“WHAT shall be the attitude of parents when there has been difficulty between child and teacher?” Upon the right answer to this question rests in large measure the success of our church schools. If parents would heartily co-operate with the teacher in all matters of discipline, there would be little difficulty between child and teacher.
In the first place let us make sure that as parents we really love our children. Many parents love their children with a superficial love, which looks only at present enjoyment. The child is indulged, and allowed to have his own way at home; so when he starts to school, the lesson of submission to rightful authority is necessarily a hard one to learn. And those parents are quick to take offense at any correction the child may receive at the hands of the teacher. So much depends upon the parents' attitude in such cases that I might almost say the question of order and discipline in the school depends upon the discipline of the parents themselves. The better way is for parents to look into their children's future, and see the results of lax training at home, its effect upon their characters, and upon their ability to grapple successfully with the difficulties they may meet.
How can the parents co-operate with the teacher in the child's training to secure the best results for the child?—Suppose a child brings home a note from the teacher, telling of gross disorder or open rebellion against the rules of the school, and asking for the co-operation of the parents in securing future obedience,—should the parents pass it lightly by as unworthy their notice, or simply scold the child, and bid him behave in future? Rather, should not that gentle tact be used which is the gift of all mothers who ask for wisdom, in drawing from the child a reason for such behavior and the motives underlying his conduct? If this is done, the way is open for a heart-to-heart talk, and the child gets an insight into the motives of the teacher in insisting upon order. The child will thus be led to appreciate the fact that his teacher is planning and working constantly for his good, instead of against him. This will lead the child to greater interest in the school, and he will be willing to make an apology for his misconduct, and not be likely to give further trouble.
But suppose the teacher has taken it upon himself to correct the child, and may even have used corporal punishment, what then should be the attitude of the parents? If he flies into a passion, and says that no teacher shall be permitted to punish his child, and threatens all sorts of things, will that tend to secure future obedience and respect for the teacher's authority? Nothing is so demoralizing to a child as to hear his parents berate the teacher, and plainly show that they have no sympathy with him or his methods. Far better to tell the child the correction was doubtless deserved; that if he had given no offense, he would have had no trouble; that if he gives further trouble, he will have to be punished at home; then when the child sees that his course is not upheld at home, he will be more submissive in school.
If parents feel that the teacher has done wrong in punishing their children, they should follow the Bible rule, and go and tell him his fault alone, rather than allow the children to see any lack of sympathy with the teacher.
Perhaps the punishment was unjust: one child may have been corrected for the faults of another. Teachers are sometimes overworked and nervous, and do not take time to inquire into the details of some trouble, and, in haste to get the difficulty settled, may deal out punishment unjustly. What, then, should be the attitude of the parents? Nothing hurts a child's feelings more than to be punished for something he has not done, and of course it hurts the parents as well. But if in the spirit of the Master, who often suffered unjustly, we take the child to the teacher, and patiently wait until the matter is fully explained, we shall find in nearly every case that the teacher is more than anxious to make wrongs right, and the child will learn the valuable lesson of maintaining a meek and quiet spirit even when he is falsely spoken against.
We all believe a Christian teacher has the best interests of our children at heart; so when he makes a mistake, let us remember that we are human, and often make mistakes ourselves. Let us exercise the grace of charity, which covers a multitude of sins.
A teacher can often see faults in a child, to which the eyes of a fond parent are entirely blind. Let us, then, co-operate with the teacher in helping the child form a beautiful, symmetrical character, and let us never nullify his efforts by criticism at home before the children, no matter how much we may feel he is in the wrong.
Nothing so inspires a child's confidence in his teacher as to see the high regard in which that teacher is held by his parents. Therefore let us use every opportunity to show the child how highly we respect his teacher, and the question of discipline in school will solve itself.
MRS. LUCY GREEN ADAMS.
Is Christian Education Worth While ?
By MAUDE G. HENRY.
