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NOTES ON EDUCATION
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO PU
PIL AND TEACHER
Great Boyish Achievements in Fchool
Recalled by the Middle Acd Man
Why Some Teachers Dont Succeed
Farm School for Vagrants
The Spellinir Class
Our views as to what constitutes
great achievements said the middle
aged man -vary with our years I well
remember the time when I looked upon
the boys who could spell such words as
immateriality and incompatibility
-without mistake with wonder
As the words in the spelling book in
creased in number of syllables there
were fewer and fewer words to the les
son There might be in the
words lessons whose columns of
words reached half or three quarters of
the way down the page and with five
or six columns across the page Those
seven and eight syllabled words were
in short lessons only seven or eight
words deep and only two or three col
umns across the page But short as
they were these short compact blocks
of words of many syllables presented
to the younger boys who occasionally
looked forward in the spelling book at
them difficulties that seemed absolutely-
insurmountable and when the
youngsters heard the older boys spell
these words out on exhibition days at
the close of a term or on days when
the trustees paid the school a visit
why it seemed the highest imaginable
achievement
This highest class few in number
like the long- -words In the book would
be ranged in a row in front of the seats
between the seats and the teachers
platform upon which sat the trustees
This spelling was the culmination of
the exercises and the whole school
was interested and every one was anx
ious that the class should acquit itself
creditably and the younger pupils like
myself believed that the trustees must
le greatly impressed
Immateriality comes from the
teacher standing book in hand at one
end of the platform to the head of the
class who repeats the word and pro
ceeds to spell it
Immateriality I m im m a ma
im rna t e te r i ri
a 1 al i
t y ty immateriality
He is prompt and confident and loud
from start to finish but the whole
school follows him breathlessly and
feels easier when he has finished
Indestructibility says the teacher
looking at the next boy and he repeats
it and goes on with it confidently
Indestructibility I n in d e de
In de struc ti
bil
i t y ty indestruc
tibility
And so it rattles along every one
rroinpt and correct until the teacher
A-
gives out one of the long -words to a
timid shy little chap who is fairly
overcome by the presence of the trus
tees and the general solemnity and high
tension of the whole occasion He
flounders and flounders over it hope
lessly with a faint and shrinking voice
The teacher repeats the word enunci
ating the syllables separately with an
almost painful distinctness to impress
them upon the little chaps mind but
he only flounders the more One of the
trustees looks stern and the other two
kind and sympathetic and presently
the stern man comes around too but
the youngster breaks down utterly and
the teacher gives the word to the next
boy That boy doesnt realize at all the
Timid terror of the boy who has just
failed he isnt that kind of a boy and
he rattles the word off boldly and glib
ly And so it goes round and round
till the words of the lesson are all giv
en out The little chap who failed the
first time comes up valiantly the sec
ond time and spells his word promptly
and correctly whereat all the trustees
the stern one included smile encourag
ingly
From first to last half a dozen or
more words are bungled one boy or
another but still the school feels that
the class has done very well and as
for me being a small boy and only as
far as the two syllabled words I go
liome to tell my folks of the wonderful
deeds performed that day by So-and-so
of our school in the spelling examina
tion and of the particularly tremen
dous feat of Wiggles the smallest boy
in the class who never missed a word
New York Sun
Hull and Had Children
School is going along so well I got
Willie transferred and Claude has
dropped out entirely Those boys were
the worry of my life and I hardly dared
dream of being so fortunate as to get
rid of both of them This is a remark
of a primary teacher
If a child does nothing else for the
rank and file of teachers other than to
make tliem feel that dull and bad chil
dren are problems to be studied and
solved it will do a great work for the
common schools Dull and bad children
are looked upon as only desirable in
being gotten rid of They frequently
receive little or no attention except in
a fault finding way there is no sympa
thy whatever between them and the
teacher they never receive a word of
encouragement
Tlrfs kind of work needs no printed
slips or syllabi it needs no course at
Clark University with Dr Hall But it
does require a genuine love for chil
dren an open mind a willingness to
