The educational record of the province of Quebec, 1 août 1891, Août - Septembre

[" tit Ln \u201cTHE EDUCATIONAL RECORD OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC.AUGUST, 1891.Articles: Original and Selected.THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION.In the space at our command it would be utterly impossible to give anything like a full account of the International Convention of Teachers held in the city of Toronto last month.While the Convention was in progress the daily papers gave the usual minute reports of the work accomplished, and from the accounts contained in them there may be formed some idea of the greatness and importance of such a gathering to the cause of education on this continent.From the Montreal Witness we select the following careful summing up of the proceedings : \u201cThe National Educational Association has been in continuous existence for about forty years.During a large part of that time its annual membership was very small and the attendance but little larger.The First President of the Association was at this Toronto meeting, and as he has attended many of the intervening sessions he has had ample opportunity to note the rate of progress.At first it was slow and discouraging.Education Was a State, not a national matter, and the State Conventions easily took the precedence over the national one as a matter of public interest.But nationality of feeling came in like a flood in the wake of the civil war; the National Government established an educational bureau of observation and publication ; and soon the National Association began to grow in importance and usefulness.During the years of its development it has 14 ID 02 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.taken on a peculiar character, which, though by no means stereotyped, has become comparatively fixed.It is old enough to have traditional methods, but not conservative enough to be unwilling to modify them.Its officers are always experienced and able men.No others can come to the front in a body with a membership so large and so intelligent.Of the methods adopted it may be said generally that they are exceedingly effective.The mornings and evenings are given up to mass meetings, and the afternoons to meetings of sections or departments.The number of these sections tends, of course, to increase with the growing tendency of the day to differentiation and specialization.At present they are (1) kindergarten, (2) elementary, (3) secondary, (4) higher, (5) normal, (6) superintendence, (7) industrial and manual, (8) art, and (9) music.To these have been added, in a tentative way, \u201c conferences for original research,\u201d of which six were designated for this year, only one, however, being at all successful, that held under the direction of Dr.Stanley Hall for the study of mental growth in children.This is a feature of the Association\u2019s meetings which will probably grow in interest and usefulness, for it has in it great possibilities of development.The attendance was enormous and was thoroughly international.The membership numbers thousands, and of these, Canadians constituted probably as large a proportion as the population of the Dominion bears to that of the United States.Canadian delegates took a fairly prominent ie share in the procedings, and to all appearance were quite up to Ey the general average in ability to do so with credit to themselves L and advantage to the body as a whole.The various provinces is of Canada were represented individually, the largest contingent 408 being from Ontario, and the next largest fron Quebec, the Ei Maritime Provinces contributing small but somewhat distin- bi.guished delegations.All sections of the United States were 4 well represented, and most of the States had \u201c headquarters,\u201d at ji which local enrolment of delegates was made.On the whole, = the vast gathering was thoroughly representative of the continent, from the Gulf of Mexico to the northern limit of À inhabited Canada, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.oy In preparing for such a meeting, it is natural that there should be a good deal of anxiety as to accommodation, and this occasion was no exception.No city in America has ever been subjected to so severe a strain in this respect as Toronto has i just endured, but the precautions taken were so effective that 2 the whole mass of visitors were quietly located as fast as they B arrived, with far less than the usual amount of friction and SA O THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION.203 worry.At no time during the meeting was the accommodation at the disposal of the Committee at all exhausted, and many householders, who had blindly offered to take in lodgers, were never required to give up their rooms for that purpose.This satisfactory state of things was due largely to the fact that Toronto has each September to accommodate a large crowd of visitors to the industrial exhibition, but still more to the energetic and intelligent services rendered by the billeting committee which was made up chiefly of ladies.Their experience as charitable workers was of the utmost value to the local management.It is pleasant to be able to record that no attempt at extortion was made except by one boardinghouse-keeper, who was quietly exposed and who narrowly escaped prosecution for obtaining money on false pretences.If any other Canadian city should have the honor and profit of being selected as the place of meeting for the Association, the experience of Toronto might profitably be drawn upon, not merely with respect to providing accommodation, but also with respect to holding the exhibition which has become the constant appendage to the convention.Though it was a marked success this year it might easily have been made still more striking but for two drawbacks, (1) the lack of experience on the part of the local committee, and (2) the trouble and delay caused by the Customs line.United States contributors should have shipped their exhibits a few days earlier to enable the management here to get them in time, and the local committee, if they had their work to do over again, would avoid some mistakes into which they naturally fell.The exhibits were of two classes, (1) school supplies sent on as specimens by manufacturers, and (2) school work, done by pupils.For the former a charge was made with a view to revenue, but the latter was admitted free.As a whole, the display was a very interesting one and it attracted a constant stream of visitors, both domestic and foreign.Thousands of people went to see it over and over again, and it fairly divided with the meetings and the excursions the attention of the whole community.The excursions referred to were a most useful arrangement.A large steamer was chartered for short runs to points of interest near the city, and special rates were secured by the ordinary rail and steamer routes to places more remote.Thousands of visitors took advantage of these sources of recreation, and those who did so went away with recollections all the pleasanter for this agreeable form of diversion.These local excursion rates by regular routes were available for a few days after the Convention, and many strangers were thus able to EEE EEE EL HR 4 8 204 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.visit Niagara, Muskoka, the Upper lakes and the St.Lawrence who would otherwise have been deprived of the opportunity.The number of these who stayed over for this purpose, and also with a view to learn what they could of our educational institutions, was surprisingly large.The people of Toronto have no reason to complain of any lack of appreciation on the part of the foreign visitors.Their feelings were officially expressed in formal resolutions, couched in the most laudatory language, but this was mild compared with the expression of gratitude which dropped from the delegates in private.They had evidently come with the determination to put up with the drawbacks and disappointments incident to such meetings, and when they found few or none they were agreeably disappointed.They were delighted with the weather, with the city, with the meetings, and above all with the prevalent, if not universal, desire to treat them, not as boarders, but as friends.Without any conscious purpose to make the convention pay, the people of Toronto took the surest way to secure such a result, for the general chorus of praise so freely uttered here will re-echo in thousands of United States journals wherever the delegates have their homes.For the manner in which the event came off, great credit is due to the chairman and secretary of the local committee, J.L.Hughes and H.J.Hill.The long experience of the latter in connection with the Industrial Exhibition made him invaluable, and it 1s difficult to see how he could have been dispensed with.It is not easy to describe in brief space the work of the association during the meetings or praise the results.The public addresses were good in themselves, but they were, of necessity, heard by only a few.Many valuable reports were made by committees, which will be the subject of future action.A step forward was taken in the way of inducing the teachers of America to take charge of the spelling reform movement with a view to decisive action at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893.A good beginning was made in round table or seminary discussion.But the best work was done in the meetings of departments, where the attendance was smaller and the audiences were homogeneous.The subject of university extension was one of the most interesting of those so discussed, and it received a decided impulse.So did the work of the kindergarten, which is likely to become more popular and more widely diffused in consequence.One of the most important incidents for Canadians was the formation of a dominion educational association.A large and representative gathering resolved to go into this organization and appointed a council for SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION.205 the double purpose of preparing a programme and framing a constitution.Doubtless, the first meeting of the new association will be held in Toronto in 1892, and if this be the case the members may reckon on a most enthusiastic welcome.SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION.The world of thought