THEFIFTH SCHOOL YEAR HERMAN TLU KENS Class __LB-L5i5-5 Book ,L %5 GopightN!'. COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. FLOOR MAP SHOWING DENSITY OF POPULATION (See December Geography, p. io8) The Fifth School Year A Course of Study with Detailed Selection of Lesson Material Arranged by Months and Correlated BY HERMAN T. LUKENS, Ph. D. Head Training Teacher South-Western State Normal School. California, Pennsylvania THEODORE B. NOSS, Ph. D. General Editor of the Series Principal of the South- Western State Normal School California, Pennsylvania CHICAGO A. FLANAGAN COMPANY NOV i iSOS Copyright 1905 BY A. Flanagan Company % ^ o j ■A PREFACE BY THE GENEEAL EDITOE ^' The Fifth School Year ^^ is one of the School Year Series, prepared by the trainijng teachers of the South-Western State Normal School, at California, Pa. Of the special qualifications of Dr. Ltikens to write a book of this sort, it is unnecessary to speak. His fruitful and important work for several years -as a teacher of fifth-grade pupils and of student teachers practicing in the same grade, gives him a van- tage ground of personal experience for such an undertaking that few men of imiversity training possess. The work of the general editor on this book and others of the series, has been confined to suggesting the general plan and urging others to undertake the execution. It is not strange that teachers should be somewhat reluctant, as ours have been, to put in print their actual grade work for a school year. A teacher's ideal of what such work should be is always changing, and is always in advance of what he is able to set down in print. Yet in the all-important field of matter and method of instruction, how can progress better be made than by recording fearlessly the best one can do to-day and using it as the basis of to-morrow's betterments? THEO. B. NOSS. California, Pa. PEINCIPLES ON WHICH TO BASE A COUESE OF STUDY After 7'cadmg " The Fifth School Year " in manuscript, my friend Dr. Charles E. Browne said to me : " You should state at the beginning of your hooh what principles you believe in, so that your readers may the better understand what your work meansf' 1. The course of individual development corresponds to the main stages of race development. 2. Thruout the curriculum the subjects should be presented historically. 3. The psychological order is of greater importance in ar- ranging material than the logical order. 4. The supreme aim of school activity should be to develop right interests and ideals. 5. The suitable material for any given age is such as most deeply rouses the natural interests of that period. 6. Learning is essentially an active motor process and not one of passive sense-impression. 7. The work in every subject should as far as possible be or- ganized with the depth of interest and the unity of connection that attaches to real life. Superficiality of treatment inoculates against all lasting interests. 8. The social life of the child is the basis of correlation. Cooking, sewing, manual work, etc., are types or fundamental forms of social activity and therefore form the proper medium for the child^s introduction into the more formal subjects of the curriculum. 9. There is no sequence of studies in the ideal curriculum. 10. The process of education is also its goal. CONSPECTUS CONSPECTUS OF NATURE STUDY GEOGRAPHY HISTORY SEPTEMBEE Distribution of Seeds. Food of Insects. Food of Birds. Bird Census. Weather : Barometer. The Mediterranean. The West Coast of Europe. Directions and Dis- tances from Home. Equinoxes. The Homeric World. The Ptolemaic World. The Northmen. The Crusades. OCTOBER Tree Census. Oak Tree. Ventilation. Weather: Winds. India and the East. Africa. S. Hemisphere vs. N. Hemisphere. Latitude and Longi- tude. Proofs that the Earth is Round. The World of Marco Polo. Prince Henry. Columbus. Vasco da Gama. NOVEMBER Leafless Trees. Branching. Hibernation. Cocoons and Chrysa- lids. Life Histories. Weather: Clouds ; Temperature. The Atlantic Ocean. The Solar System. South America and the Pacific. The Philippines. Columbus. Americus. Magellan. DECEMBER Geologic Fauna and Flora. Coal Formation. "Footprints." Weather: Moon. Mexico, Peru, Florida. Constellations. Winter Solstice. Hudson Bay and St. Lawrence. The Floor Map. The Gulf States. Spanish Conquests : Cortes, Pizarro, De Soto. Other Explorations by French and Eng- lish. Fall of Spanish Power. 10 FIFTH YEAE WORK LITERATURE NUMBER Iliad and Odyssey. "The Golden Age." "Lays of Ancient Rome." "Thrall of Leif the Lucky." "Skeleton in Armor "Discoverer of North Cape." "The Birds of Kil- lingworth." Dialog of Marco Polo's Return. "Building of the Ship." " C o 1 u m b u s." — Joa quin Miller. Sinbad Stories. Raymond's "Drama of Columbus." Raymond's "Drama of Columbus." Irving's "Columbus." Sun and Moon Myths. Fiske's Account of Magellan. Prescott and Fiske. "Stories in the Con- stellations." "Reynard the Fox." Roman Notation and Calculation. The Circle and De grees. Time Measure. Problems in Dates. Height of Trees. The Sphere — Area of Its Surface. Distances on Globe Calculated from Scale. Altitude of North Star. Longitude and Time The Distances in the Solar System. Numeration of Large Numbers. Areas of the Oceans. Scale Drawing of the North Atlantic. Enlargement of Map of Southern States with help of Metric Ruler. Density of Popula- tion. Problems in Cotton, Sugar, Lumber. LANGUAGE Literary Society thruout the Year. Historical and Geo^ graphical Atlases Each Month. Grammar : Parts o f Speech. Stibject and Predicate. Objecl Complement. Condensation. Grammar: Attribute Complement. Order of Words, Pauses, and Inflec- tions, use the Nat- ural Diagramming of the Oral Sen tence. Gratnmar : Objective Complement. Selections Written out from Memory. Grammar : P r e p o s i - tional Phrases. THE ARTS Music: "But the Lord Is Mindful of His Own." "There's Music in the Air." "Just for To-Day." Drawing : Rapid outline sketching. Making: Bird-houses, ants' nest, clock face, viking ship, articles for acting. Music : Columbus Songs. "Song of the Waves." "Farewell to the Forest." "Farewell to the Birds." D r azv i n g : Human face. Making: Windmills, wind-vanes, junks, caravels, etc. Music: "The Spacious Firmament." " Queen of the Si- lent Night." "The Harp that once thru Tara's Halls." "From Greenland's Icy Mountains." Drawing: Objects in motion. Trees and birdseye views. Making : Astrolabe, lung tester, relief globe, Saturn mod- el, etc. Music: "He Shall Feed His Flock." "Softly Now the Light of Day."_ "Day is Dying in the West." Drawing: Suggestive lines and lines of force. Making : Raising of cotton, rice, orange trees, etc. State maps. Geological model. Historic dolls. Cotton gin. 11 CONSPECTUS OF NATURE STUDY GEOGRAPHY HISTORY JANUARY Foods and Stimulants. Pets and Domestic Animals. Weather: Sunrise and Day's Length. The Atlantic Coast. Middle Atlantic States. South Atlantic States. The Settlement of the Atlantic Coast from the Hudson to Florida. Indian Fur Trade. Piracy Along the Coast. FEBEUARY Ants. Systematic Collection of Insect Pictures on Card Catalogue. Weather: Highs and Lows. New England. St. Lawrence Valley. New England. New France. MARCH Pond Life. Aquarium. Ice Age. Preparation of School Garden. Weather: Rainfall. The Central States. Recalling o f Fourth Grade Work o n Prairies, Portages and Fur Trade. The French in New France and Louisi- ana. APRIL Tadpoles. Frogs and Birds. Bird Calendar. Arbor Day. Preparation for June Flower Show and Planting of Garden. Weather: Irrigation. The Western States. Recalling of Fourth Grade Work o n California, the Yel- lovt^stone, and the Cliff Dwellers. The Louisiana Pur- chase. Lewis and Clark, Fre- mont, Pike, Powell, Bering, Mackenzie. The Northwest Pas- sage. The Panama Canal. MAYandJUNE Brooks. Picnics to the Woods. Jurbe Flower Show. School Garden. Weather: Climate. Commerce and Manu- factures of the United States. Foreign Commerce. Review of the Work of Three Centuries i n Discovery o f America. 12 FIFTH YEAR WORK — Continued LITERATURE "Knickerbocker's His- tory." "Gulliver's Travels." The Jungle Books. The Jungle Books. "The Courtship o f Miles Standish." "Snow-Bound." "Among the Hills," etc. "New England Trage- dies." Parkman or Fiske on La Salle. Review of Portions of "Hiawatha." Thompson-Set on's "Wahb and Tito." "Land of Little R a i n," by Mary Austin. L o n sf's "School of the Woods." Robert's "Kindred of the Wild." Poems of Nature. NUMBER Enlargement of Map of the Middle At- lantic States. Problems in Foods. Day and Night Chart. Square Root in Popu- lation Charts. Coal Charts. Enlargement of Map of New England. Measuring Areas with Paper Units. Ratios in Areas. T^er Cent in Areas. Density of Population. Enlarged Map of Central States. School Garden to Scale, using Metric Measures. Percentage i n Geo- graphical Problems. Density of Popula- tion. Enlarged Map o' Western States. Problems in Popula- tion, Area, and Irrigation, Involv- ing Square Root, Ratio, Percentage, etc. Comparison of United States with Foreign Countries i n Area, Population, and In- dustries. Review and Summary of the Year's Work. LANGUAGE Condensation and Re writing. Teaching by Use. Grainmar : Infinitives in Noun Construe tions. Rhyming. Grammar: Infinitives i n Adjective and Adverb Construe tions. Rehearsal of Good Colloquial Dialogs Committing Prose to Memory. Grammar : Participles in Adjective Con- structions. Story-Telling. Grammar:. Participles in Noun Construc- tions. Correspondence with Other Schools on the Work of the School Year. Grammar: Conjuga- tion. Summary o f Year's Work. THE ARTS Music: "Ring out, Wild Bells." "Kind Words." "Abide with Me." "O, Come, Come Away." Drawing : Memory drawing and simple perspective. Making : Sand table models of James- town, etc. Music : "The Blue Bells of Scotland." "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." "My Old Kentucky Home." Drawing: Brush work for St. Valentine's Day. Outline draw- ing. Making : Scenes for the plays, models of Old Boston or Plymouth. Re- assembling the parts of a clock. Music: "Jerusalem the Golden." "Now the Day is Over." "Robin Adair." Drawing : Scenes from nature study, ge- ography and history. Making : School gar- den plan, b i r d- boxes, models of reaping machine, blast-furnace. Music: "All Thru the Nicrht." "Crossing the Bar." "We Lay Us Down to Sleep." Drazuing: Outdoor sketching and illus- trative drawing. Making : The school garden. Music: " O. Rest in the Lord." "Soldiers Chorus." "Decoration Day." Music festival. Draiuing : Outdoor sketching and illus- trative drawing. Making: School gar- den. Boats. 13 THE FIFTH SCHOOL YEAR INTRODUCTION The leading work of the fifth school year is the story of geo- graphical discovery, from the earliest times down to the expan- sion of the United States into a world power, with the digging of the Panama Canal, which opens Columbus's attempted westerly route to the Orient. It is history, but it is the history of geography. In the spring, the geography becomes industrial, but altho it is chiefly the geography of the present, it still correlates with the history. The literature is in the closest association with the history and the geography. The topic for the year in nature study is the inter-dependence of animals and plants, and in the main follows the seasonal changes. A daily weather record is kept. The work on this furnishes motive for considerable number work, astronomy, geography, and English. The pupils have organized the Cali- fornia Junior Naturalist Club, and manage in this way a con- siderable part of the nature work. The work in number, language, drawing, writing, singing, making, modeling, etc., grows out of the work in geography, history, or nature study. Besides the simpler correlations in minor matters, the geography makes its chief demands for aid from the arithmetic in the scale drawing of maps and statistical charts. In the latter part of the year this work becomes the preparation of a statistical atlas of the United States. All the songs selected are good, being in many instances classics from the great composers. Children have no time to 17 18 INTRODUCTION waste on shallow, evanescent tunes, that fail to inspire even if they do not actually degrade. The drill exercises should be directed to the mastery of the difficulties found in the songs. The English work grows out of the needs and opportunities of the Literary Society and the preparation of the historical and statistical atlases. For the society, besides the usual readings A GROUP AT WORK and recitations, a periodical is edited, including prose and rhyme, stories, current events, advertisements, puzzles, conun- drums, and illustrations. School work never should be commercial in its nature; the products of the school garden, of the work bench, of the weaving, of the cooking and the sewing are not to be gauged by the price the goods bring when exposed for sale. The purpose lies in the INTKODUCTION 19 LITTLE WOMEN — ACT I, SCENE I development of the pupil, not in the material product. If we train for commercial skill, we shall hinder development. The main problem of our schools is properly to select and adapt the culture and material achievements of the- race to meet the needs of development in the growing and immature pupil. This involves the element of idealized make-believe. The school life is not the actual life of the world, but idealized life as presented on a stage. The past culture and achievement of the race must be presented as a drama, idealized in thought. 