est as might lead to the use of leisure time in a fuller investigation of the subject than the class hour would permit. The following recapitulation is designed to be worked out upon the blackboard in connection with the preparation of maps, tracing of routes, etc., as indicated in a previous article: CAUSES. RESULTS. CAMPAIGNS. DIAGRAM 4. THE MEXICAN WAR. 1. The annexation of Texas. 2. Disputed boundary between Texas. and Mexico. DURATION 1846-8. (1. The U. S. gains the territory South to the Rio Grand and West to the Pacific Ocean. 2. The U. S pays $15,000,000 to Mexico and $3,000,000, debts of Mexico to citizens of the U. S. 1846. TAYLOR, (on the Rio Grande, &c.) 1. Taylor, entering disputed tertory, builds Pt. Isabel. 2. Returning from Ft. Brown in the spring, he gains the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. 3. In the fall, crossing the Rio Grande, he takes posession of Matamoras, captures Monterey by assault and locates at Saltillo and Victoria for the winter. 4. Doniphan leaves Santa Fe for Saltillo, (Dec.), gains at Bracito and Sacramento Creek,and joins Taylor. 1847. 5. Final assault of Santa Anna (Feb.) repulsed at Buena Vista. SCOTT. (Vera Cruz to Mexico). 1847. 3. 1. Vera Cruz and its castle in- 5. Treaty of peace, Feb. 2, 1848. For a brief statement of interesting facts, by questions of a suggestive character upon which pupils are given hints for certain lines of investigation to be pursued in preparing essays assigned, the following outline, or a similar one, may be used to advantage: GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE COLONIES. POPULATION. GENERAL FACTS. GOVERNMENT. EDUCATION. INDUSTRIES. MANNERS and CUSTOMS. 3. Candle light, tallow or wax. 4. The churches are great, square, unornamented buildings. Evening services rare because difficult and dangerous. The church in the evening lighted by candles brought in the hands of those attending. 5. Carpets a luxury, even when homemade, of rags. 5. The ladies considered themselves fortunate if they possessed one fine silk dress, for State occasions. They wore their hair long. 7 Men required by law to wear their hair short. 8. Clothing very plain: home-made woolen garments for men, calico and blue check for women-jeanss and liney fashionable. 9. No railroads. No telegraphs. Tray These recapitulations may be varied largely in form and arrangement, depending upon the purpose of the teacher in their use. We have given those forms which the printer can most readily present. It is well to encourage the preparation of original summaries by the pupils. IV. ESSAYS-Routine is the burden of life. The very regularity of the order of recitations in school becomes monotonous and wearisome, so that it is often a great relief to the pupils to have the teachers hear the classes, after previous notification, out of the usual order, or to omit some recitation and give in the place of it some interesting exercise as a diversion. The mind can be rested by a change in the form of work as well as the muscles. Variety, even where there is no gain in the change, is oftentimes valuable simply because it is variety. But if, though variety, there be both relief to the mind and a decided gain to the pupil, then it is doubly valuable. Such a diversity the writer thinks he obtained by a change in the form of the recitation and of its preparation. Instead of the usual lesson, for each Monday, or each alternate Monday, the members of the class were assigned what was called the "essay lesson." Preparation was made for this in various ways. Sometimes a subject indirectly connected with the day's lesson, but knowledge of which was valuable, was introduced accidentally (?) by the teacher, just enough discussion allowed to make the class desirous to know more about it, then assigned to some eagerly interested pupil to read up and prepare for the "essay lesson."* Sometimes matters were incidentally introduced by the pupils themselves and a similar course taken with them. Sometimes a discussion developed considerable. difference of opinion as to motives, causes, influences *In this reading the pupil was assisted by references from the teacher. or results. The brief time of the recitation hour would not permit a continuation of the discussion without interference with other matters belonging to that day's work, and eager as the class may be, if properly trained, it is always willing to defer to a more fitting occasion that which interferes with the regular order. If of sufficient importance, then, the matter goes over to "essay day." Besides these, various valuable subjects for investi gation are constantly presenting themselves, and the wide-awake teacher, with convenient miscellaneous note-book, jots down and preserves these. Thus, of historical subjects, the following might be assigned: "The Hermitage," "The Previous History of the Puritans," "The Origin of Slavery," "The Influence of the Cotton Gin," "The Origin of our Public School System." "John Brown's Soul goes Marching on," "The Alabama Award," "The Locofocos," etc.; of biographical subjects," Rob't Fulton," "The Mill Boy of the Slashes," "The Quarrel of Arnold and Washington." "The Sage of Monticello," "Don't Give up the Ship," "Samuel Adams and his Work," "What Wonders Hath God Wrought,'" "Mrs Stowe and Her Work." "What Some Women Have Done," etc.; of geographical subjects,-"Ticonderoga," "The Peninsula," "Ashland." "Early Philadelphia," " A Quaint Dutch Town" (New Amsterdam), "The Dutch Gap