lake special pains and patience for re
sults
A certain teacher who had studied a
particular bad boy from every con
ceivable siandpo int finally found the
cause of his apparent wickedness He
had been especially annoying all day
and at the close of the school the teach-
er sat down by him and sold John
what is the trouble any way Why is
it you find it so hard to behave in
school Poor John in a burst of con
fidence blurted out Its cos Im so
denied hungry Then the teacher
knew that Johns reformation niusf
begin in his stomach Exchange
Pictures in Schoolrooms
Ornamentation in the public schools
is strongly recommended in the last
annual report of the State Board ox
Education No one says the report
is so susceptible to influence as ths
child and there is no place where a
classical ornament or beautiful picture
can have the same power for good as in
the schoolroom All of which is true
But as a rule the schoolrooms have
bare walls where they ought to be
hung with paintings etchings and en
gravings It is not proposed that these
things should be paid out of the money
raised by taxes There are other ways
of procuring ornamentation for thf
schools
People of means will be found ready
to contribute pictures to the schools
if their interest is enlisted in the mat
ter and money can be raised by the
teachers and school children by enter
tainments and otherwise Recently
one of the public schools in Newark ob
tained a highly prized painting by
means of a voting contest Teachers
understand the value of aesthetic sur
roundings in the training of children
and would be delighted to have the
blank walls of the schoolrooms hidden
by suggestive and instructive pictures
to appeal to the minds and hearts of
their pupils Newark Advertiser
Farm School for Vagrants
Mrs Josephine Shaw Lowell and the
committee on vagrancy of the-conference
of charities of New York of which
she is chairman intend to use their in
fluence toward the speedy establish
ment of a farm school for vagrants
where homeless men detained for one
or two years shall receive a thorough
course of industrial training Mrs
Lowell said What is needed is that
these men should be educated morally
so that they would scorn to live like
dumb beasts with no hope no affec
tion no duties To accomplish this
there should be no place provided eith
er by the city or phihuithropists for a
permanent lodging place The only
place so provided should be to receive
persons stranded temporarily and
these persons should be drafted off as
soon as possible to the city f aran colony
or to the salvation colony or to their
OAvn deserted houses or to some other
place where they would be taught
This would prepare them for the duties
of life and then they should be pushed
into some place where they could find
not only a decent but a complete lif e
Why Teachers Iont Succeed
They are not firm
They have favorites
They are not punctual
They dont control themselves
Tliey teach for the pay alone
They are always iiiwlittg fault
They dont read educational papers
They dont attend teachers meetings
They dont keep their schoolroom
tidy
They dont prepare for each recita
tion
They speak disparagingly of their
predecessor
They know too much to take advice
They only like to teach certain sub
jects
They dont ask parents to visit their
school
They dont keep their schoolroom
properly ventilated
They are afraid some one wall find out
what they dont know
They say too many good things about
the trustees children
Tliey are all of the time quarreling
with some of the scholars
They talce spells of trying to thrash
everything in school
One Mans Bad Liuck
The luck of a Randolph Mass man
is something surprising according to
his local paper On going to the cream
ery on a recent morning he lost his
horse blanket and on the way home he
lost his overcoat While unhitching
his horse one holdback caught on the
thill and the horse struggling to free
itself was thrown down and broke one
of the thills the broken piece injuring
the horse in such a way that perhaps
it will be of no further use That same
day he was offered S0 for the horse
before starting for the creamery Af
ter all this had transpired he went to
his sugar house and in turning the
faucets to the evaporator both broke
Later in the day he called on a neigh
bor and while relating his experience
walked past the neighbors horse while
it was eating grain and was kicked
but fortunately was but little hurt
The horse is a pet and was never
known to kick before He concluded
he had better go home and asked hi9
neighbor to watch him to see that he
did not get killed
Events that Occurred on Friday
Declaration of Independence was
signed on Friday
Washington was born on Friday
Queen Victoria was married on Fri
day
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on
Friday
Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on
Friday
America was discovered on Friday
Mayflower landed on Friday
