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law on this subject, such action would be soon followed by like action in the smaller cities of the state. These smaller cities suffer from the same evils of school management as Milwaukee, except that they do not generally suffer from the arbitrary personal rule of the ward school commissioner in his own ward as Milwaukee does. W.

THE MONTH.

WISCONSIN NEWS AND NOTES.

-Child-study is one of the subjects on the programs for the Door county institutes.

We note the marriage of Supt. C. Georgia Bever, of Price county, to Dr. Harmon Soulen, of Phillips.

-The High School Recorder is the name of a new paper issued monthly by the high school at Ellsworth, Pierce county.

-The Tattler is a bright paper in magazine form, issued by the Tomah high school. The first number appropriately contains a history of the schools of Tomah.

-The Northwestern Wisconsin Teachers' Association will hold its annual meeting at Eau Claire, March 26-27. F. W. Bixby, of Hammond, is president, and John N. Foster, of Shell Lake, is secretary.

-Sup❜t Keats, of Fond du Lac county, issues a circular on Reading Circle work which shows the organization of the county into five districts, and urges all teachers to take part in this effort after self-culture.

-Senator Stout's bill to place the library work of the state upon a permanent basis by an appropriation for its use, and authorizing a moderate amount of printing for its service, deserves the support of all friends of popular

education in Wisconsin.

-The citizens of Prairie du Chien are to be congratulated upon the completion of a new and commodious high school building, which was dedicated Jan. 29th. This school has improved much within a few years, and its growth made necessary a better equipment for laboratory work, library, and class rooms. The new building is attractive and commodious, and will facilitate the further develop

ment of the school.

-The new high school building at Oconomowoc was dedicated with appropriate exercises Jan. 12. Addresses were made by Judge Warham Parks, Sup't Chandler, Prof. Stearns

and others. The old building has been raised three feet, providing a roomy and comfortable basement, an addition erected doubling the capacity of the building, steam heating and ventilating apparatus provided, and new floors, seats, etc., introduced throughout.

-The First Biennial Report of the State Library Commission is an interesting document of 130 pages. It contains views of the present rooms of the state historical library and of the new building now in process of erection for it; of the public libraries of Milwaukee, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Wauwatosa, Beaver Dam, Menomonie, and Ashland; and of a collection of the Stout libraries and four of the stations at which they have been set up. After the reports of the library conferences follow a dozen papers on library matters.

-The new List of Books for Township. School Libraries, with supplementary list for high schools makes a pamphlet of 129 pages. The especially interesting features of the supplement are an extended list of books on history desirable in such schools as an aid in the improvement of work in this branch. A tentative minimum library in this line of twenty volumes precedes the descriptive catalogue. The latter is divided into groups relating to the history of different countries and concludes with a list of valuable historical fiction. Other lists relate to science and natural history, travel and adventure, literature, ethics, economics and pedagogy. In the two lists the numbers reach to 520.

-Lawrence university has been celebrating its semi-centennial anniversary January 19th and 20th. A large attendance, addresses by prominent persons, and social gatherings were the features of the occasion. It was signalized by the announcement of an endowment of one hundred thousand dollars, secured, despite the hard times, chiefly by the efforts of two ladies,

the wife of the president and the wife of the presiding elder of the district. Honorary degrees were conferred: LL. D. upon Bishop William Lawrence of Boston, and Duncan McGregor of Platteville, and D. D. upon five clergymen, three of whom were graduates of Lawrence. It is evident that the institution has entered upon a new era of prosperity and

usefulness.

-The celebration of the eighty-sixth birthday of the Hon. Henry Barnard, at Hartford, Conn., Jan. 25th, has considerable interest for Wisconsin educators. Dr. Barnard was elected Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin in 1858. He came to the state and plunged into the institute work with a contagious enthusi

asm still recalled with pleasure by the older state leaders. He was then suffering with severe headaches, consequent upon nervous exhaustion, which often conpelled him to suspend his activities, and, after two years forced. him to resign his position and seek a period of much needed rest. On the anniversary occasion addresses were made by Hon. W. T. Harris, Col. Francis W. Parker, Prest. C. K. Adams, Supt. Skinner of New York, and others. Dr. Barnard, we are glad to add, is still vigorous in mind and body, enjoying the honors earned by an energetic and public spirited career.

-An interesting feature connected with the Wisconsin School for the Deaf, at Delavan, is the new manual training building just completed and equipped, which is believed to be the first of its kind connected with such an in

stitution in the United States, and perhaps in

the world. It is a substantial brick and stone building costing over $12,000, and is equipped for a forging and machine shop, a wood-working shop, a cooking school, a sewing school, and a studio or art department. The building is heated by steam and provided with an electric light and power plant. Mr. E. J. Bending is at the head of the industrial training for boys, and Miss A. P. Struckmeyer of that for the girls. The department is certainly a most valuable addition to this institution and ought to contribute greatly to its efficiency in fitting deaf children to fight successfully for themselves the battle of life.

