along the reefs and bays of the Florida coast, in shallow water. Each man holds tightly his grappling pole, about twenty feet in length, armed at its extremity with a claw-like attachment. This is slowly scraped along the bottom catching the sponge where it grows and ruthlessly tearing it from its rocky bed. The sponges are piled up in the boat until a sufficient quantity has been gathered, when the return home is made.

Upon the arrival of the boats they are quickly emptied of their contents by the bare-legged little pickaninnies who for a penny will dive down into forty feet of water and pluck up a sponge worth a dollar when prepared. After having been spread out upon the dry, hot sand the sponges are beaten well to remove the gelatinous, slimy matter constituting their animal life, after which they are thoroughly washed by the waves in pens made by driving stakes along the beach. The next process consists in bleaching, to give them a more presentable appearance for the market. This process of bleaching is done by dipping the sponges for a few seconds in an acid bath. Great care is necessitated here, as just a little too much acid would seriously injure the natural texture of the sponge. Lime is also extensively used. They are next carefully dried, after which they are professionally classified according to size, quality, etc., and pressed in bales ready for exportation.

At Key West or the Bahamas the water in which the sponge fishing is conducted is wonderfully clear, the bottom being discernible to a depth of 50 or 60 feet. When the surface of the water is slightly ruffled, the sponge fisher uses a simple though very effective instrument to enable him to see clearly the bottom of the water. This consists of a plain piece of glass securely fitted to the ends of four pieces of wood in telescope style. By plunging this a few inches below the rough surface of the water he can watch the bottom of the sea as well as he can with the naked eye in smooth water.

In the deep, placid bays of the blue Mediterranean and the Persian gulf grow luxuriantly the finest and most expensive varieties of the sponge. These often develop an extraordinary beauty of form and softness of texture. This class of sponges is gathered at certain seasons of the year only, and by professional divers, chiefly young and agile Greeks and Turks, who are literally born in the water and become almost amphibious. No grappling hooks can be used or these finer varieties of sponges, such as are used on the coarser grades growing off the Bahamas and Key West. These sponges are used for toilet and surgical purposes. Great quantities are shipped every year to London and Paris, the two great receiving markets of the world, where they undergo a critical classification before being cased for export to the various countries.

Great size is sometimes attained in the natural growth of the sponge, particularly in the coarser grades that flourish in the West Indies. The largest sponge in the world was found

growing on a coral reef off Key West, and it required the strength of several men to pull it from its tenacious hold of the rock bottom of the blue sea. It measures 4 feet 10 inches in length and 3 feet 71⁄2 inches in width. It is oval in form and nearly two feet in thickness. Of course, such a sponge is too large for practical uses, but it is highly interesting as an exaggerated freak of nature in the sponge line. The antiquity of the sponge in history is well known. Its extreme usefulness and universal growth has caused it to be utilized and appreciated by all peoples. In this country the sale of sponges is exclusively in the hands of the pharmacists. In Europe, however, they are sold by hairdressers and perfumers.Chicago Graphic.

THE CZAR'S JEWELS.

The present Czar of Russia is a great admirer of precious stones, and delights in purchasing rare and costly specimens. His uniforms and military trappings are decorated with gems of great value, and his jewels are probably the most gorgeous in Europe. In the Russian scepter is the famous Orloff diamond, weighing 19434 carats. This stone is rose cut, resem、 bling half a pigeon's egg. It is supposed to have been the eye of an Indian idol, which, after being stolen by a French deserter, passed through many hands until it was purchased by Coun: Orloff for Empress Catherine. The price paid the Armenian merchant who then owned it was £90,000, an annuity of 4,000 rubles and a royal title. The Czar's private collection contains numerous large and valuable diamonds and pearls.

Prince Gussupow of Russia, who died a few years ago, owned a collection of precious stones, many of which were historic. The collection was valued at 2,000,000 rubles, or more than $500,000. One of the largest pearls in Europe is the property of the Russian Prince Youssoupoff. It is pear shaped and weighs 524 grains. This pearl in 1650 was purchased by Philip IV. of Spain for 80,000 ducats, a sum equal to about $75.000.

In the monastery of the Capuchins in Prague are the famous diamonds once owned by Count Lubowitz, The collection is one of the finest in the world, and contains 666 specimens.-Jewelers' Weekly.

SEVEN THOUSAND MILES OF WHEELS.

