until recess, when I went to him privately and assured him of my sincerity in my demand, and insisted on his immediate departure. Still be would not go. But he finally went out to play, and I promptly took my stand in the doorway and refused to allow him to enter Then he saw I "had the drop" on him and left. Thus I settled my case and came out triumphant, and have had no further trouble in securing obedience. I would most certainly rather have had this issue to the conflict than the one Mr. Cheatham narrates. Did I do right? Ought I to have held to the boy, to the utter demoralization of the school? Was that one stiff-necked and rebellious boy worth more than all the rest of the school? Will some genuine educator give us light on the matter that we may all know how to deal with such cases in future? A Two-Minute Sermon. When the Good Book speaks of a way so plain that a wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein, and when it refers to certain injuctions so plainly expressed that even they who run may read, it is implied. in our judgment, that if a person deliberately or even thoughtlessly abandons a plain way he does so at his own peril. With due modesty we may assume that the editorial department of our journal is least read of any. Yet, it seems fair to suppose that sooner or later, the suggestions to subscribers printed twelve times a year would catch even the eye of a running reader. It is true, though, that scarcely a month goes by but from fifty to one hundred requests for changes of address reach us too late to be made until the following month. What do we do about it? Well, usually manage to have some extra copies on hand, and rather than write letters of explanation in each case we just send these out and say nothing. The expense, of course, is not great, perhaps not more than fifty dollars a year for this item; and then we get to exercise a little of the christian grace called patience. Other friends, or perhaps the same ones, who did not understand about changes, express in the blandest way their surprise that The Educator should be continued until it is ordered stopped. Still other good souls move away, leaving us to divine where they have gone. The confidence in our ability to know of such changes by a sort of intuition ought to be very flattering; indeed, we often have occasion to regret our limitations in knowledge of this kind. We are assured that no person who is enlightened enough, and progressive enough, to subscribe for a good educational paper, intends to impose upon the publishers, but they who do these things have simply erred from the plain way. Whether sitting, standing, walking or running, they have not read. Please now, spare three minutes for at least one careful reading of these necessary regulations, and let them be fastened upon the tablets of your hearts. They are not grievous to be borne, but when ignored, like most broken rules and laws, they end neither in ways of pleasantness nor in paths of peace. Selah The Inland Educator. Purpose of the Recitation. DR. W. T. HARRIS. 1. To draw out each pupil's view of the subject. 2. To test the crudeness or thoroughness of grasp of the subject. 3. To correct his ideas by the greater comprehensiveness of others of his class. 4. To arouse and stimulate to a new meth od of study on next lesson. 5. To cultivate the closest habits of attention. 6. To bring into full play the power of numbers engaged upon the same thought. 7. To supplement by stronger force what the pupils gave. 8. To bring into play the teacher's highest powers. 9. To arouse self-activity, power of independent research, acute, critical insight, to be obtained only by contact with one's fellows striving toward the same goal. 10. To initiate the student into the great secrets of combination with his fellows. 11. To help the struggling boy or girl to ascend above his idiosyncrasy and achieve the the universal forms. 12. To learn to suppress the merely subjective, and how to square his views to what is objective and universal.-Penn. School Journal. No man is born into the world, whose work Is not born with him: there is always work And tools to work withal for those who will; And blessed are the horny hands of toil. -Lowell. FREEDOM. They are slaves who fear to speak They are slaves who will not choose From the truth, they must needs think! -James Russell Lowell. The Function of Fiction in the Adolesence Period, JOSEPHINE free the glorious form that the cold grasp of the stone imprisons." By the touch of beauty only can the imprisoned splendor held in the grasp of development be set free. Whitcomb Riley, in his inimitable way, tells us of the budding womanhood of Armazindy: "I ever watch a primrose 'bout minute 'fore it blossoms out Kind 'o loosens like, and blows Up its muscles, don't you know, But the primrose must have had sunshine and showers to bring it to the point of maturity, as well as earth and mineral NORVILLE, ENGLISH DEPARTto foster its growth. So with the childMENT, CHILLICOTHE HIGH SCHOOL. mind. The culture side of education, ficG. Stanley Hall says: "The adolesence tion, music and art, bring the blossom to consists in self-sacrifice, in an instructive its full perfection of refinement of form subordination. Whereas before the child and texture. has been selfish at this critical period, the flood gates that connect him with the past are down and from selfishness he turns to altruism. Now if the adolesence is the natural dawn of educational instincts, the child's mind will begin to reach out for that which will stimulate and satisfy it, and as fiction in its perfection of form, of ideas and ideals, as well as its rythm of sound, whether it be regarded as prose or as poetry, is the verbal expression of imagination. Just as a painting, a bit of statuary or a sonata are the expressions in color, form, or sound, it should be used for the purpose of stimulating and satisfying. It is the time when men's and women's sympathies reverberate the widest, when the heart pours its rich transforming flood through the body. It is the natural dawn of educational instincts, the culmination of religious as well as parental care. It is the time when the