DRAWING TEACHERS' MEETING AT MILWAUKEE.

MILWAUKEE, December 29, 1896.

On Tuesday afternoon immediately after the close of the first general session of the Wisconsin Teachers' Association the teachers of drawing met in the assembly room of the normal school building.

The meeting was called to order by the chairman, who explained why the notice of this meeting did not appear on the program. For several years the teachers of manual training and the teachers of drawing had co-operated in state work, holding a joint meeting. When the program appeared this year it was seen that manual training was taken up by the high school section and that drawing was omitted. The chairman stated that a call was then sent to the president of the Association

asking if some place could not be given to the subject of drawing. President Burch replied most cordially and appointed a section meeting in drawing, although it was too late to have the subject appear on the printed program.

The chairman thought that there was no lack of cordiality on the part of the Association, but simply a lack of enterprise on the part of the drawing teachers in making their wants known, as she understood that several calls for the meeting were sent in, but not any in time for publication on the program. referred to what had been done at different meetings of the State Association, and spoke of the condition of drawing in the state as shown by statistics, which read as follows:

She

He

-Some details gathered from Miss Martha Baker's paper in the report of the State Library In December, 1891, while in conversation Commission, entitled "Legal and Statistical with State Superintendent Wells in his office Aspects of Wisconsin Libraries," may interest at Madison, he expressed to me the fear that our readers. There are several groups of li- the teachers in the public schools of the state braries recognized here, those wholly or in of Wisconsin were not accomplishing what part supported by the state, as the historical, they ought in the teaching of drawing. university, normal school and state institution said further that he thought this was true of libraries, in which group seventeen are enu- those teachers who had received normal trainmerated with 329, 198 volumes; free circulat- ing in the branch. A short discussion followed ing libraries, of which there are 38, with a and Superintendent Wells suggested that I total of 240, 394 volumes; association libraries, send out a circular for the purpose of ascer14, with 31,433 volumes; college or academic taining the facts, and gave me a printed list libraries, 27, with 138,584 volumes; libraries of county and city superintendents and prinin city schools, 47, with 97, 377; township and cipals of high and graded schools. To each district school libraries, given for each county name on that list a circular was forwarded. in detail and not summarized though the num- The replies were in the majority of cases bers would be very large; and traveling li- prompt and frank, and from them I learned braries, of which there are in Dunn county 23, not a little concerning the condition of drawwith 690 volumes, supported by Mr. Stout,ing in the state. I learned that there were and in Dunn county 12, with 360 volumes, ninety systems of schools in Wisconsin doing supported by J. D. Witter, of Grand Rapids.regular work in drawing as outlined by some The total volumes in all is stated as 1,055,529.

particular method, that there were forty-one systems of schools teaching drawing in the

lower grades only, or in connection with some other branch, while only fifty systems reported no work being done in drawing.

This report came in about four years ago, and I have learned that since then twenty-five or thirty of the fifty reporting no work in drawing have introduced it as a regular branch of study.

I learned also that the chief obstacles in the way of teaching the branch are lack of time, overcrowded condition of schools, number of branches already in the course prescribed, and scarcity of trained teachers.

That there is in the minds of many progressive teachers a genuine interest in the subject. the following extracts from replies to circulars will show:

One principal wrote: "Drawing is taught in our school this year for the first time. If you could give me any suggestions by which we could make drawing more efficient, accepting our present conditions, I would regard it a great favor."

Another wrote: "This circular has directed attention to the matter, for which I am thankful.”

A third said: "I see no reason why we cannot overcome each and every obstacle and teach drawing. It is needed in the school, and the discipline derived therefrom is valuable and necessary."

And a fourth wrote: "I believe drawing and word analysis to be of greater importance than many of the studies taught in our schools."

Such remarks as these lead me to the conclusion that there are many energetic, intelligent teachers in the state well able to handle this branch successfully, if they could only have a little help and direction in the subject as a whole, so that the different phases of the work form-study, clay-modeling, drawing, and color, might be unified and given their proper place in relation to each other, and also to the other branches pursued by the pupils.

In answer to the second doubt of the state superintendent that normal trained teachers were not doing what they might in this branch, I found that of the ninety systems of schools reporting regular work in drawing, thirty per cent. of their teachers had had normal training; of the forty-one systems reporting drawing in the lower grades only, or in connection with other branches, only ten per cent. of the teachers employed had had normal training; while of the fifty systems of schools reporting no drawing, only nine per cent. of the teachers had had normal training. In order to ascertain something of the quality of the work

accomplished in drawing by these normal trained teachers, I wrote to Superintendent Hardy of La Crosse, for information concerning the work done in drawing by the teachers of the schools of his city who have had drawing in the Oshkosh normal school. I wrote to La Crosse because there is always quite a large number of our elementary course graduates teaching there from year to year, none of whom had had more than twenty weeks instruction in drawing, and I felt that I had a right to know what degree of success our own students met with in imparting knowledge gained at our school.

