SHALL

STATE TEACHERS' AND OF THE ASSOCIATION

HALL we spare any thought, any effort, any cost, to make the public school what we mean it to be, the corner stone of the ever loftier and more splendid structure of political liberty, and to impress upon the teacher, by our sympathy and care, the central truth of the school system, that the child is educated by the State, not that he may read and write only, but that the trained power and noble intelligence of the American citizen may tend constantly more and more to purify and perpetuate the American republic?-George Wm Curtis.

ALL who propose to teach need to recollect that the very basis of fitness for teaching, so far as it can be gained from study, is a broad and accurate scholarship. To be a teacher, one must first of all be a scholar. To be open-minded, to be magnanimous, and manly; to have a love for the scholarly vocation, and a wide and easy range of intellectual vision, are of infinitely greater worth to the teacher than any authorized set of technical rules and principles.-Page's Theory and Practice.

AN exchange says: "When a student comes out preferring the lower to the higher things of life, it is pretty certain, many will say, that there is something wrong in the methods used in the school. Should the school busy itself in training the pupil to think and conclude concerning moral acts? For one thing, the course of study is full to the brim; there is no time to say that a blow given in anger is wrong; there is no time for discussing lying. But some teach

No. 5.

ers find time to take up this training in choosing the highest, and yet do good work in the imperative course of study." We have great sympathy with the difficulties of the teachers who tell us that the imperative work of the schools leaves them no time for such discussions. But, nevertheless, it is true, and no iron-bound curriculum can make it otherwise, that the teacher who does nothing in the way of leading his pupils to "think and conclude concerning moral acts," and to prefer "the higher things of life," has failed in the first, the fundamental, and incomparably the most important part of the true teacher's work.

ENTHUSIASM.-Teachers count too little on the importance of enthusiasm in their work. Enthusiasm may sometimes provoke a smile, but it wins in all departments of life. We see examples of this truth everywhere. The man who has a personal love for his work, who thinks about it day and night, who talks about it to everybody, is the man who succeeds. What great thing was ever effected without enthusiasm ? Columbus showed such earnestness that people pointed to their foreheads and whispered, "crazy." Robert Fulton was looked upon as a "crank." Your cold, proper-like, circumspect man never moves the world. Why do we often see great congregations brought to tears by the preaching of a rude and uncultured man? It is because of his earnestness, his enthusiasm. He believes every word he says, and the earnestness of his manner enforces conviction. The same principle applies to teaching. We must go

into the school-room with a great love for our work and a burning desire to have others know what we know. Children catch inspiration from the earnest teacher. Their minds are stirred up to action. In the quick gesture, the animated voice, the sparkling eye, there is magic that cannot be resisted. Teachers, don't go to sleep in the school-room. Don't drawl and dawdle. Cultivate life, energy, snap. Don't be afraid to have enthusiasm.-S. W. Journal of Education.

I NEVER saw a garment too fine for a man or maid; there never was a chair too good for a cobbler or a cooper or a king to sit in; never a house too fine to shelter the human head. These elements about us, the glorious moon, the imperial sun, are not too good for the human race. Elegance fits a man. But do we not value these tools a little more than they are worth, and sometimes mortgage a house for the mahogany we bring into it? I had rather eat my dinner off the head of a barrel, or dress after the fashion of John the Baptist in the wilderness, or sit on a block all my life, than consume all myself before I got to a home, and take so much pains with the outside when the inside was as hollow as an empty nut. Beauty is a great thing; but beauty of a garment, house and furniture are tawdry ornaments compared with domestic love. All the elegance in the world will not make a home, and I would give more for a spoonful of real hearty love than for whole shiploads of furniture and all the gorgeousness all the upholsterers in the world can gather.-Dr. O. W. Holmes.

WE shall simply say that the best teacher is he who has to the highest degree the disposal of intellectual and moral qualities; he who on the one hand has the most knowledge, method, clearness, and vivacity of exposition, and on the other is the most energetic, the most devoted to his task, the most attached to his duties, and at the same time has most affection for his pupils.

