be sufficiently "emphatic," and that the hibited. But the general rule for both suggestions offered may be of practical teacher and pupil, should be, "leave the value to some of our readers.-National house when school is done."

Teacher.

How Shall I Make My Pupils Get Their Lessons?

This question is repeated by teachers ad infinitum. Its repetition is of very frequent occurrence during the first year's experience; after that, the interrogatory is made less and less often until, when the professional teacher takes the place of the novice, the question is asked no more. What does experience teach with regard to this part of the work? Why do young teachers so earnestly ask the question which so seldom appears to trouble their elders?

You can keep a boy after school, but if he is a boy of spirit and persistence, he will not get his lesson. It is only the good boys that go to work with a will after school, and they are the very ones you do not care to detain.

Then if the pupils cannot be detained after school, how shall they be made to get their lessons? The answer has never been given. It cannot be given. There are duties of a teacher, the accomplishment of which requires an amount of ability, tact, force-call it what you will— the quality of which, though comprehended by results, cannot be described. We are beginning to learn that all pu- It is this that will make the pupil get his pils should not be similarly treated, even lessons; it is this that makes school manthough the old school discipline vigor- agement relatively easy; it is God-given, ously so taught. Each boy and each girl not acquired; he who has it not, can nevrequires mental, moral and physical treater acquire it; he can but imitate. ment, different from that of every other As for the pupils, while parents remain boy and girl. We ought to be able to as they are, it cannot be expected that the apply this in each instance. This cannot child will ever learn tasks assigned him be done, because, first, under such a regi- just because he loves the work; some me, one teacher could instruct not more other incentive to study must be found.than twenty pupils, and, second, we do not | Illinois Schoolmaster.

THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM.

DOWNSVILLE, Wis., Jan. 23, '74. Hon. EDWARD SEARING,

Dear Sir-I have received the eight copies of the report, and am pleased with them. We have eight school districts in this town of Dunn, Dunn county, and so lack one copy of supplying all the districts and the town clerk. You will please send that by mail.

know enough: by this I mean that the mass of teachers know less than any other class of people, of men and things about them, hence less of human nature. Then, the condition of things prevents the application of the true method of making boys and girls get their lessons, viz: Treat each one according to his individual character. In school as in the world, some must be coaxed and a few be driven; the first thing the teacher must do is to distinguish these two kinds in her class. I am decidedly in favor of the township One of the common methods of com- system of school government. I am glad pulsion, is detaining the pupil after you favor it and are calling the attention of the people to it. Let me give you the school hours. The results are, where the valuation of the different school districts school sessions last six hours a day, vex-in our town, and you will readily sec ation of pupil, impatience of teacher, and how unequal the school taxes are: a general unhappiness of both. In some cases this is a good thing to do. A pupil will not be harmed by an hour's deteni after school if his school day is but three hours. A lazy, lymphatic pupil will not be injured by detention in the school room after school. Recesses should not be pro

Districts. Valuation. School Tax '73. $13,642.....

1.

$211.98

2.

45,104..

595.64

3.

42,030...

318.76

37,563.

390.78

32,528.

204.14

6,814.

165.04

I have written this to give you a better idea of the workings of the present school system or its workings in this part of the State. Yours truly,

A. J. TIBBETTS, Town Clerk. WOMEN AS SCHOOL-OFFICERS.

You will see the valuation ranges from school system. I believe our town to be six or seven thousand dollars to over a fair sample of most of the towns in forty-five thousand. School District No. this part of the State, and instead of the 1 has more than as many again pupils as districts becoming more equal as the No. 2, while No. 2 has more than three country settles up, they are becoming times the valuation. It may be asked, more unequal in valuation. why don't you adopt the Township System? I will tell you the large districts can out vote us. There is a mill in No. 2 valued at $25,000, the owners do not live there, or in this town, and of course there is a large number of men that have no interest in a school, they vote for the interest of their employers. Their tax under the present system is not so much as it would be under the township system, and the people in the large districts say they don't want to pay for the schooling of children in other districts. In towns where the valuation of the school districts are about equal, they have no objections to the system. In districts No. 1 and 6, and others in this town, there are from 30 to 40 scholars in a house, 16 by 20 feet square, with cracks in the floors large enough for a person to put his fingers through and the wind can blow through the house; the stove has to be kept about red hot, those next to it suffer head-ache with the heat, while their feet are cold, and those back are too cold to study. The districts are so poor they can hardly keep up school six or seven months in the year, while districts No. 2 and 4 have large houses, grained inside, with patent seats, and nice maps, chromos, etc., to adorn the walls. We are glad they have them; we hope some day to be able to have them too.

