proper time his rhetorical exercises. The father brought suit against Mr. Clark and the Board of Education for damages to the amount of $1000. Judge A. A. Latty of the Common-Pleas Court, dismissed the case on the ground of "no cause" for action. Mr. Sewell appealed to the District Court which passed the case to the Supreme Court without decision. The Supreme Court under sec. 54 of the Act of May 1st, 1873, which was also in force at the time of the suspension, affirmed Judge Latty's decisions and allowed the defendant costs of prosecution. This is believed to be the first case as yet decided bearing directly upon rhetorical exercises in public schools. For this history of the case we are indebted to Herbert H. Wright, the present superintendent of the Defiance Public Schools. ——NEXT month we shall give an excellent article from John W. Dowd, Superintendent of the Public Schools of Troy, Ohio. Those who read Mr. Dowd's article in our January issue will expect something good in the second article. Those having the management of Institutes should read Mr. Dowd's Announcement in this issue. EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. -WHEN notified that a subscriber has failed to receive any number of this journal due him, we always remail it. All changes of address should reach us by the twentieth of the month preceding the one in which the change is to take effect. If a subscriber should delay the order for change of address until after a number shall have been sent to his former address, he should forward a two-cent stamp to the postmaster to pay for forwarding the number. Subscriptions should begin with January, April, July, or October. -THERE are to be only eight months of school in Cambridge, Ohio, this year. -THERE are now in the province of British Columbia 42 schools and 52 teachers. -THERE is a college near Greeneville in East Tennessee, called Tusculum College. -NEARLY forty-three thousand dollars are spent annually in assisting young men studying at Harvard University. -THE Chickasaw Nation consists of 6,000 persons, about 500 of these being pupils in the schools, 300 of these pupils being boarded. -A six-weeks' Summer School of Biology will commence July 6, in Salem, Mass., under the auspices of the Peabody Academy of Science. -AN interesting paper was read February 14, at the meeting of the College of Preceptors in London, on "The Unexamined Work of the Schoolmaster." -NEXT month we hope to give an account of what the Ohio General Assembly did in the way of school legislation in the session which ended on the 30th of April. AN examination for admission to the Freshman Class of Princeton College will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 15. The same questions will be given as at Princeton. -In England it is said that 73 Boards of Education have agreed to join the London Board in promoting the spelling reform, and that 124 Boards have refused to do so. -A NEW military company has been organized by about fifty students in Western-Reserve College. The organization was effected by the exertions of Col. D. F. De Wolf, one of the professors. -TEN thousand dollars have been given to Denison University by W. H. Doane, of Cincinnati. He requests that it be appropriated for a new building to be used for chapel, library, and cabinet purposes. -A 24-ROOм memorial hall is to be erected on the site of Beatty Hall of the Western Theological Seminary, in Allegheny City. Dr. Beatty of Steubenville, Ohio, has given $24,000 for the erection of this hall. -THE seven Russian universities expended in 1876 money as follows: St Petersburg, $217,500; Moscow, $264,250; Kieff, $191,876; Kazan, $197,500; Kharkof, $190,625; Odessa, $126,875; and Dorpat, $133,126. -THE Schools of Ottawa under the management of S. F. De Ford are said to be working harmoniously. The March examination in the High School covered the work of three months. The average per cent reached was 95. -LEWIS MCLOUTH, of Ypsilanti, Mich., editor of the Michigan Department of Educational Intelligence in the Educational Weekly, calls Haverford College an Indiana College. It is not many miles from Phila-delphia, Pa. -Or the hundred teachers employed last year in the Public Schools of Toronto, 21 were gentlemen and 79 ladies. Their Salaries amounted to nearly 45,000 dollars. This year 30 additional teachers have been employed. -Dr. J. H. HooSE's Vindication of the Common School, Free High School, and Normal School Systems of Education, as they exist in the State of New York, read in Albany, March 28, has been published in pamphlet form. -THE full circular of the Summer School of Science at Columbus presents a very inviting feast to the lovers of scientific food. Professors 'Orton, Mendenhall, Norton, and Tuttle, will respectively dish out from