"We must therefore, in the science of pedagogy, first fix in our minds the ideals, and then we must see how to elevate the child toward those ideals. We must ascertain what studies are necessary, and at the same time discover how much study of them is good and wholesome, and where they begin to be hurtful and arrest development. We all know how the good teacher loves to have her pupils linger on the round of a ladder where she is laboring. Under the plea of thoroughness she detains them, sometimes a year of more, on a lower round, not to their advantage but to their detriment. Before they ascend to the next round they have become listless and mechanical in their habits of study; habits of study; and yet, it is certain that the school discovered an essential part of its method when it first saw the importance of thoroughness. Thoroughness is necessary in all good instruction, but it is not good when carried to a point where induration, or hardening into habit begins. For at first a child increases his development i will power and arouses many faculties by the through exercise of one faculty; then, by degrees, the repeated acts of will power begin to produce a habit and the mind begins to act unconsciously in the line where it first acted with so much effort of the will; then, at last, the habit becomes nearly all and the mental development ceases. The other faculties are not any more aroused by the effort, but only one slender line of activity is brought into use and unconscious habit does most of the work. The induration has taken place and the continuance of thoroughness along this line robs other activities of nervous energy and absorbs them. A machine-like energy supervenes in place of intellect. What was at first an intellectual synthesis has sunk down into the realm of instinct, or to the forms of life activity but little above automatism.

"The attempt to secure what is called thoroughness in the branches taught in the elementary schools is often carried too far; in fact, to such an extent as to produce arrested development (a sort of mental paralysis) in the mechanical and formal stages of growth. The mind, in that case, loses its appetite for higher method and wider generalizations. The law of apperception, we are told, proves that temporary methods of solving problems should not be so thoroughly mastered as to be used in

voluntarily or as a matter of unconscious habit, for the reason that a higher and more adequate method of solution will be found more difficult to acquire. The more thoroughly a method is learned the more it becomes a part of the mind, and the greater the repugnance of the mind toward a new method."-Exchange.

CENTERS OF LIFE

From "A Reader in Physical Geography," by Prof. Richard E. Dodge, we draw the following classification of cities. Place the classification on your board and add examples of each class. Mention cities that may be said to belong to more than one class.

Commercial centers, where trading is carried on on a large scale. Agricultural centers, about which are large farms or plantations from which come the grains, vegetable, and fruits that are used for food, or the cotton that is used for clothing.

Grazing centers, about which cattle, sheep, hogs, or horses are raised in large numbers. Grazing centers are held to include dairying centers from which we obtain milk, butter, and cheese.

Lumbering centers, at which timber is cut to supply lumber for houses, factories, stores, furniture, ships, to make wood pulp for paper. etc.

Manufacturing centers, at which raw products are made into needed articles for home use and commerce.

Mining centers, at which valuable minerals, ores, or rocks, are taken from the earth. Fishing centers, from which men go to catch the fish of rivers, lakes, or ocean. Scenic centers, to which visitors are attracted by beautiful scenery, good air, a chance for rest, or by some object of historical interest.

TEACHER TO SUPERINTENDENT What shall I find when you visit my school?

Shall I find you sensible, severe or affected?

Shall I find you helpful or flirtatious? Shall I find you a young "know-it-all" or an old "has-been?"

Shall I find you neatly dressed like a business man or arrayed in ill-cut, pedagogical black, with expanses of once white linen and a soiled and gorgeous made tie?

Shall I find you a person whom I can ask for advice about matters of discipline without danger of having an exaggerated tale of my difficulties repeated to every other teacher you visit?

Shall I find that you can talk without vain repetitions?

Shall I find you a person whose reading is not entirely confined to the county papers and text-books for children?

Shall I find you able to speak without provincialism or making frequent mistakes in grammar?

Shall I find you taking a thoughtful interest in my school, or interested only in yourself and your pinnacle?

Shall I find that you know good school decoration when you see it?

Shall I find you so devoted to one method that you fail to see good results that are accomplished without it?

Shall I find that you wish the teacher's energy spent in teaching or in unnecessary report work?

Shall I find you, in good manners, a model for my boys?

Shall I look forward to your next visit with pleasure or dread?

Shall I feel that your visit was professional or political?

Shall I disbelieve the insinuations that sometimes your recommendations of books and other working material are not based upon merit, but upon what you can get out of it?

Shall I find that you are planning for an institute which will be practical, helpful and inspiring, or that you are using the fund for the payment of political debts and the mending of political fences?

In short, shall I find you honest, sympathetic, and helpful, or vain, crafty, and hypercritical?-Western Teacher.

