During the past few months, or even during about a year, there has been a great dearth of interesting or important news concerning educational affairs in this Empire. Since December 1, 1897, there have been four cabinets; the Matsukata ministry, which went out during that month; the Ito ministry, which held power from January to June, 1898; the Okuma-Itagaki, or first party, Cabinet, which lasted only four months; and the present Yamagata Ministry, which has been in office since November, 1898, and is quite likely to be reconstructed next month, after the present session of the Imperial Diet is closed. Each one of these ministries had, of course, a new Minister of Education, and the present holder of that portfolio is Count Admiral Kabayama. It must, however, be put down to the credit of this naval officer, who now has charge of the educational affairs of this Empire, that he is a man of very progressive ideas. But it will be seen that, with so many changes of the head of the department, it is difficult to carry out any fixed policy. The first item given hereafter is a specimen of "English as she is wrote" by Japanese; and it is really above the average of what may be seen or heard daily: SEE! SEE!! SEE!!! The following item is also interesting, because it shows that some educators in Japan are trying to keep abreast of the scientific study of education in the west: "Professor Matsumoto Kojiro and others have started a New Magazine called Fidoo Kenkyu (The Study of Children). The design of this new organ seems to be to collect material bearing on the lives and thoughts of Japanese children, with a view to aiding school teachers and others in dealing with the young. So it is to be a kind of imitation of Professor James Sully's interesting work entitled, "Studies of Childhood." The first number has the following articles: "The Importance of Studying Children"; The progress made in the Study of Children"; "Methods of teaching Morality to children in their homes." "Results of the Study of Children." "Meth The Voting on the Excellent ods of Study, and of using the knowledge ac quired, &c."" There is great rejoicing in Christian educational circles, because the Doshisha University founded by the American Board (Congregational), has been restored to its former status as a distinctively Christian institution. During the past year it had drifted far away from its original moorings, and had become a real "derelict" in the Empire. But finally the old President and Trustees resigned; and the new Trustees have restored the old constitution. The second item is taken from an English Just at this stage of affairs it is of the utmost magazine, edited by a Japanese: "The words "attending school" do not often mean anything remarkable. But there is a importance that all Christian schools stand by their colors. The following clipping sets forth the most important discussion now going on with reference to educational matters: "A very powerful movement is on foot to bring about an increase of state aid for education. The representations presented to the government by both Houses of the Diet have been vigorously discussed by vernacular newspapers. The Tokyo journals show quite remarkable unanimity, and it is unlikely that the government will neglect this wide-spread appeal. Indeed, there is every reason to suppose that the government itself has the greatest desire to promote education, but its good intentions are effectually frustrated by want of funds. The Houses of the Diet, however, do not trouble themselves greatly about the financial difficulties lying in the way of their various projects. They vote, with a light heart, representations and bills for granting state aid to one enterprise or abolishing the tax on another, as if the treasury had some infallible recipe for making ends meet. The Fiji Shimpo observes that it would be a mistake to speak of Japan's expenditure on education as a petty sum. The outlays in connexion with public schools aggregate eighteen million yen and the treasury's disbursements amount to three millions, while the sums privately spent must make a very large total. But the Fiji does not adduce these facts for the purpose of opposing the increased effort urged by the Diet and the press. It is wholly in favour of that effort. It takes the opportunity, however, of vehemently denouncing the conservative. anti-foreign spirit imbuing educationists. Their conduct, it says, is radically opposed to the national policy, as enunciated by the emperor himself, and is entirely at variance with the fine liberalism and wisdom of the Japanese nation in old times." ERNEST W. CLEMENT. Toyko, Feb. 22, 1899. A VISIT TO AN INDIAN SCHOOL. The school described is at the Cannon Ball sub-station on Standing Rock Agency in North Dakota. The population are Dakotahs or Sioux, many of whom were with Gall and Sitting Bull when they destroyed Custer's cavalry in 1876. Others were friendly at that time. Of course all are now peaceable, and there are no scalping knives flourished. It is not necessary to lock your door at night, or to carry arms, far less so than it is among the whites just outside the reservation. Neither do you see any Indians in paint and feathers or living in tepees. My companion and guide was a former first sergeant of cavalry, now agency carpenter, who went with me to help decide on the repairs needed in the schoolhouses. We are received into the hospitable home of the subagent for this district, containing about a thousand Indians. He is an educated man of mixed blood, who was formerly teacher here. We call on the field matron, who lives in a neat cottage with her