The party soon recovered from their fright and proceeded on their journey, meeting with no more difficulties except that the town in southeastern Texas (39, Edna) stumbled over a city in Arkansas (40, Little Rock) and was only saved from falling by one of the capes east of Virginia (41, Charles), who thus redeemed his awful blunder in the killing of the snake.

All along the journey the interests of the old maid were chiefly devoted to a city in Pennsylvania (42, Reading), and when asked what she was reading she replied, "A town in Nevada," (43, "Hawthorne"). Soon they arrived in Florida, and beheld mountains in New Hampshire (44, White) flowers blooming in the most luxurious profusion, and having a very sweet and fragrant river in Germany, (45, Oder). The fields were broad and a soft, rich mountain in Vermont, (46 Green). "Do not a cape near North Carolina" (47, "Fear"), said Henry, "We shall find no more disagreeable occurrences to interfere with our pleasures and pastimes." Then they talked of nature, comparing the verdure of Florida with the grand old creek in northern Australia (48, Pine) of the north. As the sights were altogether new to them, they took the keenest pleasure in everything, and declared that they had never known what it was to live until they had arrived in that delightful land of sunshine and flowers.

Some time later they started for home, and enjoyed a pleasant journey back to the metropolis of Massachusetts (49, Boston), arriving there on the fifth day of August, 1907. May good luck ever attend this merry company, and may these same six geographical people live to many times renew these days of gayety and gladness.

Few pupils made no effort to spell bivouac; five spelled broad incorrectly; two each failed on field, life, hero, and strife.

In the dictation the stanza was read twice, and each line was pronounced four times. Teachers were assigned to different parts of the room, to determine whether or not the dictation could be heard clearly and distinctly. The substitution of v for b and b for v, the use of I, and the use of such expressions as "bitter end," "middle field," and "dewey act" point to possible defects in hearing; the same is true of Marjorie.

The important lesson is the fact that the pupils were wretchedly trained in spelling, writing, and punctuation. They had passed the examinations required by the state department, using questions given out by the department, and the papers were examined and marked by the department examiners, as well as by the class teachers. The moral is obvious: The pupils had studied to pass the examination, rather than to know the subjects studied. They did pass, and they didn't know.

Try this same exercise with your upper grade pupils some time.

And we And a

WORD DRILLS IN READING.

Generally speaking, every reading lesson should be preceded by brisk word drill. In lower grades it should be almost entirely word development through phonics, above the fourth grade, definite drill in dictionary work should be given. This should include rapid drill in placing words as a whole, as, words beginning with m or n are found. near the middle of the dictionary; then of placing of words more especially as to spelling as in the word convention. Let us suppose that as they "place" the word as former drills have taught, that they open book to the words beginning with ce; they then know that they need to turn forward to find the co's. In this work teach use of keywords at top of page as showing scope of words on the page. Good suggestions for this work are given in Sherwin Cody's book, "The Dictionary Habit," published by G. & C. Merriam Co. Work in phonics is usually well taught in these days, especially in lower grades, but pupils forget. In the upper grades systematic phonic drills are too often omitted and with some pupils a certain carelessness develops. To overcome this give good snappy drills with visualizing cards, using the most difficult sounds both consonant and vowel; then use difficult combinations as cr, bl, etc. Plan various contest games to give life to the work. Insist on exact enunciation. Do some work with the class in "thinking out" difficult words. The recognition of word families is just as valuable in this work as in primary grades. Study the needs of your schools and its individual pupils and adapt your drill to the conditions presented. If a child has difficulty in pronouncing words beginning with wh as what, give him the drill in sounding these two letters in reverse order as hw, then in the word as h-w-a-t, pronouncing more and more rapidly until the correct sound is given.

Do not hurry your reading lessons. In primary work children are usually given time to glance through a sentence before attempting to express the thought aloud. Apply same idea in upper grades if necessary, and it is always necessary in case of the poor reader. Are there difficult words which he cannot pronounce even though you have had a good word drill? He cannot read that paragraph until he can pronounce those words. Is it not wiser to give the help now than to allow him to flounder through the difficult words as he at

lect the best picture of the lesson and discuss these with the pupils.

