How Pupils Talk.-1. I havn't been nowhere. 2. The boy, but not his friends, have arrived. 3. Let's you and I go out walking. 4. The man he said it was true. 5. They thought that it was him. 6. An invitation was sent to me and Grace. 7. It is them of whom we spoke. 8. Your books is here. 9. There's many people who cannot read. 10. You run faster than me. II. This is the smallest of the two. 12. Who do you see, May? 13. Will we take them two columns? 14. I knowed that he was getting old. 15. Taint standing for nothing now. 16. I havn't drawed that yet. 17. It aint me. 18. Either John or George tell the story. 19. There are a quart of berries. 20. I havn't saw it yet. Farm Arithmetic.— -1. A farmer hires a boy for three years, giving him $8 a month for the first three months, $10 for the next three, and so on. How much should the boy get at the end of the time? Ans. $684. 2. What will it cost to break and fence a section of prairie land at $2.25 an acre and $1.90 a rod? Ans. $3872. 3. A harvest laborer who is to receive $1.65 a day, begins work on Monday, July 15, and works for two months. How much should he receive? 4. What is the value of two loads of hay pounds and 3218 pounds, at $23.20 a ton? Ans. $87.45. weighing 1882 Ans. 59.16. 5 How many rods of fence will it take to enclose a section of land and divide it into square ten acre fields? Ans. 6120 rods. 6. A steam-plow turns four furrows, each 11 inches wide, and runs the full length of two sections of land without turning. How many acres will it plow in going twelve rounds? Ans. 86 acres. 7. How long will it take to break and backset a section of land, if two acres can be broken and three acres back-set each day? Ans. 533 days. 8. Three farmers, A, B and C, buy a self-binder on equal shares for $240. B has no ready money. A pays $140 and C pays $100. How much does B owe A and C respectively? Ans. $60. 9. When barley is worth 95 cents a bushel, and hay is worth $19. ton, how many bushels of barley ought a farmer to get in exchange in exchange for 51⁄2 tons of hay? Ans. 110 bus. -Self Help and Home Study. Live Questions.-1. Name three of the greatest benefactors our country has produced. 2. Three of the best writers. Three of the greatest soldiers. 4. Three of the most eloquent orators. 5. Three of the most distidguished artists. 6. Three of the greatest statesmen. 3. An Exercise.-Tell something about each of the following; 1. The Panhandle. 2. Battle of Giants. 3. Battle of the Nations. 4, Lake Poets. 5. Blue-Coat School. 7. Long Parisament. 8. The War of the Roses. 9. The Knights of the Round Table. 10. Seven Wonders of the World. 11. The White House. 12. Mason and Dixon's Line. 13. Father of Waters. 14. Cradle of Liberty. 15. John China man. 16. John Bull. 18. Brother Jonathan. 19. Bridge of Sighs. 20. Boston Tea Party.-Educational News. Questions for written work in geography.-1. Name some river in North America. Which way, does it flow? From what mountain does it get its water? What kind of water is it, fresh or salt? Into what does it flow? 2. Where does the Water of Lake Michigan go? Where then? Where does it go from Lake Erie? Into what river does it take a great leap? What is the leap called? 3. Into what basin does the Mississippi empty its water? Is it warm or cold near the Gulf of Mexico? Name some fruits that grow in that part of the country? Name some that grow farther north? Could you go in a boat from the Mississippi to the Atlantic Ocean? Explain. 4. Does any water in the Niagara river ever get back to Lake Michigan? Tell how it happens. Which is the largest river in North America? Which end of the Mississippi is most likely to freeze? Why? What is the reason the water runs away from that end? 5. What large body of water flows from the Rocky Mountains to the west? To the east? Do you know of any smaller bodies that are not rivers? Name one. Is it connected with any other body of water? 6. Mention five things upon which climate depends? Why is it that all large cities are built on rivers or bodies of water? Explain the cause of rain; state where rain is most abundant also where there is very little rain, and give your reasonr for such.-School Journal Topics for Special study in U. S. History.-American Literature: In colonial times. In revolutionary times. In the 19th century. Slavery: When introduced. Provisions in the constition. Missouri compromise. Fugitive Slave Law. Kansas-Nebraska Bill. Decisions of Supreme Court. Emancipation Proclamation. Amendments to the constitution. Prominent men: Of colonial times. Of revolutionary times. Of constitutional times. Tariff; duties. Internal revenue. Protective tariff. Inventions: Cotton-gin. Steamboat. Railroad. Telegraph. Sub marine telegraph. Telephone. Sewing machine. Electric light. Electric motor. ARITHMETIC. BY JOHN M'LOYD, PENNSYLVANIA. VII. DIVISION OF FRACTIONS. If any one "rule" in arithmetic has done more injury to the pupil than another, that one is the rule for division of fractions whereby the pupil is directed to "inevrt the divisor and proceed as in multiplication of fractions." The absurdity of performing a mental operation by inverting a factor in