THE CRADLES.
I.
Lapped in the eider, and wrapped in the
silk,
A cherub watching her beautiful rest,
Carveu from ivory as white as milk,
The little princess lie 3 in her nest;
And the upstretched wings hold the drift
of lace
That floats like a cloud round the flower
sweet face,
While jeweled ladles wive to and fro
Great plumes that perfume the winds they
blow.
n.
Folded in fleece, and swinging aloft
In the rough-rolled sheet of hemlock bark,
the pioneer baby sleeps h soft,
Tho' round her the forest frowns vast and
dark,
Where the axe rings clear and the bird
sines high,
.Vnd the beast with a crash is leaping by,
And the shaft of sunshine comes and goes,
And the wild bee fancies her cheek a rose.
111.
Long, long ago. in the misty gleam
(that elder day where, the ways divide,
' heir little ancestress dreamed her dream
Uy the spear-heads' glow and the camp
fire's side,
While the blood of battle across the night
Yet sang of the awful joys of fight.
And with all its dints of fray and field.
One rocked her to sleep in her father's
shield.
* A DECENT ?
j CRIME. £
/ / f y PEAKING of odd cases,"
said Captain McCarty,
i U J "the queerest I ever
worked on was a justifi
able crime—and there are such things
—and tlie guilty man was forced not
only to murder lint to confession of the
deed by motives that none of us could
be ashamed of.
"It must have been about 2 o'clock
in the night that Grinnel street sta
tion was called tip by telephone and a
man's voice announced that there were
burglars In a house at No. 703. I was
finishing a report about an Incendiary
fire, hut ns the available men at that
hour were scarce, I jumped into the
patrol wagon with the others, and
Went to the house mentioned. The
family were all In the hallway, or In
Hie front parlor, waiting for us, and
they said that the burglar or burglars
had been locked iu the middle hod
room on the second floor.
"The daughter of the house—their
name was Taulby. and the girl's name
has Janice—had found a man under
ior bed, and without making any com
motion till she was in the hall, had
locked the door 011 the outside and
awakened licr mother nnd brother,
who slept in tiie front and back rooms
respectively 011 the same floor. That's
as far as we got before running up
stairs and opening the door. There
were three of us policemen, besides
the driver, and Toole held the light.
Griffin the door, and I, always fool
hardy, went in with my gun ready. I
had a pistol in my right hand ready
for business, hut as there was not a
sound nor n stir when I entered the
half lighted room, made bold to strike
a match with my left hand and lighted
tho gas. The drawers of tlie dresser
were opened and tossed, the closet
door was open and the contents were
scattered, but there was no sound nor
sign of life.
"I looked under tho bed, Toole turn
ing 011 tlie lantern, nnd saw a man
lying at full length. I ordered him to
come out, and Griffin began to pull off
the mattress and bedding for a safer
command of tho situation. The intru
der never stirred. We took off the
mattress, lifted out tho wire spring
frame, apd saw that tiie robber's eyes
were shut and his face ghastly. The
minute I touched him I knew he was
dead. We dragged him out then and
saw that his skull was dented as by
the mighty stroke of a narrow, duli
edged weapon. We called the Coro
ner, and ho said it was a murder, or
that the robber had been caught in the
act of searching tho room and had
been killed by one of tho inmates of
the house. As the latter supposition
seemed preposterous. I searched the
building for an open window, a door
that had been left open, or any kind of
aperture that might have given egress
to the dead man's confederate and
slayer. There was none. The win
dows and doors were all locked or
hitched on the lnshle. In the yard I
found a blackjack, or "billy," which
' 'cmcd to give color lo tiie Coroner's
theory, but only added io the mystery.
