at the university of Jena. Later he accepted a position in Herrn Gruner's model school in Frankfurt-on-the-Main. The latter was a great admirer of Pestalozzi, the famous pedagogue of Switzerland, whom Froebel met for the first time during his vacation. The following year he entered Pestalozzi's institution, both as student and instructor. And later we find him again in Germany at the University of Göttingen first, then at Berlin. In 1817 he and his friends Langenthal and Middendorf opened their noted high school for boys in a farm house of the village of Keilhau. At first only Froebel's five nephews were enrolled in this school, but the number increased rapidly. Froebel, believing that proper attention should be paid to the training of the hand, without neglecting the intellectual and moral training of his high-school boys, taught them the essentials of manual training systematically, freehand and instrumental drawing, the use of common tools theoretically and practically. According to Froebel, a one sided intellectual training produced narrow-mindedness. He was the first educator who accomplished an allround, broad education, by developing systematically mind, soul, and body. Our own and other nations have borrowed Froebel's manual-training suggestions later. You know in what high esteem manual-training schools are held by us today; know what an unusual degree of efficiency their pupils attain, also that the tendency of education is becoming more and more practical. But have we given due credit to Froebel for laying the foundation of our modern manual-training school? Among those who had come to assist Froebel in his high school at Keilhau, none were more enthusiastic than Henriette Hofmeister, who became his wife afterwards. In the year 1831, however, the school had to be closed on account of financial difficulties. Burgdorf claimed Froebel next as director of an orphans' home, principal of a "Volkschule" and a teachers' training-school. Here the little children were his favorites. For the first time in his life Froebel realized that his future ought to be devoted to the education of little children from the age of four to six. In 1837 he established a school for little children in Blankenburg, somewhat later a training-school for kindergartners. He believed that the lowest school should cover the play period of a child's life, and that play should be to the child what work is to the man. By means of songs and games Froebel succeeded in arousing the religious, the ethical, and the esthetic sentiment in the child. His mother-play and nursery songs, his gifts and occupations are as familiar to us here at present as they are in Germany. You know that Froebel could not find a suitable name at first for this institution for little children. But one day the beauty of the surrounding country caused him to exclaim: "Ich habe es gefunden. Kindergarten soll die neue Anstalt heissen!" (I have found it. The new institution shall be called children's garden!) And his tender plants, the little children, were certainly cultivated by sympathetic gardners, the kindergartners.

In order to fully understand Froebel's great pedagogical works, which America our United States-has adopted, a thoro study of the German

language and of German customs would be very helpful to the kindergartner and the teacher. The same may be said of the works of Pestalozzi and Herbart, two other educators who have held a warm place in the hearts of all progressive teachers. Froebel, Pestalozzi, and Herbart are all classified among our reformers on the field of pedagogy. Froebel's creative power, his charming manner with little children, the breadth of his teaching, his inspiring influence, and last, but not least, the degree of efficiency his pupils reached, place him in the ranks of great teachers, of whom the world has seen but few. Froebel, the pedagogical genius, has probably exercised a greater influence upon our educational ideals than any other educator. With the kindergarten he has given us the primary manual-training school, which has become so popular that it can never pass out of existence. You know how rapidly it has spread for the past twenty years, what great progress it has made here in Nature's sanitarium, in the land of roses, where we enjoy this great Convention, the fiftieth anniversary of the National Educational Association. Altho changes adapted to the conditions here in our Union have been made in the kindergarten, we must not forget that our model will always be a Froebelian kindergarten. Froebel was the founder, the father of the kindergarten, and to him we should be grateful. The names of Mrs. Kate Douglas Wiggin, Professor and Mrs. Hailmann, Miss Peabody, Miss Blow, Mrs. Hubbard, and many others will always rank prominently for the excellent work they have accomplished in carrying out Froebel's ideas, at a time when the kindergarten was not regarded favorably by the general public.