that operation does not seem to have occurred to the wise heads who stick to this infamous rule. The purpose of this lesson is to keep the mind of the pupil running on in a logical manner so that the proper reasoning is developed. I. If one hat cost $2, how many hats could be bought for $10. $10-$1 ten times, and $10 will equal $2 one-half as many times as they equal $1 or 5 times, because $2 are two times as great a quantity as $1 is, hence $10 will buy 5 times that or 5 hats. This concrete problem can readily be made to help solve spell and read and cipher is the one who is making the boy's future. For when he possesses the knowledge of these subjects, he possesses knowledge of accuracy of form and processes of the mind which, if not learned here, never will be. There is a tendency to introduce new subjects which might be left out, and allow the more important branches to be neglected. No matter how brilliant a man may be, a misspelled word takes away from our estimate of him. Children go to school too late. There is no reason why a boy should be 8 years old before he can read, or 18 years old before he is ready to enter oollege. This is due to the fault or carelessness of parents. The child should be taught facts early in life, while the reason is sleeping. A boy has no business to think, but by the time he is 12 years old the reason gets ahead of memory, and up to that time his memory should be given all it can do, and the facts that are learned will not be forgotten, but will lay the foundation for accurate scholarship. Don't teach a child to think, but give him something to work on. Give him something to memorize; not useless material, but salient truths. In teaching the His tory of the United States, it is useless for the child to memorize the details of every battle, but it is essential that he should have an understanding of the events of Europe which have a bearing upon our history. Let the child, from 7 to 17, learn the great facts of history from the founding of Rome to the Declaration of Independence, and in after years the eras will stand distinct, upon which he shall build up the fuller knowledge.-Journal of Education. GEN. O. O. HOWARD ON CLASSICAL TRAINING. Our fathers discovered long ago that there was a common basis of education; that there were certain studies which lay at the foudaotion of acquired knowledge. This being the case, in selecting subjects to be taught and learned it has become an important question what they shall be. Every study is important, even if not directly applicable to a given business, which broadens the mind and renders it fit for any and every encounter it is likely to meet with. The classics are often objected to because not practical, not directly useful in furthering the immediate interests of life. Account for it as we may, this theory is certainly erroneous. The classically trained orator is a better orator for being so trained. The lawyer and the judge, other things being equal, are better lawyers and judges from the habits of examination, analysis and expression which they acquired through classical education. Let us now look back to our youth and see if we can illustrate this. Can we not make clear to ourselves some reasons, for example, why the study of Greek and Latin, better than most other studies, prepares, disciplines and develops the mind more especially for what have been called the learned professions? Several of my schoolmates when I was thirteen and at school at Hallowell, Maine, entered upon the study of Latin. Noticing them as they commenced to decline the Latin nouns and adjectives, it occurred to me that they were going into a field which I would like to enter and examine; so, obtaining the sanction of my good mother, I joined the next Latin class that began the study. It is not possible to estimate the value of my new acquirement. For example, I knew in English the single adjective "good" when I began to recite the Latin bonus bona bonum boni bonae boni, etc., in thirty-six different inflections. This soon revealed abundant relationships with our own language that hitherto I had failed to take in, As soon as we commenced translating the shortest sentences we found in our dictionaries many definitions corresponding to words which we were obliged to compare, word by word, and to exercise judgment in the selection, and so frame the thought of the Latin in our own tongue. This process, which every Greek and Latin scholar pursues, enriches the mind. The study of words and phrases soon becomes a pleasure, and then results in a habit of mind. No faithful student ever goes through a classical course without getting at the original and derived meanings of the different English words of Latin and Greek origin. Probably no student ever begins to realize the nice shades of difference in the meaning of terms till he has subjected himself to this steady, faithful, persistent training; or to something akin to it in the acquire ment of modern tongues. Think of a lawyer who tries to read the old English authors without a knowledge of the Greek or Latin. Think of the physician who has no acquaintance with the thousand important