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SCHOOL DRAWING A Real Correlation

BY FRED H. DANIELS. This new book gives to drawing a definite aim and purpose by making it a part of other studies. It supplements the word teaching of history, geography, literature, nature study, etc., with drawing and construction work in illustration of the subject lesson. It is the only book ever published which adequately shows how drawing may be of vital service to the other school subjects-distinctly a pioneer in its field. Send for sample pages and full descriptive circular. Beautifully bound and illustrated with 76 half-tone plates. Price, $1.20

STORIES AND RHYMES FOR A CHILD

CAROLYN S. BAILEY'S newest story book. A volume of delightful little tales and rhymes from which all the big words have been eliminated, making them understandable to the little child without explanation by the teacher. Beautifully bound and illustrated. Price, $1.00

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON SONGS

(Just Published)

Set to music by ETHEL CROWNINSHIELD. Twenty of Stevenson's most exquisite child poems for which Miss Crowninshield has composed tuneful melodies, suggestive of the same cheerful inspiration which has made her "Mother Goose Songs" so popular. Board covers. Price, $0.60

IN PREPARATION STORIES FOR WAKELAND AND DREAMLAND (Ready April 1)

A little book of pretty and suggestive stories by ANNE ELIZABETH ALLEN of Chicago University. Daintily bound, and illustrated with beautiful frontispiece and forty-two reproduced pen drawings. Price, $0.60

PARADISE OF CHILDHOOD

(Golden Jubilee Edition Ready April 15)

A new and revised edition of this famous book, inincluding all the original text with the addition of several articles on present day methods in the kindergarten, by Dr. JENNY B. MERRILL. Profusely illustrated with full-page half-tone reproductions of actual work as produced in New York City kindergartens. New cover design in three colors and gold.

Price, $2.00

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PRIMARY EDUCATION COMPANY

50 BROMFIELD STREET, BOSTON

NOTICE

NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS may begin at any time. Ten issues, September to June inclusive, constitute the volume.

RENEWALS-Subscribers do not always find it convenient to renew at expiration, and
as a matter of convenience to them, we follow the general custom of continuing
the paper, and extending to all subscribers a reasonable time in which to make
payment, unless they order the paper discontinued.

REMITTANCES Checks, drafts, and money orders should be made to the order of the
Primary Eduration Company. As an acknowledgment of your remittance the
date on the label of the first or second paper you receive after you remit will be changed.
If special receipt is wanted enclose 2-cent for postage.

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NUMBER 4

The Influence of Dress upon the Behavior of Pupils

185

JULIA D. COWLES

ANNIE KLINGENSMITH

187

NELLIE I. BARTLETT

188

192

ANNIE KLINGENSMITH

192

EDNA SUTHERLAND

193

M. E. F.

193

VINA G. KNOWLES

194

MARY A. STILLMAN

196

I

202

M. V. O'SHEA, University of Wisconsin

N the fourth grade room of a public school in a small town, there have been four boys who have been giving their teacher much trouble ever since school began in the fall. They seem crude and rough in the school, and they make a good deal of noise in passing to and from classes. Even while they are in their seats, they frequently knock their shoes against the sides of their desks, or scrape them along the floor, with the result that they disturb the pupils around them, and irritate the teacher. The latter is a highly-organized, sensitive young person, who has been accustomed to refined ways; and these boys get on her nerves, partly on account of their noisy manner, but also on account of their looks. They do not seem to be neat, tidy, cleanly. Their clothes are rough, and show hard usage. Often, too, their hands and faces reveal lack of acquaintance with soap and water. Usually there is no evidence that they have recently used either comb or brush on their heads.

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As might be expected, there is considerable conflict between. the teacher and these boys. They hardly ever do anything to please her. As a matter of fact, she has contracted such a settled dislike for them that she cannot now deal with them quite justly. She is prejudiced in the direction of interpreting whatever they do to be coarse and crude and noisy. She speaks of them to her associates as "rowdies," "barbarians," "ruffians," and the like.

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The writer has had a chance to observe these boys at close range, and he knows they are really good at heart; but they do not adapt themselves very well to the restrained and restricted life of the school. Outside of the school-room they live a rough, masculine kind of life. They wear very thicksoled snowshoes, which is the only sort of footgear that will meet the needs of their activities out-of-doors. For the same reason, they are provided with only coarse clothes, which will stand severe wear. Their parents could well afford a different kind of clothing for them, but the boys prefer the coarser sort, because then they are not scolded if they tumble in the snow, or even occasionally roll into the mud.

