The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1908-06-18

vantage. In small class also few
books can be used TO much better
advantage than many in a large
class.
had to appoint certain hours after
school in which to meet the next
days committee at the library, half
a mile away, and initiate them into
the mysteries OF Poole's Index and
The Readers Guide, the card
catalogue, and the shelf or shelves
on which the required book or books
could be found. Also, if 1t was q
book, not a magazine article, l had
to apportion the number of pages to
be reported, and sometimes, alas, l
knew not myself what were the
contents of those pages, for there are
many books in the reference library
relating to the subjects studied.
The pupils were solemn and at
tentive. I told them soberly that l
had it on good authority that many
grown people in Skowhegan could
not use Poole's Index or the Readers
Guide. They learned that So, r. OF
/ K. 575, meant vol. So, Review OF Re
views, page 575, and they departed
with the volume, looking profoundly
wise. They drew out library cards,
of which they seemed proud. One
boy over seventeen, a resident OF
/ Skowhegan from his childhood, told
me he had never taken a book from
the library in his life until he took
out Arnold's Expedition to Quebec
/ (by Codman). He pronounced the
book interesting and has frequented
the library since, afternoons and
spare evenings.
Strangely enough | hit on able
pupils for my first committee, and
after they had given their reports,
others were eager to do as well as
"Bill" or "Joe" had done. They
rather enjoyed inparting their newly
found wisdom to their ignorant but
interested class mates. Frequently
too, they had the pleasure of en-
tightening their teacher.
To illustrate how we tried to
correlate with other branches: we
began the history of the early Maine
Provinces and the Introduction to
Evangeline and story of Arcadia at
the same time. A little later in
composition work we reproduced
Hezekiah Butterworth's story of
Captain Tut-Tut- Futile and The
VIM. Phipps, first governor of the
Province of Maine.
When we took up Maine Industries,
| sent committees thru the Show
hogan Worsted and Wooden Mills, to
the shoe shops, the pul p mill and the
stone cutting establishments. The
boys returned enthusiastic and i'm
portant. One bashful farmer boy
gave us complete and clear ac-
count of the art of potato raising
from breaking up the ground to ship
ping the barrels. Then we gathered
statistics from the newspapers on
Aroostook potato crops. We re-
ported also on apples, corn, beans
and hay. The papers were favor
ing us about this time, and in teach
ing as in blacksmithing it is best to
strike while the iron is hot. Later
in the fall we studied the fish and
game laws and ship building.
In the winter we lived for five or
six weeks in Japan, nineteen hundred
six and nineteen hundred seven mag
azines are full of information about
Japan. We used the various works
of Lafcadis Hearn which are poetic
but not always reliable as to facts.
G. L. Brownell, in "The Heart of
Japan" is much more reliable and
practical. | read Gulick's Evolution
Of Japan" and found it heavy but in
structive from pedagogical and
moral standpoint, as well as accurate
and enlightening.
There are difficulties. Sometimes
it may seem as if the three or four
who may happen to be on the report
committee for the day are doing all
the work. To meet this obstacle we
tried map drawing for the rest of the
class, allowing sometimes two or
three lessons on continent as, first,
outline from memory, rivers, bays,
mountains; second, leading cities,
countries; third, products.
One great difficulty in the reports
made by the pupils arises in their
choice of material and lack of judg-
ment, some may give a mass OF de-
tails about a comparatively uninport-
ant topic, so that at the close of the
reports on Siberia, for instance, some
points have been fully reported and
others equally or more important
have been omitted entirely. To
remedy this evil have used a series
of books published by Silver, Bur
dette & Co. entitled, "The World and
Its People,. tried the lecture sys-
tenn, reading and reporting myself
from one of these books which dealt
with the Philippines. At the end of
three weeks sprang rapid review
on the class. To my surprise, they
remembered as much about the notes
as | did. Meanwhile they were max
~ ! 10
examine if you care to do SO. These
notes furnish handy subjects for com
positions in the essay style and have
the advantage of being topics in
which the writer's interest has been
awakened before he sits down to
write, which is the whole secret of
good compositions.
For variety, after the members
have each had their chance at max
ing reports on continent, we have a
few mornings of informal talks on
laws, causes and effects, politics,
various forms of government COM
pared with our own,-Spanish treat
ment of her colonies compared with
American and British colonial sys-
TENS. AS we have two English
members, several French Canadians,
besides few Irish and the Yankees
in our class, the opinions are varied
enough to be interesting, if not
lively.
Do they like Tive took vote
of the class the other day. How
many preferred it to the text book
method? Out of a class of thirty
nine, thirty -four hands were raised
Everybody Talking About 1t.