songs and music, birthday and holiday commemorations and those of the seasons, together with nature, literature, science and art. Five lines of thought have been kept constantly in mind. First: The teaching of the common virtues through memory selections culled from the best in literature. There can be nothing better than the learning of these golden gems. Second: Through the story which is related to the quotation and the daily topic. Third: Through biography, using famous characters of history and literature to arouse ideals, to kindle ambition, and to nourish a belief in one's power to do something and to cultivate a sense of worth and a feeling of self-respect. Fourth: Through the song, which conforms daily to the thought of the lesson. Fifth : Through the references which allow an enlarging upon the subject in hand. These consist of songs, additional stories and poems, Bible readings, birthdays and special days. It is well to speak of the birthday of an author or other noted person on the day before its occurrence and ask the pupils to be able to tell something of interest in regard to the person the next morning. In the case of an author pupils should be asked to bring in to be read or recited one or more selections from his works. In that of an artist, show reproductions of some of his paintings. In that of a musician have one or more of his compositions played or sung. J. C. S. MORNING EXERCISES FOR ALL THE YEAR SEPTEMBER 1 LABOR DAY [Labor Day is the first Monday in September and is Labor, all labor is noble and holy. -Mrs. F. S. Osgood LABOR DAY: ITS ORIGIN AND OBSERVANCE Perhaps LABOR DAY Owes its origin to several causes. the earliest of these was the formation of labor societies, such as the Knights of Labor, which was founded in Philadelphia in 1869. At one of the meetings of this society in New York City in 1882, a suggestion was offered that one day of the year be set aside when laborers or workingmen should not labor, but might go out and show that labor in this country is free and dignified. Later, some of the states passed laws making Labor Day a holiday, because the legislators wished to show their sympathy with the working class, many of whom could not afford to miss a day's pay by taking a vacation, and so a day was set apart when they could legally enjoy themselves and not lose their wages. In other states it was adopted for political reasons, the leaders hoping thus to secure the good will and the votes of the workingmen for whom they obtained the holiday. The idea has been growing in favor since the first Labor Day, in 1888, when Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York observed the day as a legal holiday. In 1894 Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September a legal public holiday, or "national holiday." This law is a recognition by the national government of the importance and significance of the new holiday, which had already been made a legal holiday in twenty-seven states and one territory. Read: "Labor is Worship," by Frances S. Osgood; "The Man with the Hoe," by Edwin Markham; "Burden of Labor" and "The Village Blacksmith," by Henry W. Longfellow; "The Song of the Shirt," by Thomas Hood; Bible, Matt. 25: 14-30. Sing: "Labor Day," from Songs in Season. Birthday: Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney, an American author, born in Norwich, Conn., September 1, 1791; died in Hartford, Conn., June 10, 1865. 2 THE CHILDREN'S POET I look in the brook and see a face, The rushes are dead in the old-time place, As ever it stealeth on its way, Solemnly now and not in play: "Oh, come with me To the slumberous sea That is gray with the peace of the evening sky!" I would to God that a child were I! -Eugene Field THE STORY OF EUGENE FIELD TO-DAY is the birthday of one of the best friends that children ever had. Eugene Field was a little Western boy who lived with his aunt, his mother having died when he |