Their life out-of-doors cultivates in them a certain amount of carelessness in respect to the appearance of their hands and face and hair; and this seems inevitable. Children who are too particular in regard to their personal appearance cannot endure the vigorous and rather harsh experiences which they have in the snow. If these boys were really as refined in dress and manner as the teacher would like them to be, they would have to change their whole mode of living. This would certainly not be desirable, since these boys must have for their future work experiences which will develop in them an indifference to cold and wet and mud. If they should be made too self-conscious about their appearance it would restrain them in their activities, and arrest their normal development, at least in some measure. It would be a misfortune for any boy to be as refined as the teacher mentioned above, for in such an event he would not have any greater vigor than she has, and he would be as incapable of dealing with rough situations as she is. It need not be argued that it is easily possible to over-emphasize refinement in boys. On the other hand, it would not be wise to leave boys of

this disposition to their own course, in respect to the crudeness of their actions and their dress, especially if they are to associate with people who are irritated by their appearance and manner. Is there any middle road that we can take here so that we shall not emasculate our boys, while at the same time insisting upon a sufficient amount of refinement in their behavior, so that they can harmonize fairly well with the older people about them? I have recently witnessed an achievement of this sort, which is practicable in almost any home or school. A group of boys who wear rough, heavy snowshoes have been required to take them off in the school, and substitute slippers for them, or else to have rubber heels put on the shoes. The parents have sympathized with this demand of the principal of the school, and it has had a marked effect upon the activities of the boys in question. The wearing of good, durable, sensible slippers reacts upon the whole bearing and manner of any boy. Rough, coarse, heavy shoes inevitably induce a noisy, rough manner, Any person, if he will think of it, knows that he is influenced in his feeling to some extent by the quality of the shoes he wears. If they are heavy and coarse he automatically adapts himself to the sort of thing which they suggest. If, on the other hand, he wears light, noiseless shoes, he more or less subconsciously assumes a manner to harmonize with his footwear.

This principle is even more important as it relates to clothing. The boy who comes in from this vigorous out-ofdoor life, and keeps on his rough clothes, will assume a different attitude within doors than he would if he had changed his clothing, and had arrayed himself in materials which ordinarily are worn under conditions where there is a certain amount of restraint. Practically every individual, whether child or adult, unconsciously assumes a characteristic attitude toward things when he puts on his Sunday clothes. He thinks of himself in terms of his clothing, though usually he is not conscious of this. But if he is clothed in rough garments, and particularly if he is covered with rags, he cannot conduct himself as he would if he had on clothing which he knew was admired by the people about him.

My point is that the typical boy in his life out in the open ought to wear clothing which will allow him the greatest freedom in carrying out a vigorous, masculine program. But when he comes into the school or the home he ought immediately to make a change in some details, at any rate, which will suggest actions appropriate to the new environment. Clean hands might be insisted upon, surely, if there is opportunity for washing them in school. But it is useless to keep warning boys that they must not soil hands or clothes while they are at play. Likewise there is little use, and there may be much danger in constantly urging boys to be quiet or restrained or more refined in manners, if everything on them suggests roughness. It is probable that but little can be accomplished by direct command in the way of securing cleanliness or refined behavior. This must be impressed upon the individual through suggestions coming from his environment, and from the adornment and care of his own person.

A Visit to the Forest

(A Nature Study in Forestry for Primary Grades)
JULIA DARROW COWLES

Suggestive Outline

UPPOSE, children, that we take an imaginary trip to the forest this morning. Those who would like to go, raise their hands. Very well; we will start as soon as possible.

How many have ever been in a forest? We have all, perhaps, been to the woods on picnics, and the forest is just a very big woods, where the trees are very tall and old. very

First of all, we will put up an imaginary lunch. Mary, James, and Alice may each mention one thing that we will take to eat.

Now we are ready to start.

The walk is long and dusty, but as we reach the edge o the forest and find ourselves beneath the great trees, the air becomes cool, and the shade is deep and restful.

Now we will sit upon a fallen log to rest, and while we sit quietly here, we will examine the forest family about us. At our feet we see little sprouts trying to struggle up toward the light. These are the baby trees, and we must be careful not to trample upon them needlessly. Here and there about us. are slender trees, not very tall. These are the young people of the forest family. Then there are the full-grown trees, and some that must be great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers in this forest home, they are so old and venerable.

