business men, 24 lawyers, 16 newspaper writers, 5 teachers and literary men, 4 physicians, 19 officials, 1 manufacturer, and 70 others not classed. Many of the representatives elect are either graduates of the Imperial University of Tokio, or returned students from American or European colleges. Among those who hold seats in the House are eminent writers on law, historians, philosophers, poets, novelists, and translators, some of the ablest men in what now may truly be termed the "Land of the Rising Sun." In the House of Peers are five classes of sitters, including members of the imperial family, marquises, counts, and men of eminent ability, nominated by the Mikado, to sit for life. Methods and Devices. BOTANY IN COUNTRY SCHOOLS.-II. BY GEORGE B. AITON. These lessons will be confined to flowering plants and whenever the word plant is used it will be with this understanding. Principles should be deferred until observation and experience have prepared the way. Corn silk should not be cited as an illustration of stigmas before children have seen and noted the silk on the ear. Time should not be wasted, however, in urging pupils to concentrate their power of observation on that with which they are sufficiently familiar. Children kept out of school two days in the week to drop and hoe corn should not be employed during the other three days in sprouting corn on the window sill. Judicious teaching will appeal to their present experience and lead them to see origin and purpose where before, it may be, only tired backs and feed for cattle or dollars and cents were visible. Each exercise should contribute directly or indirectly to the discovery or emphasis of some important principle of plant life and should be framed in accordance with the season and local material. Among the principles to be taught I have ventured to state the following as properly governing instruction. The following exercises are given merely by way of suggestion. It will be noticed that the derivation of a minor part from a typical part and the adaptation of this particular part to the one purpose of the plant are emphasized as the logical links which make the study of value and of lasting interest. Stems. In brief, the office of the stem is to support the leaves and fruit and to connect them with the roots of the plant. Sometimes the stem proper is wanting. The leaves and flower stalks of our early blue violets spring directly from an underground rootstock. On the other hand, the stem of a giant redwood tree in Mariposa, California, through the living and standing trunk of which a stage road has been cut, is 28 feet in diameter and towers upward 275 feet, carrying its leaves and cones into the upper air. Between these extremes comes an almost infinite gradation of stems, upright, ascending, twining and creeping, but all serving the same purpose of carrying sap, of exposing the foliage to the air and of supporting the flower and ripening fruit. Forest trees, willows, hazel-brush, cornstalks, straw, hay, pumpkin vines, wild buckwheat, strawberry runners and a thousand native plants afford familiar examples of stems fitted each to cope with special demands yet united in carrying out the main purpose of the plant. The trunk of the oak is strong and rigid to resist the force of the storm, the grasses bend pliantly before the wind, the humble cucumber follows the ground or in its native haunt climbs over brushwood that its heavy fruit may find a resting place, the grape vine climbs up trees and out along slen-. der branches to hang its leaves and rich clusters in the brightest sunshine, yet each is the pathway of the coursing sap and each fulfills the same general purpose. The point is here, no matter what the size, height, length, shape or shortness of the stem may be, no matter what peculiarity of form may be called out by soil, climate, drouth, or water, shade, shelter or exposure, the office of the stem is still the same and when a pupil gets hold of this principle he feels that he has learned something. Stems underground. Following the gradation from the upright trunk of a tree to the runners of 1. Plants grow for the purpose of producing new a strawberry vine, we have but one step further to plants. go ere we find runners underground, that is to 2. Roots, stem, leaves and seeds are the typical say, stems diverted from their original office and parts of a plant. 3. Other parts are merely changed roots, stems or leaves. 4. Not only the blossoms but all other parts grow for the purpose directly or indirectly of producing seed. more or less changed to serve under new conditions. By carefully uprooting and washing some native grasses whether upland or marsh, some common dooryard bluegrass and a few clumps of such prairie weeds as start up in clusters in early spring, a surprising variety of long, short, slender and stubby, 5. Man incidentally turns plants and parts of underground stems (runners) may be had with little plants to his own use. effort. They may be distinguished from roots by 6. Vegetation (this for older students) renders the presence of joints, scales and buds. They are animal life possible. formed in the fall and while all other parts (seeds excepted) die on the approach of winter, they lie in position ready for early growth. Autumn or early spring is therefore a favorable time for their study. Several interesting and profitable variations may easily be found; their names are of secondary importance but may be had from a text-book. At one extreme of the series of underground stems is the horizontal, slender