School report -V^ t : ‘A •; tv]- 1 * : ' ;. ?\ -r ;.-. Champaign ca.III" Supt. of schools Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. A charge is made on all overdue books. LIBRARY OF THE SCHOOL REPORT TO THE or CHAMPAIGN COUNTY’, ILLINOIS, BY E. LEAL, LATE COUNTYSUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS. 3S5IS’ r 2 — ~ _ (ANCIENT.) a ( MU I ERA. I U R BAN A, ILL. o. w. FLYNN * 00.. PRINTERS BOOK B:M.*K8 AND ENGRAVERS. 1874 HUNT & HOLLISTER, DEALERS IN DRUGS, BOOKS, STATIONERY, AND A GENERAL ASSORTMENT OF FANCY ARTICLES. e PARTICULAR ATTENTION paid to PRESCRIPTIONS. ALSO PERIODICAL, SHEET MUSIC AND STUDENTS CORDIALLY INVITED TO CALL. No. 20 MAIN ST., USB ANA, ILL. THE ILLINOIS SCHOOLMASTER. ... %■■■••• ' The State Superintendent publishes his decisions and his Circulars in it. It is * * full of educational news, STATE A X I ) GENEEAL. Its articles are of great value to teachers of It is lively, wide-awake and independent. Every Teacher, Board of Trustees and Board of Directors should take it. Price, $1.50 per year in Advance. ADDRESS, JOHN W. COOK & EDWIN C. HEWETT, O EDITORS AND PROPRIETORS, LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS J||,_- S(/$&)!r\ien bi) 123 36 1845. 327 32 o GO 327 32 1846. 154 02 «<- fcio 3 154 02 1847. 188 55 ° C3 Sh 188 55 1848. 189 02 r-> o m 189 02 1849. 195 10 0> 195 10 220 37 1850. 220 37 g O 1851. 340 01 Szq GO 340 01 1852. 313 01 668 00 Ct <£> 981 01 1853. 293 95 1,007 49 a 1,301 44 1854. 131 79 972 17 o 1,103 96 1855. 177 87 3,868 55 4,046 42 1856. 323 04 2,619 77 2,942 74 1857. 6,804 14 2,214 91 3,371 95 12,391 00 1858. 7,123 72 11,569 41 200 35 18,893 48 1859. 7,189 91 12,346 49 9,788 74 29,325 14 1860. 6,811 17 22.129 06 28,940 23 1861. 8,694 24 11,687 66 2,141 10 22,523 00 1862. ... 7,403 45 11,898 82 13,192 73 32,495 00 1863. 7,473 51 20,515 31 27,988 82 1864.. 8,464 82 81,527 27 39,992 09 1865. 8,530 01 49,492 90 58,022 91 1866. 10,058 81 61,323 85 71,382 66 1867. 10,414 45 82,303 23 92,717 68 1868. 12,324 56 69,992 40 11,703 04 94,020 00 1869.. 12,280 00 88,714 45 12,757 55 113,752 00 1870. 12,546 00 94,139 85 19,473 28 126,159 08 1871. 12,055 39 108,281 90 40,701 24 161,038 53 1872. 13,677 05 99,897 76 86,589 18 200,163 99 1873. 13,670 26 106,094 50 52,848 66 172 613 42 168,825 15 893,265 68 252,767 77 1,314,858 60 EXPENDITURES- Years. Am’t paid Teachers. I’aid for new School Houses. Other Expenses. TOTAL. 1857. 9,568 00 2,823 24 12,391 24 1858. 12,131 73 10,653 60 6,733 99 22,785 33 29,080 68 1859. 13,271 23 9,075 46 1860. 14,142 00 5,939 00 3,597 00 23,678 00 1861. 14,335 00 2,249 00 4,675 00 21,259 00 1862. 15,015 00 1,438 00 14,009 00 30,462 00 1863. 15,531 00 590 00 7,461 00 23,204 00 1864. 17,772 00 2,659 00 7,998 00 28,429 00 1865. 30,531 00 10,296 00 5,689 00 46,516 00 1866. 31,012 00 15,894 00 19,944 00 66,850 00 1867. 37,047 00 13,318 00 17,471 00 67,836 00 1868. 42,254 00 21,999 00 20,238 00 84,491 00 1869. 47,612 00 23,974 00 26,025 90 18,471 50 27,021 12 90,057 50 104,060 30 1870. 51,013 28 1871. 58,487 71 68,135 64 126,623 35 1872. 65,135 88 'N oc CO lr~- 59,131 31 151,949 43 1873. 7,224 01 69,022 31 143,638 93 532,305 44 186,243 74 854,762 58 1,073,311 76 The data for Expenditures from 1812 to 1857 is so meager and unreliable that we forbear to give it. s 379,773 3 357s £e-p • a SALES OF THE SIXTEENTH SECTIONS. Township. Time of Sale. Amount of Sales. Av. per Acre. No. Acres. 20— 7 July 22, 1836. 3,291 20 5.14 640 18—10 Aug. 9, 1836. 1,420 00 2.21 7-8 640 19— 9 Oct. 21, 1836. 1,391 60 2.16 640 18—11 Feb. 21, 1845. 705 87 2.20 160 19—10 Oct. 2, 1847. 870 00 1.34 040 22—14 Oct. 19, 1849. 1,222 70 1.95 640 20— 9 Sept. 5, 1851. 1,310 00 2.04 640 21— 8 •June 1, 1852. 800 00 1.25 640 18—14 Sept. 20, 1852. 1,136 40 1.77 1-2 640 21— 7 Nov. 4, 1852. 1,960 00 3.06 1-4 640 19—14 Feb. 19. 1853. 1,828 00 2.85 5-8 640 20— 8 Apr. 18, 1853. 1,987 60 3.09 5-8 640 17— 7 Nov. 2, 1853. 1,275 20 1.99 1-4 640 19— 8 Feb. 27, 1855. 5,208 00 8-13 3-4 640 22— 8 Mar. 1, 1855. 1,992 00 3.11 6-32 640 21—14 Aug. 23, 1856. 3,258 00 5.09 1-16 640 20—14 Sept. 20, 1856. 5,789 50 9.66 640 18— 9 Oct. 4, 1856. 6,360 00 9.93 3-4 640 18— 8 Mar. 7, 1857. 6,991 60 10.81 1-2 640 22—11 “ 19, 1857. 2,795 00 17.46 1-8 160 17— 9 “ 26, 1857. 6,564 00 10.25 5-8 640 22—10 “ 18, 1857. 4,682 00 7.31 9-16 640 22— 7 Apr. 21, 1857. 2,714 00 4.24 1-16 640 19— 7 “ 23, 1857. 5,720 00 8.93 3-4 640 17— 8 “ 25, 1857. 9,344 00 14.60 640 20—10 Sept. 23,1864. 3,040 00 4. / 5 640 22— 9 July 11, 1865. 6,400 00 10.00 640 21— 9 Jan. 21, 1867. 5,404 00 8.44 3-8 640 18— 7 “ 15, 1868. 4,532 00 7.08 1-8 640 17—14 “ 26, 1869. 13,830 00 21.60 15-16 640 21—10 Sept. 20,1869. 9,030 00 14.10 15-16 640 20—11 July 14, 1871. 3,230 00 20.00 3-16 160 21—11 Aug. 24, 1871. 4,280 00 26.75 160 17—10 June 13, 1871. - 9,660 00 15.09 3-8 640 17—11 May 20, 1873. 3.200 00 20.00 160 19—11 741 33 4.63 5-16 160 Total. .143,964 00 7.141— 20,160 GENERAL STATISTICS. No. Persons un¬ Colored No. persons be¬ Years. der 21 years of persons under 21. tween 6 and 21 1 856 age. 3,724 yrs. of age. 1857 4,646 3,356 1858 5,028 3,554 1859 6,441 4,288 1860 7,160 4,624 1861 7,938 5,179 1862 8,797 5,554 1863 9,189 5,207 1864 9,157 6 090 1865 10,783 12 7,909 1866 11,150 60 7,515 1867 11,477 22 8,378 1868 13,339 62 9,225 1869 15,364 131 10,911 1870 16,491 102 10,693 1871 17,157 114 11,495 1872 18,452 135 12.413 1873 19,997 * 13,147 * Not taken separately. No. schools Male Pupils Female pupils Total num¬ ber pupils enrolled. sustained. enrolled. enrolled. 25 1,424 1,202 2,626 68 1,555 1,422 2,977 91 2.256 1,658 3.914 91 91 1,991 1,689 3,680 3,249 97 2,329 2,172 4,501 107 2,630 2,131 4,761 102 2,714 2,517 5,231 127 2,510 2,418 4,928 132 3,066 3,023 6,089 131 3,402 3,210 6,612 149 3,899 3 654 7,553 167 4,550 4,’471 9,021 172 4,392 4,043 8,435 181 5,556 4,354 9, 10 188 5,252 4,775 10, 27 203 5,361 5,340 10, 01 214 5,255 4,952 10, 07 4 Years. No. of male teachers. No. of female teachers. Total number teachers. No. Graded Schools. Total No. of School *?• houses. of pri- schools. No. of pu¬ pils in pri¬ vate sch’s. 1856 34 29 63 1857 46 33 79 40 1858 64 62 128 54 1859 82 66 148 4 70 1 30 1860 57 51 138 81 1861 78 55 133 5 82 4 99 1862 75 100 175 6 98 5 154 1863 63 100 163 6 97 5 210 1864 70 124 194 6 110 4 115 1865 57 126 183 7 112 5 140 1866 90 135 225 7 130 o O 100 1867 85 152 237 7 141 1868 108 158 266 9 155 9 23 1869 137 156 293 9 165 6 90 1870 133 197 330 12 178 3 93 1871 151 199 350 12 186 5 136 1872 164 220 384 12 202 5 130 1873 163 251 414 14 214 3 133 Years. Estimated cost per pupil computed from census and total receipts. Actual cost com¬ puted from en¬ rol iments and to¬ tal expenditures. Highest month¬ ly wages paid any male teacher Highest month¬ ly wages paid any female teacher. Lowest month- Lowest ly wages paid monthly wa- any male ges paid any teacher, female teacher 1857 3.69 4.17 90.00 48.00 16.00 11.61 1858 3.52 5.53 47.50 34.29 18.00 13.00 1859 6.83 8.15 90.00 50 00 18.00 14.00 1860 6.23 7.28 90.00 30.00 22.00 16.00 1861 4.34 4.86 80.00 33.00 14.00 12.00 1862 5.85 6.26 75.00 33.00 15.00 12.00 1863 5.37 4.80 75.00 30.00 16.00 12.00 1864 6.56 5.44 125.00 50.00 16.00 12.00 1865 7.34 7.63 100.00 50.00 20.00 15.00 1866 9.57 10.11 135.00 50.00 20.00 14.00 1867' 11.09 8.98 100 00 51.00 20.00 12.00 1868 10.19 9.36 100.00 65.00 20.00 16.00 1869 10.42 10.67 112.00 55.00 22.00 20.00 1870 11.79 10.83 120.00 55,00 20.00 20,00 1871 14.01 12.62 150.00 50.00 25.00 20.00 1872 16.12 14.19 133.33 70.00 25.00 20.00 1873 13.129 14,072 133.33 60.00 30.00 20.00 150.00 70.00 14.00 11.61 MEMORANDA. Total Value of property in the county in 1853,.$1,771,860 Total value of property in the county in 1873,...20,000,000 In 1859, number of graded schools was 4, in 1873, 14. Number of illiterates reported for 1872, 28, 1873, 26. For several years after a public fund had been created by act of the Legislature the schools were suspended when the public money was exhausted, or else run b} r a rate bill paid by the patrons of the school. For many years this rate bill has been dropped and the deficit made up by direct taxation. The cost per capita is made to include the building and furnishing of school-houses, purchase of lots and fuel, as well as teachers’ wages, which up to 1865 were not as great as afterwards, owing to the fact that more costly houses were built after that date. COMMON SCHOOL FUND. The productive principal of the Common School Fund of Champaign County, Illinois, consists, at this time, of the following items and amounts : Township Funds, being the net proceeds of the sale of Section Sixteen in each Congressional township of the county, the same having been donated to the county for common school purposes, by an act of Congress in 1818—$143,964. County Funds, created by act of the Legislature, February 7th, 1 835, which provided that the teachers should not receive from the public fund more than half the amount due them for teaching the pre¬ ceding year, and that the surplus should constitute the principal of a new fund, to be called the County School Fund—$1,212.44. Swamp Land Fund, being the balance of the proceeds of the sale of swamp and over-flowed lands in Champaign County, Illinois, and donated to the common school fund by the Board of Supervisors of said county in the year 1863, and by the order of the above Court distributed by the Drainage Commissioner to the different townships in the county, on the basis of the number of square miles in each township, March 1869, amounts at the present time to $23,583.43. The total amount of the sale of swamp lands of Champaign County, Illinois, is $48,406.09, which shows that nearly half of the proceeds of the sales of swamp lands now form a sinking fund at ten per cent, for the benefit of schools. OTHER FUNDS. Besides these productive funds, school money comes from the follow¬ ing sources: 1st. State funds, including the two-mill State school tax, appor¬ tioned to the county by the Auditor of State. 2d. Interest on the school, college and seminary funds, appor¬ tioned to the county by the Auditor of State. 3d. Amount raised by ad valorem tax in the districts, for general purposes. 4th. Fines and forfeitures, as indicated -in sec. 82 of the School Law. SUPERINTENDENTS. In March, 1836, John Mead was appointed School Commissioner by the County Commissioners’ Court, and served seven years. Moses Thomas was appointed March, 1843, an d served three years. J. B. Thomas was appointed April 20, 1846, and served four years. William Peters was elected March, 1850, and served till Dec., 1853. 16 Parris Sheppard elected Dec. 1853, resigned March 1854. J. W. Jaquith appointed March 1854, and resigned April 1854. Jno. B. Thomas appointed April 1854, and served till Nov. 1857. T. R. Leal elected Nov. 1857, and served till December 3, 1873. years 1 month. S. L. Wilson elected Nov. 1873. EARLY SCHOOLS. SOMER TOWNSHIP. A school was taught in the Brownfield settlement by a man named Fielder, in the year 1829. The house was made of logs and ceiled with linn bark which was covered with earth to keep the cold from coming down through the attic. In 1832, a school was kept in the Stewart district, west side of the Big Grove, by Claudie Thompkins. The same year, Asahel Bruer, now 82 years old, taught a school in the Brumley district. The old gentle¬ man says the boys had turned out the teacher the term before and tried (Father Bruer smoking the hoys out.) to turn him out, but that he whipped them till they were glad to obey. He also tells with great glee, how the boys barred him out the next term at Christmas, in order to make him treat, and how he climbed up the corner of the log-house and covered the chimney with an old blanket, thus smoking them out. After covering the chimney with the board and blanket, the boys took a pole and, thrusting it up the chimney, knocked off the covering. This was kept up till Mr. Bruer managed to seize the pole and pull it away from them. Their weapon gone, one of the boys escaped between the logs in the attic and was chased by Mr. Bruer into the woods and caught. The others unbarred the door and captured the teacher, who, after a struggle, gained the school-house. The trouble was finally ended by Mr. Bruer’s sending for a bushel of apples and a gallon of whiskey. That night the boys met at the school-house and had a big drunk. The frolic was indorsed by the patrons of the school, and afforded a good deal of fun. James Kirby, James Boyd, the Buseys, Trumans, Brumleys, Moses Deer, Mrs. Moore of Danville, Mr. Trickle, now of Trickle’s Grove, Illinois, and others attended the school, and have hearty laughs over the smoking-out business to this day. The windows were made of greased paper, and the house was warmed by a fire-place. Mr. Bruer had about twenty pupils, and charged each two dollars per quarter. (Country School-house in Somer Township.) In 1830, John B. Thomas, afterwards School Commissioner, taught school in the Brownfield district in Somer Township. NEWCOMB. The first school was taught in 1854, by Reuben Barnes, in a log house near J. S. Hannah’s. The school houses in this township are good, and all new. OGDEN. Thos. Freeman, E. Freeman’s grandfather, taught the first school in this township, in a smoke-house, in 1839 1 Sarah Lard, Mr. Griffith and Win, Jeremiah taught later. There is now a snug two-story building in the town of Ogden, besides numerous good houses in the country. 8 HOMER. Jas. S. Wright informs me that the first school in Homer township was taught in 1829, by Abram Johnson. The house, located about three and a half miles northwest of the town of Homer, was built of logs, and had greased paper windows. There were about fifteen pupils, and the tuition was $2.50 per term. In 1831, when this county was a part of Vermilion, Mr. Wright helped to organize the first Sabbath School in the county. His father, a member of the legislature, took a copy of the Louisville Journal , or some other paper, where the son saw an account of the establish¬ ment of Sunday Schools in Ohio and other states, and conceived the plan of starting one in his own neighborhood. A notice having been given, those interested came together with their Bibles and spelling-books and with very limited ideas of the nature and work of such schools, but the determination of not being behind older communities in any educa¬ tional reform or movement. (Homer Graded School.! In 1832, John King taught the first singing school. In the winter of 1833, during the Black Hawk war, it seemed impossible to get a teacher, and Mr. Wright and Jos. Landor, with about twenty-five pupils, organized the first night school. One of the boys, who loved fun more than figures, slily filled the chimney with linn bark, smoked out the school and ran for the woods. It required the combined efforts of pupils and teachers to catch, and though he was a brother of one of the teachers, that did not save him from a good flogging, which put an end to his smoking 9 operations. After this time, Cyrus Zornes, Mr. Arrowsmith, John Poage and R. C. Wright taught school in that vicinity. Homer has a good graded school building. It was built by private enterprise,—M. D. Coffeen giving largely of his money and influence for its erection. MAHOMET. The first school on the Sangamon was taught in a log cabin 16 by 18 feet, located one-half mile south of Mahomet, then Middletown, by Charles Cooper, in the year 1835. (Mahomet Graded School.) The pupils were J. R. Robertson, the Maxwells, the Scotts, the Osborns, and the Lindsays. The windows of this cabin,-like those of the earlier houses, were of greased paper. By the accompanying cut it will be seen that they have a good graded school building in the town. SADORUS. In 1838 the first school was taught in Sadorus by Jas. Outen, in an old log dwelling house. Mr. Henry Sadorus, now 93 years of age, found it cheaper to hire a teacher himself than to send his boys off to school. The Piatts attended this school. After this, a daughter of Dr. Lyons, of Sidney, taught in a log house near the residence of Isaac Miller. After this, Thos. Hunter and Julia Coil, now wife of Dr. J. H. Leal, taught in the same neighborhood. In 1843, Wm. Rock built a small log house on his farm, and hired Miss Margaret Patterson to teach in it. Sadorus has a good graded school building, and has creditable school buildings in the country. 