A thorough knowledge of English technical grammar is necessary before the pupil can undertake the languages of the high school course with any hope of success. His English studies in the high school,rhetoric, classics, composition, writing, literature-all presuppose a study of grammar. And in his study of new languages,—Latin, Ger man, Greek-still more necessary is a thorough acquaintance with English grammar. Partly by reason of the shortness of time, and partly by reason of the peculiarities of these languages in being highly inflected, the pupil must approach them by way of grammar, and be come acquainted with them through a careful study of their syntax. If he has a fair knowledge of the universal principles of grammar, the subject-Latin, Greek, German-is to that extent familiar to him, and is far more easy and profitable to him than if, while studying a new and strange language, he were compelled to employ a new and strange method of study. The method-the method of grammatical study-he is familiar with from his English grammar work; the language alone is

new.

Hon. Hubert M. Skinner, of Indianapolis, Ind., then read the following paper:

GROWTH AND BENEFITS OF READING CIRCLES.

One who reads the sparkling comedies of Vanbrugh and Shadwell and Fletcher cannot receive, except with many grains of allowance, their portraitures of the English society of their days. They were masters of burlesque. Their exaggeration and caricature are "gross as a mountain, open, palpable." Perhaps no picture that they drew appears to be more outrageously libelous than that of the clergyman. It would seem impossible that, in the social gatherings of representative people, where attorneys and counselors, physicians and authors, were the boon companions of knights and lords, the minister was excluded from the best of the feast over which he had invoked the divine blessing, and was expected to associate chiefly with the servants in the kitchen. It seems incredible that he should never have aspired to the hand of a maiden of higher social rank than a cook. Yet Macaulay has shown that these representations were generally truthful and correct, so far as the clergy were concerned, and has furnished additional details about the desperate condition of the English rectors of two centuries ago. And Swift, the great Irish dean, declared that even in his day a pastor was deemed an undesirable suitor for an ignorant waiting-maid, unless her character had been so injured by scandal as to preclude all hope of her marrying a butler or a steward. And these were the ministers of the Established Church, the noblest ecclesiastical organization of which the English gentleman could conceive. Under circumstances which must have rendered him an object of compassion or of contempt to the very servants of great houses, the faithful pastor labored and struggled. Through generations the inherent nobility of the ministerial calling as

serted itself; and it has long been splendid in its social influence, its intellectual and moral power, and its temporal endowments.

The advancement of any department of labor from an humble rank in the scale of human occupations to one of influence and power commensurate with its character and importance, is an interesting study, and one of special import to the instructors of youth. The recognition of the teacher's work as a profession is a great step in our educational progress. The tardiness of this recognition and the multiform obstacles to success in this work long degraded it to a place among the more menial employments. Judged by its past history alone, there would seem to be little inducement to men of a high order of ability—or indeed to men of mediocre talent-to make a choice of teaching as a profession. Yet I am conscious that I am now addressing a very peerage of professional men; that unfavorable conditions have not sufficed to exclude from our calling those who would adorn the pulpit and the bar and who are ornaments of society, but rather that the educators of America have asserted the true dignity of their vocation.

It is unnecessary to relate at length the causes which have restricted the influence and independence of the teacher, and retarded his progress the smallness of his pay, the want of co-operation, the uncertain tenure of place, the absence of a popular appreciation. Nor is it worth our while to discuss whether, in the past, the greater burden of respon sibility for these has rested with the law-makers, with society, or with the teachers themselves. We are here to consider the needs and the duties of the present and the future. A recent characteristic utterance of a noted educator, the president of the normal school located among the scenes of my earlier labors-Colonel Parker, of Chicago-is illustra tive of the thought I would express:

Why do we complain that we, as teachers, are kept down; that our salaries are poor; that we, like "Poor Joe," must " move on so frequently; that it is a question whether teaching is a profession or a trade; that we take rank, socially, below the minister, the lawyer, and the doctor; that the school-boards and parents refuse to allow us to edu cate the children; that newspapers and learned authorities pour such a flood of criticism upon our work; that we must look beyond this world for the reward of our pa tient toil?

