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Euridice and Orpheus Clubs. Miss Alda Kirkton. Orpheus Club. Miss Mabel Lyman. Euridice Club

Piano Solo, Double Number from Wollenhaupt.
"Hark! The Trumpet Calleth." (Dudley Buck.)
Violin Solo, Second Mazurka. (Wieniawski.)
"I Would That My Love." (Mendelssohn.)

The society was called to order on Thursday evening by President A. R. Taylor, Emporia, the out-going president. After the music and invocation, President Taylor, in well chosen words, introduced the purpose of this meeting to the audience of more than eight hundred, and welcomed the society to the State Normal School. Among other things President Taylor said:

Man has been the problem of all the ages. The child has no significance save in man himself. The work of the school has comparatively been the grown man kind. Now the child is given child-work. Child-study makes definite work towards the child. The child has always been studied, but now this study is done systematically. The great object in such a society as this is to discover what is in the child himself.

This society is but two years old. This is the beginning of he third annual session. We have not attempted to do the

kind of work that some of the eastern societies are doing, because we think we can do better as we are doing.

This

We welcome the society to our State Normal School. school has always been in accord with this movement as now. It has been a necessity to have the prospective teacher come in contact with children in actual practice. Thus it is very appropriate to meet here. I bid you all a most hearty and cordial welcome.

After a piano solo, by Miss Edith Wilkinson, President Taylor, with a few pleasing remarks, introduced the speaker to give the annual address, Hon. John MacDonald, of Topeka.

Mr. MacDonald, in "The Scotch Child as I Remember Him," gave one of the finest talks that has been given in Emporia this year. The Scotish humor and pathos which described the home and surroundings of the Scotch child will long be remembered by the large audience. This told of the rough, simple manner in which a child is raised in Scotland, of the impressions which old ocean with its storms and winds makes on the heart of a boy, of the silvery, lakes lying enshrouded by the shadows of the mountains about them. In all the address nothing was so touching, in strangeness of an almost new religious world, ar the description of a Scotch prayer meeting. The sacredness of the hour, the old, gray-haired men in silent communion with God, the reluctance to enter upon so sacred a duty as talking with God, and the fervor with which prayer was offered when once begun, caused the hearers almost to be with the Child with bowed heads listening to the calling upon God in time of trouble. No audience which has assembled in Albert Taylor hall this year has had a richer treat than the one that listened to the Scotch child's recollections. During this address Professor A. S. Olin, Lawrence, president elect of the society, came upon the stage, and at the close of the address took charge of the proceedings.

After the readings and music, which the audience greatly enjoyed, some announcements were made, among these being an invitation to the society to attend a base ball game between the teams of the city of Emporia and the State Normal, and an invitation to the ladies from abroad and from the city to attend a visitor's day on Friday afternoon in the gymnasium. The society was then adjourned for acquaintance making. During the sessions of Friday there were more than five hundred people in attendance throughout the entire day. The attendance from abroad, although not great in number, consisted of those who are leaders in the educational field of Kansas.

The forenoon session of Friday was called to order at 9:05 by the president, Professor Olin. The first paper on the program was by Superintendent Lowther, on "Children and Ghosts."

The following questions were submitted to the children in the grades, from the first to the eighth, inclusive:

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The program for commencement week is as follows: Saturday, June 11, 4:00 p. m., annual meeting board of regents; 8:00 p. m., prize contest in debate and declamation. Sunday, June 12, baccalaureate address.

Monday, June 13, 8:00 p. m., annual concert and graduating exercises music department; 9:30p. m., class banquet.

Tuesday, June 14, 2:00 p. m., class day exercises; 8:00 p. m., educational address.

Wednesday, June 15, 9:00 a. m., mass meeting; 3:30 p. m., business meeting Alumni Association; 8:00 p. m., Alumni open meeting.

Thursday, June 16, 8:30 p. m., class reception; 10:00 p. m., class meetings, undergraduates.

We hope to make the usual excursion terms, and look for a large company of friends.

LILLIAN ELLIOT, now Mrs. Belden, passed through Emporia the other day on her way to Dodge City, and of course gave the Normal a call. Her husband has been appointed aerial observer at the Dodge City station.

PROFESSOR WHITNEY'S lecture on the morning of April 24 proved most interesting and instructive. She discussed the political significance of the United States courts and their struggle for the position which they now hold. We hope to print the paper in the near future.

C. M. MCCONKEY'S father and three brothers have recently held a reunion at their old home in Oakland, Illinois. They had not met each other for forty-eight years. Three of them are veterans of the civil war and one is a survivor of the Mexican war. The eldest of the four is seventy-eight years of age.

