PROGRAM-MATHEMATICAL SECTION.

The mathematical section of the State Teachers' Association will meet in the statehouse Wednesday, December 26, at 2 p. m.

The following program will be given: 1. Some Methods of Teaching Geometry, John E. Higdon, Indianapolis high school.

2. Valuation of High School Trigonometry, Professor R. L. Sackett, Earlham college.

3. Mathematical Deficiencies of Our College Freshmen, Prof. S. C. Davisson, Indiana university.

Time will be allowed for discussion of each subject.

It is hoped that every teacher of mathematics will interest himself in this meeting, and not only be present but do all in his power to make it a great success.

The officers of the section are Samuel Wertz, president, Columbus; Amelia Waring Platter, secretary, Indianapolis; executive committee: Frank R. Higgins, Terre Haute; W. F. Axtell, Washington; Katherine Blynn, Fort Wayne.

SOLUTIONS REQUESTED.

44. Explain how a steel rail 30 ft. long and supposed to weigh 40 lbs. to the yard, may be accurately weighed by means of a pair of spring scales, which only show 25 lbs.

45. If it costs 5 cents per acre to fence a square field at 8 cents per rod, how many acres in the field?

46. What must be the thickness of a 30 inch shell in order that it may weigh 1,600 lbs., if a 12 inch shell weighs 160 lbs. when two inches thick?

47. In running a mile A can give B 40 yds., B can give C 88 yds. How many yards can A give C?

48. If a man walk to the city and ride back he will require 51 hrs.; but if he walk both ways he will require 7 hrs. How many hours will be required to ride both ways?

Solutions to the above should be sent to Robert J. Aley, 203 Forest Place, Bloomington, Ind., before January 14,

Entered at the Indianapolis Postoffice as second-class matter.

Single copies, 10 cents.

THE EDUCATOR-JOURNAL CO., Commercial Club Building, INDIANAPOLIS, IND.

Good Cheer.

Christmas cheer, and the Christmas spirit that prompts it, is our wish for everybody at this holiday season. It is a good time to renew youth; a good time to cultivate gladness; a good time to test the word that giving is blessed more than receiving. Nobody would be a Scrooge if he knew it. The great trouble with the old miser was that he didn't know himself. His heart was with his gold, and it took the ministry of ghosts to bring him back. to his senses. We are not all misers, but we are all in danger of burying good cheer under our little world of cares. Let us revel anew in Christmas stories, and Christmas music, and Christmas giving, and welcome back, if may be, the good cheer and the simple joy that makes this the best time of all the year.

Our Hall of Fame.

It seems to be the right kind of a spirit that has prompted the New York university to establish an American temple that shall perpetuate the names and achievements of our illustrious Americans. The selection has been left to the most impartial and capable of Americans, such as college presidents and chief justices. Hence there can be no question regarding the fair admission of any name to the temple. Neither can there be a suspicion that any

unworthy name will enter there. The ten who have received the highest number of votes are Washington, Lincoln, Webster, Franklin, Grant, Marshall, Jefferson, Emerson, Longfellow, Fulton, Irving, and Jonathan Edwards. It will perhaps be unquestioned that the revered name of Washington should stand highest, and the name of Lincoln next, even though Lowell calls the latter "the first American." But it will be an interesting exercise for classes in American history to present reasons why Webster's should stand third, or why John Marshall is greater than Emerson, Longfellow and Irving. If your pupils think they could make a better choice for the first ten let them try it.

Doing About Right.

Recently, we heard the advice given to some young men that they should always try to do "about right."

There is all the difference in the world between the man who means to do "about right" and the man who means to do right. The man who means to do "about right" is the commonest and most commonplace sort of man among men. He is the man who does not decidedly mean not. to do just a little wrong if circumstances should seem to require it. He passes for a very good sort of a man; but he is not good-he comes far short of being good. The reservation that he makes in his pur

poses of conduct taints his whole character; and so it makes all the difference in the world between him and the one who purposes to do right. If we would do "about right" we must mean to do wholly right, without any qualification or reserve.

Honoring a Teacher's Memory.

