were to be not only graduates of colleges and universities had with regard to the disastrous effect of the "colleges best within their power. Let them be treated in exactly ruining the state?" Moreover, if all college men believe the same manner as we would treat them if we knew they that what is the very best for secondary schools, is also the very best preparation for college, then would it not be a good thing for every teacher in all grades of school to urge every pupil to get as near to college as he possibly can? "Shall the public schools prepare for college?" Is it a great crime for public schools to prepare pupils to go higher in their educational development than the schools can take them? It has been estimated that the average college graduate has an advantage of 33 per cent. AWAIT OR AWAITS? Editor EDUCATIONAL NEWS, Dear Sir, Having noticed the those who have not had the same advantages. Is a 33 per discussion in your columns as to the correct version of a cent. advantage in life worth holding out to every pupil in stanza from Gray's Elegy, I was exceedingly interested in every grade? Why should not all public schools in all the opinions expressed, for they reminded me forcibly of grades prepare for college? The child of six, who perhaps, my own struggles with that verb awaits and to freshen up can go to school only until he is eight or nine, should have memory as well as to gratify curiosity, I have consulted the very best instruction to prepare him for the struggles of some of the best authorities on the subject. Bradshaw's life. While the child who can remain in school until he is review of the poetical works of Thomas Gray, containing eighteen can have nothing better to begin with. The only voluminous foot notes, is considered an authority on both difference is one is able to carry the best instruction farther sides of the sea. Allow me to quote the following from than the other. Afraid to prepare for college? All of our him: "Awaits. This is Gray's reading in his MS. and high schools are in a very important sense, colleges. in the editions published by him; but almost all editors folThey are the poor man's colleges. In them we teach the low Mason and Mitford, and read await. I have traced very best things that are taught in the best colleges in the land, and take the pupils as far as we possibly can under the circumstances. And every good teacher says to every pupil who graduates from the high school, go as much and in his last edition, 1768, Gray prints awaits, it is clear higher as you can. The head of any system of education, who is afraid of his pupils going higher than he is able to take them, will soon find that his schools are dead at the top, and all the sprouting that he is able to do from below will amount to but little in the end. The primary pupil in the first reader will work with a greater zest, from the fact that the second reader is to be obtained. The school district that maintains a first-class high school will always have good grammar schools, and to a very great extent the higher grades are the incentive. Two or three members of a high school who are preparing for college will add an enthusiasm to the whole system of schools. | And after they return from college, they will continue to put a premium on education in whatever community they live. await back to the appearance of the "Elegy" in Dodsley's "Collection of Poems" published in 1755. But as in the editions of the Elegy in 1755, "corrected by the author,', that he intended it to be so retained: besides, it is better to take "inevitable hour" as the subject of await and not boast, pomp, etc.; as not only is inversion more in Gray's manner but also the statement that the inevitable hour of death is waiting for the great, the beautiful, and the wealthy." It is very evident from the above quotation that Gray wanted the wood awaits, that it was no oversight on his part, nor have we any reason to suppose, as some of his modern critics have suggested, that it was bad grammar employed by Gray, which perverted his meaning; on the other hand we have every reason to suppose that Gray knew what he was writing about, and that the boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, wealth and beauty are the last things that await death; they never think of death, much less do they await its approach. The Riverside Edition of British Poets also quotes awaits as occurring in O, yes, let us all prepare all the children for college as the original MS. Since Gray's wishes in the matter seem far as it is within our power. to be undoubted, the question arises have modern critics Let the primary teachers throughout the whole land any right to change the version and thereby the meaning take the ragged, rusty coats, from the lowest hovels, the of an author in order to suit their own idea of the author's first day they enter school, and give them the most and meaning, or worse still, to pervert the author's meaning in order to reconcile it with the critic's misapprehension? in shirt-sleeved (or gauze-aproned) ease, waiting for Would our present writers fancy the idea of being miscon- thought to come to us and be externally applied. No strued and their writings