Joan of Arc was burned at the stake
on Friday
Battle of Waterloo was fought on
Friday
Bastile was burned on Friday
Battle of Marengo was fought on
Friday
Julius Caesar was assassinated on
Friday
Moscow was burned on Friday
Shakspeare was born on Friday
King Charles I was beheaded on
Friday
YERKES OESERVATORY UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO NEAR LAKE GENEVA WIS
i j a ti i - v 1 i Aljlf
great objective lenses or tiie lorues ooservarory m ajjuvu weueva vwu jnui iu m ijwiliuu iuu uiu wnu a
THE telescope is now a reality It was five year9 ago that the two great glass disks of which the lens is made
entered the factory of Alvin Clark Son at Cambridge Mass The glasses were in the rough at the time and it
was not until the following January that work was commenced upon them Almost the entire work has been done by Mr
Clark and his chief assistant Mr Lundin Two years and ten months of actual working time was spent in changing
the disks from the rough into the completed lens Fifty four days was occupied in grinding and the remainder of the
time was devoted to polishing The crown lens the smaller of the two disks weighed 245 pounds in the rough but
when finished had been reduced to 205 pounds It is double convex The flint disk the larger of the two is plain concave
and weighed 350M pounds in the rough In its present condition it weighs but 310 pounds The Yerkes lens which
is the largest in the world has an exposed diameter of 40 inches The two disks were placed 10 inches apart in the tube
of the telescope which has a focal length of 61 feet
Alvin G Clark the maker of this wonderful lens is an interesting character In appearance he resembles somewhat
both ex President Harrison and the late James G Blaine He succeeded his father in the telescope business and is
justly proud of his latest accomplishment Mr Clark is however not satisfied to rest after this but before he retires
it is his wish to complete a yet larger lens after hie own idea It would be fifty inches in diameter and Mr Clark
thinks it possible to complete such a lens If it could be done it would doubtless be sent to Paris where a purchaser
could readily be found
LIVES IN A TOMB
Strange Vault and Its Quick and
Bead Occupants
Let those who seek not knowledge
pass by this grave but those who fain
would learn the secret of life in death
descend This remarkable inscrip
tion is engraved on a huge slab of
black marble at the entrance to the
strangest tomb in the civilized world
It is In the Greek cemetery at Buchar
est and visitors are free to accept the
invitation to enter
At certain hours every day the visitor
is sure to encounter the quick as well
as the dead inside the tomb It stands
over the remains of Julia Hasden a
gifted young authoress who died six
years ago Her father Prof Hasden
of the University of Bucharest has
spent several hours of each day since
by the coffin of his beloved daughter
But he does not mourn her as one lost
to him forever He believes implicitly
that he receives frequent corrimunica
tlons from her and often he surprises
his fellow professors and friends by re
peating some remark which in perfect
good faith he says his daughter made
to him that day or the day before
The tomb is not the gruesome place
respecting what they believe to be the
old gentlemans delusion many in
scribe the most touching expressions of
sympathy Such are found in every
language in Europe
It must not be supposed that Prof
Hasden has been made insane through
grief He is a man of learning and
good judgment but he could not be
covinced that he does not receive
daily communications from his daugh
ter And since in that belief lies his
greatest solace none would try to rob
him of it Most people believe It to be
a delusion but a harmless one Spirit
ualists think the communications are
really received and take them as addi
tional proof of their theory
A Black Forest Wedding
It is a large square room with plas
tered walls and unadorned except by
two or three coarse colored prints It is
only furnished with a number of long
trestle tables and forms and round
these tables are crowded the wedding
guests stolidly and continuously eating
enormous cherry tarts and drinking
new wine There is nothing festive
about them and they are not beautiful
to behold The women are dressed in
an ugly fashion they wear black
FOR HOURS IN HIS DAUGHTERS TOMB
which the word usually implies The
floor is of black and white marble and
the sides are of the purest white mar
ble inlaid with inscriptions in letters
of gold The tomb was constructed
the professor declares in accordance
with plans outlined to him by his
daughter after her death Acting on
suggestions from her additional inscrip
tions and decorations have been added
from time to time For instance on a
block of polished black marble some
lines of music are inscribed in gold let
ters and they are believed by him to
constitute a melody composed by the