technical phrases which he must use. Think of the scientist who cannot even name the figures and letters which he must employ in convertion and correspondence with other scholars. I have often sought to compare lawyer with lawyer, of equal ability, the one with the other-the one having classical acquirement and the other not. The classically educated appeared to have the decided advantage in force of state ment. The same analysis of authors, orators, clergymen and teachers has brought me to the same conclusion. Our difficulty of course lies in the expression "equal ability." Horace Greeley had a vigorous mind and a peculiar sagacity, and he was not classically educated. People opposed to Latin and Greek say, show us an editor who could surpass him. This example proves nothing against classical education. Horace Greeley always missed that attainment. It would have improved his English. To state it otherwise, Greeley without that knowledge and the skill that goes with it, was weaker as a scholarly man than Greeley would have been had Providence permitted it to him. The Chautauqua course is excellent for any young man or woman. But it does not carry the same abundance of knowledge and discipline with it as the corresponding course of study at Yale, Harvard, or any of those thorough classical colleges of which my alma mater, Bowdoin College, is a type. It comprises a beautful review of the study-world: but it is by no means an adequate substitute.-Eaucation. SCHOOL ROOM HELPS AND SUGGESTIONS. A Ten-Minute Exercise.-Write single words or expressions for each of the following groups: 1. Wheat, oats, barley. 2. Potatoes, onions, celery. 3. Mustard, ginger, pepper. 4. Pens, paper lead pencils. 5. Iron, lead, tin. 6. Tweed, flannel, print. 7. Hawks, eagles, condors. 8. Cheese, butter. 9. Coffee, sugar tea. 10. Campbell, ox, goat, sheep. II. Wood, coal, 12. Beer, How Pupils Talk.-1. I havn't been nowhere. 2. The boy, but not his friends, have arrived. 3. Let's you and I go out walking. 4. The man he said it was true. 5. They thought that it was him. 6. An invitation was sent to me and Grace. 7. It is them of whom we spoke. 8. Your books is here. 9. There's many people who cannot read. 10. You run faster than me. 11. This is the smallest of the two. Who do you see, May? 13. Will we take them two columns? 14. I knowed that he was getting old. 15. Taint standing for nothing now. 16. I havn't drawed that yet. 17. It aint me. 18. Either John or George tell the story. 19. There are a quart of berries. 20. I havn't saw it yet. 12. Farm Arithmetic. 1. A farmer hires a boy for three years, giving him $8 a month for the first three months, $10 for the next three, and so on. How much should the boy get at the end of the time? Ans. $684. 2. What will it cost to break and fence a section of prairie land at $2.25 an acre and $1.90 a rod? Ans. $3872. 3. A harvest laborer who is to receive $1.65 a day, begins work on Monday, July 15, and works for two months. How much should he receive? Ans. $87.45. 4. What is the value of two loads of hay weighing 1882 pounds and 3218 pounds, at $23.20 a ton? Ans. 59.16. How many rods of fence will it take to enclose a section of land and divide it into square ten acre fields? 5 Ans. 6120 rods. 6. A steam-plow turns four furrows, each 11 inches wide, and runs the full length of two sections of land without turning. How many acres will it plow in going twelve rounds? Ans. 86 acres. 7. How long will it take to break and back set a section of land, if two acres can be broken and three acres back-set each day? Ans. 533 days. 8. Three farmers, A, B and C, buy a self-binder on equal shares for $240. B has no ready money. A pays $140 and C pays $100. How much does B owe A and C respectively? Ans. $60. 9. When barley is worth 95 cents a bushel, and hay is worth $19. ton, how many bushels of barley ought a farmer to get in exchange in exchange for 51⁄2 tons of hay? Ans. 110 bus. 3. -Self Help and Home Study. Live Questions.-1. Name three of the greatest benefactors our country has produced. 2. Three of the best writers. Three of the greatest soldiers. 4. Three of the most eloquent orators. 5. Three of the most distidguished artists. 6. Three of the greatest statesmen. An Exercise.-Tell something about each of the following; 1. The Panhandle. 2. Battle of Giants. 3. Battle of the Nations. 4, Lake Poets. 5. Blue-Coat School. 7. Long Parisament. 8. The War of the Roses. 9. The Knights of the Round Table. 10. Seven Wonders of the World. 11. The White House. 12. Mason and Dixon's Line. 13. Father of Waters. 14. Cradle of Liberty. 15. John China man. 16. John Bull. 18. Brother Jonathan. 19. Bridge of Sighs. 20. Boston Tea Party.-Educational News. Questions for written work in geography.-1. Name some river in North America. Which way, does it flow? From what mountain does it get its water? What kind of water is it, fresh or salt? Into what does it flow? 2. Where does the Water of Lake Michigan go? Where then? Where does it go from Lake Erie? Into what river does it take a great leap? What is the leap called? 