* *

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

What we complain of are realities, and terrible realities too. I suppose it is owing to the fallen or weak nature of man that he seeks for causes of every evil outside of himself. We are here to make conditions. Complaints of others and of circumstances sink into complaints of self, when we catch one glimpse of the immense possibilities for improvement in ourselves and in our pupils.

The present day is characterized by an educational awakening. Great progress has been made in securing efficient school supervision and direction in the city, the town, and the county. Noble institutions for normal training have been established. System and uniformity of standard have been wrought out in many of the States. Best of all, a professional

spirit has been aroused. The evidences of such a spirit are everywhere discernible.

A new department of letters-a pedagogical literature-is developing in America, and with surprising rapidity and strength. Educational journalism is taxed to make record of the gatherings of educators and the discussions of educational topics by learned and practical men. We observe every where the growth of co-operation and union, and evidence of earnest thought; nor is such observation confined to our own land. Like an attorney who would consult no report, decision, or code; like a physician who would read no publication of recent medical progress, is the teacher without the spirit of his profession. The day of such teachers is rapidly passing away. Legions of them have given place to the men and women of progress; and those who remain are "Only waiting till the shadows

Are a little longer grown."

The master teachers of the present century seem to have been conscious that they were laying the foundations of a better theory and practice of a better art. It was not enough that they exemplified their principles to their contemporaries. They left to posterity an enduring record of their attained results. When the spirit of Pestalozzi ascended to its native stars from the frozen crags of Switzerland, he left behind not only the memory of his life and work, but also the inestimable volume which he in his poverty had written upon the soiled leaves of an old ledger. When Page fell in his young manhood, a martyr to the cause of the normal school and of a better education, he bestowed upon his followers the legacy of his Theory and Practice. Horace Mann contributed to the professional classics a world-summary of educational ideas in his Seventh Annual Report, and a masterpiece of wisdom in his Tenth Report. Froebel, of Prussia, and Cousin, of France, wielded a like enduring influence upon educational progress. About the nucleus of their writings the professional literature has grown and expanded. What they said has been repeated in countless ways. The thoughts they uttered have been thought over and discussed from every standpoint.. Together with the principles of teaching, the science of the mind has been developed and popularized as the true concomitant and correlative of pedagogical study and investigation.

Thus the progress of ideas has gone on, from the beginning of the ed ucational reformation. Awakened by the coarse and ribald satire of Rabelais; attracted by the well-meant endeavors of that paradox of moralists, Rousseau, whose work did not escape the archiepiscopal denunciation; stirred by the influence and illuminated by the light of Pestalozzi's teachings, and by their supplementing in Froebel; kept aglow by the zeal of Cousin and Mann and Page; and now engaged by the philosophy of Herbert Spencer, the spirit of educational progress has kept its way.

Not as a chimerical plan for eradicating or surmounting the difficulties that have been mentioned, not as an organization for the exhaustive study of the biographies, history, and technics of the literature whose development has been briefly traced, but as a means whereby the teacher may receive aid from the experience and thought of others and attain to a broader culture-as an outgrowth, in fact a natural result, of the time, the Reading Circle has been instituted.

