when they shall have left the school and the | have a joint capital of £1,000; A's stock remains in living teacher. As to the communication of knowledge, aside from that immediately connected with school studies, there is a more excellent way than that of pouring it in by the process already described. EXAMINATION QUESTIONS. trade 9 months, and his share of the gain is £90; B's time is 6 months, and his gain £65: required the total number of marks to pass an examination; he particular stocks. A man must get one-third of the answers half the questions, but to of his answers gets on an average only of the marks, and thus gets 25 marks too few to pass: how many marks does he get altogether? A, B, and C perform a piece of work in 7 days; A could do it alone in 12 days, and with the assistance of C in ten days: what part of the work was done by B in 7 days, and what part could HE following list of examination ques-decimals have over vulgar fractions; what disadeach do in one day? State the advantages which tions is from the Irish Teachers' Jour- vantages have they? nal. They were used at the Easter examinations, and indicate, in some respects, greater range of acquirements than with us, on the part of candidates. The test will repay careful reading, even from such as may not attempt to work it through. TH GRAMMAR.-Why is a verb used in asking a ques tion said to be in the indicative mood? Name the HISTORY.-What empires has Egypt been subject to from the earliest times? What made it a valuable prize? How did the Persians and ancient Greeks come in contact? Write a sketch of the Saracens. fully the events which make their period so important defective verbs still in use, and also those which have become obsolete. State fully the several relations of time and action denoted by the present perfect tense, and specify all the forms used to express past time, in the indicative mood, taking for example the verb "march," in the first person singular. Write out From Macedonia's madman to the Swede." in two columns the possessive adjective pronouns, and the corresponding possessive cases of the personal water on the globe? How do their waters differ, and GEOGRAPHY.-What are the lowest-lying sheets of pronouns, and show the difference in their use. Specify, with examples, the several cases in which why? Explain the terms: doldrums, horse latitudes, intransitive verbs may be used transitively. Write sea of Sargasso, watershed, fiord. Enumerate and out fully the rules of spelling to which the following exemplify in detail the various causes, besides latitude, words are exceptions: Recall, singeing, judgment. which determine the climate of a country. To what Give the origin of the pronoun "any," and how does groups of islands does each of the following respectit differ in application from "an?" Trace the deriva-ively belong: Formentera, Luzon, Niphon, Teneriffe, tions of the following words, giving the meaning of the component parts, and those of the complete words: Barytone, biography, invertebrate, graminivorous, Enniskillen, Crumlin. Write at length the words represented by the following abbreviations, and annex their meanings: A.U.C.-D.V.-Incog.Prox.-Ult.-P.M. Give the derivations and mean ings of monolith, hippodrome, primogeniture, quintuple, repugnant, reticule. Parse fully the words in italics in the following stanza: Would I had fallen upon those happier days That poets celebrate! those golden times And those Arcadian scenes that Maro sings And Sydney, warbler of poetic prose. ARITHMETIC.-Two shepherds, A and B, owning a flock of sheep, agree to divide it: A takes 144 sheep, and B takes 184 sheep, paying £70 to A: required the value of a sheep. State what fractions produce recurring and what non-recurring decimals. What is the limit of the number of figures in the recurring part, and why? The common logarithm of 2 is 30103; find the logarithm of 125. A after doing 3% of a piece of work in 30 days, is assisted by B, with whom he completes it in 6 days; how long would each be about it separately? By selling out of the 3 per cents. at 96, and investing in railway 5 per cent. stock, a person increases his income 25 per cent.; find the price of the railway stock. In an equidifferent series the sum of the series is 712, the greatest term 81⁄2, and the common difference ; find the number of terms. A and B Sweden with the chief towns. Trace the course of whyhee, Delos? Write down the divisions of the currents in the North Pacific Ocean. Note what the north-east stream is called by the Japanese, and why. State what you know of the following towns and the country to which each belongs: Utrecht, Tokay, Tula, Taganrog, and St. Etienne. Write a brief geographical description of the island of Australia, including its area, population, colonies, and Show by means of a diagram how a solar eclipse is caused and explain why there are not two eclipses every month. their chief towns. NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.