REVIEW.

The work of the Association for the third decade may be regarded as greater in the direction of creating public sentiment, and of diffusing a knowledge of improved methods among teachers, than by way of influencing legislation.

The most important legislative enactment affecting education in this period, which can be recorded, was doubtless the abolition of the rate-bill system which dates from April 16th, 1867, and which guaranteed an education "without money and without price" to all children of the State that would avail themselves of its provisions.

However, this did not seem to be sufficient. It was held that children should not only be allowed, but when necessary, compelled, to attend school. Accordingly, May 11th, 1874, the Compulsory Education Law was passed, which almost immediately, however, became inoperative.

A third law of some general interest was passed in June, 1877, against changes of text-books for five-year periods.

These measures may be regarded as originating with the Association.

A Centennial Era-Thirtieth Meeting at Fredonia, 1875-Field Day at Dunkirk-Noah T. Clarke -Thirty-first Meeting at Watkins, 1876-The Excursion to Philadelphia-Edward SmithThirty-second Meeting at Plattsburg, 1877-John W. Mears-Thirty-third Meeting at Albany, 1878-Casper G. Brower-Thirty-fourth Meeting at Penn Yan, 1879-Lake Kenka-James Johonnot-Thirty-fifth Meeting at Canandaigua-The Lake-Jerome Allen-Thirty-sixth Meeting at Saratoga, 1881-The Capture of Ticonderoga -Albert B. Watkins-Thirtyseventh Meeting at Yonkers, 1882-Coney Island-John A. Nichols-The Inter-Academic Union-Comments-Lake George.

THIRTIETH ANNUAL MEETING.

THE year 1875, the hundredth anniversary of the first year of the Revolutionary War, was the beginning of a centennial era not yet fully closed. And possibly the tendency to excursions and other social observances may have been increased thereby. At any rate we find excursions becoming a marked feature of the Association, and by no means the least valuable feature, as the Field Day at Dunkirk, in 1875, the centennial excursion in 1876, and the various excursions of the years following testify. Doubtless, the opportunity to study natural history and scenery did not diminish the attendance at these later meetings.

The annual meeting for 1875 was held at Fredonia, beginning July 26th and closed with an excursion to Dunkirk on the 28th of the same month. A. C. Cushing, Esq., made an Introductory Address, and the Hon. George Barker welcomed the Association. After expressing thanks for the cordial greeting, the President, Henry R. Sanford, delivered his address.

6

The great Centennial year has dawned upon us; Concord and Lexington and Bunker Hill have already spoken. The year which our Centennial celebrates was one of doubt and uncertainty. Liberty and independence were then not ours. The thought of the year was, ' Will they do it?' Dare they do it?' Our education is in a like critical period. We have had our Lexington and our Concord and our Bunker Hill. At our Tea Party we threw overboard the odious rate bill, and we have proclaimed that it is the duty of the property of the State to educate all its children. We have yet stern battles to fight. Yorktown and Valley Forge are yet before us. Such common school education as we now have to a great extent, and such teachers' qualifications, must give place to betOur small, penurious districts must be united into strong, possibly town districts, with a liberal central board, and a high school free to all.

ter.

Experiment has abundantly proven that self-government without popular education is a myth; but with our free common schools, we have in a century demonstrated that self-government is a grand success, and when the century shall close may even the animosities of our civil war be lost in brotherly love,

and we commence our second centennial as never did any other nation on earth. Surely God hath not dealt so with any other nation.

,,

At the conclusion of the address, letters of greeting were received from Dr. James Thomson, Dr. Charles Davies, ex-President Williams, and Professor G. B. Hendrickson, who were prevented by illness or other causes from attending. Superintendent Edward Danforth, of Elmira, presented a verbal report on County Associations and their Agency in the Advancement of General Education.

Miss Elizabeth Richardson, teacher of methods, normal school at Fredonia, presented a paper on the Social Relations of Teacher and Pupil.

Have you ever thought of the difference between the way in which Michael Angelo regarded his block of marble and the way in which that same block was regarded by the stone-cutter in the quarry, or the drayman who carted it to his studio? Methinks there was a tender, reverential care, even in lifting it to its place, that would be exerted by the artist which would be impossible in the workmen, from the lack of the thought within them.

