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plementary for any First and Second readers, and will introduce young learners to the beauties and interest of the plant world. It is admiably illustrated.

-Greek Lessons, by Thomas D. Goodell (Henry Holt & Co.; 376 pp.; $1.25), consists of two parts. The first, called Greek in English, is based upon the Greek element in our own tongue, giving only regular grammatical forms and confining the vocabulary, so far as possible, to Greek words occurring in English. The second part, the Greek of Xenophon, is a straight road to that author, containing, besides systematic instruction in elements of the grammar, extracts from Xenophon, and exercises based upon Xenophon's Vocabulary.

LITERARY ITEMS.

-Current History, a quarterly register, for December, offers a surprising range of interesting matter. We find in it an able exposition of the great international questions of the day which concern the relations of Powers in all parts of the world, from Bering Sea to Central Asia and Africa The reader is next carried through the development of events in Europe, the results of the British elections, a history of the cholera plague, the Columbus celebrations, political movements in every country of the continent, etc., etc.

Affairs in Asia and Africa are treated with similar comprehensiveness. Under American affairs we find an impartial review of the political situation in the United States, an account of the cholera visitation, a comprehensive summary of the important Labor movements of the quarter, such as the Strikes at Homestead, Buffalo, and in the mining regions of Tennessee and Idaho, etc., etc. Affairs in Canada, Mexico, and Central America, the Revolution in Venezuela, and other South American interests, receive full attention. The results of Lieut. Peary's Expedition to Greenland, and other scientific developments. Musical and Dramatic interests, etc., are then given, followed by a full Necrological register. (Current History Publishing Co., Detroit, Mich. $1.50 per year. Sample copy 25c.)

-Few magazines have advanced so rapidly in popular favor as the Cosmopolitan. It abounds in fine illustrations, and the matter is varied and full of interest. It will mark its first edition of 150,000 copies-that for January-by the offer of 1000 free scholarships. In return for introducing the Cosmopolitan into certain neighborhoods the Cosmopolitan offers to any young man or woman free tuition, board, lodging and laundry at Yale, Vassar, Harvard, or any of the leading colleges, schools of art, music, medicine or science. They send out a pamphlet on application telling how to obtain one of these free scholarships. ($3.00 per year. Broadway and 25th St., N. Y.)

-Julian Ralph, in The Old Way to Dixie, in Harper's for January revives old-time memories by an account of a recent steamboat trip down the Mississippi, a romantic mode of travel now almost abandoned. Proletarian Paris is a study of how the poor live in the resplendent modern capital. Two very promising novels are begun in this number: Horace Chase, by Constance Fenimore Woolson, and The Refugees, a Tale of Two Continents, by A. Conan Doyle. Poulteney Bigelow's Why We Left Russia will be read with much interest, and literary readers will enjoy Annie Field's chat about Tennyson. It is a very attractive number of one of the best of our magazines.

-The Popular Science Monthly is indispensable to one who wishes to keep up with the developments of modern scientific thought. The January number has an interesting table of contents, in which we note the following: Marriage Among the Ancient Israelites, showing that marriage by capture prevailed with them as with other people; The Inventor of the Lightning Rod, a Bohemian contemporary of Franklin, named Divis; Genius and Suicide, showing how the onesidedness of genius tends to insanity; Problems of Anthropology, by Prof. Virchow; A Captive Comet, the story of the one which Jupiter caught in 1886; etc.

-urrent Topics is the name of the new monthly issued by the University of Chicago, the first (January) number of which appeared at Christmas time. It is a sixty four page publication, pages of the size of the North American Review. It is announced as in the interest of non-sectarian

Christian education, and will have a World's Fair department, an athletic department under charge of A. A. Stagg, and contributions by representative men. It will be popular in character, and is published at the low price of one dollar per year. (Lock Box 977, Chicago.)

- Worthington's Illustrated Magazine is an inviting publication, the first number of which (January) is upon our table. It aims to be essentially a home magazine, with attractions for all members of the household. Some of our best authors are engaged to write for it; its illustrations are numerous and beautiful, its stories are bright and pure, and its departments several, with pleasing miscellanies. It is not inferior in appearance to the best of our magazines, and is furnished at only $2.50 per year. (A. D. Worthington & Co., Hartford, Conn.)

