Mann, Page and other great teachers of the past and present, and so in any trade or profession. Why should not the farmer boy study his own occupation?

The increasing knowledge of the composition of soils and the processes of nature in plant growth is rapidly placing agriculture among the exact sciences The successful farmer of the future will have to be something of a student as well as a man of muscular energy.

To recapitulate-create a thirst for reading; guide as to the subject matter; teach the value of specialization.

Following reading in importance is arithmetic Our effort in this subject should be decidedly practical. These boys seldom go to school after their sixteenth year, and we should endeavor to give them that knowledge of figures which is absolutely necessary on the farm or in the workshop. Such a boy on leaving school, if of average intelligence, ought to be able to find the cost of a load of wood, a quantity of hay, a bill of goods; to compute the interest on a note; and, lastly, to figure up a load of wheat.

Many of our authors in arithmetic have a method of placing a rule and an illustrative problem at the head of a classified lot of examples. The result is the solving of these examples is merely mechanical and when a simple practical example outside of the book is presented, the pupil is confused and puzzled. We can not, for this reason, follow the text book entirely, but must occasionally send the boys on imaginary trips to town with loads of grain; to buy goods; to learn to give and take interest. By laying stress By laying stress on business transactions, a few winter months may accomplish a great deal.

In conclusion, I wish to say, ennoble the occupation which the winter pupil is to take up. There is in our common schools too much of the teaching that the boys are all liable to become presidents, cabinet officers or other bright political stars, and if they fail in reaching such a position their life is a failure. Teachers in giving such instruction forget the true purpose in life.

When Milton Pickett, that promising young newspaper man, fell to his death in the Tribune fire, he was only a wage earner on a daily newspaper and little known to the public. But after that unhappy accident his name was heralded in every household in the Twin cities. What was the secret? His name rested on the fact that among his co-workers, he had ever been found at his post of duty and regarded it as a natural and moral obligation equal to the highest position. Few men had been so conscientious and painstaking in their work, and he left behind him the memory of a strong and beautiful character. Thus, others worthy to be called great are found in our very midst. They are found in the workshops of

our village, in the marts of trade, and in the peaceful homes of the country. They are men whose humble philosophy, culled from experience, has taught them that the true purpose of life is devotion to duty, and that they in our community who ply the tools of trade, who swing the hammer or drive the plow, are performing their part in life and are as truly the "servants of their country as the statesman in the senate or the soldier in battle." And what is more, the dwellings they erect from their frugal earnings in the village, their rural homes on the farm are the protection and true citadels of our country. Ennoble the occupation of your winter pupil.

THE EXAMINATION OF TEACHERS.

BY H. L. DURR, HASTINGS.

How can an examiner best determine who should and who should not teach? It is not scholarship alone, vitally important as that certainly is, that should decide the matter of qualification.

To undervalue scholarly attainment would be wrong, because without it there can be neither breadth nor depth of work, grasp of means nor clear comprehension of what is to be accomplished. But of what avail is this knowledge to the teacher who lacks the ability to impart instruction; who cannot discriminate between the means and end; who cannot so direct his work as to inspire confidence, stimulate thought and encourage individual effort?

Examiners should not give a certificate to any one, however learned, unless he has shown by actual work that he has given careful and intelligent thought to the professional side of the teacher's work. On the other hand, they should not deprive any one of a certificate who has shown by actual work, though he may be wanting a little in scholarly attainments, that he is a true master in the school-room.

The examiner should not only be a thorough and efficient educator himself, but he should also be in full and intelligent accord with advanced methods of instruction, the management of the common schools, and the work done within his jurisdiction.

The

Can the examiner best discriminate by our present system of examination? I do not think so. professional side is almost wholly overlooked. Let the examiner give temporary certificates, and then judge by actual work; let him visit the school and there decide whether the teacher shall continue as such. He will find holders of a first or second grade certificate who should be expelled from the schoolroom, and holders of third grades eminently fitted to hold first grades, as respects the actual work done. It is a duty we owe our children, that they be no more practiced upon than is absolutely necessary by those not fitted for the work.

which sparkled and danced through his father's farm. He knew very well, too, about planting seeds, and waiting for them to send up little green sprouts which were, after a while, to be apple or peach trees.

So he ran with his gold dollar down to the brook, and dug a hole in the soft bank, and put the bright piece of money into it. He hardly liked to cover it out of his sight, but was it not going to take root, and grow up a tree, having great branches all covered with shining dollars? Yes, he believed he could go out and gather a hat full of them, as his father gathered pears from the tree by the side of the door. He went several times, that day, to look at the spot where he expected the tiny green sprout to come up by and by. But after uncle Simon had gone, mother said, “Alec, what did you do with your dollar?" "I put it in the bank," said Alec.

"Why, what bank?" said his mother, surprised. "In my nice bank by the brook, and, mother, when it grows up a big money tree, you shall have ever and ever so many dollars a whole apron full."

"Why, what is the child talking about! Show me the place, Alec."

