The educational record of the province of Quebec, 1 mars 1885, Mars

[" THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD OF THD PROVINCE OF QUEBEC.MARCH, 1885.Vor.V.DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, QUEBEC, 256th February, 1885.Which day the quarterly meeting of the Protestant Committee of the Council of Public Instruction was held.Present, the Lord Bishop of Quebec, in the chair, Dr.Cook, Sir William Dawson, Dr.Mathews, George I.Masten, Esq., Dr.Heneker, Dr.Hemming, Dr.Cornish, The Venerable Archdeacon Lindsay, and the Hon.W.W.Lynch.The accounts submitted by the Secretary were examined, and found correct.The Secretary read letters from the following parties : 1.The Rev.Dr.Cornish, acknowledging intimation of his appointment as an associate member of the Protestant Committee of the Council of Public Instruction, and his acceptance of said appointment.2.The Rev.Dr.Norman, acknowledging intimation of his appointment as an associate member of the Protestant Committee of the Council of Public Instruction, and his acceptance of the same.3.Mr.Inspector McGregor, acknowledging intimation of his appointment for this year as Inspector of Model Schools and Academies and his acceptance of the same.4.Mr.Charles William Parkin, making application for the contemplated appointment of an Inspector of Schools.5.Mr.W.H.Wilson, Secretary-Treasurer, Trustees of Model School, St.Sylvestre, asking whether a pupfl-teacher would be accepted as assistant in said Model School.6.Mr.C.T.C.Wurtele, Secretary-Treasurer, of Model School, Sorel, in regard to a second teacher in said Model school, 60 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.The English Secretary of the Department read the following communications : 1.Report of Committee on Teachers\u2019 Institutes.2.Order in Council concerning Grants to Protestant Institutions for Deaf Mutes and Blind.3.Recommendations for Model schools in Gaspé and Bonaventure.4.Report concerning Rawdon Model school.5.Concerning Marbleton Model school from the Rev.T.S.Chapman.6.Applications for examination by Special Inspectors.7.Messrs.C.M.Taylor & Co\u2019s.letter concerning Royal Readers.Reports were submitted by sub-committees on the following subjects : 1.On School Law, Financial matters affecting Education under the Committee, a Central Board of Examiners for Diplomas of Teachers, the Powers of the Protestant Committee.2.To wait on the Universities of McGill and Bishop\u2019s College, in relation to the regulations recommended by the sub-committee on school law as regards the privilege of entering on the study of the professions.3.On Regulations for granting Teachers\u2019 Diplomas.4, On Revision of Text Books.In the matter of a second teacher in the Model schools of St.Sylvestre and of Sorel the committee agreed :\u2014That the Trustees of the Model schools in St.Sylvestre and Sorel be informed that a pupil teacher will, under the special circumstances of the case, be recognized as the second teacher required by the Protestant Committee of the Council of Public Instruction for this year only.And that the Secretary be instructed to inform the Trustees of Rawdon school that their case will be taken into favorable consideration.Mr.Rexford, English Secretary of the Department, submitted to the meeting the following Report on Teachers\u2019 Institutes: \u201cThe committee appointed to make arrangements for the Normal Institutes for Teachers begs to report progress as follows, that it has been decided to hold three Normal Institutes during next summer, one at Bishop's College, Lennoxville, for the district of St.Francis, one at Waterloo for the district of Bedford and one at Ormstown for the district of Huntingdon, each Institute to continue in session for one week, as far as possible the meetings will be held in the month of July.Dr.Robins will take up the teaching of English, Drawing and Music, and elementary lessons in Science.Dr.McGregor will take up the teaching of Arithmetic, Mensuration and Book-keeping.And the English Secretary of the Department will , also take part in the work of the Institutes.\u201d DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.61 The committee agreed to receive and adopt the foregoing Report of Committee on Teachers\u2019 Institutes.Mr.Rexford, English Secretary of the Department, having brought under the notice of the committee the fact that in the counties of Gaspé and Bonaventure there are no schools for Superior Education, \u201cstrongly recommended that two Model schools be established in the counties of Gaspé and Bonaventure, namely, one at New Carlisle in the municipality of Cox and one at Gaspé Basin, and that the School Boards of these municipalities be informed that if they employ teachers from the Normal school holding Model school diplomas and maintain efficient schools a grant of one hundred dollars will be made to each of these schools from the Superior Education Fund.\u201d It was agreed that the committee will be prepared to grant a sum of one hundred dollars to Model schools in Gaspé and Bonaventure in accordance with the conditions stated in Mr.Rex- ford\u2019s report.The committee agreed that the schools at Marbleton, Chatham, Municipality No.1, school No.2, Portage du Fort, Mansonville, Aylmer, and Danville be placed on the list for inspection.The Sub-Committee on School Law beg to report : e \u201cThat since the last meeting of the committee they have received copies of the second part of the Revised Statutes designated,\u201d as \u201cTrrup VL, Puruic INsTRUCIION.\u201d \u201c Acting upon the suggestion made in their report of the 26th November last, they delegated to different members of their body and to the Rev.Dr.Weir the task of preparing the memoranda required for the classification of the subject.They have now received the following memoranda : 1.On educational grants, and school taxation.2.On the Constitution, Powers, and jurisdiction of the Protestant Committee.3.On the relation of the Superintendent to the Committee.4.On the scope and work of the different classes of schools.5.On the Normal school and the training of teachers.6.On the examination of teachers, and on diplomas.7.On modification in Revised Statutes as to inspection.In submitting these memoranda the sub-committee desire to state that they have as yet had no time to examine them in committee.These memoranda point out some apparent anomalies and discrepancies between the draft of the Revised Statutes and the Acts on which the draft 62 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.is based, and suggest various amendments.All these matters require careful consideration and attention on the part of the sub-committee.If the Government intend to proceed with the question during the ensuing session, such consideration and attention cannot be given, and the sub-committee see no other way of laying the views of the Protestant Committee before the Legislature than by the employment of counsel to prepare the necessary amendments from the data gathered and to urge them on behalf of the committee at the bar of the House or before the proper committees of the Legislature to whom the matter will be submitted.If, however, the matter be not urgent, and time be given, the sub-com- mittee will willingly continue their labours, simply now reporting progress and asking leave to sit again.Respectfully submitted, on behalf of the sub-committee.\u201d (Signed), R.W.HENEKER, Chairman.Quebec, 25th Feb.1885.On the motion of Dr.Heneker, seconded by Dr.Hemming, it was resolved :\u2014 \u201cThat the interim report of the sub-committee on school law be adopted and that the chairman, the Lord Bishop of Quebec, with Sir William Dawson and Dr.Heneker be and are hereby appointed a subcommittee to wait on the Premier of the Province, for the purpose of pointing out the difficulty of dealing with so important a question as the public instruction of the people without ample time for careful consideration and study thereof and requesting that no action be taken by the Government on that portion of the Revised Statutes having reference to education during the coming session of the Legislature.\u201d FROM A PROFESSIONAL STANDPOINT, WHAT SHOULD THE TEACHER READ?BY J.0.TAYLOR, TEXAS.In answer to the question, What should the teacher read ?one might reasonably say, Anything that any other man or woman ought to read.In answer to the question, From a professional standpoirit what should the teacher read ?one can only say, Such matter as directly concerns his business, and matter which, possibly, no one else does read.It is the fact that the teacher needs to know some things that the world at large is not expected to know, that insures to his calling the title of a professsion.The mere fact that the teacher's work is professional, does of itself inforce the necessity of a professional literature; and a profes- WHAT SHOULD THE TEACHER READ ?63 sional literature, being the result of the highest efforts of the best practical thinkers and workers in the calling, commends itself to the attention, the consideration, and the profoundest thinking of all who would duly appreciate the honor of their chosen work.In an eagerness, however, to pursue a special course of reading, the good results to be obtained from a well-chosen and maturely- studied general course ought not to be ignored.The man or woman who would know nothing but teaching, is sure not to know that.He who refuses to know what the world has done, is doing, and yet promises to do, in the line of progress,\u2014whether that be directly connected with the school-room or