10 CHAMPAIGN. Dr. Shoemaker taught the first school in this town, then known as West Urban a, during the winter of 1854 and 1855, on the eas t side °f the (First School-house in Champaign City.) railroad. The house is represented by an engraving in this work. The Doctor taught in the front room, lived in the back part, and his wife taught for him when he was called to see patients. Each pupil furnished his own seat and desk. The house did not cost over $200 when first built, (School Building in Champaign City, West side of I. C. K. R.) and forms a marked contrast to one built only sixteen years afterwards, which cost $75,000. Besides the last-mentioned house there are two other excellent school buildings in town, and the country school-houses 11 are all good. The house on the East side of the railroad has been twice burned to the ground, and each time a better building has occupied its place. Engravings of this building and also the one on the West side are (School Building in Champaign City, East side of I. C. B,. Ii.) also given. The second school was taught by Howard Pixly, on the West side, in a house occupied by Joshua Dickerson. Mrs. M. A. Fletcher, sister of Mark Carley, was the third teacher. This was a mixture of public and private school. The public funds were used as far as they would go, and the balance made up by rate bill. She taught in the First Con¬ gregational Church, and for several years afterwards taught a select school. BROWN. The first school in this township was taught in 1858, by Chas. W. Knapp, in an old log house, on the Lee Brown farm. He was followed by Jas. Lyons and Chas. Atkins. It was the only school in the.township for several years, now they have several good houses. PHILO. School was opened in Philo in 1857, in a very small house, located near the residence of Lucius Eaton. The small house did not last long. It was given to a new district, and a fine large house built in its place. At one time there were about forty different kinds of flowers in the yard. In the town of Philo there is a two-story graded school house, and ten good school houses in the township. Miss Keeble, now Mrs. Collar, was the first teacher. 12 SIDNEY. First school was taught in the house of Wm. Nox, father of Solomon Nox, by Andy Stevenson, about the winter of 1833. In the town of Sidney, Geo. Acres and Geo. Nox were the first teachers. Sidney lost a fine school-house by fire, but a larger and better house now takes its place. ST. JOSEPH. The first school was taught by Moses Argo, in 1833. John B. Swearingen and Mrs. Joseph Peters taught. The school-house represent¬ ed in the engraving is in new St. Joseph, and was built in eighteen (St. Joseph Graded School.) months from the time the town was started. This speaks well for the enterprise of the people, from the fact that very few towns of that age build a two-story school building. HARWOOD. Augustin Crawford taught the first school in this township, as near as I can ascertain—it was about the year 1858—near where Mr. Webber now lives. It was an old shanty. There are no such school buildings in the township now, the last one having been removed last year to make way for an excellent house. LUDLOW. I think the first school was held in the freight house, in Ludlow, in 1859. I cannot ascertain the name of the first teacher. The town con¬ tains a snug two-story school building, and the people are much interested in educational matters. 13 KERR. For a long time there were only two schools in this place, one at Lewis Kuder’s, the other at Sugar Grove. The first named school was taught in a log cabin, during the fall and winter of 1837, by Levi Asher, and sustained by private subscription. It is said that when Asher finished his school, he bought all the hogs he could on credit, and ran away to Texas. Chas. Gulick, now of Rantoul, was one of the early teachers. The houses are all good. CONDIT. School was opened in the Gulick neighborhood at least as early as 1855, perhaps earlier. It was, for a long time, the only school in the township. Mr. Sale, Miss Porter and Miss Newell, were among the early teachers. CRITTENDEN. > School was first opened here about 1858, in a little cabin near where now stands the Methodist Church. Mr. Norton, of the same place, was one of the first teachers. There was also a school at Bonsis Grove. This house was the best frame school house in the county, at that time. SCOTT. About the year 1857, a school was taught in a small house near where S. Koogler lives, by Miss Mattie Moore. Messrs. Mallory and Koogler built the house themselves. This house was used until last year, when the district built a nice one. In 1858, William Christie taught school in a small shanty near Bondville. The schools are as a rule large and well attended. PESOTUM. In the Nelson district, the first school was held in 1857. A Mr. Brown was among the first teachers. A school was kept near the freight house in Pesotum by a Sarah Pennington. Miss Carrie Kelly and Mary E. Wal¬ ling taught subsequently. The freight house was used as a school room for several terms. The school buidings through the township are good. STANTON. A school was first established here about 1859 or i860. For several years this was the only school, but now the whole township is well sup¬ plied with good scjiool buildings. This was accomplished, to some extent, by a colony of Quakers, whose first aim has always been, after getting a shelter for their families, to build a church and a school-house. COMPROMISE. The first school was taught in what is now known as the Kentucky settlement, in the year 1859. The town was sparsely settled for a long time, but now it will average a school-house to about every six sections. 14 (High School Building in Urhana.) and made to treat on Black Strap, i. e.. whiskey sweetened with molasses. The boys all got drunk, of course. The next winter, 1839, a Baptist min- (Second Ward School Building, Urhana.) ister by the name of Standish taught. He was also barred out on Christ¬ mas. He mounted a horse, and the boys could not catch him until they URBANA. The first school in Urbana was taught, in 1838, by a Mr. Parmenter, in a small log dwelling house. On Christmas the teacher was turned out, 15 had mounted horses themselves, and cornered him up in the bend of the creek, when the matter was settled by the teacher’s furnishing.a specified quantity of Black Strap. About the year 1855, the Methodist denomin¬ ation erected a Seminary in Urbana, which was subsequently purchased by the school district. Two large additions were made to it, and in 1871 (Country School-house in Urbana Township.) it was burned to the ground. The same year a large high school build¬ ing and two ward school-houses, (cuts of which appear heiewith,) were erected, at a cost of about $35,000. The country school-house here represented, is located in Urbana township, near Thos. Lindsay’s. Mr. Lindsay has built twenty-seven school houses in this county. EAST BEND. Miss Dicy A. Newell taught the first school, in 1856, and was em¬ ployed for several terms after. Lb B. Scribner and a Mi. Hawkins taught afterwards. Like Brown, few schools were taught for many years, but now they are well supplied. RANTOUL. The first school ever taught in Rantoul was in the winter of 1857 and 1858. A. J. Benedict, Miss Perry, J. R. Moore and Miss Knapp were among the first teachers. There has been for some yeais a graded school building with four departments. Educational interests have fiom the first received marked attention in Rantoul. COLFAX. For many years there was only one school in this township, there are good, snug school-houses within reach of all, and the larger pait of them have been built within the last six years, owing to the rapid occupancy of the township by settlers. 16 RAYMOND. The first school was taught in a private house, by Miss Lucy Hick¬ man, afterwards Mrs. Whitcomb, wife of our present Circuit Clerk. A school-house was then built in the form of an octagon, the only house of the kind ever built in the county. It has been abandoned for some time. The school-houses in the township are good. HENSLEY. The first school was taught by Martha Newell in April, 1855 , in the Waugh district. Margaret J. Scott taught in district No. 2 the same year. Daniel Cheyney taught in 1856 . In 1857 , school was taught in the Hensley District by Miss Stevenson. The school-houses in this township are all good. TOLONO. I think the first school was taught in Tolono in 1858 , by A. M. Christian, who taught several terms, and was succeeded by his brother. Mr. Hill, of Tolono, also taught. For several years a graded school has been carried on in Tolono. The schools through the country will compare favorably with other townships. The first Township School in the county was organized in the spring of 1874 , and the trustees are now erecting a township school building on the west side of the I. C. R. R., in Tolono, at a cost of about $12,000. The following is a report of an examination of a teacher in the old times. The candidate called on the school commissioner, (whom he found in the yard,) when the following conversation ensued.—“I have engaged a school in your district, and understand that it is necessary to get a certificate from you before I can draw public money ?” “Yes,” said the commissioner, “you can’t git nothin’ fer teachin’ ’ithout a certificate from me. Come in and set down. Do you see them show bills up thar on the wall ?” “Yes.” “Ware you to that show ?” “No.” “What big long word is that up thar on that show bill ?” “That is Phantas¬ magoria.” “Is that so ? Well, anybody that can pronounce that word can teach school in this deestrict. I’ve been tryin’ to pronounce it for some time and couldn’t make it. I’ll give you a certificate.” It was usual in those days to have rules made and solemnly read to the pupils. On one occasion, an old man who wished to become a patron of the school which R. C. Wright, of Homer, was teaching, rode up to the door pretty highly charged with benzine, and shouted “Hello!” Mr. Wright went to the door and invited the old man in. “No, I don’t want to come in the school house, but I want you to fotch out your rules and read ’em to me. I want to see what kind of a school yer gwine to keep.” “I have no written rules, sir, but I tell the children how I wish them to conduct themselves, and if they refuse to comply, I thrash them like thunder.” “All right ! All right ! Hurrah ! ! That suits me better nor written rules.”. IT Mr. Wright relates an incident about a Christmas barring-out. The scholars got possession of the house early and barred the door. The floor was made of puncheons, laid about two feet from the ground, and was not finished at one end. The teacher was determined to get possession of the house, and he at once proceeded to burrow under the outside logs, intending to crawl up through the hole in the floor, but no sooner did he show himself than the boys dashed a shovel full of hot coals on his head. Of course, he did not gain possession at the time, but the boys suffered severely for what was then considered foul play. Sometimes the boys were very rude. For refusing to treat, teachers were sometimes taken to a creek, or pond, and plunged into a hole cut through the ice for the purpose. This was often attended with serious consequences. Perhaps the meanest act of this kind happened in the case of a lady teacher. The boys were all small, with the exception of one eighteen years of age. He told the boys to ask the teacher to treat, and, if she refused, to duck her. She refused. The smaller boys seized and pulled her down to the creek, the big boy encouraging them, but ashamed to take hold himself. At the bank of the creek she caught hold of some alders, and would have succeeded in keeping herself out of the water, had not the great loafer cut the alders with his jack-knife, and let them all fall in. Barring-out has long been discontinued. Teachers are left free to treat their scholars on Christmas or not, as they choose. The last case of the kind was followed by a suit brought by the teacher for assault and battery, in which the active parties paid smartly for their fun. Treating children to whisky now-a-days, would be looked upon with horror and indignation, and the teacher doing it would not only be barred out on Christmas, but the whole year. TEACHERS’ INSTITUTES. The first teachers’ Institute held in the county, met in the spring of 1857, with 17 teachers in attendance. Dr. L. M. Cutcheon, Dr. Hunt, Judge Cunningham and others assisted in organizing and conducting the exercises. The interest in this organization and the attendance have in¬ creased steadily for the past 17 years. The attendance has increased from 17 to 250 during that time. For several years, two sessions of one week each were held each year. For the last five years the sessions have been held for three weeks at a time, and the interest was maintained without flagging until the close. Besides these county school meetings, township meetings have been organized and carried on with great success. The expenses have been defrayed for the most part by the teachers. For sev¬ eral years teachers were entertained gratuitously by the people where the Institutes were held, but of late years they have paid their board and all the expenses incident to the organization. 3/ 18 Illinois ^Industrial University. “ The public movement which gave rise to this University, began a quarter of a century ago. Public meetings of the friends of industrial education were held in all parts of the State, and numerous petitions, signed by thousands of the agriculturists and other industrial classes, flooded the State Legislature. At length, in 1854 , the General Assem¬ bly adopted joint resolutions, asking Congress to make grants of public lands to establish colleges for industrial education. After lone discus- sions, Congress passed the necessary law in July, 1862 , making the magnificent grant of public lands out of which has arisen that long list of agricultural colleges and industrial universities now scattered over the continent. Illinois, the first to ask, was among the first to accept the grant, and great public interest was excited in the question of the organization and location. Princely donations, in some cases of half a million of dollars, were tendered by several counties to secure the location of the institution. In February, 1867 , a law was passed fixing the locality, and defining the plan of the University, and in May the Board of Trustees met at the University Building, donated by Champaign Coun¬ ty, and finally determined the location. During the year much .of the script was sold or located, necessary alterations were made in the buildings, apparatus and library were purchased, a faculty partly se¬ lected, and preparations made for active work. On March 2 , 1868 , the University was opened for students, and on the 11 th, formal inaugura¬ tion exercises were held. In the Autumn of 1871 the University was opened for the instruction of female students, and now it offers its advantages to all classes of society, without regard to sex, sect or con¬ dition. 