contending against the advantages of education twenty or thirty years ago, we would often have borne this whole burden of offense upon the palms of our hands or the calves of our bare legs in a single term. But in those days boys escaped hanging only by a miracle, and nature, as manifested in the mind and body of a child, was a devil to be cast out.

"The effort to force children into the hide-bound mold of the pedagog has ceased in the Capitol city, and in its place prevails a method so simple, wholesome and effective, that teachers and children alike, find a joy in the knowledge each day brings to them. In place of the unnatural silence of ancient schoolrooms a constant sound of life and activity is heard. The children are moving, and turning, and stretching, and twisting, as nature intended them to do, and the teachers instead of attempting to check their growth and preserve an impassable discipline, which hampers and dwarfs the mind and body, use even these evidences of restlessness as lessons.

"The children of this day are not conforming to the customs of the world, but the world is more and more recognizing the nature and instincts of children, and bringing them into harmony with them."

If this can be realized in one city, it can also be felt here, but right here again is felt most beneficently the co-operation of the school and home. all laws that are just and right, the parent should support the teacher and never at any time in the presence of their children, criticise the methods of the school.

The children must feel that there is a court of higher appeal in the home. Teacher and parent should work together, and the child be made fully to understand that the teacher takes in all things the place of the parent during school hours. As parents, therefore, we must ask for the very best talent and the greatest moral worth in our teachers. These conditions obtained, let us unite in making knowledge, loved for its own sake, and in making our children feel that

"No task is ill when hand and brain

And skill and strength have equal gain,
And each shall each in honor hold

And simple manhood outweighs gold."

MOTHERS' CLUB NOTES.

At a mothers' meeting in Los Angeles, Dr. Francis A. Seymour delivered an interesting lecture on "The Hygiene of Childhood." He touched on many of the physical needs of children, and especially emphasized the importance of their having at least ten hours of sleep in the twenty-four. Many children are in the habit of attending evening entertainments and not retiring until their parents do, but that which is good for the man is quite often harmful for the child. Regarding the advisability of feeding the children sugar, Dr. Seymour said that the confections in candy, not the sugar, injure the child; that the white earth, glucose and coloring matter used in the manufacture of candy is worse than poison. Mothers should make confectionery to give their children. Of tea and coffee drinking, the speaker said that, while an occasional cup of either of these beverages would not injure the average adult, it would injure a child and seriously retard his

development. The child's business is to grow; he needs nourishing foods, not stimulants. A discussion followed the lecture.

The Mothers' Meeting at 23rd Avenue, East Oakland, held its monthly meeting Friday, April 13th. The president, Eliza Wolfenden, introduced the subject "Emergencies" and asked the mothers to give an opinion as to the best means of treating cuts, the answers which were of more than average intelligence, were supplemented by "What the doctor says about it." The unrelated experience of one mother was, that a cut carelessly treated, makes no end of trouble. Her child having had a finger chopped, it was carefully done up-in court plaster. The result was, pain, anxiety and doctors' bills. It is always safe to simply wrap it up well, provided there is no foreign substance in it. If the instrument is dirty or rusty, bathe well and wrap in thin slices of salt pork or common salt. If it bleeds too freely, bathe in cold water. Turpentine is especially recommended for cuts from tin.

The Child Study Club meetings are held at the Occidental Hotel every Friday. They are very helpful and interesting. One of the mothers present April 20th, related a little experience that that will undoubtedly cure her little girl of staying out of school without a legitimate excuse. The little girl in question came home at noon quite sick (?) and a consequent desire to stay out of school. The mother, who studies her child, did not fret or get a bit nervous, but quietly insisted on putting her to bed. Later the child bethought her of the company that was to dine with the family that night—she got up saying that she felt ever so much better, and would dress for dinner, but the wise little mother was equal to the occasion and insisted that she must rest a longer time, so that she would be able for school next day. The child was truly sick by this time with disappointment and exclaimed, "Oh, mama, if you had only mentioned the company dinner I should have gone back to school."

Children are all created with a love of right, and a spirit of fairness should at all times be exercised. "It is a crucial mistake," said the president, "to bribe or force children." On one occasion her small child had purposely kicked over some of sister's treasures. On being told to say he was sorry, he refused, but later, when all was calm, he said to his mother, "I am sorry," and was then easily induced to say the same thing to his sister.

Mrs. George Wale presided at this meeting, and made many helpful suggestions.

