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"Oh, no," said he, with a look of scorn. "You can't do it to save you." As the mother was a college graduate she naturally felt somewhat nettled at this, and insisted upon her ability to solve the problem. She did so to her own satisfaction, but not to the boy's. He declared that she did not do it right, though he could not tell what was wrong.

"We'll leave it to papa," said she finally. The father, too, was a college graduate and had taken high honors in mathematics. The father said that the mother's method was the right one, and indeed the only one. Unconvinced, the boy went off to school the next morning. At noon he came home triumph

ant.

"There, I told you so!" he shouted as he entered the house. "You did it wrong.

"What was the matter?" both parents asked.

"Well, you left out two sinces and a hence," was the convincing reply.

At school No. 3 they are more careful of their sinces and hences than of genuine ideas. Chicago Post.

MY BOY.

He came of family afflicted with insanity. Lost mother when quite young. Was sent to a large school and considered unmanageable. Came to our school and was in beginning grade. Reported to Reported to me as incorrigible. I asked to have him sent to me, and when he came his eye said, "Don't trifle with me." This was my opportunity for failure or success. I decided to win him at any cost. He was restless, boisterous, and something of a pugilist. He was made generally useful, bodyguard if you will, and by noon we were good friends. As soon as school was dismissed a complaint came that he had been calling "ugly names." Must I punish him and lose the confidence so easily gained? No, that would mean months of trouble; nothing would reach him but patience and kindness. We had a little talk and decided that our room would never call "ugly names." In a short time he was up with first grade in reading and number work. At first his little cramped hand made hieroglyphics that the Egyptians themselves could not have made out, and now his writing is readable, that is all. In reading and number work he bids fair to catch the second grade. He is very often excused from school the last half hour; such an impulsive nature must have change. Where is my scornful, rebellious boy? Gone, and in his place has come a sensitive, obedient, and affectionate boy, who loves to caress my hand. Sometimes a look of reproach will cause the little head to droop and the tears to flow copiously. Is "my boy" a failure or success?-Midland Schools.

THE TORTOISE'S LESSON.

"I can't learn to spell that long word," declared Dorothy, crossly.

"What word?" asked auntie.

"Tortoise," answered Dorothy, "and I know that I shall fail and have to go to the foot of the class, and I only got up to the head this very morning."

"I can't' never did anything in this world. Did you know that Dorthy?" said auntie. "But I can' has done a great deal. Did you ever hear the story about the tortoise?"

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"And who beat?" asked auntie.

"The tortoise did," exclaimed Dorothy, "and I guess that sleepy hare was s'prised as anything, don't you, when he found it out?"

"I shouldn't wonder," said auntie. "He didn't say. I can't,' did he? He persevered and kept right along, although he knew that the hare could run very fast, while he could only crawl very slowly."

"I guess that tortoise said, 'I can,' same as I'm going to right now," said Dorothy quickly, and she took up her spelling book.

Over and over she spelled t-o-r-t-o-i-s-e, tortoise, until at last she knew it perfectly. "I've learned it, auntie!" she shouted joyfully as she shut up her book with a clap. Auntie smiled. "And you have learned the

tortoise's lesson at the same time, haven't you, dear? His lesson is perseverance,"— Youth's Companion.

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JOHNNIE FRESH, ON EASY WRITING.

I don't believe 'twas hard to do,

When Homer wrote of Troy;

There were no rules for him to watch,

No grammars to annoy;

He had no slang to guard against,
He spelt the easiest way;

The subjects were not threadbare then,
Because he had first to say.

And Dante had it easy, too,

In Florence when he wrote;

He made each phrase as he went on,
There were no words to quote.

The common talk of every day

Was good enough to use;

"Too trite" was something never heard,
There were no terms to choose.

Old Chaucer had no task at all;
He wrote what came along;

He put down just what people said,
And couldn't spell words wrong:
You see no one had tried before
To write this brand new speech,
So Chaucer fixed it his own way
For all the schools to teach.

It wasn't bad when Shakspere lived;
The right no one could tell;
There were no dictionaries then-
No wonder he wrote well.

Now it gets harder all the time;
Each word must mean just so;
The very turn you'd like the best
Is one that will not go.

-Anna C. Murphy, in the N. E. Journal of Ed'n.

CHILD-STUDY.

BY THE MILWAUKEE SOCIETY FOR CHILD-STUDY.