Greek church, the Roman Catholic, and the Episcopal churches confirm, and it is the time when statistics 'Tis said that Raphael could never have show that most conversions are had among produced a Madonna if such a person had those denominations that believe in in never existed. If, as is regarded by many, conversions, because it is the time when the Madonna is not the copy of any one the soul grows the most and the fastest. beautiful woman, she must be the copy of "Tis the time when the individual is ready a type of beautiful women, and he could for that higher superstructure which not have conceived of the idea of a beautimakes man Christ-like." ful woman unless there has been beautiful But on the other hand, it is not the time women, and it is my earnest belief that no when the mind is to be moulded into form woman, however highly educated or culor the ideas ground into shape. For as tured she may be, can look into the face of Hawthorne has said, in the Marble Fawn, this creation and really appreciate the "The task of the sculptor is not by carv- thought, the beauty, almost the divinity ing to impress a figure upon the marble, of expression and form, unless she has but rather by the touch of genius to set that within her which is akin to the Mas Men and women love wrongly; because they have lived wrongly because they have read wrongly. ter's idea. Neither Neither can a man appreciate rich transforming flood through the body," the picture unless he be capable of appre- the greatest care should be exercised in ciating, unless he has that within his soul the selection of fiction, whether it be poetwhich will respond to the touch of a beau- ry, story, romance or novel. tiful woman's character. So in literature, to fully appreciate Cordelia, the daughter of Lear; Rebecca, of Ivanhoe. The ado lescent mind must be unselfish, honest and true to the noblest of instincts. And, that it may be so, the books which stimulate these qualities of the mind should be placed in the hands of the young. The mind tends to become like its surroundings. Association with works of art and companionship with good books is necessary to the formation of a healthy mind. The legitimate end of fiction is three It has been said that the silent influence fold-to please, to instruct and to ennoble. of a single aesthetic object does more to This tri union is what the adolescent mind refine character than a houseful of spurious needs most to aid it in its development. imitations, gaudy knacks, or silly novelThe disciplining studies, science, mathe- ties. So one pure, good, strong romance matics, the languages, with the proper will do more for a girl or boy than twenty amount of domestic duties, further the yellow-backs. physical growth, strengthen and make Few young people are capable of seeing sturdy the mind, but that which pleases, instructs and ennobles, broadens and beautifies. the wrong in the weaker, baser characters of the current novel, because they have formed wrong ideals, and these wrong ideals are the result of two different modes of training. One is the careless, the other the over careful; one the too sentimental, Such refreshing, stirring stories as Kipling's Captains Courageous, Stanley J. Wyman's House of Wolf, and Robt. Louis Stevenson's stories, fill every boy with the other the too practical. healthy ambition. Old Curiosity Shop, The first class of children are allowed to Little Dorrit, Silas Marner, fill the young read the cheap novels that crowd our book mind with sympathy and tenderness for stalls and public libraries. "True, the misfortune. The Tale of Two Cities, House good book says, "Gather them in from of the Wolf, Ivanhoe, The Abbot, or that the highways and byways," but nowhere most beautiful of all romances, Lorna does it say "Ye shall make mine altar a Doon, fill the mind with brave deeds. Ken- dumping ground for the filth of ignoble tucky Cardinal, Aftermath or Romona, sentiment." with love of nature-a love of God, for as Browning says, "God is the perfect poet, who in His person acts His own creations." Such dainty productions as "Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush," Window in Thrums, Crawford or Mary E. Wilkin's New England stories, Thos. Nelson Page's Southern Sto ries, Mary Hallock Foot's Western Stories, please and refine. They are full of beautiful, though sometimes, homely lessons of life and are all noble in sentiment. The adolesence being the time when man's and woman's sympathies "reverberate the widest," "when the heart pours its The modern novel strives to be true to nature, but it does not always present the moral side of truth. Some one has said that "When realistic novelists, like Zola, in order to produce a sensation, parade materials gathered from the cess pools of vice, we ask, aesthetically pained, whether all of the beauty in the world has been exhausted, that our imaginations must be fed with the disgusting." Such books have no place in literature because, in literature, the one aim of art is the beautiful, without it we have hideous realities." Still, that other class of writers who do not pose as being realists, Mary Jane and E. P. Roe's books, should not be placed in the hands of young boys and girls. Holmes, Mrs. Southworth, The Duchess ing eyes, in a voice of ecstacy exclaim, "It is the will of the Lord," and bowing the head, pass away with a heart filled with Divine peace. 