power of expression, would declare against the senseless putting together of words which have no interest for them, no revelation that leads to something beyond, that stimulates curiosity to walk further in the stubbly path of knowledge! The useless intrusion of bad manners, of revenge, of meanness, even though the actors be animals, in a few dramatic stories introduced into the primary reading-books, rouses the indignation of all who know that the full force of indignation lies not in the negative, but the positive; not in warnings against evil, but in stimulation toward the good. This principle should control the authors. of books for children, especially for those books that constitute the only literature of thousands of children.-Outlook.

SILVER AND GOLD.

HE Philadelphia Times puts it very plainly as follows in replying to the question why the owners of silver mines are not on the same basis as the owners of gold mines in the free coinage of both metals by the United States government:

"The answer is very simple. If a gold miner presents gold bullion at the Mint for coinage he must present ten dollars in actual value of gold for every $10 gold piece he wants coined. The government coins it without charge solely for the convenience of the public, and it furnishes no profit whatever to the owner of the gold.

"If the same privilege were extended to the silver miners, the man who brought $40 worth of bullion to the United States Mint, to be coined free on the same basis as gold, would receive from the Mint one hundred legal tender silver dollars in return for his forty dollars' worth of metal.

"The silver miners and the gold miners are on precisely an equal basis with the government. Each can receive for his metal exactly what it is worth. The government coins the gold without charge, and without profit to the owner of the gold bullion, to accommodate the public in the circulation of money, and when it wants silver it purchases it from the silver miner at its market value, and returns to the silver miners full compensation for their product, just as it returns full compensation to the gold miners.

"The gold coin is not a legal tender because it is stamped at a fixed value by the government. Whenever gold coins,

by reason of the friction of circulation, become reduced in value, they are a legal tender only for the intrinsic value of gold remaining in the coin. No advantage. whatever is given to the owner of gold by its free coinage, as his bullion is worth in open market precisely the same amount as the coin the government gives for it."

LINCOLN'S REVERENCE FOR

LEARNING.

ROM the New York Tribune we take

FROM

a clergyman's account of his interviews with Abraham Lincoln. Every such narrative is interesting, as it is quite sure to bring into relief some characteristic of the great President.

The first time I met Mr. Lincoln was during his contest with Douglas. I was a young clergyman in a small Illinois county town. I was almost a stranger there when Lincoln was announced to make a speech. I went to the hall, got a seat well forward, and asked a neighbor to point out Mr. Lincoln when he came in. “You won't have no trouble knowin' him when he comes," said my friend, and I didn't. Soon a tall, gaunt man came down the aisle, and was greeted with hearty applause.

I was specially impressed with the fairness and honesty of the man. He began by stating Douglas' points as fully and fairly as Douglas could have done. It struck me that he even overdid it, in his anxiety to put his opponent's arguments in the most attractive form. But then he went at those arguments, and answered them so convincingly that there was nothing more to be said.

Mr. Lincoln's manner so charmed me that I asked to meet him after the address, and learning that he was to be in town the next day attending court, I invited him to dine with me. He came, and we had an interesting visit.

The thing that most impressed me was his reverence for learning. Recently come from divinity studies, I was full of books, and he was earnest in drawing me out about them. He was by no means ignorant of literature, but as a man of affairs, naturally he had not followed new things nor studied in the lines I had. Philosophy interested him particularly, and after we had talked about some of the men then in vogue, he remarked how much he felt the need of reading, and

what a loss it was to a man not to have grown up among books.

"Men of force," I answered, "can get can get on pretty well without books. They do their own thinking, instead of adopting what other men think."

"Yes," said Mr. Lincoln, "but books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new, after all."

I met Mr. Lincoln several times later, the next time a long while after, in another place. I thought he would have forgotten me, but he knew me on sight, and asked in the gentlest way possible about my wife, who had been ill when he came to see us. But of all my memories of Lincoln, the one that stands out strongest was his interest in poetry and theology. He loved the things of the spirit.

A STORY FOR MOTHERS.

HE mother's influence in the homehow far-reaching it is! The strong, pure influence of a Christian mother is worth more than all the sermons preached in turning men to righteousness. tender little story of a Scotch home is told in the Christian Age:

A

A poor peasant on the Scotch coast had an unusually large brood of children, seven of them boys, and little, indeed, could he do for them. He labored early and late in the fields, and contrived to keep the wolf from the door, but that was all. There was never a shilling to spare, and the farmer's life was a hopeless, exhausting struggle against poverty and adversity.

