15. Give the terms of the will under which the Maclure libraries were founded. (Pp. 323-325.)

16. Compare these with the conditions under which Carnegie has founded his libraries.

17. Narrate the part that A. P. Hovey played in establishing these libraries.

18. Examine the list of places and counties receiving Maclure libraries. If your town or county received one, trace its history and fate.

19. Trace the growth of the New Harmony Workingmen's Library. Note especially the aid it received from the Rappites and from Dr. Cooper.

20. Tell the story of Dr. Cooper.

21. The New Harmony Library alone will amply repay for a pilgrimage to the site of Owen's and Maclure's unhappy ventures. What two features of the New Harmony library merit commendation?

22. Topic: How can the library and the public school best inculcate a taste for good reading? By some member of the class or institute.

23. Have you in your school community a township, town, or city library to which children and teachers have ready and profitable access? If not, what steps can you, as a body of teachers, take to secure such a necessary educational. weapon? (Address Miss Merica Hoagland, State Library Organizer, State House, Indianapolis, Ind.)

24. If you have such a library, is it supported by at least a reasonable tax? Is the money arising from taxation applied to its support properly?

25. Have you ever applied for or experienced in your community the benefits of one of the traveling libraries supplied by the State? If not, inquire from Miss Hoagland concerning the same.

26. Have you a local historical society active and efficient? If not, why not organize one? (See p. 332.)

27. What was the fate of the Maclure libraries, and why?

28 What benefit came from them? (P. 322.)

29. Topic for round table discussion: How can the work of the public library and the schools be made more mutually

helpful? If you have a librarian, why not have her present?

30. Topic: An exposition of Modern Day Socialism-its aims, its phases, and its errors. By some member of the class or institute. (References: "A Critique on Socialism," Paul Elder & Co., San Francisco, $1.50; "Social Unrest," J. G. Brooks, Macmillan, $1.50.)

31. Topic: Lessons from the life of Jean Valjean. By some member of class. or institute. (See Hugo's "Les Miserables.")

32. Round Table Discussion: The truancy law as a phase of the struggle for social betterment-how can it be made more effective by the legislature? (By teachers and officers.)

THE THIRTEENTH LESSON.

The questions in this lesson are based upon Chapter XXV of "The New Harmony Movement."

1. Read the entire chapter through before attempting to answer the questions given below.

2. Narrate the part that Robert Dale Owen played in the founding and erection of the Smithsonian Institute.

3.

Note that Owen advocated a national normal school for the training of teachers for state normal schools. What are the arguments for and against such a national institution?

4. What was the attitude of Robert Dale Owen upon the subject of free public schools? (See pp. 340-344. Also pp. 264, 265, 266.)

5. What was the surplus revenue fund? What attempt was made to divert it from the schools? How defeated by Owen? (See pp. 344-347.)

6. What four difficulties practically annulled the excellent educational provisions of the natal Constitution of Indiana? (See pp. 347, 348, 349.)

7. Read the arguments advanced in those early days against a State publicschool system. (See pp. 349, 350.) Is there one in the list given that would be tolerated today?

8. Describe the distressing school conditions between the Constitution of 1816 and Constitution of 1852.

9. Read the general educational provisions of the two Constitutions. (See p. 347 and pp. 352, 353.) Is there any essential difference between the two? What part did Owen play in making the educational provisions of the later Constitution successful? (See bottom of p. 355 and 356.)

10. Note the various school funds declared and named in the second Constitution. (P. 354.) Have some member or members of the class or institute to discuss these funds, giving their source, growth and present condition.

11. From what other source or sources is the common school fund money distributed semi-annually to the various school corporations of the State derived?

12. Enumerate and discuss the provisions of the school law of 1852. Ascertain the present law with respect to each one of these provisions.

13. Note on page 359 that subsequent statutes have provided for the education of the negro. What are the provisions of the Indiana law respecting the education of the negro? Is he entitled to a training equal to that bestowed upon the white children? Does the law then give him the right to a commissioned high

school education? Are the school corporations that afford him only a graded school, or at best only a non-commissioned high school, training obeying the law or giving to the negro his just rights? Let many school corporations in South

ern Indiana answer.

14. Topic: Tuskegee and the struggle for the uplift of the negro. By some member of the class or institute.

15. Topic: Tuskegee as a phase of the manual training crusade. By some member of the class or institute.

16. What was the attitude of Robert Dale Owen upon the subject of slavery? Where did he and Lincoln first come into close contact with it?

17. Compare Lincoln and Owen as to: (1) Personal character; (2) as to attitude. toward preservation of Union; (3) as to means of solving the slavery problem. (See pp. 361-362.)

18. What were the provisions of Clay's compromise measures of 1850 and what was their purpose?

What was the fugitive slave law? How did it become an issue in the Indiana Constitutional Convention of 1850? 20. How did Owen meet this issue? (See p. 363.)

