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BULLETIN
OF THE
FIRST DISTRICT NORMAL SCHOOL
KIRKSVILLE, MISSOURI

Volume XV Number 1
JANUARY, 1915

Publisht Monthly

History and Government Series
No. 3



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BULLETIN
OF THE
FIRST DISTRICT NORMAL SCHOOL
KIRKSVILLE, MISSOURI

FOUNDED BY JOSEPH BALDWIN
AS THE NORTH MISSOURI NORMAL SCHOOL, SEPTEMBER 2, 1867

ADOPTED AS THE FIRST DISTRICT NORMAL SCHOOL, DECEMBER 29, 1870
UNDER ACT OF THE MISSOURI LEGISLATURE, APPROVED MARCH 19, 1870
OPEND AS THE FIRST DISTRICT NORMAL SCHOOL, JANUARY 1, 1871

VOLUME XV NUMBER 1
JANUARY, 1915
Publisht Monthly by the
First District Normal School

History and Government Series
No. 3

CONTENTS
OTTERSON, An Indian Mound Expedition ...... 3
KINGSBURY, Some Neglected Phases of Ancient History ..... 7
VIOLETTE, Description of a Course in the Teaching of History ..... 15
FAIR, Description of a Course in the Teaching of History ..... 26
VIOLETTE, Missouri History in the Schools ..... 37

Entered as second class mail matter at Kirksville, Missouri, under the Act of Congress of July, 1894.



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Division of History and Government
JOHN R. KIRK,
PRESIDENT

EUGENE MORROW VIOLETTE,
PROFESSOR OF EUROPEAN HISTORY AND CHAIRMAN OF THE DIVISION

EUGENE FAIR,
PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT

ANDREW OTTERSON,
PROFESSOR OF CIVICS

JOSEPH LYMAN KINGSBURY,
PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY



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AN INDIAN MOUND EXPEDITION
ANDREW OTTERSON

Perhaps nothing that can be done to place before the young learner s mind a vivid picture of real things, in relation to history, exceeds that of an actual sight and touch of objects and places associated with knowledge gleaned by him from his reading or class room exorcise. If, by any means, it were possible for the learner to visit places of historic note, to see the people, say, of colonial times, in their quaint manners, speech and dress, to look upon the remnants of an ancient civilization, or to stand, but for an hour, in the Hall of Fame, and be conscious of the living presence of the great master leaders of the past, what transformation would there not be in his attitude toward the study of history!

That a goodly share of our history teaching and study must be apart from the concrete is, of course, inevitable. I do not even maintain that any other method of learning history is desirable. To study science by experimental procedure alone, dissociated from the printed record of past achievement, I believe would be a waste of time; so I conclude that history, whose scope and content reaches out to vaster proportions even than science, whose facts lie forever beyond the reach of human eye or living experience, can not, in any great measure, be learned except from what has been left us in written or printed form, by those who have passed away. We may assume, therefore, that books constitute practically our only avenue to the past.

But what shall we say of the teacher who omits entirely the use of concrete illustration in his teaching? Can the unformed mind grasp the meaning of thought or fact from teacher or book otherwise than by association with the related concrete? Is it not true that all early teaching must be based upon the learner s personal contact environment?

I am not here attempting to define exactly what shall constitute the dividing line between books on the one hand, and experimental practice on the other, in the teaching of history or any other subject. I merely wish to call attention again to the

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fact that the learner must depend upon his concrete experience to interpret the fact gleaned, from books.

But, I must get to my story, to which the above is meant as an explanatory introduction.

Last spring, the Department of History of this institution, on a Saturday, undertook what they were pleased to call an Indian-mound expedition, to a point about fourteen miles northeast of Kirksville. The expedition consisted of students and teachers in the department, as well as of others interested, to the number of about fifty persons. The region visited Was known to have a number of large Indian mounds, several of which, at least, had probably not been seriously disturbed. A member of the history faculty, Professor Kingsbury, together with one or two students as guides, had previously visited the region to secure permission from the owners of the land to dig into the mounds.

The interest aroused in the matter among students proved astonishing. The picnic idea, of course, appealed to many, altho in others this was by no means the chief motive. So many students, indeed, presented themselves at the last moment, that the general manager of conveyances came near losing his otherwise good reputation.

For the benefit of those who may like to try a similar venture, let me explain that besides various carriages, some of which were furnished by friends free of charge, we hired a large solidly-built hay rack on a lumber wagon, together with a good team and driver, all of which cost us five dollars.

I would like to dwell upon the trip going out, how, thanks to the majestic dignity of that hay rack, which resisted all attempts at speed, the whole expedition came near losing sight of its main object entirely, changing itself from an expedition into the dim past, to one of exploration and discovery of the sunlit, flower-perfumed present. The writer (historically speaking) was reminded of the march of the Union army on its way to its first battle at Bull Run.

The expedition was amply prepared with shovels, knives, and cameras, and, I must add, food. Upon reaching the largest mound open to exploration, this was carefully surveyed with reference to its probable boundaries and center. This mound, as well as

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others in the neighborhood, Was located at the summit of a very high eminence, almost bluff-like in character, overlooking a broad river valley. The digging was begun at two points on the outer edge of the mound, and followed carefully along two lines drawn at right angles thru the estimated center. The soil was so sandy that vegetation found but scant subsistence upon it. Mixed with the sand was a small percentage of clay, also a few (probably glacial) rocks.

The digging of the trenches produced nothing of particular value at first, as only one or two small arrow heads were found. As the trenches crossed each other at the center however, excitement was suddenly aroused by the uncovering of bones of some kind, at a depth of about four feet below the surface. It was soon found, upon close examination that the bones were not animal but human skeletons, and that they were in an advanced state of decomposition. Procedure now necessarily became exceedingly slow. Before going at the somewhat serious and difficult task of exhumation, every precaution was taken not to destroy, or in any manner mutilate, the skeletons. Patient toil with knives and other small implements, under the direction of Professor Fair, revealed that there were probably three skeletons, two adults and a half-grown child. Two of the skeletons lay with their heads in the same general direction, altho the bones were somewhat intermingled; the third skeleton, altho somewhat mingled with the: bones of the other two, lay with its head in an almost opposite direction. One of the skulls was taken out almost intact. The frontal, parietal and maxillary bones, as well as some teeth, were secured in position. The teeth in this skull were well worn down, showing mature age of the individual. Photographs were taken of the skeletons as they lay in the mound.

