of the work lies in their recalling first the sentence as suggested by the picture, then naming, to themselves, and finding each word as it occurs in the sentence. In this way, the pupils will review, by themselves at their seats, about fifty words daily.

Domestic Animals I The Cat

M. HELEN BECKWITH Suggestions

(The lessons here given are suggestive only; the work is planned to last the whole month. It is designed for the little children, particularly, who have just entered school, and to whom school work is apt to grow tiresome after the novelty wears off.

"Songs and Games for Little Ones," Jenks and Walker, contains "Pussy White" and "Baby's Lullaby," but I hope to be forgiven for not being able to give credit for the other things quoted. I have simply written them from memory. Much easy reading can be combined with the lessons, by drawing little pictures in place of the nouns in the first reading lessons, as,

See Pussy's (picture of two eyes)

This is her (picture of tail)

Children love to make a cat out of two circles, and if made good size, with sandpaper glued across the back, they make good match-scratchers. The mat on which kitty sleeps may be woven, and the articles in the story drawn and cut, viz.: Belle's basket, the saucer, bottle of milk, stalks of catnip, a ball she plays with, the tree she climbs, the cat in different positions, and the rhymes and songs illustrated.)

It was almost three o'clock when Miss Clare took down a chart that had been hanging against the blackboard, and the children spied the picture it had covered. Just a little drawing in white chalk - a kitty and a tiny girl, looking at each other.

“Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, where have you been?” laughed Miss Clare, writing the words by the little girl's feet.

"I've been to London to see the queen,"

called the little people, merrily.

"Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, what did you see there?"
"Only a little mouse under the chair,"

the dialogue continued.

the next morning. I wish I could tell you of all the funny things they told Miss Clare, and how much she learned of the way in which pets were cared for in different homes her principal reason for sending those questions home, by the way- but if you want to know, why ask the children themselves, while I tell you of the mysterious packages Belle, Bob, and Bess had.

In Belle's covered basket was her darling Snowflake white, from nose to tail; Bob's package held a bottle of fresh milk; and Bess's, a saucer, as clean and white as kitty herself.

As soon as the room was quiet, Miss Clare poured the milk into the saucer. Bess put it on the number table, and Belle lifted out pussy-cat.

It was so still, Pussy was not at all afraid, and while she was eating her breakfast —for Miss Clare had asked Belle not to give her any at home — the little folks crept up softly to see how she ate it, and to watch her wash herself afterward. They discussed the shape of her body, her legs, and her tail; and John measured her with a ruler. He found out her length, from nose to tail, and then measured her tail. How long do you suppose she was, and how high?

Jenny said papa told her cats had thick fur because, sometimes, they had to sleep out in the cold and wet, and that the hairs were set into the skin so that they all pointed one way, from the head to the tail. This kept the rain from getting through to the skin. In summer time, many of the hairs fell out, but they grew again before cold weather came. Then the children must all pat Snowflake " just once," to feel her soft fur; must hear the queer crackling noise it made when Belle rubbed her back briskly; and must look at her eyes by the window in the sunshine, and in the twilight, down in the basement.

Then they put her back in the basket to take a "cat nap."

Miss Clare wrote a list of points, "discovered and discoverable," on the board, to which something was added each day.

The next day, the basket came again, but it held a black cat this time, and, later, a gray one, and then a tortoiseshell.

Mrs. Price came over one morning, and showed them her beautiful Angora kitty; and after school, one night, they all went down the alley to see Tim's little kittens, five of them, out in the shed, with the mother-cat, in a basket. Tim was watching them most carefully, and he told, very accurately, of the way in which the mother cared for them. He saw her wash them, and give them food, and yes- spat them with her paw, if they were naughty. One day, she seemed to think they had been receiving too much company, for she made a new home for them in a box at the other end of the shed, and Tim saw the moving take place: she carried each one over in her mouth. His joy was very great the morning he reported that one had its eyes open.

Joe brought his cat one morning, and some stalks of fresh, green catnip. The basket was uncovered and left, with kitty in it, at one end of the long table, and the catnip placed at the other; to see if kitty had a "good smell"-Joe said - and would find it.

Another day, some small bones were given the visitor, to see if she would eat off the bits of meat, and to see how she did it. Again, Jenny held her audience spellbound as she described, with eloquent gestures, how her Teddy caught a

mouse.

I am kitty's teeth. See the tiny front ones, and the long, pointed ones on each side? These are to hold a mouse tight when I catch it.