19 The University is situated in the City of Urbana, adjoining the limits ot the City of Champaign, in Champaign County, Illinois. It is one hundred and twenty-eight miles from Chicago on the Illinois Cen¬ tral Railroad. The Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western Railway passes near the grounds. The county is one of the most beautiful prairie regions in the West. The two contiguous cities, constituting really only one'community, have together a population of 10,000, weil supplied with churches and schools, and affording boarding facilities for a large body of students. The domain occupied by the University embraces about 623 acres, including stock farm, experimental farm, orchards, gardens, nurseries' forest plantations, arboretum, botanic garden, ornamental grounds and military parade ground. MECHANICAL BUILDING AND DRILL HALL OF THE INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY. The Mechanical Building and Drill Hall is 128 feet in length by 88 feet in width. It contains a boiler, forge and tank room; a machine shop, furnished for practical use, with a steam engine, lathes and other machinery; a pattern and finishing shop; shops for carpentry and cabinet work, furnished with wood working machinery; paint, printing and draughting-rooms, and rooms for models, storage, etc. In the second story is the large Drill Hall, 120 by 80 feet, sufficient for the evolutions of a company of infantry, or a section of a battery of field artilleiy. One of the towers contains an armorer’s shop and mili¬ tary model room, an artillery room and a band room.” Nothing has done more to explode the wide-spread notion that “ Learning and Labor ” are incompatible, than the working of this Uni¬ versity. Those who labor are respected by the students, and receive high praise and encouragement from the faculty. At the sound of the class bell, scores of young men drop the spade, hoe, plow, or other imple¬ ment with which they have been laboring, to recite lessons in mental philosophy, ancient or modern languages, natural sciences, or higher mathematics, and drawing in all its departments. The faculty use all their influence in favor of popularizing labor. In 1867, Mr. R. T, 20 Miller, now of Cincinnati, and myself, were appointed a committee to write an address to the people of this County, presenting the benefits of such an institution and its future prospects. In it the following- passage occurs respecting the Regent : “The Trustees of the University have selected as Regent the Hon. John M. Gregory, formerly Superintendent of Public Instruction in the State of Michigan, later lecturer on the Theory and Art of Teach¬ ing in the Michigan Normal School, and now President of the Kalamazoo College, in the same State. His reputation as a man of broad culture, large experience, and great energy, is unsurpassed in the West; and under his supervision it is scarcely possible that the Institution should fail to attain the highest eminence. ” This prediction has been largely fulfilled. He has labored in the University, and through the State, night and day, through good and bad report, through bodily weakness, and family sickness, explaining the working plans, removing misapprehension, inspiring men with his own zeal, and gaining the warmest approbation from men who were at first bitterly opposed to his plan of working. Prof. J. B. Turner, of Jack¬ sonville, savs: “ Our little and censorious criticisms can neither destrov nor aid it. Thank God, it has already, even though beyond our former hope, become too big for any such result. It must now live! It ought to live! and it will live! ” Such is the opinion of the man who originated the scheme of In¬ dustrial Universities through the nation; and who, at onetime, greatly feared that, through mismanagement, its value to this commonwealth would be lost, but who, after careful examination exclaims: “What greater joy can any man have than when he finds things better even than he had dared to hope. ” Here, then, is a place where the sons and daughters of rich and poor can gain the highest culture, at the hands of a devoted and effi¬ cient faculty of men and women. SCHOOL HOUSES. In order to have good schools we must have good school houses. In 1857 there were forty-six schools in the county, twenty-seven of which were kept in log school houses, and the remainder in small frame school or dwelling houses, with the exceptions of Homer, Urbanaand Champaign. These towns contained comfortable brick graded school buildings. Es¬ timating the value of forty-three houses at $200 each—-which is a liberal estimate—and the graded school buildings at $ 20 , 000 , we have $ 24,600 worth of school buildings for the entire county, which contains 1008 square miles. The houses for the most part were low, open and unsight- 21 (Old Log School-House with Greased Paper Windows.) ly j seats usually made of slabs,—a specimen of wlndi can be seen at the Museum in the Industrial University—or of boards or puncheons, with long sticks thrust in them for legs. The desks were so high that an aver- , . age-sized pupil could not much more than reach the top with his chin when (Modern Seat. Cut presented by A. H. Andrews & Co., Chicago, 111.) seated on the benches, or touch his toes on the floor ; not a school-yard in the entire county fenced, unless it happened to be in the same enclo¬ sure with the field where it was located ; houses heated with cook stoves, and broken stoves that seemed to stick together from force of habit ; all of which presents but a faint outline of the condition of school buildings at that date. 22 While it is not claimed that the school houses in this county in 1874 are all that could be desired in the way of capacity, comfort and beauty, a marked change has taken place. The old log houses have entirely disappeared ; with them the old puncheon and slab seats have departed. Of the frame school houses then in existence, only one remains. Better houses fill their places, better seats, and stoves, and other school furni¬ ture are substituted, and better work is done. The graded school buildings in this county are, at a low estimate, worth $150,500. The county school buildings, $160,000. Making an aggregate of $310,500. This does not include the grounds, out-houses and furniture belonging to the schools. The cost of school buildings in this county ranges from five hundred to about seventy-five thousand dollars each. All this building has been done by a vote of the people. CARE OF SCHOOL HOUSES. After good school houses have been built, care should be taken to keep them in a good state of preservation. It will pay well to borrow money to paint school houses when they need it, if there is no money in treasury. The longer a house is left without paint the more it takes to do a good job. School lots should be fenced, so cattle will not break the windows, or hogs make nests under the house and colonize the place with fleas. Blinds protect the windows from hail, and the eyes of the children from too much light. When a house needs painting and the yard is full of weeds, with a broken fence, broken windows, and no good platform in front of the door, no good walk from the gate to the house, it exercises a very bad influence on the minds and habits of pupils. Teachers should be made responsible to a certain extent for the care of the loose property of the district, such as maps and other school appa¬ ratus. The mere mention of the matter by the directors to the teacher would in most cases insure good care of these articles. If children are taught to care for school property and preserve it, they will take good care of property at home. TREES Should be planted in school-yards both for shade and ornament. They contribute largely to the comfort of the children in summer. Beside this, a tree-planting taste should be cultivated. In a few years nearly all the natural forest trees will be used up, and strong efforts should be made to make good the loss. So great has become the necessity for tree¬ planting, that some of the States have offered premiums to those who will plant groves of a given size. Let the boys help to set the trees out in the school-yard, teach them how to plant and take care of trees, and very few of them will be destroyed. It is the duty of school directors to see that 23 trees are planted in school-yards, especially those on the Prairie. Flowers have been cultivated with success in many school-yards. Plant flowers. CLEANLINESS. No matter how poor a person may be, there is no excuse for being habitually dirty. Water is plenty ; is free, let it be freely used. Chil¬ dren naturally incline to dirt, cleanliness is a habit which must be culti¬ vated. Many children ten or twelve years of age would not wash at all unless required to do so. Many children present themselves in the school room with hands and faces black with the dirt of months, perhaps. Besides making an unsightly appearance the dirt stops the pores of the skin, thus driving much of the waste matter of the system back into the circulation, thereby causing, in many cases, sickness and death. Stop the pores in a man’s skin and he dies in a few hours. School officers should notice those who are careless, and urge them to form cleanly habits. Cleanly habits, if formed early, will be practiced through life. VENTILATION. One of the conditions of good health is pure air. Great care should be taken to secure a pure atmosphere in the school room, for the reason that so many children are kept there for six hours per day, all the school days in the year. When the air is bad, or close, as it is termed, children cannot study to advantage ; headache is often pro¬ duced, the lungs are loaded with foul air, diseasing those who are healthy, and developing consumption in those who are predisposed to that fearful disease. No matter how pure the air may be when taken into the lungs, it is a deadly gas (carbonic acid) when expelled. To those within the room the air becomes almost insensibly corrupted, and they are only made aware of their danger by a dull feeling, or by a warning from some one who has just come in out of the fresh air. Thermometers do not reveal the presence of the noxious gas. The teacher should compare the air within the room to that without fre¬ quently, by stepping to the door. But this takes time. Of cout'se it does. It takes time to put wood or coal into the stove, yet no one thinks the time is lost. In most of our schools the only way to ventilate is through the windows. If the windows can not be raised or lowered easily, get them fixed at once. In cold weather open the windows on the side opposite to the wind. Sometimes in warm weather the circulation is stopped from the air in the house and out of doors being equally warmed. In such a case it is folly to attempt to teach ; clear the room at once, open doors and windows, sprinkle the floor, and in five or ten minutes’ time you will be ready to work with vigor and profit. Let teachers re¬ member that their own health, and the health of their pupils, are import- 24 ant, indispensable factors in intellectual culture, that no pains should be spared to secure “a sound mind in a sound body,” that an early death or a life of misery and pain is produced by neglecting God’s simplest laws. SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. This subject has a wide range, and comprises the teacher’s whole duty, both in fitting himself for his work, and carrying the work on in the school-room. Premising that the preparation for the work should be thorough and complete, I leave this part of the subject and offer a few suggestions on how the work should be carried forward. Many teachers make a great mistake at the outset, by supposing that they have nothing to do but teach what is found in the text books, and thus their teaching assumes a shallow, linear and contracted form, entirely opposed to that broad and liberal culture of all the powers of the body, mind and soul which distinguishes the cultured man from the mere intellectual routine]'. In all schools, there are many half or two-third grown boys and girls, whose habits, manners and movements are rude and uncouth. They talk loud and boisterously, they walk noisily and awkwardly, .or, else sit in their seats quaking with terror when they are called on to speak, or move across the room. In the first case they effect a coolness and self-possession, when they are really embarrassed and render themselves very amusing to those around them, and in the second case they largely destroy the good effect of the teacher’s work. One of the first things a teacher should do is, to overcome these objectional habits, for his success as a teacher will largely depend on his securing promptness and grace of movement with clear and gentle tones of voice. I repeat; a teacher cannot attain the highest degree of excellence in teaching who fails to teach his pupils to move gracefully and to exhibit a due degree of self assertion. Now, this cannot be taught at once. Habits of years’ standing cannot be broken up in a day. One telling will not suffice. “Line upon line, precept upon precept,” must be given. Give your awkward, bashful pupil plenty of exercise in walking across the room. If the blackboard is a bugbear to any pupil, send him there to perform some work he can do and leave him there while you are exercising a class on a different study. Thus he will in a short time like to work at the board. Some say cultivate the heart and all will be right. This is a mistake. The heart cannot do much when backed by a cowardly, inefficient pair of legs or hands. Many a man has resorted to stimulants to overcome the awkwardness his teachers failed to correct. Many have sought the com¬ pany of the low and vicious for the same reason. This work must be carried on in connection with the work of the school-room. Strict at¬ tention should be paid to promptness. Pupils should be taught to re¬ spond at the word. When you ask them to stand, see that the request is complied with to the letter. No standing on one foot or leaning against the desk,- seat or wall, should be tolerated. Awkwardness destroys a man’s independence, produces a partial paralysis, causing him to lean on tables, hug posts, or go to the stove on a hot summer day, and exert himself in many absurd ways to get rid of his embarrassment. Beside the injury done his body, and the bad appearance he makes, he soon learns that you do not expect full obedience to your commands. Nothing will unwind the discipline of a school with more certainty. Do not ex- ■ZjO pect to correct these bad habits in a day or week, but work pleasantly, quietly and persistently