fully recognizes the composite structure of mind\u2014and in a general way the necessity of education for tbe development of faculty into harmonious and efficient action.We say in a general way this necessity of education 1s recognized, for in practice the methods employed by teachers and parents have but a partial application.It is the intellect that receives the chief attention.The text-books, the discussions among those learned in psychology, the routine of the school room, the profounder interest of the home guardian relate to the development of that division of human faculties that concern sense perception, reasoning on the nature and use of the objects of sense, and the application of physical instrumentalities to the attainment of certain material results.Children have one leading object set before them at home and at school, viz, an independent position, the meaning of which is the possession of so much money or property that will place them above the necessity of labor and cominand the respect of society.With this object clearly in view, habits are mculcated that exercise constantly those faculties that consider the conventional uses of things, that estimate the material values of the products of nature and industry, and descriminate the results of effort on the side of their essential quality and application.So the eyes and ears, the hands and feet are directed and trained by daily practice in lines contributory to what is regarded as profitable and advantageous to self.It is not difficult to see that if the individual be naturally endowed with a disposition to self-indulgence, and has but a moderate regard for the interests of others, the cultivation of the faculties indicated in the way just described would strengthen his acquisitiveness and render him more and more disposed to self-seeking.One of the best outcomes of educational thought is the Kindergarten.Starting with the axiom that when the child is old enough to observe, Le, to use his physical senses, he is old enough to receive training, a carefully formulated system is applied to the evolution of the practical faculties in a manner that shall be thorough, and furnish the young life with a solid basis for the future.The training of the Kindergarten, how- RIE SORE 206 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.ever, relates to the use of the eyes and ears and hands mainly.It aims to provide employments of a simple nature that shall please children\u2014while it trains their budding faculties in a gradual way, to discriminate closely the nature of common objects, to be exact in regard to form, color, proportion, number, and other qualities that enter into the constitution of things with which our daily life is associated.This work of the Kindergarten is of high importance as preliminary to the entrance upon the more serious studies of the school, but it chiefly concerns the organic centres that relate to the intellect.There is some moral exercise, to be sure, associated with the child-garden, but it 1s incidental to the association of the little ones, and does not enter definitely into the formularies of the instruction.Human character is colored by the strength of its motives, and the coloration seems more conspicuous according to the line of action pursued by the individual.Motives arise from suggestion influencing one\u2019s more active feelings or instincts.Ill- regulated feeling imparts an unworthy or spasmodic character to motives, and the practical faculties that respond to these motives having received thorough systematic training, may do their part skilfully, but at the same time with the achievement of material success the man may sink in moral turpitude and mendacity.Here and there the example occurs of the lawyer, the bank officer, the business man, pre-eminent for shrewdness and tact in the management of the affairs in his charge, whose lapse from moral integrity becomes known to the world through some gross fraud.With every intellectual faculty trained to a high degree of activity, giving him power to estimate with minute exactness the probable outcome of this or that enterprise, he was sadly wanting in the one element most essential to self-control, moral discrimination.This not because he was born without the faculties that constitute the moral sense, but because they were not trained to perform their normal part in the operations of his mind.It seems to be commonly expected that the moral elements will take care of themselves, and at the proper time, whatever that may be, will come to the front and exercise their rectifying influence.The disciples of heredity are heard declaring that this one is vicious or criminal because he has not enough of the moral elements in his mental economy, and that another is upright and noble because he is so fortunate as to have inherited a large share of these desirable elements.It would seem, according to the opinion of some, that accident had much to do SYSTEMATIC MORAL EDUCATION.207 with the proportion of the nobler sentiments that men exhibit in character.But we do not accept these views of the matter, and would point to the conspicuous inconsistency of the heredity doctrinaires in their treatment of the intellectual faculties.Would they forbear sending a child to school, because of apparent deficiency in some of them, unless he were a pronounced idiot ?Certainly not.For the training of the school may brighten up an intellect that seemed very dull.Why make so illogical a descrimination between components that exist side by side in the same mind, and whose expression is dependent upon similar physiological conditions ?Let us exemplify the different treatment that these two factors of mental capacity receive at the hands of society.As soon as the child is able to use his eyes and ears efficiently, his instruction about things is begun.He is told the names of the objects surrounding him : their uses are explained, and gradually his memory is stored with information that bears chiefly on that which concerns self maintenance, so that his elders will be relieved as much as possible of the care incident to watching his movements.He is taught to read and write; then comes the course in arithmetic, grammar, geography, history, ete., a gradual progress being made with the development of intellectual capacity.It is \u201c \u201cline upon line and precept upon precept\u201d that constitutes the order of his instruction.He is required to commit to memory rules and definitions, and to repeat them over and over again until they become so firmly fixed in his mental substance that their operation is unconscious, or a secondary intuition.Thus as he reads he understands without effort the significance of words and phrases, and in performing an example in arithmetic he adds, subtracts, multiplies, and divides off-hand without consciously recognizing the steps of the process which were so laboriously and perhaps tediously acquired.Is he studying geography, the teacher requires him to note thoroughly the charasteristics of form, climate, soil, products and population of a country ; its boundaries and relation to other countries near and far; latitude and longitude, ete, and he is not considered well up in the topic until he can answer promptly any questions that are asked him.So with his study of other subjects that are deemed essential to his usefulness in the career that will open before him, in the near future, as a business or professional man.The faculties of language, comparison, order, number, locality, constructiveness, time, taste, caution, industry, etc.etc., are stimulated and | 208 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.drilled day aîter day for years, and when the youth emerges a \u201cgraduate\u201d from the school, he is supposed to have education enough for the purpose of life.And he has on one side of his organization, The attentive reader doubtless anticipates what we would say now, in attempting to picture what is usually the case with the moral development of a child and youth, and it is unnecessary to present an elaborate study of this\u2014the neglected side of education.The same law of growth, the same responsiveness to training, subsist in regard to the moral faculties as to the intellectual ; but where is the teacher, where the treatise that has a methodical order for their culture ?Hundreds of volumes issue from the press yearly with carefully arranged formularies for the exercise and training of the mathematical, the constructive, the lingual, the reasoning faculties, but where are the books for the parents and teachers\u2019 guidance for the orderly exercise and development of the faculties, of benevolence, sympathy, reverence, conscientiousness, steadfastness, hope, etc.Surely, these are as important to the success and happiness of men and women as their intellectual asso- clates ! Indeed, it will not be disputed that the miseries of society are due mainly to their inactivity or perversion.What a field the psychologist has to amend the educational methods of the day.Let him be stirring about it.The need of moral culture is urgent.We have enough of the intellectual, too much in fact, and its uncompensated effects are visible in the vice, wickedness and moral confusion that pervade the life of this modern era of so-called civilization \u2014Phrenological Journal.Xditorial Motes and Comments.The issue of the RECORD for this month will fall into the hands of its readers just as they are returning from the midsummer holidays, and again it is our privilege to wish the teachers of the province of Quebec every success in their work during the scholastic year which is just opening.Many of them have been in attendance at the provincial institutes or al the great convention of Toronto, and no doubt have had their minds refreshed with the fraternal sympathy extended to them at these gatherings; and as they turn their hands to the plough for another period, it is our earnest hope that they have come to recognize more and more the importance of their work.The earnest teacher makes the good school, and the responsibility of success or non-success can hardly be placed elsewhere than on CE ki 5 EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.209 him or her who has the guidance in such large measure of the destiny of the school for the time being.There are drawbacks to success in all the callings of life, and perhaps more of them are to be met with in the teacher\u2019s experience than in any other.Yet the world is at the present moment fully alive to the importance of elementary school work, and the sympathies of the masses are in favor of the teacher who knows what his or her work is, and dares to do it in spite of all opposition.In our own province there are to be seen evidences of a desire to improve, if the means were only provided for making our elementary schools what they ought to be.We have pointed out again and again what these necessities are, and the prospect is that, under the régime of the present government, steps will be taken at an early date to provide for these necessities in such a spirit of liberality as will raise our elementary schools above reproach.In the meantime we again bid our readers \u201c Godspeed \u201d in their desire to make a good year of it.