Page images
PDF
EPUB

Martin's Cash Store

FRANTZ & WILSON,

519 Commercial Street,

is a place where you can get almost anything you desire. They Shoes and Slippers.

keep for sale Dry Goods, Notions, Clothing for Men and Boys, Boots
and Shoes, Groceries, Flour and Feed. When you need anything to
eat or wear do not miss calling at our store, which is it the
OPERA HOUSE BLOCK

[blocks in formation]

LADIES', $1.50 to $4.50. MEN'S, $1.50 to $5.00.

Students Invited to Call.

When you want a

DRESS SUIT OR A BUSINESS SUIT

605 Commercial St., Emporia, Kansas.

Go to...

*** ATTENTION, TEACHERS! * * *

The magazine hitherto known as "Kindergarten News" is to be continued under the broader name:

KINDERGARTEN REVIEW.

Made right in the Latest
Style and Correct in
Every Particular, Call on
TOM JONES,

409 Commercial Street.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

It has been enlarged in size and scope, and the aim of editors and publishers will be to make it a sound and inspiring magazine, helpful to all who have to deal with the young child. The new editors are happy to announce that, notwithstanding the few weeks which they have had for making arrangements and the difficnlty of reaching many writers during the summer, they have the assurance of cordial cooperation from many of the most appreciated authors and educators, among whom may be named:

Miss Susan E. Blow, Miss Elizabeth Harrison, Miss Sarah E. Arnold, Mrs. C. Mackenzie Durham, Miss Anna W. Deveraugh, Mrs. Alice Wellington Rollins, Mr. Hamilton W. Mabie, Miss Lucy W. Wheelock, Miss Mary J. Garland, Miss Laura A. Fisher, Mrs. Eliza A. Blaker, Miss Ella Bradley, Miss Margaret W. Morley, Dr. William T. Harris, Miss Caroline T. Haven, Miss Sara E. Wiltse. The Review will reach back to the home and forward to the primary school, thus linking together the educational forces which effect each other so strongly. "Kindergarten Review" will contain, therefore, original and selected articles by those competent to give direct aid to the parent and primary school teacher-especially the teacher of the first grade. SPECIAL LINES. Timely nature observations and suggestions; New Songs, Stories, etc.; The Mother Play (new versions); Home Nurture; Child Study; The Connecting or Transition Class; The Kindergarten Normal Class.

The subscription price will be $2.00 per year, but a special discount will be given to all Kansas teachers during October who mention this advertisement.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Gives gas for extracting. Uses electricity in filling teeth. Does crown, bridge and plate work.

HAYNES BROS.,

616-618 Commercial Street.

AVERY'S MEAT MARKET 713 Commercial.

[ocr errors]

Telephone 94

Vol. X.

EMPORIA, KANSAS, NOVEMBER, 1897.

No. 2.

RECESSIONAL.

God of our fathers, known of old-
Lord of our far-flung battle line-
Beneath Whose awful Hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine-
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget-lest we forget!
The tumult and the shouting dies-
The captains and the kings depart;
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget-lest we forget!

Far-called our navies melt away-
On dune and headland sinks the fire-
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday

Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget-lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose Wild tongues that have not Thee in aweSuch boasting as the Gentiles use,

Or lesser breeds without the Law-
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget-lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard—
All valiant dust that builds on dust.
And guarding calls not Thee to guard-
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord!

Amen.

-Rudyard Kipling in the London Times for the Queen's Jubilee.

Motor Control and Teaching to Write.

At the meeting of the Kansas Society for Child-Study at Lawrence, May 14, several questions were asked in connection with the paper on Motor Control read by Doctor Oscar Chrisman, of Emporia. As the writer of this article had no opportunity to speak on the subject, he herewith offers his views for publication in the STAte Normal MONTHLY.

An infant is able to grasp a stick, or a finger, rather firmly with its fingers by closing the hand, and can hold its own body suspended by the closed hands for a length of time; but the same infant cannot move its arm steadily toward an object which it wants to touch. The question was asked, "Does not that prove that the small muscles of the hand and fingers develop sooner than the large muscles of the arm? That is, is not the theory wrong which maintains that the groups of large muscles develop sooner than the groups of small muscles?"

