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cellor de facto, as well as de jure. He proved himself, during this period, a wise counselor, a faithful friend to the students, extending encouragment and generous aid to all who were in need, ruling in University affairs with a firm but kindly hand, and by precept and example stimulating all the classes to a higher culture and nobler manhood. Throughout all these university years, besides the care and numerous duties connected with his office, he was engaged the most of the time, four or five hours daily, in the class-room. Prof. Sterlings's unselfish devotion to the University, through evil as well as through good report, - his faithful stewardship, uniformity rendered, whether as professor or chief officer, — have endeared him in a marked

and peculiar way, not only to those immediately connected with the institution, but to its friends everywhere.

During the entire connection of Prof. Sterling with the University, he has not lost over two months. He was appointed dean of the faculty in 1860; in 1865, vice-chancellor; and vice-president in 1869, which office he still holds. For one year after the resignation of President Chadbourne, he was the acting head of the University by virtue of his office as vice-president, and again for one term after the resignation of President Twombly. In addition to the chair of mathematics, he has filled for a number of years that of natural philosophy and astronomy. While acting-chancellor, after the resignation of Dr. Barnard, Prof. Sterling presided at commencements to the time of Dr. Chadbourne's administration, giving a brief address at each. From the last of these the following is extracted:

"It is with unfeigned pleasure that I greet you as alumni of the University of Wisconsin. You have struggled up to this position through many difficulties and discouragements. In the unswerving constancy and persistence with which, in the face of so many obstacles, you have adhered to the noble purpose of acquiring an education, we have the earnest of an honorable and successful life.

"I rejoice in every worthy accession to the graduates of the University. The number and character of its alumni is one of the most potent elements of influence and prosperity to any institution of learning. How much do Harvard, and Yale, and Princeton, to-day owe to their numerous alumni scattered all over the world. Very few have any proper appreciation of the difficulties, which, even in the most favorable circumstances, must be encountered by those who are engaged in laying the foundations of an institution of learning. One and perhaps the principal source of difficulty, lies in the absence of

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that sympathy and co-operation which are best supplied by a numerous and loyal alumni.

“We rejoice in any evidence that the predjudice and the opposition under which the University has heretofore labored, are giving way to more enlightened views, and more worthy action. We take pride in recognizing the fact that the people and the legislature of this state are beginning to extend to their University that sympathy and generous support without which it cannot reasonably be expected to prosper. And we look forward to the day, not far distant, when the University of Wisconsin shall be the chief pride of the state, and her glory abroad."

In 1866, Prof. Sterling received from his alma mater, the honorary degree of doctor of philosophy, and the same year from Lawrence University, at Appleton, Wisconsin, that of doctor of laws. As a man he is above reproach. His integrity of character, scrupulous fidelity, and high sense of honor, are beyond question.— C. W. BUTTERFIELD, in the University Press.

WISCONSIN'S COAT OF ARMS.

We are permitted to copy the following letter from Col. Geo. W. Burchard, private secretary of Governor Smith, and are sure that it will be interesting to every reader of the Journal:

STATE OF WISCONSIN, EXECUTIVE Dep’T, MADISON, Wis. MR. H. A. BEMIS, Milton College, Milton, Wis.

Dear Sir:- A temporary absence has prevented an earlier reply to your favor, making inquiry as to the motto of Wisconsin, its origin and interpretation; but availing myself of the first moment's leisure since returning, I take much pleasure in communicating such information in regard to the subject as I have been able to gather.

The records of the executive office and of the office of the Secretary of State, are entirely silent in regard to the origin or interpretation of the Great Seal, or the devices engraved thereon. The Seal was procured by Governor Nelson Dewey, very soon after, if not before, his first inauguration as Governor, in 1848; and a description thereof deposited with and recorded by the Secretary of State, December 29, 1851.

It is believed that Governor Dewey applied to Chancellor Lathrop, of the State University, to design a Great Seal for the State, and

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that a design therefor was furnished by him, and that Governor Dewey, being in the city of New York, was about to have a seal engraved therefrom. On his way to the engravers, the Governor chanced to meet, in Wall Street, the Hon. E. G. Ryan - now Chief Justice of the State - and, exhibiting the design to him, it was criticised and disapproved; and then and there those two citizens of Wisconsin, in that busy thoroughfare, designed the present seal and coat of arms of the State. Doubtless, it is to this circumstance and the associations connected therewith that we are to look for the explanation of the motto Forward.” The motto of New York is " Excelsior," and, being in New York, her motto came prominently into notice and suggested the similar one of " Forward." A representation of a badger was introduced, not so much because " badgers" were more plenty in Wisconsin than elsewhere, but because the settlers in the Territory, from the earliest times after the Jesuit missionaries, were called " Badgers" to distinguish them from the people of Illinois, who were called "Suckers," because they came up the various streams during the period of high water in the spring and went down again with rafts, etc.

