Search Questions in American Literature.

OSCAR FAY ADAMS, IN WIDE AWAKE.

CHARACTERS IN POETRY AND FICTION.

1. In what romances are to be found the following names of characters? Paul Fleming, Miles Coverdale and Hepzibah Pynchon. 2. Of whom were these lines written?

To them the sun's warm beams were shafts of fire,
And the soft south wind was the wind of death.
Away they flew, all with a pretty scowl

Upon their childish faces, to the north,

Or scampered upward to the mountain's top,
And there defied their enemy, the Spring.

tion of himself with the great whole world, which is really "more and more" through his efforts, provided they are honest a d true.

It is possible that among the disadvantages of our less professional life may be reckoned a growing inability to find any enjoyment in the sayings and doings of precocious children. Others may laugh, but to us the exhibition is only sad because from our habitual mental standpoint we are always seeing the end to which all these things lead, and the want of foresight which permits them. Every child becomes to us a serious problem. No child can possibly appear to us as a toy to produce amusement. That these children who are exhibited and who amuse so much are other people's children and not our own, is a fact which does not help us in the least. Our whole lives are spent in watching over "other people's children," and finally we

4. In what poem is a certain person thus described?

Revealing with each freak or feint

The temper of Petruchio's Kate, The raptures of Sierra's saint.

Explain the allusions.

5. In what famous novel is Harvey Birch a prominent figure?

We may still retain enough self-possession and self-control, qualities -which by the way, are fortunately also strengthend by our daily life-to prevent no favor, interference or suggestion, but there is no fun for us in the sayings and doings of children which serve to give other people entertainment.

In the same way when we hear a story it is at once mechanically

7. In what poem is it said of one that

He parted in twain his single crust,
He broke the ice on the streamlet's brink,
And gave the leper to eat and drink?

8. Of what novel is Mary Scudder the heroine?

9. In what books are the following characters prominent? Mrs. Potiphar, Pomona, Sam Lawson, and Gifted Hopkins. 10. In what poem is this description of a woman?

Bright-eyed beauty once was she,
When the bloom was on the tree.

11. To whom do these lines relate?

Beverly bells,

Ring to the tide as it ebbs and swells!
His was the anguish a moment telis-
The passionate sorrow death quickly knells.

12. What heroine thus declares her love"

I will no longer conceal what is laid upon me to tell thee;

I have received from the Lord a caarge to love thee, John Estaugh.
13. In what famous short story is this reference made to its heroine?
"A hammock is very becoming when one is eighteen, and has gold
hair, and dark eyes, and a blue illusion dress looped up atter the
fashion of a Dresden china shepherdess."

14. Of whoin was the following first said?
None knew thee but to love thee.
15. In what poem is it said of one that he

had the skill
To know that Heaven is in God's will,
And doing that, though for a space
One heart-beat long, may win a grace
As full of grandeur and of glow
As princes of the chariot know?

16. What hero of a noted humorous poem is distinguished by his attempt to fly?

17. In what books are these characters? Luclarion Grapp, Donatello, "Gem," and Dakie Thayne.

18. Of whom was the following said?

She never was a child to us,

We never held her being's key;
We could not teach her holy things,
She was Christ's self in purity!

19. In a certain notable short poem a man whose life has been spared by the father of the man he has killed is afterwards slain by the wife of the latter. Name the person and poem. 20. What heroine relates that "Mr. Rawjester threw a flat-iron at my head. I retired calmly"?

A Fable and a Moral.

ANNA C. BRACKETT.

