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EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.

THE SCHOOL JOURNAL.

LANCASTER, SEPTEMBER, 1897.

The best of men that ever wore earth about him was a sufferer, a soft, meek, patient, humble, trauquil spirit; the first true gentleman that ever breathed -Decker. Ye may be ave stickin' in a tree, Jock; it will be growin' when ye're sleepin'.-Scotch Farmer.

N. C. SCHAEFFER.

TH

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THE public will hardly criticise the action of the Legislature of Pennsylvania in making, and of Governor Hastings in approving, an appropriation of $150.000 for the relief of Lehigh University. The University has done admirable work, especially in technological education, and has suffered severely by the temporary failure of the Lehigh Valley railroad to pay the customary dividends on the endowment of $1,500,000 invested in stock left to it by Asa Packer. A thousand students have been educated at Lehigh University free of cost. The institution was established on broad and progressive lines, and its graduates have given an excellent account of themselves.

OUR fellow townsman and friend, William Riddle, well and favorably known to many of our older readers, has put the results of his observation and experience in educational work as teacher, director and book-man into a handsome volume of nearly five hundred pages just from press, entitled "Nicholas Comenius, or ye Pennsylvania Schoolmaster of ye Olden Time." Nicholas was one of the early superintendents, and his reminiscences are given in a series of pictures of the olden days, sharply contrasted with the new, and not always to the advantage of the latter. The old "masters" (for whom the author manifests a respect akin to reverence, notwithstanding their peculiarities), the ancient and modern director, the examination by committeemen and by superintendent, the old-time stage coach, the country tavern, all appear in this gallery of pen-pictures, drawn to the life. The book is good reading for young and old, for entertainment and instruction. State Supt. Schaeffer contributes an appreciative introduction; and illustrations, some forty in number, add to the attractiveness of the book. It deserves a large circle of readers.

THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL

ASSOCIATION.

HE meeting of the N. E. A. at Milextreme

heat, less enjoyable than former meetings. By the arrangements which the officers of the Association had made with the railroads, it became necessary for many of the members to come on Monday instead of Tuesday, and to remain until Saturday instead of Friday. After Mr. Winship pointed out that five plus ten equals six plus nine in arithmetic but not in hotel bills, and that Milwaukee means be'ere before the time, be'ere all the time and be'ere after the time, arrangements were made to stamp tickets for the return on Friday at noon. The practice of locking and policing the auditorium added to the general irritation. Those who served on committees were in many instances prevented from attending the meetings, whilst those who were so fortunate as to get inside had to face the frantic efforts of the chairman to keep order — an infliction that often broke the rapport which had been established between the speaker and his audience.

A change in the method of selecting the nominating committee served to allay much of the ill-feeling which has been gradually accumulating among the dissappointed, and which was no doubt intensified by the hot weather.

The people of Milwaukee did their best to give the visitors a hearty welcome. The arrangements at the hotels were superb, and Secretary Bruce of the local committee deserves great praise for his indefatigable work in behalf of the convention.

The most important event was the report of the Committee of Twelve on Rural Schools. This valuable report will be printed and distributed at ten cents.

Pennsylvania headquarters were opened in room 572 at the Plankinton House. Hundreds visited the place, registered their names, interchanged greetings, and succeeded in finding old friends who had gone West. Large delegations were in attendance from Philadelphia and Pittsburg, and the number would have been still larger if the railroad arrangements had been more favorable.

S. T. Skidmore, of the Girls' Normal School at Philadelphia, was elected Direc

from the furnaces are suddenly transformed into fiery serpents of great length and varied contortions, these reduced

tor for Pennsylvania. Dr. E. O. Lyte, whose earnest but genial face is always to be found at these national meetings, was elected Vice President of the General As-again and again in diameter until wire is sociation. Before the National Council he read the report of the Comittee on Hygiene, of which he was a member.

