The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1883-12-26

somewhere; our children have it. He believed
in both the graded school and In the town sys-
tenn OF schools. Rev. r. l.. ID. Preston saw
work for both the normal and graded schools
The material we have for teachers is not what
1t should be- Rev. George Severance thought
we needed change. serious evil Is this
taking Of each man in turn for a prudential
committee. These committeeman have too
many nieces or other dear friends to pro-
vide places for. We should have one system
OF school-books. Now, In moving from one
town to another there is change OF books.
Most parents shun the school-house as they
would pest-house. Neighbors that do not
visit are apt to backbite Principal Edison
thought that the great benefit came not from
saving In wages, but from an increased in
terest One good school sentiment begets
another. The opposition to the town system
came from ignorance. Superintendent Dart
SAID there was no doubt about the system, and
IL would be adopted sooner or later.
FRIDAY AFTERNOON
Principal Edison opened the meeting with the
topic, " Hints to teachers" He would take
much care In classification; encourage prompt
attenuance; promise to publish the roll OF
honor get acquainted with parents In your
work be pleasant, yet dignified; require prompt
ness and exactness. Rev. X. L. d. Preston of
Tunbridge spoke on Methods of teaching"
Christ is the model teacher. The interrogatiye
system was one OF his methods Write ont
questions upon the blackboard in the morning.
and at recitation time draw out the pupils
| thoughts. Make pupils do their own thinking
In teaching grammar make use OF textbooks
for reference, but teach grammar outside OF
! them. lie does not believe in cramming-mak-
ing great reservoirs Of learning with small
amount OF wisdom. "Choice and use Of books
| for home reading" was the title of a paper
read by Rev. E. +. Herrick of Chelsea. The
time spent in reading some books ia worse than
thrown away. Those we read should be care
/ fullV anlnntpd and hut Uoad honLa
Select book known to be good, and from that
select others. Read novels in right proportion
Fortunate is the one that early learns to read
poetry. Here are found the gems OF thought.
Have purpose in reading. Instruction must
be first, not reading for pride Reading at a
certain time or certain number of pages is
! foolish Read to awaken the mind; read 10
gain knowledge; read with pen in hand; read
often; commit to memory the best passages.
| Do not read for show. At the conclusion of
Mr. Herrick's remarks profitable hour was
spent with the question box.
FRIDAY EVENING.
Physiology and hygiene as common school
studies" was carefully-prepared paper by
DR.. E. j. Fish. As the subject is one OF great
interest at the present time, a copy Of his paper
will be furnished the press. Dr. j. Durkee
would go in and make beginning. child
can learn something of himself; can be warned
| Of the bad effects OF narcotics and intoxicating
drinks. Faults of dress can be corrected. In
time we shall have competent teachers. We do
not want dissertations but facts. Mrs. Z. G.
| Greene, president of the Woman's Christian
| Temperance Union Of Vermont followed with
an address upon " The new school law" I'm
| like most temperance lecturers, Mrs Greene
impresses one at the first with belief that she
is thoroughly convinced of the truth of all she
uttars, and is so candid that some who believed
her to be mistaken in some of her ideas have
expressed themselves as very much pleased
with her address, brief abstract of which we
here give. We have been too much in the
habit, she thought, of dealing with the great
evil OF intemperance with weapons of war Is
it not better to begin where the end NAV be
seen from the beginning? The United States is
miniature world, made up of all nationalities
and many of its new citizens bring with them
the vices of the Old World Dealers in iniqui-
ties should be taught that they are only free
here to do right Our statesmen should take
themselves out OF political affairs and go up
into an upper sanctuary of thought there to
deal with the great question, "How to deal
with the great evil, intemperance." Science
has unlocked her storehouses and is aiding this
great cause Chemistry tells us how alcohol IL
made, physiology how it affects our bodies
mathematics how 1t affects our pockets. This
is now very important subject, and it is time
we were awake to study Gods work in our
selves. See what the enemy is doing. Make
the next generation able, or partially able, to
stop the traffic. Never was a study so high
that we could not find an outlet. Learn the
children that they stand out before the world
the greatest of Gods works. Build we'll the
foundations. Teach them that there are three
kingdoms-the animal, vegetable and mineral
| in Nature. That in one is life and motion /,
in the second life and not motion; in the third
| neither. Books will be written that will bring
physiology and hygiene down to the educators
In our common schools. Alcohol and water
one God made; the other comes to us as the
fruit OF decay. Other pertinent matter was
presented by her After temperance song BY
the children, Mrs Greene, at the request OF
Superintendent Dart, came forward again
She said teachers should with this matter as
with other matters, inform themselves: read
and study for an object. Thought is worth
Just as much to her as to the physician. Get
your mind filled. Superintendent Dartt fol-
lowed with interesting remarks, after which a
recess was taken until Saturday morning.
SATURDAY MORNING.
S. Ada Hall of Chelsea presented paper on
Methods of teaching reading" She would
help children form new words by teaching
sounds OF letters; analyze words by sounds. In
smaller classes, drill upon new words; use the
dictionary for pronunciation, and add to vocab-
ulary by getting the synonyms. The teacher
is often too far from the pupil. Keep the pupil
away from bad books. One cannot do too
much towards cultivating correct taste. Read
selections from good authors, and learn them
something of the author. A. W. Edison said
there was no danger Of saying too much upon
this subject. The foundation Of all learning is
reading The majority of those coming from
the common schools are poor readers. The
trouble lies in the fact that teachers do not
recognize the importance of correct reading
Read so as to grasp the thought Call out the
pupils and have them give the story in their
own words Insist upon correct positions
have the pupils read in front of the class have
them read to somebody, and read as they
would speak. He did not believe in elocution-
airy machines. Grammar, how made practi-
cal, y was the last topic presented. Rev. George
Severance Of South Royalton said that the OBJ
ject of grammar was sentence-building He
thought our system of word building was a bad
one; he would get rid of the silent letters and
pay more attention to the analogy of words
Superintendent Reyes and Professor Hutchin-
son of Chelsea, Rev. r. l. d. Preston, f. r.
Skinner, Superintendent Durkee and DR. Fish
took part in the discussion of the last two topics
To the ladies and gentlemen who came in
and, with Superintendent Dart, made the
meeting interesting and profitable, is due the
thanks OF all that have the welfare of our COM
mon schools at heart
The NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW for January
presents the following table of contents: Eccles-
iastical Control in Utah. President John Tay-
Tor and Governor Eli ii, Murray; Tribulations
of the American Dollar, Senator John |. Mitch
ell; Theological Read justments, Rev. DR.. j.
II. Rylanee; Alcohol in Politics, Senator Henry