This big, fallen tree that we are sitting upon must have lived for hundreds of years to have grown so big around. If we could saw straight across its trunk, we could count the rings that grow, one each year, and see just how old it was when it fell.

Perhaps one day there was a great storm and the wind blew fiercely, and the great spreading branches at the top of the tree caught the wind, and the trunk had grown less strong because of its great age, and it broke, and the tree fell. All the forest heard the great crash of its falling.

So we see that the members of the forest family grow old, and the younger takes the place of the older. If they did not, the forest would soon disappear.

Now we will prepare to eat our lunch, and first we will build a little fire and make some chocolate to drink with it. Who can tell how to make a fire in the forest? Yes, first some dry leaves brought together in a little heap; then some twigs and small branches, then a few pieces of larger branches -all dead, and gathered from the ground. Now we will light it with a match and hang our pail over the blaze. How good the chocolate tastes with our lunch!

Now we have finished and are ready to return; but first we must be very careful to put out every spark of our fire.

No, there are no people or houses in the forest to be burned, but the forest itself might burn, and that is one of the most dreadful fires that we can imagine.

The sun is lower now, and it is not so warm, so we will walk slowly and I will tell you a story on the way.

STORY OF A FOREST FIRE

Once, in the State of Minnesota, a spark of fire dropped from a passing train into a bit of dry grass beside the railway track.

The grass took fire, and a little blaze started, but it was so small that nobody paid any attention to it.

The little blaze crept along from one bunch of dry grass to another, until, after awhile, there was quite a line of little flames along the track.

But there was no wind blowing, and the flames did no harm where they were, and it was nobody's business in particular to put out the fire, and so it kept on burning.

Night came, and the little flames kept dancing along. But after awhile after everybody had gone to sleep - a great wind began to blow, and it blew right over the track and the little line of fire, toward the forest that stood dark and quiet under the stars.

And now the little flames began to be bigger flames, and they hurried on before the wind, and all the dry grass burned, and the fences began to burn. And the flames traveled and traveled and soon the dry twigs and branches underneath the trees of the forest were reached, and they quickly sent out tongues of flame, and pretty soon the forest itself was on fire!

Then the people of the country round about began to waken from their sleep, for when all the dry branches and the dead trees of the forest began to burn it made a great light and a great rushing noise. And the heat became so great that the live trees took fire, too, and the forest became like a great, rushing sea of flame.

The strong wind carried the sparks from the forest long distances, and the people had to run from their homes, and some of them had hardly time to get away before their houses and barns and sheds were on fire.

The fire lasted for a great many days, and when at last it went out because there was nothing left, near it, to burn, instead of the beautiful forest like the one we have visited

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to-day, there stood just the black, burned trunks of the trees, and the ground was thick with ashes.

And all this happened, children, because nobody thought it mattered about the flames along the railroad track, and nobody took the trouble to put them out when they were so little that any boy or girl could have stopped their burning. Now we have reached home again, but we shall have no need to worry about our little fire, because we put out every spark of it before we left the forest.

Feeding Her Birds

ANNIE KLINGENSMITH

Come up, April, through the valley,
In your robes of beauty dressed,
Come and wake your flowery children
From their wintry beds of rest;
Come and overblow them softly

With the sweet breath of the south;
Drop upon them warm and loving
Tenderest kisses of your mouth.

Call the crowfoot and the crocus,
Call the pale anemone;
Call the violet and the daisy,

Clothed with careful modesty;
Seek the low and humble blossoms,
Of their beauties unaware,
Let the dandelion and fennel,

Show their shining yellow hair.
Bid the little homely sparrows
Chirping, in the cold and rain,
Their impatient sweet complaining,
Sing out from their hearts again;
Bid them set themselves to mating,
Cooing love in softest words,

Crowd their nests all cold and empty,

eggs were to lie until the frail shells should fall away from the little new creatures so eager for breath and sunlight and wings.

Hour by hour the work went on, until on a day of freakish sunshine and sudden falling rain, a joyous cry from a boy at the window announced that there was an egg in the nest. One by one another appeared until there were three. Then the mother bird hid them from view and sat hour after hour contentedly warming them into life. Sometimes she turned. her sleek head and looked up at the children with quick, bright eyes; but they came and went gently and, for the most part, silently, and the little home in the tree was free from alarm.

