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THE TYPEWRITER A COMING NECESSITY IN SCHOOLS.

FRANK H. KASSON, BOSTON.

The American people demand rapidity of action. They eat rapidly, walk rapidly, think rapidly, act rapidly. Life moves at a pace unknown to our ancestors. We can all sympathize with Madame De Stael's request of Sir James Mackintosh: "And now tell me all about the British Constitution in ten minutes." We have but little time for any matter. We must reach the center at a bound. Ours is a money-making age. Men make fortunes swiftly and often lose them in a day. This high pressure speed exhausts the life forces. Young men grow prematurely old. In such an age every device to save labor and thought is hailed with delight. No wonder it is the age of invention. The age imperiously demands new inventions. And the demand is met. With what marvellous strides the world swings forward into light. Like a lusty young giant as it is, it cannot walk, but runs and leaps, exulting in its strength.

Could Benjamin Franklin walk again the streets of Boston or Philadelphia, what strange sensations would be his comparing old things with new, The age of steam and electricity would cause astonishment or even alarm at every turn. Would he not exclaim as he surveyed man's works: "All things are new and wonderful!" How eagerly would he examine the steamship,the the railway engine, the electric car, the telegraph, the newspaper, the incandescent light, the repeating rifle, the torpedo, the phonograph, the elevator in some lofty building, the stove, the lamp, the furnace, the sewing machine, the piano and the thousand things which add to the beauty, convenience and utility of modern life. Certainly life is very different now from what it was a century ago.

In such an age of material advancement and mental alertness, men will not follow the slow methods which satisfied their fath

If machinery must be invented to save the labor of the hand much more should it be brought into use to save the exhaustion of what is far more valuable- the brain. To economize time and brawn is of great importance, and means increase

of wealth; but to economize brain power means increase of health and length of life. Our generation has felt keenly this necessity for mechanical help in the expression of thought. The pen could not fly fast enough in its nervous grasp. The demand arose for a machine to save the wear and tear of nerves and expedite their work. And this demand was met by the inven

tion of the typewriter.

At first, various crude attempts ended in failure. But, in time, success crowned the persistent effort of inventors Sholes and Soulé, and the result was the Remington Standard Typewriter. Not the almost perfect No. 6 machine, but one which could work. successfully, and out of which this latest achievement of typewriting ingenuity has grown.

It was in the year 1873 that the manufacture of the machine for the market first began at Ilion, N. Y., in the works of E. Remington & Sons, then famous for their splended rifles; but it was 1874 before the first machine was ready for the market. It was a feeble industry at first. It took time to create a demand. No man could then foresee the wonderful growth of this industry. It is very easy to look backward. Only genius can look forward into the unknown. When a path is made any fool can walk in it. Six years had passed, and only 1000 machines, in all, had been sold. In 1882, the number had increased to 2300, proportionally a great gain, but still the business gave little promise of success. In 1884, the business received a new impetus. A new industry was created. Since then the growth of the business has been rapid. By 1890, the sales had reached 20,000 per annum. In 1892 they had risen to 35,000 per annum, and the demand is steadily increasing year by year. Altogether, about 160,000 strictly new Remington machines have been sold, and nearly all of them are in use to-day. This is somewhat more than fifty per cent. of all the typewriters that have been made.

The coming of the typewriter has been welcomed by a vast army of busy men. The writing of letters is no longer drudgery. Ten times as many can be produced with less mental strain or physical fatigue. A vast army of young women are finding in this work, constant and remunerative employment. The records of the Employment Bureau conducted by Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict, manufacturers of the Remington Typewriter, at their sole expense, as a department of their extensive business, are

The new master seems not to have been a success, and, the next year, the town, for the first time, delegates its power to choose and contract to the selectmen : "Left with the selectmen to agree with a scoole master as chepe as they can." Some question seems to have arisen as to the tuition business, for, two months later, the town votes: "That they would have the scoole cept a free scoole as formarly." These people will take no backward step.

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The selectmen finally choose one of their own number, and make a most interesting contract: Agreed with leftenant shearmon to ceep an inglish scoole this year and to begin the 9th of aprill at the scoole house and the town to alow him twenty pounds in the town Reat, and if the said leftenant dezireth to lay down his imployment at the years end then he shall give the town a quarter of a years warning and if the town dezyreth to chang ther scoole master thay shall give the like warning; the selectmen agree allsoo that the said scoole shall be cept from the first of may to the last of august; 8 owers in the day to witt to begin at seven in the morning and not to break up untill five at night, noone time acsepted and from the last of august untill the last of octobur 6 owers in the day soo allsoo in the months of March and Eaprill and the 4 winter months to begin at tenn of the clock in the morning and continue untill 2 o clock in the afternoon."

