"Except the one bird only

The little Christ Child made;

The earth that owned Him Master-
His earth heard and obeyed.

"Softly he leaned and whispered,

'Fly up to heaven! Fly!' And swift his little sparrow

Went soaring to the sky."

And as the little children watched it, the sparrow flew up, up till they could see it no longer.

The story is to teach us that if Jesus helps us we can do wonderful things

"For our souls are like the sparro

Imprisoned in the clay;

Bless him who came to give them wings

Upon a Christmas Day!"

THE SCHOOL ROOM.

[Conducted by GEORGE F. BASS, Editor of The Young People.]

STUDY THE READING LESSON.

Do you require your pupils to study the reading lesson previous to the recitation period? If you do, how do you assign such a lesson? Do you say, "You may take the next piece for your lesson?"

Teachers will agree that pupils reading in the third reader and above can, with advantage, study their reading lessons under proper conditions. But what are proper conditions? These conditions depend upon several things, but chiefly upon the development the pupils have attained. To say to a third reader pupil that he may study the lesson would probably result in a waste of time and have a tendency to form a bad habit. He does not know how to study. The same direction given to a fifth reader pupil who had been properly trained might be sufficient to secure some good study of the selection. But such a direction is too general for even the

advanced pupils. The reading lesson may be studied as to so many different phases that it is the business of the teacher to set definitely before the pupil the purpose for which he is to study. The more immature the pupils, the more definite must the directions be.

Let us take a selection from our third reader to illustrate what might be done by the teacher in order to secure profitable study.

THE WIND AND THE LEAVES.

"Come, little Leaves," said the Wind one day,
"Come over the meadow with me and play.

Put on your dress of red and gold;
Summer is gone and the days grow cold.”

Soon as the Leaves heard the Wind's loud call,

Down they came fluttering, one and all;
Over the brown fields they danced and flew,
Singing the soft little songs they knew.

"Cricket, good-by, we've been friends so long;
Little Brook, sing us your farewell song;
Say sou are sorry to see us go;

Ah! you will miss us, right well we know.

"Dear little Lambs, in your fleecy fold,
Mother will keep you from harm and cold;
Fondly we've watched you in vale and glade:
Say, will you dream of our loving shade?"

Dancing and whirling the little leaves went;
Winter had called them and they were content;
Soon, fast asleep in their earthy bed,

The snow laid a coverlet over their head.-George Cooper.

Let us put the following questions on the board and ask the pupils to read the poem in order to find answers to them. Of course, the teacher knows that the first thing to be done in interpreting any selection is to form images suggested by the language used and to get the ideas they express. This is about all the third reader pupil can do.

1. In the first stanza, what do you see that makes youknow what season of the year it is? In what sense do the leaves put on their dress of red and gold? Do

you think the poet's way of saying this prettier than our way?

2. Why does the poet say "the wind's loud call?" What really made the leaves fall? How could they dance? What do they do that makes the author think of singing?

3. How had the leaves and crickets been friends? How can the brook sing?

4. How could the leaves have watched the lambs? What did they do for the lambs?

5. Why were the leaves content? What was the coverlet that covered the leaves made of?

SHORT NOTES.

He

PUNISHMENT.-I'll take whatever punishment you think I ought to take," said a pupil to his teacher. meant that he had violated some regulation and that he was ready to pay for his deed in whatever the "penal institution" (the school) required. This may do for penal institutions but schools should not be such institutions. The teacher replied that he could not grant him the privilege of doing wrong because he was ready to pay for it by some certain punishment. He said he had no definite punishment to give. He asked the pupil to think about his deed awhile and to determine why it was wrong and what he proposed to do, not what he proposed to submit to. We liked this; it put the pupil in the attitude of "working out his own salvation."

FRIDAY AFTERNOON.-It is an old custom to have

They should
They

"Friday Afternoon Exercises. We like it. The exercises should be worthy of the occasion. tend to set a high standard before the should set forth high and noble ideas. by this to rule out the amusing.

school. We do not mean

There should be variety.

Avoid the low in the amusing. But even the best of selections are read or recited in such an indifferent manner that it is of no interest to the school and of course produces a bad effect. No preparation is made. The pupil is asked to read or recite and he does so just because he is asked to do so. How much better it would be to have him thoroughly prepared on his selection! He would then by his reciting creat a taste in himself and in the school for literary gems.

PROGRAMS.-There are teachers who seem to teach for the sake of the program. One would suppose that the school was created for the program instead of the program for the school. Such teachers would quit a recitation in the middle of a sentence. Of course, in schools where pupils pass from one room to another to recite this must be done. But we are thinking of schools that do all the reciting in one room to one teacher. It is often better to extend the time than to quit on "the dot." It happens that five minutes more would fasten a point so that it would never be forgotten, but if left till next day it would take half an hour to make and fasten it. We are not a believer in "Always close your exercises exactly on time."

There are teachers who have no use whatever for a program. This is going to the other extreme. Are not programs a good thing, if rationally used?

NATURE WORK.-Don't give up nature work in winter. Nature is just as busy in winter as in summer. The study of ice and snow will be very interesting and instructive. We refer the teacher to two books in the list for the Young People's Reading Circle: "Nature Stories for Young Readers;" and "The Fairyland of Science." Teachers who take the pains to read these books will get much that is suggestive.

GENERAM INFORMATION.-Some people think a teach

er is full of general information.

They say: "You are

a teacher-what about this silver bill? Explain it to us.' We admit that the teacher ought to be such a person. He ought to keep posted on current events, but the fact is many of them are so busy that they cannot do it. For this reason papers are published that help in this direction by presenting in a concise form some of the things that every teacher needs to know. Teachers will find it very helpful to read such papers.

G. C. D. AND L. C. M.

Much time has been wasted in trying to get pupils to understand the process of finding the G. C. D. The reason it was wasted is the pupil tried to get forms to say rather than the thoughts that these forms express. The teacher has allowed his own attention to center on the Greatest Common Divisor process, rather than on the culture of the pupil in mastering the G. C. D. We teach the G. C. D. for the sake of the pupil rather than for the sake of the G.C.D. True, he needs a working knowledge of it in order that he may master the other processes that are based upon it. But the highest aim for teaching it or any other subject is the effect that its mastery, will have upon the pupil. Teaching for this highest aim will secure the other which is often called the "practical."

There is an opportunity for some good thinking in studying this subject. Let us think of the numbers 125, 15, 60. Separate them into prime factors. This the pupils do readily, 125=5×5×5; 75=5×3×5; 175=5×5×7. "We wish to find the largest number that will divide each of the numbers 125, 175 and 75," said the teacher. "How many 5's in the first number?" This was so easy that every one could answer it. The pupils were led to