transgression of these self-evident limits is as great a fault on the one hand, as is the want of preparation for examination on the other.

Again, the examiner should be able to maintain perfect ease and self-possession, and thus be able to impart them to the class. It will not be possible to do the latter without possessing the former. The feeling of assurance and self-command in pupils is sympathetic, and must be caught by actual contact with the same spirit. No command, however imperative, can give it. It tends rather to disconcert and distract the thoughts.

Hence the moral qualifications of a good examiner are, self-poise, quiet assurance, free from bustle and embarrassment; and, if he shall succeed in fixing the attention of the class upon himself, they will quickly catch the same spirit. It is hardly necessary to state that severe looks, sharp words, and obscure questions, antagonize and destroy this spirit.

With these general views, respecting the qualifications of an examiner, we are better prepared to consider, Who is the proper person to examine a class?

All things considered, the teacher is the proper one to conduct the examination. Were it not for his liability to be lenient to the weaker members of the class, this would not be called in question. Hence, to avoid favoritism, and in order to secure strict impartiality, it is maintained that some one less interested should act as examiner.

While on the part of the teacher there is a tendency, and only a tendency, to favor the weak, in the case of every other examiner, there is such manifest disqualification for the work, as to be a positive injustice to the class.

In the first place, the teacher has such a personal acquaintance with every member of his class, his mental processes, his readiness, and his mode of grasping a subject, that he is especially fitted to bring out before an audience the full power of the student. For the want of this knowledge no other person can conduct an examination, especially an oral one, with justice or with success.

Again, the teacher has accustomed his class to his own phraseology, in testing day by day their knowledge. To this they have become habituated, and by it they at once catch his meaning. Now to introduce, on examination, another style of phraseology, which will almost invariably occur if the teacher is set aside as the examiner, will materially embarrass a class, if not utterly confuse them.

A single instance of this kind will fill a class with such apprehensions and forebodings of failure that it will be difficult to reassure them. But, on the other hand, an observing teacher is quick to perceive whether he is comprehended or not, and to adapt himself to any condition that may arise. Finally, on this point, it is apparent that an unfamiliar voice and manner tends much to increase the excitement incident to such occasions. This can but be held in check by the familiar tones of the teacher. If from over sensitiveness to failure, the mental equilibrium is disturbed, no voice is so potent to calm this perturbation as that of the teacher.

How should examinations be conducted?

There are two methods, the oral and the written. Each of these has its peculiar advantages; and the judicious. teacher will select that which will serve his purposes best. In some branches, as reading, &c., he is of necessity confined to the oral method. But, in other studies, if it be his purpose to interest spectators at his examination, as well as to test the proficiency of his class, he will use the oral method, because by it greater spirit and variety. can be displayed. In this method slight deviations from perfect accuracy may pass unnoticed or unchallenged.

In a written examination there is no stimulus from the looks or voice of the teacher. The student labors under the painful consciousness that the utmost precision is expected, in definition, spelling and punctuation. Thus the scholar is left to his own unaided resources, and whatever defects may exist in his scholarship, this will most effectually reveal them. It would be safe to say that both methods should have a place, the one as the necessary complement of the other.

TOWNSHIP INSTITUTES.

BY HAMILTON S. MC RAE.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction, in his last report says of Teachers' Institutes, that, "they are producing larger and better results in proportion to their cost, than any other agency in our system." While this is true, it is to be regretted that there is a class of so called teachers, in greatest need of the benefits of the State and County Institutes, who will not attend an Institute a single day unless compelled. This class can be reached by the City, Town, or Township Institutes if the School Trustees adopt regulations requiring attendance or forfeiture of a day's pay.

In the cities and large towns, Teachers' Meetings are usually held once a month, under directions of the Superintendent, and they should be held as often in the townships, did not the working of the present law render it impracticable to do so. So long as the duty of selecting the teacher, and fixing the time for school to begin, is assigned to the inhabitants of the district, there will be but little unity of action.

It is not to be expected that a meeting of all the teachers can be had every month, when one school in the corporation may begin in September, and another in May.

Until an increased length of the school term creates a demand for at least one teacher in each township, qualified to superintend an institute, the Trustee will find it. necessary to secure the attendance of the examiner, or to employ an Institute holder, to be paid from the special fund. Saturday afternoon will be the most favorable time for holding the Teachers' Meetings, but it would be well for the Trustee to require a school to be kept open in the morning and taught under the inspection of the Superintendent and Teachers' of the Institute. After the Institute is called to order, each teacher might be asked such questions as these.

What do you do to secure punctuality?
What do you do to secure attendance?

In their replies, teachers would refer specially to successful methods.

In many of the exercises the skillful conductor of the Institute will, as far as possible, obtain the opinions of teachers before expressing his own.

It will be impossible in one afternoon to present every subject of study, or an exhaustive treatment of any topic. The great error to be avoided is a tendency to overshoot. the mark. A first step lesson on number, will accomplish more good than an explanation of the Cube Root.

HOW I CONDUCT THE OPENING EXERCISES IN MY SCHOOL.

BY W. A. BELL, PRINCIPAL OF INDIANAPOLIS HIGH SCHOOL.

MR. EDITOR:-I wish to say something on the subject of "opening exercises in school"-and desiring to make what I say as practical as possible, I give my own method. I give it, not as a model to be copied and followed by others, but because by this means I can best express what I have to say. Experience has taught me that applied minutia are much more instructive than abstract generalities. This is my excuse for giving my own experience.

I call school fifteen minutes before 9 o'clock, but the opening exercises do not begin till nine. The order during the intervening fifteen minutes is as perfect as at any other time, except that pupils may speak by permission. They also take this time to get from the teacher any assistance that may be necessary. Pupils coming in during this time are not counted tardy. At exactly nine o'clock the bell strikes, at which signal all books, except the singing-books, are placed in the desks. When there is perfect silence I proceed to read the morning lesson. This lesson is never long, seldom exceeding five or six verses, often consisting of but a single verse, and

sometimes of but one short sentence, or simple expression. I usually read only as much as relates to one particular subject, and by comment and re-reading call special attention to the thought contained in it. This I consider much preferable to the more usual custom of reading, perhaps an entire chapter, without comment. By the first method the one thought is impressed and remembered; by the second, in the multiplicity of ideas, but little if anything, is retained, and the time almost uselessly spent. These lessons should always be prepared beforehand.

I do not read consecutively, but select such passages as I consider most appropriate-such as bear on any particular subject that I may wish to bring before the school. As the object of these exercises is strictly devotional, I seldom read from the historical parts of the Bible, but select such passages only as teach moral and religious truths.

I once tried the experiment of having the scholars read alternate verses with me, as is customary in Sabbath schools, I soon gave it up, and am satisfied that it is not a good plan. I think that Sabbath school superintendents generally make a mistake in this respect. I judge of this matter from personal experience. When I read only each alternate verse, I do not get the full sense of what I read, for while the intervening verses are being read, I am looking ahead to see what I have to read next. I did this when I was a boy, and do so to some extent now. I believe that the same is true concerning others.

Some teachers read only a part of a verse, or, it may be, but part of a sentence, allowing the pupils to finish it. This method is preferable to the former, as it obviates, to a great degree, the objection mentioned above. The Sermon on the Mount, and some of the Psalms, are beautiful read in this way.

Still another method, is for the teacher to read only so much at a time as can be remembered, and have the school repeat it after him. This method is preferable to either of the others in ungraded or primary schools, as all can join in it. In the two former, those who cannot