DEAR teacher, do you feel that your efforts for some one whom you love, and whom God has entrusted to your care for a little time, are in vain? Thinking that this may be true of you as of me, I will relate an experience of mine, and also give you a few extracts from letters recently received from a former Bible student, over whom I have spent many anxious hours. Perhaps this may bring to your burdened heart new hope and courage to work on a little longer and to offer more earnest prayers for that one who seems so hard to reach just now.
You may be interested to know how this young lady felt after attending a few of my class recitations. She was a member of one of the churches in the city where she lived, and also a high-school graduate of that city. She remarked to me, a few days after joining my class in Bible history, that she did not care to study what she did not believe, and wished to be excused from the class. She said it seemed very old-fashioned, and really quite ridiculous, to even suppose, much less believe, that the Creator made this world in six literal days; and that intelligent men of scientific research had proved this to be a grave mistake. I knew there was no use to endeavor to teach the third angel's message to one whose belief in God's Word was founded upon “sand,” or, “higher criticism.” Miss — was excused from the class, and for about eight weeks the members of our school and home family unceasingly remembered at the throne of mercy and grace this dear one whom we longed to see made free by the pure and simple truth of God's Word. One thing we especially prayed for was that God would so bless us that the effect of simply believing his Word just as it is, might be made manifest in our daily conversation and actions as we associated with her.
Through kindness shown her day by day, and also by the frequent animated discussions upon the various topics studied by the members of the class, she had left, her heart was humbled, and her interest so aroused that she expressed a desire to join the class again. How happy we were to find that she did not care to join the class this time to criticize25but meekly and earnestly to study God's Word, and to accept the precious truth as the Holy Spirit brought it to her. Our prayers were being answered. She is now rejoicing in the privileges of Christian education, and is finishing the normal course this year in one of our colleges, preparatory to joining the ranks of workers in God's great and needy field as a Christian teacher.
Following are the extracts taken from recent letters received from her:—
“I was thinking to-night of where we are in this world's history, and just realized that it has been seventy-five years since the falling of the stars. How little did people back in 1844 think this old world would stand so long. And just because it has stood thus long, many are saying it will continue so. O, how many of our people are lukewarm! And just when they should be bending every energy to the work. Little do we realize how fast prophecy is being fulfilled. The Lord has said through his servant that before the end, the scenes of the Inquisition would be repeated. We have the blessed promise that God will cut short the work in righteousness, and surely it is true. But I feel that I need to labor more earnestly for souls if I would be saved. . . . The teachers here have the correct view of education; but it is such a big question. I feel that it will take eternity to absorb it all. We have chapel talks on the subject now and then. It seems sometimes almost as if an angel were speaking. If human beings on this sinful earth can reach such heights,—can be so filled with the love of God and so united in heart and work,—what must heaven be! If we are fortunate enough to pass that great examination, and enter the university above, surely we shall be satisfied.”
Remember that while you are pleading in agony of soul over some precious one, our Heavenly Father, who notes even the sparrow when it falls, is taking note of your efforts to help save a human soul. He longs to co-operate with you in bringing that dear one to himself. He stands with outstretched arms to receive him; for he loves him with “amazing love.” Therefore “let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.”
MAUDE G. HENRY.
Coming Home
By A. W. SPAULDING
“As I was saying,” continued the Visitor after the meeting had begun, “you may have an ideal plan, and it ought to give ideal results if you have ideal people to carry it out.”
“In other words, the ideal is unattainable,” rejoined the First Member.
“No,” answered the Visitor; “I’m not denying that there are ideal people; and that granted, all the rest may follow. But I question whether you can make your good results so nearly universal as to have general effect on the denomination or the world. Your ideal is a perfect home school, in which you have few enough members to permit of the teachers’ personal contact with the students, almost constantly; because, as you say truly, the personal influence of the teacher counts for more than anything else in the training of the student.”
