help people to recognize the object, or see that it is beautiful, etc. A great deal of this work should be done in the first and second grades. It helps pupils to organize their thought concerning anything. It fixes the habit of methodical thinking and prepares for the written work. As soon as the children are able to read, they should be permitted to analyze simple selections of literature. Let them state the idea about which the author is writing; the purpose embodied in the selection; and then show how everything which the author says helps to accomplish this purpose. All this work is oral and prepares for the written work, which should begin as soon as the children can write well-perhaps in the latter part of the second year or the beginning of the third. Then have the children first analyze an object or a piece of literature orally as indicated above. Afterwards they will put their analysis in the form of a paper. Give them directions as to form of paper, margins, paragraphing, etc. When the papers are written, correct them carefully, point out all the mistakes made in the papers and have the children rewrite them. This work will be very simple at first. It will be a series of disconnected sentences. But as the work goes on, and the pupils gain power to think, the work should be more complex and difficult. This line of work should be carried through the eight grades. Beginning with the third grade and continuing through the eighth, the pupils should be asked to write at least one paper in two weeks-more if the teacher can find time for the work. These papers must be carefully corrected by the teacher and rewritten by the pupils. 15. As a part of this line of composition work the pupils may be asked to 22 WRITE REVIEWS OF BOOKS they have read-say one review for each child each year, beginning with the fourth year grade. These reviews are to be written carefully and read by the authors to the school. The purpose of the reviews should be to give the school a correct understanding and appreciation of the books on which they are written. 23 16. MAKE OTHER SUBJECTS CONTRIBUTE to the composition work, and in turn the composition will strengthen the work in other subjects. When you have finished the discussion of winds, ocean currents, zones, mountain ranges, volcanoes, the circulation of the blood, digestion, nervous system, 22 A New English Grammar, p. 194; Studies in the Science of English Grammar, p. 160; Language for the Grades, p. 95. ** Language for the Grades, p. 12; A New English Grammar, p. 184; Studies in the Science of English Grammar, p. 144. war with Mexico, battle of Bunker Hill, Lincoln, etc., ask the pupils to write papers on these topics. Let them fix upon their purpose and organize their thoughts as indicated above. This is good composition work, and it is an excellent drill in fixing the facts in the other subjects. The beauty of this line of composition work is that it does not require much time in school hours. The children can write their papers outside of school hours, and the teacher can correct them outside of school hours. Only a little time to do the oral work and indicate what is to be done is required in school hours. 17 Another phase of the composition work is LETTER WRITING. 24 Beginning with the third year grade, every child should know how and should be able to write a neat, legible letter in proper form. Let the teacher fix upon some one recognized form and give the children drill in writing it until it becomes fixed. A good way to present letter writing is to teach it with the device called, "Describing an Act." (See "4" in September number). 18. The best thought with regard to English at the present time does not banish 2TECHNICAL GRAMMAR from the grades. There is a place for technical grammar in the grades for three reasons: (1) If technical grammar be properly taught, there is no better drill in analytic or inductive reasoning than its study. (2) The child comes to a stage somewhere in his growth when he demands the reasons for things. He wants to know why it is right to say, "between you and me," instead of, "between you and I." (3) The principles of sentence construction will help him to correct his own errors in English. He can feel sure that he is right. Thus, the study of technical grammar will help him to speak and write the language correctly. Now and then in the lower grades questions involving points in technical grammar will arise, and whenever it is possible, I think the child should have an explanation. Stop and teach him a little technical grammar, if you can, and it will be of advantage to him. But technical grammar as such a systematic study of technical grammar -should, in my judgment, begin in the seventh grade. It should be continued through the eighth grade and, if possible, students in the high school 24 Language for the Grades, pp. 147–157. 25 For a statement of the inductive or laboratory method, which the teacher should understand in order to present technical grammar well, see INLAND EDUCATOR for February, '96, p. 31; March, '96, p. 89; consult the outlines of the Language and Grammar work sent out by the State Depart ment of Public Instruction; Language for the Grades, pp. 157-174; A New English Grammar; Studies in the Science of English Grammar; THE INLAND EDUCATOR, August, 1895, to September, 1897. See articles on "Science in the Teaching of English," "English," Township Institute Work," etc. NATURE STUDY. should have at least a half year of technical gram mnar. Technical grammar is a pretty difficult study. It requires close observation, subtle analysis, and careful inductive reasoning or thinking. The child, in my judgment, is not able-he is not mature enough-to take up this work below the seventh year grade. From the beginning of the seventh year, the children should have one lesson each day in technical grammar. Begin with the sentence, the thought, elements of the thought, parts of the sentence, classes of sentences, classes of ideas, classes of words, modifiers, uses of words in simple sentences, in compound, in complex, and then the "parts of speech" and their properties. Add, correcting the barometer readings for temperature and elevation. Study the daily weather maps. Results: the relation of barometer, thermometer, wind and weather to the movements of eddying storms. The following questions suggest what kind of observations may be made by pupils in the lower grades: 1. Was there any dew this morning? 2. Was there any frost? 3. Was there any fog? 4. Is it cloudy or clear? (It may be partly cloudy.) 5. What is the direction of the wind, this morning? GEORGE BICKNELL, 6. What kind of a night was last night? (It was cold or warm or pleasant. It was a rainy night, or a windy night, or a dark 7. What kind of a day is this? (It is cold or warm or pleasant. It is rainy NOTE.