"Mrs. Taulby, the mother, was a
widow, gentle, aristocratic, wealthy
and inordinately fond of her two chil
dren. Miss Janice. I soon discovered,
was the flower of all girlish tenderness
and virtue. She hadu't even a sweet
heart to whom a thread of investiga
tion might he reasonably attached, i
Randal Taulliy. the son. was. I discov- |
ered, a lawyer h.v profession, hut not i
by practice. In fact, lie was ouly re- j
eently from college, and was living in 1
a pretty well-sown tlolU of wild outs,
a care and even a menace to Ids moth- J
< r. submissive only to his sister Janice, i
whom lie loved, and—very much in
debt. Upon the slim prospect of con- j
netting hitn with the killing I had the
■nerve to search Ids room, his clothing
and all his belongings before 1 left tho
house thai night, t found nothing in
< laminating.
"Miss Janice explained that she had
been awakened by a scream, she
thought, but iu terror had lain quietly
for many minutes before rising. Then
she struck a match, ai d. seeing noth
ing, with feminine insliuct stooped
and looked under the bed. She saw a
hand move and a face stare, and, drop
ping the match, iook out her door key.
ran into the hall, locked the door be
hind her and gave 1110 alarm. It was
Randal who had called the police. His
conduct was very calm and deliberate.
Ho iqid seen 011 one, heard nothing,
till his sister's cries aroused him. Then
he had run down stairs and tele
phoned. The mother, prostrated with
grief and understanding nothing was,
I know, incapable of any connection
with the singular affair. Somebody in
the house had killed the burglar. Of
that I was certain. But who? And
why did lie or slio refuse to admit it?
I gave them to understand that no
crime was done by killing a house
breaker, but tliey all stuck to their
stories.
"The dead burglar was a common
looking, square-built, cheaply dressed
mau of about twenty-six. That he
was a burglar we bad no doubt, l'or
we found the household jewelry, or
most of it, stowed in his pockets. He
bad no keys nor any of the tools which
housebreakers use; no letters of iden
tification, no marks upon bis clothing.
I couldn't figure out how he effected
an entrance, for, as I said, the doors
were all locked on the inside, the win
dows latehed, and there were 110 signs
of a violent entrance. Among the
papers, the letters and memoranda
which I had taken from young Taul
hy's room was one letter dated Haver
hill, Jlass., and signed Kent Howard.
It was evidently from an old college
mate, and I would have ignored it if I
had not also found In one of Tnulby's
pockets a postal card addressed to this
same Kent Howard, and sent by one
of those Greek letter societies they
have at universities. That gave me a
vague hint, for I couldn't understand
why Taulby should have Howard's
postal card in ills possession. I made
a grand bluff then, just for a fiyer, you
know. I got Randal In a corner 0110
evening, and told him that I had dis
covered that tlie dead burglar's name
was Kent Howard. I thought if my
guess was right he'd flush up, or shake
or show some sign, hut lie never hatted
an eye, and I concluded I was on an
other had steer.
"I started some letters east to the
college that Taulby had graduated
from, and then resolved to keep a close
watch on him. I couldn't find him
that day at all, nor the next, nnd I was
commencing to get rattled when I got
the following letter:
" 'Dear McCnrty—You are too cute
altogether. I don't know how you
found out it was Kent Miller, and I
don't care now. Find me if you can.
It was 110 murder, anyhow. I let him
Into tlie house. He was a born thief,
and was on the high road to the pen,
any way. I owed him money all
right, an old score, but be was trying
to blackmail me. I'm pretty bad my
self, 1 >ut I couldn't rob my own peo
ple. I let hint in at tlie front door and
turned him loose to roll tile house as
he pleased. I had to do something for
him, and as I had no money I did this.
Janice was sound asleep when we got
into lier room. I couldn't stand what
lie said then—about her. I struck him
with Ids own hilly and shoved him
under the bed. Then I dropped it cut
the window and went to bed. I'loase
drop this tiling if you can. If you
bring Janice's name into it I'll kill
you; don't forget that. That's Hie de
cent side of me. I won't stand any
thing against her. R. TV
"And I dropped it," concluded Mc-
Carty, sighing softly. "May be it was
a crime—l don't know—but it was a
decent crime, don't you think?"— Ch
icago Record-Herald.
