NE of the most important features of the meeting of the State Teachers' Asso

school policy of the State. The introduction of this topic generally leads to a lively debate, as the minutes of the Association for the last twenty years will show. The interest of these discussions is no doubt deepened by a misunderstanding of some parts of the system on the part of those who criticise, and a little over-sensitiveness perhaps on the part of those connected with the practical working of these institutions. That criticisms are sometimes made which are not quite just, must, I think, be generally admitted, and it could hardly be otherwise when made by those who are not practically familiar with the work of the schools. It is equally natural that those who have spent the best and most enthusiastic years of their lives in laboring for the establishment and success of the system, should feel a little sensitive at hearing their own work and institutions criticised. That we should intimate any intentional injustice to our system or its work, on the part of the critics, is far from our thought and our feelings; for we should be untrue to our own ideas of fair play and honorable dif

ference of opinion did we not accord them the same sincerity of conviction and freedom of expression which we claim for ourselves. We admit, also, that one result of such discussions will be a truer conception of the merits and defects of the present system, and a more cordial understanding between the parties engaged in the discussion.

It is my desire in this article to call attention to one charge which is frequently made in the discussion of the question, which, I think, is not only not sustained by the facts of the case, but does injustice to the system, and tends to prejudice the public mind' against the schools and their work. I refer to the charge that the State has not received and is not receiving a return for the money appropriated to the education of the pupils of our normal schools. This criticism shows an ignorance of the facts in the case, or is a basty generalization from a few facts that may have come to the notice of those who make it. The charge-I say it with all the emphasis that my experience and position can give it is not sustained by facts. In answering it I desire to present some statistics which, it will be seen, completely refute it, and which show that the State receives a full return for all the money it has thus expended. In doing so I shall, of course, be excused for referring to my own school for the facts; I believe, however, that the other schools, with a somewhat shorter experience, can present a record equally creditable alike to the system and the work of their own institutions.

The Millersburg Normal School has now been in operation about twenty-one years. It has had 10,846 students in attendance, 3,756 being females and 7,090 males. The number of graduates is 397; of these 139 were ladies and 258 gentlemen. The whole number of graduates in the elementary course is 354; in the scientific course, 40; in the classical course, 3. Of these graduates all have taught but seven; many of them have taught for several years; and a large large majority of them are still engaged in teaching. Of the seven who never taught after graduating, only three refrained from doing so from choice; the others were deterred by death or some other unavoidable circumstances. Two of them are recent graduates, and may yet decide to teach.

The number who have been tutors or professors in colleges is 13; the number who have been professors in normal schools is 20; the number, besides these, who have been assistant teachers in normal schools is 32; the number who have been borough and city superintendents is 7; the number who have county superintendents is 14; the number who have been principals of graded and high schools is 103; the number, besides these, who have taught in graded and high schools is 87, or 190 in all; the whole number who have taught in public schools is 340. Quite a large number of our graduates, after teaching for several years, and finding that the remuneration of teachers in the public schools is insufficient for a settlement in life, studied some other profession. Among these 27 have become lawyers; 11 doctors; 11 ministers; 6 missionaries, and 3 civil engineers. The whole number now teaching or engaged in educational work is, as nearly as I can ascertain, about 275.

These statements, it seems to me, must be regarded as not only creditable to the system, but a complete vindication of the schools from the charges made. I am not in posssession of the statistics showing how long each graduate has taught, but I intend to try to get such information, and when obtained, I shall

be pleased to make it public. It will, I believe, astonish even the friends of the system, and be regarded as a very complete refutation of the charge that the money of the State has been wasted in the education of teachers at our normal schools. It has also been charged that the State loses money by the early withdrawal of the lady graduates of the normal schools from the avocation of teaching. The incorrectness of this criticism may be seen from the following statement: The entire number of lady graduates is 139. Of these 4 are dead and 34 are married, leaving a balance of 101 living and unmarried. The whole number of our lady graduates, now teaching or engaged in educational work is, as nearly as I can ascertain, 95. It is thus seen that a larger proportion of our women graduates, asides from the necessary withdrawal from school work on account of marriage, remain in the profession of teaching than gentleman; and we remark that it must be a short-sighted and stupid economy that does not realize the advantage to the State of putting the culture and educational training obtained by women at the normal schools into the family and the social life of the neighborhood.

Aside from the appropriation of the State to the graduates, there is also an appropriation of 50 cents a week to under-graduates who are preparing to teach, and thousands of these have taught, and hundreds are this winter teaching, in the public schools of the State. I am desirous of obtaining the statistics showing the average length of time these have taught, and of comparing it with the amount they have drawn from the State. From what I already know, I can say that the exhibit will be surprisingly in favor of the economy of the system, even more so, if possible, than the record of the graduates of the school. In concluding this article, permit me to say that I trust that the statement given will be regarded as a complete answer to the charge.-Pennsylvania School Journal.

THE TEACHERS" INSTITUTE.

BY H. A. M. HENDERSON.