The Presidency fell by unanimous vote to Sup't J. M. Greenwood, of Kansas

had of any thickness desired; and the steel nail mill, where the din is deafening, as the hundred or more machines bite and pull and cut and bang away at the cold wire, and keep the round steel nails drop

City. For many years he did the drud-ping steadily into the pans below, with

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held in the beautiful town of New Castle, on the Ohio border. The full report of proceedings was given in the August number of The Journal. Its membership Its membership was not so widely distributed as we had hoped, but the local enrollment was very large, thanks to Supts. Thos. M. Stewart and J. W. Canon. We had an admirable presiding officer in Dr. D. J. Waller. Deputy Supt. J. Q. Stewart was at home as chairman of the executive committee. Good papers were read and good addresses made, conspicuous among them that of Booker T. Washington on Wednesday evening.

The last session was held in the new pavilion of their attractive park, where the last exercise was a good-humored address by Deputy Supt. Houck, in response to a hearty call from everybody. He ended by leading the audience in singing the National Hymn, with a final verse, easily remembered, "So say we all of us." Treasurer Keck and the writer found these summer woods so enjoyable that they did not return to town until after the hour when the courtesy limit on the street cars had expired, and they had a fare to pay. But they would be well content to pay a dozen fares for another such half holiday,

New Castle is noted for its manufactures, and, before leaving on Friday morning, we visited three of its leading mills: the tin mill, employing a thousand hands, and said to be the largest in the country; the wire mill, where large billets of steel

points and heads complete, all ready for the hammer of the workman. We have sometimes wondered how these highgrade nails could be sold in so many sizes, and so well finished, at so low a price. We don't wonder any more since this visit to New Castle. They are made by these vigorous machines so easily and in such quantity that if they were sold for nothing and the buyer paid for taking them away, we could almost imagine a dividend on the profits-though it would seem fair enough to charge something for the raw material and the noise made in working it up into this useful shape.

noon.

Taking the road through Franklin, Oil City, and other towns we had not before seen, Buffalo was reached in the late afterHere the large and heavy trolley cars looked as if Niagara might be pulling them, and, as directed, we took "the big yellow car" for the Falls, twenty miles or more away. It was a quick run on a pleasant evening, and we were soon quartered in a desirable room overlooking the American Rapids and the wooded islands. beyond. Then four good days, anywhere and everywhere.

The Falls are as pure as ever and as beautiful. Observation Tower, three hundred feet high, near Prospect Park, affords a bird's eye view of the cataract and surroundings. Go to the top and the whole scene is spread below you like a map, except that you do not see the front of the American nor all of the Canadian Fall. Goat Island lies before you-the rapids on both sides of it snow white and emerald green. Below the cataract the great river moves a deep green. The Horseshoe is falling smoke and foam, too far off for sound, but to the naked eye, in the bright sunlight or under our good old glass, a vision of beauty! And the welcome breeze at this elevation on a warm summer day-what more is needed to make the situation perfect, except that a hundred good people whom one knows are not here also to enjoy the passing hour? Down the inclined railway to the Maid

of the Mist, for the trip in front of the Falls. To the Canada side, and along by the lower road, for the best points of view which are to be had from this side. July sunshine everywhere. One gets into the shade, and uses the glass, and takes a sleep, and uses the glass again. Shrubs

and herbs and trees are behind and about him back to the great rock wall, and all around vast masses of rock and broken stone, looking no doubt the same to-day as for untold centuries.

To Prospect Park and the American fall at 6:30 a. m. for the last day. Nobody yet in sight. Everything after the storm of last night is fresh and new. God has just made the world. The sun shines only to bring out this heavenly beauty; and there is no fairer thing on which the eye of day looks down.

Now for the grand gorge route, by trolley, close by the river, and but a few feet above its surface, all the way to Lewiston, seven miles distant. This new route affords the only satisfactory view of the river below the Falls through its entire length, including the wild rush of the Whirlpool Rapids, which extend for a much greater distance than we had supposed. From Lewiston another seven miles by a flying trolley through a country of orchards which seems like a garden -what cherries the boys were selling at Lewiston! they seemed like the Ox-hearts of our boyhood-to old Fort Niagara, which was reached in time for the morning guard-mounting. The band was playing, and the new guard marched on to relieve the old guard marching off in due military form. A large part of this reservation, which is beautifully situated on the shore of the lake, is woodland.

stirs the blood to witness it, and makes one proud to be a man.

