direct in their methods and ever endeavor to express the truth as found in symbols or nomenclature as simple, expressive, and exact as possible, are among the leaders in this movement. The primary teacher who knows the difficulties to be encountered and who wants to teach the truth in its most direct form will hail simplification with delight. Changes in our spelling do and will take place constantly, it is true, but not always intelligently. Better far to be guided by a competent body of men who are able to suggest with no disposition to compel the acceptance of their suggestions without careful consideration.

Many think that the "Simplified Spelling Board" has been altogether too conservative. It is better to make haste slowly. The fact that the editorial staff of each of our great dictionaries is represented on this Board means much. In later editions of these dictionaries,

the lists passed' upon from time to time are likely to be recognized as primary forms. Publishers of school books will in turn follow in the wake of the dictionaries which become the authority of the schools. Thus unconsciously almost the spelling of English words will assume something of regularity and simplicity and the greatest barrier to study of the language will have been removed. Relieved of its difficult and cumbersome spellings the relics for the most part of the Norman-French invasion, many of the burdens of childhood will be lightened, the mysteries which confront the stranger will be made clear, and the greatest vehicle of thought ever used by man will go on its conquest of the world. Truly it is "a consummation devoutly to be wished for" and an end to which every student and thinker should give careful and open-minded consideration.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON

NECROLOGY.

SUPT. J. A. SHAWAN, CHAIRMAN. It seems to me that it is always a sad moment when we come together to think of those who have been active among us and who in the past have done so much for education in our state. I am not sure but this has been a year perhaps that has been characterized by as few losses as we have had in a number of years. We know of Supt. Leland of Mt. Vernon, Prin. Stivers of Dayton, E. D. Kingsley of Columbus. We have asked some persons to make some remarks on the lives of these persons. I will call upon Supt. J. K. Baxter to speak of the life of Supt. Leland.

J. K. BAXTER.

If I were to say all that is in my heart. to say it would take more time than we have to spare this afternoon. Supt. Leland was a clear, pure-minded man and was loved by all who knew him. While he was not as well known over the state as some other superintendents, it was not altogether his fault.

Last year was his first attendance at this association. It was the first opportunity he had to attend and he said to me this is a great meeting and I wish I could have been here all these years, but he said I will never miss another meeting. He did not then know what was going to happen during the year. He was reared upon a farm in Michigan, being the eldest of several

children and therefore much of the responsibility of the home was thrust upon him. By his energy and determination he passed through the high school at Ann Arbor and afterwards graduated at the State Normal School at Ypsilanti. He then went to the Kirkwood school in Missouri under the supervision of Colonel Hyatt. It was my pleasure to visit there and talk personally with Col. and Mrs. Hyatt and their words in speaking of him were gratifying to me. I first met him on his way home to Michigan. He heard that we wanted a principal at Mt. Vernon. I had talked but a few minutes with him when I thought there is the man we want. I recommended his appointment, he was elected and during my seven years there I had no reason to doubt my judgment which I had formed of him. He was an organizer and untiring in his labors. There was not a lazy bone in his body. He came on the ground in due time, asked a few questions, received a few suggestions and then went ahead with his work. He was one of those men for whom you did not need to write out and explain. He knew how to do things. He loved to see things done well. He was an excellent principal and during the short time he was superintendent, he had made an excellent reputation. He was making a great success of his work when he was cut down by death. His death was a shock to all of us. His death was especially shocking to those of us who were intimately acquainted with him.

In 1897 he was married to Jane Campbell of Michigan. He loved his home and he was loved in his home. He was magnanimous and generous almost to a fault. I might say no wonder he was loved and no wonder he is missed in Mt. Vernon. That city lost an excellent superintendent, an efficient teacher, a good citizen and this association lost a very efficient and active

member. I am sure that this association extends their sympathy to the widow and two children who are at Ypsilanti, Michigan.

MR. ALLEN, MT. VERNON.

I had not expected to say anything on this occasion. I wish that I might say all that is in my heart today and all that I feel in the death of Supt. Leland. He was my friend and he was a friend to every one. He was one of those men who are willing to lay themselves aside in the interests and for the benefit of others. He was a man who loved the children. In the schools he was always pleasant and had a smile and a greeting for every child and he always looked for a smile and a greeting from them. It was a great shock to us in Mt. Vernon when he died. We have thought a great deal of him since and especially of the work which he had done there. Since he is gone we have appreciated his work more than ever before. His work among us and our memories of him will ever remain with

us.

