ergy but they do have a remainder of time. Two hours of reading or study a day, the year round, will put one in touch with many great subjects. And it is wonderful how this matter of culture takes to itself compound ratios of increment, as we pursue it like those great snow-balls which the boys roll up after a moist snowstorm in winter. "Unto him who hath shall be given," is the grand law of the intellectual life. The more one acquires, the more and the faster one gains the power to acquire.

Do not be discouraged, then, if the demand seem hard, the task long and difficult. Set about it cheerfully and earnestly. Doing one's best is all that can be asked or rendered; and no one, I take it, whatever the result, will ultimately regret an honest effort. New York School Journal.

LITTLE LINGUAL EXASPERATIONS.

A young lady was once talking with a very young and a very smart man, who was inclined to air his knowledge of the languages a little beyond what she felt that modesty required. She, therefore, said to him, with an air of deference to his superior attainments:

"You are a Latin scholar; I wish you would tell me how to pronounce the word 'somet-i-mes.""

The youth, with an air of kindly patronage, replied: "I have not met the word in my Latin reading, but I should have no hesitation in saying that it should be pronounced, 'so-met-i-mes'" (giving it in four syllables, the accent on the second).

"Thank you for telling me," replied the girl, demurely. "I have always heard it pronounced sometimes, but if you say the other way that must be right."

This is similar to the perhaps familiar catch of the pronunciation of "bac-kac-he," which will often surprise the uninitiated by proving to be only backache. It also reminds one of a question printed some years since as to the way of spelling "need"-to need bread. The average person will reply, "k-n-e-a-d, of course, but the answer will be: "That is the way to spell knead dough, but not to need bread."

A young lady recently misled a family in a most heartless way. She remarked: "I had a letter to-day, and how do you imagine the little preposition 'to' was used?”

"Too," suggested mamma.
"Two," suggested papa.

French lessons just then, suggested "tout," and Tom in derision improved upon that with "tueue," declaring that must be right in order to rhyme with "queue."

"All wrong," exclaimed the young lady, when the alphabet and their ingenuity were well exhausted.

Just then Teddy, who had been soberly absorbed in his bread and honey and who was in his first term at school and wrestling with the problem of words of two letters, raised his head and with an air of decision and importance gravely spelled, "T-o, to."

"Yes," cried the young lady with a peal of laughter.

"Why," exclaimed the others, in dismayed chorous, "that is the right way to spell it." "Exactly," she replied, "and that is the way my correspondent spelled it. You do not suppose I corresponded with persons who cannot spell 'to' correctly, do you?"—Harper's Young People.

DR. HARRIS ON ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS.

It must be mentioned here that the schools of the District, since the abolition of all written examinations for promotion, do not hold back the dull ones of a class by sifting out the incompetent to so great an extent as formerly. The slow pupils are entirely kept out of the high schools of most cities by the strict entrance examination. In Washington they move forward on the regular current and enter the high school in large numbers. But next to nothing is done to emancipate the talented pupils from the yoke which forces them down to the pace set by their slow companions.

A

It would seem to a person well acquainted with the defects of the graded system as it exists, that the abolition of examinations for admission to the high schoof wrought some good for the District. A dull pupil has now some chance of trying his intellect on those tools of thought which are able in some measure to make up for differences in talent. dull boy who has struggled through quadratic equations in algebra, or learned to read Latin, or studied geometry, has by aid of those powerful instruments of research distanced all the talented boys of the grammar school. He can perform mental problems that they will never be able to solve until they invent or master such mathematical and philosophic instruments for themselves.

which the city of Washington shows. While the colored schools show exactly three per cent. enrolled in the high and normal schools, the white schools show an enrollment in those schools of nearly eight per cent.

Pupils who enter a high school without passing a strict examination, and are not thereafter accustomed to such strict examinations, will naturally fail of admission to college when submitted to tests that to them are unusual.

In the Central High School it will be easy to form divisions of such pupils as desire to enter college and comply with conditions necessary for fitting them to pass strict examinations. This may be done without losing any of the advantages gained by the disuse of entrance. examinations formerly required for transfer from the grammar school.-Report on Schools of District of Columbia.

