has not been deemed a wise move by the Swiss educators, and it is therefore in the boys' schools only that we find Latin, Greek and algebra taught, while in the girls' schools sewing, mending, knitting, darning and embroidery are taught by the teachers, who have to pass a very severe examination in these things at the same time they pass their teacher's examination. The reason for this distinction is that Latin, Greek and algebra, although important enough for any one who wishes to pursue a professional career, are of absolutely no practical use for a girl.

The living languages, on the other hand, receive a great deal of attention, for, French and English are taught in every school, be it primary or secondary, for boys or for girls. French is taught in what is with us the fifth grade, and English is begun in the sixth.

After a pupil has finished the four years of the secondary school, and desires to continue his studies, he or she attends one of the many colleges in existence in the larger cities, or, and this is especially true of the girls, they go for a year or two to French Switzerland, to Neuchâtel, Lausanne or Vevey, or to England, to perfect themselves in French or English. French Switzerland is the Mecca of the German-speaking Swiss, and no parent considers his daughter's education complete without at least one year of boarding school in Lausanne or Neuchâtel.

For those who wish to become teachers there are excellent normal schools in Berne, and when I say excellent I speak from experience, with which statement any one will agree if he be told that we had pedagogues such as O. Sutermeister, A. Weingart, etc.

At my time the normal school was in the same building as the secondary school; but now the teachers in embryo have a beautiful building all to themselves, with all the modern appliances and newest improvements. So, for instance, in the basement we find a kitchen with dining room adjoining, where the young seminarists are taught to prepare, cook and serve meals. In an equally well-furnished laundry they are taught how to wash and iron, practically and theoretically, and are

initiated into all the other mysteries of housekeeping, aside from the above-mentioned accomplishments, so that when they leave the schoolrooms as pupils, to enter it as teachers, they are not only fit to "teach the young idea how to shoot," but they are fully able to grapple with any domestic duties they may encounter in their struggle for existence.

These domestic branches, however, are not confined to the normal school alone. On the contrary, a great many secondary schools in the larger cities like St. Gallen and Olten have imitated the good example, thus giving every girl an opportunity to learn that, which every woman ought to know, whatever her station in life may be.

The summers in Switzerland, being neither as long nor as warm as our summers, the vacations naturally are differently divided. The school year begins in April or at the beginning of May, after a spring vacation of three weeks. During July they enjoy a summer vacation of four weeks, and in September there is another two weeks' breathing space, followed in December by the usual Christmas vacation. All in all, ten weeks of the fifty-two are spent in rest and recreation, not forgetting, however, the many afternoons in June and August that are free, for if the thermometer registers as much as eighty degrees at noon the schools are closed for the day.

Another very agreeable institution, if I may call it so, is found in the frequent outings every school takes; the short distance to any given point facilitating such a course materially. Every spring and fall each teacher takes her class for a little trip to one of the peaks in the immediate neighborhood, or if none are near enough, to the foot of one, or to some other place of great natural beauty. These trips generally last from gray dawn to starry night, a great part of it being undertaken on foot.

I remember one year we left St. Gallen at three o'clock in the morning, and walked until seven over the beautiful hills of Appenzell. In Altstetten we took the train to Razatz and Pfäffers, that famous watering place in the midst of a wild and gorgeous scenery, hidden almost from the world by the high and rugged mountains that keep guard over it.

After a few hours rest, and a luncheon that might have fed an army, we walked once more until nine o'clock in the evening, past the darkly beautiful lake of Wallenstadt down to Naefels. And in spite of all the tramping we had done we were up bright and early again the next morning, ready for our homeward march.

Trips of two days' duration like the one mentioned occur only once a year, and are attended only by pupils of the higher grades of the secondary schools or the normal. Aside from the pleasure they give, they are of great benefit to the pupil in his studies, for they teach him invaluable lessons in geography, physical as well as political, in botany, in mineralogy; they bring him into contact with different surroundings and people; they widen his intellectual horizon; in fact, they are the finest object lessons that could be had.