As to the theory regarding these mounds, or the circumstances attending the burial of their incumbents, we can only guess. The bodies seemed to have been placed in a sitting or crouching position and close together, and then covered.

Nothing else of value was found in this mound.

About half a mile from the first mound, a hasty examination of a part of another revealed the fact that human bodies had been buried near its outer edge, as a number of bones were here

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found about six inches below the surface. Time did not permit more careful exploration of this mound, nor did we discover anything remarkable in its shape or location, except that it lay, like the others, upon the extreme top of the eminence overlooking the river valley.

Parts of the skeletons were taken back with the expedition, and may now be seen in the historical museum of the State Normal School.

I shall not attempt to point out any value connected with the above expedition, but will leave that to the reader to judge as he sees fit. I merely offer it as an example of concrete illustration in the teaching of the subject of history.

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SOME NEGLECTED PHASES OF ANCIENT HISTORY*
JOSEPH LYMAN KINGSBURY

If you will refer to the 20th chapter of First Chronicles, at the first verse, you will find the following quotation:  And it came to pass, that after the year was expired, the time that kings go out to battle, Joab led forth the power of the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon."

This in general was the attitude of most ancient writers of history. They needed little to know what might be the causes of wars of their nation with its enemies, least of all the economic  - such would be far too undignified and insignificant for incorporation in so important a work as history. If there were causes, they lay in some tradition -  the abduction of a Helen, the ancient rivalry of a Roman and a Punic, or the like. If other and more intelligible reasons were given they were usually political. For economic conditions, for the natural resources of a land, the ancient historian had little leisure. It was simply beneath his dignity to discuss. Mere things he generally scorned.

It is astonishing how much this has continued to be the attitude of the historian of the present day, concerning ancient times. A student trying to understand those times is simply left to imagine that the contemporaries of a Plato, or a Moses, or a Cicero, or of any other date B. C. were a class who delighted to break each other s heads for the same reason that dogs delight to bark or bite.

Since more attention has become the fashion in describing the geography of a country whose history was about to be discussed, so greatly stimulated by the appearance of Miss Semple s book on American History and its Geographic Conditions, every respectable historian has felt in duty bound to put the first chapter of his work on the Land and the People. This has however in many cases been highly superficial, contenting itself largely with

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*A paper read before the Faculty Club of the Normal School, Mch. 5, 1915.

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a description of the mountains, plains, rivers -- if, as in the case of Greece, only for the sake of saying that they were not of much importance, as climate, and troubling itself none at all with what might be under the surface of the ground, while the subject of what grew on its surface was usually grouped in a sentence or at most in a paragraph. As an illustration I may cite the fact that only once is a gold mine mentioned in the entire five volumes of Mommsen s History of the Roman Republic, and that just north of the Alps, while of all the silver mines of the ancient world only those outside Carthagena in Spain are worth a passing mention. He does concede that doubtless gold was washed from the mountain streams running (both from the east and west) into the Rhone.

But lest my introduction should constitute my entire paper, I must hasten on to my second point, which is this: the nearly entire tendency of this general field of history tends to the construction of a highly artificial atmosphere in the mind of a young student, just starting, either in High School, or College, to explore the mysteries; of history, before the time of Christ. I suppose it strikes as specially strange a student of American History, who is accustomed do consider the rush to California, Montana or Colorado as one of the important points in our own history. It was with a view to finding out what were the physical assets of the ancient world, their crops, animals and mines, that I undertook some time since to find out where were located the most valuable minerals in what may be considered the Mediterranean Basin. I shall discuss first the native deposits of gold, the next of silver. So far as I have been able to ascertain, there were seven ancient centers of gold-mining. Two were located in Egypt or its natural sphere of influence up the Nile. The earlier of these to be worked was on the west shore of the Red Sea, about due west, though a trifle south, of Thebes, the southern capital of the Empire in the great days of Thutmose III, possibly the greatest of Egyptian monarchs, the other in Nubia above the fourth cataract. As early as the days of the Pyramid builders considerable attention was paid to the trade routes running east, while by the days of Sesostris III and the Middle Kingdom, in the third millenium B. C. regular depots were established and wells dug for the caravans bound either to the seaports on the Red Sea or to the Nile. Little at-

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tention of course was possible in the days of the formation of Egypt's single Kingdom to the country above the first cataract, but in the days of Sesostris III and his successors we have the journals of commanders who led expeditions up the River into the Land of Wawat etc. Though put in military phraseology it is clear that these were rather more piratical and trading ventures considering the small number of men involved and the emphasis placed on the fact that not an Egyptian died. As time went on, the expeditions southward became more serious, and finally the land was made a part of the dominion of the Pharaoh. Since most of the country was exceedingly rough, and agriculture was absolutely out of the question, it is clear that this undertaking -  quite as seriously prosecuted as the subjugation of Palestine -  could have had but one motive, the acquisition of the mining regions of Nubia and of the granite and other quarries.

I suppose that there is hardly, a person here who has not read the legend of the search of the Argonauts for the Golden Fleece, yet I doubt whether it has occurred to many of you that this in legendary form is really an early story of Greek gold miners seeking treasure in the veins on the eastern end of the Caucasus along the Black Sea, and it would doubtless come as a greater surprise to people utterly ignorant of economic condition in those distant times to realize that one of the most flourishing colonies of all those sent out from the Greek cities was the port whence departed the vessels laden with gold for Athens or Corinth, or, a little before these, Miletus. The richest gold country outside the sphere of Egyptian influence was that on the Cayster and Meander in Lydia, whence the Monarchs of that kingdom obtained an abundant supply of the precious metal. We have all read the stories which astonished the Greeks so of the wealth of Croesus, but only passing notice is given to one of the most important sources of this wealth, the gold mines in the Tmolus range, close to their capital at Sardis. It seems to have been quite customary for monarchs to reserve for their special use all mines of precious metals. Besides this were some smaller deposits in the Troad, immediately south of the Propontis, which doubtless furnished to Troy its supply of raw or unrefined gold.

