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same way, neither will the same person always find the same methods practicable. Whoever thinks to transport a method here, there and everywhere, and set it going like a hand-organ, will doubtless meet with many experiences very similar to those of an organgrinder. So, it is not necessary to employ all one's leisure time, in pursuing all the theories of all the men under the sun, who have felt impelled, by pressure on brain or pocket, to write books on educa

tion.

There should be books on history, the more the better. Every teacher is supposed to be well versed in American history. To this should be added the history of England, at least, and as much of the history of the rest of Europe, and the world in general, as possible. I know that after the wear and tear of the seven hours' work of the country teacher, one does not feel very studious. But by improving a little time now and then, when we are not quite so tired, very much may be accomplished. By a little effort, half an hour may be saved for this purpose in the morning, before the day's work begins, when the mind is fresh. A part of Saturday may be so employed, and before we are well aware of it, we shall have gained a respectable knowledge of history.

We

But there is another class of books, not intended to be studied, but to be read; not intended for instruction, but for diversionbooks written to please, and having this as the first, often their only aim. But the pleasure they are designed to give is of the higher and nobler kind. They please through the imagination and fancy, through pleasurable appeals to the sympathies and feelings. These may be read even when we are weary, for they rest and divert. give ourselves up to their leading, and rise far above and away from the petty cares and annoyances of our calling, and meander over other lands, amid far different scenes. This evening we may visit Italy, to-morrow Palestine, and the next day, if we choose, drop in at Washington and inspect the soles of the Senators' boots. When we are weary of so much change, we stop for a week, or a month, as it pleases us, in the "Bonny Highlands," and yield ourselves up to the witchery of Marmion and its fellow poems.

Our grand old English ancestors, through their poets and prose writers, their true nobility, have left us a goodly heritage, not to eldest sons only, but equally to every son and daughter who reads our strong, terse, noble English. What an array of names and books! Milton, Shakespeare, Defoe, Wordsworth, Hume, Byron, Dickens, Macaulay and a host of others, ending with dear, delightful Tennyson. Read Milton, and admire Satan-the Satan of his creation, I mean. You cannot help it, and it is not a sin. Read Scott, Byron; read them all.

An do not imagine that this work will be lost in the school-room. The readers are filled with selections from the best writers in the English language, and the name of the author is attached. Call their attention to it. Tell them where he lived, how many tens or hundreds of years ago, what he wrote. Tell them some little story from

his life; his poverty, his struggles, his success-some little incident. You will be surprised to see how interested they will be, and how well they will remember. Read them something else from the same author, if you have it hand; if not, tell them what you want, and ten to one they will find it for you. By this means the reading books will acquire a new value in their eyes, and a knowledge of and interest in the best authors and their works will be gradually aroused. This latter of itself would be of incalculable benefit to the pupil, for the boy or girl of sixteen who has formed a taste for pure literature is safe, and has ever within reach a source of wholesome pleasure. Of course this demands a knowledge of English literature on the part of the teacher, but this knowledge may be gained without a teacher, wherever we may chance to be situated. Again, what better way to relieve the drudgery of geography than by little stories of life and customs in the far-away countries, whose existence is so hard for the little ones to realize.

But if you are very patriotic, and still feel some lingering revolutionary ire toward the worthy Britons, you may find abundant reading matter nearer home. We cannot yet equal our mother in literature, however we may compete with or surpass her in other things. We are too young for that. But we are not poor. True, we have no great epic like "Paradise Lost," but the world has produced but few of these, at best, and we can wait. We have no Dickens or Thackeray, but we have Washington Irving, James Fennimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Holland with his beautiful tales, neither prose nor poetry, but a delightful something between the two. We have no Tennyson, but we have a Whittier, who, if he had not accomplished it before, would have made his name immortal with that noble centennial hymn, commencing:

Our father's God, from out whose hand

The centuries drop like grains of sand.

