that is all, and the new shoots will have to be changed again into yet other seeds and shoots in their season. This, child, we call death, or birth. Can you understand? Do you see, child, it is as if death was a great gate, always opening and shutting to let the crowd pass through. And on one side of the gate is written 'Death,' and on the other side of the same gate is written' Birth,' so that when the people come to it, when they are on one side they call it death and when they have passed through, they look back and see the gate is not named death at all but birth."

C.

father?"

"And have all things that have life passed through this gate,

F. "Yes, my child. But the gate is not so very great after all. It is a gate whose threshold has scarcely the width of a hair, and all living things pass from life into birth, and life into birth, and again from life into birth and they scarcely know what is befalling them, so easy are all of nature's ordained changes. Oh! have I been talking beyond you, child? Ah well, you will understand it better some day. Come now, we will go and plant a slip of your old rose tree that I once cut, and next year you shall have the same rose tree blooming in your garden. See, here it is, come now and we will help its new birth into life."

THE PASADENA SCHOOL EXPOSITION.

The schools of Pasadena, this State, have just had a wonderful revival in the form of a series of school exhibits, inaugurated and carried out by Supt. Will S. Monroe. All the written work since the opening of schools-language, drawing, arithmetic, science, etc.,-has been preserved. After each piece of written work was finished it was bound, title-paged, and sent to the Superintendent's office. Here the work of the year accumulated.

The last week of April the schools-from the primary to the High School-had a letter writing exercise. These letters were invitations to the parents to visit the school exposition. In some rooms each child invited his or her own parent; in others, children invited the parents of their school mates. By some means or other every patron in the city received a letter-invitation, and in many instances some received more than one invitation. These were carried by the children and not sent through the mails.

The work of the different schools was exhibited on different days. That of the Washington School was exhibited May 5th; the Wilson

Grammar School and the Wilson Primary School, May 6th; the Garfield School, May 7th; the Jackson School and the Grant School, May 8th. On these days the work of these schools was conveniently arranged for inspection. The schools were in session as usual and the visitors were invited to visit the class-rooms also, which many hundreds of them did.

The work was arranged on slanting racks through the center of the halls. The work was first classified by years (grades) and next by subjects. Every grade of work that it was possible to represent on paper, in clay, or with the needle was in the exhibit. The primary grades, representing the first four years, had work in language, modeling, plants, animals, drawing, number, penmanship, and industrial work. The grammar grades, including the next four years, had work in language, arithmetic, geography, physiology, drawing, technical music, insects, paper mache maps, plant maps, relief maps, etc. The high school, including the ninth, tenth, and eleventh years, exhibited work in composition, literature, physiolygy, entomology, zoology, botany, mathematical drawing, music, and the other studies of the grades.

In the primary, as in all the higher grades, the work was of a related order. There was, for instance, a series of lessons in the creamcup (platystemon). In this line of work, each pupil had a mounted cream-cup; a language lesson on the cream-cup; drawings of the cream-cup from the object; the cream-cup sewed in bristol-board in its appropriate colors, and the flower modelled in clay. The same was true of the poppy, blue-eye, potato, eucalyptus, lemon, orange, and many other plants. The same idea of relation was prominent in the work of the grammar grades, especially in the work in insects and physiology. In the former, the insects were described as language lessons, drawn for work in drawing, and dissected and mounted on bristol board. In the high school, there was a close blending of literature, composition, and drawing. The Leak in the Dyke," for instance, was the subject of study in the literature class; the same was made the subject of a composition, and each child was called upon to give his concept of some portion of the poem as a lesson in drawing. All of the work, in fact, was profusely illustrated.

There are twelve hundred pupils in the schools of Pasadena, and each child had on exhibition from twenty to fifty pieces of work. Many of the drawings were in colors. The work was so arranged that it was not difficult for parents to find the work of their own children. Supt. Monroe was present at the different schools on Exposition

Day;" and he was assisted in receiving the visitors by pupils selected from different class-rooms who aided in finding and explaining the lines of work exhibited.

Registers were kept and all patrons inspecting the work were invited to enroll their names. About one thousand names were enrolled. The daily papers of Pasadena and Los Angeles gave from one-half to a column a day descriptive of the exposition, and in other ways contributed towards its success. The rooms were profusely decorated with flowers and evergreens in archings, drapings, emblems, mottoes, bouquets, etc. In one instance, the motto "Judge us kindly" was artistically woven in a bed of La France roses. The exposition repre

sented the work done during the school year and not work prepared for the special occasion. This increased its value. The large number of patrons who inspected the work and the favorable comments of the daily papers, indicate the value of such public expositions in arousing an interest in the schools and familiarizing the parents with their workings. We have described thus at length the Pasadena exposition, believing that such an article might be suggestive to other cities contemplating an exhibit of a somewhat similar character.

