The record-union., 1896-11-26

The parents rebelled and would have
none of him, and he was finally made
assistant to a girl to teach little chill
dren- When the examiners of the
realm came to examine his school and
found the marvellous work he had done,
their report made the flower OF the
realm willing to sit at his feet ana
learn how to- teach.
Froebel, the great Froebel, born IN
1853, and who died In 1928, just as the
United States began an educational
movement, had a stepmother who was
cruel to him. The longing he had Tor
something to occupy his time. when ne
watched other children playing with
blocks when he had none, gave the
world the kindergarten, with the docks
and gifts and games for the children.
AT So years old he was a failure. Then
he found out that his lack OF success
was due to the fact that he had not
employed women to teach the chiidren.
At 20, when he had perfected his KIN
dergarten, an edict of the Government
prohibited kindergartens in the realm.
FIe could not obtain the revocation OF
the decree and intended to come 10
America and start his kindergarten, put
he died shortly afterward of a broken
heart The Government objected to the
plan because it did too much for
women, made the children too fond OF
freedom and too familiar with religion,
and the worlds newspapers laughed
at it's fears Of the three-year- repels.
The kindergarten was taken up mere py
Horace Mann's sisters and Is neces-
sity of our school system here.
Horace Mann, the great American
educator, was born in 1t96. There was
no time to speak of his legislative ca
reer, and the speaker recounted ms
services while he was at the head OF tile
educational work of Massachusetts. he
founded the first Normal School III
America at historic Lexington A1lei
all the work he had done the schooi
opened with only three pupils. Win
reputation second to none as polltlcal
orator, when the Governor OF the
State invited the citizens OF the state
to come and hear him talk, but only
eight people came. He forced the peo-
pie to hear him on the subject or educa-
ton before he desisted. He presented
educational reports that were read, anu
the State of New York ordered lo,uoo
copies of his report. Parliament III
England did the same thing and Ger
many also. Is he not worthy 10 suaho
beside Ascham, Commenius, Pestalozzi
and Froebel?
When elected to fill the place IN tne
Senate left vacant by the death OF Jonn
Quincy Adams, he answered the speech
Of Webster, and made the latter his DIT
| ter enemy. In spite of this and all tne
| attempts Of Webster to crush him, he
was again sent to Congress by the peo-
| ple. Let us be thankful that America
| has had one man who could stand
| among the princes of education, and re-
solve that we will be loyal to the cause
| of education in the world. Mr.. Mann's
| political services and career are for
| gotten. but Massachusetts, has per-
petuated his educational services, and
his statue now confronts that Of Web
| Ster.
! PREPARATORY ENGLISH.
| Miss Mollie Morton, Principal Of the
Dixon High School, then read a paper
on Preparatory English for the High
| School,
| She spoke of the Importance Of the
subject and the difficulty in presenting
it. Speaking of Gonsaulaus' remark on
Savanarola that he inherited from his
| father the aristocracy of brains and
| from his mother
| The most common deficiency in stu
dents applying for entrance to the uni
| versity and many who do get in, is that
| they can neither read nor write. OF
course they have a certain amount Of
facility in these things, but they have
no command Of words, none but the
most limited vocabulary or understand
| ing Of the proper use of language, and
| lack the faculty of expressing their
thoughts. She had rather have one pu
pill who could construct complex SEN
| tence and explain its parts than to
| have a dozen who could conjugate the
verb in all it's lenses perfectly.
One of her hardest tasks was to get
the pupils to consult the dictionary per
sistently and intelligently. She gave
some laughable instances Of the spe-
cial definition given in textbook
glossary to a word that they afterward
met in an entirely different connec-
ton. So with faulty rhythm in reading
that should have been corrected in the
grammar school, The trouble was, she
| thought that the child looked at only
| the one word, instead Of being taught
| to look at the phrase and its meaning,
and said that pupils were soon, when
properly aided, able to do so.
| The great requisite is thorough prep
aration Of the lesson, she thought, and
gave an outline of how to correct the
| deficiencies. She advocated visiting
days" by which teachers could see what
others were doing, and see what were
| the requirements of the higher grades
superintendent Erlewine spoke of the
increased interest taken by the teachers
| in the institute and the contrast be-
tween now and few years ago, and the
| expression of many teachers that they
| would not have missed being here to-
day for anything" The secret is in pre-
| paring a programme which interests
| them, and from which they find they
nave gained something.
| The Committee on Resolutions re-
ported resolutions appreciating the
great and helpful influence resulting
| from the presence of such educators as
DR.. Winship, Professor Barnes, Super
intendent Linscott and Miss Ball, and
| thanking them for their work: also,
thanking the local educators and Su-
rerintendents Howard and Erlewine for
| their persistent efforts to make the in
stItute success, recommending the
| adoption of Miss Hancock's sugges-
tions indorsing the present county
course of study and disapprovng any
| additions to it, expressing hearty ap-
probation of the report of the commit
tee on the report of the State Council
CT Education. and thanking the press
for their full and impartial reports.
/ The report was unanimously adopted