HISTORY.

The question of instruction in history in the grades below the high school is one that concerns the present condition of such instruction and also of an ideal condition towards which it, is possible to work. About one-half of the states have a uniform course in history. Those states that have a uniform course and are required to follow it are among the most advanced in public education.

The formative influence of classic literature and good reading upon young people is generally admitted. The reading of choice books by boys and girls is an indication of intellectual and moral progress. Such a taste once formed is a great aid in the subsequent work of education. But where does this taste begin and how may it be fostered? The schools of today are not in the habit of meeting, or do not generally attempt to meet, this problem until the children are verging into manhood and womanhood, that is, until the seventh and eighth grades.

What of the years from six to fourteen in which the great majority of the children get their whole school training? If there are choice tales, myths, stories and histories, which have the power to impress youthful fancy and feeling, let the early years reap the full benefit. The school knows best how to open the door and lead the children in; or at least it should be the pride of teachers to fit themselves for this duty. What books to select and how to best present the stories to children can be better judged by thoughtful educators than by parents.

The makers of our programmes have encouraged the public to believe that the history of the United States is the only history worth studying, in that it is, as a rule, the only history prescribed. It is studied in the seventh grade from 1492 to 1789, and in the eighth grade from 1789 to the present. This course gives but a warped, narrow, corcumscribed view of history. It is history detached from its natural foundation-European history; it is history suspended in mid-air; it is history that has no natural beginning.

It is indeed difficult to decide where the history of America should begin. If with the period of discovery and exploration, then it is in reality European history; if with the period of colonization, then it is rather English history; if with the adoption of the Constitution, then it is the history of a youth after he has attained his majority, but whose past is in oblivion. If the instruction in history in France and Germany is confessedly superior to that given in other countries, it is in no small part due to the breadth of view gained through the careful study of the history of other nations. The social unit, the political unit, and the ecclesiastical unit, is constantly enlarging, and the educational curriculum must widen its boundaries if it is to keep pace with the evolution in other directions.

Any study of American history must be worse than barren that demands the memorizing of a text-book, and leaves a boy in ignorance as to what are the fundamental facts in American history; that insists upon detailed information in regard to the campaigns of the Revolutionary War, but gives no notion of personal responsibility to the government established through that war.

The history of the United States is usually studied during the last two years of the grammar grade, when the boy or girl is from twelve to fourteen years old. This means that valuable time has been lost, for long before this age the interest of the child should have been awakened and held by the pictures of the past. In many instances the study of history is not correlated with either geography or literature. Text-books are used many times without collateral reading.

No criticism of existing methods is justified unless it carries with it a recommendation of changes that will possibly bring improvement. The following course is modeled after courses in some of the best American schools, and in its preparation a careful study of the programmes of work in history in the schools of England, France, and Germany was also made. It is believed that the following scheme of work in history can not only be justified by appeal to educational theory, but that it can also be defended as practical, inasmuch as it already carried out either wholly or in part in many schools.

FIRST AND SECOND GRADES.

FOLK-LORE AND FAIRY TALES.

Young children in the first grade are in the story loving period and are delighted with stories. Stories should always employ ideals -ideals of courage, strength, wisdom, patience, generosity, unselfishness, and kindness. Children imitate what they admire, and thus an ideal becomes an unconscious influence upon character. Ideals are the end as well as the center and source of our living. All the other powers are but means by which we seek to realize our ideals in our lives.

The plan for the first four years implies that the object is to arouse interest; the method used is to be wholly the oral one; the stories are to be united with lessons given in language and in geography; the selections of myths and stories are to give universal rather than particular notions; and the teacher is to have a sufficient acquaintance with history and literature to be able to decide wisely concerning the selections to be made. The following suggestions have proved helpful in story telling:

1. Know the story. Read many books for the fullest possible information. You must see all that there is in it if you are to lead the pupil to see it.

2. Feel the story. You must first be touched by the story before you can touch your pupil with it. Dr. W. L. Hervey, in his "Picture

Work" says: "The secret of story telling lies not in analyzing processes, not even in imitating good models, though these are all necessary, but first of all in being full-full of the story, the picture, the children, and then in being morally and spiritually up to concert pitch, which is the true source of power in everything. From these come spontaneity; what is within, must come out; the story tells itself, and of your fullness the children all receive."

3. Shorten it, by cutting out details which do not intensify the pictures. Brevity is the soul of story-telling.

4. Expand it, by giving a background of such details as are necessary for a clear conception.

5. Repeat it, and have pupils repeat it. A good story is always worth repeating.

LIST OF FAIRY TALES.

1. "The Old Woman and Her Pig"-Scudder's Book of Folk Stories.

2. "Little Red Riding-Hood"—Grimm.

3. "The Anxious Leaf"--Beeker's Norwood.

4. "The Three Bears"--Scudder's Book of Folk Stories.

5. "The Lion and the Mouse❞—Aesop.

"Cinderella"-Grimm.

6.

8. "The Four Musicians"-Grimm.

9. "The Straw, the Coal of Fire, and the Bean"-Grimm. 10. "The Ugly Duckling"-Andersen.

Many other stories may be selected from the following books:

Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Andersen's Fairy Tales.

Lang's Blue Fairy Tales.

Lang's Green Fairy Tales.

THIRD GRADE.