Only a few of our readers will have had the pleasure of knowing Miss Catherine Merrill, to whose memory one of the public schools in Indianapolis was recently dedicated. Perhaps only a few have even heard of her. But to us all it is interesting to know the possibilities for a teacher, of leaving behind a monument of love and appreciation in the hearts of her pupils. In John L. Griffith's address he said:

"Certainly the peer of any was the gentlewoman you have the honor of naming this building for-Catherine Merrill. She achieved fame at an unusual place her fireside. She did this by the cultivation of the graces and virtues of life. She had tact, without diplomacy; courtesy, without servility, and frankness without abruptness. Her mind and heart broadened from year to year in equal degree."

Dr. Edward Everett Hale, an old friend, sent this tribute:

"This schoolhouse is fitly named for Miss Catherine Merrill. Let the boys and girls remember her as one who was loved by all her friends, and one who deserved their love. She is to be remembered, also, as a distinguished benefactor of this city, and so of this country. From early life she gave her thought, her effort, her prayer, to the education of the young. She had nursed the sick; she was fond of children; she knew human life, and was determined to do her part in bringing in the Kingdom of Heaven."

"I Forget."

The tendency of pupils to forget the leslons taught them is usually the teacher's despair; but, in one way, this tendency appears as the teacher's greatest encouragement. It is a sign that his pupils' minds are capable of healthy growth. The mind will retain no more than it is able to

assimilate and make its own. If it can connect the facts taught with other facts already in its possession, if it sees for itself relationships existing between what it now learns and what it learned before, then the lesson will be taken up and made a part of his mental capital. Otherwise the more active the mind, the sooner it will throw the isolated facts aside as a mental burden and as a hindrance to true mental growth.

The State Teachers' Association.

In another column, a table giving the per cent. of membership of this association by counties will be found and we hope it will lead to an increased membership this year. Delaware leads the list with a very creditable per cent., and Jennings is a close second. In other words, nearly one-third of the teachers in these counties are members of that association, which if generally true of the state would give us a rousing educational meeting each year. Tomlinson Hall would be required. to hold the people, while the enthusiasm such a meeting would kindle might be expected to touch every school in Indiana, to unify and stimulate its educational sentiment.

What Europe Thinks of Our Schools.

When preparations for the great exposition at Paris were commenced some two years ago, the French director expressed great interest in what his people might find to learn from the American schools. Now that the exposition is over it is worth while to note what so eminent an educator as M. Compayre says regarding our educational exhibit:

"If any one asks me in what the Americans, according to their showing at this exhibition, excel, I certainly shall reply that it is in manual training, in penmanship, and in drawing. You should see the handsome copy-books in which are spread out with perfect neatness the great characters of the vertical handwriting that within four or five years has come into vogue-a handwriting that is by no means elegant but remarkably neat and legible. Still more noticeable is the superiority

child normally remains in the elementary school up to the age of fourteen; the little Frenchman of the poorer classes generally goes to work at eleven or twelve. And there is a large minority of American boys who pass on into a course of three or four years in the high school. A third difference, and one wholly to the advantage of the United States is the fact that education is a matter of interest to everybody. Simple citizens, serving on school boards, become acquainted with the principles and detail of the educational profession and are themselves taught while they render effective teaching possible."

Not all of the criticism is so favorable, but the impression seems to have been made that no other nation has come nearer to the solution of the educational problem than the United States-all of which is, of course, most gratifying.

Children's Judgment.

A child's penetration is keener, and a child's judgment is fairer than most of us imagine. When it comes to the discerning of spirit and character or of the testing of reason for or against a given course of action, a child is not likely to be deceived. Children pass judgment continually upon their teachers, and these judgments abide through life. How necessary it is at all times that we should act judiciously, honestly and fairly if we stand the test of their judgment.

Where Ignorance is Bliss.

In at least one township institute, held not long ago the discussion of what Professor James calls "a certain blindness" took one of those peculiar turns that we sometimes see, and became, for a time, a discussion of the old proverb "Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise." The master of English who wrote the line might have said, as he really meant, "It is

folly to be wise if ignorance is bliss, but ignorance is not usually bliss, hence, etc." However, the question with the teachers. became, can one who is ignorant (unlearned) enjoy life as much as the educated person does? Every teacher present was ready, of course, to defend the virtues and advantages of education, and yet it was interesting to note the credence that we naturally give to venerable things like proverbs. The apparent happiness of the negro and of simple life everywhere were called in evidence. The digression was helpful, even though it was rather foreign to the subject, as the chairman reminded us. It does us good to realize anew sometimes the possibilities in education and its higher significance. Compare the life of the average negro with that of Booker T. Washington; one circumscribed by the narrowest limits, the other as large as his race, with a boundless capacity to be and to do. But in making comparisons and asking what is desirable there is danger of taking a false criterion.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way; But to act that each to-morrow, Finds us farther than to-day.

