nounce words, make statements, etc.; in | have tobacco, another alcohol, another a week's time they were "angels." The teacher must take into large consideration the whole subject of habits. If the ancestors of a pupil have accustomed themselves to do a certain thing, he, too, will probably inherit a tendency to do it; that is, he will have a tendency to acquire the habit. The debt we owe our ancestry is a great one. That we inherit a tendency to cultivate the ground is plainly seen in the digging of the earth indulged in by young children. The formation of habit is aided by the sensation of pleasure; a fact of great pedagogical importance. The habit to be acquired should, if possible, be accompanied by a pleasurable sensation; it should have a sugar coat, so to speak; then its repetition becomes easy, natural, and a part of life; then those with whom the person associates are made happy. opium. Even prominent teachers permit themselves to be under bondage to tobacco. Let any one examine himself and see how he is enslaved by habits, both physical, mental, and moral. With many, much of their religion is a matter of habit. It is for every one to shake off the shackles, and to be controlled only by such habits as are really beneficent. Some lie simply from habit; many are truthful from habit; as we are what we are more from training than education the wise teacher is always training into good habits or training out of bad ones; he who simply presents a fact is a poor teacher.-N. Y. School Journal. MOSES AS A SCHOOLBOY. The formation of a habit is under the LATE issue of Public Opinion con domination and orders of the will. When acquired, it is managed by the nervous system that part that presides over reflex acts; it is independent of the will. Thus, suppose a teacher of music requires a certain note to secure the "tremolo;" the pupil applies it again and again, and a habit is established; then, whenever afterward the air is sung, that note raises the "tremolo." The same is true of playing on the piano, of walking, of ball-playing; in fact, we are trained in a thousand habits that are managed by the nervous system, and not by our wills. Our inherited habits have never come under the domination of the will. tains a digest of an article from the Pall Mall Gazette on Education in Egypt. The author says that the system of education in the time of Moses is surprising; so much so that the statements concerning it would not be believed were the proof not overwhelming. After the acquisition of the alphabet, which was generally taught at home by private tutors, the course of education could be determined by the choice of a profession. To the educated classes there were the priesthood, the army, and the civil service. These were the three great professions, and the subjects taught at the centers of learning, like Heliopolis or Hermopolis, would include religion, asHabits are built into the reflex nervous tronomy, and astrology; magic and the system by the will; but we have to rid use of incantations; medicine, anatomy, ourselves of many habits; this, too, is the the use of amulets, and charms; history; work of the will; but it is harder to un- probably one extra language; engineerlearn than to learn a habit, for the willing, mensuration, land surveying, conhas to contend with the inherent tendency to repeat what it has once done. Here is seen the value of education; the educated man can see reasons for unlearning❘ a bad habit, or acquiring a new one; reasons that may powerfully influence his will. Life consists in action; to live aright, we must have good habits, for habits direct our acts. Teachers well know they can do much more for the pupil who has good habits, that is good home training, to start with. A vast number are under bondage to habit; few are free men. One man cannot accomplish anything during the day unless he has coffee in the morning; another must struction, architecture, geometry; military exercises-all athletic sports were encouraged-arithmetic, said to have been revealed by Thot, and law. The civil service was, perhaps, the widest profession, as it included the posts in the king's household, the office of taxes, and superintendence of public works. The chief butler and the chief baker in the time of Joseph would come under this head, and were probably men of refinement and education. There would also be under this head the record office, where a large number of men would be employed writing the national annals. The highest education, of course, was demanded for admission to the priesthood. Indeed, the training never stopped, and embraced almost everything. The priesthood had the pick of the men. Certainly, next came the civil service. For the army the requirements were not severe, more regard being paid to the military athletic exercises. The priests were not only the ministers of religion, they were doctors and magicians, and probably lawyers. A most desirable post was to get into the regal household, in immediate attendance upon the king. Magicians were specially favored, hence the diligent study of magic. Moses, as the protégé and the adopted son of a princess, would have within reach the whole range of education which has been briefly described. There is the flash of genius, there is also the solidity of the scholar, in the man who made Israel a nation, and the first fighting power of his age. No man in all the world's history has done so much as Moses. As statesman, soldier, lawyer, historian, poet, the