Turning next to Europe, miners from Calcis, where there

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were considerable deposits of copper, ertablished a number of colonies, which became known as Chalcidice, where however they shortly discovered both gold and silver, and furnished considerable quantities to all the Greek towns of both these metals. As the land became better known, another and richer gold deposit was discovered on the sides of Mt. Pangaeus, which, with the range of which it was the southernmost peak, served as the boundary of Thrace. It was well known before the days of the Macedonian Empire, but was extensively and thoroughly worked by Philip who used the means thus placed at his disposal to obtain control of Greece. It was doubtless the same region that financed the equipment of Alexander s army.

Among the most marvelous of the ancient peoples in certain directions were the Phoenicians, whose capability is self-evident to any student of their colonies and trading posts. Strabo declares basing his assertions on all the records and traditions at his command, -  that the earliest mines of this region on the border of Thrace and Macedon were first worked by Tyrians. Further, they were found in such numbers on the western side of the Iberian Peninsula that in his day most of the towns were known as Punic or Phoenician. Further, they were working the British gold fields, and shipping the product to Gades for export to the trading centers in the entire ancient world.

I am of opinion that the richest  - or at least one of the richest  - gold regions of the early European world was southwestern Spain, in the valley of the Guadalquivir, whose seaport was Gades. Much more was found throughout Turdetania, and further extensive deposits were found of both gold and silver in the country behind Carthagena. It was thence that was obtained that gold of Tarshish which went into the construction of Solomon s Temple at Jerusalem, and from the earliest times there seems to have been a heavy export of the precious metals. So famous was this early gold country that it must have been a very dominant motive in the mind of the great father of Hannibal -  Hasdrubal Barca -- when at the conclusion of the disastrous first Punic War, he started to establish a second Empire for Carthage. It was with the funds from those rich deposits of gold and silver that the Barca s both kept the situation at home well in hand, and secured the

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means of equipping an army for the invasion of Italy. You will all recall the wrath with which the Roman historians referred to (what we should call the exceedingly effective) use of Punic gold made by Hannibal. It is also undoubtedly equally true that the very same gold and silver mines exercised a potent influence on the Roman commanders who subsequently subdivided Spain into Roman Provinces. In the days of Strabo Gades was the second largest port of export both for value and tonnage, in the Empire.

Grossing the Pyrrhenees, we enter a fifth region of gold mines, along the southern and eastern slope of the Cevennes Mts., where in Roman days grew the large city of Toulouse, one of the most flourishing in the Empire. The antiquity of these mines I have been unable to even approximately determine, but could we lay hands on the material, would not be greatly surprised to find this, to have been the economic cause of the establishment about 600 B. C. of the Greek colony of Massilia, a list of whose exports seems always to have included considerable amounts of gold, though doubtless part of this was British by the road leading up the Rhine and down the Rhone.

Still further west there was some, though not a large amount, of gold in the western foothills of the Alps, where the rivers seem to have yielded fair returns on placer mining. Does it not seem self-evident that these two sources of supply are the basis for the fact that Lugdanum or Lyons was the home of one of the most flourishing guilds of goldsmiths in the days of Nero and Diocletian, when they were the cause of one of the most thorough and savage persecutions of the Christians. Turning from this enumeration for a moment, may not the existence of these mines have had considerable to do with the extension of the Roman domain of Gaul Cisalpine to include the Narbonensis, all of which had been gained before Caesar became Proconsul?

Three regions remain which require mention all of them further east. None were of the extent of those we have so far considered though some became exceedingly famous. Thus about 150 B. C. some valuable deposits of gold were discovered at Noreia in what later became Noricum, and resulted in a furor somewhat suggestive of California days in American History. So heavy was

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the migration of Italians to the El Dorado and so large was the amount of gold mined within a short time in proportion to the total amount of the metal, that the value dropped a third in Italy in comparison with silver. These Noreian mines were in the land of the Taurisci and had apparently been operated to a small extent, for the moment the price fell so sharply the Celts turned out all the Italians and reduced the output. When later the Roman boundaries were extended to include this region, the port for shipment became Aquileia at the head of the Adriatic, which in the days of Pliny was one of the most flourishing of the ancient world. There was also at a very early day a considerable amount of free gold found along some of the tributaries of the Po. But not until close to the days of the Empire was gold regularly coined in Italy.

I can only mention in passing the fact (as stated by some) that there was gold on the east side of the Adriatic at a convenient distance from Epidamnus, which was one of its reasons for existence. It had been, established by Corcyra. Then turning east, there was a considerable amount of it found along the north shores of Asia Minor in Pontus and Phrygia. Whether these regions had been mined before 700 when the Greeks began to colonize, I am unable to say, though this need not be taken as proof of a negative sort. When the book of Hittite history shall finally have been opened it may be possible to definitely answer the question. That the latter were able to do it is easy to see, as they worked, the gold fields in the vicinity of their capital Boghas Keui in the days of their greatness. The earliest references to the Hittites in Egyptian records show that in the days of Thutmose the Great they had ornaments of gold, and possibly also a certain degree of coinage, minted at home, and of remarkable purity. That there were very considerable gold veins in either Babylonia, Assyria, or Mesopotamia I am unable to assert. But that gold seems to have been found there at a very early time, and in sufficient quantities to satisfy the purposes of trade, so far as this was not barter, seems true. There were extensive deposits of metal of several sorts in the Zagros, to the northeast of Assyria, and gold formed a part of this. There were other deposits in the mountains of Armenia toward the Caucasus, and some gold was

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obtained near the southern end of the Caspian Sea. There were also mines in the Island of Cyprus, and in Thasos and a few other islands of the Mediterranean and Aegian.