SHOULD WATER BE FREE'.
Ono Western City Tlilnks So and Puts tit
Cost in the Tax liiulgct.
Tiie city of Santa Rosa, Cal., lias
been supplying its TOGO inhabitants
Willi water free for the last five years
and charging the cost in the tax
budget. J \V Keegan, one of its Coun
cllmen, is anxious that other cities/
should follow Santa Rosa's example,
and he gives these reasons for declar
ing it to lie the only equitable system
of supply:
"Itjs more economical because the
cost of accounting and collecting is
abolished; it saves io tlie consumer the
annoyance of the rate collector's call
ing; it is a strong incentive to heautifi
cation of the city, for householders no
longer grudge water for lawns and
gardens; it is not wasteful, because the
consumer never believes that Ills pay
ment Is fixed by his consumption, and
it benefits the very poor and by encour
aging them to he cleanly keeps the
community free l'rom disease.
"The onij- man who may be injured,"
says tlie Councilman, "is one who pays
taxes 011 personal property, and ho is
no more Injured than by a free sewer
system. 11' he lie a householder, he
has free water, and if his personal
property is merchandise which he sells,
lie can shift tlie burden of taxation
upon the purchaser and the purchasers
of the goods pay the merchant's taxes,
just as tliey pay (lie merchant's clerk
hire."—Now York Sun.
The Man of tlie Village*
Tlio population oC Shelley, Suffolk, I
is seventy-live. There is no resident
parson, 110 resident squire and 110 pub
lie house. Neither is there any school, |
bill t here is n school board. The parish j
consists of four farms, two of which |
are occupied by widows and the otliei ,
two by one man, who is consequently
the Man of Shelley. The Man of Shel
ley is clerk to the school board, and
practically all parish officers in one.
When lie wants a meeting of the in
fluential ratepayers he calls himself
together, communes with himself,
takes the general opinion of the meet
ing, declares the proposition carried
! item con., thanks the chairman and in-
I biructs him to carry out the will of
lite assembly of notables.—Tit-Bits.
Preventable Suffering.
It: is conservatively estimated that
there are now in New York City 20,000
eases of well-developed pulmonary
; tuberculosis. All the suffering and
death consequent upon the prevalence
of the disease ore, in view of modern
scientific knowledge, largely preventa
ble by the careful observation of sim
ple, well understood and easily applied
measures of cleanliness, disinfection
and isolation.—New York News*
and ® ®
® ® /\dveMt\if©.
Narrow Kscapo From Death.
OF the quarter of a milllou Brit
ish troops in the South Afri
can war the narrowest escape
from death was that of a sol
dier named Stanley, in the Forty-sev
enth Company of Itoyal Engineers.
And strangely enough the chief dan
ger that menaced the sapper, as those
in the engineer corps ax-e always called,
was not bullets, but deer.
The affair Is described by A. W.
Northover, who was In the same com
pnny with Stanley, and It occurred at
Klerksdorp, Transvaal, on April 3,
1901. They with two of their comrades
were trekking around the Klerksdorp
neighborhood for forage for horses.
They had to exercise great caution, for
It was known that Boers were in the
vicinity. They had been searching for
the best part of a day without success,
when upon rounding a kopje, which
they nicknamed Gibraltar, they came
In sight of a group of springbok, grazing
about three-quarters of the way up the
kopje.
Tin y decided to relinquish the quc.7t
for forage in l'avor of deer I ruining.
"The place where the deer were graz
ing was about 400 feet above the veldt
level," said Northover, in his narrative,
"and the sides of tlie kopje were al
most as vertical as the walls of a
house. To got there from where we
stood would require a great amount of
skill in climbing as well as nerve, and
to go around In front of the kopje
would require too much valuable time.
So rather than risk a long shot we
came to the conclusion that the best
thing to do would ho for one of us to
ascend the kopje and come upon the
deer unawares with a charged inaga
ilne.