-Distinguish a fixed pulley from a movable pulley. In the single movable, in which the strings are parallel, what weight will a power of I cwt support? Prove that with a uniformly accelerated velocity, the space varies as the square of the time, or of the last acquired velocity. The distance between two continuous threads of a screw is two inches, and the arm at which the power acts is 20 inches: determine the ratio of the power to the weight. Two forces of 45 lbs and 325 lbs act upon a point at an angle of 120°; find their resultant. Under what condition will a body remain at rest upon an inclined plane? and prove your answer. A water wheel having a diameter of 12 feet is required to raise 12 cwt with a power equivalent to I cwt: what is the diameter of the axle in this case? Find the velocity acquired by a falling body in 9 seconds. Two equal and weightless bars are used in combination, as levers of the second order, having their shorter arms of the same length: required the ratio of the power to the 1 weight, assuming that the length of the bars is 12 feet and the length of the shorter arms 5 feet. EXERCISE IN WRITTEN SPELLING.-The phisycal organisations of the Bengallee is feble even to efeminasy. His persuits are sedentery, his limps dellicate, his movements langid, courrage, independance, verracity, are qualities to which his constution and his sittuation are equaly unfaverable. His mind bears a singular annalogy to his body. Large promises, smoothe excuces elabourate tisues of circumstancial falsehood chiccanery, pergery and forjury, are the weppons offensive and deffensive of this people. There the sons and dauhters of Abbysinia lived only to know the soft vicisitude of plesure and repoze, atended by all who were skillful to delight, and gratified with whatever the sences can engoy. They wanderred in gardins of fragrance, and sleept in the fortresses of secureity. Every art was practiced to make them pleazed with their own coundition. The sajes who enstructed then told them of nothing but miserys of public life, and discribed all beyond the mountains as reigons of calamity, where discord was allways rajing, and where man prayed upon man. METHOD, &C.-Draw a diagram showing the number, length, and position of desks in a schoolroom 42 by 19 feet, putting in a small form-gallery of four seats. Give all the most important dimensions of a well-shaped desk. State the two ways in which pupils' answers to mental arithmetic questions may be received. In drawing up a time-table for a school in which there are 45 half-hour lessons per week, how many half hours should be given to reading, writing, arithmetic, dictation, grammar, and geography, respectively? State Dr. Johnson's opinion of oral composition and resumé. What are the advantages of phrase spelling? What is the best plan to prevent pupils copying from one another? What are the three difficulties a child encounters in his first attempt to write on paper? "It is one thing to teach the map, and another to teach geography." Explain this. Give the substance of the plan recommended în the hand-book for introducing young children to the use of maps. What is the difference between vested and non-vested schools in regard to their rules for religious instruction? What defect in articulation is observable among the people in the neighborhood of Dublin? GENERAL KNOWLEDGE.-Explain as you would to a class the following passage from Addison : "The figure is in the stone; the sculptor only finds it." To what does Shakespeare compare sleep? Quote the passage. Mention some of the most important events that occurred in the life of Herod the Great. State briefly what you know of the life of any of the following persons: Warren Hastings, George Stephenson. What are taxes? How do they differ from other payments? Describe how plate glass is made. What mineral is used in parts of India and China as a substitute for glass? What is the cause of hardness in water, and how may this hardness be removed? By what process can the porosity and elasticity of turf be removed, so that it may assume the solidity of coal? State what is the characteristic fault of turf. GEOMETRY.-Enunciate carefully, and prove the 12th proposition of the Second Book of Euclid, viz., that relating to the squares on the sides of an obtuse angled triangle. Prove that the diagonals of a rhombus intersect at right angles; and that the area of the rhombus is equal to half the rectangle under them. If a straight line be divided into any two parts, the sum of the squares of the whole line and one of the parts is equal to twice the rectangle under the whole line, and that part together with the square of the other part. Prove that the sum of the squares of the sides of any parallelogram is equal to the sum of the squares of its diagonals. If the sides of a trapezium be bisected, and the points of bisection joined in succession by straight lines, the included figure is a parallelogram, and is equal in area to half the trapezium. Prove that the area of an equilateral triangle is equal to the square of the side multiplied by .433. AGRICULTURE.