Wichita eagle., 1888-08-15
NORMAL NOTES.

again On yesterday morning 10 discuss the
modern educational methods and TO ex-
pound their favorite doctrines 1t is with
The most harmonious and kindly feeling
toward mankind in general that we meet
here from day to dap, knowing that our
stipendary emoluments Will increase in
proportion to the amount OF theory we can
assinlilate and put into actual practice.
The revivifying effects OF the early shower
could be seen on every hand III the unin-
termitting efforts of the members OF the
various classes.
In reading we were given exercises upon
mobilization and expression, and were
called upon TO make full use OF our voices
in getting the correct pitch. force aud
movement.
How we did go for one poetical selection.
Ii would have done the heart OF Long
fellow good TO have heard the glorious
cadences which eulanated from our en-
raptUred souls as we read
Didactics consisted OF a lesson upon the
reasoning, which is the process Of CON-
pairing TO objects OF q thought through
their relation 20 a third. The process Of
reasoning embraces three ideas or objects
of thought and require three judgments,
Two kinds OF reasoning were discussed,
viz, iadactive and deductive. IRductiye
being the process OF deriving q general
truth from particular truths, and deduc-
tive being the process OF deriving par
ticular truth from a general truth. a
process OF reasoning is naturally expressed
in q form. call or syllogisu, which
may be defined as an argument so express
hot ? n1-,clr-=ir,1 T,a1aSS1-rlv follows
from the force OF the statement
\ sylIogism consists Of three PROPOSE
tons, two Of which, called the premises,
state the grounds Of the argument, and
the third, called the conclusion, states the
inference drawn from the other two. The
relations existing between the major
premise, the minor premise and the con-
clusion were shown, and the fact that q
chain Of reasoning mar sometimes bring
a false conclusion was explained. showing
that the fault lay IN one or other OF the
premises Prof Larimer here gave De
Quincy's illustration OF the mother whose
child had been stolen by the crocodile She
begged him to return it aud he said that he
would upon one condition-ie., that she
would tell him an absolute truth. The
mother thought the matter over and final
~ said: ''Yoa will eat my child Here
was a dilemma-if he ate the child. the
mother told the truth and he WAS morally
bound TO return it; if not, then the mother
had lied and he was entitled to eat il. Sew
eral other illustrations Of logical reasoning
were given which lead to strange conclu-
sions, aud caused our brains to whirl with
perplexity.
The classes in arithmetic, physiology,
history, geography and orthography met
as usual and discussed the various methods
of teaching the above subject, together
with brief review OF the principles OF
each. \ vigorous and animated enthu-
siam reigns supreme around the massive
halls OF the Garfield University, and the
sweet whistle of the summer Zephyrs can
ever and anon be heard amid the wreck OF
matter and the crash OF worlds as the
Natural Philosophy class rends everything
into atoms, and causes the air to reyerber-
ate as a transmitting medium as it con-
veys to our ears the many expositions OF
the theories OF sound, light and electricity.
The time OF the school organization class
was given mainly TO the discussion OF
time, length and frequency Of receSses.
Much difference of opinion was here ex-
pressed, some advocating as many as four
recesses a day for the smaller pupils-nay,
one gentleman even went SO far
as to say that compelling a child
to sit still in school room
from hour to hour was slow method OF
numbering It This called forth copious
remarks from others who contended that
it was no hardship for any child TO remain
Quiet for an hour and half at a time. and
that if any remedy was plausible it was to
dismiss the smaller children q half hour
or 50 previous 10 the dismissal Of the
Others. Prof Larimer now submitted q
few remarks the substance OF which was
that few children were ever injured by too
much study, that it was an egregioUs
fault of the Kansas law to allow five and
six year old children TO attend school. be-
cause they should run about and develope
their physical organisms until at
least the eight year and that
these numerous recesses taught young
children pernicious and immoral habits
which they would not learn when sur
rounded by the older ones. and which
would never be eradicated. Let Us all
throw aside our cares and auxieties for
one day at least and enjoy the picnic this
afternoon at Greiffenstein's park Hthose
who have prepared lunches viii have the
baskets at the high school building by
half past two o'clock p. m. arrangements
VIII be made TO convey them 10 the park.