“Especially if that influence is exerted on informal occasions,—more in the field and the home than in the class,” interposed the Youngest Member.
“Yes,” resumed the Visitor. “And then, since this limiting of attendance restricts the number who may have the benefit of any one school, you propose more schools, more ideal home schools.”
“Yes,” came a chorus.
“And in the ultimate you propose to make every home a school and every school a home.”
“We will not look so far,” said the First Member; “we will not say what every school should be; but seeing, from our experience, the need of this kind of school, where we have, not a factory in which thousands must fill the molds, but a home where the individual needs of every one are considered, and met by personal sympathy and help,—seeing this need, I say, we propose schools after this plan, and if there remained a need of another kind of school, we would give it place and welcome it. But whether or not every school should be a home, certain we are that every home should be a school.”
“And there,” said the Visitor, “is where your lack of the ideal factors makes the ideal results impossible. How many parents are there among us, do you think, who are capable of conducting such a school?”
“As many as it takes to mother and father one hundred forty-four thousand,” answered the First Member.
“Not now, perhaps,” said the Lady Teacher; “neither can there now be found one hundred forty-four thousand without guile in their mouths. But surely the one hundred forty-four thousand reach an ideal state, do they not? And we can not idly wait till the number is made up before we seek the ideal, or we shall lose our hope.”
“Explain to me, please,” said the Superintendent, “what your plan for this ideal family school would be. Would you have a daily program?”
“Nothing succeeds without system,” said the First Member; “no family does, and no school does. The fewer the number, the less machinery is needed, but still there must be system. Following my ideal of the family, combined with the needs of the school, I should suggest a program—which circumstances and experience might change at will—a program like this: A regular hour for rising; family worship; breakfast; chores; at about nine o’clock opening exercises, followed by necessary drills for an hour; then leisure to read, study for two hours; dinner at one; after that recreation and work for the afternoon—”
“Why, where are your classes?” interrupted the Superintendent.
The Youngest Member squared his shoulders. “How formal is the recitation,” he said; “disguise it as you may with the cunning of a clever teacher, the recitation is to the student a process of telling something to some one who he supposes already knows it much better than himself. The only inspiration possible in such an act is the inspiration of competition—to make a better recitation than one’s fellows. The proper purpose of our getting knowledge is to give it or its results to those who have it not.”
“But,” said the Visitor, “acting on that theory,—having no recitations,—how shall you know when a student is proficient, able to tell the truth aright to those ignorant of it? Perhaps he may misrepresent it, make mistakes, confuse people about God’s truth. What then?”
“Don’t you ever?” asked the Pleasant Member.
“Why, yes, I suppose I do, of course,” admitted the Visitor, slowly.26
“We are students under God: what kind of recitation does God hold with us,” queried the First Member. “Does he require perfection in us, even comparative perfection, before he sends us to tell others of the truth? He desires perfection, and he draws us toward it; but he does that by having us exercise our powers in giving.”
“But I should not leave all to chance. One of the most pleasant hours in the home circle (and therefore in our home school) is the evening spent by the fireside; for I should not omit the open fireplace, I assure you. And there we should regularly meet in the evening, and learn to tell stories. At this time, since different ones, under the direction of their teachers, have been studying different things,—it may be in science, in history, in Christian doctrine, in anything,—at this time they should tell what they have learned; tell it, mind you, to many who do not know it; for the study-range of the circle is wide. There are little children, and older ones, as well as adults. And the test of actual learning will lie in the ability to tell, and tell simply and interestingly, to adapt to the audience.”
“But if you let it be given in this form,” objected the Superintendent, “you can not possibly in the time you have get over all that every one has learned during the day.”
“In my work,” said the Oldest Member, “I have learned to ask no more for a list of facts—a string of beads—from the treasure-house of my student’s mind, but to judge from the way he tells one thing, how he is grasping everything. I sample him, not drain him.”