Little Billy told this story that his Uncle Ned told him: Long, long ago, a kitty caught a bird one morning; but, as she was about to eat it, a sly fox came along.

"Good morning!" said the fox. "Just going to eat your breakfast? Well, let me tell you, sir; no gentleman eats until he first washes his face."

Kitty laid the bird down on the ground-for it was quite dead-and began to wash herself. Then the sly fox reached out his long paw, took the bird and ran off with it.

Poor kitty had to hunt for another breakfast, and she said, "After this, I shall eat first, and wash myself afterward," and cats do so to this day. They "played cats," also. They chose Tim, one day, and he made such a good one! He arched his back (walking on hands and feet), to show he was angry; scratched when Bob rubbed his fur the wrong way; purred when Nellie patted him gently; "shinned" up a pole in the center of the room to rub down his claws; measured the space in the half-opened door with his whiskers to see if he could go through, and howled terribly when some one stepped on his foot.

There were little games, too, found in kindergarten song books; such as

"I love little kitty, her coat is so warm

And if I don't hurt her, she'll do me no harm;
So I'll not pull her tail, or drive her away,
But Pussy and I very gently will play.

I'll smooth her soft fur and give her some food,
And Pussy will love me, because I am good."

Miss Clare sang a song she knew as a little girl, called "The Old Black Cat," and Teddy recited the old rhyme of the "Three Little Kittens Who Lost Their Mittens." This latter the little folks greatly enjoyed, and Miss Clare illustrated it for them on the blackboard.

Those blackboard pictures! What delight they took in them, and there was a new one nearly every day:

Kitty playing with a ball; eating milk out of a saucer; asleep, with "tail and nose together"; running up a tree; stretching after a nap; carrying a kitten by its neck; spitting at a dog; crying over the lost mittens; laughing, when they were found and hung up to dry; and watching at a mouse's hole.

There were some pretty Perry pictures pinned on a strip of burlap on a small blackboard, and the children tried to draw a great many more to add to the collection. When the month was over, and all the pictures erased, Miss Clare gave a little sigh of satisfaction as she added these notes in a well-worn note-book:

A novel exhibit, calculated to attract and instruct the young folk, has been placed in the east end of the Entomological Hall of the American Museum of Natural History, arranged by Prof. W. Beutenmuller.

Here an observation beehive has been constructed, having a large swam of busy inhabitants. This is attached to the window, and, opening, on the outside, allows the bees to fly in and out, usually across to the park. After a while they return to their quarters with their bodies literally turned yellow from the accumulated stores of rich pollen. Almost immediately they proceed to deposit this in the frames set in the interior, containing the honeycomb cells.

Through glass partitions on the three sides the army of little industrial workers can be plainly seen, giving a realistic, unfamiliar sight of the operation of honey-making, as well as affording a fine opportunity of noting their characteristic habits and peculiar maneuvers at close range. This is hardly possible under usual conditions out-of-doors, owing to the stinging nature of the bees. This is proving a popular feature for after school and Saturday morning visits. On rush occasions a line is formed in which each one is given a fair time to look within.

Tagging Pupils

There is a method of tagging the pupils creeping into the schools, which is very obnoxious to the boys and girls, and greatly handicaps them in their determination to reform some of their careless and irritating ways. This is the little scheme of passing on a tabulation of the character of each pupil, so that the teacher in the next highest grade becomes prejudiced for or against her new pupils. For instance, the boy who is sullen may be so elated by promotion that he resolves to turn over a new leaf, and try to be sunny-tempered. But the new teacher has a little slip on her desk which says, "John C— very sullen disposition," and she treats John C- — as all her books on pedagogy say that a sullen child should be treated. Accordingly, the boy is surprised and hurt that all his good efforts meet with so little encouragement, and it does not take him long to discover that his reputation of the preceding year is well known to his new teacher. And unless he be a very strong-willed boy, he will

soon give up the struggle against the prejudice, and live up of rather down to the reputation which has preceded him.

The girl who is quick-tempered will never learn to control her temper in school, if she knows that her teacher expects her to lack self-control. Children are very susceptible and generally they will try hard to live up to a high standard if the teacher shows them that she believes them capable of reaching this high standard. But if a teacher believes that children are malicious, mischievous, ugly, hateful and stupid, the children are not long in finding it out, and they act accordingly.

