Omaha daily bee., 1889-02-24
BEAUTIES OF THE BIRCH,
They GLADDEN. the Atmosphere of a
Dreary Court Room.
SOME MALE TEACHERS PRESENT.
But Members OF the Fair Sex Carry
on the Honors OF the Day
with Accustomed
Grace.
Douglas County Teachers.

Thirty five pretty and intellectual looking
young ladies and about half as many not so
attractive young men, gathered IN district
court room No. , yesterday afternoon.
They were the teachers of the public
schools Of Douglas county, and were
gathered for the purpose OF interchanging
views as TO methods of teaching.
These meetings are held three times a
year for the purpose OF promoting social re
latiOus between the teachers and an exchange
of views.
The first paper read this afternoon was on
"DiscovCrics in Fractions by \, w. Parker.
The gentleman thought That this bugbcar to
younger pupils could be made less
IrksOInc If the study were illus.
trated by commonplace objects ana in
continuation offered examples of how this
could be done.
The second paper was on "Grammar,n by
Mr., a. w. Shaddingcr, and was treated in
about the same manner as the one that pre-
coded, the author cndcavoring to suggest
means by which the study could be made at
tractive.
The Necessity of Professional Education
was dealt with in an able manner by Miss
Ncttic a, prichard. IN all the professions,
she said, the necessity for primary education
was manifest.
If anyone should be sick he would not care
to have an ignoramus treat him, nor would
one indicted under the law desire to have an
uneducatcd man defend him, and so it was
with all the professions. To educate a child
is not merely to teach him the alphabet, but
also how TO live. 'ln the school ROOM she
continued, tive have the future professional
men. The children have sleeping powers to
accomplish these things and 1t remains to the
teachers to develop them
Miss Hattie Brewster read a papero on com
pulsOry education. Statistics, she said, in
Dictated Il direct communication between il
literacy and crime, and taking this as n basis
she built up a powerful argument in favor of
this measure. That compulsory education
was desirable was apparent from the fact
that thirteen states had passed laws COM
handing it.
At TINS time there was an intcrmission OF
half an hour, during which the teachers were
all made known to each other by the intro
duCtion committee, consisting of Miss Maud
Eastman, Miss Minnie Parrot and Mr.. A.
Matthews.
The next paper, on General Exercises, z"
by Miss Gertrude Glasgow, was the ablcst
read during the meeting. She demon
strated how necessary these diversions
were and offered the folio wing
nine examples of exercises of this
character, which she mad found popular
amongst pupils: |. Talks on biography.
2. Appoint pupils to bring in general news.
Speaking in connection with this, Miss Glas-
gov said: "Have the pupils read the news
papers-all contained in thcm-and it will do
them good. Don't let them imagine that
life is so flowing as they will be
disappointed Whcn they go out
in the world. 3. Talk to
pupils on grain and its reproduction. 4. Give
general lessons in botany. >. Talk with the
pupils on the nature of the trees in
the vicinity and have them try to
bring out new facts concerning them.
Z. Have pupils make collections of
minerals and study them. Z. Devote
some time to physiology and hygeuc. S.
Give lessons in form and color. Q, Have
singing and calesthenic exercises.
This was followed by a pleasing talk by
Mrs. Jennie Keysor, of the Omaha high
school. Mrs. keysor told OF her visit to the
birthplace of Shakespeare. Before adjourn
mcnt, resolutions strongly favoring a COM
pulsory educational law, were adopted,