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WHAT'S IT ALL FOR, ANYWAY?

Sometimes our ma uster say,
After workin' hard all day,
"What's it all for, anyway?"

Sit there in her rockin' chair,
With a kind o' played-out air,
Jist the pickcher of dispair!

See her sittin' that away,
Plain as tho' 'twuz yesterday-
Here an' there a thread of gray,
An' some wrinkles, jist a few,
For the tears to trickle through,
Or a smile to wink at you.

Allus say them words jist so,
Never answer'd herself though,
Mebbe 'cause she didn't know.

Thinkin' over it today,

"Wonder if ma knows," I say,

"What it's all for, anyway!"

[graphic]

-D. A. ELLSWORTH, in Kansas City Star.

HAVE you subscribed for the MONTHLY?

THE attendance continues to grow. Already more than onehundred have signified their intention to be with us at the opening of the mid-term classes, November 16.

Miss Katherine Edwards, whom many of our boys and girls in the 'So's will remember most pleasantly, has been appointed to the chair of music in St. Mary's Hall, at Faribault, Minnesota. Miss Edwards has attained an enviable reputation as teacher of the pianoforte and pipe organ, and ranks among the best musicians in the State. Her friends rejoice in her good fortune.

THE faculty has just issued a hand-book for the use of students in the institution, which contains a variety of in formation concerning courses of study; courses in reading; recitation estimates; literary societies; musical organizations; manuscript regulations; personal habits; general memoranda; etc., etc. It will prove valuable in many ways and will prevent the necessity of the president's taking time at the opening of each quarter for the explanation of many little matters of detail.

PROFESSOR STONE gives the following brief suggestions for securing an erect carriage: 1. Lift the chest as far as possible. 2. Carry the head up, with the chin slightly drawn in. 3. Stand firmly on both feet. 4. The heels should touch, and the feet make an angle of about sixty degrees with each other. 5. The knees should be straight. 6. Carry the weight entirely on the balls of the feet. 7. A plumb line dropped from the shoulder should strike the ball of the foot. 8. Keep the hips well back. 9. Breathe deeply and slowly. 10. Inhale and exhale through the nostrils, not through the mouth.

PROFESSOR FRANK W. KEENE has just received notice of his appointment to the chair of stringed instruments in the University of West Virginia, at Morgantown. As the salary is above his income here, he has decided to accept the position and will leave this week. We regret exceedingly to lose Professor Keene, for he is a thorough instructor and a gentleman of high character. He is a devoted student and a man always ready to serve his fellows in every way in his power. He has built up large classes in violin, guitar and mandolin, both in the school and city. Professor Keene is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music and will, no doubt, soon win a high position among his co-workers at Morgantown. Mrs. Keene is a graduate of the State Normal, class of '95, and is an excellent pianist. She will easily win a place for herself in the social circles at their new home.

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THE art panel on the north wall near the east entrance is the gift of the class of '97. The thought of the class motto, "Studium scientia juventatis æternæ fons," is well carried out in the figure of Clio with its accessories, the lamp, the balances, the telescope and the compass; the papyrus roll, the Bible, mythology, and science, all serve to connect the lore of ancient days with the fountain of learning of to-day, eternal as of yore. This is a welcome addition to the fittings of the building and will always be a pleasing reminder of the earnest student body which formed the class of 1897.

-Arrangements are being made for the establishment of a Saturday normal school in New York City for the professional instruction of such teachers as may be desiring more recognition. The idea embraces some important details and will undoubtedly prove a great stimulus to the educational work in that city.

-The compulsory school law in Indiana is working well. Reports from a large number of leading towns and cities show that in many of them the increase in attendance due to the enforcement of the law ranges from five to ten per cent; in one city, nearly two thousand more pupils are asking for accommodations.

-A recent Vermont law requires the school boards to look after details of ventilation and disinfection in the various school houses, whether in the city or in the country. It also requires new school buildings to conform to modern scientific demands. There ought not to be any trouble in securing the passage of a self-enforcing law on the same question in Kansas.

