difficult to convince our teachers-most or all of whom have had experience with it—that anything to be compared with these results can be secured by the use of the spelling book.

H.

PUPILS WRITING HISTORY.

BY O. C. LARASON.

About one week before the close of school, we finished Ridpath's School History, extending to the beginning of President Arthur's administration. The greater part of the last week was spent in completing that history to the present time. The attention of the pupils was directed to the form and style of the author's narrative, and the principal dates and most important events were either given orally or outlined upon the black-board, leaving each pupil to write the story in his own language. We give below a brief synopsis of a paper handed in by a girl of fifteen, which has been selected as a fair average:

"As President Arthur's term drew to a close, the political parties began to look around for available candidates for the Presidency. The Republican party held its convention in Chicago, June 3, 1884, and nominated James G. Blaine, of Maine, on the fourth ballot,-President Arthur being his principal competitor. Mr. Blaine had been a prominent candidate before the Republican convention in 1876 and 1880. His ability as a statesman and leader of his party can not be questioned; he has achieved some notoriety also as a literary man. John A. Logan, of Illinois, was nominated by acclamation for VicePresident. Mr. Logan, familiarly known as 'Black Jack,' is both a soldier and a statesman. Never was the nomination of any ticket received with greater applause than that of Blaine and Logan.'

"The Democratic party held their convention in Chicago, July 8, 1884, occupying the same hall the Republicans had used about five weeks before. Grover Cleveland, Governor of New York, was nominated on the second ballot. Ex-Governor Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, was nominated for Vice-President amidst the wildest excitement. Mr. J. P. Boyd, in Building and Ruling the Republic,' said of Mr. Hendricks soon after the nomination: 'All in all, Mr. Hendricks is one of the purest-minded and ablest men now before the American public, and the mantle of the Vice-Presidency could not fall on worthier shoulders.'

"The National Greenback party met and nominated Hon. Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, for President. The National Pro

hibition party nominated Ex-Governor St. John, of Kansas. Political excitement ran high. All the enthusiasm and excitement of former campaigns sank into utter insignificance as compared with the campaign of 1884. Political conventions were held daily. The party strife even entered our public schools, and not a few teachers in an unguarded moment gave vent to their political feelings. The business interests of the country became paralyzed. Be it said, to the shame of all parties, that even the personal character of the leading candidates was assailed. But finally election day, which had been much dreaded, came, and Cleveland and Hendricks were found to be elected. Grover Cleveland, twenty-second President of the United States, was born in Caldwell, Essex Co., New Jersey, March 18, 1873, but moved with his father to Fayetteville, N. Y., when three years of age. Here he grew to manhood and obtained an academic education, and taught school for two years. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1859. In 1863 he was appointed Assistant District Attorney of Erie County, but was defeated for the same position in 1865. In 1869 he was elected Sheriff of his county, and in 1881, Mayor of Buffalo. He was elected Governor of New York in 1882, over the late Judge Folger, one of the ablest and best known men in his State, with a plurality of over 192,000 votes, and in 1884 was elected to the highest office within the gift of the people.

"On the 4th of March, 1885, President Cleveland, according to custom, delivered his inaugural address, and immediately sent to the Senate the names of the members of his Cabinet. These nominations were, for Secretary of State, Thos. F. Bayard, of Delaware; for Secretary of the Treasury, Wm. Manning, of New York; for Secretary of War, Wm. C. Endicott, of Massachusetts; for Secretary of the Navy, Wm. C. Whitney, of New York; for Secretary of the Interior, L. Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi; for Attorney-General, Augustus H. Garland, of Arkansas; for Postmaster-General, W. F. Vilas, of Wisconsin. All were promptly confirmed. Thus, the new administration was ushered in with prospects of a bright future before it.

"The great National Exposition, held at New Orleans, brought together thousands of visitors from all parts of the United States, especially from the Northern States. Agricultural products of almost numberless varieties were on exhibition. The educational interests, too, were not overlooked.

"The year 1885 will long be remembered on account of millions of dollars that have been swept away by fire. On one occasion, in Cincinnati, sixteen persons, most of whom were young ladies, perished in one building.

"So far during the present administration only a few noted men have fallen by the hand of death. About the first of May, Irwin McDowell, who gained a national reputation in the battle of Bull Run, died at San Francisco. On May 20, Hon. F. T. Frelinghuysen, Arthur's Secretary of State, quietly passed away at his home in Newark, N. J."

In this way we have awakened a new interest in the subject of U. S. History. All the manuscripts were given back to the pupils, who will keep them and compare them with the next chapter published by the author, John C. Ridpath.

TEACHING READING TO CHILDREN AT HOME.

In The Student, a monthly journal devoted to the interests of education in the Society of Friends, eight mothers give their experience in teaching little ones to read, as follows:

If a child can be inspired with a desire to learn to read, it will be a great help to accomplish the proposed end. One little girl was so inspired from having a present, when five or six years old, of The Nursery. It proved so delightful, and she wanted to hear it read so often, it became impossible to procure a reader at all times when desired, so she asked "mother" to teach her to read. This was done not as a task, but more as a pastime, and by the method of learning the words at sight. She was never taught the alphabet, but picked up the names of all the letters in a short time.