In this grade it is hoped that a few classical myths which belong to the literature of Europe will be brought vividly before the children. Two or three recitations a week may be set apart for the oral treatment of classical myths. Are these simple charming stories which have been sifted out of the early Grecian literature too difficult for children from nine to ten years old?

ers.

Charles Kingsley in preparing the Greek myths for his children wrote: "How I love those old Hellens-they seem to me like brothThey are come to tell you some of their old fairy tales, which they loved when they were young like you." Herbart, the philosopher, looked upon the poems of Homer as giving ideal expression to the boyhood of the race, and the story of Ulysses was regarded by him as the boy's book. For the child of eight and nine years he thought it the most suitable story. Hawthorne says of himself: "The author has long been of the opinion that many of the classical myths were capable of being rendered into very capital reading for children. No epoch of time can claim a copyright on these immortal

fables. They seem never to have been made, and so long as man exists they never can perish."

The astonishing brightness of fanciful episode and of pure and clear-cut imagery has an indestructible charm for childern. They soar into and above the clouds on the shining wings of Pegasus. With Eolus they shut up the contrary winds in an ox-hide and later let them out to plague Ulysses. In one form or another they introduce us to heroes, at least to great and simple characters. These myths bring children into lively contact with European history and geography. The early history of Europe is in all cases shrouded in mist and legend.

In order to present these myths in an acceptable manner, the teacher must steep himself fully in literature of this class, and bring her mind into familiar acquaintance and sympathy with its characters. It is well to mingle oral narrative and description on the part of the teacher with the fit reading of choice parts so as to better preserve the classic beauty and suggestion of the author. A simple reading of these stories for the entertainment of the children is not enough. It should take the form of a school exercise, requiring not only interest and attention, but vigorous effort to grasp and reproduce the thought. The result should be a livelier and deeper insight into the story than would be secured by a simple reading for amusement. All that is expected is that this paradise of children may be entered and a few of its choicest flowers plucked; and that a desire may be created in the child to return again and again.

BOOKS FOR THIRD GRADE.

1. "Adventures of Ulysses," by Lamb-Ginn & Co., price 35c. It contains the chief episodes of the career of Ulysses.

2. "The Wonder Book of Nathaniel Hawthorne"-Houghton, Mifflin & Co., price 40c. It contains among others: The Gorgon's Head, The Golden Touch, the Three Golden Apples.

3. "Kingsley's Greek Heroes"-Ginn & Co. It contains the stories of Perseus, The Argonauts, Theseus and others.

4. "Jason's Quest," by Lowell. The Argonauts with many other Greek myths woven into narrative.

5. "Stories of the Old World," by Church-Ginn & Co., price 50c. Stories of the Argo, of Thebes, of Troy, of Ulysses, and of Aeneas.

6. "Stories of Indian Children," by Mary Hall Husted-Public School Publishing Co., price 50c. Contains Indian myths in the child's language.

Many other books might be mentioned.

FOURTH AND FIFTH GRADES.

The time given to history in the fourth grade may be limited to two hours per week, and the method oral presentation. The entire field of history should be covered in the form of biography. The following list of names are suggested, not as a final selection to be rigorously adopted, but as indicating one way of arousing interest

and of conveying historical information at the age when ideas of time and place relations are only imperfectly developed, but when interest in individuals is keen and active. The list may be entirely changed, but the principle still remains:

GREECE Lycurgis, Solón, Darius, Leonidas, Socrates, Demosthenes, Plutarch.

ROME-Romulus, Cincinnatus, Regulus, Hannibal, Caesar, Agri

cola.

GERMANY-Alaric, Gutenberg, Charles V., Luther, Bismarck. FRANCE-Clovis, Charlemange, Louis IX., Joan of Arc, Richelieu, Napoleon.

ENGLAND-Arthur, Alfred, William I., Elizabeth, Raleigh,, Cromwell, Pitt, Clive, Nelson, Gladstone.

SOUTHERN EUROPE Mohammed, Loyola, Isabella, Columbus, Michel Angelo, Garibaldi.

NORTHERN EUROPE-Robert Bruce, Henry Hudson, Eric the Red, Adolphus, Kossuth.

AMERICA-John Smith, Wm. Penn, LaSalle, Patrick Henry, Boone, George Rogers, Clark, Franklin, Lincoln, Washington, Lee, Fremont. For splendid and helpful suggestions on the method or oral presentation see "Special Methods in History," by McMurry.

In the fifth grade use the adopted book.

BOOKS FOR FOURTH AND FIFTH GRADES..

"Heroes of History," by Ida Prentice Whitcomb Maynard, Merrill & Co. This is a splendid volume containing about seventy biographies.

“King Arthur and His Knights," by Maude L .Radford. Published by Rand, McNally & Co.

"Famous Men of Greece," "Famous Men of Rome," and "Famous Men of the Middle Ages," by Haaren and Poland. Published by the University Publishing Co., price 50c each.

These books have been prepared to meet the requirements of both the "Committee of Ten" and the "Committee of Fifteen." Each book contains some thirty biographies written in as simple and as interesting a manner as can be found anywhere. A few sets should be in every school. These books should be read by or to the pupils.

SIXTH GRADE.

In the sixth grade use the adopted book, doing the work as outlined therein. In those districts in which a text in English history has been adopted it is recommended that the following outline be followed:

ENGLISH HISTORY.

On first thought the outline which follows on English history may seem rather heavy, but it is given as a guide for the teacher as to the general scope and nature of the work. A careful reading and study by the pupil of some good English history, will be ample for