and several neat cottages. Now, this school-house was a very unpretending edifice, and stood in the corner of the pretty cemetery, where the green chestnut trees waved their golden fringes, and the white slabs in their shadow looked very peaceful. The boys were always respectful and seldom or ever desecrated the sacred spot with their rude sports, though the old horse-sheds in the rear were the scene of many a hilarious and boisterous play. Let boys alone, you know, for making noise when occasion demands or circumstance sanctions!

Many of the larger boys were my particular friends out of school, but among them was one, who, though a good fellow in the main, was yet a spoiled pet at home, and he had the erroneous idea that everything, everywhere, must give way to his moods. It is of him and one of his erraticisms (excuse the word coined for the occasion) I am to tell you.

There was no despotism in the little monarchy, but it was necessary to have things pretty shipshape, you know; so, when any rules were laid down, there was apt to be an insisting that they should be obeyed, for the good of the school and the scholars, as well as for the fair appearance of discipline. This young tyro, who will have to come to you under a name not his own-for upon my word, this is all so strictly true that if I should call him by his right name there are dozens who could point him!-this James assumed an independence which was not only very disagreeable, but emphatically a bad example to the others; nothing for a long time fairly punishable, but gradually approaching to open rebellion. All the boys could see how he was tending, and truth bids me say that they did not in the least take advantage of their opportunities to help him.

One bright day in the full midsummer, when doors and windows were all open for the fresh, sweet air, Master James capped the climax and showed out fair and square his colors. It happened in this wise: "James," said I, "what are you doing?"

"Throwing spitballs, ma'am!"

"Then don't do it again," said I, quietly; "for if you do I shall be obliged to punish you in a way you will remember,”—and went on with the lesson. Soon I heard a titter, and looking round, saw the little Bohemian in the act of throwing a big one at one of the scholars. Now, there was a long bench at the rear of the room, on which the classes usually sat to recite; so I told him he must take his books and sit there for the remainder of the session. He came from his seat toward me quietly enough, stood there by my side, and deliberately, before any one could stop him, shied first his slate, and then his books, one by one, in quick succession, directly over the heads of the scholars, to the bench!

Can you not suppose this mutiny was unbearable??—so I said, in a tone of authority I didn't give myself the credit of possessing-circumstances never having developed my resources in this direction:

"Come here, sir!"

The young man came with an assuring smile on his face, seemingly confident I wouldn't dare to touch him. Opening my desk, I took from it a ferule which my old schoolmaster had given me as a symbol of authority. "It won't do to use it much," he said to me, "but it is well to have it in a case of emergency," So up to this time it had rested untouched in my desk, and the boys had never an inkling of its presence, but now the emergency had come and out sprang

the ferule to its duty.

"Hold out your hand!" I said. The dainty hand was extended. I raised the slender, elastic ferule, and brought it down with the determination the exigency of the case demanded. Now, I don't know how many blows constitute a whipping, but I do know that Master James received but one, for, giving utterance to a yell loud and wild enough for a Modoc, he rushed out of the open door without his hat, his brown hair flying in the wind, and across the common, shrieking at the very top of his voice. This was a finale as startling as it was unexpected, and it was hard to say just what the end would be; but the school went on beautifully after this dissenting element was removed, and at noon I gathered up his books and sent them to him, thus virtually dismissing him from the school. But the end was not yet; for when afternoon came, I saw the boys collected in little knots, talking low and casting glances askance at me. On questioning them they told me reluctantly that "Mr. Jacques was going to put me in jail!" This was rather gloomy intelligence, to be sure, but, though very sorry the thing had happened, I yet was conscious of duty in the matter, and determined to await the result calmly. Nothing happened that night, but the next morning while at breakfast a shadow passed the window, and my good landlady, to whom I had related the affair, said, in a startling manner:

"There is Mr. Jacques, now; and I fear you will have trouble with him, for he is a very hard man, and evidently doesn't have an idea that James can do anything wrong."

"Very well," I answered, "if that is he, I will wait upon him myself," and leaving the table I passed to the door. On opening it, there stood before me a stern man, who bade me "good morning,” and asked me if I was the teacher. "Yes, sir," said I, "I am the teacher."

