"What's up?", whispered Bobby, with his eyes bulging. "Don't you remember that this is your birthday?" How the "Lambs" laughed, and how the little "Black Sheep" flushed with pleasure!

"What's on my desk?"

"All for you, Bobby."

"Oh!" as he opened a package; "a knife with six blades! Gee! Ain't it a beaut!" as he opened another package and found a story-book.

Another burst of delight when he discovered his birthday cake. "Ain't it bully?" he said.

"Don't you want to light the candles?" How the little hand shook!

While the candles were burning, games were played, songs were sung, and refreshments taken.

Then came the cutting of the cake. Bobby cut the first piece for Miss B., giving her the little square with "J" on it. The "R" he kept for himself. Each child in the room had a little piece of Bobby's birthday cake.

"It's the only party I ever had," said Bobby, as he walked away from school with Miss B. that night. "And it was. just as nice as the feller's in the book," he continued, as he looked down at his armful of bundles. "And- and Miss B.," he jerked out, "I'm sorry I spilled the ink. I'm going to be good. I'm going to stop fighting, 'n whispering, 'n gum chewing, 'n everything."

"Not everything, Bobby," said Miss B.

"Throw away

the bad things, but keep always, little lad, what is good, and pure, and sweet."

And that was the day on which the "Black Sheep" began to turn white.

often enough to watch our work and so realize what you may reasonably expect. You know so little of what we do, that you fall, on the one hand, into the mistake of overpraising everything as wonderful work for small children; on the other hand, into a critical way of calling our best work so crude you wonder we can accept it. One trouble is this old manner of grading which should be put on the educational back shelf with Spencerian writing-books, etc.; this grammar and primary with an imaginary dividing line which seems to break off all intercourse. When we grade by numbers from 1 to 9, we shall feel more so if we were all sisters and work more into each other's hands. Personally, I do feel a little conscience-stricken, and I don't think I have held up the hands of my sisters upstairs as I ought. I did think I wouldn't turn over any new leaves this year, mine seemed so admirable, but simply make my old ones more perfect, however, I will, if you will. I promise not to religiously skip every article in grammar work I come across, but read to see if perhaps it may have a message for me. At the same time, O sister with the mote in your own eye, I shall leave my PRIMARY EDUCATION Ostentatiously on the table where you can see it! I think I may modestly slip into the back seat at an occasional grammar meeting in my building just to hear what's going on. And I am resolved that part of my visiting day shall be spent with some nice, cordial, expansive upper grade teacher, in whose room I can see how I may better co-operate with you all. Is it a bargain?"

And Pollie quite mollified said "yes."

A New Year's Bargain

M. B., Boston

"Well," said I, as I crammed the last package of seat work into that useful and much derided article, a Boston bag, "to-morrow the new school year begins. It's a drop for the children after their Christmas good times and life seems on a dead level. I wonder what to do for a little New Year surprise for the dears."

"You might surprise them by setting them to work," said Pollie, grimly. Now Pollie is my friend and an estimable woman, but, like many other mistaken grammar teachers, she cherishes a delusion that we primary teachers do nothing but sit in a circle of smiling and wriggling children, playing Ring-around-a-rosy, varying that exercise by games with shoe pegs and colored paper. I discreetly said nothing and Pollie proceeded to enlarge upon her pet grievance.

"There is no use avoiding the facts. I admit that you work with high ideals and for their accomplishment; you are au fait with the latest and best educational ideas; you co-operate intelligently with parents-but you do ignore the needs of us grammar teachers. The children write beautifully for you with pencil-they come to us and we practically go back to the beginning of letter-forming, while teaching them to use ink which they should have become familiar with before we took them. You give most charming number exercises and the children juggle fraction-blocks in a delightful manner. They come to us, and underneath this fancywork we do not find the solid skeleton of welldrilled facts we have a right to expect. Plenty of sight-reading-but do you ever realize that we need to have our classes able to read by themselves, and unaided, understand what they are reading? The very freedom of movement which is necessary for the happiness of a small child, you are not careful enough to train into the very quiet selfcontrol the strain of upper grade work makes needful."