"We tossed up to see who should
make the climb, and the choice
fell to Stanley, who, 'grousing' nt
his hard luck, commenced the as
cent and after some narrow es
capes from slipping was success
ful in reaching a practically close po
sition to the deer. We could see him
taking dead aim, and nt last, after a
period of suspense, heard the report nt
the shot and saw one of the deer
fall to Its knees, while the others made
a stampede straight for the place
where Stanley was lying. We could
see him frantically seeking for away
of escape, but there was none to be
found.
"Directly behind him was a clear
drop of 400 feet, and In front the deer
dashing at terrific speed straight at
him. His only course was to meet the
deer with another shot, and trust to
this either to stop or turn them. This
he did, hut instead of turning them
as he anticipated, it merely gave force
to their already great terror and fury.
"Two big bucks made a rush at him
simultaneously, but, being blind with
terror, collided with each other a few
yards In front of where he was. The
result of this was that one of them
came crashing down to within a few
feet of where we stood. Tho other, a
larger one, soon recovered Itself, and,
seeing Stanley in front of him, made a
torrlilc charge, catching him square In
the chest and sending him over the
side of the kopje.
"We all expected to see him smashed
In full view of our eyes, but—marvel
lous to tell—what we considered a real
miracle happened, for as he fell back
ward his legging strap by some means
came unfastened and caught by tho
buckle between two rocks. The deer
could not stop its rush aud went with
terrific velocity well out over our
chum's body down to rejoin its mate at
the foot of the height.
"We all made a run to help Stanley,
but stopped suddenly on bearing a shot
and seeing one of the remaining doer
drop to the ground, but not to die, for
it rose again suddenly, and, followed
by the remainder of the group, which
were too terrilled to see where they
were going, charged straight for the
edge of the height, where Stanley was
hanging head downward.
"Too late! They tried to save them
selves going over, and went crashing
down, taking the rocks that held Stan
ley with them. Of course, directly
the rocks went that held him sus
pended Stanley followed, hut had not
gone far when his bandolier caught on
a bush, checking his fall slightly, but
proving fortunate, as before he had
gone much further he brought up on
* projecting rock which, but for the
bush checking his fall, would have
dashed him to pieces. This had all oc
curred in a minute, and when we got
over our fascination we had time to see
who had fired the last shot at the deer.
"We were soon assured as to the
riflemen, for bullets began to strike
around us, and before we could realize
It two of us, myself included, were
wounded. We then saw a party of
about fifty Boors, who I have no doubt
were there for the same purpose as our
selves.
"It was absolutely useless tn fight In
the circumstances, so we reluctantly
surrendered and at once called our cap
tors' attention to our comrade down
the side of the height. By knotting
tether ropes together we were enabled
to let one of our party down, and quick
ly had Stanley up. He was a pitiable
sight, and was violently vomiting
blood, besides having three ribs and
his left leg broken.
"The Boers released us, and we found
our way to camp, with Stanley on an
Improvised stretcher. Thanks to a
strong constitution and a good doctor,
ho has survived his illness, and is at
this moment as well as ever he was."
How a I'luclcy Woman Saved an Army.
The Canadian Historical Society lias
recently erected a momument at Bea
ver Dams, Niagara Falls, to commem
orate the heroism of Laura Secord In
the War of 1812. This remarkable
woman, of Huguenot descent, who was
never known to have shown fear, won
fame throughout the British posses
sions by a daring nightwalk that saved
a garrison from a surprise attack by
the American forces.
It was in June, 1813, and a few days
after she had found her severely
wounded husband on the battlefield of
Queenstown Heights, that word
reached the Sqcords through spies that
the Americans had planned ah attack
agninst Lieutenant Fitz Gibbon's force
of 230 men at Bpaver Dams, on the
Niagara Itiver, twenty miles away.
Against the solicitations of her hus
band, who said that a trusted messen
gen with a letter would answer the
purpose just as well, Mrs. Bccord her
self determined if possible to warn the
British of the prospective attack.