20 INTRODUCTION pictured by the imagination, true to nature, intensely inter- esting, and acted out in the motor, activity of school exercises. Thus, the actual activities of the past struggle for existence become the play activities of the present education. In this sense the child in play recapitulates the history of the race. LITTLE WOMEN — ACT II, LAST SCENE We must aim, therefore, so to organize this play that it will be as earnest as any work, as real as any experience, as true as any facts, as interesting as actual life. What Miss Dopp is doing for the industries in education* somebody must also do * " The Place of Industries in Elementary Education," published by the Uni- versity of Chicago Press. See, also, her " Industrial and Social History Series, Rand, McNally & Co., publishers. INTRODUCTION 31 for the nature study, the literature, the mathematics, and the language work. We have need of another Shakspeare to dramatize American history. The usual school dialogs and special-day exercises are not fit to be treated as literature. Longfellow's " New England Tragedies '^ are not wholly appropriate in theme for school pre- sentation. Prof. Eaymond's " Columbus " might be slightly re- modeled and be made fairly usable, but it has too little of the element of humor. If we had such plays as Shakspeare's '^ Julius Csesar," but treating the dramatic episodes of our own history, we should have the material in proper form for school use. Facts are well stated in our present text-books, but what the children need is dialog and acting. We must have scenes, councils, town meetings, elections, conferences, treaties, plots, street parades, cabinet meetings, colonial assemblies, courts, schools of the olden time, games, etc. The life of De Soto or of Magellan would make as immortal a masterpiece as the tragedy of Julius Caesar. Whoever shall worthily dramatize the life of William Penn will do more for the teaching of Pennsylvania's history than anybody has yet done. But it will require an artist of the first rank to see the essentials, idealize the true, and re-create the life of the past. Do not degrade the drama or the dialog to exhibition purposes. The patrons of the school should be welcome at all times, but nothing should be rehearsed until it can be given as a public entertainment, and least of all for paid admission. It is intended that the acting of the " Drama of Columbus " and the other plays here recommended shall be done but the once, with- out any committing of lines, or even without a previous rehearsal. Such acting is a means of presenting vividly the matter of history so that it will be like the real events of life. The teacher, as prompter, stage-manager, and invisible spirit, must be everywhere to direct, altho nowhere is he to be tliought <^<^ INTRODUCTION of as part of the presentation. The children that take the act- ing parts repeat after the teacher just what he says^ and take their cue in acting from him. This consumes but little more time than would be required for one reading of the text. ' As soon as the scene is finished, always give opportunity for ques- tions and discussion, to make sure that it is rightly understood. For the geography stereoscopic views are of the greatest value in aiding in the formation of correct notions of distant scenes, landscape effects, geologic formations, buildings, streets, elevated railways, harbors, ocean steamers, volcanoes, means of transpor- tation, dress, fruits, flowers, irrigation, harvesting, manufactur- ing, mining, fishing, lumbering, sea beaches, etc. With a large collection of these views the children may store up correct images of the other parts of the country they have not seen. They may even write a " Diary of Our Journey thru North America,^^ describing the actual scenes shown in the stereo- scope.* In the training of children opportunity must be given for individual initiative. The formation of a strong, healthy char- acter depends upon such opportunity. The class should often be left by itself for short periods. Definite work may be assigned, monitors may be put in charge, or no direction what- ever may be given, according to the degree of self-control possessed by the pupils. Give the children as much freedom as they can stand. A great deal of voluntary work should be secured and much work should be done ahead of time. Culti- vate the feeling of responsibility. The work of learning is the learner's own work. Teaching can never take the place of learning. Without the pupils there would be no school, but the teacher is not essential all the time, and had better some of the time be absent. * The stereographs furnished by Underwood & Underwood, 3 & 5 West Nine- teenth Street, New York, are of excellent quality. INTRODUCTION 33 The school should be homelike. No expense should be spared to make it attractive and healthful. Time was when scholars had to be driven to school and flogged into learn- ing, but " went storming out to playing.^^ There is something radically wrong in a school to which the pupils do not like to go. If the children are better off in vacation than in school, the school is not doing its duty. Our long vacations of from two to four and even five or six months are a vestige of a by-gone age when education was not WOOD SPECIMENS AND STEREOGRAPHS. conceived as conscious evolution. The summer is the best time of all the year to go to school, if the school is adapted to the season as it should be. The long vacation is for most children a time of enforced idleness and wasted opportunities — too apt to be spent in mischief and the acquiring of bad habits. The effectiveness of school-time is very largely counteracted by the waste of vacation. 24 INTRODUCTION Pupils should ask questions of the teacher, rather than the teacher ask questions of the children. Of course, the question is also a pedagogical tool of the first importance in the develop- ing method of teaching ; but things are never at their best unless the pupils are thinking and caring to know. When that is the case, they will be asking questions. Always respect a child's question and give him satisfaction so that he will come again. I have learned more from observing what my pupils ask about and how they frame their questions than from any other study of method. Avoid the fragmentary, short answers that result from piece- meal questions from the teacher. Accustom the children to speak connectedly on a matter until they have finished their thought. It is very desirable, also, that they volunteer to add other connected thought, without waiting for the teacher to call for it. This shows most strikingly in the work of the Junior Naturalist Club and the Literary Society, which are intended primarily to furnish natural conditions for individual initiative. No school that does not see its main purpose in character- building can be doing its whole duty to the children. It is possible to learn the book facts alone by reading. School life, however, is necessary to develop punctuality, honesty, order, neatness, care, thoughtfulness, kindness, respect for others, politeness, grace, self-control, and self-sacrifice. A hermit may be a scholar, but it takes contact with others to make a man or a woman. Of course, it is not intended that any one class shall in a year do all that is here outlined for the Fifth School Year. The teacher using this book is expected to find suggestions in it for her own work, but it is not to be followed as a course of study for the year. Hence, there is an abundance of material offered, far more than the average boy or girl of eleven years can assimi- INTRODUCTION" '^O late. The details of a yearns work should vary from year to year, and should have a local coloring and an individuality. Do not assign new topics or so many pages in the text-book for home workj exj^ecting to hear the recitation of the lesson next day. The home work should be the finishing of the work pre- viously planned, discussed, and begun at school. The pupil's supreme need of the teacher is felt at the opening of a new vista in a*new thought realm, in attacking a newly found problem, in adjusting his thought and feeling to the epochs of history, in deciding on the best methods of procedure, and in the over- coming of doubts and uncertainties. These matters demand the cordial sympathy of class work. For home work, on the other hand, all forms of Avritten drill, recapitulation, summary, and individual study or memorizing are appropriate. NATURE STUDY Let the children begin the collecting of insects. Have them keep diaries and note down the names of bushes^ trees, or other plants that they find the caterpillars eating. The important thing is to note the surroundings and what the insect is doing. Note its feeding habits, mode of cutting the leaf, postures, time of feeding, means of escape or defence. Have vivaria at school, and illustrate life histories whenever possible. Mount the in- sects by the method described in Hodge's " Nature Study and Life," Chapter IV. Hodge's grouping is natural: 1. Insects of the Household; 2. Insects of the Garden; 3. Insects of Field and Forest; 4. Beneficial Insects ; 5. Insects Beautiful and Interesting. Such classification is at present more to the point than that into 26 NATURE STUDY 27 orders and families. Teach something of the immense number of insects, both the individuals of each species and the millions of species. Look up the arithmetic work on page 65 of Hodge's book, where he calculates that a single female mosquito may produce between one and two million female mosquitoes in a single month. In studying the harm wrought by insects, try to give definite ideas by comparisons. For example, it has been calculated that the insects destroy about half of all the produce of the soil, thus dividing with man about equally all the crops. Prof. Riley estimates the number of insect species on the earth at 10,000,000, This gathering up of the testimony of havoc wrought by in- sects should be followed by the consideration of the means by which it is held in check. Study the food of birds, frogs, toads, and lizards. On page 323 of Hodge's " Nature Study " is a most interesting chart of the food of our common birds. The beginning of the map drawing for the year may well be made on a chart showing the bird census of the neighborhood of the school. During the winter months bird-boxes may be made ready to put out in the spring. The spring study of the tadpole will have added interest from the September work on insects. If the children have had garden work in the fourth grade, the past spring and summer, the school garden will naturally form the center of interest for the work this fall in the fifth grade. The Chautauqua Junior Naturalist Club The nature study work done under the auspices of Cornell University is managed by the children in their Junior Natural- ist Club. Boys and Girls, published in Ithaca, N. Y., comes monthly for fifty cents a year. It contains each month the club lesson and many other articles suggestive of the study of ani- mals. The lesson is usually accompanied by questions that 28 SEPTEMBER guide the children in their observation as well as in their discussion during the club meeting. The club has president, vice-president, secretary, assistant secretary, and treasurer. Meetings are held whenever called by request of three or more members who have something to present to the club. The president prepares the order of topics and guides the discussion. The members sometimes present written papers and sometimes put drawings on the blackboard, but the discussion is usually conversational, each one contributing as he has a mind to, but always observing the formality of addressing the president and receiving recognition. The Weather Eecord The children should keep a daily weather record. After try- ing a good many different forms we have adopted the one shown here. If neat work expeditiously done is required, a printed outline is necessary. But the outline may be much simpler than this one, and if a simple enough form is chosen the children may rule their own. Each point noted in the record will need extended treatment in