Now a word about teachers. A good teacher can get any school he is a mind to ask for. The large districts, or those with the best houses and the most money, get all the best teachers, while the poorer ones have to hire the teachers that are just beginning to teach. As soon as they teach two or three terms and become well qualified they apply where they have a comfortable house and can pay the most wages, and the small districts have to qualify another one. These are facts that cannot be denied, and I think with you that there should be a change in our

It is very important that the schools should have the benefit of the most valuable services that can be found for their supervision and general control, and as the experience of the last thirty years has proved the wisdom of employing a large number of female teachers in the schoolroom, in place of males, the experiment is now undergoing tests, whether women may not with equal propriety and effi ciency attend to the inspection of our schools, as school-officers, especially in primary, intermediate, and girls' schools. At the outset, women are especially qualified by nature, in the motherly instincts of love and tender interest for children, and during the first ten or twelve years of the child's life, the mother and teacher have mainly the management and control of his education.

Added to natural fitness, is the valuable experience which so many of our most intelligent and influential women have received in the school-room as teachers. In some States, of which Pennsylvania is an example, no person is eligible to the office of school superintendent, unless he or she has had a successful history in the school-room, as a teacher. Such a necessary requirement as experience may well be demanded of our school-officers, and in almost every school district in Rhode Island, are capable women, who have served for one or more years, and have thus learned in the most practical and satisfactory way how to make good schools.

To judge of faithful or unsuccessful labor in the school and to appreciate the difficulties of the service, none are better

fitted than the women who have acted as | lic approbation. Success proves capacity instructors, and have borne the trials of and fitness.-Report, 1874, THOS. W. BICK the station which is placed under their NELL, Comr. Schools, R. Island. oversight.

tion.

The advice of women would be of espe- The Changes Required In Our School Organizacial value to teachers in matters pertaining to the health as well as the studies of the pupils a subject so sadly neglected in our school work.

A third qualification is the element of time. The great complaint on the part of our school-officers, is, that they have not the time to visit and examine the schools, which the work demands. As the service is for the most part a gratuitous one, and is usually prompted only by philanthropic motives, the people cannot demand, nor expect that the schools shall receive the attention which they require, from men whose business constantly demands their time and thought.

BY D. W. GILFILLAN, TREMPEALEAU CO. Ever since Horace Mann, in 1837, accepted the Secretaryship of the Board of Education in Massachusetts, and entered with zealous fervor upon the discharge of the duties of that office, and investigated the actual condition of the common schools of that Commonwealth, and diligently sought out the causes that had contributed to bring them into the low state in which he found them, there has been a manifest and steady improvement, not only in the schools of that state, but throughout the country.

The principal causes that had contrib uted to lower the character of the schools he found to be disqualified teachers; a wide-spread indifference among the people in regard to them, and no general system of supervision.

Now, none of the duties of men can so properly, or so readily be delegated to women, as the care of the schools. By an examination of the registers of our schools throughout the State, it will be found that on an average the names of To change this state of things it was four women appear to that of one man necessary to create town boards or local on the visiting lists, practically showing superintendents to examine teachers, suthat women have more interest and time pervise the schools, and report the facts to devote to this matter, than men. Of and statistics that would show their actual the audiences which gather at the discus-condition; and by the aid of the press and sion of educational topics, or at teachers' the public addresses to awaken among institutes, the female element here pre- the people a more enlightened sentiment dominates, showing the same fact, that upon the needs of common school eduwomen are first in their intelligent inqui- cation. ries after the best methods of instruction at home and at school. Perhaps the most convincing argument in favor of woman's appointment to official school relations is found in practical experience. In several of the States, women hold offices upon school-boards, and this in the most intelligent communities. In several of the towns of Illinois, Massachusetts and other States, women not only occupy the office Hence Wisconsin, when she entered the of school committee and supervisor, with sisterhood of states, came in with her honor and fidelity, but in several instanc- State Superintendent of Public Instruces, they occupy the salaried office of su- tion and town superintendent-officers perintendent of the schools of the town. that had never been heard of in connecSo far as the State reports are in evidence, tion with common schools, nor even conit appears that their work is done faith-sidered necessary to their success prior to fully and conscientiously and merits pub 1837.

The machinery that was introduced into the common school system of Massachusetts, under the supervision of this state board and its secretary, to effect the much needed reform, was generally introduced,-sometimes under modified forms, into the systems of the older states, and the newer states as they formed their systems.

increasing the expense and perhaps diminishing it.

The change I would suggest is this: Let the state be divided into twenty-five districts of thirty thousand inhabitants each, or thereabouts-which would nearly embrace the population of the state exclusive of the cities and incorporated villages which have superintendents of their own. Let a superintendent be elected in each of these districts, with a salary of not less than twelve hundred and fifty, nor more than fifteen hundred dollars, who should be required to devote his whole time and energies to the educational work of his district, in holding examinations, conducting institutes and personally visiting with the town officers as many of the schools, while they are in session, as time would permit. Then in connection with this change, either adopt the township organization with its town secretary, or create the town superintendency as it existed twelve years ago.

