ent stages of child life. Children are not little men and women. Children are children. The boy does not grow as the apple or the vegetable grows. There is a certain fixed growth of the physical frame but there are also different stages of growth. To teach children to write we do not permit them to copy the finer specimens of penmanship. We prefer to give them a piece of chalk and acres of blackboard for them to write upon; we know that in his developing stage the large muscles of the arm are ready for these large exercises.

"The life of the child is divided into epochs, and if we would have the highest development we must take advantage of the development of the epochs. The first year of his school life must be devoted to the development of his powers of sense, and if this is neglected the loss will be felt through life. One of the first things to be developed is memory. Then comes the time for the development of the imagination. We see the boy studying his books until we become suspicious, and on examination found hid in his geography the yellow covered dime novel. Then we lectured the school on the pernicious effects of such literature, without noting the fact that the mind is craving an opportunity to feed the imagination and should be provided with healthy literary food. Then comes the day for boyish lying; it is for the purpose of exciting wonderment in others, and is not coupled with viciousness like the lies of the adults.

"If we must reconstruct our schools, we must do it on the basis of child study. We must make the study fit the child and not jam the child into the study by arbitrary and inflexible rules."

Nominations are Reported.

The Committee on Nominations reported the names of Miss Ada Smith, of Eau Claire, Prof. H L. Terry, of Waukesha, and Prof. J. W. Livingston, of Stevens Point, as vice-presidents. Myron E. Keats, of Fond du Lac, to succeed W. H. Cheever, of Milwaukee, as secretary; Arthur Burch, of Milwaukee, to succeed R. J. O'Hanlon, of Rhinelander as treasurer. The committee also nominated the following. Executive committee: Prof. G. G. Williams, of West Superior; Prof. C. D. Marsh, of Ripon; Supt. David Throne, of Afton; Prof. G. C. Shutts, of Whitewater, and Prof. E. A. Brainard, of Richland Center.

The report of the committee was adopted and the officers named were declared formally elected.

Miss Rose C. Swart, of Oshkosh, was then elected president for the ensuing year.

The following standing committees were announced by President Williams, who occupied the chair during the session:

On Legislation, in place of David Throne-J. H. Nattrass, Shullsburg.

Literature and Supplementary Reading, to succeed Rose C. Swart-W. H. Elson, West Superior.

Member of Advisory Committee-Dr. J. W. Stearns, Madison.

Committee on Semi-Centennial Celebration-J. Q. Emery, Madison; Albert Salisbury, Whitewater; J. W. Stearns, Madison; H. O. R. Siefert, Milwaukee; M. H. Jackson, Columbus.

Advisory Committee, Semi-Centennial Celebration-Arthur Burch, Milwaukee; W. H. Chandler, Madison; G. S. Albee, Oshkosh; L. D. Harvey, Milwaukee; A. J. Hutton, Whitewater; W. J. Brier, River Falls; W. C. Hewitt, Osh

kosh; W. H. Cheever, Milwaukee; E. W. Walker, West Superior; Albert Hardy, Platteville; J. W. Livingston, Stevens Point; D. D. Mayne, Janesville; David Throne, Afton; Rose C. Swart, Oshkosh; Anna Smith, Eau Claire; Emma C. Underwood, Avoca; R. B. Dudgeon, Madison; B. B. Jackson, Ashland; F. G. Kraege, Green Bay; L. A. Williams, Fond du Lac; C. H. Nye, Lancaster; Myron E. Keats, Fond du Lac; J. H. Nattrass, Shullsburg; J. S. Roessler, Sauk City.

Brief addresses were then made on the subject of "Child Study" by Prof. M. V. O'Shea of the state university, C. P. Cary of Milwaukee, and by Dr. W. O. Krohn of Hospital, Ill., a suburb near Chicago. Reports on the work accomplished by a society organized at Marinette, was made by Supt. J. T. Edwards.

Child Study at the University.

Prof. M. V. O'Shea of Madison, gave an extemporaneous talk on Child Study at the University, sketching briefly the manner in which the teacher may learn the nature and capabilities of the individual and develop the capacities in order to make the child an adult at the earliest possible moment, yet without injuring the systematic development. Nature must be followed, not antagonized. The business of instruction is to supply the nutrition for development, rather than cut it off.

Supt. J. T. Edwards of Marinette, made announcement of the coming meeting of the Northeastern Teachers' association, and asked all who could do so to attend. The date is not yet fixed, but it will be about April 1st, in one of the cities of the Fox River valley. Mr. Edwards also made a report of the Marinette association for child study, giving the details of organization and the plan of the work. The members were about equally divided between those who rule the home and those who rule the school, and the subjects discussed are ranged about the line which divides the two realms. Out of the meetings has grown a very friendly relation between parents and teachers. One of the results of these meetings has been a great increase in the number of visitors at the schools. Mr. Edwards closed by saying that the society is not in active work this year, though it is only resting and may be revived when conditions demand it.