'Sweet Bells Out of Tune,'' Mrs. Burton Harrison's novel of New York society, which has just begun in The Century, has made a great hit. The publishers have reprinted the opening chapters from the November Century, and will send the pamphlet containing them to any one who asks for it. Write to The Century Company, 33 East Seventeenth street, New York, and get it. The novel is the greatest society story that has appeared in many years. is illustrated by Charles Dana Gibson.

It

-The Bohemian Voice, published at Omaha, has been recently established as the official organ of the Bohemians in this country. It is a well edited paper and contains many historical articles upon Bohemia. We advise our readers who wish to become acquainted with this people to take their organ. There are about 50,000 Bohemians, we believe in Wisconsin, and our lieutenant governor is of that race.

-Any more attractive publication for young people than Wide Awake (D. Lothrop & Co., Boston, Mass.; $2.50 per year) would be hard to find. The holiday issues have been crowded with interesting and instructive matter and beautiful pictures. Any number of it is sure to fill the young folks with delight.

-D. C. Heath & Co. announce Dumas' L'Evasion du Duc de Beaufort, an interesting episode from "Vingt Ans Apres;" and L'Oroe L'Orpello, an interesting Italian comedy for early reading of students of that language.

EDUCATIONAL PAMPHLETS.

-We are indebted to Superintendent W. B. Powell for a copy of the Course of Study of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia, with the rules governing the schools. It is a pamphlet of 226 pages. The different branches are each detailed by itself as to matter, with hints as to methods, so that the reader sees consecutively the whole scheme of work in each, as in language for example, or in mathematics or natural science. The pamphlet makes a valuable teacher's manual.

-The annual Report of the Public Schools of the City of Madison shows an enrollment of 2,037, which is forty-five per cent. of the population of school age. The cost of tuition per pupil is $12.05. It is made up of the reports of Superintendent, Principal of High School and Visiting Committee, which seems to provide occasion for thorough study of the system. Besides these are the Rules and Regulations, Courses of Study, and Catalogue of Students.

-A little fifteen page pamphlet on The Public Schools in the District of Columbia, prepared by Commissioner Harris, has in it an unusual amount of suggestive matter relative to common school management and teaching. We wish every teacher and superintendent in the State could read it, and shall take another occasion to call attention to some of its points.

-An essay by Pres. Chas. DeGarmo read before the American Academy of Political and Social Science on Ethical Training in the Schools is issued in pamphlet form. The writer sees in Literature the great means for forming ethical ideals supplemented by current history, politics and science, while the discipline of the school is the greatest force for developing conscience and will.

-The County School Problem was vigorously discussed by Henry Sabin, of Iowa, in a paper before the American Institute of Instruction, now issued in Pamphlet form, for a copy of which we are indebted to the author.

Journal of Education

Vol. XXIII.

AND MIDLAND SCHOOL JOURNAL.

MADISON, WIS., FEBRUARY, 1893.

No. 2.

dency is not a sudden move. Opinion has EDUCATION, been long forming that this agency as at pres

ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO

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WHILE elsewhere college men are showing increased interest in elementary and secondary education, in Wisconsin they seem to be withdrawing from it more and more. Beloit, Ripon, Lawrence, Carroll, the Northwestern altogether without representation at the Teachers' Association, and the State University almost so, although President Adams delivered an interesting and valuable address on Tuesday evening, -this may be cited in proof of the allegation. We know that the officers of the association have tried for years to secure the attendance and help of the college men, but the result is discouraging. Would a college section help the matter?

THE radical action of the Teachers' Association in regard to the county superinten

ent constituted in Wisconsin is educationally a failure. We have some excellent county superintendents, but it is unfortunately true that we have some wholly unfit for their posts, and the office is so involved in politics, and it is so difficult to provide for suitable qualifications under present conditions that heroic measures may be necessary. In this criticism the better superintendents appear to be fully in accord with the teachers, and we may reasonably hope that some remedies will be devised by the present legislature.