class before it can be fully understood. Thus the barometer, wind, thermometer, moon and stars, sun. High and Low on the United States Weather Map, rainfall, and yearly averages and summaries with charts, form the subjects for the course thru the year. The daily record should be noted down in symbols instead of written words; thus, for the wind directions draw arrows, for the sky draw a circle shaded to represent clouds. For September the topic treated is the barometer. Begin with the simplest and most familiar things that show the air pressure, e. g., lifting water with a pipette, inverting a half- filled jar of water over a basin of water, turning a tumbler of water upside down with only a piece of paper over the top, etc. NATURE STUDY 29 Weather Record of riAAA) nh^/Him^ ONE FORM OF WEATHER RECORD The action of the lift-pump and of the siphon will also help to make it clear. What causes this pressure of fifteen pounds to the square inch? If the school has an air pump, the weighty of air may be directly measured. Twelve and a half cubic feet of air weigh 30 SEPTEMBER one pound. All the air weighs five quadrillion tons. Illustrate the transmission of pressure in all directions by the case of other fluids, as water. " This pressure makes water leak through the holes in the bottom and sides of a leaky vessel filled with water. The upward pressure is shown by the water entering through the holes in the bottom, when the empty vessel is immersed in water. If possible, construct a barometer for the pupils by filling a glass tube thirty or more inches long with mercury and then in- verting it in a cup of mercury. Weigh the mercury in the tube and divide its weight by the area in square inches of the bore of the tube. The quotient will be the atmospheric pressure per square inch. Secure if possible the daily weather maps of the Grovernment Weather Bureau. Note the barometer readings in different parts of the country, the position of the " High '' and " Low '' on successive days as the storm center sweeps to the eastward. For $1.55 any one can get a thousand copies of blank maps. Form DD, by sending to the Bureau. These are invaluable for much of the work in geography, history, and weather record. On these blank maps mark the position of High and Low for each day from their first appearance in the northwest till they disappear from the continent off the Atlantic Coast. Compare the local reading of the barometer with the movement of the High or Low in passing us. GEOGRAPHY The ancient world was the land around the Mediterranean Sea. Eecall what the pupils have had in previous grades as to the Homeric world, and draw an outline map of the world as Homer describes it. This gives the naive view, as the world looks from a m9untain-top — round like a circle. Greece is of course the center, and details are less and less exact and correct GEOGRAPHY 31 as we go farther from home. In the golden West are the Isles of the Blest and the Elysian Fields. The commerce of Tyre and Sidon extended this knowledge to the pillars of Hercules and made the Mediterranean Sea known from one end to the other. Similarly, we should build out an image of the world with our home as the center, and by thinking of the directions and dis- tances from our own town get used to conceiving of the world with reference to where we live. It is well for this purpose to draw a series of concentric circles about a star on the floor or, better still, on the ceiling, marking the cardinal points of the compass and letting the distances between the circles correspond to the distances from our own town. Then mark on this chart as many of the chief places in the country as it is desired to locate in this way. Eepeated practice in thinking of the distance and pointing in the direction of Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Panama, Buf- falo, Charleston, etc., is necessary to keep the real earth in our thoughts instead of the maps or charts of our schoolroom. The early fixing in mind of direction is of the utmost impor- tance. The direction of the shadow of a plumb-line at noon should be marked in a convenient place. A school-made sun- dial should be set up and daily watched. A pocket compass will add to the interest and convenience of determining the north. Teach the children to recognize the pole star by the Great Dip- per. Train them to tell the north side of trees by the green on the bark. Often take the geography class out of doors for a lesson, and then have the pupils point out the direction and state the distance of places ; e. g. (pointing) , " Two hundred and fifty miles due east of here lies Philadelphia; the same distance northwest of here is Detroit," etc. Get a wooden butter bowl and sketch the shore line of America and Europe on its outside, making the home town the center. GEOGRAPJ-iy 33 BUTTER-BOWL HEMISPHERES TJiis will bring out many new and interesting facts, e. g., that l^:ere is more of the earth southwest or southeast of us than there is northwest or northeast of us. It will be helpful to make a similar butter-bowl hemisphere with Athens as the center or pole. The fiat bottom of the bowl serves to represent the part nearest home that looks fiat. The Eoman world should be studied from Ptolemy's map and a butter-bowl model with Rome as the center, but now it might be well to represent Ptolemy's parallels and meridians. A six-inch rubber ball will serve admirably to represent the 34 SEPTEMBER entire earth and show what proportion of the whole was known to the Eomans, as well as the fact that they did not know how large around it was. For all the geography work a large globe is very necessary. We have found it quite feasible to make a fifty-inch hemisphere as follows: Make the ribs of the dome of wood, firmly braced together, and then cover them with a basketwork weaving of thin pliable strips of wood, leaving meshes large enough for CLAY MODEL OF QUARTER OF THE EARTH plaster to clinch. On the outside of this spread a mixture of thoroughly macerated paper pulp and plaster such as engineers use to cover their steampipes. This does not crack on drying, and makes a very light and serviceable foundation for the modeling. On this the physiographic features are modeled in relief, in white zinc or white lead. After the features are finished the HISTORY AND LITERATURE 35 whole should be covered with a coat of varnish to protect the surface. The latter part of the month takes our attention to the west coast of Europe as we study the discoveries and explorations of the Romans and later of the vikings of Norway. Thruout the year the daily study of the government weather map is familiarizing the pupils with the geography, physical and political, of the United States. They learn to think of the country as a whole, and to follow the course of a storm, cold wave, or high pressure area, clear across the country. They thus get a better idea of climate, and the elements that compose it, than can be otherwise obtained. HISTORY AND LITERATURE The aim in the history work is to start with the naive view of the flat world of Homer's time and build out the idea of the globe by the steps that the race has taken in the discovery of the world. The chief advances made by the Eomans and the North- men form the work for September. James Baldwin describes in a charming manner how Phemius drew a map in the sand and taught the twelve-year-old Odysseus the geography of the known world. The first chapter in " A Story of the Golden Age," can readily be worked into shape for acting out as a school play. Not only is such presentation more effective than mere read- ing, but the preparation of the play, the rehearsals, the thinking one's way into the parts, and the making or adapting of Greek costumes, implements, and ways, with the learning an occasional Greek word, will bring the whole thing that we are teaching more fully before the children, and with a smaller expendi- ture of time will leave a more lasting impression. Portions should be read from the Iliad and the Odyssey, recalling what 36 SEPTEMBER was taught in the previous years. Trace on another map of the Mediterranean the wanderings of Odysseus. Have the children prepare an enlarged copy of Ptolemy's map of the world and use it in a presentation of " A Day in a Roman School/' in the second century. Many of the details can be arranged by consulting George Clarke's " The Education of Children at Eome." Eead Macaulay's " Lays of Ancient Rome." Act out Shakspeare's " Julius Caesar/' or selected portions of it. Read portions of Liljencrantz's " The Thrall of Leif the Lucky/' to get the spirit of the viking days. Here, too, arrange some dialog scenes on the voyage. Commit to memory Long- fellow's poems " The Skeleton in Armor/' and ^^ The Discoverer of North Cape." Read Lowell's " The Voyage to Vinland." Outline the interval of the Dark Ages and the revival of in- terest in the East due to the Crusades. In connection with the nature study read Longfellow's " Birds of Killingworth." Thruout the year have the children commit portions of the Bible to memory. They should learn the Ten Commandments, several psalms, and portions of the Sermon on the Mount. The school should have a library with a constantly increasing number ot books accessible to the pupils. The children should be encouraged to read, but should not be required to do the task work of writing book reports. No books of an objectionable character should be allowed in the bookcase, and the children should be permitted to browse at their own sweet will. The school will need a considerable number of the best his- tories for reference. The study from the books and the prepara- tion of charts, maps, and other written work had best be done in school, where the teacher is at hand for suggestion and help. The persons, implements, ships, houses, and scenes studied should be sketched in large, bold, free outlines on the blackboard and on paper. Provide a chronol^ogical chart, the larger the better. Tack PIISTORY AND LITERATURE 37 half -width slate blackboard cloth along as much of the wall as you can spare above the regular slate blackboard. Divide it by vertical lines into equal spaces for the centuries and half -centuries and date these. Remember that the centuries B. C. begin with even hundreds (900, 800, etc.) ; while the centuries A. D. begin with the even hundreds plus one (1, 101, 201, 301, etc.). Then write in the names of persons and events, and picture striking scenes or suggest them by symbols, national flags, and typical tools or implements. In Homer^s area on the chart draw a sketch of Homer's world; for 753 B. C. draw the wolf that suckled Eomulus and Eemus, etc. Fill the otherwise empty periods on the chart with charac- teristic data to show what was then going on in the world. Remember that we fail to realize the length of past time chiefly because we do not know what was going on in those past cen- turies. If the chart has long gaps in it, it will fail to serve as a means of picturing the past ages. These collateral events need not be dwelt upon. The children should be led to prepare a picture chart of chronology for the last five centuries. This chart may be made on long strips of manila paper measured ofp into centuries. Paste pictures on it that have been cut out of old books, maga- zines, newspapers, etc. Pen-and-ink sketches with some brush- work and topics printed in small capitals will give form to the series of events. The corresponding European history may be arranged on a parallel chart above the American history. This will serve very helpfully to keep European causes of American events in view, and will also familiarize the children with the lists of sovereigns. Any teacher who has artistic ability may make these history charts into an ornamental frieze that will extend around the room, adorning it as no meaningless frescoes or wallpaper pattern 38 SEPTEMBER can, and leaving on the minds of the pupils a lasting image of the stream of time and its chief events.