"Will you please, ma'am, tell me of the difficulty yesterday with my son?" "With pleasure, sir," I answered; " and I am very glad, too, that you came yourself.

"Yes, ma'am," said he, “and I am glad that James has found some one, at last, who will undertake to manage him?"

Here was "going to jail" with a vengenance. But on telling him the whole story, he thanked me heartily for, my endeavors to make an obedient boy of his son, and ended by inviting me to tea to meet his mother.

"Now," said he, “James shall come to-morrow, and my word for it, he will give you no more trouble."

"I beg your pardon, sir," I replied, "but James cannot come to school again till he has made me an apology for his unwarrantable behavior."

"Won't my apology do?" he inquired, surprised.

"I am very glad to have that, and your sanction of my conduct in the matter," I said, heartily; "but the young man must testify his willingness to do better in future, by his expressed repentance for his past behavior."

"You are right," responded he, emphatically; and putting out his hand and shaking mine with a will, he left me thoroughly impressed with the idea, nay, knowledge, that sensible men will not hesitate to uphold a teacher in daring to do her whole duty.

The dear old lady who had known this boy for a very terror in the neighborhood, was thunderstruck when I narrated the notable conversation to her, and

avowed that "she never could have believed it, if we hadn't talked it out under her own roof, “for,” she continued, "James Jacques has done more to keep that school down than any dozen in it, and before this his father has always upheld him in all manner of tricks."

A day or two after this young Jacques made his appearance, and in a rugged, manly way confessed his error in the presence of the school, and thereafter, during the entire term, was a model scholar in every respect.

It is no more than right to place this before the public, for some thoughtless boy may thus see how he can be saved from humiliation by a deference to the proper demands of his teachers; and (here is the moral) teachers may see that a judicious authority, even though it be extreme, will not offend an intelligent community. New England Journal of Education.

WE

TEACHERS' AFTER-SCHOOL HOURS.

JE observe in the schools an increasing evil, in that teachers are required to labor after hours. We do not find the requirements in the published rules, but in practices that are often more tyrannical than rules. A certain amount of work is allotted to the teacher. The day prescribed by law is wholly occupied in teaching the several branches assigned on the programme. At the close of a week or month there must be reviews of the subjects taught. And this is well. A subject is not well taught until it has been repeated in review, until a pupil shall have set before himself anew, in clear outline, the combined result of study and instruction. And it is a most important duty of the teacher to see to it that every pupil performs this (his peculiar part of the educating process) completely.

But the school-room is the place and school hours the time, for the teacher's part of the work at least. The law is very careful in prescribing six hours as the school day. And this is for the teacher as well as for the pupil. It presumes that the specified time is sufficient for all the purposes of instruction. To what use shall a teacher put the remaining hours of a working day? Shall they have any reference to the main business in hand? Most certainly, but they should by no means be burdened with the drudgery of teaching, as is becoming quite the custom, especially with the teachers of city schools. A teacher is readily known on the streets by the bundle carried. But "dinner basket and water-proof" are no longer the most striking insignia of the vocation. They have been replaced in the public vision by a long, thin book, with a motley-colored cover and a roll of manuscripts, "registers," "reports" and "written reviews," in the hands of care-worn teachers as they pass out of the school-room, along the street and homeward, betokens hours of wearying brain toil "after school,” nay, long after, and not seldom into the small hours of the night, when the manual laborer is at rest, renewing his strength for another day. Hours that should be given to mental and physical recreation are perforce yielded to the task of "examining papers" and correcting the errors of pupils. And this is the most tiresome and disagreeable work of the teacher. It brings very little personal pleasure or self-improvement. And the task is usually so exacting of the time

and powers as to leave no room for the renewal of strength already well-nigh exhausted by the regular work of the school-room. Days and nights wear away in the same unvarying routine.

What boots it? Are the schools better by reason of such sacrifices of the teachers' life and strength? Is it necessary? Is there no alternative without loss to teacher or pupil?

We believe that the hours of school should be sufficient for all purposes of recitations, reviews and examinations. Let there be more time given to study on the part of pupils and less to teaching and recitation. The best part of right instruction is the telling how to study. Much time is wasted in recitations. Cut short the recitations and take the time for reports, examinations and written reviews.

