National Series of Standard School Bookt, A COURSE OF MATHEMATICS, BY CHARLES DAVHJS,' LL.D. This COURSE, combining all that is most valuable in the various methods of Europenu instruction, improved and matured by the suggestions of nearly forty years' experience, now forms the only complete consecutive Course of Mathematics. Its methods, harmonizing as th*works of one mind, carry the student onward by the same analogies and the same law? of association, and are calculated to impart a comprehensive knowledge ol the science, combining clearness in the several branches, and unity and proportion in the whole. Being the system so long in use at West Point, imd through which so many men eminent for their scientific attainments have passed, it may ba justly regarded aa our NATIONAL SYSTEM ojr MATHE- MATICS. 'fi.''ir4 Dames' Arithmetical Sable- Book, Designed for Beginners. 15 cte. Dam'es flrimarn Qlritljmetic : Containing the Oral Method with the Method of Teaching the Combination of Figures by Sight. 20 cts. Dam'es' Intellectual QUitljmetic, Containing a large Number of Practical Examples. 25 cte. Dam'es' 2lritl)metic, Designed for the use of Schools and Academies. Revised Ed. 45 cts. Uf2 t Dame*' JScijool fciitfcmrttc far JTtsc&rrs. 45 cte. Dames' Unioersitj} Qlritl)ihetic, Embracing the Science of Numbers, and their numerous Applications. 75 ct. Cffi to Dl*t' Sniuf ritfi Sritfinuttc for Crar&rr*. 50 o tg. Dailies* C~lcmentarn Algebra, Being an Introduction to the Science, and forming a connecting link between ARITHMETIC and AI.GEBIJA. 75 cts. f j to Daiiit*' EIf:nrutsrj! fllflt liri for Cricfttr*. 50 cte. Dam'es' (Elements of XSeometrn anb rigonometr2, with APPLICATIONS ix MENSCRATION. This work embraces the ele mentary principles of Geometry and Trigonometry. The reasoning is plain and concise, but at the same time strictly rigorous. New "uxd Enlarged Edition $1.00. <5 & Published by A. S. Barnes & Co., New York. 8. Dairies' Practical iUatljematics for Practical iflen, Embracing the Principles of Drawing, Architecture, Mensuration, and Logarithms, with Applications to the Mechanic Arta. New Edition. $1.00. ADVANCED COURSE. 9. Dairies' JBonrbon's QUgcbra, Including STURM'S THEOREM; being an abridgment of the Work of M. BOURDON, with the addition of Practical Examples. New Edition. $1.50. 10. Dairies' Cegenbre's eometrrj, from the works of A. M. LEGENDRE, with the addition of a Treatise on MENSURATION o PLANES AND SOLIDS, and a tuble of LOGARITHMS and LOGARITHMIC SINE. New Edition. $1.50. 11. Dairies' Snroernng, with a Description and Plates of the THEODOLITE, COMPASS, PLANE-TABLE, and LEVEL ; also, Maps of the TOPOGRAPHICAL SIGNS adopted by the Engineer Department an explanation of the method of Surveying the Public Lands, Geodesic tad Maritime Surveying, and an Elementary Treatise on NAVIGATION. $1.50. 12. Dairies' QlnalrUical Oeometrrj, Embracing the EQUA- TIONS OF THE POINT AND STRAIGHT Ll.NB OF THE CoNIO SECTIONS Of THE LINE AND PLANK IN SPACE ; also, the discussion of the GENERAL EQUATION of the second degree, and of SURFACES of the second order. $1.50. 13. Dairies' Dcscriptioe (Seometrn, with its Application to SPUEIUCAI, PROJECTIONS. $2.00. i4 Dames' Sh,abcs, Sh,abotos, anb mear$3erspecth>e, Designed to show, with mathematical accuracy, the Lines of Sha.U and Shadow on a complicated building which purl* to be darkened and which to*be made light in the drawing of it. $2.50. ro. Dairies' (Elements of Differential anb Integral Calculus. The most difficult branch of the pure Mathematics. $1.50. 16. Dairies' o|jic anb Utility) of ftlatljematics, with the best methods of instruction explained and illustrated. A book for Teachers and Normal Schools. $1.25. 17. Dames anb fleck's Mathematical Dictionary anb Cjuloucbia OF MATHEMATICAL SCIENCE : Comprising Definitions of all the terms employed in Mathematics an Analysis of each brunch, and of the whole n forming H single science. 2.oC. * fa . -^i^iU^4Ui^*\^iiUa f . & 9t m w

iL ' . 46 " Ninth, . ,,.,. - vrt , r , 51 " Tenth, . ' . ?; : ; ' ' ^ '* >? . 55 " Eleventh, . . . . ' . 58 " Twelfth, ..... :I;'i.' . 61 " Thirteenth, . . . . . ..:.. 64 " Fourteenth, . . . . . . v; .-i . 67 " Fifteenth, .. . . .w."' .V-i': 70 " Sixteenth, . - . . . . . ,s~/.a . 74 " Seventeenth, . . . . . . .::; '..- 77 " Eighteenth, . . . . ,^ ' :',.v?r . 79 " Nineteenth, . . . . . - -- 82 " Twentieth, . . . . . ,'. : 84 Uniform, etc., . . S*"-. :^^.ev '.'* ' ' 87 GYMNASTICS. Introduction, . 95 Pedestrianism, 101 Walking, . . . . . .* #'-' . 104 Running, . . . . 105 Skating, ... 108 Swimming, . . . .- . 112 Miscellaneous Exercises, .... . . 120 Archery, . . . 121 [Iz] X CONTENTS. MM Bowing, , . \ 'i V, . ', . . . 123 Cricket, .''.-." . . . . 124 Foot-ball, . . .. ; . * .- . .124 Gymnastics, Cwith apparatus) . . . . . 125 The apparatus, (with plates) . . . , . . 127 Construction, . . . . ''*. 128 Exercises, . . . . .* *. . 132 Parallel Bars, . // ,. . .. , .. v 133 Upright Bars, . . . . . ,,'., .135 Vaulting Bars, . i . . . . ' t , ; . 136 The Swing, ... . . . .. J" 139 The Rings, . . . ... . . 140 Inclined Board, . . , . . . . 141 The Ladder, . .. .. ' . .' . 141 The Jumping Cord, . . . . . ," .142 The Pegs, ...... 142 The Horse, . , .' . . . : .142 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. The School Room, . , . . . . . .' . 149 Order and Method, > . . . "'" . . '.- . . 153 Administration, . , . . . . . . .. . 154 Principles, .... . . . . 155 Application of do., . . " . . , 160 Results, ... . . . . _ , ^ . . 167 Whispering, . . . . .* ., . . 170 Republicanism, ... . . . . 174 Lectures, . . ]. . '.. . , . .- ^ . 176 "Facts," . . ......... . .182 Elections and Business Meetings, . . . . 185 Moot Courts, . '. , . . . .194 Post Office, . . . . ' .. '* . 199 The News, , ... .'. . ., . r . . 206 Library, . . .... . .' . 208 Reading Aloud, . ... . . . . . . . . 210 Compositions, . . '. . . . . . . . 213 School Periodical, . . . . . _. .216 Geographical Game, . . . ., . _. : 217 Arithmetical Game, : :. ,. 221 Dictation Exercises, . . . 222 EVERY TEACHER HIS OWN DRILL-MASTER. INTRODUCTION. MILITARY organizations in boys' schools have become popular, not only in the Eastern States, but in many other parts of the country, and this in spite of many objections which were at first raised against them, both by parents and teachers. It has been proved by experiment, in some of our best, our modd schools, that the objections to the 'system are by no means well- founded, and, on the other hand, that the advantages arising from its adoption are many and real. One of the objections to such organizations has been, that they would tend to foster a warlike and bellige- rent spirit ; would lead boys to become, when men, " Full of strange oaths, Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation, Even in the cannon's mouth." " If," says the editor of the Ohio Journal of Educa- tion, in the May issue for the last year, " if this ob- M Xll INTRODUCTION. jection is well-founded, it should be fatal to all such enterprises. We certainly ought not to adopt the Spartan policy, and imbue the minds of our sons with a taste for blood and carnage. But we are not of those who have faith in the justice of this objection. Properly managed, such exercises can have no influence so to deprave the heart and vitiate the morals, as to fit one for the employment of fighting. Even partici- pation in wars does not generally promote a desire for war. The most distinguished warriors are, many times, the most ardent friends of peace. Such was Washington, such is Scott." In addition to this theoretical answer to the objec- tion, it may be urged that actual experiment has, in no instance which has come under the notice of many teachers who have conferred on the subject, developed such Spartan tastes as have been feared ; on the con- trary, cases may be cited where boys, who had been longing to enter the Academy at West Point, have ex- pressed themselves contented with military experience, as acquired at school. Another objection has been, that the expense of such organizations must be very considerable, too great, in- deed, for many, if not most, parents to bear. In reply it may be said that, " in some instances this may be true, where costly uniform and accoutrements are prescribed. But this need never be. The uni- form required may be as cheap and plain as any other INTRODUCTION. Xlll decent apparel ; and as for arms, they can generally be provided without subjecting the indigent to expense, or they can be dispensed with, and lances used, the cost of which would be next to nothing." Ohio Journal of Education. Boys are content with but little finery in the way of gold lace and feathers ; at least this has been the ex- perience of the writer and other teachers of his ac- quaintance. In the concluding chapter of this section, the subject of uniform is dwelt upon at length, and it is shown that the objection of expense amounts to nothing at all, if, as is claimed, there are any real advantages to be derived from the system. The advantages claimed are these : 1. Habits of promptness, exactness, and unanimity of action, are fostered, and very generally confirmed. 2. Subordination is taught and practised. Implicit obedience to command, without " grumbling" or ques- tioning, is necessarily a distinguishing characteristic of military discipline, and it is just this which boys, now-a-days, need to learn. 3. Erectness of carriage, a regard for a neat and dean appearance, and gentlemanly and respectful be- havior ; these are taught, and not only taught, but by enforcement learned. 4. An attraction is added to the school. This is an important point. It is to collect and present to teach- XIV INTRODUCTION. ers tried and approved attractions to the school-house, which is the object of this book, and it is the writer's opinion, and that of many teachers, as the result of ex- perience, that hardly any other more real and worthy attraction than this can be found. 5. Time is occupied by the drilling, parading, plan- ning, and talking, consequent on the adoption of a military organization, which might, and probably would, be spent in amusements more or less vicious and hurtful. If amusements are not provided for children, they will make them for themselves, and all know that the tendency of the usual amusements and conversation of boys is, unfortunately, towards vulgarity and even wickedness. But boys are never unwilling to submit to the direction of a parent or teacher, who, in a friendly and sympathizing spirit, proposes such amusements as the one under discussion, or as those indicated in the chapter on " Gymnastics." Indeed, it may be confidently relied upon that not a single boy will be at all unwill- ing to " play soger." The success attending the adoption of the military plan at several popular schools is a final argument in its favor. Among these may be mentioned the " Col- legiate and Commercial Institute," conducted by Dr. Russell, at New Haven, Ct., and " The Rectory School," by Rev. Mr. Everest, at Hampden, Ct. With both of these the writer is well acquainted. To these may be INTRODUCTION. XV added the large and celebrated school at Sing- Sing, N. Y., the public schools at Zanesville and Toledo, Ohio, and many others, in various places at the North and East. The writer, who has been, for several years, a suc- cessful teacher, has had considerable experience in the initiation and continuation of military exercises in his own school, and has thought that his brother teachers might be pleased to examine, and perhaps adopt, the system of organization and drilling which follows. His authorities in regard to " first principles" are, mainly, the regular army instructions, as taught in his school by an ex-captain of the Mexican war, and as contained in " Scott's Tactics." It is hoped that the instructions here given will be sufficiently plain to enable every teacher to become his own drill-master ; yet it is advised that where a com- petent instructor can be procured, he be employed. In many cases this will be difficult or impossible, and perhaps, with this guide, it may be unnecessary. The writer would add, that he will be happy at all times to answer letters of inquiry from teachers on points not made sufficiently clear in the following chapters. Direct to him, through the Publishers. TO THE TEACHER. I MAY be excused for adopting, hereafter, a familiar style, one in which I may talk freely to my reader. Let me address you, my brother-teacher, as familiarly as I should be glad to do, could I meet you personally, and talk over with you my plans of drilling and or- ganization. Much depends on presenting the subject properly to your boys. It will not do to force the matter upon them, nor even to let it seem too much your own plan. Start the ball by asking them, rather carelessly, how they would like "to get up a company ;" say that you have just met with a book of instructions in drilling, and that perhaps you can teach them how to march and " shoulder arms," just like real soldiers. Let this leaven work, and, in a few days, they will be urging you to organize and drill them. You must consult your own judgment as to whether you should or should not talk of the matter with the parents of your scholars. If you are independent of trustees, or similar control, and are confident of your standing with your patrons, you may well go on TO THE TEACHER. 17 out consulting them. They will become convinced in time of the merits of the plan. I speak here from experience. But if you are under control, you will do well to let slip the plan among your boys before consulting with " the powers that be ;" for you will then be sure of their influence, besides your own, in favor of the proposition. We will suppose that the matter is decided on, and that the boys have talked it over among themselves, and with their parents, and are now urging you to go on. Call a meeting after school, some afternoon, to con- sider the question, " Shall we have a company ?" At this meeting, after talking of all the possibilities in favor of the plan, remark to them that there is one difficulty in the way, one that you are really afraid of, but one that, after all, depends on them for its removal. Ready and entire obedience is a sine qud non in soldiering. (Let m& talk to your boys, myself.) " If the captain orders his men to march to the right, and some of them prefer to go to the left, what becomes of the company ? Or if he commands, ' shoul- der arms,' and some would rather ' Fire/ and do so, would that be doing right? And suppose again that I, as your captain, order a drill for some afternoon, and some half-dozen or so of you stay away ; but at that drill the company learns a n'ew exercise, and at the next drill, they who staid away, of course, do not 18 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. know this exercise, and by their awkwardness, 'put out' all the rest, and throw the company into con- fusion. "Now how can we avoid such troubles as these? This is the way I propose : Let every one who joins the company promise to obey me and the other officers in every particular, without a ' why' or a ' wherefore,' an ' if or a ' but. 7 If you will promise me this, I will go on and do all that I can to help you become a fine company ; and when we are well enough drilled, we will make a public parade." It will be well for you to draw up a kind of pledge of obedience to all your martial orders, and require them to sign it, so that they may be influenced by the consciousness of having given a distinct and individual promise to obey. And here will be the place to connect the company with the school, by declaring that bad boys, or bad scholars, shall not belong to the company. You can do this, or not, as you think best. I can only say that I have not found such a course necessary. After having secured their promise to obey, you can appoint a drill for some future time, as soon as may be, requiring only, in the way of uniform, that they all wear jackets and caps. If they ask about uniform, arms, or drums, remark that they must leave all that to you for awhile, and that you will report to them as soon as you have decided on anything. DRILLING. 19 You may consult the chapter on " Uniform, &c. ;" and be in no hurry, for you will have no need of any of these things for several weeks. In preparation for your first, and every drill, you must have thoroughly studied and practised every movement which you are to teach. Do not carry the book with you to the parade-ground. When on the ground, assume a martial bearing. It will be well for the success of your plan that your dress be somewhat a la militaire ; carry, also, a light cane, as an officer would carry a sword. Consult the drill on " sword exercise," and employ the " carry arms," while drilling. In demeanor be energetic, prompt -and decided; use no waste words, and err, if at all, on the side of sever- ity, rather than of familiarity. In fine, become an example of a soldier to them, in every respect. DRILL FIRST. The drill master assumes, himself, " the position of the soldier," in front of the " line" he wishes to form, and says : " Boys ! the command that I shall give you, pretty soon, will be, Squad 1 FALL IN ! I will explain this : it means, make a line, side by side, facing me ; not too close to each other : without crowding ; as you come up, don't 20 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. crowd in at the centre of the line, but seek a place at the left, next to the last man ; above all, fall in with- out talking or laughing, or even smiling." The drill master repeats these instructions, very distinctly and emphatically. Squad! FALL IN! " Remember the instructions I gave you. No talking ! Let your arms hang naturally at your sides, the middle finger of each hand just touching the seam of your trowsers ; stand only so near your neighbor on either side that your elbows, while remaining in that posi- tion, shall touch, but not press, their elbows. If you are crowded, move a little toward the left ; and if you feel pressure from your right-hand man, you must move toward the left." The drill master takes care that the line is neither crowded nor too thin. " Now, turn your heads (not your shoulders) towards the right of the line, and look along the line to see if you are not too far for- ward or behind : if forward, fall back; if behind, come forward. Nothing looks worse in a company than crooked lines ; we must pay particular attention to this. " My next command will be, Squad ! ATTENTION ! You are not to move until you hear the last word, but then you are to face to the front ; heads stiff on your shoulders, with the chin drawn in ; eyes not look- ing at me, but on the ground, about twelve paces in DRILLING. 21 front of you ; arms hanging as I directed before ; chests thrown forward, not the stomachs." The drill master illustrates, personally, the difference between protrud- ing the chest and the abdomen, giving them a side view of each. " Heels together, with the weight of the body resting on both feet ; toes turned out equally, so that the two feet shall make one exact letter V. Try this now, and be ready for the command, " Squad ! ATTENTION 1" The drill master takes particular pains with each one to see that he now obeys the directions, in every one of these particulars. He gives as much praise and encouragement as possible. " This, boys, is ' the position of the soldier,' as it is called. It is the position which you are always to take at the command, ' attention/ and one which you are to retain, with but little change, while 'under arms.' Try, each one, to think over every particular ; the position of the head, eyes, chest, arms, hands, legs, and/ee. Let your heads be as stiff on your shoulders, as if you had swallowed a poker. Let's see how long you can retain that position. Remember that I have taught you two commands : ' Squad ! Fall in !' and ' Squad ! Attention !' I shall dismiss you now, for a recess, and shall call you together again in a few 22 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. minutes." The drill master reviews, briefly, the ex- planations of each command, and then says : " DISMISSED !" During the recess, the drill master drills the awk- ward ones individually, advising all to look on. He takes " the position" himself, and asks them to observe the positions of his head, eyes, chest, and limbs. After a short recess he commands, Squad /FALL IN !" The drill master uses but few explanations. The only trouble here will be found in their crowding into the line. If this is serious, the drill master may insist on each one falling in on the left of the line. This is the rule, always. Be sure to get the line as straight as possible. " Squad ! ATTENTION 1" " Let each one of you remember the explanations. Take ' the position' in every respect. Think of your heads, eyes, chest, arms, hands, legs, and feet. Remain just so, while I talk a little while. "Perhaps you think this rather dull work. You hoped to have guns on your shoulders, and to go DRILLING. 23 marching around the play-ground at this very first drill. But think a moment. You couldn't walk until you had learned to creep ; you couldn't read until you had learned to spell. Some of you didn't learn to spell well, and now what kind of readers and writers are you ? "We are now learning the alphabet of sol- diering, and I hope you are content to go slowly and surely." The drill master makes other similar remarks. If there has been talking in the ranks, he makes a par- ticular law against it, and reminds them of their promise to obey him. With one more dismissal, and calls to " fall in," and the order "attention," and this third time without any explanation, he closes the drill. DRILL SECOND. " Squad I FALL IN ! Squad ! ATTENTION !" Let there be a careful review of previous drill. " You will have observed, boys, that these commands are in two parts. The first part is called ' the word of caution/ the second 'the word of execution.' I will illustrate this. The next command will be, Eyes RIGHT ! ' The word of caution' is, ' Eyes.' You are warned by that word that something is to be done with the eyes. You are to do nothing until you hear ' the 24 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. word of execution,' which is, 'Right.' As soon as you hear that, you are to turn your heads toward the right, so far that the left eye shall be on a line with the but- tons of your jacket, and are to glance along the line toward the right. You are to remain in this position until you hear the command, ' Front,' when you are to resume the first position. Now we will try it. " Eyes EIGHT." The drill master corrects such errors as heads turned too much or poked forward. He reminds them of the poker, which never allows the head to assume any other than an upright position. "FBONT!" "Eyes RIGHT! FBONT! Eyes RIGHT! FKONT!" Repeat these several times. If they are not well done, the drill master may stand at the right of the line, and remark, " Boys, I want this motion done by all at precisely the same instant. Let the heads move just as if there were a long wire running through all the noses, and I should ierk it this way, at the word 'Right.' The drill master's voice, in giving a command, must be very decided in tone. Utter " the word of caution" rather slowly. Make a sufficient pause, but not too DRILLING. 25 long, between the words, and jerk out the last word and bite off the end of it, a few tones higher than that in which the first word was pronounced. "Eyes left!" is performed as the reverse of the previous command. The drill master drills them for some time on both, never forgetting that "Front!" must follow each command. " One object, boys, of these exercises, is to teach you to move together. The beauty of all military inaneu- vres consists in exact harmony and oneness of the execution of the commands. And the only way by which this perfection can be attained is this : Each man must listen attentively to every order, and at the very instant he hears the last word, he must execute it thoroughly. I say thoroughly, because, if one turns his head, in ' Eyes right' or ' Eyes left,' as he ought, and the next one turns only his eyes, there will be an imperfect line. " My next command will be ' Right Dress !' At the last word, you will do just as you did in ' Eyes Right ;' and, in addition to that, you will immediately correct your, position in line. If you are too far forward of the rest, you will fall back quietly, until you are so placed as to see no further up the line than the buttons on the coat of the third man from you : if you are behind the line, you will come forward and find the same place. Thus you will make the line straight. Of course, the right-hand man stands fast, although he 2 26 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. turns his head like the rest. Besides this, if you find you are at too great a distance from your right-hand man, take side steps toward him, until your elbow iust touches his. Now we will try it. The drill master stands at the right of the line, and orders particular individuals to come forward, or fall back, as may be necessary. "FKONT!" The drill master may observe that some are for- getting " the position," and, in rather a stern voice, he orders, " ATTENTION 1" and reminds them of their forgetfulness. " Left dress" is the converse of " Right dress." " Front" follows each command. The drill master drills them in both. " Rest" is performed by bringing the hands together, the left crossed over the right ; arms at full length ; left foot brought at right angles with the line ; right foot thrown back, the hollow three inches in the rear of the heel of the left foot, and parallel with the line ; weight of the body on the right foot. See plate No. 1. DRILLING. 27 The command "Attention" brings them back to " the position." "Break ranks March!" is performed by clapping the hands together briskly once, and leaving ranks for a recess or dismissal. The drill master will practise both of these, taking care to have them well done, and then will close the drill, after a recess, with, "Squad! FALL IN! REST! ATTENTION! ATTENTION ! Right DRESS ! FRONT ! Eyes RIGHT! FRONT! Left DRESS! FRONT! Eyes LEFT! FRONT! REST! ATTENTION! Break ranks MARCH !" A drill should rarely extend beyond an hour. REMARKS. If reviews are necessary, as they probably will be, the third drill may be entirely a review. The teacher will need to guard against, 1st. Talking and playing, "sky-larking," as it is termed, in ranks. This must be checked, and, if pos- sible, entirely prevented ; because the whole attention of the soldier should be given to the commands. If, while practising, " Eyes Right," and " Eyes Left," or " Right Dress," and " Left Dress," a boy is playing, and fails to observe " the word of caution," he will be 28 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. likely to make a mistake ; others, thinking that he is right and they wrong, will follow him ; the neighbors will laugh, and be unprepared for the next order. This is only an illustration ; the principle applies to the whole course of drilling. Explain all this to your boys, and obtain their conviction to the necessity of this, your strictest law. Bring penalties to bear, if necessary. 2d. Forgetfulness concerning " the position of a sol- dier." It may be safely said, that if, by any means, the teacher can secure attention and correctness in this particular, he may be sure of having a well-drilled company, in every respect. If the boys can be induced to pay sufficient attention to their work to maintain " the position" strictly and continually, they may be relied on for accuracy in all other particulars. It is the A B C of discipline. 3d. A desire to advance tao rapidly in learning new movements. " Slow and sure" must be the motto at the commencement. The teacher must insist on accuracy on the part of all and each. These " first principles," as they are called, must be practised over and over again. At every drill, a review of the previous drills must be gone through with, and nothing new learned until all that has been taught before is perfectly ac- quired. Yet the teacher must avoid fatiguing his troops. He must give all the variety possible. He must also avoid harshness and severity. He should DRILLING. 29 drill an " awkward squad" by itself, making it some- thing of a disgrace to be ranked in this corps. Finally, the teacher must, above all, be himself all that he desires his soldiers to become. DRILL THIRD. " REST !" In this position, hereafter, give all expla- nations ; none while under the command, " Attention." " Right FACE," is performed by throwing the weight of the body on the left foot, making the heel of that foot the pivot on which the body turns, the right foot being raised very slightly and brought around, while turning, to the V position, the one employed always while the soldier is not in motion. (See plate No. 1.) These "facings" are rather difficult. The drill master needs to practise them himself to perfection, before attempting to teach them. " In turning, be careful not to sway the body nor bend the knees. Do not move with a jerk. When faced to the right, the man in front of you is called your ' file-leader '; look him right in the back of the neck." The drill master will now give " Right face" three times in succession, when the line will be again facing him. He must caution them to keep their heads up, and to pay continual attention to " the position." 30 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. Before giving " Left face," which is done in the same way with " Right face," the drill master will remark : " Observe, boys, that ' the word of caution' tells you in which direction you are to face. As soon as you hear the word ' Right,' or ' Left/ think towards the right, or left, of the line. If you give the attention you ought, there can be no excuse for you if you face the wrong way." In these facings, the drill master will observe that if the line is crowded, there is trouble in turning, on ac- count of collisions. He may obviate this by giving a " right dress." Definition : Heads turned so that the left eye is on a line with the buttons, and not poked for- ward ; eyes glanced along the line so that the fourth man is invisible ; and now, particularly, position taken so that elbows only just touch neighboring elbows. " No crowding or ill-feeling if a right-hand man presses you ; yield to pressure from that side, if a ' right dress' is given ; the reverse, if ' left dress.' ' Front,' always follows a ' dress.' " The execution of these facings, together with a thorough review of previous lessons, ought to occupy the time of this drill. But, for a novelty, the drill master may prepare for " sizing." Let some contrivance be prepared by which the stat- ure of every boy may be determined. Each one should be furnished with a card, on which should be marked, DRILLING. 31 distinctly, his feet and inches of height, so that he may remember them. The card has, also, other future uses. DRILL FOURTH. Before falling in, let each one have his card pinned on his back, just below the collar. After the line is formed (by Squad FALL IN! ATTENTION! Eight DRESS ! FRONT !) give command, " Right FACE ! Size MARCH !" At this, each boy who sees a lower figure than his own in front of him, takes a side step to the right and advances until he sees a higher number, when he steps again into file ; and each boy who sees a higher number endeavoring to come in front of him, quietly falls back. When all have found places, require them to notice who their file-leaders are, so as to remember them, and thus make the next sizing less difficult. Require also a distance of sixteen inches from back to chest, (which is always to be preserved in file,) for convenience in coming to the front. The order to secure this is, " Take your fronting distance." They may easily understand how much space to allow, by your remarking that there should be just room enough between each man, in file, for another man to slip into, with a close fit. At the words, " Take your fronting distance," they who are too near their file-leaders must fall back, but never crowd back. 32 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. The teacher must observe that in dealing with boys, he must be continually on the watch against talking and playing in ranks. There will, probably, be some of this in sizing, some disputing about places. Every means should be adopted to repress this entirely. The squad is now " in file," facing towards the right. " FRONT," brings them into line. If the line is crooked, give, " Right dress." " Mark time MARCH 1" At the word of caution, the weight of the body rests on the right foot ; the left foot is held ready to take a step. At the word " March," the left foot is thrown forward, as if to advance, and brought back to place : the right foot follows in the same way. There is no advancing, and care must be taken to bring the feet back into their tracks, or the line will be broken. While " marking time," the drill master counts " one, two, one, two, one, two," f the sergeants when the movement is done in sections. I give no illustration of these movements, because my instructions are, I think, explicit, and because I DRILLING. 