that this means that they They must have "a way

dom in teaching. They seem to think must not do as any one else has done. of their own," even though the "way" violates the principles of mind-growth. The most discouraging thing in regard to such teachers is, they are not sensible of their misery. The laws of mind are as unchangeable as the laws of matter. The violation of one brings about as disastrous results as the violation of the other.

"RING, RANG, RUNG."

THE class was asked to use rang in a sentence. Hands came up almost instantly. One little girl was called on and she said very sweetly, "Has the bell rang?" "O my!" said the teacher. "Think, think; ring, rang, rung," he continued. The little girl felt the correction keenly and would have made another trial, but the teacher called on "the next," who said, "The bell rang." "Yes," said the teacher, "that sounds more like it."

Question: Was the first pupil benefited? Was she any less likely to repeat her mistake? The teacher called frequently for the different forms of ring, and they were always given as follows: "Ring, rang, rung." The teacher said to the visitor that the pupils knew those forms just as well as any body, but when called on to use them in sentences, they failed. He wondered why.

This is the first step of progress. Why do my pupils do thus ? Teachers are too apt to think it is because they, the pupils, do not try.

We venture, in the above case, that the words when used carried no meaning with them as to time. It would have done them just as much good to say "Intra, mintra, cutra, corn," as to say "Ring, rang, rung." Put meaning into the words and associate the word with its meaning frequently enough to make the one always suggest the other. Ring should call up the idea now. Rang, yesterday, last week, time past. The idea that the first child had was that the ringing had ceased: this idea should have called up the proper form has rung. Saying "Ring, rang, rung" will never bring about the end desired.

FINDING WORDS.

FIFTY pupils of a Fourth Reader class were asked to find the word persist in their High School Dictionaries. One pupil reported in twenty seconds. Three or four in thirty seconds. It was five minutes before all reported.

They were told that they were too slow and they were urged to work more rapidly. Another word was placed on the board. They did work more rapidly. They spit upon their fingers and turned the leaves of their books rapidly. It really looked and sounded more like business; but the result was no better. They ranged from a half minute to five minutes in finding the word. A few, by mere accident, found the word almost instantly. This was evident from the fact that those who were quickest in finding the first word were not so in finding the second. It was noted that many pupils turned leaf after leaf first one way and then the other; that they looked through several columns before finding the word. Pupils might be slow and yet understand how to find words. Skill comes by practice, but we should know what to practice. Pupils do not know by instinct, how to find words in the dictionary. The teacher is apt to neglect teaching 'hem how, because it seems so simple to him that he thinks every ody ought to know it.

SUGGESTIONS.

Have the pupil think where in the alphabet the initial letter of the word is. Is it in the first half or last half? In what part of this half is it? Take for example the word persist. The initial letter is in the first part of the last half of the alphabet. Try to open the book at the first part of the last half. Suppose the pupil opened at m. He must now think that p comes after m, so he must turn to the right or toward the back part of the book. He must judge as to how many leaves to turn. He not only wishes but pe. Since e is the fifth letter of the alphabet he knows that he must turn several leaves. It is a great waste of time to turn them one by one. Have him put his thumb on the page and lift up the upper corners of the leaves with his first and second fingers, instead of moistening the ends of his fingers with his tongue and flipping leaf after leaf.

Let us suppose now that he has reached page 221 of Webster's High School Dictionary. At the top of each page in this dictionary are two words; the first one is the same as the first word in the first column; the second is the same as the last word in the last column. The last one on this page is pence, and as r comes after n, he knows his word is not on that page. He turns to the next page and finds the second word at the top is perchance. Since s comes after he knows the word is not on that page. He glances at the next page and in a similar way sees that it can not

be on that page. He turns now to page 224. Here the first word is perpendicularity and the last one petrel. As s comes after

and before t, he knows his word is on that page. In which column? He looks at the first word in the second column and finds it to be personification. Since o comes after i, he knows the word must come before personification, and is therefore in the first column. He needs to look in this column only.