There are many advantages in the life of a teacher though most of us undoubtedly find many moments when the disadvantages seem fair to overbalance them. The critical mind, the observant eye and the sensitive ear which the profession develops, come to be abnormally and painfully acute, and besides being a source of pain to their possessors, often lay her open to the charge of carping and fault-finding. Moreover, it is necessarily the most ardent and devoted teach ers who are most liable to these charges, because it is they, who "running with patience the race set before them," are apt to concentrate all their energies on their work. In succeeding in their special line of labor, they must, like all other specialists, grow more and more one-sided. This is the inevitable result of civilization and its product and result, division of labor. "The individual withers and the world is more and more." The only consolation possible for the individual when he mourns over the result, lies in a closer identifica

tion for our classes, be useful, "to point a moral" when other means are vain, or to "adorn a tale" when a little respite is necessary to set a fresh breeze blowing for a moment and ventilate the mental atmosphere of some future recitation. Or it may be that the anecdote serves as a moral for us teachers and gives our already freighted sense of responsibility an additional load. It must not be forgotten that our profession has sharpened also our powers of illustration and shown us resemblances and relations where they would seem most unlikely to exist. Therefore the s ory which might seem to another to have no possible bearing upon our work seems to us to be very nearly related to it. The truth is, that after many years of active teaching, everything seems to be connected in the closest manner with the daily problems of the school-room. There comes to us no near and no far, no great and no small, for there is no fact which cannot be turned at once to account in our work. Here is a story which served to entertain a "piazzaful" of people this summer for a moment, was laughed at and forgotten. but my unfortunate teacher's memory has kept it haunting me ever since, and I give it now to test its power with other teachers.

"There was once a man who resolved to go around the world. But it never occurred to him that there was any other way of doing this than by a straight line on a parallel of latitude. Even an isothermal line would not do for him, though that might possibly have saved his encumbering himself with overcoats and linen dusters. Accordingly he went round the world as he had planned. It is true that he met with some unpleasant adventures, which caused detentions. For instance, on his first starting out he was arrested as a burglar side of the street, and several times he was committed for assault when found walking across the roof of the houses on the opposite But he accomplished his feat and returned home, entering his kitchand battery owing to his having knocked down people on the road. en by means of an axe exactly opposite the door by which he had left it years previously. His admiring friends tendered him a reception on his return and after his perseverance, unflinching energy, pluck and originality had been applauded to the echo, he was requested to tell them something of his travels and the countries through which he had passed. It then was discovered that he had been so intent upon carrying out his plan and not deviating from his proposed line of march that he had not seen one single thing."

Ever since then, I have been wondering, not exactly like Longfellow,

"How many hundreds of care-encumbered men,

Each bearing his burden of sorrow, have crossed the bridge since then.'

but how many teachers and how many children under the guidance of these teachers, have been and are doing precisely the same thing, not even with the omission of the complimentary reception and the congratulatory speeches at the end of the course.-Am. Jour.

OUR public schools waste time in the teaching of grammar over what is known as the "construction of sentences." School pupils are not babies learning to talk that we should teach them to build such sentences as "John Walks," "Mary sings," "Birds fly," and the like. Every boy and girl can talk and write both short and long sentences without any difficulty. If the pupils should come to us possessing power of speech, but unable to speak as in French or German, then by all means begin by teaching the construction of little simple sentences; but don't waste time in trying to teach what can't be taught. Begin where their knowledge and acquirements end. It's like teaching a child to eat who learned to eat before he knew "what for or why."-The School Supplement.

Reading.

THE DIFFERENCE. The difference in primary and advanced reading is that in the former the teaching has for its purpose the learning of a written vocabulary corresponding to the oral one possessed by the child on entering school; in the latter (advanced), the teaching has for its purpose the power to interpret the written page, and to give to it adequate oral expression. Advanced reading thus divides into silent reading and oral reading.

PRIMARY READING.-The child on entering school is possessed of a vocabulary of from three to five hundred words. This is true of an average child. This vocabulary consists mainly of names, with a proportionate number of verbs, modifiers and relation-words, but of the last, comparatively few. A child-vocabulary is based on experience. First, the object is learned and then the name, and no word is learned until the idea is safely lodged in the mind. In this regard nature is a much better teacher than most schools, as the latter too often follow the reverse order, and teach words for which the child possesses no idea.