69 wish the drill master to think them out, and make his own diagrams. A good use of this movement may be made as fol- lows : Suppose your company is marching in a muddy street, and you wish to get on the sidewalk ; as your 1st section comes up to the cross-walk, command, " Sections, by the right (or left) flank, file right, (or if left, the corporals are file leaders ; sergeants on the right) MARCH !" As soon as the sergeant reaches the middle of the sidewalk, order a " file right" or " file left." Draw lines on the ground for imaginary sidewalks, explain to your men the object of the movement, and practise it, both to the right and left. Now, to come from single file into sections, as, for instance, from the right-hand sidewalk into the street, command, " Company, form column of sections to the front MARCH I" The 1st sergeant commands, at the word " front," " 1st section, file left" and as soon as the whole section is on the cross-walk, he commands, " Front !" The other sections, as they come up to the place just vacated by the 1st section, imitate its move- ments, each sergeant taking care to command, " Front," just when he sees his corporal on a line with the one in advance. A Plate No. 8, gives other examples of forming sec- tions from single file. Study it carefully. In these directions, and, I suppose, in many others, 70 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. there may seem to be much that is inexplicitly and confusedly expressed. I doubt whether it is possible to make these movements intelligible at a glance ; but I believe that if the teacher will give as careful a study to this treatise as he would to the works of a Latin or Greek author, he will not fail to under- stand it. In marching in the street, obstructions are sometimes met. The company will probably be marching by sections, the usual way. If it is desired that the com- pany march from the middle to the side of the street, (say the right,) command, " Company, by the right flank, file BIGHT I" When they are sufficiently near the side, order " FRONT !" At the first command, each section faces to the right, and in distinct and independent file, marches in that direction. " Front" brings them into the original direction. But they are now, after hav- ing passed the obstruction, too far on one side of the street ; " Company, by the left flank, file LEFT ! FRONT 1" brings them back. DEILL FIFTEENTH. In this drill I shall endeavor to present a series of movements, which may possibly serve the captain as a programme for parade. I shall explain only the new movements. DRILLING. 71 Jt will be an excellent lesson for the "major" or captain to draw off, on paper or the black-board, a diagram of the whole, in connection. Company is at rest, in line. " Company ATTENTION ! Right FACE ! Sections, right into line (each sergeant repeats the command, standing in front of, and applying it to his section,) MARCH! Company, forward, MARCH! Sections, by the right flank, file right MARCH ! Company, FRONT ! (Sergeants must attend to their sections, and order a "guide left," if necessary.) Sections, by the left turn MABCH!" (See plate, No. 9.) At the word " turn," the 1st lieutenant (or " 1st guide j" see para- graph at end of this drill) takes position beside the corporal of the 1st section, standing there to mark the turning spot for the other sections ; and at the same word, the 1st sergeant commands, " 1st section, by the left turn" At the word, " March," from the captain, the section turns, as shown in the plate. In turning, the line must not be broken, and a " guide left" may be necessary from the sergeants. As the 2d section approaches the turning point, the 2d sergeant com- mands, " 2d section, by the left turn" and as soon as his corporal touches the point opposite the lieutenant, he adds, " MARCH !" Tjte 2d lieutenant has now reached the turning point, and he assumes the place of guide, while the 1st lieutenant advances to his post. The 3d and 4th sergeants and sections imitate the ex- 72 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS'. ample of the 2d. As soon as the 4th section has turned, the 2d lieutenant takes long steps and regains his post. " Company, by platoons, MARCH ! Platoons, by the left turn, (the lieutenants command their platoons as the sergeants did their sections) MARCH ! Company, by front of company, MARCH ! HALT ! (until this word the company had been constantly in motion.) Right DRESS ! Support ARMS ! To the rear, centre FACE 1 (' To the rear,' is something new. At the word, ' rear' the two file leaders, who, in 'Centre face' have taken a step together in advance, come to the first position of an about ' face,' and at the word ' face,' they about face.) Forward MARCH! File RIGHT! File LEFT 1 Outiuard countermarch in single file MARCH ! Inward countermarch MARCH ! Outward countermarch by two's MARCH ! Inward countermarch MARCH ! Outward countermarch by four's MARCH ! Inward countermarch MARCH ! Outward countermarch by sections in circle MARCH. (At the word ' march,' each section marches in a circle [See plate No. 10.] They revolve several times, and then, as the captain sees that the two file leaders are coming together, he commands, ' Forward MARCH!') Outward counter- march in circles by platoons MARCH. (The principle is the same as 'in circles by sections.') Forward MARCH ! Into line MARCH ! Eight DRESS !" " Front," after a " right" or " left dress," has been DRILLING. 73 omitted, and will be, because it has been remarked that that command always follows a " dress." Practise now the manual of arms. The order of this manual may be varied ; but the captain must have dis- covered that there are certain commands which cannot follow each other ; for instance, " Order arms" cannot follow a " Present arms," and vice versa. Note. " Guides" are an addition to a company, but are not necessary ; for, as has been seen, the lieutenants may do their duties. However, it is really beneath the dignity of a commissioned officer to do such duty. "The guides" may be the two smallest boys in the company. They may carry lances, with small stream- ers, painted (gilt on blue), with the name of the com- pany. Their posts are, while marching, at the rear of the 4th section, one in the rear of the sergeant and the other of the corporal, two paces off. When " in line," their posts are at the extremes. When the line -is to advance by front, to a new alignment (new position of line), they may be stationed as points to march to. A command in such a case, would be, "Company, for ward, guide right, to tJie alignment of the guides MARCH !" They are also to stand at all turning points, the 1st guide being relieved by the 2d as soon as half the company has passed the point. 74 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. DEILL SIXTEENTH. While in sections, marching or not marching, the command may be given, "To the left, arms' length EXTEND ! At the last word, each man, except the cor- poral, extends his left arm, and places his left hand on the right shoulder of his neighbor, at the same time all taking a side step, in time (a left-oblique step, if march- ing), until they are at such a distance from each other that only the fingers of the hands rest on the shoulders. At the command, " Arms DOWN !" each arm returns, promptly, to its side. This movement makes a fine display of the company. While marching thus, in open order, each man must take care to march exactly in the rear of the man in front of him in the section in front ; and he must also take care not to break the line of his own section. " To the right dose MAECH !" brings them back. All except the right-hand man take a side step, in time, to the right (if marching, an oblique step), until elbows touch. " Company form cross on 2d section MAECH !" (See plate No. 11.) The company is in line. 2d sergeant commands, "2cZ section, stand FAST! 1st sergeant commands, " 1st section, one pace forward MAKCH ! Left turn MAECH !" and he marches his section to its position, as shown in the plate. 3d sergeant com- DRILLING. 75 mands, " 3rf section, rigkt FACE ! File right MABCH ! FRONT !" The " front" of this section is shown in the plate. 4th sergeant commands, "Ith section, right FACE ! On right by file into line MARCH ! " On right by file into line," is a new movement. (See plate No. 9.) The sectio'n is at a " Right face ;" at the word " March," the right-hand man faces right, and takes one step forward, and the section, in file, marches behind him, the second man coming beside him as soon as he passes his back, the third man passes on by the second, and comes beside him, and so on. The sections are now in the form of a cross, with the corporals at the centre. Observe in the diagram, in which direction each section faces. (See plate No. 11.) While in this form, command, " Sections, left turn, guide left MARCH ! Sergeants seek the right of their sections, move with them, and in an under tone, insist on the " guide left." Let the right angles of the cross be exactly preserved. Turn once or twice completely around, back to place. Another movement in form of a cross results from the commands, from the captain, " 2d section, right FACE! 1st section, about FACE! th section, left FACE! (All are now facing in the same direction.) Company, forward MARCH !" Let them march a few yards in this direction, the lieutenant taking care that the form of the cross is preserved, and thus command, " By the right flank MARCH !" At the last word, all 76 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. turn, briskly, to the right, and continue marching as they face. " By the left flank MAECH 1" is similar to the previous command. By means of a "halt," and an " about face," they may be made to march in still another direction. There are two ways by which the line, or front of company may be reassumed from a cross. (The sections must first be faced as in the diagram.) The first is by reversing the process of formation. Command, " Company, reduce cross and form front of company on 2d Section MARCH !" Sergeants command : " Zd Section, stand FAST. ~Lst Section, about FACE ! Forward MAECH ! (Until the left rests on the right of 2d section.) Right TUEN ! (They are now in line, facing to the rear.) About FACE ! 4th Section, right FACE ! Left, lyfile into line MAECH ! (This is done in a manner exactly the reverse of that by which they were formed in cross.) 3d Section, left FACE ! File left MAECH !" All are now in line. Give a " right dress." The second method introduces a novelty, and the movement is more easily, rapidly, and showily exe- cuted. (See plate No. 12.) Command, " Sections, form circle MAECH!" At the word " circle," each sergeant goes to the right of his section, and commands a " right face," and himself files left, and at the word " march" he leads his file into a circle, as shown in the diagram. The circle must be DRILLING. 77 complete, that is, without gaps between the ends of sections. The commissioned officers must have con- trived to stand in the centre of the circle. After marching once or twice around, the captain may command, " Company, by file, forward MARCH!" whereupon the orderly sergeant marches straight for- ward, (leaving the circle,) followed by the rest, in file. The circle is now straightened out, and the company is marching in file. " Company HALT !" The captain, standing on the left of the advancing file, commands, " FRONT !" and the company is once more " in line." In marching " by the right flank," that is, from a "right face" or "file right," "Front" is executed by facing to the left ; " by the left flank," by facing to the right. The maneuvres of forming cross, and the various movements while in that form, are, perhaps, the most showy of any that can be executed. They should be perfectly learned. DRILL SEVENTEENTH. The company is in line. "Company, form square on second section, MARCH !" (See plate No. 14.) Sergeants command : " 2d Section, stand FAST ! 1st Section, about FACE ! Might TURN ! (They turn until they make a right angle with the 2d section.) HALT ! About FACE ! 78 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. " 3d Section, Right FACE ! File right MARCH ! (They turn until the left of this section reaches the left of the second.) HALT ! Left FACE ! Bight TUKN ! They turn until this section makes a right angle with the 1st section.) HALT ! " 4th Section, Sight FACE. Forward MARCH ! (They march until this section reaches the left of 2d section). HALT! Right FACE! Left TURN! (They turn until this section comes to its place in the square.) HALT ! About FACE 1" The square is now formed, all facing outwards. Commissioned officers should be in the centre of the square. Care should be taken that the angles are all right angles, and that the sides are " dressed." By so commanding that all shall face in the same direction, there may be marching in the form of a square, as was done in the form of a cross. To return into line, reverse the process of formation. The instructor ought, by this time, to be able to do this without explanations. While in form of square, practise the manual of arms. An effective movement while in square results from the commands, " Company, charge BAYONET ! Sections five (or more) paces forward MARCH! Shoulder ARMS! About FACE! Into square MARCH!" At the last word, they march back to the lines of the square, halt and about face, without commands for these movements. DRILLING. 79 Company in line. . "Bight FACE! File RIGHT! (again), File EIGHT! Eight by file into line, two paces distant MARCH 1" (See plate No. 15.) The ex- ecution of this differs from that in the movements of a single section, as before taught, only in this, that it is done by the whole company and that, instead of form- ing in close order, each man passes two paces beyond the last in line and then steps squarely into line. If there is not room for the whole line in any one direc- tion, order, " Break ground to the right, or left." To return to a close line, command, "Company, right FACE! In dose order, into line, MARCH!" The file leader (orderly) retains his position ; the rest march on, not increasing or lessening their distances between them, until they reach their file leader in line, when they turn squarely into line. DRILL EIGHTEENTH. In this chapter will be found various exercises and movements, together with general information, some or all of which may be introduced into this drill. The " oblique step" is often useful, in cases of meet- ing obstructions of any kind, or in closing ranks after " an extend." " Bight oblique MARCH !" (See plate No. 16.) If from a halt, carry the right foot obliquely to the right 80 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. and front about twenty-two inches from the left foot> and sixteen toward that side ; carry the left foot six- teen inches in front of the right heel. Take special care not to derange the head and shoulders, that is, keep them to the front, and not in the oblique direction. " Left oblique" is executed on the same principles. " Forward MARCH " brings all to the direct march. " Arms at WILL 1" It is necessary to give this com- mand occasionally, during long marches on parade, and, sometimes, at drills. At the command, the guns may be carried over the right shoulder, " at will." On long marches, " Trail arms" will be found a convenient way of carrying the guns; and at the command, "Change TRAIL!" the gun may be shifted and carried by the left hand. Sometimes the line may be located a few inches in advance or behind a desired line. To bring it forward, station the right-hand man at the end of the desired line and command, " By fie, right DRESS !" (or the left-hand man may be so stationed and "left dress" ordered.) At the word " dress," the second man, fol- lowed, one by one, by the others, will step forward and dress himself by the guide. The same movement may be executed backwards. In marching by platoons or sections, if any such division has gained ground, that is, is too near the division in advance, command, for instance, " 2d Sec- tion, mark TIME !" At the last word, they will stop DRILLING. 81 and, as it were, march in their tracks, until their proper position is attained, when "Forward MARCH," will start them on again. I omit giving " Fix and unfix bayonets," together with the manual of loading and firing, because I shall, hereafter, urgently advise the use of lances. If, how- ever, guns are used, instructions on these points, and on others which may seem desirable to be adopted by the instructor, may be found in " Scott's Tactics," "Hardies' Rifle Tactics," "The Recruit," and other military works. It may be discovered, by reference to these books, that the writer has not strictly adhered to "author- ity," but his reasons for deviating are that " author- ity" for men is not " authority" for boys, and, that instructions for men who are to be soldiers by profes- sion, are not adapted for boys, who are only amateur soldiers. The length of pace in marching, for boys, should be about twenty inches, on an average. Paces may be marked, on the ground or floor, of this length and all taught to acquire this step. In a " turn," from a halt, the pivot man turns in his tracks. In turning, while marching, the pivot man should advance not more than seven or eight inches, while the outside man takes the full pace, and no more. The swiftness of pace, in common time, should be at the rate of ninety steps in a minute. 4* 82 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. As recruits enter the company, the sergeants, undei the supervision of the major or captain, should instruct them in " first principles." They should be introduced into the company as soon as possible. The position of the " color-bearer," while marching, is with the 3d sergeant, in sections, or in file : with the 2d lieutenant, while marching in platoons ; at the centre of a cross ; and inside of a square. While the company is executing other division or company movements, or the manual of arms, the color should be posted out of the way, and the bearer is not on other duty. The color-bearer is, by right, an ensign and a commissioned officer, but it may not seem ad- visable to give him any rank. Promotions, resulting from vacancies or removals, should be from corporals to sergeants, and from ser- geants to lieutenants. In the absence of a corporal, a private may be appointed in his place, pro tern. ; in the absence of a sergeant, a lieutenant should fill the vacancy. DRILL NINETEENTH. The sword exercise of the sergeants is as follows : " Shoulder (or carry) AKMS !" The gripe in the right hand, the arm extended, close at the side, the back of the blade resting in the hollow of the right shoulder. " Support ARMS !" The left arm forms an acute DRILLING. 83 angle at the elbow, and the blade rests, the edge out- wards, in the left hand, the fingers uppermost. " Order ARMS !" or, " REST !" The sword is brought to rest with its point on the ground, on a line with the toes, and as far from them as the extended arm and length of blade will allow ; the back of the hand out- wards. " Present ARMS 1" This is done in two motions. At the first, the sword is raised so that the hand rest on the upper buttons on the coat, the flat of the blade outward and the blade inclined forward : at the second, the sword is brought down as in " order arms," but the point does not touch the ground, and the palm of the hand is outward. These motions should be executed in time with the motions of the guns. " Trail ARMS !" The same position as in " shoul- der arms !" " Charge BAYONET !" The sergeant takes a posi- tion with his feet precisely as do the privates ; the sword is raised and held, horizontally, on a level with the eyes, the edge outwards. The captain and lieutenants may carry their swords either " at a shoulder" or " a support." The sergeants should be thoroughly drilled, in a separate division, in these exercises, and should never fail to execute the required movement, when com- manded, on drill with the company or on parade. 84 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. DRILL TWENTIETH. At a drill preparatory to a parade, practise every- thing which is intended to be displayed. If excellence has not been attained in any particular exercise, it is better to omit it on parade ; sufficient variety may be given even if several movements are omitted. Be- sides, it is best to reserve some maneuvres for future parades. Endeavor to infuse into the minds of all a spirit of determination to do the best possible. Take care that the sergeants remember and under- stand their commands, positions and general duties. At your first parade, it may be contrived that your colors shall be presented, by ladies, perhaps. Receive them in line, sergeants three paces to the front, lieu- tenants, five paces, captain, seven : let all " present arms." This same salute may be given to individuals, for instance, to a person who has addressed the com- pany ; or it may be given at the houses (to the fami- lies) of officers of the company, or distinguished per- sons. Let a programme be carefully prepared of the streets to be passed through, and, particularly, of the move- ments to be made. Unless this is done, the command- ing officer may become confused, and make mistakes. Your captain may, or may not, be entrusted with DRILLING. 85 the sole command. If he is to be, he should have had frequent opportunities to practise commanding, and, especially, should have entire command at this pre- paratory drill. If the teacher commands, it is in the rank of " major," and he should march with the cap- tain, to whom he should entrust some commands, and as many as possible. I would advise, as a programme for parade, the fol- lowing movements, the company being in line, and at rest : ATTENTION ! About FACE ! Shoulder ARMS 1 Support ARMS ! Eight FACE 1 Centre FACE ! Left FACE ! Forward MARCH ! About FACE ! File RIGHT ! Outward countermarch in single file MARCH ! Inward countermarch MARCH ! The same by two's and four's. Outward countermarch in circles, by sections MARCH ! Forward MARCH I Outward countermarch in circles, by platoons MARCH ! Forward MARCH ! Into line MARCH I Carry ARMS ! Order ARMS ! REST! 86 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. ATTENTION ! Shoulder ARMS ! Shoulder ARMS I Present ARMS 1 Support ARMS ! Shoulder ARMS! Carry ARMS ! Charge BAYONET ! Trail ARMS ! Shoulder ARMS ! Shoulder ARMS ! Order ARMS ! Order ARMS ! REST ! ATTENTION ! Shoulder ARMS ! Right FACE ! Sections, right into line MARCH 1 Company, for ward MARCH ! Right oblique MARCH ! Left oblique MARCH ! Forward MARCH ! Forward MARCH ! Right turn MARCH! Company, by platoons MARCH ! By front of company MARCH ! HALT ! Support ARMS ! Form cross on second section MARCH ! Sections, left turn MARCH ! HALT ! March, in cross, by right and left flank. Reduce cross and from front of company on 2d sec- tion MARCH ! Right FACE ! File LEFT ! Forward MARCH ! File RIGHT ! File RIGHT ! File RIGHT ! DRILLING. 87 Right by file into line, two paces distant MARCH ! Carry ARMS ! Shoulder ARMS 1 Order ARMS ! To the right close MARCH ! Shoulder ARMS ! Right DRESS ! Present ARMS ! Order ARMS 1 Rest AT EASE ! Let this be written out distinctly and practised thoroughly at this drill. Try nothing else, and pre- serve this order of arrangement. Let the command- ing officer carry this paper in his breast and consult it when in doubt. Whatever has been omitted may be displayed at the next parade. UNIFORM, ETC. There are reasons for the adoption of a permanent uniform, one to be worn every day, by a whole school. A boy who is dressed in the uniform in which he has been taught " the position of the soldier," will be con- stantly reminded to bear himself in a soldierly manner. He will be conscious that eyes are upon him as he walks the streets ; and he may overhear such remarks as, " There goes one of the Cadets 1" If he has learned that " a perfect soldier must necessarily be a perfect gentleman," he will remember and do credit to his in- struction. He will not, generally, engage in such rough 88 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. and dirty amusements as are likely to injure or soil the uniform which he is proud to wear. He will feel manly, and will behave like a man. Of course not every boy, but most boys, will be thus influenced. The expense, to each one, for an every-day uniform, should be less than for the usual variety dress. The cloth chosen, and the necessary trimmings, can be bought at wholesale, from " first hands," and any tailor will contract to make the clothes of a company, and to continue making them, at a less price per suit than he would ask for a single suit. Many of our best schools have adopted a permanent uniform, and their teachers and parents are pleased with the results. If such an uniform is to be procured, I may advise a grey suit, trimmed neatly, and not over-trimmed, with black silk braid ; or a suit of dark blue, trimmed in the same way. To the taste of many, an entire suit of one color is more pleasing than a suit of which the coat is of one color and the trowsers of another. It will become a question, also, whether all shall wear coats, or all jackets. I have seen both styles, and my own taste has been better pleased with the coats. I have preferred little boys in short-skirted coats, to large boys, of sixteen or seventeen, wearing jackets. The summer trowsers of either uniform may well be of white or brown linen, which forms a pleasing con- trast with either blue or grey. DRILLING. 89 The coat should be single-breasted, and cut with a military collar. The trimming on the coat may be only on the collar, (except for officers, see below,) and on the trowsers, a plain stripe on each leg. The regular army buttons may be ordered, in quan- tity, through any tailor. The army "fatigue cap," a style much worn by boys, may be very cheaply purchased by the case ; and oiled-silk coverings may be bought with them. The entire uniform, thus described, need not cost more than $10 to each one, and may be procured for less. However, it will not be economy to buy cheap cloth for a permanent uniform. At wholesale prices, good grey cassimere may be bought for from fifty to sixty cents per yard. Thus dressed, the officers may wear a little gold lace. Corporals are entitled to one " chevron"* of gold lace on the left arm ; sergeants to two ; lieutenants to three ; and the captain to four. Sergeants may have a narrow strip of lace around their caps ; lieutenants two strips ; and the captain a band of broad lace, extra gilt. The three commissioned officers may wear epaulettes on parade. A pair of good gilt epaulettes, good to wear and last, will cost about $4 ; cotton epaulettes, which may well take the place of gilt ones, will cost seventy- five cents a pair. Epaulettes are fastened on the shoul- * A " chevron" is a strip of gold lace sewed on the arm above the elbow, in a V shape, the angle of the figure being uppermost 90 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. der by passing under a band of gold lace ; and this they should wear at all times, as they wear also the chevron. If they have neither, they should be allowed to wear a parallelogram of lace on each shoulder. If it is decided to adopt a uniform only for parades, and if economy is a necessity, no expense, or next to none, need be incurred. Almost every boy has a dark coat, with gilt buttons. Secure, then, as much uniform- ity in dress as possible, (let all wear caps,) add a little gold lace, and, perhaps, a little scarlet trimming, and you have all that is really necessary. If, however, the expense is not much regarded, a very pretty and very cheap uniform may easily be procured- Since the suit is to be worn only at occasional parades, it is not necessary to have cloth of any more than me- dium quality ; the inside trimmings may be cheap, pockets omitted, and the sewing substantial but not of the best. Such an uniform, bought at wholesale, cut out by a tailor, but made by a tailoress, or at home, need not cost more than $6, cap and all, for privates, and $7 for officers. Although this plan seems the cheaper, the other of wearing a more expensive and durable uniform all^the time will be found to cost less " in the long run." Guns are expensive. They may be procured at wholesale stores in New York at various prices, but at not less than $5 each, for decent arms. Possibly the teacher may be so situated as to be able to obtain, from DRILLING. 91 the State authorities, the use of the " U. S. Cadet mus- kets," or the shorter (and clumsier) artillery musketoon. If this is possible, it certainly is advisable. But I would urge that guns are unnecessary. A very good imita- tion of a gun may be cut from seasoned oak or hickory, stained in imitation of black walnut and varnished, by any wheelwright or carpenter, and furnished at a cost of less than a dollar each. By some plan, bayonets may be procured, and fastened on these wooden guns. Thus equipped, the company, at a little distance, might seem to carry real guns. For my own company, I provided these wooden guns, ornamented with the cast-off and polished up bayonets of a military company in town. My boys were con- tented with them, and some people " always thought that they had regular guns." But I can recommend lances as being, in many re- spects, the best " arms" for a boy-company. They are cheap, neat, and have "no ugly, sharp points about them." They may be turned from ash, varnished, and tipped with a brass spear-head, and even ornamented with the " red, white and blue" ribbons (for parades) at a cost of from fifty to seventy-five cents each. For these (or for wooden guns) there should be a small knob of some kind, corresponding with the trigger- guard of a gun, by which they may be supported easily, and at a regular height. Swords, for officers, may be procured from New York, 92 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. at various prices. A good sergeant's sword may be bought for $2 50 ; swords for the commissioned officers should cost a little more, but not more than $5 each. Belts cost about seventy-five cents each. Sashes are of two kinds, silk and worsted : those of silk cost about $5 ; of worsted, from $2 to $3. Let us see, now, at what cost a company of thirty-two may be equipped. The uniform consists only of similar dark clothes and caps. In this case, the privates need expend but fifty cents each for lances, and a trifling as- sessment for the drum and fife. If the cheapest of everything must be bought, swords may be found at less prices than those above mentioned, say for less than two dollars each. We will have everything as cheap as possible, as follows : 4 Sergeants' swords and belts, , . . $7 00 2 Lieutenants' " " .... 4 00 1 Captain's " " .... 4 50 3 pairs Epaulettes, at 75c 2 25 24 Lances, at 50c 12 00 10 yds. Gold Lace, at 30c. '. . . . 3 00 Drum and fife, 6 75 $39 50 We may safely say, then, that a company may be decently equipped for $40. Now, from my own ex- DRILLING. 