Across from Lewiston to the Canadian side, and up by the trolley on the north side of the river. Again to Goat Island and the Cave of the Winds for a good afternoon. In the evening to Prospect Park, where everybody is at home. Seats everywhere for the public convenience, and hundreds lounging upon the grass all about under the trees, but especially upon the banks of the river overlooking the American Rapids. The birds are at home too, and enjoy it.

Leaving Niagara on an evening train, by daybreak we reach Philadelphia, a little town at a railroad crossing, and here change cars for Clayton, where the boat for Montreal is taken, at the head of the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence. After an interesting ride down the river, running three or four rapids on the way, the Lachine being the last, we reach Montreal in time to take the night boat for Quebec.

After getting past the customs officer, a drive of a mile landed me at the wharf. Everybody was alive. The ticket agent was talking French with energy to a man who was out of line. Then English to the next who wanted an excursion ticket for five dollars. "How far to come back by rail, and how much?" "180 miles, $5.85 excursion ticket." Having just had an all-night ride by rail, of course I took the boat both ways-a fine steamer with accommodations for many hundred people. The evening was delightful and the view, as we steamed down the broad river, was enjoyed by everybody. It was a novel experience to hear strong-lunged men go it" in French, and men and On the way out we saw a fine exhi- women talk either language just as it bition of pluck and skill by a young man happened. I had to take an inside room driving a spirited pair of horses to a farm and was glad of it afterwards, as it made wagon. They took fright at the trolley me turn out by daybreak. The first man car and ran away. He turned them I saw was a young English officer, with against a tree to stop them. The tongue his little pill-box cap of blue and its band was broken off when they struck, and he of rich gold lace, lying out on a bench on was jerked from the wagon and thrown the after-deck sound asleep, "with his to his knees, but the lines were good and martial cloak around him." Going to the he was on his feet in an instant. The upper deck forward to see the sun rise, I frightened horses dragged him about fast. found a bright-faced lady already there, and hard. He lashed, and set his heels and spoke to her of the beauty of the and slid and held on like death, pale but scene. She said, "Parlez-vous Francais?" firm as iron, almost without a word, until as she rose with a smile. I did not talk he held them trembling and under con- French and, as she could talk no Engtrol, knowing their master. It was such lish, our interview was very brief, though an impromptu test of splendid courage pleasant enough what there was of it; and strength and skill giving mastery as but I was beginning to learn that French

even more than English is the language of Lower Canada.

Soon the sun came up in a crimson sky over a crimson flood, with wooded banks on either side from which the birds could be heard singing their welcome to the day just as when Cartier sailed up the same glorious river. What a morning hour! Two or three stragglers were out on deck, who were lucky enough to get bad rooms. Everybody else seemed asleep, as I would no doubt have been if I had been so unfortunate as to get a good room. That's the way most of us do it-miss the glory because comfortably asleep.

Soon after breakfast the Heights of Abraham were in full view, up which Wolfe climbed and where he met his death, where was won one of the three most momentous battles ever fought upon this continent. A single monument here, near the Governor's garden, commemorates jointly the fame of Wolfe and Montcalm. The Heights is now a race-course, and a few weeks ago Buffalo Bill gave his big show on this historic ground.

cross.