I maintain that the facts adduced fail to prove the above theory. You can verify the assertion by placing the forepart of the fingers of the right hand on the inside of the left arm just above the wrist, and closing and opening the left hand a number of times. You will feel the sinews or muscles of the arm contract or expand under the fingers, that is, move up or down the arm as the hand closes or opens. It is the muscles of the lower arm that pull the fingers, and thereby close the hand. Laying the fingers on the outside of the arm, you will feel that the outside arm muscles are pulling the fingers when the hand opens. This experiment shows that the hand of the infant in grasping an object is not closed by the small muscles of the fingers, but by the large muscles of the arm, and that the strength of hand of the infant is not due to a development of the small muscles of the fingers before the development of the arm muscles, but is produced by the muscles of the arm to the exclusion of the muscles of the fingers, which shows that

this group of large arm muscles is developed before the child can do any finger work, such as darning, or knitting, or even arranging small objects, beans, pebbles, Froebel bricks, etc.

This movement of grasping is automatic, or reflex, in the infant. But a movement of the arm toward an object to be touched, as mentioned in the first question, is not originally automatic, but the result of a cooperation of the eye with the muscles of the arm and hand. This cooperation is the result of experience, of training; that is, time and education are needed to render the cooperation possible. This arm movement is not brought to perfection so early as the grasping movement of the hand, but this difference in time does not militate either for or against the theory of the development of groups of larger before groups of smaller muscles. The grasping movement is accomplished by the muscles of the lower arm, and the arm movement, by the same muscles acting with the larger muscles of the upper arm. Still it is not this difference in size which causes the arm movement to develop later than the grasping movement, but the fact that the latter is automatic, and the former, the result of experience and training. It follows that the above facts do not destroy, but rather confirm, the theory that groups of large muscles develop earlier than groups of small muscles; and this theory has been adopted as true by modern experimental psychologists.

The second question asked in reference to the essay on Motor Control was this: "We are able to teach a child to write within four months; for what reason, then, would we abandon the present method of teaching to write?" The question emphasizes the alleged fact, that writing can be taught in a short period of four months. Whether this be a general fact, or, in other words, what may be meant by "teaching to write in four months," need not here be discussed. For the fact that dexterity may be acquired by one method in a shorter time than by another, does not prove the one method better than the other. The Ollendorf method of teaching a foreign language is not only not better, but it is worse than the genetic method of Mager, in spite of the fact that it enables a large number of students, namely, all those whose memory is better developed than their reasoning powers, to carry on a conversation in a foreign tongue sooner than students learning according to Mager can hope to do the same. By appealing to memory almost exclusively, the Ollendorf method retards the development of reason, and thereby inflicts irreparable injury upon the student; but the Mager method teaches the language by reasoning upon it during the initial steps as well as in every subsequent stage of the study.

There are many reasons why the old method of teaching to write should be abandoned. Writing from copy is imitation, a mechanical activity, depending upon the automatic connection between the eye and the hand; that is, a mechanical activity of the lowest kind, having no effect upon the power of thought. It does not develop intelligence, nor is it education. If there were no other method of teaching to write, and it were absolutely necessary to teach writing, the method of writing from copy might be permissible; but as there are other methods, the imitative method should be abandoned. There are different ways of writing, which must be taught

by different methods. A full description of these cannot be given here, but a few distinctive features can be mentioned, which will enable the intelligent student or teacher to work out the methods in detail by himself. The three ways of writing are: (1) with the hand alone; (2) with the arm alone; (3) with hand and arm combined. The most general way of writing is that by means of the hand alone. Writing with the arm alone is commonly done by those few who think that this is the only natural and proper way of writing. The hand and arm movement combined is taught by a small number of teachers of penmanship, and it is used practically by a great number of business men, whose handwriting is distinguished for its apparent ease and boldness.

