Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1880-09-25
TEACHERS INSTITUTE.
HOW Miss MCDONNELL TEACHES
PUNCTUATION.
Discussion OF she subJecs by Other
Members Of tho Institute-super.
iateadeat YounE's opinion Of
she lussitute.

The Teachers Institute OF Storey
county met at the Fourth Ward School.
house, Virginia. at 10 o'clock this morn.
ing, Superintendent Young in the chair.
Miss Lynch read the minutes Of the last
meeting.
Messrs. Baker and Mcdonald were
appointed q committee to arrange q pro.
gramms for the next meeting Of the In
stituie.
superintendent Young said he was an
enthusiast on the subject OF teachers
institutes. Nothing improved teachers
so much. He was anxious to see this q
success. II was n success last year and
did much for the schools by awakening
renewed interest In them and by stirring
up the teachers and helping them to a
higher appreciation OF positions aud re-
sponsibiiities. 1t also made teachers
more careful. They scrutinized their
work more carefully and brought It to o
greater ~eIactuess. The constitution and
bylaws OF the Institute required meet
ipgs monthly.
There was no reason why teachers
should not keep up q union. The
miners, and mechanics. and printers had
their unions, and there were really no
reasons Why teachers should not band
together for mutual protection as well as
mutual improvement, The responsible
tiles resting on the teacher was lar
greater than those on any other class.
demanding more study. For this very
reason they were apt to neglect the III.
stitute, to overlook its Importance and
spend the time at homo. Last year had
taught the great importance OF the or.
eanization. and there might easily be
one formed to resist the reduction oil
wages. Such q reduction was an injus.
,ice and had been submitted to because
teachers were generally weak creatures
and would take what was offered rather
than leave their positions. -.
Miss Mary Mcdonnell. Of the Gold
Hill Central School. brought up the sub
ject OF punctuation. She did not at
first like to teach punctuation. but 1t had
been required Of her. She traced tbs
word down from Latin. The art-for 1t
was an art-was first known about $50
B. C. but did not come into general use
before about A. d. 1900. She then
showed the uses and purposes OF pune
tuation and gave illustrations OF instances
where 1t changed meanings entirely.
In her department (B and Q Gram.
mar) she taught two uses for the period:
after an abbreviation and at Me close OF
n sentence. The use OF the comma and
semicolou was not 80 easy. She usually
used three or four rules for the eIclama.
ton point. One was in an explanatory
sentence, as "Ob, how 1t rains!" An.
other iu IN eIclamatory-impera,ive sen-
tepce, "a Hush! shut the door," An.
other was In the EXPLANATORY .declarative
sentence, as "Oh! 1t Is raining" An
other was 10 the Observation-Disclosures
tory sentence, az "Hark! Is some n
comingP'
For the use Of the comma she usually
gave three general rules to the children.
The first Is after the name OF Q person
addressed. The second is where q con-
junction il omitted, to supply its place.
The third to separate = parenthetical e1'
pressiou from the rest OF the sentence.
Miss Ida Lynch asked about the use
OF the comma after dates, as "ln the
year 1892 Columbus discovered Amer
ica." The point was discussed soms.
what, some one deciding that authority
required the comma after the date out
common sense did not.
The use OF the comma and conJune-
ton was brought up. MIR. Baker 10.
stanced q case in point. It occurred In
the published report Of the proceeding,
Of q late meeting Of the Virginia Board:
1.-THE clerk. Mr.. Hill. and Mr.. Baker
were appointed . committee" Without
the use OF the comma and connective
both after the name OF Mr.. Hill, the
idea that Mr.. Hill and the CLERK were
the same person could not be conveyed.
Without the comma the committee
would really consist Of three instead OF
two.
The comma and connective were some
times used also in compound sentences.
A proportional phrase introducing .
sentence should also DO followed BY q
comma.
Mi,s Mcdonnell taught punctuation
with all the branches pursued in her de-