The two sketches given herewith are copies of lower grade work, the one of Raggylug being particularly good in its close interpretation of the story. E. M.

SOME DRY WEATHER QUESTIONS.

1. Why do wells "go dry" during dry weather? 2. Why may you find water by digging wells deeper?

3. Why do rivers grow narrower and shallower during the dry weather?

4. Do rivers get smaller more or less rapidly in prairie regions than in forest regions?

5. Why do corn leaves roll up in dry weather? 6. Where would you pour the water in watering a large tree?

7. In sprinkling a rose bush during dry weather, would you sprinkle the water on the bush itself or on the ground under the bush?

8. How do the number and length of rootts of a plant during wet weather compare with the roots of the same plant after a season of drouth?

TWO KINDS OF ARITHMETIC.

M. H. J.

Do you know ganglionic arithmetic from brain arithmetic? Do you know the work in arithmetic which should become a part of the child's nervous reactions and the work that should appeal to his intelligence?

A parrot can learn "seven times eight are fiftysix" as rapidly as it can learn "Polly wants a cracker," but a parrot could never image the number of cubic feet in a pile of wood.

The former requires only a nervous system organized to respond to proper stimuli and proper associations. The latter requires the power to imagine, to hold the images in mind and make comparisons and draw conclusions.

The former is fixed in the nervous system by means of drill,-rapid, constant drill. The latter takes time and patience.

Teachers, can you today pick out the work in arithmetic in which the child should be hurried as distinct from the work in which you should give him time?

M. H. J.

DO YOU KNOW NATURE?

Nature study books are in most cases actual hindrances to a real study of nature.

It is one thing to know all about nature, it is quite another thing to know nature.

"Hand in hand with her he walks,

Face to face with her he talks."

If nature study is to become a real, honest study of nature, the teacher must get down off her throne and be a learner with the children.

When studying nature she must learn to say "I do not know," and say it often.

Who has the courage?

What though the average life of a working bee during the busy season is less than six weeks at the very best; what though dangers await them on every hand; what though to sting means almost certain death to the bee that stings? It is all for the good of the hive. Selfish greed and individual desire cannot stand in the way of the public good in a hive of bees.

In your nature-study work begin with the swarm of bees, but study the bees themselves with the aid of a book an not the book with the aid of the bees. Is there a difference? M. H. J.

GETTING AT THE THOUGHT IN READING.

One great difficulty in oral reading is that children fail to group the thought. For instance, in poetry they read line by line; in prose, until they are out of breath, and their listeners give up in despair in their attempt to catch the thought from the reading. If, as teachers, we would more often. just close our books and listen as an outsider might listen, we would realize this condition more fully. Can you catch the thought when you have no text to guide you?

In a class of older pupils, this was found one of the most noticeable defects. A couple of weeks of hard work was spent in over-coming this one point. Not much ground was covered and the whole attention was given to thought grouping. Mechanical means were used such as writing selectons on the board, separating by lines into the different thought groups, connecting related thought. With such help as this, let some child read the selection as it has been worked out. Then discuss with the children which parts to make strong, which subordinated, whether it should be read rapidly or slowly, which words need special emphasis in some

way, either by stress of voice or by tone emphasis. Try to have pupils see that there is a reason why lack of all this. Not all of this is to be done in one lesson, but as you work with your class these points will work out. Let pupils copy a second paragraph and block it out as seat-work, after they have studied it thoroughly to find the thought. Read the selection in different ways so as to express different shadings of thought and let the class decide which one seems truest. Use poetry in this work at the first because there they can so easily see the difference between thought-getting and line-reading. Work along this line, day after day, for a time choosing various selections for work. True, it may mean dropping regular reading lessons but this searching for thought is a good habit to form and it takes time and much repetition to cultivate habit.

W. C. HEWITT

E. M.

Institute Conductor Oshkosh Normal School and candidate for office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

"The old-time academy whose function it was to fit for college is not the model for the modern High School whose function it is to fit for life."

"No man has a right to ask that he be freed from labor on this earth; he can only pray to be relieved from the burden of aimless and fruitless drudgerywhich is the blessed assurance of education."