The teacher in dealing with his pupils should differ as much from other people as the great sculptor differed from other men in viewing and dealing with his block of marble. Only the teacher's conception should be as much grander, and his aim as much higher, as the completely developed man or woman is superior to the inanimate, senseless marble.

The President then introduced Professor William Wells, LL.D., of Union University, who delivered an address on The Family.

"Were it not for the family and the school, Germany might now be where the first Napoleon wished it-- Obliterated from the map of Europe.'

"Some have said it was their battle songs that gave them inspiration in battle, but it is a mistake. Sentiment is good enough, but it does not conquer. It was the power of home. She who rocks the cradle, and is willing to, rules the world.

"If the family is such a power, should it not be kept sacred? Wherever it is thus kept we find the best preserved nations.

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England is a country of homes, where every man's house is his castle.

"We do not feel that attachment to our homes that we should. Christian homes should be happy homes, and the way to have them so is to keep within them those who belong there."

Discussions being in order, Mr. Ross, of Seneca, took the floor, and referring to the addresses of President Sanford and Professor Wells, said he was glad that these men had so much backbone to give such addresses. "What is home? Is it two persons getting married, then board out? Or is it keeping house and buying bread, cake and pie, and having the ironing, washing and sewing done by some one else? Is it home where a man has to hire his shirt made and then hire it washed? The wife's business is to keep the house, take care of the things, and the man. Are there any homes in New York City? No, sir. Bachelors are plenty, because there is such style now-a-days-girls want so muchthat a young man cannot afford to be married. Any poor, humble young man would be ruined to marry in New York City. "The women are to blame for this.

If young women would help young men

of moderate means before and after marriage, crime would be lessened." All of which was duly appreciated by the acquaintances and friends of Mr. Ross.

Dr. Noah T. Clarke, Chairman of Committee on Education, presented a report on the Condition of Education.

In conclusion, he referred to some educational questions of great importance: 66 I. The co-education of the sexes. The results of the last year have strength

ened the idea, not only of the equal ability of women, but of the great propriety of admitting her not only to as full and complete a course of study as man, but to the same course and to the same culture.

CYF PRESENT TIME

15. lega' prevention of iil teracy, or

There has

compulsory attendance.
compulsory attendance, and the

) even a growing sentiment in favor of

ar lavor

e workings of the law in Connecticut has been to commend the law The effect of what may be called the demonstrative phase of our educainter-collegiate and inter-academic literary contests, in the ball playing and a" our schools, with the cramming and exhausting preparation for them, in the ton, as seen in the frequent examinations, exhibitions and commencements of regatta, the hurdle race, the walking and the running match, and the like. tating mania which has spread over the land like the epizootic, in the college 4. The more vital question of the Bible in the public schools. This quesmittee believe that this measure is fraught with prodigious evil to our free instithe common schools from every species of attack, we fear that this concession tutions and to the government itself; and while we would at all hazards protect to those who clamor for it would open the door for other and still greater demands, which would imperil the entire system.' Professor Allen, Geneseo.-The decision of the Rochester Board of Education, regarding the Bible question, was not made to satisfy any complaint of Roman Catholics. The motion to exclude the Bible from the schools was not made by a Catholic, and this fact should be understood.

tion is thrust upon us, with a

demand for an immediate solution. Your com

Let those who would

know the origin of this proposition ask Dr. Gilmore, of the Rochester Uni

versity.

In the absence of Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction, J. H. Tenney, his paper was read by Dr. D. J. Pratt, Assistant Secretary of the Board of Regents, entitled What Next?

Dr. Mears, of Hamilton College, addressed the Association upon the general sentiment of the papers read.

Commissioner Frank Smith, of Angelica, read a paper upon the Work of a Commissioner Preparatory to an Institute.

"All preparation for the Institute is worth little unless the character, ability and zeal of the instructors chosen fit them to lead teachers successfully along the way which the commissioner has attempted to make straight. Not alone the work of instruction, but the quiet influence of a pure heart and a cultured mind will make better teachers. The Institute instructor is for the time a model, after which each teacher unconsciously models himself; and character in the instructor creates character in the instructed."

