The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1889-09-03
'YHE PEABODY INSTITUTE
Opened Auspioiously Yesterday
Morning
TWO ENJOYABLE SESSIONS,
Talks from Prof. Myers, Prof. Houck,
Miss cofin and Miss BoasbuFg,
What Instruction Was I'm.
parted to the Teachers.

The Peabody Teachers' Institute, Of
which mention has several times been
made recently, commenced its sessions
in the lecture room OF the First Presby,
terrain church yesterday, The attend,
ance was quite large, and a gratifying
degreeiof interestiwas manifested, The
Institute was opened with singing, and
a prayar by the Rev, DR., Cooke, Of this
city. Superintendent W, H, Anderson,
Of the city schools, made a short talk
concerning Institute work, its aims and
the benefits that should be derived from
II, He announced that the hours for
the sessions would be from 8 TO II a, M
and from 2 to lip. m.
Prof. John A, Meyers, Superintendent
Of the'U, s, Experimental Station at the
State University at Morgantown, was
among those present, He had but a
short time To stay, az business matters
forced him to take one OF the morning
trains, but he was prevailed upon TO
devote the few minutes he had TO the
entertainment OF the teachers. He gave
an interesting account OF a meeting he
recently attended In Toronto, Canada,
He also spoke Of the failure OF thepublic
schools 10 teach or train the pupils as
they should be, for the practical BUSH
ness OF life. He gave some very In
teresting instances OF the work Of !.
perimental stations in this country,
Professor Houck, OF Ohio, who ia the
conductor OF the Institute, then intro.
duced Miss Coffin, OF Millersville, Pa,
who gave q very neat Introductory talk,
She divided the work OF the teacheri into
two factors: First, knowledge OF the
subject taught; second, knowledge OF
the child, The teacher stands between
tho subject and the child. How he
teaches Is his method. For every exter-
nal object there isa picture in the mind,
There are two groups OF pictures; one
formed from seeing the object, or OBJ.
serving 1t, tho other from q description
Of the object. We must first teach the
child from what 1t sees about It, Miss
Coffin outlined the work OF the week,
"America" was sung and then Miss
Boasburg, the lady who has been en-
gagged to teach music In the Wheeling
public schools, was introduced and gave
an entertaining talk on the teaching Of
music In the public schools, and closed
her talk with ashort lesson.
The afternoo session was opened with
the singing Of "Thine Is the Glory"
After roll call Miss NJ. Boasburg gave
q lesson in vocal music, using the mem.
bers Of the Institute as a class. Miss
Boasburg used the blackboard and chart
and gave methods OF teaching thedii.
ferent kinds OF tune. All were very
much interested In the lesson.
Miss NJ. E. Coffin began by saying
that the secret OF success IS to know
what to do and when to do 1t, Her talk
was on Why we teach United States his.
tory. She said that no branch so i'm.
poftant was 80 poorly taught; II is not
because the subject is not interesting,
but because 1t is 80 poorly taught, II
we have difficulty II is because we have
not chosen the right part to teach or
there Is some fault in the way we teach
II. Why do We teach history2 First,
acquisition of knowledge; second, to
teach %patriotismi third, to cause the
child to love history, 80 that he will
read history all his life. Better never
teach history at all, than to cause the
child TO throw away his book on history
as soon as he leaves; fourth, TO develop
mental power; the scenes Of history
must be made to live in the child. True
history must develop the Imagination
fifth, TO store, the memory with facts
that ought to BIZ remembered; sixth, 1t
cultivates the ieelinesi the subject
should be 80 presented that the pupil
will realize all that took place in what
is being taught; seventh, the highest
motive in teaching history is TO develop
characterize teach our boys and girls
how TO live better than they would
otherwise do.
This talk was but an introduction 10
the talks that will follow during the
week. Miss Coffin is a wonderful talker,
and captures her hearers at once.
Mr.. Houck followed In a talk OF forty
minutes. He spoke on the suiect Of pro.
grammes for institutes, making the point
that the lower branches are generally
neglected. The Professor was very happy
In his relation OF his experience in bis
first scnool. He closed with references
to the advantages OF the Teachers Insti-
tutes and showed what they had done
for Pennsylvania teachers.
The Institute will continue all week
until Friday evening, with two sessions
each day. The public generally are cor
daily invited to be present at each ses-
sion.
Thursday evening Prof. Houck will
deliver his famous lecture on ''The Old,
The New" Those who have heard this
lecture will wish TO hear 1t again, andall
who have not heard IL Rhould not fail To