\u2014In referring to the changes which our educational theorists are every now and again urging upon the community, we have never swerved from advocating the unification of the school course under the immediate supervision of the regularly- appointed teachers.The specialty is only apparently successful as long as it continues to be a novelty, and such momentary success 1s hardly ever to be considered a gain in presence of the loss of interest in the regular studies its presence begets.And we are not alone in this advocacy by any means.For example, the public interest in the matter of physical training in the schools of Britain has been further excited by the action of the Karl of Meath, who lately introduced a bill in the House of Lords which proposed to place physical exercises in the category of those subjects which must be taught as a condition of obtaining the highest government grant.\u201cIn other words, the Earl of Meath advocates the placing of physical exercises in the school curriculum alongside of the mental exercises in grammar, geography, arithmetic, ete, and when he is asked, \u201cwho are the instructors to be?\u201d he answers readily enough, \u201cthat it is of great importance, more than is at first apparent, \u201cthat the gymnastic instr uctor and teacher should be one and the same person ; and for holding this opinion he adduces no less than five distinct reasons.These reasons, it must be admitted, have much weight.They are that this would be the most economical arrangement; that it would conduce to the physical development of the teachers themselves ; that discipline could be more easily maintained by the regular teacher than by an outsider ; that their proficiency in SEE a # 210 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.physical exercises would enhance the respect of the scholars for the teachers ; and that, in this way, all danger of divided authority would be avoided.The teachers who are to instruct must themselves be instructed.The Earl is, therefore, obliged to demand that English training colleges for teachers will introduce gymnastics and Swedish drill into their curriculum, and that School Boards, in making appointments, will nominate only teachers, both male and female, who have passed an examination, suitable to sex, in the theory and practice of physical exercises.What it would mean to pass such an examination the Earl indicates by a statement of what a school teacher has to do in this respect before receiving a diploma in both Prussia and Saxony.This includes an essay on some theme relating to the teaching of gymnasties\u2014a viva voce examination on this subject as well as on anatomy, physiology, and dietetics, and the demonstration of practical knowledge of the subject by personal performance and by instructing a class.Obviously then, the adoption of the Karl's proposals would involve considerable changes both in the training of the teachers and in the details of school work.The goal is nothing less than the perfection of humanity, as the Schoolmaster says, from whom we quote.Our methods must accordingly be determined not only by the permanent and invariable powers and capacities of the human being, but also by the varying circumstances in which we may be placed and the wants to which these give rise.To the Earl of Meath, therefore, we bid God-speed in his humane and beneficent enterprise.It is true, as he says, that the future destinies of the world will probably lie, in a great.measure, in the hands of the sons and daughters of Anglo-Saxon blood.It is for us, therefore, to make sure that it cannot be said that, through our neglect, any of these children of the future, by reason of physical deterioration, were made incapable of the highest thought and action.\u201d \u2014The reading boy is not always the smartest boy in school, but he is generally the most intelligent.Indeed some teachers, especially the teachers of boarding-schools, have made it an objective point in their work to get their pupils interested in some book or other, knowing well that if their interest can be sustained in the perusal of one book, the achievement will in all likelihood excite the pupil to search for some other book from which profitable enjoyment can be obtained.To get their pupils in this way to read on their own account has induced some of our teachers to discuss on the Friday mornings, or oftener, the current events of the day, as a change to the morality- teaching enjoined by the course of study, and, as far as we have EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.211 been able to learn, neither pupils nor teacher have ever grudged the time taken for such exercises.One of our contemporaries, in discussing this new feature in school work, says: \u201c The success or failure of the introduction of \u2018Current Events\u201d into the school will depend almost entirely upon the tact and intelligence of the teacher.The teacher must read, not just one county paper and one general newspaper, but must have at hand many periodicals, in order to get, not only the minutiæ, but also many- sided views of events as they are placing themselves on the blank pages of time.Some of these events will be of little importance, others will stand out as great mile-posts in history, steppingstones in science, or creations in literature that shall make the minds of succeeding generations who read them broader, deeper, and better.We feel sure that under the guidance of a well- stored mind, a part of an hour so devoted each week will get the best out of current history, literature and science, and for such a teacher an excellent opportunity is afforded to aid and direct the child to the best in literature of the present and past.\u2014The co-operation of parent and teacher is a necessity in these times, if we would have the new methods of imparting instruction which are being advocated by our educationists introduced in our schools with the least friction possible.As the Educational Journal, of Toronto, says: \u201c The teacher and the parent are working for the same object, and should find opportunities for becoming acquainted with and understanding each other, in order that their efforts may be harmonious.Intelligent and cordial co-operation between parent and teacher would solve many of the knottiest problems of school discipline, and would go far towards relieving the work of the teacher in this respect of much of its irksomeness.\u201d \u2014 And in connection with this, the following shows in pertinent language why the teacher, in his zeal and persevering industry, is so often misunderstood.Prejudice is the up-bringing of ignorance, and if parents would only deal with facts, and if our school authorities would use their best efforts to place the facts before them, the teacher\u2019s task would become all the less irksome.As the article says: \u201cThe bringing of parents and teachers into closer and more friendly relations is much to be advocated.Amongst the uneducated classes the teacher is looked on almost as an enemy, and if he or she dares to correct a naughty urchin just half as sharply as he deserves, down comes an angry mother who \u2018 won\u2019t have her Johnny spoke to in that fashion\u2019 Even in higher circles parents fail to grasp the necessity for strengthening the teacher\u2019s hand as far as possible, and by explaining the 212 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.weak points of their children\u2019s character, to render as easy as possible the task of correction.A \u2018Parents\u2019 Meeting\u2019 has been instituted in connection with the \u2018Working Women\u2019s School\u2019 in New York.Once a month the parents of the pupils are invited to meet the teachers of the school \u2018to discuss methods of instruction, gain an insight into the plans of the workers, and help to carry them out.\u201d The general purpose of the meeting is to bring the parents of these children and youth into vital communication with the management of the school, and thus reinforce this body by the experience and judgment of their home life.It is a marvel that this most sensible, even essential condition of good school-keeping has not become one of the recognized features of common school administration.If the \u2018 New Education\u2019 means anything, its central idea is the adjustment of the methods of instruction and discipline in school to those that characterize a good family.The mother-idea is the germ of the Kindergarten and all superior primary school work; and the chief difference between the old and new educational dispensation is the natural and beautiful way in which the transition from the home to the school life is now accomplished.But, strange to say, even the well-to-do and intelligent parents of our communities, as a rule, are in almost absolute ignorance of the way in which their children are handled by the skilled teachers who work and are responsible for the new style of school training.How many even of the newspaper, clerical, parlor, and political critics of the people\u2019s school\u2014not to say the educational reformers of the day\u2014would be able to give an intelligible account of one day\u2019s work in an ordinary graded public school?Hence the ease with which the community can be blown up to a white heat, or sent off \u2018kiting\u2019 by any magnetic crank or brilliant theorist in education, and the most useful class of society, the superior teachers, be held under a constant fire of unjust, and often malignant criticism.Nobody seems to be to blame for this estrangement, which is one of the unfortunate results of the preoccupation of our new life, and the mania for specialization which is shutting us all up, each in his separate cell.The way out is for the more thoughtful women of the country, under a simple organization, to put themselves in friendly unofficial communication with the teachers of the children, according to the excellent arrangement of the \u2018 Parents\u2019 Meeting\u201d of the Working Women\u2019s School referred to.