I THOUGHT I was singing my boy to sleep with the little ballad of which these lines are the chorus;

"My mother dear, my mother dear,
My gentle, gentle mother."

but the blue eyes opened, and a quiet voice. said, "Mamma, you ain't always gentle." In self justification I replied, "But you know, darling, mamma has to scold you when you're naughty." "Yes'm." The

argument dropped; so did the little head upon my bosom. I did not finish the song. Tenderly tucking in the little truth-teller, I reproached myself for deserving his remark, and greatly questioned the truth of my answer. Do mothers ever have to scold? Has scolding a legitimate place in the family government? How is the word defined?

Ruling with clamor; uttering rebuke in rude, boisterous language." Is this a helpful adjunct to parental authority? Why do Christian parents sometimes scold? For two reasons, as it seems to us. First, from lack of self-control; secondly, from habit. Children are often terribly trying, and loud and angry tones seem a safety-valve for our stirred tempers. Besides, we feel that gentleness alone can never safely steer the family bark over life's troublous sea. Force, firmness, decision, sternness, even severity, are often necessary. A suitable degree of these is not incompatible with gentleness. It is not a synonym for weakness. The gentleness that makes one great comes from subdued strength. This lovely fruit of the Spirit proves an element of power. The "soft answer" often costs the answerer dearly. Sweetness of spirit is the outgrowth of self-control. Serenity of soul, whatever be the constitutional characteristics, comes most frequently from long self-discipline and prayerful struggle.-Good Words.

Most young people find botany a dull study. So it is, as taught from the textbooks in the schools; but study it yourself in the fields and woods, and you will find it a source of perennial delight. Find your flower, and then name it by the aid of botany. There is so much in a name. To find out what a thing is called is a great help. It is the beginning of knowledge; it is the first step. When we see a new person who interests us, we wish to know his or her name. A bird, a flower, a place-the first thing we wish to know about it is its name. Its name helps us to classify it; it gives us a handle to grasp it by; it sheds a ray of light where all before was dark. As soon as we know the name of a thing, we seem to have established some sort of a relation with it.-John Burroughs.

THANK the children. They run on our errands, upstairs for our books and slippers, our thimbles, our new magazines; down stairs to tell the servants this thing or that; over the way to carry our parcels; to the post office with our letters. They leave their work or play a dozen times in a morn

ing, to do something to oblige us who are grown up bigger, and liable to be less absorbingly occupied than they are. No game of politics or business in after-life will ever be so important to the man as the ball and the top to the little lad; and no future enjoyment of the little girl will ever be greater in degree and kind than her present in her dolls and play-house; yet Johnny and Jenny fly at our bidding, arresting themselves in mid-career of the play which is their present work, and alas! half the time we quite overlook our own obligation to be grateful. We do not say, "I thank you." And because we do not say it, we make it difficult for them to be as polite, as simple, as courteous, as they would be by nature, and the imitation which is second nature to all children.- The Household.

LET me say, then, to every teacher, as you desire to rise in your profession, as you wish to make the task agreeable to yourself or profitable to your pupils, do not cease your studies as soon as you gain an appointment, but continue to be a learner as long as you continue to be a teacher, and especi aily strive, by all means and at all times, to enlarge the bounds of your knowledge.

A TIMELY reminder is offered to the men who make it their business to clear away tree branches that happen to be near electric wires. A bill was passed at the last session of the Legislature, providing for the appointment of a receiver to assess damages inflicted by cutting the limbs of trees in this way. Governor Pattison signed the bill, and it is now a law. Commenting on this law the Lancaster Intelligencer says: "Citizens may therefore feel assured that they now have rights in this matter, and that men who have so wantonly and defiantly mangled the trees will have to go slow and learn politeness. Many a good taxpayer has bitter memories of a day when a bullet-headed fellow with a hatchet ruthlessly assailed the trees at his front door, paying no attention to suggestions, requests or protests, and answering complaints by deliberately extending his malicious damage. There seemed to be no escape, and the wire fiend arrogantly revelled in his power, as is the way with small-calibre men when dressed in a little brief authority. Under the new law there will be rights which even the wire men will be compelled to respect."