In a week the eggs were a thing of the past and there were three little birds-such homely babies in so good looking a family. To the children, nevertheless, they were beautiful, and their every sound and movement fraught with breathless interest. Both father and mother were busy all day long, much earlier and later than the children knew, for each nestling must have more than its own weight of food every day. But how they grew! From poor, sprawling, featherless things lying in a little heap in the bottom of the nest, they came in a day or two to be covered with downy feathers; and, in a week, they overflowed the nest and one by one, ventured cautiously out and sat fluttering and crying for food on the nearby twigs.

Then, indeed, did the parents toil-out in the neighboring garden, where angle-worms were to be had for the taking, down in the grass where lumbering, blundering moths, could be frightened up into the dazzling light and gathered, eight or ten together in mouthfuls -- and never were the worms too large nor the moths too many to stop the crying of the little robins. But cry and flutter and beg as he might no fledgling ever received more than his own fair share. Each had to wait his own turn. Sometimes they moved awkwardly about, and sat apart, and sometimes they sat hunched up in a row on a branch, with outstretched necks, while the mother bird put a bite into each entreating, yellow mouth.

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Full of callow little birds.- Phebe Cary March had gone and April had come, and the robins were beginning to take life earnestly. Two of them had selected a fork in the maple tree under the second grade window, low enough down to allow the best possible view of all their housebuilding and housekeeping. Twigs and strings made the outside of the nest and mud, deftly smoothed and curved, the little cup-shaped cradle, where so soon the jewel-like

There were usually as many children at each window as could find room comfortably, and lessons did not suffer, for to have the privilege of watching the birds was a pleasure to be taken by a child only when he knew that his work was ready for inspection.

One day Miss Bessie brought in a copy of Millet's "Feeding Her Birds," and exhibited it on an easel at a convenient height for the pupils. She said nothing about it, but as the children came in singly, in two's and three's, they went at once to look at the picture. The children gazed and gazed at the three little girls on the doorstep so absorbed in the mother's movements and withal so decorous in what was so odd a situation to the minds of the school children, although no one succeeded in expressing the oddity except by questioning looks.

Then some one noticed the name of the picture, and slowly read out, "Feeding Her Birds." That was the key, and in a moment all were laughing with a sweet sound of comprehension.

"See that little girl; it's her turn," said Angelo, pointing to the child with lips reaching to meet the spoon. "The others have had a bite," said Rebecca. "Next it will be that one's turn," said Mike, pointing at the little girl at the opposite end of the line.

At the window comparisons began. "See the little birds. They are setting just like them three little girls," said Hervey. "Here comes their mother," said Jimmy, "but she hasn't no spoon."

That day Miss Bessie used the picture for a language lesson. The children discussed the three little girls with their odd headdresses, and the mother so plainly clad, noticed the politeness of the little birds in the picture as compared with those dear little beggars out in the tree, conjectured what was in the bowl, and why each child had not a bowl and spoon for herself. With the teacher's help they made out the shadowy form of the father, delving in the cottage garden to fill the one poor bowl. Then they went to the blackboard to tell the story told by the picture. Each child wrote his own thoughts, and because children are able to use so much greater variety of words than their ability to spell

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will permit, Miss Bessie had crayon in hand to write the words asked for on the board quickly, that the class might have all their thoughts on what they were writing, and not on how to spell the words or on trying to find words they could spell. The result was that the sentences were original, that each one told something, and that some of them were poetic.

For a number of days the boys and girls had been voluntarily modelling nests of the clay that was so much like that in the nest, and eggs and birds as well. Now they were glad to try the three little girls and the mother with their brushes; and strange to say, not a few caught the pose of the bodies. Then the Art Reader, usually read so reluctantly, was brought out and the children greeted Millet's touching picture there with smiles and delightful little murmurs of laughter, and were pleased to read the simple matter concerning the peasant artist and his great pictures.

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NELLIE I. BARTLETT

WO teachers in a seat adjoining mine at institute were discussing the pros and cons of a school they had recently visited, and one of them said, "An attractive school-room no more indicates a good school teacher than fine furniture does a good housekeeper." "No," the other replied, "and I have no time for those things anyway. I go to school to teach."