not, \u2014 refuses that which he needs, and in which he ought to be deeply concerned.The school-room occupies only one corner in a vast field of labor, and those who tend it, while stirring the soil and nurturing the delicate plants that commonly grow in such corners, act well the part of wisdom when they cultivate a liberal sympathy broad enough to reach every other point of the public moral garden.If we are friends to education, we are friends to any other enterprise that promotes a public weal.If we are friendly to human progress, we are hostile to that which hinders such progress.If we are friendly to the one, and hostile to the other of the two opposing elements in the make up of human affairs, then we are interested in what the world is interested in, we talk about what the world talks about, and read about what the world reads about.For the teacher to assume an air of indifference to political and other important current events, does not display high-mindedness, but narrow-mindedness.Only a few thoughts are required to bring one directly to the conclusion that all teachers would wisely provide themselves with the broadest possible course of general reading.Here we may leave this division of the subject and return to the question proper.Your attention is first invited to the consideration of such reading as has been alluded to as a means of information, Teaching is no more an isolated work than anything else, if indeed some do make it apparently so.Those engaged in the vocation should collect all the knowledge relating thereto that may lie within their reach.The teacher that trusts entirely to his own store of knowledge, and what he may acquire by actual experience, stands on an equal footing with the teacher of a century ago.He is dead 64 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.to all the rich germs of thought concerning his profession that have been collecting since the institution of the school.The science of education demands thought as well as the science of anything else.It not only demands thought, but it demands, by its growth, collected, concentrated, and sifted thought.This demand has been supplied by leading educators, and their failures and successes in the school-room come to us on the printed page, telling how to avoid their mistakes and uncertain experiments, and how to improve by their successes.Thus we are enabled to take up the line of thought where they quit it, and aid in the further development of the science; not spending our time and efforts in arriving at conclusions that were reached a hundred years ago.But it is not uncommon to hear an aged, and, no doubt, well- meaning fellow-teacher say, \u201c Well, I don\u2019t mind reading educational papers, works on methods, theory and practice of teaching, etc.; but then they never did help me much: I never could apply any such information in my school-room.\u201d Now the reason he cannot apply it, possibly, may be very evident.Perhaps he takes up some method that is not his own and tests its practicability by trying to make a verbatim application of it.Of course he fails in his part, and then lays the blame to the method.The truth of it is, he deserves nothing better than failure for having tried to ape another teacher.1t is not intended for a teacher to make any such use of information; for if so, then one small volume might contain all he would need in a lifetime.On the other hand, he is not expected to make a mimic of himself, but to employ his own methods, improved by the suggestions of others.What will meet the demands of one case, possibly, can never meet the demands of another.When one can throw together a dozen methods of others, extract from the mass half a method of his own, and then supply the other half by his own original thinking, he will be pretty apt to have a method worthy of a thorough testing.In short, a teacher must make a method of his own before he can successfully apply it.He ought to feel that he himself has something at stake in the test.And now we find ourselves treading on the borders of another reason why educational literature, as above explained, should be read by the teacher.It stimulates thought.By reading what others are/doing, the teacher is led to inspect his own work, to WHAT SHOULD THE TEACHER READ ?65 turn his own mind loose upon his own plans of conducting school work.His question becomes.How am I to devise better and more effective ways of developing mind, imparting instruction, and governing my school?I read that my fellow-teacher, A, has adopted such and such a method of insuring regular attendance.His plan would fail in my school, but since I have come to think about it, I know a plan that I feel quite certain will work.Asa result he adopts his better plan, and his school is thereby improved.One lurking evil of our schools is that stagnant condition of the teacher's mind.He needs to give more thought to his business.His time ought to be undivided and wholly given to school duties.When not in the school-room, he should be studying about what and how to do when he is there.The teacher\u2019s qualifications are to be estimated, not by the amount of ease with which he can teach, but by the amount of labor with which he does teach.Let us lay hold of all the ideas of teaching, that they may stir our own minds to think on the subject.Again, professional reading promotes a sympathy among teachers, which is for the good of individuals and the cause.The teacher presiding over a school in some secluded spot is prone to feel that he is alone, that his cause is almost deserted, and that it makes no difference whether he accomplishes much or little.He goes abroad in the neighborhood, meets two or three farmers and finds them exchanging opinions about the best way of carrying on a farm.They talk about when corn should be planted and wheat sown.No other subject draws out so much interest as that of farming.They feel that that is what the world is, or, at least what it ought to be, engaged in, and go home pleased with the prospect of their calling.In the meantime the unfortunate teacher is made to feel that he is an outcast, engaged in a business \u201cthat is in no way dishonorable, but, nevertheless, one that the world has neither the time nor inclination to think about.He needs to be brought, in some way, into contact with others of the same profession, and made to feel that his labors are not in vain, but that others are laboring in the same cause, striving for the same objects, and undergoing the same experience.The indifference with which the world regards the school-room will baffle any but the most resolute.In conclusion, we are led to understand that if the reading of educational matter supplies needed information, stimulates thought, 66 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.and promotes sympathy, then it necessarily arouses in the teacher that indispensable element of all good teaching without which the teacher becomes a school-keeper, and teaching a dull routine of mechanical operations upon child-mind.Enthusiasm is the element meant.This is the crowning advantage gained by reading school journals.The information is only a secondary consideration, the enthusiasm imparted, the primary.One is brought to realize that there is such a thing as an educational world, and that he stands in the very midst of an army of educators.He reads and feels that the tide of educational progress is bearing him onward.He learns to regard his work as one demanding his heartiest and most zealous efforts.He no longer is provoked and discouraged with the idea that the world is asleep on the subject of teaching.His latent ambition and aptitude for chosen lifework, spring into actual working force.Their stunted growth ig soon nourished into one of vigor and health.Enthusiasm is the key to love for one\u2019s work.Love for one\u2019s work, coupled with a moderate aptitude, is the key to success.\" REPORT OF A VISIT TO THE MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL, ST.LOUIS, MO.° S.C.STEVENSON, Esq., B.A., Secretary of the Council of Arts and Manufactures.As the question of the establishment of practical schools is attracting much attention, I took advantage of my recent trip to St.Louis, Mo., in December last, to visit the Manual Training School in connection with Washington University, in that city, in order to obtain such information as might be interesting in connection with this important subject.The school building is a fine structure of large dimensions, situated in à very desirable portion of the city, adjacent to the University at the corner of Washington Avenue and Eighteenth Street, having a frontage of 106 feet on the former, and 100 on the latter.I was courteously received by Dr.C.M.Woodward, the Director, who accompanied me through the building, and permitted me to see the various classes at work in the recitation rooms and in the workshops.The school differs from most other technical schools, but is conducted on a somewhat similar plan MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL.67 to that of the Boston School of Mechanic Arts.The .course extends over three years, and pupils are admitted at the age of fourteen.The school is not intended for the preparation of pupils for any particular trade, nor is it assumed that every boy who goes through will become a mechanic or a manufacturer.The main object of the school seems to be to modify the system of education in such a way as to adapt it to the changed conditions of modern life.It recognises the fact that a large number of the boys who go through our public