This is slow work at first, but when practiced persistently pupils become very skillful in finding words, and much valuable time is saved.

WHY FIND WORDS?

Generally for one of two things,-pronunciation or meaning. The pronunciation of monosyllables and accented syllables is easily determined, as in these the letters are marked; but in the unaccented syllables they are marked only when they are exceptions to a general principle given in the "front part" of the book. The teacher must decide for the younger pupils, but the older ones should be taught how to use this "front part." Turn to the word adult. Here the first syllable is composed of the letter a and is unaccented and is unmarked. Now turn to page IX of the "front part" of the book. Read Section 41. Reference is made to Note 1 under Section 40. Read the reference on the same page. Then re read Section 41, and we find that a has a

brief sound of Italian a.

This paper is already too long, so we shall say nothing about getting the meaning of the word.

Political "ringsters" now read it plainly "on the wall."

DEPARTMENT OF PEDAGOGY.

[This Department is conducted by S. S. PARR, Principal De Pauw Normal School.]

I

—:0:

THE MEANS FOR TEACHING GEOGRAPHY.

N considering how to teach geography to a country school,

we have thus far considered what the subject is logically and

chronologically, and sketched the purposes for which it is taught. Next in this series comes an inventory of the means the teacher can command. We have all heard of Mrs. Partington's attempt to mop back the ocean when it rose into her door yard, and how the ocean was excited and how Mrs. Partington got her "dander up" and mopped with might and main, but all in vain; her means were inadequate to her purpose! If our means of teaching geography are inadequate to our purpose, failure will result.

It sounds like a curious proposition to say that the most important means in the teacher's hands is the pupil's mind, and yet it is true.

The text-book is a means of gathering certain facts to be used as material by the pupil's mind.

Maps and charts are important means for getting ideas of form, outline, parts and their location, and the location of places.

Books of travel, scientific and other descriptions, gazetteers, cyclopedias and magazine articles are all means of auxiliary information.

The moulding-board is an efficient means of gaining a general idea of the vertical contour of a counrry. It is also an excellent test of the pupil's understanding of what he has learned. An attempt has been made to proclaim the moulding-board the ne plus ultra, or words to that effect, of the subject of geography. So far the attempt is a failure.

Map drawing is an excellent means of fixing in memory a representation, on a small scale, of a country or other kind of geographical feature. But to mistake a remembered idea of a piece of paper splotched here and there with colors and lines resembling the tracks of flies that had tumbled into the ink-bottle, for

the idea of a real, living country is very much like mistaking a druggist's mortar for an apothecary shop!

The teacher's fund of information is a valuable means of supplementing and completing the work done by the pupil for him. self and of testing the accuracy of the knowledge gathered and assimilated by the latter. A small bank soon stops payment

when a run is made on it. If the teacher has a meager fund of geographical knowledge, his value in this regard will be small.

The pupil's experience and observation form very valuable means of teaching the subject. Indeed all the knowledge he gathers must be interpreted in terms of this. It is the teacher's business to see that this is done, else knowledge derived from sources outside of it will be in a measure valueless.

A good method is a valuable means. By method is meant the way or manner the various means are combined into a working order-the way the means are adapted to the end.

The foregoing are believed to be the chief means employed in teaching this important subject. All of them should be employed, none being given undue prominence, and none neglected. If rightly employed, they are ample for realizing the purpose.

S. S. P.

AN OLD STORY RETOLD.

SUPPOSE one remembered fully the following; what would he do?

"Him the Almighty Power

Hurled headlong flaming from the eternal sky,

With hideous ruin and combustion, down

To bottomless perdition, there to dwell

In adamantine chains and penal fire,

Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms."

To the mind, as idea, this is the imagination's picture of the hurling of the rebel Lucifer from the battlements of Heaven down to Hell. It involves a series of ideas, Lucifer, the Almighty Power, Heaven, Hell, and the condition of Lucifer in his punishment,-and their relations, as pictured and thought.

In thinking these ideas there is a consecutive set of mental acts independent of bodily action.