subterranean runner of grasses, mint, etc.; at the other end of the series is the short greatly widened perpendicular underground stem of the onion. It is shaped much like a silver dime and from the lower end or underside, grow the roots of the second season. The end or upper face is covered with the thick bases of leaves the blades of which withered and fell away at upper the close of the season under the name of onion tops. By slicing an onion vertically this short stem may be readily recognized. Between these limits the series of underground stems extends in regular gradation. Bloodroot, sweet-flag, iris, many violets, our coarsest grasses, and many prairie weeds afford examples of thickened fleshy often shortened subterranean stems, the common potato is a first rate example of an enlargement of a portion only of an underground stem. Other illustrations may be found by digging for them. Peanuts are also enlargements of underground stems. The wild pea which climbs over the hazel-brush of our copses produces an edible tuber near akin to the democratic peanut. Then the whole of the underground stem may be thick fleshy and short, like the stem from which Jack-in-the-Pulpit rises. All these forms whether rootstocks, tubers, corms or bulbs are but changed stems whereby the plant seeks to ensure vigorous and early next year's growth independently of seeds. MENTAL ARITHMETIC AGAIN. The article on Mental Arithmetic in the February issue of SCHOOL EDUCATION is to the point, and should be read by every teacher. It calls to mind what I advocated ten years ago while teaching in Minnsota. County Supt. G. C. Tanner, wrote: "Geo. W. Colborn, being unable to be present, sent an interesting paper on the topic, 'When, How, and Why Mental Arithmetic should be studied."" He says: "Mental arithmetic is invaluable in securing attention, thus leading pupils to habits of thought, strengthening the memory, cultivating independence beyond any other study." I have always held this opinion, and still teach it, believing that in so doing we are using the best method of drilling the mind; developing its strength to grapple with abstruse subjects, and fitting it for more mature work. My experience with this work during the last ten years fully convinces me that more time should be spent in mental arithmetic, and it should become a part of the course of study in every school. Park River, N. D. GEORGE W. COLBORN. MISTAKES IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 1. It is a serious mistake to neglect the details of school government. 2. It is a serious mistake to omit thorough yard supervision during recess. 3. It is a great blunder to stand too near a class. 4. It is a mistake productive of deceit and misrepresentation to have pupils report at the close of the day as to their conduct during the day, whispering, etc. (Ask your pupils their honest opinion as to their reports and practices.) 5. It is a mistake to censure each trifling error too severely. 6. It is a mistake to complain or grumble much. 7. It is a mistake to allow pupils to help each other. 8. It is a mistake for a teacher to be tardy and then punish her pupils for being tardy. 9. It is a mistake to sit very much while teaching. 10. It is wrong to give a command when a suggestion will do instead. There is no part of botanical work in which interest can be more quickly awakened. The derivation of rootstock from stem, teaches the derivation of special form from type; the perfect competence of tuber to hasten early and certain flowering and fruit teaches the adaptation of organ to its office. These are the two logical lessons of botanical investigation. They may be magnificently taught in the bleakest prairie district of the whole state, with no other apparatus than an old shovel and water to wash off the soil, while for those in reach of copse and forest the opportunities are boundless. It is not absolutely necessary to know the name of a single plant. The work may be done after autumn frosts have turned the fields yellow and gray. It may be done before a single flower has opened in spring. Wherever the stems of summer weeds are still standing in clumps and wherever a green blade shows in early April, put in your spade and dig. Ere long the underground world of the plant will have new interest and ere long the showy petals of later spring and sunshine will come to hold a less exclusive im- "It is a beautiful ring, my dear; what did you give portance in the mind and eye of teacher and pupil. | for it?" asked Mary. "Myself," replied Lillian. 11. It is a mistake to make spiteful remarks before the school about notes received from parents. 12. It is a mistake for the teacher to act in such a manner that the pupils will be impudent to her during the recitation, 13. It is a mistake to show temper in dealing with parents.-Colorado School Journal. MATHEMATICAL GEOGRAPHY.-NO. 2. FORM OF THE EARTH.-Continued. 5. At places east of us the sun rises proportionally earlier than it does with us, and at places west of us it rises later. Experiment.-Let a lighted lamp represent the sun; fix a number of small objects to a broad piece of board; turn the board over slowly, and pupils will see that all the objects come into or go out of the light at the same instant. Now fix similar objects at intervals round a globe; rotate slowly, and it will be observed that one object comes into the light, then another and another. If the globe be turned from west over to east an object on the first meridian will come into the light-sunrise-before an object on any meridian to the west, and after an object on any meridian to the east. What does this experiment prove? 