IS IT TEACHING?

I played the role of visitor in an intermediate department of a city school not very long ago. I am well aware that one teacher is never especially delighted to see another in this character, as criticism, not always just or kind, is the general result. I do not, however, intend to pose as critic. The teacher is a popular one, and if her methods mystified me it is possibly due to my inability to comprehend. That I will leave for others to decide.

The recitation was from the second reader, the class reciting from their seats. "Who can read the first sentence?" queried the teacher. Several hands were raised and one of the brightest was called upon.

"Mary is going to make some tea," she read, very nicely.

"Very well," said the teacher. "Now who else can read it?" Another volunteered, then another, until a number of the best pupils had read the words. By this time the remaining ones had learned the words from hearing them repeated. They too raised their hands.

"Mary is going to make some tea," repeated one very fluently, with eyes on the wrong page and fully as much comprehension of what the words looked like as had the desk before her. Another and another did the same thing, looking at the teacher, the visitor, anywhere, everywhere but on the book. The next sentence was taken up in a similar manner, and so on until the word lid occurred.

"Who can tell me what that means?" "A cover," was the reply from all. "But what is a cover?" "The top part."

"Is the cover always the top part?" Here followed a long discussion or tossing of mean

was

ingless phrases back and forward during which the children's minds became most thoroughly tangled and the knowledge derived too miscroscopical for the puzzled observer to discover. It was fairly demonstrated that the children knew what a lid was from the first. They knew the same at the end. Again the sentence reading was taken up with discussions here and there on just as important words until the lesson was finished. Result: perhaps five scholars had read intelligently, twenty had repeated the words, did not know where to find them, and as for knowing them again—! ! !

Were they going through the book this way? If so, what would the twenty know in the end? Was it a show" recitation especially for visitors? Certainly had I not been a close observer and watched the eyes and faces of those pupils, the reading might have sounded very brilliant. But being a teacher I went away with the conviction that of two evils I should much prefer the uninteresting but hard working way of years gone by—Exchange.

THE KINDERGARTEN NOT A FAD.

A race that is said to take its pleasures sadly-a branch of which, indeed, by inheritance is inclined to look upon all amusement as sinful-such a race very naturally produces many minds that cannot help suspecting the utility of an institution like the kindergarten, which might to a casual observer seem merely organized pleasure. This kind of observer, seeing for the first time a kindergarten "in full play," naturally asks himself, "Can anything so delightful really be a part of a grave, scientific system of education; or is it merely a pretty way of keeping children-especially the children of the poor-out of mischief?"

That it is a thoroughly accredited, successful, scientific, and rapidly spreading educational device, and no mere fad of the moment, seems to be an established fact, as may be gathered from inquiry among the leaders of education everywhere in America, and from all the teachers who, whether kindergartners or not, have come into contact with the system.

The kindergarten is no longer an experiment. It is not now on the defensive, either on its educational or on its philanthropic side. It is rather for those who ignorantly oppose the kindergarten to show cause for their opposition in the face of the almost unanimous approval of experts, and the enthusiastic indorsement of all that part of the general public who have had the opportunity of becoming familiar with its methods and results.-Century.

BOOK TABLE.

EDUCATION,

-ROUSSEAU'S EMILE, OR TREATISE ON abridged, translated, and annotated by William H. Payne, (D. Appleton & Co., N. Y.; XLV. and 355 pp.'s $1.50), contains less than half the original, and one who knows that will agree with the translator that selection was no easy task. Rousseau is a master of style. So clear a critic as Sainte Beuve declares "since Rousseau, it is in the world of language established and created by him that our greatest writers have cast their own innovations, and tried to excel." The vigor and charm of his style make selection difficult, and yet the whole is too bulky and detailed for modern readers. Now Prof. Payne has tried to let the selections show Rousseau as he is, with his defects as well as his excellencies, so that the volume is not approved doctrine culled from Rousseau. It is a fair presen

