either case, it is just as original to him as if no one in the world had ever produced it. In either case, he is entitled to letters patent, and is authorized to prosecute any infringement.

In this grade is found the true aristocracy of letters. The membership is small and somewhat lonely. The doors are open, and applicants will continue to be received if they come prepared to comply with the terms of initiation. Says Hazlitt in his essay ON PEOPLE WITH ONE IDEA: "Oh! how little do they know, who have never done anything but repeat after others by rote, the pangs, the labor, the yearnings and misgivings of mind it costs to get at the germ of an original idea-to dig it out of the hidden recesses of thought and nature, and bring it half-ashamed, struggling and deformed, into the day-to give words and intelligible symbols to that which was never imagined or expressed before! It is as if the dumb should speak for the first time, or as if things should stammer out their own meaning through the imperfect organs of mere sense.

It was, no doubt, with a full realization of the difficulty referred to by Hazlitt as well as on account of the universality of memoriter recitations, that Cowper in his Tirocinium expressed the conviction that

"To follow foolish precedents, and wink

With both our eyes, is easier than to think."

But we are told that the day of absolute originality is past, and that the writers of to-day are only copyists. Emerson says, somewhat oracularly: "Every book is a quotation; and every house is a quotation out of all forests, and mines, and stone quarries; and every man is a quotation from all his ancestors." In a general sense this is all true; but, does he mean that all of every book is a quotation, or that the main features are? Does he mean that every house is an exact duplicate of some antecedent house, or that it is only a compound of elements found in the forest, the mine and the quarry? Does he mean that every man possesses ancestral blood and characteristics? Who doubts it?

New literary creations must have conceded the existence of several antecedent conditions: (1.) Material to be wrought into other forms. (2.) Mental faculties. (3.) Healthful action of those faculties. (4.) Language to represent the products of this action. When these are properly employed, the genetic grade may be reached by the moderns. The bee makes honey in this sense. This precious food is the nectar from many flowers; nor do we always stop, in eating it, to analyze the honey and determine that one part was gathered from the clover, another from the dandelion and another from the honeysuckle. It is

modern honey, and as such, by the law of originality, a creation-not a theft.

We pause to give, in conclusion, a few practical suggestions which may be utilized by teachers:

I. Much of the plagiarism of the day originates in that conception of study which always requires the memorizing of lessons, word for word, and their recitation in like manner.

2. Much is due also to imperfect systems of language-culture and composition-training. Children are simply commanded to prepare a given exercise-are told to write a composition, without receiving proper aid in their work. As a result, some sentence or paragraph from a book is copied-some essay from a newspaper, magazine, teacher or book is offered as the production sought. The evil is not checked, and finally becomes a fixed practice.

3. Much is traceable to the fact that pupils are not practically trained how to read an author intelligently on a given subject-to learn what should be taken and what rejected-and per consequence they simply copy entire paragraphs and read them as their own. Particularly is this the case when they investigate some subject in the Encyclopædia. The remedy is simple: (1.) Pupils should be required, at times, to copy entire essays verbatim, observing to capitalize, spell, punctuate and paragraph according to the text. This practice will produce close observers in language. (2.) They should then be trained to make appropriate quotations and intersperse them with their own observations, remembering to give due credit. (3.) They should be asked to read a paragraph or article, and then from memory to express the results in their own language. This will also increase their vocabulary, since many of the terms will be remembered. (4.) They should be trained to outline the subject concerning which they expect to speak or write, and then select from the author read what they can profitably use in developing the outline. This material, made a part of their own mental being by digestion and assimilation, will assist in perfecting their literary labor.

4. Much is chargeable to the wide-spread practice of it in literary societies, newspapers, sermons, etc.,-a practice whose immorality is permitted to pass unrebuked. Let teachers set themselves against this species of theft, and inaugurate a much-needed reform.

J. FRAISE RICHARD.

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.

SCHOOL MATTERS IN ENGLAND.

BY CHAS. W. SUPER, ATHENS, 0.

There are some things in the English public school system to which attention may very properly be called here. My observations have been confined chiefly to London; but its schools are conducted in the main like those of other large cities in England, some of which they do not surpass in excellence. The code of regulations now in effect was adopted in May, 1882, and all quotations in this paper are from the document of that date.

England has no free public schools. As compulsory education is pretty stringently enforced there are of course a good many children whose parents are too poor to pay tuition, and in such cases it is remitted by the board of education. The minimum weekly tuition fee for each child is two cents; the maximum, eighteen cents. As the law however compels children to attend only "half-time," they are required to pay no more than half tuition, except in the lowest grade. The head teacher in each department is charged with the duty of collecting the fees. As an offset to this, the pupils do not furnish their own books, these being in most cases, at least, provided by the boards of education. In London, there is in vogue a system of prize-giving by which pupils may earn books as rewards of merit. Each pupil that has attended punctually for one quarter receives from the head teacher a card of which the pecuniary value in books or work-boxes is from six to thirty-six cents, according to the grade of the school. Only girls in the advanced classes are allowed the option of work-boxes. But teachers may withhold from pupils the rewards earned by punctuality if their conduct in other respects has been unsatisfactory. Thus while there are no free schools so-called, children may not only receive gratuitous instruction, but earn articles of value in addition.

