men of the better classes was directed to liberal pursuits. The conditions of family and fortune in those days enabled the intellectual élite of the country to devote itself disinterestedly to the cultivation of letters or the arts, or to scientific researches. Since then an economic and social transformation has taken place. The number of young men who are compelled to struggle to obtain the necessaries of life has greatly increased, so that our instruction to-day meets requirements which are more widely diffused than formerly, and hence its popularity. The CHAIRMAN. The expenses at your establishments are somewhat less than at others, are they not? Brother JUSTINUS. There is little difference, although we are not in such an exceptionally favorable condition as some ecclesiastical colleges-not all-which have free quarters given them by the diocesan authority. Many of our schools have to pay a good rent to the civil societies which own the quarters we occupy. The CHAIRMAN. Are these societies the real owners, or do they only appear as such in order to cover the acquisitions of your order? Brother JUSTINUS. These societies are real and have fulfilled all the requirements of the law in their incorporation. You can judge of this, Mr. Chairman, by the following fact: All the civil societies which own the buildings where we have organized our pensionnats have always paid their annual dividends; not one has ever, so far as I know, been an exception to this rule. M. JACQUES PIOU. That is a good business. I wish we could all say as much. Brother JUSTINUS. We have deemed it our duty not to disappoint the friends who have helped us in our work of education of the interest upon their capital. Therefore the directors of our pensionnats scrupulously satisfy all their obligations to the proprietary civil societies. This is their first financial duty. VIII. M. MARC SAUZET. Do you consider that the passing of pupils from superior primary instruction to modern secondary instruction is an easy one? This idea has been suggested, and it might, perhaps, be possible not only to unite those two classes of instruction, but to make one an introduction to the other. As you have both superior primary and modern secondary establishments, you have perhaps had occasion to make the experiment of the passing of the pupils of superior primary instruction into the higher classes of modern instruction. Brother JUSTINUS. In order to answer that question I ask your permission to cite the opinion of an authority in education, Mgr. Dupanloup, who had a long experience on this point in classical education. He expresses himself as follows in his remarkable book on education: "I never consented," he says, "to admit boys to the Petit Séminaire at Paris who had not been properly prepared for secondary instruction by a thorough training in the primary grade. Such pupils I sent to the schools of the Christian brothers at Passy, for example. * * they had received a thorough primary education. went freely through the whole of the humanities. never knew them rejected at the examinations." From 8 to 10 or 11 years of age What Mgr. Dupanloup stated of the relation of primary instruction, carefully given, to secondary in the classical, we affirm of modern secondary instruction. The boys in the elementary classes of our institutions have the benefit of what might be called a superior pedagogical supervision, because the masters of the primary classes, being constantly in contact with those of the secondary, are thereby better qualified to open wider horizons before the eyes of their pupils. M. MARC SAUZET. Do you not prepare boys for classical studies in your establishment at Paris, rue de Gréville No. 44? Brother JUSTINUS. That is a preparatory school for secondary instruction. In order to make a distinction between it and the parochial primary school, St. Thomas Aquinas, we have recently placed it under a special head. M. MARC SAUZET. I asked the question particularly with a view to ascertaining the results of that instruction and as a conclusion to my previous question. Brother JUSTINUS. To this special inquiry I will answer that the graduates of that school furnish nearly equal contingents to the Collège Stanislas, the lycée Montaigne, and to the day school in the rue de Madrid, in all of which their success has been remarkable. M. de Cabanoux speaks as follows of this school in his report of June 19, 1898, at a meeting at which M. Paul Lerolle, deputy from Paris, presided: "Since its foundation this school has had 643 pupils, of whom many have gained good positions in the liberal professions, in the corps of government engineers, or in the army and navy. Many more are preparing for these professions at the École Normale Supérieur, at St. Cyr, at the polytechnic school, or at Borda. Many others who are younger are pursuing the same end in the establishments of Stanislas, the Jesuit Fathers, the Petit Séminaire, or even in the best State lycées. We can affirm from the testimony of the directors of these institutions that our