the wear and tear of the plant, the inferiority of the books and their greater cost than better books could be bought for, I should advise any State against entering upon an experiment of this nature."

A RECITATION IN UNITED STATES HISTORY.

The teacher had assigned the lesson for the class to prepare by writing the following "Topics" on the blackboard: 1. Harrison and Tyler's administrations-Lives of each. 2. Domestic affairs.

3. United States Bank.

4. Suffrage difficulties.

5. Anti-rent difficulties.

6. Mormons.

7. Foreign afiairs.

8. Annexation of Texas.

9 Political affairs.

The class was in the last year of the grammar school, and consisted of boys and girls from 14 to 16 years of age. The recitation began by calling upon pupils to recite from the topics. These were observed to follow the text book with varying degrees of intelligence. Sometimes the language of the book had been committed to memory. In other cases there had been only a partial memorizing of it. The pupil who gave the biography of President Harrison remembered the dates of his birth and death, and that he lived in a cabin, and had nothing to drink but hard cider," and that the campaign catch word was "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." Others remembered more of their topics. The teacher made no corrections nor suggestions, but gave each one a chance to tell what he knew, whether more or less.

This preliminary test having been finished, pupils were sent to the board, some to write questions on certain topics in the lesson, and others to draw maps of Mexico and Texas and show the places of battles in the Mexican war, and the routes of the armies. Then pupils were called upon to state what they knew on the topics presented in the text in regard to this war. In this the pupils recited the statements as they were in the book, or very nearly so.

After this a pupil was called upon to read his questions which he had written, and to call upon other pupils to answer them. Others were required to answer their own questions. These different kinds of exercises constituted the recitation.

The teacher said hardly anything during the recitation hour in the way of instruction or explanation. When wrong statements were made other pupils were asked to correct them. The class was seemingly intelligent, being able to answer quite readily questions put by a stranger on events within the range of the text book.

During half the time of the recitation more than half the members of the class were at the board writing questions, or topics, or drawing maps, and, of course, knew nothing of what was being said by, or to the remainder of the class in the meantime.

tendent said that the lady had no superior in the State as an all around teacher, and, therefore, no superior in the United States.

An attempt has been made to describe this recitation just as it appeared to the visitor without any intention of expressing any opinion as to its merits or demerits:- Public School Journal.

QUESTIONS AND WORK FOR PUPILS.

2. Re-write the following sentences, correcting all errors: (1) A stage or wagon meet every train. (2) Silk, but not linen or muslin, are ainmal products: (3) Have you rebuilded your house yet? (4) They havn't went after the groceries.

2. Write ten lines about hens.

3. Copy the following words, correcting errors: Shephard, recomend, recieve, almanack, monkies, greatful, axcident, voluntear, tuakies, geografy, porrige, orniment.

4. Write ten geographical names, each beginning with the letter M.

5. Why do we wink?

6. Which is the only state of our Union bordering upon eight others?

7. Which is the more, twenty four quart bottles, or twentyfour quart bottles?

8. How often have you passed around the sun ?

9.

Write correctly: I ain't got it correct; I wish he would leave you to do it; You may appoint whoever you like; Actions speak plainer than words; Her and I are in the same class at school.

10. Make a list of ten words in which the final letter of the preceding word is the initial letter of the one following.

11. Add yesterday to the following sentences, and write each correctly: The children are tired of playsng. The bird is singing sweetly. We go up to town together. They are asleep in the chair. My sister buys her gloves in Brown's.

12. Write a note inviting your teacher to take tea with you on Friday evening.

13. Take your regular reading lesson and arrange all the words contained in a half page by the initial letter and in columns.

14. How many minutes are there between 25 minutes past 8 in the mornning and midnight.

case.

FEW people nowadays, if asked who was the first governor of Illinois, would answer Patrick Henry. Yet this is the An act was passed by the authorities of Virginia in October, 1778, creating the county of Illinois (in the State of Virginia), which embraced the territory now forming the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, making probably the largest county over organized, exceeding the whole of Great Britain and Ireland; and thus the great orator of the American revolution, Patrick Henry, then Governor of Virginia, became the first governor of Illinois.

MANY persons use the phrase "in a trice," who have no conception of its meaning. A trice is a sixtieth part of a second of time. The hour is divided into sixty minutes, the minute into sixty seconds, and the second into sixty trices, or

THE COUNTRY SCHOOL.

BY SUPERINTENDENT H. S. JONES, LINCOLN, NEB.

There is a general feeling among teachers, parents and pupils that the country school, even when taught by a good teacher, is a place of meagre educational results. The teacher ⚫ longs to get into the town or the city in order that "better work" may be done. The same feeling influences fathers, mothers and their children, as much as to say there is no such thing as education in the country.