OUT of every 1000 children born, 149 succumb before one year of life is completed,

and before the age of five years as many as 263; many die from a diseased heritage, many from starvation and neglect, and many more from diseases, such as scarlet fever, measles and whooping cough, which are all more or less preventible. Out of the 737 survivors who on the average reach their sixth year, we find most of them have been attacked by one disease or another, and diseases of a kind which fortunately seldom recur in the same individual, so the total deaths in the next five years are but 35. From ten to fifteen years of age the deaths are fewer than at any other period, being only 18, but after fifteen mortality increases, especially among women, and consumption claims a considerable share of the death roll; indeed, between the ages of 20 and 25 nearly one-half the number who die succumb to this fatal disorder. At twenty-five years of age we find the number of travelers on life's journey reduced from 1000 to 634, and 62 drop off before the age of thirty-five; between this age and fortyfive they are again reduced by 62, which leaves but about one-half of the original 1000, though middle-life is just reached; and ten years later, at fifty five, only 421 are left. Consumption still holds its fatal prominence, while lung diseases, brain diseases and liver diseases, are becoming more deadly. Fever continues to claim its victims; deaths by accident are not uncommon; suicide is slightly on the increase; and cancer, especially among women, begins to swell the death roll. Out of the 421 alive at fifty-five, only 309 reach the age of sixtyfive; 161 the age of seventy-five; and only 38 out of the 1,000 reach eighty-five; at ninety-five only 2 survive: while only 1 out of every 4,000 reaches the age of one hundred. Wilson's Domestic Hygiene.

"I CAN conceive," said Lord Erskine, “a distressed but virtuous man, surrounded by his children looking up to him for bread when he has none to give them, sinking under his last day's labor, and unequal to the next; yet still supported by confidence in the hour when all tears shall be wiped from the eyes of affliction; bearing the burden. laid upon him by a mysterious Providence, which he adores; and anticipating, with exultation, the revealed promise of his Creator, when he shall be greater than the greatest, and happier than the happiest of mankind."

The ideal teacher "in regard to knowledge, must, of course, be master of his work. But knowledge is not all. There may be

form without the ability to stimulate. Both go together in the true teacher. A power

of character must underlie and enforce the work of the intellect. There are men who can rouse and energize their pupils, so call forth their strength and the pleasure of its exercise as to make the hardest work agreeable. Without this power, it is questionable whether a teacher can really enjoy his vocation; with it, I do not know a higher, nobler, more blessed calling than that of the man who, scorning the "cramming" so prevalent in our day, converts the knowledge he imparts into a lever to lift, exercise, and strengthen the growing minds committed to his care."-Tyndall.

66

OPPORTUNITY is like a favoring breeze springing up around a sailing vessel. If the sails be all set, the ship is wafted onward to its port. If the sailors are asleep, or ashore, the breeze may die again, and when they wish to go on, they may not be able; their vessel standing as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean." Opportunity is like a string of stepping-stones across a ford. When the traveler comes up to them he may find that the river swollen with rains, is just rising up to them; and if he delays, though his home is on the opposite bank, full in sight, he will have a journey of several miles around to reach it. Opportunity is like a strip of sand at the bottom of cliffs which stretch into the sea on either side of a cove. The greedy tide is lapping up the sand. The narrow strip will quickly become impassable; and then how sad the fate of the thoughtless children who are gathering shells and sea-weed inside the cove!

long ago, lives in your memory still, and shall live forever. Has not the thought in that line contributed its mite, too, in leading you upward to any good you may possess? Where to get your mottoes? On the right hand and on the left; in the Bible— an inexhaustible mine-and all literature is at your disposal. No matter if your school is nearly out, begin now. In four weeks there may silently steal into those young hearts twenty thoughts freighted with infinite possibilities.-Western School Journal.

Of all the amusement that can possibly be imagined for a working man, after daily toil, or in the intervals, there is nothing like reading a newspaper or a book. It calls for no bodily exertion, of which already he has had enough, perhaps too much. It relieves his home of dullness and sameness. Nay, it accompanies him to his next day's work, and gives him something to think about beside the mechanical drudgery of his everyday occupation; something he can only enjoy while absent, and look forward to with much pleasure.

