E. C. Hartwell

“ That dog kennel of a barn gave me much to think about.
The wind was dead against us. Our speedometer registered
ninety miles an hour—and the wind pushing us 15
back at the rate of forty miles left us fifty miles an hour
speed. It seemed like fifty feet to me, until I saw off in
the distance ahead the silvery haze that hangs over New
York like a mantle of mist. A moment later we made out
Long Island Sound, laid out with all its little bays and harbors 20
just like a pattern of white paper fallen on the extreme
edge of a Persian carpet. ”

“ With a little tactful direction early in the year, the student may be led to form a most useful habit. The greater the proportion of intelligent note-taking that is done without compulsion, the better. No more notes should be required than the teacher can honestly look over, correct, and grade. It is better to require no notes at all than to accept careless, superficial inaccuracies as honest work. One curse of high school history teaching is the tendency of young teachers trained in college history classes to assign more work than the student can honestly do or the teacher properly correct. ”

“ It was a terrible sight to see that unearthly-looking monster
smashing the ice around it and lashing the blood-stained 15
sea into foam, while it waged such mortal war with the
self-possessed and wary man. How mighty and strong
the one! how comparatively weak and seemingly helpless
the other! It was the triumph of mind over matter—of
reason over blind brute force. 20
But Annatock fought a hard battle that day ere he came
off conqueror. Harpoon after harpoon was driven into the
walrus—again and again the lance pierced deep into its
side and drank its lifeblood ”

“ There may be a rapid review in battles, generals, wars, treaties, proclamations, and inventions. Such exercises encourage the classification of facts and stimulate fluency of expression. It is of the highest importance for the student so to arrange in his mind what he has learned in recitation that he can call to his command at a second's notice the fact, date, or illustration he desires. There will be many times in his school and college career when such an ability will be indispensable; in business or the professions it is an invaluable asset, infinitely more useful than the history itself. ”

“ The wicked hornet, idling under the eaves, rejoiced at
the mischief he had wrought. But the Smith was filled
with grief, and the music of his anvil became a jangling
discord. 10
"Oh, Iron," he cried, "it was not for this that I caused
you to leave your hiding places in the hills and bogs! The
three sisters intended that you should be a blessing to
mankind; but now I greatly fear that you will become a
curse." 15
At that moment the honeybee, laden with the sweets of
field and wood, came buzzing into the smithy. ”

“ The teacher should not expect the boy who has kept no useful notes, whose library work has been haphazard, and whose methods of study have not been supervised, to perform at examination time the miracle of accurately remembering what he has never been properly taught. ”

“ The
whale's great length made it no easy job for him to turn, 5
while our boat, with two oars a side and the great leverage
at the stern supplied by the nineteen-foot steer oar, circled,
backed, and darted ahead like a living thing animated by
the mind of our commander. When the leviathan settled,
we gave a wide berth to his probable place of ascent; 10
when he rushed at us, we dodged him; when he paused, if
only momentarily, in we flew and got home a fearful thrust
of the deadly lance.
All fear was forgotten now—I panted, thirsted, for his
life. ”

“ It would be as great an error to bend your questions continually away from the student's special tastes and abilities as to be perpetually guided by them. The bulk of the teacher's attention should be given neither to the few exceptionally able students nor to the few very poor pupils. It is to the average normal boy and girl that the most of the questioning should be directed. The brilliant student should be called on sufficiently to retain his interest and to set a standard of excellence for the class. ”

“ Pretty soon, however, the heat
of the sun began to melt the wax with which the boy's
wings were fastened. He felt himself sinking through the
air; the wings had become loosened from his shoulders.
He screamed to his father, but it was too late. Dædalus 15
turned just in time to see Icarus fall headlong into the
waves. The water was very deep there, and the skill of
the wonderful artisan could not save his child. He could
only look with sorrowing eyes at the unpitying sea, and
fly on alone to distant Sicily. ”

“ That a student should be expected correctly to answer a fair percentage of reasonable questions on work which has been properly taught is not a cause of complaint from anyone. But that children should be frightened into a state of nervous terror by the bugaboo of an impending examination, and then be forced to attempt a series of conundrums propounded by a teacher who takes pride in maintaining a high percentage of failures, is indefensible. An examination should not be conducted with the primary object of making it a thing to be feared. ”

“ A loud shout from the spectators, waving of scarfs and
handkerchiefs, and general acclamations, attested the interest
taken by the spectators in this encounter; the most equal,
as well as the best performed, which had graced the day. 15
But no sooner had the knights resumed their station
than the clamor of applause was hushed into a silence so
deep and so dead that it seemed the multitude were afraid
even to breathe. ”

“ It would be interesting to secure a statement of how much of the teacher's time is ordinarily spent in doing for the student in recitation what he should have done for himself before coming to class. It substitutes for the pupil's snap judgment, given without much thought and too frequently influenced by the inflection of the teacher's voice, an opinion that has resulted from research and deliberation unbiased by the teacher's personal views.
It is too much to expect high school pupils to solve historical problems extemporaneously. ”