\u201d \u2014To find an example of the ignorance which begets prejudice or cynicism we have not far to go, not even when we look for it in a quarter where ignorance is supposed to have been FRO ITCT WL AN TPH FO RI = \u201crx E CURRENT EVENTS.213 banished.The Saturday Review has a way of its own in treating nearly every subject of public interest, but who would have thought to have found its classical irony degenerate into the silly sarcasm of the unthinking crank, whose delight it is to speak disparagingly of everything connected with school-teaching.This is the way in which it has written of what it calls « the educational craze\u201d of providing a university training for teachers: « Oxford men had better combine for the moment to upset a most mischievous proposition of adding to the present menagerie of their university a quasi-college for Board schoolmasters.You may render university education valueless in this way; you will not render primary education more valuable.Meanwhile, we hear that steps are being taken to establish an extensive and largely-endowed scheme for the preservation of children from all education whatever, except reading and writing.They have our heartiest good wishes.\u201d Current Events.It is pleasant to take note of the success of the Teachers\u2019 Institutes held during the second week in July at Sherbrooke, Inverness, Cowansville and Lachute.This year, on account of the International Convention at Toronto, the meetings were called together simultaneously.The attendance at Sherbrooke and Cowansville was much larger this year than last, while the interest at all the meetings was well sustained.The plan of utilizing the evenings for illustrated lectures was this year again carried out at Sherbrooke and Inverness.The usual public meeting was held at all the places, thus affording the communities an opportunity of taking part in the enterprise of improving our elementary schools.\u2014 Last month we were called upon to perform the sad duty of referring to the death of the Rev.Dr.Weir, of Morrin College, and in this issue we have to take note of the appointment of his successor, William Crocket, Esq., M.A., late Superintendent of Education, New Brunswick.The venerable principal of Morrin College has been heard to say in former days that \u201c Dr.Weir was Morrin College,\u201d and, indeed, much of the success of that struggling institution can be traced to the energy of the deceased professor of classics.Consequent on his death there has been a partial re-organization of the staff, and this, with the immediate prospect of endowment, is likely to give a new lease of educational influence to the institution.The new professor of classics comes highly recommended, while the new professor of EE A eT RR 214 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.Hebrew is a gentleman well known as a ripe scholar throughout the Dominion.\u2014Of the school changes we have not been able so far to make anything like a full record.The same course we have decided to adopt this year as was adopted last year in collecting such information, and to save trouble we ask all the head-teachers of our Academies and Model Schools to send in to the editor of the RECORD, Quebec, a list of the staff connected with his or her school, in order that for the September number an alphabetical list of the names of the teachers of these schools may be prepared.We shall also be glad to hear of changes in our elementary schools by postal card.So far, we have learned that the vacancies in Quebec have been filled by the appointment of Miss Ferguson and Mrs.Dela Motte.Montreal has secured the services of Mr.Silver, of Waterloo, while Mr.Mabon, formerly of Inverness, goes to take his place.Mr.Moore, of McGill University, has been appointed to Inverness.Mr.Macmaster and Miss Macmaster, the former of Hemmingford Model School and the latter of Huntingdon Academy, have been appointed to Bedford, while Mr.A.B.Wardrop, formerly of Barnston, goes to the Lachine Model School.Miss Cochrane assumes charge of the Compton Ladies\u2019 College.Among the changes we notice the withdrawal of three of our best teachers from active work in the school-room, though we trust that the withdrawal is only for a time.Two of these gentlemen, Mr.Howard, of Bedford, and Mr.Dresser, of Aylmer, have decided to enter at McGill, while Mr.S.Campbell, of Sutton, has gone west to join his brother in commercial pursuits.\u2014The season of the picnic is about over, and those of us who have had our outing in the country during the recess of the holiday months will not fail to join gratefully in praising the efforts of those who have labored in behalf of those who, of their own resources, are unable to arrange for an outing for themselves.The movement inaugurated by the Montreal Star, and known as the Fresh Air Excursions for little folks of poor parents, has been imitated elsewhere than in Montreal, and the success attending the movement will no doubt tend to perpetuate it.Meeting, as most of our schools do, in September, the holiday season is over before the opening day ; yet in many of our country schools the idea of a school picnic in September is worth considering, if only to inaugurate the school esprit de corps that ought to exist in every institution.\u2014The question is often asked, how can our school secure the highest possible grant, and it is at this season of the year, perhaps CURRENT EVENTS.215 more than at any other, that the question becomes a pertinent one.A well-equipped school, in the hands of a good teacher, will assuredly take high rank, and 1t is for the Commissioners to see that the school is well-equipped before the school is opened for the year\u2019s work.The regulations will otherwise show how the grants are to be obtained, including the grant for a permanently -established Academy or Model School, the bonus for scholastic work done during the year, and the bonus for appliances.A school that does not \u2018secure for itself the highest bonus for appliances is very much to blame, and it is at this season of the year that the Commissioners should arrange affairs in such a way as to be sure of obtaining it.\u2014Free Public Libraries have reached a development in the State of Massachusetts which it would probably be impossible to match anywhere else in the world.In 1839 there were only about ten or fifteen public libraries in the State, and only about one-seventh of the total population had a right of access to the limited supply of books; but, thanks to the generosity of individuals and the public spirit of the people, 248 of the existing 351 towns and cities contain free libraries.These numerous institutions contain about 2,500,000 volumes, and are available for the use of 2,104,224 of the 2,238,943 inhabitants of the State.Nevertheless, the non-existence of free libraries in rather more than 100 of the smaller towns is viewed with so much concern by the Legislature that a Special Commission was appointed last autumn to encourage these towns to follow the example of the majority.The Commissioners issued an appeal to the citizens, one passage of which is worth quoting for the benefit of London parishes and English towns.\u201cA free library,\u201d says the document, \u201cis a good Dusiness investment for any town.Experience shows that the amount expended for it will be returned manifold, not alone in the intellectual and moral stimulus to the people, but also in material prosperity and the increased value of property.\u201d \u2014Dr.J.G.Fitch, Inspector of Training Colleges, England, 1s endeavoring to resuscitate a movement in favor of a decimal currency for Britain ; and to us on this side of the Atlantic it seems strange that no progress has been made in this direction since the florin or two-shilling piece was coined.In a late address Dr.Fitch dwelt upon the utility and simplicity of the decimal system, and pointed out that it had been adopted in nearly all the countries of Europe.No doubt the introduction of an entirely new system into England would be exceedingly inconvenient at first, but that would be only for one generation. 216 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD He thought the whole subject deserved the careful consideration of teachers.\u2014 Elementary education is widely diffused in Denmark, the attendance at school being obligatory from the age of seven to fourteen.Education is afforded gratuitously in the public schools to children whose parents cannot afford to pay for their teaching.The University of Copenhagen has about 1,300 students.Connected with the university is a polytechnic institution, with 20 teachers and 200 students.Between the university and the elementary schools there are 13 public gymnasia or high schools in the principal towns of the kingdom, which afford a « classical \u201d education, and 27 modern high schools.There are 5 teachers\u2019 training colleges.Instruction at the public expense is given in parochial schools, spread all over the country, to the number, according to the latest official statistics, of 2,940, namely, 28 in Copenhagen, 132 in the towns of Denmark, and 2,780 in the rural districts; with 231,940 pupils in all, or 123 per thousand of population.\u2014Among the scholars, when Lamb and Coleridge attended school, was a poor clergyman\u2019s son of the name of Simon Jennings.On account of his dismal and gloomy nature his playmates had nicknamed him Pontius Pilate.One morning he went up to the master, Dr.Boyer, and said, in his usual whimpering manner : \u201c Please, doctor, the boys call me Pontius Pilate.