The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1882-06-28

WlhlSn, neither Is there anvthipts
deroeatory to mans dignity in be-
lievlng that he has q monkev for his
very remote ancestor. away back
along the track of the unnumbsred
cycles Of the past eternity would
sooner acknowl0dge such an ances-
~ than the convict sires OF some of
the first families Of Virginia. Oar.
wins great works are Origin of
Species, Descent Of man. !" and
Expression Of the Emotions in Man
ana Animals II YOU fear. now
ever, that they viii make the image
oi the monkey too apparent, don't
read them.
II You desire Il little more philos-
ophy than you find in the school
text books. read TyndalTs "Heat rs
a mode Of motive Lectures On
Sound, Light and Electricity. -
Forms OF Water, and do not fail
to read "Faraday as q Discoyer-r. -
Tyndalls works, as / nave else
where stated, viii render Won better
prepared for your duties; You viii
get ideas from them, plain. practical
ideas, which You can use in the
school room. No matter if TvudaH
rs the man who proposed the pray
er test III New York several wears
ago. His works are all right. and
that IS what the teacher wants.
You want a work on English
Literature" (" get Chambers. Then
you want a work on Logic, and one
on Metaphysics, perhaps. / know
no better than Sir William Hamjl-
ton. They are heavy works, and
are made 70 be studied.
Watts on the Mind, Is @ little.
old work in which there is fund of
information. The international
Scientific Series is by the best au-
thors and the most scientific men:
from 1t YOU may make YOUR own Sc
lecNons.
There are many more works which
/ might mention, but j shall only
mention one, viz: The Reports oI
the Smithsonian Institution" gc
Washington, ID. G. This may be-
mad by asking yoUr member of con-
gress Tor It, naming the year Won
want. They are generally publish
ed . year or two behind the current
year. Gou.will ind much interest
ing information in them.
Now i hayegIyen you tie nucleus
oi a library. L do not suppose or
expect that you will buy 1t AL at
once, nor any great portion of II:
indeed there Is q d.sadvantace iu
buying many books al q time. Buy
them a. YOU can, and rs you need
them. / am satisfied that tine study
Ot the books / have named viii give
Us q corps OI teachers possessing far
higher qualifications than those pos
sessed by them now. An extended
list OF books, carefully selected, and
thoroughly studied, must and will
DO away with the plan OF
for examinations. now
prevalent all over the State. Given
i corps Of teachers possessed OF gen
eral information, and able to aaui-
fest tue fact. and I guarantee that uo
county superintendent Will manifest
any great concern as 10 whether they
know where some obscure town IN
Europe Is or not.
The schools all over tine land are
crying Gus for q higher education Oh
the part Of teachers. Normal schools
are raising the standard OF their To-
4uirements Tor graduation; every
where you hay hear the same de-
mand. There Is one very plain rea-
son for this, VIZ: Our schools are ed
ucated up 20 very nearly tine old
standard OF teachers. / do not mean
10 say that this Is tine case ID ali
schools. l do not mean 90 SAY that
all the pupils m any school are up
to this dsgree of proficiency, but /
10 mean that II almost every school
there is at least one, and often there
are several pupils who have attain
5d such proficiency. Now any one
;sn clearly understand why it l.
nat higher attainment are absolute
" necessary. on the part of the
than were necessary thirty
years ago, Oh at the founding OF the
common school system in PenHsyi-
yania. / can remember the time
when 1t was considered a rather ex-
.raordinary requirement in young
man to have some knowledge Of al
zebra. Many pupils in our schools
study it to-day.
My own impression Is that ere
ong there VIII be two brano as a0d-
ID to the list on the provisional ceg-
and made necessary 10 be-
augEt IN the public schools; these
are physiology and aige-
)Ta. Our schools are educated 10
he point at whIcn they may readily
be taken up. Menta. arithmetic mas
been dropped from the certificate,
md this gives more time, ami a greet
leal more time, Tor mental arithms-
ic is branch which no teacher
sver hurried through" Algebra
an take its place and occupy not
Jne-fouTth the time ;hat was iOr-
nerly occupied by i, and algebra
sill open the way TO iar more
leater sOiut on Of whole classes q
problems than was ever gwen by
,nalysis. / have had many stu
tents say 70 ne, Il never under
stood such and such . class of proc
ems until after ! stuGied algebra.
VIII say here that wneaevera boy
AN work through proportion IN
arithmetic, 10 matter what his age
nay be, he Is competent 20 take Up
.igeOra. / had almost said that tie
.Cuid take u up pwHenLe could read
~ perform the taur fundamental
.u!es. | candidlv believe that o.
hid can learn how 20 perform the
operations Of algebra before he can
perform those Of arithmetic.
Physiology must 90 on ~ certii-
ate sooner or later, and tit sooner
be batter. Every one wants 20 learn
omething Of his body, in health,
md how TO keep it so. How many
II the more advanced pupils in our
choois can tell when an artery has
,een cut? Aud yet the matter Is