may now rest from our labors and enjoy the fruits of our years of strenuous effort. Music has at last come into its rightful inheritance-the minds, hearts, voices and lives of the masses; and perchance we have been instrumental in bringing about such a happy state of affairs in our own particular little corner of the earth, and we may now sit down and behold its progress. May we? Will we? Dare we think of such a thing, when the very success of former efforts places us under a double obligation to use all our power and strength that success may not turn into failure? Ah! no! Pity the man or woman who thinks of rest at this stage in the history of music as an educational force. We are weary, perhaps, but the reward is great to those who labor-and there is resting by and by. Put the thought aside, and let us look over the field.

What influences have had to do with making music a recognized necessity in every school curriculum that pretends to be up with the times? As well may we ask what wonderful influences have revolutionized the educational world since some of us learned our a-b, abs. Perhaps Mr. McGuffey of First Reader fame, wherein occurs the question and answer "Do we go up? We do go up!" may be credited with a prophetic eye, since we certainly have 'gone up' to the very mountain tops in comparison with the plane we occupied then. In fact, we are so very much elevated that we have one of three things to do: Remain placidly, contentedly, inanely where we are; slide down from the mountain tops, or build us more stately mansions. If build we must, it behooves us to look well to the foundation we have laid. Perhaps it is not broad enough for the support of an imposing musical structure; perhaps it is not deep enough to withstand the strain of any but a light, ephemeral style of architecture calculated to please the taste of the casual observer; perhaps we, as builders, have not given every stone in the foundation the honest thought the cause deserved, or through ignorance have used the wrong material in constructing our part. At any rate, we might investigate.

So much depends upon good teaching, if music is to be the wonderful power we confidently hope and expect, that an investigation that does not take the teacher into account, with her opportunities for training and her general ability and preparation for the work, would be a remarkable one indeed. Music is so peculiarly susceptible to the teacher's influence that it would be difficult to over-estimate her importance in this field. Of course there are innumerable teachers of the infallible type in other states, but the millennium is not yet shedding it's beneficent rays abroad in Indiana. In fact, the feeling seems quite prevalent among us that there are some things we do

not know, and alas! may never know. Therefore my remarks may be understood to have reference to affairs as observed by an Indianian, where teachers are ordinary flesh-and-blood mortals with days constructed on a sadly limited scale of hours and minutes considering the amount of work to be done, while a similar discrepancy is noticeable in the nights.

Every teacher present recognizes the fact that a comparatively small number of schools in any state may employ competent supervisors of music, and that a comparatively small number of school children outside of the larger cities receive their musical instruction from teachers especially trained for that work. The other fact is also recognized, that music is being taught in three-fourths of the common schools, upon the recommendation of patrons, boards of trustees, county and state superintendents-all of which indicates a delightful state of affairs. But if specially trained teachers are not doing the work, (supervisors of music,) who is doing it? The regular teacher, to be sure. And where does the regular teacher supply herself with the necessary information to carry on this work intelligently? "Dear me !" says one teacher, "I didn't know one had to study music to be able to teach it. I thought one simply needed to be able to carry a tune, and know something about lines and spaces!" The honest truth about the whole matter is that half the music teaching in our public schools is done upon the basis of being able to carry a tune, and knowing something about lines and spaces. Not in the schools where a special music teacher reigns supreme-oh, no!— but in the little red school-houses and two-story white frame, or brick, village school-houses where a numerous host of children are getting their first long coveted taste of the divine art.

Of course we know that every school should have lessons in music from a special music teacher, but we also know that such an arrangement is not possible as yet, and that the regular teacher is supposed to direct this work as she does all other required branches. Where does the commonschool teacher get her training for this and other work? If in the course of human events she decides to become a teacher, and there are many and divers reasons aside from a divine call for such decision-she naturally turns to the school created by law to give her the professional train ing she requires-the Normal school. With what previous preparation does she come? Formerly she came blissfully ignorant of most things a teacher ought to know, and seldom stayed long enough to acquire the academic knowledge neces sary for a teacher; and her mental condition was such that the small amount of musical training

offered by the average Normal school was all but useless. But now she must hold a two-year's teacher's license in her hand before she is allowed to enter. (At least such are the conditions in the Indiana State Normal school.)

What does she bring in the way of previous musical training? Very little. Nine-tenths of the students who enter the music classes in a Normal school have lived where musical advantages were limited to the Sunday-school and an occasional term of singing-school. While the average Sunday-school does the best it can with the music and means at its command, as a source of correct ideas of music and singing its influence is not altogether to be desired. The singing school, (alas! for those whose main musical dependence it was,) is relegated to that past which is the home of the melodeon and "Lily Dale," "Fairy Moonlight," "Fairy Belle" and other old favorites, and nothing has taken its place as yet.