\u201d If there was one thing which Dr.Boyer hated more than a false quantity in Greek and Latin, it was the practice of nicknaming.Rushing down among the scholars from his pedestal of state, with cane in hand, he cried, with his usual voice of thunder : \u201c Listen, boys; the next time I hear any of you say \u2018 Pontius Pilate, I'll cane you as long as this cane will last! You are to say \u2018Simon Jennings,\u201d and not ¢ Pontius Pilate.\u201d Remember that, if you value your hides.\u201d Next day the same class were reciting the Catechism, when a boy, of remarkably dull and literal turn of mind, had to repeat the creed.He had got as far as \u201csuffered under,\u201d and was about popping out the next word, when the doctor\u2019s prohibition unluckily flashed upon his obtuse mind.After a moment\u2019s hesitation he blurted out, \u201cSuffered under Simon Jennings, was \u2014.\u201d The next sentence was never uttered, for Dr.Boyer had already sprung like a tiger upon him, and the cane was descending upon his unfortunate shoulders.When the irate doctor had discharged his cane storm upon him, he said : \u201c What do you mean, you booby, by such blasphemy #\u201d \u201cI only did as you told me,\u201d replied the simple-minded youth.\u201cDid as I told you ?\u201d roared the doctor, now wound up to some- CURRENT EVENTS.217 thing above boiling-point.\u201c What do you mean \u201d\u201d As he said this, he instinctively grasped the cane more furiously.\u201cYes, doctor ; you said we were always to call Pontius Pilate, Simon Jennings.Didn\u2019t he, Sam ?\u201d appealed the unfortunate culprit to Coleridge, who was next to him.Sam said naught, but the doctor, who saw what a dunce he had to deal with, cried: \u201cBoy, you are a fool! Where are your brains ?\u201d Poor Doctor Boyer for a second time was \u201cfloored,\u201d for the scholar said, with an earnestness which proved its truth, but to the intense horror of the learned potentate : \u201c In my stomach, sir.\u201d The doctor always respected that boy\u2019s stupidity after that, as though half afraid that a stray blow might be unpleasant.\u2014 President Eliot of Harvard devotes his critical faculties to a condemnation of the Readers in use in Massachusetts grammar schools, as well as elsewhere throughout the country.\u201cI have read an enormous quantity of them, and I can express the con- vietion that it would be for the advantage of the whole public school system of the United States, if every Reader were hereafter to be absolutely excluded from the schools.\u201d We wonder what Principal Eliot would say of the Readers here in use in the province of Quebec, were he by chance to inspect them.\u2014The following are the gifts to Princeton College for the year : A gift from Professor Henry F.Osborn of a new athletic club house.A gift of $250,000, from Mrs.Charles B.Alexander, of New York city, for the construction of a new alumni hall.A gift of $10,000\u2014$5,000 from a gentleman in New York and $5,000 from the class of 1876\u2014for the construction of a hospital to be named in honor of the wife of Princeton\u2019s ex-president, Mrs.Isabelle McCosh.$10,000 gift of an unknown lady, for scholarships.$10,000 to be used as an endowment fund for lectures on general subjects, and $100,000 which comes to Princeton College from the Fayerweather estate.The total value of the gifts to Princeton College for the year amounts to $380,000.\u2014 A very interesting census has just been taken of the Indian students at Oxford.The group includes seventeen persons, in many respects representing the most highly educated classes of their fellow countrymen.Of the seventeen nine are Hindoos, comprising representatives of both the Mahratta and the Ben- galee Brahmins; three are Mahometans, four are Christians (one of them being a lady, and two of Eurasian or Portuguese descent), and one is a Parsee.Their ages vary from nineteen to thirty-one, and of the whole seventeen only two are married, while a third is a widower.\u2014It is reported that Boston has $49,000 worth of pianos in 15 sf 8 \u20ac ja {EN A rN i ie [ENERO Lt (obit i aay 218 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.its schools ; this means at least 200 pianos.And yet Boston finds her pianos a profitable investment.What a.benefit it would be to the world at large if every school had a musical instrument as a part of its possessions! Germany, with her violin in the schoolmaster\u2019s hands, comes nearest to the ideal in this respect.There a knowledge of music both in theory and execution 1s made a part of the teacher\u2019s necessary qualifications for his profession.It would be better were that the case in our own country.School would not only be a more agreeable place, but also one that would be more profitable to the pupils and to the public.\u2014\u201c The school in the future will be free from top to bottom,\u201d so says a German paper.\u201cNeither in form nor in fact will it be the privilege or possession of the rich: for the State must rest upon the truth that virtue and usefulness, wherever found, are to be sought out and developed.Free instruction alone will not suffice to accomplish this.If the poverty of parents is not to be permitted to narrow, as it now does so often, the future opportunities of a child, the State must stand ready to care for him up to that time when he is able to pass an intelligent judgment upon his own prospects and provide for his own support.Up to such a time, perhaps then to the seventeenth year of life, the State must make proper provision for the sustenance and care of every child whose parents are too poor to provide either for his material or intellectual care.The question as to the parents\u2019 poverty could readily be determined by reference to the assessments made for the purposes of taxation.When this comes to pass there will be a real aristocracy of the educated.One can readily see that then the German people will exercise a material and intellectual influence in the world, to which that gained mainly by force of arms will be scarcely comparable.\u201d \u2014The fallacy of the influence of the moon on the weather is nothing to this, which is to be found taken notice of in Dr.Klemm\u2019s \u201c European Schools,\u201d and our teachers had better look into the matter.In his description of a separate school for dullards at Elberfeld-Barmen he says: \u201c One of the teachers stated that the day was an unlucky day, because the pupils were more than any other people, under the influence of the moon, and the moon had just begun its first quarter.I had too often noticed this cause of disturbance in my own schools to smile incredulously.As long as I had schools to supervise I nerved myself particularly at the time of the moon\u2019s first quarter, for invariably at that time pupils were referred to me for correction.The teachers seemed to me to be more irritable, and LITERATURE, HISTORICAL NOTES, ETC.219 the youngsters more perverse, than at other times.\u201d Is this moonshine ?The editor of the Journal of Education, England, does not seem to think so, for this is what he says about it : \u201c It happened to the writer that at the time of reading these words the moon was entering its first quarter, and that an only child, ten years of age, was just then, without any assignable cause, much more perverse and wilful than usual.This suggested the question whether the experience enshrined in the word lunatic was after all an idle superstition.It would be interesting to know whether, and to what extent, other observations concur with Dr.Klemm\u2019s; and still more interesting to trace the causes of the fact, if it be a fact.\u201d Literature, Historical Aotes, ete, The fall of Louisbourg was the last throe in the struggle which gave birth to New Scotland.And contemporaneous history shows what a terrible time it was all over the world, when the first efforts were being put forth by the French to make something permanent out of Acadia.Perhaps there is no period in the history of modern times so full of historical phenomena as the first half of the seventeenth century\u2014the epoch in which the pioneers of New France were beginning their severe task of laying the foundations of a new principality in the West.For instance, in England there was to be witnessed the great contest between liberty and prerogative, ending with a scene the like of which Englishmen had never before been called to look upon, nor ever will again\u2014the execution of their king on the public scaffold.In France, the assassination of Henry IV.by the fanatic Ravaillac\u2014a crime which made the blood curdle when we saw it repeated at our neighbor\u2019s door by the wretched Guiteau\u2014opened the way for Richelieu\u2019s ambition and the terrible wars it excited.In Germany, the thirty years\u2019 war,\u201d in ruining the trade of the country, and in crushing the people under a burden of taxation, crippled the already debilitated power of the emperor and cut up the empire into a multitude of petty States.And so it was also in other countries.Spain was in an unsettled state from the cruel eccentricities of Philip IL.; Sweden was all excitement, under the brave Adolphus, who had need of all his bravery in checking the simultaneous aggressions of three powerful States; Russia was convulsed by the murder of the Czar, the appearance of several pretenders to the throne, and the horrible outrages of the invading Tartars ; Poland was overwhelmed by the united attack of ATTRA 220 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.3 six of her most dangerous enemies, and saw her King forced to | flee to a neighboring State for protection ; and even little Den- en mark, who did not dare to call her mind her own in the midst of such turmoil all over Europe, was violently disturbed by the unseemly strife between her nobles and the common people.i But this is not all.The commotion did not confine itself to the À quarrels of kings and nations, and the ambitious cruelties of men.The whole earth seemed to be convulsed in some strange manner, as if nature had joined in the turmoil, or as if Providence was violently regulating at this period, more than any other, the affairs of the world.Hardly a country escaped the various plagues, which continued, for a time, to decimate the people.Fierce tempests swept over England, swelling the sea up upon the land, with such destruction to life and property, that men began to think of the times as an approach towards a final dissolution of all things.Some of