Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-12-04


sional district opened at the Howe
school building on Thursday night
There were present, besides a mum
Der of teachers from the city AM
county schools, Col. Leon Trous
dale, state superintendent Of educa
ton; Prof. S. Y. Caldwell, superin
tendent Of city schools, Nashville
. the Rev. Prof. Lupton, Of Wander
bilt University, and Prof. Wool
wine, of the high-school. Howard
building, Nashville.
The meeting opened with prayer
by the Rev. S. w. Barbee. preceded
and followed by music. Then fol
lowed the organization of the meet
ing. The state superintendent be-
ing an ca o65cio president, the cleo.
ton of vice-presidents was next in
order. Messrs. A. Howell and John
ID. Moore, of the GAINESVILLE board
of education, being elected to that
office, after which Prof. Moseley, of
the GAINESVILLE high-school, and DR..
d. F. Wright, of the board of edu-
cation, were elected secretaries.
The chairman then announced
that the institute was organized and
ready for business.
The Hon. Rufus Rhodes then de-
livered the address of welcome to
the members visiting GAINESVILLE.
In the course of this address he
spoke in eloquent terms of the ne
cessity of education to every free
state, contending that universal
suffrage necessitated universal edu-
cation.
To this address Col. Trousdale
made a graceful reply, saying that
he had long knwn what GAINESVILLE
hospitality was, and thanked Mr..
Rhodes and the people whom he
represented in advance for the kind
ness which they always show TO
visitors who arrive for the prosecu-
ton of any public enterprise.
After some more music, Prof. S.
Y. Caldwell read his essay on "The
True System" The main point in
sisted upon in this essay was that
teaching which is worthy of the
name consists in the communication
of ideas rather than words, and he
took occasion to say that a good
system is nothing without good
teachers, and that the best system
was worthless in the hands Of a
teacher who did not possess the fac
ulty of getting at the sympathies
and ideas of children.
In reference to this part of the
essay, DR.. d. F. Wright spoke of
the necessity of an institution for
training teachers. He said that there
was already in existence an institu-
ton for this purpose, the Normal |
Institute at Nashville; that this ex-
cellent school had already done good /
service, even on theslender resources
it possessed, in furnishing teachers !
to various schools in the state; that
it would have been lost to the state
but for the private liberality of some
citizens of Nashville; that the state
had done nothing for it. He offered
a resolution calling upon the coming
legislature to endOw it with a libe-
rality sufficient to enable it to sup
ply competent teachers to every
school in the state.
This was by rule referred to the
on resolutions.
After some more very delightful
music, the meeting adjourned to
nine a. m. on Friday.
The schOOl-roOm of the high
school was crowded to its utmost
capacity with an intelligent audi
ence, which thoroughly appreciated
The mastery addresses and the fine
music with which they were re-
ieved.
We expect to give full report of
The further proceedings next week.