Here Pollie stopped for breath and I hastened to interpose, thinking I might as well have the last word myself. "Don't shoot! I'll come down.' You are right, and you are wrong. It is a trite remark to say that you expect too much. You've heard that before. If we ignore you, you certainly are ignorant of us. You do not come to us

Primary Language

One Way of obtaining the First Sheet

L. MABEL FREESE, Bangor, Maine KNOW of no lesson that needs more careful and definite preparation on the teacher's part than the written language lesson.

We will take, for an example of one way of giving a written language lesson, the following-a subject which may be used at any season-"The Starfish."

. The teacher wishes to introduce the starfish in a new and

interesting way. She does this by means of a very simple game. Calling up one of the class, she blindfolds him, asks a child to put something into his hands, and sings:

Though your little eyes are blinded,

Your little hands can feel; Now touch the thing I give you,

And quick its name reveal.

Perhaps the object placed in the child's hand is an eraser, which he immediately names correctly, and chooses the next one to be blindfolded. By and by the teacher places the starfish in the blindfolded one's hands, and he is puzzled, as are some of the other children who can see. The interest is then at highest pitch, and someone reveals the name, "Starfish," which is carefully written on the board.

The observation and discovery lesson follows, when each child tells his story of the new object. "It is brown." "It is prickly." "It feels hard." "It has five points." "It is hollowish." "It has a little round hole in the middle." "My brother caught one at the seashore." "It lives in salt water." "It looks like a star." These and many other short stories are quickly told.

After these observations have been emphasized and few facts developed from them, it is time to lay the starfish aside until the next day. At that time the talk is reviewed and the following outline on the language board is developed as the children talk.

many would like to do something they have never done before have a whole sheet of language paper and write stories about the starfish on it. The papers are passed and the children questioned as to where will be the best place for their subject. It having been decided that the middle of the second line from the top will be a good place, they are directed to carefully write "The Starfish" there. Next the name is placed on the paper in the middle of the second line from the bottom, and they are asked to write the first story, telling in it where the starfish lives. Care is necessary on their part in order to leave a margin at both sides of the paper, to begin the story with a capital and end it with a period.

The next story gives more chance for individuality, for they may put in any of the words they choose under the second topic of the outline: viz., What the starfish is. The teacher proceeds in this way until a few stories are written, then she tells the children to make up any story they wish, and if they cannot spell all of the words she will help them. A word of praise and a bit of enthusiasm at this point work wonders, and then, after a few rest exercises, the crayons are passed, and, with a little practice on the drawing paper, they are ready to express their thoughts in another way, by drawing the sea star in the space left between the stories and the name, and the first story for their language book is done.

Entertainment Exercises

NELLIE E. CAMERON

It would be hard to choose from the hundred helpful things given in PRIMARY EDUCATION, which is the most helpful.

The "Entertainment" page is to me a most valuable feature-alone worth more than the entire price of the journal.

While we have some patrons whose interest leads them to make frequent visits, there is a class of parents who never visit school except on some entertainment day. Often we get in touch with these people in this way. Then too, we cannot gainsay the educational value as well as delight accruing to the child from the school entertainment. So, in spite of the somewhat dissipating excitement attending it, the work it entails and the dangers lurking in its abuse, we teachers feel that the entertainment day has its permanent place.

I have perhaps, some peculiar views about entertainments. I think they should be, above all things, democratic. No little heart should be disappointed at holiday time, no matter if it be accompanied by the dullest of little memories and the most tripping of little tongues.

If the teacher does not wish to inflict too much upon the audience, the pieces may be short (in point of necessity, probably, must be) but they can be sweetened for the child by a bit of gay costume or " stage property."