“There lie yet untouched the whole outdoors, and the whole field of social life,” complained the Youngest Member. “We have touched only the indoor work.”
“And only touched it,” said the First Member. “You shall have the next hour, brother, to lead us wheresoever you will.” A. W. SPAULDING.
Trust in the Lord.
By L. D. Santee
It is easy to trust in the sunshine,
The sensuous sunshine of June,
When the far-reaching uplands and prairies
Seem a 'blossoming sea of perfume.
When joy spreads her mantle above us,
And our bosoms are cheered by a word
From the lips of the dear ones who love us,
It is easy to trust in the Lord.
When our bark rests light on life's ocean,
As a babe on its mother's breast,
When the wild waves have ceased their commotion,
And hushed are the billows to rest,
When gently the breeze bears us onward,
With our friends and companions on board,
It is easy to float with the current;
It is easy to trust in the Lord.
But when the bright sunshine has vanished,
And the cloud brings its darkness and storm,
And the gloom of the night gathers round you,
And weary eyes watch for the morn,
When those whom you love turn against you,
And their cruel words cut like a sword,
In your darkness and pain, O my brother,
'O then can you trust in the Lord?
Can you trust ’mid the wrath of the ocean,
When the foam-cloud is flung to the sky?
When the billows, in wrathful commotion,
Have their angry hands lifted on high?
When strained is the mast and the cordage,
And ne'er a companion on board,
’Mid the wreck of your heart’s desolation,
O then can you trust in the Lord?
— L. D. Santee.
The World God's School
THIS world is God's training-school, and like all his works it is well adapted to the accomplishment of his purpose. It is abundantly provided with all the materials and forces necessary for the development of man's threefold nature. Land and sea unite in furnishing him with a variety of pleasing and nourishing foods. The study of the forces which are operating around him, and of the laws which govern them, affords ample opportunity for the development of his intellectual powers; while the beauty and sublimity which surround him on all sides are sufficient to awaken and cultivate in him a love for the beautiful, and cause his spiritual nature to reach out after the Creator and Maker of all, who is his Father, Teacher, and Friend. Any other view of the purpose of the universe is unworthy and irrational. It mars the harmony which should exist between man and nature, while this view transforms all creation, man included, into a rhythmic poem.—Selected.
Is It Necessary to Study Evil?
By J. S. WASHBURN
God has placed in man a desire to know, to understand, a craving for knowledge, yet there are some things it is best not to know. There is knowledge that is not power but weakness. Much that the world counts important is best not learned. Satan inspired in Eve the curiosity to eat of the tree that God had forbidden our first parents to touch. This was not only the tree of knowledge of good, but of evil. If it was not necessary for the human race to understand evil then, it is not necessary now. For this reason he who knows most of fiction, and knows most of the great plays and great actors and popular theatrical performances, has a store of knowledge which is practically worse than ignorance.
Teach the truth. That will destroy error. It is not necessary for a man to know the location of every saloon, gambling house, and questionable resort in a great city to be truly intelligent in the knowledge of the city which is valuable. It is not necessary for us to know all the arguments of infidels, and to be intimately acquainted with all the delusions of the enemy, in order to defeat him when the Lord permits us to come face to face with evil. Truth, what positive truth, is the all-important thing. Our teaching should be positive rather than negative. Not to destroy another, either argumentatively or in any other way, but rather to build up and strengthen and help, should be our work. How much there is in that wonderful, simple text of Scripture, “Overcome evil with good.” God calls his workers to do, not to un-do, to build up, not to destroy, to know and teach good rather than evil.
J. S. WASHBURN.
The Characteristics of Good Text-Books
By Raub
THE characteristics of a good text-book are as follows: A properly arranged text-book is not only a great aid to the pupils in pursuing a study, but it is also an important help to the teacher in conducting the recitation. The principles and facts stated should not be fragmentary. Each, so far as possible, should be connected with knowledge previously acquired or statements previously presented. A logically arranged text-book induces logical modes of thought, and thus in itself furnishes valuable discipline.