Superintendent Hardy wrote me that upon consultation with Miss Austin, then supervisor of drawing for the city of La Crosse, he found that his teachers of drawing having normal training, were the best. He also wrote that he had asked these teachers wherein they found their training inadequate to the work done in the city schools, and that they replied that, "The ground principles, the theory, the aim are the same, but the course is too short."

I appreciate this condition of affairs, and would gladly prolong the time to thirty or forty weeks, were it in my power to do so, but in the brief period allotted to us, I strive to do all I can in the presentation of underlying principles and the awakening of a love for the work and a faith in its powers as an educational factor that shall make the work, however elementary, educative and uplifting.

With this condition of affairs in our state, three things appear to me necessary. First, that more time be devoted to this branch in our normal schools, so that the per cent. of teachers who have had normal training may work with greater potency in the schools where they teach. Second, that we have a state director of drawing the same as is employed in the states of New York and Massachusetts. Third, that we have regular work done in this branch in every institute.

But so long as ideal conditions do not exist, we must strive to secure them by every legitimate means in our power. To this end I offer the following suggestions to the drawing teachers and supervisors here assembled:

1. That we, the members of the drawing teachers' section of the Wisconsin Teachers' Association, ask for a permanent place on the program of its annual meeting.

2. That the executive officers of the Association be requested to appoint the chairman of such section meeting as early as possible.

3. That the chairman be empowered with authority to choose his own committees, prepare program, and call for exhibits of work.

These suggestions were accepted as resolutions, voted upon, and unanimously adopted by the meeting.

The program for the meeting was then taken up. The chairman explained that she had chosen a subject presented at the last meeting of the Western Drawing Teachers' Association, thinking that as so many of the Wisconsin drawing teachers were present at that meeting it was better to take up a subject already more or less familiar and seek to make application of the truths so ably presented by Dr. Dewey.

The program read as follows:

IMAGINATION AND EXPRESSION.

a, Their Mutual Relations, Miss Mitchell, normal school, Milwaukee.

story in our reading books about the painter who had achieved what he thought was a perfect painting and hung it up in public, requesting critics to mark the features of it which they did not approve. The painter, to his chagrin, found on a visit of inspection that the painting was one blotch of disapproving strokes. Taking better counsel he repainted the same picture and exposed it in a similar manner requesting the public to mark the features which they specially approved. This was followed by the result that the picture was one blotch of commendatory strokes.

Some months ago I made an attempt to state the special significance of Edgar Poe in American literature in a letter which I wrote to encourage the movement to save the Fordham cottage of which you give a picture in the

b, In Primary Grades, Miss Cravath, super- January number of your JOURNAL, and I envisor, Madison.

c, In Intermediate and Grammar Grades.

. General discussion followed, led by Miss Tanner, normal school, Stevens Point.

The attendance was good, and much interest manifested. But as many persons desirous of attending the meeting were unable to do so because of the lateness of the notice issued December 15th, it was unanimously voted to have a report of the meeting published in the different educational journals of the state in order that all interested might be informed of the action taken.

HARRIET CECIL MAGEE, Chairman.

EDGAR A. POE AGAIN.

Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C., January 15, 1897. My Dear Professor Stearns:-Among the very many interesting things of your JOURNAL for January I notice an appreciative article on Edgar Poe and some quotations from him at the end. The one from "Ulalume," a poem that has always interested me very much, seems so much marred in the printing of it by the changing of certain essential words that I think it deserves reprinting-the whole of it this time. The words "dank tarn of Auber" are made by your printer to read “dark tank of Auber." Then in the following stanza the expression "scoriac rivers" is printed "soriac

The volume of miscellanies (in the four volume edition of Poe's works) gives his critical writings which are very interesting and suggestive although not always just. Criticisms, however, are generally apt to be onesided. The critic throws his whole force on to some error or omission and blackens the whole composition. One remembers the good

close an extract from this letter. Very sincerely yours,

W. T. HARRIS, Commissioner.

Poe's Significance in American Literature.

(Extract from the letter of Dr. Harris.) "Edgar Poe will occupy a larger place in the history of American literature than he has done up to this time. He had the fortune to represent a type. He was a new departure as distinct as the great group of writers in the transcendental movement in Massachusetts. Art and literature were disparaged and it was vainly supposed that with the Puritan religion and the "poor Richard's" doctrine of utility that no place was left for works of art. Nearly all of the worthy literature of Massachusetts has orignated from the transcendental movement which uttered a firm and zealous protest against the prosaic life prescribed by religion and economy. The American life of those days was dominated by a materialistic spirit or else by an abstract theological bias. The age of new inventions had begun and the reaction against supernaturalism was so great that poetic genius found itself chilled.

