I tried to puzzle the lovers of phrases by asking the meaning of Montaigne's Savoir par cœur n'est pas savoir. To this question I only had four satisfactory answers, but this is nearly 1 in 10-not so bad, considering that of the people who quote the saying not 1 in 10 understands it.

It may gratify the Jesuits, in their present troubles in France and elsewhere, to know that they seem popular with English students. In the question about their school system only seven candidates failed, and most of the remaining thirty-five did very well.

I asked for an account of some English writer on education before the Great Rebellion. Now that an English University is examining in the history of education, our old writers will no doubt be rediscovered. A German has lately been writing on the only English schoolmaster of the olden time whose reputation has survived-Ascham; but to my mind Mulcaster is still more interesting, and Brinsly's Ludus Literarius is well worth reading. At present there is some difficulty, indeed great difficulty, in getting the entire books of Mulcaster and Brinsly, but large extracts are to be seen in Henry Barnard's English Pedagogy-Second Series.

I asked what objects Comenius sought to secure by means of his Orbis Pictus; but few candidates mentioned his chief object, which was to avoid what he calls "the unhappy divorce of words and things," and in giving the knowledge of words to give also the knowledge of the things to which they referred.

The answers about Rousseau's ideal boy of 12 and about Pestalozzi at Stanz were with a few exceptions satisfactory.

The "advanced questions" ought perhaps to have been called "subjects for essays," for I do not know that there is anything particularly advanced in them, at least in my share of them. The inquiry into the meaning of the Reformers when they insist that education should be "according to Nature" should not I think be put off to an advanced stage in the study of them, though no doubt it is so put off in many cases. The School Guardian tells us, "the Advanced Questions imply a great deal. Only daring theorists or practical teachers of some experience could have attempted them." If this is correct all the candidates must have been daring theorists or practical teachers of some experience, for they all attempted the Advanced Questions. But perhaps even Danton would not have considered "daring" the chief requisite for success in examination, and I cannot say that the bold attempt in all cases improved the position of the candidate. If I had to decide by the answers to my "advanced questions" only, I could not have passed half of those who were in for the examination. There was a choice between a question about Arnold and reforms in public schools, and a question about Nature, but only eight chose the Arnold.

Of the forty-two candidates twenty-seven passed our examination. Eighteen of these have received a certificate of Practical Efficiency. This was tested, I hear, by trial-lessons. I have not seen the Report of the Syndicate, so I know nothing of the examination further than I my. self took part in it.,

THE KINDERGARTEN IN NORMAL TRAINING.
Causes of Failure and Subsequent Success in the New York Normal College.

LETTER OF THOMAS HUNTER, PH. D., President.

Utterly disgusted with the barbarous system of restraint, ignorantly called discipline," in vogue in some of the primary schools of the city, I had resolved, on the establishment of the Normal College, that our pupil-teachers should be trained to a higher and better knowledge of child nature. With this object in view I carefully studied the life, the labors, and the system of the immortal Froebel, and found in his Kindergarten the true foundation of all correct teaching-a deep, broad, natural foundation, capable of sustaining the most solid superstructure.

The

The key-note of the Kindergarten is the natural activity of the child, which is utilized for purposes of bodily, moral, and mental growth. The child needs physical exercise. Play is a necessity of its nature. simple but profoundly philosophical mind of Froebel scized this necessity and turned it into a powerful instrument of culture. He adapted and gave to the world the celebrated games which are now amusing, developing, and instructing thousands of children all over the world.

