nineteen-twentieths of the voters there would approve the system. Opposition arises only from inefficient superintendents in that state. He adopts the idea of Mr. HARRIS, that to outside supervision should be added that of the principals. Illinois needs township superintendence. Her system is better than the work done under it. There is danger of getting the power too far from the heart of the people. He once favored the appointment of superintendents by the governor, but now he is averse to it.

Hon. Joseph White, Secretary of State Board of Education, Massachusetts. What salaries are paid to the county superintendents? What is their relation to cities having systems of their own?

Mr. Bateman. The salaries average about $1000. They have no authority except to ask for certain statistics.

Mr. White, of Mass. I like to hear the old State of Massachusetts criticised. It does us good by stirring us up, and we are used to it. Massachusetts has some 300 towns. Illinois has 102 counties. County superintendents are needed in that state as we need town superintendents. The polity of the two states is not identical. In this commonwealth schools are supported by towns and town tax. The towns are Massachusetts. Next to schools they are the best educators of the people. Towns do their own work in their own way, often slowly. The central power would like to lift them up, but they have come up themselves. The discussions in the town of Amherst on the system of schools were as beneficial as ten years of public schools. I would not interfere with these towns, and I doubt the necessity for county superintendents. Men of suitable character can not be obtained in Massachusetts for $1200 per annum. I was in New York when county supervisors were introduced. The scheme was lost by becoming mixed up with politics. Such misfortune has not befallen this commonwealth.

We have, in our state, graduates of state normal schools, ladies, who take places as school committee and superintendent and fill them with fidelity and success. We obtain information from the towns sufficiently accurate and prompt by means of the annual school reports. With five assistants, the Secretary of the State Board of Education could communicate with every school in the state as well as it can be done in any western state with its system. The relation of cities to the country districts is an important one. The country is being depopulated, but there is a sturdy and substantial good sense in the rural districts of this commonwealth which perpetuates the virtues of the fathers.

Hon. J. L. Pickard, Superintendent of Schools, Chicago. It depends more upon the man than upon the system. A good man with a poor system is better than a good system with a poor man. The limit of supervision is with the people and the schools supervised. The supervision ought not to seem supervision. The work must be done mostly by others. A system of schools is a growth. The superintendent can not be put into a niche made for him. He must make his own place. His ideas must imperceptibly permeate all below him. But he must not crush out individuality in his subordinates, or he defeats himself. No one can say, "Teach each subject in this way. I know all

there is to be known about good teaching." Let us have the best from all below us.

Mr. Harrington arose to explain. In his manuscript he has explained what he omitted in reading. The word county, as he has explained, does not define the extent of the superintendent's work.

Mr. A. Parish, Superintendent of Schools, New Haven, Ct. I like to hear our friends from the West, though we hear only what we may learn from their reports. This discussion has not touched the work of the superintendent — what he is to do. He explained the organization of teachers' institutes as a county agency better than county supervisors. Here the state agent influences both teachers and parents. This method, carried out further by meetings of the people, is best for improving New-England schools. Such was the case in HORACE MANN's time.

SECOND DAY.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.

Department was called to order by the President.

On motion of Mr. AVERY, of Ohio, a committee to nominate officers for the next year was appointed, consisting of Messrs. AVERY, of Ohio, PARISH, of Ct., and CREERY, of Md.

✓ W. T. Harris, Superintendent of Schools, St. Louis, read a paper on

Firuzand

THE EARLY WITHDRAWAL OF PUPILS FROM SCHOOL: ITS
CAUSES AND ITS REMEDIES.

Of all subjects of investigation that claim the attention of the active laborers in Physical Science at the present day, that of Meteorology holds the foremost rank. The next great victories over nature are likely to be obtained in this province, and the benefits to be derived from an application of discoveries in this realm will far transcend any thing hitherto achieved. The government of the climate or the complete avoidance of its inconveniences, the development of a completely scientific agriculture, are foremost and obvious advantages resulting from this application.

