wished to test their ability to express their thoughts on paper, and required them to write a sketch of one of the presidents, permitting each one to make his own selection. The following essay was written by a teacher who holds a first-class certificate:

"James K. Polk was inaugurated March 4, 1849. Calhoun elected vicepresident. it was the triumph of the Democratic party, the most important event during this administration, was the Mexican war. the annexation of Texas Mexico claimed to belong to Texas it was settled and, Texas was admitted into union."

The following essay on Lincoln was written by another aspirant for a teacher's certificate:

"He was a native of Kentucky and was a railsplitter by trade, he was serving his second term and was shot by Booth April 15 1861 and died in a short time, He was a democrate and a very good president."

The two essays are given in full. Of course such teachers do harm when they attempt to teach the English language.— Western Journal of Education.

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.

SUPT. H. M. JAMES, OMAHA, NEB.

In a recent number of one of the New York dailies appeared the following:

"The time has long since gone by when public opinion will tolerate whipping as a means of discipline for refractory pupils. If a scholar is so bad as to be impervious to such moral corrections as a teacher may properly apply, his place is not in the school with decent boys and girls who go there to learn, but in the house of correction. Whipping is certainly out of place now in the city school-room, where teachers are neither jailors nor authorized guardians."

This is very different doctrine from that heard by some of us when we were boys. There are schoolmasters still surviving who have known what it was to compel obedience—to make rules and enforce them. A generation ago no one questioned the propriety of employing an able-bodied man for the winter school. Then all the shortcomings of the young were visited with punishment. So common were these occurrences that the boy who went through school without a flogging from the master was not looked upon as a boy of special promise, bnt was regarded as a sort of a girl among the boys, quite wanting in the spirit of a hero. Those were times of authority. It was an eye

for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.

Public opinion not only sustained the use of the rod, but scores of other punishments much less justifiable. And instead of the parents entering a protest, the most of them stood ready to duplicate the punishment at home.

But the times have certainly changed. We do not hold the same notions regarding punishment that our fathers held. How gently in these days the law handles criminals! Burglars and highwaymen, while under arrest, receive better treatment than they ever knew before. When tried, if any possible means of acquitting them can be found, they are set at liberty. Reformation is more prominent than punishment in the administration of justice. New theories have come to prevail with regard to God's attitude toward sinners, as many of the new systems of theology attest. Divine love has come to be the preachers' theme far more frequently than divine wrath-the gospel rather than the law. In the treatment of children this change of opinion is very marked. Parents no longer punish their children at home because they were punished at school. They are more likely to call the teacher to account, or make complaint to the board of education, or to the local editor. The better classes are rarely willing to have their children punished at school. In many schools the use of the rod is prohibited, and nowhere does it hold sway as it did a generation ago.

The ancient schoolmaster does not look upon this change with favor, and many other teachers hear of the old times when a "word and a blow" was the rule, and imagine it the golden age of school government, supposing that with frequent and energetic punishment discipline must have been easier, and the work of the teacher more effective than it is to-day. But two inquiries are pertinent at this point:

First, does the wholesale use of the rod in school tend to produce superior results? Is good behavior, or perfect scholarship or high character any more likely to be secured in schools in which the discipline is severe than in any other? The work of governing occupied far more time forty years ago than it does to-day, and there is good reason to believe that, notwithstanding the frequency of punishments, schools were much less orderly than they are now. The theory that virtue can be whipped into children has long since been discarded. In the process of awakening a desire for knowledge and training a child's mental powers, it is difficult to see what office the rod can performi. And in leading the young to admire the beautiful and good and true, so little use is there of punishment that thousands of teachers, the most efficient in control, do not resort to physical penalties at all. It is

easy to find schools with several hundred pupils in which not more than a dozen cases of corporal punishment occur in a whole year.

And, again, when the amount of punishment can be so reduced, is it not possible to carry the reduction still further, and have none at all? On this question skillful teachers will not be agreed, much of the larger portion holding that in the mixture of motives for correct conduct, the occasional use of the rod gives a certain flavoring that could not well be omitted. An analysis of the ten or twenty cases of punishment reported in a school of six hundred pupils and a dozen teachers, is instructive at this point of this discussion. It will usually be found that the half of the teachers who have the best control, report much less than half of these cases. The greatest part of the punishing is done by those weak in discipline. The very best teacher has no cases at all; the very worst has many. Now what influence Miss A., without experience or skill, who has punished every month of the year, has exerted on her own school or on the other schools in the building, is an interesting question. Miss B., who has more tact than Miss A., punished once in November and once in May. Is it this that has maintained her authority, and have these two acts contributed to the law-abiding sentiment of the building? Or could she have done more in the same direction by managing these two cases differently ? Miss C. and Miss D. have both experience and skill. They have had excellent schools, but have had no corporal punishment. Is it likely that their schools would have been any better if they had used the rod occasionally, or any worse if Misses A. and B. had used it less? A certain school of five hundred pupils had one case of corporal punishment in a year. The last month a neglected waif in the lowest class was mildly whipped for stubborn disobedience. Is it probable that this was the crucial test of authority in that school, and not only the discipline of this room, but the other eight rooms in the building would have weakened had some other corrective measure been employed? Or was this like leaven in a loaf, the influence of which was felt throughout the entire school?

