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higher institution of learning which will demand of them at entrance the ability to write; or they go into the world at large to take positions of trust and responsibility; they go into business, into banking, or trading, or manufacturing, or railroading. In every position of life they will be expected at all times to be able to state in writing what they know and what they think. They will be called upon to write letters, letters to friends, letters of business, business reports of every conceivable

nature. The man or the woman who is unable to write a clearly readable letter or report will always be an object of doubt. The outside public, fathers, mothers and tax payers, when they see that graduates of a high school are unable to express themselves coherently on paper will ask themselves what is the good of the high schools. A father will say about his son, 'The boy is away from home, he writes to his mother or to me, and undertakes to tell us where he is and where he has been, but really what he writes is mere rubbish; he cannot spell, punctuate or paragraph. Why cannot the high school teach him that?' The matter being thus, the pupils of any high school will now be in the position to answer, 'Is the high school doing all for you that it ought to do?""

WE notice in a late language work the statement that we "should never use like before the subject of a clause." How about these:

She sings like an angel (sings).
He runs like a deer (runs).

The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold.

In none of these could as be used correctly for like.

Hundreds of additional sentences might be given to illustrate the fallacy that "like" is always followed by an objective.

When like is used to compare actions, it is a conjunctive adverb, connecting two sentences, and is followed by the nominative form; as

He runs like a deer (runs).

He speaks like a father (speaks).

To say "He speaks as his father" is ambiguous; to say "He speaks like unto his father" is nonsense.-Ed. News.

The above foolishness would not be worth notice were it not copied approvingly by so many of our exchanges. In each of

the above instances like is simply an adverb of manner modified by an adverbial objective. To show the fallacy of supposing father, for instance, to be in the nominative case, we have only to extend the sentence: He speaks like his father and walks like him. Were father in the nominative case we would need to say: and walks like he, which would be absurd.-School Education.

ABOUT a century ago there was published in England a school book designed upon a novel plan, intended to teach arithmetic and convey miscellaneous information at the same time. For example, this was one of the problems in "division:" "Such was the charitable disposition of Alfred the Great, a native of Wantage, that when reduced to his last loaf of bread he divided it with a mendicant pilgrim. If as many quartern loaves as there are inches in a foot cost eight shillings and sixpence, what is that a loaf?" Here is one under "Promiscuous Questions:" "Correggio, so called from Cerreggio, a town. Cerreggio, a town near Modena, in the north of Italy, was a most extraordinary painter. He spent the greater part of his life at Parma, and died, much lamented, in 1534, at the premature age of forty. The cause of his death was a little singular. Going to receive fifty crowns for a piece that he had done, he was paid it in a sort of copper money. This was a great weight, and he had twelve miles to carry it in the midst of summer. He was overheated and fatigued; in which condition indiscreetly drinking cold water, he brought on a pleurisy, which put an end to his life. His 'La Notte' (the Night), in the Dresden gallery, is esteemed one of the finest pictures in the world. The subject of this exquisite picture is the Adoration of the Shepherds. Valuing the crowns at four shillings and ninepence farthing each, what is the amount?" Here it is seen that the young lady of the early century in being taught arithmetic was taught also-to look no further than the question-something of geography, something of art history, something of chronology, something of foreign coinage, something of hygiene, something of Italian. An anecdote was thrown in to satisfy her love of story; and if she had some "tact for the ludicrous," the sudden putting of the promiscuous question would delight her.-Penn. School Journal.

AN article in a recent number of The Monist entitled, "A Few Hints on the Treatment of Children," written by Dr. Paul Carus, its able editor, is quite original. For instance, the opening sentences are as follows: "If you have a child whom you want to perform a certain act on its own account, but not at your request, you need only tell him, 'Do not do it,' and he will be sure to do it. Hence the lesson: don't say 'don't' to your children; do not forbid. If you do not want the baby to walk down stairs because he will hurt himself, and is liable to fall, let him try, and let him by his own experience find that he runs risk in going down." Of course, experience is an excellent teacher, no better, but we imagine that most mothers will hesitate before attempting so heroic a mode of teaching a baby experience. Solomon's well-worn precept, "Spare the rod and spoil the child," does not, by any means, fit in with the author's ideas, whose opinions on the matter are as follows: "You must make them, as far as possible, feel the evil results of their actions, and the insight into the causation of good and evil will exercise a better and more educational influence than the fear of the rod or the sting of bitter reproaches. The child will be an echo of your behavior. . . Direct and divert, but do not suppress. Deal with children as you would with insane persons." With regard to punishment of bad children, although we believe that many parents punish injudiciously, and thus do more harm than good, yet we cannot but think that a little wholesome castigation at times will effect its purpose. Still there is much to ponder over in Dr. Carus' remarks, and the article is well worth a study.