The language of a text-book should be so clear that the learner can not misunderstand it. In the statement of principles or problems the pupils should not be left in doubt as to the meaning by any ambiguous construction which a sentence may bear. Facts should be stated in such clear language that the learner may apprehend the meaning at a glance. Text-books of this character tend to simplify greatly the work of both teaching and learning.
Text-books may be made interesting by their arrangement as well as by the matter they are made to contain. They ought not to be a mere mass of dry facts; the principles enunciated should be illustrated by such examples as will attract the attention of the learner, and at the same time elucidate the subject treated in such a way as to make him comprehend. The most important principles and the most interesting facts should be given, and these in such a way as to create in the pupil a love for study.
A text-book is not designed to present an exhaustive discussion of any subject, and it ought not, therefore, to be made too comprehensive. A suggestive text-book that leads the pupil to original investigation or the consulting of cyclopedias and dictionaries is much more valuable than one which attempts to be exhaustive in its treatment. True, a book may present all the most important facts and principles of a branch of knowledge and be a good text-book, but the best books always leave much for the teacher to add or for the learner to find out for himself.
The style in which a text-book is written should not only be clear and the language such as the pupil can readily comprehend, but the thoughts should be presented in such a forceful and yet graceful way as to attract the attention. It is too often the case that an author's style is so labored, or his language so obscure, that the student finds great difficulty in deciphering the meaning. The language should be not only choice, but also correct. Nothing will have a stronger tendency to throw doubt on the statement of an author than the fact that he does not use his own language correctly.
In general, they can write text-books best who best understand the operations of the child-mind; and they understand the child-mind best who constantly associate with children, and who, as teachers, observe the mode of thought which the child follows. A book, written in such style or such language as is beyond the capacity of the child to grasp is not only useless, but it is also pernicious. In such case the child will either commit the words of the book to memory without understanding what is meant, or become discouraged, and lose interest in the study. All text-books, therefore, should be adapted to the capacity of the class of pupils for whom they are intended, and this both in style and language, as well as in the matter presented.
The chief requisites to a beautiful text-book are good paper, attractive illustrations, and good-sized, clear type. It is a serious mistake to use broad pages and small type for any text-book. No one can estimate the injury done to eyesight by text-books of this character. When the page exceeds three or three and a quarter inches in width, it tires the eye more or less in passing from one line to another, and the broader the page the greater the injury. The cost of manufacturing books with good type and good paper is but little greater, comparatively, than that of manufacturing those of poorer material. The same rule of economy that is good elsewhere is good here—that good goods, though higher in price, are the least expensive.—Raub.
Effects of Alcohol on the Human Body
By George Knapp Abbott, M. D.
“THE child is father to the man.” This fact is obvious, yet how little use we make of it in the fight against intemperance. To place vividly before the rising generation the dire effects, morally and physically, of the use of alcoholic beverages would do more toward closing saloons and lessening intemperance than any other one method. But this must not be a spasmodic effort. The effects of alcohol (and other narcotics) on the human body should be given a larger place in the schools. We should have better text-books, and see that a greater number of hours are devoted to their study. The older books are weak in failing to make definite and positive statements. The evils of alcoholic drink have been known ever since fermented liquors have been used. But the belief that in some mysterious way alcohol in small amounts is beneficial, and the idea that it is a stimulant, and hence useful in emergencies as a medicine, has encouraged its use even as a beverage, and weakened the cause of total abstinence. “Touch not, taste not, handle not,” is the only way to carry a solid, conquering front in the battle against alcohol or against any other evil.
In the last few years a great volume of experimental work along the line of the effects of alcohol has been carried on. The results are startling and conclusive, so much so that they should be in the hands of every temperance worker, school-teacher, minister, and parent. “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby27is not wise.” Deception is not possible where the public is educated.
