The Portland daily press., 1898-03-01

IL .DA1L4 + hEoCA OLON -
of the Spring street school house , amu
grounds. In June, 1897, Governor I tI;s
ers, recognizing the services rendered Un,s
school in the past by Mr.. VIM. ID. Brown-
son, of the Portland School Board, aP-
pointed him q commissioner OF the lnss ,i
tuition for five years, a deserved COMP as
ment to one who by his many aoIs 20
Kindness has endeared himself to shoeo
unfortunate ones. We are gratifed 10
learn that the school continues to grow, IN
usefulness on the foundation laid by Uho
| Portland school beard.
KINDERGARTENS.
Portland has now six kindergartens'
taught by eight teachers. and convenient
~ located at intervals between MunJoy
| Hill and the extreme end of Congress
street. One hundred and forty-two little
ones attend these schools and sing ana
| play in " Froebel's garden for Children.
| Two of the kindergartens were establ1sneu
during the past year, that in ward one,
under the direction of Mr.. Hall, and the
other in ward seven, under the superV1s-
ion of Mr.. Peabody, of the committees.
1t is argued by some that kindergartenss
are an expensive luxury and do not
properly come within the sphere OF puDllc
education; that the city does it's full duty
when it provides education in the COM
mon or ordinary branches and should nov
invade the nursery. 1t would seem tnao
before reaching such a conclusion, tno
real educational BENEFITS of kindergarten
instruction should be determined upon.
II Froebel's methods are found TO Dc
what is claimed for them, then apparently
there is as good ground for supporting
the kindergarten as Of maintaining the
High school.
THE EVENING SCHOOL.
During the early fall arc lights were
placed in the five large rooms on the
first floor of the jackson school, and other
changes and Improvements made, prepara
tory to its being opened at night Tor SEES
sions of the Evening school, On MONDAY
evening, OCT. 4th, 1897, the school opened
with the largest attendance in its history,
and after a successful term OF eighty
nights, closed Feb. 18th, 1898. Principal
Milliken reports that during the term
there were $3.50 persons under instruction.
These included young men and women
who were obliged to leave school at an
early age. adults of various ages and
pationalities deprived of an education IN
their earlier years and others who wished
to study some special branch, such as
book keeping. There were sever teachers
!. employed The cost per pupil per night
was little less than four cents or about
three dollars for the whole term. surely
the appropriation for this purpose was
money well invested. The evening school
should have permanent quarters, and 1t
is to be hoped that this will be considered
when the City Council takes action on
the offer made by the trustees of the
Walker estate referred to above.
4 VERTICAL WRITING.
Within few years there has been a
| ~, ha of n
ship taught in the schools. At present,
in most of our large cities, pupils are
taught to write in vertical manner. DR..
Warren, chairman of the committee on
penmanship, at the August meeting ad-
vocated trial of this new method, in the
Smaller and Center street schools. The
results proved SO satisfactory that the
committed at the January, 1898, meeting
voted to adopt Mr.. Il. W. Shavlor's Series
! of Vertical Writing Books for use in all
the schools of Portland Legibility and
, compactness are the two principal quail.
ties claimed for the vertical system.
MUSIC.
Three different methods of teaching
music are being used at present in our
: schools. The regularly adopted music
books known as the Normal Course are
in general use; the Natural Course hai
been on trial for the past three years, in
the jackson and Casco street schools, and
the American system on trial since last
September in the Butler and Bracket
, street schools. Perhaps no other branch
| of education has occupied moro seriously
the time and attention of the board. The
, special committee on music, consisting
of Mr.. Hall, DIR. Vose and Mr.. Peabody
assisted by Mr.. Whitehouse. carefully
examined the merits and defects OF eacE
| course, but the board was unable to reach
any definite conclusion as to a change
and so are awaiting further results from
3 a fair and impartial trial of the three
5 It is the opinion of the committee that ,
/ uniform system should be used through
out the schools of the city. Mrs. Merrill
: special teacher of music, has conducted
the singing in skilful manner.
SCHOOL ROOM DECORATION.
That the school room should be mad
bright and attractive, hns long been &C
knowledged as an abstract truth. 1t onl.
took concrete form, however, when thu
!, ladies of the Portland Women's Literar,
, Union interested Themselves, and by per
! sonal and solicited contributions RAISED
a fund sufficient to purchase number
of classic casts and hundreds of choice
and beautiful pictures. These were PLACED
on exhibition in Reception hall and for
:, mally presented to the School Board OF
Saturday afternoon, May 10Th, 1887, b,
! a committee appointed by tn
> W. L. U. Superintendent Lord presided
The occasion was made memorable by I
scholarly address delivered by Judg
: Symonds on the appropriate subject Q
"Painters and Sculptors. Mayor Ran
. dali gracefully accepted these works of ar
o and they were distributed among tn
: various schools. The subjeots.a are seleotet
: with refined taste and good judgmen
! and in every case possess moral and intel
!, lectual merit Great events in the histor.
! of our country, from the sailing of Column
;. bus from Palos down to Incidents in tn
. Civil War are represented in this coilec
q ton. The many copies of the Madonna
: by the great masters serve as a type t
illustrate to teachers and girls alike al
: that is pure and noble in womanhood
: while the portraits OF our Statesmen an
: heroes in peace and war teach our boy
that they can make their lives sublime.
SCHOOL LIBRARIES.
School libraries are now becoming al
important adjunct to the daily course
= training in our schools. The study Q
!, geography may be supplemented by In
ferestinp books of travel while histOr