schools will have to make their living by the work of their hands, and while in no way neglecting the growth and cultivation of the mind, it aims to train the hand at the same time.A great change has been wrought in the habits of the people by the introduction of steam and machinery.Has our system of education kept pace with these changes, or has it faced about to meet them ?This question is of the deepest concern to all who are interested in the progress and welfare of our country.Other countries are stirring themselves in the matter.We cannot afford to be laggards.I hope before long to deal with this subject more fully, and in the meantime will confine myself to a description of the St.Louis Manual Training School, the success of which seems to amply prove the possibility and wisdom of carrying on study and recitation simultaneously with tool instruction and manual exercise.Description of Shops and Tools\u2014There are, in all, five large shops.A third story room, 50 feet by 40 feet, is so fitted up that it can be used as a carpenter shop or as a wood-turning shop.A second story room, 40 feet by 40 feet, is fitted up similarly, and is furnished with lathes and benches for carpentry, wood- turning, and pattern-making.A ground floor, 40 feet by 40 feet, serves as a forging shop, being furnished with twenty-two forges, anvils, etc.The machine shop and engine room is on the first floor, 50 by 40 feet.It contains sixteen lathes, two drills, a planer, a shaper, and a full set of benches and vices.Each wood-working shop has uniform accommodations for a class of twenty-four pupils.Three such classes or divisions can be taught daily in each.Each pupil has one of the uniform sets of hand edge tools for his exclusive use, kept in a locked drawer 68 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD, when not in use.For the care and safety of these tools he is held responsible.The forging divisions are limited to twenty-two, and the machine shop sections to twenty.Details of Shop Instruction\u2014The shop instruction is given similarly to laboratory lectures.The instructor at the bench, machine, forge, or anvil, executes in the presence of the whole class the day\u2019s lesson, giving all needed instructions, and at times using the blackboard.When necessary, the pupils make notes and sketches (working drawings), and questions are asked and answered, that all obscurities may be removed.The class then proceeds to the execution of the task, leaving the instructor to give additional help to such as need it.The supply of raw nfaterials and of tools is the same for all.At the time specified the lesson ceases ; the work is brought in, commented on, and marked.It is not necessary that all the work assigned should be finished.The essential thing is, that it should be well begun and carried on with reasonable speed and accuracy.All the shop work is disciplinary.Special trades are not taught, nor are articles manufactured for sale.The Object of the School may be best stated in the words of Dr.Woodward\u2014 \u201cThe Manual Training School is not an asylum for dull or lazy boys.It clearly recognises the pre-eminent value and necessity of intellectual development and discipline.In presenting some novel features in its course of instruction, the managers do not assume that in other schools there is too much intellectual and moral training, but that there is too little manual training for ordinary American boys.This school exacts close and thoughtful study with book as well as with tools.It purposes, by lengthening the usual school day a full hour, and by abridging somewhat the number of daily recitations, to find time for drawing and tool work, and thus to secure a more liberal intellectual and physical development\u2014a more symmetrical education.\u201d The Development of Natural Aptitudes.\u2014 It is confidently believed that the developments of this school will prevent those serious errors in the choice of a vocation which often prove so fatal to the fondest hopes.It occasionally happens that students who have special aptitudes, in certain directions, find great diffi- MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL.69 culty in mastering subjects in other directions.In such cases it is often the best course to yield to natural tastes, and to assist the student in finding the proper sphere of work and study.À decided aptitude for handicraft is not unfrequently coupled with à strong averision to and unfitness for abstract and theoretical investigations.There can be no doubt that, in such cases, more time should be spent in the shop and less in the lecture and recitation room.On the other hand, great facility in the acquisition and use of language is often accompanied by a great lack of either mechanical interest or power When such a bias is discovered, the lad should unquestionably be sent to his grammar and dictionary rather than to the laboratory or draughting-room.Another great object of the school is to foster ahigh appreciation of the value and dignity of intelligent labor, and the worth and respectability of laboring men.A boy who sees nothing in manual labor but mere brute force, despises both the labor and the laborer.With the acquisition of skill in himself comes the ability and willingness to recognise skill in his fellows.When once he appreciates skill in handicraft he regards the skilful workman with sympathy and respect.Prospectus of the School.\u2014As I have before stated, pupils are admitted to the school at the age of fourteen, and candidates for admission should, in general, be prepared for the high school.The pupils are divided into three classes, the junior, the middle, and the third years, the fees in these being $60, $80, and $100 respectively.The course of instruction covers.three years, and the school time of the pupils is about equally divided between mental and manual exercises.The daily session begins at 9 a.m., and closes at 3-20 p.m.Each pupil has three recitations per day, one hour of drawing, and two hours of shop practice.The course of instruction embraces five parallel lines, three intellectual, and two manual, as follows :\u2014arithmetic, algebra, 2nd.A course in science and applied mathematics, including physical geography, natural philosophy, chemistry, mechanics mensuration, and book-keeping.3rd.A course in language and literature, including English grammar, spelling, composition, literature, history, and the elements of political science, and economy; Latin and French are introduced as electives with English. 70 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.4th.A course in penmanship, freehand, and mechanical drawing.5th.A course of tool instruction, including carpentry, wood- turning, blacksmithing, and bench and machine work in metals.The manual work of the junior year is in wood, including carpentry, and joinery, wood-carving, wood-turning, and pattern- making.In the middle year, blacksmithing, including drawing, upsetting, bending, punching, welding, tempering, soldering, and brazing.In the third year or highest class the manual work is in the machine shop, and consists of bench work, and fitting, turning, drilling, planing, screw cutting, etc, and also the study of the steam engine.It will thus be seen that while the manual work is an important feature of the school, intellectual culture is not by any means neglected.\u2019 The school has accommodation for 240 pupils, and each of the three classes is divided into sections.In going through the school I saw one section of the junior class working at algebra in the recitation room, and afterwards saw the same section, the boys with their aprons on, actively at work in the carpentry shop.In another recitation room I saw a section of the middle year, at English history, and afterwards saw the same boy# at work in the blacksmith shop, each by his forge, engaged in an exercise in welding.I was much struck by the eager interest which the boys manifested in their work.They looked bright and happy, and seemed to perform their task with intelligence and care, and with much more skill than I could have expected.I was so much interested in watching how they managed the fires, and hammered the iron, that I remained till the exercise was finished, when they all brought their work to the instructor, and he commented on the manner in which each piece was done, and gave instruction in regard to the defects he had observed while the class was at work.In answer to my enquiries Dr.Woodward assured me that the progress of the pupils in literature and mathematics was none the less, because they spent two hours a day learning the use of tools, and the conditions of materials.Indeed, from what I saw, I should think that this manual training was more like a delightful recess for the boys than hard work, and that they would go back to their studies with renewed zest, after this agreeable change of occupation.| MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL.; 1 I could go on at considerable length describing the many interesting things which I saw, but as my present intention is to give only a general idea of the working and objects of the school, I shall not trespass further on your time.I should have mentioned that students provide their own books, drawing boards, and drawing instruments, and also their own pocket tools.The school furnishes shop tools and materials.The excellence of the school and of the system on which it is conducted, manifest to any one who will visit it, and its success is attested by the fact that the applications for admission are far in excess of the capacity of the school.I attribute this success to the sound basis upon which the school is established, to the wise administration, energy and enthusiasm of Dr.Woodward, the director, and the remarkable fitness for their positions of the gentlemen who have charge of the workshops.Dr.Woodward claims that, even in manual training, the chief object is mental development and culture, and that manual dexterity is but the evidence of a certain kind of mental power.The primary object in the shop instruction is the acquirement of skill in the use of tools and materials, to impart a knowledge of how a machine or tool should be used, and not the attainment of the skill to produce the fine work or rapid execution of a skilled mechanic.I was very much impressed by my visit and I am convinced that if popular.education is to supply the needs of the day it, must, while not neglecting, or even subordinating mental culture, include in its scope this practical character, which will better enable the coming generation to deal with the material forces and the active work of life.The question naturally arises\u2014to whom does this duty belong.This new educational movement must advance\u2014it is advancing in other countries, what are we in Canada doing ?Shall we look to our Universities, our seats of learning, for a move in this forward direction ; they take good care to provide us with plenty of men for the professions, should they not also look to education in connection with the industrial and manufacturing industries of the country ?Should the work be taken up by our department of Public Instruction, or by our School Commissioners?Should the Council of Arts and Manufactures take it up, or should it be left to private enterprise ? THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.OUR TEACHING FACULTY.At the rear of Belmont street stands a plain stone building partially concealed by the branching maples that line its front.Its obscure site, sombre appearance and genuineness seem to indicate the nature of the future life and labor of the students within its walls.This is the McGill Normal School\u2014the Alma Mater of over 1,150 teachers.To many of our readers the name will be familiar, to more unknown, except in so far as they may have noticed it in the calendar as being connected with McGill University.From our more prominent position on the mountain\u2019s side, with a number of denominational colleges clustering around us, we are apt to overlook the more obscure institutions by which we are largely sustained.The McGill Normal teachers are the roots that provide not a little of the material for the growth of our beautiful educational tree.Obscure but noble toil.Happily for the world their ranks are filled by the best and truest of mankind, excelling in the purity and self-sacrifice of our theologians.Young men sometimes enter the ministry from widely different motives, among which a desire to gain distinction, honor and power in a highly honorable profession exerts no little influence.The teacher rarely thinks of aspiring to such greatness.His chief source of happiness is a consciousness of good work well done.We cannot rightly estimate the important part which the McGill Normal has acted from the time of its establishment in 1857 up to the present, in diffusing knowledge through superior methods of education and thereby advancing the true interests of our Province.A glance through the lately prepared list of graduates in which the number of years that each has spent in teaching is placed after his or her name, shows that a large number are growing old in the service having taught for fifteen, twenty and twenty-five years, while comparatively few never teach.The mute and solemn asterisks tell us too, that many have finished their life work and joined the grand majority of the world\u2019s philantrophists in the shadowy land.The number who received diplomas in the spring of 1862, were twenty-four, twenty years later the number was eighty-six.There is need for many more.In the returns of School inspectors, we frequently find it stated that schools under the charge of Normalites surpass all others.From an impartial standpoint, we have little hesitancy in saying that the Provincial academies and OUR TEACHING FACULTY.73 model schools conducted by teachers trained in the Normal, are more successful than those under the charge of B.A\u2019s.This statement will not reflect discredit on the course in arts in this and other Canadian universities when we consider that but a small proportion of the total number of pupils attending the academies study either Latin or Gre ek, and the greater part of the work consisting in advanced courses of the subjects taught in common schools\u2014subjects not included in an Arts course, but which hold a prominent place in the curriculum of the Normal.Besides, it would be folly to suppose that our average graduate, with no experience in teaching and possessing only a mass of undigested facts hurriedly obtained from ¢ Morrison\u2019s Art of Teaching\u201d before presenting himself at the McGill Normal to obtain its highest certificate, could successfully compete with the teacher who had spent three years in training for his profession.It may be held by some that the function of the academies is to prepare young men for college.Were this granted we would say by all means abolish the normal schools.If four-fifths of the pupils in the academies, instead of receiving a training that will fit the young women to take charge of elementary schools and the young men to become intelligent agriculturalists, artizans and merchants have to be neglected in order that a very few young men may acquire a smattering of Greek and Latin, sufficient to enable them to matriculate in a university and eventually swell the over crowded ranks of the professions of law or medicine, we say that the usefulness of the Normal is gone.About nine years ago a Normalite assume® the control of an academy situated in the central part an isolated county of this Province.The schools in this country at the time were in a wretched condition, the modes adopted in teaching being those in vogue in Great Britain about fifty years ago.The average attendance at the academy was about 60.During the three years of his principalship he prepared 18 pupils to pass creditable examinations for diplomas before the local board of examiners, two of whom received model school diplomas, three young men were fitted to enter universities, and the large remainder went back to the duties of the home, farm, shop and office, there to enjoy and to impart the knowledge gained.This was the result of three years\u2019 teaching, insignificant, indeed, had it ended here.The Normalite left but his love of order, excellent methods,\u2014energy and ability were reproduced in 74 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.the eighteen teachers he had trained.They carried out the task of reform which he had begun, and in consequence, a revolution was made in the schools of the county.This may be taken as a fair indication of the nature of the work done in many of the academies.All honor to the McGill Normal for the benefits she is yearly conferring on the English speaking portion of the population.Would that her real work were more generally recognized.Her greatest wants at present seem to be a new building and an increase in the staff of professors.Although these may not soon be obtained yet we expect much from it, under the able Principal- ship of Dr.Robins, in our opinion the best teacher in Montreal.A few years ago we were conducted through the garden, halls and class-rooms of the Ottawa Normal School, and could not but compare this beautiful building with the one in Montreal.We would like to see erected near McGill an edifice for the better accommodation of the hundred, or more, students in the Teaching Faculty before all the available space is taken up by denominational colleges.\u2019 If the United States can afford to equip and maintain over four hundred Normal Schools, the Province of Quebec should not feel impoverished by bequeathing a paltry sum for the support of three.The rising generation of the state of Michigan, are being taught by the one thousand teachers who annually graduate from the State Normal School.The four thousand students are trained by over two hundred professors and teachers, and occupy five magnificent buildings situated in a well shaded campus comprising forty acres.The Library alone cost $375,000 and is filled with one hundred thousand volumes.These few facts give but an imperfect idea of the best Normal on the American continent.They may serve, however, to awaken a desire for improvement in this direction in our land.The masses must be educated.Ignorance is dangerous.We welcome, therefore, each band of the Old Normal\u2019s alumni as they pass out beneath its portals into the larger world of usefulness and bid them God-speed on their noble work.Selfish man shrinks from the task that gently nurtured women has undertaken.To her is entrusted the all-important duty of moulding and training the youthful minds of Canada.The welfare of the nation depends upon the result.We have hope for its future.