(1) Writing with the hand alone is induced by teaching to write from copy. In doing this, the child is trained to hold the pencil or pen in a cramped way, which, by the law of sympathetic action, produces a cramped position of every part of the body, and thereby occasions all manner of sickness and deformity, such as headache, bad eyes, indigestion, irritation of the genitals, curvature of the spine, etc. The rapid increase of shortsightedness and weak eyes is due, to a great extent, to this method of writing. It is not the copy alone, however, that is responsible for these evil effects; any way of writing which calls the hand alone into operation will produce similar results.

(2) Writing by the arm movement, if done on paper, is generally a scrawl that is next to unreadable. But it is the only proper way of writing on the blackboard; and, as the groups of larger arm muscles are developed sooner than the groups of smaller hand muscles, the child ought to begin its course of penmanship on the blackboard. Those teachers who wish to try this method must themselves be able to write an even, bold, and beautiful hand on the board; for the pupils, being natural imitators, will invariably write as their teacher does. After the teacher has learned to write well on the board, which, to judge from the writer's own experience, anyone can accomplish in a very short time, let her lead her pupils to remember words which she writes on the board, so that they can rewrite them from memory after the words have been erased. Experiment has proved that this can be done, if the teacher possesses the tact to connect the form of the written word vividly enough with the mental idea of the object which she evokes in the minds of the pupils. This must be done by writing and speaking the word at the same time; thus the idea called forth by the word absorbs the attention of the child completely. In this way, the child can be taught to read and write script at the same time. To use a word well-known to students of German educational science, this might be called an improved Schreib-Lese-Methode.

(3) Writing by the combined movement can be undertaken after a sufficient number of words has been learned by the second method. In order to enable the hand and arm to move together with ease, teachers in business colleges train their pupils to rest the hand on the fingers only, so that the muscles of the lower arm can move the hand freely. Thus one is able to acquire a very fine handwriting. But to achieve this, the pupil must give to the practice of different curves occurring in the formation of letters, a longer time than young children ought to be made to devote to such mechanical exercises.

Another way to use the combined movement with ease, consists in resting the right hand, not upon the tips of the fingers, but upon the side and the last joint of the little finger. In this position, the muscles of the lower arın can move the hand with such complete ease, that very little practice is required. In writing by this method, hold the hand about vertical upon its side, the fingers together and bent in an easy way so that

the pen, laid upon the first joint of the middle finger, rests easily against the first finger, where it is held by the point of the thumb without any pressure; or it may be laid between the first and middle finger and touched by the point of the thumb. In this position, every movement of the pen is made by the four fingers jointly, which renders the handling of the pen nearly as easy as if it were done by the arm movement alone. With this natural position of the pen, writing is so easy that everybody can learn to write not only a clear but a beautiful hand. The inclination of the strokes, i. e., whether vertical or slanting, depends upon the way in which the joints of the arm and hand will move most easily. The writer advises the enforcing of neither the one nor the other angle, but letting nature take its own course. If the child is made to hold the pen naturally as described, and to hold its body erect, the angle of the strokes will be a natural effect, and ought not to be interfered with.

It is not guaranteed that this mode of writing will "teach a child to write within four months," but it is certain that, if correctly taught, it will enable every child of sound limbs and proper eyesight to become an easy and rapid writer, and will make his handwriting both legible and pleasing.

A. H. HEINEMANN,

Assistant Superintendent Haskell Institute.

A NIGHT HUNT.

The following from the files of a youth's paper shows an experience of one of our faculty in the early sixties and shows also his early style of composition.

"Young readers, did you ever hear of people taking guns and going out to hunt birds when it was so dark they had to feel, to tell which end of the gun to point at the game? I have, and let me tell you my experience in one of these hunts, when I was a little boy, like some of you.

One night, when father was going hunting, I asked him, just as little boys always do, if I could go too. And don't you think I was pleased to hear him say, "I guess so"! I was ready at once; and after going over to get neighbor C. and his boys, we started. Let me tell you, though, we were not then on the broad, level prairie, but in the rough country now called West Virginia. So through the dark woods, over rocky hills, we went, till I was so tired I almost wished myself at home, when at last we heard the game. Oh, what a noise! A thousand geese couldn't have made more. How quick we stepped then! But still we kept on until I was almost tired again, when father and Mr. C. said we boys might take the pine torch and stop, while they, with the lanterns put out, would go among the birds and shoot.