tation of the most influential work on pedogogy ever written. The reader may gather from it a full understanding of what was new and strong in Rousseau's teaching, and he may also see the strange vagaries and parodoxes in which he loved to indulge. The translation is good, the notes suggestive and the supplementary matter interesting. Dr. Harris's introduction briefly sets forth Rousseau's peculiar work as an apostle of revolution, and the fallacy in his use of the term "nature." Prof. Payne ventures upon a list of the greater educational classics, which he makes sixteen, including Plato and Mulcaster, Aristotle's Politics and Rabelais's Gargantua - range enough surely! His estimate of Rousseau and his summary of the educational doctrine of the Emile are helpful and admirable. The judgments of Rousseau by French writers gathered in the appendix seem hardly necessary. Take it all in all this volume will, we believe, serve for a long time as the best available means for English readers to use in acquainting themselves with the Emile.

FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, by Elizabeth Wormeley Latimer, (A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago; 450 pp. $2.50,) deals with a period full of striking events and romantic episodes, and a period so near to us that we are able fully and easily to appreciate its conditions. The drama opens with the story of the days of July and the deposition of Charles X. Then follow in rapid succession the romantic early career and reign of Louis Philippe, ending with the revolution of 1848 and his dramatic flight; the second republic under the guidance of the patriot poet Lamartine; Louis Napoleon, the coup d' Etat and the second empire; the tragic episode of Maximilian and his Mexican empire; the brilliant period of the empire when Eugenie was the ornament of the court; the Franco-Prussian war with its swift coming calamities to the French, concluding with the siege of Paris, the commune, the tragedy of the hostages, and the great revenge; finally the establishment of the third republic, the troubled course of which so far as traced in this volume, ends with the pyrotechnic career of Boulanger, culminating in suicide. It is a wonderfully fascinating epoch of history, full also of the deepest significance; and the author has made a most effective presentation of it. Her narrative is always clear and vigorous, adjusted skillfully to the shifting scenes, sympathetic, fair minded and appreciative both of the characters with which it deals and of the great issues in which they are involved. The reader rises from it with satisfaction over the full grasp which it gives him of a complex and important series of events, to which it has held him with the facination of a novel. It is not only a timely and entertaining volume, but is also a distinct addition to our popular historical literature.

-A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, for young people, by Miss E. S. Kirkland, (A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago; 398 pp.; $1.50.), begins with the first Anglo-Saxon writers, and follows down the ever augmenting_stream of English literature to Browning and Tennyson. The narrative is easy and graceful, occupying itself with the personal fortunes of the authors, the production of their works, and brief critical notes, but not attempting ambitious flights. As is proper in a book for young readers it does not concern itself with the philosophy of national literature, nor its intimate connection with the vicissitudes of national history. Rather we find good sensible talk about men and books, escap

ing the dryness of the mere chronicler by a lively use of anecdotes, apt quotations, brief and vivacious descriptions and a skillful use of adjectives and phrases, such as often bring home to the reader the essence of more elaborate criticisms. It is a book worth making, one sure to interest young persons who turn to it in English men of letters and their writings, and to furnish them with a useful and correct foundation upon which to rest more serious studies if they are disposed to make them. Its best service is to guide them to the great works of the literature itself.

-SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL WEBSTER, with introduction and notes by A. J. George, (D. C. Heath & Co.; 392 pp.; $1.50), presents Mr. W bster as a lawyer in the defense of the Kennistons, the Dartmouth College Case, and the White Murder Case; as the orator of public occasions in The First Settlement of New England, and the Bunker Hill Monument Oration; as a statesman and defender of the constitution in the Reply to Hayne, the Speech at Saratoga, and The Constitution not a Compact between Sovereign States; and as a Eulogist in the tribute to Mr. Justice Story. They are perhaps the most representative orations which could have been chosen, and make up a volume of great value as a text-book in American schools. We have had no other orator who attained the strength and profundity of Webster. His speeches are not only magnificent specimens of oratorical art, but for lofty patriotism and breadth of statesmanship they are the best possible materials for the study of our youth Mr. George has appended few notes, only such as are clearly useful to the understanding of the occasion and objects of the orations.