* NUMBER The motive for the work in arithmetic comes from the nature study, the geography, and the history. We need to read the barometer to the tenth or perhaps even to the hundredth of an inch. The rainfall is measured in tenths of an inch. The time of sunrise and sunset, the length of the day, the length of the night, the difference in length of the day and the night, the amount of change from day to day and from week to week, the length of the forenoon and the length of the afternoon familiar- ize the children with time measure. The geography makes necessary the study of the circle, the determination of its area and its circumference, and the division of its circumference into degrees. Make a shadow stick to measure the slant of the sun's rays. (See directions in Jack- man's "Nature Study," pages 61 and 62.) The chronology chart in history makes it necessary to have a frequent, thoro drill on the flow of time, the numbering and counting of the centuries, the difference in time between dates, etc., in order to develop in the mind of the pupil a graphic symbol of the stream of time. Ask how old Caesar was in the year 50 B.C. In what year was he twenty-five years old? If such questions are not readily answered, enlarge portions of the chart and show the individual years which may then be counted. Teach the Eoman Notation and carry it far enough in ex- ercises of addition, multiplication, and division to bring out clearly the great advantage of the Arabic place-value notation and ciphering in columns. Thruout the year lay great empha- * See the History Chart prepared to accompany this book and intended for the pupils' use. Price 60 cents a dozen. A. Flanagan Company, Publishers. NUMBER 39 sis on orderly arrangement in straight vertical columns^ as necessary to preserve the correct place value of the figures. In long division arrange the quotient above the dividend, not at the right of the dividend. Whether the above exercises are to be considered arithmetic SURVEYING ON THE CAMPUS or history makes no difference to the teacher nor to the children. But the work that is exclusively arithmetic must on no account be omitted, under the mistaken notion that the children will get all the number work they need in such ciphering, with nature 40 SEPTEMBER study or geographical material. This strictly mathematical work is of the nature of drill for proficiency in the mathematical processes. Therefore have daih^ drills in the fundamental pro- cesses, demanding rapid and correct work. A large part of the dullness in arithmetic comes from insuf- ficient familiarity with the simple combinations of the multipli- cation table and the addition table. These must by practice be made so familiar that they are absolutely certain, and hence do not raise treacherous doubts when we are solving problems. If some pupils do not need the drill, excuse them from it, or use them as pupil teachers to drill the rest that do need it. Some of the dullest will need it all the year. It is perhaps as important to be able readily to see the factors of a number as to know at a glance the product of those factors. Have the pupils count by threes, fours, fives, sixes, etc. Have them name the factors of eighteen, of fifty-six, of seventy-two, of twenty-seven, etc. How many times is seven contained in sixty? in forty? in fifty? in twenty? in thirty? What is the arithmetical complement of seven? of six? of two? of fifty-six? of seventy-two? of twenty-five? etc. The Southworth-Stone Arithmetics have excellent devices for drill. Pieces of slating cloth that can be hung up like a wall map are very useful in this work. Exercises may be written on them in advance of the lesson and then unrolled at a moment's notice, without occupying any of the slate blackboard. Or, the cloth may be hung on a movable stand and set up in any part of the room that suits the lighting requirements. Such exercises as Miss Aiken recommends in her book on " Methods of Mind- Training " may be used on these roll backboards, if revolving blackboards are not to be had. During the pleasant September weather the class should do some measuring and calculation of distances out-of-doors. Have the children measure off a mile with a surveyor's chain or NUMBER 41 a half-rod pole, or even step it off and calculate the number of steps each child takes to the mile. Fix similarly the units of area, the acre, the square rod, the square yard, the square foot, and the square inch. Measure the distance exactly to near-by points of interest, the children's homes, adjacent villages, or the like. A little ingenuity will suffice to improvise a serviceable cyclometer out of a light carriage wheel, or a real one may be used on a bicycle. Such work as is described in the Journal of Geography for October, 1903 (p. 431), "To Make a Map of a Certain District by Means of the Plane-Table/' is not too difficult to be under- taken. All of the apparatus may be home-made. By such means the distance across rivers or to inaccessible hilltops may readily be calculated. The chief need for accuracy in such work is in drawing the lines. If for no other reason, the work should be done to demonstrate to the pupils the importance of care and neatness in their work. The height of buildings, trees, flagpoles, etc., may readily be calculated by means of similar triangles. Where one can reach the base on horizontal ground, the isosceles right- triangle may be used. Make the frame of wood, the equal sides being about twelve or fifteen inches in length. At the two oblique angles arrange sights for sighting along the hypotenuse, and from the upper corner let a light plumb-bob be suspended to enable the observer's assistant to tell when the base is horizontal. The ob- server holds the instrument to hi-s eye, sighting along the hypote- nuse, and advances toward or recedes from the object whose height he is measuring, until he just sees the top of it in line with his sighting points. He then has only to measure the dis- tance from his position to the base of the object. This distance plus the height of his eye from the ground is the same as the height of the object. 4:2 SEPTEMBER LANGUAGE Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man. — Bacon's Essay on Studies. The motive for the language expression of the whole year comes from the needs of the Literary Society, the making of the Historical Atlas and the Geographical Atlas, the written home work, and the summaries and tests. This is about the order of their importance. The Literary Society should be able to give opportunity for all sorts of literary talent and practice. The aim must not be merely to amuse or pass the time. Thoro preparation must be demanded by the children themselves. The performances are the culmination of the week's work, and represent its spirit. Each pupil should be expected to commit to memory at least one new selection each month. We need, also, a collection of short dialogs for acting out. The dozens of such collections I have sampled are not suitable. Most of them lack point, and afford very little acting of a kind that appeals to children. Even dialogs must be good literature in order to be satisfactory. For reading in the society the children prefer selections that it takes only five to eight minutes to read. They like stories — fairy stories or true stories, stories from the nursery, or stories of adventure and deeds of blood. For essays the most successful topics are personal experiences, accounts of excursions, visits to friends, trips on the river and into coal mines, etc. Correspondence with other schools, and exchanges of products, pictures and school work, are also whole- some ways of cooperation. Sometimes it is possible to develop a speech -making talent in a boy or girl and have really creditable addresses on the occasion of special celebrations. The properly managed debate is one of LANGUAGE 43 the best literary exercises that we have. The selection of proper subjects is not easy, and depends to some extent on local condi- tions. Conscientious preparation on the part of the principal debaters is essential for success. But it is the miscellaneous debate that is most interesting and most profitable for the whole class. I have never seen a whole class so thoroly aroused and eager to participate as in the miscellaneous debate. Thought is nearer being at white heat from interest then than any other time. SUBJECTS FOR DEBATE 1. Resolved, That Magellan was a greater sailor than Co- lumbus. 2. Eesolved, That pupils should share in the government of the school. 3. Resolved, That whispering in school hours is a necessity, and should be permitted except in examinations. 4. Resolved, That the hen that lays the egg has a mother's right to the chick that hatches from it. 5. Resolved, That hope of reward is a better motive than fear of punishment. 6. Resolved, That the more we know the happier we become. 7. Resolved, That it is never right to get angry. 8. Resolved, That we were happier when five years old than when ten years old. 9. Resolved, That the pen is mightier than the sword. 10. Resolved, That city life is better for all practical purposes than country life. 11. Resolved, That women should have the right to vote and hold office. 12. Resolved, That every one should read the daily newspaper. 13. Resolved, That water is more destructive in its effects than fire. 44 SEPTEMBER 14. Resolved, That Pennsylvania is a better state to live in than New York. 15. Resolved, That spring is more delightful than autumn. 16. Resolved, That childhood is the happiest time of life. 17. Resolved, That girls are more useful than boys about the house. 18. Resolved, That girls cost more than boys for their board and keep. 19. Resolved, That the school year should consist of at least nine months. 20. Resolved, That arithmetic is a more useful study than geography. 21. Resolved, That cooking should be taught in the public schools. 22. Resolved, That boys as well as girls should learn to sew and cook. 23. Resolved, That girls as well as boys should learn to play ball, and saw and drive nails. 24. Resolved, That girls are more orderly than boys because they are wiser. 25. Resolved, That summer is better than winter. 26. Resolved, That this country should have been called Colum- bia in honor of its real discoverer. 27. Resolved, That the lands belonged to the Indians as Roger Williams said. 28. Resolved, That King Philip waged a righteous war in self- defense. 29. Resolved, That the Monongahela is better than the Alle- gheny. 30. Resolved, That it is better to live in the Old Country than in America to-day. 31. Resolved, That President Roosevelt did right in making a treaty with Panama. LANGUAGE 45 32. Resolved, That the railway is more important than the steamboat. 33. Resolved, That De Soto was a greater explorer than La Salle. 34. Resolved, That Portugal did more for the world than Spain in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 35. Resolved, That it would have been better if the French had triumphed in the struggle for North America. 36. Resolved, That the sailor is more to be honored than the soldier. 37. Resolved, That the game of football ought not to be en- couraged. Or, Resolved, That baseball is better than football. 38. Resolved, That iron is more serviceable to mankind than gold. 39. Resolved, That the farmer is more useful to society than the manufacturer. 40. Resolved, That the world is growing better. 41. Resolved, That gunpowder has had more influence on man- kind than the printing press. 42. Resolved, That corporal punishment should be abolished in schools. 43. Resolved, That there is more pleasure in anticipation than in realization. 44. Resolved, That strikes are justifiable. 45. Resolved, That conscience is a true guide. 46. Resolved, That Thomas Jefferson did more for the United States than Benjamin Franklin. 47. Resolved, That knowledge is more to be desired than wealth. 48. Resolved, That vertical writing is preferable to the slant. 49. Resolved, That it is better to live in the twentieth century than to have lived in the fifteenth. 46 SEPTEMBER 50. Eesolved, That the cat has more sense than the dog. 51. Eesolved, That paper is more useful than leather. 52. Eesolved, That wood is more useful than iron. 53. Eesolved^ That doctors are more useful than lawyers. 54. Eesolved, That gunpowder is more useful than steam. 55. Eesolved^ That the microscope reveals more wonders than the telescope. 56. Eesolved, That New York city is the best place in the United States in which to live. The debate is liable to degenerate into sham formalism, or sophistry, unless live issues are chosen, honest convictions ex- pressed, and decisions acted on. In place of debates speeches may be made on topics previ- ously announced. The debate is based on rivalry, and is medieval in its origin as a school exercise, but such discussions as I mean would not necessarily have two sides at all, and would be cooperative in nature. TOPICS FOR SPEECHES 1. How may we protect our song birds and our insectivorous birds ? 2. How may we make our town cleaner, more healthful, and more beautiful and attractive ? 3. Any topic of local interest as, for example (for pupils in California, Pa., schools), the opening of the trolley line to Pittsburg. 4. A trip on the Monongahela. 5. Famous trees. 6. What our school needs, and how to get it. 7. Superstitions. 