93 perience, I can advise a teacher to pay for all this himself, if, of course, he is teaching a private school. He may consider the money as an investment in his business, and I can assure him that it will prove a good invest- ment. His school will be made so much more attract- ive, that he may safely calculate on receiving a suf- ficient increase of patronage, within six months, to bring back the money. But whether the teacher buys these equipments himself or not, it has been demonstrated, I think, that the cost need not deter the teacher from attempting to introduce the system into his school. The music for a company may be provided in accord- ance with circumstances. All that is necessary is one small snare-drum and a fife. If it is possible, let these be played by boys. It will be cheaper to employ in- struction for them than to hire regular musicians at every parade. It is advisable to equip the musicians in a style somewhat different from the rest. Scarlet jackets look well ; scarlet caps will cost less. They are to be under strict discipline, like the rest, to be present at all drills, and to learn just when and what to play. The flag may be home-made. If made and present- ed by young lady friends, it will be the best possible. Flags of various prices are for sale at the military stores in Maiden Lane, New York, costing from $10 J)4 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. to $100. Send the amount of money you can afford to expend, and a flag of that value will be returned. There should be an armory of some kind, in which the guns or lances, the swords, flag, drum, &c., should have suitable places. If nothing better can be pro- cured, a rack for arms may be cheaply put up around the sides of the school-room. PLATE I. Right Face. Left Face, Rest. About Face. Wide Line, About dotted Line , Face Left into Line. Right into Line, PLATE 11, A !o Tu r iniiig* Coinp any. :PLATE in V V V W \/ \/ Ri^ht Fat-r ! Left into Line PLATE IV. Captain. o 2d.S. o 4th. S. o Marching- Order. PLATE V. fcsr ; ' A7.A2.yjV3.A4. V2. V2. Vi/4. \i/4. PIRATE VTI "P." Fiyot . Outwaid and Inward Countermarching by Fours yi. yj. I I r Y 2 v^ Y3. Y- 5 A^./^2.A3.A4. y4 - y4 - A4.A3.A2.Ai \ * * % *"*.......*??' '. / / * /' ** **, *"-""".;'* ** * ' ** '' Inward Countermarching &om Fours in single File ' PLATE 'V V\ Outward Countermarch., in Circles bv Sections. PLATE XII, A A A A A A A A V V/ V V/ V/ V/ V/ V> 44 Left turn'- in .Cross. PJLATE XIII. ...-- Forward. March ! Reducing Cross. PLATE XIV. The Square, 4th. Ser. V V V \/ V \/ \/ A A A A A A A A GYMNASTICS. INTRODUCTION. IT is a fact not sufficiently noticed and lamented, that the young men of this country, who are engaged in commercial or professional pursuits, are, as a class, but weak and effeminate specimens of manhood. We see them on their way to or from the counting-room, the office, the study, dragging along their half-vital frames, pale-faced, dyspeptic, sacrificing themselves to gain a fortune which they may not have life, and cer- tainly will not have health, to enjoy if obtained. More- over, there seems to be a strange prejudice against bodily exertion, and this, to such an extent, that he who has means on which to live without labor, takes a kind of pride in doing absolutely nothing. Fast horses and fast yachts attract a few, it is true, but the above assertions are not to be denied in their application to the majority. The contrast between young America and young England, in respect to physical development, is marked [06] 96 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. and striking. One sees in the young men of England or Scotland most noble examples of robust, athletic and graceful manhood. The young nobleman and the poor barrister, the banker's clerk, and even the shop- man, are, as a general rule, broad-chested, fresh-color- ed, hearty fellows, who take pride in walking ten miles before breakfast, in pulling a pair of sculls as well as a regular wherry-man, or in being thorough sailors, able to trim a sail or clean a deck. Athletic sports of various kinds are cultivated by the people. It will not be denied that we, as a nation, are un- wise in neglecting the admitted necessities of amuse- ment and exercise ; but it will not seem out of place here, the repetition of some of the arguments in favor of physical education. 1. Nature demands it. Boys, at least up to the time that their heads reach the level of a counter, and they breathe in the lowest stratum of our polluted business atmosphere, delight in nothing so much as play, and that the heartier, the better. During that period nature demands and receives her full meed of attention ; the muscular and digestive systems, so closely allied, work harmoniously together ; the mind grows with the body, and under proper intellectual care, they seek mental and physical exercise with equal avidity. But as soon as the toga virilis, the skirted coat, is -prematurely assumed, they " put away childish things." Their stock of boy-health and vigor lasts GYMNASTICS. 97 for awhile, but too soon, the love of mental exertion, (its twin companion, bodily exercise, having been put to death,) passes languidly away, and the spurs of am- bition or desire of gain must be used to urge on the slow paces of a half-vital existence. 2. Active exercises confer beauty of form ; and they even contribute to impart an elegant air and graceful manner. The most perfectly-formed man I ever saw was a young merchant, who was, at the same time, an enthusiastic gymnast ; a sculptor would have rejoiced to copy his graceful form, and study the details of his magnificently developed muscles ; he walked the streets with the carriage of a Grecian hero. And yet this same man had been by no means conspicuous for manly beauty before he began a course of training ; he had, in fact, entered a gymnasium in accordance with the advice of a physician, who wished to drive away in- cipient consumption. In this case, daily ablutions in cold water accompanied the exercises of the gymna- sium, and now, although he no longer labors at the vaulting bar, he values his bath more than his break- fast, and is like a caged lion if deprived of his regular daily exercise. And he accomplishes almost the work of two men in his business, yet keeps up with the literature of the day. His is not a solitary case : I know of many such, but not enough. The Oxford and Cambridge students afford numer- 5 98 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. ous examples of the mens sana, in corpore sano. Eead Bristed's " Five years in an English University," and admire the manliness of the sensible students there. Recall the beauty of the heroes of the Grecian war- riors, or of the contestants in the Olympic games, as wrought in the living marble of the old sculptors, or copied by the genius of Flaxman. The Greeks were men, and all the more heroes, and statesmen, and schol- ars, for being men. 3. A consciousness of strength and dexterity, natu- rally leads a man to noble efforts in the defence or preservation of the weak or helpless. He who has been taught to be fearless in the water, and has learned to rely on his strength and endurance of muscle, will leap boldly into the waves to rescue a drowning per- son, while a score of sickly, effeminate fellows will be trembling on the shore. In many other ways, which need not be mentioned, true courage will be found to be allied with a consciousness of power, gained by ac- tual experience in manly exercises. If these things be true, it becomes us, as teachers, to inquire how we may best use our influence over those committed to our charge, to make them men, to implant in them a fondness for manly, healthful exer- cises, to give them a thorough education, physically as well as mentally. In answer to this question, I beg leave to call the earnest attention of teachers to my descriptions of the GYMNASTICS. 99 following branches of physical education, which I offer as the results of considerable personal experience and long attention to the subject, as displayed in books and the practices of some of our best schools. Drilling so called has been already treated of, and there remains to be said but little on that subject. It has been considered mainly as a means of interest- ing students in their school and teacher, of teaching principles of subordination, unanimity, and promptness of action, an erectness and grace of carriage, and of affording an innocent way 'of occupying time, likely to be otherwise misspent. But drilling may be also re- garded as a branch of physical education. The boy who maintains " the position of a soldier" through a long drill or parade, at the same time carrying a musket of a weight by no means to be despised, gains strength and endurance of muscle, together with a certain de- gree of activity, and a habit of alertness and energy of motion. I am free to confess, however, that the tendency of drilling, unaccompanied by other exercises, is to give lads a certain stiffness of body which is by no means to be admired. French soldiers, who are taught, most thoroughly, a great variety of gymnastic exercises, are celebrated for their activity and cat-like litheness. In ranks they can be as immobile as statues, but in action they are as agile as leopards, and their powers of endurance have been attested by their rivals, yet 100 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. inferiors, the English soldiers, in the late Russian war. It is necessary, then, I submit, to combine with drilling any or all of the exercises which are treated of hereafter. The teacher will remember, also, that the usual games and sports of boyhood ought not to be discour- aged. Bat-ball and foot-fall, " base" and " tag," and similar sports are well adapted to boys ; but while clinging to these, they may yet be initiated into more manly exercises, which may soon take the place of " childish things." It may be well, at this point, to speak for a moment of the old notion that the teacher loses dignity by mingling with his scholars in the amusements of the play-ground. I am glad to have evidence for believ- ing that this impression is retreating before the light thrown now-a-days on the profession of teaching. The teacher who is in doubt in regard to this, has only to try the experiment of joining in the sports of his boys to be convinced that he may, if he will act judiciously, maintain his dignity in the school-room, a dignity sup- ported by the affection of his pupils, although, on the play-ground, he may have acted as the companion, and even the equal of his young friends. If he will but be the elder brother or kind father of his boys, leading and guiding them in their studies and sports, he will be acting as a true teacher. The days of the mere school-waster, let us hope, are nearly over. GYMNASTICS. 101 I come now to speak, in course, of the following ex- ercises, viz. : Walking, running, skating, swimming, archery, row- ing, and exercises particularly confined to the gym- nasium. I may here willingly confess my indebtedness for many suggestions, to that excellent English work, " Walker's Manly Exercises," an American edition of which, I may add, has been recently published in Phila- delphia. CHAPTER I. PEDESTKIANISM. IT may be remarked, at starting, that too much at- tention is apt to be given to the development of the muscles of the arms and upper part of the body, to the neglect of those of the lower limbs. Viewing the matter practically, it is evident that there occur fre- quent instances in which the legs are called upon for prompt, rapid, and continued action. In self-preser- vation, or the rescue of others from accidents in the water ; in pursuit after, or flight from, those whom circumstances render the enemies of ourselves or others; in journeys, or in forced marches, in which, as, for in- stance, in the case of Lieutenant Strain's party on the Isthmus of Panama, life may depend on the speed or endurance of one man ; in these and other similar cir- 102 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. cumstances there may often happen a need for stout legs, strong in large muscles, and guided by a thorough knowledge of what legs can do. In addition to these considerations, it may be well observed that the laws of grace and symmetry demand that the muscles of the whole body shall be developed and strengthened. The brawny-armed blacksmith stands, likely enough, on a pair of " spindle shanks,' 7 while the postman, or the professional dancer, has stout legs, but puny arms and a weak chest. GENERAL DIRECTIONS. Exercise of any kind is best practised in the early morning, or towards night, and if indulged in during the day, it should never immediately follow a meal. All unnecessary clothes should be laid aside, and the limbs left perfectly free. It is advised, particularly, that the habit be formed of leaving the chest and throat exposed ; at least the practice so much indulged in by boys, of wearing " comforters" around the neck, should, except in very cold weather, be discouraged. The same advice applies to the covering of the head ; during exercise, a straw hat, or light oiled silk cap, is best. Many recommend a belt, tightly strapped around the abdomen. When used, however, it ought not to be strapped too tightly. In walking, and in other exer- GYMNASTICS. 103 cises not violent, the belt is unnecessary, but in run- ning and leaping, and similar exercises, a moderately tight belt answers the purpose of preventing the too violent motion of the viscera, and of supporting the organs of the chest. Exercise should always begin gently, and end in the same manner. The being cooled too quickly is injuri- ous ; therefore a sudden transition from action to rest, drinking cold water while hot, and lying on the ground, should be avoided. As soon as the gymnast ceases his exertions, he should resume his clothes and continue walking about, moderately, until thoroughly cooled, or until ready to begin again. Men take this same care of race-horses, and they show singular folly if they neglect themselves. As preparation for walking or running, there are various exercises for the legs, tending to strengthen their muscles. Some of these are, 1. Standing with the left foot in place, and taking a long step in advance, with the right, bringing the foot back to place promptly. 2. Standing with the right foot in place, and step- ping with the left. 3. Standing perfectly erect, and practising any of the " facings," as taught in drilling. 4. Executing the peculiar stamping movement used in fencing, instructions in which are contained in any " Boys' Own Book." 104 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. 5. Standing on one foot, and holding the other in various forced positions. It is advised that these be practised in line simul- taneously, in obedience to commands by a regularly formed class. The suggestion might have been previously made that it is advisable to form classes for all exercises, and this for reasons obvious to every teacher. A circular " course" should be laid out in the play- ground, or, better, in some large, open field. If noth- ing better can be done, measure off a course in the highway, between two piles of stones. Let this course be as smooth and free from stones, &c., as possible. Let it be measured in sixteenths of a mile, or in rods, and devise some plan of distinctly displaying the de- grees of distance by means of stakes, or marks upon a fence, parallel with the course. WALKING. In walking, it is not expected that speed will be at- tained. Good walkers very seldom accomplish more than five miles an hour, although for a single hour, and even for two and three hours, a pace of six miles an hour has occasionally been kept up. It is not de- sirable for an adult to attempt more than four miles an hour for any long excursion or trial ; and at that rate he can walk comfortably from morning to night. GYMNASTICS. 105 Boys, of course, cannot accomplish as much, but there are few of them, over twelve years of age, who cannot make three miles an hour, for a long walk, and four or four-and-a-half for a single hour. Strength and patience to endure, is that which a pedestrian needs at first, to try to gain. After he becomes ac- customed to walking, he will come in from a walk of ten or twelve miles before breakfast, as fresh as when he started, the blood coursing in every vein, and with an appetite like that of a horse, while the lazy fellow who has crawled from bed just in time for his morning meal, has little enjoyment of food, or spirit for the labors of the day. The walker will not, of course, confine himself to " the course ;" he will delight in country walks, over fences and across lots. And the teacher will do well to organize excursion parties for his whole school, all starting off to see how far they can walk in the after- noon. RUNNING. The teacher may find it difficult to create an inter- est in walking, except among his elder pupils ; but all will become enthusiastic about running. Enthusiasm naturally accompanies ardent efforts to excel, and is, also, stimulated by this vigorous exercise ; for excite- ment of body always produces excitement of mind. Taking advantage of this desire to excel, let the 106 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. teacher form classes and offer, in each, " the champion's belt" to the fleetest or most enduring, a belt made well and slightly ornamented. Besides this, it will be well to honor the champion of the school. Races may be arranged, in which, by giving a start to the younger or shorter boys, the conditions may be just to all. Occasionally, therefore, let all compete together. Let the champion wear his belt until some one surpasses him and gains it. Directions for Running. In beginning a course of training, the racer should not allow himself to run until he is completely out of breath. He should begin with short courses, and, as he makes these gradually longer, he will find his lungs grow strong by exercise, and he can ultimately run a distance, to have accomplished which at first, would have been impossible.- Let him learn to keep the mouth firmly closed and to breathe only through the nose ; to respire slowly, filling the lungs completely at each inspiration, and retaining the air in the lungs a moment before letting it escape. He will be astonished to find that, by such practice, he can become " long-winded," and will re- alize other advantages from having a large and strong pair of lungs. In running, let the arms be held firmly at the sides, GYMNASTICS. 107 the fore-arm held so as to form an angle rather acute at the elbow, and let the hands be clinched. If the arms are allowed to swing, their motion interferes with the momentum of the body. Let the body be in- clined forward, the shoulders and head thrown back. After passing the running post, it is best to keep on running a few rods, and to keep in motion for some time after completing a course. Too sudden a change from violent action to complete inaction is hurtful, be- cause the artificial heat created by muscular exertion passes off so rapidly as to cause colds and rheumatic complaints. For a long course, endurance, or " bottom," as it is called, is of more worth than fleetnese. Great speed is called for only in short matches. For boys of ten or twelve, two hundred yards, at full speed, is quite far enough. This distance may, of course, be increased for older boys or young men. For a race to test endurance, let a long course, from half a mile to two miles be tried ; or, let the contest- ants attempt to pass over the longest possible distance within a given time, say from ten to thirty minutes. Feats in Running. A mile in ten minutes is good running. A thousand yards in two minutes is very good speed. Six hundred yards in one minute is extra fast. 108 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. Ten miles an hour is done by all the best runners. A mile in four minutes has, perhaps, never been ac- complished, but it has been done in four minutes and a half; while a mile in five minutes is frequently made. These feats have been accomplished by men ; boys cannot do as much, but legs half as long as men's legs ought to do more than half as much. SKATING. It will be unnecessary to do more than call atten- tion, briefly, to the merits of skating as a gymnastic exercise, and to speak of the best kinds of skates. The muscular exertion demanded in skating is simi- lar to that made use of in walking and running ; but since the exercise is taken in cold, bracing, wintry air, and at a season, also, when the number and variety of out-door sports is limited, it has peculiar claims on our attention. It may be said that boys need no instruction in skating, and the remark is quite true. The subject is treated of here because it is the aim of the writer to induce teachers to take interest in all the amusements of their pupils, and this in such a way as to gain and retain an influence over them for their good. I have one other reason ; I wish to persuade teachers to en- joy, themselves, the vigorous exercise and healthful GYMNASTICS. 109 warmth and lightness of inind and body consequent upon an hour's skating in the bracing north wind. Skates are of various kinds, and it may be said that the simplest in construction are the best. The orna- mental curl which, for its grace, is much admired by boys, is a useless and, sometimes, a dangerous append- age. It adds to the weight of the skate, and is liable to catch against dead branches, which may happen to be on the ice, and thus trip the skater ; besides this, if the foot catches in an air-hole, or breaks in, the curl prevents an easy release. The runner should be as low as possible ; if it is high, too much exertion will be required from the muscles of the leg in keeping the ankles stiff. The best height of runner is about three quarters of an inch, and the width from an eighth to a quarter of an inch. Grooved skate-runners are much used in this coun- try, while in Holland, where skating is a national ex- ercise, " flat-bottoms" are universally preferred. For beginners, grooved runners are of use, because they take a firm hold on the ice and prevent that spreading apart of the legs which is the young skaters first trou- ble. But for those who have passed through their initiation of bumps and troubles, who are at their ease, at home, on the ice, the Dutch pattern is the best. With these, all the intricate " rollings" and cuttings of graceful figures which mark the skillful skater, can be 110 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. easily performed. This kind of skate can be easily kept sharp, for they can be ground on a common grind- stone. The bottom of the iron should be a little curved ; much more ease and grace of motion may be acquired with curved than straight bottoms. The curve of the iron should be an arc of a circle whose radius is two feet. This shape enables the skater to turn his toe or heel outwards or inwards with equal facility. The heel of the shoe or boot worn by the skater should be low, so as to permit the whole foot to come in close contact with the skate and thus be fastened firmly to it. Heels are an excresence of modern shoes ; they are unnatural and would be extremely awkward were we not accustomed to them from childhood. For skaters the rule should be only heel enough to hold the peg ; and if the wood is thick enough, cut away that part on which the heel rests and file down the peg, so that the bottom of the foot shall be parallel with the surface of the ice. Beginners may be taught to balance themselves on their skates by practising walking on them in a room, the floor of which shall not be dirty or gritty, and thus spoil the edge of their runners. I have seen beginners make excellent progress by retaining a hold of a long cord, fastened to a post or tree on the shore, or a stake made fast in the ice ; by means of this they pulled themselves forward, so that the arms exerted the pro- GYMNASTICS. Ill pelling power, giving the feet a better chance to learn the peculiarities of the stroke. Dangers in Skating. "If the chest is irritable it is neither salutary nor easy to skate against the wind. In countries where these exercises are general, inflammations of the chest are very common in winter. " Skating sometimes exposes to much danger. If the skater find that he cannot get away from rotten ice, he must crawl over it on his hands and knees, in order to reduce his weight on the supporting points. If he fall at length on weak ice, he must roll away from it towards ice more firm. If he fall into a hole, he must extend his arms horizontally over the edges of the unbroken ice and only tread water till a plank is pushed towards him or a rope thrown for his hold." (Walker's Manly Exercises.) From these few hints and instructions, the teacher, although not a practised skater, may gather informa- tion which, with other acquirements in similar exer- cises, shall tend to give him that influence over his scholars, both indoors and out, which he may and ought to have and retain. 112 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. SWIMMING. The writer was once saved from drowning by the fearless action of a friend, who leaped into the water, in full dress, and rescued him at the last moment. It is not strange, therefore, that he feels as if he were only discharging a part of the debt which he owes to his fellow-men, in urging on all the acquirement of the noble and healthful art of swimming. If swimming should be taught in all our schools, to both boys and girls, how many lives might be preserv- ed ! It is true that boys generally learn to swim, and that without instruction, but they practise the art merely as an amusement, and only they who are natu- rally daring and energetic become sufficiently expert and fearless to afford reliable assistance to others, or to save themselves, in circumstances of danger. But it must need little, if any argument to prove that all may profit by suitable instructions, and by practice in various methods of swimming with or without clothes and weights, alone or grappled by others, &c., &c. And it is submitted here, that it is the duty of teachers, a duty which they owe to humanity, to teach swimming to their scholars, to prepare them for the accidents which they are so likely to meet, during life, on the water. While they are fulfilling this duty, they will be, at the same time, instructing their scholars, and GYMNASTICS. 113 adding to the general reputation and success of their schools. Confidence. A great reason why boys do not learn to swim easily, why they do not generally acquire a practical and thorough acquaintance with the art, is because they lack confidence. In the first place, the uncertainty and unknown depths of the water naturally alarm them. They are about to trust their life to an element which is proverb- ially treacherous. They fear the dark holes which may be waiting to swallow them down to a dismal and horrid death. In the second place, they are not assured of the fact that their bodies will naturally float. They fear that they shall sink, and as soon as their feet are off the bottom, in an effort to swim, they make convulsive efforts to support themselves. These efforts teach them nothing. Swimming is only to be learned by slow and regular attempts in moving the arms and legs. During these hurried, frightened, and vain ef- forts to sustain themselves in the water, their heads, which they do not know is the heaviest part of their bodies, naturally gets under water ; they become blinded and half suffocated ; their terrors are increas- ed, and they, at last, scramble out, more than ever con- 114 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. vinced that the water and their bodies are natural enemies. The confidence they need may be easily given to them by a teacher who has read the following, or other instructions, and who enters systematically on the busi- ness of teaching the art. Time. In the Northern States, the season for bathing ex- tends from the middle of May to the middle or end of September. The danger of entering the water too early in the season should be explained by the teacher. Boys are anxious to " go in swimming" by the first of May, during those warm spring days, when they be- come heated by exercise. But at that time they have not left off their winter clothes, their warm undergar- ments, and the change from being warmly clad to nudity and contact with cold water, is greater than they think for. My father used to give me this rule : Don't go into the water until a week after you have left off wearing your under-shirt. Morning is a better time for bathing than evening. It is not advisable to enter the water before digestion is finished. One should never bathe while in a perspi- ration ; it is unwise even to undress while perspiring freely, unless in very warm weather, and during the middle of the day. GYMNASTICS. 115 Place. Of all places for swimming, the sea is best ; running water next ; and ponds the worst. Whatever place is chosen, let the character of the bottom and the depths be accurately learned by all. Stakes may be driven to mark the line beyond which the depth is "over head." For diving, care must be taken that there is always sufficient depth, and that the bottom is free from stones. Dress. Due regard to modesty, in the case of a teacher and his class, requires that short drawers be worn by all. A little ingenuity and effort will supply them. If the bottom be stony or shelly, canvass slippers, no matter how roughly made, are desirable. Leather shoes be- come useless after a few exposures to saturation and drying. Each scholar should have a suit of old clothes ready to be worn in the water, after sufficient progress has been made in plain swimming. First Lesson. "Wet the head on entering the water. Avoid stand- ing still long at a time, while naked, either in or out of the water. Let the instructor, followed by his class, 116 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. wade cautiously all over the ground, in order that the boys may see that it is nowhere over their shoulders. Let all be convinced of this, so that no one shall fear getting beyond his depth. Let the teacher now show his class the buoyancy of his body by floating ; or, if he cannot float, let him illustrate the difficulty of keeping his body beneath the surface of the water. Let him explain why the chest is the lightest part of the body, the limbs next in den- sity, and the head the heaviest. In salt water, one- tenth of the weight of the body will remain above the surface ; in fresh water one-eleventh. If, therefore, the body can assume such a position as to leave above the surface the nose and eyes, for the sake of seeing and breathing, the swimmer may float at ease. As an experiment in further illustration of the buoy- ancy of the body, let the beginner, standing breast- high in the water, attempt to bring up a handful of sand from the bottom. He will find it difficult to sink himself, although his head is under. Dr. Franklin advises the boy to try to bring up an egg, left purposely at the above depth. To accomplish this, he must go down with his eyes open. There is no trouble in doing this, if the experimenter will only think so. It is important for all to learn to use their sight under water, as, for instance, in cases where a drowning person has sunk, and a diver plunges down to bring up the body. GYMNASTICS. 