\u2014 McGill University Gazette.Ea u THE FIRST DAY IN SCHOOL.75 THE FIRST DAY IN SCHOOL.It is important that the teacher should go to his first day's work furnished with all the knowledge he can possibly have concerning the house, the neighbourhood, the pupils, and their previous progress.He may gain this knowledge by visiting the district, inspecting the school-house, conversing with the previous teacher, the directors, and others, and by inspecting the records of the pupils\u2019 progress and standing, if any have been kept.It ought to be required of every teacher that he should keep and leave in permanent form such records of his school as would give his successor fairly complete information concerning all pupils.In seeking knowledge concerning his future school the teacher should not allow himself to be biased by neighbourhood quarrels and jealousies, nor should he impress his patrons with the notion that he is over-anxious to obtain their views on schools and edu cation.He ought not to lead them to think that he is as pliable as the good-natured teacher who was willing to teach that the earth is round or flat, just as his patrons should choose.DEFINITE PLANS, It is of great importance that the teacher enter the schoolhouse on the first morning with a complete and definite plan of the work he proposes to do that day, and of the order in which the several steps are to be taken.Scarcely anything will so deeply impress his pupils with the idea that he is master of his business.PROMPTNESS, The teacher should be on time every day, but it is especially important that he should be very prompt the first day.If he intends to be at the house fifteen minutes before school on other days, let him be there half an hour before school time this morning.The pupils are usually present on the first day, and the mere presence of the teacher may prevent the organization of mischievous schemes ; besides, the furniture will need to be put in order, &e.He should greet his pupils cordially, but not show himself too anxious to become familiar.He should have his eyes wide open without seeming to be specially observant.If he detects some pupil whose look or manner seems to forebode trouble, it may be well to ask such a pupil pleasantly to assist in some of the work of preparation. 76 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.At the exact moment the signal for order should be given.If the house is furnished with a large bell, à warning signal may be given about ten minutes before the time to begin, to be followed by another slight signal at the exact time to begin.It is not well to give signals by pounding on the house with a ruler or in other uncouth ways; this is not putting things to their appro- - priate use.Bells have been used as signals for ages; this is their chief purpose.Let it be remembered also that the slightest signal is the best, provided it is sufficient.A single, sharp tap of the bell means more than a prolonged ringing ; it says, \u2018\u201c Come now,\u201d but the prolonged ringing says, \u201cCome after awhile.\u201d A visitor once passed an hour in one of those schools that seem to work like clockwork without any effort on the part of anybody; no school ever really moves in that way, however.The visitor was especially impressed with the prompt and exact manner in which the classes arose and passed to recitation: there seemed to be no signal.After the session she asked a little girl belonging to one of the classes, how the pupils knew when to rise and pass.\u2018\u201c Why,\u201d says she, \u201cdid you not see the master move his thumb ?\u201d ASSIGNING WORK.As soon as school is in order work should begin.Two minutes or less is time enough for a teacher\u2019s inaugural: a few words of greeting, a hope for diligence, good conduct, and success, heartily spoken ; this is enough.If devotional exercises are to be had on other mornings during the term, they should\u2019 begin now.As soon as they are over some work should be given immediately to each pupil, except perhaps the very youngest.Examples may be put onthe board for those who have been through the « ground rules\u201d of arithmetic, another set for those more advanced, a spelling lesson for the younger ones, some exact task for the classes in geography, &c.Let each pupil feel that a responsibility is put upon him, It makes little difference what the work is, only it must be useful, reasonable, and definite.Tix an exact time when the result will be called for, and do not neglect it when the time comes.TAKING NAMES.As soon as all are at work the teacher should proceed to take the names; this should be done with the least demonstration possible, If any of the pupils are working at the board, let them en mel THE FIRST DAY IN SCHOOL, TT write their names beside their work, give the older pupils slips of paper on which to write their names, pass to the others and take their names in a whisper or low tone of voice.Be sure to spell all the names correctly.It is very essential that the teacher learn to put the names and their owners together as soon as possible.A pupil is impressed very differently when his teacher calls him promptly by name from what he will be if the teacher designates him as the boy on the back seat, the boy with a red necktie, &c.He feels that in the teacher\u2019s mind he has passed out of the limbo indicated by \u201cboy\u201d into the field of true personality.Besides, as the pupils are so familiar with their own names, they feel that it is an indication of weakness for a grown man, a teacher, to be ignorant of what is so easy to them.To assist in learning the names it will be well for the teacher to be supplied with a plan or map of the school-room.; then, as soon as he ascertains a pupil's name, let him write it in the proper place on his plan.Of course the pupils will have been informed that they are to retain their present seats until they are changed by the teacher\u2019s order or permission.Having the plan before him, with all the names in their proper places, a careful glance from time to time at the name and face which belong together will soon associate them.He is a weak teacher in this respect who cannot learn to call each pupil in a school of forty promptly by name at the close of the third half day.TEMPORARY CLASSIFICATION.It is not wise to attempt to classify completely at first.Adopt the classes of the previous term; put new pupils where they seem to belong, taking care not to class them too high; let the pupils distinctly understand that this is all for the present, and any changes will be made as soon as you think best to make them.Having thus arranged the classes, assign each a regular lesson.In the afternoon of the first day put a temporary program on the board and by the second day the school should be in regular order,\u2014 Professor E.C.Hewitt, Illinois State Normal University. THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD, LOCAL GEOGRAPHY, Map-drawing cannot be too highly recommended as an important aid in the study of local geography.The effort that the pupil expends in striving to reproduce the map, helps to fix it firmly in his memory, because in order to transfer it to paper he is obliged to look carefully and examine closely.This is most important.The map should be photographed, as it were, in the mind.If you succeed in doing this, your pupils will be independent of map or book.Create in your pupils a desire to have their maps drawn as neatly and correctly as possible.By correctness I do not mean that every indentation and little curve should be reproduced, but a good, firm outline, so that any one looking at it will know what it is intended to represent.In beginning the study of a continent, for instance, Asia, for the first lesson require a map of Asia.Do not expect too correct an outline the first effort.Be satisfied when the general outline is good.If a pupil has tried and failed, do not censure, but encourage and aid him, and keep him at it, until he brings to you a pretty fair representation.As the class takes up each individual country of Asia, require a map of each, as a part of the daily lesson.In this way the shape and outline are much better remembered, and when they bound orally they feel that they know that of which they are talking.The map is their own.They see it.It is in the mind\u2019s eye, and they are not depending on the book.Have your pupils draw from memory.If your class is small, you can send them to the blackboard; if large, the class can use slates.Suppose the lesson is on Hindostan.Have the children draw on blackboard or slates an outline of Hindostan, the teacher meanwhile watching their work.Then ask questions, as: \u201c What is the shape of this country ?\u201d \u2018What waters surround the peninsular part?\u2019 What body of water east?\u201d ¢ South ?\u201d \u201cWest?\u201d \u201cWhat island directly south?\u201d \u201cWhat natural division of land forms the northern boundary?\u201d \u201cWhat are these mountains called ?\u201d \u2018From what country do they separate it?\u201d \u2018\u201c What is the principal river in Hindostan?