This JOURNAL will publish from month to month syllabi used by the Milwaukee society. We hope that every teacher who is interested in any of the work suggested will co-operate with us, by sending in papers from the stu

dents or results obtained by his own study. The society would be very glad to correspond with any teacher who desires to undertake work in the subject, but feels that he is unable to do definite work without assistance.

state.

Below is given a syllabus on children's readings, in response to which we hope to receive papers from many schools throughout the The requirements are very simple, and we hope to obtain a large number of papers within a few weeks. We urge all teachers to aid us in this simple study.

A Study of Children's Readings.

children are actually reading, and something In this study the purpose is to find out what of their tastes in reading. Incidentally the study will show whether children are reading or not, and the kind of books which are being given to children. The following questions are to be answered by the child:

1. What books have you read since school opened? (Sept., '96.)

2. Which one did you like best?

3. Why did you like that book?

4. If you had the money which book would you buy?

Name, age, sex, and something of the temperament of the child to be given by the teacher or parent. The children should not be told the purpose in the questions. We shall be very glad to receive reports from children. throughout the state.

Papers should be sent to Mae E. Schriber, State Normal School, Milwaukee, Wis.

CONTRIBUTIONS.

A NOVEL COMMENCEMENT PROGRAM.

[At our request Principal Ford, of Grand Rapids, Wis., has furnished us the following relative to his high school commencement program last summer. It is very suggestive for other high schools. -EDS.]

The high school is certainly the people's college and it is well that those who conduct it seek to keep it in all its interests as near as possible to the life of the community in which it is situated. No better opportunity is offered to vitalize this connection than at the annual high school commencement. A "good showing" at that time is a present and future pleasure to the class and community, and if it is in any way an honest exhibition of what the school has done for the young people, the gratified community will listen more readily to the requests for needed improvements. No

program which excludes the class, no matter how brilliant the lecturer substituted, can well accomplish the purpose here mentioned. Let Herbartian and anti-Herbartian remember that it is conditions as well as theories that confront us at present and that we will never better conditions nor realize our theories until we have made our school in all its interests a vital part of the life of the community. This policy will accomplish more than spasmodic expenditure with lengthening periods of complaint about unnecessary taxation.

A thought as to the management of school interests has been suggested, a place has been found in this policy for the high school commencement and I have plainly hinted that the program of that occasion ought to be by, for and of the school itself.

Whether the commencement program is to be wholly made up of the regular stereotyped orations (?) you, remembering that you wish to interest the people and show in a degree the varied work and needs of your school, are the best judge. With us, though we have a fine literary society, required rhetoricals, three years of literary readings, a year of grammar and composition, not to mention excellent school and city libraries containing lives of Caesar, Alexander and Napoleon, full accounts of the battles of Waterloo and Hastings, interesting essays on "Woman's Sphere," "True Success," etc., ad nauseam, we have concluded that such strings of orations (?) but partially represent our work and in no way touch the interests of our people. So last spring we tried a variation.

To a class of seven we suggested that they lived in one of the oldest and most interesting towns of the state, and that some one ought to do what was possible to give permanent form to the recollections of the old traders, trappers and raftsmen. They accepted the idea readily and went to work.

Each one took some certain topic in this local history program such as "Rafting in the Early Days," "The History of our Schools," "Early Routes and Methods of Travel," "Politics in the County and Community," "Floods and Fires in Grand Rapids," "Early Sawmills," and The Importance of Local History.'

The material for these papers was gathered by interviews with old settlers, letters to former residents, files of the newspapers, county, city and school records. Everybody who heard of the plan was interested, everybody who was asked for aid or information gave it readily.

This mass of material was not always as definite as could be wished, it often was con

flicting, but each one organized his material the best he could, with occasional suggestions as to method from the instructors. It was original work much more than the average program.

The compositions contained on the average about two thousand words. They could present them in the way they thought best. Some committed them entire, some spoke from an outline held in the hand, two read theirs as they would an essay. The one who dealt with the history of the county had several large maps showing the number and arrangement of the townships at different periods; the one who had the topic on Early Routes had planned maps to show the location of early military and logging roads, but these were not prepared owing to lack of time.

No high school commencement ever held here excited more general and permanent interest. The papers were all well received and for days after the older citizens were discussing incidents suggested by the program, criticizing and disagreeing with the papers more often than they agreed with them probably, but then they were saying something about the program and generally about the school and its needs-the latter having been briefly presented in the conclusion of the last paper on the History of the Local Schools.

This was the program and this its effect. You can make your own comparisons of these results with what was said at first about the purpose of a high school commencement program. You can also develop other benefits not suggested not the least of which is the good it does bookish high school pupils to do something not found between the covers of texts, something that by interviews and letters, brings them in contact with people, and people who have made history-even though it be but local history.