The mother, too, worked early and late with all the cooking, washing and household drudgery of the humble home. There were many to clothe as well as to feed, and so scanty were the schooling facilities on that lonely stretch of coast that she herself taught the boys, one by one, to read and write.

If there had been girls among the older children she would have had help in the housework. Her daughters were the youngest of the family, and only added to her cares when she was least able to endure them.

Weary and overworked as this Scotch mother was, she was always the light and the life of the household. It was a happy home, because it was brightened by her cheerfulness and contentment.

When there was a boy old enough to read a book aloud, there was entertainment for the family while she was sewing, and she taught her children to sharpen their wits by keen argument, and, above all, to think for themselves.

Then, too, this Scotch mother, while not a trained musician, had a deep, rich voice, and a stirring way of singing oldfashioned hymns. On Sunday evenings the Bible would be read aloud, and then she would sing one hymn after another; while her brawny Scotch lads listened. with eagerness, and enjoyed the treat so keenly that they often complained because Sunday came only once a week.

The brood of children left the homenest one by one, and the mother died prematurely because of overwork and anxiety. But she lived anew in the boys as they became successful men in various professions and callings, for, although at the outset they were poor and had little education, they had her buoyant, hopeful nature, as well as her fine qualities of mind.

One of them was a soldier, and was mortally wounded in a foreign campaign. The chaplain in the hospital told him that he had only a few hours of life in reserve, and asked him if he had any religious faith.

"I have never had anything else," he replied. "I can hear my good mother now singing her Sunday night hymns on the Scotch coast!"

Another son became a prosperous barrister, with a great reputation for learning and wit. He would have had a larger income if it had not been for a striking peculiarity. He invariably threw up a case where he was convinced that there was no justice in it.

"I like to think of my dear old Scotch mother," he would say, "when I plead a case in court."

Another was an earnest preacher. One was a doctor with a metropolitan practice. Three were successful merchants, and one was a high-minded publisher. All were richly endowed with their mother's courage and mental resources, and all shared her deep religious nature.

In many a temptation and crisis they recalled her face, shining in the winter firelight of their old home, and the hymns she had sung, in which she had expressed the religious devotion that had governed her life, and the tender, unfailing love of a mother's heart.

THE SCHOOL JOURNAL.

LANCASTER, JANUARY, 1898.

More people drown in the glass than in the sea.

The bird is the balance in nature, keeping under the insect life, that fruit and grain may ripen and animals and men may live. Do not kill it or disturb its nest.

Ye may be aye sticken' in a tree, Jock; it will be growin' when ye're sleepin'.-Scotch Farmer.

The best of men that ever wore earth about him was a sufferer, a soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit; the first true gentleman that ever breathed.-Decker.

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to a fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. -Edward Courtney: Engraved also upon his tomb.

tional Educational Association has de

cided upon Washington as the place for its next meeting, and the time, July 7th to 13th, inclusive. The meetings will be opened on the evening of Thursday, July 7th. The advantages of this arrangement are that Sunday travel will be unnecessary. There will be no session on the afternoon and evening of Saturday, the time being given to social and other recreations. The meeting of the Pennsylvania State Teachers' Association will be held at Bellefonte, July 5th, 6th and 7th. Those who wish to attend both meetings can readily do so.

THE School Calendar published annually by the American Book Company, is not only a universal favorite with the teaching profession, but has come to be regarded by all who have ever seen or useful

and artistic calendar issued. The calendar for 1898, just out, fully sustains the reputation of its predecessors in appearance and contents. In addition to the calendar front pages, which are printed in clear and distinct type, it contains on the back pages, in compact form, valuable statistical tables and information, astronomical, geographical, historical, and educational. We find in these tables, estimates of the present population of the States and Territories which have been carefully made by the several State Superintendents of Public Instruction. These show the aggregate population of the United States at this time to be 73,500,000, which we believe to be a

very close estimate. Estimates of the present population of leading cities are also given. The American Book Company prints a large edition of these calendars, and distributes them free of charge among teachers throughout the country. As long as the edition lasts, they may be obtained from the publishers on application to address elsewhere given.