It is quite near the truth to say that the educational benefits of the country school outweigh those of the town.

No teacher of a rural school has good reason to think that his efforts can but be weak because he has not the "nodern appliances" and opportunities of doing "grade work" common to towns and cities. It may not be known to many country teachers that the great question with the progressive city school superintendent is how to manage the graded school so as to get into its movement as much as possible of the elasticity and individuality of the rural ungraded school. It is hardly exaggeration to say that in many cases the ironclad graded school has done more harm than good, for the reason that the sort of inquiry that makes strong men and women, that which comes from within, is suppressed. The teacher being ever at the front, bristling with questions, smothers and kills that personality which develops thinkers and doers.

A LITERARY COINCIDENCE.

Those who delight in puzzling over curious coincidences, says the January Book Buyer, will find an interesting subject in three of the December magazines. For the Christmas numbers of Scribner, Harper and The Century contain each a story in which a person with the unusual name of Spurlock figures. In George A. Hibbard's story, "As the Sparks Fly Upward," in Scribner, this person is a man; while in James L. Allen's "Flute and Violin," in Harper, and in "A Conscript's Chistmas," by Joel Chandler Harris, in The Century, the name is given to a woman. In the little pen-and ink portrait Sketches of the Widow Spurlock, and of Mrs. Spur lock in the two latter magazines, the faces bear no resemblance to each other, but this fact does not make it any the less odd that three authors in widely separated parts of the country should have applied this unfamiliar name to characters in their stories.

A VARIATION.

C. E. CHARLES.

Instead of the old rhyme, "Thirty days hath September, etc," to teach the months having less than thirty-one days, try this:

Have school sit in position for attention. Let right arm fall to the side; bring left elbow to a position forming a right

A hint

In addition, the country school is not isolated educationally. Right with it, working in the same line, is the farm with its fine field for observation, reasoning and responsibility-a school that has classes in foresight, pluck, courage, purpose and grit.

The town school, on the other hand, is an atmosphere of distraction. The city pupil hardly knows what it is to ponder; he is kept more than busy in receiving and giving out what he has received. There is but little in his home or street life that assists in making him long for trying responsibility. The tendency of the influence outside the school is to cause him to desire a "soft place" when he seeks to do a part of the world's work. It is held by some that manual education will remedy this defect, but no amount of shop work in the city can begin to do for our boys and girls what the farm has done and is doing.

True, a child will make far greater progress in a large graded school in certain things, as writing, spelling, so called "industrial" drawing and vocal reading, studies that are mastered through the channel of telling and imitation; but the child of the farm school has a chance to come out through the common school course better fitted to think, to do, and to win success.

The little investigation given to the subject shows that the leading men and women of our towns and cities came up through the farm-school, and the teacher in the "plain schoolhoure on the hill" should magnify his calling, for he h s grand helps and noble opportunities.=N. W. Journal of Education.

finger of right hand to first knuckle of left hand; school say "January ;" pass to open space between first and second knuckles and say "March," etc., until the twelve months are pronounced. Now, repeat this until all can do so without a mistake t then, show the school that every time you touched a knuckle, the month pronounced contains thirty-one days, and that all the spaces represent thirty days except the first one.

READING.

In reading, in the higher grades, the text book should be studied. A few of the best pieces should be selected; they should be critically examined and their meaning made clear to the pupils. The proper rendering should be insisted on, and the elocution should be made to voice the sense. This is drill. It is no objectiou that sometimes the pieces are difficult for the pupils. No one advances who does not attempt something a little beyond his present attainments Reading

at sight and for mere entertainment has also its place, but supplementary reading may be carried to excess in our schools. --Supt A. P. Marble, Worcester.

The Practical Question Book contains 6,000 questions and answers on fifteen branches of study. It covers questions on History, Political Geography, Orthography, Reading, Mathematical Geography, Natural Philosophy. Grammar, Composition and Rhetoric, Physiology, Physical Geography, Civil Government, School Discipline, Book-keeping, Practical edagogy. See advertisement in this number.

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NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES.

JULY 14TH TO 17TH, 1891.

The Convention of the National Educational Association for the present year is to be held at Toronto, Canada, from the 14th to the 17th of July next, and will, on this occasion, be of an International character. The meeting promises to be the largest and most important yet held by the Association, as it will probably be attended by some fifteen thousand of those actively engaged in educational matters from all parts of the United States and Canada.

