THE HIGH SCHOOL COURSE. The time during the first year at the High School should be devoted to a thorough drill in English grammar, in connection with a study of the style of literary masterpieces. A drill in rhetoric should be added to the course of the second year, and the study of the masterpieces continued and developed, relative to the use of words, phrases and clauses and the essential qualities of style. The course for the third year should comprise an exhaustive study of literature as literature, and qualify students for the production, in pure English, of creditable original essays, orations, criticisms, narratives and descriptions. MODE OF INSPECTION. Assisted by Deputy Superintendent Philbrook and Miss Fowler, the Inspectress, Mr. Kennedy has begun a systematic and thorough examination of all the schools. It is his practice to visit every grade in a school, and, taking control of the class, personally, to give it a practical lesson in language, in accordance with the course as outlined above. The teacher, in the meantime, is presumed to profit by observation, and to adopt and develop the method thus illustrated. The way Mr. Kennedy has of instructing a class is peculiarly his own, and must be seen to be appreciated. "Tell me something which you saw to-day," he will say to a little child in the Receiving Class. "A man with a hand-organ," perhaps, will be the answer. "Well, when did you see him?" "This morning. "Where ?" "On the street." "Ah, yes; and where were you going? What were you doing when you saw him?" "I was coming to school." "Yes, just so; now tell it all to me in a sentence." A little hesitancy may here occur, but soon will come from some bright child the answer: "I saw a man with a hand-organ on the street this morning, when I was coming to school." The teacher then writes the sentence upon the blackboard and the child proudly regards it as its own composition, a belief which is, of course, ncouraged. The course of instruction, thus begun, is continued upon a slightly advanced scale in the Eighth Grade and children are taught to write as well as to speak their thoughts. Pictures are introduced in the Seventh Grade and a training is commenced of the child's powers of observation, to the end that it may be enabled to describe such familiar objects as it sees. Descriptive writing from pictures etc., is continued in the Sixth Grade and elementary lessons are given in letter-writing. The Fifth Grade course touches upon the structure of simple sentences, comprising the complete subject and the complete predicate, the position of adjective and adverbial word modifiers, the use of connectives and the formation of plurals. Attention is called to "style" in the Fourth Grammar Grade, and pupils are taught that its essential properties are clearness, strength and beauty. Broad examples are cited of ambiguity and obscurity caused by misplaced modifiers, upon the position of which the meaning of sentences depend. The use of words, phrases and clauses, in sentences, is begun in the Third Grade. The regular and irregular verbs, the active, passive and neuter forms of expression, are also studied. An elaborate consideration of the qualities of style, including synonyms, the choice and arrangement of words in sentences, etc., is had in the Second Grade. The First Grade course gives special attention to the use of synonyms, the condensation and expansion of sentences, tales and essays, variety of expression and literary style. Concerning the High School course, which is not given in much detail, comment is unnecessary. It may be added, in conclusion, that English is, despite its vital importance, about the worst taught of all our school studies, and that the labor, so auspiciously begun by Mr. Kennedy, will, if he be properly seconded by Principals and teachers, result in an early and a great improvement. San Francisco, January, 1887. A DAY. FRED H. HACKETT. Talk not of sad November, when a day Of warm, glad sunshine fills the sky of noon, On the unfrosted pool the pillared pines Lay their long shafts of shadow: the small rill, In the thin grass the crickets pipe no more; Above, the spies of yellowing larches show, O sights and sounds of nature, doubly dear The sweet day yields; and, not disconsolate, JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. In the early part of 1853 three boys sat at rough benches and kicked their feet against the floor of a room previously used as a store or saloon at the corner of Fourth street and Broadway, in what was then the town of Oakland. Up and down the room paced a smooth, marked, earnest face. In a kindly way he imparted wisdom to the impatient youthsmore impatient of restraint than eager for knowledge. The man was Henry Durant, a congregational minister, who had arrived on this coast. a month before; and the school was Durant's School for Boys-the germ whose maturing growth is now the great University of California. It will be the province of this