If all the locomotives in the United States were coupled together, they would make a train of solid iron and steel ever 300 miles long. Add the passenger cars, and we would have 300 miles more of wood and iron; this would give us a gigantic passenger train 600 miles in length, counting both engines and cars. Should we want a huge "mixed" train, we might add "box," "flat," and every other kind of freight car, and our train would then have a total length of over 7,000 miles. The passenger cars in this gigantic train would be capable of seating 1,500,000 people, and upon the freight cars could be loaded the weight of all the pyramids of Egypt, and all the State Capitol buildings in the United States besides. Verily, great is the railroad system of America.-Penman's Art Journal.

KINDNESS TO ANIMALS.

Why should we be kind to animals?

If any boy or girl ever asks this question in earnest, there are a number of answers that may be given. Let us think of a few.

The first reason should be, because they were made by God himself as a part of his living world, and he has given to them in lesser degree many of our own qualities. These qualities are so developed by association with people that animals often become very sensitive. A pet dog which has been much with good people may be more capable of suffering from ill-treatment than a boy who has been accustomed all his life to evil companions and rough ways. A special good quality of a well-cared-for pet is sympathy. Sometimes, indeed, an animal is more sympathetic than our own human relatives are. It does not ask whether we have done right or wrong, or whether we are to blame for our own troubles. It is very sorry for us, with a trace of the same pity that the best man or woman shows to one who is unhappy.

A second reason is, most animals and birds and insects are beautiful in color and in form. We should not mar or destroy that beauty any more than we should cut down or deface a handsome tree or a lovely plant. Beauty in the animal world is not always recognized, because people do not look with "seeing eyes." Put your favorite dog before you and note how one tint of the furry coat shades into another; see how fine and soft and silky the hair is when it is carefully combed and brushed. When you go to a menagerie look at the colors of the different animals and count how many shades of color you can find on each one; you will then know that there are about as many as there are in the trees of an autumn forest. When you look at the birds and insects you will find most of them colored as beautifully as the sky and the flowers. On the butterfly's wing are hues as softly shaded as those of sunset clouds; and the blue of the darting dragon-fly is as brilliant as the dark blue of a violet. Then, when you think how perfectly each animal, bird and insect is colored to suit the conditions under which it lives, you have a glimpse of another beauty-the beauty of fitness. All that is true of color is equally true of form. Those who have learned to draw and whose eyes are trained to see beauty in lines and movements, need not be told how graceful is every movement of insect, bird and animal; from the fluttering of a butterfly a bove a flower to the gallop of a horse along a line of battle, from the wheeling of a sea gull over the ocean to the slow, majestic march of an elephant across the desert.

Another reason is this, if we are not kind to every living thing, we disobey God. When we read "Little children, love one another," "Love thy neighbor as thy self," "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law," we may be sure these texts do not mean that we are to be kind to human beings and cruel to animals. No man, woman or child who is cruel to animals can be called a Christian. Nor, can such a one be trusted. The most powerful influence in the world is love. Christ says: "Love is the fulfilling of the law." If all that we do were done in a spirit of love and unselfishness, do you think there would be as much sin and suffering as there is now? One of the quickest ways to learn the habit of being kind is to be patient and gentle to animals. Study the effects of kindness upon them

and you will get some idea of its value when shown to human beings; and perhaps after a while you will realize the great beauty of Christ himself, in whom God revealed his love.Our Animal Friends.

THE SCHOOL-QUESTION.

Gardner Cox, in a letter to the Massachusetts Holyoke Transcript, gives a few features of the present school system, as follows:

"I move that school keep five days in a week, solid, rain or shine; especially if it rains, for not all pupils have as good and warm a place as the school-house is on rainy days. Pupils not possessing vim enough to go to school on a rainy day, have not vim enough to get home in a storm; and would not have enough to make any use of an education if they had one. It never occurred to the old fashioned folks that

the weather was any bar to getting an education. There are plenty of successful business men in Holyoke that had to plow out the roads for a mile for their sisters to go to school in the morning, and never whimpered or sulked over it; yes they were mighty glad to get schooling at that cost.

"Now every time a cloud appears over Mt. Tom and flashes its eye, the school committee gather down behind the city hall and taffy each other to see who shall go up and tell the chief of police to ring the fire bells so they can take in the school system for fear it will get wet. What would you do if you lived in a rainy district where it rains more or less every day? Would n't have any schools, would we? Make it a rule that every day that is lost by storms shall be made up at the end of the terms; or that, no teach no pay, and you will not hear a word from pupils or teachers about stormy days; take a vote upon it in some of the buildings.

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Again I move that school begin on the first Monday in September, and stop short on the last Friday in May, with two vacations between. Not a single day wasted in that time in examinations. If there was ever a high pressure, gilt edged, farcical exhibition of nonsense, it is a popular modern school examination. Refined, peak-sighted, infinitesimal adjustments in marking recitations; stormy days and examina tions waste one whole solid month every year; and never yet did scholar or teacher, or parent, or school, or the public any calculable good. The fellow that invented them is dead. He never invented them for the pupils' benefit but that the committee might make the promotions at the end of the year without any responsibility or trouble, and in that respect they are good. It is for incompetent committees that they are for sale.