Taking her, then, with her meager supply of musical knowledge, what does the average Normal school do for her? Places her in a class with a hundred other similarly equipped students-or perhaps with that number of students in various stages of development, which is much worse— and attempts to administer musical instruction in such heroic doses as she is ground with the ninety and nine others through the same mill, that she will come out at the end of the one or two terms provided in the course, fully equipped to direct the music work in her next school! Often that grind consists of mere mechanical things, and often the time allotted in the course of study to music is so short that there is absolutely no time for individual work, and an equally absolute necessity for a hurried going over of the many important fundamental things in music before the term shall end and the student depart forever.

Some Normal schools provide bountifully for the music work, but as a general thing the course is limited to two (or three) terms of twelve weeks each. How can a teacher of music be equipped in that length of time unless previous experience and training make it possible? And why should not those who desire to fit themselves for this line of public-school work find as ample provision made for their wants in music, as in mathematics, in a Normal school? As a matter of fact, more necessity exists for it, since the average student has had a more active mental experience with mathematics than with music. More especially is there a necessity for superior musical advantages in a Normal school now, when so much is expected of the regular teacher, and when music is being experimented with in so many of the smaller schools. The course should be such that when the teachers'

examination shall include an examination in music, the student will not look upon it as a bugbear to be dreaded, but will be able to answer any reasonable set of questions, after having finished the course in a Normal school.

What are some of the essential things in music? If it is public-school music, the answer would be one thing, and if it is instrumental music, the answer would be something else. The fact that vocal music is more universal than instrumental, is one reason for its study in the public schools, which leads me to say that the making of childrens' voice habits should receive much more thought from parent and teacher than has ever been given to it. Why should the teacher's voice stand in the way of the progress of your boy or mine? The advantage of a soft, low voice is preached on every side, and very little attention is given in training schools for teachers toward modifying and making melodious the oft-times sharp, wiry, aggressive voices of those whose peculiarities of tone and enunciation will be imitated by a roomfull of little ones some day and some where. A very large field opens to those who realize the importance of a well-managed voice, whether in speaking or singing, when the imitative faculty of even the dullest child is considered.

Have you ever visited a little country school where eighteen or twenty children of assorted sizes and ages were being cared for by a faithful teacher at so much per month, (and not so very much, either,) for from three to seven months in the year?-and have you heard this willing soul try to give a music lesson? Or perhaps you have in an unguarded moment asked to hear some of the songs the children have learned. Did you not say in your heart as you endured to the end that it were better never to have had singing than to have had it done in so barbarous a manner? Softly, my friend! Did not that little teacher do her most conscientious best, according to the light she had ? And what more do you, oh! ye of ten talents! Let her sing and teach others to sing-but speed the day when her opportunity to learn how to sing and to teach others to sing may be largely increased.

Every Normal school can teach its pupils to use the organs of speech neatly and accurately, and what accomplishment is more valuable to a singer than this? Not all souls are capable of the largest expansion any more than all voices are capable of thrilling an audience, but all organs of speech and song may be cultivated to a higher degree of usefulness, and especially is this culture to be desired in those who are to look after the music work in any school. If in the coming years more general exercises of a voice-refining nature

are introduced in the Normal schools, our little district school teacher will be able to dispense with the nasal twang, the uncultured enunciation and slovenly articulation, or the metallic tone almost unconsciously, since she, too, is possessed of the faculty of imitation, and only needs opportunity to use it under advantageous circumstances to make rapid progress.

What an immense stone in the foundation we

are laying is the rote-song! And how frequently is it used as a mere physical exercise. The fact that words count is so lamentably ignored by singers of otherwise fair intelligence that one is not astonished to find teachers who need the unseeing eye opened in regard to the manner of using songs in the school-room. Sacrifice the music if you will, but keep the sentiment underlying the words ever in mind. If there are doubts as to the childrens' ability to express and appreciate that sentiment, an error in selection has been made, and the song should be laid aside. Where shall the teacher lay the foundation for this discriminating taste and judgment in the selection of rote-songs? Her whole training and experience that makes her a success as a teacher of other branches aids her in this, and I see no reason why more definite work may not be done along the line of rote-songs in a Normal training school, when its vast importance is considered, and when the fact is recognized that in hundreds of schools the so-called music work consists of rote-singing entirely.

Everyone should be intimately acquainted with the tonic, dominant, and sub-dominant triads and their family connections and inter-relationship if she would enter more fully into the joys of music. Why not have Harmony in our foundation, since it is the essential element in our superstructure? Could not the public schools plant the seeds of harmony, at least, and in some instances even water them, trusting to Providence for the increase? Suppose the boy's voice is changing and he does not care to sing, partly because there is no certainty that he will succeed if he tries, and partly because he is relegated to the too-often tuneless realms of alto at the first suspicion of a croak, when he naturally prefers a tune. It is as certainly wrong to take all music study away from him at this time as it would be to force him to sing, croak or no croak.

