The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-10-19

Ine grammar Scnool SectlOn met at 1:45 p. m. in United church. The church was filled with teachers and others in- terested.
 Mir. G. A. Caldwell was the presiding officer of this section of the meetin.
 The first on the program was read ing by Miss L. ID. Lyman, teacher of elocution and physical culture in Willi- mantle and Rockville high school.
 MT. Paul A. Knappe of Springfield fol- lowed with an address on the subject of "Vocal Instruction in Public Schools" He said I propose to make four divi- sions of my subject, namely, 1, Breath; ?, Vocal culture; 8. Sight singing; 4, Note singing.
 You think that we all know how to breathe, but how many people do know how to breathe properly. An authority has said that not one in ten breathes properly and my own personal experi- ence would make this average still smaller.
 As rule children breathe ,rnperly till they enter the public schools. but year after their entry into the school the habit of bending over their desks has entailed on them harmful ways Of breathing.
 Yet from a musical standpoint the breath is a very essential c nsldera- tion You are teaching vocal culture every day by the sympathetic effect of your voice upon the children under your control. Children who are accustomed to hear harsh or shrill q sweet ol pleas art voices in their homes or school are liable to acquire the same kind of voices by the sympathetic effect.
 I was very much pleased with the music furnished by the quartet from the Yale Glee club at our morning session. And yet if should say there were 200 good voices in the great uni- versity, which suppose must have over 1000 students, should have to include many whose voices are not good. This shows that large number of voices have been spoiled and this was done by their childhood days. A Bos- ton authority says thatl more voices are spoiled in the public schools than in all other ways. MT. Knappe gave H. lustrations as to the wayvoWel conson- ant enunciation should be taught chill dren, and urged the importance of proper training in word pronunciation. He also showed the danger which arises from little children singing songs which make too great a demand upon their voices. Children as a rule have only fine tones and any more than this are produced by straining the vocal cherds. Mir. Marcus White, principal Of the manual school of New Britain, spoke on the subject History in the Cram mar School" He said: T only rernem- Der one thing which I studied in Baure's history of the United States. That was the incident connected with Wolf's cap ture of Quebec, where Wolf repeated q stanza of Grey's "Elegy," and though I had little appreciation of the poem itself at the time, yet I had great ad- miration for a poem which could be repeated on such an occasion. l think the tendency Is to try and teach history without regard to the likes and dislikes of the pupil. believe we would atta. n better results if We let th pupil f1';cw his own inclination more. Make the study in history broader and more uni- versal, let the pupil at first read the interesting stories in histu,y, then 80 into more detailed study of topics. l somtimes think there is too much boil ing down history for the student for my own part I studied history which lad not been boiled down and I assure you early developed the abiuty of skip ping the things which ! did not like. I do not believe the claim of some that we should only study the history of the | United States to make patriots. | The man is created before the patriot, and to make the man a wide, compre- hensive history of the world is necs- sary.
 The highest things to teach are jus | tice, peace and honor, and having taught these you have taught patriot
 ism we'll
 | Miss Lyman recited two selections very acceptably-the first, My Ship | by Ella Wheeler Wilcox; the second, a southern sketch by Harriet Edwards
 entitled Negro Lullaby"
 Rev. C. A. Dinsmore, president of The Windham school board, spoke on the l SuDJECl w HdL LHe TupNC DeIldHuS VI
 Our Schools and How Far is the De-
 mand Met.' He said that he came to speak on the question as 1t looked to an outsider and not as an expert. He said;
 q would not criticise the public schools from an intellectual standard, but ratll-
 CT from the ethical. What the pupil of to-day needs to learn most of all Is that he is a member of the organism of so- ciety and must take an interest in that
 and not be selfish in seeking his own interest,
 "The youth of Sparta learned little
 of science or literature, but he was taught, above all else, to live for the glory of Sparta. Where the Spartan
 education was weak ours is strong Where theirs was strong, namely, in
 training the individual for society, there
 ours is weak"
 The sentiments expressed by MT
 Dinsmore were received with applause
 as was also the eloquent address of C.
 N. Kendall, superintendent of schools
 in New Haven.
 MT. Kendalrs subject was "The New CT Aims of Grammar School Work" He spoke of the higher grade or work which
 is being done by the public schools in
 the various branches. Reading does all
 and more than it did twenty-five years
 ago. To-day it learns the pupil to ap. preciate the literature of the great mas I