The publication of educational newspapers is also a very important feature in the new system, wielding as they do great power, both educationally and politically. Among the people there seems to be a general willingness and desire to adopt the new order of things, as is so well manifested by the number of private donations that have already come in to assist the movement.

Address by W. D. Henkle, editor of "Ohio Educational Monthly":

EDUCATION IN OHIO.

I will follow in the wake of the other speakers, and say a good word for Ohio, from which State I have come to attend for the first time the meeting of the American Institute of Instruction, the so-called oldest educational association in the United States. I desire here to say for Ohio, that the very same year the American Institute of Instruction was organized, a literary institute was also started in Cincinnati, which has since been merged into our present State Teachers' Association, which holds its regular annual meetings on Lake Erie, at Put-In Bay, where we shall be glad to welcome teachers, having ample accommodations for all who may come. Our State Teachers' Association has been and is doing a good work for us, and I doubt whether there is another State in the Union that has a more general educational spirit among its teachers than Ohio. The present Association has been in existence since 1847. Besides this, we have a Northeastern Association, meeting every two months, a Northwestern and other associations in town and county, meeting bimonthly and monthly. Such facts are, I think, the best evidence of the live educational spirit manifested among the teachers of Ohio.

But with all this we have one weak point, and that is in our common schools; indeed, it is claimed by some eminent men that they are no better than they were twenty-five years ago, but we are trying to improve them.

Very entertaining vocal music was furnished for the evening by the Arion Quartette, of Keene, New Hampshire, led by Mr. G. W. Foster. Select readings were also given for the entertainment of the audience, by Prof R. G. Hibbard, of Middletown, Conn., and Mrs. Anna Randall-Diehl, of New York City.

SECOND DAY.-WEDNESDAY, JULY 10.

The second day's exercises opened with reading the Scriptures and prayer at 9 A. M., by Rev. J. P. Bixby, of Norwood, Mass.

The report of the Committee on the Honorary Members was then read by Mr. Merrick Lyon, and adopted. The following persons were elected as honorary members of the Institute: Gov. B. F. Prescott, J. A. Dodge, Sylvester Marsh, and Walter Aiken.

The following report of the Committee on the "Journal of Education" was made by D. N. Camp, chairman, seconded by A. G. Boyden, John Hancock, and J. D. Bartley:

Resolved, That while in all vocations a journal of progress and improvement is an important aid to efficiency and success, in no work is it more indispensable than in that of education.

Resolved, That the "New England Journal of Education," by its adaptation to every kind of school and every grade of instruction, by its comprehensive discussion of educational topics, by its fund of educational information, and by its advocacy of high Christian morals, deserves the continuance of the confidence and approval of all classes.

Resolved, That it is the duty and privilege of teachers in all departments of instruction, of officers, and of all friends of education, to become subscribers to "The Journal," and to use their influence to extend its circulation.

THE EXAMINATION OF TEACHERS.

J. W. Corthell, of Maine, and D. B. Hagar, of Massachusetts, gave addresses on this subject. (See Lectures.)

DISCUSSION.

Miss Mary Allen West, Superintendent of Schools, Knox County, Illinois, said:

Although not used to being thus called out "to speak in public on the stage," I am glad to respond for my native State, and only regret that she has not a worthier representative.

I venerate New England, rejoice in all her glorious history, and do not wonder that you, her sons and daughters, are proud of your heritage. We, also, are proud of our State. We love our prairies as you love your mountains. And have we not a right to be proud of that State which gave Lincoln and Grant to the Union, and which now guards for the nation its sacred trust, the grave of Abraham Lincoln? So it is with pride as well as joy that I bring the greetings of Lincoln's prairies to Mt. Washington.

I came here a stranger, and as I looked into these two thousand faces, not one of which I ever saw before, my courage failed and I felt like running away. But when I heard our honored president quote Dr. Bateman, another of Illinois' sons of whom we are proud, and better, whom we love as a personal friend, I felt less like a stranger, and soon the kindly courtesy of Dr. and Mrs. Miner, with a host of others, drove homesickness away.

As I listen to the discussions and find that you, in your larger sphere, are meeting the same difficulties, discussing the same questions which confront us in the West, we feel that however far apart our fields of work may lie, we are fellow-laborers in the same grand cause. The question before us-the examination of teachers is the one which gives me most thought and anxiety in my own limited field of

labor, and I see here that it demands and receives your careful attention.

It is a vital question, for the teacher makes the school, and the character of examinations for teachers determines, in great measure, what these teachers shall be. In Illinois, examinations are conducted by county superintendents, each of whom examines teachers for his own county. Two grades of certificates are issued, the second grade, given when the candidate has successfully passed examination in the common English branches, including United States history, is good for one year; the first grade, good for two years, is given upon passing a more rigid examination in these studies, and also in physiology and the laws of health, philosophy, botany, and zoology. Both grades are renewable at the option of superintendent. Our general rule is not to renew secondgrade certificates, thinking that frequent examinations are a needed incentive to young or lazy teachers. By the way, we place upon the second-grade certificate the number of similar ones previously received, so that directors may know what teachers are settling down, content with any kind of a certificate which will enable them to draw public money. But our first-grade teachers, who are doing good work, find little difficulty in having their certificates renewed, thus making them virtually life certificates.

There are also State examinations, and candidates passing these successfully receive State certificates, good for life. The power thus given to the county superintendent is almost absolute, being virtually a veto power upon all teachers in his county, except those holding State certificates. This is a power I, for one, would shrink from assuming, were it not coupled with permission to visit and inspect schools. We all know that it is not always those who best pass the technical examination, who make the best teachers. So many elements not brought out in examination - good commonsense, aptness to teach, love for children, and power to win their love, with many other things enter into the problem, that I never dare pronounce one a good teacher until I have seen him actually at work in his school-room. For this reason I visit the schools, spending usually half a day in

each, note carefully the teacher's methods, and thus try to gain some just idea of his efficiency.

When I find a teacher doing good work, and improving from year to year, I do not hesitate about renewing his certificate, even though he may not be able to solve all the arithmetical puzzles I can conjure up, or tell me the names of all the towns of Abyssinia.

Doubtless we make mistakes, often granting certificates where they are not deserved; sometimes refusing them where they are; but the pressure brought to bear upon us on this side is not so strong as upon the other. Our sympathies are appealed to, and we are urged to give certificates to men and women because they are poor, and in sore need of the money they might receive. It often requires much backbone to stand firm against this pressure; to make such applicants understand that the school fund is not a pauper fund.

In our county our poorhouse and farm are also under the charge of a lady. When pressed too hard by applicants whose needs rather than their merits are their plea, I have sometimes found it necessary to hint that they are mistaken in the person; that their application should be made to the other lady in employ of the county, not to me.

This seems hard, and sometimes we are thought to be lacking in the "milk of human kindness" I do not think this is exactly true; the streams are there, but they flow in the other direction, toward the forty or fifty children to be injured by an incompetent teacher, rather than toward that teacher, however needy he may be.

It is only by a fearless, conscientious discharge of their duties that examiners can bar out from our school-rooms incompetency and inefficiency; but in justice to the noble body of working teachers they are in honor bound to do this, by making fitness, and fitness only, the ground for granting certificates.

Remarks by W. D. Henkle, of Ohio:

Because permits are granted to lawyers and clergymen to follow their respective professions for life, we should not conclude that life certificates should be granted to all per