3. Into what basin does the Mississippi empty its water? Is it warm or cold near the Gulf of Mexico? Name some fruits that grow in that part of the country? Name some that grow farther north? Could you go in a boat from the Mississippi to the Atlantic Ocean? Explain. 4. Does any water in the Niagara river ever get back to Lake Michigan? Tell how it happens. Which is the largest river in North America? Which end of the Mississippi is most likely to freeze? Why? What is the reason the water runs away from that end? 5. What large body of water flows from the Rocky Mountains to the west? To the east? Do you know of any smaller bodies that are not rivers? Name one. Is it connected with any other body of water? 6. Mention five things upon which climate depends? Why is it that all large cities are built on rivers or bodies of water? Explain the cause of rain; state where rain is most abundant also where there is very little rain, and give your reason for such.-School Journal Topics for Special study in U. S. History.-American Literature: In colonial times. In revolutionary times. In the 19th century. Slavery: When introduced. Provisions in the constition. Missouri compromise. Fugitive Slave Law. Kansas-Nebraska Bill. Decisions of Supreme Court. Emancipation Proclamation. Amendments to the constitution. Prominent men: Of colonial times. Of revolutionary times. Of constitutional times. Tariff; duties. Internal revenue. Protective tariff. Inventions: Cotton-gin. Steamboat. Railroad. Telegraph. Sub marine telegraph. Telephone. Sewing machine. Electric light. Electric motor. ARITHMETIC. BY JOHN M'LOYD, PENNSYLVANIA. VII. DIVISION OF FRACTIONS. If any one "rule" in arithmetic has done more injury to the pupil than another, that one is the rule for division of fractions whereby the pupil is directed to "inevrt the divisor and proceed as in multiplication of fractions." The absurdity of performing a mental operation by inverting a factor in that operation does not seem to have occurred to the wise heads who stick to this infamous rule. The purpose of this lesson is to keep the mind of the pupil running on in a logical manner so that the proper reasoning is developed. 2. Divide 12 by 2. 121 twelve times, and 12-2 instead of one 1⁄2 as nauny times. 1⁄2 of 12-6, hencé 12÷÷2=6. 3. If one book cost 50 cents, how many books can be bought for $2.50. $21⁄2-5-2 dollars, 5-2=1⁄2 5 half times, and 5-21⁄2 instead of 1, two times 5 half times or ten half times, or 5 times, hence $2.50 will buy 5 books. But we prefer this analysis. The number of books is to be increased or decreased hence reason to 1 book. 5. Divide % by 34. 8 3 6 7 4 -- I 7 I 16 Since 50 cents will buy one book, 5 half dollars will buy 5 times as many books or 5 books. The number to be increased or de Two thirds equal 1, 3 of one time, and 23 will equal instead of two times as many times because 1⁄2 is only 1⁄2 as great as one. The result is 4-3 or 13. The number to be increased or decreased is %. %=1, %of one time. % instead of 1, four times as many times, and it will equal 34 instead of 4, only as many times, the result is 1 1-16. Notice that having concluded "four times" we place 4 on right of line, and having concluded " as many times." We place 3 on left of line which placing according to our custom of figuring gives the results required. It is to be hoped our teachers will meditate over the process of reasoning here given. The Physical Basis of Mind. Henry Mandsley. Forum. BOOKS FOR FEBRUARY. School Hygiene. A. Newsholme, M. D., D. C. Heath & Co. Rudimentary Psychology. G. M. Steele, Leach, Shewell and Sanborn. SYLLABUS ON THE TOPIC OF ATTENTION. [In addition to the text of Rosenkranz. sec. 82-84, reference is made below to the psychology of attention, by Th. Ribot; trans. (Humboldt Pub. Co., N. Y., phamphlet ed); Prof. W. James' valuable new work on psychology; communications on half-time Teaching, collected for edn. commission, in Parl. Reports, London, 1862, XLIII.-G. B. N.] (1) Nature of attention. Rosenkranz, sec, 82, first paragraph, "Relatively, the observer allows, for a moment, his relations to all other surroundings to cease," Again, in note, p, 70, attention operates by selection and neglect. Using Ribot's phrase, attention is a relative mono-ideaism, contrasted with the poly-ideaism characteristic of the undisciplined mind. Wandering thoughts, scattered ideas, are customary where the habit and power of focalizing consciousness has not been studiously developed ("The ordinary state an irradiation in various directions." etc). With Compayre, attention consists in dominating the sensations, overcoming the natural mobility of the child's consciousness. (2) Training Attention. Rosenkranz in sec. 83, justly insists that education should accustom the pupil "to an exact, rapid and many sided attention." Note, however, that the capacity itself of voluntary attention is a product of culture; the attention available at first is the reflex or involuntary form. See Sully, on the growth of voluntary out of involuntary attention, pp, 80, 81, and 95, 96. The training in at M. Scully. English Ill., Mag. tention requires at first frequent and variǝd appeals to the NEW YORK SOCIETY OF PEDAGOGY. MAGAZINE REFERENCE