Primary reading should begin with the simplest and most interesting of the words known to the child. The problem is a simple one, in statement. He is to be taught to recognize the printed forms corresponding to the oral ones already familiar.

In selecting words to begin with, the principle of easy doing is to be observed. Cooking-stove and dining-room are unsuitable words, however familiar the ideas may be, because of their length. Cat and rat are short, differ only in one letter, and represent interesting and related ideas. Other words that contain similar combinations are hat, bat, mat, sat, fat, cap, can, etc. When several of this series have been learned, the child is ready to use his knowledge as a key to decipher similar words. This brings into play the principle of discovery, which is very strong until killed by repression and bad hab‍ its. This principle leads to the acquisition of more knowledge the first five years of child-life, than in any other from the cradle to the grave.

Incentives in the School.

Diligence in study and good order in school, instruction and management must be attained by an appeal to motives which quicken the child's sense of right and duty, and develop his high moral nature. It is easy to hedge in a child's conduct by punishments and to urge him forward by artificial rewards. But when the restraining hedge is broken down and the temporary incitement is wanting, then there is seen the need of the power of self-guidance and self-impulsionan in-dwelling monitor and a never-failing impulse. The school life of the pupil should prepare him to be a self-governing being.

Incentives may be classified as natural and artificial. Those which arise from the nature of the subject or are a natural result, not a necessary consequence, of full success or complete attainment. Among these are

The pleasure of duty done.

The inward reward of obedience.
The satisfaction of success.
The hope of future good.

The desire for knowledge."
The pleasure of its acquisition.

The satisfaction of overcoming difficulties.
The desire to excel.

The approval of conscience.

The approval of others.
The approval of God.

The human soul is so constituted that every right act or possession brings with it a joy, a satisfaction, or an anticipation, and this is both a reward and an incitant. Among natural incentives may be placed all expressions of approval which furnish palpable evidence of success; such as—

The expressed approbation of the teacher.
The attainment of an assigned standard.

When, however, these become the end of the pupil's efforts, when he ceases to look up from the shadow to the substance, then they are

1. Arouse the interest by a story, song, story from chiid, pictures &c, 2. Examine the word cat thoroughly, scanning every part, comparing c, a and t with one another.

to reach high marks is the "ruling passion" of the pupils. They study for "per cents" and cram for "per cents."

All artificial rewards and punishments which are thrust between the pupil and the natural rewards of duty and acquisition, are arti

4. Discriminate cat from words quite unlike as dog, ox, sun.

5. Discriminate from words quite similar, as hat, mat, rat, bat, fat, cap, can, etc.

6. Word-hunting, with cat as a key.

So far the work of the child has been that of discrimination. He is now ready to enter the second stage, that of reproduction. The object of this is repetition a sufficient number of times to make the word the property of memory.

Some of the leading ways of repetition are these:

1. Building the word out of alphabets cut into separate letters. 2. Building the word out of shoe-pegs, first on traced lines. then without any lines.

these are its alluring reward; instead of making natural rewards operative and potent, they weaken and conceal them. Among artificial incentives may be includedPrizes of pecuniary value, as books, medals, etc. Immunities, as exemptions from tasks, examinations, etc. Privileges, as holidays, early dismissal from school, choice of seats,

etc.

These are not natural consequences of the pupil's success or attainments. They are only temporary substitutes for those rewards which are worthier and more enduring; and they may be so incorporated into a system of school management as to become its very life the all-absorbing end of effort and desire.

We would not include punishment among school incentives, nat

4. Making a puzzle out of the word by cutting into irregular pieces and having these put together.-Good for seat work.

5. Pricking the word on letters traced on paper. 6. After a sufficient number has been taught, say twenty, the next step is to begin writing the word, the first attempt being a tracing. Afterwards tracing may be discarded and writing substituted. There are many other methods of repetition. The skillful teacher will devise these without much trouble.

