VOL. X., No. 20.

AWEEKLY JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.

PHILADELPHIA PA., MAY 19, 1894.

EDUCATIONAL NEWS,

PUBLISHED WEEKLY

BY THE

EDUCATIONAL NEWS COMPANY,

THE ADVANTAGES OF HAVING AMERICAN LITERA

TURE READ IN OUR SCHOOLS...

HISTORICAL RECREATIONS..........

PLANT STUDY......

CARE OF THE EYES.....

......

$1.50 A YEAR.

literature itself, as a whole. In American Literature we'll find much hidden beauty, and much that is elevating, creating within us a taste for reading the best literature, which taste we will retain to the end of life's journey.

The reading of American Literature in our schools will also create a taste for the best and most enduring literary productions; such a taste will prove to the pupils through life a strong means for self education.

There is great power in American Literature, and should the time now occupied in our schools by reading such frag......307 mentary selections as the school readers contain, be devot 308 ed to reading and studying some undying, life-giving mas ter-piece of American Literature, our boys and girls would become better men and women.

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Original and Selected.

For the EDUCATIONAL NEWS.

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American Literature contains springs of pure sparkling 311 waters and if our boys and girls are lead to drink of these pure waters they will become more Americanized. 312 We all want the breath of life, and there is no reading, but literature that will give us that breath of life to the 315 fullest extent. American Literature is ennobling and in..317 spiriting. American Literature stimulates the young mind .318 to a broad and generous culture. American Literature is developing in character, and opens a broad avenue to history, geography, science, and general intelligence. Reading, we are told, is getting thought, and American Literature furnishes the best means to get thought. Good, pure literature will never be read in mature life, unless the taste for it is cultivated during childhood.

THE ADVANTAGES OF HAVING AMERICAN LITERATURE READ IN OUR PURLIC SCHOOLS.

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The theme is a broad one, as the advantages to be derived from having American Literature read in our schools

are many.

If good literature is taught to our children by the right methods, they will in after life prefer it to the trashy dime-novels now read so largely by our youth. The love for good literature can never be attained but by thorough

Our school reading, as a whole, is dry and uninteresting teaching and studying it in our public schools. and fails to produce good effective readers.

Children are lovers of the beautiful and welcome anything The reading fails to cultivate a taste for that which is that will produce beauty. American Literature contains beautiful and life inspiring. The literary selections given nothing but beauty, and by reading and right methods it in our school-readers are but shadows of literature, and, as can be revealed to the children in such a way as to make such, they fail to inspire the children with the real beauty them not only see the beauty but feel it as well. that lies in the reading and study of American Literature.

The beauties and inspirations in American Literature can

We do not want to begin with fragments, but with the real ' never be exhausted. The more we read and study it the

more beauty is revealed and the more inspiration we re-Indies that Commodore Perry was sent to subdue them in ceive.

During the past forty or fifty years the sentiment in favor of literature has been constantly increasing. May such a sentiment continue to grow and expand until all the children of our land are taught American Literature.

Childhood days are very precious and in the schoolroom the children have no choice. They must take what we feel like giving them, therefore let us give them pure, life-giving American Literature, which will create a taste for that which is pure and beautiful.

1819. Perry died there soon after, and in 1823 Commo-
dore Porter made their destruction complete.
7. When was Florida bought of Spain?

Ans. Feb. 22, 1819. The United States did not obtain full possession, however, before 1821. Jackson was ap pointed its first governor.

8. Mention Monroe's cabinet officers.

Ans. John Quincy Adams as Secretary of State; William H. Crawford as Secretary of the Treasury; John C. Calhoun as Secretary of War, and William Wirt as Attor

Pure American Literature is the production of the best ney-General. American minds and the same principles that controlled

9. What noted general visited this country during this

these master minds can be instilled into the children's administration? minds by the reading and studying of these productions.

Ans. La Fayette, in 1824.

10. Who invented the cotton gin?

Ans. Eli Whitney, of Connecticut, in 1793.
II. What is a protective tariff?

Most children close their school lives without knowing what pure literature is. They have learned to read tolerably well, but have not been taught what to read. Is not such a state of affairs altogether wrong in this progressive! Ans. A duty imposed on imported goods for the purcountry of ours? The studying of American Literature pose of encouraging the manufacture of the goods at home. would give not only individual benefit, but the influence 12. What party was in favor of a protective tariff at this derived from its study would be felt throughout the whole time? land.

Chester, N. J.

For the EDUCATIONAL NEWS.

E. ELLSWORTH BEAMS.

HISTORICAL RECREATIONS.

MONROE'S ADMINISTRATION, TWO TERMS: 1817-1825.

1. What did Jefferson say of James Monroe?

Ans. The Whig, as it was called at this time. It also encouraged internal improvements.

13. When did the Democrats begin to be called "Locofocos," and why?

Ans. In 1834, because the lights in Tammany Hall, when extinguished, were relighted with locofo matches.

14. Mention the states that were admitted during this administration.

Ans. Mississippi, in 1817; Illinois, in 1818; Alabama, in

Ans. "If his soul were turned inside out, not a spot 1819; Maine, in 1820, and Missouri, in 1821. would be found on it."