E. M. VAN CLEVE.

When Principal Matlack after a wonderful struggle for life passed away this spring, we all felt that a good man had gone to his reward in heaven and that his life and labors had left such an impress as we who go about from place to place never leave upon any community. He had served his life time in one community. True he had been the superintendent of schools in the neighboring village of Cadiz and he had spent some little time in business in a neighboring village but practically his whole life was given to the schools of our city. I could not tell you this afternoon all that Mr. Matlack has done for the city in which I live. At his death the church to which he belonged was crowded to suffocation by pupils and friends all bearing testimony to his life

of devoted service. I can not forbear saying one word of personal reference because it shows the spirit of the man. He was of course many years my senior but when I went into the community I received from him the most cordial and earnest support and the most wise and valuable advice. His spirit was the spirit of courtesy and gentlemanly treatment of even a youth who happened to be his superior officer. Mr. Matlack was in the service of his country in the Civil War as a mere boy and coming out with the horrors of the Andersonville prison pen upon him. Early in the seventies he was called from a country school into the city of Steubenville as a teacher of the eighth grade. Soon he was made principal of the building which position he held when he died. Throughout all these years he has made an impress upon the community that is most lasting. He was one of the four founders of the Eastern Ohio Teachers' Association and was a member of this organization. He became a member in 1880 and was a regular attendant for many years. In the last 3 or 4 years since I knew him he has not attended because he had come to that time in life when it was a burden for him to come but he always sent his membership fee. He was a member of this organization and an honor to it. I am glad to pay this little tribute of respect to one who influenced me and made my way more pleasant by his courteous and kindly treatment.

SUPT. J. A. SHAWAN.

The president has asked me who is Mr. Kingsley? I presume that is a question that not many of the members of this association could answer. He was an educator 40 years ago. At the time of his death he was a trustee of Dennison University and had been an honored member of that body for many

years. Away back in 1848 Asa D. Lord called Mr. Kingsley from New York to work in the Columbus high school. After he had been here more than a year he was called to the superintendency of the schools in Marietta. After serving there seven years he was called back to Columbus to succeed Dr. Lord. He was superintendent of the Columbus schools for 9 years. That was 40 years ago. His reputation as a teacher was the very best. Afterwards he went into business and he applied the same energy that he did in teaching and he was one of the few teachers who died in excellent financial circumstances. It seemed to us that because of the fact that he had been a superintendent of schools away back in the early history of our school system and in view of the fact that he was a member of the old guard his name should be mentioned in this memorial service. That concludes the list of names in the possession of the committee. We do not know whether we have mentioned all the teachers who have fallen during the year or not but if there are any others we shall be glad to have you name them and to say a word as a tribute of respect to their memory.

PRIN. CHARLES LOOS, DAYTON.

I have been asked to say a word upon the death of Capt. Chas. B. Stivers. He deserves mention because he was principal of the Steele Central High School for 23 years and had been a teacher for 2 years before that so that he spent 25 years as a teacher in the schools of Ohio. I do not remember of ever seeing him at the state association. I remember that he was in the habit of contributing his fee for membership but I do not remember of seeing him here. I am glad to offer a tribute to the memory of such a magnificent man. He was a man of soldierly bearing, tall straight and a graduate from West

Point. He had fought bravely through the Civil War and at the battle of Fredericksburg when Burnside was throwing his columns against a battery, his company was in the second column. They started up the hill in the afternoon and got half way up and within range of the battery when they had to stop and stay there all night while an artillery duel was being fought over their heads. It was a cold night and their clothing was frozen on them. He had his hearing injured and there received the cause of his death. He was a man without fear and without reproach. He was a man of sterling integrity and determination to do the right as he saw the right but he is not remembered especially for that. I do not suppose that any teacher has ever inspired the community at Dayton as he did. I think it is safe to say that more persons in that city felt the impress of his personality than that of any other man in it. It was not because of his soldierly bearing or his rigid integrity but because that integrity was planted on the right and the left by gentleness and humility that made him loved by every one with whom he came into contact. That kindly spirit which the teacher should have and which Dr. Parker calls the abundant spirit of vicariousness, that spirit by which the teacher puts himself in the place of another and bears his burdens for him, that feeling and spirit was strongly developed in him. Every one remembers him for that today and with his extreme humility he had that other characteristic of the teacher, an abundant willingness to be forgotten in a desire not to make a spectacle of himself. With all his army record and the prestige which he had he never paraded himself in. public. That is perhaps one of the reasons why he never came to the association meetings. He was thoroughly humble in every respect yet he was a successful

teacher and he impressed everybody with that feeling. It is a heart of love that goes out within from every heart in Dayton. With an abundant spirit of vicariousness an abundant wealth of knowledge and his ability to make it a part of the life of his pupils and then with that abundant willingness to be forgotten, that was Capt. Stivers.