After cat may come rat, eats and the. When these are thoroughly learned they may be put together by the child to form: The cat eats the rat. As fast as sufficient new words are learned sentences should be formed. This should be discovery work.

This meager outline is a dead and lifeless affair, compared with what a skillful and enthusiastic primary teacher can do. Good teaching, consciously or unconsciously, follows the principles of,— Interest. The mind must be awakened before any teaching worthy the name can be done.

Variety and liveliness secure interest. The work must ever present new phases. It should be kaleidoscopic. True, the elements are few in number, but they are capable of endless combinations.

pupil forward. It does not incite; it impels. It is the reserve force which is brought up when incentives fail.

Natural incentives are intrinsically superior to artificial. They nourish the higher principles of character, and, at the same time act through life, springing up spontaneously in the path of duty and success. If made potent in childhood, they usually remain potent in after life. Artificial incentives, on the contrary, are transient and treacherous. They allure in youth, but fail in life's needs and con

flict. The child, always incited to duty by some prize, immunity or privilege, depends in vain on such helps in manhood. When school days are over, if not before, knowledge must be sought for its own sake or for its uses, and neither integrity nor virtue holds in its hands a bribe.

The teacher should appeal to motives that have an abiding potency and value, and through such motives, he should try to quicken the pupit's sense of right and duty. Certainly, so long as natural incentives can be made effective in securing study and good conduct, they should be relied upon.—Norm. Tr.

Suggestions for Teachers.

Small children should not be kept sitting idle on the benches. Exert your ingenuity to find employment for them. When you cannot keep them busy, let them be out doors. In many school-houses the benches are so high that the children cannot place their feet upon the floor. Use influence to have this corrected, either by cutting down the benches or providing foot-stools.

Make no noisy assertions of authority and do not threaten. Be quiet, but firm; be dignified, but not distant. Let pupils feel that your friendship is desirable. Talk little, but do what you say you will. Allow no loud talking or boisterous conduct in the room at any time. Avoid wearing a frown. Do not lose self-control. Announce but one rule-Do Right! and let any infraction of this receive its punishment. In general, appeal not to the fear, but to the reason and the manhood of pupils.

Explain to your pupils that regular, systematic work is the condition precedent to success; that such work is impossible amid confusion; that any disturbance, such as whispering, leaving seats without permission, loud studying, noisy feet, getting drink, &c., violates the rule or right by depriving others of the quiet necessary for study, and must be avoided. Explain that the cutting of benches, marking of walls and tearing down fences violate the same rule by damaging property belonging to others. The secret of securing order is to secure interest. An idle child cannot keep quiǝt. Arrange a set of bell signals and use them for all class and general movements. If you have but few pupils, have but few signals. Do not allow pupils to stand, march or sit with folded arms; it is an unnatural, unhealthy and awkward position. Avoid having children walk on tiptoe. Let them stand, sit and walk as God designed-upright, dignified and easy. Hold the health of the pupils sacred and guard it carefully. Subordinate all else to that. If pupils become restless, throw open the doors and windows and exercise the entire school for a minute in some simple calisthenic exercises.

Insist that pupils should have clean hands and faces. Cultivate politeness and kindness. Use no favoritism. Be honest in all things; keep all promises; be habitually correct; be neat in personal appearance; be enthusiastic and energetic; let your example be contagious and absolutely safe for pupils to follow. Slates should be washed at intermissions, not during school hours. Slate frames should be covered with cloth to avoid noise. Quietness and decorum should be the invariable rule. Do not continually remind pupils to "come quietly." They will soon come to give the caution no attention whatever. Let your school-register be accurate, full and neat. Omit nothing called for in it. Make your reports to the school commissioner promptly, as directed in the register and indicate what repairs, furniture and apparatus is necessary. Water should not be passed during recitations. Children can drink at recess and before school calls. Keep the temperature of the room right and they will not wish to drink so often. Be a close student. Read. Remember

that your work is one of the highest dignity and importance. Be a credit to the profession.-Harrisburg People.