Turning next to silver, there was practically none in Egypt, where the price was in consequence always in the days of Egypt s greatness much higher than that of gold. On the other hand there were very much greater silver deposits in the Zagros and elsewhere in Assyria, and when trade became general between Asia and Africa the effect was to about establish an equilibrium in values. There were also heavy deposits in Cyprus, where copper, lead and silver were found in the samer rock formation. The remainder of the Asiatic supply came either from the mountains of Elam, east of Babylonia, or from Cilicia on the south and Pontus on the north side of the peninsula of Asia Minor. It was the silver mines of the latter district which furnished means to equip the armies of Mithdrates when he was such a dangerous enemy of Sulla in the last century of the Republic.

So far I have been unable to mention Greece proper in my paper. Were I to pause for a moment, you would instinctively think of Attica and Athens. Yet I wonder how many histories even mention the financial basis for the rise of this, the proudest city of all the ancient world, -  the silver mines of Laurium. After that dangerous trip to Ionia in the course of which Sardis had been so impudently burned under the very nose of the august potentate of the Four Regions of the World, as part of the title of Darius read and the defeat of the expeditionary force at Marathon, it behooved the good people of Athens to look to their future safety. Various plans having been discussed, it was ThemistocleS who rose in the assembly to propose that the recently reopened mines at Laurium be made to furnish the wherewithal for the construction of the fleet which later under his adroit leadership brought destruction to the Persian fleet at Salamis. From that day the silver mines became one of the important supports of the Athenian Empire. So far as I am able to find, there were no other mines in Greece, though there were a few deposits on some of the Cyclades and further north.

In the west there seem to have been a number of silver mines in various places, among the ones of secondary importance being

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those of Sardinia, extensively worked by the Carthaginians during their control, and later by Roman contractors, as the state only reserved mines of gold; and the Etruscan. When one stops to consider that in the days of Rome s infancy Etruria was already in a highly civilized state, dividing with the Punic and the Greek the commerce of the west, the influence of these silver mines to the east of Florence in the foothills of the Appennines is apparent, as is also in part at least the reasons for Rome s expansion on the north. The early coins of Rome were exclusively silver.

But the great silver country of those days   the Nevada of its time, was Spain, where in the time of Hannibal, production was so heavy, and yet continually undiminished   mind you, under entirely private initiative in the later times, of Augustus.

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DESCRIPTION OF A COURSE IN THE TEACHING OF HISTORY*
E. M. VIOLETTE

As a usual thing most of the students who have enrolled in my classes in the Teaching of History have been graduated from four year high schools and usually most of them, whether graduated from such schools or not, have had three or four units of high school history. In no case has any student had less than two units. Some of them have done some work in college courses of history. These facts have been ascertained by actual investigation at the time when the different classes have been organized. As a general thing I have found most of the students fairly well informed in history, tho at times they have revealed a rather startling lack of historical information.

My first effort on organizing a class has been to get some sort of a line upon the conception of history that the newly enrolled students have, their attitude towards it as a subject of study, and their estimate of the kind of instruction they have had in the past. I have, therefore, been in the habit of introducing certain topics that would bring out, partially at least, the desired information. Such questions as  What is History and why should it be Studied

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*The course in the Teaching of History in this institution constitutes one quarter s work for which two and one half hours credit is given, and is conducted by the two members of the Division of History and Government who are submitting papers on that topic in this bulletin. For some time the work of conducting the course has been divided so that it falls to one of these two men during the summer and fall quarters, and to the other during the winter and spring quarters. Each one has developed his course independently of the other and on somewhat separate lines. Both, however, have received material assistance from Miss Doolittle, Supervisor of History and Geography in the Practice School, and other members of the faculty of that school, for which due acknowledgement is here made. While in some matters there is, therefore, substantial agreement in the form and content of the course as thus given by these two men, in others there are essential differences. For that reason it has been thot advisable to present a description of the work done in it in two separate articles.

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in the Schools?";  What were the Virtues and the Defects in the Teaching of your former History Teachers? ;  What Period of History do you like best and Why? , are asked the students. Each question has been made the subject of one day s discussion, the students having been required to write out in advance their views concerning the topic of the day. For sometime I have been collecting data from the papers I have received from my students along these lines, and some day I hope to work them into a paper on the  Students  Point of View towards History and History Teaching.  The data have been quite illuminating to me and doubtless may be of some considerable interest to others.

After this preliminary work has been done the main task of the course is then taken up. That task is the study of history in the elementary school.

The aim is to make the course as practicable as possible so that when it is finished, the students may feel that they have been discussing and thinking about certain plans and methods in the teaching of history which have not only been realized somewhere by somebody, but which also, under ordinary circumstances, might be adopted by them in the elementary schools to which many of them may shortly go as teachers. But, while the effort has been in the main to keep the students working upon matters that are within the range of their realization under ordinary circumstances, there has been no hesitation to go from time to time into those things that could be realized only under the most favorable circumstances.

As a kind of guide and basis for the main part of the work of the course, the Report of the Committee of Eight of the American Historical Association which outlines a scheme of study in history for each of the eight grades, has been used. An attempt is made to examine the work outlined for each of these grades, with special emphasis upon the sixth grade.

The work in the first grade as sketched by the Committee of Eight begins with a study of primitive life as exhibited among the American Indians. It seems to be very generally agreed among teachers in the elementary schools that the child should be given an opportunity to study primitive life very early in his school course. But they differ among themselves as to what primitive

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life should be studied and as to the amount of time that should be devoted to such study. As has been said the Committee of Eight suggests that American Indian life should be taken as illustrative of primitive life, and it makes this subject a part not only of the work in the first grade but also in the second. The other topics for these two grades are at least two of our national holidays, Thanksgiving and Washington s birthday.

A great many teachers feel that American Indian life is not the proper form of primitive life with which to begin the study of history in the first grade. For one thing, they say it is not primitive enough, and hence there is no opportunity to show how early man passed from lower stages of civilization to higher. Hence they advocate that the life of the earliest man should be taken up at the very beginning, and that thru the first three or four grades the development of that life should be traced in a very general, and yet rather clearly, well marked fashion, thru its early stages.

For this reason I have been accustomed to have my students read the four volumes in the Dopp series, entitled  The Tree Dwellers ,  The Early Cave Men ,  The Later Cave Men , and  The Early Sea People , before we take up the Report of the Committee of Eight. A whole day is given to each of these books and some attention is paid to the problems that would naturally arise in connection with the subject that has been developed in each of these very interesting and scientifically constructed books. Some manual construction work is also done in this connection, further mention of which will be made later on.

