DON'T.-"Don't any of you put beans up your nose while I am gone," said an anxious mother who was compelled to leave her children alone while she went shopping. When she returned every one had a bean fast in his nose. Had she said nothing about the beans, they probably would not have thought about putting them up their noses. Teachers often make a mistake similar to this; suggesting a wrong thing by making a rule to prevent it. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

"TURN, STAND, PASS."-These words are often used by the teacher in dismissals. The idea is to dismiss orderly. This is good. It cultivates attention to have all move at a given signal. This is the thought back of this form. When this thought is dropped and the teacher says these words as her part of "the show" they become worse than nothing. "Turn-stand-pass” said as if they were syllables of one word has a bad effect on the school. The pupils crawl out of their seats with a twist and then slide along the aisle and "lop" out of the room. They seem to have no back-bone-in any sense.

LEARNING RULES TO SAY.-"A disgusted father wrote to a Philadelphia journal saying that he heard his little girl sobbing over a rule which she was trying to commit to memory, in the following words, to wit: 'Rule for short division rule dash one write the divisor at the left of the dividend, semicolon, begin at the left hand, comma, and divide the number denoted by each figure of the dividend by the divisor, comma, and write the quotient beneath, period. Paragraph. 2. If there is a remainder after any division comma, regard it as prefixed to the next figure comma and divide as before period. If any partial dividend is less than the divisor, comma, prefix it to the next figure, comma, and write a cipher in the quotient, period.' After reading these painfully idiotic paragraphs, the amazed parent made inquiry, and found that the pupils-children under ten-were required to study rules in this way, in order that they might be able to write them out and "point" them, not correctly, but according to the book."-N. Y. Tribune.

Comment is unnecessary.

FOR PUPILS.

pens

PENS.-The United States uses about a million gross of each year. Now, here is a problem for you: "How much are they worth at 333 cents a gross? But this is wholesale price; then let us try the retail price. You get six for five cents. How much are a million gross worth at that price? Don't be surprised when you get these answers. You have no idea how many a million gross are. How long would it take a boy to count them, working eight hours a day?

The United States used to import most of its pens, but now most of them are made in our own country. There is a large factory in Pennsylvania and another in Connecticut. Very nice machinery is used in manufacturing these useful instruments. Women and girls work this machinery. The following description of how they are made is worth reading:

First the steel is rolled into big sheets. This is cut into strips about three inches wide. These strips are annealed—that is, they are heated to a read heat and permitted to cool very gradually, so that the brittleness is all removed and the steel is soft enough to be easily worked. Then the strips are again rolled to the required thickness or, rather, thinness, for the average steel pen is not thicker than a sheet of thin letter paper. Next the blank pen is cut out of the flat strip. On this the name of the maker or of the brand is stamped. The last is a very important factor. There are numbers that have come to be a valuable property to manufacturers. Many clerks say they can not work to advantage unless they have particular styles of pens. The result is that by passing the word from one writer to another a market is soon created for a favorite style. Each steel pen has, therefore, to be stamped with sufficient reading matter to identify it thoroughly. The stamping is done with very nicely cut sharp dies that cut deep and clean, so that the reading matter will not be obliterated by the finishing process. Next the pen is moulded in a form which combines gracefulness with strength. The rounding enables the pen to hold the requisite ink, and to distribute it more gradually than could be done with a flat blade.

The little hole which is cut at the end of the slit serves to regulate the elasticity, and also facilitates the running of the ink. Then comes the process of hardening and tempering. The steel is heated to a cherry-red, and then plunged suddenly into some cool substance. This at once changes the quality of the metal from that of a soft, lead-like substance to a brittle, springy one. Then the temper of the steel must be drawn, for without this process it would be too brittle. The first color that appears is a straw-color. This changes rapidly to a blue. The elasticity of the metal varies with the color, and is fastened at any point by instant plunging in cold water.

The processes of slitting, polishing, pointing, and finishing the pens are operations requiring dexterity, but by long practice the workmen and work women become very expert. — The Teacher.

EDITORIAL.

LIEUTENANT SCHWATKA is in command of an expedition sent out by the New York Times to explore St. Elias, the highest peak in North America. This mountain has never yet been climbed to its top by a white man. Prof. Libby, of Princeton College, has charge of the scientific work.

A. D. DITMAR, of Lancaster, Penn., recently died leaving $80,000 to be devoted "to ascertaining what children are created to do." One feature of the institution he proposes is a room furnished with various appliances, such as musical instruments, tools used in various trades, pencils, paints, etc. In this room children are to be turned, and their tendencies and preferences are to determine the direction of their education.

