74126 B MADISON, WIS., JANUARY, 1898. Books and Reading. BRARY No. 1 JAN 28 1898 UREAU OOKS are the best of things, well used; abused, among the EDUCATION. What is the right use? What is the one end which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire. I had better never see a book than to be warped by its attraction clean out of my own orbit, and made a satellite instead of a system. The one thing in the world of value is the active soul. This every man is entitled to; this every man contains within him, although in almost all men, obstructed, and as yet unborn. The soul active sees absolute truth; and utters truth, or creates. In this action it is genius; not the privilege of here and there a favorite, but the sound estate of every man. In its essence, it is progressive. The book, the college, the school of art, the institution of any kind, stop with some past utterance of genius. This is good, say they, let us hold by this. They pin me down. They look backward and not forward. But genius looks forward, the eyes of men are set in his forehead, not in his hindhead. Undoubtedly there is a right way of reading, so it be sternly subordinated. Man Thinking must not be subdued by his instruments. Books are for the scholar's idle times. When he can read God directly, the hour is too precious to be wasted in other men's transcripts of their readings. But when the intervals of darkness come, as come they must, when the sun is hid, and the stars withdraw their shining,—we repair to the lamps, which were kindled by their ray, to guide our steps to the East again, where the dawn is. I would not be hurried by any love of system, by any exaggeration of instincts, to underrate the Book. We all know, that, as the human body can be nourished on any food, though it were boiled grass and the broth of shoes, so the human mind can be fed by any knowledge. And great and heroic men have existed, who had almost no other information than by the printed page. I only would say, that it needs a strong head to bear that diet. One must be an inventor to read well. There is then creative reading as well as creative writing. Of course, there is a portion of reading quite indispensable to a wise man. PATRIOTIC BOOKS FOR SCHOOLS. $1.00, Postpaid. John Fiske's "Civil Government in the United States." "The practical application of the whole to the duties of good citizenship Public Schools." WM. DEW. HYDE, Pres. of Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me. $1.00, Postpaid. make it an ideal text-book for our John Fiske's "History of the United States for Schools." "It is a grand means for preparing youths for citizenship." E. F. KISTLER, Atchison, Kan. $1.00, Postpaid. Col. T. A. Dodge's "Birds-Eye View of Our Civil War." A new and revised popular edition. Never before issued at a less list price than $3.00. "Perhaps the only singlevolume history of the War for the Union which can be relied on as an accurate, clear, andimpartial narrative of that tremendous struggle." An excellent book for school use. Paper, 30 c nts, postpaid: Boards 40 cents, postpaid. "Well calculated to train the minds of the young into a spirit of love for one's country." MILES J. CORSE, Prin. of School No. 2, Patterson, N. J. HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN, & COMPANY, 4 Park Street, Boston. 11 East 17th Street, New York. 378-388 Wabash Avenue, Chicago. HOW TO SEE THE POINT AND PLACE IT: PUNCTUATION WITHOUT RULES OF GRAMMAR. A book of forty pages which teaches nunctuating rapidly by example. Many people who have studied English, Latin and Greek grammar are very careless and slovenly punctuators. This book is indispensable to all writers. Memorizing rules and exceptions wastes time and they are soon forgotten. By mail, 20 cents. LACONIC PUBLISHING CO., 123 Liberty Street, New York. CIVIL A NEW BOOK *NOT* GOVERNMENT By A. O. WRIGHT NOW READY Although this book contains much matter taken from the author's well known "Exposition of the Constitution of the United States," it is so greatly changed as to be virtually a new book, and it is called by a different name so as to avoid confusion with the older book. With an addendum on Local Government in Kansas, written by a leading teacher of that state, and with some changes and omissions the new book has already been ADOPTED FOR THE STATE OF KANSAS. All the changes in the state government by constitutional amendments and by legislation, up to and including the Revised Statutes of 1897, just adopted (Aug. 21), are embodied in the new CONSTITUTION OF WISCONSIN, which with the "Civil Government", will be designated as "Wright's Civil Government, Wisconsin Edition." In ordering be careful to send for Wright's Civil Government, as "Wright's Combined Constitutions of the United States and of Wisconsin," will still be sold. All orders from Wisconsin for "Wright's Civil Government" will be taken by us to be for the Wisconsin Edition, unless it is expressly stated that the Wisconsin Edition is not wished. But in ordering from other firms it will be safer to designate the book as "Wright's Civil Government, Wisconsin Edition." Price by mail prepaid for the Wisconsin Edition, $1.00 .75 Price by mail prepaid for the book without the Wisconsin Constitution, Address Journal of Education SEVERAL phases of superintendency are pre- sented in the contributions to this number of THE JOURNAL, and they are all important. Superintendent Davis gives a new turn to su- pervision by looking upon the high school teach- ers as a group of supervisors, under the guid- ance of the city superintendent. What the advantages in the way of unity of effort are he clearly sets forth. Superintendent Dudgeon looks at the superintendent in his relations to his teachers; Superintendent Ford discusses the high school principal's attempting this work; and Superintendent Kraege touches upon some of the many relations of the city superintendent's work. Altho the county su- and discussion he presents will be found ex- PLANS are already formed for adding to the Wisconsin Summer school this year several important features, which will appeal strongly to teachers in all grades of school work. the first place it is proposed to bring to Madi- son four men of national reputation to deliver five lectures each on some important phase of teaching work. These lectures will be of great value and a source of inspiration which no progressive teacher can afford to miss. In the second place it is proposed to have a de- partment for elementary school teachers, with conductors of wide repute as specialists in some line of elementary work. There will be two groups of subjects in this department, the first group occupying the first three weeks of the school and the second the closing three weeks. This arrangement will permit teach- ers who feel that they cannot afford to give the time or incur the expense of the full six weeks to come for half that time, and yet to get a complete and satisfactory presentation of the subject in which they are specially in- terested. The familiar features of the school as it has been for many years will be retained, and the several departments fully equipped, so that high school teachers will find it even stronger than heretofore in the work which they desire. It is hoped that with these ar- rangements a very large body of teachers can be gathered and increased interest and enthu- THE American Journal of Sociology for No- vember contains a very suggestive account of |