FOR FEBRUARY. The Education of Genius. (January). Precision in Physical Training. M. George Demercy. Popular Science Monthly. Coeducation in Swiss Universities. Flora Bridges. Popular Science Monthly. Religious Teaching in the Public School. Popular Science Monthly. Suggestions of English Study for Secondary Teachers of English. S. Thurber. Academy (January). Age and Action in the Single line Figure, (Figure draw ing for Children. Wide Awake. active sense-interests. Then (Ribot) "we substititute an artificial end for the natural attractiveness, until the power of holding the attention becomes a second nature." (3) The Process of Voluntary Attention or Control of Attention. Attention cannot be literally held to one idea. After all, it is only a relative mono-ideaism, the dominance of a master-idea, which guides or controls our thoughts. The will can fix the attention for an instant, but cannot hold it unless interest be awakened and sustained. The idea, to "capture the personality," must be apperceived-by orderly connection with the rest of our experience. Apperceptive attention is due to association of the idea presented with our previous acquisitions, our general knowledge. The importance of such connection is brought out at length by Rosenkranz, eg, pp. 74-76. See James Psy. 1, p. 408, for striking illustrations of apperceptive attention, from Herbart. Attention, Is there a science of Education? Josiah Royce. Educa- is, in reality, not a dull stare at an idea, but an active canvass tional Review (January). of its connections. Sully says, p. 99, "Strictly speaking, what is often called attending to one thing, is the following of a series of connected impressions or ideas, and involves a continual renewal and deepening of interest." The pedagogic bearings of this are obvious. (4) Hence, note the strain on nervous organism involved in protracted voluntary attention. "Concentrated voluntary attention implies a large amount of work being done in the cerebral hemispheres." Ladd's Physiol. Psychol., p. 543. The limits of profitable attention must be carefully considered by the educator in arrangement of hours and lessons. Much interesting testimony given by English schoolmasters as to the limits of profitable attention to one subject, the number of hours usefully employed in hard study, etc., is contained in the English report above mentioned. Long hours at school, it was held, should be broken by such admixture of branches not requiring brain-work as may relieve the strain of attention. Undue strain was permanently hurtful to the capacity or attention. The advocates of "manual training" in its various branches, recommend it from this point of view. See several articles in N. Y. Teacher, Vol. 1. (5) Queries for consideration: Limits of capacity for continuous attention at different ages; expedients for securing or reviving attention; treatment of different temperaments. A GERMAN GEOGRAPHY LESSON. BY H. H. BOYESEN. The Germans are disposed to over-educate their children. They pay too little attention to the development of the body, and too much to that of the mind. Making due allowance for this tendency, I find much that is admirable in instruction of the primary and secondary German schools, especially in the best schools in Berlin. I one day obtained a permit to be present at the lesson in geography in the lowest class, the Sexta. The pupils were all boys about eight or nine years old. This was the second or third lesson of the school year, and accordingly very elementary. The teacher a man, called up a small boy and asked him pleasantly where he lived. The boy replied that he lived in Ritter Strasse. "Where in Ritter Strasse ?" asked the teacher. delineate his course; and then another boy was taken. There was a constant appeal to the child's intelligence and experience. The first boy had been made to draw a correct map of the road he took to school. The second boy, who lived in a digerent part of the city, was made to do the same, fitting his lines and distances correctly to those of the first. A third, fourth and fifth pupil were called up and required to do the same, and in the end the blackboard exhibited a rough but fairly correct map of a considerable part of the city of Berlin. Christian Union. Some cookies, an apple or two, A knife and pencil and bunch of strings, And marbles, of course, and a top and a ball, "I'd like a suit of some patent kind, With pockets made wide and long; Above and below and before and behind, I'd want about a dozen or so, All easy and quick to get at; And I should be perfectly happy, I know, -Eudora S. Bumstead, in St. Nicholas for August. A funny thing I heard to day And, through the open play-room door, I heard the elder say: "Lil, run down stairs and get my doll, Go quick, now, right away!" And Lillie said-(and I agreed That May was hardly fair): "You might say 'please,' or, go yourself— I didn't leave it th re." "But, Lillie," urged the elder one, Are younger far than mine are, child, THE GRUMBLER. First Pupil-His Youth. His cap was too thick, and his coat was too thin; Second Pupil-His Manhood. His farm was too small, his taxes too big; |