MacCONNELL ATTRACTIONS ON ZONE ARE THE WORLD'S BEST OFFERINGS The Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco has been accorded the honor of being the most selective international celebration in the history of such undertakings. Only the best of the world's offerings in the various phases of human achievement are to be seen in the different departments of the Exposition. This selective quality seen in the architecture, in sculpture and in exhibits is also evidenced in the high class, wholesome and educational feawhich the Exposition management has tures secured for the fun Zone. Among the best of the Exposition spectacles are "Creation," "Battle of Gettysburg," and "Battle of the Monitor and Merrimac." These attractions, of great educational value and still at the same time highly entertaining, have been put on by E. W. MacConnell, noted European concessionaire, who has been associated with practically every exposition since that at Chicago. He has reduced to a science the entertainment of world-crowds. In addition to those mentioned he also controls the following: "Eden Musee," "Jester's Palace," "Pharaoh's Daughter," "Captain," the horse with the human brain, and the "Joy Wheel.' "Creation" is a marvel of beauty and realism, depicting as it does the first Chapter of Genesis. special mechanical effects have been utilized to reproduce and visualize for all time the biblical version of the creation of the world. The spectator is thrilled and inspired as one after another of the mighty epochs in the world's creation follow in tableaux representing the very highest of this particular branch of dramatic endeavor. "The Battle of the Merrimac and Monitor" has an appeal equally as strong as that of “Creation." The distinctive appeal of this reproduction of one of the most memorable naval engagements in history is in the patriotic chords which it stirs in one. This first clash of ironsides is real. The Merrimac and the Yankee "Cheese Box" steam in full sight of the spectator, pouring broadsides into each other. The air is filled with the smoke of battle. The closing scene is equally impressive when the world's greatest fleet of dreadnaughts sail through the Golden Gate and pass the world city for 1915. Equally distinctive is the "Battle of Gettys burg." This memorable engagement between the Blue and Gray is realistically portrayed. It is the work of Philippoteaux, a noted French artist. An interesting and instructive lecture is one of the features of this attraction. The Inside Inn, the only hotel on the Exposition grounds, is another great work which the Exposition management entrusted to MacConnell. It is a metropolitan, high-class hostelry, with 1,100 rooms. To build an immense structure for the accommodations of cosmopolitan crowds, furnish and equip it after the fashion of the best metropolitan hotels, organize its service, and then, after ten short months, to demolish the whole thing-this was the great problem which confronted E. W. MacConnell in the establishment of the Inside Inn, the only hotel on the Exposition grounds at San Francisco. * * * "Dona Clarines Manana De Sol," by Serafin and Alvarez Quintero; edited with introduction, notes and vocabulary by S. Griswold Morley, Ph. D., assistant professor of Spanish, University of California; published by D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, Mass. Price 50 cents. The two comedies are represented without the omission or alteration of a single a "A Captive Maiden in Damascus," drama in five acts; by John Rea, author of "The Pet Dove"; published by the Whitaker & Ray-Wiggin Co., San Francisco. Price 25 cents. An excellent drama for school purposes. The gorgeous costumes of Persia and the Eastern countries is a great attraction to children as well as grown people and is certain to incite great interest in the drama and dramatic art. The cast is neither large nor difficult to assemble, and there is noth ing about the presentation of the play by schools that should offer any serious difficulty. WESTERN PUBLICATIONS SUPPLEMENTARY BOOKS The Story of Matka (David Starr Jordan). The Geography of California (Harold W. Fairbanks). EVERY SCHOOL LIBRARY SHOULD HAVE- The Care and Culture of Men (David Starr Jordan). The Health Index of Children (Dr. Ernest B. Hoag) Should be on every teacher's desk. Two new school plays by John Rea just published-A Captive Maiden in Damascus, and The Pet Dove. Write for our new Catalog of Western Publications. WHITAKER & RAY-WIGGIN CO. Book Notes "Poultry Keeping" by Harry R. Lewis, B. S.; published by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. An elementary treatise dealing with successful management of poultry. The book is suitable as a text for use in rural schools and in graded schools, especially the seventh and eighth grades. With the greater interest and development in the teaching of agriculture in elementary as well as secondary schools, suitable texts on the subject of poultry are necessary. This text embodies the modern teachings and practices prevailing at our leading experiment stations, and on successful poultry farms. These facts have been specially condensed and made to apply to small flock manage THE LAIRD & LEE WEBSTERS The School Dictionaries of Today A modern series of books embodying the original ideas of Noah Webster, entirely different from, and superior to, all other school dictionaries. AUTHORITATIVE-COMPREHENSIVE-PRACTICAL The only properly graded series of school dictionaries pub lished. High School and Collegiate, Students' Common School, Intermediate and Elementary Editions. OFFICIALLY adopted and recommended by