A HELP IN TEACHING ENGLISH.

BY PAUL B. OTIS.

HE most striking feature of the English language is its mixed origin. Any one, however, that has taught its history in an elementary way will testify that the origin itself never was so effectually mixed as in the average scholar's mind. The phantom-like character which even historical facts assume in the minds of pupils that are taken up with making history of their own in five-minute pieces, prevents the teacher from making plain the structure of English by associating it with the early history of England. And so in want of a more rational framework upon which to fasten in place the successive changes in our mother-tongue, that seem to play a perpetual game of ."puss-in-the-corner" in the pupil's memory, I have adopted the upper Mississippi River with its chief tributaries.

The comparison, here briefly suggested and to be expanded in the schoolroom, is as follows:

The Gaelic Kelts, crossing over from the mainland in very early times, conquered the earlier inhabitants of Britain, and were in turn invaded and conquered by their own kindred, the Cymric Celts. The two peoples soon fused, and Celtic was their common speech. The Roman conquest (55 B. C.—70 A. D.) had but little effect upon the language. Not until the Teutonic invasion (449 A. D.) was there any radical change. Thereafter the Celtic almost disappeared before the new dialects of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. At last by a natural process these fused into the Anglo-Saxon (828 A. D.), which remained the tongue of the common people long after the Norman Conquest (1066 A. D.) had brought into the country a whole new language. After the blending of the Norman and Anglo-Saxon had taken place, no important sudden influx of a new element occurred.

The twofold Celtic tongue I represent by the confluence of the Mississippi (Gaelic) and Minnesota Rivers (Cymric), while the course of the Mississippi as far as the entrance of the Missouri, represents the continuance of this fused Celtic. The Missouri, in volume far greater than the main stream, corresponds to the Anglo-Saxon. The Norman-French element is represented by the Ohio River. The waters of this stream not only approximately show the relative number of Norman words introduced, but remaining so distinct as to be clearly distinguishable from those of the Mississippi for some distance below the point of confluence, also represent the slow union of the Anglo-Saxon and Norman.

This simple association puts an end to the mental "puss-in-the-corner" as quickly as the bell for the end of recess in a well-ordered school.

c.

Keep ingredients of the soil in reserve.

d. Produce a hardier growth of plants and animals. REFERENCE BOOKS: Le Conte's Geology; Dana's Geological Story Briefly Told; Reclus's The Earth; Reclus's The Ocean, Atmosphere and Life; Ruskin's The True and Beautiful; Abbott's (Jacob) Water and Land; Huxley's Physiography; Physical Geography; Geology.

In this lesson ask pupils to go to the molding-board and make the differently-shaped hills which they have seen. In a few lessons they may be able to produce the conformation of the section of country in which they live. It is well to use the technical terms of the geology as they are easily explained and will be of great benefit to the student later.

In 1886 the United States produced 10,000,000 tons of iron ore; zinc, 42,641 tons; quicksilver, 2,291,634 pounds; building stone, valued at $19,000,000; bricks and tiles, valued at $38,500,000; grindstones, valued at $2,500,000; and precious stones, at $79,056.

The following cities of the world, according to the latest evidence, have over one million inhabitants: Aitichi, Japan; Berlin, Prussia; Canton, China; Changchoofoo, China;. London, Eng

China.

VOL. XI.

BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

BY W. WHITMAN BAILEY.

CHARLIE TELLS A LIE.

BY IDA M. GARDNER, PROVIDENCE.

I. HOW DID IT HAPPEN?

HARLIE W

No. 3.

was one of the most lovable boys in Miss Greene's school. His frank, manly face won instant regard, and as the days lengthened into weeks and months, there grew up between the boy and his teacher a mutual love and confidence that was ripening into a lifelong friendship.

"Mamma, can't I have some roses for my Miss Greene?" was a frequent morning request that revealed the boy's attitude toward his teacher,-always one of love and trust, never one of fear.

Charlie was a little fellow, eight years of age, and consequently recited in the lower classes to the assistant teachers. He was a genuine boy, full of animal spirits, which sometimes made him restless in his class and troublesome to his teachers.

me.

