dite pieces of information wherewith he threatened for a time to turn our flank, but the fortunes of the field were reversed when it came to the phrase "on fire," and our success was complete and glorious. It was well to have this conflict over, for I don't believe that Tina slept one night that week without dreams of particles and prepositions,—Tina, who was as full of the enthusiasm of everything that was going on as a flossy evening cloud is of light, and to whose health I really do believe a defeat might have caused a serious injury.

Never shall I forget Esther, radiant, grave, and resolved, as she sat in the midst of her division through all the fluctuations of the con

test.

A little bright spot had come in each of her usually pale cheeks, and her eyes glowed with a fervor which showed that she had it in her to have defended a fortress, or served a cannon, like the Maid of Saragossa. We could not have felt more if our division had been our country and she had led us in triumph through a battle.

Besides grammar, we gave great attention to rhetoric. We studied Dr. Blair with the same kind of thoroughness with which we studied the English grammar. Every week a division of the school was appointed to write compositions; but there was, besides, a call for volunteers, and Mr. Rossiter had a smile of approbation for those who volunteered to write every week; and so we were always among that number.

It was remarkable that the very best writers, as a general thing, were among the female part of the school. There were several young men, of nineteen and twenty years of age, whose education had been retarded by the necessity of earning for themselves the money which was to support them while preparing for college. They were not boys, they were men, and, generally speaking, men of fine minds and fine characters. Some of them have since risen to distinction, and acted leading parts at Washington. But, for all that, the best writers of the school, as I have before said, were the girls.

Nor was the standard of writing low: Mr. Rossiter had the most withering scorn for ordinary sentimental nonsense and school-girl platitudes. If a bit of weakly poetry got running among the scholars, he was sure to come down upon it with such an absurd parody that nobody could ever recall it again without a laugh.

Education." Sometimes, also, we wrote criticisms. If, perchance, the master picked up some verbose Fourth of July oration, or some sophomorical newspaper declamation, he delivered it over to our tender mercies with as little remorse as a huntsman feels in throwing a dead fox to the dogs. Hard was the fate of any such composition thrown out to us. With what infinite zeal we attacked it! how we riddled and shook it! how we scoffed, and sneered, and jeered at it! how we exposed its limping metaphors, and hung up in triumph its deficient grammar! Such a sharp set of critics we became that our compositions, read to each other, went through something of an ordeal.

KINDERGARTENS AT WEST SUPERIOR.

Imagine a town but thirteen years old, with 30,000 inhabitants, containing nine very modern school buildings equipped with every convenience from an American flag flying in the breeze to the most modern ventilating system. in the basement, and tucked away in the sunniest, brightest corner of each building a room where from thirty to sixty wee children spend three happy, busy hours each day. These are Superior's kindergartens, which became a part of her public school system in 1890.

Superior presents some unusual and interesting educational conditions, among which is the relatively large number of little children. The city is new, the families young and the children small, hence the kindergartens and primary schools are crowded, while the grammar grades and high schools have relatively fewer children than is usual in older cities.

There are now nine kindergartens, one in each ward, with an enrollment last year of 1,027 children.

The work is under the supervision of Mrs. Mary H. Barker, who is an eastern woman with experience in private and public kindergarten work in both the east and the west. There is also under her charge a training class, whose members serve as assistants in the kindergartens during their studentship, and upon graduation take their places in the ranks of salaried workers as vacancies occur or more help is needed.

It has been the policy in providing kindergarten principals, to secure workers from well known training schools, and inspiration and variety are gained in the general line of work by representation from different parts of the country.

Among those now on the force are Miss Gertrude Berry, a graduate of a St. Paul

(Minn.) training class; Miss Jessie Davis, from the Winona (Minn.) normal school; Miss Elizabeth Smith, from the normal kindergarten training class, of Lincoln, Neb., and Miss Minerva Pierce and Miss Caroline H. Rogers, who received their kindergarten training in Duluth, Minn. Superior has a kindergarten principal who is also a ward principal, having under her charge also the eight other grades in the building. This is Miss L. Isabel Davidson, who is a graduate of Mrs. Hailmann's kindergarten training school, formerly in La Porte, Ind.