Aside from the child's feelings, the backward, dull child is just the one who needs the stimulus which comes to his selfrespect in feeling that he has an equal part with the bright child he so admires, in entertaining mamma and her friends. The dull child's mamma too, is probably the one to make the greatest sacrifices to shift her work and dress two or three babies for the proud, fond moment when little brother or sister speaks. It sweetens the whole entertainment to this mother, who perchance too, may need this uplift to her self-respect. To provide the right kind of recitations for this class of children has been a much harder task than to find something for the talented child. PRIMARY EDUCATION has helped me out many times. In my first grade school, with from seventy to ninety enrolled, with not only the usual number of backward children, but a smart sprinkling of foreigners, mostly Mexicans, I have frequently been obliged to invent little rhymes to suit particular cases-short lines, easy words and single thoughts. Occasionally, giving myself wider license I made a little piece also for vivacious Edith or droll Otis. Now, I have quite a large collection which have stood the test of popularity in our school-room at least, as well as occasionally more ambitious entertain

ments.

M

AMIE BANCROFT has a doll house twice as big as mine, and her mamma let's her use the sewing room for a playhouse nearly every day," pouted Agnes coming in from spending an hour with her. little friend. "I wish I could have a place to keep my things, too, and not have to put them into the closet every time I get through playing with them."

"I thought you liked the doll house," said Mamma. "You use the dining room to play in whenever your little friends come and you know we cannot spare a room just for your playthings. Mr. Bancroft's house is much larger than ours and Mamie is the only child."

"Well, I don't believe you would like to have the poorest things either," said Agnes, nearly ready to cry. "Yesterday Mamie had a play reception with real cakes and candies and the loveliest dishes you ever saw. Her mamma made her a party dress with a long train and we had the most fun playing we were grown up. Mrs. Bancroft played the piano and it was just like a big reception, Mamie said. She passed flowers when her mother had a party, so she knows."

"Did I ever tell you about the playhouse I had when I was a little girl?" asked Grandma, who had been listening while she sewed by the window. "We used to receive people in our houses, too, but they were grown folks. I think you and Mamie and all the girls would run if some of our guests could come to your receptions now-a-days."

"Where was your playhouse and who were your big guests?" asked Agnes, forgetting all about her own playthings.

"In a fence corner in front of our log cabin," said Grandma with a twinkle in her eye. "We moved to Ohio from Massachusetts long, long ago and all the playhouses we could have were out of doors, for the one and two roomed cabins were too full for playthings. My house was a sycamore log with big pieces of bark over the top. I was the only girl in the family and my six brothers all tried to help me fix it up nicely."

"How did you get the inside out of the log?" asked Agnes opening her eyes very wide. "And when you did get it scooped out it couldn't be very big."

"Sycamore logs are almost always hollow," explained Grandma, "and are so big that in those early times people used them for cisterns and to make little houses like chicken-coops and places to hang meat in. Mine was large enough for several visitors, and then I had the rail fence around it for a sort of summer house. The sycamore log stood on end in one corner and that was the parlor, while the square rail house was the commoner apartment. It was covered with strips of bark too, and I thought the whole thing the loveliest place I ever saw when it was covered with wild vines."

"What did you have in your queer parlor?" asked Agnes leaning on Grandma's knee.

"Brother John had made me the dearest little cupboard out of pieces of clapboards and I kept my dishes there. I am afraid you would have thrown my treasures into the garbage barrel, but I thought them perfect. There were blue and white pieces from mother's best tea pot that was broken in moving, and the big bowl with gilt leaves "

"Pieces of dishes, Grandma? Didn't you have little plates and cups and things like mine?"

"No, dear. We had gourds for cups and bits of broken plates and dishes in our cupboards. I was grown up before I ever saw dishes like yours in our pioneer store. There were few railroads then and people could not send East for toys because there were more important things to buy, but we were as happy as could be and I was a big girl before I would let them tear down my playhouse."

"Did you have dolls?"

"Yes indeed, but they were made of rags and their faces were printed, or rather drawn with ink on white muslin. We dried corn silk and tied it on for hair, and made fancy hats for our children by braiding strips of husks and sewing them into shape. My doll had black eyes and bright red cheeks and lips. All the children in the neighborhood used to come to mother when their dolls had to be attended to, and she always made the small owners happy by re-inking the babies' faces."

Grandma sat still looking out of the window as if she could still see the dear old cabin with the trumpet creeper holding up its bright blossoms over it, and the sycamore playhouse that had been her refuge during many a childish sorrow. Agnes could hardly wait for her to begin again, but Mamma motioned her to keep still till Grandma remembered her audience of one and turned back to resume her story.

