Dean waited till she had crossed the lawn and nearly reached the gate, a distance of several rods from the house, and then despatched a servant in great haste to call her back. She was, of course, not a little vexed at the unexpected summons; when she appeared at his door, and inquired what was wanted: "Shut the door, Mary," said the Dean, without lifting his eyes from his book. At a certain time he was making a journey on horseback, accompanied by his footman. After a few days, John, having found that his master's boots, which he had spent so much time in polishing, became, in a few hours after starting in the morning, quite as muddy as they were the night before, concluded that his labor was all lost, and accordingly the next morning presented the boots without cleaning. To his master's inquiry, he gave the above reasoning, which appeared to be quite satisfactory. The Dean, however, immediately directed the host not on any account to give John any breakfast. When the servant was called on to start, he informed his master that he had had no breakfast. "Ah," said the Dean, "I thought if you should eat this morning, you would be hungry again by noon, and it would therefore do no good." No one acquainted with the laws of mind will need to be told that the methods adopted by the Dean were crowned with success proportionate to their shrewdness. It is in accordance with the ideas here sought to be enforced, that the wise man says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Mere teaching will not always suffice: skilful training will rarely fail to accomplish its object.-Ohio Journal. WORK. What are we set on earth for? Say, to toil- E. BARRETT BROWNING. PUNCTUATION.-A country schoolmaster, who found it rather difficult to make his pupils observe the difference in reading between a comma and a full point, adopted a plan of his own, which he flattered himself would make them proficients in the art of punctuation; thus, in reading, when they came to a comma, they were to say tick, and read on to a colon or semicolon, tick, tick, and when a full point, tick, tick, tick. Now, it so happened that the worthy Dominie received notice that the parish minister was to pay a visit of examination to his school, and as he was desircus that his pupils should show to the best advantage, he gave them an extra drill the day before the examination. "Now," said he, addressing his pupils, "when you read before the minister to-morrow, you leave out the ticks, though you must think them as you go along, for the sake of elocution." So far so good. Next day came, and with it the minister, ushered into the school-room by the Dominie, who, with smiles and bows, hoped that the training of the scholars would meet his approval. Now it so happened that the first boy called up by the minister had been absent the preceding day, and, in the hurry, the master had forgotten to give him his instructions how to act. The minister asked the boy to read a chapter in the Old Testament, which he pointed out. The boy complied, and in his best accent began to read-" And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, tick, speak unto the children of Israel saying tick, tick, and thus shalt thou say unto them, tick, tick, tick." This unfortunate sally, in his own style, acted like a shower bath on the poor Dominie, whilst the minister and his friends almost died of laughter. A PRONOUNCING, EXPLANATORY, AND SYNONYMOUS DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. BY JOSEPH E. WORCESTER, LL. D. The author has styled this work "The Academic Dictionary." It has been designed to meet the wants of the higher class of schools. All well authorized English words are contained in it; and their pronunciation has been marked with the greatest care, and the most appropriate definitions given. The bringing together of synonymous words is a new and very important fea ture of the work. The appendix has, besides the pronunciation of Greek and Latin, Scripture and Geographical names, a list of Christian names with their significations, of the words and phrases often quoted from other languages, and of the principal deities and heroes of antiquity. We hesitate not to pronounce it the best Dictionary for general use that has yet appeared. The publishers have done their part well, and deserve great credit for presenting it to the public in so attractive a form. THIS Association held its annual meeting at Shelburne Falls, on Wednesday, Oct. 31st, 1855. In absence of the President, the meeting was called to order by the Secretary. D. O. Fisk was appointed President, pro Prayer was offered by Rev. W. F. Loomis, of Shel burne Falls. Messrs. Field, Newton and Miner were appointed a committee to nominate officers for the year ensuing. The reports of the Secretary and Treasurer were presented. The Association was then favored with an address by H. H. Pratt, Esq., of Shelburne Falls. F. W. Miner, of Greenfield, then introduced an Exercise in Teaching Arithmetic, upon which a spirited discussion arose, participated in by Messrs. Kingman and Foster of Charle mont, Miner, Vent and Pratt. The committee to nominate officers reported the following, who were duly elected: President D. O. Fisk, of Shelburne. Vice President-S. O. Lamb, of Greenfield. Secretary and Treasurer - D. H. Newton, Greenfield. Directors Rev. Geo. M. Adams, Conway; H. A. Pratt, Esq., Shelburne Falls; Henry M. Goddard, Orange; S. T. Field, Shelburne Falls; Edwin A. Pratt, Montague. Committee on Prizes-C. F. Vent, Esq., Greenfield; Rev. W. F. Loomis, Shelburne