THE FEDERATION OF GRADUATE CLUBS.

The Federation of Graduate Clubs is the name of an organization which is likely to mark an epoch in the development of higher education in America. Excepting the late convention of the presidents of state universities, held in Madison early in January of this year, no other single educational movement of the last quarter century embodies greater possibilities and promises to exert a wider influence than this Federation. However, before entering opon a discussion of the Federation it may be well to say a few words about graduate students and graduate clubs, without a fair understanding of which an account of the Federation would be quite impossible.

To define a graduate student is no simple task. For our purposes we may consider any student who has successfully completed a regular four years course leading to a bachelor's degree, (B. A., B. L. or B. S.) in a college of recognized standing, a graduate student. That is, after a student has "graduated" from a college, if he continues his studies in a higher institution of learning, represented by the university proper, he is supposed to be a graduate student. As a graduate student he may simply wish to extend his knowledge along lines of study begun during his undergraduate career, or he may enter upon a regular course of advanced work leading to a higher degree (M. A., M. L., M. S,, Ph. D., etc.) Graduate work does not properly mean work done after graduation (post graduate), but it means advanced and systematic work along two or three related lines of study. The first milestone is the master's degree, which can usually be taken after one year of successful graduate work, while the doctor's degree can, as a rule, not be taken in less than three or four year's from the time of graduation. Now, students pursuing one of these courses are graduate students, and a graduate club is nothing more than an organization of such students. first graduate club was formed at Harvard in 1889. Since then similar clubs have been formed at nearly all the more prominent colleges and universities in the country. The club at the University of Wisconsin has been in existence since May 22, 1895. These clubs These clubs pursue various aims, partly literary and partly social. Our own club is primarily literary, although sociability is not neglected. During the present collegiate year the club is holding a series of ten meetings. Each program consists of three parts. First, an address by the head professor of some department of the university along the following lines:

The

(a) The educational value of that particular line of study.

(b) What constitutes scholarship in that field of work.

(c) What forces does that study contribute which operate as factors in civilization.

(d) What is its relation to other branches. of learning? Second, reminiscences of college life at home and abroad. And finally, musical selections rendered by students of the School of Music under the direction of one of their professors. The aim of these meetings is clear. Not only will graduate students become acquainted with one another but they will also learn to appreciate better the work done in departments other than their own.

What the individual club is to its university

that the Federation of Graduate Clubs is to the local club. But the Federation is something more. In what that more consists we shall now see.

Differences in requirements and lack of unification have hitherto perhaps been the greatest point of weakness in the graduate work of American universities. Some institutions would grant masters' and doctors' degrees for work which in others would not entitle the student to a bachelor's degree. Still others— and unfortunately there are not a few of these in existence-would grant "degrees" with that same lack of discrimination with which the western public applies the title "professor" to university and college professors, high school principals, village school masters, local band leaders, and jugglers. No graduate student objects to such "honorary" degrees, but what he does object to is the granting of the same degree for different things. If a philanthropic man endows a college, and that college "honors" him with a "degree," well and good. But it certainly is imposing on the public, and unjust to the student that the same degree should stand for a sum of money on the one hand, and for years of hard study on the other. Every graduate student heartily approves that recognition which universities sometimes accord men and women who have performed special service in behalf of secondary education or to men and women who have in some other way accomplished great things for humanity. Such acts should be looked upon as the rare privileges of great institutions of learning. But what the Federation insists is that these degrees shall be designated as honorary degrees, and sharply distinguished from degrees earned by hard and continuous study.

Again, there is still greater diversity in the graduate work done by different institutions. It is not always easy for a student to go from one university to another without meeting difficulties due to the differences in graduate courses. But it is often very desirable that a student should be able to go from one university to another to enable him to make the most of his work. To facilitate this migration of students, as it is called, is one of the chief aims of the Federation.

The Federation publishes annually a little book called "Graduate Courses," which is a compilation of the graduate courses offered in various universities. The publication of the book is controlled by a board of editors, composed of one editor-in-chief and one assistant editor from each institution represented in the book. No institution is allowed to have its courses inserted in the book-"Handbook"

unless it gives satisfactory evidence that the work its students do is of recognized quality. In this way the Federation hopes to stimulate uniformity of requirements. The Federation is now investigating migration of students, granting degrees, requirements for theses, and other subjects. This work, it is hoped, will assist in developing graduate study in American universities.