"Where was I, dear? O yes, I remember now. I was going to tell you about our visitors. One day when Nancy Blair and I were rocking our dolls in the sugar trough we used for a cradle, a shadow seemed to come over the sun and we looked up to see if a storm was coming, and right there in our playhouse was a big Indian. He had to stoop down to keep his eagle feathers from touching the bark roof, and our house seemed entirely too small for his big body, but he squeezed into one side and another one followed." "Did you scream for your papa and weren't you frightened to death?" asked Agnes.

"We were scared," admitted Grandma, "but we kept still, for Indians often came to our homes and we had seen them before. They looked at everything without saying a word, but they couldn't get into our parlor. They grunted a few times and started to go, but the biggest Indian stuck in the doorway. He had come in sideways but tried to go out like his friend and our poor little mansion was nearly shaken down before he got into the open air.

"As soon as we thought they were out of sight we rushed in to tell Mother and then back again to see how much damage had been done to the roof. My brother soon patched up the playhouse and we never had such big visitors again. At least they never came in while we were there. The next day when I went to play in my house I found the prettiest pair of moccasins on the green moss that covered our table and a bead purse in the sugar trough cradle."

“Oh, Grandma, what did you do with them?"

"The moccasins I gave to Nancy and the purse I still have. You have seen it many a time among my treasures." "That dear little bag with the birds and flowers on it? How I wish I could have a playhouse like that!"

"Those dear little playhouses are all gone, Agnes," said Grandma sadly, "and so are most of the children who played in them." Then she added in her usual cheerful tones, "Perhaps when you get to be Grandma your little grandchildren may like to hear about the things you played with if you cherish them as I do the memory of the sycamore parlor."

"I will," said Agnes softly. "I do love my dolls and I'm going to try to keep them all so I can show them when I tell about my playhouse, but my story will never be as nice as yours. I'm not sorry, though, that Indians can't come

to visit me."

THE VALUE OF CHARCOAL

Few People Know How Useful It is in

Preserving Health and Beauty

Nearly everybody knows that charcoal is the safest and most efficient disinfectant and purifier in nature, but few realize its value when taken into the human system for the same cleansing purpose.

Charcoal is a remedy that the more you take of it the better; it is not a drug at all, but simply absorbs the gases and impurities always present in the stomach and intestines, and carries them out of the system.

Charcoal sweetens the breath after smoking, drinking, or after eating onions and other odorous vegetables.

Charcoal effectually clears and improves the complexion, it whitens the teeth, and further acts as a natural and eminently safe cathartic.

It absorbs the injurious gases which collect in the stomach and bowels: it disinfects the mouth and throat from the poison of catarrh.

All druggists sell charcoal in one form or another, but probably the best charcoal and the most for the money is in Stuart's Absorbent Lozenges; they are composed of the finest powdered Willow charcoal, and other harmless antiseptics in tablet form, or rather in the form of large, pleasant tasting lozenges, the charcoal being mixed with honey.

The daily use of these lozenges will soon tell in a much improved condition of the general health, better complexion, sweeter breath, and purer blood, and the beauty of it is, that no possible harm can result from their continued use, but on the contrary, great benefit.

A Buffalo physician, in speaking of the benefits of charcoal, says: "I advise Suart's Absorbent Lozenges to all patients suff ring from gas in stomach and bowels, and to clear the complexion and purify the breath, mouth, and throat; I also believe the liver is greatly benefited by the daily use of them; they cost but twenty-five cents a box at drug stores, and although in some sense a patent preparation, yet I believe I get more and better ch rcoal in Stuart's Absorbent Loz. enges tha. in any of the ordinary charcoal tablets."