As for the hours in the schoolroom they are at variance with the hours to which the American pupil is accustomed. In summer school opens at seven and closes at four with an intermission of three hours; from eleven to two. In the winter the hours range from eight to twelve and from two to four. On Wednesday and Saturday afternoons there is no school, this arrangement being far less pleasant than ours, which gives us all day Saturday.

The teachers in the schools of Switzerland enjoy a great deal of freedom. So for instance, if it happens that one of them has an off-hour in between lessons she is free to go and come as she pleases. Thus my friend in Berne regularly does the marketing for her mother between nine and ten, or attends to any other business she may have on hand.

There is a laudable esprit de corps among them; e pluribus unum is their device, and if one of them is dropped without good cause none other would think of accepting the vacant position.

To each teacher is left her own individuality in the application of her method; nor is she compelled to follow a course of study prepared by a superintendent; quite the contrary, the teachers are their own masters in this respect. They plan a common course of study at their semi-annual

conferen

where at the same time they compare experiences or discourse on improvements to be made in the various lines of instructions, or on the introduction of new studies.

After having arrived at some definite conclusions, these are then laid before the school commissioners, a body of men, each of whom represents one school, and who are all educators themselves. They, after a careful investigation, approve or condemn the resolutions of the conference and in turn lay them before the school director, the head of the whole educational system of that respective city or town. In this school director is vested all the power our American school boards, composed of twenty-odd members, possess, and I have often wondered how it is that Swiss schools can be in a flourishing condition without the twenty-one school board members, the superintendent, and his fourteen assistant superintendents, the supervisors of music, drawing and physical culture that our cities think they have to have. Of course we cannot compare our large American cities to a Swiss town of say a hundred thousand inhabitants; but nevertheless, if the principals in Switzerland are expected to be their own supervisors of drawing, music, etc., we might expect the same of ours.

The salaries of the teachers vary from two to three thousand francs, which if put into dollars makes only a pittance, but which, when we take their smaller expenses in consideration, is about the same amount as the teachers in our country receive.

Of course a few other points might be touched upon, such as the pension question, etc., but we will leave this for some other time. Yet I cannot close these remarks without quoting the latest statistics, according to which "Switzerland spends more money on schools and less on war than any other country."

a

Well you term, a

billy jackass.

Are We Making Too Much of Music?

I

AUSTIN BIERBOWER, CHICAGO, ILL.

T is a question whether our musical education and entertainments are not out of proportion to their value. The enjoyment of music has a tendency to relax one's aggressiveness and make him passive. He must give up his mind to be controlled by outside circumstances, here by mere sensation. The greatest delight in music comes only to those who yield all their nature to it. It requires a receptive state instead of active.. This is not to be had when we are most thoughtful and energetic; but musicians of the highest type, and those most sensitive to music, are usually, like other artists, disqualified for the greatest intellectual and volitional achievements. They are popularly regarded as impractical, weak, and what is termed "cranky." A prominent educator thought that nothing so demoralized his students! as music, saying that when they took this up they deteriorated in other studies.

None of the senses should be abnormally cultivated, which is possible only at the expense of the intellect. Those with acute powers of observation are rarely strong thinkers. The great philosophers are not very observant of the external world. Sensationalism and intellectualism are deemed opposites. Men with much excitability or tension of the nerves are virtually diseased. The over-sensitive are of little value except in some department of the fine arts; and however beneficial these are, it is not best to educate many to the sensitiveness required for achievement in them.

The highest cultivation of the senses is not conducive to the highest general culture. We cannot achieve much by working on any of them. One is not well educated who has developed his taste or smell to great sensitiveness, which is often done among the dissipated class. Many cannot enjoy their food unless it is prepared in a special way. Some must have their meats cooked to the very second. An epicure of Baltimore