Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1869-11-25

FIRST DAY.

On Monday, last, the Institute was
opened at the honr of ten o'clock
County superintendent. J. T. Stewart.
was chosen President and Miss c. c.
lngham, Secretary. 1t is not usual, as
isr rs t'ur experience goes, for these
Institutes to be opened during the fore
noon Of the first day, nor for much, If
any, of the business Of the Institute to
be transacted on the first day. This
Institute the managers determined
shonll be an exception. Accordingly,
The formal opening was at ,he early
hour above mentloned-atterw which
the business of the Institute was
pitched into with energy.
TIE subject Of Writ Arithmetic"
WGs the First in order, aud this exercise
Was wisely placed in charge of Mr..
Stewart. We could not, if we had
room, give an ineligible synopsis OF
The lesson. His main idea was, to pre-
sent some method by winch the rules OF
this branch OF education could be in
c;,lcatcd into the youthful mind with
ease and permancnce Especially do
we commend his ilustrat,ol OF the
power ami value OF decimals. His
system Of teaching the very difficult
principles OF carrying tens and Dor
rowing " though philosophical and ac-
,u.ate, yet, we tea, arc too abstruSe
tor juvenile comprehension. liowev
err, all teachers should make themselves
acquainted with his ystsem.
Prot. II. \. Brown then followed
with an exercise in, or rather lecture
on, English Grammar. His lecture
was a very interesting one.
lie wisely, We think, discar,ls much
nf The rubbish that ovcrioals our text.
books now in use and giyeS definitions
more in consonance with simplicity and
accuracy With all the Professors
good sense, we were surprised TO hear
him use the plural form OF the verb
,,.,l e...,. >ingular collective nouns as.
army, school, count and the like. We
were glad to note the great interest
The whole class took in this exercise.
In the after noon the subject of &c
ography was handled by Prof. brown
III q thorough manner, and with sys-
tematic formula We feel certain that
the teachers gathered new Ideas from
his lecture both as to the riat,er illus
trated and the manner OF illustrating.
Mr.. Stewart then followed with a
system Of teaching the lessen, against
which tic hearts of nearly all pupils
ne set as flint, namely, Composition.
The system was new to US, and is, We
believe, original with Mr.. S. It is GER
ta!nly very simple, natural and to our
mind, will prove successful one
After recess Prof. Brown tool, up
the subject Of Analysis, and occupied,
with this interesting and important ex-
crcse, nearly all the balance of the day,
and we do not believe that any student
give attention to the lecture without
benefit.
Mr.. A. II. Sterrett illustrated his sys-
tenn OF school amusements, or extern
ported gymnasium, in which illnstra
'ions the whole Institute joined.
The evening was stormy one, but
a large audience collected at the Court
iloase, in the evening, and listened
with good attention to an able Lecture
by Prof. G. w. Jones, OF the State
Agricultural College. The subject of
lie lecture was Mathematics. We did
purpose giving a slight synopsis of the
lecture, but our limits will not permit.
We hope the whole audience felt, as
"e did. under the lecture, quickened
enthusiasm for the noble science OF
Mathematics.
Second DAY
On Tuesday, after the opening devo
tional exercises, the subject Of Written
Arithmetic was presented by Prof. G..
". Jones. He was himself conscious
at the fact that lis illustrator, Of the
subject was not model for The teach
crs to follow, inasmuch as his expo
ri"ncc in teaching the subject has been
only with advanced students. "
found his treatment and illustration OF
the subject matter to be philosophlcally
admirable for high grades of pupils,
hut we doubt if they would meet the
want in teaching the elementary prin-
cples of the science.
Mr. c. G. Gnlford then took I'D the
subject of Mental Arithmetic and illus
tratcd his method of teaching it which
he averrcd had been successful with
i NJ. His illustrations were mostly in
srachin. abstract Numbers, though he
app owed of using concrete Numbers
il connection with his method
After recess, Prof Brown returned
70 the very intercstin. topic Of Eng