daughter, just graduated from an eastern school. She is a lady of mixed blood, and taught the first school on this reservation. That school went on quietly under the guns of the fort, twenty-five miles south of here, all through the fateful summer of 1876. While the young braves were stealing away to join the hostiles, while Custer was dashing his little force to death against the flower of the whole Sioux nation 300 miles to the west, while the braves, appalled at their own success, and the aroused vengeance of the soldiers, were fleeing to Canada or stealing back at night to the reservation, this first little school went on undisturbed by wars and rumors of wars. Now three large boarding schools, four day schools, and a mission school provide for all the children of the reservation. A call on the teacher shows a lady of mixed blood with the dark eyes and hair of the Indian, but with the slender form and graceful carriage of the French. She has a fine piano in her rooms, and books and magazines, and is taking the Chautauqua course in history and geology. But she does not like to live alone in the teachers' part of the schoolhouse. Usually a day school is taught by a married man, while his wife instructs the girls in housekeeping. In this case the Indian cook has recently married and no longer stays with the teacher. The next morning when the first bell rang, we went to the schoolhouse. While my friend, the carpenter, is exercising his mechanical ingenuity in repairing the teacher's spectacles, I am in the schoolroom watching the children as they come in across the prairie. The young man who was making the fire attempted to tell me, in very poor English that he was not the janitor, who was off on his wedding trip, but a substitute. The janitor's duties include sawing wood and hauling water from the Missouri river, a mile and a half away and a hundred feet below us. Soon the Indian policeman comes along. At sight of that representative of law, the boys and girls drift into the school with noiseless moccasins, and take their seats. As the po liceman sees no reason to take off his cap, the boys keep theirs on also. The girls remove their shawls from their heads to their should ers. But no missiles are thrown nor is there other disorder. On the stroke of nine the janitor rings the big bell. The teacher enters, and all caps are removed and stuffed into the desks. The teacher reminds them that mufflers and shawls must also be disposed of, which is done. Then follows the daily inspection of hands and faces, and some are sent to the kitchen to wash up. Then school opens with a memory gem and a song. The roll is called, containing the following names among others. Edith Red Fish, Alice Good Voiced Elk, Agnes Red Bull, Ismelda Gray Bull, Chloe Feather Necklace, Celia Comes Last, Lucille Rattling Tail, Anna Two Warriors, Nellie Iron Shield, Josephine Short Holy, Mabel Blue Earth, Walter Lean Warrior, Olive White Eagle, Jacob Brown Forehead, Alexander Blue Thunder, Peter Stretches Himself, Wilfred Shoots the Tiger, Jesse Gray Bear, Thomas His Horse Appears, Leo Shield Necklace, Allan High Bear, Conrad One Dog, Alfred Afraid of Soldier, Albert Iron Horns, Andrew Chase The Hawk, Basil Two Bears, Sidney Bears Heart, Charles Bears Paw, Chaska Red Ears, George White Man's Horses, Felix Many Horses, Charles Two Swords, Gerald Eagle Boy, Edward One Horn. A list of the absentees is given the policeman, with verbal explanations in Dakotah. He mounts his pony, whips him up with his lariat and disappears over the swells of the prairie. Later on some of the truant boys come in. One has trudged three miles over the high windy plateaus and through the coulees and is excusable for being late. Every day through the intense cold and amid dangers from blizzards and hungry wolves, he has come and gone to and from school. The policeman comes and goes, rounding up the truants, or receiving information that they have been excused. A father comes in with a story told in Dakotah that his little girl is sick, and as she is known to be a weakly child, she is excused. Other sick children are visited by the policeman, for fear they may forget to come to school as soon as they recover. Many are sick, and some are dying. Colds, lung fever, and pneumonia are following on an epidemic of measles, and unventilated log cabins and ignorant habits of living are having their effect on the weakly ones. Notwithstanding the absence of so many, the school is overcrowded. When we measure up the schoolroom we find the proper capacity of the room to be 35, seats for 44, and 52 enrolled, with 42 present. When all are well they must sit three on a seat. The room is very badly ventilated, which the carpenter and I later on study how to remedy. The teacher gives the law to the school, subject to a rare appeal to the sub-agent. The parents do not control the school or write excuses for their childrens absences. She secures good order without the use of the rod, which latter is very repugnant to Indian ideas of bringing up children. Teachers with Indian blood are apt to be somewhat lacking in discipline, but this teacher is of a different mould. The visitor is, however, delighted to see a sling shot confiscated, showing that boys are boys the world over. Class work goes on much as in a well organized ungraded school anywhere, except that more attention is paid to language, because only two of the pupils, children of the subagent, hear English spoken at home. Every lesson is made a language lesson. The use of Dakotah is forbidden under penalty of loss of recess. As play is as dear to an Indian child as to a white boy or girl, this is