The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1890-06-13

COUNTY NOTES.
Go to Ann ArbOr tomorrow OH the teach
er's excursion If you can. Fare for the
round trip, $1.3O.
Knaggs Bridge school closes this week.
The senses and the memory are to be
specially utilized before the age of ten.
Supt. E. c. Thompson of Saginaw will
conduct the institute this summer.
Prof. Bumps made eight memorial ad-
dresses last Thursday; they were delivered
to each department of our Union school,
and each speech different. We think they
must have been very effective as there were
over 200 of the school children in line on
decoration, each provided with a bunch of
lOwers.-JOurnal.
The following Is the report of the Burton
school for the month ending June @. Those
not absent or tardy: Lille Rogers, Eva
Warner, Mamie Wesner, Lena Gibson
Those whose department was perfect: Edna
Wilkins, Lille Rogers, Mamie Wesner,
Lorenzo Skutt, Oracle Green, Gertie Will
liams. Those above ninety per cent in de-
pertinent, attendance, punctuality and eX-
animation questions: Edna Wilkins, Lille
Rogers. Those whose department through
out the year was perfect: Mamie Wesner,
Oracle Green and Gertie Williams.
Z. A. LIGNIAN, Teacher.
PENMANsHIP-
Why is it that so large a share of our
farmers, business men and even teachers
are such poor penmen? Here is my honest
opinion of the matter:
When the farmers, business men and old
er teachers of today were acquiring their
limited education, of all the few branches
taught them, this one, penmanship, was
almost If not entirely neglected. l dare say
If pupil of those days had been asked the
meaning of the word penmanship, they
would have been wonder-stricken and may
be would have said that the word could not
be found between the lids of Webster's
dictionary.
Now you know as well as l, that there are
a great many men who cannot write their
name, and candidly say that it is owing
largely to the fact that they were not taught
it to any great extent while they were in
school. i will admit that there were a few
of those old copy books in the possession of
some of the pupils. But there was no speci-
fed time i'm most cases, to devote to writing,
and If there was, or whenever they did
write, there was not a perfect image of the
letters they were going to make, as there
should be, but would look on the copy with
one eye while the other was looking on the
pen and the meaningless marks they were
making.
have heard it said that we are living in
a progressive age; maybe we are, but feel
that we are not progressing in penmanship
very rapidly. positively know that there
are some teachers who are doing excellent
work in this branch, and have an equal
nf yb, Ini, talx
nothing at it.
Now teachers, let us not let one of the
rising generation grow up to be men and
women not knowing how to write their
names. OF course this is not to be feared,
although there are some boys and girls who
have no desire to go to school, and unless
we reach them some way, they will grow up
to be subjects of embarrassment and igno-
rance in that respect.
Resolutions are most generally made on
New Years i know, however let us resolve
to originate or to do better in this work, as
the case may be. / am free to admit that
there is not a branch taught in our country
schools that is SO difficult to create an inter-
est in.
/ will here suggest the most efficient way
that know of for breeding interest and
getting the pupils woke up in this subject.
Furnish the pupils with uniform pieces of
paper 2x6 inches, upon which require them
to write specimen of their penmanship at
the end of each month. / would suggest
the following as good form of specimen:
A specimen of my penmanship.
Name
AT the end of each month, paste the speci-
mems on large piece of card board. Hang
it up in some conspicuous place i'm the
school room where the pupils can examine
and observe their Improvement. l have
tried this and found it to be an excellent
feature for creating continued interest, as
each pupil will endeavOr to progress faster
than the others.
There are quite number of different sys-
TENS of penmanship. OF them all / think
that the Spencerian is the best, as the prin-
ciples upon which 1t is founded are simple
and easy to learn. BY the way, / would
like to teach the principles, ETC., to the first
and second grades.
First teach penholding, position, (the
right Oblique being the best) movements,
(the muscular is the best, but permit me to
add that you will have seige i'm getting the
pupils to break away from their old estab-
lished movement, the finger movement,
nevertheless be persistent lines, base ETC.,
principles and measurements of letters in
the order named.
Teach the one space letters first by put
ting letter on the board each day, with its
measurements and principles. Reserve
place upon the board for this work, and put
the letter with its measurements and princi-
Piles in the following manner, a, height l
space, width 3 spaces, principles 3, 8, 2, 1,
9.
For each new lesson just erase the letter
and the numbers that indicate the height,
width and principles of the same, thus af-
fording new lesson without much time.
Try and reserve Is minutes at least for
this work each day, requiring the pupils to
learn what you have on the board about the
letter. Have the pupils practice upon the
oval movement and other movements which
the wide-awake teacher will devise, each
day, using the muscular movement, gradual
ly the finger movement will vanish and they
will soon rejoice over the fact that they can
A.. l. n. 80 ID