-The School Journal says that the fight against the "pedagogues" is on in Philadelphia. The pedagogues are the graduates of the six-year-old school of pedagogy, which is connected with the boys' high school. The school of pedagogy was established as a one-year-post-graduate course of the high school, and the board of education adopted a rule, which has since resisted all assaults, forcing the sectional boards to elect graduates of the new school to all eleventh and twelfth grades, corresponding to the seventh and eighth school years, of all boys' schools. The "antis" made a fight in the school board, but failed to secure a suspension of the rules by the necessary two-thirds vote. They carried their appeal to the legislature, but were there unsuccessful. The champion of the pedagogues declared that the board would be going back on its promise if it elected anyone else than a graduate of the school to the designated grades.

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We are very much obliged to our friends for the generous additions to our subscription list and the promises of early remittances. We need all of them in order to maintain the MONTHLY on its present high plane.

WE learn that President Sanders, late of Fort Scott, Kansas, Normal School, is succeeding finely in his new work in the State Normal School at Dillon, Montana. President Sanders is an indefatigable worker and will undoubtedly soon impress himself upon the teachers of the state.

IN enclosing her subscription to the MONTHLY, Miss Bertha A. Read says: "I find myself looking eagerly for the choice gems of the 'Study Table' and 'Among Ourselves.' Our literature classes have committed with delight, the two quatrains, 'Dawn,' in October's number."

A NEAT little circular comes to our table from Proctor Acad

emy, Provo City, Utah. We are particularly pleased to find three of our finest young women in the corps of teachers. Miss Wilhelmina Holtzschue is in charge of the grammar department, Miss Ivy Loar of the intermediate, and Miss Alice Isely, of the primary. They make a trio of strong workers and we know that the academy will soon be recognized as a most wholesome place for the boys and girls of that community.

MRS. P. B. PLUMB kindly sends a handsome volume of England, Picturesque and Descriptive, to the State Normal School library, with her compliments. It is a beautiful book, containing a variety of views of abbeys, castles, churches, ancient fortresses, and British scenery, that have ever been of interest alike to tourist, poet, and painter. There are nearly five hundred illustrations, each selected on account of its beauty or sublimity. The descriptions are entertainingly written and furnish much information not found in any other books in the library.

THE University of Chicago has decided to recognize the State Normal School by giving its graduates, Latin or English course, at least one year's credit, as candidates for the Bachelors' degree. As far as the different departments may approve, even further credits will be allowed. This is the first movement made by the University for the recognition of graduates of the State Normal Schools and is particularly gratifying to us, as it shows conclusively that our standards are as high as those of any other normal school in this country. The State Normal Schools of Michigan, Iowa, and of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were given similar recognition.

Ar the last meeting of the State Board of Education, the average standing required for passing in all subjects was fixed at eighty-five per cent, the minimum being placed at seventy per cent. Rule three of the requirements for instructors' institute certificates was changed to read as follows: "The candidate shall be a holder of the state certificate or of the diploma granted by the State Board of Education, or shall furnish satisfactory evidence of having instructed successfully in one normal institute in Kansas." Rule four, of the requirements for conductors' certificates was repealed and rule three changed so as to read, "The candidate shall furnish satisfactory evidence of having instructed successfully under certificate of the Board in three normal institutes, not more that two of them being in one year." The other regulations were not modified materially. It will be seen from the above that graduates of approved colleges, who have not taken the examination on the professional branches given by the State Board of Education, will not be entitled to the usual institute certificate. The change does not affect renewals, except that the Board agreed to be more exacting in requiring endorsements for renewals than ever before. There is evidently great room for improvement in the character of the institute work done in the State, and these changes, it is thought, will aid materially in reaching that end.