WO things are indispensable to rendering Teachers' Institutes profitable:

the teacher should diligently study his profession no one will doubt who has any reasonable conception of the delicacy and responsibility of his work. His office is to direct the young mind aright. To teach it how to think and what is worthy of thought. A thoughtless man is next akin to a mindless man. The unthinking and the imbecile are first cousins. Thinking involves a proper cultivation of attention, and this includes all the observing powers. To see with the eye, to hear with the ear, to feel with the heart, and to see and hear and and feel things in their proper relations to truth is the end of all education. A man may be a walking encyclopedia, and be far from an educated man. You may be able to trust him for facts and have no confidence in judgments, which result from the right comparison and largest generalization of facts. To give the mind a taste for ennobling themes, and instruct it how to meditate upon

them; to incline the heart to the good and lead it to differentiate momentary impulse and sudden passion from permanent principle and moral feeling. These two statements contain the chief design of the pedagogic office. Would an artisan who had never studied its mechanism undertake the repair of a chronometer? Would a surgeon unacquainted with the location of the nerves and muscles of the parts, undertake a compound and complicated surgical operation? Will the teacher, for mere pelf, undertake to mold minds while he knows and cares nothing for the laws of reason and the motivities of action? Alas! the world is full of tinkers, charlatans and schoolmasters!

The teacher, therefore, should seek every opportunity to be better instructed in his high calling, that he may walk worthy of his vocation. He should study pedagogical literature in its permanent and periodical forms; he should study human nature and be able to classify its peculiarities, as manifested in different individuals; he should compare opinions and methods with his fellows, and sit with docile receptivity at the feet of wisdom and experience. The law, rightly apprehending the importance of Institutes, makes attendance upon them compulsory. Those able to teach must go to instruct those who need to learn; those who are ignorant must go to be taught. The teacher who votes the Institute "a bore" may be set down as chiefly concerned for "the draw," and is never so interested in his school as on pay-day. Commissioners should with rigidity enforce the statute. To refuse to do so is not only to manifest a deplorable ignorance or indifference to the teachers of his county, but to be morally insensible to the obligation involved in his oath of office. A prompt revocation of the certificates of those who hold and treat the Institute with contempt would work a rapid and healthy reform of existing absenteeism and tend largely to the speedy reinforcement of the State with a corps of competent instructors. Second-The design of the Institute, as already intimated, is to impart instruction in the art of teaching. "How to teach" is the simple proposition that expresses its principal aim and end. "How to govern" is next in importance. If, therefore, it is allowed to degenerate into a debating society, or the time is fruitlessly employed in solving the perplexities of mere mental puzzles, or the hours are spent in "quizzing," then the utility of the Institute may well be questioned. Essays, declamations, select readings and music may serve as elements of entertainment or relaxation, but they should maintain about the same relation to the Institute that the recess does to the school. Abstract themes are seldom profitably discussed. Essays should always have a practical bearing on the teacher's work. The curriculum of instruction should be strictly confined to the common school course, and no pedantic conceit should be permitted to squander the time upon branches and subjects that transcend the work of the common school teacher. How to teach spelling and reading (including phonetics), grammar and geography, mental and moral arithmetic, history and composition, together with how to organize, conduct and govern the school, includes a programme fully compassing the design of the law, and exhaustive of all the time allotted to a legal session. The Institute should always have a Committee on Programme that will scrutinizingly select the best teaching talents, assign the branch to be illustrated by each, and, as near as may be, accurately define the range and limit expected of the demonstrator. Sufficient time should be given those designated to concisely and transparently organize the method and

material to be employed, and adapt it to the time allotted the subject on the order of exercises. Wherever practicable, experts should be employed, and local vanity should not be allowed to elbow them out of the way. To this end the matriculation fee should be scrupulously collected of male and female-that a sufficient fund may be provided for the payment of the conductor. All questions should be promptly suppressed whose purpose is to embarrass and perplex the instructed, instead of eliciting a clearer understanding of the method discussed. The exercises at night should be to impress the public mind by introducing to its meditations larger views of the responsibilities of parents and citizens, and thus creating a healthier public sentiment that shall conduce to a more generous and beneficial legislation and securing a healthier, freer co-operation in the practical work of the school-room.

If these suggestions are followed, the Institute can hardly depart from the normal purposes for which it is held, and will result in the sowing of seed in minds and hearts that will produce fruitage and harvest throughout the entire educational yield, effected by this judicious sowing.

THE

GAINING THE ATTENTION.

teacher who fails to get the attention of his pupils fails wholly. There is, however, is not the only indispensable condition. We have seen a class wrought by tricks and devices to the highest pitch of aroused mental activity-fairly panting with eagerness, yet learning nothing. The teacher had the knack of stirring them up, and lashing them into half-frenzy of expectation, without having any substantial knowledge wherewith to reward their eagerness. With his one-sided skill, he was but a mountebank. For real, successful teaching, their must be these two things-the ability to hold the minds of the children and the ability to give sound and seasonable instruction. Lacking the latter ability, the pupil goes away with his vessel unfilled; lacking the former, the teacher only pours water upon the ground.

How shall the teacher secure attention?

In the first place, let him make up his mind that he will have it. This is half the battle. Let him settle it with himself, that, until he does this, he is doing nothing; that, without the attention of his pupils, he is no more a teacher than the chair which he occupies. With this truth fully realized, he will come before his class resolved to have a hearing; and this very resolution will have its effect upon the soholars. Children are quick to discern the mental attitude of a teacher. They know, as by instinct, whether he is in earnest or not; and, in all ordinary cases, they yield without dispute to a claim resolutely put. This, then, is the first duty of the teacher. He must go to his class with the resolute determination of making every scholar feel his presence all the time. The moment a pupil shows that the consciousness of his teacher's presence is not in his mind, as a restraining or attracting power, something is wrong. The first step toward producing that consciousness, as an abiding influence, is for the teacher to determine in his own mind to bring it about. Without being