progressive schools. Read what they say. "I do not know of better school dictionaries than those published by Laird & Lee." M. A. Cassidy, Supt. Public Schools, Lexington, Ky. "In definitions and etymology and in words both popular and technical, it maintains a high standard of excellence." Prof. D. W. Hunt, Dept. of English, Princeton University. "The school editions in accuracy, conciseness, typography and convenience, surpass anything in those lines heretofore published." Jas. J. Keogh, Dean of St. John's Cathedral, Milwaukee, Wis. IT IS THE DESK DICTIONARY that will do the pupils the most good, and the Laird & Lee Websters with their simplified system of diacritical markings have made practicable the use of the dictionary as a textbook in schools. Don't you think YOU ought to investigate the Laird & Lee Webster? Write for briefs and specimen pages, and receive free, our instructive booklet, "Key to Successful Dictionary Work." LAIRD & LEE, Inc., Publishers, Chicago, Ill. Most of the prose literature used in this series has not been used before in texts for children. It has been selected because of its interest to them. It has been carefully graded with a view to their growing interests, and is used in the development of the subject in nine different ways: 1. The stories are to be retold. 2. They are to be rewritten. These two methods of training have been used in most texts to the exclusion of others. It has been observed, however, that such a limited use of literary selections has a tendency to produce mere imitators. 3. Some selections are to be condensed. 4. Some selections are to be expanded. These processes cultivate the power of thinking. 5. Some of the selections are to be dramatized. 6. Pupils are required to summarize. These are also exercises that cultivate ability to think. 7. Some selections are to be used as models for supplying endings to halftold stories. 8. Tales similar to some of those given are to be told. THE-BREWER-TEACHER'S-AGENCY has had THIRTY-ONE years of ex perience, co-operating with TEACHCHICAGO, ILLINOIS ERS, PRINCIPALS and SUPERINTENDENTS. Write for our free booklet. AUDITORIUM BUILDING Register in the Fisk Teachers' Agency 33,000 Positions Filled at Salaries THE LARGEST TEACHERS AGENCY MEETINGS SAN FRANCISCO, JULY, 1915 Bay Section the California Teachers' Association, A. J. safety to the board. Cloud, San Francisco. National Educational Association will meet in Oakland in August 16-28, 1915. David Starr Jordan, President. Northern California Teachers' Association, R. W. Camper, President; Williams, Cal.; Mrs. Minnie O'Neil, Sacramento, Secretary. Central California Teachers' Association, Craig Cunningham, Madera, President; E. W. Lindsay, Fresno, Secretary. Southern California Teachers' Association, C. H. Covell, President, Redlands; J. O. Cross, Secretary, Los Angeles. Meeting for 1915 at San Diego. California Council of Education, E. M. Cox, Oakland, Cal., President; A. H. Chamberlain, San Francisco, Cal., Secretary. State Federation of School Women's Clubs, Mrs. M. M. FitzGerald, San Francisco, President; Alice Rose Power, 324 Phelan Building, San Francisco, Secretary. California Education Officers, Sacramento, Cal., Hon. Edward Hyatt, Superintendent of Public Instruction; Margaret E. Schallenberger, Commissioner Elementary Schools; Edwin R. Snyder, Commissioner Vocational Education; Will C. Wood, Commissioner Secondary Schools. State Board of Education, William H. Langdon, Presi dent; Mrs. O. Shepard Barnum, Charles A. Whitmore, E. P. Clarke, Marshall De Motte, Mrs. Agnes Ray, George W. Stone. Little Talks by the Way By EDWARD HYATT (Under this head Superintendent Hyatt will try to give some account of what he sees and hears and thinks in traveling about officially among the schools of California. It will be somewhat hasty and ill-digested, being jottings on the road. It will deal with personal experiences, and so may look egotistic. It will be subject to frequent change of opinion, and will seem inconsistent. It is done as a free and easy means of communication between the school people of the State and the central school office. If it provokes retort or comment, that will be printed, too, provided that it be brief and interesting.) Picture of the Board I have long intended to try a pen picture for this column of all the members of the State Board of Education. The president of that body is Wm. H. Langdon of Modesto. He has just been appointed Superior Judge of Stanislaus county by the Governor, and must in consequence soon leave the board. Therefore, I must snap shot him quickly or he will escape, altogether. Since our lives will lead apart in future I have no temptation either to praise him or abuse him through fear or favor. True, he is now the court of Stanislaus; but I shall behave well and travel fast when duty calls in that county. Its First President a William H. Langdon is the first president of the board. He is a tall, strong, red haired, blue eyed Irishman. He was raised in San Francisco; went to school at the San Jose Normal School; was a teacher in various schools and in the night schools of San Francisco; read law at the same time and was admitted to the bar; was elected City Superintendent of San Francisco, and, afterward District Attorney of the same municipality; while here he was leading figure in the famous graft prosecution involving Schmitz, Ruef, the French restaurants and the United Railroads; after these strenuous years he married and settled down in Modesto, with a law office in San Francisco. He always speaks of himself as a farmer, in allusion to his alfalfa fields in the country; he