Any one who has observed the habits of children can scarcely avoid the conclusion that man is born with an instinctive desire to destroy; and that "the natural state of man is war." Every parent realizes this to his cost. The child delights to pick things to pieces, to pluck up flowers, to break shrubs, to rob birds' nests, to smash the eggs, to quarrel, to fight, and to be, in fact, a most cruel little animal. It takes the constant vigilant care of a wise mother to check and cure these natural propensities. And hence, long before Froebel's time, lettered blocks and other agencies were employed to minister to the child's natural desire to construct and destroy. It may be worthy of notice that while the child seems pleased with the work of building his blocks into an imaginary house or church, his joy is unbounded and his laugh the loudest when he destroys the work of his own hands and beholds the little edifice a heap of ruins. Culture has done wonders in the vegetable kingdom, more certainly than it has done in the animal; for the reason, perhaps, that the former passively submits, while the latter actively resists. With all the barbarian races, as far back as history reaches, destructiveness has been their characteristic; and wherever man has become civilized he has become a builder. Constructiveness has been the visible sign of his civilization. Destructiveness is natural activity viciously exercised; constructiveness is natural activity cultivated and employed for beneficent purposes; and this truth is the basis of the Kindergarten, of the weaving, and making and building, and instructive amusements which will ere long work a great reform in professional teaching.

The common schools were established to conserve the state. This is the only logical reason for their existence. If the state could be con

served without them, it has no more right to supply education than it has to supply paintings, statuary, or any other expensive luxury. If all people were wealthy a common school system would be unnecessary. But since the great majority are poor, and struggling for a bare subsistence, sin e the condition of orphanage and half-orphanage compels children at a very tender age to go forth into the world to fight for existence, since millions of parents are ignorant, or depraved, or selfish, and either will not or can not give their children an education, the state must save itself from destruction by maintaining a system of common schools. . Charity schools or free schools will flourish in a monarchy where society is divided into castes, and where young people are taught "to order themselves lowly and reverently before their betters," but will not thrive in a republican atmosphere where there are no "betters"-at least before the law. In a republic the common school is a common necessity. But the common school is far from perfect. Teachers have long known and pointed out its imperfections, not for the purpose of injuring but of improving it. In doing this we have furnished the enemies of the system the very technical terms which enabled them to assail it, and which, but for us, they would never have known. Did the "citizen and tax-payer" ever reflect on what it costs to hang one of these neglected waifs? From the policeman to the prison, with all its wardens and keepers, through the court with its judges, prosecuting officers, and costly appliances, to the sheriff, who finally hurls the wretch into eternity, the cost is simply enormous; and the money, if expended on education, would give a collegiate education to a dozen orphans. In the ratio in which we multiply schools we diminish crime, which, after all, is the heaviest burden on the "citizen and tax-payer." We are aware that a snobbish Anglicised American, more fitted for the region of St. James than for the land of Jefferson, has asserted that the common school is the nursery of crime; but as he did not give one particle of proof, and as his articles were full of mistakes and redolent of Tory prejudices, we must still adhere to our statement, and insist upon the multiplication of schools as a mere matter of economy. But the schools, to be truly economical, must be thoroughly efficient. The system must be thoroughly graded, commencing with the Kindergarten and passing up to the high and normal school. This gives a head, trunk, limbs, and feet--a completely organized body.

Deeply impressed with the necessity of a Kindergarten in the "model school" connected with the Normal College, I requested the Committee in charge to employ an experienced Kindergartner, and to expend the necessary amount of money in the purchase of material. The request was granted, Froebel's games were procured, and Dr. Douai and bis daughter employed. In justice to both it must be stated that they proved themselves excellent teachers, and that the subsequent failure was no fault of theirs. If Dr. Douai was to blame at all, it was because he did not insist upon the first essential requisite of success; he did not insist upon having children of the right age; or if he did insist, his insistence availed him nothing. His first step was fatal. He began the Kindergarten with children seven, eight, nine, ten, and eleven years old. Unfortunately the College was nearly half a mile from the "Model School"; so that I

found it difficult to give Dr. Douai that aid and support which he needed. The principal of the "Model School" had no faith in it and ridiculed the idea of "teaching children to play." She took special pains to inform the different members of the Committee on the College that the introduction and maintenance of the Kindergarten was a useless waste of the public money. It should be remembered that, at that time (1870), Froebel's system was comparatively new to America, and that its principles were but imperfectly comprehended, even by the majority of eminent teachers. Thus failed my first attempt to establish the Kindergarten.