SIXTY years ago Brookville was the foremost town in the State, and was the residence of many distinguished men. The land office was located there, and was in charge of Robert Hanna, a personal and life-long friend of Thomas Jefferson. Other noted personages were Governors Ray, Noble, Wallace and Hammond; Hiram Powers, the sculptor; Captain Eads, constructor of the St. Louis bridge and the Mississippi jetties; Oliver H. Glesson, Rear Admiral United States Navy; Captain Herndon, commander of the ill-fated Central America and father of President Arthur's wife; Edwin May, the architect of the State House at Indianapolis; and here General Lew Wallace was born. Ex.

S

E. L. KELLOGG & CO., of New York, has taken in the Iowa Teacher and the N. W. Journal of Education, a weekly published at Des Moines, Iowa, and merged them in the Teacher's Institute. Mr. Kellogg claims that he has thus added 3,000 to the circulation of the Institute. Last fall when he "merged" the Practical Teacher of Chicago in a similar way, he claimed to have added 10,000 to his circulation, when it was a matter of fact that the editor of the Teacher only claimed a circulation of 6,000. If Mr. Kellogg has in this case given equal scope to his vivid imagination quite a reduction will have to be made to get down to facts. The Institute is a good paper and its bona fide circulation is so large that it does not need to be "watered."

THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. The National Association has come and gone, and was what was predicted for it: One of the largest ever held. Whether it was as large as the meeting at Madison two years ago is a disputed question. Owing to the fact that railroads in their sharp competition sold many tickets good to return without being stamped by the officers of the Association, many teachers did not enroll and the exact number in attendance could not be determined. It is safe to estimate the attendance at five thousand-many placed it at seven thousand. Topeka entertained this number in good style. The work of the Association was fully up to the standard of such occasions, and everybody seemed pleased.

Indiana was largely represented. Music Hall was made headquarters for Indiana teachers, and a register was kept of all who came. The record at the close showed one hundred and ninety-two live Hoosiers and one hundred and seventy-five ex-Hoosiers. A reunion on Wednesday evening was largely attended and thoroughly enjoyed. Harry G. Wilson, formerly Superintendent of Cass county, Indiana, for several years past agent for Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co., with headquarters at Topeka, did much to make the occasion pleasant and deserves the thanks of all.

Indianians did their full share of the work of the Association. State Superintendent Holcombe presided over the primary section and did it well; and John C. Macpherson, Superintendent of Wayne county, and Geo. F. Felts, Superintendent of Allen county, made addresses; and W. N. Hailman presided over the kindergarten section and made the principal address. Geo. P. Brown, late President of the State Normal, was Secretary of the Council of Education.

The officers of the general Association for the coming year are: President, W. E. Sheldon, of Massachusetts; Secretary, James H. Canfield, of Kansas; Treasurer, E. C. Hewett, of Illinois, re-elected.

Officers of the Art Section were: President, J. M. Ordway, of Louisiana; Vice-President, J. A. Wickershan, of Indiana; Treasurer, J. D. Walters, of Kansas. Walter S. Perry, of Massachusetts, was elected President of the Art Department. Of the Elementary Department, W. H. Bartholomew, of Kentucky, was elected President, and Mrs. Sutherland, of Ohio, Secretary.

Of the normal section A. R. Taylor, of Kansas, State Normal, was re-elected President, and Mary E. Nicholson, of the Indianapolis Training School, was elected Secretary.

At the close of the Association large numbers of teachers availed themselves of the cheap railroad rates to visit various parts of the "great West." Several hundred went to California, and not less than a thousand went to Colorado and the Rocky Mountains.

The Santa Fe route got the lion's share of the western tourists, because it passes through the best part of Kansas, and gives the most attractive mountain scenery. The Denver & Rio Grande road, which is a part of this route, runs from Pueblo to Denver, a distance of 120 miles, in sight of the mountains the most of the time. Colorado Springs and Manitou, on this line, are at the foot of Pike's Peak, and are near several beautiful canons and noted springs, the Garden of the Gods, etc. This is one of the most attractive parts in this region of wonderful scenery. The writer, in company with several other Hoosiers, climbed to the top of Pike's Peak, which is one of the highest points of the Rockies-more than 14,000 feet above sea level.

A WORD PERSONAL-READ.

The Journal is now in its thirty-first volume. For more than thirty years it has been fighting the battles of education. Not a forward movement in any department of the great work has been made in all this time in which the Journal's influence has not been felt. It has advocated every good cause and opposed every bad one.

No other educational paper-nor all others combined—have done so much, nor are doing so much, nor can do so much for Indiana teachers as is the Indiana School Journal. No outside paper can know Indiana's interests, or advocate them with the intelligence or effect of a home paper that has a personal interest in everything that happens. Therefore, other things being equal, Indiana teachers should stand by their life-long friend, and patronize their own journal.

That the Journal is meeting the demands of the times is evinced by the fact that it has to-day a larger circulation than ever before, and never before received such hearty commendations from the best teachers of the State.

The Journal is determined to keep abreast the best thought of the day. To this end it employs an abler corps of department editors than