She left her house toward evening
in her ordinary dress, not even chang
lng her light slippers for stout shoes,
or in any way giving indication of a
long and perilous journey by foot. At
first she strolled along leisurely and
cajoled an American sentry Into letting
her pass with a tale that she was look
ing for a stray cow. As darkness fell
she began to walk rapidly, taking the
most unfrequented and roughest roads,
and occasional short cuts through belts
of forest. She walked all night of the
24th of Juno, 1813, and arrived early
in the morning in a state of exhaustion
at Beaver Dams. The first people that
she saw were Indians. They con
ducted her at once to Lieutenant Fitz
Gibbon, who had heard nothing of the
danger that threatened. Ho instantly
prepared himself, and that very day,
after n slight skirmish, ho captured
many Americans and two field pieces.
Mrs. Secord once got the better of
100 Indians, led by the great warrior,
Tecumseh, who had come to her houso
to carry away her fourteen-year-old
daughter for the purpose of making
her Tecumseh's wife. She was alone in
the house and without a weapon of
any kind when the Indians marched up
and halted before the front door. But
without showing any signs of fear she
opened the door, and, lifting up her
hands as a warning, exclaimed, "Small,
pox here!" This disease had been so
fatal among the Indians a few months
before that even Tecumseh shuddered
at Mrs. Secord's words. Then, after a
moment of hesitation, he silently
turned away and led his followers
along the way they had come. The
daughter, thus saved by her mother's
ready wit, afterward became the wife
of a British Army officer.
When the Prince of Wales, now King
of England, visited Canada he called
on Mrs. Secord and presented her with
£IOO in acknowledgement of her hero
ism. The old lady, in her fervent loy
alty, would fain have knelt before the
Queen's son, but he would not permit
it and gently replaced her in her chair.
She died in iter house in Chippewa in
the iate COs.
Thirty-five Dftjs on n Ttaft; No Food.
The eight survivors of the wreck of
the British steamer Elingamite, who
were picked up on a raft by the British
sloop-of-war Penguin, were rescued No
vember 13, sixty miles from West King
Island, New Zealand, the scene of the
wreck.
They had been drifting since October
9, without any food except two apples.
Each apple was cut into sixteen pieces,
there being fifteen men and the stew
ardess on tho raft when it left the
wreck.
Three of the men became maddened
by drinking sea water and leaped over
board. Four others and the stewardess
died of starvation and exposure.
The survivors suffered agonizingly
on the raft. This was twelve feet
long by seven feet wide. It was half
submerged and every sea swept over it,
drenching ils occupants.
Cn the night of November 11 the
castaways saw the light of a steamer
and shouted frantically. Tho steamer
lowered a boat, which passed within
fifty yards of the raft. Then, although
those on the raft continued shouting,
the boat turned and went back to the
steamer, apparently not having heard
the cries for help.
After this despondency seized the oc
cupants of the raft. One of them tried
to appease his hunger by chewing his
handkerchief.
When the Penquin's boat went along,
side the raft only one of the ship
wrecked men was able to stand. All
of them were in a most emaciated con
dition, and their faces, hands and legs
were raw from exposure to the sun and
water.
All hope of finding the remaining
forty persons from the Elingamite has
been abandoned.
Fleets For Life With Wolves.
Sam Isaacs, a tall, athletic young
Indian, about twenty years of ago, was
out with his rifle in the township oj
Freeman, near Moon Itiver, Canadr
He was alone.
Suddenly five wolves in a pack xij •
peared on the scene and made straig.it
for the young Indian. They had
winded him, and were trying to run
him down. Sam waited until the fore
most was within twenty-live yards of
him when lie raised his rifle and sent
a bullet into his head squarely in Hit
middle and a little below the eyes. The
pack kept on, and were within thirty
feet of him, when again the rifle sent
a bullet through another head. > Then
the remaining three turned tail and
lied. Sam brought in the heads and
hides on Tuesday, and made affidavit
before the police magistrate to get the
bounty allowed by the Government for
the destruction of the two wolves.