The whole subject of primitive life is dealt with very hurriedly and superficially but enough is done to acquaint the class with the fact that work of this sort is being carried on in many of our best elementary schools and to suggest that in a modified way at least it can be carried on in almost any sort of an elementary school that can provide a small amount of equipment, such as the Dopp books and a few things necessary to do some manual construction work. I have found that many in my classes were already aware that this kind of work is being done in the first four grades in many elementary schools thru out the country, but many more have never known of it before. This fact would seem to be sufficient reason, if there were no other, for giving some time to the matter in this course.

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Some of our leading elementary teachers, however, would not undertake the study of primitive life in the first grade at all, but would have the child center his attention at the time upon his home life under the three heads of food, clothing and shelter. The method of presenting this sort of work has been very nicely outlined by Miss Gregg, of the Practice School of the Cape Girardeau (Mo.) Normal School in one of the bulletins of that institution, and I have generally required my students in this course to read Miss Gregg s outline thru and discuss it.

After a study of the child s home life has been made, some teachers take up home life in modern Japan or in modern Holland for the purpose of acquainting him with the fact that the life of all children today is not the same. In this way the idea of contrasts is brought home to him in a kind of way that is natural, and when he has acquired that sense of the difference between his way of living and doing things and that of foreign children of today, he will find it much easier to enter into the still greater contrast between his life and that of the primitive child and of primitive people in general.

Not until all of these different ways of studying or approaching primitive life are discussed, is the Report of the Committee of Eight taken up. The first thing done with this report is to examine the work of the first five grades, comparing what there is in them dealing with primitive life with what we had been studying from other outlines and schemes of study. At the same time, the suggestions that have been made by Professor Bliss of the San Diego (Cal.) Normal School in his  History in the Elementary School  (American Book Co.) are brot under review for sake of comparison at least.

The work as outlined by the Committee for the first five grades is examined rather hurriedly, because of the desire to spend a large portion of the time given to this course on the work of the sixth grade. The subject dealt with in this grade is the life of peoples during the ancient and the medieval periods, especially the medieval period. The reason why I have chosen to spend more time on the work of this grade than all the other grades put together is, briefly, that as yet European history has been introduced in comparatively few of the elementary schools

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thru out the state, and, as for that matter, thru out the whole country. Since that is the case, I have felt that for the present at least, special emphasis should be given to this subject in order that more and more of the generation of teachers now coming on may have brot to their attention the rather vital necessity of putting some sort of a European background into the American history work that has long been holding a place in some form or other in the seventh or the eighth grades or in both.

The history of elementary education in this country shows that history entered the curriculum of the elementary sqhool in the form of United States History for the eighth grade. For a long while it was the only form of history that was thot of as a possibility in the elementary schools, and whenever more history was wanted in these schools, a diluted form of the same subject was prepared for the grade just below; and when still more was wanted a weaker solution was dished up for the sixth grade. The result was we had United States history in nauseating doses in the elementary grades. Finally primitive life began to be introduced at the other end of the line, that is somewhere in the first three or four grades in connection with reading or manual construction work. It was not very long after this innovation was made that teachers began to see that it was necessary to put in a real historical background to American history, and a place was found for this background in the sixth grade. As yet, however, only comparatively few elementary schools are introducing this work in European history, and since it is still in the pioneer stage, I have felt justified in giving special emphasis to it in this course. It is to be hoped that the propaganda that has been started by the American Historical Association in behalf of this study of European history in the sixth grade will become productive of such good results in this state, as well as elsewhere, as to make the special emphasis upon it in this course unnecessary very soon.

In order that the plans of the Committee of Eight for this sort of work in the sixth grade may be all the better appreciated and understood, I have been accustomed to have the members of the class buy one of the texts that have been written along the lines laid down by the Committee. At least five different textbooks have been thus written:	(1) Harding, Story of Europe,

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(Scott, Foresman & Co.); (2) Atkinson, European Beginnings of American History (Ginn & Co.); (3) Nida, Dawn of American History in Europe (Macmillan); (4) Gordy, American Beginnings in Europe (Scribners); (5) Bourne & Benton, Introductory American History (Heath & Co.) All of these books have been very cleverly gotten up and seem well adapted to the work for which they are designed. The text that is selected for the class is read thru almost entirely. The general manner of procedure has been to assign a lesson in the text that might constitute the work in a class in the sixth grade for a week or two. But these assignments are always accompanied by assignments in the regular reference books in the library which will develop the subject under consideration in a proper manner. The effort is to enable the student to see for himself what the pupils of the sixth have to work with and what kind of material the teacher may go to in order that he may add to his own equipment for the task that is before him.

But the work that is done in elaborating what is in the simple textbook is not confined to books of reference in the library. A great deal is done in the way of illustrative work. Much of what is done along this line is adaptable not only in the sixth grade but also in other grades, both below and above including the High School. In many instances the illustrative work that is studied out at this point in the course is suitable for the high school only. No attempt is made to confine ourselves to such work as would be usable in only the sixth grade, but an effort is made to bring under consideration several different kinds of methods of illustrating the study of history, irrespective of whether they are adapted to one particular grade or might be used with some variation or modifications in several different grades.

A certain amount of manual construction work is undertaken. For example, a Greek temple, a monastery and a castle have at different times been modelled in clay. Generally work of this sort has been done in groups, one set of students being assigned a Greek temple, another a monastery and another a castle. Smaller tasks are also undertaken such as constructing a fire maker, weaving a basket, boiling meat with heated stones, or putting a handle on a stone ax. Such smaller tasks as these have been done in

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connection with the study made of primitive life. The object in having students in this course, most of whom have already passed the high school stage, do manual construction work of this sort, is to suggest to them not only how special interest in many a subject in history may be aroused thru devices of this sort, but also how such means may contribute to real mental growth and development. Time and again students who have labored long and diligently over a model of the Parthenon have declared that they had acquired an understanding of the plans and arrangements of that famous building which all their former study pursued in the ordinary way, had failed to give them. One task of this sort is all that is necessary to bring out in a most convincing form how work of this kind can be used to great advantage and profit in developing certain phases of historical study.