She dug into the bank where he showed her, but whether he had forgotten the exact spot, or whether some one had seen him put the dollar there, and taken it away, the poor little boy never knew. His pretty gold piece was gone, and though he went many times, hoping that he would find a money tree growing by the brook, the only fruit that came of his planting was a sad disappointment. From Our Little Men and Women.

QUESTIONS IN MENTAL ARITHMETIC.

1. A horse was sold for 45 dollars, which was 3-5 of its cost; what was the cost of the horse?

2. A lady bought of a yard of silk for 60 cents; what was the value of the silk a yard?

3. A son's age is 20 years, and it is 5-12 of the father's age; what is the age of the father,

4. A merchant sold flour at 7 dollars a barrel, and thereby gained of the cost; what was the cost?

5. How much cloth, at $4 a yard, must be given for a hogshead of sugar, if 4-7 of it cost 48 dollars? 6. A pole is 2-5 in the water, in the mud, and 14 feet out of the water; how long is the pole ?

7. William had 9 cents, and John 7; they buy 96 apples; how many apples should each have?

8. Divide 21 into 3 parts, that the second shall be double the first, and the third double the second.

9. James and John, together, have 36 marbles; James had 6 more than John; how many has each ? 10. What part of a day is of an hour?-Wisconsin Journal of Education.

Odds and Ends.

Address all communications for this department to B. F. Remington, Monticello, Minn.

31. A gentleman in giving his age said, "If you multiply the square of my age by my height in inches, the product will give 40,625. But if you subtract the square of my age from the square of my height in inches, the remainder will be 3,600. Find age and height.

32. Find the difference in value of a circular and a square piece of land, each at $40 per acre, of such size that silver dollars 11⁄2 inches in diameter, placed touching each other along the boundary, the number of dollars shall just pay for each piece.

33. A fly is on the rim of a wagon wheel (7 ft. in diameter that revolves uniformly, and a man is on the wagon. The wagon goes a mile,-which goes the farthest the fly or the man and how much?

Names of all who send correct solutions to all will be published in August number.

Answers received too late will be noticed in August number. Answers: 22.-Eight proves that the earth is a sphere: Persons travel around it; going north and south stars rise and disappear; objects can be seen on level as far with the eye as with telescope (light moves in straight lines); horizon a círcumference everywhere; geology proves the earth was a molten mass (liquids take globular form); analogy (astromomers see other plants are spherical); curvature of the earth's surface (in canal digging an allowance of 8 inches to a mile); shadow of earth on the moon in an eclipse. Four proofs that the earth is an oblate spheriod: Gravitation (bodies weigh more at the poles); degrees of latitude longer near poles (a degree is 1-360 part of the circumference; all degrees have same amount of curvature, therefore are equal, but as lines, not equal); anology (other planets seen through oblate spheriods); geological proof (tangential force would make it bulge.)

SUPT. W. W. PENDERGAST, AT THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF

SUPERINTENDENTS.

It seems to me that the first condition required is that teachers shall be able to look over the whole course and see the end from the beginning. Then, with the goal full in view, they can strike out boldly to reach it instead of frittering away valuable time in vain attempts to imitate others whom they take as models.

The first great question for a teacher to solve is, "What ought to be done with these boys and girls, what is the real object in view, what would I make out of them if I could have everything my own way?" When this question shall have been decided, the straight road to success lies open before him and every step taken will bring him so much nearer his attainment.

To illustrate.-Once when lost in the labyrinth of Boston streets, upon inquiry as to the way, I was told to "go down this street about three blocks, turn to the right and go on till you come to a little archway, pass through that to an alley, follow that a few rods and then turn," "Yes, yes," said I, "that's enough, thank you," and went on more confused than ever. At the next corner a better guide said, "Do you see that glittering dome? That's the State House, steer straight for that, your place is within a block of it." With eyes fixed like a flint on that dome, the way was clear and my destination was reached without the loss of a step. So teachers must have a landmark toward which every movement should be directed. The devious wanderings; the hesitating and uncertain steps; the loiterings by the way; the dwadling and general lifelessness that characterizes our schools to-day will then become things of the past. A few eye openers would be worth more to our routine teachers than a world of approved methods.

I am surprised at the amount, variety and thoroughness of work claimed to be done in the Cleveland schools, and incline to think the claim is a just one. They have learned to utilize their time and make the minutes that are usually wasted count something towards the final result. Horace Mann said fifty years ago that the schools of Massachusetts were not doing one-tenth of the work that might and ought to be done. That glorious old commonwealth was shocked, but the words were well weighted nevertheless. Now these Cleveland schools are learning to use the other nine-tenths of the time which are still for the most part thrown away in the

older and more conservative parts of the country.

In one of the village schools of Minnesota, the other day, I saw a young teacher do as much with her class in one minute as an ordinary one would in ten. Fifty-eight columns of seventeen figures each were added correctly by children ten years old in seven minutes. She would call up pupil after pupil with lightning rapidity by simply pointing at

the one who was to answer. She did not speak a word, but a smile of approval rewarded each pupil who gave a correct answer. Everything was quiet; the order was perfect, every pupil leaning forward earnestly with eye and brain intent upon the work. When the class had finished the recitation, all were immediately at work preparing for the next and another class was answering another set of questions. The change had taken place so quietly that I did not know when it happened.