Why not require less singing, and more study of the scientific and historical side of the subject at this peculiar period in the mental life of the boy or girl, through harmony and biography? Wouldn't the principal triads and the dominant seventh with their progressions and resolutions prove interesting to any mathematically inclined

youth? His ability to think tones certainly need not cease with his ability to make tones that are satisfactory to himself and others.

I question the judgment of a supervisor of music who does not call to his aid the unlimited source of interest and inspiration to be found in biography-one of the most important stones in our foundation. (I know a supervisor who doesn't -but he doesn't live in Indiana, and I don't know that he is present.) In one school-room with which I am familiar, a bust of Beethoven frowns down upon the children from his pedestal. "Why does he look so cross?" inquired a small boy. The teacher in charge knew just what to say, and within a week every child in the room had ransacked home and school libraries in search of points of interest in the life of Beethoven. Instead of the disagreeable expression they saw before they had read of his unhappy life, they found an element of sadness that aroused their sympathies every time their roving eyes rested upon his face.

Another stone that our builders are using freely is good music, whether written by the old masters or by modern composers of skill, and it is a most gratifying thing to note the purity of style and form to be found in the exercises and songs in the various courses in music for use in the public schools. It is not enough that the children sing good music, however. It isn't the music we ourselves are able to make that influences us most, else music's power would be decidely limited, in some cases. Why not brighten our structure with bits of color in the form of illustrated sketches of various composers, including American writers? Any of the simpler forms of the classics in an appropriate biographical setting may be invested with great interest for a room full of children if intelligently interpreted The masses will sing and play good music when they have been shown where to find it in the simplicity adapted to their needs, and it is through the door of the little red school-house, or stately portals of the city school building, or of the yet more dignified Normal training school entrance, whether controlled by state or private means, that this artistic touch must

come.

If we cannot have trained supervisors of music in every school in every county in every state, then in all justice give those who prepare for the work of school teaching in our Normal schools better opportunity to learn the fundamental things in music before they are expected to comprehend this (to them) almost unknown subject and teach it to their helpless pupils. As well expect a teacher ignorant of Greek to study methods of presenting the subject for a term, and then be

able to do successful work with a class of beginners! Not all students who attend Normal schools are destined to become shining lights in the teaching profession, but a large number will be engaged as teachers, and many of them will be obliged to teach with but little time spent in preparation, for financial or other reasons. It isn't to be expected that the subject of music will receive the time and attention its newness and importance deserves, but the training for teaching that does not aid in presenting a music lesson is not all it should be. A good teacher is often more successful with the music work than a good musician-and therein lies our hope.

The thing most teachers need is an actual working knowledge of the subject-matter of music first, and the ability to use the formal side subjectively, next. It is absolutely necessary for a teacher to know about the means of representing tones, else how can she know when not to teach signs? Even special music teachers need to be reminded occasionally of the fact that music does not consist of notes, bars, lines, spaces, etc., and what wonder if the regular teacher falls into the rut of sign teaching alone, when her training includes little more than sign work, frequently. The special teacher must have the intelligent assistance of the regular teacher if music is to be used to the fullest

advantage in the schools, and to-day, as never be fore, we look to the fountain head, the Normal school, for the training that will make this possible. The teachers will gladly take all of the instruction in music that the required course of study will permit, and I confidently expect to see such changes in the requirements as will give them the opportunity to prepare fully for this work, which is soon to be a part of every teacher's daily program in the common schools and in the grades.

Our foundation is, upon the whole, good. Our builders are, in the main, honest. Our architects are planning according to the needs of the masses. We are not standing still, neither are we losing ground. We have laid the foundation upon which to erect an educational edifice of more varied beauty and usefulness than has ever yet been erected, and the strength of the pillars which shall support the final dome of this intensely, artistically, characteristically American structure will be based upon public school music work which shall include mind, voice and soul culture; a knowledge of combinations as well as successions of tones; and an interest in what has gone before, what is, and what will be, with the regular teacher amply prepared to direct the music work as intelligently as she directs the work in other branches. The Next Step?-well, what shall it be!

IT

T IS our purpose to print in THE INLAND EDUCATOR during the coming year extracts from a series of Nature-Study Leaflets prepared by the faculty of Purdue University for the use of teachers in rural districts. We shall publish in this month's issue the preliminary suggestions made by President Smart in his Letter of Transmittal:

"At the present time Nature Study is receiving considerable attention from our high schools, and, to some extent, from our city and town graded schools. But little attention, however, has been given to the subject by the teachers in rural districts. While it may seem that the difficulties involved in the problem of Nature Study in rural districts are great, we think that a careful examination of the conditions will show that these are more apparent than real. Indeed, the opportunities for work in the country are very much greater than for work in the city. We think it will be found also that the introduction of Nature Study will enable the teachers of district schools

to accomplish the work which they are now doing more easily and with greater success.