Whether schools are governed with little or much punishment must depend largely on the superintendent. In advising the teacher, in disposing of cases referred to him, and in many other ways, he has opportunity to exert an influence on the government and discipline of the schools that will make punishment rare or common, in proportion to his own ability or incapacity as an administrator. It is never creditable to him if punishment is a matter of frequent occurrence.

Certain advantages would follow if corporal punishment were positively interdicted in the schools.

I. While the schools might sometimes lose a good teacher, they would rarely do so. They would, however, be relieved of many schoolmasters of the Squeers pattern. "Give me a whip," says Prof. Whackem, "and I will show you a school." His only ideal of a school is one in which discipline abounds.

2. A school governed without the rod is unquestionably better governed than when physical force is used. When the incentive to good conduct is only the fear of punishment, the life is on a very low moral plane. Stringent police regulations may make property secure, but no police force contributes to the moral training of a community. And if a teacher can make her pupils love virtue for its own sake, without thought of penalties, her power as a character builder is inestimable.

3. The calling of the teacher is exalted when he ceases to be regarded as the "apostle of the birch." These little allusions to the teacher's occupation, though made in pleasantry, are a disgrace to our profession. Why should the teacher alone of all persons who deal with children, be expected to flog the incorrigible? Our vocation will be held in higher esteem when we are not subjected to this indignity. And, lastly, the abolition of the rod would adapt the practices of the schools to the most enlightened public opinion of the day. There is a strong sentiment among the better classes of society that insists that parents alone should be allowed to inflict corporal punishment on their children. This prejudice is so strong that the teacher who uses the rod is liable to be involved in frequent wranglings and difficulties with parents. He is less likely to secure the sympathy and support of the school, and the co-operation of the parents, than the one who can govern a school without resorting to corporal punishment. Western School Journal.

WORK AND REST FOR CHILDREN.

BY MISS EMMA JONES.

The teacher has great responsibilities, if conscientious in the performance of his duties. Too often he thinks only of those brilliant scholars whose success he hopes will add to his fame, and whose lessons will reflect credit upon the instructor.

The teacher assiduous to do his whole duty with the children intrusted to him, will find the especial capacity which each may have and strive to develop it. It must be remembered in all our education

that the child has two natures, both inseparably connected, viz: the body and the mind. If these be neglected by educating the one and not the other, the whole being will suffer-not only the corporeal, but the mental and moral.

Good health and strength of body are necessary to study. Hence the necessity of fresh air and restful exercise. Without it all the organic functions of the body are impeded in their action and as a consequence the vital forces are diminished. The mind must not be refreshed by the ruin of the body. In many of our best taught schools the physical education is too nearly neglected for the mental.

ones.

Very recently is it, indeed, that the idea that some relaxation from constant toil was necessary for strength of body or mind of the little Centuries ago it was written, "Apollo, non semper tendis arcum,” but more modern philosophy has said, "that all work and no play would make Jack a dull boy," but practically these teachings were forgotten. Perhaps the influence of monastic discipline had no little to do with forming the habits of the world. The silent influence excited by a whole regiment of lazy monks, who, although they rarely ever did anything beneficial, yet pretended to be always engaged in some praise-worthy occupation, had a pernicious influence. They kept a sharp lookout that every one else was most actively employed. They frowned upon all amusements. Even Protestant ministers imbibed, to a considerable extent, these notions. A divinity student, until the last few years, would not dare to engage in a game of ball, or ride a horse faster than a most solemn trot. Fortunately there came a time, when in every respect, a change came over the feelings and judgment of the intelligent part of the community. It has been discovered that some relaxation is necessary. In every well regulated school, pupils are allowed to employ a part of the time in resting. No lengthy argument is needed that exercise must be indulged in by little people, else the health will soon become impaired. The usual school hours for pupils of the fourth grade and those more advanced are not generally too long. It is said by one of our most eminent Hoosier physicians, that pupils of the first year should not be confined in school more than two hours a day. Pupils of the second grade should not exceed three hours a day, while from one-third to one-half of that time should be spent in play, singing, or making pictures on the slate.

A sound mind can only be found in connection with a sound body. A weak or diseased body affects the mind and a weak or diseased mind affects the body. A sound body cannot be had without proper exercise. Small children should not be kept at any occupation more than ten or fifteen minutes without rest or change of position or occu