'THE rarest sort of book," says Mr. Bagshot slyly, is "a book to read;" and "the knack in style is to write like a human being." It is painfully evident, upon experiment, says Woodrow Wilson in the Atlantic Monthly, that not many of the books which come teeming from our presses every year are meant to be read. They are meant, it may be, to be pondered; it is hoped, no doubt, they may instruct, or inform, or startle, or arouse, or reform, or provoke, or amuse us; but we read, if we have the true reader's zest and palate, not to grow more knowing, but to be less pent up and bound within a little circle,-as those who take their pleasure, and not as those who laboriously seek instruction, -as a means of seeing and enjoying the world of men and affairs. We wish companionship and renewal of spirit, enrichment of thought, and full adventure of the mind; and we desire fair company and a large world in which to find them.

STATISTICS OF REPORT.

s HE annual report of Dr. Nathan C. Schaeffer, found in the present issue of The Journal, considers at length our recent school legislation, and discusses a number of subjects of vital interest in our school work. It will be read all over Pennsylvania, and will everywhere afford evidence of progress in the school affairs of the State. We are still on the "climbing way." But "all that glitters is not gold.' We have a magnificent State appropriation, the ostensible purpose of which is the better equipment of the schools, and such increase in the salaries of teachers as shall attract to the school-room, and retain in it, capable men and women of fine education, and these in increasing numbers, so that the general average of the profession may be steadily advanced.

As yet, little benefit has accrued to the teacher from this increased appropriation. Indeed, it has been so used in many localities as to have failed utterly of its avowed purpose. The cupidity and selfishness of men in positions of trust and responsibility on the one hand, and on the other the effort on the part of not a few school districts to make the State appropriation pay all their school expenses, have, in many places, caused this grand appropriation to do more harm than good. This is a hard thing to say, but no one familiar with the facts will deny its truth. There has been very earnest protest against this condition of things a great benefaction gone wrong! We need specific legislation which shall forbid the payment by the State to any school district of an amount greater than that which is raised by taxation and properly expended by the school authorities of said district. We write this at the Christmas time, when the better thought of "good will to men," not greed, is in the air. The schools should always and every where be managed in the spirit of this blessed truth which angel voices long ago proclaimed in perpetual benediction. Let us have more of this spirit.

The statistical statement of the public schools for the school year ending June 7, 1897, including Philadelphia, is as follows: Number of school districts in the State, 2,481; number of schools, 26,706; number of graded schools, 15,698; number of superintendents, 140; number of male teachers, 8,901; number of female teachers, 18,528; whole number of teachers, 27,429; average salaries of male teachers per month, $43 72; average salaries of female teachers per month, $38.11; average length of school term, in months, 7.92; number of pupils, 1, 109,872; average number of pupils, 963,071; cost of school houses-purchasing, building, renting, etc., $3,688,604.36; teachers' wages, $10,049.912.45; cost of school text-books, $701,043.39; cost of school supplies other than text-books, including maps, globes, etc., not including Philadelphia, $412,335.63; fuel, contingencies, fees of collectors and other expenses, $4 766,291.26; total expenditures, $19,618,187.09; State appropriation for the school year ending June 1, 1896, $5.500,000,co; estimated value of school property, $48.917,002.59.

The following items are compared with those of the preceding year, ending June

I, 1896, and including Philadelphia: Net increase in number of districts, 4; increase in number of schools, 807; increase in number of graded schools, 640; increase in number of male teachers, 105; increase in number of female teachers, 560; decrease in salary of male teachers per month, $1.06; decrease in salary of female teachers per month, .17; decrease in length of school term, in months, .06; increase in number of pupils, 21, 135; increase in teachers' wages, $427,576.64; decrease in cost of building, purchasing and renting, $408,320.57; decrease in cost of fuel, contingencies, debts and interest. paid, $118,395.38.

These figures show the condition of the system, not including Philadelphia, with comparisons: Number of districts, 2,481, increase, 4; number of schools, 23,451, increase, 609; number of pupils, 971,337, increase, 14,603; average attendance, 840,111, increase, 156, 193; per cent. of attendance, 86, increase, .02; average length of term, in months, 7.63, decrease, .08; number of male teachers, 8,717, increase, 89; number of female teachers, 15,457, increase, 482; whole number of teachers, 24, 174, increase, 571; average salary of male teachers per month, $41.32, decrease, 48 cents; average salary of female teachers per month, $32.86, increase, 8 cents; cost of school supplies other than text-books, $412,335.63, increase, $55,567.21; teachers' wages, $7,839,216.45, increase, $378,669.44; fuel and contingencies, $4,104,615.52, increase, $87,806.56; cost of text-books, $543,543.72; decrease, $20,874.19; purchasing, building and repairing houses, $3,296,294.14, decrease, $1,121,93; total expenditures, $16,196,005.46, increase, $500,047.05; average number of mills on dollar for school purposes, 4.83, decrease, .16; average number of mills on dollar for building purposes, 2.88; amount of tax levied, $9,351,011.31, increase, $54,848.53.