THE publishers of the Kodak are pushing the annual most vigorously. Nearly all of the proofs of the cuts have been submitted to them, and they are beauties. A thousand copies will be published. No former student should fail to secure this handsome souvenir. Send $1.25 to W. A. La Bar, editor-inchief.

Death of President Hewitt.

President J. D. Hewitt, our loved friend and co-laborer, died on the evening of April 20, at his home in this city. For three weeks he had been lying in a semi-conscious condition from a stroke of apoplexy and though he made a heroic struggle for life, could not recover from the shock. The State Normal School flag hung at half mast the next day in token of respect, and everywhere about the building and the city were heard expressions of sorrow and of appreciation of the self-sacrificing labors of President Hewitt. An impressive service was held in the chapel of Emporia College on Saturday morning, and a delegation from the faculty and regents accompanied the remains to Wichita. President Hewitt has long been identified with educational interests in Kansas. It was through his influence that Lewis Academy at Wichita was established. During the years he has been connected with the College of Emporia, he has labored unceasingly for the building up of the institution. He already had assurance that during the coming year he would be able to see the College relieved of all embarrassment. This consummation, however, he has not been permitted to see, though the sacrifice he has made will undoubtedly quicken its friends everywhere to deeper interest in its great work. President Hewitt was a man of fine spirit, liberal mind, generous hearted, always ready for service. We can ill afford to lose a man of such resources and of such consecration. His memory will always be treasured by those whose good fortune it was to come into contact with him.

THE CONTEST. Don't You See, We've Been to Illinois!-Kansas, First Place.

Wednesday afternoon, on the Santa Fe through train, the Kansas delegation to the inter-state contest started out, fortythree strong, for Normal, Illinois. To say that they started in the rain would be putting it mildly, rain, rain everywhere; but every town on the route knew that Kansas was on the way somewhere to accomplish something. The dalegation was especially favored in having a special car both going and coming. The Kansas people feel like giving a vote of thanks to the Santa Fe and the Chicago & Alton people for their courtesy and kindly treatment, which went a long way toward making the journey a pleasant one.

Reaching Normal at 6:30 Thursday morning, the Kansas people found an Illinois delegation waiting to receive them, and were soon pleasantly located for their stay in Illinois. The hospitality of the Illinois boys and girls, and their fathers and mothers, could hardly be surpassed. The freedom of the beautiful school town, with its charming homes and home people, was accorded the visiting friends and nothing could have been happier than their stay in the dear old town of Normal.

The forenoon of Thursday was spent in visiting the places of interest about the building and in becoming acquainted with the new friends. Each state had been assigned headquarters for its delegates, and the Kansas room was all ablaze with sunflower decorations. The first thing the Kansas boys and girls did on their arrival at their headquartars was to sing "Old Gold:" then followed "America" in which all, Kansans and Illinoians alike, joined with hearty good will, and sober thoughts of God and home and native land blended with the merriment of the occasion.

Thursday night came the reception to the visiting delegations. By that time all had arrived. Wisconsin stood second in size of representation, having sent seven delegates; Iowa, third; and Missouri fourth with two delegates besides the orator. There had been a program arranged, but some misguided individual in a rash moment started a "yell" and immediately the affair resolved itself into something entirely unexpected. In the midst of the pandemonium which followed, Kansas was the only one that could make them listen. When she spoke, even Illinois stopped open-mouthed. And small wonder! Who would not listen to the classical strains of "Warm Time in the Old Town To-night" when accompanied by such words as:

Oh, don't you see we've come to Illinois,
And with us brought a handsome Jayhawk boy?
And when the contest's o'er, the chorus all join-
There'll be a hot time in the old town to-night,
Jay-hawk er!

Badger and Hawkeye, Sucker and Puke,

If they don't watch out, they'll all be in the soup;
For Allan St. Clair will take first place;
There'll be a hot time, etc.

Or this, sung to the tune of "Marching Through Georgia:"
How the Suckers wilted when they heard the warning sound!
How the Badgers scrambled when we started on the round!
How the Pukes and Hawkeyes hustled, tore their hair, and frowned,
When they saw the orator from Kansas!

Friday sped by on golden wings with more handshaking more new friends, and at eleven o'clock, two games of basketball. The young women's team played first. Their work showed excellent training. The young men's team played second, and the excitement ran high over the hotly contested game. Friday afternoon came a visit to Wesleyan University, the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, and various other places of interest. The new normal building is just completed, and

the science department with its various branches, the library, and the fine new gymnasium are placed within its spacious walls.