GERMANY, with a population of 42,000,ooo, has 60,000 schools, and an attendance of 6,000,000 pupils; Great Britain and Ireland, with a population of 34,000,000, has 58,000 schools and 3,000,000 pupils; Austria-Hungary, with a yopulation of 37,000,000, has 30,000 schools 3,000,000 pupils; France, with a population of 37,000,000, has 71,000 schools and 4,700,000 pupils ; Spain, with a population of 17,000,000, has 20,000 schools and 1,600,000 pupils: Italy, with a population of 28,000,oco, has 47,ooo schools and 1,900,000 pupils; and Russia, with a population of 74,000,000, has 32,000 schools and 1,100,000 pupils.

PRESIDENT THWING, of Adelbert college, recently asked whether a higher education tends to lessen Christian enthusiasn? This depends upon the men who manage the colleges. There is nothing in the facts of Latin, Greek, algebra, chemistry or history, either to lessen or increase enthusiasm of any kind. A fact is as hard as a rock, and about as unsympathetic; but, if into these dry facts there is put heart, life and magnetism, the result will be enthusiasm. The late Dr. Winchell used to cause his pupils to be carried away with enthusiasm over geology and its allied sciences. The same was true of Professor Agassiz, but the facts these men taught were in no way different

from the facts other teachers have taught. The educational results of teaching depend upon what the teacher is, far more than upon what he knows. A dry-as-dust teacher will perpetuate his race; and a wide-awake teacher will perpetuate his. The best work comes from the heart rather than the head.

THE Chautauquan is responsible for the following: One of the professors in the University of Oxford was in conversation with a friend who happened to refer in a general way to the great novelist Thackeray, and was much surprised to see that the professor did not understand. "Why," said the friend, "don't you remember the author of Vanity Fair?" "Oh, yes," said the professor, "Bunyan; clever, but unorthodox."

FIVE years ago aluminum was $20 a pound. Until very recently it was $2.50 a pound. A Cleveland firm now offers it in any of their alloys for $1 a pound. At $1 a pound aluminium will become a serious competitor with both nickel and tin. At 50 cents pure aluminium would become a formidable competitor with copper.

WE should never be content. There is always something to alter, to abandon, or to pursue; and in that honest, earnest work which our consciences approve we shall find neither room, time, nor inclination for the idle and selfish spirit of dissatisfaction which paralyzes our powers, destroys our happiness, and renders us unable to bless or to help our fellow-men.

The gentleness of the dove, the cunning of the serpent and the boldness of the traditional lion have all to be pretty thoroughly mixed in the make up of the average school teacher. He is a target for all arrows to be aimed at, and if perchance some random shot has reached him, why, it was well sent. After all, Achilles had his vulnerable point though a good many arrows were broken and lost before it was reached; so every once in a while some good teacher, tired and sick of ceaseless hagging, leaves the school room not to return, and the profession has lost a good man or woman.

THE traditional "blue stocking," so dreaded by those who oppose the liberal education of woman, is not identical with the well-educated girl of to-day. Higher education for women," says the Phila. Ledger, "does not appear to have the effect so

At

HONOR to living workers is far better than neglect or curses, and praises and monuments over their graves after they are buried. History is full of instances of maledictions to the living and praises for the dead. Everybody honors the memory of Horace Mann, but few know through what a Gethsemane he passed before he carried to a successful issue his reforms. one time Morse, the inventor of the electric telegraph, was not able to have a decent suit of clothes, or buy a good dinner. Goodyear, the great rubber inventor, was put in a New Haven jail for debt. Samuel Butler. the author of "Hudibras," has a magnificent monument in Westminster Abbey, but he died in a garret. It was written of the author of "Paradise Lost,' "An old school master by the name of John Milton has written a tedious volume on the fall of man. If its length be no virtue, it has none.' Charles Sumner was honored when dead, but condemned by the Massa