TOPICS OF THE TIMES.
A CHOICE SELECTION OF INTER
ESTING ITEMS.
Csmmeata and Critic-iaana Baaed I'poa
the Haaaiagaof the Iay Hiatori
cm 1 and Ncwtm .N -
It looks now a If Spain hu discov
ered America again.
Rosebery is troubled by Insomnia.
Why doesn't be go to bed and sleep It
off?
Some people refuse to we the truth
and Jump oo It as noon a they recog
nize it.
A New York banker has paiil $14.ors'i
for a dog, but his hired girl still gets $3
a Week.
When people profess not to care what
becomes of them It will be noticed that
they seldom are hungry at the time.
A Cleveland paper says that "China
wants money bad." This ought to offer
strong inducements to counterfeiters.
It la very easy to understand why
February had only twenty-eight days
this year. Two of Its days were Lent.
A New York paper ask a why the wife
of Prince Xawab Iinad Nawaz Juddo
Bahadur travels with him. She bears
his name.
Sarah Berbardt waa once a dress
maker's apprentice, but It is denied that
she Is responsible fur the living picture
craze.
A Pittsburg Judge has ruled that a
baby may be held as security for ite
own board bill. How old a baby may
"be held?
Sing Sing la trying to change Its name
to Wacona. But Sing Sing by any other
name would be Just aa good a place to
keep away from.
The bulldog at last has been properly
classified. A man who wag attacked
by one has sued the owner for assault
with a deadly weapon.
If Aldermanic votes are really mar
ketable Isn't it about time to inaugur
ate a system of advertising for bids, so
that all cuu have a fair chance?
The poverty of poets Is proverbial.
Dr. Holmes left an estate worth $72,117.
Boston ;iobe. Does the Globe claim
' that Dr. Holmes was a poor poet?
The National Barbers' Association
will try to abolish the 5-cent shaving
shop. It will be a hopeless undertak
ing; the cheap shop hag the biggest pulL
A dispatch from Mexico says that
Orizaba is In active eruption and roast
ing the coffee grounds for many miles
around. But why roast the coffee
grounds?
A dime museum freak who ate win
dow glass for a living has Just died in
Mobile. It Is perhaps needless to add
that his death was caused by a pane In
the stomach.
A residence in the District of Colum
bia has one great advantage. A man
can worry through the most exciting
campaign without being accused of
horse-stealing.
The bookkeeper of the Delaware
State House explains to an Investigat
ing committee that several bundles of
Touchers mid receipts have been eaten
by mice. Kills:
While In New York Count Castellane
had 2,5i w i cigars made for his own use
at $1.50 apiece. It has often been pre
dicted that one day Jay Gould's for
tune would go up in smoke. It Is go
ing. A Y. M. C. A. official In Springfield,
O., bag Invented a gun which shoots
1,000 times a minute. That young man
probably would make a good working
member of the International Peace As
sociation. Figures are going about showing,
among other things, that Chicago has
10,000 thieves and sixty-eight alder
men. Space could be saved and verity
preserved by amending the first figure
to 10,088 and expunging the remainder
of the statement.
Wheat appears to be supplanting
wool as the chief agricultural staple in
Argentina. The 50,000,000 bushels of
wheat produced last harvest are alleg
ed to have brought $.WX,000 In gold,
while the 140,000 tons of wool produced
there brought but $34,500,000.
, Prince Xawab Nawaz Juug Badabur
teUa a New York paper that "the trou
ble with American workmen Is that
they get too much pay. Here they re
ceive $2 a day; In my country tbey get
$1.50 a month and they are happy and
contented." Why not make them su
premely happy by giving them nothing
tall?
The temperance women adopted vari
ous resolutions before adjourning their
eooveatieu, one being a protest against
military .fill for boys. - Yet all experi
ence goat to show that systematic phys
ical tram to the beat known enemy
to botk dyspepsia and drunkenness.
Military drill la sot a promoter of war,
bat an 1 wr of peace. It to oaly peo
ple who know nothing- of the rigor of
dtoriptliLc that want to engage la eon-
ft la a rff jlatouii Caet la latter-day
tC hUt. feat tke Tale "Lit"
fttaa tar,
aWataaaWjasVaJsgJlai Atir. sPww'srvW'ap PawJsafcsT
wortr ef that dtotlaetto.