Superior, you remember, was very recently reclaimed from the unbroken forest. It is set apart in this corner of the world, with only the great lake and the rivers and the forest for its neighbors. There is no farming country for many miles in any direction. The children who have spent their short lives here, know absolutely nothing of the work of producing food for the people of the world. There are growths of grass and bush and flower on the vacant lots left in the rapid spread of the population, but very little to suggest the great work of man in cultivating the ground and planting and providing food for man and beast, and so in the work of the kindergartens, much is done to familiarize the children with this part of the work of the world. Nature-study is carried along in this connection, and a great deal of natural material used-such as pinecones, leaves, grasses, twigs, flowers, seeds, pebbles, and most flourishing crops of corn, beans and wheat are tenderly cared for in window-boxes, for the winters are long and the plants must be protected from the cold until very late.

Programs are outlined for each month's work, and these are read and discussed by principals and supervisor in assemblage before work is commenced. Each principal plans her own work with reference to the surroundings and needs of her own children. In a general way, the work may be said to be along the line of nature-study in the fall and spring, with science work continued and sociological work through the winter.

Through the long experience of Superior with public school kindergartens, they have become an integral part of the system of education-not a thing apart as is sometimes the

case.

This is due also to the rational and progressive spirit and methods of the kindergartens. It has been said that there are three kinds of kindergartens-the philosophic, the sentimental and the rational. We believe that our kindergartens are, by virtue of constant reaching toward that end and of intelligent help and criticism and sympathetic appreciation on the

As the moon comes up, the tide comes too,
Covering the land with the sea,

Still on it comes, till the moon on high,
Is a zenith moon to see.

Then draw in the tide, bright moon, bright moon-
Then draw in the tide for me.

We love high tide, for don't you know,
It brings in the shells from the sea?

As the moon goes down, the tide goes too
Leaving the land for the sea.

And the sailors cry, "Good-bye! Good-bye!''
"Oh, outward bound are we!"

Then draw out the tide, bright moon, bright moon,
Oh lower the tide for me!

We will laugh and shout when the tide is out,
As we play in the sands by the sea.
When the storm clouds gather, thick and black,
And burst in wrath o'er the sea,
The surges roar and break on the shore,
And the wrack drives wild and free.
Then lash, and dash and crash, wild surf!
And curl in your angry glee.
We hope that we may never be
The sport of an angry sea.
Hickory, N. C.

MRS. A. E. GOETTING.

ping, especially in the school, is becoming more and more a mode of punishment to be administered sparingly. The old maxim, "spare the rod and spoil the child" is being transposed to spare the child and spoil the rod.

An unusual form of punishment, or a too severe punishment is apt to arouse anger, hatred, and opposition. What children think about punishment will depend upon the prevailing sentiment of the community, home and school influences, and age.

In this report I purpose to show that the age of the child has much to do in his determining the kind of punishment for a given offense. The child of seven deems a certain punishment just, which the child of twelve considers unjust. The younger child will prescribe one kind of punishment and the older child another kind.

To get the data from which to make this report, I selected the following narrative: "About two weeks ago, a very sad thing happened in a certain school. Some boys were playing top on the sidewalk near the school house. The principal came along and said to the boys that he did not like to have them play that game, that it is dangerous, and besides it spoils the sidewalk. After the principal left, the boys went on playing. Soon a boy 12 years old came along. Just then a 15 year old boy threw his top which flew up and hit the younger boy in the eye and cut the eyeball. The boy was taken to a hospital and it was thought that he would lose the use of that eye. The larger boy did not seem to care anything about it. He came in when the bell rang and took his seat with an indifferent look on his face. The boy that threw The boy that threw the top is not considered a very bad boy. He is, probably, what we call an average boy in deportment.

I related this to seven different classes representing 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grades. I was careful to tell it in a way that the pupils would not know my opinion. I made no comments. I gave each pupil a slip of paper and told him to write on it his name and grade; then write briefly what punishment, if any, should be given.

