The high school, offering three or four years of mathematics, science and languages should have the effect of converting the somewhat desultory and fragmentary work of the lower grades into continuous, sustained effort.

III. The aim and scope of the work to be done in mathematics are, it may be assumed, fairly well understood, while the results to be accomplished in the teaching of literature and science are but vaguely comprehended. Without entering into an exhaustive discussion, a few general principles may be stated as to the study of English literature.

(a.) No other line of study so shapes our intellectual tastes and activities or has so lasting a hold on our affections as the companionship of good books.

(b.) No other period of life is so kindly receptive of beautiful and lofty ideas or more susceptible to the influence of the story of noble lives as the period embraced in the high school course.

(c.) Keen delight in acquisition and quick intelligence in appropriating what is of true worth render light the task of arousing an abiding interest in the study.

(d.) It is of untold value in the formation of character.

As to science, there is a total misapprehension on the part of many teachers as to what true science teaching is. Every new science studied involves a new series of phenomena, and gives rise to a more or less extended nomenclature, while the facts presented have not, of themselves, any higher value than any other class. The prime value of the study of any science lies in the acquisition of the power to investigate in the true scientific spirit the facts presented by that science. Viewed in this light, the study of botany, of physiology, or of physics alone may prove infinitely more valuable than the hasty gathering of a few facts concerning each of half a dozen sciences. Once a pupil has begun to investigate for himself, the teacher's work is done.

IV. That school only is a high school in the true sense of the word which furnishes its pupils with high ideals. The development of the intellectual powers, the receptivity of the mind to new and far-reaching truths, likewise make easily possible the acceptance of moral truths. These truths it is the duty of the teacher to emphasize and render vital in the mind of the pupil. The man who scoffs at sacred things, content with his year's work if he can

show intellectual progress in his pupils and who has no concern for their moral welfare, has no place in the school-room.

The spirit of the true teacher is essentially a reverent spirit, and the pupil who fails to carry away with him clear ideas as to right and wrong, who learns to strive for the show of things rather than for their substance, may justly condemn the man who has thus defrauded him of what was his highest right—the power to choose between good and evil.

Lastly, the high school is directly necessary to the well-being of the state because it fits its pupils for the higher duties of citizenship.

The following propositions are offered as statements of truths, which, being granted, sufficiently establish the principle stated above:

(a.) The state may do for its citizens whatever will benefit itself.

(b.) It is desirable that every citizen shall be able to decide for himself what attitude he shall take in regard to any question of state or national interest; that he shall not be compelled, through his own lack of judgment, or education, to entrust to some other man the forming of his opinions, himself performing simply the function of a mouthpiece.

(c.) To this end, he needs not only to be able to read whatever bears upon a given subject, but to sift the evidence presented and form his own judgment.

(d.) The pupil who leaves school at the conclusion of the common school course may, of course, by study and thought so develop his reasoning powers as to be qualified to form independent judgments, but immediate absorption in business pursuits too often leaves neither leisure nor liking for further advancement. Indifference to social, political and moral questions results, and political demagogues find the task of gaining his vote a light one. It should be the function of the high school to cultivate both the power and the will to judge for himself.

1. Position. (1) Actual. (2) Relative.

(1). Greece lies between 36 and 40 degrees north latitude, and parallels 19 and 25 east longitude.

(2). Its relative position is in the south-eastern part of Europe, jutting out into those beautiful seas. Its ragged skirts are fringed. on the west by the Ionian Sea; on the south by the Mediterranean; on the east separated from Asia Minor by the Egean Sea (modern Archipelago), the Thracian Sea, and the Hellespont (Dardanelles).

2. Geographical Features.

Old Greece presents a ragged, forlorn appearance, torn to her very heart, by innumerable fiords or gulfs; the Peloponesus attached only by the slender Corinthian neck; jagged mountains rising up, bar off the face of Greece, by the imperious command of Nature into many small isolated districts.

This is the second fact to be set down in the minds of our pupils. We must see our checker board before we attempt to follow the movements of the men upon it. Though it is not this tiny bit of land we are to study, yet can we despise the soil which bred these Ancients, to whom we owe most of our ideas of the beautiful, the artistic, and the intellectual?