This has lung been regarded at one of
the greatest bonora open to undergrad
uate at Vale, and It cornea like a shock
to older graduates that out of eleves,
hundred aetdemlc students, not a Min
gle one ha produced a paper of euffl
cieut merit to be considered for thin
prize. It look very much a if those
who believe that a decay In scholarship
will result from the great attention paid
to athletics in our colleges and univer
sities have some ground for their alarm.
What is the use of Chicago making
such a fuss over a gas ordinance, any-1
way? If advices from Cleveland. Ohio. J
are reliable no one will care very much
atsmt the present gas companies next
year, and it will make no difference
whether they want to charge $1.50 a
thousand or T cents. Cleveland has a
new sort of gas which can Is? made to
order at a cost of less than 2 cents er
thousand feet and which throws or
dinary illuminating gas Into the shade.
The new gas will lie sold to consumers
In a solid form In cans. It consists of
a combination of coal dust and lime
dust fused by electricity. A small quan
tity of this solid Immersed in water
liberates gas which beats anything now
on the market. I-ct uh hope this is
something more substantial than a spe
cial correspondent's nightmare, if it
Is the truth, the lucky inventor of tlie
new gas can call the world his own
after tt o'clock at night.
The "rtzorbaek." or native Florida
hog Is the subject of panegyric In the
last number of the De Land Horticul
turist. It says: "In spite of the pre
vailing business depression which now
bangs like a pall over Florida, home
raised pork can be put on the market
at 6t cents per pound. And as one-year-old
pigs can, If turned Into a chufa.
peanut or potato patch, easily be made
to weigh 125 pounds, the profits to be
derived from this neglected branch of
farming are obvious. Few people,"
said an expert Jn porcine pointers, "real
ize the value of the much-despised
Florida hog. Sneered at by Yankees,
reviled by insolvent truckers, and Ig
nored by those who should be his best
friends, the native razorbaek has cer
tain qualities that should commend hlnc
to public attention. He Is one of the
few Flotidlana who can pick up his
living in the woods. He la a natural
chemist and carries about on four long,
aesthetic legs a regular chemical labora
tory In which be transforms Into good
white meat, pleasantly diversified with
the proverbial streak of fat and lean,
the waste products of our woods and
swamps.
James J. Hill, of Minnesota, draws
attention to an Interesting develop
ment of recent growth. To a New
York reporter Mr. Hill said the other
day he had observed that "the move
ment from the Industrial cities to the
lands in the Northwest was daily In
creasing In volume.". His opportuni
ties for observation are excellent, inas
much as he owns and controls an ex
tensive system of railways that pneu
trates the Northwest; his own books
would afford a measure of the reputed
migration. Cetiataly there Is every
reason to hope that Mr. Hill's observa
tions are correct. They have been iu
some degree confirmed by reports from
the Northwest The movement. If It
really exists, must ultimately bring
great relief to the congested cities in
the industrial and manufacturing re
gions. For many years the teudency
has been from the country to the cities,
young men especially being attracted
from the dull routine of farm life to
the reputed gayetles and comparative
ease of the centers of population. Two
years of hard times must have done
much to dispel this unhappy illusion
Great part of the suffering from hun
ger and cold that have befallen In the
hist two winters has Is-en In the cities.
The records of the charitable societies
have been a doleful record indeed.
Farm life may not be attractive or
largely profitable, but in any ordinary
times it affords at least a living even
to the humblest of toilers. It removes
the llrer from the carklng and cor
rodir.' contact with groat wealth which
excites the cupidity and hatred of the
unfortunate without Justifying their
Impotent desire. Best of all. It Is a
liberal education In the dignity and
independence of honest toil.
"Aladdin," "AH Baba."
Some years ago M. Zotenberg com
pletely vindicated the literary Integrity
of Galland, who was long believed to
have himself Invented a number of the
tiles In "Les Mllle et Une Nuits," and
deliberately foisted them on the pub
lic as Arabian compositions. As those
tales "Aladdin," "All Baba," "Prlnee
Ahmed," "The Envious Sisters," etc.
are among the most fascinating in the
whole of that famous Htory book, this
was certainly paying a very high com
pliment to the great Orientalist's In
ventive genius, if It did Impugn his
honesty.