until the desired postures and movements are attained. SWEEPING AND CLEANING. Sweeping should be done after school at night, and seats and desks should be dusted before school opens in the morning. Children should not be allowed to seat themselves in dusty seats. Cultivate sensitiveness on this point. Never allow them to remain in the school-room when sweeping is going on. Teach them early that the filthy dust from the floor, mixed, as it often is in the country, with the remains of debating clubs and other meetings, i. e. old quids of tobacco and stumps of cigars, is very injurious to the lungs, and to avoid all unnecessary exposure to its influences. Seats can be dusted very well with a piece of old calico, or with long turkey ^or goose feathers tied to a stick. Never allow papers to be torn to pieces and thrown on the floor by pupils. Beside the litter it makes, it develops a tendency to destroy things, and become reckless. See that the shelves under the desks are kept in order, that no nut-shells or other remains of clandestine eating find a lodging place there. Look to the school-yards. Should a teacher when he commences school find the yard littered with sticks, coal, scraps of paper, or weeds, let him pro¬ pose to the school at recess to pile the wood and clear the yard. Let him go out with them and supervise the work, or, better, help with his own hands. In a short time the yard will be cleaned and a lesson of neatness taught which many will carry home with them, and perhaps through life. NEEDFUL THINGS. Sometimes teachers will find no crayons, broom, coal hod, coal box, rubbers, pointers, water pail, cups, wardrobe hooks, wash dish, towel or chair. Sometimes the blackboard needs repairing, glass needs resetting, the yard needs mowing, windows need curtains, fence needs mending. What is to be done? Directors often fail to get these things, even when they are willing to pay for them. They will say that they have no time to go to town, or, they will forget these things when'they do go. With a little extra exertion, the teacher can get all, or, nearly all these things. Corn stalks make good pointers, and are always available. When you cannot get ready-made rubbers ask the boys to bring you pieces of sheep-skin with the wool on. Get pieces of board two inches wide by six long, tack the sheep-skin on, and you will have rubbers that will answer a good purpose. If you can’t get window shades, pin newspapers to the sash. The flood of light that is poured into our school-rooms is very injurious to children’s eyes, and many of them are permanently weakened. News¬ papers will help very much, and if one is torn another is easily obtained to fill its place. If you have no chair, and the directors will not get you one, you will probably find in the neighborhood an old chair frame. Get it, cover it with a board and you have a seat. As for the other wants, ask the directors to allow you to get them supplied and charge it to the district. In most cases they will consent gladly, or get them at once. If they will not get them or allow you, get them and pay for them and before you are through they will pay you in full. Don’t stand on your dignity and say that you engaged to teach school and not to furnish the school-house. You are teaching them, when you do these things, how to furnish, on small capital, how to utilize things 4 26 within their reach, and not to sit down in despair until they have at least exhausted all their resources. People will appreciate your efforts and you will become a power for good in the neighborhood. Don’t scold and growl. Ask the directors for the things you want in a pleasant manly way, and if you are refused, go to work pleasantly to get them some other way. NEW BRANCHES. The branches introduced by the Legislature in 1872, (Physiology, Botany, Philosophy and Zoology,) require careful attention. We cannot expect that all will at once attach to them the importance which they demand. The nomenclatures of these sciences present a vast array of scientific terms which are entirely new to the ma¬ jority. Many look on these new terms with great jealousy, and think it pedantry to use them. New terms, like new laws, pinch us, until we be¬ come accustomed to them. Care must be taken r.ot to introduce too many of them at once. Work slowly, giving derivations and teaching names thoroughly, giving as many practical applications as possible. For instance ; in teaching Physiology tell how to stop blood when a vein or artery is cut. Talk about the abuse of the digestive organs by over-eating and drinking, by eating the wrong kinds of food, by guzzling hot tea and coffee until the stomach is parboiled, and thus rendered unfit for work. Tell them that nine-tenths of the headaches and bad dreams are caused by over-eating, and that more people are destroyed by gluttony, than by whisky. Inform them that tobacco tells fearfully on the digestive organs, and that beside its destructive properties, it is one of the greatest monopo¬ lies in the whole land. At a low estimate Champaign county buys $150,- 000 worth of tobacco yearly. Give them an exercise in arithmetic on the subject. It will do them good. Present to them the fact that using five cents worth of tobacco per day, will amount to $18.25 l )er annum ; that three five-cent cigars per day, will amount to $54.75 per annum, and it will startle those who have not counted the cost. Don’t scold the boys for chewing, but let them know that they cannot chew in the school- house. Help them to quit. Encourage them by giving them some sub¬ stitute for tobacco. Give them something pungent ; for instance, cala¬ mus, cloves, spikenard, and thus tide them over that fearful gulf between a depraved and normal appetite. If teachers will use their best efforts, the Earth will see in one or two generations from this time, a clean¬ mouthed set of men. Look at the lesson of self-control they have learned. Recollect you are forming habits for life, not for one term. If a boy breaks a resolution not to chew, don’t scold but say pleasantly, “try again.” If lessons bother him for awhile, excuse him, but hold him as firmly as possible to the great lesson of self-denial which he is learning. But above all, work with those who have never formed the habit. Fill their minds with a perfect hatred for the practice, and many will thank you while they live. TEETH. Look closely to the teeth of your pupils. Recollect that most of them have the last set of natural teeth they will ever have, and teach them how to take care of them, not forgetting to give a good example. Tell them that if tartar, or, salivary calculus, as it is called, is allowed to collect on the teeth, it will absorb the gums and alveolar process or sockets of the teeth to such an extent that before middle age their teeth will become loose, that it gives to their mouths an unsightly and repulsive 27 aspect, and that it frequently imparts to the breath a most offensive odor. The cuts herewith were kindly furnished by Dr. Blackshaw, of Urbana. Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. i shows a set of teeth encrusted with the tartar, whiclTis fast absorb¬ ing the gums. Fig. 2 represents a case in which the roots of the teeth have become largely exposed from absorption of the aveolar process, or, bone socket. Teeth thus affected emit a more offensive odor than de¬ cayed teeth. Not only are such teeth unsightly and offensive, but the general health is often seriously impaired thereby. Instances are of frequent occurrence where sickly and feeble persons have been restored to good health by the removal of bad teeth. Urge your pupils to go at once to some good dentist and get their teeth cleaned and pluggedpvhenever they need, and to brush them regularly, on the ground that iCpromotes their health and comfort, as much as to wash their faces. They may save thousands of dollars in the purchase of artificial teeth. Infusoria, or small microscopic animals, are often found in the foreign matter in the teeth. Fight steadily against the use of cloth shoes in wet weather, bad air, tight lacing, dirty faces, hands and bodies, on the ground that it is not only unsightly and uncomfortable but that they are fruitful sources of consumption and other diseases. Assure them that tight lacing, thin shoes and late hours kill more young people than hard study, the cate¬ chism or early piety. Make them sensitive on these points. Make*your corrections kindly, and with due regard to the feelings of those whom you wish to correct. Text books on the sciences should be introduced carefully. Cultivate a taste for these studies by giving short oral lessons, make them pointed. Show them the effect which would be produced by the removal of all plant life from the world; that the life, health and wealth of the world are wrapped up in plant seeds; gradually introduce scientific terms. Don’t ignore or mutilate them. Don’t anglicize them in order t© make them easier. Give them their full pronunciation. When you commence teaching do not flourish these studies in the face of the people too sud¬ denly. Proceed quietly, relying on their good common sense to sustain you after a fair trial. Many ask the question, “How can we find time to introduce the new branches when we cannot do justice to the old?” I reply, adjust the exercises in the old studies so as to make room for some exercises in the new. The Arithmetics are loaded down with exercises that are seldom, if ever, applied in business life. How many have any use for Duodecimals, Alligation, Medial, Alligation Alternate, Arithmetical Pro¬ gression, Geometrical Progression, Annuities, Cube Root ? Let these be introduced as high school studies if you please, but do not burden the minds of pupils in our common grades with work which they cannot ap¬ ply twelve months after they have studied them. It is said by some that the efficiency gained does not near compensate for the time expended ; 28 that good practical accountants should be made in one tenth part of the time usually expended on Arithmetic. This is no doubt true. What wonder that a boy fails in ordinary business calculations, when primary, intermediate and higher Arithmetic are all mixed up and crowded to¬ gether in one term ? Many boys and girls after working through the Arithmetic cannot cast the interest on a note when there are partial pay¬ ments, from the fact that in many cases the United States, the Vermont and Connecticut rules have been crammed into their minds in three consecutive days. Select one method of casting the interest, teach it thoroughly, review it frequently, invite people to send in fair written examples (no puzzles), give them written examples yourself. Let them practice as they do on baseball, so they can take them “hot,” or on the “fly;” work this way, I say, on all the practical points that are daily turning up in the life of an average citizen, and my word for it, you will not only make far better business men as far as Arithmetic is concerned, but you will find time to give many very profitable lessons in the natural sciences. I know pupils are anxious to “go through the book;” parents urge them to go through the book, and some teachers boast that they “can carry them through the book in one term,” that the attendance is irregu¬ lar, that there are numerous grades, that many are large and backward, and will not attend school after the present term, but these are only so many reasons why you should concentrate your efforts on vital points. Dwell more on Analysis than proportion, more on linear, square and cubic measures than on troy and apothecaries weights ; more on simple interest than on discount or present worth. See that the work is done in good shape, that the figures are well formed. If you can write fair figures, grasp the hand of the pupil while he holds the crayon, and move it so as to write the figure you desire. He will learn the required move¬ ment in that way quicker than in any other. Practice on 2’s, 3’s and 5’s, they are most difficult to form. Don’t forget to procure pictures to hang up in the school-room. Avoid battle pictures, love-sick daubs, and the like. Get pictures of children, animals and landscapes. Wood cuts are not to be despised if tastefully arranged. When writing to a person for information which interests you more than your correspondent, always inclose a stamp for return postage. It shows that you are thoughtful, and goes far to insure an answer. ASSISTANCE. Do not help pupils too much. If you do, they will rely on you much to their injury and your annoyance. Let them, when reciting lessons where perfect accuracy in the use of language is required—for instance, in repeating the multiplication table, or the weights and measures—repeat the lesson without any aid from the teacher, either by look, sign or word. If they fail, all right. It will waken them up, and make them more self-reliant. Let them have all the glory of failing occasionally. They will understand that they must rely on themselves, and not on you. Some teachers spend much time in pi-op¬ ping and bolstering up a careless or lazy pupil, until he is nearly helpless. Encourage children to study at home. Many boys and girls think that they cannot learn outside of a school-room. Many parents act as though they thought so too. When you have once taught them to set themselves at study you have accomplished one of the most dif¬ ficult and important parts of their education. 