The Portland daily press., 1881-01-03

The annual meeting Of the Maine State Ed
ucational Association and the special meeting
of the Maine Pedagogical Society opened oil
Wednesday evening, in the Institute building
in Pittsfield. The meeting was called to order
by Hon. w. j. Corthell, president of the asso.
citation, who invited the Rev. DR.. Sheldon tx
open the session with prayer, after which
cordial welcome was rendered to the friends o.
education in attendance by Prof. Jordan of the
Maine Central Institute. President Corthell
in behalf of the association, responded with
appropriate words.
Mrs. Mary H. aunt, OF Hyde Park, Mass,
delivered an earnest address on Scientific Tenn
perance Education" which was well received
by the association, and called forth an inter
esting discussion upon the subject.
Thursday morning the session was opened
by Rev. DIR. Sheldon, after which F. O. Stanle,
of Pennington read a practical paper on ''The
Practical Element in Teaching Mr.. S
pointed out some defects in teaching the com
mon school studies He urged in all stud lie;
practical teaching, and illustrated, by ipgen
ious models of his own construction, a practi
cal method of teaching the Drinciples of ceom
etry. d. l.. Smith of Topsham discussed the
paper and agreed with the essayist.
Geo. B. Files of Augusta offered an interest.
ing paper on Defective Education" Tht
presentation OF the paper called forth lively
discussion, which was joined in by G.. T
Fletcher, VIM. Harper, G. G. Rounds, and DR.
Sheldon. Among other points made by the
essayist were the need of moral instruction an6
the importance of stronger efforts to overcome
the influence of low and immoral literature
among the young. esN
"The Sphere Of Secondary Schools, was pre
sented by E. FL. Cook of Vassalboro, afte,
which the topics presented by the speakers
were thrown open for general discussion. This
was joined in by Messrs. H. Hume, D. L
Smith, L. G.: Jordan, VIM. Harper, c. G
Rounds, DIR. Sheldon and Geo. B. Files.
The afternoon session was opened by the
reading of a thoroughly interesting and prac
tical paper by Miss S. G. Starrett of Belfast
on objective Teaching which was ably dis
cussed by Messrs. Rounds, fash and Fletcher
Samuel Libbey of Orono gave valuable his
tory of the operation of "Free Text Books'' in
that town. Thirty years ago the town abol.
ished the district system. Seven years ago mot
satisfied with the old way of supplying books
books. Since its adoption the plan has been in
successful operation. The cost to the town in
1879 was less than $3.50, and the cost per pupil
less than thirty cents each. Discussion was
opened by G.. A. Robertson, and followed bv
Messrs. Tash l.. G. Jordan, Woodbury. and
%
The following officers were chosen for the
ensuing year.
Presidential. c. Fernald, of Orono.
Treasurer. G.. Jordan, of Lewiston.
Secretary-W. o. Fletcher, of Biddeford.
Executive Committee-N A. Luce. A. IT
Kelley, w. Harper.
The evening SESSION was a joint meeting OF
the two societies. Hon. Nelson Dingley. Jr.
of Lewiston, delivered all important lecture on
the "Free High Schools An interesting dis
cussion followed, joined in by Superintendent
Luce and others. II
MAINE PEDAGOGICAL SOCIETY.
Friday, at $50 a. M, the Maine Pedagogical
Society opened with prayer by Prof. Harper
of Pennington, and papers were presented by
G. I. Fletcher, of Augusta. and R. Woodbury.
of Castine, on the subject of "The wisdom
and necessity of a course of a study in our un.
graded schools" Thomas Tash of Portland
followed by presenting to the association 4
course Of study for ungraded schools with a
full explanation of the same. These papers
were followed by discussion of the same, par.
ticipated in by Messrs. Jordan of Lewiston.
Harper and Rounds of Pennington, Chase OF
Portland and Corthell of Gorham.
AT 2 O'Clock p m. l.. G. Jordan, of the Lew
iston High school, read very able paper on
"Honors and prizes as aids to learning" Miss
Kicker, of Waterville, then read a paper writ.
ten by Annie M. Libby, of Lewiston, on the
Motives and incentives used to interest pupils
in their work. A very animated and inter
esting discussion followed by K. Batchelder,
Fernald of Orono, Stanley of Pennington,
Tash of Portland and others. The meetings
were very interesting throughout, and il
is to be hoped that much good may result from
them.