Some candid scholars there were,
however, who strongly maintained
that, though those narratives were not
to be found in any Arabic text of "Elf
Lay la wa Layla," Galland must have
taken them down from the recitals of
professional story-tellers In the Levant
But the question was finally settled
when M. Zo ten berg discovered them In
a manuscript copy of "The Klghta,"
which had, been recently acquired for
the National Library at Paris, and pub
lished the Arabic text of the tale of
Aladdin and Ma lamp, together with a
monograph on the authenticity of the
tales which had been hitherto common
ly retarded aa spurious. Notes and
Queries.
Customer Do yoa know anything
that to good for baldness? Barber-Did
yoa ever try a wig, air? Yonkert
Rtateemaa.
-When aofM people take a blot tbey
take ttMir bate wlta M. ;
THE FARM AND HOME.
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO FARM
ER AND HOUSEWIFE.
Breeding of Ordinary Work Horaea
la Now Unprofitable Care of Kgge
for Hatching-Variety for Fattening
Animale-Profit la Sweet Potatoes.
Our Changing Cnatoana,
To Illustrate the nei-essity of produc
ers keeping pace w itb the times and the
changing conditions of commerce, one
has only to Instance the Introduction
of the cable ami the electric motor for
street railroads to see how far they
have discounted the use of horses and
mules In the cities of this country. The
time was, and it was not so very long
ago. either, when In the city of St
Louis there were fully 10.000 animals
employed in this service alone. To-day
there are not 200. The same kind of
change Is going on In all the large cities
of the Union, and will continue until
there Is not a line of horse cars In the
coontry. If by the change from horse
power to electricity In this one city
alone 10,000 horses are thrown out of
employment and on to the market to be
old for what they will bring, what to
to be the effect when all cities follow
suit and do the same. An exchange pre
sents the following facts:
The Introduction of the trolley In
Philadelphia Is going to cause a revo
lution along certain lines of Industry.
An accurate estimate of the number of
horaea In the various street car stables
Indicates that from 12.000 to 13,000 ani
mals will In all bare been thrown npon
the market after the electric wires
have been generally substituted. The
placing of these horses on sale will be
followed by a drop In prices. This will
readily be seen when the fact that the
Philadelphia Traction Company sold
eighty-seven of Its animals for $430 Is
taken Into account
Another passenger railroad company
old eleven horses for $100. On an av
erage 12.000 pounds of long hay and at
least 114,000 pounds of cut bay Is con
sumed by these horses each day. This
will make a big difference to the produc
ers who supply the hay to the Phila
delphia market It la said that the
shrewd speculators are already calcu
lating on a reduction in price that will
follow the decrease In demand. These
same horses each consume about six
teen pounds of cracked corn and bran
dally, besides the amount of bay al
ready mentioned. Another product of
the farm will thus suffer. About 40,0u0
pounds of straw is also daily used In
bedding the horses. Exchange.
Cars of Eggs for Hatching.
Hot weather quickly addles eggs be
cause It stimulates the growth of the
germ. But the alternation of hot and
cold Is still worse, for If the germ has
been at all forward It Is very sensitive
to cold. A very little chill will kill it
Eggs ought never to be placed In tin or
earthen vessels. These abstract heat
rapidly and are subject to sudden
changes. Many think that because the
egg is unfrozen It is all right for hatch
ing. This is a mistake. Laying the
egg In a wooden vessel with some wool
en cloth under the egg, and, if need be,
over It la the best protection. Very
many early hatches of eggs have only
half the number they should, because
the germ In the egg was killed before
the hen began to sit on It
Variety for Fattening Animala.
Because a kind of food Is poor in nu
tritlve value. It does not follow that
none of It should be giveji to stock
which It Is desired to force rapidly.