B. F. MOULTON.

I have nothing specially to say on this occasion because I have not had the happiness of knowing personally those who have passed away during the year. I can only say that we rejoice that there are no more of us that have passed into the next world during the year and I think we should be profoundly thankful that so many of us should be permitted at this time to come together at old Put-in-Bay. I am sure that as one of the oldest members of this association I am very, very thankful myself.

SUBSTANCE OF TALK ON THE ART OF STORY-TELLING.

REA MCCAIN, LEBANON.

When the introduction of a new subject in the school curriculum is threatened the first question is naturally "why"? In the discussion of storytelling the leaders bring up the arguments of early familiarity with literature, the molding power of association, the personal touch obtained in no other way and many similar reasons. So much for the leaders; for the mass of us their arguments are interesting but the powerful fact is their decision. To our minds their reasons may be convincing but for our actions their "must" is the determining factor. That the committee has placed story-telling upon the program in equal rank with reading, composition, and interpretation of literature makes it unnecessary for the

exponent of the oral story to defend her position in claiming for it an essential place in primary education. The answer to "why" is the agreed and determined necessity and all attention may be focussed upon the "How" of the resulting action.

The novice has the easiest time in the large school where every detail of work is planned for her and in such instances choice of material need not be considered. The outline of the month's work includes the story of Arachne. It would be difficult to find a teacher who is not familiar with the myth, but mere knowledge of the tale is not enough. Did you ever see pupils' papers which were hazy and disconnected to the last degree. That ours may not be so, a close study of the myth is necessary, a study, that is, of the component parts of the story. It can be told in these few sentences. Arachne excelled in weaving. She challenged Minerva, goddess of that art, to a contest. She refused to retreat at Minerva's kindly meant warning. The contest came but, blinded by conceit she proclaimed her web the best. In punishment the goddess changed her to a spider and left her to spin forever. Such is the bald outline of the story, almost as unfit to present to the child as the unground corn which serves as the basis of much food. This is simply the outline of your story. With it firmly in your mind stand before your class and try to tell it in such a vivid manner that each child will see it. Add details as numerous as you may need to make it plain but see to it that the account of shuttle, loom, or web be not so long as to detract from the base of the story. The impious pride of Arachne and its punishment is what you are telling and unless that is what the children retell in after days you might as well have left the story untold.

But if the effect has been missed?

Try again with the same story? It is usually not worth while. Stories are many and the failure may serve as a warning against a like carelessness. If you say to a child "That is not the point to the story, what was it about?" you may bring forth the desired correction but will be far more likely to arouse self-consciousness. To be worth anything, the child's attitude must be entirely receptive. The first thought "I must get the point" or "What is it she will ask me about." and what you are working for is gone. Better a dozen failures to grasp the point and the willingness to listen to the thirteenth than the sullen attitude of conscious failure.

There is an ominous frown on the face of many teachers when they read of all this story-telling. "There is no special time in my program for this, when is it to come in"? Do you ever find a music or drawing teacher, who is apt to leave a few minutes before schedule time? Why not tell one of these stories then? It need not take five minutes and if you doubt your skill, it can be done so incidentally that you yourself need not apply to it the name of success or failure. In the first or second grade reproduction must be, for the most part, oral. Some day you have no story. "I've told you so many, can't you tell me one to-day"? Where a few have had their chance, all the rest will want the same, never fear. Don't criticize all the little mistakes, they will make slips and there are chances enough for that without breaking into a coherent narrative.

So far your methods will be very simple, but at the end of the second or the beginning of the third year comes the time for written reproduction. Easy enough in this grade to drop your subterfuge of stolen minutes and boldly appropriate a few of the hours scheduled for language. Who knows what that really is, anyway. Once it meant