A

MONG most Americans the idea prevails that all German children attend the kindergarten, but a nearer and more intimate acquaintance with German life discloses the fact that this is by no means the

case.

The idea of child training originated in Germany it is true, and in no land has the child been studied more scientifically, but so deeply ingrained is the feeling of class distinction and caste that the kindergarten is not half so generally used as one would at first sight suppose. In its tiny realm true democracy must necessarily prevail, but this equality is so repugnant to all the traditions of the upper classes that they cannot reconcile it with their cast-iron notions of rank and precedence. The idea of a little count or baron or the son of an officer romping with the children of a burgher is enough to make their hair stand on end, so we find upon visiting the different private kindergartens of any large city a noticeable absence of children of the upper classes.

These little folks are, of course, not debarred from the, delightful training which Froebel insisted should be the birthright of every child, therefore, a well-born and wellbred kindergarten teacher is engaged by a group of families of the same social class, let us say, officers, titled people and officials of the highest rank, and she goes from one home to the other, staying usually one month, and meets there the assembled children of the group. These little aristocrats are brought morning and afternoon to their destination by servants in livery, and we hope their enjoyment in the beautiful round. of plays and works is as hearty and natural as that of the less favored burgher children.

Sometimes a trained teacher is kept for the sole use of the children of one family, but unless there are many children, this is not considered as beneficial for the little ones as the intercourse with others of the same age. Wealthy merchants, bankers and professional families also employ a kindergarten teacher, and as the families are usually larger than in the highest classes, the number in one group is not so large. In Germany, as in America, one notices that the higher one goes in station the fewer the

children to a family, and the causes are probably the same in both countries.

The burghers, or what we would call the people of moderate means, for with us no such distinctions in occupation or income are made, all send their little ones to private kindergartens, it would be an unheard of thing to make use of the public or Volks kindergarten, though they are quite as good, and to a foreigner the difference in the appearance of the children is not so apparent as to explain the horror which the burgher class entertain for people who take advantage of the cheaper schools.

Private kindergarten tuition is very low, averaging only three marks or about seventy-five cents per month, and the teachers employed are thoroughly trained and fitted for their work. A course of two years is always taken and the young teacher leaves the training institute with a fair knowledge of French, English, music and drawing, besides much advancement in the ordinary school branches. It is insisted upon that the children must be kept happy and amused, and that requires a constant change in games and plays and much tact on the teacher's part.

No kindergarten is entirely free in Germany, but the tuition is always very low and the children can enjoy the privileges of the Volks kindergarten by paying the ridiculously small sum of twelve cents per month. There is, besides these excellent schools, an institution which is surely a source of great comfort and pleasure to the children of the very poor. It is called Kinderwebewahranstalt, or "Home for the Care of Children,” and for twelve cents a week any child from a few months to several years is taken early in the morning and kept, fed and beautifully cared for until night, or when the mother can take it away. These homes are under the auspices of the Protestant church and supported by private subscription, like our own American charity schools.

Here the children of the lowest classes find warmth, care, kindness and more tenderness than they would receive in their own squalid homes, and no charity is as conductive as this towards the growth and formation of the child's character. Usually

it is indeed all the moral or religious training he gets. The Germans spend a great deal of money in home missions and charity work, and the buildings of all their charitable institutions are very handsome, spacious and comfortable. One sees no small or cheap buildings, and when I asked where the slums were, was told that there were none. Their immense houses contain hundreds of people, and the station of the inmate is told by his position in the house. Down in the damp and dismal courts or high up in the attic may dwell the poorest

of people, yet one stairway does for all, and one may meet every class jostling elbows or panting for breath as they toil up and down the cold stone steps.

Many a lesson in social democracy might be learned on the stairways of German houses, but one so soon grows accustomed to meeting all kinds and conditions that the strangeness wears off and the contrast is not noticed, and the momentary contact with those beneath us in worldly advantages fails to bring us any nearer to them.-Inland Educator.