girl in the spirit state
The aiitight casket has a sliding glass
head cover and pushing it back the
doting father cansit and look at the
face of his child The fresh air and
sunshine stream in through the open
doors and with them come the per
fume of sweet flowers and the glad
carols of the song birds There is no
suggestion of gloom and there the
old professor passes his leisure hours
often taking his coffee and smoking his
cigarette there while he talks to his
dead child In the afternoon his wife
sometimes joins him and they walk
home together Visitors come and are
welcome A large album is provided
for them to register their names in and
ices and short black skirts plaited into
an astounding thickness at the waist
and some of them have hideous tight
fitting black silk caps tied closely un
der their chins with wide black strings
It would take a very pretty woman to
stand the effect of this costume and
the requisite amount of beauty is not
forthcoming in X But the bride and
her bridesmaids about fifty in numlber
are more gorgeously arrayed inasmuch
as they wear crowns monstrous erec
tions of glass beads glittering balls
artificial flowers and bits of tinsel all
fixed upon a cardboard foundation that
towers a good foot and a half in height
and overshadows the wearers bead and
face It is wonderful bow they ran
bear the weight of them Some of the
men are in peasant costume and some
in ordinary dress there is little of the
picturesque mountaineer of our imag
ination
Tender ThonjrhtfulnessI
My husband is the most consider
ate man in the world
In what way
When he gave me my new writing
desk he had two keys made so that if
I lost mine he would have one Few
men would be as thoughtful as that
Tit Bits
A CUBAN RELIC
El Templete on the Site Wliere tno
First Mass Was Held
The capital of Cuba is richer in his
torical material of a certain class than
any other eity in America Its archi
tecture is the Spanish though It shows
Moorish influence of two or three
fig mm mwm
EI TEMPLETE
turies ago and if the student wishes to
study architectural symphonies In
stone ho need not cross the ocean he
need only hie himself to Havana The
oldest structure dates back to 1538 or
thereabouts and was built by orders
of the great Don Hernando de Soto
What has led many to state that Co
lumbus landed here and laid the foun
dation of the city Is the little temple
called El Templete In front of wlrich
stands a bust of the navigator and the
building is only opened to visitors on
the day of his nativity November 16
on the occasion of the feast of St
Christopher This temple which was
constructed after a Grecian model cov
ers the spot where the first mass was
said on the site of Havana in the year
1519 a date sufficiently remote but
thirteen years after the death of Co
lumbus In fact Columbus never vis
ited this portion of the island and died
in the belief that Cuba was part of
the continent
He landed on the north coast at or
near Gibara far to the east ir the year
1492 and thence coasted easterly to and
beyond Baracoa rounding Cape Maysi
and sailing across the channel to Hay
ti On his second voyag 3 ne did not re
turn to the north coast of Cuba but
after he had founded the city of Isa
bella on the coast of Santo Domingo
he explored the southern shores of
Cuba from Santiago to Cienfuegos
Again on his last voyage he was forc
ed by circumstances to visit the south
coast sailing thence to Jamaica where
his vessels were wrecked
The Templete really commemorates
the occasion of the first mass held be
neath the spreading branches of an im
mense ceiba or silk cotton rree This
tree has disappeared but in its place is
another of the same species though no
of large dimensions The temple or
chapel is empty except for two paint
ings of some merit one of which de
picts the celebiation of the mass in
1519 and the other a gathering in hon
or of this event a little more than 10G
years ago
Found Out
I sent a dollar last week said the
Good Thing in answer to that ad
vertisement offering a method of sav
ing one naif my gas bills
And you got
A printed slip direoting me to pasta
them in a scrap lxok Cincinnati En
quirer
More Facetious
Would be Purchaser What do yoa
sell those fowls for
Facetious Poulterers Boy We sell
em for profits mum
Would be Purchaser Thank you 1
thought they were patriarchs London
Pick-Me-Up
MeanThlnsr
Cynthia Do you think Frank will
love me when I am old Maud
Maud Well theres one -thing dear
youll soon know Pick-Me-Up
The man who gives advice that he
doesnt take himself has a good prece
dent The Lord ordained marriage bub
He never married
LN THE TOMBS
The Pct Scout Brines Tears to the
Eyes of Desperadoes
The Poet Scout of the West Capt
Jack Crawford visited the Tombs pris
on in New York the other day to read
some of his compositions to the prison
ers He was introduced by the warden
on the bridge overlooking four tiers of
cells He said