-ELEMENTS OF DEDUCTIVE LOGIC, by Noah K. Davis, (Harper & Bros., N. Y.; 208 pp.) contains a very clear and satisfactory exposition of the main doctrines of deductive logic. Prof. Davis h s succeeded in relieving the subject of excessive dryness by his arrangement of topics, his clear and simple exposition, and his constant feeling for the practical relations of the doctrines. This is further shown. by the excellent practical exercises appended to each of the chapters. His suggestion that "the working of the praxes alone, without any recitation of the text, will secure a more satisfactory knowledge of elementary logic than the closest reproduction of the text," alone shows his practical tendencies. Logic has been too much neglected owing to reaction from the excessive value once attached to it. Perhaps we are soon to see a true estimate of its value in education. We are satisfied that this little volume will be found one of the most useful introductions to the subject now available. -A Primer of HEALTH, for Primary Classes (140 pp.), A HEALTHY BODY, a text book on Physiology and Hygiene for intermediate grades (223 pp.), and THE ESSENTIALS OF HEALTH (352 pp.), all by Charles H. Sto well. (Silver, Burdett & Co., Boston,) make a complete and attractive series of texts in this important branch. They are well illustrated and beautifully printed, and are approved by the W. C. T. U. The second of the series was the earliest issued, and it quickly went through three editions. It is evidently well adapted for class use in its matter and arrangement. We judge that the other two will be found not less so. primer is a very easy presentation of the main outlines of the study, while the more advanced book is adapted to high school classes. This is provided with pertinent suggestions to teachers and other helps for the class-room.

The

-FRENCH READER ON THE CUMULATIVE METHOD, by Adolphe Dreyspring, (American Book Co.; 171 pp; 75c.) tells the story of Rodolph and Coco the chimpanzee, but with ulterior purposes. It aims to introduce the young reader gradually and in a masterful way into the mysteries of French grammar, vocabulary and idioms while entertaining him with an amusing story. This is lighted up with numerous suggestive and helpful small engravings inserted in the text. The foot notes carry the serious part, the grammar helps, the questions, the suggestions for study. Then at the end of the volume come the systematic grammar, the irregular verbs, and the vocabulary. The book is attractive to the eye, entertaining to read, and progressive and well thought out as a text for study.

-How Do YOU SPELL IT? or words as they look, by W. T. C. Hyde, (Jansen, McClurg & Co, Chicago; 342 pp.; $1.00,) is built on the theory that spelling is a matter of the

eye. Its aim therefore is to help the eye in seeing correctly the part of the word where an error is likely to creep in, so that the right form may be strongly impressed. The end is attained by printing this part of the word in full-faced type. There can be little doubt that the device will be helpful to such as find English spelling a constant trouble-and there are many such. The words are arranged in alphabetical order, and especial attention is paid to bringing together those which are spelled differently but pronounced alike.

-THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW IN GREEK, edited by Alexander Kerr and Herbert Cushing Tolman, (Charles H. Kerr & Co., Chicago; 117 pp.) aims to make manifest the individuality of the writer of the gospel. Words peculiar to him are printed in full face type, passages peculiar to him are pointed out, and his Hebraisms are summarized. The introduction contains quotations in Matthew from the Old Testament, and other critical matter. The text is divided into topics with Latin headings. A vocabulary is added at the close, making a tolerably complete outfit for the easy study of this gospel.

-Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. have issued an unique and interesting CATALOGUE OF BOOKS taken from their publications which are found on the official school library lists of Minnesota, North Dakota, West Virginia, Missouri, New Jersey, and the city of Chicago. Marginal notes indicate in what lists the book is found and for pupils of what age. Full descriptions and critical estimates of the books are given under the titles. The publishers will send a copy to any one interested in school libraries.

ELEUSIS AND OTHER POEMS, by William Rufus Perkins (A. C. McClurg & Co, Chicago; 219 pp.; $1.00), treats in the longer poem which gives title to the volume of the great mystery of human life. This is effectively stated in verses in the meter of In Memoriam. They flow smoothly and cast varied lights and colors about the theme which attracts and eludes us continually. The shorter poems are correct in meter but lack something in directness and force.