117 Require every boy to try to bring up the egg or sand. Let all learn in this lesson, first, that it is im- possible for the body to sink, as long as the lungs are filled with air ; and, second, that the place chosen is safe. Aids. In succeeding lessons, the first principles of swim- ming may be taught. The aid of the hand is much better than corks, blad- ders, or any similar supports. Let the instructor offer his hands, held firmly just beneath the surface, as a support for the body of the pupil, one hand being placed under the chest, and the other under the abdo- men. Hold the boy thus, urging him, at the same time, to trust himself fearlessly to your care. If he doubts your ability, you may easily convince him that he can hold you ; that the water helps to sustain the weight. When he is quietly resting on your hands, tell him to draw up his legs, and kick them backwards, like a frog, but not violently. When he does this properly, instruct him in the proper motions of the arms and hands. Require all to take the same lesson. For the next attempt, provide pieces of cork or light wood, about a foot long, and six or seven inches broad, fasten bands to these, so that they may be tied on the back ; let one end, which may be rounded, lie between the shoulder-blades. To this cork or float, other pieces 118 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. may be added, and be so arranged that, as the swim- mer improves, they may be left off, one by one. If, with these, a pupil seems to find difficulty in learn- ing, take him upon your hands, and teach him. But do not force them to learn ; convince them that there is no danger, and they will not require force. Eespiration. Let the pupils be advised to breathe slowly and regularly, and to draw in the breath at the moment when the stroke has just been given with the hands, and the head, therefore, is well above the water. If the air is inhaled while the hands are thrust forward and the stroke is given by the legs, the mouth will be so near the surface as to make it likely that water will be taken in and strangling ensue. Coming Out. As soon as the pupil feels weary, or becomes chilly and numb, he should come out and dress himself. It is strongly advised that friction be used before dress- ing ; this restores the circulation of the blood, creates an agreeable glow, and strengthens the joints and muscles. GYMNASTICS. 119 General Suggestions. Directions for the various kinds of swimming are contained in almost any " Boys' Own Book," and in Dr. Franklin's works. It seems unnecessary to refer to these here, because they are for amusement more than utility. True, a person obliged to swim a great distance has occasion to relieve himself by resorting to the various methods of propulsion or rest ; but these are easily acquired. But the teacher should encourage, and indeed require, practice in swimming with the clothes on ; in leaping into the water, in full dress, from a height as great as that from the deck of a ship ; in swimming with a weight on one arm ; in supporting the body of a comrade, or carrying him to the shore ; in avoiding the clutches of one of their number who may act as a drowning person would ;* to dive and bring up a weight equal to that of a drowned person ; to swim for a long time ; to swim long under water ; and all such practice as can be thought of, which will be likely to be of practical use. Let the boys be ani- mated to excel in these respects with the hope of being better able to save their own and others' lives. Cramp may be cured or relieved by thrusting the leg violently downwards, at the same time drawing up the toes. If this does not succeed, let the swimmer * The method to be adopted in such a case is to avoid the fatal grasp by approaching the drowning person from behind. 120 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. turn upon his back and kick the limb out into the air, in which element he can make a more vigorous stroke. If this fails, let him support himself in an erect posi- tion, by the motions of the hands, until help comes. Persons liable to the cramp should never go beyond their depth. Some bathers are much annoyed, and indeed, perma- nently injured, from water getting into their ears. This may be prevented by stopping the ears with cot- ton saturated with oil. I cannot leave this subject without urging on the attention of parents and teachers the importance of accustoming the girls, as well as the boys, to the water. They are of the sex which is to receive aid, and they should be taught at least to become so familiar with the water as to retain their presence of mind in case of accident on the water, to sustain themselves, and to swim also if possible. MISCELLANEOUS EXERCISES. If the teacher will bear in mind that one great ob- ject which he has in view, in engaging in and superin- tending the sports of his boys, is to afford them inno- cent and profitable occupation for hours which are too often worse than misspent, he will not think it unim- portant to attend, briefly, to GYMNASTICS. 121 ARCHERY. If he will assist his young friends, by his advice, in preparing bows and arrows, and targets, in making rules for practice, and, generally, in giving an impor- tance to this exercise by starting and regulating it himself, he may easily succeed in making this one of the most interesting of the sports of the play-ground. The following hints may be of use : Bows are best which are made from seasoned hick ory, cedar, ash or elm. Their lengths should be equal to the heights of their owners. The string should be of linen, whipped with silk at the part where the end of the arrow is to be fixed. When strung, the cord of a bow five feet long should be five inches from the bow, at the silk. Arrows are generally made from ash, birch or pine. For long ranges they should be about two feet three inches in length, for the largest bows. For target prac- tice, the arrow should be longer and stouter. Plumed arrows are best. It is not difficult to plume an arrow. The feathers may be chosen from the smallest goose- quills, from the wing-feathers of hens, or from dove- feathers. If these are carefully and neatly fastened in the end of the arrow, the increased directness of its flight will pay for the trouble. Targets may be made without instructions. It is 6 122 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. best to have two, and to fire from No. 1 at No. 2 till the ammunition of all is exhausted ; then seek them and fire from No. 2 at No. 1. In this way no one need expose himself to being hit, and time is saved in going after arrows and returning. There are two ways of registering shots : as " best shots" and " best average shots." Let a shot within the " bull's eye" count ten ; " " " 1st circle " seven ; " " " 2d " " five; " " without " " " three ; " " striking on the edge " one. Thus, if two boys make a match, and one hits the " bull's eye" (ten) and the edge (one) while the other hits within the first circle (seven) and within the second circle (five) ; the first makes eleven, and the second twelve. This seems the fairest way of judging of the relative skill of the two marksmen ; for two fair shots are better than one very good one and one very poor one. The distance from target to target may vary from thirty to fifty yards, for the larger boys ; from twenty to thirty, for the smaller. . Shoot always with or against the wind ; a side wind interferes with the course of the arrow. It is suggested that a very pleasing public exhi- bition may be made of the proficiency of the boys of a school in pedestrianism and archery. Sensible parents GYMNASTICS. 123 will be pleased to see their sons engaged in such amusements, rather than herding together for mischief and profligacy. ROWING. Where boating is practicable, the teacher may find it desirable to have a boat club. Familiarity with boats, skill in rowing and steering them, and confi- dence and fearlessness on the water, are attainments which it would be well for every boy to make. The exercise of rowing is most healthful, especially since it is pursued in the fresh, open air. The best boats, for six and eight oars, cost, in New York, from $150 to $300. A good four-oared wherry may be procured for from $75 to $100. But a large, flat-bottomed boat, may be procured for fifty dollars ; if ornaments and paint are dispensed with, for less. These different sums, divided among a club of ten or fifteen boys, will not amount to very much for each. Instructions in rowing cannot be easily given on paper. A few hours' practical teaching from a boat- man or sailor will be worth more than pages of theo- retical information. 124 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. CRICKET. This English game, as yet not much played in this country, is worthy the attention of the teacher who seeks to add to the variety of play-ground exercises. It is the most popular of the athletic sports of Eng- land, and whether played by experienced hands accord- ing to scientific rules, or by a few lads, in a compara- tively irregular manner, it is an admirable pastime. The best rules for conducting the game, with both single and double wicket, with which the writer is familiar, are contained in the "Boys' Treasury of Sports," an English work, but which is republished in this country. FOOT-BALL. Strange to say, this excellent game is but little prac- tised out of New England, but wherever it is known, it is a favorite sport. Balls made from India-rubber are cheaper and better than the old-fashioned blown bladder, with leather case, but the latter is often procurable where the former is not. In choosing sides, care should be taken that the larger boys be equally divided ; upon them depends the impetus of strength and weight which frequently GYMNASTICS. 125 "crowds" or "rushes" the ball "to bounds." The smaller boys should act as skirmishers, leaving the brunt of the game to fall upon the heavy infantry. Finally, the teacher may well interest himself in dis- covering and reviving old games, and in inventing new ones. "Strutt's Ancient Pastimes" contains many most amusing and interesting games, some of which are deserving of revival. We now come to speak of Gymnastics, as exercises conducted with the aid of apparatus are commonly called. GYMNASTICS. We will first speak of the simplest forms of appara- tus, such as are within the reach of the teacher of every village school. The Vaulting Bar is the simplest, but one of the most useful, of the instruments ordinarily used by gymnasts. Upon it a greater variety of exercises may be practised than, perhaps, upon any other single " contrivance." It is easily constructed ; the teacher who has any acquaintance with the use of carpenters' tools can make and put one up, with a few hours' labor. In Plate I., on the left, are seen two of these bars ; the details of their construction, together with instruc- tions for their use, will be given hereafter. On the right of the same plate is seen the Jump- 126 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. ing Cord. It consists simply of two upright posts, firmly planted in the ground, with pegs of iron jutting from them at regular intervals, which sustain a cord ; this is kept " taut" by the weight of bags of sand, fastened to either end. By this contrivance, the jumper, if he happens to hit his feet, will not trip, and the bags of sand can hurt no one, if the cord is carried forward violently by the unlucky or unskillful trip of the jumper. It will be seen at a glance that this piece of apparatus will cost less even than the Vaulting Bar. With these two alone very many interesting and profitable exercises may be practised ; and the scholars will thank their teacher for providing for them these simple and inexpensive means of enjoyment. If the teacher wishes, he can add the Parallel Bars, seen on the right and in front of the plate, at but little expense. The upper bars need to be of hard pine, and planing is necessary ; but a few dollars will cover the cost of them. For details of construction and use, see below. Now there is not a teacher in the land who cannot erect one or all of these three aids to gymnastic exer- cises in his yard or play-ground. I wish I could in- duce all of them to try the experiment of introducing these exercises to their scholars. They would find, I am sure, that both their scholars and themselves would be profited by them. GYMNASTICS. 127 Description of Plate I. The apparatus here illustrated has been planned after considerable experience in various gymnasiums experience in erection and practice. The whole is designed to be put up out of doors, compactly and strongly, and at the least possible expense. But little ingenuity is required to adapt the various parts to an indoor arrangement, if a suitable room is at the com- mand of the teacher. There are ten different kinds of apparatus, namely : Two Vaulting Bars, Swing, Upright Bars, Inclined Board, Single Rope, Jumping Cord, Ladder, Parallel Bars, Rope Rings, Horse. These include the principal contrivances of our best gymnasiums. Others might be added, but at an ex- pense increased beyond the advantages to be gained from them. The whole expense should come within fifty dollars, and if the teacher is mechanically inclined, and will, with the assistance of some of his older boys, do most of the work himself, it may be made to cost much less. 128 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. Construction. The main frame-work, which is represented in the plate as being put together with hardly enough solid- ity and firmness, should consist of two stout posts, with a cross-bar. The posts should be deeply set in the ground, and may be rendered more firm by stanchions in various places. The uprights should be from fifteen to eighteen feet in height, and should stand at a dis- tance of about twenty-five feet apart. The ladder, by being made fast to buried posts at the bottom, and screwed by iron clamps to the cross-bar, may be made to steady the whole frame-work, and prevent its sway- ing toward either side. The perpendicular Parallel Bars, (on the left, within,) should be made of clear stuff, two inches in diameter, round and perfectly smooth, and twenty inches apart ; they should be morticed squarely into the cross-bar, to prevent turning, and should be secured, in position, below, by being made to enter a stout piece of scant- ling, buried beneath the surface of the ground. The Single Rope, which hangs next to these bars, needs hardly any explanation. It should be of a size just large enough for convenient grasping. It, as well as the other ropes, should be made to work on a hook, firmly inserted in the cross-bar, and connecting with it by an iron " eye ;" by constant use, a rope, without iron gearing, will soon become so much worn as to be GYMNASTICS. 129 dangerous. The hooks ought to pass through the cross-bar, and be secured by " nuts" above. The Ladder should be made of hard smooth pine, and be most solidly put together. It is the most ex- pensive part of the apparatus, and may be dispensed with ; and if given up, its place as a support of the frame-work may be supplied by a stout, smooth pole. There might be two of these poles, one on each side of the frame. The ladder should be inclined to the frame at an angle of 35 or 40. It should be two feet wide ; rounds should be small and smooth, and placed at a distance of fourteen inches apart. All angles and corners must be avoided in this and all the other parts of the apparatus. The Rings of the next contrivance should be made of iron, six indies in diameter, and should hang about six feet from the ground. They may be covered with leather or by a waxed cord, wound evenly around them, or may be left, smoothly filed, of plain iron. The Bar of the Swing, which comes next, should be of hickory, an inch and a quarter in diameter, and two feet in length. It should hang on a level with the rings. It is intended for the grasp of the hands, from beneath, and not as a seat. The ropes of both these swings may be shortened by means of knots, made fast by pegs. On the inside of the right-hand upright, holes an inch in diameter may be bored, six inches apart, deep 6* 130 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. enough to admit stout pegs ; these pegs should project far enough to serve as grasps for the hands, and should work easily in their holes. Two pegs are required, by means of which a strong-armed boy may hoist him- self up, peg by peg, to the top, and come down again. The Inclined- Board should be made of two-inch stuff, about eighteen inches wide, and twelve or four- teen feet long. It should be planed perfectly smooth on the upper side. It is here represented as acting as a support to its end of the frame, inclining at an angle of 45 ; but, if the frame can be made firm without it, it will be well to contrive means by which a less incli- nation niay be secured. The use of this board is shown by the drawing in Plate IV. ; from which it may be judged that the less the inclination, the greater will be the difficulty of climbing it. The ascent of a smooth board, standing perpendicularly, is not impossible. The Jumping Cord has been already mentioned. In regard to the height and distance apart of the up- rights, the teacher may exercise his own judgment. At distances of one inch, along the front face of both posts, short, smooth iron pegs should be inserted, pro- jecting just far enough to sustain the cord, and not to interfere with its removal. Of course, the correspond- ing pegs of each post should be of the same height ; and the distance in inches should be marked on both sides. Bags of sand are much better than any other weights to keep the cord taut, for, as has been inti- GYMNASTICS. 131 mated, the jumper may catch his toes against the cord, dragging it violently along with him, and bystanders are in danger of being struck by the flying weights. The Parallel Bars (on tne right and front) should be made of two-inch stuff, of the best clear, hard pine : the supports should be well planted, about four feet apart (in the length) ; the height of the bars from the ground should be about four feet ; they may be ten or fifteen feet long, and seventeen inches wide, inside ; the hand-rails should be rounded at the top, and be made so wide that the fingers cannot grasp or touch beneath. The Vaulting Bars (on the left) should be supported by well planted uprights ; the bars may be of ash or hickory, of two-inch stuff, worked perfectly round and smooth ; one end at least should be morticed squarely into its upright. The bar nearest the main frame- work should be six or six-and-a-half feet high, and six feet long ; the lower one may be a foot less in height and length. A third bar may be added, if a large proportion of the gymnasts are quite small. There are ways of arranging the bar so that it may be raised and lowered, for persons of different heights ; but greater expense would be incurred if such plans were adopted, and that at a sacrifice of convenience. Where room must be economized, the movable bar is de- sirable. The Horse which is not a necessary animal in the 132 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. play-ground should be made of a solid beam of well- seasoned wood, rounded at the sides, top and ends ; it should be five-and-a-half feet long two-and-a-half feet in diameter, and the* top four feet at least from the ground. The legs may be planted in the ground ; but if they be made to spread, they need not enter the earth, for it will not be easy to overturn it. The handles, which represent the front and back of the saddle, should be very firmly fastened on ; their shape and position are shown in the diagram in Plate IV. ; they should be about sixteen inches apart. The seat may be padded with leather. In the whole construction, the greatest care should be taken to have everything made as thoroughly as is possible. If accidents ever occur, let the teacher never have to blame himself for having been in any degree the cause. Exercises. It seems unnecessary to enter into details of instruc- tion on the uses of these ropes and bars. If the more important feats of strength and agility are pointed out, and the modus operand* explained, the instinct which boys have for leaping and climbing will teach them all the variety which will be necessary. It will be important that the teacher become able to take the lead in everything. Precept and example must go hand in hand, but example, in gymnastics. GYMNASTICS. 133 must be a little in advance. It will not be difficult, it is hoped, for a teacher to learn these exercises from the following instructions. Let him endeavor to show just how to do a particular feat ; his pupils can imi- tate an action more easily than they can understand a description of it. These exercises are designed to give strength to all the muscles of the body. It is true that more labor is furnished for the arms than the legs, but this is because the arms are more important than the legs, at least in many respects ; and because, in exercising the arms, the chest, which contains the vital organs, is strength- ened and expanded. To prove this, it will be inter- esting to take the measurement of the circumference of the chests of all of the pupils, passing the cord around just at the arm-pits, and to notice the gradual expan- sion which will be consequent on regular and vigor- ous exercises. It will be appropriate for the teacher to give his class a lecture on the muscular system, and the physical necessity of exercise. The first thing to be acquired is a good, firm grasp of the hand. This will .be wanted in every variety of exercise. Let us begin, then, by attempting to strengthen the muscles of the fingers and hand. The parallel bars will give strength to the wrist and fore- arm. 1. Stand within the bars ; grasp them with the thumbs 134 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. inside, and, with a slight spring, raise yourself so that the arms shall support the body. Try to do this with- out a spring, that is, by the mere stiffening of the arms. Your arms are not as strong a& you thought. Now, keep the legs together and stiff at the knees, so that the body shall not sway about, and with the arms stiff, walk along the bars, stepping slowly, hand after hand. N. B. The teacher should allow only one thing at a time ; he should forbid fanciful gyrations, and re- quire each, in his turn, to perform the particular exer- cise which is the subject of the lesson ; after the lesson they may do whatever they like. As soon as walking forward is learned so well that all can walk easily and rapidly, try walking back- ward, standing on one hand, changing hands, i. e., turning suddenly between the bars, and, before the body can fall, so that the feet touch the ground, face the other way. It is difficult but not impossible. Try now the figures illustrated in Plate II. In The Grasshopper, lower the body slowly, drawing up the feet if necessary, until the elbows are on a level with the ears ; now raise yourself entirely by the muscles of the arms. Do this as many times in succession as you can. In making The L, let your feet be on the ground, stoop so that your arms can come outside the bars, take a firm grasp, draw up the legs to the position GYMNASTICS. 135 shown in the engraving, and remain so while some one counts ten, in seconds, and as much longer as you can. The first position in Skinning the Cat is the same as for The L. The figure on the left illustrates the going over ; the one on the right, the coming down. At this point do not let go, but, by a backward move- ment, turn over again without losing the hold. With practice, this may be repeated a dozen times or more. While standing on the bars, swing your feet for- ward and backward. There is no occasion for fear. Swing far enough to turn a somerset, either forward or backward, but do not make the somerset ; the feet, in coming down, might hit the bars too violently. This swinging prepares you for jumping. As the feet come forward, from a backward swing, let go with the hands, and allow the body to go forward. You may thus jump a foot at a time, and, with practice, a yard and a-half. Try jumping backward. Practise walk- ing, swinging and jumping, while in the grasshopper position. The upright parallel bars are for frequent use, from the first. Exercise in them tends to strengthen and expand the chest. Stand with the toes just within the bars ; grasp the bars in such a manner that the thumbs and fingers shall meet on the side opposite the body, and, in all the movements, retain this grasp and position of the 136 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. hand, if possible. Now lean forward and pass the body through the opening, without moving the feet or letting the hands slip on the bars. Pass through, if you can ; never mind if it almost breaks your shoulder- blades. Now come back and repeat the movement. Go through and back with a jerk. This is capital exercise. These bars, the single rope and the ladder, will give various exercises in grasping and in using the muscles of the arms. When working on either of these three, take care not to use the legs ; keep them stiff and straight. Ascend the bars with a grasp on each one, leaping up from reach to reach ; or climb one of them, without using the knees. It is a difficult, but by no means impossible feat, to ascend these bars with the head downward. The teacher should encourage the invention of all kinds of difficulties. He should himself often offer the banter, " Do this, if you can !" After the class has attained proficiency on the par- allel bars, they may be taken to the vaulting bars. I will give, briefly, a course of lessons on these. 1. Grasp the bar with both hands, the thumbs on the same side with the fingers, and the back of the hand turned from you. Raise the feet, one at a time, by bending the knees and hang in that position, as long as you can. Try to sustain your weight, in this position, with one hand. GYMNASTICS. 137 2. "While hanging, move along the bar, backward and forward, by passing one hand over the other. 3. Hang by the hands, with knees straight and stiff, and draw up the body, by contracting the muscles of the arm, until you can hook the chin over the bar. Do this slowly, and repeat it as many times as possible. Bare the arms, and notice the effect of this exercise on the upper muscle of the arm. Improve on this by raising the body so high that the head and shoulders shall rise above the bar. 4. While hanging, draw up the feet slowly, and place them against the bar, between the hands ; return to the first position, without losing the grasp. Do this again, but, this time, let the feet pass through the hands, under the bar, and without touching it, and come down on the other side, without losing grip. After practice and proficiency, pass the feet and legs through, but do not let the feet come to the ground ; pause a moment, reverse the process and come back to the first position. This is called " skinning the cat," and is similar to the trick of the same name performed on the parallel bars. 5. Swing on the bar, so high that the feet shall rise above the level of the bar, both before and behind. Do this fearlessly, for your grip, by this time, will be strong enough to keep you from falling. Practice this frequently, since it gives confidence. As you swing 138 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. backward, let go of the bar, and catch it again as yoi* come down. 6. Circling the Bar, is illustrated in Plate III. To accomplish it, draw up the body by the muscles ojf the arms, and while doing so, curl the feet over the bar, as seen on the figure. Do this by muscle alone, without a swing, if possible. When in this position, try to bring the feet so far beyond the centre of gravity on the other side, as to swing the body over and on the bar. Strength, and a certain " knack," are necessary to accomplish this feat gracefully and easily. 7. With a leap, throw one foot over the bar, and raise the body by the hands up on the bar. This is the " lazy way" of mounting the bar ; the gymnast, who takes pride in his strength and skill, will always get on by " circling." 8. The Grasshopper (on this bar) is illustrated in Plate III. After mounting the bar, by either of the above methods, take a seat on it. Grasp the bar firmly, with the thumbs behind, and slowly slide from the seat as far as you can without losing the grasp. Return to the seat, raising the body by sheer muscle. At first, you may not be able to slip down more than a few inches, but, by degrees, you may gain strength and skill enough to assume the position of the figure in the plate. 9. As the body comes down in doing The Grasshop- GYMNASTICS. 139 per, sustain it by hooking the elbows over the bar ; grasp the dress at the thighs, firmly, and swing the body to and fro. After a time, you may succeed in swinging so well as to revolve around the bar a dozen times, or more, in succession. 10. Vault over the lower or lowest bar, at first with two hands, then with one. Go on to the high bar. Note. A " spring-board" is of use in vaulting. It consists of a stout hickory or oak plank, an inch and a-half thick, firmly secured to, and resting on, two pieces of scantling, two or three inches thick. By the aid of this, the " knack" in vaulting may be easily ac- quired, but it should not be used much by those who aspire to become great vaulters. With the spring- board, a good vaulter should clear a bar as high as his extended arms can grasp : without it, to clear a bar of the height of the vaulter's head, is good work. Much attention should be given to vaulting, as it is one of the few exercises there are for strengthening the muscles of the legs. The Swing, (on the right of the frame) is a vault- ing bar, which is moveable. It is to be grasped from below. To obtain momentum, run at it, swiftly, and grasp the bar as you pass under. Of course this bar should be so high that one may swing from it without being liable to drag the feet against the ground. The knees should be bent up to prevent this. Continue to swing by a peculiar and almost indescribable exer- 140 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. tion of the muscles ; the feet must never assist by touching the ground. While swinging and keeping up the motion, draw- up the body to " chin the bar," as was done on the vaulting bar. Circle this bar in the same way. Let the swing be stationary, circle into a seat, come down as in " the grasshopper," and swing while hanging by the elbows. While swinging, reach up and grasp the ropes ; ascend and descend these, keeping the swing going all the time. The Rings are a most important part of the ap- paratus. Strength of arm is necessary to use them. See that the rings hang on, or a little below the level of your upstretched hands ; place them so that their diameters shall be opposite to you ; with a run, grasp them, and swing as high as possible, without ever allowing the feet to touch the ground. The trick of swinging by the hands consists, as nearly as can be described, in drawing up the body during the backward sweep, and, just at the point of turning to sweep forward, dropping the body so as to lengthen the radius which is describing the arc of a circle. An increased force is thus given to the pendulum, and at each such lengthening, the length of the arc is increas- ed. The demand for strength is great, because, al- though one may have muscle enough to draw himself up, as described above, for a few times, yet to repeat GYMNASTICS. 141 this long enough to attain the maximum, to describe an arc of 160 to 180, calls for endurance of " mind" and muscle, which only the practised gymnast pos- sesses. Standing in the Rings, as illustrated in Plate III., may be learned while the rings are at rest, to be prac- tised afterwards, while the swing is in motion. It is done with a slight leap upward, and, at the same mo- ment, a stiffening of the arms ; but regular gymnasts " get in" without a leap, by drawing up the body, and then, as it were with a kick against nothing, springing up and stiffening the arms. The Grasshopper in the rings is shown in the plate, and needs no explanation. The gymnast should become dexterous enough to " get in," or " do the Grasshopper," while in full swing, and to change from plain to " fancy swinging," frequently and gracefully. The Inclined Board, which should be as smooth as possible, should not be used with dirty shoes. With a wisp of grass, or a rag, rub off all gravel or sand from the soles of your shoes, before ascending. The illustration explains, perfectly, the method of ascent, which is by no means easy. The greater the inclina- tion, the greater the difficulty of getting up. The writer has seen a perpendicular board ascended and descended in this way, but it is hard work. There will be no need of giving instructions in the use of The Ladder. It may be remarked, however, 142 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. that its object is mainly to test endurance. The going up and down once or twice, and by a round at a time, amounts to nothing, but the ascent by two, three, and four rounds, and the descent by six or seven, and this over and over again these will try the muscles of the strongest. At the Jumping Cord there may be leaping " with a run," from a spring-board and from the ground. The highest leaps may be* made with the board, but real agility is best displayed by jumping from the ground. Begin with the cord at a height which you are sure of being able to clear, and advance by a peg at a time. The Pegs afford a test of strength by no means to be despised, even by an experienced gymnast. Start with a peg in each hand ; reach up with the right and place it in the highest hole you can reach ; draw up the body by the right arm and enter the left- hand peg ; continue this^ to the top ; and descend in the same way. Ascend by every other hole, or every third hole, if you can. The Horse is an expensive and not very necessary adjunct of our gymnastic apparatus. The illustration in Plate IY. shows one feat to be performed with this animal. It consists in jumping through one's hands. A firm hold is taken of the handles, and the gymnast jumps through and back again, without letting go. Other methods of performing on this quiet beast are, GYMNASTICS. 