Let all the hours after school not needed for rest, be given to pleasure, society, reading and self-instruction. We are convinced by a long experience and observation that not only the teacher, but the pupil, will gain as a consequence. The spiritual vitality of the teacher is daily drawn upon, and must as often be renewed. Upon its renewal depends the success of the teacher. The art of teaching is, "A life for a life.”—The Common School (Iowa.)

A LESSON IN GEOGRAPHY.

REECE is about the size of Vermont.

Palestine is about one-fourth the size of New York.

Hindostan is more than a hundered times as large as Palestine.

The Great Desert of Africa has nearly the present dimentions of the United States.

The Red Sea would reach from Washington to Colorado, and it is three times as wide as Lake Ontario.

The English Channel is nearly as large as Lake Superior.

The Mediterranean, if placed across North America, would make sea navigation from San Diego to Baltimore.

The Caspian Sea would stretch from New York to St. Augustine, and is as wide as from New York to Rochester.

Great Britain is about two-thirds the size of Hindostan, one-twelfth of China, and one-twenty-fifth of the United States.

The Gulf of Mexico is about ten times the size of Lake Superior, and about as large as the Sea of Kamschatka, Bay of Bengal, China Sea, Okhotsk or Japan Sea; Lake Ontario would go in each of them more than fifty times.

The following bodies of water are about the same size: German Ocean, Black Sea, Yellow Sea; Hudson Bay is rather larger. The Baltic, Adriatic, Persian Gulf and Ægean Sea, half as large, and somewhat larger than Lake Superior.— Carleton's Record of the Year.

-Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm ; it is the real allegory of the tale of Orpheus; it moves stones, it charms brutes. Enthusiam is the genius of sincerty, and true accomplishes no victories without it.-Bulwer.

A

PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM.

J. L. SINGLETON.

CORRESPONDENT sends us the following original demonstration of the Pythagorean Theorem. Theorem: The square described on the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle is equivalent to the sum of the squares described on the two legs.

Let A B C be a right angled triangle, having the right angle at A; then the square on its hypotenuse, B C D E, is equivalent to the sum of the squares, A K and A F, described on its two legs A C and A B respectively.

From A, let A L fall parallel it will be perpendicular to B C. and Py fall perpendicular to spectively.

to B D and C E, From P let P X AC and A B re

AH PL

=

F

G

B

P

N

0

M

R

D

L E

A

Now since the triangles A PX and A B C are similar, their sides being perpendicular each to each their homologious sides are proportional; that is PX: AC:: A P: B C; but A C-A H-C K and BC-PL-C E; hence, P X: A H:: A P: P L, or in fractional form; ; that is the lines, A H and its equal C K, can be divided into as many parts the length of P X, as the lines P L and its equal C E can be divided into parts the length of A P. Connect these points of division by the lines S T and UV in the square, A K and by the lines N O and MR in the rectangles P E. Now the rectangle thus cut off as A T in the square are equivalent to twice the triangle A P C, for each has a base equal to its base, A C, and an altitude equal to its altitude, P X; also, the rectangles cut off, as PO in the rectangle P E, are twice the same triangle A P C, for each has a base equal to its base, P C, and an altitude equal to its altitude A PH; hence the rectangles in the square A K are equivalent to the rectangles in P E., each to each; for if there be a fractional part of a rectangle, as U K and M E, in each they are also equal, for U K must be the same part of each rectangle in the square, as M E is of each rectangle in the square, as M E is of each rectangle in the rectangle P E, because H PL; hence the rectangle P E is equivalent to the squre A K.

PX AP

Again, since the triangles A p y and A BC are similar for the same reason as above, py: A B :: A p: BC, &c., following the same line of argument as before, it can be shown that the rectangle B L is equivalent to the square B G. Hence the square C D is equivalent to the sum of the squares A K and B G. Therefore: The square described on the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle is equivalent to the sum of the squares described on the two legs.

[The demonstration given above is perhaps more difficult than the one usually found in the books, but one such demonstration made by the pupil is worth a whole book committed to memory. We hope the reading of this will encourage a spirit of original investigation.-ED.]