misconstructed as may best please the whim of future critics? If this iconoclasm is permitied, where will it it end? Would we not rather receive the writings as they were left by the authors, than to be obliged to take them second-hand from the pen-point of the despoiler. wonder that in our instruction proper emphasis is not placed on the development of the logical faculty and reasoning powers. Nor should a teacher blush to confess his own failings, for "he proves by his avowal," says Rousseau, "that he is wiser to-day than yesterday." Without discussing now the means of relieving this mental insolvency (en passant we would suggest Reading's Ready Relief), the object of this article is merely to say, that, whatever is our own attitude towards knowledgewhether of humble striving or dawdling supineness-the "young idea" will "shoot." The following incidents, for whose age and essential truth I can vouch (if not for their occurrence,) will perhaps remind us that "practice in thinking" has a basis in nature; and that the youthful curiosity needs only to be gently encouraged and skillfully and rightly guided to achieve great results, from very babyhood. "What was Helen crying about, Polly?" asked Polly's mamma, as the little one came in from the playground. "She dug a great hole in the garden and her mamma wouldn't let her take it into the house with her," said Polly. While memory is a convenient objective-point in education for both teacher and scholar and should by no means be neglected, there is a more imperative demand to-day for insight-the ability to think. Modern life is one long discrimination between the true and the false and requires not so much the accumulation of facts as the wit and eye to scrutinize them. How shall children be armed against delusive sophisms and specious rhetoric if they do not early learn to think? We may well heed the words of President Eliot, when he says that practice in thinkingadapted to the varying aptitudes and tastes of the student Was the little Minnesota girl thinking that our univer-should be the persistent aim of every teacher, from primary school to university. It is not necessary to detersity was in a good state when she closed her prayer one mine the relative importance of memory and reason, to be night thus: "And now, God, good-bye; I'm goin to Chicago for two week"? convinced of the necessity of giving full play and encouragement to the latter. Instruction which is merely a task of the memory is its own refutation, benumbing drudgery to the pupil and a harrowing ordeal to the teacher. It does not arouse intelligence; and so far from implantiug a love of knowledge, creates a repugnance for it and a selfcomplacency fatal to its acquisition. A philanthropic and very modest gentleman recently visited a mission Sunday School and was prevailed upon to make an address. "Children," he began, and then paused. "My dear boys and girls," he said, making a second start. Another awkward stop, when he essayed for a third time: "My young friends." Just then a lad in one of the classes, thinking that he was waiting for some greeting in return, cried out: "Hello, yourself!" It is little wonder that so much energy has been misdirected in the cultivation of the memory-it is so difficult to "Say ma," remarked a small boy, "isn't it funny that inspire thought. It is well nigh impossible to set some minds a-thinking; many teachers, indeed, find they require everybody calls my little brother a bouncing baby?" for home consumption all the motive power they can accu-him on the floor this morning he didn't bounce a bit." "Why"? asked the mother. "Because, when I dropped mulate. It is easier to have pupils commit to memory dry facts, lists of dates and out-of-the-way information. "One "Riches take unto themselves wings and all fly away," the smart, bad boy at the foot of the class said he "reckoned they must be ostriches." of the greatest pains to human nature," says Mr. Bagehot, said the teacher. "What kind of riches is meant?" And "is the pain of a new idea." Teachers as well as other men make haste to have done with this racking torture. There is a "dead line" in the profession of teaching, it is to be feared, as truly as in the ministry. We stop thinking before we are half through. We arrive at a mental stop. ping place before we begin. We "work ourselves out of job," as the printer would say, and sit with folded hands, Lady.--"And what does your father do?" Little Girl."O, papa is a doctor." Lady.-"Indeed! I suppose he practices a great deal, does he not?" Little Girl.-"Ob, He doesn't practice any more; he knows how now." Ethel (shuddering).