Gas and electric light and power..

Fire extinguishers.....

Drayage, carpenter's and painter's salary (moving to new

building)

Total appropriation..

The annual expense per pupil is 91⁄2 cents.

HOW CAN A SCHOOL MUSEUM BE ESTABLISHED?

In cities in which there is a public museum opportunities for systematic use of its material should be given the schools. The city museum should establish a school section; it should gather from its stores such material as can and should be used in the schools, and make it possible for the teachers to get it when they need it. This would benefit the museums as much as the schools. The number of people who visit the great storehouses of knowledge in the large cities is deplorably small. The boys and girls who are trained in the schools to use museum material will, when they have become men and women, visit the museum often and will make the most intelligent use of the opportunities they offer. Aided by one of Chicago's public-spirited citizens, Mr. N. W. Harris, the Field Museum of Natural History of Chicago is, at present, planning a systematic cooperation with the city public schools. The Harris Public School Extension of this institution will supply the schools with illustrative material taken from the great museum.

But even in places where there is no public museum, the establishment of a school museum is not as difficult a matter as it is generally supposed to be. A great deal of the material in daily use in the St. Louis schools can be had from commercial firms in the city and in other places, much of it for the asking. The United States Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Fisheries, as well as privately

owned mines and quarries, will give assistance. Pictures gathered from magazines and railroad and steamship advertisements may be arranged and classified. With material procured in this way as a nucleus and with purchases of other material in this country and abroad, a serviceable school museum can soon be developed. Friends of the school will readily contribute whatever they may have that might be used in the institution. The St. Louis museum has been the grateful recipient of a large number of most valuable donations, a few of which may be mentioned here. The Freie Gemeinde, of St. Louis, presented to the institution a very large collection of valuable minerals. Mr. J. A. Valentine Schmidt turned over to the museum 12 large glass cases of insects, a supply of specimens from which the museum can make up collections for years to come. Miss Mary Franklin gave the museum an extensive collection of articles illustrating Mexican life and history. The Fremont School presented 100 mounted birds and the Garfield School a small museum of articles of various kinds which had been gathered by one of the former principals of the school. Another principal sent a large collection of material gathered in the Philippines. The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway gave the museum its comprehensive exhibit of grains and fruits grown in the Western States. A most valuable collection of 900 large photographs representing oriental life and scenery was presented to the institution by Mr. James W. Bell.

OPINIONS OF MEN AND WOMEN IN THE ST. LOUIS SCHOOLS.

The writer feels that in order to give the reader an adequate idea of the value of a new feature of school work, he should not only present his own opinion, but should add the opinions of men and women who do the work in the schools and who have the best opportunity to test the value of this new method of treating certain subjects in the curriculum.

A number of principals of the schools and members of the Teachers' College faculty were asked to state what they thought of the museum. as an adjunct to our schools. The following are extracts from their letters:

The success which we have in our work in physical geography with fifth-grade children is due, very largely, to the valuable museum material available for illustration. It is true that some of the difficulties experienced by teachers of physical geography are overcome in our schools by the extensive use of the field trip. The excursion to the park, river, and quarry does much to make this work easier, but mere mention of some of the topics for instruction will show that the excursion, valuable as it is, will not suffice. A glance at the course of study reveals such topics as explanation of day and night, measurement of latitude and longitude, the earth's shape, the compass, atmospheric moisture, cloud formation, the seasons, winds, etc. The Educational Museum provides 25 valuable sets of apparatus which we use and find particularly well adapted to the illustration of these and kindred topics outlined in the course in physical geography.

The introduction of exhibits of illustrative materials from the public school museum has met a much-felt want in our urban teaching. There are a few extremists in pedagogical theory who still maintain that it is useless to afford children specimens of natural or artificial life which are not directly involved in their own experiences. This principle would narrowly restrict the educational field, eliminating much that is taught and intelligently grasped in geography, natural science, and history. It would mean that the city-bred boy or girl never shall enrich his life with facts and principles that are witnessed only at first hand by those reared in rural districts. It is precisely because many children can not go forth and experience at first hand many of the interesting facts of nature and life that the museum is "put on wheels" and carried to their own schoolroom.