Associations for reading and culture are not new. When Franklin founded in Philadelphia the first circulating library, he made of the Quaker City a large reading-club. Self-taught himself, he never imagined that all learning was locked up in the school. His memories of hours of profit in the dingy old chandlery taught him to estimate aright the possibilities of home culture. In the Book of Nehemiah we are told how a great work was accomplished by men who built each in front of his own house when they wrought on the city wall. When Franklin in 1732, the memorable year of Washington's birth, placed within the reach of the Philadelphians the means of home culture, he was following Nehemiah's plan. So when Dr. Vincent and his colaborers wrought out the design of "Chautauqua"-a people's university, of which each home might form a part, they wrought on Nehemiah's plan. In many of the States-I wish I might say in every State-ample provision is made for township, town, and city libraries as auxiliaries of education. In these libraries teachers have been especially interested. They possess, generally, the habit of reading. As a class, they read and reflect. A common course of reading for the teachers of Ohio was marked out in 1882, and the teachers were generally enrolled in a reading club, for the purpose of uniformity of work. The course for the year was extensive, and largely elective, including many volumes. It afforded helpful direction for the reading of leisure hours. Wisconsin claims to have suggested And here again was Nehemiah's plan. Courses of professional and general home study for teachers are not new. The necessity for something more than general reading-for study and investigation-was earnestly urged by one who, more than any other, perhaps, has influenced the teachers of America by his words of counsel, and who realized in his own person, to an eminent degree, the teacher's ideal. Page clearly saw that much must depend upon the spirit of the teacher. With the statement of this truth he commences his work. It is the keynote of his utterance. He saw that as the true teacher's spirit is one of inquiry, of earnestness, and of progress, it requires a special knowledge of the work to be done; it should be guided by some knowledge of the reformation and the progress and the literature of the art; it may be kindled to enthusiasm by looking over the life-work and experiences of the masses. Nor was he less positive in his assertion of the teacher's need of advancement in general culture and information. He argues that every teacher should pursue these two lines of study-professional and general. He anticipates and an

a similar plan at an earlier day.

swers objections to the plan. He even calculates the number of hours per day which the teacher may profitably devote to these studies. For the professional work, indeed, he outlines a course; and he offers suggestions as to the subjects for general study. In the years that have passed since his book of counsels first came from the press, his precepts have led as his example has drawn.

What, then, is new in the reading circle movement? State organization for this special purpose is new. The spreading out of the elevating influence to reach the mass of the teachers, uniformity of plan, and co-operation-these are new features of an old work. Page did not fail to point out to teachers the benefits of uniting, yet he seems never to have entertained the idea of a State organization for the purpose of carrying out his suggestions as to study; nor was this to be expected in decentralized New England, where the school system itself was local rather than general in its nature.

To the best of my knowledge, the oldest of the reading circles-that is, the oldest State organization of that name-based on the precepts of Page and having in view the advancement of the teacher through systematic study at home, is the reading circle of my own State. Understand me, I do not question the priority of the Ohio organization of similar name. Apart from the difference in name, there is a material difference in purpose. The Indiana organization did not contemplate simply a direction of the reading of leisure hours, but a plan for systematic study and investigation. It did not suppose the teacher to have access to a library for the books or to possess any considerable library of his own for the purpose. It directed him to procure a very few textbooks annually, and to bestow upon them careful attention and earnest thought. Since the Indiana plan has been more or less closely followed in other States of the West, I trust it will not be considered improper to present here some of the important features of the reading circle in that State. It had its origin in the State Teachers' Association at its meeting of December, 1883, when the following resolution was presented by W. A. Bell, and unanimously adopted.

Resolved, 1. That the association proceed at once to take the necessary steps to inaugurate an organization among the teachers of Indiana for reading and study, to be known as the "Indiana Teachers' Reading Circle."

2. That this circle be under the care and direction of the Indiana State Teachers Association, which shall make rules for its management, arrange its course, direct its examinations, and confer such honors as it may determine.

3. That this association proceed to choose a board of directors, to which shall be entrusted the selection of a course of professional and literary reading, the issuing of certificates of progress, and the granting of diplomas as evidence of its completion. 4. The board of directors of the Indiana Teachers' Reading Circle shall consist of eight members, selected by the association from its own members, two of whom shall serve for one year, two for two years, two for three years, and two for four years; and hereafter two members shall be elected annually to serve for four years. The board of directors shall select its officers, arrange its meetings, and record and publish its proceedings.