8. Fifty years ago. 9. The early vikinss. LANGUAGE 47 The periodical should be the cooperative work of all in the society. It should have an editor, with one or more assistants. The editor may be responsible for the general arrangement of the paper, sorting the items, and putting them in order for presentation to the society. He should write an editorial on any appropriate theme he chooses, and try to make the paper reflect the best judgment of the pupils. One assistant editor should review current events and attend to the puzzle corner of the paper. There should be an illustrator to cartoon the happenings of the week. The stories, jokes, rhymes, advertise- ments, and other articles should be contributed by the various members of the society. The Pichiviclv Portfolio, as described by Louisa M. Alcott in •^^ Little Women,^^ and The Bubble, published at Charleroi, Pa., by Karl Keffer Jr., may serve as samples of successful amateur periodicals. At the St. Louis Exposition more than a score of such weeklies and monthlies, edited and printed by school children, were exhibited. Sometimes the roll is called for responses from the mem- bers. This makes a very interesting exercise in which all have a share. The responses may be quotations from literature, proverbs, facts of current interest, or facts of science, anecdotes, conundrums, or puzzles. Special quotations from a particular source may be arranged for celebrations or other occasions. The literary exercises should be interspersed with singing, and with instrumental music, too, if possible. Short dialogs with simple but effective acting, and with but few accessories for scenery, are very much liked by the children. The rehears- als in preparation for these give the teacher an excellent oppor- tunity to study the children out of school, and so make it possible for him to learn their strong and weak points. Indeed, the pleasantest time of the day, a veritable " chil- dren's hour," has been the hour after school is over when a score 48 SEPTEMBER or more usually stay for choir practice, rehearsal, to draw on the board, to look at stereographs, to read 8t. Nicholas, or The Youth's Companion, to play on the piano or to dance, to turn somersaults on the horizontal bar, to look through the camera obscura, to play bean bags, to get individual help with their lessons, to feed the fishes, to water the plants, to work in the carpenter shop, to look at the ball game on the athletic field, to make up lessons from which they have been absent, to fill out the weather record, to have their pictures taken, or simply be- cause they like to stay. I believe those who stay learn more in that hour than in any other hour of the day. Often a pupil will come to me at such a time and open his or her mind and heart in the frankest kind of way. Difficulties and misunderstandings are not likely to persist when softened in so delightful a glow. The Historical and Geographical Atlases These are to contain any of the written work in history and geography that the teacher desires to collect in this way and preserve. The pupils will take more pains with work which is to be preserved thus, and will keep familiar with it longer. For September the Atlases may contain copies of the dialogs that have been worked out in collaboration with the children, the map that Phemius drew in the sand, Ptolemy's map of the world, and papers on topics suggested by the teacher. Such topics may be : How did men travel in the days of Odysseus? What countries unknown to Phemius does Ptolemy's map show ? How did the Eomans learn about these countries? What products and industries did the Eomans have that the Greeks of Homer's time did not have? LANGUAGE 49 Write a diary of Leif^s voyage, using Liljencrantz's book for suggestions. What countries did the Crusaders see? What eastern pro- ducts did they bring back with them? Drawings without shading should be abundant. Make a pic- ture of Phemius giving the little Odysseus his lesson in geogra- phy. Show Horatius at the bridge. Make sketches showing the Roman ships; the Eoman soldiers; camels. Draw the viking " Griffin " ; a crusader ; etc. Tell the whole story of Horatius in pictures. Grammar While correct English is to be learned by practice in hearing, speaking, reading and writing the language, correct English is to be understood by a reasonable study of English grammar. The work for the year is the structure of a simple sentence, in- cluding the use of the nine parts of speech, the terms subject, predicate, object complement, attribute complement, and objec- tive complement, the use of the participle and the infinitive, the adjective and adverb phrases, the persons and tenses of the verb. Do not work with definitions. Teach the children how to use the terms. When a pupil can understand a term and use it himself correctly, he knows it even if he cannot define it. Diagramming will be found very helpful if neatly done from the first. In analyzing a sentence always begin with the verb, working from that to the subject and then the complement if there be one. Familiarize the children with the sentence in its simplest form, stripped of its modifiers. Teach the proper punctuation of the sentence as a sort of simple diagramming of it. Con- sider the order of words from the same point of view. 50 september Spelling The main stress has to be laid on proper hearing of the word, distinct pronunciation of it, with every syllable as clear-cut as a new coin from the mint, and then the spelling of it, syllable by syllable. The idea that spelling is to be taught by writing the words is not wholly correct. Our miserably slovenly Eng- lish pronunciation may to some extent be helped by teaching proper syllabification and distinct enunciation of each separate syllable. Most of the mistakes in spelling come from not know- ing exactly what the word is in sound. The word-method of teaching reading may be all right if not used too long. It is, however, quite time that children in the fifth grade should be using syllables and thereby gaining the advantages that come to a syllabic language in distinction from a language like the Chinese that has a separate character for every word. Proper training in pronunciation, syllabification, and spell- ing syllable by syllable, will prepare the way for the easier under- standing of etymology. Many of the common Greek and Latin roots may be studied this month and the succeeding, in connec- tion with the Greek and Eoman scenes acted out. Those words should be taken that connect with scenes in the dialog, e. g., schola, pedagogos, tabula, geographia, ludiis, calculus, stylus, magister literarum, puer, puella, and the prefixes and suffixes coming mainly from the Latin prepositions. Children who have not been referring to the dictionary will need some practice in arranging words alphabetically. All but the dullest will readily pick up the point in a few attempts, but some will need to be shown repeatedly and drilled on many words before they will be able to find a word reliably and promptly. It is well to have dictation exercises often for all in the class, LANGUAGE 51 but for some it should be daily. Let one of the abler pupils give the dictation to the small group of slower ones. Have the children help in looking over and marking the papers. Eeading I cannot see why a class of children should be made to sit with open books, following the text which one pupil reads aloud. The best results can come only when the natural stimulus to reading is provided, namely, a responsive and interested audi- ence. Let there be only one book and that one in the hands of the reader. He is then responsible for what is in the book, and all will naturally attend to get the sense. A fifth-grade pupil should be able to pronounce any new word as it is spelled, and hence be able to read uninterruptedly even at sight. If any of the new words be accented wrongly, the teacher may correct the mistake by telling the pupil which S3dla- ble to accent. Similarly, the length of vowel sounds may make help necessary. Except very rarely, the teacher should not pronounce the word for the pupil. There should be daily practice in pronouncing according to direction, when told where to place the accent and what sound to give the vowels or the consonants. Of course, the main daily drill must be given to the division of words into syllables, if that has not yet been mastered. Pupils need not make any exceptions to the rule to pronounce a single consonant with the following vowel; there are no ex- ceptions that will bother them much. It is true this method of pronunciation is not always followed in the dictionary, be- cause the dictionary allows other considerations, such as the length of the vowel, the accent, the etymology, etc., to modify the rule. But these variations would make the rule na rule at all to the pupil. 52 SEPTEMBER The best reading material will be dialogs, or graphic descrip- tions in which dialog is frequent. Introduce as much acting as possible, both for the sake of the interest and for the sake of naturalness of expression. THE ARTS Music Use the pitch-pipe m getting do of the different keys. Let the pupils sound do (upper C) first, and then sing down the scale and up again, then compare with the pitch of do from the pipe. This will gradually result in fixing the pitch of upper C permanently so that later the children will be independent of the pitch pipe. They should learn how to get do in any key from do in the key of C. Teach the children to beat time, and also to keep time by unobtrusive movements, as of the toes inside the shoe. It will be found quite practicable to have the pupil chorister beat time with a wand for the singing of the choir. For September teach " But the Lord is Mindful of His Own," from Mendelssohn's oratorio of " St. Paul," " There's Music in the Air," and "Just for To-day." Some of this will have to be done by rote, but the wTitten music should be before the children, and they should read as far as possible. Take the drill exercises from the phrases of the song and variations ; prac- tice on the new points of difficulty contained in the songs, viz., the divided beat and the slur. The pupils are expected to have learned, in the fourth year, to write all major scales, but they will need a great deal more practice to become thoroly familiar with the scales. Have daily drill on the signatures, and teach the signatures as parts of one system or series. Have every pupil familiar with the THE ARTS 53 letter series, F, C, G, D, A, E, B, so that he can repeat it back- ward (for the flats) or forward (for the sharps) as rapidly and as unerringly as the alphabet. Teach the relation of the key- note of each key to this series. Give written tests such as the following : " I am thinking of a key in which mi is on B ; write its signature. I am thinking of a key in which sol is on F; write its signature and the notes 5, 5, 6, 5, 3, 2, 3, 1, 7, 6, 1^6, 5, 4, 5, 3, 1." Have considerable writing from dictation, so that the pupils will use the technical terms and hear them used, but avoid drill- ing them on definitions. The pupils need systematic ear-training every day of the year. Test their recognition of melodies from hearing the opening phrase. In a written score omit several notes ; then sing it over or play it over complete and have the pupils add the missing notes. Sing or play major and minor exercises for the children to distinguish by ear. Singing will naturally accompany the opening and closing of school each day, will form part of the program of the Liter- ary Society meetings, and will be a feature of other special occasions. It has been our experience that choir work great- ly helps the singing by providing fresh songs for the exercises Friday afternoon, by giving more individual work in a smaller group, and by providing the opportunity for extra voluntary work. Every day a few minutes should be given to drill on the scale, including intervals of increasing difficulty, modulations, singing the syllable names to the written music, and a few min- utes to written work and to oral questioning. Grive particular attention to distinct pronunciation in singing. It will help both the singing and the reading. Immobility of the lips is an exceedingly common fault, accompanying flat, smothered tones. 