The secret was that the teacher had her plan well matured and so knew just what to do and did it in the simplest and most effective way.

Our Little Ones.

ONE LITTLE CANDLE.

(To be used for language and ethics.) "One night a man lighted a candle and began to go up a long, winding staircase. "Where are you going?" said the little candle.

"Away up high," answered the man; "higher than the top of the house where we sleep."

"And what are you going to do there?" "I am going to show the ships out at sea where the harbor is," said the man, "for we stand here at the entrance to the harbor, and some ship far out on the stormy sea may be looking out for our light even now."

"Alas! no ship could ever see my light," said the little candle, "it is so very small."

"If your light is small," said the man, cheerfully; "keep it burning brightly, and leave the rest to me."

Well, when the man got up in the top of the lighthouse-for it was a lighthouse they were in-he took the little candle and lighted the great lamps that stood ready there with their polished reflectors behind them.

In a little while they were burning, steady and clear, throwing a great, strong beam across the sea. Then the lighthouse man blew out the taper and laid it aside. But it had done its work. Though its own light had been so small

it had been the means of kindling the great lights in the top of the lighthouse, and those were now shining brightly over the sea, so that ships far out knew where they were, and were guided safe into harbor."-Primary Educator.

AN AWFUL STORY.

There is a little maiden
Who has an awful time;
She has to hurry awfully

To get to school at nine.
She has an awful teacher;

Her tasks are awful hard;
Her playmates all are awful rough,
When playing in the yard.
She has an awful kittty,

Who often shows her claws;
A dog who jumps upon her dress
With awful muddy paws;
She has a baby sister

With an awful little nose,
With awful cunning dimples,

And such awful little toes! She has two little brothers,

And they are awful boys;
With their awful drums and trumpets
That make an awful noise.

Do come, I pray thee, common sense
Come and this little maid defend;
Or else, I fear, her awful life
Will have an awful end.

ROLL AWAY.

-Selected.

Roll your ball of snow, children,

Roll your ball of snow! The more you roll your snowball up, The bigger it will grow.

Roll a kind thought round, children, Roll it all around!

Until it gathers all kind thoughts That gentle hearts have found. -January St. Nicholas.

"A STORY, PLEASE."

The dearest boy I ever knew
Wears a sailor suit of blue;

You wouldn't think he'd tease!
And yet, when he gets in my lap
Or just before he takes a nap,
He's sure to say,
In his sweet way,
"Tell me a story, please."

If now and then, I try to rest,
The little boy that I like best

Hurries his chance to seize; (How many know this boy in blue?) "Say, Aunty dear, now couldn't you," He's sure to say,

In his sweet way,

"Tell me a story, please?" -Helen M. Winslow, in Our Little Men and Women.

CONCERT RECITATION.

"Five little mice on the pantry floor, Seeking for breadcrumbs or something

more,

Five little mice on the shelf up high,
Feasting so daintily on a pie.

But the big, round eyes of the wise old cat,
See what the five little mice are at;
Quickly she jumps, and the mice run

away,

And hide in their snug little holes all day. "Feasting in pantries may be very nice, But home is the best," said the five little mice."

SUPPOSE.

How dreary would the meadows be
In the pleasant summer light,
Suppose there wasn't a bird to sing!
And suppose the grass was white.
And dreary would the garden be,
With all its flowery trees,
Suppose there were no butterflies,

And suppose there were no bees.

And what would all the beauty be, And what the song that cheers, Suppose we hadn't any eyes,

And suppose we hadn't any ears?

For though the grass were gay and green,
And song birds filled the glen,
And the air were purple with butterflies,
What good would it do us then?

And think of it my little friends;
And when some pleasure flies,
Why think it and still be glad
That you have your ears and eyes.
-Alice Cary.

CLIMBING UP THE HILL.

Never look behind, boys,
Up and on the way!
Time enough for that, boys,
On some future day.
Though the way be long, boys,
Fight it with a will;
Never stop to look behind

When climbing up a hill.
First be sure you're right, boys,
Then with courage strong,
Strap your pack upon your back,
And tug, tug along;
Better let the lag-lout

Fill the lower bill,

And strike the farther stake-pole
Higher up the hill.

Trudge is a slow horse, boys,
Made to pull a load,

But in the end will give the dust
To racers on the road.
When you're near the top, boys,
Of the rugged way,
Do not stop to blow your horn,
But climb, climb away.

Shoot above the crowd, boys,"

Brace yourself and go! Like the plodding land-pad Hoe the easy row. Success is at the top, boys,

Waiting there until

Brains and pluck and self-respect Have mounted up the hill. -Selected.

KITTY KNEW.

Seven sheep were standing
By the pasture wall;
"Tell me," said the teacher,
To her scholars small,
"One poor sheep was frightened,
Jumped, and ran away;
One from seven-how many
Woolly sheep would stay?"
Up went Kitty's fingers-

A farmer's daughter she,
Not so bright at figures

As she ought to be. "Please, ma'am"-"Well, then, Kitty, Tell us if you know." "Please, if one jumped over,

All the rest would go."-Selected.

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