the geological, physical, chemical, and biological plates. -FIVE members of the Eaton (Ohio) Board of Education, with Supt. L, D. Brown and eleven Eaton teachers, made a short time ago a visit of inspection to the schools of Hamilton. Supt. Ellis and four members of the Hamilton Board acted as escort and entertained them at one of the hotels. A five-weeks' Normal School, beginning July 23, will be held in New Lisbon, Ohio, under the management of C. C. Davidson, Superintendent of the New-Lisbon Schools, and G. W. Snyder, Superintendent of the Caledonia Public Schools. -WE regret that ill health has prevented us from making an intended visit to the schools of Canton, Ohio, now under the superintendency of J. H. Lehman. We shall be greatly disappointed if we shall not be able to give an account of these schools in our June issue. -THE Report of the Cleveland Public Schools for last year has just been issued. It contains 413 pages, 28 of which are statistical tables. It is needless to say to those that know that Mr. A. J. Rickoff is superintendent of the schools that the Report ranks with the foremost city school reports. -THE following sentence from a private letter is certainly highly complimentary to the teacher and pupils referred to: "Thomas [T. A. Pollok, of Camden, O.] is a paternal sort of Schoolmaster, and his boys and girls behave like members of a good-natured and wellbehaved family." 666 -THE March number of the Monthly Rural Messenger, published at Hamilton, Ill., says "Educational Notes and Queries, a Medium of Intercommunication for Teachers,'-Is the title of a unique and most valuable monthly publication for teachers and other literary people, issued at Salem, Ohio, by Hon. W. D. Henkle, late State School Commissioner of Ohio. Price $1." THE Free Lance is a 4-column 4-page periodical, the first number of vol. 1 being issued in February 1877. It is edited by H. Freeman. But in the copy received by us we see no place of publication. We only know that the address is P. O. Box 480. The prominent topic in this semi-monthly is phonetics. -THE Educational Number of the Official Bulletin of the International Exhibition (Main Building, Centennial Grounds), Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, 1877, is a neat 20-page illustrated pamphlet, giving a full description of the plan, etc., of the educational exhibition. It is certainly more satisfactory than the no-plan of last year. -THE programme announced for the meeting in Cincinnati April 14, of the Hamilton - County Teachers' Association was an address on Elementary Exercises in Mensuration" by B. O. M. De Beck, one on "Teachers' Associations" by G. W. Oyler, a paper by W. H. Nelson, of Bond Hill, and Select Readings by the pupils of the Madisonville Public Schools. -THE following was the previously-announced programme for the Trumbull-County Teachers' Association to be held in Niles, April 21. The Practical Education of the Teacher-Miss Mary E. Larnard, Girard; Ventilation of School Houses-L. L. Campbell, Mineral Ridge; Elements of Teaching Power-Samuel Findley, Supt. Schools, Akron. Miscellaneous Business. -THE four-hundredth anniversary of the University of Tübingen is to be celebrated next August by various commemorative historical addresses. -THE recently-issued Report of the Public Schools of Portsmouth, Ohio, for the year ending August 31, 1876 (M. S. Campbell Superintendent), we presume is the largest that has as yet been issued (pages 153). It contains the history of the schools and the rules and regulations. Mr. A. J. Rickoff was superintendent of the Portsmouth schools from 1844 to 1849, at a salary of $45 a month. He now receives a salary of $400 a month in Cleveland. Tempora mutantur. "BUTLER County has two teachers' associations-a general and a local. The local association is held in different villages of the eastern and southeastern parts of the country. Those teachers who attend the meetings of the local association also attend the meetings of the Butler County Teachers' Association, which are always held at Hamilton. There is no rivalry between the two associations, each contributing to the success of the other." -THE Butler-County Teachers' Association, held in Hamilton March 24, was said to have been attended by three hundred persons. Resolutions were passed in favor of County Supervision and an increase of the salary of the State Commissioner of Common Schools. Walter Aiken, of Hamilton, read a paper on “Music," Lawrence E. Grennan, of Oxford, one on "Oral Geography," and John W. Dowd, of Troy, one on "Earnestness." Lectures were delivered by Dr. Chas. E. Walton, of Hamilton, (Evolution), and Samuel R. Reed, of Cincinnati, (Nature as a Schoolmaster). Addresses were delivered by John Hancock, of Dayton, (Educational Errors), and the Hon. C. S. Smart. As usual singing and recita tions were interspersed to enliven the exercises. -THE local Teachers' Association of Butler County, Ohio, met in Monroe, March 31. The following was the programme: "Class Recitation in Percentage,"-Monroe School. Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic -P. Holly, Blue Ball. Objects of our "Reunions"-Harry Lowe, Seven Mile. What and How Shall I Teach ?-J. Q. Baker, Jacksonburgh. Penmanship for Beginners - Fannie Bowles, Lockland. Teacher's Moral Responsibility-Reverends Beall and Palmer, Monroe. Debate on Compulsory Education-Judkins and Coy, Port Union. Mathematical Geography-Mary Schick, Monroe. A Paper-Miss McAdams, Middletown. Music was furnished by the pupils of the Monroe School, under the direction of the Principal, R. M. Mitchell. The meetings are said to grow better and better, being attended by parents as well as teachers, for miles around. The Association adjourned to meet in Amanda, the last Saturday in April. "THE closing meeting of the Preble County Teachers' Association for this year, was held in Eaton on the 31st of March. The Association has been a success this year under the management of Supt. L. D. Brown, the efficient chairman of the executive committee. The closing meeting especially was a success. The following was the programme of exercises: Physical Culture, Mr. L. D. Dillman, Philosophical Experiments, by Mr. McVay of McHealthy, Hamilton Co., O.; A paper on the study of language, by Miss Ringwood, Principal of the Hamilton High School; The method of teaching addition and subtraction in the Cincinnati schools, by Supt. J. B. Peaslee; a paper, The Elements of Success, by Mr. Clark of New London (Paddy's Run), Ohio. The attendance was large and every exercise was good; a combination that will make any meeting a success.' -THE following notes have been kindly furnished to us by a gentleman who has been visiting the schools of Lima, Van Wert, Monroeville, Shelby, Plymouth, and Norwalk. He has given us the liberty of condensing them. They were written March 16. LIMA. Enrolment in February 1040, daily attendance 1000, per cent of attendance 95, cases of tardiness per week 14, enrolment in the High School 103. The banner plan introduced six years ago has succeeded well in securing punctuality. Music is taught by Miss McDougal, and pupils in the primary grades read it quite readily. Misses Lloyd and Hooper are model teachers. The reporter was greatly delighted with exercises in primary reading and numbers given by Miss Lloyd. She used the word and phonic method of teaching reading. Each pupil had a set of types for setting up the lessons learned from the black board or chart. Numbers were taught as object lessons, and the ten's plan used. The High School has a fine and extensive laboratory. The schools have reached a high standard of excellence under the management of the superintendent, G. W. Walker. We are compelled to omit the list of teachers. There are 22 schools taught in two buildings, 9 in one and 13 in the other. Mr. Walker's salary is $1700. VAN WERT.-Seventeen teachers in one building. Enrolment in February 703, daily attendance 685.5, per cent of attendance 97.5, tardy per week 7, neither absent nor tardy since beginning of winter term 450, visits from parents 286, enrolment in High School 86. The old method of teaching beginners to read was abandoned three years ago, and Mrs. Hanley, a primary teacher of much experience, pronounces the new method, the word and phonic, a hundred-fold better. She uses as school incentives Atwater's school rewards. This is Mr. Geiger's first year as Superintendent in Van Wert. The schools are in good condition. SHELBY.-W. H. Pritchard, Superintendent. Cost of instruction $3,521,25 a year. The reporter heard good singing and good recitations in arithmetic and grammar by classes taught by Mr. Tucker. The schools are in good condition. The new building for the Grammar and High Schools is a fine one and well arranged. PLYMOUTH.-C. W. Butler, Superintendent. Enrolment in February 208, daily attendance 265, per cent of attendance 92, cases of tardiness 15, average in examinations 92, enrolment in High School 45, per cent of attendance 93. Mr. Butler's monthly-reporting system is excellent. A fine catalogue containing rules and regulations, course, and full report of each pupil, has been issued. The school-house is fine and convenient. The exercises witnessed in drawing, gymnastics, numbers, and general questioning were excellent. The superintendent is said to be full of energy, and Miss Lottie Bloom, assistant in the High School is declared to be an excellent teacher. MONROEVILLE. – A. J. Michael, Superintendent. Music is a regular The reporter's visit was short but he says he witnessed fine study. |