Canal,.' etc. On "essay day" (each Monday or each alternate Monday) each pupil in the class was prepared with an essay upon some topic assigned to or selected by him, and of which he had made careful and original investigation. Usually there were three or five topics assigned. The essays were limited in length, so as to require definiteness and conciseness in statement. Inaccuracy or irrelevancy in statement were criticised by teacher or class in so many essays as were read. At the conclusion of the recitation hour, all the essays were distributed to others than the writers (this being done three days in succession) for criticism. The essays were examined by the pupils, their excellencies and defects noted, the name of the critic properly placed beneath that of the writer upon the back of the essay, and the essay, after having passed the inspection of three pairs of eyes, was then returned to the writer for revision and submission to the teacher. A large amount of information was thus acquired that would otherwise bave been lost. Something was learned of the value of books and the proper method of using them, and accuracy, definiteness and brevity of expression were cultivated. (To be Continued.) Outline of a Course in Arithmetic. FOUR (Continued.) JAMES BALDWIN, Rushville Ind. IV. Teach close observation and accurate thinking, by means of rapid operations, both with abstract numbers and with objects. Addition at sight may be taught by using Ginn's Addition Tablets; but if these are not available, a table may be constructed for that purpose on the blackboard. Pupils should be taught to give at sight, the sum or difference of any two numbers adjacent to each other; and this should be continued through the course. V. 1 in 4 how many times? 2 in 4, how many times? of 4 is how many?" "I had 4 apples and gave half of them away; how many did I keep?" Review of 2; } of 3; of 3. Teach what is meant by 4. "I have here, 3 apples which I wish to divide equally among 3 boys. How many shall I give to each ?" "But here is another apple which, with the others, will make in all, 4 apples to be equally divided among 3 boys. I give to each boy 1 apple, and I have 1 apple left. What shall 1 do with it, so that each boy shall have the same?" (Ans:-Cut it in thirds.) A SHORT COURSE IN CHEMISTRY, FOR THE USE OF ACADEMIES AND general facts of chemistry as well as the general "Now, I give one piece, or one third, to each boy. vanced. The introduction of tabular reviews at the How many apples has each boy?" (Ans:-One apple and one third of an apple.) "We write one and one-third thus, 14." "How many are of 3? of 4?" "You may write it thus, of 4--113; or thus, 3 4 end of each chapter will prove of aid to both teacher THE ECLECTIC SYSTEM OF INDUSTRIAL DRAWING. By Christina VI. Review: "2 pints in 1 quart"; "3 feet in 1 yard." 24 pages each. It is bound in book form in preference Teach "4 quarts in 1 gallon." "How many quarts in gallon?" "A quart is what part of a gallon?" "How many pints in a quart? How many in half a gallon?" Illustrate by actual measurements. to tablet form. The elementary books are simple, easy to teach without a special teacher of Drawing. The first book gives location of points, connection of points by vertical, horizontal and oblique lines. The second book, division of lines into two equal parts and tinting with lines. The third book gives first lessons in curved lines. The fourth compound curves VII. Examples: (Make up a great variety like and leaf forms conventionalized and so on, developing these." 1. I had 3 marbles and bought 1 more: how many had I then? 2. Three boys came into the room, but 2 of them went out again; how many of them remained? 3. I had 4 apples, and gave of them to John, how many had I left? into surface decoration, mechanical drawing and object drawing, as the work progresses. Upon the whole we regard it as a very practical series and easily managed by the regular teachers. The Best Reading. Every family that desires to provide for its young people wholesome and instructive rea ing matter, Ann is 4 years old and Jane is half as old as Ann should send for specimen copies of the Youth's Comhow old is Jane? 4. 5. If a pint of buttermilk can be bought for 1 cent, for how much can a quart be bought? What will 2 quarts cost? 6. How many quarts in 4 pints? 7. Mary had cents which she spent for 2 oranges. What was the cost of each orange? 8. panion, of Boston. It is the brightest and best of If 4 hats cost 4 dollars, what will 1 hat cost, at the of encouragement and advice by men and women of What will 3 hats cost? same rate? 9. If 3 cents will pay for 3 pens, how many cents will 2 pens cost? 10. 2 is what part of 4? ability and experience, and reminiscences and ancedotes of famous people. With a circulation rapidly approaching 350,000 copies a week, the Youth's Companion can well afford to spread such a feast before its 11. Harry has 1 cent, and John has 3 times as much. patrons; and spreading such a feast, it is no wonder it How many cents have both? has such a tremendous circulation. ducational Weekly. DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF American Literature which was so well begun last year as a part of the regular Institute instruction should not be entirely ignored this year. The teachers were beginning to learn something about Literature and if kept up every year as a part of Institute SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL TEACHERS. work, in a few years this knowledge about authors will W. H. Payne, Michigan University. B. G. Northrop, Secretary Connecticut Board of Education. W. T. Stott, President Franklin College. John S. Irwin, Superintendent Schools, Fort Wayne. H. B. Brown, Principal Northern Indiana Normal School, C. F. Coffin, Superintendent Schools, New Albany. John C. Macpherson, County Superintendent Wayne County J. T. Smith, New Albany. Hubert M. Skinner, Chief Clerk Dept. Public Instruction. E. E. Smith, Purdue University. Jas Baldwin, Superintendent Schools, Rushville. Howard Sandison, State Normal. John Hancock, Superintendent Schools, Dayton, O. RATES OF SUBSCRIPTION: (Postage prepaid by the Publishers.) One year, single subscription, $2.00 In clubs of 10 subscribers, ... 