Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-28
Established in 1871 3.
TIE OPENING WORK.
The Stars and Stripes Fly from the
School House.
And the Institute is in Full Blast-Good
Attendance Talented Instructors.
Driving Work.

nv of Belmont county Tolls III IroiH he
hills and valleys to undergo the annus
brushing and furnishing for the COMM
years work. An unusually warm wei
come was st. Clairsville's greeting ol
Monday as teachers old and new step
ped into the open arms of the tow
to renew the acquaintance and reviv
the memories of a year ago. The frs
day started with professed enthusiasm
somewhat smothered by the heat, but tn
Executive Committee happily thought o
this condition of things, and accepte'
the fans of F. Troll & Sons. These ha'
the desired effect Every teacher wa
put to work, and before the day closes
signs of life of the kind sought for be
gan to look from the eyes of every one
About 9 o'clock, in School Hall, z. L
Anderson, chairman of the Executive
Committee, stepped to the front and call
ed the Institute to order. That soul
stirring song, america" rang from thu
throats of the choir. sPresident w
d. Porterfield made an appropriate i'm
promptu inaugural, and devotional ex
ercises were conducted by Superintend
ent Rossiter.
Professor w. A. Clark, of Lebanon, o.
went to work at once, and aided by Su
perintendent MertZ, of Steubenyille, and
Superintendent Jones, of Bellaire, soon
had trial daily program arranged on
the blackboard The work assigned to
the various instructors is as follows
Clark-Arithmetic, Psychology, English
Grammar and Physiology; Mertz-Phys-
ical Geography: III obson-R Reading; Jones
Theory and Practice, Penmanship, and
Exercises. At 10:15 the Institute was
fairly at work. Jones taking the lead
with Theory and Practice. He at once
tumbled the class into a sea of psyche
logical technicalities. This had the hap
by effect of cleansing the rusty mental
machinery of the teachers and clearing
away the cobwebs. Clark and his Arith-
metic came in next. He seems a master
of the situation, plowing fearlessly
among the stumps and roots of those
who've gone before, planting new ideas
and hoeing mp the old. Opening up the
field of percentage, with the class at the
plow, as all teachers should, a few rounds
brought the class against a sunken stone.
He could have let the class slide over it
or could have dug it out himself but he
calmly folded his arms. Then the bell
ringing he dismissed the class to tussle
alone at the stone, zone fortieth of 8
eighths ?" Mertz introduced his method of
handling History. BY way of preparing
the class for taking up the history of the
Ohio Valley he gave lesson on free
hand map drawing, penciling an outline
map of the United States on the black
board. His plan is to associate histori-
cal events with clear idea of where on
the face of the earth they took place. Mr..
Mertz unfolds his ideas calmy and skill
fully.
After noon, the stone walls of the
Court House Hall spread welcome cool
ness over the sweat -bathed brows of all
who availed themselves of this comfort
The air laden with sweet music produced
by Miss Mary Blair, alternately from two
fine toned pianos, makes this spacious
resort desirable retrert for the shade
seeking, music-loving country teacher.
Here at Ills, DIR. Hingeley began his 20
minutes talk on the subject, "Manliness
of English Literature" He spoke of the
struggles of Shakespeare, Wordsworth,
and our American Prescott; these, great
est in his opinion, among the geniouses
of literature, who amid the discomforts
of poverty built monuments that stand
high and lasting in the vast cemetery of
history. These after-dinner talks prom
ise to become one of the most interesting
features of the Institute program. Let
us see who will come the nearest to DR.
Chauncey NJ. Depew. We expect just
enough, wit, humor, ETC., at these feasts
to promote good digestion.
In the afternoon the class work was
resumed at the School house.. Clark be-
gun with his pick at the infinitive and
showed that not all infinitives have
clause substitutes, e. 9, 81 heard him
sing" His work in Physiology is thor
ough, and he defines it as a study of
live human body, not dead one. Mon
day closed with much to encourage the
management of the Institute. Tuesdays
work is a continuation of the work be-
gun on Monday The teachers are still
coming in, and the attention of the class
es is being closely held. The enrolment
by noon Tuesday was A, being much
larger than at the corresponding day last
year. The President, w. ID. POrterfield,
is faithfully filling the chair, and per-
forming the various other duties of his
Office. Mr.. Porterfield is one of the NOV
ers in educational work in this township,
and is doing much toward the attempt to
secure Township Supervision here this
coming year. p. L. Anderson, the Treas
urer and chairman of the Executive
Committee has done and is doing much
toward making this session of the Insti-
tute a success. Any one who will take
the trouble to examine the circular sent
out by the Executive Committee will
recognize that genious and economy
united in getting up one of the most
pleasing programs that has ever been
advertised since the Institute was organ
ized. This We understand is the realiza-
tion of one of Mir. Anderson's ideas. He
has not been alone in this work Miss
Ida Anderson is equal to the occasion
and has done her share efficiently and
faithfully. She has for several years led
the little ones in the St. Clairsville
schools. Public exhibitions of her work
attest her eminent ability to teach and
drill Z. E. Workman, the other mem.
ber is not present. His place on the com.
mittee has no doubt been as well filed as