Im no preacher boys I came here
to talk to you plain I suppose It isnt
exactly a square deal to level poetry at
men who cannot escape but still if the
rhymes dont always hit and the meter
lopes once In a while dont lay it up
agin me I speak from the heart
The poet cleared his throat brushed
back his long hair and began to read
one of his poems entitled Sunshine
He stood there in the dim light looking
up at the long tiers of cells White
faces peered down upon him from the
narrow grated doors The poet scouts
voice as he read was heard in all cor
ners of the old prison The cynical look
faded from many a face and attention
and interest took its place
After reading some pathetic selec
tions the scout told how tli rough tho
Influence of his mother he first began
to read to prisoners thinking that ha
might cheer them and bring brightness
into their lives He told them too of
the promise he had made to her that
he would never drink and how he had
kept it He then read the poem entitle
Mothers Prayers There was a ring
in the rugged verse which set all of the
prisoners to thinking The counte
nances of Murderers Row lost their
hardened look William J Koerner on
trial for the murder of his sweetheart
was aroused from his apathy Patrick
Goggins accused of taking the life of
an innocent child drew his coat sleeve
over his eyes The Italian who under
stood but one word mother crossed
himself and listened to the measured
tones of the poet Here is one of tho
stanzas
Mother who in dayB of childhood
Prayed as only mothers pray
Guard his footsteps in the wildwood
Let liim not me led astray
And when dangers hovered round me
And my life was full of cares
Then a sweet form passed before me
And I thought of mothers prayers
There was a moment of silence and
then the long corridors rang with
cheers They cheered the poet three
times there and when he went away
scores of hands reached forth from the
bars and waved goodby
Singular Kellers
The Greeks and Romans were ex
tremely credulous and some of their
ideas in matters of natural history
now seem grotesque Bees were per
haps the commonest subject for er
ror it was quite generally believed that
they carried ballast about with theni
in the shape of small pebbles and that
they did not produce their young them
selves but picked their eggs off flow
ers Both these mistakes probably
arose from the fact that bees carry
pollen on their fet and legs In the
first case this would be mistaken for
grains of sand or tiny pebbles in the
second for eggs The belief that the
dead bodies of animals gave birth to
bees arose doubtless from bees build
ing as they have been known to do
in modern times in the hollow skele
ton of animals when they could not
find hollow tres or rocks to answer
their purpose Another strange idea
was the one held by the Greeks that
storks cranes and similar birds were
wont to swallow a cargo of stones be
fore starting on a long flight in order
to adjust their balance correctly These
birds were supposed never to die and
the same pleasing characteristic was
assigned to stags and eagles a belief
brought about no doubt by the ex
treme old age to which these animals
often attain A curious superstition
which is still more or less seen in the
Oriental fear of the evil eye was that
if a wolf saw you before you saw him
you were struck dumb Other super
stitions were common It was gener
ally supposed that bulls blood if
drunk was rank poison the ravens
croak and the tree struck by light
ning portended certain disaster as did
a twitching of the eyelid The Romans
thought that the rainbow drank up the
waters from the earth and dispensed
it again in rain the Greeks with more
poetic feeling imagined it the swift
footed messenger of the gods and
named it Iris
Open Sand Molding
Iron founders who know the waste
of time in preparing beds for open
sand molding will appreciate the sug
gestion of an expert founder that a
permanent bed should be made of such
dimensions as to take in any work like
ly to be wasted and that if very large
it should be provided with a cinder
bed which should be low enough at
least fifteen inches from surface to
permit of long dabbers that are often
required in loam plates Tha straight
edges should be made of flat bars of
wrought iron with the upper edges
planed
German Technical Schools
The success of German manufac
tures attributable in so great a de
gree to technical schools is arousing
British manufacturers and artisans to
a sense of their needs and among re
cent contributions to the Halifax Tech
nical School was a donation of 300
from the London Cloth Workers Com
pany for the maintenance of the tor
tile department and a similar sum to
ward the supply of looms etc for the
weaving department
A Resemblance
Mrs Kuddler Do you know George
that everybody says the baby is just
like me
Mr Kuddler Nonsense Anne The
baby is now more than six montha
old and it has never spoken a word
Boston Transcript