While in Germany several years ago, I had the pleasure of visiting a Froebelian kindergarten, conducted by Fräulein Schellhorn, in Weimar, the classical city of Germany. Fräulein Schellhorn was a member of Froebel's last teachers' training-class-a very old lady, but youthful in appearance. The little children were instructed among large flower beds. Here they worked and played, themselves the choicest of the flowers. The elevating influence of the environment with which these little ones were blessed was quite perceptible. Altho small, their young minds had already passed the stage of infancy. They were full of activity and enthusiasm, characteristic to their age, still they began showing an intellectual ability which was quite surprising to me. It was an opportunity for studying both a psychological and a sociological problem.

That Froebel was a philanthropist of the noblest type, he proved to those with whom he came in contact. To his teachers he was a friend. He had full confidence in the power of an experienced teacher.

It may be well to state right here that a time limit in the teaching profession is almost unknown in Germany, even should a teacher confess that she has reached or passed the age of forty. Teachers are treated with great respectexperienced teachers in good standing being fairly worshiped. They are given permission to express themselves on any subject freely, The dropping of such teachers being an impossibility, they do not fear that they might, at

the end of the school year, be discontinued in their positions. The wholesale dropping of teachers, without providing for them-a somewhat cruel custom, which still prevails in some of our American cities-recalls to me annually the German fairy tale, "Die Bremer Stadt musikanten" (The Musicians of the City of Bremen). You are all familiar with it, your little children's eyes are filled with tears and their hearts with sympathy for the animals, while you are relating it. The donkey, the dog, the cat, and the rooster, all dismissed by four cruel masters, because their period of usefulness had passed-they were old. They decide to wander to Bremen and organize a music band. You know the rest, and what a beautiful lesson it teaches, what an impression it leaves. The great difference between the end of this fairy tale and that of the real dismissal of the so-called superannuated teacher is that the animals find a home, while the teacher who has sacrificed the best years of her life for her profession is homelesss

As politics cannot enter into the German schools, no teacher can be appointed thru influence of any kind, but strictly on the strength of his merits. While his income may not be half as large as that of our American teachers, his expenses are less, and he can rest assured that the government has made ample provision for his future by keeping a good pension for him in store when he wishes to retire, on account of illness or old age. In the treatment of her teachers, Germany also proves her superiority in point of culture— her respect for what is humane.

To come back briefly to Froebel, I wish to emphasize again that he retained his energy, his pedagogical enthusiasm, up to the time when he entered into rest in 1852. Tho age had been advancing, his usefulness was not impaired. Teachers, can we not learn a lesson here also?

Und fühlst dein Herz du krank und alt,

Lass es mit Kindern spielen,

In ihrer Welt, ach wirst du bald

Verjüngt dich wieder fühlen.

Und schrecken dich der Qualm und Rauch

Im grossen Weltgetümmel,

Geh', schau in deiner Kinder Aug',

Du schaust in einen Himmel.

Before closing I shall speak to you briefly about The Athens of the River Saale-"Das Saale Athen Deutschlands" the German center of pedagogical progress-Jena. It was at Jena where Schiller and Fichte were numbered among the professors of the university, where Goethe exerted his influence, and where Napoleon won the decisive battle on October 14, 1806. Wilhelm von Humboldt, the two brothers von Schlegel, Voss, Schelling, Reinhardt and Erich Schmidt were contemporaries of Schiller and Fichte at Jena. We can hardly pass thru a single street where our attention is not attracted by some memorial tablet by which Jena honors her great men of the past. And Jena has in her midst great men of the present day. Among these, none are of

greater interest to the teacher than Professor Dr. Rein, who holds the chair of pedagogy at the university as one of Herbart's and Zillar's most enthusiastic followers. Professor Rein is also at the head of the pedagogical seminary and practice school, which are connected with the university. In 1904, Professor Rein was the only professor of pedagogy who was honored with an invitation, from Europe, I think, to attend the International Congress of Arts and Science at the Exposition in St. Louis.

In his work on Herbart and the Herbartians, Professor Charles De Garmo says:

So long as men merely lecture at the universities, or write their opinions in their books, the world at large does not know whether their theories will work in actual practice or not. Dr. Rein has made the pedagogical seminary the most noted of its kind in Europe, to which students resort from every civilized country. His specific contribution to the Herbartian cause lies, not so much in the promulgation of new ideas, as in the practical application of the important ones that had remained mostly untried.