-Explain fully on what the value of the volatile matter in a soil or manure depends. Mention the chief defects in the cultivation and management of the oat crop in Ireland. Give the general composition of a superphosphate made from bones. Name the grass which is best suited to land of a peaty or moory character, under a four-course rotation. Mention the most important mineral constituents in which light soils are usually deficient, and the steps to be taken in improving those soils. Give the kinds and quantities of artificial manure to be used for mangel-wurtzel on land of average quality. Name the four natural grasses which should enter most largely into a mixture of grass-seeds for permanent pasture on land of good quality. Name two very inferior grasses found in large quantity in the meadow and pasture land of this country. Explain fully the theory of shelter, and show how loss accrues to the farmer who fails to provide it. I' TIRED. PEARL MONTROSE. HAVE tired of thankless toiling ; My teaching is all in vain. Who follows where I am treading now, With an aching and a fevered brow, Will see the dust my fair robes soiling; Yet never a trace in a single place Of my foot-steps will remain. Commencing with eager gladness, I strove to perform my task; Yet all my efforts are no avail; While seeking success I constantly fail; And now, discouraged, I sit in sadness; For I planted a field that refuses to yield, Receiving naught though for much I ask. * * * O teacher, weary, faint-hearted, So we, by patiently teaching, May cast in life's mighty sea Some thoughts with Truth's rich radiance bright Which, when our names are forgotten quite, Will still send circling waves outreaching, Gaining with time, until sublime They murmur through all humanity. Then teacher, take up thy burden, Though thou may'st be sowing for others to reap, IMPORTANT QUALIFICATION. THE SPIRIT OF REVERENCE ESSENTIAL TO THE EDWARD JOHNSON, A. M. immortality. To them, Auguste Compte, and all others who, with human devices, profess to discipline the nature of man, are the most absurd fanatics. And to them, a teacher whose method of work ignores man's highest requirements, is quite unworthy of his office. An irreligious minister may seem a more CAN not think of anything more reason- incongruous, but is not so mischievous a charable than the demand of most parents, that acter; for a man of settled convictions can betthose who instruct their children shall be per- ter afford to sit through two sermons a week sons of a practically religious character. Nor from a declaimer who is altogether regardless can I wonder that so large a part of our peo- of piety, than to trust his immature child durple are desirous to institute and maintaining the long school sessions of each day to be schools where the safeguards of the only true fashioned by a master who does not in his morality are duly protected. I There is, it must be confessed, a growing distrust of the systems of public instruction which rest upon a purely mental basis. Why educate at the public expense, and with a view to intelligent and useful citizenship, unless you educate more symmetrically? Why train the intellect alone? Are the claims of society upon the individual better repaid by the power to reason, to imagine, to remember, to harangue, than by disciplined affections and a cultivated conscience? Is it the special function of household education to train the heart rather than the head? And as to Sunday-schools, their work, even when well done, is slight, considering the vast moral necessities of childhood. It must be acknowledged that a large majority of our children have very inadequate advantages in this respect. Our means of education, even in denominational schools, are very partial to the intellectual powers. But in our public-school system, no other faculties than the mental are fully recognized. I do not in this paper wish to plead for the radical reorganization of our school system upon the broad and only true meaning of education as the uniform unfolding of all our faculties; but I do wish to urge the preservation of whatever moral force historically and fairly belongs to this system. This is asking but little of what parents throughout our land have the right, and, I think, the disposition, to ask of educators. heart of hearts believe that life has a noble origin, a sacred responsibility, and a continuance beyond the grave. Such a man may teach arithmetic well, or grammar, as another man indifferent to anything above his handicraft may make a good house or a good shoe. I know what wise George Herbert says: Who sweeps a room, as for Thy laws, Makes that and the action fine; and surely in everything, however small, a devout heart is no hindrance to good and skillful work. Nor in respect to those of whom Emerson speaks, who "wrought in a sad sincerity," and "builded better than they knew," the mighty geniuses of the ancient and middle ages-was a devout heart any hindrance to glorious achievments. But I need conduct this argument in no finical style. Nor would I call for any sweeping proscription of unbelieving men. They hold their doubts by as good a right as we our beliefs. They hold them honestly and sincerely too, and in many instances unwillingly. All avenues to ordinary employment should be wide open to them as others. But this work of education is extraordinary; it is conspicuously exceptional. It is a work to the right conduct of which a religious faith is essential. to If mere arithmetic and other branches of the common curriculum make up education, then I concede there is no need of religious teachers, nor of moral ones. But if education is much more than the bare trivium and quadrivium, then we want those who are more than simply teachers of these things. It may be a misnomer to describe this nation of ours, or indeed