far from being simple. It will best be solved by regarding the heart the undeveloped mind, which comes to grow in two directions, on the one hand toward the intellect, on the other hand toward the will. The heart is like the acorn, which sends downward a root and sends upward a stalk. Or, to put it otherwise, the heart is polarized into intellect and will. The ideal way to train the emotions is through training the intellect and will.

A boy comes to our school and gets into a fight. That is human nature. That is heart. Most people want to give others as good as they send. Why not? Of course it is clear to the teacher. Why not? The child must not be allowed to develop into the sort of man that goes about the world with a chip on his shoulder. By influence of an authority and penalty the teacher leads the pupil to control his tendency to fight. The boy forms a habit of not fighting.

Yet this is not enough. If the boy has not been intellectually convinced that fighting is wrong, the habit is one he will lose when the restraints of school have been shaken off. In the long run people act upon their beliefs. The child must be made to see the evils that come out of habits of pugnacity. He must be taught the doctrine of the dependence of the individual upon the social whole. Not by mere moralizing, but by the example of teacher and classmates, he must be made to see the importance of self-control and self-sacrifice. He must learn the golden rule. His new habit must be approved by his intellect.

The important thing to see to is that the habits established by the will with the consent of the intellect become spontaneous. This is regeneration. Once the pupil obeyed only from external authority; then he obeyed from partial conviction, but still with a feeling of constraint; now he obeys from full conviction. He has mastered the art of living. He is free.

The duty of the school is plain. It should insist first upon the right practice. It is an institution. It cannot exist except upon condition that the children co-operate both with each other and with the teacher. There must be order. The community of the school cannot exist if the pupils exercise their evil propensities without restraint. Even corporal punishment is to be permitted as a last resort. The schools have rightly discarded it for

more progressive methods of discipline, but there are occasional cases in which it can properly be applied. At all cost correct discipline must be maintained.

Yet correct instruction is no less important, the second in order of time. The good school will be constantly working upon the pupil's intellect, in order to bring him into accord with the higher purposes of the school to which he belongs.

ENGLISH IN OUR SCHOOLS.

DR. EDWARD BROOKS.

T gives me great pleasure to express

tion in English in our public schools. The more so because Philadelphia has taken the lead among the cities of the country in the adoption of approved methods of teaching English. My appreciation of the supreme value of this instruction will appear in a statement of what we are doing in this direction in the elementary schools of our city.

In 1894 I reorganized the work in English in the elementary schools. Previous to that time technical grammar was begun in the third year of the primary schools and taught throughout the succeeding five years. While the definitions and rules of grammar, with parsing and analysis, were carefully taught, comparatively little was done to train pupils to the correct and ready use of English. Realizing the small value of technical grammar in teaching children "to speak and write the English language correctly" and that language is an art, and like other arts must be learned by imitation and practice, I had the study of grammar taken out of the primary grades, and I substituted for it a careful and extensive training in the use of English. In order to prepare our teachers to carry out this new work I delivered over thirty lectures to them upon the subject, and issued for their use a pamphlet of some seventy pages explaining the work in detail and suggesting appropriate exercises.

This pamphlet was used as a text-book by principals in training their teachers, and was also adopted in the Normal School as the basis of the instruction in language teaching for the young women who were being prepared as teachers in the public schools.

To give emphasis to the value of language in elementary education I set forth the doctrine that in the "correlation of studies" not history as held by the German educators, nor geography or nature study as held by many American teachers, but language should be made the centre around which the other studies should be grouped. This educational principle was subsequently adopted upon my recommendation by the celebrated "committee of fifteen" of the National Educational Association. In the discussion of this principle, that language should be the centre of a course of primary instruction, I endeavored to show its value in the mental development of the child as well as in furnishing its mind with knowledge, explaining that language is the instrument of thought as well as the means of expression, quoting Plato, who says that "" reason and discourse are one,” and also Max Müller," that language and thought are inseparable," summing up this portion with the following paragraph:

'Language, it is thus seen, is the one branch that naturally belongs at the head of all branches of elementary instruction. It is facile princeps among the common school branches. Its intimate relation to Its intimate relation to the human mind and to the development of its faculties explains why such splendid results in mental development were obtained in the much criticised scholastic system of education, with all its errors and shortcomings. A more general appreciation of its value is a need in modern education, and more attention to it will result in increased intelligence of the pupils of the public schools.

INSTRUCTION IN LANGUAGE.-The nature and value of the course of instruction in language in the elementary schools will be understood by the statement of a few principles as set forth in my "Suggestions to Teachers" to prepare them for the work, which I herewith present:

1. All work in the language training of children should be based upon their oral language. The child first learns to speak in the sacred precincts of its home, and this spontaneous expression should be continued in the school-room and be made the basis of further instruction in language. It is thus seen that during the first three or four years the work of the school in oral language is of paramount importance. Special pains should be taken to train the pupil to a correct and facile use of the mother tongue. Day by day Day by day

his vocabulary should be enlarged and habits of correct expression inculcated. The most important classes during the child's first year in school are what may be called "talking classes."