Quite often the poor food Is most need
ed to prevent undue clogging of the di
gestive apparatus. When we have fat
tened hogs on corn, a small quantity of
wheat middlings in milk, or, if milk
cannot be got, In water, was always
greedily eaten. So, too, fattening hogs
will eat freely of roots, especially of
beets or mangels, though these have
very small amount of nutrition. If
neither the middlings nor roots can be
had, give the bogs some chopped clo
ver and see them eat It They will not
eat very much, but the little that they
take is necessary as a divisor to pre
vent their richer food from cloying
them. Fattening sheep will always eat
a little grain straw If they have a grain
ration that contains too much nitrogen
ous matter. Yet straw of Itself Is so
poor a feed that If given with nothing
else sheep will starve on It and those
that are not vigorous will die from
lack of nutrition.
The Sweet Potato for Profit.
Sweet potatoes are the most profita
ble crop that I raise. They will make
from 200 to 600 bushels per acre; 1,000
bushels have been made, but under
extraordinary circumstances, and the
tubers were of poor quality. But with
a yield of 200 bushels, and at only 2
cents a bushel, they beat 5 cent cotton
a long way. They seldom sell as low
as this, and In the spring bring from
50 cents to $1. Extra fine varieties,
such aa the Bunch Yam and Spanish
Bunch Sweets, bring from $1 to $3 a
bushel, and the supply Is not equal to
the demand, and not, likely to be for
years to come.
There are so many farmers who by
Ignorance or negligence lose their po
tatoes that sweets for seed are always
In demand at good prices, and often
they are very high. I have kept them
not only through the summer, but until
the next spring, and they germinated,
bat It took them two or three week
longer than those of the previous year's
growth. Too raising of tweet pota
toea for teed la quite a bcslneee bare,
aad tbey are seat to every State la the
Ualoa. to Canada aad Booth America,
aad two tabara aaat teat year kg mall
to fraton arrived la aaod eondl
tJoa. There tbawaaaoa of acres ara
ail it weaM pay tmm. .--
awa to tatok Out the tweet
potato Is only adapted to at arm cli
mates, but It will grow anywhere that
the Irish potato will, and In many lo
calities Is a more profitable crop. Worn
out cotton lands. If allowed to ret .
year, will make a fair crop of ivt
potatoes. These poor lands, if platted
iu sweet potatoes one year, tLen In
cowpeas, will then produce good crops
of corn and cotton. fZ sweet potatoes
Improve instead of Impoverish land,
and, aa they bring a much better price
In proportion to their coat than cotton.
It is to be hoped that more will be
planted than heretofore. Of all the
cropR that are raised in the South. I
can think of none t'tat will equal Irish
and sweet potaux as mortgage lifters.
Alabama Cor. of the Orange judd
Farmer.
Growing Wheat for Feeding.
Many years ago we heard farmer
In a wheat growing section say that it
cost no more for them to grow a bushel
of wheat than a bushel of shelled corn.
It was Just after the complete wheat
harvesting machines came into use, and
these farmers doubtless reckoned the
labor of cultivating and harvesting the
corn crop as more than offsetting Its
larger yield per acre. It does not cost
as much to cultivate an acre of corn
as it used to da The cost of growing
an acre of wheat has Increased, for It
must now have a dressing of phosphate.
But the wheat crop Is more certain than
It used to be. - The fine middlings made
from wheat In flouring it makes excel
lent hog feed. So, too, doe the whole
wheat when ground and mixed with
ground corn. By combining these two
feeds a good deal of the wheat crop
may be profitably fed to bogs unless
wheat prices are higher than tbey bare
lately been Ex.
Crop After Buckwheat.
The buckwheat crop is one that makes
trouble for the next season, as IU scat
tered seeds will grow when warm
weather comes. If spring grain la sown
the buckwheat will grow up and ripen
Its crop before the spring grain Is har
vested. Some of this will be scattered
on the ground, but some also will mix
with the spring grain and spoil Its
sale. We have always heard that If
sown In spring the buckwheat will
blast without seeding when hot weath
er comes. It does not do so, however,
when the buckwheat Is scattered on
the ground In the fall, and starts as
soon as spring grain Is sown In spring. !
It may be thajt if sown very early In
spring buckwheat would yield at well
as It usually does when sown In mid
summer. It often suffers from early
fall frosts, and some years, as last sea
son. It Is Injured by extreme drought'
and heat while It Is growing Ameri
can Cultivator.