29 BOOKS. The book question has always produced much talk and controversy. By many, books are regarded as necessary evils, and the least change, even to another grade of the same series, is looked upon, by some, as a blow to their dearest interests. The introduction of new reading matter in a school produces more or less of a storm of protests. Men and women get tired of the same stories told over and over again. A newspaper, a week old, is thrown by with contempt. If the minister should repeat a few sermons frequently he would soon be informed by his hearers that his productions were getting stale, and that they wanted something fresh. Now, children are as hungry for fresh reading matter as older folks are for new stories, fresh sermons or newspapers. A change of Readers is looked upon by many as a great calamity, because it takes money. Of course it does. It takes money to hire a teacher to help a boy to learn to read, but if by giving a boy more books the time required to teach him is shortened, money is saved in the end. Take an example. A boy has read his first reader through two or three times. He knows all the stories, and cares no more for the book. He has to be urged by the teacher to study. Give him a new first reader and he takes hold at once. He reads at school and at home, and fairly devours the book, and will learn to read twice as fast as if he were confined to one reader. Now, one great object any parent has in view, is to enable his child to read fluently. If this can be accomplished in less time by using more books, why not spend more money in that way and lesson teachers’ wages? Now, I do not wish to be understood as advocating a frequent change of readers: I only say, that more primary reading is needed for our boys and girls than is found in the primary readers of any series out. When a new series of readers is issued, let each family buy a full set, and put it in the library at home. The selections are all choice, the print is good, and the whole of any series can be obtained at a very reasonable price. Several men in this County have from three to seven sets of readers and they all say that it is the best investment they ever made in the educational line. But this is not all the reading to which young people should have access. The historical harvest is, as a rule, mostly gathered by the time a person is from twenty to twenty-four years of age. The business of life and the news of the day crowd out history. En¬ courage this kind of reading early. Put the history of our own country in their hands, after that those of other lands and times. If you were to tell many that Julius Caesar was an American or British general, they could not correct you. The battles of Flodden, Hastings, Marathon, the Nile and the sieges of Troy and Carthage, are to many young persons meaningless terms, for the reason that they have never had access to the histories which portray these wonderful events. See what power a knowledge of history gives. It teaches how governments are formed, and what destroys them, so that when this part of their life-work comes upon them they can act intelligently. Let them also have standard miscellaneous works to read. If you do not help them to good reading they will help themselves to trash, such as the New York Weekly , The Ledger , The Chimney Comer , dime novels, and all the blood and thun¬ der, love-sick trash of the day which is now washing out and dissipating the minds of thousands. Boys and girls in the country can find time to read, especially in the winter. They should be well supplied. Well selected libraries should be 30 placed in every district. The school law gives directors the power to pur¬ chase libraries. Rantoul, Champaign and Urbana have town libraries. Rantoul has 1,070 bound volumes, 11 magazines and 29 newspapers. Champaign 800 volumes. Urbana has over 1,000 volumes, and over 30 newspapers and magazines. Give the young folks good wholesome reading. But books cost money. So do many other things we can get along without. As we have seen, the tobacco used in this county costs $ 150,000 per annum, at wholesale. Tea and coffee, which are at best but luxuries, cost about $100,000 more. Whiskey, beer and kindred drinks cost about $ 500 , 000 . Useless litigation costs about $ 75,000 each year, making in all nearly a million of dollars. The estimate on Tobacco and Whiskey is made from the U. S. Revenue Reports. Now there are nearly 20,000 persons in the county under 21 years of age. Allow each one dollar per year for well selected books and in a few years we will have a choice supply of reading matter for the rising generation, at only a small part of the cost it takes to support that immense monopoly, that all-devouring ring formed by Tobacco, Tea, Coffee, Ardent Spirits, and Litigation. SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. Much trouble might be saved if teachers and parents were better acquainted. Both parties should co-operate heartily in school matters, in order to achieve success. Often an antagonism springs up be¬ tween parents and teachers which even a business acquaintance would at once dispel. In many cases parents cannot control their children, and they seem determined that the teacher shall fail also ; at least their conduct evinces such a desire. They will talk over what they are pleased to call the teacher’s failings, with the utmost freedom be¬ fore their children. The acts, words and even the looks of the teacher are criticised severely. Children are thus encouraged to make daily reports, of any mistakes, real or supposed, that the teacher may make. These reports will be enlarged upon as occasion requires. At this juncture the teacher ffnds it necessary to correct some fault of one of the children. War against the teacher is instantly declared by the whole family. All his supposed faults are paraded and intensified. The most frivolous complaints are made. One day a man told me their teacher did not know anything. Why ? “ Because he can’t tell wdiere the port of Aden is.” Another man said the teacher could not tell wdiere Trinity Bay was. Another said their fool teacher did not know anything about Grammar, because he called The an adjective instead of an article, according to Kirkham. Another failed in Arithmetic because in changing miles to feet he multiplied by -5280 instead of the intermediate number. Others complain that their children are required to learn the definitions of words which they spell, or that the teacher caused the pupil to read or pronounce a sentence or word over several times. Again, one is angry because his child w"as not kept after school instead of being whipped. Another says whip him rill the skin comes off, but don’t keep him after school. In many cases any punishment is better than the one inflicted. On the other hand, teachers fail to govern the school because they cannot govern their own tongues or tempers. If parents criticise harshly, teachers retort in kind. The}" use the grievous words that stir up auger. In some cases they call children fools , blockheads , idiots , liars , or thieves , 31 terms which should never be applied to children in a school-room. Many teachers use sarcasm. Used towards children, it is a coward’s weapon, because they cannot retort in kind. It requires but little in¬ tellectual capital to use it. The spirits of many children have been crushed by its blighting, withering blast. No true teacher will use it, except in extraordinary cases. Whip a child if need be, but do not wither his soul with scorn, and contempt. Children feel such words more than we think, and their after-lives are deeply affected by them. Let teachers and parents work in harmony. If they do not, dire con¬ sequences will follow. If parents encourage insubordination on the part of the children, they are sowing the wind, and they will as surely reap the whirlwind. If parents allow children to curse their teachers with impunity, these curses will return with fearful certainty on the heads of the household. Several instances of this kind have come under my observation. When a parent feels that his child has been wronged in school, let him quietly talk the matter over with the teacher, listen to his reasons calmly, and in nine cases out of ten the trouble can be adjusted to the satisfaction of all concerned. When parents encourage insubordination in school, or contempt of school government, they will receive a ten-fold reward in the shape of defiance of parental authority. The hearts of many parents have been brought down with sorrow to the grave, from the fact that they had not the courage and unselfishness to correct and restrain the wills of their children. Many do not correct their children because it hurts their own feelings. Others punish brutally merely to gratify personal vengeance. Either motive is selfish, and destructive of good govern¬ ment. In dealing with children, parents and teachers should lay aside cowardice and passion. They should remember that society de¬ mands at their hands good citizens, and that parents especially, are responsible, either directly or indirectly, for all the had men and women in the country. Many young men who to-day are street loafers, might be useful members of society had their parents controlled them in their early years. It is common to hear people say, let the boys sow their wild oats, and they will settle down by and by. Such peo¬ ple forget that as a man, (or boy,) soweth so shall he reap. They forget that those who sow wild oats must sooner or later harvest the crop, and that this harvest will come in the shape of a ruined character, broken health and a dissipated mind, at a time when all the powers of a healthy bod}^ and soul are needed to meet the stern realities of life. It fre¬ quently occurs, after men have seen the mistakes of their early life, and desire to do better, that instead of giving to the world the ener¬ gies of a strong, pure and vigorous manhood, nearly all their powers are exercised in patching up the ruptures of soul and body, which have been produced by what is politely termed youthful indiscretion. Let parents, then, as they value the happiness of themselves and their children, assume the control, which the laws ol God and man have given them. If it is good for them to be at school, let no trifling- excuse keep them away. If it is bad to be on the streets associating with the idle and vicious, take time to keep them at home, or at school. Let teachers and parents work together earnestly to control the children, and the good resulting from such an effort cannot be calcu¬ lated. 32 SCHOOL OFFICERS AND TEACHERS. School officers and teachers should be very careful not to use their official position to punish personal enemies. It is to be regretted that this is sometimes done. For a man to pervert the power delegated to him by his constituents in this manner is at once unmanly, dishonest and cowardly. When dealing officially with a known enemy, an officer should be very careful not to allow passion or prejudice to bias his ac¬ tion in the least. Nothing strengthens prejudice more than an undue display of power or authority. Firmness is necessary, but self should be eliminated entirely. In the selection of teachers by directors, favoritism and relationship should be banished, and merit called to the front. Some officers who require a high standard of excellence, sud¬ denly lower it when a relative asks for a situation. As a rule, young teachers should not teach their first school in the district in which they have been educated. The sins of the parents will assuredly be visited on the heads of the children by those with whom they are at enmity. Teachers, whose parents have enemies in the district, will soon, as a rule, find these enemies on their track. In one instance a school was broken up from the fact that the uncle of the teacher employed, was obnoxious to some of the patrons of the school. As a rule, teachers should only be employed in their own district after they have estab¬ lished their power as good teachers. VISIT OTHER SCHOOLS. It is good for teachers to visit the schools of others as occasion pre¬ sents, not for the purpose of finding fault and boasting how much better schools they teach, or indulging in spiteful or harsh criticism, and then telling how badly the school is governed, how poorly taught, how dirty the children, the school house, the yard, how outlandishly the teacher is dressed, &c., but be careful while noticing these faults to avoid them. See that all the good points in the school are remembered. Some teachers do not scruple to criticise others adversely in order to secure their places, and visit schools merely to obtain items to procure the overthrow of their fellows. Some teachers will change the order of exercises to some well pre¬ pared lessons that are kept well preserved to display before visitors. In some cases the change is made without any effort at concealment, in others it is so adroitly done that it will scarcely be noticed. In either case no true judgement can be formed as to the daily working of the school. Such conduct lays the foundation deep and broad for a life of untruth and duplicity, on the part of the pupils. When a change of programme is made, let all understand that it is a review, not a new lesson. PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. I know the subject is old and hackneyed, but in the language used in a report of the State Superintendent, Dr. Bateman, “ Old truths need often to be restated and re-argued. Radical distinctions, unless frequently re-affirmed lose the clearness of their original demarkation, and the strongest convictions gradually fade from the minds of men unless the supporting evidence is occasionally presented afresh." 33 This truth stands good in reference to holding up to public condem¬ nation the sins of lying, stealing, profanity, and murder. This has been done ever since the days of Adam, and the battle will be waged between right and wrong until the latter is obliged to hide its head in shame and confusion. Let us, then, consider patiently, some of the good and bad methods of Primary teaching. The great practical mis¬ take made by our teachers is in cramming the minds of children with that which, in effect, amounts to arbitrary abstractions. In thousands of instances, the first thing offered to a child is, that (to him) indi¬ gestible mass known as the Alphabet. As well might we expect to nourish a child’s body by giving him saw-dust for dinner, as to expect to nourish his mind with such mental pabulum. If any one has doubts in regard to the depth of the Egyptian darkness through which the child has to plunge, let him recollect the darkness which surrounded him when he learned the Greek Alphabet, aided by the strength of manhood and the light of reason. After the alphabet has beHn dis¬ posed of, other dainty bits are thrust into the child’s mind,—such as bla, ble, bli, bio, bin, bly, kra, kre, kri, kro, kru, krv. Next in order come what are supposed to be easy words,—such as cyst, woad, veer, deem, bulb, fraught, yacht, chicane, caitiff, inane, purvey, on to lu-gu- bri-ous, nu-ga-to-ry, hy-pot-e-nuse, hyp-o-chon-dri-ac, ob-liq-ui-ty, cen- trif-u-gal, am-phib-i-ous, me-te-or-ol-o gy, an-ti-trin-i-ta-ri-an, val-e-tu- di-na-ri-an. What must be the effect produced on the mind of a child, while plodding his weary way through this Erebus, without one ray of light to cheer him ! It is simply another proof of the immortality of the soul, that the tender mind can be subjected to such a strain and grind, and yet survive it. The body could not sustain it forty-eight hours. Again and again is the mind of the child hurled against these verbal Gibraltars, onlv to recoil, stunned and defeated. This is no fancy sketch. Many parents, and, I am sorry to say, many teachers, insist that a child should “go through the spelling-book” before learning to read simple words which he can comprehend. Parents will sit with staring eyes, and mouth agape, while their children are spelling column after column of words, the meaning of which is to them a sealed book,—words which they will perhaps never have occasion to use. But, says one, the child can understand and use these words when he grows to be a man. As well might the child be clothed in the garments of manhood, in order to add strength and symmetry to his body. If one-fourth of the time spent in teaching us spelling had been spent in teaching us the meaning of some of the words, we should all know more than we do to-day. Again, all dragging and drawling tones result from vicious teaching. They are unnatural, and can not be acquired without severe training. The persevering effort required to teach a child to whine and drag his tones would, if directed aright, make him a good elocutionist. The child drags on in this way, until at last, showing more wisdom than his teachers, he becomes ashamed of his bungling, and corrects himself. The way to remedy these evils is to treat a child as a reason¬ able being, and not as a warehouse ; to awaken and stir him up to ac¬ tive thought, instead of filling his mind, like an old garret, with odds and ends, some of which may possibly be used in years to come. In¬ stead of commencing with the alphabet, give the child words to pronounce which he can understand. Teach