"Does n't every teacher know that an examination of a pupil that he has taught himself, determines nothing? Does n't everybody know that the teachers know off hand the real fitness and abilities of the pupils for promotion better than any examination by themselves or by any one else can determine? They have known it all the whole term. The teachers themselves say, when they dare own it, that the examination determines nothing. Some pupils can pass a good examination who are always dull in recitation; some can never do well under the excitement; some can cheat or steal, and all are strained up to a nervous, exhausted condition over the pretended awfulness, the immense consequences, the imperiousness and the awful dignity there is in the powers that pronounce the last sentence."-Popular Educator.

SCHOOL OF APPLIED DESIGN FOR WOMEN.

In the fall a new school is to be started in New York. Its corner-stone is to be practical instruction; its object, to broaden the field of woman's work. It is called the New York School of Applied Design for Women, and may boast of being the first of its kind in the world. That much-discussed subject, the sphere of woman's work, will receive a marked impetus by the founding of this school. At the completion of the course of its instruction the young women will be ready to enter a new field of work. They will be qualified to be designers of carpets, wall papers, oil-cloths, etc., and the man who has reigned supreme and alone in his position of architect's draughtsman will need to beware, as the graduates of this school, though unassuming and deliciously feminine, will have tucked away in the cells of their brains such knowledge of free-hand, linear, and pen and pencil drawing, such clear ideas of architectural construction and details and plans, that as a rival draughtsman she becomes dangerous.

The school building is situated at the corner of Twentythird street and Seventh avenue, and will be opened Sept. 19, 1892. The special feature of the school and where it differs from any other in existence, is the fact that its instructors are practical men and women, who are actually employed in manufactories or architects' offices. They have not been graduated from their special line of study ten or fifteen years ago, but they are in constant touch with the manufacturer ; they grasp just his needs and are in friction with the whole business world in the specialty in which they are hired to give instruction.

The trouble with the work of the majority of young women who pretend to be designers is that they do not understand the practical side of the work. They are capable of making a pretty picture, but when the manufacturer comes to apply the design to mathematical figures he is very apt to find it all wrong. The New York School of Applied Design for Women's Work intends to remedy just this error. A correct, practical design must not only combine beauty of thought and and originality of idea, but it must be made according to mathematical figures. Every ordinary design repeats itself at 18 inches. It has to match at the sides. And another rule to know is that after numerous experiments it has been found possible to let two wet prints fall at the same time, on account of the distance between the rollers. It is this practical side of designing which the school will endeavor to teach.

The course of instruction is divided into two departments. The elementary department comprises a course in geometri. cal design, conventionalization of natural forms, a course in colors, a course in historic ornament extending through the entire period covered by the foregoing courses. The advanced department covers the application of design to the manufact ure of wall papers, the application of design to the manufacture of carpets and the application of the elementary instruction to to the work of an architect's draughtsman. No fixed period for the course of instruction will be established. No young woman naturally adapted for and zealous in the work will be obliged to wait for her dull or indifferent sister. Her rate of progress will depend largely on her own ability. The school rooms are at the service of each pupil, yet if she so desires a greater part of her work may be done at home. The tuition fees will be $50 per year, payable in advance, or at the rate

of $20 per term, payable in advance, for students who prefer to pay for less than a year.

It is believed that the young women taking this course of instruction will have little difficulty in procuring regular employment in the manufacturing establishments, to the use of which such designs are adapted.

Every facility will be given to the advanced students to bring their designs to the notice of the manufacturer. As compared with other woman's work, designing is remunerative. Near the close of the year Sanford & Co. will offer a $100 gold prize and a $50 gold prize for the best carpet design. The wall paper dealers and the architects will do the same thing. The prizes are to be awarded by specialists in the different branches of the work and by artists. There will be ten different instructors, and later on night classes will be formed, and later still the work will extend and include a course of instruction in ornamental designs, such as the manufacture of cretonnes, embroidery, tapestry, and stained glass, etc.

Lectures accompanying the regular course of study will be given. The school has been started by a guarantee fund, raised for the purpose; but it is to be self-supporting, the entire income to be devoted to the purposes of the school. The course in training to become an architect's draughtsman is to be treated as a special feature. Its novelty and the opposition which it at first received give it a claim to prominence.