the phenomena can only be explained by reference to the superstition and ignorance of the period.There were immense conflagrations in the towns and in the forests; marvellous appearances filled the heavens ; one day the sun hid its face, when neither earth nor moon was the cause of the eclipse; and again,it appeared,accompanied by two twinlike suns, haloed by no less than three rainbows; the prodigious apparition of an armed host was seen in the sky, earthquakes shook to their foundations some of the towns in England and Scotland, and strange noises were heard rumbling through the air, as of armies on the march.Altogether it was the strangest of times.There seemed to be nothing but wars and rumors of wars, commotion in heaven and earth.With the cold shiver of superstition running through us, as we study the appearances and counter-appearances which are reported to have been observed, can we wonder why it was that Acadia had such troublous times in her infancy.The cruelties of the New Englanders, in their exterminating attacks upon the Acadian settlements, and the still more cruel reprisals by the Indians on the New Englanders, only make up a chapter of violence, which was to be read at the time in every other part of the world.What we may wonder at is, how the country ever developed to the point to which the French farmers brought it.Farming and fighting, the plough and the musket, the hoe and the sword, were all the time playing the old antagonistic game, with the odds in favor of the latter, and when we read the whole story of the contest, and look at the impress which the French really left upon the Maritime Provinces, we cannot but praise that industry, patience and PRACTICAL HINTS.221 long suffering patriotism which characterized the Acadians, and which, as need hardly be said, characterize all their descendants in these Provinces.Still speaking and thinking in their native patois, they hold aloof from the blending of the races going on in their vicinity.But they are not the less loyal to provincial interests, though they still love to talk of the patriotic exploits of their forefathers, in the very districts of the country which Providence seems from the first to have selected for them as peaceful retreats.Sometimes they hold a public: festival or national gathering, when their French blood is again warmed, under the influence of French oratory and the enthusiasm of their leaders.Practical Hints and Examination Papers.\u2014Here follows an anecdote regarding a recent examination in class subjects in a rural district \u2014Subject : Geography \u2014Class reads : \u201cThe new world was discovered by Columbus.\u201d H.M.Inspector.\u2014 \u2018 What do you understand by that?\u2019 (No answer.) H.M.Inspector.\u2014 \u2018* What do you mean by discovered?\u2019 (No answer.) H.M.Inspector.\u2014 \u201c Well, what do you mean by the new world ?\u201d After long pause, small boy answers\u2014\u201c\u2018 Heaven.\u201d H.M.Inspector.\u2014II'm, Yes.Very well.\u2018Who discovered it?\u201d All hands up, and answer, ¢ Columbus\u201d! \u2014JFriday Afternoon Exercises should be not only entertaining but as profitable and educative as they can be made.They may have as great value as any other part of school work, but it will require considerable forethought on the part of the teacher to make them so.By using tact and skill the teachers may plan exercises to which the pupils will look forward with delight.However, we are aware that this is much easier said than done.If the work consists too largely of declamations and readings the exercises will soon become monotonous.Variety is the spice of life in this work.A portion of the exercises each week may with profit be devoted to the reading of articles on Cufrent Topics as found in the World\u2019s Doings Department of Intelligence, with informal discussions, questionings and talks on the same.An intelligent conversation on Current Events, properly conducted, will be the means of great good in several directions not necessary here to point out.Plenty of singing will always be in order.At least one exercise each month should be an Author Day Programme, such as may be found in Intelligence.No afternoon should be given up wholly to recitations and declamations ; but intersperse them with such exercises as the one suggested on Current Events; and have geographical stories and descriptions, and biographies that if possible have some bearing on the regular work in geography and history.Brief arithmetical, grammatical, historical and spelling exercises also should be introduced, but such exercises will require previous preparation on the part of the teacher.Let every Friday afternoon 222 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.be made bright with thoughts and subjects new, fresh, and vital, and it will prove an inspiration to teacher and pupils.\u2014Certainly, we ought, in all cases, make the meetings of the county or district institute, an occasion for interesting the people in the school work.Popular lectures on educational topics for the evening meetings, with special and splendid music, such as the teachers can give.A sort of a popular revival work should be inaugurated\u2014this was the method adopted by Horace Mann in Massachusetts, by Hon.Henry Barnard in Connecticut, by Nickerhain in Pennsylvania, and others in Ohio and Illinois.Get out the people\u2014avoid the dry details of business, but have one or two strong, popular lectures each evening.\u2014 There was once a student who swept every thing before him by the sheer effort of memory.An oration of Daniel Webster\u2019s had just come out: he was lying on a lounge and his room mate was reading it aloud.His room-mate suddenly stopped, and exclaimed.* You are asleep, I shan\u2019t read another word to you.\u201d \u201cIll show you,\u201d he retorted, \u201cwhether I was asleep,\u201d and forthwith he began and repeated every line in order as he had heard it from the beginning.\u201cI believe,\u201d said a student \u201ca more wonderful memory has not been known in our day unless Lord Macaulay furnishes an exception, but, strange to say, this wonderful college man was not afterwards heard from as having made any mark in life.\u201d \u2014 Pupils who have a tendency to slur should be made to read many times sentences similar to the following : She has lost her ear-ring.\u2014She has lost her hearing.He lives in a nice house.\u2014He lives in an ice house.Let all men bend low.\u2014Let tall men bend low.He saw two beggars steal.\u2014Ie sought to beg or steal.This hand is clean.\u2014This sand is clean.He would pay nobody.\u2014He would pain nobody.That lasts till night.\u2014That last still night.\u2014The wise man is wanted, with clearness of vision, with greatness of soul bearing aloft the flaming torch of intelligence and patriotism.Let us in our schools cultivate wisdom, integrity and character rather than per cents.Methods of how to live regally Christianly rather than methods of sharpness and smartness.\u2014Goodness is greatness rather than smartness.Whoso studies to live wisely and honestly, is entitled to reverence\u2014but whoso studies to be only ¢ smart,\u201d miscalculates, and is doomed to disappointment in the end.Wisdom, integrity, patriotism: these are vital and eternal.\u2014Those teachers who have undertaken with enthusiasm to give the daily lesson in Morals and Manners, may find some assistance from the followimg outlines of lessons : [MORALS AND MANNERS\u2014OUTLINES OF LEssons.\u2014Æ.E.White.] Cleanliness and neatness\u2014In body, hands, nails, hair, etc.; in clothing, shoes, etc.; with books, slates, desks, etc. ie #5 PRACTICAL HINTS.Politeness\u2014At school ; at home ; on the street.Glentleness\u2014In speech ; in manners.Kindness to others\u2014To parents ; to the aged and infirm ; to the unfortunate and erring ; to enemies ;\u2014the golden rule.Kindness to animals\u2014To those that serve us ; to those that do not harm us\u2014the killing of birds ; the killing of those that do us harm ; cruelty to any animal is wrong.Love\u2014For parents ; for friends ; for one\u2019s neighbor ; for enemies.Respect and reverence\u2014For parents ; for the aged ; for those in authority.Obedience\u2014To parents; to teachers; to those in authority ; to conscience ; to God.Gratitude and thankfulness\u2014To parents ; to all benefactors ; to God.Truthfulness\u2014In thought, word and act; deceit and falsehood ; keeping one\u2019s word.Courage\u2014True and false ; daring to do right ; courage in duty.Honesty \u20141In word and deed ; in little things ; dishonesty.\u201cHonesty is the best policy.\u201d Honor\u2014One\u2019s parents; one\u2019s friends; one\u2019s self; home and country.Good name\u2014 When young ; keeping it ; reputation and character ; keeping good company.Self-control\u2014 Control of temper ; anger, when right ; wrong desires.Confession of wrong\u2014 When manly and noble ; denial of faults.\u201c The denial of a fault doubles it.\u201d Forgiveness\u2014 Of those who have injured us ; of enemies.Good manners\u2014At your home ; in school ; in company ; in public places.Industry\u2014Labor a duty and privilege ; right use of time ; self- reliance.Economy, savings\u2014Competency depends on economy\u2014*\u2018\u2018 Saving in early life means competency and comfort in old age ;\u201d a duty to save a part of ones earnings\u2014\u201c To lay up for a rainy day ;\u201d a spendthrift \u2014 A spendthrift in youth, a poor man in old age ;\u201d a miser\u2014the hoarding of money needed for comfort or charity\u2014¢ no man liveth unto himself ;\u201d savings bank.Health\u2014Our duty to preserve our health ; habits that impair health foolish and selfish ; the sowing of \u201c wild oats \u201d\u2014\u2018 What a man sows, that shall he reap ;\u201d pain a warning ; the body never forgets or forgives.Evil speaking\u2014Slander ; tale-bearing ; faults of others\u2014charity ; kind words.Bad language\u2014 Profanity, foolish and wicked ; slang, vulgar and impolite ; obscene language.Evil habits\u2014That destroy health ; that destroy reputation ; that waste money ; that dishonor one\u2019s self and family ; that take away self-control ; that are offensive to others.Temptation\u2014Tempting others ; resisting temptation. 