-"How the trees moan and sigh to- no. 134 night!" Bobby (speaking whereof he knows)—"Well, I guess you'd moan and sigh if you were as full of green apples as they be." Another colony which received its name in the sixteenth century was Virginia, which, as everyone knows, was the namesake of Elizabeth, the virgin queen of England, and "Who is that lady dressed in black," mamma, asked had Sir Walter Raleigh for its sponsor. Originally the Willie, as he sat with his mother in the street car. "That great territorry of Virginia extended from the Atlantic is a sister of charity, my boy," replied his mother. Willie Ocean to the Mississippi River, and has since been dipondered deeply for a moment and then said: "Which is vided into five large States. Indians called the great New she, mamma, Faith or Hope?" England river Connecticut, and the new white settlers simply transferred it to their united settlements. Massachusetts, on the other hand, was the name of a tribe of Indians which had its wigwams in the vicinity of Boston. These Indians are supposed to have derived their appellation from the Blue Hills over which they roamed. New York has been known by various names, but its Each of these juvenile performances owes its humorous aspect to the unexpected discovery of a contradiction; and this is the strongest mental stimulus towards finding out the true state of things. If the world is full of contradictions it is because Truth is limitless. No man will be content with meagre results except at his own peril. Each truth arrived at is a station (but only a station, like some present title was bestowed in honor of the Duke of York, western towns, "a very good place to pass through,") to whom the territory was granted by England. Pennsylwhence to proceed further on one's journey. To whom is vania was christened in 1681 after William Penn. Delathere not wisdom in the remonstrance of Epictetus: "Man, ware is said to get its name from Lord de la Warr, who is thou hast forgotten thine object; thy journey was not to supposed to have been buried in the bay. This, however, this, but through this." seems to be more legendary than historical. It is certain, Many a working hypothesis, like the above hasty con- on the other hand, that the tribe of Indians which roamed clusions of Young America, must melt before the warmth over this territory were called Delawares. At one time of new light. The stone arch, once firmly in place, no Delaware and New Jersey were known as New Sweden, longer needs the wooden frame work for support; having but in 1644 the latter was rechristened out of compliment served its purpose it must be discarded. Yet it was a to Sir George Cartaret, one of the original English promeans to a noble end. So with the "blank misgivings" prietors of that territory, because he had defended the and confused struggles of every boy or girl "moving about island of Jersey against the Long Parliament in the Engin worlds not realized"; without them, amnsing as they lish Civil War. often are to an old struggler, we can no more expect subsequent mental grasp and discernment than summer fruit without May blossoms.-School Education. THE NAMES OF THE STATES. The origin of the names of the different States is an interesting study. Naturally, the thirteen which first comprised the Federal Union were called after foreign personages or localities. Georgia was so called in honor of George II. Maryland was named for Henrietta Maria, Charles the First's queen; while Vermont had no separate title until the Declaration of Independence, when the people named their State from verd and mont—words typical of the beautiful mountains of which the State is justly proud. While Maine was not admitted to the Union until 1820, the territory bore its present name as early as 1683. Queen Henrietta of England had the honor of having it called after her possessions in France. Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio It was in 1739 that the Plymouth Company conveyed a Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Wisconsin and certain portion of American territory to Captain John Illinois were called after rivers. The Indian word, TenMason by patent. The patentee was Governor of Ports-nessee, is said to signify a curved spoon; Mississippi, a mouth in Hampshire, England, so the new colony came to river formed of many; Illinois, the river of men; while Misbe New Hampshire. Rhode Island was named still earlier, in 1644, I believe, for the Island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean, possibly because the latitudes and climates do not differ widely; or it may be because the ancient isle is nearly the same size as the island portion of its namesake. Earlier yet, in 1564, the Carolinas were so called by their French settlers in honor of Carolus IX. of France. souri was the name of a branch of the Dakotas. Louisiana took its name from Louis XVI. of France; Indiana from the original inhabitants of this country; the Dakotas, Kansas, Omaha, Utah and Iowa from tribes of Florida-that Ponce de Leon discovered Florida. Texas Indians. It was on Easter Sunday-in Spanish Pascua was also named by Spaniards when they drove out the French in 1690.