Toronto, the place of meeting, is a beautiful city of over two hundred thousand population, the capital of the province of Ontario, and is located on a gentle slope on the north shore of Lake Ontario. It is only forty miles from Niagara Falls and is in the center of the most romantic part of North America.

The most complete arrangements are being made by the local committees for the reception, accommodation and entertainment of delegates and visitors to the Convention.

The railway companies throughout the Union and Canada. have agreed to grant return tickets to Toronto for one fare, plus $2.00, the membership fee to the Association, the rail way tickets from distant points being good for return until September. Special cheap excursions will be arranged for the benefit of those attending the Convention to points on the Great Lakes, down the St. Lawrence river, through the Thousand Islands and Rapids, to the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, the White Mountains and all other points of interest, east and west, north and south.

A great exhibition of school work and school supplies, etc., will take place in connection with the Convention, and many other features that will be of special interest to the visitors.

Rates of board at hotels range from $3 00 per day down to $1.00 per day, and in private houses from $1.00 per day to $4.00 per week. Those intending to remain in the city or neighborhood for several weeks can obtain first class Loard in good localities for from $4.00 to $6.00 per week, and at the many summer resorts on the lake shore.

The officers of the Association for the present year are as follows, viz.: Messrs. W. R. Garrett, President, Nashville, Tenn; James H Canfield, First Vice President, Lawrence, Kans.; E. H. Cook, Secretary, New Brunswick, N. J.; T. M. Greenwood, Treasurer, Kansas City, Mo., and N. A. Calkins, Chairman of Trustees, New York City.

The managers for the following States are:

Alabama,

others who may desire to procure the same, on dropping a postal card to Mr. J. L. Hughes, Chairman, or Mr. H. J. Hill, Secretary of the Local Committee, Toronto, Canada.

H. C. Gilbert, Decatur; Florida, F. L. Kern, Lake City;
Kentucky, W. H. Bartholomew,
Bartholomew, Louisville; Louisiana,
George J. Ramsey, Clinton; Mississippi, Hon. J. R. Preston,
Jackson; Missouri, J. T. Buchanan, Kansas City; North
Carolina, P. P. Claxton, Asheville; South Carolina, Hon.
W. D Mayfield, Columbia; Tennessee, Frank Goodman,
Nashville; Texas, O. H. Cooper, Galveston; Virginia, Hon.
J. E. Massey, Richmond; West Virginia, W. H. Anderson,
Wheeling.

ENGLISH IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES.

In the ideal school, which would be to any teacher, even to that one most highly imbued with missionary proclivities, a wellspring of joy and source of perpetual delight, there are only those children who have grown up with good English, who know no incorrect forms, because they have heard none. They have come from homes of culture and refinement, have "tumbled about in libraries" in infancy, have known always a surrounding of books, till books themselves, the great refiners, are as familiar to them as the pleasant smile of the In this Utopian realm are none who make you shiver with mother.

The official bulletin or programme of each day's proceedings during the meeting, officers of the Association, railway arrangements, special excursions, hotels and rates, summer resorts, and all other information of advantage to those who propose attending the Convention will be issued about the first of April, and will be sent to all State managers, and to

the "I seen's" and "I taken's" so common in the ordinary school room, none who rasp your nerves and make you wish unutterable things with "I have saw" and "would have went," the seeming delight of the average schoolboy. These ideal pupils enter the kindergartens and primary schools, are developed by nature's beautiful methods, acquire a good vocabulary and pleasant expression. The grammar school has only to continue the work and direct the energies, and, by leading them into the purest and best paths of literature, guide them to the coveted goal, correct thought correctly expressed.

Although Mr. Bellamy failed to mention this point, such a condition of affairs may well be classed among the delightful realizotions of the year two thousand, when life is to be free from all those anxieties that plow deeper furrows on the brows of humanity than are warranted by passing years; or, it may become a bright and growing reality when the Vril-ya have shivered the rocks that now shut them in and have delivered mankind from comparative barbarism. But the school room of the nineteenth century belongs not to these ideal realms: societies among the people for the study of science and for the promotion of culture are rare and short-lived; parents are untaught and children are born to a heritage of ignorance. Earnest, practical work is needed to save our mother tongue from the corrupting influences that steal in at so many points. Especially is this true in the new land of the West, but it is also true of the cultured East, where the foreign element enters so largely into the population, and where children enter the schools from homes of squalor and dens of poverty and vice. Many pupils have had no training, and speak the language of the streets. Some have, through carelessness, been allowed to contract habits of in accuracy which can only be corrected by much patient effort and often bitter mortification. In fact, such errors are frequently never wholly eradicated, and, as a result, we hear such barbarisms as "tote," "I would ra her do this as that," and others of like nature, from the lips of people of culture as well as native intellect.