effectual. The teacher speaks perfect English and refuses to talk Dakotah with the children, although she is obliged to use it with the policeman and with parents. The following is a brief account of the work done in the morning session. I. The teacher assigned work for the classes that were not to recite at once. The "Little Chart Class" were to write all the words they knew on their slates, about fifty in all. Later on they actually showed me thirty to fortyfour each. The "Older Chart Class" were to write twenty stories from the picture on the chart on their slates. These were, of course, short sentences, each telling a story. When examined later on, they showed a very creditable amount of thought as well as a good knowledge of language. The "Baby Class" was then called to the floor. Nine short and simple words were placed on the blackboard and the class was drilled on them, individually and in concert. A child was sent to the board and selected words as they were named, and then another child, and so on. Then followed number work with the same class, counting pencils and fingers. They were then sent to the blackboard to copy the list of words on which they had been drilled. 2. The "First Number Class," the most advanced pupils, then recited book work in Mental Arithmetic. Then a series of short problems were placed on the board for them to state and solve neatly on their slates, using proper signs. Meanwhile the smaller children were given some kindergarten work in form and color. In default of a table they used their own desks. 3. The "Little Chart Class" came out. The teacher places the word "coat" on the board, and all pronounce it. They then define it by They then define it by pointing out some coats. So with other words. "Stove" is written, and a pupil goes to the stove and points it out. He is made to put his finger upon it, and is asked whether it is hot or cold. When he says "hot," the teacher makes him say, "The stove is hot." In this way the reading lesson becomes also a language lesson. Nouns and adjectives having been reviewed in this way, prepositions are taught by placing the bell on the book, and making the class say, "The bell is on the book," and so on. Some sentences are writ ten also and read. 4. The "Older Chart Class" bring their slates for examination. They have written each twenty orignal sentences about the picture on the chart, and have written them well and with few mistakes. These pupils have been in school six months. The teacher then converses with the class about the things to be seen in the picture, and they then read the lesson under the picture. This class, like all the rest, show the usual keen observation and slow speech of Indian children. 5. Another chart class read from the chart in concert and individually. The usual fault of Indian children is almost overcome. They can be heard as Indian children frequently cannot be. But their articulation needs more practice, as they are speaking a language which to them is a foreign tongue. The next picture is assigned for a lesson. "Write stories about the picture, and we will write a lesson from it on the blackboard and use that for our reading lesson this afternoon." 6. The Second Reader class comes next. First, questions are asked about the lesson, then they read with the same faults and excellencies of the last class. Then more questions about the lesson, with a special object of accustoming the children to speaking English. By this time the warmth of the stove and the smell of unwashed bodies makes the air insupportable, while the constant coughing of children recovering from sickness and the restlessness arising from lack of fresh air and too long sitting are relieved by a recess. Some few have to stay in but are given a few moments near the close of recess. Meanwhile the room is thoroughly aired by opening all the windows and doors. 7. Next comes the First Reader class. They read around, followed by a conversation about the lesson, and by spelling words in the lesson. One girl, whose blue eyes and light hair show a preponderance of white blood, and who has good home advantages is not allowed to do all the reciting for the class, as she and they are both willing she should do, but after a time she is told to be silent. 8. Then comes the "Little Chart Class" in number work, counting, reading numbers and adding simple concrete numbers. 9. Then the Primer class reads. 10. Then the advanced class in numbers go to the blackboard and work practical problems in buying and selling and making change, these being made up by the teacher. During this time every class is kept busy all the time, either at their seats, or at the blackboard, or on the floor. Frequently, at one time, a class is reciting, another is doing work on the blackboard, and the rest of the school has seat work, of which the teacher is keeping oversight. No time is wasted by teacher or by pupils. It is now noon, and the pupils pass out, while certain ones of the large girls set the tables under direction of the cook. Once this was done on real tables, but the numbers are too great and the room too small. So the desks become tables. Oilcloths are spread on the desks of the younger ones, who are apt to spill things. Plates and knives and forks are set on the desks. Here are biscuits which it appears had been just made by the largest girl, thus making cooking one of the studies pursued here. Beef stew is also given. This is a little better than an ordinary noon lunch, in honor of our visit. Frequently the lunch is hardtack and prunes, or bean soup. The United State government furnishes the lunch. On this reservation rations are