Work is the program, growth is its end. Enjoyment, like sorrow, must be incidental merely. The more places that a life can be made to touch the world of science, literature, art, business, humanity, the fuller the life must be, and the larger must be its growth. And growth, let us remember, is divine. One life is meager, another beside it is rich; one is empty, another is full. The divine Teacher came not only to help men to life, but to life more abundant. If bliss is happiness in any true sense let us not hope to find it in the way of ignorance.

Sincerity.

In dealing with the young, unaffected sincerity can not be simulated, nor can it be concealed. It will show itself in a teacher's expression of countenance and in every movement and manner. It sounds in the tones of the voice and it exhibits

itself in the play of the mouth while speaking. The keen-eyed youngster can often read the inner mind by noting the unconscious and uncontrollable movement of the lips, and this without hearing a single word that is spoken. In fact, the only way to seem unaffected is to be unaffected, and the only sure way of apearing natural and winsome is by being natural and winsome.

Anger a Sign of Weakness.

A number of high school boys were discussing the merits of their associates as they were practicing football early in the season, selecting the proper number for a team. We became deeply interested in their discussions and noted carefully the conclusions reached. Upon one point, after the most careful observation, they were all agreed, viz., that a certain boy who never lost his temper during these scrimmages was one of the strongest players. The ability to keep cool under such trying circumstances was considered by every boy one of the essential elements of success. If we carry this into our own fields of observation and select out of any community the hot-headed men who are frequently heard raving at events and berating their fellowmen, we shall find the essentially weak men, who win neither respect nor influence. Strong men are men who know how to keep cool, or to restrain themselves when excited. Their coolness is a part of their strength. The man whose temper controls him, incapacitates himself, for the exercise of shrewd judgment with which the man who keeps calm and steady will surmount difficulties, conquer opposition and defeat injustice. Overexcitement in any direction is proof of incapacity for self-control. A man in an angry passion rarely accomplishes anything but his own humiliation and defeat. An exhibition of anger is an unconscious confession of personal weakness.. The strong man looks opposition in the face and is calm. He expects to surmount the obstacles before him and goes about it in a quiet, determined manner. The inmates of a certain reform school after earning their liberty, so often referred to

the overseer in a kindly way that inquiry among them showed their admiration and love to have grown out of the fact that he never became angry. This is an illustration of real reform: When these unfortunates had become so fully imbued with the life of their overseer that they "tried to be like him," then real reform began. Young people read most accurately the temperament and feelings of their teacher, and fortunate is the one who meets the trying problems of school discipline without an exhibition of displeasure or anger. It was Franklin who said, when asked how he controlled his anger, "I bite my lips but never speak or act till the fit has left me." Many teachers become angry when dealing with children because they interpret the breach of conduct as a personal wrong against themselves. This is usually a mistaken interpretation, and it usually requires a calm judgment to see it aright.

Good Art for the Schools.

As

It is our pleasure at this time to announce more fully the outline plans for some work in art to which allusion was briefly made in the November issue. there stated, Dr. John L. Lowes, of Hanover college, will be our teacher. His introductory article appears in this number. Commencing with January he will present six articles which are designed as careful studies of six works by the world's masters. Those who know Dr. Lowes need not be assured that so far as his part is concerned the studies will be appreciative, sympathetic and conscientious. The first wish of The Educator-Journal is that the series of articles may be as helpful as possible to the greatest possible number of teachers and schools. To this end we urge that schools generally try to get large copies of each picture. We have had much correspondence with art publishers, and shall announce with each article the names of dealers from whom the pictures may be procured, giving sizes and prices. prices. There is hardly a school in the land that is not feeling a thrill from the happily awakening art spirit. To meet the demand there is much good art and