-Apply to Chief of Weather Bureau for Instructions for voluntary Observers, a pamphlet that contains tables for correcting the barometer and directions for making obɛervations. As a member of the committee on geography appointed at the last meeting of the Indiana town and city superintendents, I submitted the above outline for weather study. It may be helpful to some teachers to see the plans for tabulating weather notes and to have suggested to them some of the inferences drawn from weather tables and some of the incidental advantages of the study. To know directions is an important factor in weather study, and this study is one of the best ways to teach the directions. Every observation of wind or cloud movement necessitates a judgment as to direction. A pole with a wind vane at the top and four cross arms near the top is a primary grade weather instrument. The arms point north, south, east, and west, and besides helping us to determine the direction of the wind vane, they help to deter mine the direction of cloud movement. Table II is adapted to the work of the 4th and 5th grades. It may not be best to begin thermometer readings before fourth grade, but it is not necessary to wait until pupils learn what is meant by degrees of temperature, for by frequently reading the thermometer they gradually learn what a particular reading means. 8 A. M. and 4 P. M. are selected as convenient hours for making these readings at school. 8. A. M. and 8 P. M. would be more desirable because the mean of these two readings would be very nearly the mean temperature of the day (24 hours). Tables I and II are meant for temporary records; they are of no value except for practice and noting weather succession; they may be put on the blackboard, and erased and begun anew every Monday morning. Table I shows a plan for recording observations in grades 1, 2 and 3, where the purpose is to learn how to observe and to learn something about weather succession. One day's notes in the table Table III shows a form of permanent record, such as may be kept in seventh and eighth grades. This table may be used, in part, for sixth grade. Each pupil should keep his own record in a blank THE GROUND IVY. GROUND IVY. When John Burroughs bade the Englishman "compare our matchless, rosylipped, honey-hearted trailing arbutus with his own ugly ground ivy," he must have had only the aesthetic aspect of the case in view; for only restricted to this sense could a plant so interesting in structure and adaptations seem "ugly" to so appreciative a student of nature. The implied lack of ownership on our part, too, may come as a surprise; for though we be ever so willing to relinquish all claim and possession in favor of our British cousin, it is not known to every one that the ground ivy, like the majority of our worst weeds, is not indigenous but of trans-atlantic origin. It is known botanically as Nepeta Glechoma, (the generic name thought to be derived from Nepete, an Etrurian city); or according to the Rochester code of nomenclature, Glechoma hederacea, under which name it was described by Linnæus in his Species Plantarum, in 1753. It belongs to the Labiata or Mint family, characterized by the square stem, opposite leaves, and aromatic properties, and embracing many of our most useful plants, with not a single one of a poisonous or even a doubtful nature. 66 The ground ivy, also known in popular vernacular as "Gill-over-the-Ground," 'Creeping Charley," "Crow Victuals," Robin-runaway" and "Ale-hoof," (the latter from its employment in England in the manufacture of ale until the time of Henry VIII., when hops were substituted), is a herbaceous plant with creeping or ascending stems, frequenting woodlands, fence rows and the vicinity of old buildings. It may almost be termed an evergreen, for a removal of the snow even in mid-winter seldom fails to disclose a goodly percentage of the well-known leaves. The roots are fibrous; secondary roots issue freely from each joint or node which rests upon the earth, even if it is detached from the parent plant, thus rendering propagation all too easy. The leaves, kidney-shaped, (reniform) or sometimes approaching heart-shaped (cordate), are borne on long stems (petioles) and have scalloped (crenate) margins. The larger veins all originate at a single point in the base and diverge to all sides, being closely connected, however, by numerous intersecting veinlets; thus we say that the leaf is palmately net-veined. These artistically cut leaves, dark green and almost satiny above, lighter beneath, appear smooth to the naked eye; but under a lens the small oii glands characteristic of the family, and hairs are visible, the latter being numerous along the margin. Note the ridges connecting the bases of each pair of petioles, also the baricade of downwardpointed bristles with which they are armed. Can you suggest any practical use for the latter? The flowers are produced in cymose clusters in the axils of the leaves, three or four being the prevailing number in each cluster. The calyx is gamosepalous; i. e., the sepals are united; it is strongly ribbed and bristled, terminating in five sharppointed (acuminate) lobes. The corolla, fully thrice the length of the calyx, is gamopetalous and bi-labiate or two-lipped. The upper lip is slightly two-lobed; the lower one distinctly three-lobed, the middle lobe being nearly twice as large as any of its companions, and deeply cleft. Thus, the divisions of the corolla, though so unequal in size and form, correspond in number and alternate with those of the calyx. The lower lip is densely bearded in the throat and presents some peculiar variations in coloring, the object of which, as we shall see later, is more of a practical than fanciful nature. There are four stamens, attached to the corolla in pairs,-the inner pair being much the longer, and in perfect specimens extending nearly to the margin of the upper lobe of the corolla, with which they ascend. When the anthers open to discharge their pollen the cells diverge at nearly right angles; and each pair so nearly converge as to form little crosses. See the small figure. In some instances great clusters of ground ivy may be examined without disclosing a single cross; and to those who have never noticed this peculiarity, its absence might suggest a too vivid imagination on the part of the writer. But before censuring on this point, examine flowers from another fence row, and still another if need be; and ere long the coveted form will appear. With this search comes the proof that two sorts of flowers are produced. While some are perfect |