-ChesterfielD'S LETTERS abridged by Edward Ginn, (Ginn & Co, Boston; 116 pp.; 30c ) served for reproof and guidance in the formation of the mind and manners of his son. Dr. Johnson said: "Take out the immorality and they should be put into the hands of every young gentleman." The immorality was fondness for gambling, and the editor has removed all traces of it, so that the book may go forth with the commendation unlimited.

—Andersen's MAERCHEN, edited with notes and vocabulary, by O. B. Super, (D. C. Heath & Co.; 240 pp.; 90c.) offers an easy book of German prose for beginners, and one that has a distinct charm of its own. Seventeen of the popular stories of Andersen are collected in this volume, which, besides the notes, is equipped with a vocabulary and list of irregular verbs.

-Late additions to D. C. Heath & Co.'s excellent, Modern Language Series are Loti's charming French story, PECHEUR D'ISLANDE, edited with notes by R. J. Morich, (140 pp.; 30c.); and a delightful piece of modern French comedy, LA CIGALE CHEZ LES FOURMIS, by Legouve and Labiche, edited with notes by W. H. Witherby, (56 pp.; 20c.)

-Number 56 of the Riverside Literature Series contains two orations by Daniel Webster, BUNKER HILL MONUMENT AND ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. The introduction gives a brief biographical sketch of Mr. Webster (15c.).

-GINN AND Co.'s WRITING BOOKS contain simple running hand copies, and are made to embody the principles which have been found most valuable in teaching to write a neat, legible hand with ease and rapidity.

LITERARY ITEMS.

-The February number of the Atlantic Monthly contains many articles of great interest. The most timely article is one by Rev. Julius H. Ward, "The White Mountain Forests in Peril," which will command the attention of all who are concerned in the preservation of our forests. Another very interesting paper is William E. Mead's "Books and Reading in Iceland." Among other articles may be mentioned Albert G. Hyde's "The English Cambridge in Winter;" S. R. Elliott's "The Courage of a Soldier;"' bio

graphical sketches of Count Rumford and the late Thomas William Parsons; by Rev. George E. Ellis, D. D., and Richard Hovey, respectively; continuations of Mary H. Catherwood's "Old Kaskaskia," of Francis Parkman's "The Feudal Chief of Acadia," and Kate Douglas Wiggin's "Penelope's English Experience;"' and the usual book reviews, and the "Contributor's Club." Another series of Edward Everett Hale's experiences is announced for early publication in the Atlantic Monthly under the title "My College days."

-The February Arena contains two noteworthy articles, Religious Thought in Japan, by Kinza M. Hirai, a Japanese, and The New Education and Character Building, by J. R. Buchanan. An editorial on Low Ethical Ideals in Our Higher Educational Centers comments with well deserved severity upon the bacchanalian revels of the Yale students over their victory in the football match with Princeton. The details of the glorification as given in the daily papers are disgusting to any right minded person, and certainly call for the strongest condemnation. The editor makes his point for equal treatment of the sexes by supposing the students of Vassar or Wellesley to indulge in similar revelries. The nation would be startled by such an occurrence; but is it not startling when its educated young men descend to such an exhibition of themselves!

-The School Review, edited by Pres. J. G. Schurman of Cornell University, ($1.50 per year, 66 pages) is a new and worthy exponent of educational journalism. It absorbs School and College which Ginn & Co. have published, and evidently succeeds the Academy, whose disappearance at the close of last year was occasion for genuine regret. The new review has splendid promise. Its contents for February are: The Outlook for the Curriculum; College Requirements in Greek; The High School and Its Enemies; On Teaching English; Teaching Shakespeare. The book department is marked by care and thoroughness in the reviews, and the brief summaries of important educational articles in the reviews is very welcome.