L

a very un

OOKING over her record of the week's attendance, Miss A. found so many absent marksusual thing in that room - that she opened her eyes in wonder. To be sure, many pupils were suffering from colds and the days had been unpleasant, yet the "Tencent Show" down street, according to all accounts, had been crowded with children. All that week, in reply to Miss A.'s question, "Where is John Henry or James?" etc., she had received this answer: "He has a bad cold, so he stayed out to go to the show."

As Miss A. counted again the black marks, which seemed to grow blacker with every count, she began to have a fit of the blues of the deepest dye, almost dark enough to match the marks on her register.

This teacher was equal to almost any emergency; but now the question was, How could she equal, or better still, surpass that "Ten-cent Show "?

Thinking seriously and still nibbling the end of her penholder, she swallowed her depression, also a bit of the chewed pen-holder.

Perhaps that bit of wood gave her the needed stimulus. "I'll beat that 'ten-cent' affair and get my children in school every day before the habit of going to that place every week is fastened upon them," she decided.

That night, as the children were standing two by two, waiting for the signal to pass out, Miss A. said, "I haven't been to a party in a long time, and I want one here in the school-room, next Friday afternoon. Can all of you come?" Of course everyone could.

"I am glad I can have so many guests," said Miss A. "I will get the invitations ready; but I will invite only those whom I really want to come to my party, and I want everyone who is not absent all of next week."

Every day of the following week some mention of the party was made just to keep it fresh in their minds. The result was better than Miss A. had dared to dream.

On the morning of the important Friday, Miss A.'s eye denoting a dressing-up for the afternoon's festivities. Five was greeted by a motley collection of curl papers and rags, minutes before closing time that morning, Miss A., looking very wise and holding a mysterious box in her hand, said, "Our letter carrier has some mail for us, and he will now pass it." A boy whose attendance had been perfect for two months was selected for this duty.

All but two children received invitations which read, "You are invited to a party in Room One, Cushing Avenue School, Friday afternoon. Games from three to four o'clock."

At three o'clock the two who were not invited were al

that she has to deal with, but nine times out of ten this tabulation of character can only result in harm by establishing a prejudice against the pupil.-Sel.

Overcome by Politeness

In hastily turning the corner of a crooked street in London, a young lady ran with great force against a ragged beggar boy and almost knocked him down. Stopping as soon as she could, she turned around and said very kindly: "I beg your pardon, my little fellow; I am very sorry that I ran against you."

The astonished boy looked at her a moment, and then, taking off about three-quarters of a cap, made a low bow and said, while a broad, pleasant smile overspread his face: "You have my parding, Miss, and welcome-and welcome; and the next time you run agin me, you can knock me clean down and I won't say a word."

After the lady had passed on, he said to a companion: "I say, Jim, it's the first time I ever had anybody ask my parding, and it kind o' took me off my feet."

mother did not want him until after school.

Then the fun began.

Miss A. had warned the other teachers in the building not to be frightened at any strange sounds they might hear. Each pupil was given a card bearing the name of something learned in the drawing lessons; also three sheets of nice white paper.

The teacher called the name of each child, and as his name was called, he came to the board and drew the figures named on his card. The first one drew a square and all wrote square on the first sheet of paper. The next drew an oblong and that word was written on the next line of the same paper, and so on. There were ten words, four of each kind, to supply the forty pupils. If a child drew a square on the board and that word had been written once on the paper, it was not written again. The words used were square, oblong, triangle, circle, semicircle, oval, ellipse, vertical line, horizontal line, parallel lines.

This game took twenty minutes.

"Now for a number game," said Miss A. Raising a curtain which had covered a part of the blackboard, she disclosed groups of eight 3's, eight 4's, eight 5's, eight 6's, and

eight 7's, forty in all, one for each child. (This class had learned the first seven multiplication tables.) Beside these figures were 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, written in a vertical line. "Now choose your table," said Miss A., "for this is a table game."

Harold chose 7, so he recited, "7 X 17,7 X 3 = 21," etc., until he had taken all in the vertical line. He then erased the 7 he had used, took his second sheet of paper, and on it wrote the whole of the seventh table, of which he recited half. Each child did the same with the number he selected. When all had recited, no figures, excepting the vertical line, were left on the board.

"Now take your third paper, and write three sentences about our party," said Miss A.

When this was done, the three papers were tied together in book form to be taken home.

That night as Miss A. was fastening coats and putting on rubbers, she heard this whisper: "Do you s'pose we'll have another time next Friday?"