The average pupil of the grammar grades neither speaks nor writes correctly. He murders the Queen's English often in matters of construction; his a's are so flat that it seems a herculean task to round them into fullness; his g's and d's

are dropped as useless, while the faithful letter is tossed aside contemptuously; he has a limited vocabulary, with an undue proportion of slang; his ideas are crude, and his expression is timid and halting; often his written work is "con fusion worse confounded," the ei's, ie's, ti's, si's and ce's of our erratic orthography being to him profound mysteries with the mastery of which he has never burdened his mind and in whose use he has not had sufficient practice to enable him to absorb the correct forms; his i's are undotted and his t's remain uncrossed; he knows little of the use of capital letters, and still less of the laws of punctuation.

As to faults of construction, only the utmost patience and most careful attention can secure to him the greatest good. No error should pass unnoticed, and, since we can only acquire habits by acts, as Malibran says, and can strengthen them by use alone, the corrected form put into practical use at once imparts power which could not be derived from theoretical instruction. "Eternal vigilance is the price of success," and this, with instruction in the simpler details of construction, with a very little drill in the technicalities of the language, with frequent analysis and synthesis of sentences according to methods dictated by common sense, ought to enable the pupil of average capacity to leave this department with a reasonable knowledge of how an English sentence is built.

With regard to pronunciation, it is probable that the teacher can never overcome entirely the defects which are perhaps hereditary, and which have been strengthened by increasing years. But, exercise of all the organs that contribute to the various elementary sounds of our language will benefit the most stubborn case. With some, there is insufficient movement of the lower jaw, the effect of which is to keep the lips and teeth so closely shut that distinct enunciation is an impossibility. With others, the tongue is heavy in its movements and needs exercise to render it more flexible, while many, if not all, carry themselves in such a manner that the vocal organs are out of their natural position and this leads to husky tones. short breath, and the many other evils which produce that indistinct articulation so unpleasant and whose prevention ought to receive so much more attention than we accord it. Nothing is more productive of good results in the effort to gain possession of discarded sounds than frequent and thorough drills in phonetics.

To extend his vocabulary, numberless good things may be tried. Exercises in synonyms, for which a book of synonyms may be provided, or, with more trouble, perhaps, the dictionary may be consulted, sentences containing homophonous words, the study of pr fixes and suffixes, exercises in defining and in the synthesis of sentences from selected words, and many other devices may contribute to this end when one really wishes to master the intricacies of our composite language.

The importance of the question of slang must occupy the thoughts of all who care to preserve the beauty and purity of the language which in the "last thirty years has doubled its area and quadrupled its population." Though we denominate as slang many expressions which, through their very force, must become a part of our language, and though we are all willing to admit these "crystallized thoughts," yet it is easy to see that nothing so limits and contracts one's vocabulary as the continued use of slang, and for this reason, as well

as that it is inelegant and often bids defiance to the requirements of good taste and the laws of language, the teacher should discountenance its use, and, by continued disapprobation and examples for the use of correct forms, lead pupils to follow the best writers and speakers, and avoid those expressions which must always be excluded from our best liter

ture.

To reach the desired result the teacher must contend against the tendency, ither natural or acquired, to shirk the thought and care necessary to the production of correct written exercises. This tendency is at times the result of ignorance, for nothing sooner discourages a young mind than to find itself in a maze of difficulties with no previous knowedge to use as a key to the situation. Proper instructions should be given, line upon line, much written work assigned, providing always for a fair division with the oral, so as not to make a hobby of the former, mistakes carefully noted, and thorough corrections required. This done, there must be notably good results. Even after much care there will be errors, at times ludicrous perversions of sound instruction, and then, instead of the gratified sense of good seed sown carefully in good soil, bringing forth a hundred-fold, the result of a careless moment, some chance expression, or, more often, perhaps, deplorable inattention and listlessness is seen in such examples as are furnished by Mark Twain in his "English as She is Taught," and in similar ones discovered by most teachers in English as She is Wrote in Examinations. If one pupil has become somewhat confused and says: "Aiways use a capital letter after the word O," and another, in profound ignorance of theological terms, says that "Heaven should begin with a capital letter when it means the Virgin Mary, or the holy Ghost," there is no need for discouragement, but the teacher must be honest enough to see that the fault may possibly lie in the fact of too much undertaken. Fewer principles thoroughly taught will develop the mind and lay a stronger foundation for future work.