THE DAY'S SPOTS.

"Nothing I can say seems to impress my little girl," said a young mother the other day. "She is not a really naughty child, and I think if I could impress her with the idea of thinking before she acts she would be almost sure to do right, her repentance for misdeeds is so sincere."

The remark took me back a good many years to another heedless, quick-tempered child, and a mother who made an impression.

Perhaps her success may open a way for another mother, and start the imagination of some small offenders to consider the error of their ways.

Every morning this mother awakened her little girl with a kiss and the remark: "Here is another fresh, white day. Keep it clean, dear, but if there are any spots on it, bring it to mother, and we will try and rub them off before we give it back to God !"? It would be hard to over-estimate the hold which that idea took upon the child's imagination. Perhaps no one but God and the mother knew of how earnestly she tried to keep the day clean. And then the bedtime talks!

How the spots were rubbed before the day was given back to God!

Sometimes with tears they were blotted out, sometimes with "Oh! I am sorry, mother!" And again,

"Please God forgive me!"

The mother long ago passed away, but the train of thought she started has helped the daughter to try and keep life's day clean for many a year. She has learned to know how much easier it is to spot the day than to rub it clean, and the hour before the day is given back is always closed with,

"God forgive me. "-Ex.

H. T. GAGE....

THOS. J. KIRK..

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

BENJAMIN IDE WHEELER..
ELMER E. BROWN...

President of the Board.

.Governor, Sacramento

. Superintendent Public Instruction, Sacramento Secretary of the Board.

. President University of California, Berkeley .....University of California, Berkeley

Professor of the Theory and Practice of Education.

JAS. MACNAUGHTON.
E. T. PIERCE..

C. C. VAN LIEW.
SAM'L T. BLACK

FREDERIC BURK.

.President State Normal School, San Jose .President State Normal School, Los Angeles

.President State Normal School, Chico . President State Normal School, San Diego President State Normal School, San Francisco

DURING the latter part of March and in the month of April the State Superintendent visited the following places:

March 28th-Riverside city and county during the Teachers' Institute. A special feature of the program was a day given over to the school trustees. Three-fourths of the districts of the county were represented and both the educational and business duties of school officers were discussed with much interest and profit. The State Superintendent led in the presentation of questions, but a large number of trustees spoke and gave expression to highly intelligent views on educational matters.

It was the largest gathering of school trustees which it has been the privilege of State Superintendent Kirk to attend.

On Friday, March 30th, the Superintendent paid an official visit to the Los Angeles State Normal School, meeting the teachers and students in morning opening exercises, and during the day observing the work in the various classrooms. On this visit the State Superintendent was accompanied by Superintendent J. H. Strine of Los Angeles county. To the people of the State can it unqualifiedly be said that the management, the instruction, and the professional spirit which characterize this state institution, are all of a high and excellent order.

On Monday and Tuesday, April 2nd and 3rd, the County Teachers' Institute of San Bernardino was attended. The Superintendent delivered an address to the general public at San Bernardino and was a guest at a reception given by the city teachers there on Monday evening. On Tuesday a trustees' meeting similar to the one held at Riverside was a special feature of the program arranged by County Superintendent Miss Lulu Bahr. An interesting meeting was held.

During this southern trip Superintendent Kirk also visited several of the Los Angeles City schools. In company with City Superintendent Foshay, a brief inspection was made of the manual training, cooking, and sewing which are being taught in the public schools of that city. These lines of work seem to have taken hold of the interest of the boys and girls occupied

with them. Industrial education for city schools appears to be strongly recognized by the educational officials of Los Angeles.

A visit to the Protestant Orphan Asylum of Los Angeles, supported in large part by state aid, presented some interesting facts. The President of the orphanage, Mrs. Stevens, has for thirty years devoted much of her time and means to this institution. A wholesome air of cleanliness, order, industry and humaneness at once impresses itself upon the visitor to this place. The children are well-fed and well-clothed, and their educational training is being carefully looked after.

There were eighty children in this orphanage, one-half of them found to be attending the Los Angeles City public schools, and kindergarten instruction is provided for those not yet of regular school age.

On the return trip from the south, two days, April 5th and 6th, were spent in visiting the Fresno high school and the upper grammar grades of that city. City Superintendent McLane has an able corps of assistants and they follow with alacrity and harmony the designs which he draws upon the school trestle board.

