the painters of their day drew them to the life, when they represented them in the act of applying their canes to their nostrils; but as physicians have long since given up the pouncet-box, an artist of the present day who is forced to represent a physician by obsolete forms, is guilty of conventionalism. So in this country it is unwarrantable conventionalism to represent a lawyer in the big wigs once in vogue in England. Such devices betray weakness. Yet conventional signs have their uses. The red flag of the auctioneer recalls the time when the booty taken in war was exposed to public vendue; the striped pole of the barber, the connection which that distinguished fraternity once held with the surgeons, having been gradually changed from a bleeding arm bound with bandages, alternately white and bloody, to the latter-day pole, which has given up the old token to express the loyalty implied in the red, white and blue. Of like nature are the three golden balls of "my uncle," the pawnbroker, and of the live Indian of the cigar store; and, what is of constant service, the arbitrary signs used in topographical drawings. In like manner the conventional schoolmaster has his frequent representative in art in a slovenly dressed man, wearing spectacles, and bearing a sort of broom, supposed to be birch rods. In letters another set of conventional signs gives us either an Ichabod Crane of haunted memory, fluteose and mulierose, or a teacher of either sex as prim, precise, pedantic, and severely punctilious in petty matters, with an additional flavor to the fairer sex of a spice of prudery, joined with an outward appearance and manner not calculated to win other admirers than staid and widowed deacons. As in the case of the physicians, this class of pedagogues has departed, and we have in place of them active and intelligent men and women who are in no way to be distinguished from other educated and refined persons. We there fore protest against this coventionalism, and beg that those who have not sufficient ability to represent teachers as they are, would at least have the honesty to state that they mean not to libel them, but their predecessors of a dozen generations past. MISCELLANY. HOLIDAY INSTITUTES.-Four institutes were held in the State during the week between Christmas and New Years. The one at Findlay, Hancock county, noticed in another place, was a decided success, and the same may be said of the one at Cambridge, Guernsey county. We attended the latter, being assisted in the work of instruction by Messrs. Dinsmore, of the Commercial School at Zanesville, L. S, Thompson, of the Sandusky Public Schools, and Joseph Elliott, of Coshocton. W. M. Farrar, Esq., of Cambridge, presided at all of the sessions with great acceptance. He also gave an excellent practical address on Monday evening, on the subject of "Teachers and Teaching in Guernsey County." Several of the teachers took an active part in the discussions, and Mr. Burns, of Washington, read a fine essay. The hall was well filled each evening, and the citizens otherwise showed a commendable interest in the exercises. The institute at Kenton, Hardin county, was not largely attended, but an encouraging interest was manifested by those present. A good list of subscribers, sent us by Mr. Finch, Sup't of the Kenton Schools, is evidence that there exists a professional spirit in the county which will make the next annual institute larger and better. The institute held at West Union, Adams county, enrolled between fifty and sixty members. The principal instructor was Prof. Eli T. Tappan, of Ohio University, who united with his lectures recitations in the theory and practice of teaching, and discussions on various educational topics participated in by the members. A good interest was awakened in professional improvement. Prof. T. will accept our thanks for the list of subscribers received. MARION CO. INSTITUTE, IND.-A very successful institute was held in Indianapolis, during the five days commencing December 17th, 1866. Over one-hundred members were enrolled-a result quite remarkable owing to the fact that the institute was held in a large city and was attended chiefly by teachers from the country. We noticed here the same earnestness and professional spirit which we have found at all the institutes we have attended in Indiana. Much attention was given to composition, oral grammar and object lessons. Classes in object lessons were taught by graduates of the Oswego Training School. The institute was under the efficient direction of Pleasant Bond, County Examiner. Hon. G. W. Hoss, State School Superintendent, gave several acceptable lectures. HANCOCK CO. INSTITUTE.-Mr. Editor: The Hancock county teachers' institute has been in session during the present week. It opened on Dec. 25th, and closed Dec. 28th. It was a grand success. There were present one hundred and ten teachers. The greatest interest was manifested by the teachers, and a great and glorious work was done. Our camp fires are burning brightly, and faithful sentinels are at the outposts. Messrs. T. W. Harvey, Nestlerode, and Vanhorn gave instruction. Mr. Harvey delivered two of his admirable lectures before delighted audiences. The Educational Monthly was not forgotten. Eighteen subscribers were obtained, whose names will reach you in a few days. Resolutions, advocating the establishment of a normal school in each congressional district of the State and the election of county superintendents, were passed. Truly yours, Findlay, O., Dec. 29, 1866. E. MILLER. A HINT FOR OUR GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.