have been offered to the School Board. A petition urging the acceptance of the gift has been signed by several thousand of the heaviest tax payers. Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Allegheny, Scranton, Wilkesbarre, Johnstown, Warren and Braddock have good library facilities; and it is to be hoped that Reading is not the only name which the current year will add to above list in Pennsylvania. The public library must greatly aid the spread of intelligence among people who have not yet acquired the habit of buying books.

On

FORMERLY New England boasted of having the greatest lexicographer in America. Now that honor belongs to Pennsylvania, for Dr. F. A. March, the most eminent of the editors of the Standard Dictionary, lives on the west side of the Delaware, having filled a professorship in Lafayette College during a period of forty years. Dr. March has always taken a deep interest in popular education. He is said to be prouder of his A B C book for children than of his Anglo-Saxon Grammar for college students. Friday, October 25th, his 70th birthday was celebrated at Easton. The Institute of Northampton county adjourned at 10 o'clock and the teachers went in a body to Pardee Hall, where addresses were made, eulogizing his career as an educator, a philologist and a citizen. The teachers and directors of Lehigh county sent telegrams expressing their good wishes and appreciation of his services in the cause of education. Every day gives evidence that the men of our time appreciate the services of noted teachers and professors quite as much as those of generals and statesmen. The monuments, however, have nearly all gone to the latter. Let us all insist that the educator shall have recognition here also. The Dr. Burrowes Memorial affords a present opportunity of doing this. Stand by it in every way for the honor of the cause as well as for that of the man himself.

In the present issue the Normal School question is regarded from an unusual but very interesting direction-the relation borne to these schools by Dr. Burrowes. It is a story that has not before been told, even in this somewhat disconnected form. It is given now only in a few bold outlines, but it is here-while much that might be presented is omitted for lack of space. The great work done and

doing in these schools may, in part, be seen from the following brief statement of figures: Since the organization of the of the several schools they have given instruction to 120,000 students, of whom nearly 10,000 have received their diplomas as graduates. There are at present 5,000 students, not including the model schools, under 300 instructors of different grades and in many different departments. And the schools are yearly growing in numbers and influence. To have had a strong hand in building foundations and rearing upon them such superstructure as this is to have done grand work work for humanity, whose influence must be cumulative through the ages.

THE Nautical School Ship "Saratoga," which is supported jointly by Philadelphia and the State of Pennsylvania, reached port again on the Delaware, October 25th, after a five months' cruise, during which she touched at the Azores, at Southampton and Plymouth, Havre, Lisbon, Cadiz, and the Madiera Islands. Some of the boys visited London and Paris, spending a few days in each of these cities. This is a fine opportunity for boys who have a desire for life on shipboard, to spend two years very profitably, whether they choose to adopt the seafaring life or prefer to continue their studies thereafter. We have had two sons on the ship, each of whom graduated from the Lancaster High School. One of them graduated from the ship in 1891, and the second is now aboard by advice of his older brother-both being boys of high courage and staunch and manly character. Boys from 16 to 19 years of age, having the written consent of their parents or guardians, who must be citizens and residents of Pennsylvania, are received on board after a satisfactory examination. Boarding and tuition are furnished free to the boys, uniform and other expenses, which may range from a hundred to three hundred dollars per year, are paid by parents or guardians. Commander E. T. Strong, a very competent naval officer, is in charge of the vessel. Superintendents, directors or parents who think this experience might be good for boys of their acquaintance may address Capt. Charles Lawrence, president Pennsylvania Nautical School, No. 16 N. Delaware ave., Philadelphia. The "Saratoga" is in no sense a reform school ship. Such boys are not wanted.

HON. HENRY L. DIEFFENBACH.

MR. DIEFFENBACH was a unique and positive force in our educational history. Of Teutonic lineage, massive brain and iron will, he was the embodiment of granite immovability, both of principle and prejudice, and could not be swerved from either by any considerations that ordinarily influence human action. He was generally well read on practical subjects, but less of a reader than a thinker, and what he read was very apt to reach his mind at a different angle of vision from most other people, the result being an originality and independence of opinion that was sui generis in its character and calculated to produce antagonism with other minds, especially as there was generally more fortiter in re than suaviter in modo. He was either unconscious of the effect of his bluntness on others, or it was a matter of indifference to him. His mind was eminently practical. For fiction he had neither taste nor tolerance; with him a statement or a narrative had to be a realistic verity, or he would have none of it. Of the ideal in literature and its uses he seemed to have no adequate conception, and was inaccessible to either suggestion or appeal in that direction.