writing to trace the successive stages of this growth and to picture briefly its present condition. In the little school in the vacant store Dr. Durant's wife assisted him in teaching. But the store was too small for the ideas of the big-brained, earnest man, and he dreamed of founding in this new country a great college, at once the capstone and keystone in the education of the State. With this aim and to this end he solicited subscriptions and voiced his views. So persistent was he, that later in the summer of 1853 was purchased the plat of land bounded by Twelfth, Fourteenth, Franklin and Harrison streets, Webster and Thirteenth streets not then being opened. This plat was at that time a park of noble oaks, with cow-paths sinuously marked in the sandy soil, and in springtime redolent of the odor of wild flowers. Land titles were anything but stable, however, and there had collected in the settlement at the foot of Broadway a crowd of squatters, who openly avowed their intention to jump all the unoccupied land in the vicinity of the young town. At a meeting of these roughs appeared Dr. Durant, and plainly told them of his purposes and desires in relation to the plat of land just purchased, or just about to be purchased. His gentle firmness won over the rough fellows, and when he appealed to them not to molest but to aid his work, they cheered him heartily, and promised that his property should ever be protected from intrusion. A small sum of money was then raised for building purposes, and a part of the building now known as the Sunnyside House was begun. The original building faced Twelfth street and extended close to Harrison street. While the building was in progress of construction the funds gave out. What followed was thus narrated by Dr. Durant himself: "The house was building. It had been roofed in, the outside was nearly finished, some of the rooms quite well under way, and one room furnished inside. The contractors, as I understood, were about making arrangements with some parties to let them have the money to finish up the building-some six or seven hundred dollars-and to take a lien on the building. They proposed to get the whole property for themselves in that way. This thing had been done, I knew, with regard to a pretty good house that had been built a little while before. The builder was not able to pay for it immediately, and the contractors got somebody to advance the money to complete the house. They put into the house a man armed with a pistol to keep the proprietor away, and took possession of it themselves; and he lost the house. Knowing that fact, and not knowing but something of that kind might occur, I consulted a lawyer, who told me what I might do. Said he: You go and take possession of that house. Be beforehand. You have had to do with the contractors; you really may be regarded as the proprietor of it.' I came over at night, took a man with me, went into the house, put a table, chairs, etc., into one of the rooms upstairs, and went to bed. Pretty early in the morning the contractor came into the house and looked about. Presently he came to our door. Looking in, says he: What is here?' I was getting up. I told him I didn't mean any hurt to him, but I was in a little hurry to go into my new home, and I thought I would make a beginning the night before. I asked him if he would not walk in and take a seat. I claimed to be the propretor, and in possession. He went off. My friend went away, and in a little while the contractor came back with two burly fellows. They came into the room and helped themselves with seats. I had no means of defense except an axe that was under the bed. The contractor said to one of the men: 'Well, what will you do?' Said he: If you ask my advice, proceed summarily,' and then he began to get up. I rose, too, then-about two feet taller than usual; I felt as if I was monarch of all I surveyed. I told him that if I understood him, he intended to move into the room. Said I: You will not only commit trespass upon my property, but you will do violence to my body. I don't intend to leave this room in a sound condition. If you undertake to do that, you will commit a crime as well as a trespass!' That seemed to stagger them, and finally they left me in possession." It was in this spirit and in these troublous times that the College School was founded. The school was under the control of a Board of Trustees, and was intended as a preparatory school for the College of California, subsequently to be established. In 1855 the State gave the College a charter, and soon thereafter the first building of the College proper was built. This building was located just west of where Webster street now is, and faced Twelfth street. In it were the recitation rooms and Dr. Durant's office. Subsequently this building was purchased by Dr. Durant and fitted up as a dwelling house, and moved on the lot at the corner of Thirteenth and Franklin streets. Afterward it was removed |