54 SEPTEMBER Allow no strained singing. Sweet tones are soft, but may be full of sound. Most of these directions for September apply to all the suc- ceeding months as well, since such drills on intervals, scale, terms, distinctness, and ear-training must be continued thruout the year. Penmanship The drill in penmanship will count for more between the ages of ten and twelve or thirteen than at any other time. If cor- rect habits of posture, holding the pen, and shaping the letters with uniformity of height and direction, are now formed, they will be likely to last through life. It is folly to spread this gymnastic drill thinly over a long period. It must be mastered at once by persistent, intensive drill periods. Of course this will take several months, but keep at it every day. Cet the habits thoroly fixed before relaxing any, either in quantity or in quality. Later it will do to depend for prac- tice on the necessary written work of the other periods. Now is the time for practice on the double-ruled paper to gain uni- formity in the height of letters. Avoid having the capitals made of the same shape as the small letters, and do not permit the Joining of capitals to the small letters in writing. This leads to neglect and indifference in the matter of capitalization. Unruled tablets should be used to get the children used to writing without lines. Drawing and Painting Everyone can learn to draw. Practice is all that is required. If one got as much practice in drawing as he gets in talking, he would draw as readily as he talks. Drawing is one of the great means of expression, and should be developed in each pupil for the purpose of expression. Eapid sketching should be the chief THE ARTS 55 form of drawing in school. It should supplement the language work in every subject — geography, history, arithmetic, nature study, and literature. The pupils should answer questions by drawing as much as by talking. Should there be a separate drawing period? Yes. Just as there should be a separate language period, so there should be a separate drawing period, in which the technique receives sys- tematic attention. But success in teaching drawing does not depend on technique one-tenth so much as it depends on prac- tice. If pupils are not drawing every day in every period and out of school from liking, they will not have practice enough to form the drawing habit. Aim at simplicity in representation by using the very fewest lines possible. Avoid shading until form is well mastered. Study Phil May^s Sketch Book, Augsburg's Drawing Books, J. Liberty Tadd's great book on " New Methods in Education.'^ Do not waste time in drawing cubes and spheres or other type solids. Draw everything you want to draw. Form the habit of wanting to draw. Always have paper and pencil with you and sketch while waiting for a train, while resting on a picnic, while riding or even while walking, while studying, and above all while teaching. Talk and draw at the same time and get your pupils to do this. Just as talking has developed thought, so drawing, when practiced sufficiently, will develop observation. Making While the interest in birds is keenest, thru the appreciation of their help in destroying insects, the children should begin to make bird-houses for the coming spring. Let the ants' nest for special use in February be prepared now and the ant colony settled. Each pupil should make a clock face with movable hands to 56 SEPTEMBER use in learning to tell time readily in the problems of length of day and length of night, difference of time, and addition of time. Fraction squares, such as those on page 16G of Southworth- Stone Arithmetic, Book I, should be drawn large. The map that Phemius drew in the sand should be drawn on the ground in an open-air session of the geography class. Have the children make a small viking ship with carved prow and with rigging as shown in the pictures in the history books. Numerous utensils to be used in the acting out of " The Golden Age," " Julius Caesar," and " The Thrall of Lief the Lucky " will be needed. 1 I^Ka' ' ?.^w!JE^^^^^^B^^^^B ^E'B^iSf^SA'^^l ^«j\^^^H 1 H ^^^f|^EP^BKnp« WSm WM 1 1^ m ^u I ^ISS 1 ^H lH^i^^^^k ^^Sf £^S!S^^ ■9 1 \iM ^BKm zhu m^M ^^^^H ^Jf_ y^^^jM ^^^^^^^^^B'^^S I^^^^^^^B w J i-ii Wm m ^ AFTER SCHOOL NATURE STUDY October is one of the best months of the year in which to study trees. Interest is at- tracted to them by their falling leaves, their changing hues, the ripening nuts, the uncovered nests, and the preparation for winter. It is these autumn aspects of trees that we propose to study in October. Lead children to appreciate and love trees. Trees are of uni- versal importance and interest. They exert an influence of untold value, and are generally available for study in every locality. We are indebted to them in numberless ways for many of the comforts and luxuries of life. The varied forms and colors have a great attraction for children, and they should be taught to know and love the trees. Make a large map of your neighborhood, showing streets, houses, farms, fields, roads, lanes, creeks, etc.; then have all the trees of the neighborhood charted on the map. Different colors may be used to indicate different kinds of trees. The leaves will be the readiest means of identifying the species, and will be brought in daily by the pupils. The teacher should lead 57 58 OCTOBER the pupils to associate other characteristics of bark, branching, and buds with the leaves, so that .as the leaves fall the trees may still be identified. ]Jo not depend on word descriptions, but have leaves and branching so well drawn that the characteristics show of them- selves. Bring in leafless branches of different trees and have the pupils identify them. These forms must become so familiar to the pupils that characteristic leaves, branching, bark, and buds of any of the common species of native trees can be readily drawn from memory. The following books will be found use- ful: Among Green Trees, Julia Ellen Rogers, A. W. Mumford, Chicago. Trees of the Northern United States, Austin C. Apgar, American Book Co. Our Native Trees, Harriet L. Keeler, Scribner. The Trees of Northeast- ern America, _ Chas. S. Newhall, Putnams. Familiar Trees and their Leaves, F. Schuyler Mathews, D. Appleton & Co. A Primer of Forestry, Gifford Pinchot, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture It may also be well to make a more detailed study of a par- ticular kind of tree, or even of one individual tree at the corner of the schoolhouse. We study the lower animals and plants too much as general notions instead of as individual existences. Thompson-Seton and William J. Long have done well to show us the individuality of anim^als. Every lover of horses, dogs or birds knows that the animals differ, and that it is the indi- vidual characteristics that attract or repel interest and friend- ship. Should not we similarly try to individualize the life of some particular oak tree, for instance, in order the more fully to study its concrete life ? Name the tree, as has been done with several of the Big Trees of California, e. g., Wawonah, .Grizzly Giant, etc. Collect data for its biography ; trace the scars of its wounds from frost, from claws, from axes, from insects, from lightning; note the postures of the branches from the winds of years ; trace NATURE STUDY 59 its chronicle of years in the annual leaf scars on its branches; test its appetite and thirst with fertilizers and moisture supply; note its different branching and trace the causes; take its meas- urements and record its growth. Note the animal life that it supports — insects, birds, squir- rels. Note how this animal life reacts on the life of the tree. The bird inhabitants have come for the insects which would have devoured the tree. The squirrels eat some nuts, but store up others of which some will germinate and thus spread the descendants of the tree. Note its seed-years. Having made friends with the tree, keep up your speaking acquaintance thru succeeding years. Help to spread its progeny by planting the acorns and guarding and shielding the young seedlings. Tree-planting is educational. Eead Thompson- Seton's " Stories on the Tree Trunks,^^ in Country Life in America for May, 1904. See, also, " How to Draw a Tree,'' Hid; H. Marshall Ward's " The Oak,'' D. Appleton & Co., pub- lishers ; and " The Population of an Old Pear Tree," published by Macmillan. The school garden will be ending its fruitage for the season. The flowers will in some cases need to be taken up for the winter and placed in the window-gardens in the schoolrooms. Weather Record If the children have been tracing the progress of High and Low across the country on their blank weather maps (see p. 39), they will now be ready to see why the winds blow toward the Low and away from the High. They should mark the wind directions by means of small arrows on their blank maps and realize the whirling motion centering about each High and Low. By comparison of the prevailing wind directions on successive 60 OCTOBER days at any one place the regular causes for the usual changes in the wind directions may be made clear. Each day the pupils should be drilled to think of the position of High and Low in direction and distance from home, and to point in the direction, and state the distance and locality. In connection with the wind it would be well to study the subject of ventilation, which is governed by precisely the same principles. Draw a plan of the room and chart all the chief currents, drafts and vents, and hang thermometers in different places to record the temperature of the air. It will be readily possible to trace the causes of the air movements. Teach the importance of full, deep breathing. Shallow breathers only half live. Have breathing exercises every day, till the habit of deep breathing is formed. Test progress with the home-made lung tester. GEOGRAPHY We study the trade routes of the Middle Ages to India and the East. The possibility of reaching India by other routes and the necessity of finding another route in the fifteenth cen- tury should be discussed on the basis of Ptolemy^s Map of the World. The question of whether a route around Africa was feasible should be discussed with fifteenth century arguments and difficulties in mind. This is the place to treat the proofs that the earth is round. Take them historically. Do not stuff the children nor allow them to prejudge the Avhole matter by assuming that the world is round and therefore that it requires no proof — that it was absurd for any person ever to doubt that it was round. With the rotundity of the earth in mind the subject of lati- tude and longitude will be clearer, and it will in its turn re- inforce the conception of the roundness of the earth. Have a GEOGRAPHY 61 good-sized rubber ball for each pupil, and let the joint between the two halves represent the equator. Meridians and parallels may be drawn with lead pencil. Then mark the starting merid- ian and locate coast points in Europe and Africa and India by means of their latitude and longitude. Then draw the coast line. Now locate the route around Africa and describe it in terms of latitude and longitude. Make a simple astrolabe by suspending a plumb-bob from the circle center of a quadrant graduated to degrees. Sight along the straight edge and take the reading in degrees for the alti- tude. In this way take the altitude of the North Star. This will be the same as the latitude of the place of observation. The calculation of longitude can be readily illustrated by set- ting a watch to G-reenwich time and then taking an observation on the sun to determine when it crosses the meridian. Multiply the time past noon at Greenwich by fifteen and you will obtain the longitude of the point of observation in degrees, minutes, and seconds. In the fifteenth century it was the custom of navigators to sail due north or south to the parallel of their proposed destina- tion and then shape their course directly east or west. This is why Columbus sailed to the Canaries in 1492, and then due west for Chipangu. - _„ Now is the time for a full and painstaking comparison be- tween the Northern and the Southern Hemispheres. As we go north from the equator the maximal altitude of the sun above the horizon becomes less, and noon shadows become longer and longer; the climate grows cooler; the variation in the length of the days from summer to winter becomes greater; the sun rises farther and farther to the north of east in June; the dis- tinction of the four seasons becomes gradually greater; we pass from a tropical region of calms to a region of trade winds, then to the horse latitudes in the Cilms of Cancer, then to the tem- iy^ OCTOBEli THE HEMISPHERE MODEL IN THE NORTH CORNER perate region of prevailing westerlies, and finally reach the frigid region of occasional northeasterlies. Trace the corresponding changes as we go southward from the equatorial heat belt. What date is it now in South Africa ? What season is it there? What season will it be there at Christ- mas time ? At Easter ? Make out a calendar of the seasons for the Cape of Good Hope. Compare the harvest of the regions in the Northern Hemisphere with the harvests of the regions in the Southern Hemisphere for the same dates. For the purpose HISTORY AND LITERATURE 63 consult the Monthly Harvest Calendar in the Little Chronicle. Eecall the calendar of the world's harvests from month to month in " The Fourth School Year/' In what direction does the shadow of the sun extend here at home in the morning, at noon, at evening? In what direction does the shadow of the sun extend in South Africa in the morn- ing, at noon, at evening? Draw the Southern