-Kate Fields' Washington. A FRIDAY AFTERNOON. What middle aged American does not remember with pleasure the old game of "choose up and spell down" which used to brighten a half hour of Friday afternoon? It appealed to a motive which was possibly not the highest and yet a wholsome and worthy one, the desire to measure strength with one's fellows and to excel in competition. The geography class in Jenkins' school at Riffle Creek had been over the work in Europe as outlined in the Manual, and had reviewed it. One day the teacher said they might have a geography contest. Leaders were appointed to "choose up," and the rules of the game were explained. Any country, city, river, mountain, lake, etc., might be named by a pupil on one or the other side must respond with the last letter of the name given. The teacher wrote a list of the names spoken, (sometimes he had to write very rapidly). If a pupil did not respond with fair promptness he said, Next, and a point was scored against the side to which the delinquent belonged Anyone who repeated a name already given was to be counted out and his side lost a point. The first round ran: Now But thus far it was little more than a word game. began the geographical features of the exercise. On the second round, each had to state enough about the place he named to show that he knew what he was talking about, thus Paris, capital of France on the Seine river. Sardinia, an island west of Italy. Antwerp, a city in Belgium, on the Scheldt river, etc. On the third round the teacher pronounced at random from the list, the pupils responding as in the second round. Which side won was determined from the tally-sheet and announced; then all wanted to try it again. But what were the young pupils who did not study geography doing meanwhile? They were listening, looking, eagerly intent on the outcome to see which side would beat. And wasn't that a very good way for them to spend a half hour? Jenkins thought it was, and they enjoyed it. -The Western Teacher. Memorial services were held lately in the chapel of Allegheny College in memory of the late Dr. Alexander Martin, Pres. of DePauw University, Greencastle, Ind., who was a graduate of this college, and later was professor of Greek there for several years. Elocutionary. BUILDING BLOCKS. Children both, they build their blocks- Age and youth are reconciled, With a gateway broad and grand, Where his dead hopes buried lie; Prattleth of the By-and-By. By what grace art thou engulfed Of that little lisping child? Children both, they build their blocksShuffle-Shoon and Amber-Locks. 136 EDUCATIONAL NEWS. EDITORIAL NOTES. One of the oddities as well as one of the absurdi A WEEKLY EDUCATIONAL JOURNAL, ties of the acts of legislation under the pressure of PUBLISHED BY THE EDUCATIONAL NEWS CO., Philadelphia, Pa. Lock Box 1258. ALBERT N, RAUB, RATE OF SUBSCRIPTION. (Postage prepaid by Publisher.) Single Subscription, per year, in advance, Single Subscription, per half year, Entered at the Post-Office at Philadelphia, Pa., as Second-Class Matter. Office 1020 Chestnut Street, Room 2. SEE THIS OFFER. PREMIUM BOOKS. Edit c $150 fanatical reformers has been aptly illustrated for a second time in this city within the past week in the arrest of Sylvester Schafer and his family of acrobats. The agent for the society for the prevention of cruelty to children admits freely that no cruelty is practiced and that the children are models of perfection in a physical sense. Every one agrees that no possible 75 harm can befall them, but the Society, like Shylock, have an oath that must not be violated and it is nominated in the bond that minor children shall not be permitted to indulge in acrobatic feats on the public stage. Therefore they must be arrested, that the dignity of a foolish law may be vindicated in the letter, though not infringed in the spirit. Foolish legislators! Why should such a law be enacted as permits cranks to We give below the names of twenty-six extra good stand-harass and distress the innocent as well as punish the ard books, any one of which will be sent free as a premium to each subscriber to the WEEKLY EDUCATIONAL NEWS who guilty? will send $1.50 in advance for the paper for one year and 10 cents to pay postage on the book. 25. Swineford's Literature for Beginners. The arrest of the Schafer family reminds one much of some teachers' methods of School Management. First, they must have the rules and secondly, these must be enforced at all hazards, no matter how absurd nor how disastrous the results. We cannot help enjoying the dilemma in which this class of teachers find themselves sometimes placed by the foolishness of their rule policy. The nearer school government is made to conform to the ideal home government the better will be the results in the general training of the child. Very much of home training may be defective but it is the ideal home training which the teacher ought to copy. We agree very heartily with the following, taken These books are all bound in cloth and well printed. They from the editorial column of one of our city dailies: will grace any one's library. Box 1258. EDUCATIONAL NEWS CO., "When President Eliot, of Harvard University, Philadelphia.made public his proposed method of reforming athletics he probably expected to meet just the opposi For $4.00, we will send the Forum and the weekly tion his plan has called out. His idea of cutting off EDUCATIONAL NEWS one year, the cash must accom-Freshmen from participation in intercollegiate conpany the order. For three dollars, we will send the EDUCATIONAL NEWs tests, restricting undergraduates weekly for one year, and Macaulay's History of England playing on any one team and of making intercollegiate contests biennial instead of annual, would work a vols., cloth, worth alons $3.75. to one year's |