SEAT WORK

AUGSBURG'S

-After a full canvass of the situation the Executive Committee deemed it advisable for all the interests of the National Educational Association to hold the convention in 1904 in St. Louis, and so decided by a unanimous vote at a meeting held in Chicago, November 9. The great promise of the Universal Exposition; the generous provisions for the educational exhibit; the well grounded assurances that it will be the largest, best selected, and most representative educational exhibit yet gathered at any exposition; and the certain benefit to teachers which will follow a careful study of such an exhibit, as well as the other features of the exposition, were the leading considerations which determined the action of the Committee. The exposition authorities and the various educational and business organizations of St. Louis have united in tendering to the officers of the Association the most liberal assistance and facilities for the work of the convention and for the comfortable and economical entertainment of the members.

It is proposed to modify the usual plan for the meetings by making the various features of the exhibit the chief topic for all papers and discussions. The presence and co-operation of eminent representatives of foreign educational systems are assured to assist in comparative and thorough studies of the exhibits which will be the prominent feature of the convention. It is proposed to hold a meeting of the Department Presidents in St. Louis about January first to formulate plans for the convention programs.

The dates for the convention are not yet determined; three dates are proposed, and the Executive Committee invite an expression of opinion by the members of the

dates, viz., June 28 to July 2; July 5 to 9; or July 12 to 16.

-The following have accepted calls to do work in the Cornell Summer Session for 1904 Prof. Albert Berry Brigham, Colgate University; Dr. Charles A. McMurry, Northern Illinois Normal School; Prof. Stanley Coulter, Purdue University; Prin. Philip Emerson, Cobbet School, Lynn, Mass.; Supervisor R. H. Whitbeck, Trenton, N. J., State Normal School; Miss Margaret Clay Ferguson, Wellesley College; Miss Mable Burnham Pierson, Girl's Collegiate School, Los Angeles, California.

-Charcoal is good for the stomach. It is antiseptic, absorbent, and purifying. It prevents fermentation and decay of food. An ideal preparation is Murray's Charcoal Tablets. For twenty-five years the standard.

-Radiant smiles are enhanced in beauty by pearly teeth. SOZODONT makes pearly teeth. Liquid cleanses. Powder polishes.

A real gem. Teachers fall in love with it and pupils want to read it through as soon as they begin it. Appropriate for School and Home.

It is the story of the experience of Delma and Harold who went to their grandfather's to spend the summer studying and observing the birds. Contents are:

BIRDIES AT THEIR TRADES, BIRDIES AND THEIR SONGS, BIRDIES ON THE WING, THE BIRDIES' FAREWELL.

The Book is Prettily Illustrated

THE HELPERS 3, Each, 25c.

To any one who mentions PRIMARY EDUCATION the three will be mailed for 40c. Money refunded to any who are not satisfied. They are just what they say they are. They contain Programs for Special Days, Poetry for all occasions, Music, Songs, Blackboard Illustrations. Every help a teacher needs.

The three Helpers and "Birdies" for only 55 cents.

"Graded

Memory Selections" brings together a very choice collection of children's poems. A certain old lady of my acquaintance was so delighted to find between the covers of one book so many of the favorites of her childhood that I was constrained to present her with the little book on the spot. The book will be a delight, not only to children, but to a who are wise enough never to grow old.

HENRY D. HERVEY,

Supt. of Schools, Pawtucket, R. I. 190 Pages. Full Cloth. Price, 25 cents EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING CO. 63 Fifth Avenue, New York Boston San Francisco

Chicago

Every year is a fresh beginning. Every January brings the unspoken message, "Try over again." "I washed the slate all off, and started fresh again at thirty-five," said one of the most successful men I ever knew-successful in head work and heart work, and in the best of things. To settle down to the belief that one's chances for better results are over at thirty-five, or any other five, is a great mistake. Is it a question whether one ought to wash the slate clear and forget what was there? Certain it is that thinking over the crooked lines in the past, when we meant to make only straight ones, is neither inspiriting nor elevating. To recognize they are crooked, to see, if we can, why they were, is needful before we try again; but to expiate error by cultivating a sense of humiliation never yet roused the soul to stronger, truer endeavor. The teacher who is deadened with layer-wrappings of self-satisfaction, may let these milestones of time go by without any thinking, but it is thoroughly healthful to look the past squarely in the face, and by the same courage, meet the new year with a determination to make its opportunities stepping stones to higher things. Keeping the end of the line in the eye as the pencil glides over the paper, is a much surer way to get a straight line than to guide one's hand by constantly watching it. Keeping the goal in view promises much better for straightline conduct than to be always watching and measuring one's footsteps. What is the goal for each of us in the coming year? That is a question to be met, personally, in silent, searching communion. Is it too much to predict that the happiness of the coming year will depend largely on the goal we aim at, and the courage and spirit with which we press toward it? Obstructions in the way? Of course. That is what life means. To meet hindrances, conquer, smile over them, and not trouble other people too much with them, is a pretty safe philosophy for life. It would be a monotonous road that had no ups or downs, and we should grow as monotonous as the way.