This experimental work, together with statistics upon the effects of alcohol upon heredity, the national health and vital resistance to disease, has been embodied in a small work by Sir Victor Horsley. It is a book that will appeal to all educators, being written in a simple style, yet accurate in every item.
It is a common belief that beer, since it contains less alcohol than wine, is less injurious. Dr. Horsley shows that, contrary to this belief, beers are usually more injurious than wines, since they contain such a variety of other poisons derived from the refuse material and substitutes used in their brewing. These facts were derived from the report of the chancellor of the exchequer before the House of Commons as a result of the Inland Revenue Analysis. The samples examined showed the presence of arsenic, copper, quillai bark or extract, and alcoholic flavoring extracts.
That alcohol in small doses acts as a brain-and-muscle stimulant is another false idea quite commonly accepted. Dr. Johnson is quoted as saying: “This is one of the disadvantages of wine, it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.” One of the strongest proofs given that neither thought nor muscular energy is stimulated lies in the results of the experiments of Dr. Aschaffenburg. The work of compositors under normal conditions was compared with the work of the same men under the influence of alcohol. The impairment in efficiency amounted to from 10.6 per cent to 18.9 per cent.
From the report of the public actuary of South Australia, Dr. Horsley quotes the following significant facts: “The total weeks of illness for each member in abstainers’ societies is 1.248 weeks; while in non-abstainers’ societies it is 2.317 weeks. The average weeks of sickness per member sick is in the abstainers’ societies, 4.45 weeks; in the non-abstainers’ societies, 10.91 weeks.” In other words, alcohol increased the length of illness, 69.1 per cent.
T. D. Crothers, M. D. says: “The latest and most scientific statistics show that over ten per cent of all mortality is due to the abuse of alcohol, and fully twenty per cent of all disease is traceable to this cause; also, that over fifty per cent of insanity, idocy, and pauperism springs from this source.” All authorities agree that from seventy-five to ninety per cent of all criminality is caused by the abuse of alcohol.
GEORGE KNAPP ABBOTT, M. D.
An Idaho Educator’s Plan for a Real Education
The present educational systems were attacked by Rev. E. A. Paddock, president of the Idaho Industrial Institute at Weiser, in an address delivered before the co-operative class at the First Congregational church, Chicago, recently. The speaker declared that the average college graduate is a complete failure when called on to make his living by manual labor, and the whole educational system tends to create a feeling of caste. He urged as a remedy that students be required to devote at least half of the day to learning a trade.
“I believe the social disorders which are prevalent in this country to-day arise on a large scale, if not wholly, from the fact that our system of education is all wrong,” he said.
“We are training one faculty and sacrificing others. The remedy is to be found in a half-time school, where the student will be kept half a day at his books, and taught some trade during the other half. The half-time school system would tend to break down the feeling of caste.
“Many prominent employers have told me that the poorest recommendation a young man can bring them is his college diploma. The fault lies in the fact that too much attention is paid to theory, while practical work, most needed in the battle with the world, is almost entirely overlooked. Give the boy an education, but give him also the means of applying that education.”— Boise (Idaho) Evening Capital News.
Parental Neglect of Children
EXAMINATIONS conducted in connection with a campaign throughout the United States for greater attention to the health of schoolchildren disclose the remarkable carelessness in the proper care of the eyes and teeth, and a widespread ignoring of the evils attendant on a common use of public drinking cups.
Some cases have been cited in Illinois that are said to be illustrative of conditions in many places.
At Alton the mouths of 1,594 children were examined, and 1,109 had teeth requiring immediate filling; 600 of the children had never been to a dentist, and 708 visited a dentist only when forced to do so by pain. All but thirty-seven out of the 1,594 required some form of dental treatment, but the parents were neglecting having it given them.
