Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1897-08-12
RANDOLPH SUMMER SCHOOL.
Very Largely Attended and Interesting
SessiOn.-SchOOl Closes Friday.

attended. In lieu OF printed advertise
ment Mr.. Prichard notified the teachers
that they were to act in the capacity o
| dodgers by announcing the lecture al
their various boarding places. The ex
pertinent proved successful one, result
ing in well-tilled church and an appre.
ciatiYe audience.
| The subject of the lecture was "Litera
ture and its Relation to School Life.'
Not ali writing, the speaker said, deserves
the name OF literature, but only that
which has to do with he good, the beau
tifnl and the true. By this rule many
| books must be counted out. According To
Carlyle only once in about two centuries
is true book produced.
Emerson's rules for reading were these
"Do not read book until it is two years
old, read only famed books and read what
you enjoy" this last, of course, with GER
tain qualifications.
Own few good books. Books are not
cared for as they used TO be because they
are so cheap and also the public library
is so convenient that we become accus-
toned to that way of possessing them. 1t
IS poor substitute for ownership.
Read books for rest as well as for infor-
nation and above all cherish the sacred
books of the world. The Bible is the very
storebouse of English literature. If you
wish to drink at the fountain head go
there. John Ruskin himself says that
whatever of beauty there may be in his
style he owes to his familiarity with the
Bible from early childhood.
Make the school the instrument of fur
nishing the children with the best litera-
ture from the beginning.
Thursday morning Is roilcall showed the
number in attendance to have risen to one
hundred and twenty-three.
The first period this morning Supt.
Nash presented topical outline for geog-
raphy study in the seventh and eighth
years.
One very practical way OF reviewing the
grand divisions he illustrated by persuad-
ing number of youDg men and reluc.
tant young women to step to the board.
The rest were to work at their seats. He
then gave directions, asking questions in
the meantime, for drawing an outline of
North America, filing in the leading
highlands and rivers. This should not be
done, however, until the pupils have ac-
quired some skill in drawing the maps
from memory.
Miss Partridge in her next talk first gave
some cautions in regard to teaching pho
MICS As long as so few OF our words will
come out correctly il any attempt is made
to spell them phonetically she thought it
not wise to spend time on that or even to
use the term phonetic spelling. Substi-
tute slow pronunciation both for the ex-
DEttSipu anu kut dCL lthtil anu no udTul
will be done, but much good.
She then went on with her talk on peda
gogics, speaking of the reason why teach
ers have been advised to depend less on
the text books in their work. The reason
she So IS is this While those books were
written by wise men and in logical order,
that order is not always the pedagogi cal
order, by which is meant the natural
order in which the ubject should be pre-
scented to the child. That which is most
like should always be taught next. In
teaching numbers, for instance, begin
with the number the child knows and go
on from that. II it happens to be 2 the
order should be this, 2, 4, s. If he knows
3 then 8 should be taught next, then 6.
Do you see why 8 should come before 81?
She finally got some OF those teachers to
think it out.
You should hear some of the stories
these interesting people tell to illustrate
their points. They are good stories, and
what is more, are good illustrations as
well.
For more advanced pupils in history
Mr.. Bagnall told us that morning that the
aim should be to give well-defned ideas
of the great historical movements. In
American History these are three: The
growth of European, especially English,
ideas with local Institutions, the growth
of our Union and the development OF our
.
Incidentally Mr.. Bagnall referred to the
sledge hammer way of putting things
INTO pupils minds and the corkscrew
method of getting them out. not approx
ingly however, certainly in the matter OF
While there were certain constitutional
differences between the colonists of the
north and south that might naturally
tend to separation, there were many com.
mon interests in those early days that
bound them together. The tie of race was
strong, the French and Indian war, a
danger, called for union in de-
fence, religious prejudices gradually wore
away and last of all the trouble with Eng
land, which affected all alike.
Thursday afternoon opened with Mr.. !
Conant's last talk on Vermont History.
In his next he takes up the Civil Govern
ment.
A good way to group historical mate.
rial, he said, was to select few central
dates so that the thought of them will |
call up a series of events. 176l is such |
date, the beginning of living, &C ing his |
tory in Vermont. 1765, the year of the /
Stamp Act, is memorable as the year in |
which New York demanded its land or |
5he pay for it from the early settlers.
I77S was the year in which the independ-
ant government of Vermont was formed.
In 1851 it was admitted into the Union.
In 1908 Montpelier became the capital.
lS4S saw the first railroad enter Vermont,
preceded only few months earlier by the
first telegraph line.
Thursday afternoon, first period, Miss
Under the figure of the race horse and
he draft horse paired off in the expecta-
ion of smooth and even work, Miss Pat
-idge showed the waste of effort in trying
% make a class of twenty or thirty pupils
Keep even pace with one another. The
iame is true, indeed, with almost any
,lass-large or small. Her remedy is to
divide them-no, not that, she said, for
hey were already divided, the teacher
having only to recog nize the state of affairs
md put each child where he can work
pest. The result of this course, il begun
u the primary grades, is this:-By the
bird or fourth year they are so evened
I'D that the whole class can work together
o advantage If forced to do this from
he start the quick ones are liable to be-
,ome conceited and inattentive and the
low ones vexed, discouraged and nervous
10 that the effect is bad all round, not
,nly mentally, but physically and NOR
lily as we'll.
Supt. Nash followed Miss Partridge with
he ninth year geography work, his last
ak on this subject. Here he made the
distinction between knowledge and in