ciation, will be displayed in the William Rice Building as a permanent department of the library. The City Library Association will be responsible for all goods which may be consigned to it for the exhibit. It must, of course, be dependent very largely for its material on the generosity of the people who are in the business of making and selling such books and appliances as the exhibition is to show. Pains will be taken to see that due credit is secured by all exhibitors for whatever they may contribute, and every opportunity will be given for the distribution by the Association itself, of appropriate matter descriptive of the books and appliances displayed. Some of the leading publishers of this country and England have already generously offered to do all in their power to aid in the enterprise. The exhibition will follow in the main the lines of that held in Brooklyn in March, 1891, after shown in Boston and New York, and permanently established in the Institute of Arts and Sciences in Brooklyn. Springfield is the business center of a large manufacturing and commercial population, and is easily accessible to the many educational institutions in and near the Connecticut Valley. The Association is confident that such an exhibition as it intends to make will be very largely attended, and attended, too, by persons who will come to it for the purpose of serious study. THE CITY LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS. The committee on Public Libraries and Public Schools appointed by the National Educational Association is composed of the following members: J. C. Dana, librarian of city library, Springfield, Mass., chairman; Frank A. Hutchins, secretary Wisconsin Free Library Commission, Madison, Wis.; Chas. McMurry, (representing the council of education,) State Normal University, Normal, Ill.; Sherman Williams, superintendent of schools, Glens Falls, N. Y.; M. Louise Jones, State Normal School, Emporia, Kansas. The committee has issued the following brief summary of principles, which cannot fail to interest our readers and gain their hearty acquies cence: There should be most cordial relations between the school and the library. The librarian should know the school and its work, in a general way, as a very important part of his work, just as the teacher should know the library and its methods as a part of her work. The librarian should meet with the teachers as often as practicable for the discussion of their common work. If possible the librarian should occasionally address the older pupils. Teachers should be members of various library committees, especially of the purchasing committee. The librarian should make out frequent bulletins for school use. He should suggest books for the collateral reading of teachers and pupils in geography, history, science, and literature. He should regard the children as his. most important patrons; those whom he can help the most. The children should have free access to the library shelves. The community should be led to regard the library as a necessary part of a system of public education, no more to be done without than the common school. If it is the duty of the state to see that its citizens know how to read, it is certainly none the less its duty to see that they are so trained that the ability to read will be a blessing rather than a curse. A free public library is the adult's common school. Pupils should know what a library is, what it contains and how to use it. A child can no more be wisely left to get his knowledge and taste for literature by himself than to get his mathematical or scientific training in the same way. Children must be trained to use the library as they are trained to do other things. Pupils should learn to read with economy of time by making use of page headings, tables of contents, reviews, Poole's Index, card catalogues and other helps. The destiny of a child is not affected by the ability to read, but by the use he makes of that ability. The library should be made an indispensable adjunct of the school. The school trains. for a few years, the library for a lifetime. Pupils should be trained to read topically, getting from many books the information. they want on any special subject. Normal schools, and all schools having to do with the training of teachers should train their students in the use of books and libraries. The ability to read is merely a means to an end. A NATIONAL NURSERY LITERATURE. BOSTON, March 14, 1899. DEAR SIR: The old nursery ryhmes and jingles, children's playing games, etc., which have been current in baby-land for hundreds of years, have, like every other kind of folk lore, been subject to all sorts of variants or corruptions, call them what you will, and the standard text always cited in disputed readings is that of Halliwell-an English authority. But our own distinctly developing national characteristics, local influence, and the cosmopolitan admixtures in American life, have had their effect upon these Classics of the Nursery, and not only has a whole group of distinctively American variants grown up, but a very great number of fresh additions to nursery and child-lore have been made since the first Mother Goose was reprinted in this country. A number of friends all over the states are helping in the collection of new material of this kind, and if any of your readers are sufficiently interested in the subject to take the trouble to write down any of the nursery rhymes and jingles with which they may be familiar and send them to me, especially those they know to be local or distinctly American, they may help to bring to light much that would otherwise escape, and will aid in the most interesting work of showing how far America has gone in the direction of evolving a National Nursery Literature of its own. Please send copy to, yours faithfully, CHARLES WELSH. 67 Wyman St., Jamaica Place, Boston, Mass. Grant, J. B.-Our Common Birds. Harris, A. B.-How We Went Birds Nesting. Hartwig, G.-Winged Life in the Tropics. Hayward, J. W-Bird Notes. Heath, F. G.-Our Woodland Trees. Henderson, P.-Practical Floriculture. Henshall, J. A.-Camping and Cruising ir Florida. Hough, F. B.—Elements of Forestry. Ingersoll, E.-Friends Worth Knowing. Kellogg, A. M.