But there are more remote and far more valuable fruits. The final conquest of the sea, which will be effected by this, is not of so great moment as the conquest of the air as a means of transit. The age of steam has created for us a new type of man, and a new spiritual world of humanity has been the result. The age of aërial navigation will be still more potent, in developing for us a new era of spiritual growth.

Looked at from a scientific standpoint, Meteorology differs from other natural sciences in the fact that its object is a kind of synthesis of all the other depart

ments. The ends of the special threads of the sciences of nature come together into one knot, and this knot is the problem for the solution of meteorology. Optics discovering the lines in the spectrum; Astronomy discovering the flames and spots in the sun; Geology noting the causes of earthquakes; Mineralogy noting the laws of crystallization—all these find themselves in a vortical whirl, swiftly drawing near a centre wherein they are to form one process of action and interaction.

The profounder thinkers in natural science announce for us the doctrine of the correlation of forces, wherein light, heat, electricity, magnetism and organization rise from the abyss of gravitation and ceaselessly vanish into each other, weaving the web of creation. What FAUST heard in the depths of his cell when the world-spirit came before him blinding his vision, that we are slowly realizing in science: it is this subtle, correlated process, deep down in nature, thought out by the natural philosopher and traced out by the meteorologist, that manifests the "Erd Geist."

"At the roaring loom of Time I ply,

And weave the living garment of the Deity."

What emotions arise in the mind of the astronomer as he looks out upon the universe of stars, and sees them "slowly gathering into one flock," impelled by the resistless might of gravity! Similar must be the feelings of the positivist who sees the special sciences blending in one dissolving view- an intimation of one all-pervading impulse to unity. All things return to the centre whence they originated.

But to pursue this thought into the abyss of nature is not edifying. The most ancient nations looked as we do upon the spectacle of nature: a vast process of creation and destruction of individual forms—the perpetual losing of individuality. The worship of ADONIS-the pitiable wailing and lamentation over individuality that is born only to die—was wide-spread, and became the basis of the "mysteries" of the Greeks and Romans, and of the rites of our secret societies in modern times. Man saw all natural forms rise and decay, impelled by a negative, destroying might, and he shuddered at the thought of his own destiny. The deep sadness, the inward pain at the thought of dissolution has made man more and more internal, more and more it has caused him to build up, out of the substance of his thought, a spiritual dwelling of his own, "far removed from birth and decay." This imperishable world of spirit-the joint product of the earnestness, the suffering, the sweat of blood, the wrestling prayers of the human race- is the complex of the institutions of civilization. Nearer to man by far than the physical world around him it stands to each human soul. For it is by its mediation alone that the material world shall be used and enjoyed, or the cup of sorrow tasted at its hand. If you but think of it, you shall not put forth your hand to take aught-whether it be of the nature of food, clothing, or shelter-unless with the good-will and consent of human society. For in all your actions you shall presuppose continually the laws of property and possession. These laws are the acts of recognition on the part of society in anticipation of the individual; society stands waiting for him, and insists persistently on this point of etiquette" You, particular individual, shall take what you need only in the form of property (i.e., universalized goods and chattels), and thus shall recognize me (society) as your ALTER IDEM, and

through such recognition shall elevate yourself to a universal existence-that is to say, to a spiritual existence." Therefore it is that man, at his advent, finds not only his presupposition in the family, but he finds it still more in civil society and the state. He can not make his exit, nor can the earth hide him, without the same recognition on the part of society: the formal registration, or the still more formal sitting of the coroner's jury.

Therefore it is that we speak of man's spiritual dwelling-civilization, with its mansions of special institutions, the family, society, the state, religion — as a more direct and immediate existence to the individual than mere physical nature; for it is on all hands the instrument through which the latter is seized and appropriated by him. Physical nature must first be universalized - made property through the impression of the spiritual stamp upon it-before it can be used by the individual. Like the current coin, it must first receive the stamp of society before it can lawfully circulate, i.e., be used by the individuals of the community. Even the general elements shall not be enjoyed except through the same mediation. The individual man shall not walk in the street, breathe the common air, be warmed by the sun, or fanned by the wind, unless society licenses him, with more or less formality, to live within its precincts.