is urbane, forcible, impressive in his manner; he is ready for a fight and is a hearty fighter; and when it is over he puts the whole matter completely out of his mind and is the same to everybody as before. He added strength, breadth of view, and safety to the board. His leaving is a real misfortune to the State. I sincerely regret his leaving and hope that his life as the dignified judge and the leading man of of the county shall prove a long and happy one. TO PRESIDENT C. C. MOORE By Harr Wagner You have given to San Francisco and the world a great Exposition. I give you praise. I want the teachers and the children to know that you have performed a heroic task. You have builded better than we knew. You conquered local prejudice. You overcame, natural and material, obstacles. You have triumphed over war. The lure of the Exposition has made us almost forget that it required the cold, material virile purpose of yourself with high ideals to make it possible. The millions come, come to observe, and enjoy, and thrill with admiration. We pause in the Cour? of Abundance, to praise the man. Your task has not been to extend the glad hand, and spread over the Exposition the genial smile. Like Hercules, you had work to do. The public has been tardy in making you a popular hero. It never will. You have the stuff out of which heroes are made but you do not wear the garments. Your supreme satisfaction must always be, not in the loud applause when you appear upon the platform but in the silent rapture of the thousands who blend in harmony with the colors, and who in exaltation stand within the Court of the Universe. Destiny has marked you for the praise of the silent. The Exposition has conquered all petty criticism. It is now a continuous ovation. The man who stands in front of the Tower of Jewels; who rests on the Marina with the stately Column of Progress near by; who lingers in the Palace of Arts; studies in the Palace of Education; who loiters in the Palace of Manufactures; takes a foreign trip, among the nations of Europe, South America and the Orient; who lingers for a moment with a thrill before Old Liberty Bell and who in the silence of the twilight is enriched by the most wonderful illuminations the world has ever seen, and does not recognize your kinship to those who have made an adventure in achievement, is dead to praise. I would that I might have a bugle to my lips that I might blow your honest fame to the coming centuries. Text Books in the United States The national bureau of education has been making an investigation of text books in the United States. They find that the total sales of books from all sources to the public schools in 1913 was fourteen million dollars, including high schools. Per child per year it is seventy-eight cents. The total expenditure for school purposes is thirty-eight dollars per child, so the text books cost approximately two per cent of the whole. The cost of text books to the No. 7 whole population per capita is fifteen cents. These figures are probably nearly right as figures go. They indicate that the text books cost is an insignificant item as compared to the other school expenses or as compared to the other trivial expenses of civilized life. Chewing gum costs as much as text books; candy much more; moving picture shows cost the people many times more; while cigarettes, cigars, beer, make the entire text book bill look like a copper cent tossed to the blind man on the alley. Safety First The State Department of Education has just issued and sent to the school people of the State a bulletin urging the teachers and children to give their attention for a time to the prevention of accidents. Railroads, street cars, automobiles and guns are slaying and crippling their tens of thousands, while no one even notices it. What a hullabaloo would be raised to be sure if the accidents of a whole month were all to occur on one day and at the same place! How the head lines would scream! How the organizations would resolute! How the orators would affright the surrounding atmosphere! This bulletin urges attention to the matter with a view to reforming our practice. You are welcome to a copy if you want it. The following simple directions, if learned and remembered would save the lives of thousands of people every year. Think of that! Thousands crippled and killed from easily preventable causes! (or the lack of a little care). Some teachers may like to teach these eight short, Anglo-Saxon sentences to their class as their contribution to the cause of safety. Some A B C's For Every One to Know Wait till the train or car stops before getting on or off. Horrible accidents happen continually because people neglect this in their foolish haste. Get off a train or car facing forward, and look out for automobiles while leaving the car. A large part of the street accidents occur by forgetting this common sense rule. Never play about railroad lines, nor loiter about on the tracks, nor walk over the trestles or bridges. An astonishing number of people are killed every month by neglecting this caution. When approaching a crossing, stop, look, listen-always look both ways. Hundreds of families are needlessly slaughtered because the driver will not observe this safeguard. Not only the silly driver suffers, but the innocent people who have trusted him. Shun dangling wires and never meddle. with electric lines at all. Curiosity and heedlessness lead many children to their death. Do not hitch on behind street cars or wagons. A swift driver approaching in front can not see the boy hanging on the rear, and frequently runs over him when he lets go. |