To direct the child's thought, to develop his mind, to help him to secure pleasant and easy expression, reading, mem orizing and copying selections from the best writers will be of much benefit. The language lessons of the primary grades. may be continued, and reproductions and abstracts, both oral and written, used with profit. Employed in the proper way, English composition is a lever of no mean importance. Carelessly used, it may be of some profit, but with judicious care its benefits are increased ten fold. Don't tell a child to write of the vanity of human grandeur," or "the subtlety of life," or "the evanescence of earthly joys," but let him tell of the trees which he knows, of the birds whose plumage he admires and whose song he enjoys, of the many common things around him; teach him to find beauty in the most familiar objects and to tell of it, to study nature in books and in her own glad manifestations of herself, and to express what he has learned in simple and strong language; lead him to interest himself in the lives of great men, and, in giving utterance to knowledge thus gained, he will grow stronger, gaining not only the power of expression, but developing the force of character and many of the attributes which win our approbation.

Just here a great responsibility rests upon the teacher, who is not only to note the form of expression and any inaccu

racies of construction and inelegances of style, but is to know what literature is placed before the child and, so far as may be, provide that which is suitable and which will inspire such moral and spiritual aspirations as will be in line with the mental development.

To this end every school should have a library, and every teacher should use his influence in securing it. The true teacher is a lover of books; he finds one of his highest enjoyments in them, and counts them his noblest, his most faithful friends; to lay before young and unfolding minds this pure delight is to him a pleasure unsurpassed. No tongue can express, no mind conceive the great results which must follow the right use of a well-selected school library. Open to children who might never otherwise know the great masters whose thoughts tend ever to lift humanity to grander heights, its influence extends through generation after generation, and, as one drop of water communicates its motion to others and these to others, till the ever-widening circle disappears in the infinite expanse of the sea, so this influence shall have no limits till time is lost in eternity.

5. What is the chief industry of Newfoundland?

6. Name some of the principal canals of North America, and indicate their terminal points.

7. What is the Government of France? Of Switzerland? Of Holland?

English Grammar.-1. Explain the use of the italicised. word in each of the following sentences: a. He is speaking distinctly. b. Clearly, he did not intend it so. c. Most assuredly I will. d. I met him only.

2. When the clauses of a compound sentence are said to be co-ordinate, what is the meaning of co-ordinate?

3. What relations may exist between the clauses of a compound sentence? Give an example of each.

4. Make a needed correction correction in the following

9. For what purpose are interjections used in sentences? 10. At what stage in public school work may English Grammar be profitably studied? Give reason for your an

swer.

Arithmetic. 1. What letters are employed in Roman notation, and by what rules are their values determined? 2. Illustrate the rule for the division of decimals, when the divisor is a decimal or mixed number.

3. Write the tables for the three kinds of measures of extension.

. What is the least common multiple of 2 yards 1 foot, and 2 feet 8 inches?

5. How much will 191⁄2 bushels of apples cost at the rate of $4 for 1134 bushels?

6. William is 16 years old, and 371⁄2% of William's age is 40% of Henry's age. How old is Henry?

7. How much interest will I have to pay on a loan of $7,650 for 20 days at 7 per cent.?

8. A merchant buys a bill of goods, invoiced at $975, on 60 days. If allowed 5% off for cash, how much will he gain by borrowing the money at 7% and cashing the bill.

9. What is the rule for simple proportion? Illustrate. 10. What is the length of one side of a cubical block that contains 2 cubic feet, 1,457 cubic inches.

United States History.-1. What two principles claimed by the South at the beginning of the civil war were necessarily abandoned by the failure of the confederacy?

2. Write a brief biography of the statesman whom you most admire ?

3. Tell what was the attitude of the four prominent Euro. pean Governments towards the colonists in their struggle for independence.

4. What was the special importance of the "Mecklenburg Resolutions?"

5. What was the real objection of the colonists to being taxed by England?

What are the chief differences between the "Wilmot Proviso" and the "Missouri Compromise ? "

7. What was the "Ostend Manifesto?" Doctrine?"

The Monroe

8. Describe a campaign or battle of the civil war. 9. Give an account of the explorations of Champlain, De Soto or John Smith.

20. What were the chief financial measures made neces

藤

sary by the expenses of the civil war? When was specie payment resumed?

Science of Education.-1.-State what is meant by a moral judgment.

2. What do you consider to be the relation of correct moral judgment to upright conduct ?

How can the school educate the child to form correct 3. moral judgment?

4. Show that to form the habits of promptness, industry and regularity is to form moral habits?

5. What virtues may be incidentally taught in connection with the United States History.

6. On what ground may patriotism be considered a great virtue ?

7. In moral instruction in the school, what use would you make of the Scriptures?