Institute Department.

The Plumas County Institute was held at Quincy, June 16-19. About fifty teachers were present. B. R. Foss, County Superintendent presided, and in his opening address gave especial attention to the duties of trustees and their relations to teachers. The same topic was ably discussed by the Hon. W. W. Kellogg in a carefully prepared paper. L. D. Syle of San Francisco was present as Institute Conductor, and spoke on the following subjects: Methods in Primary Schools, American History, Arithmetic, Geography, Civil Government and Kindergarten Methods in Primary Schools. On the evening of June 18, he lectured upon Congressional Government.

During every evening of the Institute there was a social festivity of some kind for which the teachers were indebted to the hospitable management of the Plumas House. The most enjoyable feature of these entertainments was the reciting of Mrs. J. G. Edwards, whose work was marked by considerable dramatic power and by exquisite

taste.

The Superintendent's thirty questions on School Law drew forth a large number of amusing and sometimes accurate answers, and proved a useful exercise. The school children of Quincy had decorated with flowers the room in which the Institute was held, thereby setting a good example to other counties we have known where the Institute hall has been a desolate, uninviting and depressing abode.

SISKIYOU COUNTY.

The teachers of this county met in annual session June 10-14, with Prof. Anderson of San Francisco as conductor. Nearly every teacher in the county was present and showed either by active participation in the exercises or by careful attention, that there was an earnest desire to make the Institute a success.

The topics usually discussed on occasions of this kind were considered and the remarks made by the different teachers proved they were well posted on advanced methods of teaching.

Prof. Anderson's labors were highly appreciated and at the close he received a very gratifying vote of thanks. The following resolutions also met with a unanimous approval. It speaks well for the teachers

of the county in respect to a recognition of sound pedagogical principles.

"Whereas, progress is characteristic of this day and age, and whereas teachers are at the head of the work of educating the minds of the rising generation, the source from which all future progress must come, therefore be it.

Resolved, That it is the sense of this Institute, that teachers should use, to the very best advantage, every moment of their spare time for self-improvement, not only by reading and studying directly in the line of their especial work, but that they should pursue studies in advance."

SCHOOL NOTES.

County was held in San 16, and closing Friday.

The teachers' examination of Marin Rafael during the week, beginning June There were six applicants, four ladies and two gentlemen. Of this number Hugh W. Miller, Maggie E. Keating and Jennie S. Griss made the percentage necessary for primary or second grade certificates, the other three falling below the required percentage.-Marin County Tocsin.

The Board of Education in Butte County held an examination during the week ending June 7th. There were forty-six applicants, many of whom were old teachers applying for certificates of the higher grades. The following is a list of the successful applicants:

GRAMMAR SCHOOL COURSE.

Henry S. Verney, Clyde Gibson.

GRAMMAR GRADE.

C. H. Hinchly, Abbie M. Johnson, Malinda Matheson, Carrie E. Messer, Nellie Willson, Helen Brown, Mrs. V. Malcolm, Mary A. Cain, Viola Worthing, Anna V. Bell, Lily E. Cook.

PRIMARY.

Lydia Chandler, Minnie Nesbit, Josie Wickman, Sarah Fritter, S. S. Ray, Frankie E. West, S. J. Thompson, May Halderman, Mrs. Nina Foulk, H. H. Childress, Anna M. Baker, Maggie Welden, Alma Danby, James C. Ray, Alice Hamilton, Clint Gibson, Maggie Schaeffer, Olive Boyles, Mamie Jones.

They also granted recommendations for Life Diplomas to Miss Mary A. Lynch, Oregon City; Eda Miner, Tulare County; N. E. Malcolm, Hansonville.

For State Educational Diplomas-Angeline Ross, Wyandotte ; Ida L. Downing, Biggs.

To the Superintendents and Teachers of the Public Schools of California: It is a matter of pride and congratulation that the Department of Public Instruction of California was awarded a GOLD MEDAL, at the WORLD'S FAIR in Paris. That award was made upon an exhibit of our State Text-books, our School Laws, Educational Reports, Record Books, and a complete set of the Blanks used in conducting the business of our Public Schools.

WORLD'S FAIR AT CHICAGO.

I now desire to call your attention to the opportunity offered to the Educational Department of California to show at the WORLD'S FAIR, to be held at Chicago in 1893, the BEST WORK done in the schools themselves.

While all of the other departments of industry in the State are organizing for a GRAND DISPLAY at Chicago, let us make on that occasion an Educational Exhibit for California which shall surpass anything of the kind yet seen in America, or elsewhere. Let us compete with the WORLD for the GRAND PRIZE.

With our free Kindergartens, our Primary and Grammar Schools, our High and Normal Schools, and our Cogswell Polytechnic School (all second to none), and our efficient corps of County and City Superintendents and five thousand five hundred teachers, unsurpassed, in ability, by an equal number in any State in the Union, I am confident that, with proper organization and a united effort, we shall stand more than an even chance in the competition.