pupils place themselves at the heads of their classes. One day a professor in a well-known college in Paris received one of our pupils who had just been presented as a newcomer with these words: "Young man, be worthy of your predecessors." These testimonies corroborate in the most explicit manner the opinion of Mgr. Dupanloup already cited. The CHAIRMAN. Do you think that the type of modern instruction, as it was completed in 1891, is susceptible of great extension and responds to the needs of the country? Or do you think, on the contrary, that it would have been better to adhere to the type of M. Duruy, which your order had inaugurated, as you say? Brother JUSTINUS. I think, Mr. Chairman, that certain friends of modern instruction have imagined for it a too ambitious part-that of supplanting classical instruction. The CHAIRMAN. Is that your impression from the experiments you have been able to make? Brother JUSTINUS. A good general culture can be obtained through the modern instruction without copying the classical instruction out and out. I will add, since I have the opportunity, that neither our founder nor his successors ever intended to make the modern system a rival of the classical; each of these kinds of instruction has its own character, which it is desirable to keep distinct and unaltered. The CHAIRMAN. You think it would have been better to remain in the plan prescribed for instruction in 1865? Brother JUSTINUS. I do not regard the limits then prescribed as absolutely unchangeable. That régime might have been modified, and some elasticity or flexibility might have been given the programmes, which they sadly needed; this would have been an improvement which we have tried, in a modest way, to realize. The CHAIRMAN. But could this be done without so extending the duration of the studies so as to make the modern system the equal of the classical? Brother JUSTINUS. I will speak of the duration of the studies later. As to the general economy of the programmes, there would be much to say. What objection is there to introducing a diversion into the general programme which should take account of local needs. Without going into specialities too far, and while giving our main attention to the general culture of the mind, why not familiarize our young men with the principal questions concerning business, industries, and trades, agriculture, and the colonies. As to the extension of the modern instruction and the weight to be accorded its diplomas, I will add that if it is understood that this instruc tion answers the needs of a large class of young men, it is for the interest of the country to guide these young men to it, and, consequently, it would be unwise to deprive the graduation certificates of the prestige they now possess. To diminish their authority would amount to disqualifying the instruction itself. The CHAIRMAN. What do you mean by that? Brother JUSTINUS. I mean, Mr. Chairman, that the baccalaureate degree which is now given to graduates from the modern instruction should be retained in the interest of that instruction. The CHAIRMAN. You seemed to think a short time ago that a special instruction, limited to four or five years, satisfied the needs which you had discovered in the public. You seemed to think that it would not be necessary to extend this cycle of studies to a modern baccalaureate. Brother JUSTINUS. We must distinguish two classes of scholars in modern instruction. Some do not pursue their studies to the first class, and a more restricted course is sufficient for them. Others demand a complete education from this instruction, differing in character from the classical, but offering an equivalent guaranty of thoroughness as far as the duration of the studies is concerned. The increasing number of bachelors in modern instruction is a proof of this. If this satisfaction is denied them there is danger of throwing them out of their natural path, or at least of sterilizing, with no advantage to anyone, valuable faculties which only need development. The CHAIRMAN. You are then inclined to maintain the reform of 1891; that is to say, you are in favor of a complete cycle of studies leading to a baccalaureate in modern instruction? Brother JUSTINUS. Yes, Mr. Chairman; but on condition always of lightening the programmes and giving them greater elasticity. The CHAIRMAN. Do you think that the law school and the medical school should be opened to those who have followed the complete cycle? Brother JUSTINUS. That question is so delicate, Mr. Chairman, that I must ask your permission not to answer it. We should not care to make you believe in ambitions that do not exist. The CHAIRMAN. Perhaps you would fear that superior primary instruction might slip by that door into the faculties of law and medicine. Brother JUSTINUS. We have not asked that privilege, and do not ask it now. However, to be thoroughly sincere, it would be difficult to insist that a bachelor in modern instruction having, as some do, a real literary culture, and having acquired distinction in natural