Another step in advance was made when the legislature, in 1861, gave us the county superintendency, in place of the town. There is no doubt but that the schools of our state have advanced by this change, by gradually raising up a class of teachers better prepared for this work and more enthusiastic in it; but, in the mat ter of school supervision, it is very questionable whether we have gained anything by the change, and it is considered by many that in most cases there has been a loss; and, when we are aware of the fact that in many instances county superintendents cannot reach all the schools in the county each term, and that on an average a visitation lasts only from an hour to a half day, we cannot conclude that in this important respect much good is accomplished. It must be evident to every one that some change is needed to secure a more thorough supervision of our schools. Two methods have been suggested to meet this want: either to attach the town superintendency The qualifications of these district to the present system, or to adopt the superintendents should be from three to township organization. Without stop five years actual experience in the school ping now to argue which of these meth-room, and holding at least a five year ods is the best, I will only say that in my state certificate. opinion, after mature consideration, the township system is decidedly the better one of the two.

It may then justly be asked, why have not the people throughout the state adopted it? The answer will be found, I think, in the additional expense.

The people generally are willing to do all that is necessary to make the schools of the state a success; but when they are called upon to raise annually from six to twelve hundred dollars for county super. intendency, and then one-half as much more for a town school officer, they instantly inquire, why this extra expense? But cannot a change be made by which we can secure all that is valuable in the county superintendency-all that it has really contributed to the advancement of our schools for the past twelve years, and at the same time secure a more thorough supervision and inspection of the schools of our state, than has been attained under the present system, without materially

The time of electing this officer should be in the spring, at the April election. The district superintendent and town officers working together might and would give character and right direction to the schools, and would also infuse more earnestness and enthusiasm into the teachers; and the deficiencies, that are very evident to the most casual observer, would by this change, in a great measure be supplied.

GOOD ADVICE FROM CARLYLE.

A new book by Cunningham Geikie, addressed to young men, contains the following admirable letter from Carlyle, hitherto unpublished:

CHELSEA, 13th March, 1843. DEAR SIR: Some time ago your letter was delivered to me; I take literally the first free half-hour I have had since, to write you a word of answer.

It would give me true satisfaction, could any advice of mine contribute to forward

Another thing, and only one other, I will say. All Books are properly the record of the History of Past Men. What thoughts Past Men had in them; what actions Past Men did; the summary of all Books whatsoever lies there. It is on this ground that the class of Books specifically named History can be safely recommended as the basis of all study of Books; the preliminary to all right and full understanding of anything we can expect to find in Books. Past History, and especially the Past History of one's own Native Country-everybody may be advised to begin with that. Let him study that faithfully, innumerable inquiries, with due indications, wil branch out from it; he has a broad beaten highway from which all the country is more or less visible-there traveling, let him choose where he will dwell.

you in your honorable course of self-im- | are not destitute, though it lies far deeper, provement; but a long experience has far quieter, after solid nutritive food? taught me that advice can profit but lit- With these illustrations I will recommend tle; that there is a good reason why "ad- Johnson's advice to you. vice is so seldom followed"-this reason, namely, that it is so seldom, and can almost never be, rightly given. No man knows the state of another: it is always to some more or less imaginary man that the wisest and most honest adviser is speaking. As to the Books which you, whom I know so little of, should read, there is hardly anything definite that can be said. For one thing, you may be strenuously advised to keep reading. Any good book, any book that is wiser than yourself, will teach you something--a great many things, indirectly and directly, if your mind be open to learn. The old counsel of Johnson's is also good and universally applicable: Read the Book you do honestly feel a wish and curiosity to read. The very wish and curiosity indicates that you then and there are the person likely to get good of it. Our wishes are presentments of our capabilities:" that is a noble saying, of deep encouragement to all true men; applicable to our wishes and efforts in regard to reading, as to other things. Among all the objects that look wonderful or beautiful to you, follow with fresh hope the one that looks wonderfulest, beautifulest. You will gradually by various trials (which trials see that you make honest, manful ones, not silly, short, fitful ones) discover what is for you the wonderfullest, beautifulest; what is your true element and province, and be able to abide by that. True Desire, the Monition of Nature, is much to be attended to. In conclusion, I will remind you that But here also you are to discriminate it is not by books alone, or by books carefully between true desire and false. chiefly, that a man becomes in all points. The medical men tell us we should eat a man. Study to do faithfully whatsowhat we truly have an appetite for; but ever thing in your actual situation, there what we only falsely have an appetite for, and now, you find either expressly or we should resolutely avoid. It is very tacitly laid to your charge—that is your true. And flimsy, "desultory" readers, post; stand in it like a true soldier; siwho fly from foolish book to foolish lently devour the many chagrins of it, as book, and get good of none, and mischief all human situations have many; and be of all-are not these as foolish, unhealthy your aim not to quit it without doing all eaters, who mistake their superficial, false that it, at least, required of you. A man desire after spiceries and confectionaries perfects himself by work much more for the real appetite, of which even they, than by reading. They are a growing

Neither let mistakes nor wrong direc tions, of which every man, in his studies and elsewhere, falls into many, discourage you. There is precious instruction to be got by finding that we were wrong. Let a man try faithfully, manfully to be right; he will grow daily more and more right. It is at bottom the condition on which all men have to cultivate themselves. Our very walking is an incessant falling; a falling and a catching of ourselves before we come actually to the pavement! It is emblematic of all things a man does.