\u201d Draw it on the map, on your slate, and locate Bombay, Calcutta.Or the teacher can call on one member of the class to go to the board and draw, the remainder of the class watching his work and cor- LOCAL GEOGRAPHY.79 recting mistakes.The teacher, chalk in hand, may locate the different cities, and as he does so ask the name, and whether it be inland or seaport, and why, and, according to the location, what branches of industry the people would probably follow: I think that as much useful, practical, business knowledge should be learned in geography as possible.If your pupils study geography in this way, it will certainly make them more intelligent and thoughtful.If you wish to review your pupils in the countries of Asia, after having finished it, require a map of Asia.The drawing of the map will freshen their knowledge better than studying it, because they will draw it intelligently.It does not take much time.Your pupils can draw all maps at home, save those you ask them to draw from memory in class.A few minutes will suffice for you to criticise and point out the worst mistakes, and for you to offer such suggestions as you think they need.It is an utter waste of time, and worse than useless to keep pupils trying to repeat boundaries and locations from memory.Let them remember the map, just as they remember a picture, and they will remember the boundaries, because, when the country is mentioned, they will immediately try to think how it looks and where it is, and the map is immediately before them in the mind, and they see the country-and its surroundings.In learning the elementary part of mathematical geography, drawing will be found useful.Children may repeat the definitions for parallels, meridians, zones, and circles forever, but they will not remember any longer than while repeating.But if you have them draw circles, meridians, zones, parallels, diameters, etc., and make them for themselves, they will know and feel conscious of knowing the difference between a parallel and a meridian, a diameter and a circumference.\u2014 Ex.Every teacher should have a plan.Hap-hazard work\u2014now looking in this direction, and now in that,\u2014will never produce good results.A purpose, and a logical method, in accordance with fixed principles, are absolutely requisite for the best teaching.On Monday morning every teacher should have in mind and in hand the work of the week, and should carry it through in accordance with a fixed and definite plan.Any plan is better than none, but a good plan is better than a poor one and there is such a thing as the best one./ - THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.LOCAL ITEMS.Protestant School Commissioners, Monireal.\u2014A special meeting of the Board held on Saturday afternoon, 28th February, and several matters of importance discussed.Sanitary reports upon the Ontario and Panet St.Schools were read, from the Inspector; the schools were found clean throughout and the improvements suggested ordered to be carried out.As by a recent Act, it appeared to be in the power of the Commissioners to enter into an agreement with Incorporated Companies in Hochelaga for the commutation of the school assessments for an annual fixed payment ; Mr.G.W.Stephens, B.C.L., M.P.P., was appointed attorney for the Board to ascertain upon what terms such a commutation could be effected.Messrs.Hutchison and Steele submitted a plan for the enlargement of the Sherbrooke St.School, by which it is proposed to use the vacant lot on St.Hypolite St.for the erection of a new three-story building of the same style and architecture as the present, containing six class-rooms capable of accommodating 300 scholars\u2014the cost to be about $14,000.The plan was approved in the abstracts and the architects asked for detailed plans and specifications.In the absence of Miss Hill from the Girls\u2019 High School, Miss Whitham was appointed substitute.A committee was named to advertise for and accept the annual tenders for printing and stationery.The Board declined to open the Panet St.School for night work, or to take up at this time the question of industrial education.The Teachers Association in connection with McGill Normal School held the third ordinary meeting on Friday, Feb.27th, at 8 o\u2019clock, in the Normal School hall.Dr.Kelley opened the proceedings with prayer, after which the minutes of the last regular meeting were read and confirmed.Miss Prevost then favored the Association with a piano solo.Dr.Kelley\u2019s Model Lesson, showing how geography and history might be combined, was a very instructive and interesting one.Mr.Shaw sang two songs, and the selections from patchwork, were read by Miss Peebles ; Miss Scott gave a reading and Hert Frankenstein\u2019s paper on \u201cThe Characteristic of the German School System,\u201d was well received.He traced the history of the education of the youth of Germany from their contract with the Kindergarten system to their final university study, and the adoption of a profession.After leaving the Kindergarten schools, the pupils were compelled by law to enter the elementary schools, and to remain there till the age of twelve.The rule of punctuality was most strictly enforced.For the first day\u2019s absence the pupil was fined seventy-five cents ; for the second, $1.50 ; and for the third the parents themselves were sent to gaol for 24 hours, unless a valid excuse could be shown.In case the parents were blameless in the matter, the offending pupils were sent to a reformatory.Owing to this stringent discipline there were very few truant scholars in Germany.After leaving the elementary schools the pupils entered the gymnasium, where they remained nine years ; and if, before the expiration of that period, they reached the seventh class, they had only to 81 CLIPPINGS.serve one year in the army.The general practice, however, was that the full nine years were spent in the gymnasium, and afterwards there ensued three or four years\u2019 army service.The university course embraced four more years after which the pupils left to glean practical outside information regarding the profession which they intended to adopt.They returned and passed their examination, and then were ready to engage in their life work, but it often happened that young men, whose studies were completed, had to wait for more a year before they could obtain employment, as the Government only permitted a certain number of lawyers, doctors and members of other professions to a district.Every person in Germany was, at least, able to read and write.Whatever might be urged against the Germans as to scientific attainments, Germany was pre-emi- nently the home of music, and he did not think the German could be found in whom the musical faculty was entirely lacking.The professor concluded with a high tribute to Canadian learning and literature.CLIPPINGS.Over and over again, is a motto which the teacher should keep constantly in mind.Nothing is of greater consequence.The first duty of the teacher is to set the pupil at work.When he has thought, then the teacher must see that his thought is correct and exact.Afterward, the over and over comes in, that by careful and thorough and oft-repeated views and re-views of the subject-matter and the explanations ;\u2014that is, the facts and the wherefore ;\u2014the child becomes so familiar with the matter as to be able to say, \u201cI know it,\u201d and also so that he will be likely to remember it.We rarely learn a truth, or a thing, by a single hearing, or a single effort at doing.The best scholars and the strongest men want to read over and over again the words of their favorite authors.How much more does the child need the over and over again ?oe A good way to conduct a rapid spelling exercise is as follows : Let all the pupils be provided with slips of paper and pencils, sharpened.All write the same words as pronounced by the teacher with as much rapidity as ought to be expected of pupils who know how to spell the words pronounced.Allow no questions.If a word is not understood, let it be represented by a dash.Each pupil is expected to understand, and the teacher must pronounce so that each pupil will understand.As soon as the words are all pronounced, the teacher spells, not pronouncing, each word previously pronounced.The pupils make a cross opposite each word misspelled, and at the close mark the number of words misspelled at the top of each slip.These papers are collected by monitors, and the results recorded in a book kept for the purpose.A mistake in marking counts double.No papers are returned unless a mistake is detected.All methods are subject to difficulties; this method has them, but it is an excellent plan under many circumstances. THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.CORPORAL PUNISHMENT OF BOYS.A.PEARSON, SENIOR SCHOOL, MONTREAL, Read before the Teachers Association in connection with McGill Normal School, Montreal.I think that a consideration of this subject may be of advantage to all of us, as it has at different times enforced our reflections, and has as often presented itself in a variety of aspects.And let me say at the outset that I do not reprobate corporal punishment for boys altogether; but I desire to consider for a few minutes the attitude of the spirit of the present age towards it; the desirability of ite reduction to a minimum; the grounds upon which a teacher is warranted in calling in its aid; and lastly, how utterly futile it is as a means of discipline in the hands of lady-teachers.Any one who has been connected with our profession for a considerable number of years cannot but have observed a vast change in the public mind regarding the whipping of boys.In the younger days of those of us even who have not yet reached middle age\u2014especially old country people\u2014the administration of corporal punishment to a boy was accunted unto the teacher, by the parent, as a virtue ; and it was not unfrequently supplemented by one of a domestic character, if the report of the former infliction reached home.No matter whether the boy was in fault or not: in flagrant misdemeanour the parental seal of approbation was almost invariably affixed to the pedagogue\u2019 judgment, by the domestic strap.oa /, Home discipline also was much more generally maintained at the end of a pair of taws than now-a-days.