"In order to show that this kind of work has been found to be eminently practicable, we may call your attention to what is going on in a large number of elementary schools in Europe.

"I quote from Appleton's Popular Science Monthly for February, 1898:

'In many places in Europe school grounds are very much better managed than in this country. Not only do school authorities there aim to supply materials for study in the school-room, but they mean to impart clear ideas of horticulture and related occupations by various uses of land connected with the schools. They appreciate the training which results from pruning, budding and grafting trees, plowing, hoeing and fertilizing land, hiving bees and raising silkworms.'

'In 1890 there were nearly eight thousand school-gardensgardens for practical instruction in rearing trees, vegetables and fruits-in Austria.'

'In France, gardening is practically taught in twentyeight thousand primary and elementary schools, each of which has a garden attached to it, and is under the care of a master capable of imparting a knowledge of the first prin

ciples of horticulture. No one can be appointed master of an elementary school unless qualified to give practical instruction in cultivating the ordinary products of the garden.'

'In Sweden, as long ago as 1871, twenty-two thousand children received instruction in horticulture and tree-planting, and each of two thousand and sixteen schools had for cultivation a piece of land varying from one to twelve acres.'

'Still more significant is the recent establishment of many school-gardens in southern Russia. In one province two hundred and twenty-seven schools out of a total of five hundred and four have school-gardens whose whole area is two hundred and eighty-three acres. This movement

has also widely spread over different provinces of central Russia.'

'Since 1877 every public school in Berlin has been regularly supplied with plants for study every week, elementary schools receiving specimens of four different species and secondary schools six. During the summer, at six o'clock in the morning, two large wagons start from the schoolgardens loaded with cuttings packed and labeled for the different schools. The daily papers regularly announce what plants may be expected, and teachers consult with the gardeners as to what ought to be sown or planted. Teachers take their classes into the school-gardens for lessons in botany, and are aided by the gardeners, who cut the specimens.'

"The general principles on which the leaflets will be prepared may be summarized as follows:

"First. No attempt will be made to issue the leaflets in the order in which they are to be used by the teacher. It is manifestly undesirable if not impossible to do this.

"Second. No specific indication will be made as to the length of time each subject should occupy the attention of the pupils. Some of the subjects may properly serve for many lessons and some but for a single lesson. This must depend chiefly upon the ingenuity of the teacher and upon the interest manifested by the pupils. Furthermore, some of the leaflets treat of subjects that should occupy the attention of the pupils for a brief time during the summer, and also for a brief time during the winter, as for example, the leaflet on "The Care of Domestic Animals."

"Third. Teachers should at all times strive to induce the pupils to see and hear and think for themselves, in short, to become original investigators.

"Fourth. It would be well for teachers to organize observation clubs and take the pupils on occasional rambles through the country.

"Fifth. The pupils should be encouraged to make reports, to write essays and descriptions, and to illustrate on the blackboard and in their drawing-books.

"Sixth. The method of presentation should be oral so far as possible. Habits of correct expression should be cultivated, and the children should be encouraged to ask questions.

"Seventh. It is suggested that flower and fruit festivals in their proper season at which small prizes could be offered, might be helpful. The cooperation of the county agricultural society and other similar organizations might be secured with advantage.

"Eighth. Since the leaflets are to be used by teachers of varying experience and under widely different conditions in respect to progress of pupils, no uniform method of treatment will be employed. Some of them will be in the form of suggestions to teachers, others in the form of suggestions to pupils, others, again, in the form of oral object lessons, and still others will be in the form of stories; and, since they are prepared by a number of different people, no attempt will be made to present them in a uniform style of composition.

"Ninth. It must be remembered that it is well nigh impossible to construct any leaflet that in its entirety will be adapted to the varied conditions existing in district schools, that the present leaflets should be regarded as suggestive rather than directive, that the teachers should select, adapt, and often translate into their own language, and most of all, that the teachers should add to the matter contained in this series information derived from various sources, especially from the science books recommended by the State Reading Circle Board.

"Tenth. It is important to observe that very much of the Nature Study by the children must be done out of doors, and in the spring and summer, but many of the schools will not be in session. Such of the leaflets therefore as especially relate to spring and summer work on the part of the children should be translated into oral lessons and given by the teachers of such schools during the term time. It is quite apparent the leaflets can often be used in this way with but few slight changes in phraseology. Thus instead of taking the children on an excursion in May to observe spring birds the teachers can re-phrase the leaflet on that subject, and use it as a basis for a conversation with the children, instructing them how to become good observers as they go about and requesting them to report the results of their observations at the beginning of the next term."