story which fascinates us as children retains its attraction and redoubles its force when we read it as men in the light of modern research. How much of his marvelous success is due to his education we cannot estimate. I venture to say that the palm of being the greatest man in the world's history must be awarded to Moses, a public school lad of the time when the Pharaohs ruled in Egypt, before the first mud-huts were built in the valley of the Tiber, and when this country of ours was not." MARK TWAIN. INCE the publication of Mark Twain's latest book, "Following the Equator" the newspapers and magazines have had all sorts of things to say about the great humorist. It is said that he detests the business of making fun for the world, and would do almost anything to avoid it if he could. But he can not. Nature laid out his work for him, and despite himself he must perform it. On his recent tour around the world he visited the famous "Towers of Silence " in India, and one of his party desired to make a snap-shot of the scene, but permission was peremptorily refused. This privilege had always been accorded to other parties, and some one anxiously asked why it should be denied them. A Parsee friend present replied without hesitation : They are afraid Mark Twain wants the picture for the purpose of making fun of the Towers." This is one of the penalties which humor brings. Beneath the foam of fun and fancy, there is in Mark Twain's nature a current of deep and suggestive thought. He has a literary appetite for nearly all kinds of books except books of poetry. When a book is finished and sent to the publisher, he proceeds to forget it as speedily as possible, and ordinarily succeeds. An instance of this he records in his latest volume. It was at his first reading in Melbourne, when the boys in the gallery shouted out, as soon as he appeared on the stage, "Is he dead, Mark?" The author failed to place the incident referred to until some hours after. Again in the same city a lady asked him to include in his programme the story of the Yellow Dog. For the life of him he could not recall the faintest outline of that story, and it was only after mentioning the request to his wife that he was reminded of the incident in "Pudd'nhead Wilson." Upon no work has he lavished more care than upon "Joan of Arc," which is the result of seven years labor. There is great divergence of opinion as to his style yet his performances are unequal. He is a prose writer at his worst in 'The Innocents Abroad'; at his best in 'The Prince and the Pauper' and 'Huck Finn.' He knows his failings in this respect. One evening at a dinner party a gentleman remarked, "Oh, Mr. Clemens, I was glancing through "The Innocents Abroad' the other day, and was surprised to discover a glaring error in grammar." "If you found only one,' replied Mark, you were fortunate. The last time I looked at it, to refresh my memory of a passage, I discovered scores."' There is one feature in Mark Twain's written page that merits notice; he has never found it needful to step outside the covers of an English dictionary to express his thoughts. He has never found expression in the use of stereotyped foreign quotations that, far from improving the sentence into which they are imported, debase it as a specimen of good English. Mathew Arnold, after spending an evening with Mark Twain at Hartford, and after a good deal of intentionally serious talk on the latter's part, said to a friend with whom he was walking home, "Is Mark Twain never serious?" Despite Matthew Arnold's disappointment, the general conversation of Mr. Clemens is very often serious. Any sketch of Mark Twain would be unfinished without some reference to his great love of children. The creator of those delightful child-heroes, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, could not but be a devout lover of the young. His susceptibility to children may, perhaps, be best illustrated by the fact, which has often been noted, that his best platform successes are on those occasions when he is able to catch sight, among his audience, of some intelligent and appreciative child listener, to whom he could, regardless of the adults, deliver his lecture. When this has happened the whole audience were assured of a high time, for the discovery of this favored mite seemed to inspire the speaker to his best efforts, and he would enjoy himself to the top of his bent in making this chosen child happy. Often afterward he would regret that he could not see the child, and make her acquaintance, just as if he were under some obligation to her. Upon one occasion-it was at Lucknowthere was a delightful little girl well up to the front, who was conspicuous for her naive and evident enjoyment; to her the whole lecture, with its whimsical recipe for the moral regeneration of the world by sin-vaccination, was mainly delivered. Just before the banquet at the palace a guest was telling Mr. Clemens of the little creature's delight, and of the difference of opinion between her and her parents as to the precise number of possible sins. As it happened, the child was right; whereupon Mr. Clemens insisted, there and then, before the banquet, upon being allowed to write a short note to his unknown little friend, giving her his signed declaration that her statement was correct-that there were only three hundred and fifty-four sins, and all the experts in the penitentiaries of the world had never been able to invent any more. This trait, this exceeding