him to pronounce them at sight. Let them be repeated until they become as familiar as the 5 34 face of his mother. See to it, that he understands the meaning. Do not allow him to spell a word before pronouncing it, thus—J-o-h-n John i-s is i-n in t-h-e the t-u-b tub. Spelling produces the dragging tone, from the fact that the eye rests on each letter and the tongue follows suit. Let them take the word at a mouthful, and I will warrant 3^011 against that worse than howling which we frequently hear in our prim ary read in g-classes. But some say, this word-method is a new notion. Old teachers, and those who have been successful in the profession never use it. This is a mistake. Besides being the only natural method of teaching our language, it is the oldest in the world. God spake to Adam. Parents have been speaking to their children ever since. When a child sees a wagon for the first time, and asks what it is, his father does not spell it out to him by saying tongue, wheel, axle, box, wagon. He is taught to call it wagon at once, before he knows the difference between the box and the wheel. It is only when we teach children to read from a book, that we use the unnatural method of spelling first. Again, all teachers use the word-method, though all are not aware of it. They are obliged to, from the fact that the child cannot pronounce a word after he has spelled it, until the teacher tells him what it is. There is no more analogy between the names of the letters in the word boy, and the pronunciation of the word, than there is between a polar bear and a saw-mill. In other words, a child can obtain as good an idea of the bear, by examining the mill, as he can of the pronunciation of the word boy, by hearing the names of the letters which enter into its composition. Instead, then, of having an alphabet of only twenty- six letters, we have one of forty thousand. I repeat, then, that every teacher is obliged to use the word-method, sooner or later. Had we a letter to represent every elementary sound in the language, then there would be some sense in commencing with the alphabet. As it is, we bind the grievous burden on the tender shoulders of the child, and goad him on without mercy until he has accomplished the heartless task. Sometimes the question is asked, How can a drawling style of reading be broken up, after it has been once acquired ? Simply by never allowing the child to repeat it. Make him 'pronounce the words in the lesson, giving the falling inflection after every word, thus ; John' lias' a' white' mouse'. Drill him thus for weeks, if necessary, until he acquires full control of his voice. Keep it up as long as he shows the least disposition to hang fire. Let every word he utters ex¬ hibit sharp and distinct outlines. In spelling, let every letter be uttered w r ith the falling inflection, also every sound in Phonic Analysis. Be¬ sides ridding the school-room of this pest, it will have a tendency to correct that precipitancy in reading which frequently results from bashfulness. Classes in Teachers’ Institutes are not drilled sufficiently on Primary reading. The higher grades of readers are almost invariably used, to the exclusion of the primary readers ; or, what is worse, the time is used in giving a lecture on reading, without drilling the class at flji. The number of teachers who can read well.in the first reader is astonishingly small, and the number who can teach children to read as they should is alarmingly smaller. They are astonished when you tell them that they should study these primary lessons before exercis¬ ing their classes. They seem to think that, if tluyy teach children to . r pMiibUhce the WOnls correctly, their work is done, and that they can be “polished up,” as they call it, when they take the higher readers. They seem to forget that this course of instruction renders the surface so rough that it will scarcely receive a polish. The utmost care should be taken to cultivate proper tones while the voice is flexible, and not to wait until it becomes stiff and almost uncontrollable. I know of no harder work than teaching a class of adults to read with taste. You might almost as well try to teach a crow to sing, or, instruct a donkey in thorough bass. The physical and mental labor required of the teacher is intense. Visit the Normal School when a new class of teachers is under a drill exercise in reading. Listen to the ring-boned, spavined, foundered and wind-broken voices which the teacher is labor¬ ing hard to cure, and then pass down to the Primary department of the Model School, and see children trained up in the way they should read. Witness the ease and promptitude with which they imitate every tone of the teacher at the first trial, and, I think, all will see the vast im¬ portance which attaches to a thorough cultivation of the voice while young. In cultivating the voice, the elemental sounds of the language (the very quintessence of Orthography, ) should be thoroughly taught. What is thought of the music-teacher who fails to drill his class on the seven elemental sounds in music ? He is considered a quack, and is soon driven from the work. There are upwards of forty elementary sounds in our language ; yet there are many teachers who ignore them entirely. Teachers present themselves for certificates, with college- diplomas in their hands, who cannot utter separately, the sounds in the word man, to save their lives. They have been taught, either by precept, or example, that it will not do to spend their time on such trifles. In many cases, when a young lad}’ has learned to produce discordant sounds on a piano, to draw two objects so that their respect¬ ive shadows point toward each other, to pronounce the words loga¬ rithms and conic sections, to speak vicious French, and unpardonable German, she is pronounced by her Alma Mater to be amply qualified to fill any position in that fortunate society where her lot may be cast, even down to teaching school, if she should condescend to do the work. Many have told me that they regretted exceedingly that more of their time had not been spent in acquiring a thorough knowledge of the primary branches. They had learned too late, that they were largely ignorant of what they were required to teach, and the once highly-prized diploma was only a source of mortification. It is hoped that the time may speedily come, when the teachers in these schools will prove themselves to be wise master-builders, workmen who need not to be ashamed. Allusion has been made to the use of the spelling-book in the prima¬ ry departments. It is a great stumbling-block, and should never be placed in the hands of a child until he has passed through the third reader. What! says one, will you not teach him how to spell? By all means, teach him how to spell. Require him to spell all the words in the three readers. Ask him to spell words in the Arithmetic and Geography which he studies. Let him write them on the blackboard. By this means he will be obliged to notice the construction of words closely, and learn to spell a large majority of the words which he may have occasion to use through life. Let the drill be especially thorough on such words as sure, which , tongue, field , sieve , debt, February , twelfth , parallel, infiamation, business , etc. Write lists of such words ini the blackboard, mid dwell on them until they ate thoroughly mas* tered. A vast amount of time is wasted in requiring children to spell again and again words with which they are perfectly familiar, such as boy , dog , cat , rat , pig, etc. The word boy is spelled one hundred times where the word tongue is spelled once. Attack the strongholds with energy and determination, and do not flag until they are taken; but be careful how you waste your time and energy in harassing your captives. A few words concerning Arithmetic. Enough time is not given to teaching children to read and write numbers. The utmost care¬ lessness is practiced in writing numbers. Examine the work on nine- tenths of the blackboards—high schools included—and what wretched apologies for figures meet your eyes. The sight of these caricatures would be enough to drive a Hogarth or Punch frantic with jealousy. Teachers in many cases set the example. Many who can write letters well, fail when they write figures. Again, as soon as children can add two or more numbers by counting their fingers, or marks on their slates, they are hurried on to something else. When working in division, they are obliged to cling to the written multiplication-table with a desperation only equaled by the grasp with which a drowning man holds to a plank. This is all wrong. See to it that the figures are well formed. Correct a child when he writes an ill-shaped figure as promptly as when he makes a mistake in addition or subtraction. Drill him on addition till lie can perform the work correctly and promptly. Pupils never grow too large for this work. Train them until they are as large as Goliah, if nec¬ essary. A great share of the business transactions in life are in addition; yet how few, even of our business men, are good accountants. In teaching this part of Arithmetic, the old maxim, “train a child in that which he will have to practice when he becomes a man,” is lost sight of. See that the multiplication-table is mastered, and there will be little trouble in division. If we hurry over these points, we only subject the pupil to the necessity of perfecting himself in these partic¬ ulars after he leaves school. The merchant, for instance, wants a clerk who can write figures legibly and add correctly, Many boys have failed to get good positions from the fact that they could not write figures well. A strong desire is manifested, on the part of many parents, to send their children to school before they are of legal school age. So strong is this desire that frequently they will send them with a lie in their mouths, by telling them to say that they are five or six years old, when they are only about four. In this way the parent succeeds in killing two birds with one stone, he seriously impairs the moral as well as the physical powers of the child. Besides this fearful mistake, another is almost universally prac¬ ticed. Many people think that the benefit a child derives from attend¬ ing school is in direct proportion to the number of hours he is kept at study, hence teachers are required to hold all their pupils, large and small, in school for six hours per day. As far as regards small children, this practice results in producing disorder in school, break¬ ing down the health of the pupils and discouraging them. It produces disorder, because little children cannot remain still long at a time, from nature and force of habit. At home, it would be a great pun¬ ishment to an active child to require it to sit still for twenty minutes BY at one time* Children must exercise, and that disturbs the school. Jt impairs the health, because their bones and muscles are tender and yield fearfully to a continued pressure. If seats are too high, the thigh-bones will be bent. Often curvature of the spine results, causing not only deformity, but many times incurable diseases. Besides these ruinous results on order and health, the mind— which we are so anxious to discipline and store with useful knowledge— loses its power, and is dwarfed and gnarled by such treatment. Now, what is the remedy? If children must be sent to school as soon as they are six years old, don’t keep them there six hours per day. If you want the teach¬ er to earn his money by staying at the school-room, keep him there from daylight till dark, but do not torture children by compelling them to sta}' till they are wearied and disgusted with school. We send children to school too early in life. Given, two boys of an equal ca¬ pacity, mental and physical. Let one be taught from books, com¬ mencing at the age of four years; let the other be trained to observe closely the things with which he comes in contact, and to speak cor¬ rectly and distinctly, not allowing him to use a book until he is eight years old, and the probabilities are strong, that at the age of fifteen, the boy who commenced the study of books at the age of eight years, will have far outstripped his companion who, in books, had four years the start. Nothing is gained in the end by crowding young children in study any more than there is in working colts too young. They may perform great feats, but it is usually at such an expenditure of power that in Hie years to come, when great efforts are required, they are found wanting. Instead of carefully protecting and storing up power in the minds of children, we rob the rising generation of their inheritance, and gain nothing but disappointment ourselves. Let small children, then, have short sessions, and short, wide-awake lessons, remembering that where a school is backward, or the children small, the very best of teachers should be employed. Many small children are sent to school for the avowed purpose of getting them out of the way. If parents cannot take care of their children let them club together and hire a nurse, and not coniine the little ones in a school-room. WHITING. Notwithstanding that so much stress is laid on good writing, the fact remains, that there are comparatively few good writers. The let¬ ters are ill-shaped, uneven and unsightly. This is caused, in the first place, by carelessness on the part of both teacher and pupil. Pupils are allowed to write as they please, fast or slow, little or much. An¬ other reason is found in the frequent change of teachers. A man is employed to teach the winter school who writes a bold, round hand. He is required to u set the copies.” His writing is good, but not at all times alike. This change of style, however slight, is injurious. A still more fatal effect is produced by a change of teachers. Next sum¬ mer a lady is employed, who writes a nice, angular hand, and the pupils are required to reproduce her copies. The next term another 38 man is employed, who is a miserable writer, and of course the pupils are obliged to imitate his scrawling. Under such a course of training is it any wonder that at the end of several years of practice, very few of our boys and girls become good writers? The only available remedy is found in the use of printed copies. Place before the pupil a perfect model, and strive earnestly to make him imitate it. The teacher should never hear another exercise while writing is going on. It takes all his available teaching power to hold the class up to good work. Printed copy-books are nearly as cheap as blank paper. Practice faithfully on the first two or three numbers of the series where the letters are spaced, as in reading and other studies. The desire to prac¬ tice in the higher numbers is the great stumbling block in the road to excellence. In writing, as in all other exercises where skill is required, you will save time by “making haste slowly.” SINGING. Singing should be an every-day exercise in school. If the teacher cannot sing some one in the school can lead, and this pleasant part of the school exercises need not be neglected. Do not mistake loud noise for music. Sometimes it amounts to nothing but concert screeching. The voices shatter and shiver like a sliver on a rail on a windy day. Many voices are utterly broken in early youth by the great strain to which they have been frequently