Friday evening brought the contest with its lights and music, its beautiful decorations, and its five valiant knights ready to do battle for their respective states. Illinois was represented by Hyatt E. Covey with a fine oration on "Alexander Hamilton." Mr. Covey lost interest in his own speech, and this cost him his self-confidence and the confidence of his audience. Iowa had for her representative A. M. Nickelson, who spoke on "The Common School as a Means to Reform." Mr. Nickelson's effectiveness as a speaker caused the Kansans their first tremor of fear. George W. Rankin followed the Iowa man, and the Kansans turned pale for fear our Allen had found his match. Mr. Rankin's oration, "The Puritan and Puritanism," was a masterly effort. Patriotism breathed from every sentence and stirred every listening heart. Still, in spite of all, the Jayhawkers' first fingers would come up and the Wisconsin finger turn down. Then came B. P. Taylor, representing the Normal at Kirksville, Missouri, with the oration, "The Orator and Oratory." Mr. Taylor's flavor of ministerial eloquence wore off in the latter half of his speech, and the real man came to the front and showed what he could do by taking first rank in delivery on the final count. When A. T. St. Clair, of Kansas, rose to present his oration on "The Mission of Discontent," every Kansan's heart rose to the occasion, and every Kansan felt that the time for the supreme effort of the evening had come. And so it proved. Mr. St. Clair was magnificent, especially in the second half of his oration. One felt almost incapable of sitting quietly in his seat, but felt irresistibly drawn by the magnetic influence of the speaker.

The judges were out but a short time, to the satisfaction of everyone. President Borgstadt, of the Inter-State Normal League, made the award of prizes: Second place, with thirty dollars and silver medal, to George W. Rankin, of Whitewater, Wisconsin; first place, with fifty dollars and gold medal, to A. T. St. Clair, of Emporia, Kansas. Mr. St. Clair carried off three one hundreds in thought and one one hundred in delivery. The Jayhawker boys waited only to hear the "A. T.," and before the medal could be transferred to the victor, they had their "winning Kansas boy" on their shoulders, and in spite of his protests, carried him with triumphant shouts to Kansas headquarters, where was held a ratification which beggars description. Rumor has it that the staid and dignified president of the K. S. N. threw up his hat and shouted as loudly as anyone.

The banquet which followed was a scene of unalloyed pleasure, at least to one delegation. Too much cannot be said of Illinois courtesy and Illinois hospitality. The event will be a bright spot in the memory of the boys and girs of K. S. N. The journey homeward was accomplished without incident except enthusiastic yelling at each and every station on the route, until the weird influence of the "wee, sma' hours" told upon the energies of the boys and girls of the delegation, and only "drowsy tinklings lulled the distant folds."

So ended the third contest of the Normal League, "the best one yet," says everyone, and Kansas is disposed to agree fully in the general opinion. It is possible the markings of the judges may appear later.

NOTES.

Four State Normal School presidents attended the con test, all but Iowa being present.

The decorations in Albert Taylor hall for the jubilation meeting were exceedingly striking and appropriate. Professor Stone and her committee have the hearty thanks of all.

(Continued on page 125.)

KANSAS SOCIETY FOR CHILD-STUDY.

[Concluded from page 119.]

Putting the first two items together, we have eight hundred seventy-five, or eighty per cent. who have more or less emotional belief in ghosts, while two hundred thirteeen, or twenty per cent. represent various degrees of non-belief or indifference.

Strangely out of keeping with the above, in answer to the second question, "Do you believe in ghosts?" only ninety-nine said, "Yes;" nine hundred eighty-nine answered, "No." This illustrates in a striking manner the peculiar working of the child-mind, falling unconsciously into endless contradictions and illogical statements. Fifty-four per cent. of the children reported themselves as feeling that a ghost is something out of the natural order of things, approaching the supernatural or spiritual. Some of the other forty-six per cent. thought a ghost to be like a person, someone trying to frighten them. Many of the lower-grade pupils compared a ghost to some animal, and the animals named would form quite a respectable menagerie. Suspicions attaches to the answers comparing a ghost to an animals, answers capable of a physical interpretation. There is no doubt, however, that some of those children who compare a ghost to a person or an animal, have the genuine belief in ghosts.

The answers to the fourth question indicated that the home rather than the school is largely responsible for the "ghost idea." Of the definite sources of information, the mother is twice as guilty as the father. Servants do not figure so largely as was expected, and the teacher is practically exonerated. Of no less interest is the study of the races taken separately. While only seven per cent. of the white children admit a belief in ghosts, sixty-four per cent. of the colored children freely

admit it.