love of children, is a very just index to the whole character of Mark Twain, who in many respects has the heart and disposition of a little child. EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT. THE SCHOOL JOURNAL. LANCASTER, JULY, 1899. N. C. SCHAEFFER. W J. P. MCCASKEY. WHERE can the Fourth of July be celebrated more fittingly than at Gettysburg? The return of the teachers after a third of a century to this historic spot, on Independence Day, was an occasion of much interest. The distinguished orator of the day was Hon. Marriott Brosius, a former teacher, a gallant soldier grievously wounded in the Civil War, and a man who has for years been recognized as one of the foremost and best representatives from Pennsylvania in the United States Congress. His topic was "Americanism Triumphant," Americanism, as he defined it, being used to express that splendid aggregation of principles, ethical, political and economic, which have characterized the evolution of the American republic and been exemplified in the constitutions, laws, civil policy, moral development and national spirit during the century and a quarter of our existence in the family of nations. His discussion of the Cuban and Philippine problem presents that great question as, we think, the educated Christian sense of our people should regard it. God is working towards the better day and is using this nation as an effective agent in that work. We are glad to present this able and eloquent address in the present issue of The Journal, and commend it earnestly to the attention of our readers. FROM an interesting series of papers by Capt. Thomas Whitson, published in the Lancaster Inquirer, we take these facts on the life of Mr. Stevens: "Thaddeus Stevens, one of the three great Commoners which this country has produced, according to the classification of either Sumner, Watterson or Blaine, only a few months before his death, thought that he had better secure a cemetery lot. 'Go buy me one,' he said to his agent. The agent returned with a deed for the lot, covenanting that any white person may be buried within this cemetery. 'I have no use for that deed,' said the old man, 'take it back. Is there no cemetery in town exempt from that clause?' 'None, unless it be the little Shreiner cemetery, and I doubt if there are any vacant lots in it,' was the reply. Go see if its charter is clean, and if there is a lot for sale in it. Bring me the deed for it if there is,' growled the old man. The deed was brought and it was all right, whereupon the great Commoner turned to his desk and wrote, and then said, 'When I am dead, write this upon my tombstone: "I lie in this quiet and secluded spot, not from any natural preference for solitude, but finding other cemeteries limited as to race by charter rules, I have chosen this, that I might illustrate in my death, what I have advocated through a long life: Equality of man before his Creator." There is an epitaph that tells the story of a life. It is not likely that any other man than Mr. Stevens himself could have conceived one nearly so good. Well might James G. Blaine bow his head before it, and lay upon it the rose from the lapel of his coat." COL. F. W. PARKER has resigned the principalship of the Cook County Normal School, to take charge of a college of pedagogy started in Chicago by Mrs. Emmons Blaine. There will be two schools, professional and academic. A branch of the latter will be located in some one of the crowded districts and will be free. The professional branch will be opened July 1, 1900, with a summer session, open to all teachers and others who may wish to attend. A LEADING School principal who attended the summer school of the University of Pennsylvania last year, writes: "I have gained inspiration and knowledge at the summer school, and consider it the most profitable time I have ever spent. A few weeks' personal contact with eminent teachers in such a school is often of itself an experience of the greatest value, one that marks an era in the life of the earnest student-teacher." Man is endogenous, and education is his unfolding; the aid we have from others is mechanical, compared with the discoveries of nature in us. What is thus done is delightful in the doing, and the effect remains. -Emerson. EDUCATION lies in many lines, and one of these, too little recognized, is the influence of pictures on the wall. "How to Enjoy Pictures" is the taking title of a book of some three hundred pages by Mabel S. Emery, published by the Prang Educational Company. The works of many artists are represented, and the half tone and other reproductions are good. There is need of books like this, and the special chapter on "Pictures in the School-room contains practical suggestions of value to all concerned. SOME GOOD WORDS. Tien, especially among Superintendents T is gratifying to know that many good and School Directors, heartily approve The School Journal. County Supt. Snyder, of Clinton, under date of June 26th, writes: "I always recommend it. It is the best journal for both directors and teachers that I know. Your Memory Work alone makes it invaluable to teachers." Co. Supt. Weiss, of Schuylkill, says, June 26th: "I think every district in the county should subscribe for The Journal, and shall be very glad to aid its circulation in any possible way." Co. Supt. F. W. Meylert, of Sullivan county, says: "The Journal is of such value to a live director that every Board should subscribe for it." scribe for it." Co. Supt. Frank