21. What was his attitude on Slavery and the Union before hostilities began? What was his attitude after hostilities began?

22. How did Robert Dale Owen become a factor in the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation? (See pp. 365371.)

23. How did he become a factor in saving Indiana to the Union? (See pp. 372-375.)

24. What was the attitude of Owen upon the question as to when negro suffrage should go into effect? Was he right or wrong?

25. A review or exposition of Albion W. Tourgee's "A Fool's Errand." By some member of the class or institute.

26. A review or exposition of Thomas Dixon's "The Clansman." By some member of the class or institute. It is suggested that topics under 25 and 26 be

avoided where their discussion would arouse political or racial feeling.

27. What is Mr. Holliday's opinion of Robert Dale Owen?

28. Topic: How can the church be made a greater factor in the problem of social betterment? By some member of the class or institute. (References: Strong's "The Twentieth Century City," published by Baker, price 50 cents; "Social Reform and the Church," Commons, published by Crowell, N. Y., 75 cents.

29. Topic: What social settlement work is our community doing and what more can we do? By some social settlement worker, if there be any in the community, or some teacher.

30. Topic: What can the rural teacher do to aid in the struggle for social betterment: (a) In her school; (b) in her environment? For general discussion.

THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION. CHARLES A. MCMURRY, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, CALIFORNIA, PA.

COMPARISONS.

In the inductive thought movement comparison is a significant step. In the usual treatment of lessons in history, literature, science, and geography, comparisons are sometimes made, but it is doubtful if comparison is treated as an essential stage in the usual development of important ideas.

The aim which controls the acquisition of knowledge in our common studies is often a sheer knowledge of facts such as requires no comparisons, but rests on memory. A child might learn well ninetenths of the facts in history or geography and make almost no comparisons at all.

Another reason why comparisons are ignored is that they are troublesome. It is much easier to move on in a straight line to other facts furnished by the book or teacher than to read just one's vision to a comparative survey of past with present knowledge. In comparisons one must lift himself by an effort to a higher and broader point of view. In comparison it may be necessary to bring together things that are far apart in time and space and not previously associated in our thought. All this requires time and positive effort, and the teacher who has definite tasks to accomplish may not have time to spare. As a result comparisons are usually left

out.

A simple illustration may show how little we are accustomed to compare, and to suggest at the same time the value of comparison. In studying the Missouri Valley it might be profitable to spend a whole lesson in comparing the Missouri Valley with the Ohio Valley previously studied. Such a comparison will bring out the facts that the Missouri drainage basin, including its tributaries, is two and. one-half times as large as the Ohio basin, that the main branch of the Missouri is about three times the length of the Ohio, and that the mountains from which the Missouri springs are three times as high

as the sources of the Ohio. On the other hand the Ohio and its tributaries pour more than twice as much water yearly into the Mississippi as the Missouri and its tributaries. What are the reasons for this striking contrast in the amount of water delivered to the Mississippi? On the other hand what are the results of this marked difference in rainfall? The Ohio Valley was originally a vast, almost uninterrupted forest, and so far as the forests have been removed has become rich in agriculture. The Missouri Valley was a land of prairies and arid wastes, with strips of forests only along the lower river courses. Most of the Missouri Valley is a treeless plain, a complete contrast. to the general aspect of the Ohio. To what extent are the two rivers used for purposes of navigation? The Ohio River and some of its branches, like the Monongahela, are of great importance for barge. and steamboat traffic. The Missouri is little used. Why?

Compare in size and number the cities on the Ohio and its branches with those of the Missouri. What is the cause of the remarkable contrast in the number and size of great cities? There is a larger population in and near Pittsburg than in all the large cities of the Missouri Valley to say nothing of Cincinnati, Louisville, Columbus, Indianapolis, etc.

To what extent are these differences due to the earlier settlement of the Ohio Valley, and to what extent to their natural resources? How would the gold and silver of the Rocky Mountain States, drained by the Missouri, compare in value with the coal, iron, and petroleum of the western Alleghanies? How do the population and wealth of the Ohio Valley compare with those of the Missouri Valley? What points of resemblance are found in these two river basins? For in spite of their strong contrasts they are much alike in agriculture, in commerce, in mining, in railroads, in cities and traffic routes, and climate, people, and customs.

It may be admitted that in 6th or 7th grade, one or two lessons could be very profitably spent in such a series of comparisons. It is not so much that new facts are thus brought to light as that old

facts are brought into new and significant relations. It may be said also that comparisons lead to a far deeper interpretation of the meaning of the facts. Perhaps also the time thus spent is more profitable and lasting in its effects than the mere memorizing of such facts without comparison.

If a class is studying Whittier's Snowbound in reading lessons, an occasional excursion into other stories or poems containing similar lines of thought or scenes may be profitable. Whittier describes the home circle of his childhood. Several familiar stories deal with the same or a similar theme, as Dickens's Christmas Carol, Burns's Cotter's Saturday Night, Enoch Arden, John Halifax, also some of the familiar biographies, as of Lincoln, Alice and Phoebe Cary, Longfellow and others.

