The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-11-01

parts Of grammar, etymology and syn
tax" she said. English grammar
does not. however, create fluency. lt
does give accuracy of speech ana writ
ing. and for this reason special stress
should be laid Oh the teaching OF IL
during the first five years of the EMU =
education. Politically man Is al
right, but )ingustically he is all
wrong. and too many pains cannot DC
! taken in the teaching of this Drancn'
Miss Connolly spoke against the
| multitude of confusing rules Ill thc
! grammar text books. and said that
| only those should be utilized which
the teacher considers to be of prac,i-
cal value.
RUBBISH IN GRAMMARS.
"'rhe grammars were originally writ
ten by Latinists," she said, "and as
result we have u lot of rubbish in
English which belongs to Latin. Boys
don't like rubbish. and don't like to
do useless things. Girls do. That's
why boys don't like grammar and
girls are fond Of it. If you would cut
| out of your grammar everything the
boys do not like. YOU would get down
to the bedrock. our great fault in
teaching grammar is that we grind
ava. at theoretical grammar. ana
another that we daily violate gram
| mutical facts
After ten minutes recess, Superin-
| tendent Buvard. vino was presiding
| over the session. introduced Dr..
Srhaeifer. whose subject was THE
| School curriculun." He said: "The
| first step in barbarian life is the DO
mcsticution of animals. the next or
| cultivation of the SOIL and the third
of The smelling of iron ore and ike
| work. Yet they may do all these
things and still be barbarians. Where
does civilized life begin" With the
| phonetic alphabet: with the school.
''rhe effort of the whole civilized
world today is to make ignorance i'm
possible. You can start with old
F.eypts schools, as far back as one
can go. and you will find that in them
! they teach reading ana writing. the
! first essentials of every school cur"i-
c,llum.
"Whatever else you teach. if you ne
glect reading. writing and numbers
your school will be II failure. Any
woman at the dawn of the twentieth
century who cannot write Il letter, p"r-
feet in spelling. punctuation and
grammar. is put down rs poorly edu-
Gated. and with a man it is the same.
| Ii the school does not teach IL pupil
| spelling tn the extent of all the words
which that student uses in letter
writing. why the school hasn't done
it's work.
"And now | come to grammar AS
soon as people begin to learn a foreign
language. they need grammar as Il
test. In Maryland anyone who Wlsnes
to teach must pass an examination IN
civics. botany and several other ad-
vanced branches. And why should
these be required? Because there ls
nothing better to cause Il boy to think
and reflect of advanced science than
geometry and algebra. And If you
| are afraid of civics, ! advise you To
never try to vote" He concluded by
saying:
DIR. SCHAEFFER CONCLUDES.
1T strikes me that all teaching
which does not end in doing is a
| failurr" Dr. Schaeffcr left the city
yesterday afternoon for Harrisburg
Madame Davenport, the health cul-
turist. now in the city. will tonight
address the teachers. on the subject
of Health and Beauty
Yesterday morning the institute was
addressed by Or. sherman Davis, Miss
Elizabeth Lloyd, DR.. n. G. Schaeifel
and Madame dc Barrie Gill.
DR.. Davis spoka on the subject oi
"Suggestion." ani interestingly dis
coursed about this psychological sub
iect He c,led numerous examples tC
illustrate the force If suggestion. On
witnesses 1T Il trial, on children. and
in making persons believe things OF
attempt 10 do things utterly impoS'
Siblc.
Miss Lloyd's talk on THE care u
the Body" was very interesting, TN
speaker laying much stress on pure
water. excellent ventilation and per
feet heat and ligh'. as most import
ant accessories To the welfare of the
human being.
DR.. Schaeffers address on "Thinkine
in the Grades and Grades of Thinking
was happily expressed, thoughtru'lI
conceived and very much enjoyed by