Our thoughts, at the contemplation of the science of meteorology, with its cosmical interaction of correlated forces, recur, as we look upon the vast web of conventionalities and formal usages organized into institutions under the aggregate name of civilization. Here at last we have found a one, a unity, for which, in which, and through which, all individuals exist and come to the fruition of their being.

It is the investigation of this wonderful process that gives rise to social science, the foremost spiritual science of the day, just as meteorology is the foremost physical science. Like the latter, too, it comprehends in its extent the functions of a myriad of minor instrumentalities. These latter depend upon the general science for their explanation; for the central process contains the moving principle in its entirety. It was ARISTOTLE who first taught the scientific thinker to trace the fragmentary provinces of a system back to the central moving principle; by its means are to be explained the others; they are only its accidents-in its evolution it produces them.

In studying the phenomena of human life from the broad point of view of social science, we find the definitions and limits of education, as well as of political economy and the allied sciences. Social and political science should investigate the essence of civilization, its laws of growth and decay, and preservation. The evolution of national ideas, their relation to previous and contemporary national ideas, and their limits which doom them to yield their place in the world of actuality - the study of these national ideas is the necessary preliminary to intelligent insight into the growth of history. The natural limitations, such as territory, climate and surroundings, are to be studied for the temporal element-the brick and mortar with which the architect-idea is to make itself visible.

Now, education is that branch of social science which treats of the preservation of civilization—not of its evolution, growth, or decay, for the causes of these lie far deeper than in a system of education.

It is necessary to bear this in mind; for every day we hear the would-be so

cial reformer, or the professional croaker, refer to education things entirely beyond its scope-things which education can do little to make or to mar.

Coming together as we do, representing the educational interests of the nation, it is of especial importance that we discuss our problems in the full light of social science. When we see clearly what education may accomplish, and how far it may extend, and wherein it is supplemented by other social sciences, we shall then be able to see and apply practical remedies for pedagogical evils, and shall not waste our time in portraying ideals that can never be realized. We shall not be annoyed by our differences from other nations or peoples in this or that respect, but shall be able to justify our own methods, while recognizing the merit of other methods for different circumstances.

These considerations lead us to the point of view from which to discuss the present theme-that of the early withdrawal of youth from school.

It is obvious that education has a twofold province when we consider it as the means of preservation of civilization. It includes the initiation into the practice of what belongs to civilized man, and secondly, an initiation into the ideas that lie at the basis of that practice; in short, it is an inculcation of forms and conventionalities—moral education; and inculcation of theory-intellectual education.

Inasmuch as, in our nation, we require all to ascend to a participation in government, it is essential that our education embrace not merely the passive side of moral education-the inculcation of forms of practice, but it must furnish an insight into the necessity of these forms. Where the individual is to find his limit from within, we must see to it that his conviction is cultured so far as to base itself on an insight into the rational necessity of moral action; otherwise, he will substitute caprice and selfishness for ethical motives.

Education takes place through the school, and through other agencies, such as the family, social intercourse, and municipal regulations. Its relative proportion in each of these agencies varies with the nation or country. Where, as in Germany, the family, social and municipal influences are very strong, little is left for the school to do in the way of moral education: the boys and girls are good, and may be safely left pretty much to themselves so far as discipline goes. They will work, each for himself, to learn the appointed task. But in our country all these first-mentioned influences are comparatively weak, and more is left for the school to perform. The school must seize the pupil, and train him by a strict discipline to obedience, before it can do much with him in an intellectual point of view. A lax school allows the weeds of selfishness, indolence and insolence to grow up and choke the fair virtues that spring from self-restraint and renunciation.

It is, therefore, especially important that we, in this country, extend the school-life of the child during the plastic period of his growth. Moral education requires time-far more than theoretical education. Where we must do both-give the child theoretical and practical education,― we should require the maximum of time in school. In one word, our whole education should aim to give the pupil directive power; he is to be called upon (more than is the case in any other nation) for the outlay of directive power. He must therefore be practiced for a long time in self-government, and he must be thoroughly initiated into the social necessity that underlies moral action; he must see princi