At Quincy 1,569 children were examined, and 1,412 were found with teeth requiring immediate filling, with an average of five teeth a child. Only 157 had teeth requiring no immediate attention. Of the total number examined 631 reported having no tooth-brush; and in some cases where there was a tooth-brush in the house, it was used by all the members of the family.
These sample statistics ought to convince people of the necessity of giving early and constant attention to the teeth of their children—in the first place, by providing brushes and inculcating habits of regular cleaning at home, and in the second place, by dental examination and treatment.
Many parents are apt to neglect some of the primary precautions that should be taken for the future welfare of their children. Gradually they are being made to realize the importance of the subject but there is even yet too much carelessness.—Spokane Review.
Methods in Primary Schools
Sand Modeling
Of all the devices used in aiding the imagination to picture remote geographical forms, sand modeling is the most serviceable. By its aid forms of contour and relief can be shown as readily as by the raised maps, and they can be altered easily. The pupils can be made to see the continent, island, or peninsula growing under the hands of the teacher. This will be more likely to inspire them to put forth effort than will the looking at a map which is unalterably fashioned, when it is brought before them. By seeing things made children will learn to make them more readily than they will by hearing how they are made, as they will be more interested. Here the various forms are fashioned gradually as they were in nature, and the nearer nature we can keep the device, the better. This is why the molded form suggests the real land or water more readily than does the map.
The sand is also very helpful in enabling the children to understand how the surface of the earth has been changed, and is constantly being changed, by the action of the air, frost, the water, etc. This can not be shown by the aid of maps, yet the learners’ attention should be called to it, so they may be led to observe the work of the great artists who are constantly carving and chiseling, wearing down the sharp ridges, and filling up the unsightly hollows that mar the appearance of our earth-home.
Another advantage that sand modeling has, is that it can be used in all the grades from the primary to the high school. It is especially valuable in teaching physical geography; but as that is the basis and most important part of all28geography, it is reasonable to suppose that it is taught throughout the entire course.
Objections are sometimes made to sand modeling because of the exaggeration necessary, and because of the danger that the children will use the forms shown in the sand as the standards with which to measure like forms in nature. What has been said in defense of raised maps will apply here equally as well. It is safe to say that no evil will result from the use of the same or raised maps if the teacher exercises due care.—Selected.
Perseverance
By D. E. LINDSEY
THERE is nothing more necessary than everlasting stick-to-it-iveness. A friend asked Mr. Lincoln, “Do you really expect to end the war during your administration?” “Can’t say, can’t say, sir.” “But, Mr. Lincoln, what do you mean to do?” “Peg away, sir; peg away; keep pegging away!” The secret of the lives of Columbus, Sir Isaac Newton, Washington, Wellington, Wilberforce, Stephenson, Morse, Grant, and other successful men was their perseverance. “It gives power to weakness, and opens to poverty the world’s wealth; it spreads fertility over the barren landscape, and bids the choicest fruits and flowers spring up and flourish in the desert abode of thorns and briers.”
A despondent man was once forced to take shelter from his enemies in a ruined building, where he sat alone for hours. To divert his mind, he watched an ant trying to carry a grain of corn up a high wall. Sixty-nine times it fell to the ground, but the seventieth it reached the top. The sight forever after served its observer as an object-lesson in perseverance.
An Indian one day came to a missionary and said he had been making some poetry, which he wished to show to the missionary. It was found to be several verses in very “common meter,” and all the verses were exactly alike. They ran as follows:—
“Go on, go on, go on, go on,
Go on, go on, go on,
Go on, go on, go on, go on,
Go on, go on, go on.”
A grand motto for all seeking an education, and especially good for all Christians! “He will never enjoy the sweets of the spring, nor will he obtain the honeycombs of Mt. Hybea, if he dreads his face being stung, or is annoyed by briars. The rose is guarded by its thorn, the honey is defended by the bee.” “By the thorny road and no other is the mount of vision won.”