Even the telephone talks French here. Five-sixths of the people are French. I engaged an English cabman for six or seven hours, and had a satisfactory visit. The fortifications are extensive and formidable; Chateau Frontenac on the heights is a grand hotel; the Parliament building is a noble structure; the drive to the Falls of Montmorenci, seven miles beyond the city, is through one of the oldest villages in America, Beauport, a single street four miles long, on which there are many houses that seem "familiar with forgotten years. Here everybody talks French-except perhaps a baby that I heard crying in English. Wayside shrines are along the road, an iron column. surmounted by a There is a little chapel in the village, that may be 10x14 or somewhat larger, the oldest in the place, which is opened but once a year for service. We passed a funeral on its way to the cemetery, all the men wearing heavy bands of crape heavily draped. This is also seen in Montreal. Forty or fifty years ago we remember the same doleful fashion in Lancaster county. On the way to Montmorenci many of the fields showed such a growth of buttercups and daisies as we have never seen elsewhere. They gladden the eye and recall Mary Howitt very pleasantly, but-a bad crop for the farmer. The Falls of Montmorenci are a picture. You pay admittance to the grounds, and find your way

by the walks to the head of the staircase. The old summer house of the Duke of Kent, the father of Queen Victoria, is here. His official residence is pointed out in Quebec.

On the way back to Montreal I fell in with a gentleman living there who gave me much information of interest. It is a very substantial city of nearly four hundred thousand inhabitants. The Bank of Montreal is, they say, third in importance in the world, that of England being first, France second. From Mount Royal the city lies below in full view. The American Institute of Instruction held its sixty-seventh annual meeting here in the building of the Montreal Central High School, from July 9th to 12th, with a membership of over two thousand, and I had come at this time to attend the meeting. Pennsylvania had three representatives on the programme: Miss Anna Buckbee of the California, (Pa.,) State Normal School, Prof. W. S. Monroe, now of the Westfield (Mass.) State Normal School, and the present writer, who must own that for once he enjoyed this kind of work. Two-thirds of the population here is French. The great bell of Notre Dame is the largest in America. The chime of bells here was the heaviest until that recently placed in one of the towers of St. Patrick's Cathedral, in New York.

After a pleasant visit to Montreal we went down to the military reservation at Plattsburg, thirty miles over the border on Lake Champlain, stopping three or four good days with one of our boys, a son who is a First Lieutenant in the 21st Infantry, and who has here a pleasant home with a sturdy family of five sons and two daughters. The reservation is on the shore of the lake and probably 600 acres in extent. Hotel Champlain, at which President McKinley and his party have been summering, is on the commanding eminence of Bluff Point, surrounded by the virgin forest, three miles south of the military post; and the Twenty-first, the "President's Own," as the newspapers humorously call it, has made this march almost daily during his stay there, to show due honor to the Commander-inChief and his Secretary of War. We know at least three officers of this fine regiment who are Pennsylvanians, Colonel Kline, of Lebanon, Lt. Col. McKibben, of Chambersburg, and Lieut. McCaskey, of Lancaster. They have short summers and long winters here, of which they laugh

ingly say, "Two seasons-winter and August.'

Then to Saratoga, New York city, and Ocean Grove, in New Jersey, where we have spent part of each summer holiday for the past twenty five years. The Summer School of Theology here has been very interesting and profitable. The thronging thousands at Ocean Grove and Asbury Park have probably never had a more enjoyable season. In the death of Rev. Dr. Stokes, who has been the executive head of the Ocean Grove Association since the beginning, a great and good man has passed away, a man eminently fitted for the work of organization and direction to which he seemed divinely called. Ocean Grove is his enduring monument. The conception of the place was unique. It was proposed to conduct it as a summer resort where religion and religious work should be the first consideration; where stringent restrictions as to the sale of intoxicating liquors should be enforced; where immorality and vice

should be kept in check; in brief, where every energy should be directed to the advancement of the cause of the Master. To carry out these ideas required a man of rare common sense, unusual executive ability, and unswerving devotion to the work in hand. It needed also a man of liberal mind, discriminating judgment, and tact, and every other good business qualification. All these this man seems to have possessed in a marked degree. As we looked upon that vast auditorium

the crown of his work in connection with the temporal belongings of Ocean Grove, seating ten thousand people—on the occasion of his funeral, and knew the profound sorrow and the confident hope pervading it in that solemn hour, we felt, as never before, what Dr. E. H. Stokes has been to tens of thousands.

It

is after all the capable and unselfish Teacher whose influence is greatest among men—and most of all, when at his best of brain and heart, the Teacher of Right

eousness.

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