PRACTICAL GRAMMAR.

THIRD PAPER.

A somewhat extensive correspondence has convinced us that those who properly write the possessive case are the exception rather than the rule. Even the NORMAL MONTHLY, carefully as it is printed, occasionally has an error of this kind that escapes the eye of the proof-reader. An example may be found in the book reviews of

the last issue.

It is not our intention to enter into discussion regarding the origin and significance of the possessive 's; like original sin, it has to be taken as we find it and made the best of.

The first important thing is to know how to form the possessives, and the second is to know when to use them. It is difficult to say in which of these there is the greatest necessity for DRILL, but the teacher will find that any attempt to drill on their use before a thorough understanding of the formation of the possessives has been acquired by the class is much like making brick without either straw or clay. It is an easy matter for pupils to commit, parrot like, the grammatical rule that the possessives of nouns is commonly formed by adding an apostrophe and s to the nominative form, with the observation that in some cases the additional s is omitted for euphony; but in this, as in the formation of plurals, the rule is useless unless it is impressed by an extended drill, drill, DRILL. Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a good deal is the only sure way of teaching the correct use of language.

Let your classes learn first what they can from the text-book, but do not rely upon this, as no text-book can give to the average pupil what the competent teacher can. The book can tell the pupil what to do, but it cannot criticise his work and correct his many mistakes. We have no faith whatever in the popular assertion that "the best teacher is the one who renders her scholars the least assistance."

When the class has recited the substance of what they have learned from the grammar concerning the use of the apostrophe and s, send them to the blackboard and dictate a list of words for them to write, in both the possessive singular and plural. It is best to select the most regular first and then introduce the more difficult, -thus:

It will be found that many of your scholars will make a number of mistakes on even as simple a list as this. They will probably have the singular right in most cases, but the plurals will be sadly in need of a doctor. When you have explained that in the possessive case of the regular plurals the apostrophe is placed after the s, let the scholars correct their work. Then when they have erased it, dictate a similar list, and in case they have not yet become sufficiently impressed, give them a third or a fourth list.

This step being mastered, another may be taken by the introduction of irregular plurals, thus:

It will be found now that in most cases the apostrophe has been placed after the s as was done in the nouns having regular plurals. When you have explained that this would indicate that the plural of man is mens, of woman is womens, of child, childrens, &c., impress the fact that irregular plurals form their possessive case in precisely the same way that nouns in the singular form theirs; then have the work carefully corrected and dictate other lists as was done in the first case. When the members of your class have mastered this second step, it is well to give them a few mixed lists containing both regular and irregular plurals,—thus:

chimney's..... chimneys'

When you no longer find your pupils tripping on these classes of possessives, it will be well to explain that while it was formerly customary to write the possessive singular of nouns ending in s or the sound of s by writing only an apostrophe without the additional 8, usage has changed and both the apostrophe and s are now used. Thus instead of James' book, Charles' grammar, &c., usage now requires James's book, Charles's grammar, &c. Prof. Loomis of Yale College writes the names of his mathematical works, Loomis's Geometry, Loomis's Calculus, &c., and other words of this class whether common or proper are now almost universally written after the same analogy.

We will now suppose that your class are reasonably sure-footed on the formation of the possessives, and in our next article pass to the second division of this subject-how to teach the proper use of the possessive case.

A HIGHER IDEAL OF THE TEACHER'S CALLING NEEDED.

Any one who has had experience in examining applicants for teachers' certificates can testify that the public's ideal of the amount of general intelligence requisite to entitle one to enter the profession is low indeed. Young girls who have never been ten miles from home; boys who have had no intellectual training, except what has been gained from the mechanical reading of three or four school-readers, the parrot-like committing of patches here and there in the old-fashioned spelling-book, and a little machine work in grammar and arithmetic; women who are as innocent of the world of books as an owl is of astronomy; men who know scarcely enough of the ways of good society to take off their hats when they enter your parlor and whose vocabulary is so scanty that they can scarcely find words sufficient to cover the nakedness of the few ideas born in their brains-these are persistently put forward by their friends as applicants for certificates.

As an example of the intelligence of some of the specimens who applied for certificates at a recent examination held in one of the counties of this state, we give the following work in definitions. It seems incredible that there should be fifteen or sixteen persons in one institute so inconceivably ignorant as these definitions indicate; however, we are assured they are genuine, and copied directly from the papers of applicants:

Obscene-Clear; not seen; not visible; distant; loathsome; hard to understand; a hindrance in vision; worthlessness; out of sight.

Homicide-A home; something very nice; meaning home; hard telling; side of home; child murder; the murder of a family; suicide; the killing of a friend; improper; destroying a home or family; criminal; a pleasing place, a murder committed at home; doing as others wish you to do.

Voracious-To be loud; cruel; a loud noise; truthful; dangerous; savage; the state of wearing; lively; active; beastly cruel.