And when you think carefully along this line, don't you come to the conclusion that most teachers think that schoolroom decoration is something they should stay after school and do, or, in some way, achieve outside of the regular routine? Children love the æsthetic in song, in dress, in nature, in outdoor festivities, and in indoor decoration. We know this to be an established fact, and, if we do, why do so few of us think along the line of school-room decoration? Children spend such a large portion, comparatively, of their life with us that it should be a pleasure to us to enable them to enjoy beauty about them. However, very little decoration is needed in primary grades other than the work of their own hands, and they will enjoy this much more if taught to see that it has been brought about by their own handiwork.

As a preparation for this, instill into the mind of every child this motto, "A place for everything and everything in its place." Never allow a child to be dismissed from your school-room leaving papers about his seat, pencils on his desk, or books carelessly thrust into the desk. Have the books arranged on the two sides of the desk, leaving the space between for pencils, pens, or crayons. Otherwise these small articles will be constantly dropping to the floor. A disorderly desk is more the fault of the teacher than of the pupil. Small children do not come to us with well defined ideas of order and neatness along these lines. They must be taught, and the teaching must be definite and constant.

Haven't you often heard teachers say, "I can't keep nagging all the time about waste paper." That's just the point, don't talk at all. An intuitive understanding with the pupil is worth an hour of talking. Peer down the aisles and about the seats at the time of dismissal, hand the paper basket to a pupil and you will have every child in the room looking for papers. How much time did it take? Keep it up every night, make it a habit and it will be easy for you and for them to keep a clean floor. And what more elegant decoration is there for a school-room than a presentable floor!

Look at your own desk. What appearance does it present as regards cleanliness, daintiness? I distinctly remember one teacher's desk on which there were four articles, namely

an ink stand, a desk blotter, a small potted plant and a book of poems. We can all call to mind many others where it would be necessary to clean house to "find things." There must be places besides the desk where books and papers may be accommodated; thus avoiding its usual cluttered up

appearance.

Perhaps there is no decoration more effective than that obtained by an efficiently used dust cloth. A large piece of soft cheese cloth is a necessity in every school-room. Don't be afraid to dust off your desk top, the window sills or the organ. Nothing detracts more from the general appearance of your room than a layer of dust. It makes no difference how many janitors care for your building or how carefully they perform their duties. Dust will deposit itself, hourly, on every article in your room, and you will in no wise lower your standard of dignity by occasionally removing it. Aim for perfect cleanliness in every picture or paper used for decoration. A dirty picture is no longer beautifying, and should be taken down

and discarded.

In visiting, my attention was called to a long row of arithmetic papers suspended from a wire. "They show the progress of our work," said the teacher, "and help decorate the room, but don't examine them for they are filthy with dust." The date of the lesson showed they had been exhibited four months. Later she said that she had intended to take them down and hang up fresh ones, but had neglected to do it. Don't call such papers decoration, rather, desecration. Look about your room and clean house. A month is the limit for the exhibition of any work done by pupils on white paper. What a child has done once, he can do again. There seems to be an idea prevalent among us, that we should preserve and "hang up" an exceptionally good lesson. Let it go after a reasonable length of time. Consecutive lessons should show the progress of the work at any time and should be equally good for exhibition.

I once knew a teacher who kept a quaint leaflet propped upon her desk for three years because she said its phraseology inspired her. No doubt it did, but it wouldn't have inspired anyone else with anything but its untidy appearance. If one finds a motto or leaflet that seems to touch the keynote of their aspirations, why not passepartout it? It costs but a few cents and will be presentable for years. The magazines and papers are so full of beautifully illustrated poems and sayings that one can surely afford to change the old for the new, especially when its appearance has become impaired.

Use the written product of your teaching as a basis for decoration in your room. Let the children feel that the room is theirs, prepared for their reception, filled with their handiwork. How foolish of you to work an hour after school on a colored border for the blackboard. Rather, hang up your entire colored drawing lesson for the day. Exhibit the paper cuttings, notebooks, scrap books, busy work, whatever lesson it may be. All that is necessary is wire and paper fasteners. Use some one entire lesson of each day's work for decoration. If you are the teacher that you should be, there must be beauty in some one production during the day.

When pictures are used, they should be hung, when occasions permits, regularly in respect to distance between them. Carefully calculate the wall space which you wish to decorate. It is far more restful to the eye. I have in mind a room where passepartouts are used for decoration above the boards. The space on three sides of the room is evenly divided, one large picture being placed in the centre of each side, and a smaller one at the other points of division. Aim for dignity and beauty of design and accuracy of space relations.

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