-" Paris Gossip" in the Nation, Jan. 1867, says: "The Minister of Public Instruction has just issued a circular advising the teachers of the public schools not to torment their pupils by cramming their youthful heads with grammatical rules, learned by rote, but to inculcate the principles of correct and elegant diction by the less arid methods of dictation and the analysis of interesting reading lessons, thus indoctrinating them gradually and practically into the intricacies of grammatical law, without the infliction of the headaches, penal tasks, and weariness of the flesh, to which the learned and genial Minister alludes with an evident commiseration that makes one suspect he must have suffered many things in his boyhood under the rule of pedagogues.' Exactly the doctrine which the MONTHLY has been preaching ever since I became acquainted with it-and thus the world is "marching on." T. E. S. LAKE MIRAGE, ETC.-Mr. Editor: Perhaps your readers may be interested in a brief notice of two meteorological phenomena observed at this place within a few weeks past. Teachers who attended the meeting of the Association in 1861, will recollect that Elyria is twenty-six miles west of Cleveland, and distant ten miles in a direct line from Lake Erie. At no point within eight miles of us is the lake visible. A remarkable mirage occurred on the morning of the 13th of November, the whole shore from Cleveland to Sandusky Bay looming above the horizon, and the lake with steamers and sail-vessels becoming distinctly visible, and apparently not more than a mile distant. The smoke of the steamers and the white sails of the vessels could be easily distinguished. No such phenomenon was ever before seen at this point. Another celestial display, which was novel to me, occurred on the 2d of December. A beautiful rainbow appeared in the north at five minutes before twelve o'clock, rising thirty degress above the horizon, presenting as brilliant prismatic colors and as perfect an arch as ever spanned the eastern sky. Allow me also to correct a statement copied into your journal, relative to the comparative size of the meteorite recently donated to Amherst College. For more than thirty years Yale College has possessed a meteorite weighing over 1,700 pounds. It was discovered in Texas, and on the authority of Prof. Silliman, senior, is but a fragment of a mass weighing many tons. Elyria, January, 1867. G. L. M. NEW NORMAL SCHOOLS.-A commission appointed by the Legislature of New York, has selected eight sites for four new normal schools, the towns being put in pairs of two each, and the first one of each pair that gives security for the cost of buildings at $70,000, is to have the school. Potsdam, Plattsburg, Genesee, and Buffalo are the places that will probably secure the schools. This commission requested the Legislature to make appropriations for six additional schools, so that the State of New York will have twelve normal schools in all. Five normal schools have been located in Wisconsin as follows: At Whitewater, Platteville, Oshkosh, Stoughton, and Sheboygan. That at Platteville has been opened, and is in successful operation, and those at the other places will soon be put in operation. Donations of money, land, buildings, etc., have been made to each, ranging in value from thirty to forty thousand dollars. The total productive normal school fund belonging to the State, is $598,999.92, besides 493,910 acres of land. The School Department of Pennsylvania recommends the organization of three normal schools in addition to the four now in operation in that State. Indiana and Minnesota are erecting fine buildings for the accommodation of their respective normal schools. What is Ohio doing? We are ashamed to answer this question. INSTITUTES AT A DISCOUNT.-An Iowa teacher having attended an institute and becoming enraptured with the beauties of the special methods of teaching there presented, went forth resolved to put them into practice. After he had taught three days, an indignation meeting was held, and he received the following certificate of dismissal: 3d. He would "This is to certify that a school teacher of Mahaska county, Iowa, has taught our school three days, and we dismiss him for the following reasons: 1st. Substituting written spelling for oral. 2d. Requiring all smaller children to have slates and pencils, and having them draw lines, letters, pictures etc. not teach the names of the twenty-six letters at first. 4th. Taking up too much time in recitation, and asking too many questions on the lessons. 5th. Allowing the pupils to sit while in the class. ORAL SPELLING AT A PREMIUM.-A county superintendent in Iowa found a teacher drilling his pupils on "Pro-ban-to-ban-time-tam-tym-lyre-mack-field-north-hillrow-dong-whack," having them pronounce each syllable and then all before it with the syllable each time. The so-called word was printed in large letters at the top of the blackboard, and was a standing lesson in oral spelling. To an inquiry as to the meaning of the word, the teacher replied that "it was the name of a German." Thereupon the superintendent said, "No wonder he died." We should like to see a biographical sketch of this German. We wonder whether Appleton's New American Cyclopædia is so defective as not to contain it. AN IOWA SCHOOL BOARD AHEAD.