Of course, an excuse to visit Fresno is always being sought by the present State Superintendent.

A trip long and favorably to be remembered by Superintendent, Kirk was one of three days' duration to San Luis Obispo, where the County Teachers' Institute was held during the week beginning April 16th. The teachers, like their neighbors of Monterey County, are noted for their zeal in putting in closely the whole time of the Institute. They were prompt and regular in attendance from 9:30 A. M. until after 4 o'clock P. M every day of the Institute and then eagerly took in all lectures, which were on every night. County Superintendent Mrs. A. C. S. Woods was unfortunately taken sick just before the opening of the Institute and was unable to be present at any session, but she had planned so well that it was comparatively an easy matter for the teachers to carry out the arranged program. San Luis Obispo County has in Mr. Snedden, Mr. Brown, Mr. Wright, Mr. Drake, and numerous others some very strong teachers.

Mr. R. M. Shackelford, school trustee of Paso Robles, the friend of all worthy teachers, and the champion of progressive school measures, was a regular attendant at the Institute. He took an active part in the proceedings, contributed two carefully-prepared papers on live educational questions, and was the chief agent in securing a large attendance during one day of his fellow school trustees. Mainly through the efforts of Mr. Shackelford and Judge Venable of the town of San Luis Obispo, the trustees of that county have about perfected an organization for mutual counsel and better school management. The results of this organization may be anticipated with much interest by every thoughtful school trustee, as many matters pertaining to wise and economic expenditure of public school funds are to be carefully considered and acted upon.

April 23rd and 24th were spent by the Superintendent in San Mateo

County at the home and school of ex-State Superintendent Ira G. Hoitt, at Menlo Park, and at the County Teachers' Institute held at Redwood City. Dr. and Mrs. Hoitt have lost none of their interest in educational work since their retirement from the State office. Amid the live oaks and other venerable trees, about a mile west of Menlo Park, they have a most inviting home. Here forty boys, a majority of them verging upon manhood, are either preparing for Stanford or Berkeley, or for that greater university, actual life. Parents who have chosen Hoitt's school for their sons may feel no uneasiness about the high character of the moral, intellectual, and physical atmosphere of that place.

Dr. Hoitt accompanied Superintendent Kirk on the 24th to Redwood City and introduced him to the County Superintendent and teachers in Institute, to the county officials at the Court House, and to many citizens of the county.

Of sixty odd teachers in the public schools of San Mateo County there are but five or six male teachers. A cordial relation seems to exist between Superintendent Miss Etta M. Tilton and the teachers whose work she has been chosen to supervise. Superintendent Kirk regrets that he was not privileged to spend longer time with the public educational forces of the county which seems to blend so nicely the life of the country with that of the city.

Τ

Of Interest to School Boards.

EDWARD HYATT, RIVERSIDE. CAL.

\HE most important duty of trustees is the selection of the teacher—is greatest of all There is where the trustee sets his seal for good or ill upon the whole future lives of the children in his school-there is a responsibility indeed! To shape the actions, the thoughts, the motives, the manners, of the neighborhood, away into the future! Surely we cannot afford to carelessly select a teacher, surely not let any sordid motives enter into the matter at all. Surely it is a problem worth our study, worth spending time and money and energy uponto get the very best teachers for our schools. If we get a slovenly, disorderly teacher, we make our children slovenly. Do we get a charming, gracious teacher, soon the effect is seen in the manners of the children—and it always remains, to a greater or less extent. If we get a sneak, a liar, a cheat, a pious fraud-why, the moral edge of the young peoples' mind is blunted—it is a dreadful misfortune to the community. Get one who writes a horrid scrawl-you see the effect on the penmanship of the children twenty years afterward! It is of most far-reaching, overweening, real and vital importance, this selection of a teacher.

Now, how is it that you get a teacher out in your district?

Do you say, "Well, now, all these teachers have certificates, so they must be all right. The Board of Education passes on them and they are experts whose business it is to know all about teachers, so it really does not matter much which we choose if her certificate is all right." Ah, my friend, you lean on a broken reed there. Are all the doctors good who have license to practice? You know that some are scalawags and quacks. Are all the lawyers who hold the proper papers to be depended upon? We all know that some of them are shysters and dangerous to society. So it is in every walk of life; and so it must be in the mass of certificated teachers. Some of them are dishonest, some are incompetent, some are crazy, some are selfish, some are immoral, some are lazy. God has given you brains to