The papers were collected and the answers tabulated by grades under the following heads: Pay expenses at hospital; put into police station; confine in jail, prison, house of correction; send to reform school; pay the doctor bill or be sent to reform school; should be whipped; whipped by the principal; suspend from school; scold.

The young child thinks of the result of an action. If the result is bad the punishment ought to be severe; if not bad, the offender should go clear. One girl about nine says: "He ought to be brought to the reform school, because he did something very dangerous to the boy." Another: "He ought to be punished by the principal two months." One seven year old says: "I never saw such people. I think that boy is very bad. That boy must be punished because he thrown the other boy with the top in the face." Here is a boy from the fifth grade: "Put him into reform school until he is twenty-one years, then he wouldn't play top on the sidewalk any more."

It is interesting to trace similarities in the development of the race and the development of the child. Barbarous people use revenge as a form of punishment. If a white man kills an Indian or wrongs him in any way, that Indian will get even with any white man. The small child says: "That big boy must be whipped very hard, because he hurt the little boy so he can't see. Whipping seems to satisfy best this feeling of pain giving, so we are not surprised to find so many pupils of the second grade favoring that mode of punishment.

The pupils of the sixth grade realize that it will cost money to keep the boy in the hospital. They reason that a whipping will not

boy or his father to do is to pay the bill. If

they refuse, however, then the boy should be sent to reform school or given other forms of punishment, not because he injured the smaller boy, but because he did not pay the expenses.

These answers show the punishments to be very severe. It is the operation of the old law, "An eye for an eye." Several of the sixth grade pupils asked their teacher afterwards whether or not their answers would have anything to do with the punishment of the boy. I think that they realize that they were giving a more severe sentence then they would be willing to see the boy serve.

There is a failure to discriminate between accidental and willful acts. Only two or three considered it a mere accident, and would not punish the boy at all. P. T. NELSON. Milwaukee, Wis.

CONTRIBUTIONS.

THE NORMAL SCHOOL LIBRARY.

For some time past librarians have been seeking the co-operation and support of the teachers, for it is often through them that books are most effectually introduced, not only into the school rooms but also into the homes. The normal school is a most advantageous position for a trained librarian. It is here teachers, students who are to be teachers, library and librarian are all working for one aim. The question is how can they work to the best advantage?

Do you remember what Emerson says in his essay on books? "The colleges, whilst they provide us with libraries furnish no professor of books: and I think no chair so much needed." F. B. Perkins in a paper in the government report on libraries, 1876, felt a similar lack when he said: "Not the history of literature, nor of any one literature, nor any one department of literature, nor the grammar of any language, nor any one language, nor language itself, nor any form of its use, nor even any particular form of thought. It is something higher than any one of these; it is not any one subject, any one field of investigation, but it is a method for investigating any subject in the primitive records of human thought. It might be compared with the calculus in applied mathematics, it is a means of following up swiftly and thoroughly the best researches in any direction and of then pushing them further; it seeks to give a last and highest training for enlarging any desired department of recorded human knowledge. It is the science and art of reading for a purpose: it is a calculus of applied literature.

It is something along this line that is being tried at the state normal school, Stevens Point, Wisconsin. It is hoped that next year the work will find a regular place in the curriculum of the school, when a much more effective course can be given.

The school is now divided into eight sections, classes meet from four to four-thirty, four days a week, so that the same students are in class once in two weeks. The time has been so short and the need of work so marked that it seemed necessary to introduce much more technical work than would ordinarily be advisable in the beginning of such a plan. In the talks on books given by the librarian only such books as are in the library are referred to, because many of the students are from small towns and farming districts and are quite unfamiliar with the use of libraries. Each talk is followed by a list of questions illustrating the points brought out, which the students look up and hand in. (Special attention is given to the form of the reference.)

The talks are arranged in the following order:

Ist. What the student may expect of the librarian and library, what they may expect of him (given in library). Rules and regulations are read, general working principles of library, card catalog, call numbers, location of books on shelves (students have free access to shelves) are all explained. Students who have not registered before do so then and receive a library number for "every student is expected to use the library."