Professor Wooster, in opening the discussion, said:

I really do not know if many children are developed in superstition as in olden times. A good old fireplace was well adapted to tell ghost stories by. This having passed away, children of the present time are not so well educated in ghosts. People of olden times believed in unlucky times, etc. I am glad the time is coming when people will believe but little in uncertainty, and in many cases at the present they no longer believe in such.

The next paper on the program was "Disappointments in Children as They Come to the High School," by Mrs. Richardson:

Do we expect more than we ought from the average boy or girl of fourteen? Is the step from the eighth grade to the high school too wide? Is the cause one inherent in our systam of grading and promotion? Out of a class of eighty pupils coming up from the eihhth grade, somewhat more than half, perhaps, will be found physically strong, mentally alert, who have already gained a foundation and the power to build upon it. Others have no idea of responsibility or independent effort, do not know what it is to learn a lesosn, but think they know what they have really gained no right conception of. Less book and more observation and experiment would be a good thing in the lower grades; more expression and less memorizing. With our courses crowded with subjects, with our present arrangements for promotion, and when every teacher must handle such numbers, individual work is impossible. Again, our short terms are a serious hindrance; the term is shortened, possibly, while the course of study remains the same.

In discussion, Superintendent Davidson said:

Each teacher feels that the children are not prepared as they

should be when first entering his room. This even is true of the teacher in the first grade as well as the other grades. No two classes are the same. The teacher who receives the pupils has no right to say anything, but on the contrary, the teacher passing the pupils has a chance to criticise the receiving teacher because the receiving teacher does not know the work of the class. High school teachers, in many cases, have had no experience in grade teaching. I am of the opinion that a high school teacher should have done grade work before coming into the high school work. It takes the teacher nearly a year to become acquainted with a child, hence a teacher in the high school has much trouble getting acquainted. The high school teacher expects too much of children.

"Language and Mathematics of Children," by Superintendent Dolphin, was the next paper:

There can be no very definite result attached to a comparison of these two branches of instruction. Doctor Harris says: "Here are the two polar directions of intellectual education relating the pupils to matter and mind; while mathematics gives us the forms in which inorganic matter may exist and be moved, and makes known to us the structure of time and space and all externality, grammar and its kindred studies gives us the form of all activity and the structure of all that possesses internality." When the proper stimuli exists in both cases, and the respective results in language and mathematics are measured by equally critical standards, the mental grasp in the one would be more easily compared with that in the other. Under our present methods of developing language, however, a rigid standard of judging results would show that language in its broadest and truest sense is farther beyond the grasp of the child than is the purely mathematical concept. In his daily language lessons he is too closely confined to the mechanical and incidental features of the language rather than with the language itself, hence its failure to become familiar and transparent; and as a result, it conceals rather than reveals the thought which it is intended to convey. Figures without numbers and numbers without things are only symbols with which many mystical operations seem to be performed. The child's tendency is to separate the member from the langnage as far as possible. Too often the child fails to give evidence of his ability to grasp a subject because he is not master of the medium through which all thought and acuteness of mental grasp is made known-his mother's tongue. "Though the pupil have all knowledge and no mental power of his own, he is nothing." Logical habit is a prime necessity in either language or mathematics. It has been noted in our primary grades that the pupils who are required to illustrate the number work and language by drawings, are the pupils who show the clearest understanding of the work. We have been suppressing power instead of making conditions which might develop it. There are those who will say, do not have the child commit to memory, or use that which he does not fully understand; this would be shutting out and depriving him of nearly all things worth knowing, and although all may not be understood, it becomes a part of the child, and returns after many days to prove a benediction to his otherwise barren life. Prefessor Hill, in discussion, stated:

I am impressed with the fact that the problem in language and the problem in mathematics are quite different. The language problem is primary, the mathematics problem is secondary. The problem of the pupil is that of progress toward self-development. This we lose sight of in our courses of study. The language problem is a leading one throughout the self-development of the child. It is a fundamental problem. The difficulty in the child's mathematics is not so much the

getting of the mathematical problems as it is that the language tends to bother the child in making the problems abstract The child is getting some results in the problems which come from himself. The teacher must learn that his work is simply that of a guide.