-Henry Holt & Co. will shortly publish Literary Criti cism for Students by Prof. Edward T. McLaughlin of Yale, a book which the publishers believe to be novel: it consists of selections on literary aesthetics by the great English critics from Sir Philip Sydney to Walter Pater. They will also publish Representative English Literature by Henry S. Pancoast, University Extension Lecturer. It contains a large proportion of literary history, and the selections (on the principle that it is better to know a few things well than many vaguely) are somewhat fewer than is usual in such collections, but each complete in itself. Both volumes are suitable for general reading as well as for class-room use.

-In the March Harper's a melancholy interest attaches to the article on The Escurial as being the last contribution by the late Theodore L. Child, who has written for the magazine for some years past. Henry M. Stanley's paper on The African Slave Trade, which reviews the operations of the great powers for its suppressions, has the widest general interest. Mr. Ralph writes of Florida as Our Own Riviera. The serials The Refugees, and Horace Chase are full of interest this month.

-The Cosmopolitan makes a decided hit in its short story in the February number entitled Loki Murata. Its papers on Oriental Rugs, The Evolution of Naval Construction and The Railway Systems of the United States are worthy of special mention, and the excellence of illustrations which has characterized it from the beginning is well maintained. -Ginn & Co. announce an Ethical series for speedy publication. It will be edited by Prof. E. H. Sneath, of Yale, and will contain abridgments of representative systems of modern ethics, with notes and introductory matter. The first book will be the ethical part of Hume's Treatise of Human Nature, edited by Prof. Hyslop.

-D. C. Heath & Co. will soon issue The State and Federal Governments of the United States, by Woodrow Wilson, describing the governments historically and practically, not by a mere analysis of constitutions. They will also issue a new edition of Strong's Exercises in English.

-We are indebted to Secretary Cunningham for a bound copy of reports of the Secretary of State, Commissioner of Public Printing and Superintendent of Public Property.

Vol. XXIII.

As

AGAIN the teachers' reading circle has come in Wisconsin, and again the JOURNAL is glad to become a helper in this useful work. will be seen by the article published elsewhere a large enrollment was secured last year, and the promise for next year seems excellent. A department in the JOURNAL will be devoted to this interest, the management of which will be in the hands of those who manage the circle.

THE North Western, the North Eastern and the South Eastern teachers' associations meet the last of March. How this comes about easy to see. The summer vacation is long, warm, full of distractions, and the brief spring recess, coming at this time, seems to afford on the whole the most favorable opportunity for such gatherings. The programs give assurance of profitable meetings. The next step

No. 4

of growth would seem to be the devising of some bond uniting these organizations as such a little more closely with the general state association. Perhaps the way to do this profitably will be developed in these assemblies.

TEACHERS of primary classes should not fail to examine the samples of primary language work from the model school of the Oshkosh Normal which we publish elsewhere. The plan followed is exceedingly simple and within the reach of almost any teacher. In country schools fifteen minutes given to a general exercise of this character would be productive of pleasant relations between teachers and pupils, of quickened interest in books and literature, and of improvement in language much. more marked than is secured by tedious and formal exercises. The books of the Riverside Literature Series, or the Classics for Children Series, or of the English Classics for Schools afford abundant material for such work, and we venture to say that few pupils in any district school in the state would be found uninterested in such exercises.

SUMMER Schools suggest that the inflexibility of courses of study in many of our institutions may be a serious error. There are a good many persons who feel that they need instruction and help in certain branches. They would go to a normal or high school for it, but the branch they want is imbedded in a course, and the only way to get at it in these institutions is to begin at the beginning and plod on in the track until you reach it. This they feel they cannot afford to do, and do not want to do. Hence they remain away, and seek the summer school, or some other institution which has not yetgrown rigid with years and traditions The course of study is necessary; it may be wiser than the elections likely to be made by many young persons; but is it not wise to provide help for those who want it? Are they not in the best possible mood to profit by it? And, moreover, will it not often happen that help given where its need is felt will result in expansion of view, and acceptance of courses which at first repelled? We are convinced of the wisdom of courses of study, but not more firmly than we are of the value of the flexibility which affords help where its need is recognized.