Hemisphere on the outside of a wooden butter bowl, keeping the South Pole uppermost and resting the rim (the equator) on the table. Get used to having the south end of the world uppermost. Many of the very difficulties the pupils will thus meet and understand are those that confused the sailors, geographers, ■ and monks of the time of Prince Henry and Columbus. HISTORY AND LITERATURE Read the Sinbad stories to get the way the people of Europe regarded India and the East. These stories give in the main a true picture of life in the East. Where they are exaggerations they are true to the spirit of eastern fancy, but even the roc and the mares and the river that flows inland are almost literally true. The Old Man of the Sea is a good temperance lesson. Marco Polo found the Valley of Diamonds, and was struck on the head by a cocoanut thrown by a monkey in the top of a palm-tree. Study the travels of Marco Polo with a good deal of detail, using Towle's or Yule's Marco Polo or some equally full and interesting account. On a large rubber ball draw the known world of the thirteenth century and mark in heavy line the route of Marco Polo to Cambaluc, his journeys as ambassador of the Great Khan, and his homeward route. He was one of the greatest travelers of all time. His book " contributed more 64 OCTOBER new facts toward a knowledge of the earth's surface than any book that had ever been written before/' * The Eeturn of Marco Polo in 1295 A. D. has been acted out in somewhat the following form by fifth-grade pupils : SCENE I The exterior of a house in Venice. Marco Polo, his Father, and Uncle, in Chinese garb, approach and, after much loohing ahout, begin to hioch at the door of a house. Marco. This does not look much like the place in which we lived twenty-four years ago. That shop did not use to be there. Nicolo. No, that is so. Are we not in the wrong street? Is this San Giovanni ? Let us inquire in this shop. Maffeo. I would go in and ask, but I am afraid I have forgot- ten my Italiano. — Oh, here comes a woman. It will be easier to ask her. [As a ivoman passes by] Signorina, can you tell us where Casa Polo is? Woman. Indeed, signer, yonder is Casa Polo — next to Casa Bianca. Nicolo. Where did Messer Nicolo Polo use to live? Wo^nan. Young Messer Nicolo has always lived in yonder house, signer. [The woman passes on. Marco Icnocl^s again. The door of the house is opened and a girl puts her head out.'] Nicolo. Ah, is this Casa Polo? Tessa. Yes, Signer Polo lives here. Nicolo. Present our compliments and tell him that Maffeo Polo, Nicolo Polo, and Marco Polo are returned to greet him. Tessa. Alas, signore, Messer Maffeo went on a hunting trip this morning and will be away the rest of the week. Messer * Fiske's " Discovery of America," Vol. I, Chap. III. HISTORY AND LITERATURE 65 Mcolo and the bambino are at home. I might like your joke better if I understood it. Marco. We are not joking. We left home twenty-four years ago to travel to Cathay, and have now returned. This is our home. Tessa. Wait, I'll call the butler. [Tlieij enter the house. SCENE II Interior courtyard of Casa Polo. Tessa opens the door and admits the travelers. From the other side of the piazza come Beatrice with her baby, several old women, and the butler. Presently, Young Nicolo enters. Marco. [Addressing the butler.'] Do you know Nicolo Polo ? Maffeo Polo, and Marco Polo? Butler. [Gruffly] Yes, I know them well. Messer Nicolo is just coming out of yonder doorway. Messer Maifeo is off on a hunt in the forest of Cortuna, and Marco — bless his heart! — that is the heir of the Polos over there in his mother's arms. Nicolo. [Laughing] Is it I coming out of that doorway? Mark, there are two of you, too; we're duplicated! [Address- ing Beatrice] Pardon me, signora mia, may I ask your name ? Beatrice. [As the baby begins to cry] Hush, Mark, the Chinesers won't hurt you. Your grandpa used to live with them. [Looking up] Signor, my name is Beatrice Polo. Nicolo. That was your mother's name, Marco. Maffeo. Brother, this is stranger than Cathay. Who is the father of that darling bambino ? Young Nicolo. [Stepping foriuard] I am, signor. Maffeo. What is your father's name? Young Nicolo. Maffeo Polo. Nicolo. Are not any of you old enough to remember the 66 OCTOBER Polos who twent3^-four years ago set out from here to travel to far Cathay ? [An old ivoman elbows her tuay forward and then stands, ivith her arms akimho, staring at the strangers^] ^^^H -...: ■.■:..::... ::.^. :■'.:'..':■ iHBi''^Pp^ 1 fi ^ , J: ^.,^^^ %^- ' - ■ 1 •■.■".''■■.■" ■■*■"': 1 P' '«H w-- "'H^^H ^^HR iij MARCO POLO S RETURN TO VENICE SCENE I Old Woman. I remember them well, but I do not know you. The Polos were killed in Cathay a dozen years ago. Butler. Pooh ! pooh ! we know you not ! You are a set of impostors. You must leave this house. HISTORY AND LITERATURE 67 Marco. Hold on ! Father, I believe this signor is my brother Maifeo's son, and that bambino is your great-grandchild. Maffeo. Then, it is my nephew that is hunting in Cortuna? Nicolo. [To Young Nicolo and Beatrice] And you are my grandchildren. [Young Nioolo and Beatrice laugh as tho they did not he- lieve it.^ Young Nicolo. Well, it may be so ; but we have never seen you before. Tell us of your travels; that will prove your story. Nicolo. Very well, good people, we shall soon persuade you then. We will tell our story. [The company find seats.'] Maffeo. We set out from Venice one bright morning in April, 1271, little thinking how long it would be before we saw home again. We went by ship to Acre in the Holy Land, thence by camels overland to Bagdad, and took ship at Bussora, whence Sinbad the Sailor used to sail on his famous voyages. In a storm our ship was damaged and we put in at Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. From here we traveled slowly overland thru Persia, and thence eastward thru Tartary and the Great Desert of Lop into northeastern Cathay. Young Nicolo. Had you not been there once before? Did the emperor recognize 3^ou from your former visit? Nicolo. He did, indeed; he was expecting us. When we were within three days' journey of the royal palace, we stopped and sent forward a messenger to Kublai Khan, to inform him of our coming, and then we waited there for his reply. Within a week our messenger returned with a large cavalcade sent by the Khan to escort us to his palace. We hastened on our way, and on the third day came to the royal hunting-grounds and saw the palace in the distance. A great multitude of horsemen were coming toward us, and soon we saw among them a huge elephant on whose back appeared a glittering canopy of silk and 68 OCTOBER gold. The Great Khan himself was coming out to welcome us. " Good Venetians/^ he said, " I am filled with joy to see you. Welcome back to Cathay. You have kept your promise to re- turn.^' Marco. But he had not seen me before, and he asked my father who I was. " Sire/^ replied my father, " he is your majesty's servant, my son.'^ After that the Khan welcomed me cordially. Nicolo. Yes, Kublai Khan valued the services of my son Marco more than those of any other ambassador at his court. Beatrice. How long did it take you to learn Chinese? Marco. Oh, father and uncle had learned it on their former visit. I picked it up in two or three months so that I could talk it a little and read some. See, this is the way they write [Shows looks and writes on hoard']. These are their figures [Writing them down]. [A short Chinese verse may he recited as a sample of the language.] Young Nicolo. I believe what you are telling me, uncle, more from your manner than from the facts I have heard. Grand- father, pardon me for not welcoming you at first more heartily to your own house. [They emhrace.] Fanita. Have you brought with you any of those silks and diamonds that Sinbad tells us about ? Maffeo. Yes, cara mia, we have trunks full of them. But good folks, I propose that we invite our old-time friends to a banquet to-morrow evening to celebrate our home-coming, and then we can convince them all at once that we speak truth. Nicolo. That would be well. Young Nicolo. With all my heart. Everything we can do shall be cheerfully done for our most illustrious merchant princes. [To the hutler] Show these signors to the guest chambers and give them every attention. HISTORY AND LITERATURE 69 SCENE III Banquet Hall of Casa Polo. Enter Nicolo, loith Beatrice on his arm; Duke Gratiano with Fanita; Marco with Julia; Count Cristo tvith Margherita ; Maffeo with Donna Torza : Lorenzo Matthea luith Maria dei Conti; Young Nicolo ivith the Duchess of Urbino. Beatrice. Be seated, friends. Gratiano. I do declare, noble Nicole, I would never have believed that it was you come back to Venice, after twenty-four years of absence if you had not been able to tell me all about that day twenty-six years ago when you had just returned from your former journey. Margherita. My dear signer, you are changed entirely. Ex- cuse me for saying it, but. Signer Polo, you have become half Chinese. That pigtail looks like the genuine article. You used to have a fine long beard. You have a foreign accent, and your words do not sound like good Italian any more. Signer, can you say, " 11, rege " ? Nicolo. II lege. [The company laugh.'] Margherita. Yes ! Nicolo. Is not that natulul? We thlee have spokee the dozen diffelent languages of Asia in the countlies we have lived in. We have heard no Italiano since we left Jelusalem, twenty- four years ago last month. Cristo. How long did it take you to return from Cambaluc, Messer Polo? Maffeo. We have been thlee years on the way. We coasted all along the eastern and southern shore of Asia. Gratiano. Then is Ptolemy's map of the world wrong? Are you sure of the route you returned by ? Cristo. I hesitate to believe that the great Ptolemy, who has been followed for a thousand years, can be wrong. 70 OCTOBER Marco. [Rising to addr-ess them^ There can be no doubt of an ocean sea to the east of Cathay. [Shows map and points out on it the route they came.^^ The Chinese call this sea the Sea of Chin. Chipangu lies five hundred miles off the coast of Catha}^, in that broad ocean. It has immense riches in gold. The Mikado's palace is paved with bricks of shining gold, two fingers' breadth in thickness. The Spice Islands lie to the southeast and are of surpassing wealth, producing pepper, nut- megs, cubebs, cloves, and spikenard, and all other kinds of spices. [He continues to point out the route.'] The annual revenues of the G-reat Khan are seventy-five to one hundred mil- lions in gold. But the Mikado of Chipangu has never counted the millions of his wealth. Julia. Well, well, " Marco Millions,'' did not the Great Khan part with you reluctantly? I suppose you were so useful to liini that he gave you of his millions. Nicolo. He would not have let us go at all, if the royal bride for the Khan of Persia had not been needing safe escort to her new home. There was war in the Avest of Cathay, and so Coca- chin could not travel overland, but had to go by sea. Kublai Khan knew of our skill with ships, and intrusted her to us. Marco had already sailed thru the Indian Ocean on one of his embassies for the Great Khan. Margherita. So he parted with you in order that he might send Cocachin safely to her intended husband. Marco. Yes. When we arrived in the Persian Gulf, how- ever, we learned that the old King of Persia was dead. We had never dreamed of that possibility, and we did not know what to do. Fanita. What did you do? You might have brought her along home and we could have adopted her into the family. * See Chapter XIV in " Towle's Marco Polo," and improvise here. The guests should ask questions freely for the Polos to answer. HISTORY AND LITERATURE 71 Nicolo. Oh, you do not know the pride of an eastern prin- cess ! The new king, Casan, who succeeded the dead Khan, was already looking for a bride, and the young people quickly ar- ranged the matter by becoming engaged. So we were relieved, and made our way home. Beatrice. I think the ladies might now withdraw and leave the gentlemen to themselves. [Ladies go out.] Nicolo. [As Marco starts for the doo7'] Bring in the bag- gage, Mark. [Exit Marco. Returns ivitli several 'bundles.'] Nicolo. [After opening up a handle] Now, friends, these rich clothes that we have brought — Gratiano. [Interrupting] They look like old duds, fit for the rag-picker. Nicolo. They may seem so outwardly. [Laughs and looks at Marco toith a tvinh, and proceeds to rip open the seams and to bring forth diamonds, rubies, etc.] Gratiano. [Examining the jewels as they are laid out on the table] Oh, my eyes! where did you get such treasures? By San Marco ! I have never before seen such stones in Venice ! Nicolo. [Continuing to take ont more brilliants and gold ornaments] There have never before been such in Europe. Cristo. Santa Maria! that diamond must be worth twenty thousand pounds sterling at least. Is it not ? Maffeo. Fifty thousand pounds, my good friend. The Great Khan gave Marco that diamond for performing a most difficult mission in the northern part of the Empire. Lorenzo. What is there north of Cathay? What sort of a place is it? Marco. They call it the Land of Darkness. Sometimes the merchants speak of it as the Land of Furs. The trade is chiefly in furs. It is a cold, bleak country. Young Nicolo. Do the Chinamen know more about anything than we do ? Were you able to learn anything from them ? 