143 vaulting into the saddle over his head or tail, or from either side ; taking so firm a hold on the handles, as to be able to sustain the body at a right angle with the arms and parallel with the horizon. There are very many other exercises for these various ropes and bars which cannot be well described here. The teacher will find that his scholars will invent novelties every day. On his part he must adopt measures to excite and keep up an interest in the ex- ercises. A good plan to accomplish this may be to recognize the "champions" in each variety of exer- cise, and to distinguish them by the insignia of say, a red belt for the best leaper, a black one for the best vaulter, and so on. Let these belts, or other distin- guishing articles of dress, be worn until some rival surpasses the champion and gains it for himself. Take care that the smaller boys be not shut out from com- petition ; they should be allowed to gain champion- ships in exercises which are within their powers. PLATE II The Grasshopper. The L. Skinning* tin* Cat PLATE III. Circling 1 the Bar. The Gras shopper Jl% Standing in the Rings. SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. We have thus far considered some of the ways and means for making the play-ground attractive and pro- fitable ; let us now come within the school-house. Much may be done here to carry out our design of " making school interesting" ; and the teacher who un- dertakes and carries into effect the following or other plans for making his rooms cheerful and comfort- able, and his daily exercise interesting, even sometimes amusing as well as instructive, will find his reward in his increased pleasure in teaching those whom he has caused to love as well as respect him, and in his suc- cess in accomplishing good to say nothing of his growing popularity and more remunerative gains. I have headed this section of my book " School management," and for a reason. I may illustrate the appreciation which is prevailing among latter-day teachers, of the idea contained in the italicized word, by telling a story, one whi6h may be already well known, but which will bear repetition for its illustra- tive properties. 7 nj 146 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. A farmer's boy was required, one pleasant spring day, to gather the stones which lay in a meadow and heap them together in the corner of a lot. They would be troublesome to the mowers, the farmer thought, and they disfigured his otherwise smooth " medder." The stones were quite numerous, and the task was no small one, but the boy began his labor cheerfully ; he knew there was reason for the clearing, and, for awhile, he worked vigorously. But his back began to ache before long, and the merry shouts of some mates of his, who were playing not far off, on " the village green," began to annoy him. He was a Yankee boy, we may be sure, for his inventive brain soon devised a plan for saving labor and gaining time. He raised an old post in the corner in which his stone-heap was to be, and then left work and joined his friends. At a convenient moment, he threw a stone at a neighbor- ing tree. " Who can beat that ?" said he, as Fortune favored 1dm, and his stone struck the mark. Imme- diately the others were aiming and hurling stones at the tree. But stones were not plentiful. " Come," said the young Yankee, " there are lots of stones over in our meadow ; let's go over there and fire at a mark." They were soon there ; ammunition was abundant ; the post in the corner was an inviting " mark," and by the time the boys had become wearied of this kind of sport, a large part of the work was done. The in- MANAGEMENT. 147 ventor then confessed his trick, and there needed but little urging to induce his friends to finish the " stent," and then all went off together to play at something else. There are many points in this illustration which are worthy of study, and, making it a kind of text, we may notice that : 1st. There is work to be done in a school- room. The mental muscles are to be strengthened, and mental dexterity gained. The teacher's object is to educate and instruct his pupils, and to accomplish this he must make them work. To clear the meadow, a certain amount of actual hard work, and, in itself considered, of tiresome and unpleasant work, was necessary. Now, shall the teacher require of his scholars that they labor at the dull task of removing the stones to the pile, or shall he contrive some way whereby the labor shall be performed, yet be disguised as play? While the boy toiled slowly at his task alone, each stone grew heavier than the last, his back ached, and he thought more of that and of the distant shouts of his play-mates, and of how to " shirk" the work, than of the improvement which he knew he was making and the pleasure he was giving to his father. But when his comrades were around him, and the stones were flying, he forgot the task in the sport, he worked harder than he would have done and accom- plished more in a given time than he would have done alone, and there was pleasure in the business. 148 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. 2d. The boys who came to "-fire at a mark" could not have been persuaded, probably, to come to help their friend gather stones into a heap. They were deceived ; they went cheerfully to work without sus- pecting it to be work, and all worked harder than they could have been induced to work if they had entered on it as a task. 3d. Similar deception is not only justifiable but expedient on the part of a teacher in his school. He clan and he ought to remove from school-duties their character of dreary drudgery, to make study pleasant and attractive. He need not make the labor less ; in fact he will find, most surely, that his scholars will do more and work longer when work is made play, than when work is left mere work ; and he may so lighten the hours that they shall fly by pleasantly and profit- ably, both to himself and to them. 4th. When the farmer's boy threw stones at a mark, " for fun," he worked harder than he did before. Boys always run farther and faster when playing than they can be easily induced to run on an errand. The mo- tive makes the difference. And, in another view, labor is lightened when amusement takes off the attention from the task, as such. Sailors work better at the capstan with a " Cheerily 1" the heavy anchor comes up more easily and sooner, and the men the sooner get at some other duties. Soldiers march better, and fight better, when they hear the music of their band. And MANAGEMENT. 149 it is so with the boys in school. If a certain lesson, which, under one system of teaching, would be yawned over, and would require an hour's dull work to be learned, can be made an interesting, pleasing occupa- tion, entered upon cheerfully and accomplished ener- getically and in half an hour, time may be saved for other duties, or for play ; and not only this, but the manner of accomplishing the task will have been such that the mind may have grown vigorous and healthy, instead of idle and morbidly languid. 5th. This is " School management" THE SCHOOL BOOM. It is very pleasant to go through many of our mo- dern school-rooms and notice the care which has been taken to make everything comfortable and cheerful. The light has been so arranged that the eye is neither dazzled by glare or wearied by gloom : ventilation has been secured in proper kind and degree, so that headache cannot often be complained of there : the desks are adapted in height to the size of the sitter, and the chairs have comfortable backs ; pictures are on the walls, an attractive library is accessible, and the polished brass and glass, in the case of apparatus, add to the general effect. Would that all school-rooms were comfortable and cheerful ! Yet where they are not, much can be done to improve them, and this with SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. but little expense. Even if hard benches and incon- venient desks are the furniture of four bare walls, there may be something done to make the place seem comfortable and cheerful, if actual improvement is impossible. Let us suppose the worst case possible possible, I mean, now-a-days, and try to improve it. 1st. Arrange the desks and seats in some way, so that each pupil can find support for his back and rest for his feet. It need hardly be supposed that this is impossible. 2d. " Tinker" the window-frames, so as to be able to lower the upper sash a few inches. Get calico curtains, if there are no blinds ; they will cost about ten cents each. 3d. Cover all holes and ink-spots in the wall with white paper, neatly pasted on ; but cover up no dirt which can be washed off. Let the floor be clean and the windows clear. 4th. Tack engravings on the walls, the best you can find ; wood-cuts, from newspapers, are better than noth- ing. Inland boys like ships and steamers, and sea- scenes generally, while boys who live near the coast prefer hunting scenes, and rocks and woods. Maps of the country, the state, the county, town, ward, and block, are desirable. 5th. On the ceiling, draw neatly in charcoal, if you can do no better the solar system. Make the sun in MANAGEMENT. 151 red chalk ; give the planets their relative size and or- bits ; let a bushy, red-tailed comet enliven the sketch. On the side wall draw a long black line, five and a-half yards long, to represent a rod ; divide the line into yards, one of the yards into feet, and one of the feet into inches. In various spaces, otherwise unoccupied, draw, distinctly, a square yard, a square foot, a cubic foot, an equilateral triangle, and other similar outlines. Let the walls be covered with instruction and amuse- ment for the eye. At first, these figures will attract attention from studies ; but in a few days the novelty will have worn off, and although they may attract, they will not distract. What a change comes over the dreary old room! What a change over the scholars ! Taste, and a little painstaking, can beautify a log- cabin ; and if the teacher will exercise these, and if he can also afford money, or get it from the authorities, he may make his rooms seem a second home to his pupils, pleasanter than home, perhaps, to a few. What then ? His monthly pay or quarterly income may not be at once increased ; but he is adding to his capital, which is reputation and popularity ; and if he gains nothing in this respect which is not justly supposable he at least gains self-satisfaction and the affection of his scholars, without which there is no pleasure in teaching. There are many little matters which affect the success 152 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. of a teacher's daily duties. Is the black-board warped, and cracked and scratched ? Take it down, screw a " cleet" on the back, putty up the crack, and paint it black again. There is no expenditure here of anything but a little labor, except for the paint, and that may be made trifling if a few cents' worth of lampblack, a little camphine, a flannel rag and ingenuity are used. Perhaps the chalk is " scratchy." Buy some crayons, if you can ; if not, make them. Your boys will help you ; and, in a few hours, at an expense of half-a-dollar, you can make enough to last for a whole term, and the improvement will pay you for your trouble.* Have a ledge on the bottom of the black-board, to catch the falling chalk-dust, and to hold " the cleaner." The cleaner may be a stick, two inches square and six or eight long, wrapped around with canton flannel, or plain cotton. But there is no need of spending more time and space on these things. These improvements on the black- board and its concomitants, may serve as examples of many things in which a little pains may effect much. The teacher must oil the little wheels of his machinery, if he would have it all move smoothly. * Recipe : Knead some plaster of Paris with just enough water to make it a stiff paste ; roll this on a table ; cut it into long strips, four inches wide ; with a table-knife divide these into sticks a little larger than your finger ; leave them to dry, and keep them dry. MANAGEMENT. 153 ORDER AND METHOD. Few words are needed under this caption ; for order and method are so necessary in a school-room, that there can be but few teachers who have not learned their necessity, and how to secure their good effects. I will only give a few hints which may be of service to some reader. A clock seems to be an indispensability of a school- room ; but if none can be had, the teacher's watch should regulate every exercise. Let every class, or single recitation, have its particular portion of time. Let an order of exercises, or programme, be prepared, a copy of which, written in conspicuous letters, should hang where all can see it. Never let one recitation en- croach on the time of another ; ask the first question just as the long pointer indicates that the exact time has arrived. Habits of punctuality and promptness are of the utmost importance in school-teaching. Unless a school is made up of very heterogeneous materials, all, or very nearly all, may be united in some one study. Select the recitation in which the greatest number join, for your first morning recitation, and call the class immediately after opening school. This will require some study out of school, for most of the class, and in this way you may secure such study, if you wish to do so. It is advised to make the morning session longer 7 * 154 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. than that of the afternoon, and to occupy it with all the recitations of the mathematics, and with the smaller classes in other studies, so that the afternoons may afford time for the less serious labor, and for general exercises in which all may engage. The last half-hour of the day should be spent in such a way that the close of school shall not seem a release from a prison, as is too often the case. Send them away smiling, in good humour with the school, the teacher, and themselves. If nothing more profitable can be found to be done, tell or read a story. Suggestions concerning various " general exercises " will be given hereafter. ADMINISTRATION. I think I hear some teacher-reader say : " Now you have reached a subject I am interested in. Arrange- ments of classes and mending of black-boards are easily enough cared for ; but tell me how to govern my school. These unruly boys won't let me ' make school interest- ing ;' they so try my patience and occupy my time, that I have neither heart nor leisure to attend to minor affairs." The subject is, indeed, one of the most important which can engage our attention as teachers. It is one which calls for experience and judgment on the part of those who discuss it, and had I only theories to offer, or merely my oivn practice to recommend, I should not MANAGEMENT. 155 venture to ask the attention of my fellow-teachers. I am about to submit, in theory and practice, a scheme of school-administration which has the sanction of some of the most experienced and most successful teachers of New England, and I may ask for it the serious at- tention of my readers. Principles. 1. Every boy or girl, in schools not " primary," has a school-conscience, which decides on all actions contem- plated or begun. Every misdemeanor is known as such, and is denounced as such, by this conscience, and no set of rules, however full and explicit, can be pre- sumed to be of any real assistance to it. Moreover, the child knows full well that the teacher's conscience is the same with his own. The boy, about to commit an action, concerning which there has even the least warning been given by his inward monitor, teeps one eye on the teacher, and when he discovers that he is observed, he stops. Good boys rarely look off from their books ; bad boys, usually watch the teacher. One rule only, then, need be made, viz. : "Do nothing which your school-conscience tells you is wrong" This covers the whole ground, and no other rule or furlong of rules, can. Of course, this conscience may be depraved, but it 13 156 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. never entirely seared. It may be educated, and made to appreciate the law. The child's heart, too, may be influenced to love the school and the teacher, and it may help the conscience to become strict to warn against actions which are likely to grieve the teacher, or interfere with his wise and kind guidance of the school. With a belief in the truth of these premises, the teacher must be convinced that it is better to make this " school-conscience," rather than either mere fear or mere love, the moving power of his machine of government. 2. To govern as little, and teach as much, as is pos- sible, should be the aim of every true teacher. Is it not true that in many, too many schools, there is more of government than of teaching ? The atten- tion of the teacher is taken from the class, which may be reciting to him, by a few bad scholars, who, taking advantage of his occupation, are playing at their remote desks; he stops to scold or punish them, and thus neglects his class. Scolding John for making faces makes a de- cided interference with the teacher's appreciation of the process of a problem in arithmetic or demonstra- tion in geometry. If he can contrive any way by which he may deliver himself from this distraction, he may save time and temper for teaching. In duty to himself and his scholars, he ought to contrive or adopt some plan to effect this. MANAGEMENT. 157 It is claimed that the scheme of silently giving " a mark" for misconduct, as explained, in process and results, below, will enable the teacher to teach more and govern less. 3. The maximum of marks, under this plan, results in expulsion from school. We will suppose that this maximum is ten ; that for ten acts of real misconduct on the part of a scholar, as many " black marks" have been publicly accumulating against his name ; that, of course, he has known to what result the path of mis- conduct was leading him ; that he has been privately and kindly warned by the teacher ; that his parents have been told of his position ; that, in spite of all, he has deliberately gone on from the eighth to the ninth, and lastly to the tenth mark, and then has been expel- led. Is such expulsion just? Would it have been better to have punished or suspended him ? Could he have been reached by any influence ? In answer to the last question, I claim that although some way might have been contrived by which he might have been reclaimed, yet the teacher, with duties owed to every other scholar as much as to this one, cannot be required or expected to sacrifice their interests to his. All possible exterior influences we have supposed exerted for his reformation ; and the question becomes, simply, ought the teacher to take time from the good boys and bestow it on this bad one. Such expulsion would be just. The good of the 158 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. whole school demands the removal of a scholar who will deliberately expose himself to such a result, in the face of warnings. The Committee appointed by Congress to attend the recent examination at West Point, use language in their report which bears directly on the subject we are examining. They say that " they are satisfied that ' suspending' or ' turning back' a cadet for excessive demerit, is a pernicious rule for the Academy. If a cadet, with the full knowledge of the penalty attached to excessive demerit, continues to neglect his duty until he exceeds the prescribed limit, he is not only an un- worthy subject for the Academy, but his example and influence becomes injurious to others, and he should be dismissed. Suspension and turning are half-way places, into which many are tempted to retreat. The interests of the institution demand summary dismissal." I admit that it is neither necessary nor wise to make a boys' school as strict in discipline as is the Academy at West Point. There expulsion is not infrequent ; in a school it may be very rare. But the principle is the same in both, and that is, that there are in all societies \)f men or boys, occasional instances of reckless, obsti- nate persistence in ill-doing, the relief for which must be the removal of the offender. I am arguing for the right and justice of removal in certain cases. In reality, however, these cases are of most rare occurrence. In three large schools, conduct- MANAGEMENT. 159 ed under this system, with whose history I have been connected or acquainted for several years, I have known of only three cases of expulsion. A boy who finds himself on the road to disgrace, and approaching the terminus, will strive to turn back, at least at the last turning point*. And the system offers him aid just at this point, as will be explained below. If he will exert himself in study so much as to attain a high standing for one week, his success may remove one of his " marks ;" and, if it be not too late in the term, he may go on and secure the erasure of all or most of them. This is safe, for the reason that a boy who studies hard, will have little time for play ; and it is just, because thus, help is offered to one who wishes to help himself. 4. It is right to take pleasure, and reasonable to take pride in good standing, when it is the result of good conduct. The man who, by his own exertions, has raised his standing in social life, by .labor, either of hands or head, is respected by his fellows, and takes an honest and reasonable pride in his success. School is a small world. Boys and girls are only little men and women. Some are influenced by a noble regard for the right, and a dislike for the wrong; but these are in minority. A large majority of schol* ars will be found most easily influenced by appeals to their pride. 160 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. Such appeals are made, under this system, by means of " the roll," and the published schemes of relative standing. The West Point plan is adopted of making public a list of the scholars' names, arranged in order of merit. Such are the principles on which a teacher of emi- nent success, whose memory is cherished by the hun- dreds who were taught by him, founded this system of school government. In another chapter will be found some of the " re- sults" of the workings of this plan. Application of Principles. At the beginning of establishing this plan I would talk kindly with my pupils, giving them, with illustra- tions, some of the main points of the foregoing princi- ples. I would tell them that I intended to be a school- teacher, not a school-master. I would make this illus- tration : " Suppose that I am hearing a recitation in arith- metic, and one of the boys is solving and explaining a problem on the black-board. I must watch the pro- cess closely to know just what he is doing, to see if he has well learned his lesson, or to help him by somt- suggestions, if the case is a difficult one. Suppose, now, that while I am thus thoroughly occupied, John Smith, over there in the back seat, seeing that my atten- MANAGEMENT. 161 tion is engaged, takes advantage of it to throw beans at his neighbors. He stops studying himself and pre- vents others studying. But I happen, just in the very middle of the problem, to see him. Well : I stop the boy at the black-board, make the whole class wait, speak up loudly and crossly (for I am a little vexed) and make the whole school look up from their books, while I scold John, or perhaps call him to my desk to ferule him. John goes back determined to shoot beans as often as he can and dare ; we go on with the arithmetic, and in the course of ten minutes, the waters are calm again. " Now there may be, very likely, some other John Smiths in the school. Well ; in the course of the day, my attention is taken off from teaching, which is my business, and the whole school taken from studying, which is your business, by some half-dozen such stop- pings to scold or punish the John Smiths ; we will suppose six times, and six times ten are sixty sixty minutes lost to all of us by stopping to scold. But besides this stopping, I must be continually on the watch, to prevent mischievousness, and since neither I nor anybody else can do two things well at a time, I must either watch well, and teach poorly, or teach well and let John Smith play as much as he likes. Now there is a fine class in arithmetic, and they have a hard but interesting lesson, and they wanted to hear my explanations, so that those hard sums in 162 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. to-morrow's lesson might be made easier ; but John Smith has cheated them out of them, for almost the whole time of the recitation has been occupied in scolding him, and, as other classes are waiting, they have to go back to their seats uninstructed. " Now it seems to me, boys, that it is unfair to the arithmetic boys, and unfair to the whole school, that I should devote so much time to scolding and so little to teaching. Besides it makes me cross to scold ; I don't like to scold and be cross. If I have to scold and punish often and continually, just think what a life I shall lead, and what an ill-natured old fellow I shall become. I shall not do so. If that's what teaching is, I'll give it up and be a blacksmith. No ; I have a better plan. You see this roll I have in my hand. I've got all your names written on it. in alpha- betical order, and opposite the names are little blanks which are to be filled up during the term. Now when I see a boy doing what he and you and I all know to be wrong, I shall not stop to scold, but I shall take down this roll and place a little black mark opposite his name. It will take only a minute, and then I shall go on with my class. Some of the boys, they who are bending over their books, won't know that anything has been going on ; no disturbance will have been made, and hardly any time lost. But that boy will know it well ; he will see me put down a mark next to somebody's name for I have noticed that boys in MANAGEMENT. 163 mischief always keep one eye on the teacher ; this is so universally true, that when I see a boy looking at me instead of his books, I always suspect some mischief going on and as he knows he has been doing wrong, he is pretty sure the mark is for him. At recess, or when school is out, he takes a sly look at the roll and there he sees the mark. If I was mistaken and he was innocent and this not infrequently happens he comes to me to inquire about it ; he explains away his mark, and J remove it. But if he is guilty, he takes his sly look, passes on and says nothing ; he knows he deserves it. " Now when a boy gets five of these marks, I take time some afternoon or evening, and call to see his parents. I tell them how he got his marks, and that he knew I would tell them if he received five, but that in spite of my warnings, he went on. I tell them that if he gets five more, I shall ask them to take him away from the school, for I don't want any boys here who will go on deliberately and do wrong ten times, when they know the consequences ; and I add that I shall not take him back again. It seems hard, and perhaps the parents scold about it and say that their son is as good a boy as others ; but I am firm, and refuse to take him back. " The result is, that the rest of the school sees that ' marks' mean something, and they are careful not to SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. get them, careful not to do wrong ; and so our school is orderly and you study and I teach. " Most likely you will all learn the meaning of marks without our having to lose some John Smith. I don't expect to have to send any boy away ; I certainly hope not to. " What do you think of this plan, boys ? Which plan do you like best ? the scolding plan, or the marking plan, (I take a vote.) Be sure you mean to adopt it as our plan. If. any boy thinks he can't come in under such an arrangement, he had better talk about it to his parents, and get them to send him to some other school. I want to have you all tell them of the plan. It is something new, and they ought to know all about it. Every boy that comes to school to-morrow morning, I shall consider as having made up his own mind, and obtained his parent's consent, to remain under this plan of governing by marks. You may be sure that I have thought carefully of it, and am so sure that it is the best plan, that I shall teach under no other. If my school is small, I shall feel that I had rather teach twenty in this way, than scold fifty or a hundred. " But there is a way of getting off these marks that you must understand. I will explain it. " Every boy will have at least three recitations every day. At each of the classes I shall keep a book by me, MANAGEMENT. 165 and if a boy recites well, really well, in fact perfectly, I shall give him ' four ;' if not quite perfectly, ' three ;' if only tolerably, ' two ;' if badly, ' one ;' and if not at all, or absent without excuse, I shall give 'naught.' Now if a boy gets ' four' at each of his three recita- tions, that will make twelve for the day, and if he does so all the week five days he will get five times twelve, which is sixty. Understand ; a boy who re- cites perfectly all the week will get sixty ; one who doesn't do quite as well may get fifty or fifty-five, and so the numbers will vary from sixty down to forty, thirty, twenty, and perhaps down to ten. " Every Saturday I shall add up each boy's numbers for the week, and write the total out, in the blank for that week, opposite his name ; so that on Monday morning he may see just how well he stood for the last week. Then at the end of the term I shall add up the total of the weeks. If there are ten weeks, and a boy gets ' four' at every lesson, that is sixty every week, he will get six hundred for his grand total. Some will get this, and the total will vary from the highest number, all the way down to one or two hundred. Then I shall print on a little sheet of paper a list of your names, with the six hundreds at the top, the next highest next, and so on, with the ' dunce ' or bad boy, who could study but wouldn't, at the very fag end. These sheets I shall send to your parents, and show them all around town. Who wants to be at the little 166 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. end ! (It may be added to this that a yearly cata- logue will be published, in which the names will be arranged in the order of the totals for the terms.) " Do you understand this system of marking for reci- tations ? Well ; if a boy has a bad mark one week, he may get it off by studying hard enough and reciting well enough the next week to get sixty. I do this because I know that if he studies hard enough to do that, he won't have any time to be in mischief, and because I shall see that he is trying to reform himself ; and that I always want to encourage. " Now, boys, you have heard my whole plan of school government. Think of it and talk about it at home, and come to school to-morrow prepared to go to work under it." Such, fellow-teachers, is the sum and substance of this system. There are NO " rules ;" these are not even alluded to ; but every scholar understands that he is to obey his own " school-conscience." Of course the teacher will do well to define his own ideas of the behavior appropriate to the school-room, and he may do this without ordaining any other rule than the one given under the subject of "Principles." It has at least the merit of being easily understood and easily applied. It has many others, I think, which will be more obvious when I have spoken of the results. It is based on the principles above-mentioned ; if they are just, this system must be. MANAGEMENT. 