More Talks on Child Study.

C. P. Cary spoke briefly on the work of the Milwaukee Child Study association. The society was organized little more than a year ago, and its work has been chiefly of the round table order. Reports on original lines of investigation have been made to the society by committees and discussed. The society has not sought to have its meetings attended by large crowds of people, and its work has been mostly on the statistical order.

Dr. W. O. Krohn of Chicago, spent a few minutes in continuation of the theme of his lecture last evening on child study, showing how the childish conception acts more quickly in some directions than in others. Scientific investigations often develop half a truth. Experimental investigations develop the other half and when the two are put together a symmetrical truth is presented. The schools must make for rather than against the child's health. A vigorous mentality and a perfect morality cannot be built on an unhealthy physical organization, therefore sanitation demands careful attention.

On the general discussion of the subject of child study, Prof. O'Shea was called out to answer various questions. The fears which possess children are partly inherited and partly developed by unsympathetic teachers. Such teachers ought to be dropped from the schools just as soon as their lack of sympathy with child nature is ascertained.

Report of the Committee on Resolutions.

Resolved, 1. That we hereby give our thanks to the managers of the railroads and hotels of Milwaukee for their usual courtesies extended to this association.

2. That we express our gratitude to the authorities of the Grand Avenue Methodist church and to all the other educational and public authorities of this city who tendered the use of rooms and public halls for our sessions.

3. That we appreciate the interest shown by the public press of this city and state for their interest in our deliberations and thank them for their full report .

4. That we tender our thanks and appreciative acknowledgement to the ladies who, by their excellent music, added so greatly to the enjoyment of all present.

5. That our thanks are extended to the officers of the association for their tireless efforts in our behalf and for their wise and efficient administration and to the citizens and teachers of Milwaukee for the very pleasant reception tendered on Wednesday evening.

T. B. PRAY.
L. D. ROBERTS,
C. S. SLICHTER.
Committee.

Resolved, That a committee of six be appointed by the president of the association to study the condition and needs of the country schools of Wisconsin, in all their bearings, and to report the result of their deliberations to this association at its next meeting-three of said committee to be county superintendents, and ample time given in the program for the general discussion of the report of the commit

tee.

Introduced by Pres Salisbury.

W. H. Cheever, Secretary.

Statistics of Attendance, N. E. A.

New York teachers attended the meeting at Buffalo to the extent of 6 per cent. of the entire number of teachers in the

state.

Wisconsin teachers attended to almost 15 per cent. of their number, though rates on railroads are higher and distances greater.

Illinois is almost as accessible to Milwaukee as is Wisconsin but that state sent but little more than 3 per cent. of her teachers.

At the Buffalo meeting the great state of New York furnished 23 per cent. of the enrolment.

At the St. Paul meeting Minnesota furnished 12.5 per cent. of the attendance.

At the Chicago meeting Illinois made up 19 per cent. of the attendance.

At Milwaukee Wisconsin furnished 29 per cent. of the attendance.

At Madison in '84 but 5 per cent of the Wisconsin teachers attended as against 15 per cent. at Milwaukee.

But twice in the history of the N. E. A. has there been enrolled from one state so many members as from Wisconsin during this meeting.

Had all the railroads sold convention tickets on the day the convention opened the membership from Wisconsin would not have fallen short, in all probability, of 2,500.

Of the 4,900 members from the North Central States, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, our state gave nearly 40 per cent.

Ginn & Co.

BOOK TABLE.

-BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA, edited with notes and an introduction by Hammond Lamont (72+152 pp., cloth, 60c.), offers abundant material for the study of one of the greatest examples of parliamentary eloquence. The introduction reviews the social and political conditions of the times, the life and statesmanship of Burke, and his oratorical style, and gives an analysis of this speech. The notes are very full, dealing with the historical, political, linguistic and literary points of the speech. An unusually detailed index completes the volume, of which the speech itself takes about one-third part.

-UNDINE, a tale by Frederic, Baron de la Motte Fouqué, translated by Abby L. Alger (106 pp. 30c.), presents in the substantial form of the Classics for Children Series, one of the most charming of German fairy tales. It has a fascination which is felt alike by old and young by reason of its appeal to great fundamental human interests, while the element of the supernatural in it is so cleverly managed as not even to offend a mature mind. The story is wholesome and elevating in tone, and its setting in natural scenery delightful.

-EARTH AND SKY, a first grade nature reader and textbook, by J. H. Stickney (115 pp.: 35c,), aims to be something more than a reader,—a guide for the most elementary work in nature study. It aims to open up the world as it lies before the child, and teach him how to advance in understanding it. The plans of the book are new and promising, and primary teachers will be attracted and aided by them. D. Appleton & Co.

