Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-07-02
School MEETING Next Monday

evening, July bth, the annual school
meeting will be held at the school-house
in this city. At this meeting, among
other matters of importance to the
schools, the matter Of a change of read
ers will be discussed and again put to a
vote. Last year the matter was agi-
tated. The teachers were unanimous
In declaring change highly desirable,
the Board of Education approved of
change, and all who were best qualified
to judge of its adyisability were of the
same opinion as the teachers and the
board. But the anti-improyement ele-
ment and an agent of the publishers of
the series of readers now in use went to
work to defeat the measure, with the
result already known. Now if the iudg-
ment of the teachers and the school
board cannot be trusted, careful ex
animation into the facts in the case. we
are confident, would convince any fair
minded man that this change, besides
being desirable in every other way, would
be an economical one Harveys Read
ers are out of date, and inferior in point
OF reading matter to half dozen other
series The publishers do not even an
nounce them in their price lists, and
frankly acknowledge their inferiority to
other series which they are publishing
now In fact they are only gotten out
to fill gap between their old and new
readers, just to hold their customers.
The two series of readers best liked
by the teachers and the board
who have made a careful ex-
animation of several, are Appleton's and
Sheldon's. The retail price of these is
but trife higher than Harvey's, while
the amount of reading matter is nearly
double and of a quality far superior.
Harveys Readers are so small that they
have to be patched out by supplement-
airy readers which cost far more than the
difference. Moreover, in making the
change, the Introductory and exchange
prices are so low that if one had pupil
in every grade the exchange would only
cost s1.25. The introduction prices are
so much lower than the retail prices of
the old series, that to those getting new
books there would be an actual saving of
money by the change, so that if we con
slder the greatest good of the greatest
number, there seems to be no other
reason for opposing the change than
determination to oppose all improvement
on general principles. We feel sure
that improvement in reading in our
schools has been greatly hindered by the
long use of the -present inferior readers.
Where they are handed down from the
older to the younger members of the
family, the child is generally familiar
with the book before beginning it, thus
losing that interest upon which his i'm
provemet so largely depends. We hope
all who have the best interests of the
schools at heart will at least look into
this matter candidly before attending
the meeting Monday night.
!
CENTRIFUGAL FoRCE.-Last Monday
evening Mr.. l.. A. Jackson treated MIR.
Marsh Barber to drive behind his lit
| tie gray. Finding the crossings too
troublesome in town, and the.roads too
rough in the country, he thought the
track at the fair ground a more fitting
| place to show the speed of his handsome
little nag. After driving around few
times one way he thought he would
turn on the track and take a round or
two the other way for change. Now
Mr.. j. had not sufficiently considered
the principle that revolving bodies have
tendency to fly off from the center of
| motion in the direction of the tangent
to the path the body describes. Some
scientists have of late disputed the ex-
istence OF any such force as "Centrifu-
gal Force" and pronounce the above
phenomenon only manifestation of
the principle of Inertia. Be that as it
may, Mr.. jackson has at least demon
stated that a revolving buggy has
very strong tendency to go over; that
the cushion has tendency to slide
out, and that the young men seated
thereon have at such time an irresist-
ible tendency to hit the ground very
hard. The horse broke for the open
gate but struck the post with one wheel,
leaving the buggy behind, and running
with the broken shafts east nearly to
Moore's corner, where he turned and
ran back to town. He was caught near
the Lancaster House by Mr.. Fred Web
ster. Neither the gentlemen nor the
horse were seriously injured, though all
were more or less bruised. The buggy
had the worst of it. As Mr.. jackson is
very fond of his horse, he will not OBJ iect
to our freeing him (the horse) from all
blame in the matter, and putting it
where it belongs-on the driver. Let
us hope, however, that science has
gained something from his costly exper-
iment with centrifugal force.
CHILDREN's DAY-Last Sunday eve
ming was held the exercises of children's
day in the Congregational church A
large congregation greeted the young
folks, and everything passed off very
pleasantly. The programme was as