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WE had hoped to be able to print an introductory lesson to the conrse of study by Superintendent Culter in this number, but it has been crowded out. We plan to give it next month. A NEW Waltz by Mrs. Professor C. A. Boyle, "Euridice Valse Brilliante," is just issuing from the press, with one of the handsomest title-pages we have yet seen. Mrs. Boyle has been complimented most highly by the musical critics on the character of the production, and the publishers have thought it wise to copyright it in all countries. It is published simultaneously at Chicago and London. The Chicago publishers are Clayton S. Summy Co., 220 Wabash Avenue. We understand that she had a fine offer for the waltz, but will probably decide to accept the usual royalty. She dedicates it to the Euridice Club of the State Normal School. All lovers of music should send for it at once.

AMONG the presidents and principals of the normal schools of this country are several old soldiers. One of them is President Shepard, of the Winona, Minnesota, school. He was recently most pleasantly surprised by receiving a bronze medal of honor from the war department, for recognition of distinguished gallantry. It bore the following inscription:

"The Congress to First Sergeant Irwin Shepard, Company E, Seventeenth Michigan Infantry, for gallantry at Knoxville, Tennessee, November 17, 1863."

From this it appears that President Shepard was not less valuable and efficient in war than he is in peace. His service as an educator deserves even a higher medal than that awarded by Congress. All of his friends rejoice with him in this recognition, particularly as it is so richly deserved.

THE Journal of Education, Boston, has an excellent editorial on eight graduates of the Illinois State Normal School, who are now prominent in advanced educational circles in this country. The list includes our Professor Wilkinson. Four of them secure the best "professional plums" of the year, Doctor O'Shea going to the Wisconsin State University, Doctor Van Liew to Los Angeles State Normal School at $2,750 per year, Doctor Charles McMurry to the Illinois State Normal and Doctor Galbreath to the great Teachers' Training School at Buffalo. In closing the editorial, Mr. Winship says:

"This means much, not alone to the Illinois Normal, but to every normal school in all the land. It is in itself a tremendous response to that vicious, though not malicious, attempt so popular in certain quarters to discount the professional force of the modern normal school. There are several other normal schools of which an equally creditable showing could be made, although they would be differently focused. There is no other professional force in the United States comparable for a moment to the normal schools."

THE STATE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION. Ten thousand copies of the program for the State Teachers' Association were distributed during the summer, and the attendance ought to be larger than ever. A glance at the program shows many good things for teachers in all grades. Among the special attractions for the general meetings, we are pleased to note the names of Professor N. W. Hailman, Dr. David Starr Jordan, and Fridtjof Nansen, the great explorer. Some of the best teachers in the State are given prominent positions on the program, and we look for a most profitable session.

The following subjects are named for discussion at the meeting of the Kansas Society for Child-Study, on Thursday afternoon at two o'clock: Child-Study for Kindergartners; Practical Child-Study for the Primary Teacher; Statistical Studies on the Line of a Syllabus; Reminiscent Autobiography; Journals and Letters of Children; Artistic Interpretations; Children's Lies; The Conscience of Childhood; Race Difference in the Mental and Moral Life of Children.

A silk flag will again go to the county having the largest membership in proportion to the number of teachers actually employed, and a handsome silk banner goes to the county whose teachers in attendance have traveled the greatest number of miles in reaching Topeka.

The usual one fare rate for the round trip is expected. Do not forget the State Normal School reunion on Wednesday evening.

Over the Line.

The hand that is uplifted against our State Normal Schools is not necessarily a Judas-hand; but it is always (no matter what the intention of its owner) the hand of an enemy to the State's educational interests.

The State Normal Schools have done more for the public schools of Missouri-the "common schools", the "peoples colleges," directly and by radiated influence-than all other instrumentalities at work for the past fifty years, combined.

Every taxpayer who is familiar with the work done by the Warrensburg Normal will endorse the statement that no better investment of the little over three cents to the child of school age which the State has appropriated for the support of this school, could be made, in the interest of public education. If the sum were twice as large, the appropriation would still be a magnificent investment, gauged by the good secured-The Visitor, Houston, Mo.