QUESTIONS of this sort are occurring to thoughtful persons who reflect upon the relations of the Normal schools: If they are to render effective service to the rural schools ought they not to aim directly at such service, instead of claiming that they render it incidentally? Will any one claim that the preparatory work is adjusted as closely as possible to fitting those who take it to teach rural schools? Is even the first years' work in the Normal school closely adjusted to help such teachers? Are not both of these mere fragments, parts of a whole which these teachers are never to realize, and is this scheme of fragments the best that can be devised for them? Are we not ready for a clarification of ideals in this matter such as would result from a course for rural teachers, a course for intermediate teachers, etc.? Would not the effect of such courses be useful in the Normal schools themselves, by inducing young people to determine their aims earlier and more distinctly, and thus securing in them a steadier purpose? Certainly these questions are deserving of serious consideration.

CLASSICAL studies in the schools ought to profit from the exposition of examination papers at Harvard made by Charles Francis Adams in the Harvard Graduates' Magazine. These are offered by pupils of sufficient ability and promise to be sent to college, and they represent the work in the best New England preparatory schools. A sorry showing they make. These candidates write a strange jargon, which the uninitiated would hardly accept as English. Often they do not even

make sentences, and when they do these are awkward and clumsy to a degree. It is with reason that Mr. Adams questions whether such classical study contributes anything to mastery of English. Nothing is more certain than that good idiomatic Latin ought to be rendered into good idiomatic English. The power to do this can be acquired only by making written translations, in which the defects of English structure and idiom can be clearly pointed out and corrected. Oral translation is so transitory that criticisms are not appreciated when offered. Hence frequent written translations should be required, that through them a clear standard of translation into English may be established in the pupil's mind. CONFERENCES of considerable importance relating to elementary and secondary education were held during the holidays. They originated in this way: The National Educational Association at its last session appointed a committee of ten to study and report upon the matter and methods of the secondary schools. This committee arranged the conferences to study and recommend regarding different branches of study proposed for these schools. The committee on history and economics met in Madison, with Pres. Adams, of the State University, as chairman. The com

mittee on physics, astronomy and chemistry, and also that on Natural History, met at Chicago University. The reports of these conferences will be made to the committee of ten, who will revise and co-ordinate them and report results to the association. Prof. Woodrow Wilson, of Princeton, Prof. Hart, of Harvard University, Prof. Macey, of Iowa University, Prof. Robinson, of the University of Pennsylvania, Prof. Bourne, of Adelbert College, Prof. Warren, of the Albany Academy, and Ray G. Huling, of New Bedford, were members of the conference on history. The report of the committee ought to be of great value in shaping the work of grammar and high schools.

A NEW INSPECTOR needed.

We have now a High School inspector, and the value of such an officer is no longer in doubt among all who have watched the toning up process among the High schools. The State Department is thus brought into close and personal relations with the Free High Schools

of the State.

How can the same result be achieved with the country schools? Only by having an inspector appointed for them. Of course his work will usually be to aid the county superintendent, and to systematize this work as

far as possible. A man of tact and experience could help new superintendents greatly in getting started, and such an officer could help organize conventions of district officers in many cities. A few superintendents have tried this from time to time, but have made only a partial success of it, when help and encouragement from the State Superintendents' office would have made district officers' conventions a great success in Wisconsin.

All the good thus done in county school organizations in one county would be reported in other counties. The standard of examination of teachers in different counties could be compared carefully. The reason why some counties have many school libraries and some have so few could be investigated. The reason why the Free High Schools are not adopted in the city could be considered and The uniform course of perhaps removed.

study could be made a little more of a reality and then county superintendents who are trying to lift their counties would be greatly helped.

Much good could be done to the country schools by a representative of the State Superintendent who could speak with authority.

W.

THE MEETING of the ASSOCIATION.