1.00 In clubs of 25 46 .... $1.75 or more, - 1,50 NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. When you find your subscription has expired, renew at once, so as to keep your files complete. Our circulation has increased so rapidly it is impossible now to supply back numbers. The Weekly will not be discontinued to responsible parties until so ordered. Read the newspaper decisions below. Bills will be rendered from time to time and prompt ment will be expected. ripen into a knowledge of authors. If neglected entirely this year, the good beginning of last year will be lost sight of and we will have made no ad vancement. It in Watch the date on the label of your paper. dicates the time to which your subscription is paid. By consulting the label you can tell exactly how your account stands on our books. If there is any error in the label, please notify us at once. A few subscribers are yet in arrears. We hope all such will forward the amount at once without waiting for further notification. If the date reads prior to August 84, your subscription has not been paid and you are requested to remit at the earliest possible time. The change in date is sufficient receipt. ENFORCE THE LAW. We hear that some county superintendents find that if they are strict in marking the grades of teachers on examination, the chances are that so large a number of those who received a six months license will fail under the law, which requires the applicant to raise his grade in order to secure a second license, as to leave a large number of schools vacant and to avoid this extremity, they, the county superintendents are not always disposed to hold them down to a close examination under the law. We believe it better to enforce the law. If enough teachers cannot be found who can pass the requisite examination in any one. county, import them from another county which has a super-abundance. Do not lower the standard by any system of loose marking. Enforce the law and provide in some other way for the emergency, if you run short of competent teachers. COMMON SENSE IN THE SCHOOL ROOM. Having occasion to visit a number of school rooms in one of our larger cities recently, we noticed a striking similarity in the manner of all the teachers. But in one case we experienced a decided relief. Here, as we entered the room we saw the teacher toss a rag to one of the boys, saying, "Is this yours?" and then holding up a few books, said, "Whose books are these?" A simple thing it seemed. Why worthy of remark? of remark? The language was perfectly correct, pay-teacher as she said it, her home-like actions, and her short and to the point. But the easy manner of the Subscribers wishing to introduce the Weekly to their very simplicity and brevity would have shocked any one of the twenty other teachers. Anyone of them friends should write for sample copies, which will be sent would have said to the small proprietor of the "slatefree to any address. rag," in a tone crushing in its severity, "James, did you neglect your slate-cloth? Please come this way and get it and do not fail to take care of it hereafter, after which piece of oratory, striking a dignified attiabout the school room, and articulating each word tude as she held up the books, would say, looking with painful distinctness, "To whom do these books belong?" The one teacher differed from the twenty in that she did not believe it necessary to school discipline to depart from the ease and simplicity of home. Good discipline in school does not imply a stilted 1. NEWSPAPER DECISIONS. Any person who takes a paper regularly from the post office,-whether directed to his name or another's, or whether he has subscribed or not-is responsible for the payment. 2. If a person orders his paper discontinued, he must pay all arrearages, or the publisher may continue to send it until payment is made, and collect the whole amount whether he paper sy taken from the office or not. manner. Words spoken in tones freezing in their dignity and painful in their "accuracy," are no more necessary to good government than long words and complicated sentences are to a fine oration. Children will appreciate common sense in the school room and have respect for it. But their powers of observation are so keen that they will detect in an instant, any of the mannerisms above mentioned, and lower their re spect for the teacher accordingly. Accuracy is all right, dignity is necessary, severity is often demanded. But what is known as painful accuracy in language, too much dignity, and habitual severity will prejudice the pupil against the teacher and materially add to his labor. Better adopt the common sense method, be a little familiar with your pupils and retain their good will, than place