224 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.Civil duties\u2014 Love of country ; love of the flag; respect of rules; obedience to law ; fidelity in office\u2014bribery ; oaths\u2014perjury ; the ballot\u2014 buying or selling votes ; dignity and honor of citizenship.Correspondence, elc, J.M.S.\u2014 Can you furnish me with the name of the book which will give me a critical account of Mary, Queen of Scots?Also, name some books that will serve me as a guide wn making a collection of flowers and insects for a school museum.I would advise you to obtain from some lending library Tytler\u2019s History of Scotland.The article by Swinburne in the Encyclopædia Britannica, though severe, is an excellent one, from which an estimate of the events of the period in which the unfortunate Mary lived can be made.You cannot have a better little flora than that at the end of Gray\u2019s \u201c How Plants Grow.\u201d The best book on insects for your purpose is Hyatt\u2019s Insecta, published by Messrs.D.C.Heath & Co., Boston.Any of the Montreal booksellers will procure these books for you.TEACHER.\u2014 Where can I obtain a book on physical exercises?Houghton\u2019s \u201c Physical Culture \u201d is a very good book for the guidance of the teacher; and yet the exercises that are the most likely to be successful are those which the teacher has perhaps invented for himself.Physical Training in our schools is still at its inception, and any experimenting teacher is as likely to find something new in plans still to be developed by trial as the most matured educationist.A.B.\u2014 What is the proper temperature at which the school-room should be kept?Regulation says \u2018 that the heating apparatus shall be so placed as to give a uniform temperature of 65°, determined by a thermometer, during school hours.\u201d The teacher should see that there is a thermometer provided.In the new Academy at Granby the thermometer is attached to the clock in each room\u2014an excellent idea, for the pupils can thus tell for themselves whether the temperature is too high or too low.Dear Mgr.Epitor,\u2014 We have had of late many suggestions in regard to the making of relief maps.Some teachers have tried plaster of Paris models, and one of my first attempts was with common clay.A gentleman once showed me an excellent raised map made with salt moulded when moist, and afterwards dried hard before the fire.The following, I think, will do as well as any, if the teacher has only patience to try it.The advice has been given in a paper, from which I send you the clipping.Yours truly, M.THomson.Of late years I have been using paper pulp.I hardly venture to call it papier mdché, since I make it myself, and scarcely try to get it into so minute a state of division as that name would imply.I take BOOK NOTICES.225 the most ordinary brown or grey wrapping paper.It must be a poor paper ; that is to say, it must have an open texture and be absolutely free from all gloss.This paper is then torn into pieces about two or three inches square, put into a bucket, and boiling water poured over it.It is well to put plenty of water over it ; any excess can be readily disposed of afterwards.This can then be stood aside for some time, preferably over night.The next day the water must be poured off and fresh water, as warm as the hand can stand, poured over the paper, which by this time should be quite soft.The paper must now be thoroughly torn and kneaded with the fingers until it becomes a uniformly pasty mass.It is then ready for use.The pupils should have been previously taught to mould the conti- neut in sand, so that by this time they are thoroughly familiar with its relief.Each pupil can take a lump of pulp a little larger than his fist, and, following the teacher, should mould the continent on a piece of board.This amount of paper will make a continent like North America about ten inches long.The map must then be set aside, lying flat, in a warm, dry place for a day or two, when it will have firmly set.It can now be detached from the board with a long, flat- bladed knife, or, if it is desired, it may remain on the board, to which it will firmly adhere.If desired, the map may be colored to indicate the relief.If this is done it should, however, be painted with different shades of the same color, such as green or brown, darker on the lowlands, and shading gradually into the lighter in the plateaus and lower mountains, and even into white on the mountain peaks.But sudden transitions from dark to light must be avoided.It is already too difficult to make pupils understand the gradual, almost imperceptible change from lowland to plateau, and such coloring would but increase the difficulty.These maps, when completed, are light and durable, and withal very neat.\u2014 S.C.Schmucker, in Educational Monthly.Wooks Veceived and Hievicwed.[All Exchanges and Books for Review should be sent direct to Dr.J.M.Harper, Box 305, Quebec, P.Q.] The American School Board Journal, which enters upon its second volume this year, is beautifully illustrated this month with the photographs of prominent school officials.Intelligence has always an excellent department devoted to current events, which teachers cannot but appreciate.The Standard, published in New York, also gives the news items a teacher requires for his classes on current events.MACMILLAN\u2019s COURSE OF GERMAN COMPOSITION.\u2014 Under this title has been issued the First Course, by G.Eugène Fasnacht, formerly of Westminster School.This book is framed on the author\u2019s idea of parallel German-English Extracts and parallel English-German Syntax.While explaining this plan, the author says, \u201cIt is only by 226 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.immersing himself headlong, as it were, in the extraneous atmosphere, that the student can nerve himself for the struggle of learning to make use of a foreign language ; and for this process of immersion to yield its full benefits it is necessary that the readings in the foreign language should bear upon topics akin to the subject-matter of the composition.\u201d John Stuart Blackie has recommendod the same thing, and we have published his advice already.In the Syntax part of this book there is also a change to be found over other Readers: in a word, the ordinary process followed in the ordinary run of grammars has been reversed by Mr.Fasnecht, and we are sure his plan will meet the approval of teachers who are not unwilling to move out of the old rut of having pupils of a foreign language start from the foreigner\u2019s standpoint, and not from the English.We heartily recommend the book.KINDERGARTEN STORIES AND MORNING TALKS, written and compiled by Miss Sara E.Wiltse, and published by the Messrs.Ginn & Co., Boston.\u2014This book has all the suggestions an elementary teacher may want for a year in the art of story-telling.With such a little book as this for a guide, the teacher of the country school can introduce at least one of the kindergarten principles in her routine work of teaching reading, writing and arithmetic.HraTH's MopERN LANGUAGE SERIES has added another Reader to its list.This time it is Prosper Mérimée\u2019s Colomba, issued with introduction and notes by Dr.J.A.Fontaine, of the University of Mississippi.The publishers are the Messrs.D.C.Heath and Company, Boston, U.S.The selection is an excellent one, Mérimée ranking among the best French writers of this century, while the manner in which Dr.Fontaine has prepared the work for the press is worthy of the highest commendation.Lessons For A FirsT YEAR IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR, by Miss Jessie M.Anderson, of Washington, and published by John B.Alden, New York.\u2014 This is a book prepared by an experimenting teacher.After dedicating it to her little brother, who, she says, first taught her how to teach children grammar, Miss Anderson says, \u201cMy classes of little girls have understood and loved the study by the help of these pages : this is my apology for offering them to the public.\u201d The teacher who sends for the little volume will pick up many a valuable hint from it.Tae Essential Uses or THE Moops IN GREEK AND LATIN, set forth in parallel arrangement by Robert P.Keep, and published by the Messrs.Ginn & Co., Boston.\u2014This is a revised edition of a pamphlet issued in 1879.Most of classical masters have tried to do what Mr.Keep has done, but perhaps with less success.It forms an invaluable guide to the teacher of classics.PRINCIPLES OF THE ALGEBRA OF Logic, with Examples by Dr.Macfarlane, of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and published by David Douglas, Edinburgh.The leaders of edncation are beginning to recognize the value of mathematics in logic under the tutelage of De Morgan and Jevons, and as a treatise on the science of formal reason- \u2019 oe + Ve EU ER pt us A BOOK NOTICES.297 ing the book before us has received careful examination at the hands of collegiate professors.The origin of the treatise was a paper read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh.NoTEs on ENGLISH LITERATURE, by Professor Fred Parker Emery, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and published by the Messrs.Ginn & Co.\u2014This volume also represents the labor of an experienced teacher, the book having been originally written for the use of Mr.Emery\u2019s students.The aim of the work is to indicate to the student what is best worth his time to read and study, and yet many a student preparing for an examination will be only too glad to have it as a guide.Along with the ordinary text-book on Literature, such as Spaulding\u2019s or Collier\u2019s, the above hand-book will prove an excellent helpmate.The author\u2019s introduction contains sound advice to the student who is just entering upon the study of the works of the great English writers.XENOPHON\u2019S ANABASIS, Book III, edited for the use of schools, with Notes, Introductions, Vocabulary, Illustrations and Maps, by the Rev.G.H.Nall, M.A., of Westminster School, and late of Queen\u2019s College, Oxford.\u2014The book is one of the series of Macmillan\u2019s Elementary Classics, than which there is nothing neater in the market.QUEBEC, ANCIENT AND Mopery, by E.T.D.Chambers, Editor of the Quebec Chronicle, and City Councillor.