-How to Celebrate Arbor Day. Mathews, F. S.-Familiar Flowers of Field and Swamp. Merriman, M.-Birds Through an Opera Glass. Miller, O. T.-Bird Ways. -Little Brothers of the Air. -My Saturday Bird Class. Nehrling, H.-Our Native Birds of Song and Beauty. Newhall, C. S.-Shrubs of N. E. America. Ridgeway, R.-Manual of N. A. Birds. Thoreau, H. D.-Excursions. but they help to put the parent in sympathy with him, and form a bond of soul unison between them that may last through life. That it takes too much of the parents' time is an unworthy excuse. To clothe and feed the child's body requires time; why should it be thought less necessary to feed and clothe his mind and heart? Mrs. E. E. Kellogg, in Good Health, March. QUESTIONS ON CUBA. 1. What is the latitude and longitude of Cuba? 2. What lands are nearest to it on the north, south, east and west? 3. Where does the Tropic of Cancer pass nearest to the island? 4. Then in what zone is it situated? 5. Near what part of Cuba does the gulf stream pass? 6. What is the general shape of Cuba? 7. Why is it difficult to approach it? 8. Describe the coral and tell how it builds reefs. 9. What is a key? [A low island. In addition to the larger coast islands, Cuba has 560 keys on its north shore and over 700 on its south shore.] 10. What are the principal harbors? II. Where are the principal mountain ranges? 12. Are the rivers short or long, and why? What direction do most of them flow? 13. What is the character of the country in the eastern part of the island? The middle? The western part? 14. What is the area of Cuba? [45,000 square miles or about the size of the state of Pennsylvania.] 15. Tell some other interesting facts about it. [The island's greatest lenghth is 760 miles, its greatest width 135 miles, average 80 miles, and its coast line is 2,200 miles.] 16. Why do they never have winter in Cuba as we have? 17. Why does the climate vary greatly in different parts of the island?-Exchange. ON THE BANKS OF THE RIVER SLOW. It lies in the valley of Whatstheuse, It stands at the bottom of Lazy Hill, You've only to fold up your hands and glide The town is as old as the human race, And it grows with the flight of years. It is wrapped in the fog of idlers' dreams; Its streets are paved with discarded schemes And sprinkled with useless tears. SUBJECTS FOR COMPOSITIONS. The best trees for the west; an imaginary trip to Manila; the future of Cuba;possible inventions the future; the twentieth century; resources of our county; industries of our city; railroads of our state; the value of perseverance; the pleasures of winter; the history of France, in 500 words; politeness; comical animals; serious animals; what can I see from our windows. COUNTING-OUT RHYMES. One-ery, two-ery; ickery Ann; This rhyme is widely used, having been reported to me from Connecticut, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati. It is subject to many variations: "English knaver" becomes "Irish Mary" or "Virgin Mary.;" some insert the word "berry" or the word "John" before "buck" in the last line. "Ickery" becomes "hickory," "stinckelum" becomes "stringelum," etc.: Mr. W. E. Curtis writes in the Chicago "Houtch, poutcha, dominoutcha," and in oth Record: "A friend who was sent to China on My friend, have you heard of the town of Foo-Chow Where blooms the waitawhiler flower fair, ers "Hotcha, potcha," etc. "Tush" may also Haley, maley, tippety fig; Eatum, peatum, penny pie; -Rhode Island. -Scotland. Besides rhymes of the character of the above, i. e., consisting of a mixture of gibberish with disconnected words, there are many rhymes containing no uncouth words, but possessing in general, a jingle easily recognizable. One, two, three, Nanny caught a flea; The flea died, and Nanny cried; -Delaware, Rhode Island, etc. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Mary at the cottage gate, This is given, also, "plums" in place of "grapes," and "garden gate" for "cottage gate." When "cottage door" ends the second line the counting stops at "four" to satisfy the rhyme.-H. C. Bolton, in Boston Journal of Education. THE GOOD WORK OF THE BIRDS. The ping on its prey. In the stomachs of forty-five Birds are blind forces of nature; they act for themselves and get food where they can. For every species there is a normal number which should not be disturbed. Sentiment aside, there may sometimes be too many birds. It is best to have many species in moderate numbers. We should study the food habits of insects and birds, and reduce the number of those that prey on agricultural products. SNOW-SLIDE IN THE ROCKIES. There has never been a better time to round out one's experience of life in the Rocky Mountains than during the present winter. After having seen the grandeur and beauty of the mountains in summer storms and sunshine many times, it was my good fortune to get into the midst of drifts and "slides" in the heart of the mountains of Colorado, to see the worst of it, and slip through the great snow trap west of Leadville on one of the few trains that succeeded in getting over the range. We clip the following paragraph from a report of the late meeting of the Eastern New York Agricultural Society, which we find in the Country Gentleman: Prof. Beal, in his paper on "Birds and Orchards," spoke of the exceeding value of woodpeckers and chicadees in detecting and eating the minute forms of insect life. The cuckoos did valuable service in consuming the larger forms, preferring the hairy kinds. Some of their stomachs were found completely webbed with these hairs. (Prof. Beal has spent three years in the study of birds' stomachs.) In 45 stomachs were found 217 fall webworms, 155 codling moths, and 2,771 cutworms. Often only the hard jaws of an insect remain to identify it. Baltimore oriole is a valuable insect destroyer, though with us only a few months. The English sparrow eats more insects than is supposed. As all species of birds rear their young on soft insects, the quantity consumed is enormous. Some birds feed on buds in spring, but no great damage is done. The ruffed grouse feeds on fruit buds till spring, when orchards are visited, but with no serious injury. Robins are often complained of by fruit-growers, but in 400 stomachs examined, 43 per cent. of