Although I must, in justice, accept my fair share of the blame, the failure was not without its benefits. It was to me a profitable lesson. It showed me the proper conditions under which the Kindergarten could be made a success. These conditions are as follows:

1. An able and thoroughly trained Kindergartner.

2. A uniform class of children of the average age of four years.

3. A full supply of the requisite material.

4. A principal teacher in full sympathy with the Kindergarten. An American, or at least a lady with whom English is the mother tongue, will succeed most easily among American children. A continental European may be abler and more experienced; bnt the slightest accent is an impediment, for one of the principal aims of the teacher is to cultivate language and harmony. The true Kindergartner should be able and willing to perform all the functions of a wise educated mother. Accordingly when the "Model School," now the Training Department, was transferred in 1874 to the new building erected for its use, and connected with the College by a covered causeway, one of its critic teachers, thoroughly adapted by nature and education for the work, completely mastered the principles and practice of the Kindergarten under Mrs. Kraus, and having been promoted by the Committee to the position of Kindergartner, she subsequently introduced the system with the most satisfactory and gratifying results. Notwithstanding the fact that we use the Kindergarten as an experimental class for the pupil-teachers of the College, the demand for admission is so great that it is no exaggeration to say that we could form ten classes, had we the necessary accommodations.

The question naturally arises, what is the effect of the kindergarten instruction on the children when they reach the higher grades of the school? The effect has been tested by comparing thera with children who have not had the benefits of the Kindergarten; and we have invariably found that the children trained in the Kindergarten are brighter, quicker, and more intelligent; and that especially in all school work, such as writing and drawing, requiring muscular power and flexibility in the wrist and fingers, they pre-eminently excel.

There should be a Kindergarten class in every primary school in the land. Of course the children's garden in which to perform their games, Children play in the

in great cities or towns, is out of the question. basement, in the garret, in the nursery. How many children in New York play in a garden? The children in the primary schools can use

the play-ground and the class-room, and have ample accommodation for many of the practices of the Kindergarten.

One great benefit to be derived from the Kindergarten has not been sufficiently dwelt upon-one that should occupy the attention of the patriot and the political economist-and that is that the principles and practice of the Kindergarten unconsciously create and foster a taste for mechanical trades. In these days, when the great majority of young men seek the counting-house and the learned profession, in order to escape manual labor, it becomes a matter of great importance to extend a system of instruction which inculcates a love and respect for work and the working-man. All the little songs about the farmer, the cooper, the carpenter, etc., while cultivating the ear for harmony, insensibly lead the children to form a high opinion of all industrial occupations.

The poor, and especially the poor in great cities, most need the refining and ennobling influence of the Kindergarten. Among this class, the wisdom, the kindness, the care of an educated motherly teacher (¿.e. the Kindergartner) could accomplish the greatest amount of good. She can mould them at the most plastic age, and thus prevent a great deal of future crime. But it is impossible to do justice to this part of the subject in a short article like the present.

The pupil-teachers of the Normal College learn through the Kindergarten a great deal of child nature which they could not otherwise learn; and although they find no Kindergarten classes in the public schools to teach, they enter upon their work with a loftier idea of their duties and responsibilities, and with a broader humanity for the errors and miseries of their fellow beings.

NOTE BY THE EDITOR.

The time will soon come, we trust, when the Kindergarten will have a Transition Class composed of children between the ages of five and seven years, and the Primary School will modify its classification and methods, so as to continue the work of development begun in the Kindergarten by further applications of Froebel's method.

In the State Normal School building in Baltimore, and under the supervision of Prof. M. A. Newell, the principal and state superintend ent, a training class and Kindergarten was conducted by Miss Anna W. Barnard, a graduate of Miss Burritt in 1879-80. The four ladies who grad uated in 1880 are now conducting Kindergartens in Baltimore and Washington. The success, both of the training class and the Kindergarten, was unquestioned, and the principle and methods of Froebel's system Prof. Newell holds in the highest estimation as the basis of all child culture and normal training; but the reduced appropriation for the support of the state Normal School prevented his continuing the work so auspiciously begun, mainly by private resources [donation by Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson].

A Training Class and Model Kindergarten have been established in the State Normal School at Oshkosh, in Wisconsin, in the State Normal, School of Minnesota at Winona, and in the Oswego Training School, by Prof. Sheldon.