Whereas the Wisconsin settlers, in those early days, were mostly in the mining regions of the south west, and remained there throughout the year, and not a few of them literally "burrowed in the ground" after the manner of badgers - excavating rather than building dwellings. The shield supported by the sailor and miner, and bearing the emblems of agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and mining, surrounding the smaller national shield and motto is, of course, easily understood, without explanation.

Very respectfully, GEO. W. BURCHARD. - From the Milton College Journal.

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COUNTRY SCHOOLS. — I.

In city and country the objects of education are alike, but the conditions of the two are so dissimilar that the schools are necessarily unlike in organization and general methods. The aggregation of pupils in the city allows of a gradation and division of labor quite impossible in the country; and the concentrated wealth of the city gives superior advantages in the way of school-houses and all the appliances of education. Still there are compensations in the country; and in excellence of results country schools, intelligently conducted,

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approach nearer the highest standard of city schools than is generally supposed.

The low condition of country schools in many parts of the country is owing in part to intrinsic defects, and in part to accidental causes. The former can be much ameliorated and the latter removed by making the most of all favoring conditions, and by a wise administration that fully comprehends their needs.

Advantages. — The advantages of situation possessed by country schools will be more and more appreciated as instruction progressively approximates to rational methods. In the country the study of natural history, the foundation of all primary instruction, can be carried on without cost for material; and as the children are daily brought into immediate contact with Nature, the study may be made doubly interesting and profitable. The growth of mind is a slow process, requiring periods of alternate activity and rest. The perpetual din and motion in the city stimulates mental activity, but there is no opportunity for the rest which the quiet of the country affords. If the proper means are taken to awaken the mental powers, the conditions of healthful mental growth greatly preponderate in the country schools. There devolves upon the teacher, however, the duty of arousing thought, to prevent the mental stagnation which comes from uncultivated perceptions, and the narrowness incident to limited experiences.

Another advantage in country life favorable to scholarship is the general mingling of work and study. Both boys and girls have something to do as well as something to learn; and when the work is limited to the proper amount, and not pushed to the point of exhaustion, it becomes a source of additional intellectual vigor. Teachers who have had experience in both city and country schools, with great unanimity, testify that the pupils in the latter take greater interest and make greater progress in a given time. This is doubtless owing in part to the work, which gives them motive and vigor, and in part to the shorter terms of country schools.

Dr. Seguin, the eminent physiologist and physician, advocates outdoor study as the most conducive to bodily health and mental vigor. He thinks pupils from a very early age should be brought in direct contact with Nature, and no lesson should be given in-doors that can be given without. To accomplish this end he proposes to make the public parks of the city great educational institutions, where Nature may be studied at first hand. While this plan may not be practical

at present, it indicates the direction of the improvements which are demanded for education. In the country are found the conditions which this improved system of education calls for to a much greater extent than in the city, and there seems no good reason why country schools may not be made to take the lead in reducing these ideas to practice.

Defects. — The greatest intrinsic disadvantage of country schools is the limited number of pupils, and the consequent impossibility of a proper system of grading. Pupils of all ages and degrees of advancement meet in the same room, each grade diminishing the opportunities of the other; primary and advanced instruction go on together, mutually interfering with each other; and so wide a range of employment is given to the teacher that he cannot become an expert in any department, and he fails to do justice to any class. While these evils are incident to the situation of country schools, the ill effects may be diminished by wise organization and administration.

Boards of Control. — That organization has proved the most successful which has brought several schools, as those of a township, under one board of control. The advantages which this system has over that of single districts are a more intelligent management, the employment of better qualified teachers, the erection of better school houses, greater care in the preservation of school property, a wiser supervision, and a more equitable distribution of taxes. When the board is invested with the power of grading and establishing central schools for the higher classes, and when they exercise this power judiciously, the greatest inherent defect of the country school system is largely overcome, and the schools in efficiency are made to approximate very closely to the city schools. The teacher may also do much to diminish the evils of mixed schools, by reducing the number of classes to the minimum, by more frequent general exercises, by the adoption of rational methods, and by the more general introduction and practice of written work. The other evils connected with country schools are wholly remediable by the State, the district, and the teacher.

School Houses. - In many parts of the country the condition of the school-houses and of the premises about them is a disgrace to the community. A building made ugly to the extreme of parsimony in its construction, affording no adequate protection from the elements, destitute of ordinary comforts within, and wanting in the conveniences demanded by decency without, is the place where all the children of

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