And we had-nay, we have, for he is immortal-a Longfellow, not poet laureate by royal favor, but elevated higher yet by the love of the whole American people. Only a little while ago he was with us; and we can scarcely realize that no more are to be added to those beautiful lyrics; no more lofty thoughts, clothed in beautiful and fitting rhythm, penned by that hand, that never wearied of its work till old age shook the pen from its trembling grasp.

It seems almost presumptuous to say anything about the works of an author so well known; but those of us who love him like to talk of him, and those who have not yet learned to love him cannot learn too soon. His longest and most important works are "Hiawatha," "Evangeline" and "The Courtship of Miles Standish." Of these "Evangeline" is the most elaborate and finished, but it does not haunt us like "Hiawatha," nor has it quite so great a charm for us as that story of the romance of our stern Puritan ancestors. All who lay any claim to Puritan descent-all, indeed, who enjoy the blessings so dearly purchased by them, must ever read with interest that vivid, lifelike and truthful sketch of the first days of Massachusetts, beautified as it is by the poet's art.

“Hiawatha” transports us, as if by magic, to the primeval forests, with their own inhabitants of Indians, beasts and birds, to the waving branches and glancing waters-in short, to the beauty and romance of savage life, stripped of all that is unpleasant and degrading. This is effected no more by the thought and words than by the peculiar rhythm. This meter, simple as it is, is capable of wonderful variety, and is ever in harmony with the thought expressed as in this:

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All the earth was sick and famished;
Hungry was the air around them,
Hungry was the sky above them,
And the hungry stars in heaven
Like the eyes of wolves glared at them!
Into Hiawatha's wigwam

Came two other guests, as silent
As the ghosts were, and as gloomy;
Waited not to be invited,

Did not parley at the doorway;

Sat there without word of welcome

In the seat of Laughing Water;

Looked with haggard eyes and hollow

At the face of Laughing Water.

And the foremost said: "Behold me!

I am Famine, Bukadawin!"

And the other said: "Behold me!

I am Fever, Alkosewin!"

This poem, or song as he has called it, is a fitting tribute, and will be a lasting monument to the race so soon to be lost from among us.

The rippling melody of "Hiawatha" is not better suited to its wild forest scenes than is the stately hexameter of " Evangeline to the sad story it recounts. In this, too, as in "Hiawatha," beautiful bits of imagery and description abound on every page, as here

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CALIFORNIA

TEACHERS' READING CIRCLE.

EDITED BY MRS. KATE B. FISHER.

Since the last issue of the JOURNAL the Reading Circle has begun to assume more definite shape. Very satisfactory arrangements have been made for furnishing books to members at a considerable discount from retail price, and local Circles have already commenced their work.

We trust that our membership will rapidly increase, and that as the various County Institutes assemble, Superintendents or others interested in the matter will present it to the teachers and secure their co-operation in the active work of the Circle.

As was promised last month, some hints are presented designed to aid in the profitable reading of "Ben Hur."

It may be of interest to some who have not read the incident to repeat the circumstances which led to the writing of this book:

Col. Robert Ingersoll had, in Gen. Wallace's hearing, made one of his characteristic addresses, throwing discredit upon the New Testament narrative, and had pursued the subject in personal conversation, urging Gen. Wallace to examine the subject, that he might see for himself the fallacies of Christian belief. Gen. Wallace did so, and as the result of his research became fully convinced of the divine origin of Christianity and its devoted adherents. Official duties led him to the lands he has depicted in "Ben Hur," and his personal observations have enabled him to give the vivid local coloring which invests the book with such a charm. 66 HINTS FOR THE STUDY OF BEN HUR."

What can I gain from the study of this book?

I. The training of the historical imagination, by study of (a) the life, (b) the scenery, (c) the characters portrayed in its pages. I can do this by the effort

1. To locate the story in time and space, and to this end I should read with a map before me.

2. To let the whole development gather about a firmly apprehended

center.

3. To realize the difference between that mode of life and our own in its local tone and color; its domestic, social and political features; its habits of thought; its manners, morals and motives.

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