He

Educated in the common English English branches before the common schools were established, and entering that best of training schools, a country printing country printing office, he became a political editor, from environment and the force of circumstances, and during the best of his maturer years exerted a potential influence in the Democratic party, and his views on important subjects commanded public respect because of the vigor with which they were expressed and his wellknown sincerity of purpose. He was interested in education, and he and Senator William Bigler had informal conferences, before the latter's election as Governor, on the necessity of radical reforms in our dilapidated common schools. As a result, after Gov. Bigler's election, Mr. Dieffenbach was made Chief Clerk of the School Department, by the Governor's direction, under the Hon. Francis W. Hughes, Secretary of the Commonwealth and ex-officio Superintendent of Common Schools.

ing up for adjudication, in the Harrisburg Keystone, of which at that time he was editor, which were extensively copied by the county papers, and attracted public attention. Then when questions came up that revealed defects in the school laws he adopted the common sense plan of framing a new section or modifying an old one, to meet the ascertained difficulty, and submitted it with the correspondence to Mr. Hughes, who was a very able lawyer, to be put into proper legal shape. Mr. Hughes retired at the end of a year, and was succeeded by Hon. C. A. Black of Greene county, also an accomplished lawyer, in consultation with whom the revised school law of 1854 gradually took shape, and was an essentially home-made production that owed nothing to abstract theory or the example of other states or countries. The act bears the impress of the legal mind throughout, but the preparatory work was done at the Chief Clerk's desk.

The bill became a law after a hard contest, passing the Senate by a majority of only one vote. Governor Bigler was defeated for re-election in October, 1854, and Mr. Dieffenbach was disappointed in his expectations of having the honor of administering the law and vindicating it before the people. But there being no partisanship in popular education, the fallen banner was not trailed in the dust by the victors in the political contest, but on its own merits was promptly placed in the vanguard of progress, and resolutely held there until it could float unchallenged and serene in the confidence and trust of a contented people.

After Mr. Dieffenbach's retirement from the School Department, Supt. Curtin appointed him County Superintendent of Clinton county to fill a vacancy, and in that position he aided materially in commending to the people of the county the school law which he had helped to frame. When his time expired, he was elected School Director and President of the Board, and helped to grade the Common Schools of Lock Haven, under the power conferred by the Act of 1854, and made the schools a conspicuous success. When the organization was completed, he issued an official card to his constituents, which illustrates both his executive efficiency and his sturdy independence in dealing with the public.

Although a good school man, Mr. D. had his limitations. For instance, he was

always opposed to High Schools, claiming that they did not come within the scope and purview of a common school system [under the "poor gratis" of the old constitution.] He was tenacious on this point-the grading clauses of the Act of 1854, and the broader scope of the constitution of 1874, to the contrary notwithstanding. He never liked our Normal School law. His ideal of a training school for teachers for the Common Schools in the elementary branches, was the private Normal School that flourished at Muncy, Lycoming county, many years ago, before the untimely death of its lamented founder. If he had framed a Normal School Law, it would doubtless have been on that pattern, as a county affair.

For the past ten years Mr. D. had been totally blind, an unskillful operation on one eye having destroyed the sight of both eyes. The stoic in his nature was never more fully brought out than under this appalling affliction.

In his domestic relations he was a man of the tenderest affection and indulgent kindness. It is understood that his friends in Clinton county are preparing to move for the erection of a public monument to his memory.

H. C. H.

AT SCHOOL AND OUT OF SCHOOL.

INCE the public schools involve the

expenditure of millions of dollars, many people treat them as a certain farmer treated a horse for which he had paid a big price. It proved to be a reliable horse, good for every use for which a horse is needed on a farm. When the day's work was done, this was the horse on which the son rode to the post-office to get the daily mail. If any one got sick -many country people are apt to go for the doctor after it is dark-this horse was used to summon the village physician. On Sunday this same horse drew the family coach to church. The farmer grew so proud of the many merits of the animal that he entered him for the races at the county fair. Here the favorite proved a lamentable failure.

