a mandatory order from any school board. So much writing is now required in all public schools that to demand of the pupils a new style of writing, necessitating the conscious action, painfully, so to write it, is but rendering the pupil's work doubly difficult.

Vertical writing should be recommended to any pupil in any grade if the slanting writing is very poorly written as a corrective to poor slanting writing it works like magic-but where any good, legible writing has been acquired, no matter what the slant, slope or direc tion, it should not be interfered with. These are the conclusions that I have arrived at after testing vertical writing thoroughly in all grades of public school work.

SUPERINTENDENT BRIGHT, of Cook county, Ill., has published the following suggestions as to what shall be taught in arithmetic: Operations in arithmetic which have become obsolete, or have never existed anywhere else in the world, should become obsolete in the school-room.

I. Fundamental operations-four or five, according to your faith. Numbers used should be within the comprehension of pupils. First, correctness, then rapidity in work. Use of Federal money included in the foregoing.

2. Measurements-lines, surfaces, solids. In measurements of surfaces, platting to a scale. (Actual measurements by the children.)

3. Denominate tables, such as are in common use, and relative value of units. Tables learned by actual measurement, so far as prac ticable. Addition, subtraction, etc., of denominate numbers, obsolete.

4. Fractions that occur in the world. Keep the fractions within the range of the multiplication table, or such numbers as the children can manage mentally. The changes in fractions should be thought out, not brought out by mechanical process. Nine tenths of the work in fractions should be mental-yes, nineteen-twentieths.

5. Decimal fractions and percentage. Discard all superfluous terms. Omit three-fourths of the separate topics in percentage, but thoroughly teach the principles.

6. Squares and square root, cubes and cube root-the latter only with numbers such that the cube root may be thought out easily, as 8, 27, 64, 125.

7. Mensuration-limited extent.

The comparison of numbers and the thorough understanding of ratio and the use of the term, should begin with second-grade work and extend through the entire course.

Establish certain principles and then stick by them. As (a) like numbers only can be united-added. (b) A product must be like the multiplicand. (c) A dividend must be greater than its divisor, etc.

SUPERINTENDENTS, BOARDS OF EDUCATION AND TRUSTEES.

Sloyd School in Sweden.

The following letter from Howard L. Lunt, formerly superintendent of the Ontario, Cal., schools, will be interesting to many readers. of the JOURNAL. Mr. Lunt decided to enter more fully into the work of industrial education, and has been attending the celebrated Sloyd school in Nääs :

Editor Journal: At Nääs, Sweden, is located Herr Otto Salomon's famous sloyd school. Here the leading teachers of all degrees and all nationalities meet for common work, and for interchange of ideas. Professors, school inspectors, secondary and elementary teachers, women as well as men, meet on common ground as comrades.

Nääs is situated on one of the beautiful lakes of Sweden about twenty miles northeast of Gothenburg. It is properly the name of the large estate of Herr Abrahamson who founded the school and provides the funds for its maintenance. At first (1872) it was merely a work-school for boys, but now Nääs is the synonym for the best sloyd school in the world. It is a training school for teachers in sloyd, or in the Swedish-Slöjlärareseminarium. The history of the rise and growth of this institution is very interesting, but it must be reserved until another time.

During the past twenty years more than 2,000 students have taken one or more courses in sloyd, coming from North and South America, the British Isles, and from nearly every country in Europe. The present course, No. 71, for ladies and gentlemen, was opened Tuesday, July 30th. There are nearly 120 in attendance. Thirty are from England, Scotland and Wales. The United States is represented by six, two ladies and four gentlemen. Two are from Boston, one from New York city, one from Los Angeles, and two from Pennsylvania.

In some cases men come here at the expense of the government or local school board, in order to learn this system of educational sloyd.

Herr Salomon, the director, is a true educator in every sense of the term. He has for years been a careful student of education, and keeps in touch with the best thought of the day. He is the author of

several educational works, and articles on educational hand-work.

He lectures three or four times a day in different languages. He speaks English slowly but well. In the sloyd room there are also instructors who speak English, so that the difficulty usually experienced in a foreign school is thus obviated. Hence the number of Englishspeaking students is increasing year by year.

The English term "Sloyd" is derived from the Swedish noun, "slöjd," which means dexterity, manual skill, or artistic skill. In Sweden, the slöjdare is a person who has a certain degree of dexterity in making articles about the home, but who has never learned any special trade. The principal tool of the slöjdare is the knife, as it is the only single instrument by which anything can be constructed and completely finished. So in the Nääs system, as worked out by Herr Salomon and his able assistants after years of experience, the knife is the first tool used in the construction of models, and it occupies a leading place of usefulness in making the first twelve models of the series. The total number of models in the series is fifty, involving eightyeight different exercises in the making.