2. What was The Missouri Compromise?

Ans. It was an agreement that Missouri should be admitted as a slave state, and that slavery should be prohibited in all other territories west of the Mississippi and north of parallel 36° 30'.

3. Mention the first Trans Atlantic steamship. Ans. The Savannah, in 1819.

4. What was the Monroe Doctrine?

Aus. Monroe in his message in 1823. declared that any attempt by a foreign nation to gain authority in America would be looked upon as a hostile act.

5. Who was the last president to wear the cocked hat? Ans. James Monroe.

15. Give a sketch of the two great parties now in power. Ans. The great Republican party was now divided into the Whig party and the Republican, or Democratic party. 16. Who were the champions of the Whigs? Ans. John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay. 17. Who were the champions of the Democrats? Ans. Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun. 18. What was the result of the election of 1824 ? Ans. No one received a majority of the electoral votes, the election went to the House of Representatives, by whom John Quincy Adams was chosen.

19. Who was Gregor McGregor?

Ans. He was the leader of a company of "buccaneers," who acted under a commission from the authorities of New

6. Tell something about the sea robbers in the West Granada and Venezuela. They fortified the island of Indies during this administration.

Amelia, as a rendezvous of slave traders and South Amer

Ans. The sea robbers became so annoying in the West ican privateers. When they got so far as to proclaim a

blockade of St. Augustine, the Federal government sent an studied and observed very satisfactorily. When the dearmament against them and broke up the establishment. velopment of the root has been seen and the use of the

There was another of the same sort on the island of Gal- root-hairs understood, we may study the formation of the veston, off the coast of Texas, under Aury, but it was also fleshy roots in which the nourishment is stored. Stems suppressed. may be studied in a like manner. First, their development 20. What was the name of the first steamboat that was from the seeds; second, their use as supporting the leaves, put on the lakes? then acting likewise as conveyors of nourishment between

Ans. It was entitled the Walk-in-the-Water. It oc- the roots and leaves. Cross sections of plant stems should curred in 1818.

21. What panic occurred during this administration? Ans. The panic of 1819.

22. Who was called "The Honest Man ?"

Ans. James Monroe.

be made and examined carefully; also sections of the tree stems or branches showing bark, wood and pith. The leaves and their uses may be studied in connection with the stems. Later in the season we shall be able to study them with greater advantage, being able to learn something

23. Whose administration is called "The era of good of their form, arrangement on the stem, and position in refeeling ?"

Ans. Monroe's.

24. Who were the "Doughfaces?"

gard to the buds, etc.

As to the buds, ask the children to bring you small branches of lilac, cherry, apple or plum (the tree will Ans. John Randolph called the eighteen northern men not suffer from the loss of a small branch,) and place them who were induced to vote for the striking out of prohibi- in lukewarm water near the stove or register. Cut a little tion of slavery in the Missouri Compromise. Doughface off the end of the branch under water occasionally and means being easily molded.

change the water frequently. In the course of a few days

25. What two Englishmen were executed during this the buds will begin to swell and bloom out wonderfully. administration ?

Ans. Arbuthnot and Ambrister, because they incited the Indians in Florida. They were seized by Jackson. M. D. STAUDT.

PLANT STUDY.

RHODA Lee.

A few chestnut buds placed in water and treated in the same way will burst into leaf in a surprisingly short time.

Formal lessons at stated times are not necessary to nature study. It can be done in the odd minutes and it is more than likely to be carried on at home even more than at school. Encourage the children to prepare seed glasses at home and develop the buds in the house. Ask them to report observations to you and the class. Have written accounts and drawings when possible. Be careful to avoid To know plant life we must begin with a thorough study giving anything of the nature of a task in connection with of the seeds and buds. During the month of April and the work. We might remind ourselves that the first purthe early part of May we shall have abundant opportunity pose of nature study is not to give a perfect knowledge of for so doing. In our last paper two or three methods of plants and animals. The first object is to create as deep observing seed germination were mentioned. We trust an interest as possible in the work of Nature.-Educational the suggestions will not be considered impracticable. It is Journal. quite possible with a class of forty or fifty to allow every child to observe daily the progress of growth. While the class is engaged with some seatwork, allow six or eight at a time, to go to the table or window, and examine with you Myopia and astigmatism are so rapidly increasing that the seeds or branches that you may be studying. A parents, teachers, and pupils should be alert to care for couple of pocket microscopes will, of course, aid in the these organs of visions, as glass eyes are more troublesome work, and increase the interest. Tell nothing that the and less convenient. children can find out for themselves. Let that rule be unalterable.

CARE OF THE EYES.

First, the eye should be kept fresh. If reading, do not look too long at a white page, closely printed, perhaps The study of the structure of roots may begin with the with poor ink on highly calendered paper, but occasionally observation of the development of the tiny rootlets of the lift them to rest for a few seconds on some plain, dark sur seed. Sweet peas, morning glory, flax, wheat, oats, etc., face.

raised on netting touching the water in a glass can be If traveling on the cars, do not look out of the window

will rest them.
For a long sleigh-ride on a bright day, with sparkling
snow on either side, blue or green glasses or a veil will
modify the effect of the general glare and glisten.

from an operation for a cystic tumor caused by a cinder in the eye.