-The school board of the district township of Forest City, Howard county, Iowa, levied last year 4 per cent. school tax. Twenty mills were for a contingent fund, fifteen mills for a teachers' fund, and ten mills for a school-house fund. We doubt whether a larger levy was ever made in one year for school purposes. An approach was made to it in the town of Columbiana in this State two years ago. CONNECTICUT. The number of children between the ages of four and sixteen years in Connecticut, was 118,812, Jan. 1866. The number in the public schools over sixteen years of age, was 2,544 for the year ending Aug. 31, 1865. LYING. In the "Annual Report of the Superintendent of the Public Schools of Fall River" is the following: "It is feared that the practice of requiring pupils to keep records of their own scholarship and deportment is a dangerous one. It is a temptation to dishonesty, and no doubt many scholars yield to it." We are not in favor of having pupils keep a record of either their conduct or scholarship, but we believe that a semi-daily report of deportment is the best means of securing good order in the highest grades of public schools. H. A LARGE INSTITUTE.-More than four hundred teachers attended an Institute in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on the 10th, 11th, and 12th of October, 1866. Dr. Lowell Mason, Dr. Barnas Sears, Prof. S. S. Greene, Prof. Mark Bailey, Prof. F. S. Jewell, Geo. N. Bigelow, Esq., G. F. Claflin, Esq., and Dr. Trine, were instructors. METEORITES.-Reichenback, of Vienna, the discoverer of creosote and proposer of the theory of an odic force to explain mesmerism, accounts for meteorites by supposing that there exists throughout space a cosmical powder, which forms meteorites by becoming agglomerated. He thinks the minute quantity of phosphorus absorbed by plants is furnished by invisible showers of this cosmical powder.-We have seen a letter from the son of a missionary, residing at Constantinople, in which it is stated that a magnificent shower of stars was seen there on the morning of the 14th of Oct. INDIANAPOLIS. The number of pupils enrolled in the public schools of Indianapolis within the month ending Dec. 7, 1866, was 2,795. Columbus, O., containing much less population than Indianapolis, enrolled last term over 3,600 pupils, with an average daily attendance of 2,996. ARITHMETIC AND MORALS.-The following is a specimen lesson of the combination of arithmetic and morals as produced in one of the national schools of England: 20d. are 18. 8d.-Love your father and mother. EXAMINATION CURIOSITIES.-An examiner sends us several answers recently received by him at an examination of teachers. We give these as specimens: "What and where is St. Helena?" Ans. "A volcano of Russian America on which Noah's Ark landed." "What is latitude?" Ans. "Distance north or south of the sun." the masculine noun corresponding to monk." Ans. "Monkey.” "Give LIBRARIES. The Minister of Education in France, M. Duruy, has ordered people's libraries to be established in all the mairies of Paris. Large rooms have been hired for this purpose, and they will be warmed and lighted in the evening for the use of the working classes. PROFESSOR HOUGHTON, of Trinity College, Dublin, has published some curious chemical computations respecting the relative amounts of physical exhaustion produced by mental and manual labor. According to these chemical estimates, two hours of severe mental study abstract from the human system as much vital strength as is taken from it by an entire day of mere hand-work. This fact, which seems to rest upon strictly scientific laws, shows that the men who do brain-work should be careful, first, not to overtask themselves by too continuous exertion, and, secondly, that they should not omit to take physical exercise on a portion of each day, sufficient to restore the equilibrium between the nervous and muscular system.-Exchange. FEMALE TEACHERS WANTED.-We are frequently applied to for first-class female teachers to take charge of or assist in high schools. Teachers of experience, thorough scholarship, and refined manners are wanted. The salaries offered are from $500 to $1,000. Per contra, we are more frequently applied to for first-class positions by teachers concerning whose ability and success we know very little. What we desire, in all cases, is satisfactory evidence of competency. FORT WAYNE.-The number of children in Fort Wayne, Ind., between 6 and 21, is 6,493, only 1,580 are enrolled in the schools. BANCROFT.-The ninth volume of Geo. Bancroft's History of the United States has recently been issued by Little, Brown & Co., of Boston. MCGUFFEY'S Readers have been adopted by the Board of Education of Baltimore for exclusive use in the pubiie schools of that city. JOHN HANCOCK, formerly and for many years Principal of the First Intermediate School, Cincinnati, is now connected with the publishing house of Sargent, Wilson & Hinkle. His connection with Nelson's Business College and The News and Educator closed the first of January. CAPT. A. C. FENNER has resigned his connection with the Dayton Schools, formed eighteen years ago, to try his fortune in business. We reciprocate his good wishes in our behalf. MASON SEAVY, Principal of the State Street Grammar School, Columbus, has resigned to enter upon business in Illinois. We enter our protest against this straggling. A. S. KISSELL, one of the prominent and enthusiastic teachers of Iowa, has been elected Superintendent of Public Schools of Minneapolis, Minnesota, at a salary of $2,500 a year. C. B. RUGGLES, late principal of the Western School, Springfield, O., is traveling agent for Ingham & Bragg, Cleveland, O. He is succeeded at Springfield by Mr. Allen Armstrong, late of the Columbus High School. HORATIO N. ROBINSON, LL.D., author of Robinson's Series of Mathematical Works, died at Eldridge, N. Y., January 19th. He was formerly a resident of Ohio, and several of his books were first published at Cincinnati. PROF. PAUL CHADBOURNE, of Wiliams College, author of Lectures on Natural History, has been elected Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin. REV. ALEX. CLARK, editor of "Our Schoolday Visitor," formerly called "Clark's School Visitor," is preaching in Pittsburgh. JOHN STUABT MILL is editing the posthumous works of Henry Thomas Buckle. |