2. The child at home speaks of what it sees and of what it feels and thinks. The instruction of the school should be based upon this principle of the spontaneous expression of actual knowledge to which the child is accustomed before it enters school. Care is, therefore, to be taken that real thoughts shall be in the mind of the child as the basis of its expression. Teachers should prevent that parrot-like repetition of words so often heard in the school-room without any content of knowledge in the mind. Children's words are to be living words, like the language of the home, rather than the "dead language" so often heard in the recitations of the class-room.

3. For the content of expression the principal sources are the objects of the material world and the incidents of history and literature. Both of these when properly presented by the teacher arouse the interest of the child and stimulate it to natural and simple expression. These objects, under the form of "nature study," are to be brought into the schoolroom for the child to observe. Stories from history and literature are to be read and related by the teacher, and the pupil is to be required to reproduce them in his own words. Thus, day by day, the child's vocabulary is enlarged and his power of expression improved.

4. As the pupils progress in this work they should be required to originate descriptions and narratives. Incidents occurring in their home life, the experiences of a visit to the Park or Zoological Garden, etc., are to be used as materials for language lessons. These exercises with young children should be oral at first, and may be called "oral compositions;' and oral compositions in this new system of language teaching should precede written compositions. Pupils should be trained first to "talk compositions," and subsequently to "write compositions," and taught in this way the writing of a composition is merely the writing of the pupil's talk. This will be appreciated by newspaper men and others, who in these days dictate their literary productions rather than write them.

5. Teachers are expected to exercise constant care to correct the faulty ex

are liable. Especially should this care be taken with children that come from ignorant and uncultured homes, and with children of foreign-born parents, who hear no English spoken in their own families. Special care should be taken also with the pupil's faulty articulation and pronunciation, as well as with the correct construction of sentences.

6. The copying of written productions, both prose and poetry, is made prominent in this work. The pupils thus become familiar with the correct use of capitals and punctuation marks, the proper use of words and the construction of sentences, and, in time, with the graces of literary expression. Such an exercise is called "copying compositions," in distinction from "writing compositions," and the former is regarded as an essential preparation for the latter. Many writers, ancient and modern, practiced the copying of the productions of the masters of literature. Demosthenes, it is said, copied the history of Thucydides seven or eight times in order to acquire his clear, concise and elegant style.

7. TO MEMORIZE PROSE AND POETRY. -Pupils are also required from the first to commit to memory choice selections of prose and poetry. The use of these

choice selections" in the public schools is one of the most prominent features of our language instruction. They not only give ideas to express, but also present model forms of expression, and are thus of incalculable value in the training to good English. Besides, they furnish the mind with gems of moral truths and noble sentiments that refine and elevate the character, as well as improve the power of expression. This also has been the practice of many of the masters of the English language. Burke and Pitt developed their wonderful powers of oratory by committing the orations of Demosthenes, and Fox could recite from memory the Book of Job, and drew from it his grandeur and force of expression. Ruskin ascribed his skill in the use of English to the fact that as a child he was required by his mother to learn and recite large portions of the Bible, especially the Psalms.

8. In addition to these special exercises of the class-room, efforts are made to lead children to read good literature. For this purpose supplementary reading is provided. Our schools are supplied

to children, and pupils are encouraged to use the libraries located in the vicinity of their homes. In many cases school libraries have been organized containing books especially suitable to the various tastes and capacities of the pupils.

9. This instruction in the art of language is supplemented during the last three years of the elementary schools by the study of grammar or the science of language. Efforts are made that this instruction shall be practical by requiring the pupils to apply the principles of grammar in their conversation and their literary exercises. The exercises in language previously described are continued during these three years and combined with the lessons in grammar. Throughout the entire course written exercises, including descriptions, narratives, letterwriting, compositions, etc., are required.

The above statements indicate the methods of training in English which have been introduced into the elementary schools of Philadelphia. That all of our teachers do this work with artistic skill is not to be expected; yet many of them show marked ability for the work, and all are making improvement year by year. The younger teachers coming from the Normal School, where these methods are made prominent in their professional training, take hold of this work with especial interest and intelligence.

But all pupils, even under the most skillful instruction, cannot be trained to satisfactory results in the use of language. To change the habits of children, who in their homes are constantly hearing and using incorrect English, is not an easy task, and to train the tongues of children of foreign-born parents, who hear and use no English in their homes, to speak pure and correct English is wellnigh impossible.

That Philadelphia appreciates the value of training in the use of English, that she organized this work over eight years ago, and that she was one of the first cities of the country to introduce it into her public schools, are facts for which we have reason for congratulation. The work of our public schools in language training is widely known. Requests for our course of study in language are received from all parts of the country, and our example has stimulated the work in many other cities.