Since our public schools cost so much and since they have been measurably successful in teaching the common branches, in giving instruction in civics, temperance and kindness to animals, they are expected to render service in manual and military training, and in giving

everything which a boy needs for time and eternity. They are expected to cure every defect with which modern society is afflicted. How to get into our schools the children who are out of school, seems to be the only educational problem in some people's minds which remains to be solved. Without doubt every growing

city is troubled with the question, How shall we get enough seats at school for all the children of school age? This, however, is mainly a question of taxation.

Our patriotic citizens assert that the communities whose population is growing have enough property and credit to build the necessary school houses. With them the question is, How can we get all the children to attend school? This is largely a question of legislation making attendance at school compulsory and of the creation of public opinion strong enough to enforce such legislation.

The question which causes educators the most serious thought, is what to do with the children after they are at school. A street Arab may be so troublesome as to spoil the educational advantages of forty other children in the same room. The public is too apt to be satisfied with the simple putting of the boy to school, as if that were a solution of the whole problem of education. Reformers of the radical type, on the other hand, are prone to assert that by reason of faulty methods and defective discipline the pupils of many schools would better be turned loose to play upon the streets and in the open air.

The Chinese system of teaching is considered typical of the most mechanical methods in education. Dr. Hinsdale is right in asserting that it is better for a Chinese boy to pass part of the day at school learning what the teachers of his native land can give him than to grow up in ignorance of their written language and their written symbols of thought. Where the atmospheric conditions of a school-room are not a menace to health,it is better for a boy to attend school than to spend all his waking hours upon the streets.

Neverthless the question remains: Are the schools accomplishing all that may reasonably be expected of them in view of their cost and the amount of time consumed in school attendance? The State of Connecticut has felt the influence of Yale College for nearly two centuries. A public school was established as early as 1639. The State Board of Education

recently made a test of the results attained in the public schools of one county. Out of 1,205 children twelve years old, 695 failed to perform this example: Henry had 40 cents. His sister had fourfifths as many; how many had his sister? "Making due allowance," says the says the report, "for embarrassment and the unusual presence of a visitor, teaching which has not secured greater rapidity and accuracy in the performance of so simple an example must be pronounced a failure. The same report says that not more than one-half the children under thirteen could read and write legibly and currently, and that reading in these schools does not mean any acquaintance with books, there being no evidence of a habit of reading, because only one book is prescribed, which will be learned by heart. No test of this kind has ever been made in Pennsylvania, or if it has been made with similar results, State pride has prevented their publication.

The building of school-houses with accommodations sufficient for all the children of school age and their compulsory attendance during a specified time, constitute together only the first step in the solution of the problem of education, When this step has been taken, the main questions still confront us. Are the pupils led to form habits of regularity, punctuality, industry, and obedience? Do they acquire a taste for good reading, the ability to write legibly and rapidly, and the power to solve examples involving the fundamental rules with integers, fractions and denominate members? Do they learn the correct use of the English language, and enough of their country's geography, history and government to make them good citizens of our federal republic?

It is of course possible to expect too much of our public schools. Just as there are limits to the strength and usefulness of the best horse, so there are limitations to the work which the public schools can reasonably be expected to accomplish. One of these limitations is on the side of religion.

Dr.

There are certain virtues which every good school necessarily develops. W. T. Harris named seven of these at Saratoga which may fitly be called school virtues, viz. regularity, punctuality, neatness including cleanliness, accuracy, silence, industry, and obedience. A man may possess all these and still be a

:

heathen. The soldiers who fought in the Gallic wars under Julius Cæsar had developed these virtues; otherwise they could not have conquered the world. Virtues which even the pagans possess, will

not suffice to answer the demands of a society based upon Christianity. At this point the home and the Sabbath-school must supplement the instruction of the public school.