-HAROLD'S FIRST DISCOVERIES, by J. W. Troeger (93 pp.; boards, 25c.), belongs to the Home Reading Books, and is the first of the nature-study readers, for youngest pupils. The dispersion of seeds; trees and fruits; a few topics in physics; four or five forms of animal life; and budding and germinating are the topics presented. They are treated in a series of short sentences, in a way to promote observation and awaken interest in children.

--UNCLE ROBERT'S VISIT, by Francis W. Parker and Nellie Lathrop Helm (191 pp.; cloth, 50c.), deals with observational geography. The farm is the center of interest, of which Frank draws a map and explores its curiosities with his sympathetic uncle. They study the animals, the flower garden, the woods, the birds, the flowers, the village, the river, the showers, the barometer and the thermometer with their uses. The book is in the form of lively dialogue, presents attractive pictures of rural and home life, and appeals to the imagination of young readers in a way sure to interest and stimulate them.

Ainsworth & Co., Chicago.

-Selections FROM PLATO-THE APOLOGY-THE PHAEDO, from the translation by Taylor, with introduction and notes by Harry T. Nightingale, (154 pp.; 30c.), affords gratifying evidence of the advance in methods of study going on in our high schools Instead of merely studying about great authors our pupils are now brought into the presence of the masters themselves. And what more satisfactory as literature, more elevating ethically or more inspiring and interesting could be offered them than these two productions of one of the greatest masters of all time? The introductions furnish the information necessary to understanding the circumstances to which the pieces relate, and these are so clear and forceful as to require very little comment. The introduction of such works into the school is eminently desirable.

Commissioner of Education.

-The second volume of the REPORT OF THE Commissioner OF EDUCATION for 1895-6 contains several chapters of much interest. The account of education in Sweden and Iceland will be found instructive. Manual training is studied as carried on in the United States, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Dr. Gabriel Compayre's report on higher and secondary education in the United States has value as a study of our institutions by a competent foreign scholar. The teaching and promotion of agriculture receives considerable attention. Esthetic culture and art decorations in school-rooms are suggestively treated. A little over half the volume is devoted to tables of statistics.

National Educational Association.

-Addresses AND PROCEedings of thE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION came to hand promptly this year. The work of editing and seeing thro the press a volume like this of 1132 pages is exacting and wearisome, and Secretary Shepard is to be congratulated upon its prompt and satisfactory completion. Of course the most important feature of the Milwaukee meeting was the report of the committee of twelve on rural schools, which occupies two hundred pages of this volume. It is becoming more and more true that the general meetings at our associations are the least valuable. Serious contributions to educational thot come in more special studies than find place here. The kindergarten department, that of child study, that of superintendence, and that of natural science perhaps afforded the most instructive and helpful papers. The size of these annual volumes is appalling, and becomes more and more so as the number of them increases. It is a problem whether all interests would not be better subserved by a more critical winnowing of the material. However, it is very difficult to effect this satisfactorily, and when all is printed each reader will take that best suited to his needs.

-SELECTIONS FROM WASHINGTON, LINCOLN AND BRYANT, edited by Harry T. Nightingale, (Ainsworth & Co.. Chicago; 40 pp.; 15c), contains Washington's Rules of Conduct and Farewell Address; Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech and First Inaugural, and Bryant's Robert of Lincoln, To a Waterfowl, The Fringed Gentian, Wind and Stream, and Conqueror's Grave.

-D. C. Heath & Co. have added to their Modern Language Series Johanna Spyri's MONI DER GEISSBUB, with vocabulary by H. A. Guerber, (74 pp.; 25c.); and GERMAN SELECTIONS FOR SIGHT READING, compiled by G. F. Mondan, (44 pp.; 15c.).

The last bulletin of the University of Wisconsin is in the Engineering series, A COMPARATIVE TEST OF STEAM INJECTORS, by George Henry Trautmann, (25c.).

-From the Educational Publishing Company we have received five numbers of their Young Folks' Library of Choice Literature, in stiff paper binding, sold at five cents each. They are Æsop's Fables: Hawthorne's Three Golden Apples; Miss Dawes' Story of the Norsemen; Irving's Rip Van Winkle and the Spectre Bridegroom; and Wordsworth's We are Seven, and other poems.

-STORIES OF GREAT INVENTORS, by H. E. Macomber, (Educational Publishing Co., Chicago; 167 pp.), in short, easy sentences for young readers tells the story of Robert Fulton, Eli Whitney, Samuel Morse, Peter Cooper and Thomas A. Edison.

-THE ELEMENTS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, by Edwin J. Houston, revised edition (Eldredge & Brother, Philadelphia; 323 pp.), retains the general characteristics of the former edition, which met with wide acceptance, but has been carefully brought down so as to represent the present state of knowledge in this department. The changes, although apparent in all parts of the book, are of course es. pecially noteworthy in the treatment of electricity and magnetism. To make room for the new matter without unduly enlarging the volume the syllabus and questions for review of the former editions have been omitted

LITERARY ITEMS.