CONSIDER the effects of a well-toned a well-toned motor apparatus, nervous and muscular, on our general personal self-consciousness, the sense of elasticity and efficiency that results. They tell us that in Norway the life of the women has lately been entirely revolutionized by the new order of muscular feelings, with which the use of the ski, or long snowshoes, as a sport for both sexes, has made the women acquainted. Fifteen years ago the Norwegian women were even more than the woman of the other lands votaries of the old-fashioned ideal of femininity, the "domestic angel," the "gentle and refining influence" sort of thing. Now these sedentary fireside tabby cats of Norway have

been trained, they say, by the snow shoes, into lithe and audacious creatures, for whom no night is too dark or height too giddy, and who are not only saying goodbye to the traditional feminine pallor and delicacy of constitution, but actually taking the lead in every educational and social reform. I cannot but think that the tennis and tramping and skating habits and the bicycle craze, which are so rapidly extending among our dear sisters and daughters in this country, are going also to lead to a sounder and heartier moral tone, which will send its tonic breath through all our American life.

I hope that here in America more and more of the ideal of the well and the trained and vigorous body will be maintained neck and neck with that of the well-trained and vigorous mind as the two co-equal halves of the higher education for men and women alike. The strength of the British empire lies in the strength of character of the individual Englishman, taken all alone by himself. And that strength, I am persuaded, is perennially nourished and kept up by nothing so much as by their national worship, in which all classes meet, of athletic out-door sport.-Prof. Wm. James in "The Gospel of Relaxation."

WHAT do you do with a boy who answers your question by saying, "I know it, but I can't tell it?" What does the boy mean? Have you as a teacher ever thought about it? Did you know, that boy is unconsciously confessing to you a need which you can and should supply? All grades and ages of students from the little fellow up to the man in college use the sentence.

It seems to me he means one of two things: either he has not sufficient vocabulary to express his ideas, on he has not a clear cut idea on the subject. Is it a matter of temperament? If so, is it so serious a matter that repeated attempts to state one's knowledge will not overcome the natural diffidence? I have much sympathy for the timid student, for I believe that his trouble comes from a lack of confidence in his own ability, or more frequently from a realization of his own hazy conceptions and consequent dread to present them to his teacher. It is not lack of power to grasp the problem for the moment the fellow student states it he says, "That was what I meant." He can comprehend it after some one else has

thought it into order and told it. I hold it is part of the teacher's business in any grade, but especially from the intermediate up, to lead the pupil to think out and put into words what he has a clouded knowledge of.

If the answer "I know but can't tell" should come to me from a savage, or from a child before his vocabulary is more than started, or from a foreigner in the same condition as to the English vocabulary I should give it credence, for I am convinced that the condition of mind implied by the statement is primitive. It belongs to an early state of culture and disappears in proportion as the individual broadens his culture. It may do for children but should pass out of use in youth and manhood.

This cloudiness of mind is fostered by neglect of training in telling, and by the indulgence of a tendency common with many students to lodge an idea in the mind and never think it thru to make it his own. -Intelligence.

THE bible in abbreviated or complete. form will not be read in the Chicago schools. A report which passed the school management committee reading "that 'Readings from the Bible Selected for Public Schools,' be added to the list of supplementary reading, and whenever read in the public schools to be read without comment," did not find enough signatures to bring it before the board. It was presented as a minority report by Mr. Dawes, signed by himself and Messrs. Cameron and Loesch. Mr. Dawes made a speech in support of the measure while Mr. Keating opposed it. The measure was defeated by a vote of 13 to 6.-Chicago School Weekly..

And yet people lift up their hands in indignant protest when some one has courage to pronounce the public schools "godless!" We are told that the purpose of education is to fit the individual for living the completest, fullest and happiest life possible; yet the Bible, the source of the only real knowledge we have as to the meaning, purpose and use of life, the book by whose light only can we read a meaning into human existence and find in the mystery of being a potency and a promise of better and higher things, the book that furnishes us the only basis of ethics that is not selfdestructive and the only morality that can withstand the strain of the strenuous life

of modern civilization-we must teach the children "the way of life," and yet, forsooth, we must keep from them as far as we can the only book that points it out!

It is not without its significance that the Chicago School Weekly, in commenting on and endorsing the action of the committee, spells the Bible with a lower case "b!"

The writer is no sectarian; he does not, perhaps, read his Bible as much as he should, nor follow its teachings as closely as he ought; but he would infinitely rather his children should know this Book and it only, than to be learned in all the wisdom. of the world and be ignorant of this one immeasurably greatest and grandest and best of all books.-Florida School Exponent.

THE public schools are not doing a tithe of what they should do to give our boys and girls refined and beautiful manners. I say it strongly, for on this point I feel deeply the lack of training in the schools. And what is more, I thank no teacher for telling my child pagan fairy tales. Paganism has gone through human filth and degradation. No class of stories needs greater winnowing than these myths from the Greek and Hindu writings. It is not necessary to go through this to reach the beautiful and elevating. Dr. E. E. White.

We are glad to have the support of so high an authority in our condemnation of the "myth" fad. Dr. White stands for all that is soundest, sanest and best, for all that is highest and purest, in education, and to the utterances of no man in America is there due profounder respect or more thoughtful consideration. We commend the above to our readers.-Florida School Exponent.