President Taylor Honored.

The Indiana State Board of Education has invited President Taylor to act as chairman of a board of official visitors to the State Normal School. The statute provides that a committee of three shall be appointed annually to visit the Normal School for the purpose of investigating and inspecting the work and the management of the institution. All the expenses of this board are paid, in addition to a salary of five dollars per day. The other members are, Superintendent W. R. Snyder, Muncie, Indiana, and State Senator Goodwine. President Taylor has accepted the appointment, and the board will make their visit of inspection during April 27, 28, 29, of this year.— Students Salute.

WE are indebted to Professor J. C. Wasson for a copy of the program for the Territorial Teachers' Association meeting at Flagstaff, Arizona, October 18. In addition to his own name, we find the names of our Marian Culver and J. R. Meskimons occupying prominent places in the discussions.

By the way, have you sent in your subscription to the STATE NORMAL MONTHLY?

The Study Table. M'LOUISE JONES.

There are some distinctions in language that grow deep into the structure of that language. One of the most important is the distinction between words that, standing alone, are full of significance or of suggestiveness, as, "Father lingers," "sunset clouds," and words that, standing alone, are meaningless, as "Yet if there should be any, even the." These latter are the pins and couplings of discourse. Having no values of their own, they, like the signs a, b, c, of the algebraist, must have new values assigned every time they are used. Chief among such words is the capital I, which at one time is I Nicholas II. Czar of all the Russias, and at another time is I Jim Jimkins.

Among the most important of these words that lack individuality are the pronouns. The name means standing for or representing nouns, and there is no possible noun for which they may not be used; hence pronoun may be said to be a name for everything. There are three small groups of these pronouns-personal, relative, interrogative; and one large group-indefinite pronouns.

Personal pronouns represent nouns but do not accompany them and are called personal because they introduce the speaker, the person spoken to, and a third, who is neither-viz., "I tell you that he is at home." Pronouns have three forms to indicate case-nominative, possessive, objective. This last also serves the purpose of the dative in other languages. The pronouns of the first and second person have no distinction in gender in any Aryan tongue, while the third has a separate form for masculine, feminine, neuter. The pronoun of the first person-I, my, mine, me, we, our, us,—cannot have been hewn from a single quarry, but rather they are water-worn chips from several quarries. Bopp supposes that originally there were four of these chips-ah, ak, ag, ma, as, ve.

Me, us, thee, you, him, her, them follow the old dative in form but are accusative or objective in signification. In such expressions as "give me," "tell us," "like him," the dative signification is preserved. We o ten hear it said that in such cases to is understood, but this is misleading. In modern speech we often, it is true, insert to, but it was not so from the beginning. There is no original to dropped. In methinks, it seems to me, me is dative in sense, and thinks is impersonal, from thyncan, to seem-quite a different word from thencan, to think.

"Al hali Kirk, as thine me, May by this schiffe taken be."

-Cursor Mundi, 1320. As methinks dies out, expressions arise like thinks I to myself, that never had grammatical consistency. The dative intent is here also:

Woe is me for I am undone.-Isa. 6:5.
Wel is thee.-Coverdale's Bible.

Woe is us, that we weren born.-Havelok, the Dane.

A shrinking from self-assertion, a real or assumed modesty, sometimes leads to an avoidance of the obtrusive I. So kings and editors say we-the speaker hiding his personality in the collective body of the government or of the editorial staff: hence the propriety of calling it the pronoun-not of majesty -but of modesty. In the plural, editors say ourselves; the monarch, ourself.

There is also a curious anomaly that seems due to French influence in the phrase, it is me. The Saxons rendered Matt., 14:27, "Ic hyt eom," I it am. Wyclif following the original tongue wrote briefly, "I am." Tyndale expressed it by, “It is r," and is closely followed by the authorized version. Those who wish to be precise follow the Scriptures and say, "It is 1," but many persons imitate the French, "C'est moi," it is me. Better would it have been to keep the analogies of our mother tongue,

I am it.-John, 9:9,-as the Germans do when they say, "Ich bin es."