yourself so far beyond their sphere as to be an object of curiosity, rather than a model to be imitated. The style we criticise is adopt ed no doubt, to secure respect. But in nine cases in ten it will lose the respect which a little common sense would have retained. A PROFESSIONAL SPIRIT. How easy it is to discover the professional spirit in a teacher. The first term of a non-professional teacher may be somewhat successful, because the novelty of the work enlists him, but he soon falls into a lifeless, formal routine, unless he posessess enough professional spirit to read the educational papers of the times as well as professional books of which there is not a large number. On the other hand, the professional spirit manifests itself in the knowledge of what is known, which gives power to utilize at once allusions and hints which fall lifeless upon the ears of the non-professional. The first term of a teacher imbued with the professional spirit is not so good as the second, and the second is not equal to the third. In the course of a few years these two teachers, though starting on the same parallel, are wide apart. They are now on widely diverging lines, and of course will never be near each other again. We frequently hear teachers say they have not time enough to read so much. It is not a lack of time so much as lack of ability to utilize time that is in the way. The best of us waste time enough to read an ordinary octavo volume in a week. In one year this wasted time would read fifty volumes and in ten years five hundred volumes. The custom of looking through an educational paper without reading a single paragraph, soon develops into a habit of turning leaves without reading a word which very quietly, but very surely, assumes control of the being in such a way that reading becomes an impossibility. The growth of this habit is so sly and insinuating that we are apt to treat it with contempt until too late to extricate ourselves from its clutches. WANTED A NEW PRONOUN. Who has not been troubled with such expressions as these: (1) "Every boy should resolve to use (his, her, or their?) time to the best advantage." (2.) "If Mr. Smith or Mrs. Jones desires to see me, (he or she?) should at my office. I will be there to meet (him or her?).” (3.) "Both John and Mary acknowledged their faults, and each, far from accusing the other, cast all the blame upon (himself, or herself?)." The only way, at present, to deal with such difficulties is to so reconstruct the sentences as either to avoid the use of any pronoun whatever, or to substitute instead of the two nouns of different genders a single noun of the common gender. The first example given above, may be changed to read thus: "Every young person should resolve to use his time to the best advantage." Here the pronoun his is awkwardly, but properly used to represent a noun in the common gender, singular number. But a satisfactory reconstruction of either of the other sentences is far more difficult-almost impossible. The need of a new pronoun of the common gender, singular number, has long been felt by speakers and writers, if not by grammarians, -a pronoun which may be used in all such sentences as the above without awkardness or ambiguity. But who shall coin such a word? What rules, orthographic, phonetic, or philological, shall determine the form of such word? And after it has been invented, how shall it gain the recognition of scholars, and currency among speakers and writers? The coining of a new word is no small matter. The rhetoricians of Rome reminded the Emperor Augustus that, although he was the ruler of the world, he had not the power to change a word in the language. Every new word, if it is to become recognized as such, must be in harmony with the genius of the language of which it is to form a part. The new pronoun, if ever found, must be, like the pronouns already in use, an English word, derived, if possible, from pure Anglo-Saxon roots. It must be a word of one syllable, blending easily and harmoniously with other words used in the ordinary English sentence. It must mean something, and appeal directly to our ideas of the fitness of things. Mr. C. C. Converse, in a recent number of the Critic suggests the word which comes nearest filling all the above conditions. It is thon. To understand the derivation of the word let us repeat, with but a slight change, the troublesome examples above quoted: I. "Every boy or girl should resolve to use that one's time to the best advantage.” 2. "If Mr. Smith or Mrs. Jones desires to see me, that one should call at my office.. I will be there to meet that one." 3. "Both John and Mary acknowledged their faults, and each, far from accusing the other, cast all the blame upon that one's self.” You will perceive that the new word which is proposed is an abbreviation formed by the combination of the first two letters of the word that with the first two letters of the word one. Now substitute thon instead of that one in the above examples, and you will understand the use of the word. The declension of the word would be: nominative, thon; possessive thons; objective thou. Its compound form, as illustrated in example (3), would be thonself. This word certainly fulfills the conditions of a "minimum of word body with a maximum of flying power;"; and the mental process by which it leads its uses to the noun it represents will," thinks Mr. Converse, "be found to be easy and natural, it not being an ar bitrary sign." J. B. |