Edgar Poe represents the full reaction against the mechanical view of the world in which we find impossible either immortality or freedom. He reduces this mechanical view to practice, uttering the doubts of the soul especially as they relate to individual immortality. This is the content of "The Raven," the "Ulalume" and some others. The death of a soul sinking in despair under the influence of intoxicants is portrayed in "The Fall of the House of Usher" with its beautiful poem "The Haunted Palace."

The pain caused by the contradiction between the aspirations of the soul and the mechanical theory of the universe impels a resort to intoxication to blunt the sharpness of the agony. The life is shattered by the use of opiates, as symbolically described in "The Fall of the House of Usher." Edgar Poe is a true artist because of his representing this point of departure in reaction to some essentially prosaic drift in modern times. His works will long deserve careful study as illustrating the moods of mind which aspiring young Americans met victoriously, or disastrously, in the days from 1840 to 1860. They form a declaration of independence against the spirit of an industrial civilization. Of course I do not speak of a philosophical conviction but only of an unconscious instinct working in the soul of the artist and poet.

ULALUME.

The skies they were ashen and sober;

The leaves they were crispéd and sereThe leaves they were withering and sere; It was night in the lonesome October Of my most immemorial year; It was hard by the dim lake of Auber, In the misty mid region of WeirIt was down by the dank tarn of Auber, In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

Here once, through an alley Titanic,

Of cypress, I roamed with my SoulOf cypress, with Psyche, my Soul. These were days when my heart was volcanic As the scoriac rivers that rollAs the lavas that restlessly roll Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek In the ultimate climes of the poleThat groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek In the realms of the boreal pole.

Our talk had been serious and sober,

But our thoughts they were palsied and sereOur memories were treacherous and sere,For we knew not the month was October, And we marked not the night of the year, (Ah, night of all nights in the year!)-We noted not the dim lake of Auber

(Though once we had journeyed down here)— Remembered not the dank tarn of Auber, Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

And now, as the night was senescent,
And star-dials pointed to morn-
As the star-dials hinted of morn-
At the end of our path a liquescent
And nebulous lustre was born,
Out of which a miraculous crescent
Arose with a duplicate horn--
Astarte's bediamonded crescent

Distinct with its duplicate horn.
And I said: "She is warmer than Dian:
She rolls through an ether of sighs-
She revels in a region of sighs.

She has seen that the tears are not dry on
These cheeks, where the worm never dies,
And has come past the stars of the lion
To point us the path to the skies-
To the Lethean peace of the skies-

Come up, in despite of the lion,
To shine on us with her bright eyes-
Come up through the lair of the lion;
With love in her luminous eyes."

But Psyche, uplifting her finger,
Said: "Sadly this star I mistrust-
Her pallor I strangely mistrust:-
Oh, hasten!-oh, let us not linger!

Oh, fly!-let us fly!-for we must.
In terror she spoke, letting sink her
Wings until they trailed in the dust-
In agony sobbed, letting sink her

Plumes till they trailed in the dust-
Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust.

I replied: "This is nothing but dreaming:
Let us on by this tremulous light!
Let us bathe in this crystalline light!
Its Sybilic splendor is beaming
With Hope and in Beauty to-night!-
See!-it flickers up the sky through the night!
Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming,
And be sure it will lead us aright-
We safely may trust to a gleaming,

That cannot but guide us aright,

Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night."

Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her,
And tempted her out of her gloom-
And conquered her scruples and gloom;
And we passed to the end of the vista,
But we stopped by the door of a tomb-
By the door of a legended tomb;

And I said: "What is written, sweet sister,
On the door of this legended tomb?"
She replied: "Ulalume-Ulalume-
'Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume!"'

Then my heart it grew ashen and sober

As the leaves that were crispèd and sereAs the leaves that were withering and sere, And I cried: "It was surely October On this very night of last year That I journeyed-I journeyed down here-That I brought a dread burden down here-On this night of all nights in the year, Ah, what demon has tempted me here? Well I know, now, this dim lake of Auber-This misty mid region of WeirWell I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber, This ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir."

MASSACHUSETTS NORMAL SCHOOLS.

[Extracts from a circular of the Secretary of the State Board of Education.]

REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION IN 1896. Candidates for admission to any one of the normal schools must have attained the age of seventeen years complete, if young men, and sixteen years, if young women; and must be free from any disease or infirmity which would unfit them for the office of teacher. They must present certificates of good moral standing, give evidence of good intellectual capacity (records of their scholarship standing in the high schools are desired) and be graduates of high schools whose courses of study have been approved by the Board of Education; or they must have received, to the satisfaction of the principal and the Board of Visitors of the school, the equivalent of a good high school

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