[Ramsey's English Language and English Grammar.]

***

An idiom (Greek word for peculiarity) is a form of speech which is not common to all languages, but peculiar to some one language. The idioms of a language are those forms of expression which cannot be translated, word for word, into other languages. They may be rendered by some equivalent phrase, but not word for word. The English expression, you are right," cannot be rendered word for word into good French, German, or Latin. In French it would become, Vous avez raison; in German, Sie haben recht; in Latin, Recte dicis. It would be un-English to say, "you have reason,” or “you have right," or, "you speak rightly;" it is according to the English idiom to say, "you are right."

Idiom implies comparison, and comparison necessitates as a standard something that is regular and typical. That standard may be the prevailing fashion of the day, or it may be a philosophical standard-namely, the general analogy of the language. Educated men, who know something of two or three languages, have some such standard in mind. It is mainly the Latin that determines the standard in such cases, because this has been the first grammatical study, and because with most men the bulk of the reading of a lifetime has been in the diction of a Latin grammar.

The faculty of grammar is guided, not only by certain types of language, but also by a love of order, system, and concinnity within the domestic economy of each particular language. It produces a critical sense of judgment by admiration of analogy or symmetry between thought and expression. The operation of this faculty is retarded in its levelling process by those inherited formulæ, which are very stubborn and tenacious, and which, as being unconformable to the generalizations of this larger-minded grammar, are called idioms. Two movements are always at work in every language. On the one side, the domestic growth of speech follows closely the bent of the national idiosyncracies and is moulded after their pattern. This is the source of idiom which draws its essence from every mental peculiarity of race or nation. On the other side, every foreign and philosophical influence tends to reduce idiom and to bring about a general conformity in the relations of thought and speech.

The dialectical history of English falls into three well-distinguished periods-the Saxon, to the eleventh century; the Romanesque, from the eleventh century to the fifteenth; the Latin, from the sixteenth century until the present time. By way of illustrating these three eras, we may cite a familiar example. The question is often asked, Which is right, to say, "It is I," or to say, "It is me?" Both formulæ are in use, but the latter is homely and familiar; the former alone is used in correct writing. It is not so generally known as it ought to be that there is a third formula, one which is older than these, and which is in fact the native English formula. Readers of Chuacer are acquainted with the phrase, "I am it," which is pure English idiom, and which, though obsolete with us, is still fully alive in the German, "Ich bin es." The other two are respectively the Roman and the Latin. When we say, "It is me," we do but translate "C'est moi;" and as for, “It is I,” though not verbally Latin, yet it is the outcome of the Latin grammatical doctrine that the verb to be takes the same case after it as before it. This is a plain instance of the invasion of idiom by grammar. It may also be of interest to note that our possessive form in s is a bequest from the Saxon genitive, while the genitival phrase with of is from the French. There are certain phrases in which by cumulation both of these formulæ are brought into action-as, "A favorite view

of the general's." Sir George Cornewall Lewis says there is a practical utility in this idiom, as it enables us to distinguish between a picture of the king and a picture belonging to the king. The spontaneity of this formula is indicated by its antiquity. Grammatical culture might call this a barbarism. It may be admitted that it is a barbarism so far as this, that it is a national peculiarity which finds no parallel in any other polite language; that it arose not out of classical or belletristic fondness; that it is neither more nor less than an easy colloquial, rambling, illogical phrase, which has somehow acquired literary value. Such expressions tend to give to discourse an English character, to rescue it from trite conventionality, and to render it idiomatic.

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I thank you very much for the hearty way in which you have conveyed to me the kind and cordial salutation of the ""sixteen hundred students" of the State Normal School of the great State of Kansas. Please present my grateful thanks to them. You ask me to write to the entire body of the students a brief letter to occupy the "blank page" waiting for me in one of your great albums. I do that gladly, tho' perhaps some of the students may not respond heartily to what I shall propose to them.