Of course the founding of this school and all the work it involves has not been accomplished by magic. The force of action behind the throne has been guided and planned by a woman-a gracious woman-who has given her heart and thought to the work. This is the chairman of the Executive Committee, Mrs. Dunlap Hopkins. In her desire to broaden the field of woman's work-to help women to help themselves -the idea of this school first suggested itself to her, and she has been untiring in her efforts to make it a success.

The directors of the school are: President, George L. Ingraham, Justice of the Supreme Court; Rev. John Wesley Brown, D.D., rector of St. Thomas's Church; Benjamin C. Porter, N. A. D.: William H. Fuller, of Warren, Fuller & Co.; Secretary and Treasurer, Miss Ellen J. Pond, office at No. 200 West Twenty third street; Mrs. James Harriman and Miss Callender. The Executive Committee is composed of Chairman Mrs. Dunlap Hopkins, J. Carroll Beckwith, Professor Metropolitan Museum and Art Students' League, and Elihu Root.

The subject of "compulsory education" is a most perplexing one to the politicians. And as there are always a few politicians in a meeting of teachers the discussion of the question, when in such body, never fails to develop a supply of demagogues.

Really, the question of public education is one of moral and political economy. Few men to-day deny the value of the public school. Most men warmly advocate a liberal support of the free school system. Compelling the citizen to take advantage of the State's provision for his safety, is going but one step further, but it is a step that many draw back from with horror. "Compulsory education is an invasion of personal liberty," shrieks the demagogue, and many an honest man mistakes him for a patriot.

A NICE PROBLEM.

JOHN MCLOYD.

My attention was recently called to the following problem : A man sold a cow for $16, and thereby lost as many per cent. of the cost as the cow cost him dollars. Find cost. Solve by arithmetic.

The conditions of this problem require that the numbers indicating the number of dollars cost and number of hundredths loss be identical. This being true, a series of powers as produced from a series of roots would necessarily include this cost and this rate per cent. of loss. Since the selling price is $16, the series need not begin below 10, so we arrange the series of even tens as follows:

IO X 10 100

80; therefore the cow might have been bought either at $20 or at $80, and satisfy the conditions of the problem.

Since beginning to investigate this subject, I find this problem in a text book:

Sold a farm for $2100 and thereby lost as many per cent. as the farm cost me in dollars, find cost. This problem is like the other, and may have two answers. We refer to our table for ratios and proceed; $2100 is to loss as 1 to 23, hence loss is 4900 and cost $7000, or $2:00 is to loss as 23 to 1, in which loss is $900 and cost $3000.

Should a problem be given as follows: Sold a farm for $2400 and thereby gained, etc., a new table could be constructed in the same manner, as follows:

80 x 80=6400

90 x 90=8100

Now suppose the first column of factors to represent dollars, and the second to represent rate per cent., then of course the third would represent per centages if the decimal point be properly placed; that is, instead of the numbers given in the third column above we would have $1, $4, $9, $16, $25, $36, $49, $64 and $81. Now suppose these numbers represent per centages of loss, then we would have selling prices as given in remainders given below:

From which $2400 is to gain as 6 to 1, hence gain is $400 and selling price $2000. This is a nice problem, and I have never seen its analysis in print, so I send it to the JOURnal.

THE SIZES OF BOOKS.

It

The thing that misleads people as to the size of books as set down in lists of catalogues is that the smaller the book really is, the larger the number that designates it. A book described as 8vo is smaller than one spoken of as 4to. These figures denote the number of times the sheet of printing paper is folded into book leaves, and are not at all any real measurement of the book. An 8vo, or octavo, is a book made up of sheets that are folded into eight leaves; a 4to, or quarto, is one that has its sheets folded into four leaves. will readily be seen that the latter would be larger than the former-if the sheets were of the same size to begin with. But the fact is that these descriptions are only approximate, for books to-day are made in every variety of dimension. rarely finds a folio now except in editions de luxe or at. lasses. The quarto is not common, as it usually makes a page the size of an unabridged dictionary-too large to be handled easily. The octavo is bigger than most books, as it usually measures about 10 by 7 inches. The 12mo is a common size, measuring about 8 by 6 inches, or a little less, according to the size of the unfolded sheet. The 16mo book is, as generally put out, about 6 by 31⁄2 inches; the 18mo a trifle smaller, 5 by 3 inches.

One

Most of the publishers nowadays make their books of proportions to suit themselves, with little reference to the old scale of measurement. -Helen Watterson, Penman's Art Jour.

The Midsummer Holiday Century will contain a number of complete stories, including "The Philosophy of Relative Existences," a ghost story which is said to reverse some of the old traditions, by Frank R. Stockton, and "The Colonel's Last Campaign," by the author of "Mr. Cutting, the Night Editor," and with illustrations by Charles Dana Gibson.