7. How much time should I devote to purely "mental" arithmetic?

Ten minutes a day used regularly in each grade will accomplish wonders.

8. Please give me some suggestions for dramatization.

Have your pupils know the story they are to dramatize, let them choose the parts they want to play; let all the children play, some will be quite contented to play they are inanimate objects. If you can so arrange it, occasionally have dramatization out of doors.

9. How can I keep my pupils quiet?

Keep all of your pupils busy. Always use a conversational tone in your schoolroom. Do not repeat your questions. Reprove the inattentive ones by calling on another pupil for the question.

10. What is the nature of the book whose title is "Boyville" and who is the author?

"Boyville" was written by John E. Gunckel, president of the "National Newsboys' Association." It is an interesting tale and relates to the lives of the little urchins who earn their living on the streets of large cities. It is a helpful book for one studying the boy problem.

Humidification

We have awakened to the fact that fresh air is an essential to right living. We are ventilating our homes and schools. There is another important detail in connection with good atmospheric conditions which is frequently ignored. That is the need for moisture in the air. Where rooms are heated by stoves or hot air furnaces there is as a rule not enough moisture unless some provision is made for the same. teachers set a pan of water anywhere in the room that the ordinary evaporation is sufficient. This plan is better than none but water placed upon the hottest part of the stove and kept boiling constantly will not make the ordinary schoolroom air too damp.

"You will find that luck

Is only pluck

To try things over and over;

Patients and skill,

Courage and will

Some

Are the four leaves of luck's clover'

Mowers, weary and brown and blithe,
What is the word methinks ye know,
Endless over-word that the scythe

Sings to the blades of the grass below?
Scythes that swing in the grass and clover,
Something, still, they say as they pass;
What is the word that, over and over,
Sings the scythe to the flowers and grass?
Hush, ah hush, the scythes are saying,
Hush and heed not, and fall asleep;
Hush, they say to the grasses swaying,
Hush, they sing to the clover deep!
Hush 'tis the lullaby Time is singing-
Hush and heed not, for all things pass,
Hush, ah hush! and the scythes are swinging
Over the clover, over the grass!

- Andrew Lang

tration. Figure 1, the cover. Figure 2, the

leaves.

The Class vs. The Individual

"The simplest of all ways of making a new heaven and a new earth is through a fond, discerning, and individual care for each child."

Class teaching is necessary and class methods very important but a teacher must not feel satisfied if the majority of the pupils in her division "catches her meaning" of her well planned and skillfully executed exercise. The ones who are backward-dull, listless, and unresponsive because they "do not understand" have a right as well as the others. Their individual cases should be considered. Their mental conditions should be diagnosed and special treatment should be given them.

You may say, "In my large school I haven't time for individual teaching." Take the time from the regular classes if necessary. These slower children nave just as much right to be taught in a way so that they can learn as have the quicker ones. Do not wait to begin this individual instruction nntil the year is quite advanced and Susie and Sam are so far behind and so discouraged that no matter what you do,their cases are hopeless. Begin the first week to lend a "helping hand" to those little ones who can not keep quite up with your procession.

The Big Things

A teacher's work is very often a failure because she uses too much of her energy in satisfying immediate demands, some of which are in connection with petty, trivial things. She loses sight of the "goal." Essential steps are slighted because no time is left after the smaller details are given attention. I would not say to the young teacher that the little things are not important, but I would advise her to study her problems seriously, to select the most important ones, make sure they are solved, and use the remainder of her time and strength in giving her work the "polish" that can come only from attention to "little things."

Physical Training

Let your first thought be for real, physical relaxation and for such action as will be healthful. Don't worry about the intellectual phase of it. It will be an intellectual tonic if it is a real rest. In connection with the informal rests,

have some specific formal exercise that will overcome wrong habits and tend to form correct habits of carriage and poise. Teach the older boys military tactics and the girls folk dances. Teach all the old-fashioned folk games.

Make a business of it. Change the old time scheme of doing a few things over and over again mechanically. Put life and spirit into the work and the interest will be there too.