Barnyard Manure.
Speaking of barnyard manure, Prof.
Bailey says there are sound scientific
reasons for the high esteem In which
this manure Is held. It contains all the
fertilizing elements required by plants
in forms that Insure plentiful crops and
permanent fertility to the soil. It not
only enriches the soil with the nitrogen,
phosphoric add and potasn which It
contains, but It also renders the stored
up materials of the soli more available,
Improves Its mechanical condition,
makes It warmer and enables It to re
tain more moisture or to draw It up
from below.
An Enemy of the Apple.
The codlin moth can be kept some
what In restraint by keeping the cellar
where winter apples are stored well
guarded from this time on. Recorded
facts show that often hundreds of the
moths emerge from barreled and stored
fruit. L. O. Howard, now I'nited States
entomologist, enumerates several strik
ing instances of this In his excellent ac
count of this pest published Iu the re
port of the I'nited States Commission
er of Agriculture for 1.HM7. pages KS-1 15.
Thus, in any case, It would be a good
plan to have fine netting over cellar or
storeroom windows from March to July.
Denver Field and Farm.
Orchard Graaa.
When farmers begin sowing orchard
grass they never at first sow enough
seed to make plants to cover all the
ground. This makes a patchy growth
of the orchard grass, which only gradu
ally fills up so as to make a complete
sod. Some of this patchlness Is In
evitable, however thickly the orchard
seed Is sown, and It Is always better to
sow clover with orchard grass, so that
It may fill In the vacant spaces. Even
the clover will require pretty early cut
ting to get the hay at its bet Orchard
grass soon becomes tough and woody
after it has headed, and It will bead
even before the clover and orchard
grass will spring up and make a quick
even before the clover, and orchard
prove the soil so that the orchard grass
will grow more quickly Into a complete
sod with than without It
Cultivation Develops New Varieties.
In all wild fruits and nuts there Is
usually very slight variation from the
original type. But what there ia can
be explained when a seed has ripened
In some locally where It has had un
usual advantages or In an extra favor
able season. Bat o soon as cultivation
begins there It a larger variation In the
product of seeds. Some will degene
rate to the original wild type, but out
of a large number a very few may be
as good as or better than the parent
plant If among thousands of seedlings
there to one that It greatly eupertor, It
will pay for the tabor on all the rest
The chancre of success are greatly In
creased If seed for new varieties hat
been chosen la years which are espe
cially favorable for the growing of
perfect fruit among a crop Injured by
drought or cold weather. This to espe
cially true of the grape crop. All the
beat pew varledee rf grapaa were or
iginated froai eta grow when tbto
Kit reached Ha Ufba etaaaard la
EDUCATI0NALC0LUMX
vOTES ABOUT SCHOOLS AND
THEIR MANAGEMENT.
The Adoption of Departmental Train
ing ia Primary Gradea la Being
Strongly Lrged-A Problem for the
Children-Educational Notea.
le part mac' Training.
The friends of jte detrimental
teaching are strongly urging its adop
tion In secouilary schools, aud the argu
ments pro and con are warmly discuss
ed In the educatloual papers of to-day.
As is customary In all discussions of
new theories, extremists take the fore
most ground, and urge a complete
change In existing methods. Not con
tent with asking for the new regime
for advanced pupils, they urge that the
plan shall be Introduced Into all
schools, aud that the beginner as well
as the mature student shall be taught
by the departmental plan.
Waving the question as to the wis
dom of introducing departmental
teaching Into academic work, let us
consider for a few moments the ad
vantages, or disadvantages, of attempt
ing such teaching In primary grades.
The advantages should be the same
at are claimed for the plan In the high
er grades. If a teacher devotes her
entire time to the teaching of arith
metic, for example, and Ota herself to
teach this subject, it Is claimed that she
can do more for her pupils Id this
branch than the teacher who must
divide ber time and effort among the
studies ef the curriculum. She be
comes a specialist to ber subject;
knows It from beginning to end.. She
can follow the child through bis work
from the first grade to the high school,
If she Is retained so long In her posi
tion, and thus the child will not only
secure the advantages to be derived
from ber special training, but he will
be free from the evils arising from the
frequent change of teachers In all sub
jects. The work of to-day will be built
upon yesterday's and will prepare for
to-morrow's. Consecutive, systematic,
coherent work under a specialist In
every subject would, it Is claimed, be
for the advantage arising from depart
mental teaching. On the other hand,
let us ask what the child must forfeit
In order to secure this advantage.