The January number of the Popular Science Monthly contains an interesting paper on The Aborigines of the West Indies, giving an account of their lives and condition when discovered by Columbus and their later inhuman treatment by the Spaniards. M. P. E. Berthelot, in the same number, maintains the thesis that morals, instead of being based on religion as commonly supposed, have grown out of science, while religion is really the outgrowth of an ethical theory built up unconsciously from scientific data.

-The January Atlantic opens with a study of The growth and expression of public opinion, by E. L. Godkin, showing the rise of this force, its part in government, and how the newspapers fail to express it. John Muir's account of The wild parks and forest reservations of the west is full of picturesque description and that sort of power which gave popularity to his Mountains of Califoria. Higginson's delightful reminiscences run this month on Literary Paris twenty years ago. The opening chapters of Parker's new serial of life in the island of Jersey are very strong.

-Anthony Hope's new Zenda novel in McClure's for January opens most admirably. The art feature is a character study of Boutet de Monvel, the distinguished painter of children, with reproductions of many of his best paintings and drawings.

-With the January Magazine Number of The Outlook begins the series of papers by Edward Everett Hale on "James Russell Lowell and His Friends." These papers

will constitute the leading feature of The Outlook for 1898,

and will be illustrated by many scores of pictures, including not a few portraits of famous American authors never before printed. Another feature of great interest in this issue is an article by Charles Dudley Warner on "The Picturesque in American Life." This article is illustrated from photographs specially taken for the purpose by Mr. Clifton Johnson.

--There will be found in this issue of our paper the advertisement of The Independent of New York, which is known throughout the length and breath of the land as possibly the ablest and greatest religious literary and family newspaper not only in the United States but in the world. The Independent in this advertisement makes an offer which will attract very wide attention and be eagerly accepted by a great many people. It offers The Independent for a year, the Century Magazine for a year, and the "Century Gallery of One Hundred Portraits"-the regular price of the three being $14.50 for only $7.50, a saving of $7.00. The "Century Gallery of One Hundred Portraits" includes the best likenesses of one hundred of the most prominent people of the world whose pictures have appeared in the Century Magazine. The size of the pictures is 934 x 131⁄2 inches; they are put up in a handsome box and are delivered free by express. Every one is valuable for framing and would decorate the walls of any room, or would be very desirable for holiday gifts. Orders and remittances should be made to The Independent, 130 Fulton Street, New York.

-The January number of the Review of Reviews is an exceedingly good number. The progress of the world summarizes the political situations in both hemispheres clearly and compactly. The future of Austro-Hungary is the best account we have been able to find of the situation in this distraught empire. The progress of New York under Mayor Strong; the remarkable paper on the position of the British navy; Count Tolstoi's letters on Henry George and his doctrines, with the usual miscellanies afford the best available studies of our own times.

-Modern English Literature, by Edmund Gosse, is to be the next volume in the Literatures of the World Series, published by D. Appleton and Company. Mr. Gosse begins with the time of Chaucer and comes down to this generation, without, however, including living writers. The London Saturday Review has recently remarked that "there is probably no living man more competent than Mr. Gosse to write a popular and scholarly history of English literature."

-The increasing interest in American historical themes is well illustrated by the success of Henry Johnson's instructive and fascinating Exploits of Myles Standish, recently published by D. Appleton and Company. While his story is full of romantic interest, it conveys truthful pictures of the life of the Plymouth colony which attract older as well as younger readers.

-Houghton, Mifflin & Co. will soon issue a student's edition of Bryant's Odyssey, to accompany the Iliad issued some months since. No better book for grammar and high school pupils to read can be found in the whole range of ancient literature.

-The Educational Review, which has been called "the chief organ of serious educational thought in America," opens its fifteenth volume and eighth year with the January number, which includes a striking paper in which Some Socialist and Anarchist Views of Education are contributed by Messrs. C. H. Matchett, Benjamin R. Tucker, Lucien Sanial and Miss Gertrude B. Kelley; and papers on School Building in New York City by C. B. J. Snyder, illustrated; Education in Hawaii by F. B. Dressler, etc.

-Under the title of "The Contribution of the Oswego Normal School to Educational Progress in America," Mr. A. P. Hollis, at present pursuing his studies in the School of Educaton at the University, has made a notable contribution to the history of American pedagogy, and has also paid a lasting tribute to the life of Dr. E. A Sheldon, a man whom to know was an education. The appearance of this timely volume will serve in a large sense as a memorial of the life work of Dr. Sheldon, and will be welcomed not only by all personally interested in the Oswego Normal School, but also by every student of the history of education. The book is in press and will appear shortly. The publishers are Messrs. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston.