is found, then the age is the sum of the numbers of these columns. For example, some one says his age is found in the columns numbered 1, 4 and 32, then his age is 1+4+32=37. The table will give any age or number up to and including 63. It could be easily extended to larger numbers. Will our readers try to discover the principle underlying the table? NOTES. Mr. C. J. Waits, formerly superintendent of the Carlisle schools, will teach mathematics in the Terre Haute High School during the leave of absence of W. P. Morgan. Mr. Morgan expects to take a university course in mathematics, thus better fitting himself for his chosen work. Dr. David A. Rothrock of Indiana University, has just published a pamphlet on "Invariants of the Finite Continuous Groups of the Plane." In this he follows the general line of the Lie theory; but makes many important original additions. The work is the result of some of the study that the author did under the direction of the late Professor Lie at Leipzig. Superintendent J. M. Greenwood of Kansas City, and Dr. Artemas Martin of Washington, D. C., have recently issued a bibliography of American arithmetics. Dr. Martin possesses what is probably the most complete collection of American arithmetics. The bibliography is very complete, giving author, publisher, and a brief description of each book. Some months ago in these columns there appeared a review of Fisher & Schwatt's algebra. The same authors have recently published A School Algebra. The book retains the main features of the first book, but is reduced in size, thus making it a more convenient book for high schools. The larger book has received very high praise from mathematicians and educators. We see no reason why the School Algebra should not meet with even greater success. The book is published by the authors at Philadelphia. William A. Hamilton of Zanesville, leaves Indiana and goes to San Francisco to take charge of the mathematics in the California School of Mechanical Arts. Mr. Hamilton is a graduate of the mathematical department of Indiana University, and has done a year's graduate work. He is well fitted for his new position. The American Book Company has just issued Milne's Plane and Solid Geometry. The author has united, in a very admirable way, the inventional and demonstrable geometry. Each proposition is preceded by a number of questions designed to lead the student to a correct understanding of the truth to be demonstrated. While this is a splendid thing in the early study of the subject, it is doubtful if it is needed in the higher books. The arrangement of the book is such that this matter in whole or in part could be omitted at any stage of the pupil's progress. The number and character of the exercises is a strong feature of the work. At the end of each book there is a Summary, giving the truths established in a simple but systematic way. There will appear in these columns a number of articles upon the use of the New Arithmetics. It is the intention to serve, in the best way we can, the interests of the common-school teachers. We invite you to send to the editor of the department whatever questions you may have upon the new books. In the articles to follow we will discuss as fully as space will allow the questions which seem to be the most important. From the press of Harper Bros. there comes a very interesting little book under the title of Observational Geometry. In the character and arrangement of the material the author has done a fine piece of work. It is not only suggestive but also instructive. No boy or girl can open the book without desiring to know its contents. The practical construction of models, and the frequent use of level, square, straightedge and compass closely relates the book to the world of nature and art surrounding the student. The illustrations are characteristically good. use of such a book in the seventh and eighth grades would almost revolutionize the study of geometry. The R. L. Myers & Co. of Harrisburg, Penn., are the publishers of Weidenhamer's Mental Arithmetic. The book is made up entirely of problems. It proceeds in a logical way from very simple easy problems to those that are quite difficult. The problems are of such a character as to constantly call forth the best thought of a student. The book is a valuable contribution to the neglected subject of mental arithmetic. A reasonable amount of fleas is good for a dog-they keep him f'm broodin' on bein' a dog.David Harum. In announcing a department of music for the INLAND EDUCATOR it is not intended to offer a series of lessons in music, nor to outline a course of study, nor yet to advocate any particular method of teaching music. The advocates of the various plans have ably and amply set forth their respective merits, and many friends of each will be found among readers of the EDUCATtor. The purpose is rather to supplement what is already being done by presenting each month one or two songs, and a small quantity of reading matter prepared or selected with special reference to a finer appreciation of music and of its value in the public schools. It is most encouraging to feel that modern psychology recognizes the importance of the emotive power in character building, and the boundless influence that good music has to awaken this power. The poet told us long ago that "music has charms to soothe the savage breast," but it is vastly more to know and to recognize the wonderful power it has over the impressionable minds of children. The words and melody of a beautiful song fixed in the memory of a child shall do more in the shaping of his life than a score of sermons. It is possible to attune a young life to a harmonious rhythm that will influence and dominate all his years. It is this thought, then, that will guide in the selection of material for this department. We have a rich store to select from and shall demand from every candidate for admission that it possess beauty, tone, meaning and life. A WORD ON METHOD. It goes without saying that there must be some definite method of procedure in the music teaching of the schools. While the singing of good songs has a value that is being recognized more and more by the thoughtful educators of the country, the mere singing of songs accomplishes little or nothing by way of imparting a knowledge of the elements of music to the child and, unless music teaching in the schools accomplishes more than mere song singing, it can hardly hold a place in the schools as an educational factor. If children are to acquire a knowledge of music, there must be some system of gradation, some method of classification, so that the material presented may be adapted to the capacity of the child and his efforts in music-study may be properly directed. And it is the principle upon which this gradation is based that is the all important one in music teaching. But Many efforts have been made during the past few years to grade music so as to put it on a practical working basis and properly relate it to the regular branches of school work. The saying "to teach music as we teach arithmetic and reading," has grown to be a very trite one. now educators everywhere are asking themselves why these so-called educational plans of teaching music, with their rigid gradations and orderly progression of sight-reading exercises, get so little response from the child. The answer is that music cannot be treated at first as a study in the elementary facts of the science; it must be treated as a manner of expression for the child, and such phases of the art must be presented to the child at first as he will naturally respond to. The most beautiful and inspiring of all studies of the school curriculum, it loses its charm and sinks to a practical utilitarian level when robbed of its inspiration and set before the child as a study in bare technique. Most especially is this true when these studies are embodied in long successions of sight-reading exercises, the child's progress being regulated by his ability to read them. HELPING CHILDREN TO BECOME MUSICAL.* A beautiful song and its correct interpretation embody all the elements of music teaching, even in the most advanced stages of study. I would make the statement now that I believe that all musical difficulties may be reached and solved through the needs of interpretation, and that without a loss of interest to the child or a necessity of much musical drudgery. We are learn(Continued on page 32.) * From a paper read before the National Educational Association. 66 "The Sparrows' Bath," chosen from The Modern Music Series, first book, is commended as really classic, though perfectly simple. For the September issue one or more selections will be taken from The Riverside Song Book. All the music to be used during the year has been selected with the greatest care, and teachers may expect a group of songs that will be richly worth using. The above study, as will be seen, is derived from the song; it is a simple, two-part study written in the form of a little canon. The upper part should be read first, either read at sight or sung by imitation until the melody is memorized. As the lower part is simply a repetition of the upper part, it will be only necessary then to adjust the singing of the same melody in combination, dividing the pupils into two parts properly balanced. (Continued from page 29.) ing that the divorcement of the study of music from expression sets the mind adrift like a traveler trying to accomplish the impossible feat of traveling upon two roads at the same time. As a consequence the vital energy is spent in vibrating between the two interests instead of reaching the final goal of interpretation through the solution of the musical difficulty. In helping children to become musical, the work is poorly begun if the teacher who stands before her class insists upon breaking every law of the musical decalog by her very presence. With a voice unmusical and unsympathetic, unrhythmic in body and in mind, she is apt to destroy the first great, and, I will say, the most important, music lesson which can be brought to the child, that of artistic example and presentation. I have in mind a teacher who receives several thousand dollars a year for making her children wholly unrhythmical and unmusical. Bad habits and bad taste emphasized in these early years become fixed and almost ineradicable faults. I would then place at the head of our work artistic presentation. In this should be comprehended all the details of good singing on the part of the teacher-good breathing, wellplaced and modulated voice, rhythmic and musical singing. The next consideration, of equal importance, is the song itself; we have always had good ones, and we are continually increasing their number. By a good song I do not mean the merely pretty and fanciful creation, with which we are being deluged with the increasing interest in music for children. Even with very little children the song chosen should be worth teaching and singing. In the choice of material, first of all we must have a story—a something to tell. Fortunately for us, the song with a moral is a thing of the past. A good poem from the child's standpoint, as well as a literary one, is necessary to our work -one of description or conversation; an episode or dramatic plot, will serve our purpose. In a song the text is of the first importance, and the music should complement and lend itself to the development of its moods. After establishing its general characteristics and giving it a reason for being, we can next take up its musical treatment. Is it a melody song, a rhythm or harmony song? Is tone or movement the leading feature, or does its harmony fascinate the ear with many voices, or complementary story-telling? The limitations of the class quickly decide the point of emphasis. If the voices are bad, we need sweet tones and pure melody; if the children are passive, we need the activity and life of a rhythmical song. If their ears are defective, we can cultivate their listening capacities to good effect. The story keeps the interest alive, and the treatment of the musical element offers opportunities for a good music lesson. In interpreting a song it is well to remember that its idea is cause, and the picture obtained is effect. Sometimes our pictures tell tales out of school. You cannot expect a child to express what he does not feel or understand. Develop your song and gain your results as far as possible through the interpretation of its idea. MARI G. Hofer. THE POWER OF MUSIC. Music is to me an ethereal rain, an ever soft distillation, fragrant and liquid and wholesome to the soul, as dew to flowers; an incomprehensible delight, a joy, a voice of mystery, that seems to stand on the boundary between the sphere of the senses and the soul, and plead with pure, unrefined human nature to ascend into regions of seraphic, uncontained life. O wondrous power! Art thou not the nearest breath of God's own beauty, born to us amid the infinite whispering gallery of his creation! Type of all love and reconciliation, solvent of contrary, hard elements-blender of soul with soul, and all with Infinite harmony.-John S. Dwight. To live content with small means; to seek elegance, rather than luxury; refinement, rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to think quietly, act gently, talk frankly; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to do all bravely; await occasions, hurry never, in a word, to let the spiritual unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common, this is to be my symphony.-Channing. |