157 Results. 1. At the inauguration of such a system, no little trouble may be experienced. Boys who have been accustomed to a scolding or punishment directly upon detection in wrong conduct, as they find that the teacher does nothing beyond making a mark against their names, will be apt to think that " marks" are of little consequence, and that they are at liberty to do as they please. But the teacher will need to say to his school (not individuals) that he fears that on Saturday he shall have quite a number of calls to make. This, in many cases, will produce the desired effect ; but he will, for the first two or three weeks, have occasion to see the parents of many of his scholars. He will be glad of these occasions ; there will be opportunities for him to explain his system. Of course he will tell them that no very serious misconduct has occurred, and that if they will aid him with their influence, none need be apprehended. In all probability, marks will decrease after these visits. In some cases they may run up to seven, eight, or nine, but he can control the matter then by speaking very kindly but as firmly to individuals, and perhaps to their parents again. He will find that the appearance of the roll on the first Monday morning will aid him essentially. The idle and mischievous boys of course stand lowest ; 168 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. they see their positions ; and especially if a scheme is prepared of their relative standing, and they find themselves near the bottom of the list, they will be prompted to study harder, and thus will be too much occupied to be in mischief. The teacher will do well also to bring in as many " general exercises" as possible, to fill up time. He will also commence his plans of out-door amusement, and show himself in these, and in every way, disposed to make school pleasant, so that all shall fear to be sent away. If he has commenced the formation of a company, he may say that only school-boys can belong ; that if a boy is sent away from school, he cannot remain in the company. By these means it will be strange if he does not succeed in establishing the sys- tem and when it is firmly established he will have little trouble in carrying it on. 2. The teacher may meet with opposition from parents. Let him have called on all who are likely to feel the halter draw, and so have a poor opinion of the law, before trouble comes on. He will find parents willing listeners, and if he states the case fully and fairly, he will undoubtedly convince them of the ex- cellence of the plan. If any are opposed, talk over the plan very carefully, compare the old and new systems, quote authority, do everything possible to conyince, and then if they oppose, advise them to remove their children and keep them away until they can see the MANAGEMENT. 169 effects of the plan. Removals will be very few, for the boys themselves will wish to remain. The teacher may lose a few scholars at first, and some may be sent away, but, in the end, he will have no occasion to re- gret the adoption of the plan. In recent experience I have met opposition from influential sources, but I have built up a school larger and more profitable than any previous school in that city ; and I may challenge comparisons in respect to orderly behaviour with any school in the land. This result was the more gratify- ing for the reason that I began with most unpromising materials. 3. The scholars will certainly approve the plan. Children weary of continual reproof. Besides this, they see the workings of a plan, and influences can easily be brought to bear to make them understand that their individual cooperation is necessary ; and they will be pleased to aid in making " our school" a good one and a pleasant one. Throwing the govern- ment of the school on their shoulders, making them control themselves under the plan which applies to all, and of which the teacher does little more than register the* results this will interest them. I speak from experience. 4. To sum up the results, the teacher will find that he has more time to teach, better nature to teach with, fewer cases of discipline, and more complete success, than he could have under " the scolding plan." 8 170 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. Whispering. A shoal over which I wish to place a buoy, to pre- vent running a-ground while sailing under these orders, is Communicating in studying hours. How much trouble has this matter given teachers ! It may be set down as a truth that communication cannot be entirely prevented. Even the best scholars will occasionally whisper. They do not intend to violate law, but they " can't help it." It becomes a question, then. How can we prevent it as much as possible ? I answer : 1. By convincing the scholars of the injurious efiects of communication on themselves, individually, and on the whole school. This may be done by frankly re- viewing, with them, the results of allowing free com- munication, and discussing plans for avoiding such re- sults. They can be made to understand how that whispering, by leading to talking, and that to playing, is at the foundation of general disorder, by a story like this : " Holland, you know, is a very low and flat country. Much of it is below the level of the sea. Were it not for the extensive embankments which have been built by that industrious people to keep out the sea, the whole country would be only a vast salt marsh. In- stead of roads they have canals. These are very easily built, and are supplied with water from the sea, MANAGEMENT. 171 which is let in through great wooden gates, built in the embankments. In spite of all their care, inunda- tions sometimes happen, which do immense damage. When the tide is high, the water dashes against these sand-banks ; and although at first only a little breach is made, yet the loose sand gives way by degrees, un- til, occasionally, it works a passage, and pours in with resistless fury, washing everything before it houses, cattle, people and all. They prevent such deplorable accidents only by great care in watching for the first appearance of a break, and immediately stopping it up. " One night, a little Hollander, about six years old, was coming home very late.- He had been away for the doctor, for his mother was sick. As he was pass- ing along near one of the embankments, he heard the trickling of water. It was so dark that he had to hunt around for some time before he found it, but at last he discovered that between the side of one of the gates and the bank, there was a little hole worn, through which the water was trickling in quite a stream. He was a little fellow, but he was wise enough to know that if the water was left to run long, it might soon wear a larger hole, and very likely burst through in a regular inundation before morning. He tried to stop the hole with sand and little sticks, but the water still trickled through ; he couldn't find anything, in the dark, which would stop it ; so what 172 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. did he do? He thrust in his little fist, and that stopped the water effectually. "But after awhile he began to grow sleepy and chilly. He wanted to take his hand out, for his arm ached, and he thought of home and his warm bed. But, like a little hero as he was, he stood to his post. His head nodded, and he almost got to sleep ; but the thought that he was saving so much danger and trouble to his own family and the whole village, and perhaps the whole country, gave him strength, and he stood to his post ! " In the morning, very early, his friends and neigh- bors, who had started out to look for him, found him nodding and shivering at the gate, but still at his post. You may well believe that they were delighted with the prudence and bravery of the little fellow. And it was not long before the whole country heard of it, even the king himself, who ordered a monument to be erected to his honor, and, on the top of it, a marble statue of the little hero. " Now, boys, let's find the moral of this good story. The inundation of disorder in a school generally trickles through a little whispering hole that each of you have, just under your noses. And that boy who really wishes to do his part in preventing the pouring in of a whole sea of talking and laughing and playing, will do his best to stop up the whispering hole. In other schools that you have been at, haven't you ob- MANAGEMENT. 173 served that if the boys were allowed to whisper as much as they pleased, they generally went farther, and became very disorderly? Now, I know that it is rather hard not to whisper, if you have been in the habit of it, but are you not willing to try to abstain ? Very soon you will get used to being silent, and it will be easy to do so ; you won't think of it at all. " Boys, you know that I am something of a boy my- self. I like play about as well as any of you, and I believe in playing, and playing hard, and having real ' fun? but only in play-hours. Just think a moment. You play until nine o'clock, and then for only an hour and a-half only ninety little minutes, you are in school ; then comes a recess, full of play ; then another ninety minutes, and a noon-time, for play ; and it's just so in the afternoon. Now am I not rea- sonable in asking you to abstain from whispering which leads to playing for only an hour and a-half at a time ? Am I not reasonable ?" A talk like that will convince a large majority. For the remainder we must have 2. Some arrangement like that of short recesses of five minutes, every half hour, for whispering, without leaving seats, or, at least, forms. Get all to agree to this, to promise on their honor, not to whisper during study hours, if you will give them these recesses. But you must control stubborn cases by 3. Marking for whispering, on the ground that al- 174 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. though whispering, in itself, is not a great offence, yet because it leads to worse conduct, because almost all wish to join with you in breaking up the habit, and because the short recesses afford all necessary time for it, it must be regarded as a markable offence. I have in this way procured a state of things in my school which was gratifying and a source of pride. EEPUBLICANISM. Under the system which has been advocated there is, perhaps, as little of the form of government as is possible ; but the spirit in which this little is to be administered may be either monarchical or republican, or, better, it may be a happy admixture of both. The teacher may well be both king and president. There are occasions when he must exercise his auto- cratic powers, and there are others where it will be wise for him to allow Republicanism to have power. We will suppose a few instances, for illustration. 1. A boy has committed an offence for which he has been marked. He comes to the teacher with the ex- cuse, " I didn't know it was wrong ;" in other words, he declares that his inward monitor did not tell him that the act was wrong. It is now for the teacher to decide on the probability of the truth of this excuse. If he believes the boy to be dishonest, he may use his authority, as king, and MANAGEMENT. 175 refuse to remove the mark, explaining his course to the boy, or not, as seems best. But if he is in doubt in regard to the boy's honesty : if it is quite possible, owing to the nature of the offence, that he did not know that he was doing wrong ; then I would advise an appeal to the school. After stating the whole case clearly to them, let them vote on the question, Shall the mark be re- moved. Do not fail to urge on all the justice of clos- ing the door of sympathy. Tell them that this a ques- tion not of mercy but justice. Require a decided ma- jority one way or the other. Even if, through sympathy, the vote may be to re- move the mark, you will lose nothing, for if you fear to trust them, you may, hereafter, remain the king. But you will gain, in either event, the confidence of your scholars. They will see that you are to treat them as beings capable of judging, to some extent, between right and wrong ; you have entrusted to them the power of deciding, and thus have given them the privilege of self-government. If, as is most probable, they have decided the case in accordance with your " instructions to the jury," you have established a rule, applicable to this and other similar cases. 2. Suppose that it is of little consequence at what time your recesses come. Let them decide, by voting, on the times, and, perhaps, on the length of recesses. 3. Suppose that it is a part of your plan to have 176 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. school officers, such as secretary, postmaster, banker, editors, captains " in spelling matches," examiners of writings (to detect errors), in short, occupants of any post of honor. Let these be elected. In these elections, balloting is generally the best way. There are other ways by which the Republican ele- ment may enter into a system of school government, and I advise its entrance to as great an extent as is possible. LECTUEES. Lecturing seems to have become an established " in- stitution" among us. We like to sit in a comfortable room, surrounded by our friends and neighbors, and have information poured into us by travellers and essayists, politicians, poets and priests. It is a lazy way of learning, however, and by no means to be re- commended as the only method of acquiring knowledge; but it has its advantages. If our lecturers would seek to instruct rather than to entertain, we should learn more, though we might laugh less. Lectures for children may be made very profitable to them. They are hungry for information, absorpent of facts, and may be as much pleased with a talk on zoology, or the making of cutlery, including jack- knives, as with the exhibition of Signor Blitz, and his learned canaries. -, * LECTURES. 177 Last winter, the following course of lectures was given in the school-room of the writer : One of the clergymen of the city an accomplished scholar lectured on Astronomy. In his lecture, he endeavored to make plain, to youthful understandings, the causes of night and day, of the seasons, of eclipses, and of tlie tides. He talked learnedly, yet clearly, of the moon, and exhibited the various theories concern- ing aerolites. He did not overwhelm his audience with the full grandeur of the subject, but picked out the parts most likely to interest and profit children. A physician talked, on another evening, on Physio- logy. He made the subject practical, teaching his au- dience the advantages of " sitting up straight" of eat- ing slowly, of breathing pure air, of developing the cJiest and lungs. His lecture was eminently instructive and useful, A railroad engineer came next, who lectured on Railroads and Locomotives. He explained the princi- ples and processes of road-making, including bridge-mak- ing, in which part he narrated the wonderful construc- tion of the Suspension Bridge at Niagara Falls. He gave us the history of the locomotive, the improvements of various inventors, and the construction and action of locomotive engines. His lecture was illustrated by drawings and black-board sketches, and was extremely interesting. A fourth lecture was upon Electricity, given by the 8* 178 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. writer, assisted by a brother-teacher of the city. Our apparatus comprised (when united) almost everything manufactured by Chamberlain, of Boston, and our ex- periments were full and successful. One of us did the talking, the other the experimenting, and the boys and their friends were instructed and delighted. A gentleman of remarkable mechanical abilities, the inventor of several useful machines and applications, consented to give the fifth lecture, on Machinery, espe- cially the operations of all kinds of steam-engines. Ex- periments were made illustrating the properties and powers of steam ; the history of steam and its applica- tion to machinery, were very thoroughly given, and the lecture was a decided success. An attractive feature of the entertainment was a working model of a steam- boat-engine, and the high-pressure engine of a flouring- mill. The illness of a lawyer prevented his delivering a lecture on Laws and their operations. He intended to read and explain the Constitution of the United States, and of our own State, our laws and penalties, the modus operandi of elections, and the details of municipal govern- ment. His inability to give this lecture was much re- gretted. These lectures, together with others given by the writer, on various subjects, occupied nearly the whole of the winter. They were attended by my boys, and many of their parents, sisters, and other friends, and LECTURES. 179 were listened to with the greatest interest. They gave character to the school ; they evinced the endeavors of the teacher to make his school the best he could. Looking at the matter pecuniarily, it was a wise " move." Two of these lecturers were paid, and paid well, but the money was a profitable investment, as the continued increase of the school testified. Now, there are many teachers who can get up a course of lectures similar to these, and it would seem that they should need only a hint, to do it ; but there are also many teachers who prefer to enjoy their even- ings in their rooms, or in society. Let them. If they have any business-wisdom, or any benevolent desire to benefit their pupils, or any wish to be popular, they will take this hint, and some of the others contained in this book, and profit by them. If the writer has had any success as a teacher, success both in imparting knowledge and receiving a good income from the busi- ness, it has been owing, in part, at least, to his con- stant efforts to "make school interesting," by such means as he describes in this volume. A word and one which may seem almost unrfeces- sary on the character of these lectures. Their aim should be not to make children wonder, but to inform and entertain them. Scientific words and technical expressions should be avoided ; explanations should be made most clearly, and questions encouraged and patiently answered ; illustrations should be given, by 180 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. apparatus and models, as far as practicable, and by drawings, freely and fully. A scientific lecture can be made more interesting to children than a story. Who- ever has read " The Chemistry of a Candle," or " The Chemistry of a Tea-kettle," in Dickens's " Household Words," will testify, I am sure, to the truth of this assertion. Children are so fond of hearing about the phenomena of nature, the wonders of science, the ad- ventures of travellers, the biographies of eminent men, and similar matters, and they receive so much profit from hearing them, that, for one, the writer takes pleasure in talking to them. The up-turned faces and sparkling eyes of boys and girls inspire me, and I wish to become better qualified to please and profit them. I subjoin a list of subjects for lectures and talks : Air. Glass. Electricity. Printing and Railroads and Book-making. Locomotives. Gas. Travels. Chemistry. "Physiology. Photography. Life at Sea. Geology. Cotton. The Metals. Laws. What we eat and drink. The Indians. India-rubber. Physical Geography. What we wear. Pneumatics. Elections. LECTURES. 181 The Steam-engine. Machinery. Architecture. Philology. Technology. Gold and Silver. Fire-arms. Cutlery. Heat. London. Paris. New York. Water. The Telegraph. Astronomy. General History. Biography. Ships and Steamers. Iron. Painting and Sculpture. Zoology. Italy. The Revolution. Nineveh. Artificial Teeth. Japan. Central America. Arctic Explorations. Islands. The Bible. Hunting and Fishing. California. Australia. Engraving. Volcanoes. The Trades. Underground. Whaling. Politics. Boys. There are many books which may be consulted, in pre- paring for these lectures, a partial list of which will be found at the end of the book. There is one, however, a recent publication, which deserves mention particu- larly, on account of its usefulness in its department. I refer to Porter's Chemistry, a work just issued [1856] by Messrs. A. S. Barnes & Co. One peculiarity and 182 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. excellence of this book consists in the simplicity of its experiments. A teacher who has no experience in the manipulations of experiments, may venture, with this guide, and at the most trifling expense, to illustrate all the facts and principles of chemistry. Its excellence, also, for a class text-book is so great that there can be no doubt of its very general adoption. FACTS. I was troubled, some time since, by the want of punc- tuality in my scholars. I had just undertaken the management of a school which had " run down," under the control of a man who had governed, at times with severity, at times with laxity of discipline, and I was at a loss what course to pursue to create a reformation in this particular. Acting, however, on the principle of attracting rather than coercing, I determined on the following plan : I was not sure of its success, and I did not make known my motive, intending to try other means if this failed. At ten minutes before nine, I rang the " first bell ;" at two minutes before nine, I tolled the " second bell," and at nine, precisely, I closed and locked the door. After opening school with the usual devotional exercises, I told the few who were at their seats that I intended to spend a quarter of an hour, every morning, in telling them something inter- esting, something which they would be pleased and FACTS. 183 profited to hear ; and I began at once to tell them about what I saw when I was at Vesuvius and Pompeii. I made the narration as interesting as I could, and, at the end of the fifteen minutes, I opened the door and admitted the outsiders. They had arrived, and had been surprised to find the door locked ; a few of them had made a little disturbance, and two or three had gone away ; but I said nothing, and we went on with the regular exercises. The process was repeated every morning. I took pains to have something really in- teresting, and I soon began to observe the effects. They who had heard the " facts," as I called them, told their tardy companions what pleasant information the teacher had given them, and advised them to come in time, if they wanted to hear something nice. I was walking behind two of my boys, one morning, on my way to school two of the quondam tardies and over- heard one of them say, " Hurry up, or we shan't be in time for the ' fact !' " In a few weeks I had induced a good degree of punctuality, although there were some who could only be persuaded to be punctual by being deprived of their recesses. In this way I was led to adopt the general plan of giving a fact every morning, a plan which I have re- tained, and shall continue. There are thousands of facts to be met with, and if the teacher enters in his memorandum-book such items as he cannot fail to meet with in his readings of books and papers, he will 184 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. gather a large stock of the kind he will need. Some of mine are as follows : A telegraphic message, sent from New York to St. Louis, will get there about an hour before it started. Why? If an ignorant boy were to dispute your assertion that the earth is round, how could you prove it to him. I give the proof, using the black-board as an assistant. Personal adventures in the Mammoth Cave of Ken- tucky. How the English and French, with the Turks, got to fighting with Russia. About St. Peter's Cathedral, at Rome. Dr. Franklin, as Postmaster-General. About corks and sponges. Mummies. How they prepare tea in China. It would be easy to extend the list, but here are enough for a start. Sometimes, instead of a fact, I read something from Harper, or " Household Words," from the daily paper, or a book. Thus, in the course of a year, what a store of infor- mation a boy may gain. If each one enters the fact of the morning in a blank-book, he will make a volume worth a great deal to himself and his friends. MEETINGS. 185 ELECTIONS AND BUSINESS MEETINGS. Many a young man, on entering the arena of public life, finds himself obliged to take the position of a looker-on, because he lacks confidence to stand up as a contestant, and is ignorant of the rules and customs of the strife. At political meetings, so many of which, of various kinds, are constantly being held in every city and village of the land, at debating clubs, at so- cial discussions, before any audience, however small, the young man who has enjoyed no advantages of train- ing, must sit in a corner, must hide his light, if he has one, under a bushel. He may have clear conceptions of the subject under discussion ; he may, unconsciously, possess no small degree of eloquence ; but timidity, and ignorance of " parliamentary rules," restrain him, and he is eclipsed by some shallow-brain who has learned the art of letting out freely his watery flow of weak ideas. The shallow-brain gets, ultimately, to Congress ; while he of the corner, either afraid or unwilling to "cope with so formidable an adversary," remains in obscurity. It often happens that the civil affairs of a town are managed entirely by a few talkative and am- bitious men, who have the gift of gab, and no other gift. To these the wiser men, the men who talk less and think more, submit ; they are out-talked at town- meeting, and because the rabble, who are influenced 186 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. more by speeches than reasons, vote with the speech- makers, the wiser men are out-voted also. In advocating early and thorough instruction in debate, for our boys and young men. I may claim, I think, that I advocate the public good, as well as their own ; for although some boys may be encouraged and aided to become mere speakers, and, perhaps, mere demagogues, not a few will be prepared to meet and combat successfully the errors of vapid fluency. Boys are fond of imitating men in every respect. They like to hold meetings, in the school-room, for discussion ; and if decisions, of greater or less import- ance, result from discussion, they yield to the majority "like men." The teacher will find no difficulty in initiating and continuing business meetings and debates. There will be, or may be, frequent elections in school. The officers of the company, if there is one, are mostly elective ; the officers of the debating club, the post- master, and banker, may be elected ; a school secretary, monitors, if any are employed, leaders in spelling- matches, superintendents of various departments, and other office-holders, may wisely be chosen by the school. There are also frequent questions arising, in which the boys should have a voice. The uniform of the company may be left, partly, at least, to their decision ; the ar- rangement of recesses, perhaps even of the hours of study and recitation, the times and places of parade or of public exhibitions, and other matters of not really MEETINGS. 187 vital importance, may safely be entrusted to them for decision. The teacher should seek occasions for call- ing school-meetings, for the sake of teaching the boys how to discuss and decide. It becomes a delicate question, how far a teacner may safely leave decisions on school matters in the hands of his scholars. If he is sure of a correct public sentiment among them, and if he is sure of possessing the proper amount and kind of influence over them, he may leave much in their hands. A school cannot be a pure republic ; the teacher must be in some, if not most respects, an absolute monarch ; and his subjects should be well aware of this power, and of the reasons which they can easily be made to understand for maintaining it ; but he may yet be partly a President, and with tact, and an uncontrolled veto power, he may govern with safety and success. In my own exper- ience, I have found that the more republican I allowed my school to become, the more pleasantly and easily I could govern it. The very fact that a decision is in their hands, leads them to think seriously on the mat- ter ; and it may be safely said that more honest, if not wiser votes will be given by boys, on any given ques- tion, than by the same number of men. We may illustrate this, and, in doing so, I shall draw on actual experience. In the scheme of administration, in a preceding chap- ter, it will be remembered that rules, applying to all 188 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. cases of misconduct possibly to be anticipated, were argued against ; the single rule Do right, and avoid wrong, being the only one considered necessary. Under this rule, James and John failed to come in at the close of recess ; they stayed out several minutes after the others came in ; and to punish them, and se- cure greater promptness in them and others in the fu- ture, I deprived them of recess for two days. They protested against this, not by words, but by sullen looks and careless actions. On asking them why they were angry at their punishment, they replied that they did not know that I was particular about coming in promptly ; that I " had not said anything about it ;" that they didn't know they were doing anything wrong. I thought this a good occasion for discussing this and similar cases which might occur ; so I said nothing in reply to them, but, at the close of school, summoned a school meeting. After laying the case fully before the boys, and giving the reasons of my punishment, I claimed the right to settle the matter according to my own opinions of right and wrong ; I appealed to them to decide whether I did not always act fairly, whether I ever showed partiality ; " but," said I, " I am willing to leave this case in your hands. The question to be discussed and decided is : Was the punishment just ?" My boys had not at that time become accustomed to express their opinions, and no one said anything ; so, to start them, I said : " Does no one think that the MEETINGS. 189 boys' excuse is a good one, or that cases may not some- times occiii- in which there may be doubt whether an action is right or wrong ?" This gave material to one of the older boys, who was naturally fond of opposing' and he rose and gave expression to doubts whether a boy could always do right without the guidance of rules. Another boy, a bright little fellow, followed him, who remarked that the question was whether, in this particular case, the punishment was just, and, for his part, he thought it was. At . this juncture I urged on them free expression of sentiment, but took no notice of what had been said. A third speaker suggested that the boys were afraid to speak out, lest they might make enemies. I argued against such fear, and obtained a unanimous vote that no one should receive expressions of ill-will for opinions, on account of words uttered in debate ; and I succeeded in creating a very general sentiment against gagging free speech. The debate proceeded, and nearly all thought the punishment just. On a vote to sustain my decision, there were but two " noes." But suppose the case had gone against me ; admit that to a certain extent I should lose prestige and power ; admit that there would be danger, that occa- sions would be sought to overthrow my authority, and admit that I have not strength and tact enough to weather the storm of rebellion which might arise ; this at least must be confessed, that the discussion, as 190 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. such, was of great benefit to the boys. The teacher must judge of the safety to his throne of allowing such disputes ; but I am of the opinion that if he fortifies his position by acts of kindness, by thoughts, rather, and looks, and smiles of kindness, by fairness always, and firmness when necessary, he may trust his boys with considerable power. The discussion above mentioned led to another, namely : Is it best to adopt a code of laws ? This de- bate was held one evening, and some of the parents attended. To ensure speaking, I privately instructed one of my older boys, one whom I knew I could trust, with arguments in the affirmative : he knew my mo- tives, and was willing to assist me. He was of service in keeping up the debate, which might otherwise have flagged. At the commencement of the discussion I announced my monarchical properties, my possession of the veto, but said that I would yield to a two-thirds vote against me ; that if as many as that desired rules, I would yield. I also claimed the right to participate in the debate. Not to make too long a story, I will say only that we had a most interesting debate, and that, by rather more than a two-thirds vote, it was decided to have rules. A committee was chosen to draw up rules for my approval, and I retained, of course, the right of adding any rules of my own. The result was, that at a second meeting to hear the report of the committee, MEETINGS. 