\u2018 He that spares the rod spoils the child,\u201d was a doctrine of home rule, as firmly received, as were other articles of creed in matters of a very different character, but which are now obsolescent.What is the position of this matter to-day?We know that we must take society as as we find it, and to a certain extent, even professionally yield to its influence.And we cannot but perceive that one af those mysterious social waves, which are continuully lapping against old institutions and conservative feelings, has, at last, after having for years abraded society, encroached on some of the old landmarks, and among other things CORPORAL PUNISHMENT OF BOYS.83 obliterated the desire for war and bloodshed, capital punishment, flogging in the army and navy, and many other forms of punishment.Among these I fancy whipping a boy for any fault in school finds a place.*A feeling of repulson of these practices is characteristic of the times in which you and I live.It is not for me to animadvert, in a short paper like this, to the probable disastrous effect on the country, on society, by the abolition of these institutions.This only I may be allowed to say by way of dogma: the average civilized boy is hardly etherialised enough yet to warrant the ¢otal abolition of corporal punishment.Nevertheless we must always contemplate it as but a necessity, disagreeable to the giver and certainly unacceptable to the receiver.Consequently the less we are compelled to practise it the more comfortable for all.Many\u2014at least some- deadly poisons become no longer terrible and fatal if resorted to habitually ; and so with whipping boys; they become hardened.by frequent chastisement ; they assimilate themselves to suffering ; they accustom themselves to castigation as do those poor miserable City Passenger Car horses on Sundays as they drag the righteous of our community to church.Let me here insert a warning to young teachers.When a person calls on you and begs of you to whip her son nigh unto death, Don\u2019t.If she thinks you will do it, home she goes, seats herself down to all the horrors of imagination, and pours out on your head the direst anathemas.To take a mother at her first word regarding her boy is worse than foolishness.A more important aspect of the question now opens to us.When should you or I whip a boy ?Surely the infliction of this act is for the purpose of improving the child ?Then, if it is to be resorted to we must take the greatest care that it be effective.A failure, to my mind, would amount to a moral calamity.How can we make this punishment effective ?This result depends on the judgment of the teacher and on the nature of the fault.We must never forget that the teacher was made for the child, and not the child for teacher.The highest part of our duty is not in cramming young heads with a motley load of facts; but in developing the best moral and intellectual faculties in the child in the best possible way.And this is not unfrequently overlooked in busy times, such as precede examinations for instance; for then it is likely that 84 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.we are likely to be absorbed by the exclusive idea\u2014how to stuff a pupil with any amount of knowledge at any cost; then itis that we are too much inclined to manipulate the child like a machine made to grind out his stores of learning fowour glory; and it is then that the just relation of pupil and teacher is apt to be reversed, and the boy becoming made for the teacher.And in this period of high educational pressure the teacher is not altogether to blame for this, seeing she has to fight against all the difficulties of ignorance, incapacity, wilfulness, and neglect, incident to her experience of our profession; and yet at the end of the year she is expected to produce results unattainable.I think we may almost be right in attributing some of the faults at least of teachers to quarters somewhat more elevated than our humble brother and sisterhood.That this is unavoidable and unintentional in a young, progressive, yet admirable system of education we are aware; and as time goes on, the balance will assuredly be adjusted.Of course in speaking to Montreal teachers I am understood now to refer to the system surrounding us and with which you and I are identified.Again: Should or may a boy be punished corporally for any manner of fault ?To my mind corporal punishment is one of the worst iniquities that can be laid on a boy.To pain the flesh of another man\u2019s child is no small matter, and both parties feel this keenly ; so that to make it effective and win some sympathy from parents, let the affliction be administered for few faults, except those which from their degradedness demand a degrading punishment.We should endeavour to reserve this, as exclusively as we can, for the correction of unmanliness, untruthfulness, impertinence to superiors, insubordination, grossness and indecency, dishonesty and the like.Justice, in these cases, can only be fully satisfied by the use of the strap.° We know that flogging in prison is now almost altogether reserved for crimes, \u2018\u201c which even to mention would be unlawful,\u201d and so should it be elsewhere.(To be continued.) - BOOK NOTICES.BOOK NOTICES.Primer and First Reader.By E.A.Turner.Boston: Ginn, Heath & Co.This little book of 118 pages is designed to be introductory to \u201cClassics for Children.\u201d It is prepared with special regard to the wants of beginners ; nearly all the words are monosyllables; the sentences are short and adapted to the understandings of young children and it is printed in large type.The first sixteen pages are to be taught from the blackboard.Methods of Teaching and Studying History.Edited by G.Stanley Hall.Boston: Ginn, Heath & Co.Price, $1.50.We had occasion in a former issue to speak of the rare merit and utility of this volume.Since then it has been entirely recast and re-written.It contains a collection of essays giving the opinions and modes of instruction, actual or ideal, of eminent and representative specialists.To the young and inexperienced teacher of history it must be of invaluable service in suggesting historical methods, and especially in directing to the most authentic sources of information ; for not the least valuable part of the book is the very full catalogue, arranged under various heads, of works on history and collateral subjects.We feel confident that the influence of this volume will be extensively felt ; it will guide, it will suggest, it will stimulate; its tone is that of one who knows.Scott's Lady of the Lake.Edited by Edwin Ginn.Boston: Ginn, Heath & Co.Price, 35 cents.The \u201cClassics for Children,\u201d of which this volume is one, is destined to do a double work\u2014that of instilling into the minds of our youth a healthy love for good literature, and, consequently, that of discouraging the reading of pernicious trash.This volume contains a brief life of Scott, and his critical notes on the poem carefully abridged, with sufficient annotation to make it easily read by children ten years old.The type is large, clear, and pleasant to the eye.The series is chiefly intended for use in public schools.Kingsley's Greek Heroes.Edited by John Teilow, Master of the Girls Latin School.Boston: Ginn, Heath & Co.Price, 35 cents.Of the \u201c Classics for Children\u201d eight volumes have already been published.The \u201cGreek Heroes,\u201d originally prepared by the author for the use of children, is full of instruction and entertainment for the youthful mind.It gives, in a style of elegant simplicity, the legends of Perseus, the Argonauts, and Theseus, and thus prepares the way for an intelligent entrance to the higher walks of our literatnre, wherein so much that is drawn from Greek history or legend is interwoven.The book is printed in large type and on good paper.Heroditus Book VI and VII with Introduction and notes, critical and explanatory, has been issued by Harper & Brothers, in their new classical geries.The Greek type is very clear and the notes are excellent.The editor, Dr.Merriman, of Columbia College, gives a short life of 86 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.Heroditus, an epitome of his works and summary of his dialectical peculiarities, the whole forming a valuable edition for students.For sale by Dawson Bros,, Montreal.Hermann Lotze\u2019s Outlines of the Philosophy of Religion, translated by George S.Ladd, of Yale College, is the second of this series of outlines published by Ginn, Heath & Co., Boston.This series gives a concise statement of the philosophic teachings, and is being very well received by those interested in the subject.(Ginn, Heath & Co.) NOTES OF A LESSON ON A COMPLEX SENTENCE.Introduction.\u2014 Write upon blackboard a simple sentence, as \u201cHonest men are happy,\u201d and analyze.Show that the attribute, \u201c honest,\u201d may sometimes be a sentence itself, and convert the given sentence into \u201c Men who are honest are bappy.Meaning of a subordinate sentence\u2014Point out that the sentence \u201c who are honest\u201d cannot be used by itself; it belongs to the noun, men, and thus depends upon the sentence, \u201c Men are happy.\u201d Explain that such sentences are called \u201c subordinate,\u201d while sentences like \u201c Men are happy,\u201d which can be used by themselves, are called principal.Children may now note down: A subordinate sentence is a sentence which cannot stand alone, but depends upon some other sentence.A principal sen., etc.The complex sentence.~\u2014~When a sentence contains both a principal and a subordinate sentence, the whole is called a complex sentence, as \u201cMen who are honest are happy.