D. E. LINDSEY.
Use of Trees
To show the use of trees it may be well to take the one that enters into most common use. Perhaps the pine is as good as any, although the oak and the maple have certain advantages. It is hoped that the teacher will not begin the work by studying foreign trees, simply because they may be remarkable for size or products. To begin with the banyan-tree of Hindustan, the talipot palm of Ceylon, or the “big trees” of California would be unwise, as the children would have to depend entirely on mediated knowledge, a condition to be avoided whenever possible.
It may be that no pine forests are accessible to the children, yet it is likely that they see pine-trees every day, since they are found in nearly every school district. If the teacher is acquainted with the felling of trees and the hauling of logs, let him take the children on an imaginary excursion to a logging-camp. It will be helpful for them to see, even through his eyes, how the men live in those camps, fell the tall trees, saw them into proper lengths, and haul them to the railroad or the river, to be taken to the sawmill. He can interest and instruct them by telling them how the logs float down the small river in the spring,—sometimes forming jams that are broken up by the “drivers” at great risk,— how they are stopped by the boom across the river and taken to the sawmill which is near by, or formed into rafts and floated to others at distant places. If the children can visit a sawmill and see the logs being sawed into boards, timbers, laths, shingles, etc., the sight will be of great value to them. A sawmill, however, is a dangerous place for children, but they can with safety visit a lumberyard and see the various forms into which the logs have been sawed. It will also be helpful to take them where a house is being built, and let them see in what part of the structure the different timbers enter, being careful to give the names, such as sills, studding, joists, rafters, flooring, etc.—Selected.
Value of Pictures
PICTURES are very helpful, when the objects pictured can not be seen; but where they can be, they surpass even the best of pictures, and should be studied first. Thirty minutes spent by the shore of Lake Michigan would give the children more correct notions concerning lakes, seas, and oceans, their waves, the surf, cliff, beach, etc., than would a week's study of the best painting of any one of them. The educational value of the picture depends on the child's ability to interpret it correctly; that of the object is due to its adaptability to their need.
We sometimes fail to recognize how admirably the child and the universe are fitted to each other. The child is so small, and the universe so large, that it is difficult for us to believe and feel that the highest and noblest purpose of everything in the universe is the education of the child. God in his goodness has given us abundance of suitable material for the accomplishment of this purpose. But in our pride or ignorance we turn away from it all, and substitute therefore the work of our own hands, forgetting that he who created and fashioned the universe also created the child, and that possibly he knew as much as we do about what was suited for its intellectual and spiritual growth.—Selected.
Orderly Desks
By E. C. JAEGER
It is of great importance that our pupils learn in their school life those little habits of order, neatness, and cleanliness, which are so important in the formation of character. These are virtues which must become those who enter the glorious kingdom of Jesus and are best taught in the spring-time of youth. In school, the child's desk is, in a sense, “his house,” and no doubt is a fair sample of what his real home would be, had he one. Every teacher has had, at some time or other, the problem of untidy desks to deal with. The following device will solve the problem, I believe, for it has worked admirably in my own school.
The day before you wish to see “a new order of things” give your pupils a nature study lesson on the crow or magpie, dwelling particularly upon the facts that the nests of these birds are never neatly made and are always filled with all sorts of things—old pieces of string, glass, papers, etc. Tell them that sometimes you see homes which look like crow’s nests, too. Next morning before the children arrive inspect their desks, and note the untidy and ill-kept ones.
After the opening exercises tell them what your astonishment was in finding a “crow’s nest” right in the school-house, and that you wonder if they could guess where it was found. As you say this, walk down the aisle looking in the desks, “to see if there are many more ‘crows’ nests.”
Before you have gone many steps every child will wonder if it is his desk. About once a week hunt out the “crows’ nests,” and soon you will find your pupils priding themselves on keeping a neat, orderly desk. The condition of the floor under and around a desk should also claim the attention and study of the teacher.