The Supplement

pictures in this number cover the story of "Fa Away Lands" for January and February." No other book can give teachers so much help about the Eskimo country as "Children of the Cold" (Educational Publishing Co., Boston). It is invaluable in its fascinating story-style of information. The game "Noo-glook-took," or "Noo-glooktahk," pictured in Supplement, is like our "Pin and cup-ball." The object of the game is to impale the cup-ball on the pin by thrusting the latter in one of the holes. Have you ever wondered, teachers, why children are always so interested in Eskimo life? Is it the primitive character of the life there that appeals to the primitive in child nature?

Evergreens

A page of the common evergreens, with the cone belonging to each variety, has been substituted this month for the usual outline blackboard drawings. Teachers will find the page valuable in sketching or teaching evergreens.

Group Ideals"

Note the working out of Dr. Stanley Hall's suggestion for "group ideals" in "A Sandpile," on page 39 in this number.

hands, as follows:

For January

Oct. 25

66

February

Nov. 25

66

March

Dec. 25

66

April

Jan. 25

May

Feb. 25

Now will you please, dear, well-meaning, forgetful contributors, cut these dates out, and put them in your bedroom (beside your New Year's good resolutions) where your eye will light upon them the first thing each morning? To receive a contribution, perhaps a very desirable one, for a particular number two weeks before that number of the paper is to be sent to subscribers, is as discouraging to the editor as to the writer, when it is returned. Half a hundred thousand papers are not made and printed in two weeks. Will you look ahead before sending anything for a special number, and do a little arithmetic work? You will save your time and disappointment, my time and possible regret, and your stamps. If you will gain in this respect as much as you have improved in sending stamps for return of manuscripts during the last year, we shall all be happier.

Nature in Winter

The nature loving teacher never finds richer opportunities to impress the children with the beauty of the outdoor world than in winter. The grayest day has its peculiar charm.

Something, something always sings.-Emerson

The study of tree-branching is best made after the leaves are gone, and trees stand like etchings. Snow storms and ice storms make pictures of every shrub, and the frost-work everywhere is beyond the reach of pencil or brush. Thoreau says: "The sunsets of winter are incomparably splendid. Remote objects are brought out with an accuracy unattainable in summer. The transparency of the air in January has the effect of a telescope in bringing objects apparently near, while it leaves the scene all its breadth." Bird study in winter is full of interest-novel interest. Pity the city boys and girls at this season. Give them word-pictures and portions of "Snow Bound," as soon as they are old enough to grasp them, and they can begin earlier than we suppose. The shut-in city children get only the slush of a snow-storm, and know nothing of the real joys of winter. One's heart aches for them. Let us make up to them what

we can.

Salaries

Dr. Maxwell, Superintendent of New York City Schools, says that "teachers should have salaries to enable them to enter intellectual society, to buy books, to travel occasionally, to dress tastefully, to take advantage of all proper opportunities for self-improvement; in short, to lead, but in a perfectly modest way, the life of a cultured lady or gentleman." Send him a telepathic message of gratitude and encouragement, teachers, and perhaps he will say it again. The more of that sentiment in the air, the better.

"A Bunch of Keys"

is the title of a beautiful little book by Margaret Johnson. Her well-known name is a guarantee for its worth. Each of the "Key" family tells a story in rebus form. No more pleasing book can be found for a gift to children. The teacher who has this upon her desk for the little ones to "take" when their work is done, will find industry and discipline provided for. (E. P. Dutton & Co., Boston, Price, $1.00.)