history, physics, and chemistry, could not be a good pharmacist or even an able physician. The CHAIRMAN. Do you think that, if access to those faculties was given to young men under such conditions, you would have an increased clientèle? Brother JUSTINUS. I am not certain of that. Besides, we do not want to receive a different clientéle from that for which our institutions were opened. We stand upon our traditional ground and have no greater ambition. IX. M. JACQUES Prov. I would like to ask Brother Justinus the average age of the students in modern instruction on graduating? Brother JUSTINUS. The average age is about 16. M. JACQUES PIOU. Are the graduates of the modern instruction younger than those of the classical? Brother JUSTINUS. Both are of about the same age. The CHAIRMAN. In fact, the moderns are a little behind. M. JACQUES PIOU. My second question is this: It is said that the scholars from the schools under the religious orders, after entering the State schools, lose the rank they have on entering. Does not this fact indicate that they have received a forced education or instruction and that they can not profit by their acquired knowledge in the State institutions? Brother JUSTINUS. It would be unjust to base a judgment upon incomplete data. ED 99-72 Individual failures are, of course, possible, and no class of persons is privileged to preserve its members from failure. I have already given statistics upon this point for the scholars from Passy, who were admitted to the École Centrale in the proportion of 119 to 134, or 89 per cent, and who obtained six times the rank of "major” and twice that of "sous-major" from 1887 to 1898, and then graduated with excellent numbers as engineers. At the School of Mines at St. Étienne during the last ten years we have had 11 "majors" out of 20. Out of a total of the first 10 of each year, or 10×10 = 100 in all, we had 51 of our scholars on admission and 53 on leaving. There has not, therefore, been a falling off, but an advance. I will close with some statistics which are quite recent and absolutely demonstrative. The entrance examination at the School of Mines at St. Étienne in July-August, 1898, gave the following classification for our 19 students who were admitted: 1, 2, 3, 8, * * and 37, or a total of 382 for the total of the places obtained. Now, at the classing of 1899 within the school, these same scholars obtained the following rating: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, * * * and 30, or a total of only 283 for all the places. There was, therefore, an advance of 99 points (382 – 283) upon the brilliant results of the entrance examination. Forty-nine of our scholars are now in the School of Mines, and 287 have already the engineer's diploma. Many are holding honorable positions (engineers in chief or directors) in the districts of the Loire, Aveyron, Gard, Nord, and of Pas de Calais. * In closing this communication, Mr. Chairman, I wish to assure you most sincerely that you will always find us ready to give you a patriotic cooperation in everything concerning the important work of national education. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Secretary-General, we thank you for your very interesting deposition. CHAPTER XXII. CONFEDERATE TEXT-BOOKS (1861-1865): A PRELIMINARY BIBLIOGRAPHY. By STEPHEN B. WEEKS, Ph. D., Santa Fe, N. Mex. [Additions to this list are respectfully solicited.] I. Primers. III. Readers. IV. Arithmetics. V. Grammars. VI. Geographies. VII. Dictionaries. VIII. Books on foreign languages. IX. Sunday-school and other religious books. X. Miscellaneous. Under each of these divisions the arrangement is first by years, then alphabetically by States in which publication was made, beginning with Alabama. Capitals have been used: (1) When they appear on the title page as such, and followed either by lower-case letters or small capitals; (2) for proper names and adjectives; (3) at the beginning of a sentence. Designs, pictures, or other emblems are indicated. The title page has been copied rather than the cover title, if it is to be had; differences between the two are indicated. Size is marked in inches by actual measurement of the bound book on outside, over binding. 1. When the book has been seen the title page is given in full and uprights are used to indicate division of lines. 2. When the title of a published book is quoted from another source it is given as there found, with the source. 3. When the title has been made up from advertisements or other sources which are not conclusive as to publication, it has been put in []. In such cases the writer has no further information whether the book in question was actually published or not. He will be thankful for additions or corrections. I. PRIMERS. 1861. [Primer, by Mrs. S. A. Poindexter. Nashville: Southwestern Baptist Publishing House. 1861.] Mentioned in De Bow's Review, Aug., 1861, p. 207. [The Confederate Primer. Nashville, Tenn. 1861.] Published by an association of Southern teachers. Mentioned by So. Lit. Messenger, Oct., 1861. |