subjected. Cultivate full, smooth tones, and build up the voice carefully, being particular about the clear enunciation of each word. Teach them to avoid that fashionable operatic style of singing that rolls, mixes, chops and mangles the words until they are utterly past recognition, making a hash of screech, howl, bray and words which is an offense to the taste of nine-tenths of the hearers. One great reason of Mr. Sankey’s suc¬ cess as revival singer is the fact that every word he sings can be under¬ stood Ivy every one in the house. There is no uncertain sound about them. If folks wish to exhibit compass of voice, let them sing notes, and not murder the innocent language in order to show their musical paces and set people’s teeth on edge. Sing a new piece very carefully, remembering that music is th a, servant not the master of words. That it is intended to give words force, not to bury them in a chaos of sounds. POOR TEACHERS. Complaint is made—and with good reason—that many teachers lack the proper teaching qualifications necessary for the work. This is true, but not strange. The wonder is that girls from fifteen to twenty years of age will take charge of, teach and control from twenty to forty children, many of whom come from homes where parental authority is daily defied with impunity, and succeed as well as*they do. I have known parents whose children ruled them with a rod of iron, complain about the discipline of the school and yet encourage their own children in disorder. This lack of experience on the part of teachers is perpetuated from the fact that on an average they do not teach more than three years all told. Other business is more lucrative 39 and pleasant, and invites them away. Many get married. Their places have to be filled with raw recruits. Under such circumstances it is folly to expect to find a perfect line of teachers. Added to all this there are some teachers who never will succeed, either because they are idle, lazy, or not apt to teach, just as some farmers and me¬ chanics might practice until they were as old as Methusala and never be able to do a good job of work. The cure for all this is to find good teachers, and pay them sufficient wages to keep them in the field. But after all, teachers average as well as those in any other calling. There are very few first-class men in any pursuit. Ninety-five per cent, of the men in mercantile life fail or quit the business. There are very few first-class hired men or women, or farmers or mechanics. Do some teachers fail in school government? Thousands of pa¬ rents fail in family government. Are teachers tardy? It rarely occurs that men are all prompt in point of time. Do teachers destroy school apparatus and let school property go to destruction generally? Look at the reapers, mowers, hay rakes, wagons, cultivators, plows, harrows, threshing machines, corn planters, hoes, shovels, etc., that are left to rot in the places where they were last used. Nor are communities any better. Two township road graders that cost $675 each, were left out all last Winter. The shrinkage from exposure on machinery alone in one year would run the schools of the county. Are teachers cruel and exacting? See how many parents kick, cuff' and over work their children and horses. Are teachers contentious and willful? Look at the circuit court record and see how trivial cases are made to assume great proportions. One suit, having for its foundation a calf worth five dollars, cost the litigants over $2,000. A steer worth $15 cost $1,200 after being manipulated by the courts. The costs in a slander suit amounted to $900 besides attorney’s fees. One case of trespass and damage cost $300 besides attorney’s fees. Another $400. All these cases come from the farming community, a class whose business is more conducive to “ peace on Earth and good will to men ’’ than any other calling; a class who denounce lawyers with great vehemence and bitterness. Mr. Whitcomb, circuit clerk, says that court is held ninety days each year, and that the average daily attendance is at least one hundred. Estimating each man’s time and exoenses at three dollars per day, and’we have the cost of attendance alone at $27,000 per year. These things show the strength of the will-power among our peaceable men. I have heard lawyers advise clients not to go to law, with no other effect than to cause them to go elsewhere for counsel. I am happy to state in this connection, that for the last sixteen years but very few school law suits, excepting for the collection of school money, have passed through the circuit court. I am glad to say that Col. Wolf, Mr. Jones, Mr. Somers, Judge Cunningham, S. White, R. C. Wright, and Judge Avers have assisted me bv advice to the contend- ing parties, to prevent the bringing of school suits. CONCLUSION. In conclusion let ms suggest to school superintendents of other .counties to write up the early school histories of their respective fields of labor. Those who know it will soon pass away. Let it be re- t 40 corded in a permanent form, and it will become more and more valu¬ able as time rolls on. Should the publication of this report induce others to write the educational histories of their counties, my work wall not have been in vain. My official work in the schools of this county is now done. I wish I could say well done, but I know that many mistakes have been made. Some cherished hopes have fallen to the ground, but on the contrary, other hopes have been more than realized. People do not give that personal attention to the education of their children that its importance demands. The great aim of life with many seems to be to amass wealth, and to leave their posterity in possession of a goodly amount of property. Sometimes they see too late that the prospects of a rich inheritance has induced their children to form idle, dissolute and extravagant habits. There are many parents who dread the time when their heirs will assume control of their property, from the fact that it will all be squandered, and the ruin of the children hastened. Had these parents devoted themselves half as zealously to the culti¬ vation of the hearts and minds of their children, as they did to money¬ making, the}^ would rise up to bless them, instead of bring¬ ing down their gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. The heir expectant to a fortune stands on dangerous ground. Bad people will cultivate his acquaintance, and even furnish him with money in order to corrupt his soul and body, knowing that in due time they will possess the wealth which the parents have amassed with so much toil, anxiety and hardship. And not unfrequently is added to this keen disappointment the curses, derision and reproaches of their ruined offspring. Riches seldom pass to the third generation. Men heap up wealth and do not know who will get it. The wealthy men of to-day were, for the most part, poor boys, with no other capital than good health, a stout heart, and a determination to succeed. Nearly all the great statesmen and men of profound scholarship have worked their way up with little, or no pecuniary aid from their parents. Through the instrumentality of the free school they were roused to greater efforts, until a national reputation has been accorded them, no matter how poor in purse they may be. When a man whose reputation de¬ pends on his wealth, loses all, very few will do him honor. Let parents beware how they heap up riches at the expense of the minds and souls of their children. Money is not all that is required. Parents must give more personal attention to education. But my hopes have been more than realized in the promptness with which the demands for school-houses and school privileges have been met. Within the last sixteen years over two hundred school- houses have been built in this county, many of them in localities which the most sagacious observers thought would not be settled in thirty or forty years from that time. The land is inhabited. The wilderness has become a fruitful field. The bells which summon the children to school can be heard by the inhabitants of every section. Troops of children, with the flowers of the season in their hands, flock to the school-room, where they are met by teachers, who not only strive to instruct them in Mathematics and language, but to teach them how their own bodies are constructed, and how to take care of them, also the habits and structure of animals, from the insect up to the largest form of animated nature. To this is added lessons on plants, and thus the perceptive faculties are cultivated, opening wide fields for enjoyment and 41 profit. Said a farmer one day, “When my children come home and talk about plants and flowers, I can see how much I have lost for lack of early training in the natural sciences.” Let all the children, especially the children of farmers, have this liberal culture, which the State has so wisely provided. Says our State Superintendent, Dr. Bate¬ man, “What a day will dawn upon our country, when the toiling millions shall become clear-thinking, strong-minded, high-souled men , as well as brave, strong-armed, industrious laborers in the fields of physical industry. It would send the sun of our national glory quickly to its millenial splendor, and terminate the long reign of demagogues forever. Who can estimate the loss to this and every other common¬ wealth, because so few of the whole body of the citizens are thus educated. The state calls, the country claims, a thousaud interests demand such an education of the masses. There is no office, trade or business, where such men should not be found.” That I have worked earnestly and heartily in this direction many will bear witness, and when I think of the labor, exposure and disap¬ pointments I have met, I will also recollect the hearty co-operation, the words of cheer, the kind wishes, the hearty thanks, the generous hospitality, which I have experienced at the hands of teachers, pupils and people, with abiding pleasure and satisfaction, hoping that my successor may be the recipient of the same kindness and courtesy. Early in my official work many were opposed to free schools—now but very few object, and they are mostly persons of some wealth who have no children. Now suppose for a moment, that all the children in this county, under fifteen years of age, were to be at once removed, what would be the effect on the property of these grumblers? Their real estate would melt away astonishingly before such a calamity. Childreivare the wealth and hope of the country. Without them industry would be paralyzed, trade stagnated, railroad and other stocks shriveled, and premature decay would be suddenly written on every work of man. When the first-born throughout the land of Egypt died, they parted gladly with three millions of Hebrew slaves, they loaded them with ornaments of gold, silver and precious stones, and hastened their departure lest the rest of their children should be destroyed. Nine plagues had been sent upon them without any effect, but when their precious children were taken, their pride was broken, their haughty spirits melted, and they quickly gave away millions of dollars’ worth of property to save those who were left. Shall we be less wise than those heathen Egyptians? Shall we withhold our mite of taxation, while our children are being led down the broad road to death by passion, avarice and crime? Shall even the poorest child of poverty in the land call upon us for that culture of mind and soul that will enable him to work for God and humanity, and be sent empty away? Never! Allow no miser or demagogue to defraud children of their birth-right. That it takes mone}^ is true, but while we have been expending about two million dollars on education, the property in the county has been enhanced in value nearly twenty millions. Men may pass by our schools with indifference or contempt, stuffed with the idea that weightier things demand their care; but the fact remains that all the wealth of the county, the state, the nation, the world, is due to the culture of the bodies, minds and souls of the people. In¬ stances are abundant where millions of dollars of material wealth have been gained as the direct result of educating one poor boy. The 6 42 wealth of the human mind is immense. The gold mines of the world are dross compared with it. The question of the Great Teacher “What shall a man give in exchange for his soul 11 has never yet been an¬ swered. God has given unto us this'world and all its wealth in order that we may get wisdom and understanding, and forget it not. If we lose sight of this great fact we toil in vain. If we keep it in view, and labor like wise master-builders our work will be imperishable. Let us work earnestly and the result is sure, whether we live to see it or not. Before “peace on earth and good will to men” shall everywhere prevail, violence, strife, oppression, fraud and deceit must be driven away. Be it our work to put down these furies that destroy mankind, and usher in tiic reign of good-will and peace. T. R. LEAL. APOLOGY. An apology is due for the delay in issuing this Report. In the first place, it required some time to get up the engravings; secondly, af¬ ter two forms had been set up, the printing press was moved to Danville, and it took some time to get in running order again; thirdly, the boiler gave out in a very short time, and had to be replaced by a new one. These delays are to be regretted, but could not well be avoided. NOTICES OF ADVERTISEMENTS. I would call especial notice to the advertisements of books given in this Report. Among the wholesale dealers in school books, tin 1 firm of Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co. is represented by Ed. Cook, of Chicago, who always does just what he says. Cowperthwait & Co. are represent¬ ed by Mr. Belden, who is just as reliable as Cook. Some of the school books issued by these firms have been recommended in this county by the book committee last Spring. Mr. Kisseli, formerly School Super¬ intendent for the State of Iowa, is agent for I). Appleton & Co. I have found him to be as upright as Cook or Belden. lie sells Krusi’s draw¬ ing series, which should be in every school in the land. Jansen, McClurg & Co. have one of the largest and finest book stores in the United States, and have on hand a full line of books, from a liundred-dollar-Bible to a five cent-picture book for a child. They are doing a great work for the West in the way of furnishing first-class reading matter for the people. A. H. Andrews & Co., are the heaviest dealers in school furniture and school apparatus in the West. E. V. Peterson, of Champaign City, sells books at a low margin, and can furnish them by the quantity very cheap. Hunt & Hollister, Cunningham, Sim, and Somers, of Urbana, can sell books at bottom prices. Hunt & Hollister have quite a line of Geological Specimens from the Rocky Mountains. Read the notice of the Illinois School Master. All school officers and teachers should subscribe for it. Wm. H. Tyler & Co., of Chicago, can furnish engravings of almost anything from a slab seat to a good likeness of the human face, and do very cheap. Read all the advertisements; it will not take much time-, and may do you much good. •J o GEORGE SCROGGS, JOB PRINTER, BOOKBINDER AND BLANK BOOK MAKER, CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS. The Champaign County Gazette is published every Wednesday, and specially devoted to County and Local affairs. It is Republican in politics. TERMS, - - $2 PER YEAR. JOHN W. SOMERS, DRUGGIST. This old Drug establishment is at No. 6, opposite the Court House, URBANA, - - - ILLINOIS. Everything is kept that is usual in this line. Pat¬ ronage of public is respectfully invited. ALEXANDER SPENCE, DEALER IN Groceries, Provisions and Bakery, Cor. Main and Market sts., URBANA, - - - ILLINOIS. I keep constantly on hand a full line of Staple and Fancy Groceries, Which I will sell as cheap as any house in the County. Special attention to Students in delivery of Bread, Cakes and Pies to the University once a day. Clubs solicited. All goods delivered free. First Class Clothing House. Full stock of Men’s and Boys’ Clothing always on hand, at low figures. Trunks, &c., cheap. 