Advantage is frequently taken of the manual construction work that has been done or is being done by the pupils in the different grades of the Practice School, and the things they have made that have been preserved or those things that they may happen to be making at the time are examined and commented upon in class.

Considerable attention is given to the right use of the lantern and lantern slides. From the large stock of slides belonging to the Division of History and Government, a set illustrating a given subject will be selected and placed in the hands of a student. He is told to work up a report on that subject and illustrate it with these slides. He is given some instructions in the use of the lantern so that when he makes his report he will be able to operate it himself. After he has made his report, the order in which he arranged the slides, the character of the material he introduced in connection with them, and his grasp of the subject he has been investigating are criticised by the rest of the class.

This is not the only way, however, that slides can be used. Instead of assigning a subject and a lot of slides illustrating it to one member of the class, the assignment may be given to the entire class, if it is not too large. The slides selected for the work are placed with the library attendant and each student in the class is required to study them and work up a report. When the class takes up the subject for discussion, the slides that have been

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studied will be shown and the class will join in discussing the subject that had been assigned for study.

Sometimes slides are introduced without any previous assignment. In the midst of the discussion in the class, some point may be raised which can be effectively illustrated by a slide or two. If these happen to be in our collection, they are brot out and shown thru the lantern and in a moment or two the point is cleared up, whereupon the work is resumed as before.

In these and other ways some of the proper uses of the lantern and lantern slides are demonstrated. Everything is done to discourage the  show feature  of lantern slides and to make their use provoke real thot and reflection.

A step further in this sort of work is usually taken before it is dropped. A student is assigned a subject for which no slides are available in our collection and he is told to go thru the books in the library that he thinks will contain pictures which, if made into lantern slides, might be used in developing his subject, and make a list of these pictures in the order he would use the slides when making a report. The purpose of this exercise is to acquaint him with the method that is usually followed in gathering material for sets of slides. If he is always furnished with a selected sets that illustrate the subject assigned to him he will hardly realize the way in which the slides in the set came to be brot together. But if he is set to work selecting for himself the material from which slides might be made, he gains an appreciation of the matter that will be of some considerable value to him.

In this connection he is advised to form the habit of noting down on cards those illustrations he may meet with in his reading that might be usable in lantern slide work, and of sorting out these cards from time to time according to subjects and then filing them in some sort of a receptacle. He will thus learn to his great surprise how quickly a large number of references will be accumulated and how much the actual making of lantern slides will be facilitated by this kind of a habit. In fact the filing system is urged for references of all sorts, further mention of which will be made later on. Moreover, students who are looking forward to becoming history teachers are urged to learn how to make lantern slides in the photography courses that are given in this institution.

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Dramatization is attempted to a certain extent. Each student is asked to choose some subject in history that will lend itself to dramatization, and then after making a detailed investigation of the subject he is required to write a play that will be true to the historical situation and that in its dramatic action will be suitable to the grade for which it is intended. Heretofore none of the plays that have been written have been tried out in the practice school, but it is the intention hereafter to have the best ones dramatized by the pupils in the grades for which they are best adapted.

A few local historical exercises are planned and carried out for the purpose of showing how they may contribute to the development of certain topics in history.* For example, when the subject of the invention of printing with movable types is taken up, the class is taken to one of the printing offices here, and explanations of the various processes employed in type setting and in printing are made there. Such a visit enables the students to appreciate all the better the processes that were used in printing in earlier days and also those that are employed today in the production of a great metropolitan daily by means of the most complicated of typesetting machines and printing presses.

Again when we are studying certain phases of church history, the class is urged to attend the services of the Catholic church here on some Sunday morning agreed upon. As a usual thing very few of the members of the class have ever attended a Catholic service, and even those who have attended, unless they are Catholics themselves, rarely have understood what they saw or heard. The object therefore, in asking them to attend at least one service is first of all to give them an opportunity to observe closely what they see and hear and then thru classroom discussions explain those things that were not understood. But the primary object in having them attend such a service is to enable them from their experiences to understand with some degree of intelligence what they read about the medieval church, and to suggest how as teachers they may assist their own students thru a similar method to the same end.

_____________

*For a fuller statement of the author s views on this subject, see History and Government Bulletin, No. II, March, 1914.

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For similar reasons a visit is paid to the Court House and an examination made of certain records in certain offices, and if court is in session, advantage is taken of that circumstance to have the class watch the proceedings for a while.

As far as possible opportunities are offered the class for observing actual teaching of history in the Practice School of this institution and in the Public Schools of the city. When observations are made, the students are required to write out their criticisms, favorable and unfavorable, of what they have seen, and these criticisms are made the basis of class room discussion at some later time.

After we have finished doing the work that has been outlined, which as has been said revolved largely around the course of history study in the sixth grade, the class is then asked to consider some problems that arise in connection with the Teaching of History in the High School. In doing this we pass over almost altogether the work as planned by the Committee of Eight for the seventh and eighth grades in American History. If time were sufficient that would not be done. The Committee has arranged a very fine scheme of study for these two grades, and the attention of the class to its excellence with the recommendations that if it should fall to the lot of any of them to teach history in these grades they would do well to undertake to adopt this scheme to their uses. As is generally known the Committee has arranged for the seventh grade a study of the history of the settlement and growth of the colonies and of the American Revolution, with enough of the European background to explain those events in the colonies that have their causes in England or in Europe. For the eighth grade the Committee has outlined the study of the inauguration of the new government, the political, industrial and social development of the United States, the westward expansion, and the growth of the great rival states of Europe.

In approaching the subject of history in the high school, the Report of the Committees of Seven and of Five of the American Historical Association are read and discussed. Special attention is given to the recommendations of the Committee of Five regarding the rearrangement of the courses so that special emphasis

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may be given to modern history and an opportunity may be had for pursuing sociology and economics in the high school.

