may be added, there is not a single navigable river on the whole Pacific Coast of South America.

Of the streams within the Great Basin, the only one having any considerable development is the Humboldt, which marks the only convenient line for travel across the Basin and the only practicable railroad route. As before mentioned, it also marks an important change in the geological structure of the region.

The number of waterfalls within the area of the Cordilleras is very great, although but few if any have attained celebrity. The most interesting are those of Snake River, called the Shoshone Falls, and these are but little inferior to Niagara in grandeur, all the features of the surrounding scenery being, in each case, taken into consideration. Situated in the midst of the volcanic region, with stupendous overhanging cliffs of basaltic lava, the Shoshone Falls are among the finest in the world, and are surpassed probably, only by Niagara, the Kaieteur and the Falls of the Zambesi. The number of beautiful falls on the upper waters of the Columbia yet unknown and nameless is no doubt considerable, and the scenery of that portion of the country is of a character which is indeed wonderful in its grandeur of simplicity and desolation.

[For the California Teacher.]

THE VALLEY OF HUMILIATION.

There seems to be a disposition, at present, to find fault, not so much with the work of the teacher, as with the worker; their labor is over at 3 o'clock,—in the eye of the law, at least, -and their compensation is fair; therefore, say the Argus-eyed, we must watch them closely, be sure that this salary is not earned too easily, and magnify every flaw which we may find, in order to keep before them a due sense of their own unworthiness.

But the most obtuse of mortals will admit that there are, among the roses which they fancy bestrew the teacher's path, a few sharp thorns.

How soon a pretty round-cheeked girl begins to lose her bloom, and grow care-worn and "school-teacher looking," we all must have noticed; the work of teaching is the smallest part;

it is the worry that wears away her youth. The anxiety lest she be called a failure; the necessity of keeping quiet sixty little bodies which cannot keep still, and ought not to keep still; the fear lest they be not learning as rapidly as they ought; the kind, or alas! unkind criticisms of those about her; the falsehoods, the whippings, the truant-playing, the parents;-only those who have passed through it can fully understand, and know how it is that the stifling air of the school-room makes the roses fade.

The present Board of Education has, doubtless, only the public weal in view; under the most careful and conscientious administrations, abuses will creep in or spring up which need a "new broom;" only the inefficient and lazy desire a lax discipline in the Department; and faithful teachers know that their worth is better appreciated when mediocrity is condemned.

Yet it is not wholly in fun, nor wholly without reason that the administration of the present Board has been termed the "Reign of Terror;" the sword of Damocles is not a cheerful thing to see suspended over one's head, and those who have served the Public faithfully and earnestly for years, who have given the best of life, youth, to their work, may well feel that they pass through the "Valley of Humiliation" when they receive a coldly worded reprimand from those in power, for some real or fancied short-coming and realize at the same time how insecure is the tenure of their positions.

The notifications which some teachers received that their classes were not in a satisfactory condition, were based, undoubtedly, upon the reports made by Principals during the latter part of December.

It is maintained, not by the interested ones alone, but by all who love to see justice done, that these reports were most insufficient data to base notices upon, which could not fail to awaken in the minds of all who received them, a keen sense of pain and humiliation.

It presupposed that Principals were all, without exception, actuated by a pure sense of justice, and that their judgments were infallible.

There are about fifty Principals in the city, and few will dare assert that among so many human beings not one will be found who will allow malice, prejudice or favoritism to sway their

minds, if not consciously, then unconsciously. Many teachers declare, that there is not one school in the city, from the High Schools down to the lowest Primary, in which the evil of favoritism does not prevail to a greater or less degree.

Some are born to win hearts, and so long as those in power are human, the charming and agreeable will have their faults gently covered and their failures excused, to the bitter envy and wrong of the less fortunate.

But though a Principal were more than humanly cold and conscientious, so that no grain of favor toward one, or prejudice toward another should creep into the report, I protest against their judgment being the "It is so," from which there is no appeal.