And, oh! what long, weary minutes we spent, listening for those guns! We waited-we became cold; we got leaves and sticks to make a fire; but they were damp and put out our torch, and there we were in the dark, still waiting. If we had not been thinking so of getting to pick up game, how lonely we would have felt, how much afraid of "painters" and "bears!" At last the "bang! bang!" of the guns, and the noise of flying birds, gave us leave to go, and, with hats in hand through the brush we hurried. I took the lead, and, "Indian file", we hurried in the direction of the noise. But our direction was quickly changed, and next thing I knew I was going head foremost over a log, and then was crawling out of a turbid stream of water, minus my hat and my load of torch pine. As for the other boys, the first followed me here still, but the other found out what was going on in time to stop in a drier place. Afraid to try the trip again, we called for a light, and our fathers came, and after laughing at our misfortune, went back with us to hunt for game. We gathered up what we could find, and again started in pursuit.

I'll not tell you any more about it now, only that we didn't have near enough light to last us; that we were sometimes almost lost, and that it was break of day when we got home, and you may guess the rest.

Such a hunt as that is what they call "hunting wild pigeons on the roost." But I wonder if I would not have been better off at home that night, reading some good book, or a good paper. Reader, what do you think about it?

[blocks in formation]

"The Comprehensive Arithmetic."

This handsome book by Professor M. A. Bailey, so long the popular head of the mathematical department of the State Normal School, is most welcome to our table. Its bright pages and clear statements attract us at once and we find it all that our expectations had promised. We see in it many points of superiority over the arithmetics now in general use. Among them may be mentioned the following:

The subjects are presented in order from the simplest to the most complex, and the book shows great care in the selection of problems.

Economy of space aud judicious arrangement have made it possible to give many problems and much practice work in little space.

The use of parallel columns for developments and illustrations is a valuable and special feature. The pupil may read each column separately, or he may read a paragraph in the first and glance across, to the explanatory paragraph in the second.

Under each subject, the meanings of the terms are developed, but not usually defined. The pupil will certainly gain greater power by forming his own definitions from the development; but, that he may be able to verify his conclusions, an alphabetical list of important terms, with definitions, is given. No rules are given, except such as are necessary from the nature of the subject. The pupil is encouraged to fix well in mind the result to be obtained, to consider carefully the means at his command, and to employ these means according to his best judgment.

In the solution of a problem, there are four distinct steps: recognizing the required term, recognizing the given terms, finding the relations between the required term and the given terms, and performing the operations suggested by the relations. In simple problems, the five forms of analysis, skillfully embody these four steps and are amply sufficient, but when the problem is complex, these forms are in themselves inadequate.

It teaches the solution of problems by both analysis and the use of letters. There is no reason why operations upon numbers expressed by letters should not be studied by the pupil at an early age. Elementary algebra is easier than the applications of arithmetic, and its introduction, under the head of Literal Quantities, immediately after Denominate Numbers is demanded by the best interests of the pupils.

cases.

It teaches the pupil a rational method for solving indirect Thus: "When the circumference is given to find the radius, divide the circumference by two times 3.1416," is the rule given for solving the indirect case. It is evident that the memorizing of this second, or indirect relation is unnecessary. Instead, the pupil should memorize the direct relation, that, "The circumference is equal to two times the radius times 3.1416; form the resulting equation; substitute the values given; and find the required term by the laws of the equation. No stronger argument for the introduction of the use of letters into arithmetic can be adduced than the argument that the memorizing of a great number of rules is thereby rendered unnecessary.

In the selection of the subjects, as well as in the extent to

which each is developed, the author has gone just far enough, and not too far. At every step, careful consideration, in accordance with the suggestions of the Committee of Ten, has been given to the age of the pupils, their power to grasp ideas, and the utility of the subjects themselves. The same forms of explanations are used for like cases.