A few other problems are taken up, among which is that of Missouri History. At present the history of Missouri, if studied at all, is pursued in the elementary and rural schools of our state, and in these schools it is generally pursued as a separate subject. That Missouri History should be studied in the High School and in connection with American History is just beginning to get a little consideration, and some attempt is made in this course to examine that idea and to see what virtue, if any, there may be in in it.*

The use of current magazines and newspapers in the study of history is dealt with briefly. Emphasis is put upon the point that while a knowledge of the past is valuable in itself, it is doubly valuable if it enables us to understand the present. Likewise a knowledge of the present assists us to get back into the past and appreciate it all the more than if we did not keep ourselves abreast of the times. Students are encouraged to cultivate the habit of collecting current material having our important events that are happening at present and are given some suggestions as to classifying material and putting it in some form for permanent use.

Generally each student is required to write a paper on some problem in the Teaching of History that he is specially interested in. This paper represents the results of extensive reading and thot upon the part of the student.

__________________

*See another article in this Bulletin on  Missouri History and the Schools  for further details regarding this matter.

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DESCRIPTION OF A COURSE IN THE
TEACHING OF HISTORY

EUGENE FAIR

The title of this course might be taken to mean any one or more of many different things. It is not a course on the theory of history teaching, though theories are welcomed by all. It is not a course in the philosophy of history, yet master causes and masterful men are by no means spurned. Neither is this a course where the subject matter remains; constant from quarter to quarter, even though the quality and rank of those enrolled do not vary much. And it might be well to state at once that the majority of the students taking the subject are graduates of either first or second rank High Schools. Most of them expect to teach soon either in the rural or graded schools, although there are usually a few who have taught or will soon teach in some High School. For most students who receive certificates from this school, the Administration has made this course a constant. During the last year this rule has been modified. So quite a few young men and women enter the class each quarter with a look of wearied resignation on their countenances as if to say  anything that has to be taken is not worth taking . There are always a few sensible enthusiasts, majoring in history who perhaps do the best all around work. The scholastic and teaching attainments of the different members of the same class are always far from uniform. This lack of uniformity is not usually found to be a handicap, but rather brings in spice, variety and new points of view.

So much for a few  is nots , and the kind of students found in the course. In some cases the work done will overlap both the work done in general pedagogy and the history teaching in the Practice School, but, is bound to be more intense and specific than the general courses in pedagogy and less intense and specific in the matter of actual teaching than the history teaching in the Practice School. But in case the overlapping were considerable, it would likely be a good thing for then suggestions and points of view would come from three directions rather than one, and since

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again the value of all these courses depends so largely upon the tried experience of those giving the work.

And this may well lead to the statement that the teacher, in order to get on even fairly well in conducting this course, must hold before himself consciously an epitome of his success and failures both as a teacher and student. He need not quote his experiences frequently but he does need to wonder if the student is not thinking or doing something which will prove futile. In other words the teacher will find himself asking in his own mind of the student  Are you doing now what I once did ?

From the very beginning therefore it is the intention to make  The Teaching of History  concrete. In order to be concrete one must know the main purposes to be accomplished in the studying and teaching of History. But will the student in this class know the purposes should the teacher state them in general terms? No, that would not be concrete. Then suppose, a question be put to the class  What is the main purpose in the teaching and studying of history ? Most of the class who answer with any conviction will usually say  In order to understand the present . Is this still concrete? In order to approach an answer to the last question, it is concrete to ask at once  How many of you usually read a newspaper or magazine ? It will be found that more than half do not But is it not a fact that much of the present is known through the newspapers and magazines? Assuming that it is, then it is concrete for the teacher to say  Buy to-day s newspaper, read it as you have been accustomed to read a newspaper, bring it to the class tomorrow and we will begin to find out about the present through it.  There is no attempt made to suggest just what daily paper shall be bought. On the morrow there will be found nearly all the kinds of papers which can be had at the newsstands.

Many of the class have not realized what are the big essential parts of a newspaper -  so a question as to what are those essential parts is put to each member of the class. Judging from the amount of space occupied it is soon discovered that those parts are the news, the advertisements, and the editorials. So far as the time will permit, each member of the class is asked to report on something in the paper which is of interest to him. Sometimes, of

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course, the interest is not there, but it generally comes in time. As the class and teacher talk it over among themselves nearly all will agree that the daily newspaper can be of great service to both pupils and teachers. Some will see that the past is constantly questioned and written up in terms of the present -  i. e., history becomes and must become a very practical thing to the newspaper man, he uses it to illumine the present. And may it not be maintained, by the way, that the average man and woman does and will make use of history in the same way as the newspaper man? And further, will not most children, in so far as they are conscious, have the same point of view? Some will observe that it is very easy for each child to get hold of newspapers. Some will see that the newspaper contains a great number of useful facts  right off the bat . With these and many other observations the question will arise as to whether all or parts of newspapers are worth keeping to refer to in the future.

There is no question but that at least parts of newspapers are worth saving. All great libraries keep files of newspapers. But are they of use save to the special student? Card files are not kept indicating what is of value in these papers, and clippings, when kept, are usually only of immediate importance. From this one judges that either the whole newspaper may be kept or clippings may be made. If the whole paper is kept then a card catalogue classifying the material should be made. If clippings are made then just how are they to be kept and classified? Either method of saving the newspaper or parts of it must involve a discussion and explanation of a usuable means of classification.

Of course the newspaper, better than any other printed matter shows up human life in all of its aspects, but the large bulk of its items concern government, economics, sociology and religion. This may make the beginning of a general classification. To be more specific let us take one of these fields to illustrate - 

GOVERNMENT
1.Central
1. Executive
2. Legislative
3. Judicial

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2. State
 1. Executive
2. Legislative
3. Judicial

3. Local

1. Municipal
2. Rural

4. Political Parties

1. Democratic
2. Republican
3. Progressive

Since most students prefer to keep clippings rather than the whole newspaper let us see just how that may be done. It is believed the following quoted instructions to a student who was behind in her work will explain this matter.