The Norfolk Virginian says that the last year's crop of peanuts in that state foots up about 1,500,000 bushels, about 1,000,000 bushels of which were handled in Norfolk. The crop is nearly all in and only 100,000 bushels remain in the market here. Reports from all sections show the crop to be in a fine condition, and the acreage is increased about thirty per cent over last year's plantings. With a fairly good season it is estimated that the Virginia crop will reach 2,500,000

bushels.

THE GREATEST.-The greatest thing in the world is the Falls of Niagara; the largest cavern, the Mammoth Cave, of Kentucky; the largest river, the Mississippi-four thousand miles in extent; the largest valley, that of the Mississippi-its area, five million square miles; the greatest city park, that of Philadelphia, containing twenty-seven hundred acres; the greatest grain port, Chicago; the largest fresh water lake, Lake Superior; the longest railroad, the Union Pacific-over three thousand miles in extent; the most huge mass of solid iron is Pilot Knob, of Missouri-height, two hundred fifty feet, circumference, two miles; the best specimen of architecture, Girard college of Philadelphia; the largest aqueduct, the Croton, of New York-length, forty miles and a half, cost, twelve million five hundred thousand dollars; the longest bridge, the elevated railroad in Third avenue, New York; its extent from the Battery to the Harlem river-the whole length of the eastern side of Manhattan Island-seven miles long, or nearly forty thousand yards. The longest bridge over the water, however, will be that now being constructed in Russia over the Volga, at a point where the river is nearly four miles wide. The most extensive deposits of anthracite coal are in Pennsylvania.-North Carolina Teacher.

History.

What teaching history is. I shall not carefully inquire. It suffices to say, beginning with facts, it must not end with facts. The philosophy of history is impossible in a grammar school; but the connection of events, antecedent and consequent, cause and effect, and the reasons of things-so far from being impossible, is altogether possible and necessary. This relation is the thread that binds all the facts together. Among the advantages arising from keeping this relation constantly in mind are these: 1. Cause and effect is one of the strongest principles of association of ideas, thus powerfully aiding the memory in retaining facts. 2. The search for causes makes the study all the more intelligent and fruitful. 3. The logical faculty, as well as the memory, is constantly stimulated. One main advantage attending the history is the inculcation of patriotism; another one almost equally great is the light thrown upon human life and character. I venture here to draw out, by way of sample, some ques ions that are suggested in the Eclectic History.

1. Why was Philadelphia the general-meeting-place of the Continental Congress? 2. Why could not the Congress "bind the people to any measure,"

etc?

3. Why were the colonies so slow in coming to the idea of independence?

4. For what reason did Lord Chatham say to Franklin, "The success of the American cause was the last hope of liberty for England"? Was it a good reason?

5. Was it fortunate that Chatham's plan of conciliation failed? Was it deemed fortunate at the time?

6, Why was the possession of Ticonderoga and Crown Point deemed important by the colonies?

7 "Washington's first task was to create an army;" what had Washington to do to that end? What is an army?

8. Why was the employment of the Hessians by the king thought dishonorable?

9. Why was the service of the Hessians thought dishonorable? 10. What was the great object of the invasion of Canada in the winter of 1775-76?

11. Why was the line of the Kennebec chosen for Arnold? Of Lake Champlain for Montgomery?

12. Why did this invasion fail?

13. Why could not Lord Howe remain in Boston after the fortifying of Dorchester Heights?

14. Why did he sail to Halifax, and not to the West Indies?

15. What special reasons led the British to New York in 1776? Also to Charleston the same year?-B. A. Hinsdale, in Nat. Jour.

A Floating City.