Color Days

Teach color in connection with your drawing. Teach the color names. Have you ever tried having color days? I have, with great success, in primary grades. There seems to be no reason why the same plan could not be carried out in rural schools. The older pupils will be glad to "help out" with the little ones and will enjoy it themselves. Name a certain day and a color for it, and ask every pupil to bring some object of the given color on that day. In this way children will not only learn the name and the color but much about the different shades and tints.

Reading Charts

An idea which originated with Miss Adelaide Holton, supervisor of primary work in the Minneapolis sehools, and applied by her with great success, is the use of lessons, printed on charts, by the individual teacher to suit the needs of her own school, in making the transition from script to print.

Good, firm card-board or strawboard of a gray or brown color, about twenty-two by twenty-eight inches, is selected. An attractive picture is mounted at the top. Interesting sentences suggested by the picture are printed below with large rubber stamps and black ink. The sentences are made for the purpose of introducing new words into the child's vocabulary, or for special drills in expression.

If you make these charts select your pictures carefully. You will find many prints in black and white or sepia that are suitable but colored pictures are more attractive to children and it is in the selection of these that great discrimination is necessary. Be sure that the coloring is artistic. Some of the magazine covers are good for this purpose.

The Story of a Wagon Chapter I.

Chapter II.

Autumn Days

Into the cup of our life today

What sweet, what spice is poured, When every bit of the common way

Is a garden of the Lord,

With the golden lights and the purple shades Blending in rich accord.

As soon might we count the star beams

Or the sand on the shifting shore,

As number the flowers that baffle

Desire with more and more,

As if heaven had opened her windows
And rained them out of her store.

By swamp and field and meadow,

On the edge of the mountain brook, By the warm old fence and the hedge-row, In the tiniest hidden nook,

Flowers in royal splendor

Whenever you chance to look.

And the rest of the autumn noontide,
The crisp of the autumn night,
The sense of rest after labor,

The wonderful crystal light,
It is joy of joys to be living,

With the year at its crowning height. Thank God for the beauty broadcast

Over our own dear land;

Thank God who, to feed His children,

Opens His bouteous hand;

Thank God for the lavish harvest,

Thank God from strand to strand.

+

Chapter III.

Autumn Song

The summer time is ending, All gathered is the wheat, The orchard trees are bending With ripened fruit so sweet. The fragrant flowers are falling, And in the meadows near Are merry children calling, — "September days are here.' The squirrels now are packing Their winter stores away, For beechnut burrs are cracking Through every golden day. The maple leaves are turning To red and yellow bright, And bonfires big are burning Through each October night. For autumn and its treasures We thank our Father true, For summer and its pleasures, For spring and winter, too. For every gift He sendeth To us from heaven above, For everything He lendeth, We give Him all our love.

-Kindergarten Review.

The Northwestern at Eau Claire-October 18-19

The annual meeting of the Northwestern Wisconsin Teachers' Association will be held at Eau Claire on Friday and Saturday, October 18-19. The general sessions will be held in the opera house in the forenoon of each day, and the sections Friday afternoon. State Superintendent Cary will give a talk on "The Montessori System." Supt. C. G. Pearse of Milwaukee takes the subject of "Retardation and Elimination." The Friday evening attraction in the opera house is a lecture play on Abraham Lincoln by Mr. Benjamin Chapin who for years has impersonated Mr. Lincoln in a most realistic manner.

The Law on Children Using Tobacco

Section 4608v. Every person under the age of sixteen years who shall smoke or use cigarettes, cigars or tobacco on any public road, street, alley or part or other lands used for public purposes or in any public place of business or amusement except when in company of a parent or guardian, shall be punished by a fine of not more than ten dollars or by imprisonment for not exceeding thirty days.

Section 4608w. Any person who shall permit any person under the age of sixteen years who. shall not be in the company of a parent or guardian to use cigarettes, cigars or tobacco in any form in or upon premises occupied by him, shall be punished for the first offense by a fine of not more than ten dollars and for any subsequent offense by a fine of not more than twenty-five dollars or by imprisonment for not exceeding thirty days.