It would be hard to find a more delightful spot in which to spend a summer vacation in recreation and study than Nääs. The boating on the lake during the long summer evenings, and the games in the park under the personal direction of Herr Salomon all contribute to make life here enjoyable.

I should not forget to mention the great meeting of teachers at Stockholm, August 6th to 8th, an organization which meets every five years, and is composed of the teachers of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. About 7,000 educators were in attendance. Herr Salomon presented a paper which was well received. The Nääs system of sloyd was thoroughly discussed and strongly defended by the majority of those present.

Course of Study.

The following points in the new Course of Study for Mendocino county may be profitably noted:

I. No suggestions on how to teach, this being left to the specified "Teachers' Guides."

2. The subject of English throughout the Course.

3. Spelling to be taught entirely from lists made from the other subjects, English, History, Geography, etc.

4. Selections named to be memorized (among them the "Declaration of Independence."')

5. The correlation of subjects is recognized and preserved. Superintendent Rhodes writes in explanation as follows: "We included no suggestions on methods, because we believe that if they were omitted teachers would refer more often to good authorities, and our belief has been carried out, as it appears that one dealer in Ukiah alone has sold about four dozen of "Partridge's Quincy Methods." Again, as the Manual states just what and how much, it is plain and easily followed. For this reason, the teachers are well pleased with it. Judging from what I have seen in my visits so far, I believe that our schools will make rapid progress, and do more thorough and systematic work as soon as the teachers become familiar with the Manual."

The Eldorado County Course of Study is printed on one side of a sheet. Upon the other side appear the Rules and Regulations of the County Board. The whole can be folded and carried in the vest pocket, or, where there is no vest pocket, in the purse; or can be fastened to the wall of the school-room-certainly a convenient place.

The Orange County Manual is a neatly-printed and bound book, covering the entire field of school-room and the duties and relations of teachers and school officers, library list, etc. To the intelligent teachers it must prove an invaluable guide and help. The June list of examination questions, printed under a separate cover, is of such a character and scope as to preclude any such event as getting a certificate. without pretty thorough scholarly training.

The Farmer's Summer School.

In reply to a letter to Mr. Edward F. Adams, of the Educational Committee of the Farmers' Camp of Instruction and Summer School of Economics and Husbandry, Camp Roache, Santa Cruz Mountains, for something concerning the school from a pedagogical standpoint, he writes:

The work done was regular university extension work for the most part, with no effort whatever towards "popular" features. The pedagogical feature

which might be elaborated is the results of teaching adult classes, not on the side of "culture" or "literature," or any such work of the kind we ordinarily associate with the university extension idea, but in the bread and butter sciences by which the attendants get their living-the notion of each attendant being that of extracting from each lecture something which could be translated into dollars and cents. I never saw such a school, and I have seen many, as you know.

There will be many teachers present next year, and I know no more profitable place for teachers to go to. Aside from the value of the instruction, which embraces topics of interest to all, I am convinced that teachers as such can derive great benefit from noting the result of first-class, professional teaching on the untrained adult mind. I suppose that next year, as this, there will be a lot of raw material, which it will be interesting to see licked into shape-the word "licked" not being used with any reference to the professional emblem of the school.

master.

Another great advantage to the teacher will be to note the effect of scientific economic doctrine upon those whose direct bread and butter depend on the proper application of it by themselves. The discussions were remarkably interesting, and, from the large number certain to be present next year, one sure to be more so then.

Notes from Yuba County.

The Board of Education has prepared a new course of study that is far ahead of anything under which our teachers have yet worked. An earnest effort is being made to bring all the schools to a uniform grade.

Promotions above the fourth grade are to be made upon examinations prepared by the Board.

Provision is made for exceptional pupils by allowing the principal and superintendent to promote at any time, such promotion to be reported at the next meeting of the Board.

A principal may promote pupils who have spent two years in a grade yet are unable to pass the required examination, when in his opinion the welfare of the pupil demands such advancement.

During the seventh year two compositions each term, and during the eighth and ninth years one composition every two months, is to be filed in the office of the superintendent as a condition of promotion. All science teaching is to be made experimental.

The manual covers nine years. A tenth year has been added to partially meet the need of a county high school, which, unfortunately,