"SCHOOL is going along so well. I got Willie transferred and Claude has dropped out entirely. Those boys were the worry of my life, and I hardly dared dream of being so fortunate as to get rid of both of them.' This is a remark of a primary teacher.

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If child study does nothing else for the rank and file of teachers other than to make them feel that dull and bad children are problems to be studied and solved, it will do a great work for the common schools. Dull and bad children are looked upon as only desirable in being gotten rid of. They

frequently receive little or no attention except in a fault-finding way; there is no sympathy whatever between them and the teacher; they never receive a word of encouragement.

This kind of work needs no printed slips or syllabi; it needs no course at Clark University with Dr. Hall. But it does require a genuine love for children, an open mind, a willingness to take special pains and patience for results.

A certain teacher who had studied a particular bad boy, from every conceivable standpoint, finally found the cause of his apparent wickedness. He had been especially annoying all day, and at the close of the school the teacher sat down by him and said, "John, what is the trouble anyway? Why is it you find it so hard to behave in school?" Poor John, in a burst of confidence, blurted out, "It's cos I'm so derned. hungry." Then the teacher knew that John's reformation must begin in his stomach.-Exchange.

BAY OF FUNDY TIDES

THE following correction of text-book and newspaper errors in reference to the Bay of Fundy tides is issued by the Tidal Survey Department of Marine, Ottawa:

In the Bay of Fundy the height of the tide, while quite exceptional, has been much exaggerated. From careful measurements made daily for four months by the engineers of the Chignecto Ship Railway, the extreme range in Cumberland Basin at the head of the bay was 49 feet, and the average spring range was 42.21 feet. From the lowest level of low water then observed to the level of the highest tide ever known, which flooded the country in October, 1869, during a severe storm, the greatest range in Cumberland basin is 53 feet. At Noel Bay, near the head of the other arm of the Bay of Fundy, the range of ordinary spring tides, as stated in the admiralty charts, is 501⁄2 feet.

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FOR THE SCHOOL ROOM

HISTORY STORIES IN FOURTH, FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADES

ET it be assumed that we have found

out what parts of American biography and history are best suited to instruct and stimulate children in these grades. We are to consider next in what manner the children may best get at and appreciate these stories. Would it be possible to leave them entirely to the home and extra school occupations of the pupils? Are they likely without school aid to find the choicest episodes in our history, and, having found them, will they, unaided, get into the life and spirit of the men about whom they read? Or, again, supposing that these materials are furnished to children in' supplementary readers, or even in school histories, to be learned and recited, can we count upon the right kind of results? First, there are very few books touching American biography or history which can be easily read by the children of the fourth and fifth grades. Their average reading capacity is considerably limited. They can understand many things presented to them orally which they would appropriate with difficulty in a printed form. Their power to think, reason and understand is much greater than their readiness to grasp thought from the printed page. It is certainly desirable to induce children to read biography and history and to cultivate a taste for them as soon as they have the ability and inclination. But average children do not drink much from this fountain unless they have acquired some taste for its waters. The oral treatment of these stories, when the personal interest, energy and skill of the teacher give the facts and scenes an almost real and tangible form-this oral treatment is the thing and the only thing to give a child the best start in historical study. There are doubtless a few bright children in every school who will browse for themselves if only the suitable books are put before them. But even these brighter minds are apt to become slovenly readers if left without training in the power to realize and objectify the things read. We have in mind, however, not the exceptional few but the great body of school children, and we wish to determine what history can do to strengthen their characters and stir up vigorous thought.

A story becomes more graphic, interesting, realistic in the hands of a good teacher. Not only are his descriptions more animated, picturesque, colloquial, adapting themselves to the faces, moods and varied thoughts and suggestions of the pupils, but there can be a discussion of causes by pupils and teacher, a weighing of possibilities, a use of the blackboard for graphic drawing or diagram, a variety of homely illustrations, an appeal to the children's previous experience and reading, such as is impossible in the mere memorizing of a book

No author, however talented, or fertile in language, can supply what the interest, resources and skill of a good teacher bring to the recitation. Any doubts on the part of the pupils can be solved, any misconceptions corrected, when the pupils take up the oral productions of the stories.

Where geography is involved, maps and sketches can be discussed in such a vivid and casual way as to make the situation and the difficulties clear to the eye. Where persons and scenes are presented, pictures may often greatly aid the verbal descriptions. Comparisons with home objects, in regard to size or resemblance in form, give greater precision and reality to the thought products.

In history the oral presentation largely takes the place of the object in natural scenic studies. We desire to draw so near to historical persons, scenes or occasions as to stand in their presence, to so exercise the imagination as to become the eye witness of the facts. It is impossible to reproduce history exact through the imagination.

When a person has read a play of Shakespeare under the suggestion and stimulus of a thoughtful admirer of the great poet, he will read all other plays with improved judgment and appreciation. When a child has learned how to interpret one history story through the aid of an enthusiastic teacher he will read other history stories with better understanding. A course of oral lessons in a series of American history episodes and biographies is a preparation for a later study of history in a double sense. A keen and abiding interest is awakened in a few of our staunchest men. A deeper and more practical realization of

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