Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-08-24
THE SUMMER SCHOOL.
The IastitutIon at Glen Falls as Seen B ---..t- e Waterburx Teacher.

The IastitutIon at Glen Falls as Seen By na Waterbury Teacher.
 The summer school has grown to be recognized as one of the best educational institutions of the country. It has the special merit of putting fruitful profession | al training within reach of teachers who
 are actually engaged in teaching. No progressive teacher can afford to pass his or her ten or twelve weeks vacation with out spending one-third of it, at least, in
 self improvement. and in preparation for
 the coming year. The vacation has been
 failure unless some new ideas and ambi-
 tions have been awakened. The up-to-
 date teacher takes advantage of every
 opportunity to improve. and there is no place where advancement is so we'll facili-
 tated as at a summer school. Sitting at
 the feet of masters of the art, listening to
 words of wisdom and experience from edu-
 cators of national reputation, and associa-
 ton with superior instructors, cannot fail qusntly to the pupils under his or her
 charge. The time is surely coming in
 Waterbury and in Connecticut when a
 diploma from some reputable summer | school will be essential to the teachers promotion. School officers will judge of a | teachers earnestness in the work by the
 amount of enthusiasm displayed in self
 improvement; and three or four weeks in | a good summer school to a teacher of two | or more years experience is more prodnct- i've of good, than as many months in n | normal school to a student who has nevtr r
 taught
 The writer's felicitous experience in at-
 tendance at the recent session ot the Ma
 tional summer school at Glen Falls, N. Y. | has kindled his admiration for summer
 schools in general and that school in par
 ticular. It was presided over by A score
 ot the best educators of the country
 every one with a national reputation,
 among whom were such Instructors as Dr
 White of Columbus. Ohio. author of
 'Elements of Pedagogy" an 'School Man
 a5ement. two very popular works; Super VIsor M stcalt of Boston. author of Met
 calfs grammar; Charles F. King master of
 Dearborn school, Boston, author of Kings
 Geographical reader; Professor Apgar of
 Trenton. N. J.; Miss Arnold of Minneapo-
 lis, on Primary Methods" and Miss
 Hintz of Albany. the ''queen of the black
 board. conceded to be the best free hand
 artist in the United States. Each of the
 others was an expert in his line.
 Every teacher should read Dr Whites
 Elements of Pedagogy" and School
 Management and then listen to his lec-
 lures on those subjects. He would be a
 stupid mortal indeed who would not be
 vastly the better for it. A very interesting feature of the school was the receptions, sociables and round tables, at which teachers from all parts of the union be- came acquainted, much to their mutual
 benefit.
 Inasmuch as those who attend a sum- mer school are taking a vacation at the same time no place in the United States could have been more happily selected for tba G1af, 12.OO0 inhabitants and combines to a con- siderable degree the advantages of city and summer resort. It has very com plete sewerage system, excellent mountain water, electric lights, electric cars beauti- ful, shaded streets and many fine resi- dences. It Is nine miles from Lake George-the most beautiful sheet of water in America-at the foot hills of the Adiron- dacks on a bend of the Hudson and near Saratoga, Luzern and Mount McGregor. It is on the line of travel between New York and Montreal. via the Hudson and those beautiful, historical lakes. George and Champlain. Teachers and students are especially interested in the many his torical points of intere>t in the vicinity Saratoga battlefield, Fort Edward Fort William Henry, Ticonderogu, Whitehall. Bloody Pond, etc. In addition to its ex- ceedingly interesting historical surround ings the industries of the town are varied and afford much pleasure to investigating visitors. It boasts of the largest paper mlll in the world where three of the great New York dailies are supplied with paper It Is very interesting to see logs of spruce ground into pulp by means of laIge stones. and to follow their course through till they emerge in half ton rolls of finished paper. ready for shipment. Of these the World takes sixty rolls daily. the Herald fifty rolls and the Press somewhat less. Count ing the wall paper. which 1t also manufac- lures, this immense concern turns out I65 tons of finished paper every day. Truly stupendous achievement. Another inter esting point is the great saw-mIlls, in some of which may be seen several gangs of thirty-six saws each. all working at the same time and devourIng hundreds of logs every hour of the day and night. The | product of these saw-mills may be seen piled for miles along the banks of the | canal, ready for shipment via of the canal | to Albany and thence by the Hudson to | New York city and other points. During | the winter and spring hundreds of men | are employed for miles on the Hudson | harvestings logs to feed the abysmal maw | of those mills during the year.
 The lime tunnels are by no means of | secondary importance. These dark, gloomy cayerns, from some of which visi- | tors are excluded on account of foul air. remind one of the pictures of the famous | salt mines of Austria. These have been | operated for years and entered into the | bowels of the mountain. With the ther- mometer at 90 at the entrance We found | Il decidedly chilly about half way into the farther side. At present these tun- nels furnish limerock for about a dozen each of which produces fifty barrels of lime a day.
 There are many minor places of interest but the chief point of attraction is the celebrated Coopers cave. situated at the foot of the falls which furnish the power for the mills above spoken of. This cave Is celebrated in America and Europe through J. Fenimore Coopers historical novel. "The Last of the Mohicans" The story was inspired by a visit of Cooper with distinguished company of British aristocrats some sixty years ago.
 The National summer school is n con- solidation of four summer schools and has been in existence ten years. during which time over four thousand teachers from forty-eight different states and territories have attended. Of Waterbury's one hun dred and twenty-five teachers but very few have attended any educational institution this year. Let us hope that next year we will be well represented in some good summer school. J. E. MADIGAN. Q Gs0a.,o r,...r |