The opinion might be hazarded that in four cases out of five the Assistants on the first floor are better judges of a teacher's success than the Principal, even when the latter has every desire to see clearly and form a correct judgment; and this without going out of their way in the least, or neglecting their own affairs; in looking down or looking up, things may be distorted, but on her own plane a teacher is certain to be set down at her true value; some Principals object, I have understood, to teachers thus passing judgment on each other, but it will be done until free speech is forbidden, and eyes and ears abolished.

To their credit be it recorded, that the powers that be are so rarely enlightened, however warmly the inefficient may be praised and rewarded.

The very presence of the Principal in the room imposes a restraint upon the pupils; especially if the teacher has impressed upon their minds the necessity of behaving particularly well during such visits; by no means an unusual precaution. I heard of one class, in which the discipline was esteemed "fair," the pupils of which had picnics in the aisles every forenoon, by spreading down their shawls, and eating their lunches thereon, the teacher has since been rewarded with one of the best positions in the gift of the Department; and the faithful plodder who then drudged away in the next room, recently received a notice from the Classification Committee that her class was "not in a satisfactory condition;" and she now trembles between anger at the injustice, and terror of losing the place which gives her bread and butter.

But even if these reports were just in every particular, so far as those giving them were able to make them just, there are other reasons why they should not have been made the sole basis of these mortifying reprimands, especially in the cases of those who have long been teachers in the Department.

In some schools, more than half, in others, not one of the assistants received notices; yet the average of good and poor must be about the same in all.

Here a palpable injustice is done; what one calls "Good" another rates "Fair," and another " Poor;" so that it happens that in one school a teacher receives a notice, who is, perhaps, twenty-five per cent. more efficient than another, in another school, who receives none.

However severe the requirements, though they tax the very last grain of strength; however heavily the hand of power may press, we can become used to it, and still bear a little more; it is the single grain of injustice which cannot be borne.

Just after the recent election, a remark was current in educational circles, said to have been made by one of the newly-elected officials, to the effect that "teachers had had an easy time, but now they had got to work."

Whether this was true or not, the remark of the gentleman to whom it was credited does not very much matter, since the whole tenor of the acts of the new Board has borne out the spirit of the remark with suspicious exactitude.

Among as many men and women as those employed by the Department, there will always be found a certain proportion who will manage in some way to shirk their duties, and get along with as little labor as is consistent with a bare existence in the school-room; and no severity, no rule-making, no ingenuity, will ever succeed in making these teachers do just as they ought; they intend to take life easy, and they will, and they do.

But all the new rules and ingenious contrivances for extorting additional work, fall upon those who already were working too hard; having exhausted all natural strength, they are compelled to do that ruinous thing,-work with the nerves.

It is surely a melancholy thought, enough to make Directors and Superintendents pause and think for a moment, that young women should lead such a life, that each Friday night brings a

profound feeling of relief-" another week gone!" I fancy slaves lead a similar existence.

I once heard a teacher say,-one would not have suspected her of working too hard, either," I live in Saturdays, Sundays and vacations; the rest of the time I feel like a clock, wound up, and always going with a whirr."

The recent consolidations may save the Department money; it is to be hoped that they will, since the work cannot, by any possibility, be done as well.

We might, perhaps, teach sixty pupils in the same time, and with as good results as we teach forty, although it is much to be doubted; but the discipline of the additional third takes a great deal of time, patience, and-well, resignation; vastly more than Directors imagine.

The teachers are a small, uninfluential, and uncomplaining body of human beings; but I venture to say, that among the salaried servants of the Public, none do their work more faithfully, earnestly and quietly; they certainly have a right to the courtesy and justice of a hearing in their own defense, before they are reprimanded and condemned. In the treason laws of England, two credible witnesses must be confronted with the offender; an item which we beg to recommend to the notice of the Board. Meanwhile, in view of the general uncertainty of things, we will adopt the wise man's prayer, "Help us to remember that our common mercies are uncommon blessings." C. G. D.

[For the California Teacher.]

ON THE USE OF RULES IN THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE.

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It is a general custom among teachers to require their pupils to depend on rules, and insist on enforcing them, in the study of language, and to regard them as indispensable auxiliaries in their labors.

Some recent experiments and careful observations have confirmed what I have long suspected to be true, namely, that rules, as they are regarded and employed, hinder, instead of aiding the learner.