According to the historic genetic principle involved in the Herbartian system, history forms the basis of the plan of instruction, the center from which the other studies diverge, like the branches of a tree from its massive trunk. Every lesson is based on five formal steps: 1. Preparation; 2. Presentation; 3. Association; 4. Drill; and 5. Application. Wherever the Herbartian system with its principle of correlation as the central thought is employed admirable results are obtained. Character-building is the first aim of every recitation, acquisition of knowledge the second.

The pupils acquire a thoro knowledge of every subject included in their course of study.

Professor Rein also organized the first university summer school in Germany in 1889, and still conducts it. It is considered the best summer school in all Germany, where excellent courses in pedagogy, theology, philosophy, etc., are offered by some of Germany's greatest scholars. Three times I have been in a position to notice its progress once as a student and twice as a student and speaker besides. Of all the speakers, Professor Rein draws the largest audience. Our meeting here is a national meeting, the value of which we all realize. The summer school sessions at Jena are international sessions, which are likewise very helpful to a teacher. My advice is to attend Dr. Rein's summer school when abroad; it will prove an inspiration to you which will last for years. The association with those of our profession from foreign countries may be considered equal to a special course in pedagogy and educational psychology. The majority of teachers seeking higher education in Jena come from Germany, Austria, England, America, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.

It is hardly necessary to tell you that the German people are pervaded by a spirit of honesty, which does not permit them to swerve from what is just and right. By the extension of moral and mental culture, Germany has grown into an educational center, of which the German people may well be proud.

DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

SECRETARY'S MINUTES

FIRST SESSION-WEDNESDAY MORNING, JULY 10, 1907

The department convened at 9:30 A. M. at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Mrs. Alice W. Cooley, the president, in the chair.

Owing to the absence of the secretary, Miss Emina C. Davis of Cleveland, O., was appointed secretary by the chair.

The session was opened by an introductory address by the president giving a comprehensive view of the topic of the session: "Potent Factors in Teaching Oral Reading and Oral Language," with the relation thereto of the several topics to be discussed.

The first paper on this topic was presented by Henry Suzzallo, adjunct professor of education, Teachers College, Columbia University, on "The Story and the Poem.” This was followed by a paper discussing "Story Telling and the Poem," by Miss Emma C. Davis, supervisor department of English, Cleveland, Ohio.

Professor Thos. C. Blaisdell, Department of English, State Agricultural College, Lansing, Mich., followed with a paper on "Dramatizing.”

"Expression by the Hand" was then discussed in a paper by I. C. McNeill, superintendent of schools, Memphis, Tenn.

Upon motion, the president appointed the following committee on nominations: James F. Chamberlain, Los Angeles, Cal.

S. L. Heeter, St. Paul, Minn.

Chas. H. Keyes, Hartford, Conn.

The papers were discussed by John S. Welch, supervisor of grammar grades, Salt Lake, Utah; J. F. Reigart, principal of Public School No. 2, New York City; L. E. Wolfe, superintendent of schools, San Antonio, Texas, and Henry Suzzallo, Teachers College, New York City.

The department then adjourned.

SECOND SESSION-FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 12

The department was called to order at 9:30 A. M., the president, Mrs. Alice W. Cooley, in the chair.

James F. Chamberlain of the Los Angeles State Normal School presented a paper on "Geography in the Life of the Pupil." Superintendent A. L. Hamilton of Pasadena discussed Mr. Chamberlain's paper.

Harold W. Fairbanks of the U. S. Geological Survey, Berkeley, Cal., continued the consideration of one phase of the main topic in a paper on "Illustrative Excursions for Field Sight." C. T. Wright, supervisor of geography, city schools, Redlands, Cal., discussed Mr. Fairbank's paper.

"The Emphasis of Commercial and Industrial Geography" was the topic discussed in the next paper by Superintendent S. L. Heeter, St. Paul, Minn.

"History in the Life of the Pupil," was presented in a paper by Walter A. Edwards, President of Throop Polytechnic Institute, Pasadena, California. The paper was discussed by Miss Agnes Elliot, head of the Department of History in the Los Angeles Normal School.

Following this, Professor Chamberlain at the request of the president, summed up the points considered in the several papers.