72 OCTOBER Marco. Yes, indeed ; for one thing, they burn a kind of black stone for fuel, instead of wood. Nicolo. In directing their junks, they make use of a magnetic needle that they have mounted in a box. This needle always points north. Here I have one that I brought with me. We used this needle on the voyage home. [He shows the compass and explains it.^ [Here let the actors improvise questions and answers.~\ Nicolo. They have a wonderful powder, too, that explodes fearfully, with awful force. They declare they invented it many, many years ago. They use it for fireworks. They send up sky- rockets [Imitates the noise of a ski/rocket whizzing upward and tlien explodijig and falling'] that explode in the air like shooting stars. [^¥hile the men are talking about the compass afid gunpowder, Tessa slips in and carries out the old coats that are lying in a heap on the floor.'] Maffeo. Kublai Khan^s grandfather, Jenghiz Khan, who led the Mongolian invasion of Cathay, in the early part of this cen- tury, used this explosive powder to fire great guns in battle with the Chinese. One of his big guns would throw an iron ball weighing a pound a distance of over a mile. It was one means of his success. He conquered all Cathay and established his dynasty on the throne of the Flowery Kingdom. Marco. [Noticing that the coats are missing] Why, father, where are our diamonds and all our millions ? Who took those coats? [He rushes out, calling thru the house. Presently he returns with Tessa and the ladies.] Tessa. Why, an old ragman, Gobbo, came along just now and asked if we had any old rags to sell. I thought of those old rags of coats you had thrown on the floor. I heard you say you were rich; and I thought I would just get rid of the old truck at once. It would onlv have bred moths and been in the HISTORY AND LITERATURE 73 way, as you would never have worn those rags any more; Gobbo gave me twenty-five centesimi for the whole lot. Mighty glad I was to be rid of it all, too. Cristo, Gratiano and Young Nicolo. [Talking all at once and crowding ai^ound Tessa'] You have lost millions! There were diamonds in those rags ! The wealth of the Polos was sewed up in those old duds ! Can^t you call Gobbo back ? Do not you know where the fellow^s shop is? [Marco again rushes out.] Nicolo. [Calmly] Good friends ! Sweet friends ! There is no need of anxiety. We have still other millions in the other boxes. The Company. What marvelous wealth ! Marco. [Returning] I cannot see any sign of Gobbo. Per- chance he will never return. Young Nicolo. To-morrow, Tessa, you must take your stand on the Eialto, over the Grand Canal, and watch the crowd as they go across. If old Gobbo should pass by, you must recog- nize those coats and buy them back from him. Perhaps he will not yet have found the jewels sewed up in the lining. Maffeo. We have saved a few millions here, and have a dozen more boxes of silks and rubies. The wealth of the East is not exhausted. Gratiano. You have certainly proved that you are the Polos of Venice, the greatest merchant travelers of the world. The Company. Long life to Messer Nicolo, Messer Maffeo and Messer Marco Polo ! [Exeunt all but Nicolo.] Piccolo. [Rushing m] I know Gobbo. I saw him on the corner of San Marco just now. He had those old clothes with him. I will go and buy them back. Give me a lira. [He gets it and departs. Exit Nicolo.] Treat briefly the onward career of the beastly Turk after the times of the Crusades down to the capture of Constantinople 74 OCTOBER in 1453. Eealize the result as they strangled the trade by the Black Sea Eoute, and swept on thru Syria and down toward Egypt, cutting off access to the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Moreover, the eastern waters of the Mediterranean Sea began to swarm with Turkish corsairs that plundered and murdered whenever they came up with a Christian merchantman. The more completely the eastern Mediterranean was thus THE COUNCIL OF SALAMANCA closed to the trade with India, the stronger grew the impulse to find "an outside route to the Indies." The first attempt was naturally made by Portugal by way of the route around Africa. Contrast the continental theory of Ptolemy with the oceanic tlie- ory of Mela. (See maps in Fiske's *^^ School History of the United States," pp. 24, 25.) Which was the hopeful theory? Tell of the " fiery zone " and the imagined impossibility of crossing it; the fancied danger of sailing "down-hill"; the HISTORY AND LITERATURE 75 superstitions fears of the " gorgons and hydras and chimseras dire " inhabiting the unexplored regions ; the shuddering dread with which the Sea of Darkness and the edge of the world were regarded. Contrast briefly the Mediterranean Period in history with the Atlantic Period that began with Prince Henry and in- volved all the Atlantic nations of Europe. Give the main epochs of Prince Henry's life; the capture of Ceuta; expeditions to the Guinea coast for gold; visions of an ocean route to India. His motives were desire for trade, exten- sion of Portugal's dominion, and the converting of the heathen races. He refused all offers of military honors, and retired to the lonely and barren rock of Sagres, there, on the supposed most western corner of Europe, to build an astronomical observatory, and to gather about him men com.petent to teach and eager to learn the mysteries of map-making and the art of navigation. Follow the Portuguese discoveries by the map in Fi she's " Dis- covery of America" (Vol. I, Chap. IV). The voyage of Dias brought the work of Prince Henry to a glorious climax at the same time that it proved the desirability of a shorter route.' On the first ship that doubled the Cape of Good Hope was Bartholomew Columbus. Christopher Colum- bus had been on other voyages along the African Coast. It was his genius and his daring that first put to a test the theory of the roundness of the earth and realized the dream of sailing west to reach the east. Take George Lansing Eaymond's drama of " Columbus " as the material for the life of the great discoverer. It would be well to saturate the children with the spirit of this play every (lay for three or four weeks. Subordinate everything else for the time being to Columbus. The home life of Columbus, his diffi- culties in securing help, the Council of Salamanca, the scene at La Eabida, the preparations at Palos and the departure, the mutiny, the midnight discovery of land and the morning ap- 76 OCTOBER proach to it, the return home and reception at the court, the egg story, Columbus in chains in Hispaniola, and his death in Spain, are here told in the live form of dialog and acting. Columbus on his second voyage, Pinzon with Americus Ves- pueius, and Cabot on the Labrador coast found this " Asia " very different from the Asia described by Marco Polo. The western route failed to reach the riches of India, altho nobody, apparently, thought that Asia had not been reached. Meanwhile the Portuguese took heart again and tried their route. Vasco da Gama started from Lisbon in 1497, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to the Coast of Hindustan, and returned in the summer of 1499, with his ships laden with the genuine Sinbad articles — pepper and spices, rubies and dia- monds, emeralds, silks and satins, ivory and bronzes. Columbus was discredited, and returned to seek for a strait thru from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean. If Colum- bus could have known that there was a continuous continent of which he had never heard stretching from the frigid north to the frigid south, and that he was still farther from India than the entire length of the Portuguese route around Africa, what bitter disappointment would have been added to his last days! NUMBER The work just outlined makes necessary the study of the sphere. Learn the dimensions of the earth and compare them with Toscanelli's estimates. Calculate the earth's circumfer- ence, the length of the quadrant from the pole to the equator, the length of a degree in miles on a meridian, the area of the earth's surface, etc. Find why the length of a degree on a par- allel grows less as we approach the poles. Show the method of reckoning longitude by chronometer time of Greenwich (see p. 61). NUMBER 77 Nearly all the difficulties of longitude and time may be over- come by the use of demonstration material. Make for use in your classroom such a piece of apparatus as that shown in the figure on page 79. The central part, consisting of the northern hemisphere with a circular disk of cardboard attached to it, is movable and can be turned from right to left to represent the earth's rotation from west to east. The immovable ring beyond the outer mar- gin of this disk is divided into twenty-four equal parts corre- sponding to the twenty-four hours of the day. The arrow at the top of the chart shows the direction of the sun's rays and points to the noon hour. The afternoon hours follow to the left, and the evening hours extend below, where the darker night sky is seen with the Great Dipper on the left and the crescent moon on the right. Midnight is represented at the bottom of the chart and is followed by the early morning and forenoon hours upward to XII again. The purpose of the circular disk of cardboard attached to the wooden hemisphere in the center is simply to afford space on which to write the geographical names large enough to be seen across the room. The names are written on the radiating lines extending from the meridians of the places on the hemisphere. The black line extending vertically across the hemisphere represents the prime meridian of Greenwich. The somewhat irregular dotted line shows the position of the international date line. The photograph shows the apparatus set for noon at Green- wich. The local time of every other place can be read off by simply following its meridian down to the equator on the wooden hemisphere and outward on the cardboard disk to the ring of the hours. It is, however, more than a calculating machine, for it also shows the reason for its answer. The world really turns thru the hours, as the model turns thru its hour circle. If our clock faces were arranged with twenty-four hours instead of 78 OCTOBER twelve^ we should have a good model of the daily motion of the earth constantly before ns. The changing position of the hour hand would then correspond to the changing direction of the vertical position of a man during every portion of the twenty- four hours. What time is it at Bagdad^ when it is half-past nine o'clock in the morning at Philadelphia? Turn the hemisphere from right to left until the meridian of Philadelphia is brought oppo> site to 9 :30 a. m. By looking now at the meridian of Bagdad we see it is opposite 5 :30 p. m. Of course we have not only the local time at Bagdad before us, but we can equally well read off the time it is at any other place at that moment. For instance, it is ten minutes after midnight in the morning of the following day at Melbourne. The international date line is marked on the wooden hemi- sphere. As the hemisphere turns from west to east all meridians are in succession brought opposite the hour of midnight at the bottom of the chart. The day begins first at the international date line, and begins later and later for all other meridians in proportion to their distance west from the 180th. The less their longitude east or the greater their longitude west, the later does the day begin. The new century began first, therefore, in that place which is nearest to the international date line but west of it. In the northern hemisphere this place is the eastern extremity of Siberia, but the Eussians use the Julian calendar and are therefore behind. In the southern hemisphere the cen- tury began first on the Friendly Islands, which are included in the Australian day. As some of them are as much as 174 de- grees west longitude, January 1st began twenty-four minutes sooner there than at the meridian of 180 degrees, or, seventeen hours and twenty-four minutes before the century began at Philadelphia, Pa. The position of the international date line is marked on the movable disk by a star ( * ) and the letter " A " r B n P.M. in- I »iV c^tct-rr^ iZL .^K i^ Y ^ A.M. I 1 a I. ■ 2 a NJQ HT 1 .l;-\ ,v' '^"^ m. New