any nation, as Christian; but this homage nearly all our people pay to the religion of Jesus, that they crave- This plea for religious instruction I do not for their children the benefit of its benign make in the interest of sectarianism, nor inand exalting influences. Even Abner Knee-deed would I ask that the so-called orthodox land showed this disloyalty to his infidel protestations. For themselves men may hazard materialism, spiritualism, or atheism, but for those they love more than self they require there cognition of God, of divine worship, of or evangelical opinions have any preference given to them. Making Methodists, Unitarians, Presbyterians, or Catholics, is paltry business compared with rearing a generation of noble men and women. This is the teacher's work, and how can he do this work without a faith in God, and an estimation of life and duty which such a faith, earnest and pervasive, will produce? Nor do I urge here a retention of Bible reading in our schools, although I wish its beautiful lessons of wisdom could be daily taught in every family and in every school throughout Christendom. It is hard to see how the boys and girls now grow ing up among us can afford to have this Book of books lessened in their regard. But upon this question good men differ, and the test of religious character we seek must be made upon a broader issue even than the unqualified acceptance of this book as God's word. My demand is one which the disciples of Channing and of Ballou ought as cheerfully to concede as those of Edwards or of Asbury. All these were men of earnest theistic faith. However wide their differences, these were mere rivulets of separation compared to the ocean which divided them from utter atheism. Between religion and no religion, is the most momentous struggle of the future to be had. Men are everywhere dividing and taking sides upon this issue. The faith of mankind in a beneficent, almighty power, was never so imperiled before. As in other times of danger, the strong must remember the weak, especially the children. What a calamity to childhood, to take away its prayers, its beautiful faith, the "heaven" that "lies about us in our infancy!" Not yet has the worst radicalism of our day accommodated itself much to children. But through prayerless teachers it will find a sure way to reach them, and when it reaches and infects them, it will confuse the meaning of existence, and destroy in them the sweetest hopes and aspirations of life. N. E. Journal of Education. ORAL READING. S. A. HAMILL. N article on reading, in the October nine-tenths of the pupil's time and study should be directed to the same purpose. The other one-tenth of time and work may be properly spent in securing the correct expression of the thought." The propositions are true, but the conclusion does not follow. The fallacy lies in the implied assumption, that reading from the printed page for the purpose of imparting information is the only object for which children are taught "the proper expression of thought." Only on this assumption can the conclusion logically follow. But this assumption is not true. Of the almost numberless advantages for which children should be taught "the proper expression of thought," reading from the printed page for the purpose of imparting knowledge is the least important. Let us note, if you please, the physical and mental powers cultivated by oral reading, and the advantages to be derived from the proper study of the expression of thought, and, perhaps, we may find that the subject is worthy of more than one-tenth of the time and energy given by the teacher and pupil to the preparation and recitation of the reading lessons. And here, we wish not to be misunderstood in what may be said in favor of oral reading. We do not undervalue silent reading, or reading for the purpose of gaining information. We fully agree that it is the key, and lies at the basis of all instruction. Nay more, it furnishes, when properly taught, the highest mental discipline. It is more important than any other branch taught in school or college. But reading taught simply for the purpose of gaining information, cultivates necessarily only the eye and the reflective powers of the mind. The recitation, pronunciation, and vocalization of words, the expression of countenance, and the adaptation of these, belong to "the proper expression of the thought." They need not necessarily be used in teaching silent reading, for thousands of children are taught to derstand, and get the thought out of what they read," who have never articulated a A Journal, contains the following proposi single sound. tions: "Reading lies at the basis of all school instruction-it is the key to all study. Nine-tenths of all the reading the average pupil will do after leaving school will be done for the purpose of gaining information, not for the purpose of imparting it. From these propositions the following conclusion is deduced: Nine-tenths of the teacher's time and energy given to the subject should be directed to helping the child understand and get the thought out of what he reads, and “un As a general rule, very general, the pronunciation, articulation, and vocalization are used (I should say abused) simply as a convenient medium of communication between the teacher and pupil, so