A glance at any complete course of
study which has been prepared by
specialists shows the tendency of each
to emphasize his specialty, without
due regard to the claims of the other
subjects upon the child's time and at
tention. Even the famous report of the
Committee of Ten suggests this ten
dency. The teacher of science is sure
that science Is the basis of all knowl
edge, and that the child's attention and
time should first be given to his sub
jects. The teacher of language knows
that language Is the key which unlocks
all knowledge, aud Is therefore sure
that the child's chief effort should be
given to this subject The teacher of
history opens volumes which are essen
tial to the child's development aud de
mand a full course of historical reading.
The teacher of drawing asks for exer
cises which demand hours of patient
labor. The teachers of mathematics
assign work which would monopolize
one half the pupil's time. No one real
izes how much he is asking, because
each one looks at the child as a stu
dent of his own branch, without recog
nizing the relation of the subjects to
one another and to the necessary de
velopment of the child. A natural and
almost Inevitable result of such teach
ing would be either the overcrowding
of the child or the tendency to push
hi in iu the lines of his inclination, and
to lalH-l him dull or Indifferent In other
subjects.
Again, the growing belief In the
minds of faithful teachers of little
children Is tills, that we are called to
teach uot subjects, but children.
That the measure of our work
Is not mastery of a single sub
ject or a group of subject but
his growth In power, skill, habit
character and Ideal. The advocates
of concentration are showing us how
closely related are the different sub
jects of study, aud how every one
needs every other one to reinforce Its
truth and apply Its principles. This
concentration, this reinforcement Is
lost If the child passes from one teacher
to another for his lessons. Iu order to
secure true co-operatlou of the work
one thought must be behind It all. The
teacher who leads the child to observe
the apple or the tree should be the one
to read to him Thoreau's "Wild Ap
ples," Burrough's essay on the same
subject or help him to commit to
memory Bryant's beautiful "Planting
the Apple Tree." His drawing of the
apple or the tree would test and rein
force his observation. His language
lesson should be a description of what
he has seen. This language necessi
tates a mastery of certain words In
spelling. The exercise calls for certain
powers to write, but each one Is help
ful in proportion as It applies and
strengthens the truth In other lessons.
All such connections, such co-ordination,
Is lost If the child passes through
the hands of several teachers. Is the
gain which we have acknowledged
equal to the loss which he must sus
tain? If we teach the child as well as the
subject we must study the child at well
as the subject. One disadvantage of
the graded school system lies In the
fact that the child mutt leave hit
teacher before the knowt him well
enough to do ber. best work for him.
But because, under present conditions,
be baa the opportunity to atudy the
child la'all school relatione, In all bla
growth and expression, ahe grows In
power to teach and to help him aa be
retaaJat longer under ber care. The
last week of the term ought to count
for tea timet aa aroch aa the Brat week.
Her power to aem the cbttd la eealula-
t i, ,: ; - h : -. 1 ' I
tive. She mothers well at teaehee
him.
No teacher who sees the child for a
single recitation only can grow to tbto
Intimate knowledge of the child. She
needs to see hlui under all the condi
tions of bia acbo.il life; USin the play
ground In hi play with bis mules- ,
in his ntudy-lu bla various recitations.
He needs the constant, personal In
spiring iuflueuoe of her presence and
friendship. If the tea. her deserres to
teach In any degree, she deserves this
opi.rtuntty. Can the child who Is
handed from teacher to teacher grow
Into this close relationship 0on which
his Ideals, his Inspiration, his develop
ment so largely depends?