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Your friend and wellwisher,

NEAL DOW. Charles Anderson Dana, long time editor of the New York Sun, passed away at his home in Glen Cove, L. I., Oc:ober 17. For fifteen years Mr. Dana was connected with the Tribune. At the opening of the civil war, owing to a disagreement with Horace Greeley as to the conduct of the war, he resigned and at once became connected with the War Department as assistant secretary. After the war, he again entered the journalistic field, and in 1868 issued his first number of the Sun, which has so long stood as an exponent of democratic principles. After a long and useful career of seventy-eight years, the active world loses one who has long been a power in mass education through a great public newspaper. Men have need to be grateful for lives of such usefulness.

We are also indebted to the penmanship department for an autograph letter of this eminent man: Dear Sir:

I take pleasure in complying with your request; and I wish you and your associates all the success and all the prosperity that you can desire.

Yours sincerely,

CHARLES A. DANA.

In our last issue, through oversight, the number of students taking German was made to read eight. It should have read,

"eight German classes": the students of German number many more. The German club is already gaining in the power to make itself understood in German; whether it can think in that language of tangled paths and devious ways is yet a question. One of the problems with which the club recently labored was how to close the meeting, since it had resolved not to adjourn unless it could adjourn itself auf Deutsch.

The new class in Methods in Geography, under charge of Professor Ellsworth, is already well under way. One member of the class says of it: "It is the best thing I ever saw in geography, entirely new, but just what I needed." Structural geography is first taken up, and physical and mathematical laws are made to contribute to the problems of land and water contour, courses of rivers, inclinations of river beds, land depressions, their general slope, land elevations, and many other points of topography but slightly touched upon in our common school geographies. This new work is the philosophy of geography, or geography as art, not merely as science.

Dr. William Bishop, one of Kansas' veteran educationists, greeted us with words of friendly cheer on the morning of October 19. The State Normal welcomed Doctor Bishop some ten years ago, and hopes to be able to give him welcome ten years hence. A life of earnest, devoted service to the boys and girls of Kansas within college walls as well as in the public school field, has endeared him to the people of Kansas so fully as to identify him with all that is best in education.

Among the many things of worth during the month, have been the bright, fresh thoughts from our host of visitors. Perhaps in these chance moments neither speaker nor listener may realize how precious the freight of thought which the spoken word may carry. A friendly word out of rich experience is not to be measured in shillings, pence, or moments, but in the uplift, the inclination toward better living of him who speaks as well as of him who listens with the heart.

Wedding Bells.

Josie Naff and Charles S. Kelly were married Thursday, October 14.

Maud Morris, '94, was married to B. D. Whitehead on September 29. Their home will be at Russell, Kansas.

Lottie Liggett, '93, became Mrs. John A. Rader on the evening of September 15. Her friends may congratulate her at Caney, Kansas.

Grant Van Hoose, '96, and Mary Margaret Gould, '96, joined hands in holy wedlock on October 2, at Pratt, Kansas. So two members of the class of '96 start down the aisle in double file. Their home will be at Pratt.

It is interesting to note how the small bit of existence familiarly known as "the wriggler" defeats the force of specific gravity. These embryo mosquitoes can be seen on almost any fine day in the season darting through the water in the rain-barrel or hanging motionless from the surface. The opening of the respiratory apparatus is in a branch of the abdomen and is protected by five little valves which open outward, and which the "wriggler" opens and closes at will. Although it spends this portion of its life in the water, it is an air-breather, and when it wishes a fresh supply of oxygen, it swims to the surface, open fly the valves, whose edges are not readily wet by the water, and there it hangs, its weight supported by the cohesion of the water-film. Around the edges of these valves one can see the water-film dip slightly downward. And then, although his weight is slightly more than that of a corresponding volume of water, the "wriggler" hangs head downward, enjoying both fresh air and his meal at one and the same time.

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