On the subject of punishment, I can not do better than quote the words of the code: "Every occurrence of corporal punishment must be formally recorded in a book kept for that purpose. Head teachers must exercise the utmost caution in inflicting corporal punishment so as never to strike a child on any part of the head, either with the hand or any instrument whatever. Corporal punishment must not be inflicted during school hours. The name of any child to be punished shall be put down, and the cases of corporal punishment be dealt with at a particular time set apart for the purpose. Head teachers may inflict immediate corporal punishment in exceptional cases, which, in their judgment, require such a course; but a special report of each case must be made by them in the punishment book, giving in full the

reasons for departing from the ordinary rules of the board. Assistant teachers and pupil teachers are absolutely prohibited from inflicting such punishment. The head teacher is held directly responsible for every punishment of the kind."

I found among the London teachers, and also in the board, a strong sentiment against the infliction of corporal punishment. Some teachers with whom I conversed seemed to take pride in showing that their punishment books contained but a meager record. An instance was related to me of a school in the East End of London, attended chiefly by the children of the worst and lowest classes, which had caused the authorities a great deal of trouble, because no teacher would remain long in charge of it, even if some would go so far as to try. At length, with considerable difficulty, the services of a lady were secured who had made an exceptionally fine record in another part of the city. She at once wholly discontinued the infliction of corporal punishment, and in a very short time, by the mere influence of her admirable tact and skill in school government, had transformed the school into one of the most orderly.

As a rule, teachers in England are not employed independently who have not attended a training school and served an apprenticeship to some older teacher. Head teachers may have in charge as many pupil teachers as they can oversee, but cannot receive pay for more than six. Naturally those teachers who have the best reputation are most sought by those intending themselves to enter the profession. Pupil teachers pay for this instruction-males twenty-five dollars, females twenty dollars per annum—and head teachers whose services are in demand may thus considerably increase their income. The absurd notion so prevalent here that any young person who knows a trifle more than other youth is a proper and fit person to teach them independently, has no defenders on the other side of the Atlantic, so far as my observation has extended.

The teacher's income may be made up from one or more of the following sources: 1. A fixed salary paid monthly. 2. A share in the government grant. 3. Payment to head teachers from pupil teachers. 4. Payment for instruction in drawing. As to point 2, it needs to be said that once a year regularly all the pupils are individually examined by a government inspector, and the teacher receives a pecuniary allowance for each one found competent to pass into the next higher grade. In some cases a teacher may take a school at a fixed annual rate without regard to the report of the inspector, but generally the sliding scale, or payment according to success, is found most efficient to secure the best work. In the lower grades there is not much difference

between the salaries of males and females, usually about twenty-five dollars, up to a maximum of four hundred dollars. Beyond this the difference is greater, so that where a male head teacher receives five hundred and fifty dollars, a female receives but four hundred and fifty. Going still higher, when a male receives ten hundred and fifty dollars, the female teacher of the same grade receives but seven hundred and fifty. As a part of the fixed salary is reckoned the annual increase made upon each "good report" which the teacher receives from the inspector. This increase is fifty dollars for a male teacher and thirty for a female. The apparently unjust discrimination arises from two causes. The older male teachers, those whose wages are highest, have more frequently families to support than the females; the supply of the latter is much greater than of the former, and their services can be obtained for less money. A very large number of ladies find employment as public school teachers in England. No part of the English system appears to me more worthy of imitation than to pay according to success. And the teacher has usually a very competent judge to decide whether he has succeeded, as the inspectors are always the best educated men that can be had, and the position is so well paid that men of ability seek it. Besides, his relation to the teachers of his district is such that he can have no interest in keeping any of them back. It is too often the case under our system of union schools, that boards feel themselves limited in the expenditure of money; and in such cases, the superintendent, if a shrewd manager, succeeds in getting the lion's share, while the remaining teachers are put off with what is left. yet the schools are probably none the better for the disproportionate salary and the nominal oversight. From the commencement of his career, the English teacher has before him strong incentives to do well, and he may win prizes in two or three different directions each year.

And

The English system is largely based upon the German, though that has not been slavishly copied. The English people deserve great credit, not only for the zeal with which they have recently entered upon the improvement of public education, but also for the judgment they have shown in adopting whatever is good in the systems of other countries. Consequently the uniform improvement of their schools has been greater in five years than that of Ohio in four times five, though Ohio has doubtless some as good schools as England's best.

Your work is not finished when you have brought the ore from the mine; it must be sifted, smelted, refined and coined before it can be of any real use and contribute to the intellectual food of mankind.-Max Muller.