One of the most wonderful cities in the world is Bangkok. It is the capital of Siam, and is situated on, or rather in, the great river Meinam. We find the following graphic account of it in a volume of recent travels: "The capital of Siam." Did you ever witness such a sight in your life? On either side of the wide, majestic stream, moored in regular streets and alleys and extending as far as the eye can reach, are upwards of 70.000 neat little wooden houses, each house floating on a compact raft of bamboos; and the whole intermediate space of the river presents, to our astonished gaze, one dense mass of ships, junks and boats, of every conceivable shape, color and size. As we glide along among these, we occasionally encounter a stray floating house, broken loose from its moorings and hurrying down stream with the tide, amidst the uproar and shouts of the inhabitants and all the spectators.

Old-Time Punishments at King's College.

"A Book of Misdemeanors," alias Black Book," which is now preserved in the library of the college, purports to have been commenced in January, 1771, and ends April 24, 1775. From this it is evident that t! e pranks of our progenitors were wonderfully like our own. The following extracts will suffice:

"Feb., 1771.-S-reprimanded publicly for having come through a hole in the college fence at twelve o'clock at night." "July 9, 1772-V-, D--, and N-, who had gone over the college fence the preceding Tuesday, between the hours of 3 and 4 P. M., to bathe, were reprimanded, confined to college until Saturday, and each directed to translate into Latin four pages of Dr. Chadler's Charity Sermon."

"Dec. 23, 1774.-W-, for not performing his exercise the last vacation, as ordered by ye preceding visitation, to finish that, and also to translate half of the eighth Eneid of Virgil into English by ye first day of next term."-Harper's.

What the Kindergarten Is Not.

W. H. HAILMAN, IN COR. JOUR.

As the Kindergarten gains in popularity, it becomes more and more com non for speculative or enthusiastic persons to establish so-called kindergartens in forms quite prejudicial to the cause of educational reform. It becomes, therefore, too, more and more imperative for the triends of this reform to warn the people against such attempts, and to spread the knowledge of what the kindergarten is not.

also. His home was desolate, and the few survivors met him with reproaches rather than welcome. It was doubtful whether he ever could re-establish himself in their favor and affection. His only excuse, and it was a lame one, was that he made up his mind not to write home until he had some good news to communicate. That time did not come. He did not write, and when he returned for consolation, he found that many of those to whom he looked for welcome and comfort had passed away.

Again, the kindergarten is not a play-school in which "instruction is blended with amusement." The kindergarten, it is true, avails itself of the child's love of play, of the child's instinctive desire for free activity, and guides this so as to insure sound, harmonious development. But it does this for the sake of that development, and not for the sake of so-called instruction. Of course the child learns in the kindergarten, and learns quite rapidly, but it learns in the way of observation, of experience, of imitation and invention, and not in the way of instruction. The sujets of instruction that distinguish the school are not found in the kindergarten; and play in the kindergarten is neither a recreation nor a pleasing concomitant of some severe task, but the very business and life of the kindergarten, the mode of growth of its little nursings.

In the third place, the kind rgarten is not a young industrial school. It trains the hands of the little children to give expression to thoughts and fancies, skillfully and, within their powers of conception, accurately; but it trains with equal care their language as a mode of expression. The kindergarten child may then be better prepared for industrial pursuits, other circumstances being the same; but it is also better prepared for any other calling in life, inasmuch as all its powers have received better and fuller training.

Fourthly, the kindergarten is not a collective nursery of the poor or of the rich, whose real or fancied duties leave them no time to take care of their little children personally. As a first step in an education for complete living, so far as the social phase of this complete living is concerned, it is an institution equally necessary and beneficial to all children. It may be made a salient feature of the creche for the poor, and it may be welcomed in the nurseries of the rich, but it will do not more good there-nor less-than, in its pure form, as a complement of home training.