191 some fifty rules were proposed. " Oh 1" said one little fellow, "I never can remember all those." Others shared his feelings ; a vote to reconsider was passed, and after a renewed discussion and another advocacy of my opinions, the decision of the previous meeting was reversed, and we returned to our old and single rule. There happened not a few occasions where I allowed power to pass from me to them ; but they never abused my confidence, nor was my authority weakened. Now, I submit, there can be no question that these debates were of very great service to the boys. They learned how to rise without confusion, " to think on their legs," and to speak without stammering. They learned, also, " Parliamentary rules," and appreciated the courtesies of debate. A debating club was pro- posed, organized, and carried into very successful operation. Thus, public speaking became popular, and my boys astonished their friends, who came to hear them. If any of them shall attain to eminence in affairs of state, I shall congratulate myself on having been instrumental in preparing them for success, and they may thank me for my efforts in their behalf. Thore was no need, in the school of which I have been speaking, of exercises in " declamation." I must admit that I dislike the plan of forcing lads to de- claim. I never could see any good results coming, or likely to come, from it. Certainly if boys can be in- 192 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. duced to rise and speak ex tempore, this is better than the declamation of borrowed language. In the latter case, the boy knows that he is acting a farce ; he does not understand the eloquence of Webster ; he knows that he is on stilts ; but, in the former, he speaks his own thoughts, on a subject in which he is interested, and he speaks freely, naturally, well. Let me, then, urge on teachers the advantages of encouraging public meetings for discussion or election. On frequent, and even on slight occasions, call busi- ness meetings ; or let a written request, signed by a certain number of the boys themselves, be understood as authority for a call. At these meetings take great care that everything shall be done in accordance with the rules and customs of men. Let there be a " School Secretary," whose business it shall be to keep accurate records of all votes and resolutions, and to commit to writing a history, of all the prominent events of school life. This office should be one of great honor. At first the boys will be " backward about coming forward ;" this must be met adroitly by the teacher. Let him not refer to the difficulty of standing before an audience to speak, but let him rather urge them to express their opinions as a thing of course, as a neces- sary step towards a full understanding of the matter in hand. Conceal the fact from them that they are MEETINGS. 193 actually " speaking, " and they will become speakers without being aware of it. The teacher must not expect that his business meet- ings will be as orderly, at first, as those of men ; but he should expect to secure good order ultimately. It may be long before they learn Parliamentary rules, and acquire the self-control necessary during the excite- ment of debate. There will be, at first, much talking and playing among the smaller boys and those not particularly interested : they who are engaged in the contest will be claiming " the floor" often, and several at once ; they will be inclined to indulge in person- alities, will speak too loud, make assertions instead of arguments, " beg the question," and be variously and frequently " out of order." All this must be patiently and skilfully met and controlled by the teacher ; they will improve ; boys are plastic in the hands of a man who has their affection, confidence and respect. A simple plan of quieting disorder and repressing excitement, is to stop all procedings and keep the room still for two or three minutes. A few remarks like these will accomplish much : " Boys ! I suppose you are anxious to have this question settled. Some of you, also, wish the meeting over, that you may get out to play. Well ; to effect both of these objects, I shall suspend operations until the room is quiet, and as soon as you are all still, we will go on and finish our business, come to a decision and close the meeting. 9 194 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. But as soon as you begin to be noisy again, I shall stop the debate again." The teacher ought generally to preside at all meet- ings ; he alone can control and guide them best ; but to give the boys opportunity to learn to act as mode- rators or chairmen, he should occasionally call on them to preside. If he stands by and supports the officer by his authority, in case of necessity, no trouble can ensue. In a debating club, the boys should have their own officers ; but it will be well for the teacher to be present at the meetings as often as he can. He should also take care that they do not select improper or unprofitable subjects for debate. In concluding this subject, I must express the hope that it will attract the attention of teachers, and that it may lead them to adopt some of its suggestions. I have seen the good effects of the carrying out of these and similar plans for educing colloquial powers, and am satisfied that much good can be done in this de- partment of teaching. MOOT COURTS. Moot Courts afford profitable employment for boys' evenings. Information is acquired concerning the forms and technicalities of that mystery, " the law," of which most men are ignorant. There is no reason why boys may not be taught to understand, perfectly, the MOOT COURTS. 195 whole process of a suit at law, whether criminal or civil. In addition to this, opportunities are offered for practice in this kind of public speaking. As has been remarked in the preceding chapter, boys will learn to speak fluently on subjects in which they are interested, when they will continue mere awkward declaimers of the eloquence of Webster or Burke. If the case to be tried is one which will amuse, excite, or in any way interest the school, the counsel on either side will enter into the trial most heartily, and the kind of practice they will have will be of service to them. To accomplish anything by Moot Courts, the teacher must be sure to lay his plans in such a way that the first one shall be a success. The case must be one of no great difficulty ; and it is suggested that a criminal would be better than a civil case ; but it must present such features that the counsels for plaintiff and defend- ant, or State and prisoner, may each have grounds for argument. It is advised that the teacher examine the records of remarkable trials, and, from two or three of the best of them, select materials to make up a case of the right kind. Or, one of the school-boys may be arraigned on a charge of arson, or theft, or assault, or trespass. Take care that the counsel make thorough prepara- tion, that the witnesses understand just what testimony to render, that the sheriff knows his duties, and that all the details of the trial are properly prepared. If a 196 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. lawyer can be induced to act as judge and guide the trial in proper channels, the success may be made more certain. After a while, the boys will have learned how to conduct a court, and they may be trusted to carry through the whole business, from a grand jury presen- tation to a verdict. It will be well to give them the entire management ; the teacher, of course, advising, and in reality controlling. ... Instances have been known in which a teacher has effected, by means of Moot Courts, the detection and punishment of offenders whom he had been unable to reach by the ordinary forms of school government. In a certain school, a long series of petty thefts had annoyed the scholars and troubled the teacher. Articles of inconsiderable value had been stolen from desks, such as knives and pencils, books, drawings, &c. The teacher's desk, also, had been more than once pillaged or ransacked. At last the matter became important, by the theft of gold pens from three desks in one week, and the scholars grew clamorous for an investigation. Strange to say, suspicions could be fastened on no one in particular, and the two or three who had been hastily charged with the offence, were most anxious for an. op- portunity of clearing themselves. The teacher was at a loss what course to pursue, but at length hit upon the expedient of a legal investigation. A grand jury was elected, instructed in their duties, and the case was left MOOT COURTS. 197 in their hands. They acted with the utmost secresy. It was unknown that any steps had been taken. Police- boys were appointed, and the building was watched for several nights, and at last the offender was caught. He had entered the school-room by means of a false key, and was apprehended in the very act of opening a desk. It is unnecessary to detail the events which followed. Suffice it to say that the offender was tried, most skil- fully defended, found guilty, and sentenced to expul- sion ; with a recommendation to the mercy of the exe- cutive, the teacher. The defence rested mainly on the good character of the prisoner, who was one of the best scholars and the mildest and most inoffensive boy in school, and on the fact that he was not caught in the act of stealing. But by an incautious admission on the part of the prisoner's counsel, the prosecuting attorney turned the case against the prisoner, and the jury brought in their ver- dict of guilty. Restitution, however, had been made in full ; and it became evident, before the verdict, that the offender was possessed of a mania for appropriat- ing ; that he had stolen for the love of the adventure of stealing, had hoarded the articles stolen, and had acted from no malicious or wicked notions whatever. On this account, and because the jury and the sentiment of the whole school was in his favor, pityingly, the re- commendation to mercy was added to the verdict. 198 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. The prisoner would have confessed to the teacher, on apprehension, but was persuaded to allow the case to come to trial, for the sake of affording the advantages of a thorough trial to the school. Whether this was best or not, may be left to the decision of the reader. The results of this case were most fortunate. The offender was thoroughly cured of his propensity, and, owing to his evident reformation and his otherwise excellent character, he was allowed to remain in school, and did not suffer from any serious display of ill-feeling from his companions. The benefits derived from the trial were very considerable. Several napkinned tal- ents for public speaking were brought to light and put at interest ; and all were profited by becoming tho- roughly acquainted with the forms of law. I have given this trial in detail, partly because the teacher may learn from it one way with which to deal with anomalous- cases of discipline, and partly to serve as a model of a " case" for trial. It happened to be one in which school-boys would be interested, and one which offers good material both for the prosecution and the defence. There are two or three strong points to be made on either side, and it cannot be for the lack of material that the trial may not be interesting. If it shall add to the motives of a teacher for trying the experiment of organizing a Moot Court, I may say that all teachers who have tried, with whom the writer has conversed on the subject, have expressed unquali- POST-OFFICE. 199 fied approval of the plan, and satisfaction with its results. SCHOOL POST-OFFICE. Facility in expressing one's thoughts is the next best thing to having thoughts worthy of expression. "I know, but I cannot explain it," is very often the honest excuse of good scholars in the recitation-rooin. In writing compositions, in the analysis of problems, even in common conversation, many, if not most children, find it difficult to express their thoughts. This diffi- culty must be met early by the teacher who remembers his duties as an educator, as well as an instructor, and he will adopt various methods to assist his scholars in clothing their thoughts in appropriate language. In his classes, he will encourage clearness in explanation : in arithmetic, for instance, will be better pleased to hear one problem thoroughly analyzed and clearly ex- plained, than to see six of them done on slate or black boacd. In my own experience, I have found that general exercises, having for their purpose the educing of thought, are very useful. In various ways I require the frequent use of pen and pencil, and always with good results. I give now one plan, and shall mention others hereafter. I should say here that the main features of this plan 200 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. have been borrowed from an eminent teacher, whose success with it has been greater even than mine. I am also indebted to him for many valuable sugges- tions. Preparations. 1. Some contrivance to represent a Post-Office. My own is an oblong, narrow box, resting on its narrower side, on a high table which stands out three feet or more from the wall ; its front is a window-sash, its back, two doors, opening at the middle ; there are thirty-six " boxes," and the lower middle pane of glass is removed, and replaced by a little door, hinging at the top and fastenable within. The post-master, at office-hours, stands behind the table ; the two doors are opened, and shut him off, on the sides, from interfer- ence ; he opens the front trap-door, and receives and delivers letters. The expense of this, nicely grained and varnished, and provided with lock and key, was ten dollars. No doubt something might be contrived for less ; and if expense must be avoided, the post- master may use a table-drawer. Yet the " boxes" and trap-door give character to and add to the success of the plan. 2. Some cards, about half the size of a common vis- iting card, printed, or, almost as well, written upon POST-OFFICE. 201 with the numerals expressing the values of all our sil- ver coins, of the regular decimal coinage. The " three- cent-pieces," needed especially at the office, must be more numerous than the other coins, and the teacher will judge from the size of his school, how much money to issue. To prevent counterfeiting (although I have found no need of prevention) the teacher's name may be signed on the back of each card. Operation. In announcing the plan to the school, enlarge on the advantages of learning to write letters well ; speak of clerks, who, on applying for a situation, are requested to address in their own handwriting ; and remark that of two applicants, the one sending in a neatly written and properly spelled and punctuated letter, and the other sending one just the reverse of this, he who writes the better letter will stand the better chance of getting the situation. There are many other things which may be appropriately said, which I need not mention. The teacher then explains the working of the plan from the following : Harry writes a letter to Charles ; it must be a regu- lar letter, on at least a half-sheet of common writing paper, inclosed in an envelope, neatly sealed and di- rected ; it must contain at least one page of matter, written on some sensible theme. Harry takes this to 9* 202 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. the post-office, hands it to the postmaster through the door, and pays a three-cent card for it, as postage, in advance. The postmaster will not receive it if it is badly sealed or improperly addressed, but if it is prop- erly prepared, he places it in Charley's box, and when he applies for it, the postmaster gives it to him. He (Charles) then looks over his letter carefully, and charges Harry one cent (card money) for every mis- take, either of spelling or punctuation ; and if it is carelessly written, or contains vulgar language, he brings it to the teacher, and he allows a fine of from three to twenty-five cents. Now Charles must write a reply to Harry, within two days, (school days,) and Harry has a chance to charge Charley for his mis- takes. Neither will write carelessly, it is to be pre- sumed, for the letter costs three cents to begin with, at the post-office, and if written without care, will cost still more for its errors. If these two boys are equally correct at writing, they will each receive about as much as they pay out, but if one writes worse than the other, he will lose and the other will gain. So it be- hooves each one to write as carefully as possible, using his Dictionary often, and consulting the teacher if necessary, and to look very closely for mistakes in his replies, so as to lose as little, and gain as much as possible. Boys have been known to make as much as six, eight, and sometimes ten dollars in a quarter. The POST-OFFICE. 203 writing is to be done out of school, although I some- times allow good scholars to write in school, but these only when I am quite sure that they have learned all their lessons. I now lend each one a dollar. This they may pay back at the bank as soon as they please, but it must be paid at the end of the term. Every dollar above the amount loaned, given in at the end of the term, I redeem by paying (say ten or fifteen) cents in silver ; but if the boy has lost everything, he must pay me the same on every dollar he has borrowed. He may borrow more at the bank by giving his note, en- dorsed, for thirty or sixty days, and paying regular bank discount. In some cases I allow the banker to " renew" notes, giving " extension" to some time in next term. I have a set of Rules in accordance with these general principles. There needs to be a Postmaster. He is to be paid by the rent of his boxes, for which he may charge whatever prices he may think best. If he asks too much, he will not rent many ; and if he charges too little, he will not make much money. He will have to open his office twice a day, at the close of school in the morning and afternoon. He had better hire an assistant, for if he is away, and the office is not open at the time, he must pay a fine. It is well to elect the postmaster to serve for one term : elect by ballot. I appoint a Banker. He must be one who knows 204 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. something about book-keeping, for I require accurai .5 accounts of all money passing through his hands. He must get two boys to be his security for honesty (as the banks all do), and I pay him as salary per cent, on the amount of money passing through the bank. Bank must be open once a day, at close of school in the afternoon. Every boy keeps a bank- book, as well as Dr. and Cr. accounts with all his cor- respondents. The teacher will take care that all business, either with the post-office or bank, shall be done in accord- ance with regular business forms. He will reserve to himself the right to decide all disputes concerning er- rors. He will so arrange the Rules and penalties that charges shall be promptly paid, either in cash, (card- money,) or negotiable paper. If there are no " boxes," he will pay the postmaster a salary, perhaps a per centage on his cash received, and by giving him the franking privilege. The " Rules" must be posted, somewhere, conspicuously. A better plan, perhaps, than redeeming the money with silver, is one that I have tried : it is to have an auction at the end of the term, at which such things as boys like to possess are purchasable with card-money, and with this only. I sometimes buy articles for the auction from the boys themselves ; as, a knife, or a sail-boat, (model) or a book, with the parent's written consent ; paying them in card-money. I buy these POST-OFFICE. things, and others, during the term, and when I have acquired anything attractive, I announce it, and per- haps display it, as an incentive to them to try to make money for the auction. The bank may be a bank of deposit, with or without interest to be allowed. The banker should prepare a balance for every week ; and auditors may be appointed. I give prizes in my school, and have sometimes, at the scholars' request, paid them in card-money. Thus, at the auction, the boy may buy what he chooses ; if a book, I write his name and honor on the fly-leaf. The objection to this plan is, that a boy who has worked hard and successfully in the post-office, may be out-bid by one who has been his inferior in the post-office, but has taken one or more prizes. The objection may be removed by some ingenuity in receiving bids, or by putting up certain articles to be bid for with post-office money, and certain others, as perhaps books, to be bought with prize-money. He may, wisely, make a rule that letters containing three closely written pages shall be exempt from post- age. Replies must be as long as letters received, under penalties for every ten words less. Results. 1. I have known forty letters to pass through the office in a day, in a school of fifty -five scholars. I have 206 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. seen very decided improvement in every respect ; in- deed, I may say that in many instances I have been unable to detect the least error in long letters. I have received the eulogiums of parents on the plan. I know that it adds to the general interest of my school. 2. The boys learn, practically, the forms of bank- ing and of making notes, for they may be allowed to borrow from each other. The importance of this is unquestionable. If the teacher has a class in book- keeping, he may require the members of it to act as bankers, each a week in turn. 3. But as a grand result, the boys learn how to ex- press their thoughts ; they become accustomed not only to clothe their thoughts with words, but also to clothe them well, and even elegantly. To sum up all, the beneficial results of this post- office plan are so great that I earnestly advise every teacher who values either the improvement of his scholars, or the advancement of his own reputation as a teacher, to adopt it in this form, or in some other and better one. The money spent will be an addition to his capital, both in his present school and in his general reputation. THE NEWS. In a school of the writer's acquaintance, there is a class which is worthy of mention. The elder boys, of whom there are fifteen or twenty, prepare, on Saturday, THE NEWS. 207 a digest of the news of the week, which they report on the following Monday. One boy is called upon for the foreign news, another for domestic, a third for political, a fourth for literary, a fifth for local. When any event of unusual importance has taken place, either abroad or at home, this is made the theme of particular examination. This is one of the regular classes of the school ; its recitations are " marked" by the same stand- ard with the others. The teacher takes care to create and maintain interest among the members ; he makes himself thoroughly acquainted with the news of the day, and, by a few words of geographical, political, or literary explanation, gives significance to facts and rumors, which might otherwise be devoid of attraction, and difficult to be retained in memory. For the younger members of a school, a plan, carried into successful operation by another teacher, may please the reader. A large scrap-book is prepared, a com- mittee of selection is chosen, a paste-pot made ready, a*nd contributions are invited. Every day there are brought in the clippings and cuttings, of all the boys, from home papers. One brings an anecdote, another an interesting item of news, a third an arithmetical puzzle, a fourth a beautiful or an amusing wood-cut. These are handed to the committee, who decide, by a majority, on their insertion ; and they paste accepted articles into the scrap-book. Pictures are almost always acceptable ; short stories and interesting facts 208 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. are plentiful ; all are gratified at the growth of the book ; and, in a short time, a grand collection is made, and a fund of entertainment and instruction provided. The book is kept on a shelf, similar to those used in reading-rooms, and all enjoy the reading of it. The teacher has now several huge volumes of this kind. One of them was sold at auction, for "post -office money," last term, and brought a high price. I envy the purchaser his possession. LIBRA EY. A good Library is a very desirable addition to any school. The expense of purchasing books deters teachers from providing them. Let me tell how li- braries have been procured, of excellence in size and character, at very little expense to any one, and none at all, to the teacher. After talking up the subject in such a way that interest in the subject is secured, the teacher may invite his boys to lend some of their own books to the school, such books as they would be willing to lend to their companions. These they are to cover firmly, and their names are to be distinctly written within. In a school of fifty, one hundred volumes may easily be collected, perhaps more. These are to be loaned out under strict regulations. Fines are to be collected for neglect to return within speci- fied times, for losses, injuries or defacements, and these LIBRARY. 209 fines may be easily collected, if there is the understand- ing that the money is to be applied to the purchase of new books. Let those who have no books, or are un- willing to expose their treasure to miscellaneous hand- ling, be allowed to become members by the contribution of a certain sum of money. When this original col- lection becomes stale, invite contributions of money for its increase. Let the teacher head the list of con- tributions with as liberal an offering as he can afford ; let him ask aid from some of his wealthy patrons ; his boys will, themselves, contribute dimes and quarters freely ; the library may, by these means, be made all that a school can need. Every teacher should possess encyclopedias or books of reference ; these he should leave for access to his school, not to be taken from the rooms, but to be examined and returned to their places. When a boy leaves school, he may of course, take with him the books he has loaned, and he may also be entitled to select a volume of a value nearly equal to any money he may have contributed. If this is under- stood by all, contributions may be more liberally made. It will be well to entrust the care of the library to a librarian chosen from among the scholars. Such posts of trust and honor should be made numerous in a school ; boys should early learn to fulfill duties of various kinds, the more the better. 210 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. READING ALOUD. The young gentleman or young lady who can read aloud correctly and gracefully, possesses an accom- plishment which will enable him, or her, to give much pleasure to others. How pleasant is that family circle, which, in a winter evening, is gathered around the fire, beneath the mellow light of a shaded lamp or " burner." The father, wearied by the labors of the day, enjoys the embracing arms of an easy-chair, and desires no more vigorous occupation than that of a listener. The good mother, ever busy in the service of her children or husband, sits knitting on the oppo- site side of the hearth. The elder daughters are sew- ing or crocheting, the children are half-busied with paints or quiet toys, and all are listening to an elder son or brother, who is reading aloud some interesting book of travels, or one of Dickens's stories. He reads in no drawling, sing-song tone, but throws life and char- acter into the language of the author. He delivers the remarks of " Cap'n Cuttle" in a rough, solemn, and oracular voice, or imitates the hopeful tones of " WalVs" voice, or the " no-consequence" air of " Mr. Toots." If Stephen's Travels, or Layard's Nineveh, is the book of the evening, he narrates their adventures and discoveries in a manner which would become him were he himself the traveller, telling the story of his own adventures and discoveries. The time passes unob- READING ALOUD. 211 servably, and when nine o'clock comes the bed-time of the little folks they beg to sit up a little longer, and are only persuaded to go willingly with the pro- mise that " brother shall read again to-morrow even- ing." It is this accomplishment which many desire to see taught in schools. Almost all children can be taught to read well. What child is there who cannot tell a story well. The boy has met with some tragic or amusing adventure, and he runs in and gives his mother a most glowing description of it ; he imitates, unconsciously and naturally, the voices of his playmates who were engaged with him in the affair ; he makes present the past event. Now, can it be denied that he may be able to read the same, or a similar adventure, with the same tones and emphasis of voice with which he told it ? But for so long a time children have been taught to read at school from books which they do not understand, or in which they take no interest, that they have acquired a drawling way, a lifeless, mechan- ical style, in which to " speak up loudly and distioctly" is excellence enough. I am glad to admit that a re- formation has begun in this department of instruction, but there will need a generation or so of school-chil- dren, and the constant and varied efforts of teachers and parents, to recover from the effects of the old- fashioned way. A plan to accomplish something in the way of im- SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. provement m school-reading, which has the recommen- dation of success, and is, at the same time, an interest- ing exercise for the school, is as follows : Let the teacher select a story from some book or magazine, which he will be sure shall interest his boys. Let him give the book containing it to some boy, ask- ing him to read the story over to himself a few times, to become familiar with it ; and at or near the close of school, let the boy read it aloud to his schoolmates. Before commencing, however, let the teacher recall some amusing event which has recently taken place, or select some anecdote from the scrap-book, and let him repeat this to the school in a slow, drawling way, in a forced, unnatural voice. They will all laugh at such a rendering, and will appreciate the meaning of the teacher when he changes his tone and style, and gives them the event or anecdote in a natural, unaf- fected way. Turning now, to the reader, let him re- mark to him, " You can take your choice of these two ways of reading." As he reads, do not discourage him by too frequent interruptions, but, occasionally, when he relapses into the drawl, repeat the passage, kindly, in the better way, and ask him to notice and imitate your manner. When he has ended, read to them yourself, some other good story, and let your style be worthy of imitation. Have these readings often. Be sure that the story is naturally written, is lively or exciting, in short, make the exercise one that COMPOSITIONS. 