The typographical arrangement is superior. Each subject begins at the top of a page. Such an arrangement is possible only at the cost of much labor, but it cannot fail to gratify both teacher and pupil. The examples in each chapter are numbered consecutively from beginning to end. Where there is a multiplicity of subjects in a chapter, and each subject is illustrated by examples, it often happens by the usual arrangement, that, on the same page, there will be two or more examples which have the same number. This difficulty is obviated by the consecutive numbering. The answer to a given problem may be found more easily in this book than in others. The publishers, The American Book Company, have spared no expense to produce the best work of which the modern printing art is capable.

The book is original in scope, selection of material, and method of presentation; it proves that an interesting arithmetic need not be a paradox; it can not fail to promote skill in performing rapidly and accurately the problems that present themselves every day; it economizes effort and uses for higher purposes the energy too often wasted by attempts to grasp truth shown "through a glass darkly;" it gives the child what so many books neglect-comprehensive thoughts as to the subject as a whole and a true realization of it as an exact science with immutable laws; and it affords him a bird's eye view of the realms of higher mathematics which can not fail to lure him on to further study.

We regret exceedingly that the American Book Company did not submit it to the State Text-Book Commission, for it ought to go into the schools of Kansas at once.

Here is what Professor T. M. Hart, of Cornell University, says of the most vital subject in American intellectual lifevital because it is the principal medium through which truth traverses from soul to soul:

"The school is to give the most thorough training in English, not merely, not even chiefly, because such training is needed in college, but because such training is the vital and informing spirit of all education. The school is to do its duty by all its scholars, whether they afterward go to college or not, because the ability to state one's knowledge in clear and proper English is the one unfailing test of knowledge, the one universally recognized badge of scholarship. Why should the study of English be thus set on a pinnacle, as it were, dominating all other studies? Or, in the serio-comic words of a professor of the classics, why should the English department have the vetopower? I can answer only in the form of a paradox: The study of English should dominate everything else precisely because it is not a study but the acquisition of a habit, of an art, of an indispensable gift. This acquisition can not be hurried through with a year or less of special 'cram'; it implies slow, patient, unremitting effort year after year, under incessant supervision and correction. It is emphatically anything but an easy process for the average scholar. It means the appreciation of synonyms in a language singularly rich in shades of meaning but singularly defective in the outward signs by which to recognize them. It means the appreciation of word-order in a language which has little or no syntax proper, and in which word-order counts for nearly everything. Above all, it means the implanting and cultivation of the sense of form in young persons to whom, or to the greater number of whom, form, that is, the saying of a thing properly and effectively, is an unknown quantity." Do you believe this, students? Show your faith by your works.

Among Ourselves.

And some are dreams that thrill with joy,

And some that melt to tears;
Some are dreams of the dawn of love,

And some of the old dead years.

-Eugene Field. As soon as a man sides with his critic against himself, he is already cultured-Emerson.

Undefined! In writing concerning the moral and religious character of a certain teacher, a correspondent says that it is "undefined." If his moral character is not yet defined, ought he to be placed in charge of anybody's children? Think of it; a man of "many years' experience" and yet with an undefined character! No wonder "salaries are low and he seeks a better paying position." Herbart is not the only man who reminds us that moral character is the sole end of all education.

Things to See. A teacher must learn what things to see and what not to see. He must have keen eyes and quick ears, seeing and hearing everything, but overlooking, so far as his pupils may know, the thousand little things which come about by accident or through the innocence of the children. Some things are essential; on them hang the law and the prophets,— and they must not be passed by. Others are thrown out as feelers by the mischief breeders, and their meaning should quickly be discovered. Miss Smith, over in No. 29, is always in hot water because she has not learned what she may wisely overlook. She frowns if a child smiles when she thinks he ought to look sober; she scolds when he yawns, even though he has sat for an entire hour in a close room without moving a muscle; she calls him back for a "love tap" on Tom Brown's shoulder just one-tenth of a second before she gave the signal for the line going to the playground to break ranks; she detains him after school because he accidentally touched his slate against his chin when trying to get it into his desk, causing a little girl near by to giggle just one whole giggle, just one! Now if these things were all done by one boy, there might be some reason for alarm, but they were not. The little offenders are as innocent of wrong doing as babes, and yet Miss Smith frets and stews as though they had committed crimes against the decalogue. No wonder every child in her room is nervous and restless. It were a miracle if they were otherwise.