A large attendance of representative teachers with earnest and practical aims gathered at Madison in December, and a good deal of really valuable work was accomplished. Yet many went away with a feeling of dissatisfaction and some irritation. This was due in large part to the bad business management of the meeting, concerning which it will probably be useful to speak plainly. As the Senate and Assembly chambers were undergoing repair the Association was deprived of its usual place of gathering, and though the high school building was convenient and cordially granted for their use, no officer of the Association was on hand to see to the matter in season to have the building properly heated. Some discomfort, especially in the department meetings, resulted, as the weather was extremely cold. The city superintendent did all that could be done under the circumstances, and was in no way responsible for the discomfort. Further, no notices were posted to direct members where to find the meeting, and in consequence many wandered about in search of it. No notices of the meetings were given in the local press, simply because no officer of the Association attended to the matter. Some important discussions were rendered fruitless of definite results because

the presiding officer failed to apply the ordinary rules of debate. It is difficult to excuse

so many blunders. There is an anomaly in the organization of the Association which ought to be remedied. We have an executive committee, formally reconstituted year after year, and charged by the constitution with important duties; but in reality for an indefinite length of time this executive committee has been a mere formality. Nobody supposes that it is to take any responsibility or do any work. The president has absorbed its powers and duties. It is perhaps

best that he should, but if so the law should be amended to correspond with the facts.

The note of the railroad secretary published elsewhere in this number calls attention to another matter which is a constant source of trouble. The association cannot be carried on without funds. These funds are raised by the annual membership fees. They ought to be paid to the association by every person in attendance, as proof of interest in and loyalty to its work. We want members who believe in the association and give it a cordial support, not only by their presence but by the willing payment of the small fee. Now the associa

tion has been accustomed to secure for its members reduced railroad fares, and reduced hotel accommodations, and thus the notion. has become prevalent that the fee is in return for those reductions ;and when for any cause they fail, as happened this year through the action of the majority of those who attended, members feel that they have been wronged. This notion is wholly false. The association is a voluntary organization of teachers, for ends which seem to them important and valuable, and the fee is in reality a contribution for the furtherance of these ends. It is hardly creditable that so many seek to evade it. There is need of some educational work among us to develop our loyalty and sense of honor towards this organization. The association is possibly as well entitled to aid from the State as other similar organizations which receive it, and perhaps, if the matter were suitably presented to the legislature, might get it. But even this, if secured, would not do away with the necessity of fees, though it might enable us to extend and improve our work as an organization. But loyalty and esprit du corps are more important than subventions.

S.

GRAMMAR SCHOOL COURSES IN WISCONSIN.

With a view to laying before our readers some information as to the movement for enriching grammar school courses in Wisconsin, we addressed a note to superintendents or

principals in sixteen of our cities asking details of courses, and have received replies from eleven of these. The cities addressed were as follows: Milwaukee, *La Crosse, Eau Claire, West Superior, Wausau, *Marinette, *Racine, Oshkosh, Madison, Green Bay, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, *Stevens Point, Ashland, Watertown and *Baraboo. No reply was received from those marked with an asterisk. In stating results a difficulty arises regarding what range to give to the designation "grammar schools." These courses are arranged in grades of one year's duration, and all except one show eight grades below the high school; Green Bay has nine such grades We have hesitated whether to apply the term "grammar school" to the last three grades or to the last four, but have concluded to limit it to the last three in this statement. The common traditional course in these grades includes reading, spelling, geography, language or grammar, penmanship and drawing, with in many cases some instruction in vocal music.

In all but two of the schools reporting the reading has broken away from the traditional bonds of the school readers and become an introduction to literature. Supt. Halsey, of Oshkosh, writes: "In some of our intermediate grades good work has been done in the way of euriching the course by acquainting the pupils with some good literature that is ordinarily reserved for the Seventh and Eighth grades. Last year one teacher (Third grade) interested her class greatly in Hiawatha; another (Fourth grade) in the vision of Sir Launfal. The work has not been sufficiently systematic, however, to speak of it as a general movement in enriching the course of study throughout our schools." throughout our schools." In the West Superior schools "pupils in all grades are required to commit each year at least six selections from standard authors." In the Madison schools the reading is one book each term, as follows: Robinson Crusoe, Church's Stories from the Old World, Hawthorne's Wonder Book; Kingsley's Greek Heroes, Scott's Lady of the Lake, Burroughs, Sharp Eyes; for Eighth grade, Masterpieces of American Literature.