213 all shall be glad to engage in. A good time for the reading may be on Friday afternoon, at the close of school. Hawthorne's "Wonder Book" and "Twice Told Tales," Dana's " Two Years before the' Mast," " Chambers' Series," and " Household Words," are books from which good stories may be selected ; but, in these days of books, the teacher need seldom be at a loss for a story. COMPOSITIONS. One method of making that bugbear of "compo- sition" less frightful, may be grafted upon the above- mentioned reading-exercises. Let the story which has been heard from the teacher or the reader, be the theme for a composition. Require the scholars to write out the story from memory, and say to them, by way of encouragement, "When you get home, and your mother or father asks you what you have done to-day, you will be very apt to speak of having heard this story. They will want to know what the story was, and you will tell them ; you won't have any difficulty in telling them the whole story clearly. You will not remember the words of the book ; you will tell it in your own words. Now this is just the way in which I want to have you write the story. Write it just as if you were telling it at home." They should write it at first on their slates ; then 214 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. they should look over the work, to correct mistakes, and then copy it into their blank-books. In this way thoughts are furnished them, and they practice themselves in giving expression to these thoughts. This, as I think, is at the foundation of suc- cess in composing, namely : expressing thoughts, no matter whence they are derived. After the student has learned to write out his ideas, and to write them grammatically, and with correctness in punctuation and the other details, he may enter on a course of inventing ideas for himself. If this course is adopted, the writer, when he has learned to express himself freely and cor- rectly, will be no longer impeded, clogged, confused with how to write, and the what to write will arrange itself clearly and easily in his mind. Another advantage of this method is, that children are fond of writing stories, while they dread " compo- sitions," and they can thus be induced to get into a habit of writing, so that they themselves, unconsciously, strip the object of their fears of its disagreable dis- guise. The plan of the writer in teaching this subject has long been founded on these principles, and the successes of the plan have determined its excellence. In detail, it is as follows : On Wednesday afternoon a story is read ; one-half of the school say the younger, write this off upon their slates, as roughly as they please, taking care only COMPOSITIONS. 215 to get in the whole story, without omissions or altera- tions ; they then write it out fully, and as correctly as they can, on half foolscap sheets of paper, and hand them in to me, at the close of school. I take these exercises, and at my leisure I examine them, and cor- rect them with red ink. A mistake which I think they can correct themselves, I merely underline : an error which is correctible in the narrow space between the lines, I correct in writing, but more important errors I leave for verbal explanation ; I mark the place with a large interrogation-point, and require them to come to me at my desk to talk about it. On the following Wednesday, these corrected exercises are distributed to them, and they are required to copy them, noting carefully the corrections, into their blank-books. At the same time, I read another story for the other, or elder, half of the school. I give them a longer and more intricate story than I gave to the first division, but the process of writing, correcting and copying is the same. In " marking" these writings I give a high grade for comprehensiveness, clearness and accuracy, in the ex- ercise ; for absolute correctness and good penmanship in the copy. Occasionally, instead of reading a story, I give to my older division the skeleton of a story, or merely the theme for a narration or description. From their number I select the best to form an advanced class, 216 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. which I instruct particularly in the art of composing. For this class I would recommend " Brookfield's First Book in Composition" as a valuable text book upon this subject ; also, " Parker's Exercises in English Composition," and " Quackenboss' Second Book," on the same subject. Additions are made to this class, frequently, by promotion. In concluding the subject, I am pleased to be able to say that I rarely fail to make "composition" a pleasant and easy study, and that my scholars succeed in becoming good composers. SCHOOL PERIODICAL. To encourage writing and to afford profitable enter- tainment to his school, the teacher may think it best to establish some kind of periodical. If no better plan occurs to him, he may adopt the following : Fold a large sheet of printing-paper in newspaper shape ; let it be ruled in columns ; let editors, chosen by vote of the school, paste into the spaces articles selected from the journals of the week, together with original matter, written on paper which has been cut to fit the spaces ; encourage offerings (original) from the scholars by announcing a prize (in post-office money) for the best story, in three chapters, or for the best piece of poetry. With original matter and selec- tions, the editors need never be at a loss to fill their columns. Let the ornamental heading of the first page GEOGRAPHICAL GAME. 217 be an original design and drawing. Advertise for these, offering rewards for the one accepted ; and have a new one for each issue. Let the teacher encourage the enterprise by contributions in the shape of good selections, and of stories written to praise or ridicule some boy's habits. Let the paper remain during the week on a reading-desk, similar to that proposed for the scrap-book, and at the end of that time, be pre- served for comparison and future readings. From this, as a beginning, there may grow a period- ical worth printing, but the writer's experience has led him to think that the publication of school periodicals, in printed form, " costs more than it comes to." GEOGRAPHICAL GAME. About ten years ago the writer attended a Teachers' Institute in Massachusetts, under the direction of Horace Mann. Among the exercises was the follow- ing : The teachers, ladies and gentlemen, arranged them- selves on opposite sides of the room, forming, however, a continuous line, standing with their backs against the wall. At the request of Mr. Mann, the gentleman who stood nearest to him repeated the name of a town and gave its State or country. Perhaps it was " Boston, Mass." The final letter of Boston, N, was the initial letter for the next person, who gave, we 10 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. will suppose, " Newport, R. I." T came to the third in order, who may have given " Trenton, N. J." Thus it went on. " No one may give a town which has been given before," said the director. The circle, or parallelogram, of teachers was able to preserve its completeness during the first "round," although the last dozen of the hundred and fifty were somewhat puzzled to think of new towns, and others were in momentary difficulty when the letter which came to them was a Y or a K, or a Z. Towns which begin with E also became scarce. At the conclusion of this round, Mr. Mann remarked that some distinct rules were necessary before entering upon the second round. After saying that towns might be mentioned from any part of the world, he laid down the following rules : Any one repeating a name of a town ; Any one failing to give the State or country to which the town belonged ; or Any one failing to give a correct name, within one minute by the director's watch, must sit down. He remarked, also, that as the victory would belong to the last one standing, it became all to give such names as ended in a difficult letter for his or her suc- cessor. The second round was begun, and now there were droppings away from the hitherto intact rank. It GEOGRAPHICAL GAME. 219 happens that there are many names of places which end in E, and but few, comparatively, which begin with that letter. In addition to this difficulty, by this time they who had not pretty good memories, or an intimate acquaintance with geography, found it hard to think of a name not already mentioned, within the sixty seconds ; or they repeated a name, and were obliged to sit down. For these reasons, and others, at the end of the second round, one-half of the original number were in their seats. At the end of the third round only ten were left ; but these were veterans, who were as familiar with their atlases as their spelling- books. This Spartan band was composed of six ladies and four gentlemen. As the fourth round was com- menced, the attention of the wounded was riveted upon the survivors, and the heroes buckled their armor tightly around them and prepared for the contest. To the spectators it seemed as if there were no more towns left ; but they were mistaken. The resources of the te"n seemed inexhaustible, and they maintained their positions during one more round. At this point the time was lengthened to two minutes ; but even with this indulgence, they could not all maintain the floor. Gradually the number was reduced to five, to three, to two ; a lady, on one side of the room, and a gentleman on the other. The excitement now approached its climax : it was not only teacher against teacher, but sex against sex : and no one of the ladies wished the 220 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. gentleman to resign in deference to the laws of gal- lantry, as he proposed. They began : for some ten minutes they stood firmly ; but at last the lady gave her opponent the initial K. It " posed" him ; he ran- sacked his memory in vain for a town beginning with that letter, which had not already been given, and at the expiration of his time he expiringly enunciated " Kalcutty" (Calcutta) as a joke, and yielded the palm of victory to the lady. The excitement and enthusiasm now climacterized in & furor of applause, from both sides ; and, amid expressions of delight with the exer- cise and its results, the teachers gradually subsided into sufficient calmness to go on with the next subject on the programme. This exercise was thus illustrated by that excellent teacher, Mr. Mann, that it might recommend itself as an exercise for schools. I suppose that it has been adopted in many Massachusetts schools ; but as I have not heard of it elsewhere, I think it worthy of a re- newed and more general recommendation. The teacher who adopts it will be pleased to notice the eagerness with which his scholars, after once learn- ing the modus operandi, will examine their maps, to prepare for the next trial ; and he will be sure that, in addition to the advantage the exercise gives in inspir- ing the study of Geography, he has added another to the list of profitable school amusements. The plan may be varied, by confining the contestants ARITHMETICAL GAME. 221 to particular maps, and by requiring more minute de- scriptions of the places named ; as, for instance, " New Haven, Ct. ; situated on Long Island Sound ; has about 30,000 inhabitants ; is noted for its college Yale." Or, instead of names of towns, rivers and mountains may be mentioned, without restrictions as to initial letters, but within the rule concerning repetition. The writer has applied the principle on which this game is conducted in another way. Minuteness of ob- servation, and accurate fullness in description, are de- sirable acquirements for writers. In my classes in composition, I have sometimes required a division to name the adjectives describing a fountain, a landscape, a storm, an accident ; or the events of an excursion, a term at school, a war, a narrative of adventure (as Robinson Crusoe's) ; and have then required them to write a composition on the theme thus examined. ARITHMETICAL GAME. I well remember the interest with which " we boys" used to engage in this game. At a quarter before four o'clock, our teacher would say " Slates and pencils." In a twinkling we were ready, and, auribus erectis, sat waiting for " the sums." He who first solved a problem correctly, and announced the result, was allowed to go ; and with what triumphant looks did the victor gather 222 SCHOOL AMUSEMEXTS. his books and inarch out from among those who were still " kept in 1" The object of the exercise is to give boys practice in rapid calculation. If the school is one of heterogeneous character, as almost all schools are, it will be necessary to make two or three divisions, in which boys of nearly equal attainments are to be classed. Let each division have opportunity for practise in turn. The teacher is to prepare or select problems of ordinary difficulty, within the capacity of the division. He must be cer- tain that his answers to these are correct. Very slowly and distinctly he announces a problem ; the boy who first raises his hand is supposed to have found the answer, and if, on being allowed to state it, he is " right," he is allowed to go ; if he is wrong, another one is given. This is continued until all have worked their passage out. Details of arrangement may be left to the reader. DICTATION EXERCISES. The importance of the constant use of the pen or pencil, in pursuing many studies, is now generally ad- mitted. Whether to assist in remembering or ex- pressing thought, this agent is most valuable, and children cannot too early become accustomed to its use. Children are fond of using writing-materials, and will often busy themselves most industriously over DICTATION EXERCISES. 223 an exercise to be written, when they would be idle over a task requiring only abstract thought. They seem to themselves to be accomplishing something, if the results of their labors take form in black and white. For instance, they may be led to take pleasure in preparing their lessons in Geography in the form of statistical tables, and the facts and events thus ar- ranged would be impressed, by sight, upon their memo- ries, while, if they were to study the lesson in the ordinary way, they might labor without spirit, and with unsatisfactory results. It is recommended that the teacher seek various and numerous methods of giving employment to the pen- cils of his scholars. There is an excellent little book which will aid him in doing this, called " Northend's Dictation Exercises :" it costs but little, and is worth much. It is the result of wise experience, and con- tains many most valuable suggestions. , I will not quote from it, but rather urge teachers to buy it, and will venture to give here a few additional hints. In spelling, the writing out of words in distinct form aids the memory wonderfully. Let the teacher dictate the words which he wishes learned, making such classi- fications of them, at different times, as he thinks best, and require his scholars to write them distinctly on their slates ; let him give them time to make ttiese as correct as reference to the dictionary and applications 224 SCHOOL AMUSEMENTS. of rules can enable them to do, and, at the end of a certain time, let him send " examiners" to look over the slates. These " examiners" may be, at first, boys who are of high standing in this department ; they are to hold office, however, only as long as they make no mistake themselves. If one of them overlooks an error (left, perhaps, on purpose to catch him), or re- ports as an error a word, or words, which the examined finds, by reference to the dictionary or the teacher, to be rightly spelled, the examiner must be deposed, and the boy whom he has corrected may take his place, to hold office on the same tenure. The examiners are to re- port errors to the teacher, and a certain number may lower the standing of the errorist. Examiners are anxious to retain an honorable office, and they scruti- nize, most critically, the exercises of their fellows ; these, in turn, are desirous of ousting and supplanting the examiners, and, at the same time, are careful not to lower their standing by being reported as having made mistakes. This plan has worked most admirably. With the same system of " examiners," various gram- matical exercises may be given ; such as writing sentences, and denoting the several parts of speech by abreviations, as n. written over a noun, adj. over an adjective, adv. over an adverb, &c. There are various other ways of employing these means in study- ing Grammar, but it will be needless to enumerate them for any inventive teacher. DICTATION EXERCISES. 225 Reference has already been made to a method of studying Geography with the fingers as well as the eyes. In Arithmetic, younger classes may profitably em- ploy themselves in copying the muliplication table, and the tables of weights and measures. I have been very much pleased with exercises in de- fining, conducted on the following plan, for which I am indebted to Mr. Northend, and which I cannot for- bear quoting : I have offered prizes, of inconsiderable value, or " credits," (or " plus-es") in standing, for the six longest, fullest, clearest and most correctly written definitions of twenty such words as these : cotton, gunpowder, sugar, steel, animalculse, gold, &c. I have received, often, from six to twelve closely written foolscap pages of definitions on twenty such words, and could see that the writers had examined every en- cyclopedia or book of reference within their reach. These exercises were written out of school. It will not be difficult for the teacher to add to this list many other and better exercises. 10* - LIST OF BOOKS FOR A TEACHER'S LIBRARY. THE TEACHER'S LIBRARY, In 7 vols. (A. 8. Barnes & Co. Publishers.) BABNABD'S AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION. " BC11OOL ARCHITECTURE. " LECTURES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN IN- BTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION. tt NATIONAL EDUCATION IN EUROPE. NORMAL SCHOOLS. THE SCHOOL AND SCHOOL- MASTER, by BISHOP POTTBB and G. B. EMEMOH. TEACHING A SCIENCE, THE TEACHER AN ARTIST, by RJSV. B. B. HALI. THE TEACHER TAUGHT, by EMERSON DAVIS. THE TEACHER, by ABBOTT. LECTURES ON EDUCATION, by HORACE MAJW. BLATE AND BLACKBOARD EXERCISES, by DB. ALCOTT. NORTHEND'S DICTATION EXERCISES. UNIVERSAL EDUCATION, by IRA MATHEW. THE TEACHER'S INSTITUTE, by W. B. FOWLS. EXERCISES FOR THE SENSES. (Chas. Knight: London.) LESSONS ON OBJECTS, by C. MAYO. (London.) FIVE HUNDRED MISTAKES. LIVE AND LEARN. GOOD'S BOOK OF NATURE. MITCHELL'S PLANETARY AND STELLAR WORLDS. COLTON'S PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. BROCKLESBY'S METEOROLOGY. TRENCH ON THE STUDY OF WORDS. TRENCH'S ENGLISH, PAST AND PRESENT. CALVERTS SOCIAL SCIENCE. PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. WILSON'S TREATISE ON PUNCTUATION. BOGETS THESAURUS OF ENGLISH WORDS. PETERSON'S FAMILIAR SCIENCE. DAVIES' PRACTICAL MATHEMATICS. A LIFT FOR THE LAZY. HARRISON ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. PORTERS PRINCIPLES OF CHEMISTRY. WELCH'S ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH SENTENCE. N. B These books are not expensive, and are obtainable through any publiahcr. 4 8. BARNES it COMPANY S PUBLICATIONS. Ptgt't Theory and Practice of Teaching. THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING | OE TUB MOTIVES OF GOOD SCHOOL-KEEPING. BYDAYID PAGE, A.M., LATE FXINCIPAL OF TUB STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, XEW YOEK. "1 received a few days since your 'Theory and Practice, &c.,' and a capital ikttrt and capital practice it is. I have rriid it with unmingled delight. Kven if I shruH look through a critic's microscope, I should hardly find a single swiiimt nt to di'ent from, aud certainly not one to condemn. The chapters on Pmes and on Cot t wnt Fwnishment are irnly admirable. They will exert a most salutury influence. So partial criticism upon the social and political features of the United States. The pub> fishers have now sought to adapt it as a text-book for higher seminaries of learning For this purpose they have published the first volume as an independent work, in at avoiding ihe author's speculations upon our social habits and religious condition. Thw volume, however, is unmutilated the author is left throughout to speak for himself ; bin Where at any point he bad misapprehended our system, the defect is supplied by nottt or paragraphs in brackets from the pen of one most thoroughly versed in the history the legislation, the administration, and the jurisprudence of our country. This work will supply a felt deficiency in the educational apparatus of our higher schools. Ever/ man who pretends to a good, and much more to a liberal education, should master th? principles and philosophy of the institutions of his country. In the bands of a judicioia teacher, this volume will be an admirable text-book." The Independent, '" Having had the honor of a personal acquaintance with M. De Tocqueville while b* was in this country ; having discussed with him many of the topics treated of in lh book; having entered deeply into the feelings and sentiments which guided and in> polled him in his task, and having formed a high admiration of his character and of this production, the editor felt under some obligation to aid in procuring for one who* he ventures to call his friend, a bearing from those who were the objects of his ob> eervations.' The notes of Mr. Spencer will be found to elucidate occasional miscci* ceplious of the translator. It is a most judicious text-book, and ought to be read carefully by all who wish to know this country, and to trace its power, position, an< Itimale destiny from the true source of philosophic government, Republicanism Ctae people. De Tocqueville, believing the destinies ol' civilization to depend on the power of the people and on the principle which so grandly founded an exponent on this oos> tin-nu analyzes with jealous care and peculiar critical acumen the tendencies of the new Democracy, and candidly gives bis approval of the new-born giant, or point* out and warns him of dangers which his faithful and independent philosophy foresee*. We believe the perusal of his observations will have the effect of enhancing still more to fc ia American readers the structure of their government, bf the clear and protean* K*e is Which be present* il, n ^mtriean flvtit*. iet' System of Mathcmatict. DAVIES' LOGIC OF MATHEMATICS. Ibe Logic and Utility of Mathematics, with the best methods of Inairu* tion, explained and illustrated. By CHARLES DAVIDS, L. L. D. ' One of the most remarkable books of the month, is ' The Logic and Utility of Mathematics, by Charles Davies, L. L. 1).,' published by Barnes & Co. It is not in- tended as a treatise on any special branch of mathematical science, and demands foi its full appreciation a general acquaintance with the leading methods and routine of mathematical investigation. To tho e who have a natural fondness tor this pursuit fend enjoy the leisure for a retrospect of their fivorite studies, the present volume will possess a c ha mi, not surpassed by the lascinations of a romance. It is an elaborate and lucid exposition of the principles which lie at the foundation of pure mathematics, with a highly ingenious application of their results to the development of the essen- tial idea of Arithmetic, Geometry, Algebra, Analytic Geometry, and the Ditierential and Integral Ca.lc.ulus. The work is preceded by a general view of the subject of Logic, mainly drawn from the writings of Archbishop Whutelyand Mr. Mill, and closes with an essay on the utility of mathematics. Some occasional exaggerations, in presenting the claims of the science to which his life has been devoted, inust here be pardoned to the professional enthusiasm of the author. In general, the work is wriiten with singular circumspection ; the views of the best thinkers on the subject have been thoroughly digested, and are presented in an original form ; every thing bears the im- press of the intellect of the writer ; his style is for the most part chaste, simple, trans- parent, and in admirable harmony with the dignity of the subject, and his condensed generalizations are oi'ten profound ai.d always suggestive." Harper's JVeio .VunMj Magazine. " This work Is not merely a mathematical treatise to be used as a text book, but a complete and philosophical unfolding of the principles and truths of mathematical science. " It is not only designed for professional teachers, professional men, and students of mathematics and philosophy, but for the general reader who desires mental improve- ment, and would learn to search out the import of language, and acquire a habit of noting of connexion between ideas and their signs ; also, of the relation of ideas to each other. The Student. " Students of the Science will find this volume fall of useful and deeply interesting atter." Albany Evening Journal. " Seldom have we opened a bonk so attractive as this in Us typography and style ot execution ; and there is besides, on the margin opposite each section, an index of the subject of which it treats a great convenience to the student. But the matter is no less to be commended than the manner. And we are very much mi-taken if Ibis work (hall not prove more popular and more useful than any which the distinguished author has given to the public.'' Lutheran Observer. " We have been much interested both in the plan and in the execution of the work, and would recommend the study of it to the theologian as a discipline in close and Mvurate thinking, and in logical method and reasoning, (t will be useful, al.-o. to the general scholar and to the practical mechanic. We would specially recommend it te those who would have nothing taught in our Free Academy and other higher instit* tton'butvvh.it is directly 'practical': nowhere have we seen a finer illustration i* the connection between the abstractly scientific and the practical. 'The work is divided into three books; the first of which treats of Logic, mainly anon the basis of Wlmtely; the second, of Mathematical Science; and the third, rf the Utility of Mathematics." Independent. "The authors style is perspicuous and concise, and he exhibits a mastery of the abstruse topics which be attempts to simplify. For the mathematical student, wh desires an analytical knowledge of the science, and who would hi-irin at the beginning we should supi>ose the work would have a special utility. Prof. Davies' mathemati- cal work.s, we believe, have become quite popular with educators, and this disclose* %uite as much reasearcb and practical scholarship a* any we b.av teen from lti DM/ PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT. THB Friends of Education are invited to the perusal of this new Cata- logue of the " NATIONAL SKKUM or STANDARD SCHOOL AND LIBRARY BOOKS," designed as Class-Books, for the use of Schools, Academies, Colleges, Families, and Libraries. The Publishers would here express their grateful acknowledgments to numerous Educators throughout the United States for their patronage, and kind expressions of appreciation of their efforts, and the merits of their publications. The best talent that could be procured has been employed in the prepar- ation of these works ; and the high standing they have already attained, as Class-Books for the Institutions of our country, is gratifying evidence of their intrinsic merits and it is believed fully entitles them to the name of the NATIONAL SERIES. It is the intention of the Publishers to use all possible endeavors to sus- tain the reputation which these works enjoy, by issuing the most ap- proved works on various subjects which come within the range of School and Academic Instruction and to keep up with the age, by publishing revised and improved editions of such works as need revision. Quite recently several new works have been added to this series, and others thoroughly revised. Teachers would therefore, perhaps, consult their convenience by preserving this Catalogue for future reference ; should they desire copies of any of the Text-Books enumerated, for examination, with reference to introduction into their schools, they will receive th same, by mail, post-paid, upon receipt of their respective prices. Liberal termt will be made to Teachers for the first introduction of any of the Educational Text-Books belonging to the NATIONAL SEBIES. The Library Books attached to this series will be found worthy th high praise that has been bestowed upon them. No Library can be com- plete without them. Orders, not only for our own Publications, but for those of other Pub- lishers, shall Lave prompt attention. All communications in relation to die above may be addressed to A. 8. BARNES Introduction on the ElemantH of Elocution. $1.25. 8 National Series of Standard School Books, WILLARD'S HISTORIES AND CHARTS. 1. toillarb's (Mrs. (Emma) &bvib0eb f istorg of the ilnitcb States, WITH MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS. De- signed for Schools and Academies. 75 cts. 2. toillarb's fjistoria foe 00 (Estabos limbos. Being a translation of " Willard'a United States," into the /Spanish Language. By Miguel T. Tolon. $2.00. 3. ttJiilarb'0 (Mrs. (Emma) ^istorg of the Hniteb States, or Republic of America, l VOL. 8vo., WITH MAPS. Designed for the Library, and as a Text Book for tha higher class of Schools and Academies. $1.50. 4. toillarb's (iflrs. (Emma) Hnioersal ^istorg in f)er~ SpectitJe. Divided into three parts: Ancient, Middle, and Modern History, with Maps and Engravings, to which is added a Chronological Table and Index. $1.50. 5. toillarb's (ittrs. (Emma) historic <0mib* anb Map of &im, designed for general use in Academies and Seminaries. 2 vols. $1.25 C. toillarb's (iHrs. (Emma) Cast eat)cs of American i)istorj}, embracing the events of the last ten years. 75 eta. 7. toillarb's American Chronograpfjer, a Mounted Chart, to Aid in Fixing the Important periods of American History in the Mind of the Student. $1.50. 8. tDillarb's Ancient Chronographer. A Mounted Chart of Ancient History. $1.50. 9. tDillarb's fftemple of ime. A Mounted Chart of Ancient and Modern History. $1.50. 10 toillarb'0 (Englislj Chronograpfjer A Mounted Chart of English History. $1.50. Published by A. S. Barnes eograpf)2. 40 cents. 4. jjlontdtlj's (las.) Booth's Manual of eograpljs, rombineb ujitt) ^islorg anb SUtronomj). so cents. 5. JttcNallB's Complete Bgstem of eograph.s, i* Quarto form, designed for Academies and Schools. Price $1.00. 6. JUurigbi's (4H. 31.) (Grecian anb ftoman with Illustrations. 1 vol. 8vo. Price $1.75. C{)t anu CBatfc atrtHfirt for JScfesol*. Price 75 cents. THE ENGLISH POETS, WITH NOTES. 1. jJUlton'0 JJaraMse Cost, with Notes Critical and Explanatory : by Rev. J. R. Boyd. $1 26". School Ed., 75 cts. 2. fjomtg's Nigljt SljongljtS, with Notes Critical and Explanatory : by Rev. J. R. Boyd. $1 25. School Ed., 75 efe. 3. SfyottlSOn's Seasons, with Notes Critical and Explana- tory : by Rev. J. R. Boyd. $1 25. School Ed., 75 cts. 4. (Eouoper's (Eosk, fftable-ftalk, #c., with Notes Critical and Explanatory : by Rev. J. R. Boyd. $1 25. School Ed., 75 cts. 5 flollok'8 Course of ime, wijh Notes Critical and Explanatory : by Rev. J. R. Boyd. $ 1 25. School Ed., 75 eta. Each of the above volumes is published in 8vo., with illustrations, bound in various styles, and worthy of a place in every Libry. National Series of Standard School Books, A COURSE OF MATHEMATICS, BY CHARLES DAVIES, LL.D. * This COURSE, combining all that is most valuable in the various method* of European instruction, improved and matured by the suggestions of nearly forty years' experience, now forms the only complete consecutive Course of Mathematics. Its methods, harmonizing as the works of one mhid, carry the student onward by the same analogies and the same laws of association, and are calculated to impart a comprehensive knowledge of the science, combining clearness in the several branches, and unity and proportion in the whole. Being the system so long in use at West Point, aud through which so many men eminent for their scientific attainments have passed, it may be justly regarded as our NATIONAL STSTEM OF MATHB- 1. UD curies' JJrimarg QUittymetic : containing the Oral Method, with the Method of Teaching the Combination of Figures by Sight. 15 cts. 2. 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