“ The spectators understood perfectly what he wanted.
At sight of the unconscious maiden, who near the enormous
Lygian seemed a child, emotion seized the multitude of
senators and knights. Her slender form, as white as if 25
chiseled from alabaster, her fainting, the dreadful danger
from which the giant had freed her, and finally her beauty
and attachment had moved every heart. Some thought
the man a father begging mercy for his child. ”

“ The barren learning of names and dates has long since been supplanted by a study of sequences among events. The technical details of wars and political administrations have given way to a study of wide economic and social movements in which battles and laws are merely overt results reinforcing the current of change. History, once a self-inclosed school discipline, has undergone an intellectual expansion which takes into account all the aspects of life which influence it, making geographical, economic, and biographical materials its aids. ”

“ The murmur rose to shouts,
and eager questions were put: Where did the people live 5
who could produce such a giant?
He stood there, in the middle of the amphitheater, naked,
more like a stone colossus than a man, with a collected
expression, and at the same time the sad look of a barbarian;
and while surveying the empty arena, he gazed 10
wonderingly with his blue childlike eyes, now at the spectators,
now at Cæsar, now at the grating of the cunicula,
whence, as he thought, his executioners would come. ”

“ Has the United States ever resorted to a tax on incomes? Has the Federal Government ever attempted to restrict the power of the press? Is it illegal to-day for a railway to give a cheaper rate to one shipper than to another? ”

“ It is assumed that the teacher of history has an adequate preparation to teach his subject, that he is in good health, and that his usefulness is unimpaired by discontent with his work or cynicism about the world. It is presupposed that he understands the wisdom of correlating in his instruction the geography, social progress, and economic development of the people which his class are studying. He is aware that the pupil should experience something more than a kaleidoscopic view of isolated facts. ”

“ Suddenly the admiral's grim face brightened with a 20
light never seen there before, and he drew a long, deep
breath like one shaking off a heavy burden. At the same
moment there broke out a fresh thunder of guns on the
right, and through the smoke burst the flag of England,
sweeping all before it like mists scattered by the rising sun. 25
The battle was won, and the few Dutch vessels that had
escaped were disappearing in the dimness of night when the
admiral and his remaining officers gathered on the quarter-deck
to do honor to the little hero. ”

“ To summarize, reviews in history should consist of both oral and written work; they should be rapid enough to insure quick thinking, alert attention, and small expenditure of time; they should occur with increasing frequency as the year advances; they should stock the memory, fix in the student's mind the order of events, stimulate fluency, insure a permanent acquaintance with the personnel of history, and give to the student a better view of the subject as a whole and in its various phases. ”

“ Scarcely had they done so when the
walrus came up again with a loud snort, splashing the water 5
with its broad, heavy flippers—which seemed a sort of
compromise between legs and fins—and dashing waves
over the ice as it rolled about its large, unwieldy carcass.
It was truly a savage-looking monster as large as a small
elephant and having two tusks of a foot and a half long. ”

“ Review for the purpose of securing fluency is a consideration frequently lost sight of by high school history teachers. It may be too sanguine to expect fluency of the average student reciting on a topic for the first time. But when it is considered how very many important questions are never recited on but once, the wisdom of an occasional review to secure rapid, fluent, and complete answers to topics previously discussed is readily seen. ”

“ Bear 't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy; 15
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are most select and generous, chief in that. ”

“ A history teacher who cannot talk interestingly for an hour on any of the great periods of history has surely missed his calling. But to keep a class quiet, to retain their attention, to amuse and entertain, is far from making history vital. If the recitation is to be really vital, the students must do most of the talking, the criticizing, and the questioning. There can be none of these worth while without proper preparation. ”

“ Arthur, and thy fame and thy renown be forever held in
glorious memory throughout the length and the breadth
of this land!" 30
[23] "Hail to thee, noble youth!" returned Arthur. "Thou
art right welcome. Here is a place for thee between two of
my knights. Sit down, and my minstrels will play for thee."
But Kilhugh made answer: "I have not come hither,
sire, to eat and drink, but to crave of thee a boon. ”

“ In every examination there should be at least one question dealing with the time and the order of events, one each on the geographical, political, and social history, one that is analytical, one that requires generalization, one that will test his knowledge of the library, and one that will test his powers of description. It is not necessary to limit the questions to the customary number of ten. It is frequently advisable to give a class some degree of choice in the selection of their questions by requiring any ten out of a larger number asked. ”

“ A few of these we call adventures because they are out of the ordinary. If, however, one is keen and alert, every experience is a fresh adventure. And excitement galore can be had by reading about the doings of other people. It is no longer necessary to hunt lions or to be adrift on an ice sheet to get the thrill of those who have experienced these things. Books, pictures, and theaters afford us ample means of enjoying in comfort the hour of high adventure of the other person. ”