The leader of the pack measured six
feet six inches from tip of tail to nose.
Ho was an old veteran, and had been
in many fights, as his head was
searrred and seamed all over from old
wounds, one ear had been at some date
completely chewed off, and the other
pretty badly lacerated and torn.
The hardest woman to please is the
one who doesxitf know what she wants
Athletics in Great Britain.
Tliey Arouse Intense Enthusiasm cind Produce Soma
Strange Trophies. By Arthur Duffy.
attract much more attention in England than in
j I America. The people are more enthusiastic, and it is not un
_ | usual to see 15,000 or 20,000 people attending the games. There
> 1 are s P or * s three and five times a "week, eo that an ambitious
j | runner can fill his trophy room with any number of suitable
I £ I prizes. An American champion has no idea of the receptiouW
| ■ | that awaits him. The many sports committees attend him.
£ * le * s shown the hospitality of the cities.
It is no extraordinary thing to be invited to a dinner in
your honor, or to stay a few days with the Lord Mayor of the city. All of
these affairs, one must admit, are a great handicap to his training.
The prizes abroad are, as a general rule, very valuable, much more so than
in America. They are not wholly conllned to silverware, such as cups and the
like; but it is nothing extraordinary to see an athlete departing from the
races with a sewing machine or hat-rack, and in some cases I have seen orders
for beds. The lucky competitor, as a rule, can have any article he desires,
and as many British athletes are married, they generally take the most ser
viceable article. My prizes last year consisted mostly of diamonds, watches,
silver tea services and cutlery, altogether worth nearly £2oo.—From the
"American Sprinter in Great Britain,• in Outing.
Happiness la Democracy.
The World's Influence on tlie Hew Way of Living. \
By Dr. Felix A&ler.
■ HERE are many Inventions which multiply the means of living
Tbut Is the world really the happier? How about those who possess
more wealth than they require; does it make them any the happier?
Tlie chief source of pleasure or happiness, after all, is derived from
man's social relations with his fellow men. If man were cut off
l'roui intercourse with his fellow men lie would become like a
bf musical Instrument laid aside,
fe-v How will it profit you if you get all the possible wealth of the
i world and are cut off from the chief source of happiness with
your fellow man? Because of their success in life some people in
tiiis country find democracy so little to their taste that they go abroad to
associate with the foreign aristocracy, disdaining the association with democ
racy.
Democracy does not moan that all men are equal, because it is not true in
the sense that all are equally developed. True democracy "contains three ele
ments of reverence—reverence for our superiors, for our equals and for our
Inferiors. The spurious democrat is the man who believes he is tlie equal of
a Lincoln or anybody else, only he has not had the opportunities to polish
his abilities.
AU great men are reverential. Ob, the pity of that carping, spiteful, ma
lteious social set where they are ready to tear each other's character infix
slireds and consider the doing of it a mark of cleverness. And yet that is tl. W
attitude of n large part of what we call the world. The social set which/
considers all who belong to it as persons of distinction Is characterized by
malice, hypocrisy and crossness.
The Real Saratoga.
As tiro Great American Sporting Resort, It Resembles
Nothing Foreign. By Jesse Lynch. Williams.
t'T there is nothing fashionable or ponderous in the way tiie
people take their pleasure at Saratoga. Of "among those present,"
g especially during the polo season, there might l>e made a inod-
E erately long list of names which might appeal to the most critical
B tpaiif h American Yellowplush; but he would ho disillusioned at the
a a B spontaneity of the possessors of the names. That is what they
n 6 are there l'or, to get away from the routine stupidity of self-
J0 conscious Newport, which not a few of them can stand for
01lly 80 lons at a tlme i just as Billy Bnnkclerk is there to get
awuy from the stupidity of his routine existence—and both
mingle freely in the paddock and swap tips in the ring, to the horror of I (it,
lowplush, who has come to worship.