One point I consider of the utmost importance, that a child should always be required to read well from the first, avoiding reading one word at a time or in a monotonous, sing-song manner, or in an unnatural tone. Let the learners understand that reading is only talking, and to be done in a conversational manner. It is so much harder to break up bad habits than to teach good ones at first. The teachers who prefer parents should not teach children to read at home, have probably had experience with some of these bad habits.

Blackboards and reading charts are, perhaps, the best way to start children at school, but for mothers who want a primer for home use, a little book called Reading Without Tears, is excellent. It is adapted to the system of learning the words by sight. It was used twenty-five years ago, whether out of print now I do not know, but think no modern primer I have seen equal to it.

After our little girls once had a start, letter-blocks and cards were useful in gaining a knowledge of spelling. E. S. S.

I do not approve of teaching children to read at home, preferring to allow the physical growth, not retarded by any tax upon the mental. I endeavored to keep my daughters untaught until they entered school in their ninth year, and think I succeeded, for at that age they did did not know their letters in writing. At the ages of eleven and twelve they are fresh for study, seem to be making steady progress, never tiring, (when well), and though perhaps a little behind others of their age, I never regret it, for as they advance in their studies I feel assured they will be better able to conquer them.

My youngest child I am keeping back, as the teacher wishes to commence with him entirely untaught, though I expect to send him to school earlier than my daughters, that he may have occupation.

F. P. P.

With many children the desire to learn to read is so keen and it requires so little mental effort, that even at four years old no harm is done. It is a delightful pastime for rainy days, and is good company for an only or a youngest child.

For example, two children were but a few months past five and six years respectively, when they learned to read in connection with a home kindergarten. The Little Teacher, a first-book in "the word method," was given to them, and in a few weeks they learned to recognize words at a glance, and without knowing a single letter as such.

To aid in the accurate picturing of a word, as we called putting its letters in place, they had the alphabet in small type on tiny cards given to them, and would make first words and then sentences with ease and precision.

The names of the letters were conscientiously kept from them, and they had no knowledge of the alphabet or of spelling. When they were seven and eight years old they had picked up the names of the letters, and spelling came as second nature. They were familiar with every line and curve necessary to form the picture of a word, and' when they mastered the names of said lines, spelling was truly "made easy."

In teaching by the word method the child must learn the sound of each letter or combination of letters, and when a new word occurs he will be able to sound it with some accuracy. Many object to this method of teaching our children, claiming it as the cause of many poor spellers. I think this is a mistake. The two children above referred to are fair spellers, and one or the other is usually at the head of her class in spelling.

In another case the child was only three and a half years old, but was ambitious. Seeing the older children reading their little story books, she determined not to be behind any, and would insist on knowing what the words were as she eagerly conned her picture-book ;

very soon she could read "after a fashion" almost any book she took up; she had learned to read under protest and without method or training; as a result she lacks accuracy, and has no talent for spelling. The fault is not in the system, but in resisting the child's inclination; let each child's bent of mind be a law to his mother. Neither force a book upon him, nor force him from it. At seven or eight years of age he will be ready for the harness, and all the more so if he has had two or three years of kindergarten work under a judicious teacher. the case last mentioned, had the mother buried her pet theory, that no child should be taught from a book until he was at least five years old, and had this little thing of three and a half years been wisely led into the wilderness of words, she might have been saved many missteps and blunders.

R. W. C.

The best methods for teaching children to read are now pretty well elaborated in several excellent little primers that have been largely used in the last few years. Every mother, however, who undertakes to "teach the young idea how to shoot" can hardly fail to be impressed with the marked differences among her own little ones in their ability to grasp these same ideas.

One child will seem at the age of four quite mature enough to begin to learn from a book; another will be so completely a baby at that age that it would be folly to attempt it.

The kindergarten training is now very generally approved, and most persons are high in its praise. I confess to having some fears as to its being too stimulating for many children of the best educated Americans; for some reason or other a large proportion of them seem mere bundles of nerves whose brains had better lie fallow as long as possible. Ordered and regulated employment is all very well for the active little brains and fingers, but they do not need to be constantly urged to observe and think.

A little anecdote of a kindergarten in Germany has tended to confirm these views. An American lady had gone into a school of this class which consisted of a number of German and two American children. After the lady had watched the exercises for a time, the teacher turned to her and said: "Are all American children like these two? They are so quick they always seize on every idea I present to them before any others in the room; they need no kindergarten training."

For the lower classes, schools of this type are admirable, especially the department of object teaching. The recollection comes up now of a room full of little colored children, to whom I used to give object lessons on such subjects as a pencil, a tumbler-the commonest everyday things around them—and with what eagerness after the first few lessons they answered my questions about the article I was holding