22 MAIN STREET, URBANA, - - ILLINOIS. E. V. MILES & BRO., Proprietors of the OGDEN MILLS. Best brands of Flour always on hand at the Mills and at their FLOUR Sc FEED STORE, 49 MAIN STREET, URBANA, - ILLINOIS. Oats, Corn, Meal and Mill Feed, &c., &c., by the Feed or bushel, at the Lowest Cash Price. E. V. MILES & BRO. GLOBE MILLS. Merchant and Custom Flour Of the Best Brands. FLOUR AND MEAL Strictly made from their own Grain when customers wish. Said by good judges to be the best finished Mill in the United States. WM. PARK & SON, Sidney, Illinois. ATTENTION, FARMERS! GO TO GEORGE CALL’S PLOW AND WAGON m:y^vt t e^ycto ry, URBAKTA, - ILLINOIS, To buy Cheap Plows and Wagons. Old plows made new, and new plows warran'ed to scour. Sold to farmers at wholesale prices. PLOWS of any MAKE REPAIRED, HARDENED and POLISHED. I also manufacture and sell a RIDING PLOW which I warrant to do as good work, with less draft, than any other Riding Plow. Price for 16 inch Plow, with 16 inch Rolling Cutter, $50. JOHN KEIMUND, DEALER IN WATCHES, CLOCKS JEWELRY, PLATED-WARE, AND 34 Main St. URBANA, ILLS. SPECTACLES A SPECIALTY. Repairing and Engraving promptly executed. NEW BOOT A1VD SHOE STORE. R. A. WEBBER, DEALER IN BOOTS & SHOES, No. 16 RACE STREET, URBANA, - - ILLINOIS. Repairing* Bone on Short Notice, THE URBANA REPUBLICAN ESTABLISHED IN 1869. The Only Paper Published at the County Seat of Champaign County. The Republican is a 48-column paper, and contains, weekly, the latest news, both GENERAL and LOCAL. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, $2 A YEAR, IN ASVANCjE. FRANK M. SNYDER, Publisher. JOB WORK NEATLY AND PROMPTLY EXECUTED, AND AT REASONABLE RATES. W. W. & J. H. GRAHAM, (Successors to John Gere,) DEALERS IN DRY GOODS, NOTIONS, CARPETS, BOOTS & SHOES. A full line of Goods always on hand, at prices that defy competition. Wo. 3 Street, URBANA, - - ILLINOIS. M. TIRRNAN, DEALER IN GROCERIES, PROVISIONS, Queensware and Earthenware. I'S'o- 3LC3 TV2I;i i m S»-fcx*ee't ? URBANA, - - ILLINOIS. I keep on hand a full assortment of STANDARD and FANCY GROCERIES. Quality of Goods—EIRST CLASS. All Goods delivered in the City FREE OF CHARGE. WEBSTER, DAVIES & CO., Dealers in L XT 3MC 23 33 H., Grain, Coal, &c., URBANA, - - - ILLINOIS. Cars Loaded on Short Notice. MORRIS LOWENSTERN, Wholesale and Retail Dealer in Staple and Fancy DRY GOODS, Boots, Shoes, Carpets and Oil Cloths, Main Street, Urbana, Ill. M. E. MONNETT, DEALER IN GROCERIES -PLINTH} FRUITS. Goods Exchanged for Produce. STO K.E 7 COR. RACE AND ELM STS., URBANA, - - ILLINOIS. MONROE’S READERS RETAIL PRICES. First Reader.$ 30 Second Reader. 50 Third Reader. 70 Fourth Reader. 84 Fifth Reader. 1 25 Sixth Reader. 1 50 LIBERAL DISCOUNTS FROM RETAIL PRICES, For introduction into each School in the county. Officially recommended by County Com¬ mittee for use in Graded Schools of Champaign county. Address, \ \ S. BELDEN, 25 Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois. G. W. FLYNN, J. H. WOO DM A NS EE, Manager. Sec’y and Treat. ILLINOIS PRINTING CO., Blank Book Makers. BOOK J^ISTJD JOB Printers, Stationers, And Publishers of the DANVILLE NEWS, G. F. KIMBALL, Editor. Special Attention Given to Railroad, Bank and County Work. A FULL LINE OF BLANKS ALWAYS ON HAND. DANVILLE, ILLINOIS. The Illinois Industrial University. >s a* JO d & a V p 3 « JO M* Of? P Q o This Scientific and Polytechnic University, founded jointly by the United States and the State of Illinois, offers UNSURPASSED FACILITIES FOR EDUCATION In the following Departments: I. The College of Agriculture, including the School of Agriculture and the School of Horticul¬ ture. II. The College of Engineering, including the Schools of Mechanical Engineering, of Civil Engineering, of Mining Engineering, and of Architecture. III. The College of Natural Science, including the Schools of Chemistry and of Natural History. IY. The College of Literature and Science, including the Schools of English and Modern Lan¬ guages, and of Ancient Languages. There are also a School of Commerce, and a School of Military Science. ADMISSION. The best time for entrance is at the beginning of the College year in September, but st udents may enter at any time if prepared to pass the examinations. Persons designing to apply for admission next September should notice carefully the following conditions of admission and seek to be thoroughly prepared. Students may be examined by County Superintendents. Each student is required by law to be at least fifteen years of age, and to enter with the highest profit upon the studies of the University, it is recommended, as a general rule, that students be at least eighteen years old before entering. The University is open to both sexes. Candidates must pass good examinations in English Grammar, Arithmetic, Geography, Hist, of the U. S., Human Physiology, Botany and Natural Philosophy. If candidates for the Colleges of Engineering or Literature, they must also pass in Plane Geometry; and candidates for the School of Ancient Languages must pass the ordinary examination in Latin and Greek. Tuition free; entrance fee, $10, paid but once; incidentals per term, $5. Board in clubs $2 to $2.50 a week, in families $4 to $5. Circulars giving full information, on application to J. M. GREGORY, Regent , Champaign, Illinois. 25,000 Acres of Land for Sale. —The University offers for sale at reasonable rates and on long time, 25,000 acres of carefully selected lands in Kandiyohi and Pope counties, Minnesota,, and in Gage county, Nebraska. BOOKS AND STATIONERY. Conceded to be the Finest Bookstore in the United States .—The Advance. FINE BOOKS A SPECIALTY. JANSEN, McCLURG & CO., IMPORTERS, BOOK SELLERS and STATIONERS, I 17 and f 19 STATE STREET, Keep constantly in stock, as heretofore, the largest and best selection to be found in the West, of STANDARD LIBRARY BOOKS In the best editions, and in all varieties of binding. ILL UST BA TED GIFT B O OKS, A preference being given to the most truly BEAUTIFUL and ARTISTIC productions of the English and American presses. SPLENDID ART WORKS, Those which reproduce most delicately the master-pieces of the great artists, and the most attractive scenes of nature. THE CHOICEST STATIONERY FOR LADIES, Including fine imported Papers and Envelopes, of all sizes and tints, Engraved Cards, Initial Monograms, Invitation and Wedding Stationery. S C II O ( ) L HOOKS. We have a far larger stock than ever before. We solicit orders from the trade, and guarantee the lowest prices. STATIONTEBY. Our facilities for supplying dealers at the lowest rates are equal to those of any exclu¬ sively stationery house. ©§11“ Proprietors of the superior PERI PEARL PAPERS, Embracing all the different sizes and styles. These papers possess advantages over all others, at the prices. Send for samples. FINE FOREIGN PHOTOGRAPH ALBUMS. We ask attention to a very beautiful and unusual selection of imported Albums, for Card or Cabinet Pictures, including MUSICAL ALBUMS, of the finest quality and in various styles. jgSggp'*’ Buyers and dealers are invited to call upon us before making purchases elsewhere. Correspondence solicited from Library Committees, dealers, and all persons inter¬ ested in the purchase of Books. Price lists, terms, etc., furnished on application. A cordial invitation is extended to all to visit our new and beautiful store, and ex¬ amine our stock at their leisure. JANSEN, McCLURG «fc CO. STAN. L. CONKLIN, PHOTOGRAPHER, Blacksbaw’s Block, URBANA, - - - ILLINOIS. Bon Tons 6 for $1.00. Enlarging a Speci¬ alty. A NEW DRUG HOUSE. A. P. CUNNINGHAM & CO., No. 19 Main Street, URBANA, ILLINOIS. Drugs and Medicines, Plain and Fancy Sta¬ tionery, School and College Books, Miscel¬ laneous Books, Drafting Instruments. GARDNER, CURTISS & BURPEE BANKERS, URBANA, - ILLINOIS, Transact every branch of Legitimate Bank¬ ing. Passage tickets, to and from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Continental Europe always at lowest rates. THURMAN HOUSE, URBANA, - - ILLINOIS. D. F. THURMAN, Propr. This is a new Hotel, situated on Main Street, in the business centre of town. House new, Furniture all new. Prompt attention to guests. Good Sample Room for traveling Agents. EADS & WILCOX, REAL ESTATE ^GGEISTTS, AND ABSTRACTERS OF LAND TITLES. Titles examined and perfected. CHAMPAIGN, - - ILLINOIS. S. BERNSTEIN’S Fair and square dealing CLOTHING HOUSE. Best Goods at lowest prices. Full stock of Men’s and Boys’ Clothing always on hand. 41 Main Street, Champaign. D. APPLETON & CO.’S PUBLICATIONS. CORNELL’S GEOGRAPHIES. Revised Edition — The. Best, the Cheapest , the mostPop- ular. New Primary Geography.$ 0 90 New Intermediate Geography. 1 50 New Physical Geography.... 1 60 Outline Maps. 15 00 Surpass all others—1st, in Philosophical arrange¬ ment; 2d, in Gradual Progression; 3d, in Modeof Memor- izing ; 4th, in Full Explanation ; 5th, in Agreement of Maps with Text; 6tli, in Maps, Illustrations, Text and Execution ; in fine, every feature of a good Geography. MATHEMATICAL SERIES. Appleton's Arithmetics, Primary Arithmetic, 30 Mental Ar .$0 45 Elementary Arithmetic. 0 50 Practical Arithmetic. 1 00 Key to Prac. Arithmetic (for teachers). 0 20 Higher Arithmetic .,. ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND COMPO¬ SITION. Quackenbos’s Primary Grammar.@0 50 Quackenbos’s English Grammar. 0 90 Quackenbos’s First Lessons in Composition. 0 90 Quackenbos's Course of Composition and Rhet¬ oric .. 1 50 Bain’s Composition and Rhetoric. 1 75 HISTORY. Quackenbos’s Elementary History U. S.$0 75 Quackenbos’s School History U. S. 1 50 Taylor’s Modern History. 2 00 Taylor’s Ancient History. 2 00 Taylor’s Modern and Ancient History. 3 50 Bayard Taylor’s History of Germany. 2 00 These Histories commend themselves to the people of the whole country. They are eminently fair on all questions of religion and politics; eschewing all preju¬ dice, they carefully avoid any attempt to bias the young. KRUSI’S INVENTIVE DRAWING. Synthetic Series, four books each.$0 20 “ Manual. 0 75 Analytic Series, six books each. 0 25 “ Manual. 0 75 Perspective Series, four books, each. 0 30 “ Manual. 0 75 Geometric Series.In preparation This system is simple and economical, and teachers unacquainted with drawing can teach it successfully. It begins as a system of free hand drawing, and this is of the greatest advantage to pupils for blackboard work, as well as for future held sketching. SCIENTIFIC WORKS. Alden’s Intermediate Philosopy.$1 25 Munsell’s Psychology. 1 50 Nicholson’s Geology. 1 50 “ Zoology. 4 75 Lockyer’s Astronomy . 1 75 Youmans’ Chemistry, 50th edition. 1 75 Quackenbos’s Natural Philosophy, (just revised)... 1 75 Huxley & Youmans’ Physiology. 1 75 Youmans’ First Book of Botany. 1 00 Second Book of Botany. 1 50 Science Primers, each. 0 50 Latin, Greek, French and Gorman Series. Correspondence invited. For descriptive Catalogue* Circulars, Price List, &c. Address, A. S. KISSELL, Agent, 117 & 119 State Street, Chicago, Illinois. A. H. Andrews & Co., Largest Manufacturers in the Country of SCHOOL, CHURCH, HALL, and OFFICE Andrews’ Patent “Triumph” School Desks. Six sizes. The best made—most comfortable. Outline Maps, Charts, Globes, School and College Apparatus, all kinds. jg^^Send for Illustrated Catalogue to this address, A. H. Andrews & Co., 213 Wabash Avenue, CHICAGO, ILL. TJRBANA FREE LIBRARY. Open every evening, From 6 o’clock to 10 P. M. • . * . | . WILLIAM SIM, Druggist and Bookseller, No. 6 West Main Street, URBANA, . - - - ILLINOIS. LOUIS WAGNER, UNDERTAKER and Dealer in FURNITURE, Main Street, opposite Court House, URBANA, - - - ILLINOIS. Special attention to Office and School Book Cases. See cases in County Clerk’s office, for specimens of work. E. V. PETERSON Dealer in Books&Stationery, No. 9 Main Street, CHAMPAIGN, --- - ILLINOIS. The oldest and largest Book House in Champaign County. The largest supply of School and Miscellaneous Books, Pictures, Frames, Albums, &c. Special attention given to Teachers’ Schedules and School Rec¬ ords, Blanks, and School supplies of all kinds. BLACKSHAW’S % Dental Rooms, Over No, 49 West Main Street, URBANA, - - - ILLINOIS. Established, 1858. ALL WORK WARRANTED. Special attention given to filling with gold . Anesthesial administered when called for. E. BLACKSHAW. COUNTY . UNIFORMITY inxr The attention of the School Officers and teachers of Champaign County is called to the AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL READERS, SANDERS’ .SPELLER, J±.JSTJD iGK.-A.TTS HOW PLANTS CROW, PUBLISHED BY; IVISON, BLAKEMAN, ^TAYLOR & CO., | P‘133 and 135 State Street, Chicago, Illinois. American Educational First Header....$0 26 American Educational Second Reader. . 40 American Educational Third Reader....*... 50 American Educational Fourth Reader. 70 American Educational Fifth Reader....- 1 20 Sanders’ New Speller and Definer.. 25 Gray’s How Plants Grow.. 1 12 These Books were examined and recommended for use in Champaign County by a Com¬ mittee consisting of S. L. WILSON, County Superintendent, Prof. C. F. CAREY, Dr. M. S. BROWN, C. N. ANDERSON J. M. MORSE, And adopted for County Uniformity by the Convention field at Urbana, April 3,1874. Special attention was called to their Merit and Cost. The following Superintendents of Schools in the County have also heartily indorsed these Books: Prof. M. WATERS, Champaign. Prof. J. W. HAYS, Urbana. “ I. N. WADE, Sadorus. “ P. M. DILLON, Ludlow. Prof. A. D. KAGA, Homer. « a* Many others of the most prominent Educational Men of the County have approved of them. We also publish : Swinton’s Condensed History of U. S.$1 25 Swinton’s Word Primer. 20 Swinton’s Speller...». 26 and many other recent and popular text books for Schools and Academies. No better Books are made, and the Cost is so much less than those now in use as to make a great saving of time and money in their use. Call on your Bookseller, who will procure them for you at Greatly Reduced Rates for first introduction, or Exchange them for the Old Books now in use at still Lower Rates, when they have been properly adopted by the School Board. If School Boards choose to deal directly with the Publishers, they can address as below. |@~OUR DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE of “The American Educational Series of School and College Text-Books,” and “ The Educational Reporter” for May, a handsome publication full of useful information, mailed free to any address. Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor A Go., or, EDWARD COOK, 133 and 135 State Street, Chicago, Illinois.