\u201d Give a few other examples, children pointing out the principal and subordinate sentences.Kinds of sub.sentences.\u2014Explain the three kinds of subordinate sentences.(a.) The adj.sentence.\u2014In the sentence given above show that because \u201cwho are honest\u201d takes the place of an adjective it is called \u201can adjective sentence.\u201d Other examples.(b.) The noun sentence.\u2014Take another sentence, as \u201c The saying is true.\u201d Change it into \u201c What they say is true,\u201d and explain that \u201c What they say\u201d is called a noun sentence, because it takes the place of a noun, viz., the \u201c saying.\u201d (¢.) The adverbial sentence\u2014Take another sentence, as \u201cHe came ~ directly.\u201d For \u201cdirectly\u201d substitute \u201c when he was called,\u201d and explain why, it is an adverbial sentence.A few other examples will complete a esson.DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.\u2014OFFICIAL NOTICES.His Honor the Lieutenant Governor has been pleased, by an Order in Council, dated the 23rd January instant, (1885), to appoint the Rev.Mr.Louis Nazaire Bégin, priest, of Quebec, as principal of the Laval Normal School of Quebec, in the room and stead of the late Mr.Pierre Legacé, priest.By an Order in Council, of the 7th February, (1885), to change the name of the school municipality of the village of Notre Dame de Grâces, Hoche- laga, to that of the viliage of Côte St.Antoine, and to appoint Mr.James K.Ward, John Major, James F.Macfarlane, Alex.C.Hutchison and Thos.Patton, school commissioners for the said municipality, to replace the trustees hitherto acting.By an Order in Council, dated the 25th February instant, (1885), to appoint Messrs.Alexander Beaton and J: mes Colquhoun, school commis- slonors for the municipality of Harrington No.2, in the county of Argen- teni ,, Neither Boston, Philadelphia, nor New York can rival them.\u201d\u2014Presbyterian Witness, Halifax, IV S, .\u201cIf the books have any fault they are too beautiful.,\u201d\u2019\u2014Montreal Gazette.G-AGE\u2019S New Canadian Readers.\u2014\u2014 f\u2014 - NEWFOUNDLAND.\u2014Recommended by the Superintendents of Education.MANITOBA.\u2014Authorized for use in the Schools of the Province./ QUEBEC.\u2014Authorized for use in the Schools of the Province.Adopted by Protestant School Commissioners for use in Montreal.Introduced in the Schools of City of Quebec, Sherbrooke, Three Rivers, and many other Schools in the Province.PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND,\u2014Recommended by Superintendent of Edncation JAMAICA, WEST INDIES.A\u2014Recommended by Superintendent of Education.ONTARIO.\u2014Authorized by the Minister of Education.WHAT IS SAID BY TWO WELL-KNOWN INSPECTORS.To the Trustees and Teachers of Lincoln and City of St.Catharines.As the acting Minister of Education has recently authorized two new sets of reading books, it becomes necessary, to secure uniformity in classes, to avoid confusion in buying, and to prevent loss of money to parents, that Trustees and Teachers shall, with as little delay as possible, consider the adoption of one, and only one, of these series, To exemplify this necessity, suppose that the city of St.Catherines were to adopt one, and the county of Lincoln or the town of Thorold, the other; then children of parents moving from one to another of these places would find themselves obliged to buy new books.- \u2018To be in a position to express an opinion on the merits of the two series to the many inquiring Trustees and Teachers, we have compared them carefully, and have no hesitation in stating, that Gage\u2019s \u2018\u201cCanadian\u2019\u2019 is superior to the \u2018\u2018 Royal\u201d series, for the following reasons : 1.The \u201cCanadian\u201d is cheaper by 34 cents per set.The type is much larger and the spaces between lines greater.The engravings are better, and in the earlier books more numerous, thus affording a greater variety and a far wider range in object-teaching.The lessons are carefully graded as to matter and difficulties.The books are not too large, hence may be mastered by the pupils in the two school terms of the year.k There is more literature, either on Canadian subjects, or written by Canadian & authors on other topics.È The following excellent features of Gage\u2019s \u2018Canadian\u2019 series seem entirely wanting in the \u2018\u2018 Royal\u201d :\u2014 Pictorial tablets adopted to the most modern methods of teaching reading, and embracing admirable black-board drill on phonics, and exercises in script.Script, in the earlier books, viz.: the primers and the second book, that children may practise, as well as read, writing.: A series of Bible readings and Temperance lessons.Articles on \u2018/ How to Resuscitate the Drowned,\u201d ** How to Retain Health,\u201d &e.Definitions and pronounciations of the more difficult words in the lessons, placed at the beginning of each.Questions and suggestions at the end of each lesson, beginning in the second book A summary of Canadian History.9 Tk wh 19 pee » (Signed) JAMES B.Grey, I.P.S., Lincoln.J.H.McFaur, I.P.S., St Catharines.St, CATHARINES, Ont., August 9th, 188 - TEACHERS\u2019 AIDS.MORRISON'S SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.ccivevevnnnnnn, $1.25 CURRIF\u2019S SCHOOL EDUCATION .200 000 sa00 cases va 0000 2.00 EMBERSON\u2019S ART OF TEACHING.New Edition, with additional Notes by DR.ROBINS «cceeve tortie oveeos aes connannnns 60 HUGHES MISTAKES IN TEACHING .cevvirieinerananenn, 50 Do.HOW TO SECURE AND RETAIN ATTENTION.50 PARKER'S TALKS ON TEACHING .00020s00cec a su 000000 1.00 BRIGHT'S GRADED INSTRUCTION IN ENGLISH.45 GAGES ELEMENTARY LESSONS IN ENGLISH.c.0u.35 CROCKER\u2019S METHODS OF TEACHING GEOGRAPHY.35 CALKIN\u2019S OBJECT LESSONS.+0 sesssw seen savane 0e0eu000 1.25 WILLISON\u2019S DY sacsvennse seen sono sen 000 ane sonne 1.25 GOW'S PRIMER OF POLITENESS .00sscccoce seen cuuu 0e 75 A FULL SUPPLY OF School and College Text-Books.ALWAYS ON HAND: MAPS, GLOBES, ETc, FTC.EVERY REQUISITE FOR SCHOOL FURNISHING.Information about School-Books willingly supplied.Mail orders promptly executed.W.DRYSDALE, & CO.Publishers and Booksellers, 232 ST.JAMES STREET, MONTREAL.SEND FOR EDUCATIONAL CATALOGUE. PUBLICATIONS \u2014 OF \u2014\u2014 The Gazette Printing Company THE GAZETTE 1778) (ESTABLISHED The Oldest and Best Paper in the Dominion.DAILY, $6.00 A YEAR.- - - WEEKLY, $1.00 A YEAR.THE LECAL NEWS, Tee ONLY WEEELY Law PAPER IN CANADA.JAMES KIRBY, LL.D.D.C.L., Epiror.SUBSCRIPTION, $4.00 A YEAR.Canada Medical & Surgical Journal The oldest Medical Journal in the Dominion.Published Monthly.GEO.ROSS, A.M., M.D, and T.G.RODDICK, M.D., Editors, SUBSCRIPTION, - - - $3.00 A YEAR, THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD, Published every month.The medium through which the Protestant Committee of the Council ot Public Instruction communicates its Proceedings and Official Announcements.SUBSCRIPTION, - - - - - $1.00 A YEAR.Book and Job Printing Department, THE BEST APPOINTED JoB PRINTING HOUSE IN CANADA.Estimates Given.All orders by mail or telegraph promptly attended to.Appress, RICHARD WHITE, Man.Dir.Gazette Printing Co., Montreal. 32 BELMONT STREET, MONTREAL.intendent of Public Instruction for the Province of Quebec and the Corporation of McGill University, is intended to give a thorough training to Protestant teachers.The complete course extends over a period of three annual sessions\u2014 an Elementary School Diploma being obtained at the close of the first session, a Model School Diploma at the close of the second, and an Academy Diploma at the close of the third.All these Diplomas are valid as authori%ations to teach in any part of the Province of Quebec, without limitation of time.None are admitted to the School but those who intend to devote themselves to teaching in the Province of Quebec for at least three years.To such persons, however, the advantages of the School are free of charge, and those who are successful in getting Diplomas receive, at the close of the session, a sum not exceeding $36 in aid of their board, and, if they reside more than ninety miles from Montreal, a small additional sum towards their travelling expenses.Admission to the School is by examination only.The conditions of admission to the higher classes may be learned by consulting the Prospectus of the School.Candidates for admission to the Class of the First Year must be able to parse correctly a simple English sentence; must know the Continents, greater Islands, Peninsulas, and Mountains, the Oceans, Seas, larger Gulfs, Bays, Straits, Lakes and Rivers, and the chief political divisions and most important Cities of the world; must write neatly a Dictation from any School Reader, with no more than five per cent.of mistakes in spelling, in the use of capitals and in the division of words into syllables; and must be able to work correctly examples in the simple rules of arithmetic and in fractions.The next session of the School opens September 1st, 1884.Names of candidates will be enrolled on the 1st and 2nd days of the month, examinations will be held on the 3rd, successful candidates will be received, and lectures will commence on the 4th.Forms of application, to be partially fllled at the places of residence of candidates, and copies of the Prospectus of the School, may be obtained by application to the Principal, Dr.Robins.When issued, the Prospectus of the School for 1884-5 will be sent to every Protestant minister of Quebec, so far as addresses are attainable.McGinn NorMAL SCHOOL HIS Institution, under the joint control of the Honorable the Super- "]