Miss Greene kept the government of her school chiefly in her own hands. Yet she gave a certain part of it to her teachers. "Speak once, pleasantly. A repetition of the offence may come from forgetfulness, but the child must learn not to forget; therefore call him to you for a quiet talk, in which, while you admit that he may have forgotten, you impress the fact that this is a warning and that a third offence must send him to me. This talk is your chance to get a hold upon the pupil. At a third offence, speak pleasantly but gravely and firmly, and send him to This establishes your authority. I shall never decide a case without hearing your side of the question." Charlie had been growing restless in Miss Oclasses for several days, and was approaching one of those crises which must come once in a while to every wide-awake boy. With the confidence which always existed between Miss Greene and her assistants, Miss O said one day: "I fear I shall have to send Charlie to you soon. He seems to have been good as long as he can. I have talked to him, but I think he must go a little farther before reaction is possible. If he does, I shall have to send him to you." Before the class in arithmetic was over Charlie was again lawless and disorderly, and Miss O said, gravely,O

"Charlie may report himself to Miss Greene at recess." The boy was sobered instantly, and gave no farther trouble. At recess Miss O- - said to Miss Greene;

"I have told Charlie to come to you this recess. He has not done it yet. What shall I do if he does not obey me?"

"When your next class comes into the recitation-room, say very quietly that he has not obeyed you, and that you cannot receive him in any of your classes until he has done so."

During the remainder of the recess Miss Greene quietly watched the boy. His heightened color and evident avoidance of her eye told her that he was having a struggle with himself. She therefore remained at her desk instead of moving about as usual, and smiled at him, if she happened to catch his eye, that he might be encouraged to come to her frankly.

Recess ended, but Charlie only gave a sigh of relief, and, slate in hand, passed into the recitation-room with his class. Miss O- —, true-hearted teacher as she was, did not close the door as usual, knowing how much easier it would be for Charlie to come back through an open door. When the class had found seats, Miss O said quietly,

"Charlie has not yet reported to Miss Greene, and I cannot have him in any of my classes until he obeys me. You may go now, Charlie."

The poor little fellow looked up, with the perspiration standing in great drops upon his flushed face. "Miss O I know I have got to go; I know I must go, but it—seems as if I couldn't." Miss O

swallowed the lump that came into her own throat. It was not obstinacy that had the child in its grasp, and she was prompt to offer help.

"Yes, Charlie, you must go; but if it will help you will go with you."

I

"My foot slipped in the class." "Did Miss O

send you to me for that, Charlie ? Was it not because you were troublesome in more ways than one, and because you did not mind when spoken to ?" To each question he answered promptly and frankly, as he always did when questioned as to his misdeeds.

"You may go to your seat now, and I will attend to you after school," said Miss Greene, gravely; and the Latin recitation went on in a great hush of sorrow and sympathy, for every one loved Charlie, from the seniors downward, and all were full of regret to see him in disgrace, though he was too far away for them to know the cause.

II. THE CAUSE OF THE LIE.

The classes went on as usual, but Miss Greene was constantly dwelling upon Charlie's lie. Once before the thing had happened, under somewhat similar circumstances, but that was when he first entered school, and fear might have been the cause. Now that could not be the case, for Charlie loved her devotedly. There was not a grain of untruthfulness in the boy's nature, and as Miss Greene recalled his always prompt confession on being questioned, she became convinced that the lie originated in the child's inability, at the moment of his shame and confusion, to put into language what he wished to say,— a conviction strengthened by later experiences. In fact, Miss Greene grew to believe that a large proportion of the lies told by children, who are not habitually untruthful, are told from the same cause. In the conflicting emotions of the moment, the power of connected thought seems paralyzed; the first sentence, consciously framed, comes out, without premeditation or intent of untruthfulness. That this was the true solution of the problem over which so many teachers have grieved, when otherwise good children have been detected in a lie, Miss Greene grew confident, as she recalled answers given her when she had

The silence was dreadful while the little fellow struggled, and the others looked on in sympathy. At last little May could bear it no longer, and, unconscious of the presence of others, she sighed, "Oh, if he would only go quick, and have it over, how much better it

ould be!"

"Yes, indeed, it would. Now, Charlie, I can wait no longer."

The boy rose to his feet, took two steps toward the door, but sank back into his seat with a despairing "I can't!"

Then Miss O. went to the rescue, and taking him firmly by the hand, said, "I will go too, but you must come now."

lie ?" "I never meant to, Miss Greene;" I did not know I was going to;" "It slipped out before I knew it was coming;" "I don't know how it happened;" and

a score of others. These actual answers in actual ex

periences, reveal the child's helplessness before the sinpossibilities of his tainted moral nature, unaided by principle, but do not indicate any strain of deceit, inherent in the child's nature. None the less must such lies be dealt with, and the child taught to stop and think before answering, when he feels confused.

III.-WHAT WAS DONE ABOUT IT.

Twelve o'clock came, and Charlie stood by Miss Greene's side, with her arm around him, and her low, grave, but loving tones searching every corner of his miserable little

"Miss O"For what?"

sent me to you."

"It has been a bad day, Charlie, and we must settle what is to be done about it. How many times did Miss ask you to behave better?"