Man to the Tenth Power. In speaking of the intensifying of the individual which the colleges are attempting, Dr. Jordan says: It takes a man's "best abilities and raises him to the second power, or to the third, or to the tenth, as we say in algebra." Could anything more happily express the work which education does for the child? In his evolution, he simply multiplies himself, rises from one power to another, and education helps the process along. The question is: At what power shall the movement stop? Shall it be at the third, or the thirteenth? As there is no limit to the power to which a number may rise, so there is no limit at which the mind must stop. If given intelligent direction, it soon, of its own volition, rises another power, and at each step gains the added strength needed for its onward sweep toward the infinite. How puerile our old threeR conception of education, beside this ideal for our youth!

That Leyden Jar. Dr. Behrends is quoted by the Pilgrim Teacher as saying of one of his college professors that he never used a text-book. "He was so full of excitement that he was all over the room, in every conceivable position, graceful and awkward, standing, sitting, and leaning on his desk, in the chair, on the window sill, in the middle of the floor, and everywhere the same excited and exciting person." No one could touch him without receiving a shock himself. That description reminds one of Ruby's star performance on the piano,

"and the thing busted!" And yet that wriggling, gyrating, textless teacher is held up as an example to Sunday school teachers! Possibly we need a shock to waken some of us up, for there are many teachers that several volts would not harm, and so we get it in this turn of the electrical machine, but let us pray to be preserved from such nervous contortionists as are here described. Pupils whose attention is secured in such a manner will not be doing much profitable thinking in the class room. A teacher should be a Leyden jar, well-filled, and under complete control, but not breaking out here and there in all manner of ways, blinding the eyes, shocking the senses, and frightening the children out of their wits.

The Lesson of the Tree. All good, strong trees have roots corresponding in size and surface to the branches above ground. The character and wealth of foliage and fruit depends entirely upon the work which the roots are doing in the earth beneath, out of sight and sound. Quietly, ceaselessly they gather nourishment for the tree, sustaining its life, extending its branches, enriching its fruitage. The more active they are in the dark, underground, the more vigorous the tree. The same is true of the teacher. The more work he does in his study or in his laboratory, the more he is able to do for his classes. If he spends much time alone investigating, gathering, thinking, planning for them, he is the better prepared to meet their demands and to stimulate them to greater effort. No one should rely upon spontaneous inspiration. He ought to make such a preparathat he goes before his classes gorged and filled with his subject, as the root cells of the tree crowd each other with the rich food they are hurrying forward to the branches above. Such a teacher goes to his class feeling, as Hazard expresses it, that he "must teach or burst." And such a teacher as that will never fail to sustain interest in his pupils.

Salt, Soda, and Quinine. And now comes the story from Holden, Missouri, that the vigilance committee, which is usually active in every community, has just discovered that the teachers of that city have been in the habit of giving their pupils salt as a punishment for the first offense in whispering, soda for the second, and quinine for the third! Evidently such a logical grading of penalties could not spontaneously rise in any corps of teachers, and it must be the result of much experience and earnest counsel. That assafoedita, nicotine, and strychnine did not get into the list of deterrents is possibly due to the activity of that committee. "Some sensational developments are expected when the matter is presented to the school board." Well, let them come! The sooner the better. We wait with breathless interest the result of the deliberations of the board on this latest of methods for preventing whispering. We are a little inclined to think that some sodium or cinchona trust is behind the innovation and that it has more currency than is generally supposed.

Finding the Heartache. William Allen White told the students at the State University the other day that all of their learning would amount to little, if with it, they do not also become so intimately acquainted with humanity and its pulse beats that "they can find a heartache as quickly and as unerringly as they can find a star." Well said and truly said! An education that fails to awaken the sympathetic side of a child's nature, and to keep it growing and expanding and responding to the life around him as he rises into manhood, must result in ruin to the individual and to the community. No interest should engross him which displaces interest in his fellows. No attainment in scholarship or statesmanship outweighs love and devotion to the interests of humanity. That man, that teacher serves the world best, who hears the cry of distress before it is uttered and who counts its relief the manliest act which he can perform.

« PreviousContinue »