Falls; Rev. J. F. Moors, Deerfield. Auditors Rev. J. H. Merrill, Montague; E. B. Alvord, Shelburne. Adjourned. EVENING SESSION. The question, "Is it advisable to offer Prizes as incentives to emulation in our Public Schools," was discussed by Messrs. Newton, Fisk, Kingman and Field. The Association then listened to an address by George Stevens, Esq., of Lowell. Subject-"The true end of Education." Adjourned. THURSDAY MORNING. W. T. Loomis in the Chair. Prayer by S. T. Field. The Committee on Essays reported that equal prizes be awarded to No. 5 and No. 6, of $5 each, which were then read before the meeting. The Secretary then opened the envelopes corresponding to the successful Essays. No. 5, Miss Esther Newton, Green field; No. 6, Miss Marie A. Sawyer, Wendell. The remaining Essays, upon application to the Secretary, will be returned to the authors. Voted, That hereafter the Committee on Prize Essays be allowed to present a report on all the papers submitted to them for examination. Exercise in teaching. Reading, by C. F. Vent, of Greenfield, and discussed by Messrs. Pratt and Miner. The last hour was occupied by Prof. Arms upon the subject of "Aid to Memory." Resolved, That the attendance upon and interest shown at this meeting, encourage us to persevere, and endeavor to render the future meetings of the Association more useful and interesting, and worthy the attention of teachers, and of the whole community. Resolved, That the thanks of the Association be presented to Messrs. Pratt and Stevens for their very able and instructive addresses before the Association. Resolved, That the thanks of the Association be presented to the people of Shelburne Falls for their kind and cheerful hospitality, and for their active efforts to make the present meeting so pleasant and useful, and also to the Baptist Society for the use of their church. Adjourned sine die. D. H. NEWTON, Sec. For the Massachusetts Teacher. HAMPDEN COUNTY TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION. A MEETING of this Association was held at Monson, Friday and Saturday, October 19th and 20th. The meeting was called to order at half past three in the afternoon, on Friday, by the President, Mr. Barrows, of Springfield. The lecturer appointed for this hour not having arrived, Mr. Tufts, Principal of Monson Academy, gave a lecture on System. The lecture was full of sound sense and practical wisdom, and we regret that our limits will not permit us to give an analysis of it. Wm. H. Wells, Principal of the State Normal School at Westfield, followed with an interesting account of the state of education in Canada, and a description of the Normal School at Toronto. Mr. Wells has lately returned from a visit to the Provinces, where he has been to acquaint himself with the common school system of Her Majesty's dominions. The evening session was opened by a lecture from A. Parish, Principal of the High School at Springfield. SubjectMoral Instruction. The lecture contained many practical suggestions of great value. It was followed by a poem delivered by J. E. Taylor, Esq., of Springfield, Subject-Letters. A discussion followed on various topics suggested by the lectures, in which the younger memers of the Association took an active part. Mr. Strong, of Springfield, spoke of the good effects of Teachers' Conventions upon the teacher. Mr. Flint, Principal of the Westfield Academy, said that the tendency of the age was to shut out moral instruction from the school-room, altogether. He thought the public sentiment was wrong on this subject. Mr. Dickinson, of the Westfield Normal School, thought the reason why so few teachers were found at the meetings of the Associations, was that the instruction given in the lectures and discussions of the Association was not practical enough, and he suggested that at the next meeting some teacher be requested to give a model exercise in teaching on some topic taught in common schools. The suggestion was put into the form of a resolution by Mr. Wells, and adopted by the conɣention. Mr. Bailey, of Chicopee, entertained the convention with a few remarks pertinent to the occasion. The Saturday morning session was opened with a lecture by Mr. J. T. Ford, of the Theological Seminary, East Windsor, Conn. Subject Physical Geography. He presented a historical sketch of the science from the earliest times to the present. It was an able production, and secured the undivided attention of the audience during its delivery. The convention closed its session at 10 o'clock, A. M., and the members returned to their homes, feeling that the little time they had been together had not been spent in vain. INDEX TO VOLUME VIII. Acrostic, 269. Another victim, 246. An old school and its master, 43. applications, 255. J. W. D. Biology, science of human, 18. Board of Education, notice of eighteenth Arithmetic, accuracy in, 107; and its Brown, Prof. C. S., 246. Arnold, a Christian man, 161. Association, Mass. Teachers', 26, 348. "Hampden Co. 66 "Franklin Co. 53, 190, 382. 381. Character, formation of, 51. Children, in Bavaria, 104; at what age should they enter school, 257. Choate, on the value of a love for read- Classical culture, claims of, 251. Comins School, 128, 158. Composition, on the writing of, 234. Correspondence, foreign, 179, 238, 348, 210, 356. Coolies for Cuba, 212. Curiosity, mathematical, of figure nine, 86. Diary in Turkish and Greek waters, 223. Dictionaries, 281, 380. Discipline for little children, 132; school, Divisibility of numbers, 220. |