In my extension classes with teachers at the Teachers' College, I have found the museum of the St. Louis schools invaluable, if not almost indispensable. I have had large classes that have pursued the study of St. Louis industries from year to year, and we have found that the museum provides material that makes the whole industrial process clear from the raw material to the completed product. For instance, we have the textile industry in our city, and we can see there the processes by which the raw cotton is made into cloth, but we can not see in the factory how the raw cotton is produced, nor how all the by-products are used. Here the museum steps in and provides us with the necessary steps, so that we may have a complete, concrete history of the cotton textile industry from the time the seed is planted until the cloth comes from the mill. After the cloth leaves the mill, it is easy to follow it until it reaches the consumer. By the aid of the museum we can present the history of the boot and shoe industry; in fact, any of the numerous industries that are represented in our city. We can thus give a comprehensive understanding of our whole industrial life which would not otherwise be possible.

The other day I observed a very interesting review lesson on the Philippine Islands, in which the collections of articles used by the inhabitants and samples of Philippine products from the museum were used. As the lesson proceeded, each pupil went forward and, while exhibiting a certain article or product, recited upon it and its relation to the physical geography and life of the Philippines as best he could from what he had learned from previous study and recitations and from his own reading. This review lesson was full of life and meaning, instead of tiresome to both teacher and pupils, as too many review lessons are. The teacher questioned and suggested as she felt necessary, and the pupils asked questions about matters that were not made plain by the pupil reciting.

Over 150 lantern-slide collections are supplied by the museum. One of the best ways to conduct a lesson of this kind is to have each pupil in the class be responsible for collecting and reporting interesting matter upon one slide. As the lesson proceeds the pupils and teacher ask questions of the one reporting. If the lesson is a story, such as the "Pied Piper," the children may tell the story as the slides are thrown upon the These pictures will give the children excellent suggestions for the illustrative drawing for seat work in language and reading. We have from 2 to 10 lantern lessons at our building every Thursday.

screen.

It requires, however, an intelligent use of this material, to produce proper results The question of method must be worked out carefully for each lesson. A proper introduction, leading the pupils into the proper attitude and spirit, before the material is presented to them, is very essential. They must be prepared for it, and it must be introduced at the "psychological moment," if the best result is to be attained. As

far as possible the pupils, rather than the teacher, should handle and use the material. After the material has been examined and corrected, a summary, giving the application and conclusion, driving home and clinching the salient points of the lesson, should not be omitted. This done, "while the iron is hot,” will add 50 per cent to the value of the lesson. There is danger, if this method does not receive careful attention, of the pupils regarding the material as merely amusing and of harmful training instead of beneficial training.

The museum material puts the child in direct touch with the real life and products of the foreign places. The stuffed birds and animals are those that live in the far-away land; coffee, tea, chocolate, bamboo, are the crops cultivated on the farms of strange people; the pictures of the people, of their homes, dress, and occupation, make the child almost as familiar with China, Brazil, or Russia, as he is with his own city.

With this material at hand, it becomes easy to teach our children brought up in a great lowland of the temperate zone, mountain life, torrid and frigid zones, and the industries, life, and customs of a foreign people.

The circulating collections of the Educational Museum serve, in some cases, as a supplement to the textbook; in others, the textbook is a more or less useful supplement to the museum collections. The relative importance depends upon the character of the collection, the text, and the teacher. The museum collections are not an educational fad or busy work, or a cure-all for lazy and indifferent teaching; they are a return to a first principle and a device to restore to classroom instruction the concreteness which, in too many cases, it has lost.

The collections have been especially useful in teaching foreign-born children natural history, geography, and English. Many of then have had considerable mental development in foreign schools in their native tongue, and need as fast as possible to get an acquaintance with their new environment and their adopted language commensurate with their development. To this end simple industrial pictures, typical landscapes, and stuffed birds and animals so disposed that all can see are a very great help.

Children literally clap their hands when the teacher uncovers Mr. Squirrel or the Blue Bird; and there is at once a new interest in the reading or language lessons on these subjects. Likewise the pictures-charts, stereoscopic views or lantern lessons— never fail to bring delight to the children and to enliven interest in the various subjects which they represent. Even if this were the only claim that could be made for them, our museum would be worth while.

Museum collections in my school, however, are not only interesting; they are exceedingly helpful to pupils in gaining many ideas that otherwise would be difficult, if not impossible, to get. Without them, children would fail in many instances through lack of adequate experience to secure the right imagery.

It is manifestly impractical to try to bring school children into first-hand relation with all the processes and objects concerning which we desire them to have quite accurate ideas. The city child is isolated, to a large extent, from nature, from agricultural, mining, and fishing processes and products, and in the present order of things even from industrial, transportation, commercial, and professional activities and results. These deficiencies in experiences gained in the natural routine of life