The History of the United States appears in the courses of all these schools, but in ways which show that its proper relations are not yet well understood. At West Superior it appears continuously throughout the last four years; at Sheboygan it appears in the Sixth and Eighth grades; at Milwaukee, Madison and Eau Claire, in the Seventh and Eighth; at Fond du Lac and Wausau in the Eighth only. These arrangements indicate wide

diversities of aim and methods.

Elementary science is another subject in which there is great diversity. At Madison it appears as a branch of instruction in all the elementary grades. At Milwaukee we find observation and oral lessons in the fourth grade, physiology in the sixth and seventh, composition of air and of water in the seventh, and physical science and geography in the eighth. At Fond du Lac and Wausau physiology appears in the sixth, at Green Bay in the ninth grades. At Milwaukee and Green Bay physical geography is placed in the last elementary grade.

In Milwaukee German is taught in all grades, and at Sheboygan in the last four grades of the elementary course. Beyond this no foreign languages appear in the courses.

The Milwaukee course shows additional to what is found in any of the other schools civil government pursued in the eighth grade, and also mensuration, the specifications for which indicate that it includes a study of elementary geometry.

This statement sufficiently indicates the need of careful study and consultation over elementary programs. The greatest waste in them is probably in the study known as language, in which the programs show the confusion and lack of clear aims which prevail. In geography and arithmetic the excess which has drawn such sharp criticism at the east prevails in all the schools. The coordination of studies has evidently been very little thought of, and yet it is evident, for instance, that geography, science and drawing have close inter-relations which ought to be turned to account, as also have reading, history, literature and geography.

Among the additional studies which it is proposed to introduce into these grades are geometry, algebra, English history, physics, and some foreign language. The condition of our programs would certainly seem to warrant the formation of an organization of our city superintendents for the study of problems connected with elementary school programs. S.

THE MONTH.

WISCONSIN NEWS AND NOTES.

-In Sauk county fourteen local teachers, institutes were held during the past year.

-Thomas J. Jones, of Dodgeville, is superintendent of Iowa county instead of H. W. Dietrich as announced ino our December number.

-The official list of county superintendents shows ten ladies now holding that office.

They are in Ashland, Brown, Bayfield, Burnett, Eau Claire, Green Lake, Pepin, Price, Racine and Sawyer counties.

-In Grant county, C. H. Nye, for twenty years connected with the model department of the Platteville Normal School, has become county superintendent. On leaving the normal he was given a reception by Pres. McGregor at which he was presented with tokens of esteem from his pupils and associate teach

ers.

-Sup't Damkoehler, of Door county, in his notices of teachers' examinations, says: "In making up questions in theory and art of teaching I shall make use of White's Elements of Pedagogy from page 21 to page 93 for 40 per cent. of the work; remainder will be based upon the Manual." Such an announcement opens the way for an examination in this branch which means something.

-Supt. Schulz, of Sauk county, issues with his annual report a complete directory of the school officers and teachers of his county, with directions for the educational exhibit to be made at the county fair in the coming fall. The success of the educational exhibit last fall causes much interest in the reparation for another. The directory shows three high chools in the county and ten graded schools. There were fifty who received diplomas of graduation from the common schools, fourteen from the graded schools, and six full graded school diplomas.

-At the State Examination for Teachers' Certificates held in Madison last December, four persons were granted life certificates as follows: Anna E. Anderson, Merrill; M. A. Bussewitz, Juneau; Oliver H. Say, Sextonville; F. F. Wood, Black Earth. Nine limited certificates were granted: J. C. Adams, South Kaukauna; John Arbuthnot, Woodman; John N. Foster, Knapp; Edward A. Ketcham, Colby; Charles E. Lamb, Bangor; L. L. Lightcap, Boscobel; F. L. McGowan, Oxford; Michael Meili, Evansville; Charles V. Nevins, Iola. Sixty candidates were present at the examination.

-The third annual session of the Northwestern Wisconsin Teachers' Association will be held in Superior, Wis., March 30th, 31st and April 1, 1893. Every effort will be made to make this session the best so far, in point of numbers, practical subjects and reduced expenses to attend. No pains will be spared to make it pleasant for the teachers. Reduced hotel rates will be furnished. Anything which you may do to keep the fact that Superior people will do their best to entertain all who

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