6. As we go north or south new stars or constellations come into view, while those behind us disappear below the horizon. At the equator, one sees the constellations of both hemispheres. The pole star is just visible in the horizon. Going north, one after another of the southern constellations disappears below the horizon, while the northern constellations rise one degree for every degree of latitude passed over. In latitude 45 degrees, that of St. Paul, the pole star is 45 degrees above the horizon. If one could reach the pole, 90 degrees from the equator, he would see the pole star directly overhead. Were the earth flat, the same stars would be seen by all dwellers on its surface; and, as the distances to the stars are very great, traveling either north or south would make no appreciable difference in their elevation or position. If the pole star were in the horizon at the beginning of one's journey it would be in the horizon at its close. If Orion with his sword were overhead, he would remain overhead though we might travel thousands of miles. 7. The shadow of the earth as it falls on the moon during an eclipse is invariably circular. Experiment.-Have pupils hold a ball and other objects of different shapes in the light of the sun or a lamp, and observe their shadows on a wall or screen. Change the position of the objects and note changes in the form of the several shadows. Which of the objects invariably casts a circular shadow? As the shadow of the earth is always circular, what must be its form? 8. Measurements upon the surface of the earth, made at different times and in different countries show that the form of the earth is nearly that of a sphere. According to Herr Japing, the hourly rate of water falling over Niagara Falls is 100,000,000 tons, representing 16,000,000 horse power; and the total daily production of coal in the world would just about suffice to pump the water back again.-Scientific Ameri can. MEMORY AND REPRODUCTION. We hear a good deal now of memory and imagination training and reproduction stories. I firmly think that too much cannot be done in these lines. How painfully the teacher realizes the lack of this very thing in his own early training when he vainly tries to recall some portions of a recent lecture or sermon, or to see clearly in his imagination the scenes depicted in his daily readings. The most interesting and successful plan I know is to read some single story to the pupils, then, the day following, give them an opportunity to reproduce it. After they have done the best they can, go over it again not reading it, but giving them the principal, or "catch" words, and require them to dress the skeleton thus formed. Compare the two reproductions and note the improvement. Memory, skill in reproducing, and the imagination may all be cultivated together in this way. Students also acquire the habit of using to some extent, material gathered from other sources to fill the outline. The oral lessons create a greater interest through the pupil's desire to give the best reproduction in the hearing of his companions, but the written lesson is of too great value in composition to be omitted. The following from Hawthorne's "Rill from the Town Pump" will illustrate my plan. "The overseers of the poor ought to make me their chairman, since I provide bountifully for the pauper without expense to him that pays taxes. I am at the head of the fire department, and am one of the physicians to the board of health." Now give this to the pupils: make chairman provide taxes. overseers proper Am health. poor head department physician board Of course such stories should be adapted to the age and advancement of the pupil. Northfield, Minn. M. DE SA. OUTLINE FOR THE STUDY BY W. F. ROCHELEAU, NORMAL SCHOOL, MOORHEAD. [Fourth Paper.] CHAPTER IX. EXCITING INTEREST IN STUDY. The intelligent teacher feels that this is the great question. The motives presented should be such that the interest awakened shall be an abiding one. Section I. Incentives to Study-Emulation. What is emulation? In after life this principle becomes ambition, such as has kindled the zeal of many who have caused the slaughter and misery of thousands that they might gain their desired end. Emulation is a very good or a very bad incentive. Do you ever find that the first principle is being supplanted by the second in the minds of your pupils? If so what means do you employ to prevent it? Prizes should not be offered for the following reasons: I. The offer of prizes gives undue prominence to a comparatively unworthy object. It teaches the child (1) to undervalue learning for its own sake; (2) to think of the prize, rather than the value of the subject he is pursuing; (3) to study to recite, rather than to master the subject. II. The pursuit of a prize engenders a spirit of rivaly among the pupils. III. The hope of obtaining the prize stimulates only the few, while the many become indifferent. This is subversive to the best interests of the pupils and the school for the following reasons: 1. Those who strive for the prize become good reciters, but poor thinkers, their memories having been developed to the neglect of the other faculties of their minds. 