that the former may determine whether the latter does or does not comprehend the thought. In the vast majority of our schools but indifferent attention is given to the cultivation of the first and second, and not the slighest attention to the very important matter of vocalization. Now, oral reading, or reading taught for the purpose of expressing thought and feeling, cultivates distinctness of articulation and correctness of pronunciation. Exercises in phonics belong especially to oral reading. "Distinctness of articulation,' says Richard Grant White, "is one of the greatest beauties of speech, and one which any observant person will find largely lacking in young people of the present day." And why lacking? Because reading is now taught simply "for the purpose of gaining information, not for the purpose of imparting it," and all that pertains to the proper expression of the thought is neglected. Again, upon this point, Dr. Richard Edwards says: "Distinct enunciation, other things being equal, has always accompanied thorough mental culture. The pre-eminently thinking nation of antiquity could not tolerate a mispronunciation or a lisp. Nowhere does ignorance more clearly place her stamp than on the organs used in speech. In the United States we have especial reasons to be thorough in our phonic analy. sis. Let every child in America, of native or foreign blood, be taught to speak the English language with accuracy and distinctness. Let the pronunciation of the whole country be cast in one mould.” Oral reading cultivates distinctness of articulation and correctness of pronunciation, reading simply "for the purpose of gaining information" does not. But, secondly, oral reading, when properly taught, not only preserves the natural purity and sweetness of the childhood voice, but cultivates and develops its wonderful variety of tone and powers of expression. A good voice is an invaluable attainment in life. In the school-room it is especially desirable. Clear, sweet, pleasant tones of voice win the confidence and affection of the pupils, without which the highest success cannot be attained. The impression of all school-room instruction is deepened by being conveyed in appropriate and impres sive tones. chorded instruments brought together is, for sweetness, like the music of familiar affection when spoken by brother and sister, by father and mother." Children whose voices have been cultivated by oral reading in the schoolroom will be less noisy and boisterous at home. Shall we correct the children in false forms of expression, and permit them to use false tones of voice? But the tones of the voice indicate the culture and lend a charm to the social circle. 'Loudness," says Emerson, "is always rude, quietness always gen. teel." The modulation of the voice is one of the secrets of success with the business man. | Kindly tones, as much as kindly words, gain friends and secure custom. Men of good address are valuable. Pleasant tones are an element of good address. A good voice is an element of power with the professional man. A distinguished bishop said that "one-half the effect of what is said is lost by the defective manner in which it is said." Henry Ward Beecher says: "The living voice is the greatest force on earth among men. It is the least cultivated." Eighteen hundred years ago Quintilian said, "An indifferent discourse well delivered is better received by a popular audience than a good discourse badly delivered. " But why particularize? voice and action are the divinely-appointed mediums for the expression of thought and feeling; they ever have been and ever will be a thousand fold more employed than any humanly devised instrumentality. Shall we cultivate with such assiduous care the singing tones which are only occasionally used, and that by the few, and neglect the conversational and speaking tones daily and hourly used by all? Indeed, if the frequency of its employment were to determine the time and attention which should be devoted to each subject taught in the schools, no subject would receive more attention than vocal reading. The But, thirdly, oral reading not only cultivates the voice, but it directly strengthens all The order and government of the school- the physical powers. It exercises the lungs room will depend largely upon the teacher's and expands the chest. It strengthens the tones of voice. If they are loud and bois- bronchial tubes and all the vocal organs. It terous, the school will be noisy and disor- promotes digestion by calling into action the derly; if gentle, clear, and firm, the school abdominal, dorsal, and intercostal muscles. will be in harmony. A good voice is to Murdock and Russel, in their work on vocal every teacher an important element of suc- culture, say, "The explosive form of voice cess. But outside of the school-room a cul- is one of the most impressive in its effects. tivated voice is valuable. It promotes the By a law of our constitution, it acts with an happiness of the family circle. "How re-instantaneous shock upon the sympathetic markable," says Henry Ward Beecher, "is sweetness of voice in the mother, in the father, in the household, The music of no nerve, and rouses the sensibilities of the whole frame; it summons to action all the senses, and in the thrill which it sends from nerve to |