יז

HE Penmanship Teachers' Association at a late meeting in Detroit had a paper and discussion on the question, "How to Raise the Standard of Writing Throughout the Country," and expressed its conclusions in the following resolutions:

Whereas, No system of writing, whether vertical or slant, will, in itself, insure good writing, whether taught by copy-book, copyslip, tablet, blackboard, or by any other method;

Whereas, The best results can only be secured by earnest, faithful, intelligent teaching on the part of well-qualified teachers;

Whereas, It is a well known fact that a very large per cent of teachers have not prepared themselves to teach this important branch, simply because their Boards of Examiners have not subjected them to as rigid an examination in this as in other branches, but have simply graded them from their manuscripts and have never refused to grant certificates however illegible the writing; and

Whereas, It is a great injustice to pupils and to tax-payers to grant a certificate to any candidate who does not sufficiently understand the theory and practice of writing to direct the pupils in the development of the writing muscles of the arm, wrist and fingers, and who is not able to place on the blackboard models worthy of imitation by pupils, and whose manuscripts do not indicate that the character of the teacher's general work would indirectly supplement the

good results secured during the regular writing period;

Resolved, That Boards of Examiners should give as rigid examinations in writing as in other branches, and should call to their aid the assistance of specialists.

Resolved, That to secure the better equipment of teachers, experienced instructors of writing should be employed in every city, state and independent normal school, and also in institutes and summer schools.

Resolved, That in order to secure uniformity and enthusiasm in the graded schools, supervisors should be employed in all the cities and in townships with town and village schools.

Resolved,

That educational journals should emphasize the importance of writing and give more attention to methods of instruction.

Resolved, That less and larger writing be encouraged in the primary grades. The twin evils of good penmanship, excessive finger movement and gripping, are the result of requiring children to write when too young to write properly. No writing except under the supervision of the teacher should be required in the first and second years, but if required, the forms should be large enough to allow the children to use the arm instead of the fingers in the execution. Such eminent educators as Dr. Hall of Worcester, Mass., declare that writing in the primary grades does far more injury to the child and the child's future writing than it does good

It is not whether children can be taught to write, (draw) but whether they should be allowed, much less required to do so. Children can work in factories, but our laws wisely prohibit the same.

Intelligence, commenting on this, says: "It has been a long time since we have felt called upon to say anything on the subject of penmanship. In fact we have felt with a growing strength of conviction that the writing question in schools where the vertical system has been adopted, is reaching its proper level as a subordinate subject of instruction, and we are rather surprised at the presumption of the writing masters in coming before the country with such an exalted idea of their specialty. We have very little sympathy with them.

The penmanship teacher of a generation ago with his copy-plate standard was a curse to the schools and to the children. His ideals still have too much weight. They ought to be buried out of sight forever.

We do not believe that teachers should be subjected to a rigid examination in penmanship. A fairly legible handwriting, even if without grace or symmetry, is good enough for any person, whether a public school teacher or not. Specialists in writing have no business in our public schools and no right to fix standards for them. The public funds should not be spent for special instruction in writing any more than for special instruction in articulation or walking. Many a boy and girl has a slovenly articulation and an awkward gait which are a more serious handicap than poor penmanship. Why not advocate special teachers in these lines? Because the great mass of boys and girls can walk well enough and talk plain enough for the ordinary needs of life. Walking and talking as accomplishments are not for us common folk nor is writing as an accomplishment. That degree of

ability in talking, walking and writing which meets the common needs of men and women is all that the majority of us can afford to aim at. A higher degree of perfection, even an approach to gracefulness, may be desirable, but life is too short and other ends too vital to make it worth while to labor for a higher grade of skill in these matters than ordinary use renders necessary.

Furthermore, the wide and increasing use of the typewriter has greatly lessened the amount of hand writing in business. Fifty years ago the proportion of boys and girls who would in all probability find their success in business life materially promoted by excellence in penmanship was much greater than it is to-day.

"We are not saying that the public school should ignore penmanship entirely. We simply maintain that in the past too much drill and emphasis have been put upon it and that the above resolutions are almost absurd in their demands.

"We heartily agree that in the first two years of school no writing should be done that is not large enough to compel the child to use his arms instead of his fingers. This would seem to preclude all writing in these grades except on the blackboard, in the sand tray, etc.

"After the child can picture to himself. distinctly the various letter forms, his writing will need no special teachers or laborious drill. Enough facility in penmanship will come by its ordinary use thereafter.

"The writing masters of to-day seem to have the mania characteristic to their craft in the past. If they would betake themselves wholly to commercial schools, where there is a place for them and their art, and leave the common teachers to take care of the matter in the public schools the ends of public education would be best served."

EACH year we receive communications from some of the most thoughtful and intelligent of our subscribers, asking that we call attention of the members of city, town and village school boards, to the desirability and propriety of making appointments to school positions in their localities at an earlier date than many of them now do. We believe it

is the experience of all schools agencies that this is getting to be more and more the custom-that most of the more important positions at least are now filled by the first of July. There is, however, a tendency in a great many places to dally and delay such selections until mid-summer. This is hard and somewhat unfair on men anxious to