2nd. Dictionaries. The school law in Wisconsin regarding dictionaries is read, their comparative value of Century, Standard and Webster's International and Academic discussed, use of supplements shown and prices given.

3rd. Cyclopedias. These are taken up in much the same way as the dictionaries. 4th. Pool's Index, Harper's Book of Facts, Lippincott's Gazateer and Biographical Dictionary.

5th. In the upper classes each student is given a problem on science books to work out, such as "What books would you use in presenting the subject of birds to a seventh grade and how would you use them?" In the lower classes each one is asked to read and report on one book of fiction from Township Library List.

6th. Problem on history books. 7th. Periodicals.

8th. Children's reading.

9th. Traveling libraries, home libraries, public libraries and their relation to schools.

The students' attention is constantly called to the books on Township Library List, of which each one has a copy.

This is in brief the plan of the library classes at the Stevens Point normal. The aim is to show students how to use books and how to help others to use them. Incidentally it is hoped no student will go out from this normal who is not familiar with the township library law, to some degree familiar with the list of books possible in these district schools, and with enough interest in the work to see that these books are purchased and used.

The average child has but a few years in school, if the right work is done in those few years the library may be his college. The text-books should be but a suggestion. Much

is done in bringing the books before the students through bulletin boards. These are used not only for class purposes, but for lists of, "Books of adventure for boys," "Some late periodical references on Crete," etc., for those students who have a holiday, evening or afternoon when they would read did they only know what to read. Then there should be bulletins for the literary societies in the school. The librarian should be in close sympathy with the work of every department and see that the library is doing its share in accomplishing the instructors' aims. When the art classes are studying color,-see that some of the students at least read Mrs. Jackson's choice of colors, or if the classes in music are studying Beethoven see that they know Sidney Lanier's beautiful poem.

An attempt has been made to establish a traveling and home libraries in this county and city. A public library will be opened here this summer. The students will then be able to see how valuable these libraries may be.

The great responsibility of the teacher in this library work should be impressed upon the mind of every student. They should be made to feel that it is not only the duty of the teacher to teach the child to read but to see that he has good reading material after he has learned. Teachers should be leaders in their communities. Their duties should not be confined within four walls for six hours of the day they are boundless. Each county should have a net-work of clubs, traveling libraries, home libraries, public libraries, with teachers and librarians pushing them on-and the counties make the state. How greatly will this raise the standard of our schools! Is it not worth trying for?

We cannot hope to accomplish the most until we learn to work together, the teacher, the pupil, the text-books, the reference books, the library, the librarian, the public library,

The Wisconsin township library law makes it mandatory upon the town treasurer to withhold ten cents for each pupil of school age in the town, and to expend the amount thus withheld in books for the township library. In theory the books are loaned to school districts for a time, after which they are collected and others left in their place. There is strong opposition to the plan of collecting the books, but, practically each school district gets its own share of the money, and the books thus purchased constitute a school district library. The town clerk, with the advice and assistance of the county superintendent, selects the books from a list prepared and furnished by the state superintendent. Believing that the law opened great educational opportunities for pupils, patrons, teachers and county superintendents, I recently sent a list of questions to each county superintendent in the state. Answers were received from nearly every superintendent, and their replies form the basis for this article.

I. "To what extent is the teacher consulted in the selection of the library books, and how efficiently can she advise from a knowledge of the books and of the needs of the patrons and pupils?"

Supt. Pattengill of Michigan, says: "The teacher should be the best qualified of any one." But that this is an ideal rather than a real state of affairs in Wisconsin, the following replies show: "The teacher is not in any way consulted; could not give intelligent advice if he were." "It is the exception rather than the rule." "Teachers will not take the trouble to do so." "As the schools are not in session when the books are purchased, teachers are not consulted." This latter seems a foolish excuse. A teacher should, during the year, as she knows the needs of her pupils, prepare a list of books to be given to the county superintendent, to be in turn given by him to the town clerk when the books are purchased. "Teachers make no attempt to direct." "Rarely, if ever; teachers never see the books until they are delivered at the school." "Teachers are seldom consulted; their knowledge is too limited to be of value if they were." "Few teachers know the juvenile books."

In