Fascinate-Amiable; to make beautiful; admire; kind.
Intercede-To insert; to help find out; to look into.
Capacious-Sensitive.

Ambiguous-Proud; quite intelligent; large; deceitful; stretching a thing; big words; unnecessary; self-conscious; out of reason; not correct; big feeling; elated; overgrown; foul.

Pungent-Witty; soft; spongy; important; prompt; urging; an instrument; flexible.

Magnify-An instrument making very small things look large; reflection-to enlargen.

Pedagogue-A worthless fellow; a great speaker; lawyer; a traveler on foot; a country dandy; a third class man; a band of men; an incompetent teacher; an event; a place for worship in olden times; some men were called that in olden times; a jury; one who preaches some truth; one who is diverted from his opinion because the majority are not on is side; a place of worship; a term used in law.

No doubt all these applicants and most of their friends regard them as fully qualified for the teacher's desk, and the chances are that they will say some very hard things about the county superintendent for not licensing them.

There needs to be a much higher ideal of our profession when persons so utterly deficient in the very rudiments of ideas are thought worthy to enter its ranks. The one whose definition of pedagogue heads the list may have fulfilled his own ideal, but he and the superintendent seemed to have different views on the subject.

To come to the practical application of this short sermon with a long text, young people who aspire to be teachers must take notice of two requisites: In the first place they must have a little sense, and in the second place, they must read something. If these candidates had possessed the most moderate supply of the first-named necessary, and had been in the habit of reading even a respectable newspaper, they could not have perpetrated such blunders. Institutes are designed to give professional training; they presuppose some foundation to work upon, and they cannot be expected to supply the utter deficiency in language and poverty of ideas which characterize the person who has never read anything worth reading. Those who find they cannot read standard authors may take that fact for a kindly hint from nature that they were never intended to teach school.

A DAY AT THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.

Our Normal School, on which the state has bestowed her name, but which she has continued to treat rather as a step-child or a foundling than as a true daughter and heiress, is crowded into the old soldier's orphan's home. The situation is beautiful. About half a mile from Cedar Falls the building stands on a slight elevation, which slopes broadly and gently away on every side, to meet the encircling rim of hills. The grounds are ample, beautiful for situation, and fair with grass and young trees, all carefully kept.

Within, everything is arranged with such neatness and taste, and every inch of room has been utilized with so much ingenuity that one does not at first realize what a "pent-up Utica " the house is for the home of the only Normal School of an imperial state. There is no reception parlor, and the Principal's own tasteful private parlor must do duty for one. There is one large room which,

by putting three in every seat designed for two, is made to serve for a chapel; also, for the writing and drawing classes, for the classes in singing by note, for a general recitation room, and a society hall. There are three regular recitation rooms of suitable size, and two small apparatus rooms which are pressed into the service for the smaller classes. The large parlors and recitation rooms on the floors above have been converted into dormitories, by an ingenious device. Through the center of each room runs a double row of pine board boxes, six feet high and eight feet square. Each box has a door opening into the main room and contains a neat double bed, washstand, etc. The upper half of the room is undivided, so that these minute bedrooms are well lighted and aired, while on each side the remainder of the large room constitutes a pleasant, airy parlor, prettily carpeted and tastefully adorned. There are also a few ordinary bedrooms, occupied by two or three girls each. In this manner are compacted into this moderate-sized fourstory building all the work of the school, its music rooms, apparatus and libraries, dining rooms for 150 persons, living room for Prof. Gilchrist and family, three lady teachers, sixty-six lady students, Col. Pattee and his wife, (the steward and housekeeper,) and the necessary servants. There is also a small building adjoining which affords dormitories for thirty young men. We were not invited to inspect these, and entertain a painful suspicion that it may have been feared they would not be found quite so tasteful and so perfectly neat and orderly as were the young ladies' apartments.

The halls and stairways are very narrow, and the ingenious complexity of organixation by which the large classes were moved through and up and down them without confusion or collision was something which we admired without endeavoring to understand.

There were formerly two courses of study, one for four years and one for two. The two years' course has now been extended to three years, and, in consequence, there are now two second classes; one, numbering 48, which entered last year for the two years' course, and will graduate next summer, being the last class to graduate from that course; the other, of 26 members, is pursuing the new second year, with the intention of completing the three years' course. There are 7 in the third year of the four years' course, and 156 in the beginning class. This attendance might be doubled at once, if sufficient buildings and teaching force were at hand. As it is, the faculty are forced to discourage rather than invite applications, as all their facilities are strained to the utmost to care for the students already there. These students are a fine looking class. We never before saw, in any school, faces of such uniform intelligence and earnestness. The very air was electric with zeal and enthusiasm. Their whole appearance showed that the choicest young people of the state were devoting themselves to preparation for the work of teaching. They were a standing refutation of the stupid slander that only those teach who are fit for nothing else.

We found that nearly three-fourths of the students have already