'Tis not natural, 'tis not human. We were made in the image These distorted portraits of love, impossible heroines and heroes, at this sensitive period will form distorted ideas and ideals. The woman who dared to toss her glove into the arena where the lion stood and compel her lover to prove the depths of his adoration by recovering it, bad fed her mind on such unhealthy rot as exudes from the pen of Amelia Reeves, Rider Haggard or the Dutchess. of God, but not endowed with his strength. The too practical method of training, starves the young mind, the young imagination, hope and love. We must not allow our children to reach out in vain for that which is aesthetic, that which will satisfy the finite heart that yearns. Robt. Browning gives us a most touchSuch books produce a mental nausea,ing illustration of the sad effect of pamthe mind becomes sick. It is as a stand pering to the too great ambition; the too ing pool. The scum on the surface reflects practical or careful mode of training the iridescent hues, not the pure tints of the mind, in the little drama, Paracelsus. rainbow that are reflected by the healthy, Paracelsus, a given soul, is caused to sparkling, dashing rivulet. sin, suffer hell, pass through purgatory Again, the youth should not be allowed into paradise. He is restless, he aspires. to read books that have been written for The motive of his life is to know. He tells mature minds. They should not be allow us, "From childhood I have been possessed to cultivate a taste for Tolstoi, Ibsen, ed by a fire. A true fire or fierce or faint, Hardy or even our own Wm. Dean How-as from some master, as it seemed, ells. "Tess." that wonderful creation of pressed or urged its current." Hardy's would be entirely misunderstood by the adolescent. The fleshy part would impress where the work of the master would remain unnoticed. Such literature as frequently crowds the shelves of our Sunday school libraries is as serious a detriment to the child as that which crowds our bookstalls. The Pansy books, for instance, while they are all high in sentiment and pure in thought are frequently too ideally high and pure, reaching far above the standard of humanity. Children are prone to form exaggerated ideas of self sacrifice, purity and devotion, resulting either in bigots, who "Thank the Lord that I am what I am," or else into weak characters unfit to baffle with the world. Who accept all misfortune as a visitation of the Lord; as that which is inevitable. To my mind it would take a strong character at least a day in which to gather strength, to the end that he might be able to turn from the last sight of his most beloved on earth and with clear beam re He attains distinction in a German university, yet to him life has been a failure, and the germs of the failure lie in his intention to defer love, to crucify his affections. He says in his youth: "My own affections laid to rest awhile, will waken purified, subdued alone, by all I have achieved." But in the evening of life, when a broken spirit he comes to die, we hear him say: "I learned my own deep error. Loves undoing taught me the worth of love in man's estate, and what proposition love should hold with power. Love preceding power and with much more love much more power always. When men received with stupid wonder my first revealings, in my own heart love had not been wise." When we see such books in the hands of the adolescent as will stimulate, instruct, and form vigorous, untainted conceptions of life, we may be sure of the manhood and womanhood that is to be. When our youths can look up from the pages of fiction with clear eyes and whis per from the depth of their pure souls that "God's in his heaven!-all's right with the world," we need have no fear for the maturer years. And when we know that the books they have real have taught them to say, with our great Browning, "O God, in all I love here still art thou." Then we may say that fiction has fulfilled its functions in the adolescent period. "A dollar and a half," said the man, shouldering his tools. The judge stared: "Why did you spend all that labor on the fence, if not for money?" "For the job," sir. "Nobody would have seen the poor work on it." "But I should have known it was there. No; I'll take one dollar and a half." He took it and went away. Ten years afterwards, the judge had a contract to give for the erection of several Doing Well Depends On Doing Completely. magnificent buildings. There were many "If I were a cobbler, it would be my pride. The best of all cobblers to be; If I were a tinker, no tinker beside It is a rule that a workman must follow his employer's orders, as a writer in "Liv. ing Age" says, but no one has a right to make him do discreditable work. Judge M-, a well-known jurist living near Cincinnati, loved to tell the following anecdote of a young man who understood the risk of doing a shabby job even when directed to. He had occasion to send for a carpenter, and a sturdy young fellow appeared. "I want this fence mended. There are some unplaned boards-use them. You need not take time to make it a neat job. will only pay you a dollar and a half." I Later, the judge found the man careful ly planing each board. Supposing that he was trying to make a costly job, he orderdered him to nail them on just as they were, and continued his walk. When he returned, the boards were all planed and numbered ready for nailing. "I told you this fence was to be covered with vines," he said, angrily; "I do not care how it looks.' "I do," said the carpenter, gruffly, carefully measuring his work. When it was done, there was no other part of the fence as thorough in finish. "How much do you charge?" asked the judge. applicants among the master-builders, but the face of one caught his eye. "It was my man of the fence," he said. "I knew we should have only good, genI gave him the conuine work from him. tract, and it made a rich man of him." It is a pity that boys and girls are not taught in their earliest years that the highest success belongs only to those whose work is most sincerely and thoroughly done. Success. When Visitors Are In. Don't make excuses. Don't ask visitors if they wish any certain subject taught. Don't change the regular order of work unless requested. Teach as if no stranger were in the room. Don't leave your pupils and pay too much attention to the visitor. There is sure to be disorder if you do. Always be ready for visitors. Never allow your pupils to get into such conditions or po sitions as you would not care to have visitors see. Don't try to cover mistakes of pupils. Mistakes are only natural. Visitors enjoy them and delight to see children correct themselves and each other. Be natural. Don't put on a "visitor's" manner of voice. The children will notice it, and being unused to the sudden change, will not respond promptly. They will, too, set you down as a hypocrite. -Exchange. The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.-NAPOLEON I. |