contents was wild fruit. Complaints come mostly from near towns and on prairies where wild fruit does not grow. Bobolinks feed on the rice fields in migrating; at other times do no injury. In the destruction of rodents, hawks and owls are very valuable. Out of seventythree species only six are wholly harmful. The marsh hawk is often seen skimming along fence lines and round stone heaps and drop- Weekly. There is all the difference in the world between a drift and a "slide." A rotary snowplough will merrily bore its way through almost any drift, but a "slide" brings down a mass of rocks and trees with it, and these must be removed with axe, pick, and shovel. With the thermometer at 22° below zero, 300 men-engineers, firemen, section-men, and common laborers-worked for five days, sometimes as much as thirty-six hours without sleep, all cheerfully risking their lives in the simple performance of duty-a commonplace courage, but all the more genuine for thatand finally, after losing four or five of their number, cleared the track for five blockaded trains. These passed through in the midst of a howling blizzard, and, after various mishaps, the East-bound trains reached the eastern slope of the mountains. Then came two feet of snow, blizzard after blizzard, and the block ade was once more established.—Harpers' CONTRIBUTIONS. SOME PRACTICAL SUBJECTS. Waste in Science Teaching. DEAR DR. STEARNS:-I notice what you say in the January JOURNAL concerning waste of time in science work in the high school. The article is suggestive and well worth reading. I am pleased to note that the writer appreciates the value of laboratory work in physics when the work is relieved of its defects. There is no question that there may be much waste of time. A part of this waste may come from the failure of the teacher to hold the pupil rigidly to the work, some of it from want of well kept note-books, and some from the tendency to under-estimate the value of the text-book. There is, however, a danger of over-estimating the value of text-book knowledge. The laboratory manual may be a help to teachers in preventing this waste, but I have not found it of very great value. It often gives details for preparing the apparatus, a work which must be done by the teacher else there will be great waste of the pupil's time. It also frequently calls for apparatus not found in the laborátory, although there may be pieces in the laboratory which will answer equally well. The manual pre-supposes that the pupil is to go to the laboratory, get his apparatus and make his test or experiment. A teacher of experience knows very well that a piece of apparatus does not keep itself in working order. The teacher must see that the apparatus will work before the pupil begins. Allow me to outline a plan that has worked very satisfactorily for several years. It may have its defects, yet I believe it provides a remedy for the evil. The class is divided into six or seven sections, the number depending upon the number of recitation periods in the program, there being one less section than there are periods in the day. This allows each section one period of the day for laboratory work, and allows one period for all of the sections to meet as a class with the teacher for a report on the day's work and for recitation on text-book work. The first section goes to the laboratory the first period of the day. Here is found the apparatus, in good working order, on the table for the experiment or the test of the day. Here are also found written directions telling what to do and what to look for. If, for instance, the experiment for the law of the inclined planes is to be made, the pupil will find on the table a smooth board three feet long, an adjustable support for one end, a loaded car, a spring balance, and these directions: Raise one end of the plane nine inches from the table. Ascertain what power will sustain the loaded car upon it. Raise the end to one foot and repeat the test. Raise the end to Ascereighteen inches and repeat the test. tain the length of the plane and weight of the car with its load, and show that the law for the "inclined plane" is true. The pupils make the test, write what is required and, at the close of the period, hand the note-book to the teacher. The other sections go to the laboratory in turn and do precisely the same work that the first did. During the last period of the day, the teacher meets the entire class when he calls for oral reports on the day's laboratory work. He is on the watch for inaccurate work in the laboratory, for carelessness in reading or in following directions, and for vague impressions. He does not cease until the underlying principles are clearly set forth. This period is also used for text-book work, binding the laboratory work into one complete whole. The note-books are read, preferably before the recitation, but frequently they must be left until after the recitation. These books are marked and from them the teacher judges somewhat of the character of the work done by the pupil. The plan is expansive. If the experiment is too long for one day it may be continued over two or three days. If the sections are too large they may be subdivided and run as parallel sections with duplicate apparatus doing the same work on the same day, or they may work on alternate days. The teacher need not be present if the directions are clear and the apparatus is made ready. This is in brief the plan I follow. Texts in Psychology. I notice some exceedingly readable articles in the February number. The private conversation is a wonderful power in a school if well used. I read the article to my teachers who appreciated it highly. The article on texts in psychology is also in the right direction. Now we ought to have a similar article from a pedagogical standpoint on texts in arithmetic for the grades bringing out the merits of Hall and Walsh and the essentials, etc. Then we should have an article on language books. We would like to know how these new books are ranked by the masters in the profession. Plan of Credits. I think Prin. Kling gives a good suggestion in his plan of credits. We have been working somewhat upon the same plan with similar results. Pupils have been urged to take more |