Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-12-12

There s q tendency toward giving boys
and girls an education that will make
them more Useful lin the business
world. The duty Of the teachers is 6rst
to teach the children the mechanical
part OF reading then TO create taste
for reading. 1t does cot matter 80 much
what boy knows when he leaves
school; 1t is what he loves, for what he
loves be will feed upon afterwayd
Every boy is Interested in something
and it Is the duty Of the teacher to find
out what the child 10 interested in. but
a boy should not be permitted to select
his own BOOKS; the TEACHERS should do
that. In making the selection the
teacher should riok out what is beat
for the boy In the line OF his thoughts.
The boys ana girls should read good
books. Good books are those which
have stood the test of time; those
which are lasting not the books that
give false estimate of life. The young
lady who gives herself up to inds-
criminate novel reading will soon be-
come incompetent 10 perform the duties
of sister, mother or wife There are
novels and novelist some are good and
some are bad. Good hooks should be
read for coinpanionship. 1t Ia an
interesting sight to see the family sit.
ting around the firesids reading good
hooks 10 leisure hours. Good books
should also be read for information.
The boy 25 years from now a. .!st know
more than the boy of today. Good
books should be read for culture sake.
While the boys and girls are in the
school that Is the culture period of
their lives, and the teachers should
give their best thoughts to see that the
children become cultured.
The fable il d stepping stone to the
choicest GLASSES. and the fables should
be taken up and taught or read in the
second year of their school work. That
is the tauuiful period OF life. Child
hood is period Of fancy aud that
period should, be used as a means to
the end. After the fable comes the
fairy tale; then the tale of "Robinson
Crusoe," which Is the first completed
story. That Is a fancy that Is praoti-
cable. 1t is "a story in which the chill
dren will keep asking: What will he
do next9o Then, what Crusoe did
every American boy can read, All sorts
Leaving Robinson Crusoe, which should
there should be continued and con-
the time should DO devoted. He sue.
gested 9 Black Beauty" to be read 10
the fourth yeHr, then after that others,
which he named, including rip
Van Winsle, ,N Dickens Christmas
Carols, - ''Unole Toms Cabin"
lila watha, - Sleeping Evangsline, +"
tale Of Two Cities, y "Iyanhoe,"
"Tom Browp,n &c. Tho hardest task
he has had as superintendent was to
get his teachers to read. The teachers
should read for themselves and read to
the children. The excuse that there is
not time Ia not good excuse. as all
can read IL they are 80 disposed. he
related the experiences, of some self
educated people. The speaker was
enthusiastically applaudad.
DIR. Sonmuoker followed, with a
pleasing lecture on 1.-THE Meaning Of
a Flower." Some people, he said,
appear to think that the world was
made just for people to live in. Some
think that chickens lay sggs just SO
people can eat them and that COWS give
milk solely because tn, people drink
it, but such is not ths case.
Modern science tells us the meaning
of flower, 1t is not that man may
see flower and pluck IL and put it In
his buttonhole. OF course, it is not
wrong for man to put flower IN his
coat, but that is not tho sole object of
| flowers. DIR. Schumacher gave some
blackboard illustrations, which aptly
aided him in demonstrating his talk.
Natures great effort, he said, is to
make every plant and every animal
better all the time. He showed where
plants Of the same kind combine in
their growth in the prodnotion of new
ones aud said Nature MAKES a mistake
and II an, inferiorplant results 1t is killed
and never comes to anything. He re-
lated an instance which occurred while
he was attending school in Reading,
Pa, to tine effect that on one occasion
the streats Of the city were covered zone
day with a deposit which resembled
sulphur and which oaused the report
&c be circulated that there had been a
shower OF sulphur. A microscopic in
vestigation showed that the deposit was
the pcllin Of North Carolina pine,
which had been waited by the wind to
the pines of the north, thus aiding the
latter in producing seed, Newer and
better means OF diffusing the pollin, he
declared, have been devised by the
Creator for many plants, and the re-
fsults are better. IN
Some plants have learned to protect
themselves, such as the poison ivy, the
sumac and similar plants, but there are
many which have no means of pro-
lection, but, fortunately, enough Of
| that class have heen provided to keep
them up in spite OF the destructive
tendencies Of the human race.
| Returning to the diffusion OF pollin,
tthe speaker said many plants scatter
| the pollin by means OF the honey bees
which visit the flowers. Whsn-the bee
alights on flower it Ia covered with
pollin, which it takes to the next
flower and deposits there, and as the
bee has hanit Of Writing the same
| kind OF flowers upon which 1t starts,
the pollin OF flower IL carried to the
same kind Of flower and fertilizes it.
| The bee, Of COURSE, 10 unconscious of
the duty he performs, but he is great
aid to growing plants. As for himself,
| he gathers nectar and after mixing IL
with bee saliva deposits it in the comb
as honey.
In hot houses 1t is necessary to carry
| the pollen from enc flower to another by
human power, when the natural method
is lacking, The speaker recalled an in
cident which happened in a friend q
hot house. Tho friend was growing
tomatoes IN winter, but as he was so
engaged BY busiress of another kind for
a week THAT Fart OF the tomato vines,
which had developed during the week,
had no blossoms, because he did not
have time to transmit the pollen, by
artificial means, from one vine to