Miss A. smiled as she said, "Not next Friday, but I will invite those who are not absent for two weeks to go hunting with we. We will hunt for birds, birds' nests, and eggs right . in the school-room. We will take our lunches on this hunting trip."

Talk Happiness

Talk happiness. The world is sad enough
Without your woes. No path is wholly rough;
Look for the places that are smooth and clear,
And speak of those to rest the weary ear
Of earth, so hurt by one continuous strain
Of human discontent and grief and pain.

Talk faith. The world is better off without
Your uttered ignorance and morbid doubt.
If you have faith in God, or man, or self,
Say so; if not, push back upon the shelf

Of silence all your thoughts till faith shall come;
No one will grieve because your lips are dumb.

Talk health. The dreary, never changing tale
Of mortal maladies is worn and stale.
You cannot charm, or interest, or please,

By harping on that minor chord, disease,

Say you are well, or all is well with you,

And God shall hear your words and make them true. -Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Queer Things in Nature

Whatever opens up new doors or windows for us into the world about us, whatever widens the field of our interests and sympathies, has some sort of value. But much of the so-called nature-study opens no new doors or windows; it affords no mental satisfaction, or illumination, or æsthetic pleasure; it is mainly pottering with dry, unimportant facts and details. Do you know the edelweiss flowers or our own matchless arbutus after you have merely analyzed and classified them? No more than you know a man after having weighed and measured him. The function of things is always interesting.. What do they do? How do they pay their way in the rigid economy of nature? How do they survive? How does the bulb of the common lawn lily get deeper and deeper into the ground each year? Why does the ginger root hide its blossoms when nearly all other plants flaunt theirs? Why do the roots of trees flow through the ground like "runnels of molten metal," often separating and uniting again, while the branches are thrust out in right lines or curves? Why is our common yellow birch more often than any other tree planted upon a rock? Why do oaks or chestnuts so often spring up where a pine or hemlock forest has been cleared away? Why does lightning so commonly strike a hemlock tree or a pine or an oak and rarely or never a beech? Why does the bolt sometimes scatter the tree about and at others only plough a channel down its trunk? Why does the bumblebee complain so loudly when working upon certain flowers? Why does the honey bee lose the string when it stings a person, while the wasp, the hornet and the bumblebee do not?

A large part of the school-room represents the Earth. Here are the People busy at their work. The hall, or entry, or out-of-doors itself, is the Garden of Hesperides. (Make it somewhere outside the room, so that the dragon need not be shown.)

Near the door-which is the gate of the garden-is Atlas. Between him and the People sits Prometheus "chained to his rock"-a desk. Near by, hovers the Vulture.

Choose children to play the parts of Eurystheus (cousin of Hercules), Prometheus, the Vulture, and Atlas (giant), and Hercules. All the other children-or as many as desired -are the People of Earth.

coat.

For the lion-skin of Hercules, use a fur rug, or a long For his club, a stick will do. For the Earth, which Atlas carries, use a globe-the larger the better. A paper globe would be much easier to carry if the pupils will "makebelieve" it is heavy. Atlas, of course, will be obliged to keep this in place on one shoulder with his hands. The Apples of Hesperides may be yellow balls or oranges. Or, better still, if there is an apple tree near by, let Atlas pick three real apples from it. An ordinary chain or rope seems to hold Prometheus to his rock.

To distinguish him from the other people, Eurystheus may wear a long cape or cloak. The Vulture may be a small child. When Hercules aims the arrow at him (in pantomime), he flaps his wings (arms) and flie (runs) away.-A. E. A.

The Play

Atlas, Prometheus, the Vulture, take places as directed. The People stand clustered about near Hercules and Eurystheus, who are talking.

Hercules What do you wish of me, Eurystheus? (Eurystheus begins to talk to Hercules in low voice. People speak one to another in surprise.)

One Another task? Must Hercules do still more to show his great strength?

Another Did he not kill the lion?

Another And did he not catch the stag with golden horns?

Another Yes; and remember how he destroyed the great monster, Geryon.

Another Think of how he has set up the Pillars of Hercules.

Another Listen. What does Eurystheus say? Eurystheus And this, O Hercules, is the task I now give

you.

Far away in the Land of the Evening Star is a beautiful garden called the Garden of Hesperides. In this garden stands a wonderful tree of gold. It is guarded day and night by a terrible dragon. On this tree grow three apples