H. Jarvis, of Wyoming county: "I wish that every district in the county would subscribe for a copy for each member. would be money well expended." And others in the same generous spirit. It Mr. H. K. Harian, Secretary of Newlin district, Chester county, says: "Enclosed find check for The Journal. We could not do without it. As long as I am a member of the Board it will be order No. I on the book." Mr. J. S. Prout, Secretary, Wiconisco, Dauphin county: "We have been subscribers for several years, and are glad to renew our subscription. We have good teachers, good schools and a fine library." Mr. Silas Wright, Secretary, Greenwood district, Perry county, says: "Our Board subscribed very willingly this year, which is evidence that The Journal is appreciated." The beautiful picture which we are now sending out to subscribers is appreciated everywhere. "The pictures are received, and all are delighted with them," writes Mr. E. S. Hassler, Secretary of School Board. Mr. Edwin Walton, Secretary | the book, add to its interest. No one can of Highland Board, Chester county, writes June 26th: "The pictures, Christ Blessing Little Children, were received in good condition. They are beautiful pictures, and will be an ornament either to the home or the school-room. Wherever they go, they will be constant teachers of that goodness and love and hope, as taught by the greatest of all teachers, which they represent. Many thanks for them and for the spirit which prompted the issuing and circulation of such moral aids." We have little doubt that the sending out of this picture through the State with the current volume of The Journal is the best work we shall be able to do during the present year. It is a silent preacher, teacher, friend, whose influence is everywhere and always for the highest good. THE THE BUTTERFLY BOOK. HIS is the title of a good new book by Chancellor W. J. Holland, of the Western University. It is illustrated with beautifully colored plates, and contains information which was heretofore accessible only to persons near a great library and to the few who were fortunate enough to possess works like Edwards' "Butterflies of North America," in three volumes, costing $150, and Scudder's "Butterflies of New England," also in three volumes, costing $75. The Butterfly Book by Chancellor Holland is cheap enough ($3. net) to be owned by every school library in the land and by every teacher or pupil who feels an interest in insect life. The author justly believes that if he can in some measure divert attention from the persecuted birds by creating a more widespread interest in insect life, he will render our country an important service. He treats of the life-history and anatomy of butterflies, of the capture, preparation and preservation of specimens, of the books about North American Butterflies, and furnishes the means for identifying the specimens which the pupil may succeed in capturing and breeding. Although the preface is dated in the latter half of 1898, the book has already reached a second edition, and has prospect of a wide circulation in the schools which devote time to Nature Study. The digressions and quotations which are found at convenient places throughout read "Luther's Saddest Experience" without a fit of laughter. The chapter on red rain shows how a strange phenomenon can be scientifically explained. The two stanzas on "Immortality" we cannot refrain from quoting: A butterfly basked on a baby's grave, Where a lily had chanced to grow; "Why art thou here with thy gaudy dye, When she of the blue and sparkling eye Must sleep in the churchyard low?" Then it lightly soared thro' the sunny air, And spoke from its shining track; "I was a worm till I won my wings, And she whom thou mourn'st like a seraph sings; Wouldst thou call the blest one back?" CORRESPONDENCE COURSE IN NATURE STUDY. HE Pennsylvania State College is offering the teachers a Correspondence Course in Nature Study of which we feel justified in speaking in terms of high praise. Better than any word of commendation is a specimen lesson on Insect Life. We are permitted through the kindness of Prof. Geo. C. Watson to reproduce in our columns the Lesson on the House Fly. Technicalities are avoided as far as possible and still the subject is presented with scientific accuracy. It is presumed that each pupil will have a specimen of the insect to be studied in order to make direct observation, for the story without the material concerned will be a fairy tale, valuable perhaps as literature but having no bearing on real life and hence not fitting the pupil to make use of the bulletins which are sent from the agricultural experiment stations for the benefit and instruction of the farmer. INSECT LIFe; lesson NO. I. There is no insect that is more familiar to us, or more familiar with us, than the common house fly; and yet few people know much about its life. It is well named the house fly, for there is not a house all around the world in which it can not be found during the summer. Houses that do not have fly-screens on the windows and doors are so badly infested with flies that the inmates suffer much annoyance. Pictures must be covered with screen-cloth, and choice vases must be frequently cleaned. When we seek rest in the quiet perusal of a book, the naughty flies innocently alight upon our hands or faces moist with perspiration and torment us with the aggravating tickle of their peculiar mouth. Let us look at the fly closely to observe its structure. |