In accordance with law, I shall call a Biennial Convention of the School Superintendents of California, to meet next December. At that meeting this subject should be fully discussed and some plan adopted for the exhibit. That this plan may be wise and intelligent,

I most earnestly urge the Superintendents and teachers to give, in the meantime, careful thought to the matter.

PREMIUM OFFERED.

In this connection, I am authorized, by the First National Bank of D. O. Mills & Co. of Sacramento, to offer one hundred dollars, as a premium, to be awarded to the party or parties submitting to that Convention the best plan for a California Educational Exhibit at the Great Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. The plans must be submitted in writing and placed in the hands of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, at Sacramento, on or before December 1, 1890, under seal, and indorsed: "Plans for California's Educational Exhibit." The names and addresses of the parties competing must accompany, under another cover, each plan submitted. The award will be made by a committee appointed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The names of those submitting plans will not be known to the committee till after the award is made.

The great variety and beauty of our California woods, from which to prepare handiwork, the almost endless variety of our minerals, from which to collect cabinets, our abundant, beautiful, and rich flora, from which to arrange an herbarium, offer facilities and afford an opportunity to the schools of California possessed by no other State in the Nation. The very efforts made by the teachers and pupils in the preparation for such an exhibit will give lessons that will be of immeasurable value to the educational development of the State. Let the Superintendents, teachers, and pupils of California do their duty, and I am sure the State will have occasion to be proud of her sons and daughters.

IRA G. HOITT,

Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The State Board of Education held its regular quarterly meeting on the 13th of June, all the members being present except Governor Waterman.

Superintendent Hoitt and Editor Raymond, the committee having charge of the preparation of the Elementary Geography, reported the same completed, and an edition of 50,000 printed. The price of the book was fixed at 50 cents in Sacramento, and 60 cents by mail and at retail.

The same gentlemen, who have charge of the Physiology, reported the manuscript nearly done, and a contract with the writer to complete it by September 1st. The illustrations were reported completed and in plates.

Principal Childs' Committee, to secure the preparation of a Civil Government for the use of schools, reported the book well forward, and under contract to be completed in manuscript by September 1st of this year.

The manuscript of the Advanced Geography was reported under contract, to be completed by June 1st, 1891. The engravers are now at work upon the illustrations.

Principal Pierce, to whom had been assigned the duty of submitting a course of study to be recommended for common schools, made a very full report, whose discussion occupied the Board till late in the night. The report as thus revised was ordered printed for distribution.

Life Diplomas--Mrs. Mary E. Allen, Frantz S. Benson, Catherine F. C. Blake, Lizzie A. Boorse, Minnie E. Buckelew, Hattie E. Durgin ̧ Karl A. Floden, Mrs. Martha E. Garrison, Spencer C. Garrison, Mary F. Haun, Mrs. Naomi Angell Kister, Emma Lovejoy, Mary A. Lynch, Norman E. Malcolm, Sabina A. Marett, Margaret G. Meehan, Belle Miller, Eda L. Miner, Mrs. Emma W. McKenzie, Agnes H. Nicewonger, Frances B. Ortorn, Michael W. Pepper, Mrs. Annie S. Porter, Ida L. Simpson, Minnie G. Stebbins, Cornelius G. Sullivan, Frederick R. Sykes, Mrs. Jennie M. Van Vlear, Washington Wilson, Carrie E. Wooster.

The Board declined to issue a diploma to Mrs. Frances Nellis.

Diplomas will be issued to the following persons when full evidence of time taught has been received: Jessie I. King, Frank A. Molyneaux, Grace R. Murdoch, Mattie A. Reed, Ella F. Murphy, Louise J. Doheney.

Educational Diplomas-Pallas N. Ashley, Caroline Beckwith, Cora Brown, Teresa Byron, George K. Bingham, Ella Carothers, Jessie Chapman, Ida M. Clayton, Annie Cochrane, Ada L. Deacon, Alice E. Dippel, Hattie A. Doan, Ida L. Downing, Maggie A. Fahey, Mrs. Nannie E. Fay, Alvar C. Glenn, Floride Green, Jessie B. Gregory, Sarah E. Harper, Bertha R. Hunt, Caspar W. Hodson, Charles E. Jones, Fannie E. Johnston, Nellie F. Lowrey, Willis Lynch, Louise A. McDonnell, Mrs. Edith Moulton, Frankie L. Newton, Nellie M. Ogden, Mary E. O'Shaughnessy, Almira Palmer, Lulu Potter, Marion W. Pratt, Rufus E. Ragland, Annie L. Rinehart, Angeline Ross, Warren H. Sawyer, Lela A. Simpson, Nellie Shine, Helen A. Smith, Nancy J. Stephenson, May Stern, Mae Todd, Virginia Townes, Henrietta E. Treadwell, Simon P. Wagner, Carrie J. Weaver, Mary L. Westover, Mattie B. Winter, Louise A. Williams.

The Board declined to issue a diploma to Annie F. Conlin, under