In history fruitful comparisons can be made between the different colonies, between different men, between battles and other important events at successive periods of our history.

It is indeed surprising to find what interesting and profitable results spring from such comparisons. They lead to a wholly different mental attitude and a far deeper interest in history.

It is such comparisons in history, geography and literature that bring out the continuity and pervasiveness of important

ideas. ideas. Such comparisons kept up from time to time in those studies where they are appropriate bring into prominence the controlling ideas and put all lesser ideas more and more into their proper perspective.

It is a fair question to ask, whether such comparisons, systematically applied, may not furnish a better plan of reviews than our usual reviews at the end of a term's work.

Reviews instituted for purposes of comparison are really processes of assimilation. They give us constantly new and wider interpretations of old facts. This is easily observed, for example, in comparing European cities, rivers, and countries with those previously studied in the United States. In studying Ireland, for example, it is interesting to recall the fact that New York City has about twice as many Irish people as Dublin, the largest city of Ireland. Or as to Germany, New York City has as many Germans as both Hamburg and Munich.

What we would emphasize is this, that such comparisons should not be left to accident, but they are of such value, they are such an improvement upon other methods, that they should be frequent and well-planned. The teacher herself should form the habit of comparative study, and the children should be drawn into this tendency and habit of thought.

FEBRUARY.

February is the shortest month of the year, yet it holds so many red-letter days and offers such an opportunity for character building. Around these days all of the interest for the month centers.

In the first grade we begin by the telling of the simplest stories, but if the same simple stories are told year after year to the children until they begin their study of history, they become not

only tiresome, but they lose all the good which they should carry with them.

Children develop each hour and day mentally, morally and physically. So the school work should develop to satisfy their needs. We are not asking that the work be new, but we are asking that it be of such a character that the pupils be benefited by it.

Trite as it is to say, we are going to say again that there should be a purpose,

a theme to our school work. Never yet has there been a great life lived but that through it there ran a great theme. Never has a song or poem lived but for its theme, and again we will say that the work of the school will not stand as great work until the theme is greater than that of imparting facts.

In this month we are to celebrate St. Valentine's day, and there is no day excepting Christmas which teaches such a great lesson as this, yet it will be ignored entirely or treated as a day set apart for telling the neighbors in a vulgar way some unpleasant thing about themselves.

Lincoln is not great because he was born poor and became the president. That is not the point of his life, but the fact that he was honest, helpful, gentle and persevering are the important factors in his life. Lincoln, who should inspire the boys of the school to an eternal effort to overcome circumstances and to live noble lives, will be remembered by some story which he told, and will be known as a "joker."

Washington, the great hero, not because of the "cherry tree," but because of the great good which he accomplished for his country. He did not seek greatness for himself, but it came to him because he was found where his duty called him. Even our great Washington will be treated in any way excepting with the dignity which he deserves.

Last year after the second grade teacher had laboriously told the story of the "cherry tree," she was surprised on the following day by one of her seven-yearolds saying: "You did not tell the story right, about the cherry tree. Harry said. so." On questioning the child she found that Harry's teacher in the fourth grade had told this story in the place of the old one: George's father said: "Who cut my cherry tree?"

"Ike did it, father."

The father misunderstood George and thought he said "I did it, father." After such a common way of treating the story is it strange that we ask, What is the purpose of the February history work. in the primary grades?

Surely, its aim is greater than that the children be able to tell a few anecdotes of our great men. It is even greater than that they are able to name the character and give the date of the birth and death. If these were the aims they would be of small import, but there is great import in how a life has been lived and what particular characteristics make for great

ness.

Before the children begin their history work from the text they should have a great interest in the lives of our great men and women. A point should be made of the fact that the characteristics of greatness are universal, that from the beginning to the present great men have been made of the same material. To clinch the point the pupils should have stories of the lives of great men of other times and of other countries, and that the great lives that are being lived today are being spent in doing many of the simplest duties.

The knights of the old time put a crown of glory upon many virtues of our everyday life; these were valor, courtesy, hospitality and loyalty. These are the same virtues which made Washington and Lincoln great.

These are the vital points of a noble life and the children should be taught to see this before the book is put into their hands.

The following suggestions are given, trusting that they will be helpful to many; they have stood the test, not because they could not fail, but because they were given when conditions were favorable to them:

VALENTINE DAY.

Tell the story of the good, old saint who wished to give the world happiness. Because of this desire he sent, once a year, to his friends a message of love; after his death his friends, as a memorial to him, sent messages of love to their friends on Saint Valentine's birthday. Remember we never grow so old but that a message of good cheer or friendly greeting is welcome to us. Let the children send an expression of love to their little friends and ever help them to re