Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1896-11-19
SCHOOL TEACHERS IN SESSION.
Annual Meeting of tho New Castle County
Institute.

Middlotown, Nov. IS. - The god
annual session of the New Castle
County Teachers Institute began yes
terday, with large number OF teachers
in attendance. Superintendent Willard
Smith called tho institute to order.
Prayer was offered by the Rev. I. L.
Wood. NJ ISIS Amy r. Piser was chosen
secretary and Miss Mary Grimes as
sistant secretary.
In an eloquent address the Rev. f.
III. Moore welcomed the teachers to
Middletown. He made mention of the
low salaries paid TO the teachers OF this
county and hoped that the time is not
far distant when the compensation will
be more in proportion to other por-
feasions. Superintendent Smith replied,
thanking him for his welcome on be-
BALI Of the people of Middletown. He
said the pleasant recollections of the
previous sessions of the institute were
still fresh in the minds Of the teachers
and that there seemed to be general
impression among them that this was
about the only place in New Castle
county where an institute can be held
Superintendent Smith announced that
the programme had been prepared with
valuable to the teachers as possible;
that the corps OF instructors was a very
strong one, and he urged the teachers
TO take pencil and note book and make
good use of them. He said il was his
purpose to ask at the next examination
many questions having reference to
these sessions and he advised all to
make their notes as full and complete
as possible.
DIR. James NJ. Coughlin of Wilkes
barre, Pa, addressed the teachers ON
the subject ''How to Study After a
brief introduction of his subject,
in which he stated that thorough
knowledge of the English language is
essential, he divided the subject into
three parts = observation, comparison
and analysis. Observation underlies
knowledge and verifies it. One of the
essential elements Of the teacher is to
discriminate as to the means Of study.
Facts should be- taught by comparison.
Pupils should be taught the analytic
habit. knowledge is useful only when
available.
DR.. A. Il. Winship, editor of the
Journal of Education, Boston, Mass.
gave talk on geography, in which he
advised the teachers not to force the
study of geography upon the child
mind before it is able to accept it. In
connection with teaching child how
to acquire knowledge, he SAID, we
should teach him how it is acquired,
and that what he can accomplish in a
single lesson, has cost years of toll,
giving as an example the number of
miles in degree; this was first ascer-
tanned in the year SD, when the ruler
of Arabia measured 1T on the Plains Of
Mesopotamia. In the year 1900 a
Frenchman measured it with a wagon
wheel, counting each revolution as he
drove along. In 1917 German had it
measured by civil engineer. In 1875
company of men went to the Gulf OF
Bothnia and spent 16 mouths working
out the length of degree. Another
company of men spent 10 years in ascer-
tanning the length of. degree on
parallel. He made mention of the
wheat industry, saying the United
States ranks first; Russia. second, and
France third in the production OF
wheat. India, Australia and Argentine
are worthy of mention. France, in adj
dtion TO what ii raises, uses one-half
as much more as the United States ex-
ports. The British Isles are the
greatest wheat market in the world.
Wilmington was for about 100 years the
centre of the Touring industry in
America, and the -four sold for higher
price than any other in the market
1t was manufactured by the Evans
process. Wilmington lost her reputa-
tion as Touring centre to Baltimore
From there it passed to Buffalo, Rich
mond, Rochester, st. Louis and Mil
waukee and then to Minneapolis, which
place is still known as the Touring
centre. The freight charges from Min
neapolis East was formerly 50 per bar
rel; now it is only 20 cents
The afternoon session began at 1.30
o'clock. DIR. James M. Coughlin, in
his discussion ON 1.-The Mistakes in
Teaching said the teacher should not
make up by instruction what the child
has negected in study.
Dr. Wipship gave an able talk on
Educational Leaders, naming Roger
Ascham, tho first of England's greatest
teachers. Ascham wrote classic book
called the "Schole Master" Next he
named Pestalozzi, who was So years Of
age when he began teaching. He &C.
copied position of assistant. Some
OF the patrons thought him too old to
teach and had him turned out. He
afterward accepted position in a kim
dergarten. Thus from this late start
in life developed ono who was the
author of ''Leonard and Gertrude. "
He named as the one pre- eminent eduf
catioEa leader of the United States
Horace Mann, who was the founder OF
the first normal school in America.
1t was founded at Lexington, Mass,
and there were only three scholars en-
rolled at its first session.
DIR. Goughlin gave talk on
Thought Knowing. He said the
teacher should give the child some
thing to think about. This can be
done by taking objects of nature, rather
than objects of invention.
Superintendent Smith issued daily
attendance cards to the teachers. This
nesessitates their being present at each
session.
At the evening session music was fur
nished by the Middetown Orchestra.
The speaker of the evening, Col. George
W. Balm. was unable to be present, he
having been delayed by a railroad
wreck. DIR. Coughlin delivered lee
ture on The Elements of Success. +"