also issued semi-monthly to the parents till they become self-supporting in the white man's way. The ration issued is a very effectual weapon to enforce school attendance. If the pupils stay away from school without good reason when notified to come, the family supplies are stopped. These consist, principally of beef, flour, pork, coffee, and sugar, and are nearly enough with economy to feed a family. In the afternoon more attention is paid to penmanship, geography, nature study, and general information. In penmanship and drawing Indian pupils excel. At the close of each session all books, slates, pencils, crayons, writing-books and other school supplies are gathered up by pupils assigned to that work. These are all government property, and the teacher is accountable for them. No books go home. All study is done in school hours, which are from nine to twelve and from one to four. In the evening the policeman came to see me and gave me an account through an interpreter of the battle in which Sitting Bull was killed by the Indian police in 1890, at the loss of several of their lives. That was the expiring struggle of savagery, and this man and his fellows were brave enough to go to what they knew would be death for some of them, and to incur the vengeance of the relatives of those they had to kill, and to fight their own kin, in some cases near relatives, in simple loyalty to the cause of civilization and their promise when they put on the white man's uniform. Every memorial day the graves of the dead police at the agency are decorated, and they deservedly receive as much honor as the dead soldiers of our civil war who are buried at the post nearby. A. O. WRIGHT. CHILD-STUDY SECTION. [The officers of the Wisconsin Society for Child-Study for the present year are as follows: President, M. V. O'Shea, University of Wisconsin; vice presidents, F. E. Bolton, Milwaukee normal school, and J. E. Lough, Oshkosh normal school; secretary-treasurer, Mary D. Bradford, Stevens Point normal school; executive committee, J. I. Jegi, Milwaukee normal school, chairman; G. A. Tawney, Beloit college, and Supt. J. B. Estabrook, Racine.] SOME INDIRECT INFLUENCES OF CHILD-STUDY. Any one who will read the last chapter of Scripture's New Psychology, will readily understand that the present activity along the lines of child-study is the direct outcome of the work in physiological psychology begun early in the 80's by professors in Johns Hopkins, Yale, and Harvard. Commissioner Harris, whose recent work on Educational Foundations, gave little encouragement to the new movement, in the January number of the Educational Review, observes that this child-study movement "will discover the laws of development. It will learn how to take the child out of a lower form of activity into a higher form; how to prevent the mischievous arrest of development which is produced at present by too much thoroughness in mechanical methods. It will know the pathology of education as it has never been known before." I believe the movement is destined to do much for the physical child in the relations of diet, play, and study, and this, too, in the line of positive principles and rules. Negatively, I look to see the child-study movement stir up the intelligence and humanity of teachers and parents as they have never been stirred up before, and I shall briefly state in what indirect ways the movement will affect the common schools. First of all let me say that I do not write as one having authority in any line of experimental psychology. I have never investigated widely in any studies pertaining to child life; I have never prepared a syllabus; I have never seen a dynamograph or a kinetoscope, and yet I am in sympathy with the whole scope of the experimental work, and am able already to trace some of its good influences and am confident in predicting others for the future. Perhaps the first thing that may be claimed as the result of the various experiments of child life is that it predisposes the investigator to consider mental phenomena at first hand, and is thus liable to stir up thought along several practical side lines. For example, set a young teacher to looking at or thinking about some problem of child life-let it be the books best liked by pupils of the third and fourth grades, or let it be the finding out what they would do if given one hundred dollars, or what they wish to do for a living, or let the teacher set for herself the consideration of "school headaches," and though little instant good may seem to come from the study, yet some thought will arise, some new phase of life may appear which may leave the young investigator a better teacher and readier to hear and understand the gospel of physical and moral betterment. A small thought, beginning deep down in an acquaintance with things waxes strong with its days, while a great thought disassociated with the concrete fact of existence, lives on in uselessness and dies unregretted. "Words are men's daughters but God's sons are things." Almost any one may be led into mighty currents of thought by following down some insignificant rivulet of investigation. Let me briefly illustrate the thought I am trying to convey: I once had a fifth grade teacher report a little girl to me for sauciness and incompetence; the child's oral spelling was fair, but in the written tests often not a word would be correctly spelled, the child, indeed, often writing a word totally different from the one pronounced. I was as ignorant as the teacher, and so the child was sent back to pass the year in a chronic state of fear and insubordination. During the summer the child fell under the |