The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-04-02

0oou OlSClplluS uuu Oh IuS xNela-
ton of the School to the 1ndividu-
al Child and to the Community.
Talk on the Life Of Thoreau by
DR.. Green--A. E. Winship and A.
j. Demarest Also Lectured--Cho-
rus Singing by Children.
The second days session of the teach
ers' institute served to introduce Miss
Sarah l.. Arnold, Of Boston, considered
as the recognized authority on Eng
llsh work in, the public schools and
one of the most important factors in
the educational life of New England.
Miss Arnold's series of books, step
ping Stones to English Literature" are
in use in nearly every city of any size
in the country. She is one of the most
pleasing women who ever addressed a
Scranton audience Quiet and rather
undemonstrative, she nevertheless COM
pels attention. She gave q helpful talk
on Good Discipline" at the morning
session. 1t was brimful of good sug-
gestions which were based on the per-
sonal experiences of Miss Arnold.
In the afternoon she was to have
spoken on Language Work." but she
chose instead to talk upon the general
subject of the great use education is to
the individual and to the community
at large. She said that there is a
growing tendency on the part of the
people of this country to take the
school like a Christmas present with
out considering for a moment it's great
usefulness and it's wonderful effect
upon the life Of the nation.
RIGHT TO COMPEL.
She declared with emphasis that the
state has an unquestionable right to
compel every citizen to pay certain
proportion Of his or her earnings for
the support of the public school. be-
cause the public schools tend toward
the betterment of the whole commune
ity. She said that every child who
goes to school is better and happier
when he or she comes out. The modern
curriculum should respond to this test,
she said, and it does nearly always.
In teaching reading, she said, it is a
good thing to teach the child to SIM
sisted in making his livelihood, but 1t
is far better to teach him the subject
in such a way that he or she may be
guided into the realm of books, the
reading of which will make him or her
better and nobler. The methods of
school routine and discipline in force
in various schools also have a contrib
uting effect towards a child's happi-
ness or discomfort, or for better or for
worse.
DR.. +. II. Green continued his talks
on English literature. In the morning
he had for his topic. "a Glance at a
Century of Literature" 1t was only a
passing glance, to be sure, but it was
sufficiently long to enable the doctor to
draw out Of the storehouse of his re-
markably retentive memory some of
the gems of the master minds in the
literary field who lived during the nine
teenth century Each quotation was
given with the view of presenting the
dominant note in the writings of each
poet or writer.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
At the afternoon session DR.. Green
gave a talk on "A King in the Wilder
ness" The king he referred to was
Thoreau, the eccentric Massachusetts
naturalist, who never went to church.
never voted, never married, never
drank, never smoked. and who lived u
simple life in a log cabin near Con-
cord. built ON land owned by Ralph
Waldo Emerson, the quiet philosopher,
who was his nearest and best friend.
The doctor traced the life of this
quaint character and again took occa-
sion to preach little sermon on the
gospel of good cheer, taking for his
text Thoreau's own dissertation on the
doctrine OF internal happiness" He
said that in his opinion the time is ripe
for some teacher to rise up and write
a companion piece to the old hymn
Take Time to Be Holy" The new
hymn should be called "Take Time to
See Beauty" he said.
The attitude of the normal, average
man toward the beauties of nature, he
said, are very much like those of a
well-dressed traveller who was stand
ing on the summit of Il great noun
tain peak in the Rockies gazing out
over the wonderful beauties of the
valley below and at the rocky snow
clad peaks throwing their Jagged tops
into the heavens on all sides. A true
lover of nature, enthralled by the
scene, approached the well-dressed
traveller and as if afraid to break the
silence whispered to him softly:
'Isnt this the most glorious specta-
Gle you ever saw"
"Oh, don't know" said the other
man, "the thing that's been puzzling
me for ten minutes is how they ever
painted st. Jacobs Oil on that big cliff
over there"
TEACHING GEOGRAPHY.
A. +. Winship, editor of the Educa-
tional Journal, gave talk on the
modern methods of teaching geography
at the morning session, and A. I. DEM
Arrest spoke Oh Teaching Beginners to
Read" Miss Anna w. Williams gave
an ethical. Interpretation of Dante's
"Divina COpedia." which was rather a
ponderous subject to be handled in the
brief space OF time allotted to the in
stitute instructor.
Especial features of yesterdays pro-
grammes was the singing of a chorus OF
children from No. 16 school, under the
leadership of Miss Eliza Jordan, and
of another from No. 12 school, under
the direction of Miss Mary Doyle.
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