\u2014This professes to be an illustrated guide-book for the city of Quebec, but it is very much more than a guide-book, giving, as it does, in every page evidence of careful research and high literary ability.Mr.Chambers is a writer of increasing fame in the Dominion, his articles in the Week having placed him in the front rank of our litferateurs, and there is every evidence in the neat little volume before us that he has on hand material out of which he may eventually issue a larger work on the ancient capital.TE PHILOSOPHY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE, by Greenough White, M.A.and published by the Messrs.Ginn & Co.\u2014Mr.White has written a book, which every thoughtful student of American Literature will thoroughly enjoy, though we doubt very much if he has established his thesis, namely, the independent and organic development of the literature or literatures of the New World.The book is more likely to be accepted as a strong plea in favor of examining the close relationship between the literature of any country and its history, when the study of a literature is undertaken by a careful student.The admirer of the literary works of the writers of the United States will none the less thank Mr.White for his book.Riper Papers oN Evouin, Books I.anp II, arranged by Rupert Deakin, M.A.; of Baliol College, Oxford, and published by Messrs.Macmillan & Co., London, England.\u2014We have often heard our teachers ask for a series of well-graded exercises or deductions, and this is really the best collection we have seen ; we willingly recommend it to our head-masters.VRAI i: i: ih EN Fa i +, 228 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.Official Department.THE PROTESTANT CENTRAL BOARD OF EXAMINERS.List of Candidates who obtained diplomas in July, 1891, arranged in alphabetical order.(Nore.\u2014Model School Candidates marked with a star have passed in Latin.Elementary Candidates marked with a star have passed in French, Algebra and Geometry.) SEcoND CLASS ACADEMY DiPLOMas.Elliot, Adam John.Robson, Amanda.Solandt, Donald McKillop.FirsT CLass Mopez Scuoon DiPLomas.(Granted without examination to Candidates holding Second Class Model School Diplomas on the ground of success in teaching.) Kerr, Mary M.Loynachan, Janet.SEconD Crass MobeL Scroon Dipromas.(47.) Armstrong, Mary Elizabeth.Arnold, Matilda Ann.* Armstrong, Katie.Brims, Mary.Brown, Mary Christina.Brown, Elizabeth Simpson.Broderick, Euphemia Margaret.*Crack, Jessie Margaret.*Chalmers, Louisa H.Cutter, Grace S.Collins, James Edgar.*Cairns, Abigail Jane.Edwards, Luna Estella.*Fuller, George D.*Fraser, Margaret Ethel Victoria.Gilmore, Agnes Catherine May.*Grady, Gardiner.Gillanders, Walter.*Griggs, Alice Jephson.Hamilton, Barbara Jeannetta.*Hodgins, Richard Ralph.Ives, Charles Kingsbury.*Johnson, Mary Gertude.Lord, Minnie Cross.Lewis, Marion Eunice.*Lawrence, Viola Velma.Le Roy, Osmond Edgar, Mooney, Cora D.*Moore, Mary Frances French.McCoy, Annie Gardner.*MeNaughton, Barbara Gardner.McKechnie, Grace Louise.*McLeod, Maggie Ann.*McHarg, David.McCaskill, Lillie Ann.* McGregor, Mary V.McEwen, Kate.Nolan, Susie Ellen.* Pearce, Jennie M.*Planche, Frederic Arthur.Stowell, Isabella.Stewart, Elizabeth Reid.Sutherland, Jessie.Shelters, Edith.*Sulley, Nellie Genevieve.*Symmes, T.J.*Wood, Elizabeth Outhwaite. ut auf Lu Armitage, Minnie L.Aikin, Orlando E.Bennet, Helena M.Bottom, Clara A.J.Cook, Mrs.A.J.Foss, Ella.Marsh, Eloise.OFFICIAL DEPARTMENT.First Crass ELEMENTARY DipLoMAS.(Granted without examination to Teachers holding Second Class Diplomas on the ground of success in teaching.) Martin, Rebecca.Miller, Lila J.O\u2019Bryan, Amelia E.Rix, Emma.Scott, Annie.Smith, Christina.Wilson, Sarah J.SECOND CLASS FELEMENTARY DrPLomas.(130.) * Armstrong, Jennie.Almond, Margaret Jane.Arnold, John Porteous.Barber, Eunice Odell.Bailey, Susan Maria.Bailey, Flora Mirriam.Barton, Walter.*Beach, Hattie M.*Bennet, Mary Charlotte.Bissell, Hattie M.Black, Mary Isabella.Brand, Mary Margaret.Brock, Charles E.Bradford, Maggie.*Bolam, Alice Mariah.Bullock, Annie M.*Burnett, Myrtie May.Campbell, Mary.Cass, Roxana.Carter, Florence Amelia.Chapman, Janet.Clark, Ruth A.Cook, Annie Emily.*Creswell, Malinda V.F.*Currie, Maggie Ellen.Derby, Agnes Ellen.Derock, Florence Ethel.Dobbie, Aggie.Doherty, Amelia J.Ewing, Mary.Ferris, Mary J.*Fraser, Wilhelmina.Frye, Carrie.Fuller, Maud Elizabeth.Goddard, Mabel C.*Gilkes, Robert H.M.Greenlief, Hattie.Hawley, Anna Asenath.Hanright, Clara Maria.Haney, Mary.Harbour, Sybil C.B.Hilleker, Cora Inez.Hilsden, Mary McD.Hodgins, Joseph H.*Holmes, Matilda.Howard, Theresa I.Humphrey, Jessie F.Hunter, Hattie.*Hutchins, Hannah Jennie.*Ingalls, Roxie Ann.Internoscia, Olympia.Johnson, Helen.Johnston, Henrietta Mary.Johnston, Annie Hannah.Lawrence, Myrtie.*Leefkin, Elizabeth.Lyster, Lily A.*Mahaffey, Alice J.*Mathews, Emma.*Melrose, Elizabeth Cutlhbertson * Millar, Carrie Bertha.Morrison, Janet Grey.Morrison, Catherine.McGill, Clara B. 230 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.SECOND ELEMENTARY.*McAleer, Annie Elizabeth.MecJanet, Angelina Agnes.* McFadden, Jane Elizabeth.McCuaig, Mary Ann.McKinnon, Mary, MacGregor, Peter C.J.MeMartin, Eugenie.*McLeod, Annie.McKillop, Annie.McRae, Robert Henry.McOuat, Phebe A.M.Neill, Joseph Kennedy.*Nugent, Elizabeth Cowan.Oakes, Annie R.P.Ogden, Alma Edna Eugenia.Parker, Irene R.E.Patterson, Wm Edwin.Patterson, Elizabeth P.F.Pollock, Margaret Jane.*Pettes, Clara E.* Pringle, Marion Christina.*Paisley, Helen.Ray, Dora Hetty.*Rathwell, Catherine.*Ramier, Mary Cecelia.Reid, Bertha Louisa.*Rogers, Hannah Ann.*Ruddock, Elizabeth Sarah.Seale, Elizabeth Ann.Sanborn, Lillian Jane St.Clair.Selby, Alice Lee.Shaw, Margaret Jane.Small, Annie Elizabeth.Smiley, Susan M.*Smith, Estella D.*Smith, Jemima J.Smith, Dora F.*Solomon, Marion Amelia.*Smith, Frederick Ernest.*Stinchour, Norman Perley.Sullivan, Margaret C.Sullivan, Isabella.Snyder, Alma M.*Solandt, Jane Lydia.Surtees, Lizzie J.*Swail, Margaret J.C.*Taylor, Alice Maude.Thompson, Frederick William.Vail, Ella E.Vaughan, Daisy Diana.* Wallace, Janet.Watson, Ellen E.*Woodside, Mina Mary.Whelen, Mary Alice.White, Ella.Weyland, Maud Regina.Westover, Rosa Nell.Wilson, Jennie.Westover, Eliza A.Wilson, Hattie L.* Watson, E.Jane A.*Webb, Minnie Euphemia.Wilson, Elizabeth Lily.Yates, Clara.Young, Janet.*Young, Cordelia Maude.Tarp Crass ELEMENTARY Dipromas.(49.) (These candidates will be entitled to Second Class Elementary Diplomas, upon passing a satisfactory examination in two subjects in July, 1892.) Baxter, Laura Irene.Blake, Nellie G.Cochrane, Marion Lotta.Carey, Mary Jane.Coombe, Annie Matilda.Duffey, Irena Rachel.Dumvill, Martha.Davis, Isadore H.Fairservice, Mary Janet.Forrest, Olive Elvira.=) By bb pg te =~ or ET Er OER ER BER RR FTG Ee a OFFICIAL DEPARTMENT.231 Farrel, Emily C.Fowler, Anna Catherine.Gilchrist, Jane Isabell.Hawley, Helena G.Hovey, Mrs.Lois.Hall, Susan Jane.Halpenny, Martha.Hamilton, Hugh Edward.Harbison, Maggie.Hovey, Maud E.Irwin, Margaret Elizabeth.Johnson, Ethelind Isabella.Jamieson, Agnes Ann.Kathan, Lucia Pollie.Lyster, Mary Eusebia.Little, Bertha Agnes.Morrison, Ida Georgina.Murray, David Livingstone.Magee, Sophia.*MeMillan, Annie Maria.THIRD Crass ELEMENTARY DIPLOMAS.McKinnon, Jennie Crawford.McCullough, Elizabeth.McKenzie, Robina.McKenzie, Maggie D.*McHardy, Annie.MacFarlane, Jennie.McLean, Norman.Needham, Mrs.Frances Margery.Neville, Annie M.Orton, Samuel John.Pattison, Janet McCredie.*Richardson, Edith.Reynolds, Anna Martha.*Salls, Amy.*Smith, Alice M.Thacker, Elizabeth E.Thompson, Margaret.Towle, May À.Vernier, Evodie Lydie.(Valid for one year only.) Armstrong, Sophie.Barber, Martha.Bullock, Carrie Ella.Chute, Carrie Marion, Cameron, Gertrude Irene.Catton, Elizabeth.Davidson, Alice V.Devenny, Lois Lucretia.Farnam, Bertha.Harvey, Minnie.Howie, Wm R.Lenfesty, Sarah Jane, Miller, Martha.Pellerin, Phylinda Ross, Ida Mary.Robinson, Barbara Alice.GENERAL SUMMARY OF RESULTS.Candidates.Men.33 Women .260 For Optional Subjects Le.3 For Supplementals.34 For 2nd Elementary.157 For 1st Elementary.14 For 2nd Model School.75 For 1st Model School.2 For 2nd Academy.eae 8 for consideration.*These Candidates for optional subjects received no diplomas.Diplomas Granted.Failures.24 Elem.to M.S.Candidates.24 M.S.to Academy Candidates.3 3rd Elementary.16 3rd Elem.with Supplemental, 49 2nd Elementary.130 1st Elementary.14 2nd Model School.47 1st Model School.2 2nd Academy.\u2026.Five cases reserved Lome 232 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.NOTICES FROM THE OFFICIAL GAZETTE.His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor has been pleased, under date 12th May 1891, to appoint a school commissioner for the municipality of Glande Arbour, Co.Gaspe.16th May.\u2014To appoint a school commissioner for municipality of St.Marie, Co.Beauce.22nd May.\u2014To change the name of the school municipality of Chester West, Co.Arthabaska, into St.Paul de Chestes, with the same limits as heretofore.12th June.\u2014To modify the Order in Council of the 12th March, 1891, erecting the school municipality of the Village of St.Andrews, Co.Argenteuil, by omitting the words for the Protestants only.\u2014To erect a school municipality under the name of * La Pointe du Lac No 2,\u201d Co.St.Maurice.16th June.\u2014To change the limits of the school municipality of St.Léon of Stanbridge, Co.Dorchester.17th June.\u2014To detach the parish of Ste.Cecile de Whitton from the school municipality of the township of Whitton, Co.Compton, and to erect it into a school municipality with the same limits which are assigned to it by proclamation dated 5th Feburary, 1891.This erection will affect the Roman Catholic ratepayers only.19th June.\u2014To re-appoint the Venerable Archdeacon Evans of Montreal a member of the Protestant Board of School Commissioners for the City of Montreal.16th June.\u2014To change the limits of the school municipality of Beresford, Co.Terrebonne.27th June.\u2014To appoint the Hon.John Hearn a member of the Roman Catholic Board of School Commissioners for the City of Quebec.\u2014To erect a new school municipality under the name of St.James of Clarenceville, Co.Missisquoi, also to erect the parish of Ste.Susanne de Boundary Line into a school municipality.The Roman Catholic ratepayers only are affected by these changes.6th July.\u2014To change the limits of the school municipality of St.Patrick of Rawdon, Co.Montcalm, to take effect 1st July, 1892.(1669).fl \u2014 le (\u201c115 F3 "]