MORALS IN THE SCHOOL-ROOM.

KINDNESS TO ANIMALS.

School is dismissed; the orderly children have passed into the hall. Suddenly shrieks are heard, and cries of, "Kill it! Kill it!" The teacher flies to the door. She sees a miniature mob, and the victim-a defenceless mouse. Commands and pleas are unheard; the work is accomplished, and twenty-five triumphant boys gloat over the lifeless body.

A wasp comes sailing through the school-room, a spider spins down from the wall,-"Kill it! kill it!" is heard from every side. Destruction marks the schoolboy's course. It is his delight to snap off young trees growing by the roadside; bugs and butterflies must be held up by the legs and until these members drop off; he has not the slightest scruple about scaling fish alive and stringing "bobs ;" and ant-hills were made for no other purpose than as marks for him to plant his feet upon. You need not be surprised to hear of his attending cockfights, dog-fights or any other kind of a fight.

How can the teacher remedy this evil? Thoughtless ignorance is the cause of nine-tenths of the cruelty. The thoughtless boy does not

know the value of these little living things, and their place in creation. Woe to that creature smaller than himself. "Ich bin gross un du bist klein" is the controlling principle of his actions, as well as of the animals in the fable; in plain English "I am large and you are small," and we might add, "therefore I shall step on you." Who has a better opportunity than the teacher to give him a new way of thinking?

There are Bands of Mercy in England and America, and the boys and girls who form the societies promise to do all they can to protect animals from cruel usage. Many of these are in connection with public and Sunday schools. The teachers have charge of the meetings, and make them interesting by songs, music, and recitations. More than five thousand French schools give regular lessons on topics bearing on this subject. A noted French teacher, who had been instructing the children in kindness to animals, said, "This work has had the best influence on their lives and characters."

The day is full of opportunities. If the heart of the teacher is right, the dead mouse and the wasp will furnish topics for eloquent and instructive talks. Men are but children grown. It is but a step from the crushing of these little creatures, endowed with all the organs of life, to that more exquisite torture of human beings, and the trampling of human rights. Respect for the lower forms of life is to be taught, before that wonderful thing we call character will come up fair and symmetrical.

Preaching will do but little good. The sentiment must be an intelligent one. The subject must be made interesting and instructive. Object lessons in zoology are received with the greatest interest; and abundant material for such is supplied in the supplementary readingbooks and school papers and magazines. Where the objects themselves are not available, pictures may be used.

But the study of structure and habits must lead to something higher. Make the child realize that the life of the animal is dear to it. Show what the attractions of life are, how the home, way of living, and family ties make life pleasant. In these animal studies, instil the principle that the weaker are not to be driven to the wall, but defended. Encourage children to have pet animals. Out of two thousand criminals in American prisons, it was found that only twelve had any pet animal in childhood. Keep working. It takes time to awaken delicate sensibilities, and sometimes there are none to awaken; but one day you will feel gratified to hear indignant voices in the schoolyard saying: "Let it alone! What do you want to kill it for ?—The Fountain.

OVER TEACHING.

We

Perhaps we had better explain what we mean by the term. have used it for that kind of teaching which so many teachers get to practicing, wherein the teacher does too much for the student,—words his problems, reads his Latin, analyzes his sentences, and does other things for him too numerous to mention. This we have called overteaching.

Now what effect does this kind of teaching have?

A people who have long been subject to over-government are incapable of self-government. They grow weak because their individualities have been suppressed. Take Russia for example. It requires no seer to perceive that her people as a whole have no capacity for self-government. Having been ruled so long by a sovereign whose will is the supreme law of the land, and every advance toward individual government having been firmly and unscrupuously opposed, they look to that source for their law without any responsibility upon their part, and therefore are incapable of governing themselves.

Whatever is done for a people tends to weaken that people; but that which they work out for themselves by their own energy and industry gives them strength. This is true of nations and no less true of individuals. Whatever is done for persons that they might have accomplished by proper efforts themselves is ruinous in its very nature, since it leads to the destruction of self-confidence and that manly independence which is characteristic of all well regulated and properly balanced minds.

Nowhere else is this so true as in the school-room, for the minds are growing, character being formed, and influences whether for good or evil more easily stamp themselves upon the young tender nature. Over-teaching with young pupils produces injurious effects which in all probability will become permanent. It lessons the effort of the pupil, and creates in his mind just at the time it ought to be developing into a distinct, independent individuality, a habit of dependence which is a mark of any but strong, energetic men and women. This style of teaching is not only harmful to young pupils, it is followed by evil result when practiced upon older students. So positively injurious is it that though the students are grown and their characters comparatively fixed, bad results are sure to follow.

These results may be summed up briefly, thus: it destroys independence; weakens the mental faculties by taking from them the very