The writer can conceive no better way of awakening the moral and religious sense than by devout daily reading of the Scriptures. But are the Scriptures always read in that way? Tom Paine read his Bible regularly, but it was for the purpose of finding apparent contradictions and instances of doubtful morality. The Parsees study the Bible carefully, that they may understand Shakespeare, Milton and other masters of English style. The lips may utter the words and the sound thereof may fall upon the ear, but the mind and heart may be occupied with other things. All will agree that if the Bible is read in our public schools, it must be read without note or comment. The Baptist, for instance, can not be allowed to enforce his views against the Methodist, nor the Presbyterian against the Episcopalian. Is there any other book at school that we pretend to read without note, comment, or explanation ? Any teacher who would teach a primary geography or a second reader in that way would soon lose her place. The truths of the Sacred Scriptures are more profound than the statements of a geography or a school reader; hence the work of explanation and precept which from the nature of the case the public schools can not supply, must be given in the home, the Sunday-school and the religious society. To imagine that the problem of a child's moral or religious education has been solved when the reading of the Bible has been made a part of the daily school programme, would be as great a mistake as it is to suppose that the problem of education can be solved by the enactment of a law making attendance at school compulsory.

In many other directions the education at school must be supplemented and completed by education out of school. The introduction into the public school of instruction in sewing and cooking does not relieve the mother of the duty of additional instruction along these lines at home. The daughter who is never allowed to

bake a cake or a loaf of bread, to prepare an omelet or a pie, is ill-fitted to take charge of a house, although fortune may have blessed her with untold wealth. That manual training is a good thing at school, has been proved beyond the shadow of a doubt. The foreman of a shop would be a fool if he took for granted that the graduate of a manual training school had no further need of instruction and guidance from those who are the

recognized experts in that shop. The

schools may teach book-keeping and banking and short-hand with type-writing, but much will always remain to be mastered after the school days are ended. Some supérintendents expect the Normal School to teach everything about the science and art of pedagogy which a teacher ought to know, and thus fail to give the recent graduate the advice and help which every beginner has a right to expect from those who are charged with the duty of supervision. It is impossible to specify in how many directions that which the boy is taught at school must be supplemented by what he learns out of school. To expect that the public schools shall fit a boy completely for any vocation is as unreasonable as it was for the farmer to expect his family horse to win the races at the county fair.

The success of a pupil at school is largely determined by the life of the same pupil during the hours when he or she is out of school. The atmosphere of the home may be conducive to study, or it may render study in the evening distasteful and well-nigh impossible. Evening parties, church fairs, social gatherings that encroach on the hours due to study and sleep, often neutralize the best efforts of the teacher. "Very little will satisfy," was the advice given to a young teacher by the principal of a private school largely attended by rich men's sons. "You must bear in mind," said Andrew Carnegie, "that young men with rich relatives have a hard time getting an education." The necessity of doing chores and other work out of school is frequently helpful in training the will and begetting habits which ensure success at school.

If parents could be made to realize more fully that the career of the pupil at school is so largely shaped by what the same pupil does out of school, the public schools would not be blamed for failures which are due to circumstances beyond

the control of the teacher. Whilst everybody admits that the boy at school determines what the boy out of school shall be, it can not be denied and should never be forgotten that the boy out of school exerts a determining influence upon the career of the same boy while at school.

PAYMENT BY RESULTS.

state appropriation were discussed during the past year. In all these discussions no reference was made to the English system of payment by results. This is a scheme by which the State is supposed to be certain of a dollar's worth of education for every dollar that is paid out of the State Treasury. Its author was Robert Lowe, who expressed its merits in brief when he said: "If the system is costly, it shall be efficient; if inefficient, it shall be cheap." As adopted in England some decades ago, four shillings were to be allowed for each scholar in average attendance; and an additional sum for every child who could pass in reading, writing and arithmetic. Ability to pass in these branches was decided not by the teacher, but by an inspector of schools appointed and paid by the gov ernment. The former sum was intended as a premium on attendance, the latter as a premium on teaching efficiency.

ANY methods of distributing the

The results of this ingenious plan," says President Sharpless, "soon became manifest. Grants rapidly fell. The children could not pass the examinations. Poor schools could not sustain themselves, and either expired or brought themselves to a better standard. In the former case many judgments not at all lenient were placed upon the author of their extinction, but the system survived. Just causes of criticism were also plentiful, but, modified and remodified, it outlived the attack, is still the basis of grants to the schools, and bids fair to be a permanent factor in the English system."

Government grants are made for average attendance, for merit, for needlework, for singing, 17 shillings being the maximum grant per child which can be secured by an infant school. In more advanced schools there are grants for needlework, for cooking, for laundry work, for passes in specific subjects like Algebra, Chemistry, French, Latin, Book-keeping. The design of these grants was not to