Were teaching an Intellectual trans
action the questions would be differ
ent but It Is more than that Close
contact with a true teacher meant
more to the child than the mastery of
one or many subjects. Wo would mske
the relation of teacher and pupil, la
the case of little children, closer rather
than more separate. Can we do thlv
if we Introduce departmental teaching
into the primary school? Primary Ed
ucation. Good Manners,'
It bat been said that the best of ut
tre only half-dvlllted that there it a
reatdue of barbarism In the best human
society w hich It sure to manifest Ittelf
In every critlt which provoket strong
feeling or puts good manners to the
test Though we know and practice
what la Just and delicate and fitting in
tome things, we betray our barbarism
In others. Ao American writer tayt
the English art proverbially lacking In
that delicate courage which makes a
stranger the recipient of considerate at
tention; the Germans are ungracious to
the last degree when their pride Is
touched or their Interests threatened;
even the proverbial politeness of the
French gives way when political pas
sion and prejudice Is awakened. We
Americans, as a role, are generous and
kind hearted, but we are greatly lack
ing in that self-restraint and repose
which constitute the basis of good man
ner!. It has been discovered recently that
the Japanese are not only the most ar
tistic people In the world, but the best
mannered, the most delicately and gen
uinely couslderate of the rights and
feelings of othert, and that In the mat
ter of real courtesy all other peoples
must sit at their feet
Prof. Edward 8. Morse, In a recent
address at Vassar College, gave numer
ous examples of the refined demeanor
and polite bearing of this people, who
are just now giving the world an exhi
bition of their sublime courage and ex
alted patriotism. They consider It In
excusably rude to come In bodily eon
tact with another, and all crowding
and Jostling where large number are
assembled Is deemed Insufferably vul
gar. Prof. Morse gays that In Japan
"one could pass through throngs of
thousands as easily as through an opeo,...
forest"
The true refinement of this people
manifests Itself in simplicity of dress,
house furnishing, and living, and these
have their correspondence in neatness,
order and cleanliness everywhere. De
bris and litter are never seen on the
streets or about their dwellings.
It Is also said that vandalism, so com
mon with us. Is unknown In Japan.
Property, public aud private. Is respect
ed. Public buildings and furnlturs,
monuments, etc., are not harked and
chipped, or defaced with names. Even
the boys are too polite to be guilty of
vandalism.
What if the Japanese should teach
us good manners!
As a practical application of the sub
ject, do we not need a revival of good
manners In our schools?
A movement of this kind all along the
line could not fall to Ite prodctlve of
good. In our eager pursuit of lmprov.
ed courses of study and better methods
of formal Instruction, of late, we have
in a measure lost slht of the higher
an.l finer ends of culture. Let us have
In all our schools a revival of good
maners, beginning with the teachers.
Ohio Educational Monthly.
A Hint to Wonld-Rc Orators.
Apropos of Lord Randolph Churchill,
an Incident may be related which is
Interesting as showing his pluck and
vigor. It relates to the noble lord's
parliamentary life. He was determined
to make an impression upon the Houstf
of Commons, but some of his friends
doubted the wisdom of his resolution.
He said little, but he left London and
took up his quarters at an Inn In Rut
landshire. Here he spent bis days and
nights for a period of six weeks, with
ouly an occasional trip to "town" for a
day, In writing and delivering seeches.
He practically went Into training upon
every subject of debate. The landlady
could hear her lodger hour after hour,
day after day, walking about bis rooni
delivering speeches, now loud and an-,
gry, now soft aud persuasive. Perfect-,
ed by practice, I,ord Randolph Chur
chill left for town, seized the opportu
nity, made a big speech, and hence
forth liecatne a man to le reckoned
with. Only, to his intimate friends did
he ever refer to his rural training In
parliamentary oratory, which has been
of such splendid service to hliu. Tld
Bits. Notes.
France had In 1887, 85,554 schools,
1.KMI00 teachers and 3,080,000 scholars!
Germany has twenty-one universi
ties, with 1,920 professors and 20,700
students. '
Yale Unlverally hat 2,850 erudeota
thlt year, a gain of 148 at compared
with latt year.
The controversy between the prlny
dpa! of the Petal u ma High Reboot
CaL, and the City Board of Education,
concerting the re-lDttatemeat ef a boy
who had been expelled from eebooL
terminated by the adoption of a resorts,
Boo by the board ordertag the d lata to.
tal of the prlaeCpaL