The statistics of Philadelphia are as follows: Number of schools, 3,255; male teachers, 184; female teachers, 3,071; average salary of male teachers per month, $157.12; average salary of female teachers per month, $65 54; number of pupils in school at end of year, 138,535; average attendance, 122,960; paid for teachers' salaries, $2,210,696.00; paid for school houses, additions and repairs, $392,310.22; paid for books, fuel, stationery and contingencies, $819, 175.41.

TEACHING AS A BUSINESS.

O celebrate his fiftieth birthday, Mr.

C. W. Bardeen has recently issued a volume containing four addresses upon Teaching as a Business. As teacher, editor, and manager of an educational bureau he has had wide experience and excellent opportunities for studying the vocation of teaching from a business point of view. In the first address he discusses the teacher as he should be.

He shows how some qualities usually

considered essential to success have been wanting in teachers of world-wide reputation. He specifies twenty-six of these, one for each letter of the alphabet; and then omitting these in the discussion, he devotes his space to the twenty-seventh, which is that the teacher must be a man (or woman) in the best sense of the word.

The second address treats of Teaching as a Business for men. He asks and answers the question: Ought teaching under present conditions to command the services of first-class young men? With inimitable wit he points out the drawbacks of a teacher's life and suggests several practical reforms which should be attempted. " To put it briefly," says he, "the fatal flaw in our status as a profession, is that the average school board is a checker board. In playing draughts the only important consideration is that the square be covered. If a man rolls to the floor out of reach, another will do as well, or a penny or a button will serveanything to show that the place is not empty, And so if a principal resigns, why, anybody will do, that can sit in the chair without being put out by the big boys-your cousin, my nephew, this graduate who wants to earn morey to pay his college debts. Now suppose we could convert our school boards into chess boards. When a knight falls to the carpet, you do not replace him by a pawn, or a rook by a bishop; and you will make almost any sacrifice to retain your queen. One of these pawns may sometime be a queen, but not till by long probation and many steps of progress she has won her position in the queen's row."

The third address discusses the Teacher's Commercial Value, taking up character, promptness in paying one's bills, health, neatness, scholarship and other qualities in a way to lift everything he says above the commonplace. This address is worth more to the young teacher

than half the homilies on pedagogy which are now issued from the press.

The last address treats of fitting teachers to places. He discloses many of the inner secrets connected with the running of a teacher's bureau, and makes us think more kindly of agencies which at one time seemed as objectionable as a marsh breeding mosquitoes. The annoyance of answering the innumerable letters of applicants whom the agencies had let loose upon the writer when he was Principal of a State Normal School, filled his soul with deep-seated prejudices. These almost disappeared under the influence of this charming address.

The style of the author is best ilustrated by another quotation which is, we think, without a parallel in the literature of pedagogy:

When I was a good deal younger and doing some teaching myself, it came to my knowledge that Isaac N. Carleton had said some pleasant things of me to a high school committee looking for a principal, and that he had recommended me as especially successful in discipline. I want to tell you how he came to do it.

When Mr. Carleton was principal of the New Britain Normal School, a teacher of sciences was wanted for the spring term, and I was invited to go up there. The work was principally to teach chemistry, but the place carried with it the title of vice-principal. This was of little consequence, as Mr. Carleton managed the school, and as in fact discipline was little in evidence. I never knew a school where teachers and pupils all worked together in more perfect harmony.

But one day Mr. Carleton called me into his office and said, "Mr. Bardeen, I am going away for four or five days."

I said, “Yes, sir.”

He said "As you are vice-principal I shall leave the school in your charge." I said, "Yes, sir."

He said "I believe everything is all right, except one possibility. Three girls," and he named them. "have asked permission to go to a party at Mr. Smith's on Monday night. I have refused it, but I have some reason to think that they intend to go. want you to find out whether they go or not, and if they go to discipline them." I said, "Yes, sir."

I

Well, I just hoped those girls wouldn't go. They were women-grown, and to me, barely out of college, that particular embodiment of humanity was still formidable. But they went, and Tuesday was a troublesome day for me. I heard my classes mechanically with this problem in the background-what am I going to do with those girls? I spent the afternoon getting ready my experiments for the next day, and acids and alkalies and retorts were all questioned