2. It is not sufficient that the teacher have only a few good pupils in his school; he should strive to make the best possible scholars of all. 3. Those who win prizes in school, and even in colleges are seldom prominent in active life. Hence the teacher Upon the teacher's definition will depend largely who stimulates the effort of this class to the neglect his value of it as a means of exciting study. Two meanings: or discouragement of the others, is recreant to his trust. IV. There is much difficulty in awarding prizes so as to do justice to all. I. A desire for improvement, progress, growth,this is self-emulation. It (1) presses the individual This arises from (1) a difference in the external to surpass himself; (2) compares his present condition with what he would be, or what he ought to be; lessons; (2) the improper means which may have facilities which the competitors enjoy for getting the (3) it is "an ardor kindled by the praiseworthy exam-been employed to secure the prize. ple of others, inciting to imitate them, or to equal or even surpass them, without the desire of depressing them." This principle (1) exists in the mind of every child; (2) may very safely be strengthened by being called into lively exercise by the teacher. Provided that the eminence sought is from a desire to be useful, and not self-glorification. II. Emulation is a desire of surpassing others for the sake of surpassing them. This principle is liable (1) to cause one to be as well satisfied with his success if he has obtained it by the failure of others, as he would be if he had gained it by his own effort; (2) to put a person in such relation to others that their failures will be as gratifying to him as his own suc cess. V. The prize rewards success, not effort; talent, not worth. VI. The pupil who studies for a prize as his chief motive, will seldom continue to study when the prize is withdrawn. VII. By the prize system the influence of the good example of some of the best pupils is lost upon the school. Rewards. Rewards differ from prizes in the following particulars: 1. All who are deserving may receive them. 2. Effort, and not talent may be made the basis of their distribution. Rewards are not necessary to a teacher's success, therefore better be omitted. Is the tendency in respect to the use of rewards and prizes, to increase or diminish their number? If you do away with these incentives what will you substitute in their place? Have you given this question careful consideration? For further discussion of this subject see any work on school management. Section III. Proper Incentives. I. A Desire to Gain the Approbation of their Parents and Teachers. II. A Desire for Advancement. V. The Pleasure of Acquisition. These incentives: 1. Appeal to the higher nature. 2. They are safe. 3. They do not unduly stimulate the intellect, at the expense of the moral faculties. 4. Their exercise contributes to the healthy growth of the moral nature. The teacher who has not learned to call into exercise these higher motives, and to rely for success mainly upon them, will usually appeal in vain to the exciting stimulants, which are always of doubtful propriety, and often positively dangerous. Pupils sometimes manifest a distaste for learning for one or more of the following reasons: 1. The instruction is unskillful. 2. The knowledge presented is not adapted to the pupil's present needs. 3. The pupil may have a predisposition to certain modes of mental activity, and these will always be pleasurable. 4. There may be other modes of mental activity which have not yet been established and these will, at first, be painful. What a lesson Arnold's life presents! At first, respected, admired, trusted. Afterwards, he disobeys, sins, then dies far from home, "unwept, unhonored, and unsung." Even those for whom he would have betrayed his country, spurned him with contempt. Surely we reap as we sow. sacrificing life, will not the pupil say with the boy Contrasting this with Washington's loyal, selfwho has said it, "I like Washington better?" The "Life of Lincoln," published in the Century, believe that a perfect love and respect for this man especially his boyhood years, is quite attractive. I whom Lowell calls "The kindly-earnest, brave, fore-seeing man, will beautify and strengthen a boys's whole life. Didactic teaching of morals often fails because often we are not what we would have our pupils be. But what teacher can fail to fill the school-room with examples of kind thoughts, loving words, and unselfish acts, by reading aloud such a book as "Little Lord Fauntleroy." Try it. It will repay your ef forts. What boy will not enter with his whole soul into the fun and mischief of the hero of "Tom Brown's School Days at Rugby." When he is fairly in love with the book, the lesson of "Dare to do right,” or Arthur's first night at Rugby, will have a good effect upon his moral nature. Several other beautiful lessons are given the test of true friendship, Arthur's dream of the other world, and the lesson of respect and love for the Christian character of Dr. Arnold. The boy will be able to draw the moral from each of the incidents, and instead of having morality thrust at him, he will be able to work ont the problem of right and wrong for himself. A teacher once asked a pupil what was the advantage of stating a truth in poetical form. The boy's answer was, "Oh, it strikes a fellow deeper." There are many formal truths to learn, and it is no wonder the pupil turns to his friend, the poet, who, instead of saying Columbus discovered America in 1492, says, in his pleasing way: "In fourteen hundred and ninety-two The musical rhythm pleases him, for music is a part of his being. He remembers it much better. The child's intuitive knowledge tells him when he recites: "Betwixt the darkness and the daylight, |