Do not get in the habit of stooping to accommodate your eyes. Bring up your work, if necessary.

Do not read while in motion-rocking, walking, or riding. The constantly changing focus is exceedingly injur

ious.

Never look steadily at a bright light. If obliged to do it at all, look off as much as possible.

A plain diet will help toward good eyesight. So will If reading, turn the back or side-preferably the left-to common sense. In fact, common sense is at a premium the window or other light. It reading by artificial light of almost everywhere in the department of physical culture. any kind, insist upon a shade, and avoid a lamp set on a

Crying is bad for the eyes; but as everybody cries, it is red table spread. Cover the spread with a newspaper or well to know that an application of very hot water, applied white towel, if you can do no better. Red is a specially gently, will alleviate the bad effects.

eyes.-School News.

ÆSTHETICS IN THE SCHOOLS.

bad reflector of light. Pretty things rest the eyes. Beauty has practical uses, There is a prejudice against reading while lying down, but one's entire income need not be spent in resting the which I cannot understand, as I've always done it; am nearly a hundred and never wore glasses or a veil, never have "tired" eyes or headache, and do a great deal of night work on printed matter and MS. My theory is: an easy position where there'll be no strain on the body, but complete rest and a good light, and no injury comes from this tabooed practice (unless you do like one of my brothers: the beautiful in child nature and minister to it? I believe go to sleep, gesticulate in dreams, and knock over the lamp, setting things on fire; that I don't advise!) or at least

none has come to me.

Sleep in a dark room, and if there are no blinds nor dark shades to the windows, hang up something extra Eyes that have not been used to the dark in sleep give out. early in life. A certain amount of sleep is absolutely necessary for good eyesight; and even the mere closing of the eyes half a minute at a time, as frequently as possible all day, is a wonderful help.

Cleanliness is necessary for the eyes, and cold water is "freshening." Hot water is restful, and cloths wrung from it and lightly laid on the eyes will reduce pains, aches, inflammation, swelling, and nervousness.

That word reminds me to say that nine-tenths of the nervousness of this world come through the eye. Be careful. Rest your eyes if you would avoid being-cross!

How many teachers are there who recognize the love of

there are many who recognize its importance and would like to do more than they are doing, but they do not know how or have not the energy and enthusiasm necessary to apply their psychology. Others who presume to teach know nothing of true psychological principles and care less about them. Go into the schoolroom of the untrained, unthinking teacher, and you will find the principle of beauty-which involves as its necessary elements order, harmony, symmetry, repose-you will find this principle violated in every way. It is a scene which every school inspector meets with to a greater or less extent in all his travels. There is not an element of beauty in it to inspire a word of encouragement or approval. It awakens only the opposite of the aesthetic emotion-the feeling of disgust and depression. We must have more of the sense of beauty and aesthetic fitness entering into our domestic, civic and national life. The present municipal officers of our different American cities care but little about it. The condition of our American streets was the occasion of the

If you need glasses, wear them! But by all means have them fitted! Don't let any one but a "specialist" test or fit your eyes any quicker than you'd let a blacksmith re- most caustic comment from foreigners during the World's pair your watch. Fair period. How are we to get rid of these things in our A flax seed will dislodge dirt, cinders, or other foreign civic life? First get rid of them in your homes and schoolmatter without pain, trouble or expense. Put it right into rooms. Sporadic, raving editorials and anonymous letters the eye, under the lid and it will chase and expel the in- in the newspapers do not prick the skin of the lazy, venal truder. That knowledge would once have saved a friend officials whose duty it is to clean a city, but who are only

mindful to bring out the hoe brigade just before elections, the solitude of the rocks and hills was wooing and chersemi-annually. ishing the blossom that flowered upon the vine? The love You must go deeper for reform in these things. You of the beautiful is in us all. It was placed there when our must train a new generation. The boys and girls in your forms and spirits were tempered and fashioned and blended schools will make up the new city boards and mayors and in the workshop of the Great Artist. This divine plant is street commissioners. You must train in them a higher in all the little children, only it may be choked and stunted sense of home and municipal patriotism, based upon a by the weeds of their environment. It is our high privstronger love of fitness, order and beauty. This reform is ilege and duty to clear away the weeds and mephitic coming in home and school and city. I think we shall growths and let in upon it the air and sunlight of heaven. see some of it in our day. Do you ask how it is coming?-Prof. H. W. Compton, in the Educational Review for I will name some of the sources. It is coming through April.

The School of Agriculture, University of Minnesota, It is coming through the kindergarten, where to the little will hold a special term for women in Dairying and Domesplastic minds and hearts of children are taught the very tic Economy, commencing June 5, 1894. Young women elements of beauty in order, form, color and movement. It interested in these subjects, who can spend four weeks at is coming through the primary school, where there will be this school, will surely be greatly benefitted.