Nothing has as yet been said about the organization of the Federation. The word itself, federation, is almost sufficient. The Federation of Graduate Clubs is simply a union of the various local clubs. At present it includes about twenty universities. A convention of graduate students, representing sixteen colleges, met in New York city April 16, 1895. This convention issued an Address to Governing Boards of American Universities, to which migration and standards for degrees were discussed, and resolved to call a second convention during the following year. Such a meeting was held in Philadelphia January 3, 1896. And it was at this convention that the Federation of Graduate Clubs was permanently organized. The first meeting under the constitution was held at Baltimore, December 29 and 30, 1896. This convention showed an increased growth of the Federation, greater interest in its work, and an extension of the field of its activity. B. H MEYER.

University of Wisconsin.

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W. T. Anderson,
J. H. Nattrass,
C. H. Nye,
David Throne,
J. P. Peterson,
John Maloney,
E. E. Roethe,
Jessie N. Smith,
Maggie Ryan,

F. E. McGovern,
A. R. Whitson,
W. L. Morrison,
F. A. Lowell,
J. H. Derse,
G. W. Gehrand,
R. H. Barton,
Supt. J. H. Helen,
C. W. Rittenberg,
O. J. Schuster,
M. S. Frawley,
John Bille,

H. A. Adrian,
W. E. Uttendorfer,
W. O. Brown,
A. W. Burton,
E. T. Johnson,
Silas B. Tobey,
E. C. Wiswall,
J. H. Hutchison,
A. H. Fletcher,
J. E. Hoyt,
B. T. Davis,
H. A. Simonds,
E. E. Beckwith,
W. H. Elson,
C. F. Viebahn,
Supt. Estabrook,
Lovilla M. Mosher,

G. H Drewey, Howard Miller, J. S. Roesseler, M. L. Bunnell, Myron E. Keats, G. G. Williams, Dr. E. P. Swift, J. E. Edwards, Otto Gaffron, Anna E. Anderson, J. F. Conant, R. L. Cooley, J. W. Livingston, J. E. Riordan, A. E. Brainard, Taylor Frye, H. L. Terry, L. E. Amidon, W. H. Schultz, M. H. Jackson, W. H. Goodall, G. M. Morrissey, J. E. Roets, H. W. Rood, Frank E. Doty, J. E. NeCollins, Leo Williams, D. D. Mayne, Albert Hardy, R. B. Dudgeon, Dr. Eaton, Rufus C. Flagg, Prof. Rankin, Prof. O. C. Merica,

Hon. J. H. Stout,

J. A. Hutchins,

L. E. Gettle.

Greetings were received from the Minnesota State Educational Association in session at St. Paul, declaring that Minnesota teachers would be in Milwaukee next July, one thousand strong. Greetings were also received from the Iowa State Teachers' Association, in which they asked that additional room be reserved for them. Other greetings were received as follows: Florida: The Florida Teachers' Association acknowledge your kind invitation and hope to be well represented at the N. E. A.; Idaho: The Idaho State Teachers in enthusiastic convention assembled, accept Wisconsin's cordial invitation to attend the next National Educational meeting and promise a good delegation; Maine: Maine teachers return greeting and the Pine Tree State will join that of the Wild Rushing River to swell the National Convention of '97; North Dakota: North Dakota returns hearty greetings; will be in Milwaukee in July; South Dakota: 350 enthusiastic teachers of South Dakota send fraternal greetings and wish you Godspeed in the great cause that can alone reform society and lead to better things socially and politically; will you not join us in a resolution for Cuban liberty and autonomy? California: The California Teachers' Association, eleven hundred strong, return greetings to Wisconsin, and will send representatives in July; Missouri: Eight hundred Missouri teachers return your greeting and ask for an enlargement at headquarters.

President Burch announced the following committee on "Child-Study': J. J. Jegi, W. J. Brier, Buel T. Davis, J. H. Nattrass, Mrs. Mary Barker.

President Harvey from the committee appointed to invite the N. E. A. to Milwaukee in 1897, reported that they had been successful in their efforts. He said the committee had pledged Wisconsin to add two thousand new members to the national organization, and urged upon the Association the necessity of keeping the promise.

Prof. John M. Coulter, of the University of Chicago, was then introduced and delivered a masterly address on "Some Problems in Education."' He said in part:

Prof. Coulter's Address.

That never in the history of education in America had there been such a universal movement toward a change as at the present time. The act of teaching was quite an independent matter, and had no reference to the equipment

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