We notice here the reduced salary, the notice of change, the specification of hours, the one session in the winter, and the omission of Latin. It is to be an "inglish scoole." inglish scoole." The reduction of salary may be due to the fact that the master was also selectman and assessor, and was drawing some salary from the town for the latter service.

There is evidently trouble in the air; a school war seems to be on. The old board of selectmen, which chose one of its own number master, is voted down and a new board chosen. Mr. Goddard appears to have kept on teaching, for, in 1678, the new selectmen notify both Shearmon and Goddard that their services will not be wanted at the expiration of the three months. Having done this, they proceed to reinstate the old master: "The selectmen agreed with Mr. Richard Norcross to ceep the scoole at the scoole house for the year folowing and to begin the 9th of Eaprill 1679 and to teach both Lattin & inglish Scollurs so many

A rapidly increasing number of teachers are coming to realize this. But when they introduce the typewriter into the schoolroom, they find that much more can be accomplished than simply to fit boys and girls to go out into the world and earn a living. No boy can use a machine long without becoming a far better speller. If he makes a mistake, it stares him in the face, as it never does from the written page. There it stands boldly forth in amazing distinctness. There is no way to obscure or blur it. It is wrong, and must be squarely corrected.

Then the use of the typewriter leads to more original and better composition work. All task work in composition is inferior work. The mind does its best only when thoroughly aroused. Splended passages in poetry or literature, and bursts of eloquence which live for ages are struck off at white heat. Every orator and great writer fully understands this. But the awkward lad or callow girl does not. It is often very difficult to arouse such a one to any enthusiasm in writing. More than likely, they will yawn and almost go to sleep over the irksome task.

But who goes to sleep over a typewriter? Here is action. The blood circulates more rapidly. The words emerge clear and cleancut, as the grass in the swath of the mower. And in that alert and roused state of mind, the thought long stagnant begins to flow. To his surprise often, the boy finds that he has thoughts of his own. Having produced his copy, our young writer feels an added interest in having it as perfect in every way as that which he reads in the printed page of his book. To all intents and purposes, it is a printed page which he himself is producing. This adds as much zest to his work as cold spring water gives to a mountain climber.

Each sentence must not only be spelled right, but punctuated right. Every comma, dash or period must be in place. The sentence must express his exact thought. This leads him to study carefully what he has written. Adjectives are cut out, adverbs placed in new relations, prepositions and even whole clauses transposed. And many words are replaced by others, which add beauty, clearness or strength to the diction. The eye plays an important part in one's acquirement of a wide, choice, accurate vocabulary. The boy or girl who has had five years' experience with a typewriter, other things being equal, will be far

THE QUESTION OF TEACHERS' SALARIES.

JOHN P. GARBER, KENDERTON SCHOOL, PHILADELPHIA, PA.

It speaks well for the teacher that there is scarcely any literature on the subject of his salary; that so little of his brain substance has been devoted to efforts to increase his pay. Printer's ink and platform eloquence have been poured forth with the greatest profusion in the struggle of the laboring man to secure a larger share of, and the capitalist to hold on to his multiplied dollars. On the other hand, the faithful teacher has performed more than his alloted task, and has humbly accepted the crumbs left on the public table after all the other great and noble and hungry servants of the people have fed therefrom.

Of course, any salaried officer would easily consider it a great public benefit to have his pay increased. But we believe not only that teachers are underpaid, but that our calling, with its far-reaching influence over the destiny of the nation, would be greatly enhanced by a more commensurate remuneration. Certainly no one at all familiar with the culture, the broad sympathies, the professional zeal and the artistic work of the good teacher, and with the daily demands of the school-room upon bodily and mental vigor, would refuse to be liberal in his rewards for such service. But, unfortunately, all are not in full sympathy with the teacher, nor is the appreciation of education and the desire for the best means of securing it, as highly developed in all communities as they should be. It is probable, too, that, as teachers, we have not duly considered why general appreciation of our services has grown so slowly, nor have we always used the best means to obtain it.

In presenting the matter for our thought I shall consider: 1. The source of the teacher's pay.

2.

How its amount is, and how it should be, regulated.

3.

The best means of securing its increase.

4. The social effects of liberal salaries for teachers.

I. ITS SOURCE.

Political economists tell us that the product of industry is divided among landlords, laborers and capitalists. Landlords include all those receiving rentals or incomes from

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