South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1878-02-01
Hampshire Teachers Ins.itu to

fth. iattfEiss - us IsSOctiit Ou met
ct Romney, Jan'y. 22nd. with fair at
tendance OF teachers from the a.ljacen I
Districts. The Institate - 4 ivi,led into
two sections for the better accommoda-
ton OF the teachers-one, meets ut
Ro'nney the otter, at Capon Bridge.
The subject OF OrtLoxrnph7 firss en.
gagged the attention Of the tcachess---
beginning with the Alphabet; the means
OF teaching 1t !; how many lessons should
be given: and eliminating in, the elias.
sifcation OF pupils. 1t was quite anus.
ing To hear the method, used by teach.
ers to instruct chi dren, who could not
obtain books--one teacher instructed his
pupils from newspaper; another from
the black board. which II we may be
permitted To remark is the bcst way 10
instruct beginners.
On the subject Of Pennmanship: =
The time To write the length OF time !;
and the difficulties attending propc r
arrangement were considered even
here an old foyy system, that Of follow.
ing copy no matter by whom $ was
advocated aud argued.
The subject OF Grammar received its
due prominence. The Importance of
teaching Grammar was tcrsely and com.
prehcnsively shown to the audience by
an Essay read by Miss Jennie Vandi-
yer; this topic was enlarged by a num-
Der OF queries on the same subject.
In Arithmetic, though the time spent
was comparatively short. several meth
obs OF eachiag Enumeration and Nota-
ton, were given, but the greatest good
was accomplished in the universal &C.
acknowledgement of The teachers of the
Importance OF Mental Arithmetic. &C
companied with a universal desire to
Introduce it. The subject OF Geogra-
ply was very interesting
The great question which pervaded
all the minds OF teaching was, the means
of teaching without books-when the
pupils could not obtain them. The pro
prety Of developing more nssiduously
the Juvenile powers of ratiocination
caused considerable diminishing from
the antipodes in belief.
The increasing recognition Of the
teachers institute rs n valuable means
OF school Improvement, makes its proper
management mater of great import
having no set system to follow, neces.
sarily causes wonderful differences oil
opinion in respect to the way in which
Constitutes" should he managed. We
think the plan pursued by Our County
Superintendent COOL ore, the only oh
lection to il bring caused not by the
plan, but by Tire fa,lr.c OF some OF the
teachers to perform their several duties
howeve-, u sufficient number of Essays
were real 20 elicit animated deb ites on
the subjects contained T. In cation =
was treated Of in three disstrtatio ms
respectively, Miss IIAGAN who treated
OF it generally; Messrs. Reid and Wirei
MANTLE former confirming himself more
particularly to tie development Of Tie
intellect, the latter to the ncces sity o
cnltivating the moral nature-cach n:
n matter Of classification divided the
subject into Physical, Intellectual and
Moral + iucatiou. Oilers were read by
Miss Todd aicssrs. Poland and Lee, on
the Government of Schools, treating TIE
subject voIuminous!y ant comprche ii,
siycly; but the subject that ar0us ID tlc
zeal Of iic Oh aad aew iushi9Hsl teach
ers. was the questioning OF the right e
punish Child for misconduct ON TIE
road TO anil from school; the theme o.
the subject. Where does the Teacher.
Jurisdiction begin and the Parents end?'
Essays. both ALI; native and negative
were read by Mr.. Albert Kreemer, DR.
Shu,l. Mr.. Shawcn n number Of the lc-
gal profess on. took part in the discuss
ion, among them were found Col. Mon,
roe, James Shectz. r. W. Daley, s. l.
Fiournoy and n, w. Kcrcheval. judge
Armstrong was present. The Rev. o
T. W irgman and Rev. G. +. Young. de
serve credit for their valuable and ac-
cePtal,le assistance. Many Of the Lite
rati of the county were present,
In the afternoon of the last day VIC
were pleasantly surprised ~ tho an.
nounccment that the Rev. Mr. Youn1
would entertain us by the reading ot
the most difficult poems in our language
--such rs "Poe's Raven" The Bells,
&c. Mr.. Young does not profess 80 he
an Eiocntioniss--!ia Informed IL that
we cnuiI attain 20 the same excellence
1.-The only criticism we can give -, that
the rendering 80 far surpassed our cX
pcc,ations, that we are discouraged il
attempting TO reach his clninence.
The "Romney Brass Band" cnlivoned
the occasion with its harmonious music
Prof. Miller deserves credit for the in.
tercst manifested. which we feebly re
pail by a vote of thanks. as was alst
given 10 Rev. G.. T.. Young. AMI al
those who hal taken past in Che excr
cises. the ladies'. visitors, chairman. &c
Mr.. Gilkes on closed the "1ns,itute'
with short, but Instructive and spic!
address. SECRETARY.