Superintendent O. C. Harrington, of Rome, presented a paper upon What Shall be Done with the Compulsory Education Law?

"We stand," said he, "face to face with a necessity which must be met. Our free institutions demand support. As an outgrowth of the necessity comes the compulsory law. Those who have devised the law were earnest men. Shall a man be compelled to eat bread? Yes, if he is starving and refuses it. The present act is a failure because there is not the power to compel its success. The men who should carry it out can do nothing satisfactory with it. Is it right or wrong in principle? Right. Education by force seems more reasonable to the child of a monarchical form of government than to our citizens. Such a law seems hard to execute. Mind your own business,' is the cry of an American when he considers himself encroached upon by attempts to reach his children, or to crowd his personality in any manner.'

Dr. James Cruikshank, of Brooklyn, presented the report of Special Committee on the Law of Heredity in Education.

"There are not many mute, inglorious Miltons. Hearts pregnant with celestial fire, usually find some means of warming the world into a higher life. Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed, do, as a rule, sway the rod of empire; and the ecstacy to be awaked from the living lyre is heard sometime and somewhere stirring men's hearts. Genius will not down at our bid

ding. Happy, if recognizing and reading aright its indications, we so direct that through education it may have broader scope and more forceful influence.

"But the sphere of education in the individual is limited, and can never be made to transcend the native potentialities any more than he can by taking thought add a cubit to his stature, or lengthen out the span of his life. This would be evident enough a priori, and by the analogy of physical life, but experience still more confirms it. Many a man of liberal education and ripe culture reaches a point of attainment at which, though his knowledge may be increased by persistent study, yet his power of thought, of abstraction, of reason, of generalization, or of expression, has reached its maximum, and cannot be increased."

He concluded with the following propositions :

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1. That the law of heredity is a constant everywhere asserting itself in the physical, mental and moral world.

"2. That the manifold educational, i.e., perfecting and modifying, influences, tend, if wisely applied, to an ideal advancement. That they first perfect the individual within the limit of his hereditary possibilities, and through him and those who come after him, tend to elevate without destroying the ideal type.

"3. That systems of education, both in their statutory provisions and in the course of instruction and methods of administration, should have reference to the manifold uses of life, the elevation of the social state, and the culture of all the healthful activities of the individual according to his capacity.

4. That teachers should study carefully the characteristics of each pupil, and so far as possible enter into his individual needs.

64

5. We believe that there is a science of practical psychometry, allied to, and affected by, the laws and principles of heredity, and that the investigation and application of its principles will lead to a more intelligent method of instruction than now in use.'

Professor Baker favored the Association with a vocal solo, Blow, Bugle, Blow.

Dr. J. Dorman Steele, of Elmira, delivered an informal address upon What a New York Teacher saw in German Schools.

He prefaced his address by describing the school system of Stuttgart, from a plan given him by an instructor of that city, but his visit was chiefly confined to the schools of Wurtemberg. By this plan, and his account of the nature, object and working of the schools visited, an intelligent view may be obtained of the general school system throughout Germany.

In the Volk's school for both sexes, for the peasant or poorer class, when 14 years old, they have to answer, if the school be Protestant, 73 questions in the catechism, recite 397 Bible verses, and repeat 45 hymns. If Catholic, it is about the same amount, but the matter is furnished by the priests. The local option system is practised. If the majority in the district are Catholic, the school (for all) is Catholic. If the majority are Protestant, the school is Protestant. 14 they are compelled to attend the Sabbath-schools.

At

In referring to the character of examinations of students, he read several of their rules adopted to the effect that vanity should be discouraged, that instruction should not degenerate into a mere preparation for examination, etc., all good rules, intellectually considered. But notwithstanding the time given to the fourth R-religion-the use of profanity seems to be as natural with them as the eating of their dinners.

Chancellor E. O. Haven, D.D., LL.D., of Syracuse University, delivered an address upon Civilization in America.

All nations abound in savages; the United States is no exception to this rule. What wonder that Rousseau preferred the ideal state when much the larger portion of mankind in his day were landless, dirty and vicious? We are more exempt from barbarism than any other nation. Nearly all of our suffering is caused by strong drink. There are three grand promoters of civilization