Next on the program was Professor Harris' paper, "How Children Judge Character:"

Miss Alcott's "Little Women" was read to a school of aboat fifty, in which the majority were girls. These pupils varied in age from seven to fifteen. The interest of the girls was sustained throughout the reading of the entire book. Most of the boys were especially interested only in chapters where Laurie and Jo were the prominent actors. When the readings for the morning stopped with a sad chapter, the room was quite still during the reading, but afterward the children were very restless and slow and the whole atmosphere seemed heavy. it was quite different when the reading closed with some of the parrot's funny sayings or some of Jo's or Laurie's pranks. Every face seemed aglow with brightness, all were happy and settled down to work with vim and earnestness. Busy noise took the place of restlessness. Jo was the favorite with most of the boys, and all liked Laurie. Little Beth seemed to be the ideal, in general, among the girls, also with the youngest boys. Not one of the pupils gave Meg as their favorite, which is due probably to her being beyond them in years. In almost every case the child has chosen the character or that part of the character's life in which he is in sympathy-a character in some manner similar to himself.

President Taylor, in discussing this, said:

The book which was chosen for this study presents real life. It would have also been interesting had it been ascertained what the live people now are to children. How does the child estimate his father, his mother, his brother, or his sister? How does he judge his neighbor who does not permit him to play marbles on the sidewalk? In what estimation does he place people who are calling at his home? What is his opinion of boys and girls? A child is ready to judge by the experience he has with the people whom he comes in contact. This paper shows that the people whom the children like are the people who sympathize with them.

The last paper of the forenoon was read by Miss Myers on "Attitude of Pupils Towards School:"

These questions were asked children in the grades: (1) Do you like to go to school? (2) Why or why not? (3) Is the work too hard or too easy for a bright boy or girl? Among the answers by the children we found: "I like to go to school when it is bad weather, but I like to stay at home on good days." "I dislike to go in warm weather, because I feel dissatisfied and lazy." "I like to go to school to get out of working." "Because I like to have fun, and when I quit my fun quits." "I shall be glad when school lets out so I can run and have a jolly time." "Because you must keep still." An education of the parents to the idea that they should furnish means to their boys and girls for letting off steam during hours at home as well as for utilizing power and instilling valuable habits, may do something to correct the attitude of the third grade girl who gets tired of going to school all the time, or of the fifth grade boy who does not want to go because he "can't play." Our public school system was instituted when relaxation from pioneer work was welcome. One could then sit still for some time without injury on the already well-exercised muscles. Is it any wonder that the modern town boy who sits by the half-hour on the low stone fence enclosing his father's grounds while acting the part of host to his boy-friends, or stands an hour on the corner of the block, loth to leave the

crowd, to him he is a good fellow, finds the "sectons are too long?"

In discussion Professor Hays said:

I am deeply interested in this problem. I find in my grades the pupils who seem to care less for school than pupils above and below them. Boys from twelve to fourteen quite often want to stay away from school, and would do so if not compelled to attend by the parents. With me the problem is that of knowing what to do to cause these boys to become interested in school. There should be done in our school-rooms that which will attract and hold these boys so that no longer must parents be compelled to drive them to school. [Concluded in June nnmber.]

Our Music Department.

The Normal has a way of attaining unto the highest in whatever it undertakes; and believing that music is an educative force of the foremost rank, it has spared no labor, time, nor funds at its command to enhance the effectiveness of the work undertaken by this department. It is, perhaps, a new idea to many of the friends of the Normal, that there has been growing up in our midst a department which should be capable not only of furnishing the prospective public school teacher with the knowledge of musical notation requisite to his needs, but a department capable also of equipping the specialist with a finished musical education. Thus the Normal has sought to keep pace with the movement which is gradually swinging the heart-life of the people, communal and national, round upon a fine art basis-with less of the materialistic tendency, more of the ideal. With an ambition worthy of its place as part and parcel of the great state of Kansas, the Normal aspires to place her musical instruction upon a par with the work done in special music schools of like aim elsewhere, not only in our own, but in other states.

Ever since the establishment of the music faculty, attempts have been made to organize the work of the department, and to place it, as a whole, upon the conservatory basis. This object was finally accomplished in September of 1893. Since that time, while the thoroughness of the professional side of the work has not been diminished, the general facilities have been increased to such an extent that it has been able to add to its regular work a complete course in music, second to none. Since that time the number of special music students has considerably more than doubled; and at the same time there has come into the institution that atmosphere which fosters the loving pursuit of music, not as an amusement, nor, indeed, as simply a means of gaining a livelihood, but as an art pure and elevated.

In its regular conservatory work, the department offers a preparatory or beginners' course and an advanced course, with a recent adjunct of a children's course. Before 1897, the work of the children was in the hands of the music seniors, but in September of that year it was placed in charge of Miss E. Anna Stone, under the direct supervision of the head of the department. This work is planned for children of from six to twelve years of age, and is of such nature as to ground the pupil in the science, and at the same time to rouse a permanent interest in the

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