Lastly, the kindergarten is not the ultima thule of educational progress, the ne plus ultra of pedagogic thought. On the contrary it is the first fruit of the application of scientific thought to practical education. Froebel, endowed with a truly scientific spirit, based his kindergarten upon careful, unprejudiced observation of children, by which he gained approximations to truth as sure (but not surer) as the approximations of Newton in the study of gravitation and light. Thus, the kindergarten is a first step in the right direction, and it is the duty of educators not to rest satisfied with this, but to proceed on the road opened by Froebel, to continue his observations in a spirit as unbiased and truth-loving as his, and to work out his thought into the whole broad real n of educational work.

Teach to Write Letters.

During the California gold excitement, now nearly forty years ago, a young man left Pennsylvania for the Pacific coast. He went with the full conseut of his friends, who were well aware of the difficulty which then existed in getting letters either to or from the enterprising emigrants who were continually on the go, beyond the reach of regular mails. But they did hope to hear something sometime, as letters from others were received. Years passed without a line from the young man, or even a chance rumor, and his friends came to the sad but charitable conclusion that he must be dead, and lamented him accordingly. But one day, after years of absence and of silence, the absentee presented himself at the door of the house which had once been his home. But he found that his father had gone down to the grave mourning, and that others whom he had loved were dead

There may be wilful cruelty and an evil intention in such silence. But it is not of those who wish to hide themselves that we are speaking. It is of such as, in these days of rapid and certain means of correspondence, are too undutiful to write. They carelessly forget or neglect to avail themselves of the ready method of keeping friendships alive, and contributing to the comfort and happiness of their relatives. There are even those who dwell in the same town or city unknown to each other. There are actually husbands and wives who remarry, in ignorance that their former mates are living. There are other complications, in life and in business, which arise fron a culpable neglig nce, from which even the penny postal card would protect them. The schools are now in operation again, and we take occasion to remind teachers and pupils that "composition" and "dictation" may well give way, in some degree at least, to practice in letter-writing, in which the scholars can be suffered to write what they know, and say what they think about it.-Phila. ".edger.

Developing the Number Five.

Call four boys and place them in a row close together. Callan. other boy and place him at some distance from the four. How many boys have I here? (pointing to the four.) How many boys have I here? (pointing to the one.)

How many boys have I standing? "You have four boys and one more boy." Class, you may show me four fingers and one more. finger. Lizzie, come and show me four boxes and one more box. Lucy may make four balls in the center of the blackboard and one more ball on the right side of the blackboard. How many boys did you say are here? "Four boys." And how many here? "One more boy." Let the one more boy stand with the four boys.

Some of the pupils may know the number five, but taking it for granted that they do not, ask, "What do you see now?" Call a girl and let her count the boys. Four boys and this one boy are five boys. Teacher counts the boys. Class, count the boys. The girls may now count. The boys may count.

The teacher may now repeat the foregoing with girls. Class, see what I am putting on the blackboard. What do you see? "Four birds and one more bird." (Perhaps they will say five birds. If they do, ask what makes five.) John said: Four birds and one more. Let ns count them altogether. 1, 2, 3, 4,- -5. What number comes after four? "Five." What makes five birds? "Four birds and one more bird." Matilda, what would you rath e have, four balls or five balls? What is more, five sticks of candy or four sticks of candy? Class, take your pennies. You may place four pennies on the right side of your desk and one on the left side. Adam you may tell me how many pennies you have on your desk. "Four pennies and one more." How many altogether? "Five pennies." Lead the children to see that they may also say, one penny and four more pennies.

Children, I will now make some pictures on the blackboard. What did I make? "You made parasols." How many parasols? "Five parasols." Try to make five little parasols on your slate.

I will now show you a little sign which we call five. (write the figure 5.) Vhat is this? "Five." Try to make the figure five on your slate. John, you may come to the blackboard, write the figure five and make five little marks in a box. Alfred, you may write the figure five and make five little balls in a box.

Great pains should be taken to lead the pupils to comprehend that the figure five represents the number five. Write the figures one to five on the blackboard and require the pupils to show you as many pennies, splints, tablets, etc., as will make the number the sign (figure) to which you are pointing.-School Jour.