Next, let us bring before our pupils the natural resources of Greece.

3. Natural Products.

(a.) Their coast waters abounded in many varieties of fish, of which the most interesting, perhaps, is the shell fish [Purple fish],

from which the beautiful purple dye of the Ancients was obtained, the rarest shade of this being worn only by kings.

(b.) Nearly every state and island possessed its fertile wheat fields, its forests, and sheep pastures; while the cultivation of the vine and olive were carried on extensively. The special tastes cultivated in many states are plainly manifested, from the amount of fish consumed in Attica and pork in Arcadia.

(c.) Neither was the earth wanting in mineral wealth, Euboea, Boeotia, Melos, and Laconia contained abundance of iron; Euboea and the Island of Cyprus, copper; Attica had its silver; while Macedonia, Thrace and Epirus contained both gold and silver. Then, too, the mountains yielded marble, that of Paros and Pentelicon being unsurpassed.

4. Its Early Inhabitants.

The Greeks were without doubt natives of Asia, part of that great family whose members in the mother country were the Hindoos and Persians, and in Europe the Celts (Gauls), Teutons (Germans), Slaves (Russians), and their own branch, the Pelasgians.

What we know of these Pelasgians is, that they came to Europe in one of those great tidal waves of immigration and settled peacefully in the Greek and Italian peninsulas. They were divided into several tribes, most of whom were simple agricultural people, with the exception of the Hellenes, who were a warlike tribe, dwelling in Thessaly. Finally the fierce Hellenes swept down upon the other Pelasgians and overcame them; henceforth they all worshipped a common god-Jove, and the powerful Hellenes became masters of Greece, from this fact arises the legend, that the Greeks were descended from one common ancestor, Hellene.

The early history of Greece is such a network of mythical personages, of gods and heroes, the traditions of whose lives were repeated from generation to generation, from age to age, so that they established themselves in the imaginative minds of the Greeks, whose national pride was a belief in the legend that they were all descended from the hero Hellen, who at an early time lived in Thessaly, and had his throne at the foot of Mount Othrys. His three sons were Dorris, Xathus and Eolus, who with their children founded the many Grecian states. Upon the adventures of this family of heroes hung a multitude of legends. Many

more are full of the tales concerning the settlement of Greece by foreigners from Egypt, Asia Minor, and Phonecia, who brought with them the arts of a peaceful, thrifty civilization; but there is really little truth in these; the only one of any weight is that concerning the founding of Thebes by Cadmus, the Phonecian, who brought to Greece the alphabet. The most celebrated of the other legends are first, the settlement of Attica by Cecrops, a native of Egypt, who is reputed to have founded a stronghold at Athens, and to have introduced religious rites.

Second, Danaus, an Egyptian, who fled to Greece with his fifty daughters, is said to have founded Argos.

Third, Pelops, son of King Tantalos of Phrygia, is said to have come over and founded Mycenæ, and to his descendants is ascribed the building of those old walls, whose ruins were found in many parts of Peloponnesus.

MEANS OF PRESENTING THIS LESSON.

(1.) Use Map.

(2.) Pupils use note books, in which plan of work is to be copied, as it has been developed on board.

(3.) Effects of physical structure of country upon mental, moral and physical nature of its inhabitants should be noted. (4.) Books recommended to pupils, as each topic is developed. (5.) Blackboard tabular review.

GREECE.

(1.) Civilization was derived from the East.

(2.) Position.- Actual, 36° to 49°, N. Lat. ; 19° to 25°, E. Long. Relative South-eastern Europe.

(3.) Geographical features. - Mountainous coast deeply indented.

(4.) Natural resources. Wheat, cattle, fish, iron, copper, marble, gold, silver.

(5.) Early inhabitants. Pelasgians; Hellenes.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE. — LESSON I.

"Story of Greece." Story of Nation Series. Bulfinch's "Age of Fable." "Greek Heroes," Charles Kingsley.

Greece," Cox.

"Stories of