Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-02-26


keeps burning the pale star f empire,
and guides tho nations to sll that Is
great, and good and glorious in their
future. You are the architects, you lay
the foundation; you establish, Tesr
and embellish a tower, sttong, high
and beautiful, whose foundations
| may vet fill the earth, whose tur.
rets may yet pierce the empyresn.
But we are expected to speak to the
| practical question. What are the presH
ent wants Of our school system? First,
| Ne answer these wants aye in the mai9
wise and eff 3ient superintendent; es-
eond. teashers thotOughiy e0ucated to
teach, ard possessing by mature, the
teaching faculty; third, good school,
bOus e8-capscious, comfortable, we'll.
equipped With school furniture, maps and
b!acKDosrds, ETC., and then judiciously
located with view to the center OF p. p
ulstiO1; fourth, the goodwill and 5 Isl
tanning confluence and patronage
of the whole people; fifth, such
measures and means rs shall be
found necessary to sustain each
school for two months of each year;
sixth, uniformity In their conduc-
| tio3, to time OF commencing and end
ing each year, hours Of recitation and
course of study; seventh, the complete
| recognition OF the public schools as the
rightful and only dependence OF the peo-
pie fJr the edtoatiOn of their children
With cur present system, conducted
upon this plan and sustained in this
mode, it would be bat few years before
the besms Of eDIightment would iliumire
every hearthstOne in the land, and the
government would rest upon the shoul-
Ior ~ ntff In In VIZ
rich in all the resources of tie mind,
and happy and prosperous beyond any
possibilities fer people unbiessed by
wise and generous legislative provision
for free public instruction. might very
properly state more in detail the wants
of our schools and school system, but
these details will doubtless come up for
discu: son as the programme Of the in
stituts proceeds: 1t is all that l can
with propriety now do to suggest these
general outlined of the wants of the
times The scheme OF universal education
at the expense of the whole aX-paying
people of the State, is q nobl5 an praise
wor by one, and, Just now, cOmmends
itsslt to the earnest approval and sup
port of ths people, with weight of rea'
son that never before bore on the subject,
We shoDld remember that We Of this
generation are about 10 leave to our chill
dren heritsge OF pecHnisfy indebted
nCSo, the most appalling in magnitude
that ever was transmitted to pOsterity.
What will the future historian say of US,
if in selfish greed aud rapscity, il In
shameless disreg ard Of the duty of pa
rent to child, if in unnatural violation
of the sacred and Instructive Fromptings
of paternity, we bequesth TO Cuc chill
dren a debt we cannot pay aud refuse to
them the light and life, and joy and
wealth, and glory Of civilization aud
enlightenment? o, no! Let Us iIlumine
their minds, expand their hesrts, build
up and make glorious the fabric OF their
womanhood and manhood, aud start
them on the race of human life, armed
with the sword Of truth, the breast plate
of Write and the helmet of royal an
ces.ry. Then will they march on con-
qusrors, and we may sleep sweetly
in our graves, kept green for
ever by their grateful hands.
The time rapidly approaches when pub
lie schools will mOnOpoiiz3 the whole
educational work Of the country. AL
ready, in less than thirty years, the
public school system has extended itself
to every State and some OF the Terrific
ries, and to-day eight million students
are enrolled In our public schools; while
in schools other than public schools
there are in attendance less than four
hundred thousand, or less than one
twentieth of the number enrolled in
public schools. In this county we have
annually ia operation one hundred and
eighty public scho Dis, and about five
thousand pupils III attendance. The
great cause moves on. It's triumph Is
approaching. 1t deserves the conf ience,
goodwill and support of the whole peO-
pie.
LECTURE BY Mr.. DAVIS
Mr.. w. ]. Davis, of Louisville, deliv-
cred an excellent lecture upon the word
"Me;hod," the origin of which he ex.
planned. He said that certain persons,
Webb aud Farnham, claimed to have
originated this system, but investjga
ton showed that JacOtot, q French
teacher, was the author OF it. closely
followed, however, by DR.. Keagy, OF
Pennsylvania. Ia 1878 Jsco!ot, who
had been teschiDg in Dion, was
called to the University OF LGuvaine,
and found that the students there under
stood only Flemish or Dutch, and Of
these languages he was ignorant. He,
therefore, was compelled to teSch his
pupils without talking to them.
He put in their hands Fenelon's
Telemaque, with the Ffench on
one side and the Flemish transla-
ton on the other He wss led from
this experiment to consider the philoso-
ply Of teaching whole things first and
their parts next, and from This the idea
came to present words as symb Is OF
things in teaching to re I'd. HIS first
book was published in 1927. Dr.. Keagy
published bis "Pestslozz an Primer" in
the the same year, in which the same
suggestion was made. When Mr.. Davis
took charge of school in Louisville he
found the Sword method" in partial
use. He, himself,was led by experiments
with certain children who ljsped or were
tongue-tied to amplify The plan and
bring it into more systematic channel.
His plan was to interest the class of
little fellows just enrolled on the books
Of the s3ho)l, in some thing with
which they were familiar; tlsn to pre-
sent q picture OF this thing, then the
word which stood for the thing and
which people had agreed to consider as
the name of the thing; then the word
was analysed into the sounds which
made it up, then the name-sounds of the
letters in the word were given; then the
word was written in script letters. The
scheme was no theory; it was the result
OF years Of practice, aud the best results
were produced by it. In five months
children in Louisville not only learned
to read all ordinary words at sight, but
wrote fair hands. The old alphabet sys-
tenn had it, day. The wonder was that
anybody hsd ever been taught to read
well under this system. The phonetic
method wasimperfect; the wOrd-method
was not properly understood. But if
the three plans-1lrst, the word-method;
second, the phonic system, as far as the
sounds of the letters went; third, the
alphabet system, or the simple naming
of the sounds the letters bore-if these
three were properly associated the best
results would be accomplished.
CLASS ILLUSTRATION.
Mrs. Grace Leweliyn, of the city
schools, gave an illustration in spelling,
reading drill by the members of her
junior class. The little children evil
denced thorough degree Of proficiency,
and we're warmly applauded by the au.
diencP, compliment they merited, and
one well deserved by this able teacher,
whose efforts have always been rewared
with success. After this exercise the
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