It was to be expected that the establishment of a place of this kind
would be hailed as the creation of an "American Ascot"—by these who get an
added zest by such mental devices—just as the moralists have anathematized
it, as "the Monte Carlo of America." It is, to be sure, the one place in the
country where fine horses and fine people may he seen without much touting
to Interfere with either; and it Is the one example of really regulated 1
gambling in the United States. But it is not very much like Ascot or Monte
Carlo, though enough like both, possibly, to call to mind the rollicking old
days of a previous and very different century at Bath—if you have a mind
to liken it to something foreign.
To me It seems quite interesting as a great American sporting rendezvous,
"The greatest all-round" resort of this sort we have yet evolved,—though, to
be sure, we are still rather young at concentrated frivolity.—From "Saratoga 1
and Its People," in Outing.
JS7 Jg?
Home Should Help the School
By Caroline T. Haven, Principal of the Ethical Cul
ture School Normal Kindergarten Training Class, v
SHE emphasis placed of late years upon Improved bygiciiieP'
conditions in ilie schoolroom has greatly Increased the teach/
or's responsibility in regard to the physical well being of the
children committed to her care. She is now expected not
only to attend to tlie general question of temperature, ventila
tion and light, hut to recognize the individual peculiarities
of her charges and to discover means by which defects of
all kinds may be remedied.
Now, it is manifestly impossible for any teacher, however,
willing and capable, to gauge accurately and speedily the physical and intel
lectual disabilities of a new class of jmpils, and time is lost and harm done,
before adequate tests can be made for conditions that vary more or less l'roul
normal standards.
If the school Is to do its best work It must have educative services from
the home, and It will have that only as parents are alive to the situation and
are ready to further its ends.
First of all, the child should he sent to school with a well-nourished body,
tlie result of a diet that is simple, easily digested and eaten at regular in
tervals. It should be provided with clothing that will not interfere with the
free movement of any part of the body and will give the suitable amount of
warmth and protection.
The parents should insist on the maximum number of hours of quiet
Bleep, should tench tlie child habits of personal cleanliness, and should see
that it has a proper amount of exercise in the open air anil a plentiful supply C
of fresh air within doors. " W
The full value of proper food, exercise, sleep, etc., upon resistance to diß
ease, upon tlie nervous system, upon general disposition and even upon con
duet can hardly be overestimated, and the teacher's work is greatly lessened
when these matters receive systematic attention in the home.
The mother who has made a real study of her child knows the condition
of ills eyes on entering school and will be quick to notice any failure that
will occur later. So, too, defects in hearing may be more readily detected in
the home than in tlie school, where they prove a great barrier to the child's
mental progress. Many a child so afflicted lias been called stupid, inattentive
or stubborn, until a physician's skill lias overcome the physical defects which
alone were responsible for his mental stnte.
It requires much time and patience on the teacher's part to overcome in
distinct and faulty enunciation as well as ungrammatical forms of speech
nnil mispronunciation. Much of (he faulty enunciation observable in very
young children is due to the use of "baby talk" by parents ia addressing
them. The little ones are Imitative, and a repetition in their presence of the
wrong forms of speech day after day finally results in fixing them indelibly
in tiieir minds.
The questions of nervousness, undue restlessness, signs of fatigue, loss of >
nerve force, are problems that confront the teacher at every turn —problems
which she cannot solve unaided. So much in these conditions depend on Iho
home and are beyond the control of the school that, unless the mothers recog
nize the difficulties and are equal to the demands, the child must continue To
suffer and the work of the whole school is impaired.
Is the school responsible when, through excesses in the emotional life of
the child at home, his vigor Is wasted and lie is made unfit to meet the general
requirements of the classroom? Shall the teacher be charged with neglect
Iwhen the ambition of parents forces the child to endure exertion in order that
Hie next promotion time may not find him behind his cowpauions''-Nevr
j.ork News.