 Provide yourself with at least two dozen cheap catalogue envelopes (size, about 9 x 6 inches). Take any St. Louis daily paper for two weeks, clip all items you think of immediate or future value to a teacher of history or government (in any of the grades or the High School). Put the clippings of the same general nature in a pile by themselves. Place on each item, using a pen or Colored pencil, the name of the paper, the date (both of the month and year), and a number corresponding to a number on the back of the envelope into which you will place the item. The clipping handed you will illustrate. You will see placed on that item 1. (one) because it is the first, we will assume, to be placed in the envelope and there is written across it in ink  Chicago Tribune, March 8, 1914 . Just a casual reading will reveal to you that the clipping is conceived with a government report on grain reserves in the United States in 1914 compared as with grain reserves in 1913. Before putting the clipping in an envelope write on the back of the envelope at the top the following headings:  

ECONOMICS
CROPS

1. GRAIN RESERVES OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1914.

 As was said above you will need some two dozen envelopes. You will likely need to use nearly half these on government.

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This is evident when you think of the following proposed outline on government.  Here followed an outline on government similar to the one given above. A hint was thrown in that in order to classify the items well, one must read them carefully.

One may say  You have only suggested a regular reading of the newspaper and systematic ways of keeping track of what it contains". But our story does not end here. Assuming a somewhat prevalent reading of and interest in newspapers, let us see if we can not work from these to what are too often really the dry facts of history contained in the usual text books. And may it not be said that the large bulk of facts of history obtained by pupils in the graded and rural schools are gotten from text books? To show just how the connection is made between the regular text book work and the news in a paper it has been thought well to insert here a written account of a student who proposed to do this very thing. She chose as her subject,  The Mexican Trouble  and for her text book facts she consulted about twelve typical seventh and eighth grade text books on American History. The paper was as follows:--

 General Carranza has been informed in a note from the United States Government that unless there is a change in the treatment of foreigners in Mexico, the United States will take steps to obtain protection for them. A like note was sent to General Obregon, the Carranza commander. Both notes were sent to the Mexicans through the Brazilian minister there. The note is the strongest one that has been sent there since last spring during the correspondence with Huerta. It is regarded by some as an utter change in the policy of the United States toward Mexico. Many of the foreign diplomats at Washington who know the contents of the note feel that it implies the use of force, unless there is a favorable change in Mexico.

 There is some evidence that the American Government does intend to use force in the fact that two or more battleships are to go at once to Vera Cruz and several others are to be held in readimess for such service. However when Secretary of State Bryan was questioned regarding the intention of the United States he said that no definite arrangements had been made, and that each situation would be met as it arose.

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 The whole affair of this last note is a result of the disregarded appeal to Carranza by the United States for fair treatment to foreigners in Mexico. By Carranza s arrangements all medical supplies are to be removed to Vera Cruz. As a consequence an appeal has come to the United States for such supplies and for Red Cross nurses to help fight typhus fever and smallpox. Besides these there is a famine in Mexico City and threatened riots. The Mexican diplomatic corpse has even been ordered to Vera Cruz along with the forces that were stationed at the capital. A garrison is to be left there by the order of the United States Government through the fear of the future rather than for actual conditions.

 To show how I would connect the above item with history I shall assume that I am teaching an eighth grade history class. They are not interested in the lesson which I shall assume is the Independence of Texas in 1836. The pupils have read the newspaper article given above and are interested in what threatens to bring about a second war with Mexico.

 I then endeavor to show how the present trouble is related to the question under discussion. I want to show them how it was easy for Texas to become independent and that the same conditions that made Texas successful against Mexico have helped to bring about the present situation. To do this I give them the following summary of Mexican history.

 In the early exploration period Spain had led the world in expeditions to America, and for a long time it seemed as if she would lead in building colonies in America. She sent many explorers and settlers, among whom was Cortez. He with his army came to Mexico in 1532 and found there a tribe of Indians with wealthy cities, temples, and palaces. All these the Spaniards captured when they overcame the inhabitants, and many of them they destroyed. The Spaniards who came were interested in getting rich rather than in establishing a strong government. From the time of Cortez on more and more of them came and brought negroes with them. The Spaniards intermarried with the Indians and Negroes and the people of Mexico became wholly different from either of the three. They were not able to form and maintain a strong government. They had no school system

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to speak of and made little progress of any kind. In 1822 when Spain was busy in a war with France, Mexico with other Spanish colonies took advantage of the situation and withdrew from the rule of Spain. Mexico tried to set up a republic modeled after the United States government. In the same year President Monroe recognized it as independent. About this time Russia and several other European nations joined in what is called the  Holy Alliance  to help Spain hold her territories in America. This act we know brought forth the declaration of the Monroe Doctrine. Some time after Mexico became independent she freed her slaves. Although she was free from Spain she was not able to assert herself as a strong government and could not prevent the step which Texas took in 1836. Many people from the United States had gone to Texas to live while it yet belonged to Spain. Many had taken slaves with them, and after the emancipation of slaves in Mexico they still came and brought slaves. Over this question came the break between Texas and Mexico. In the war the Mexicans were no match for the Texans, but during this war Mexico treated The American settlers much as she is treating foreign born residents in Mexico City today.

 At this point I should make the assignment for the next lesson. This would include a resurvey of the Texas trouble, and something of the cause of it through the nature of the people, the slave question, and the Mexican s inability to manage well their governmental affairs. 

It will be noticed that the young woman who wrote this paper makes several assumptions. She was asked to do that, but the assumptions made are her own. Only general suggestions were made as to just how the clipping and the text book material should be worked out together. All the members of the class in The Teaching of History were agreed; 1. That the story as contained in the newspaper item should be clearly told in the class being taught; 2. That one might work from the item back to the period in the history being studied or from the period being studied to the present time, or that the historical conditions described in the text book might be compared with the conditions described in the item; 3. That in any case, whether only comparisons were made or a serious attempt was made to bring out in a connected

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way all our significant relations with Mexico, the main period in those relationships must be patent; 4. That the question of how to make reviews fresh and interesting is largely solved.

Of all the questions which arise concerning the use of newspapers, the most persistent is that of their reliability. It is nothing unusual as Mr. Adams pointed out recently in the New York Tribune (series of articles beginning Jan. 4, 1915), to find in one and the same paper a helpful idealistic editorial on some good movement, and a fake medicine advertisement. Or one will often see that the headlines of an article do not always represent correctly what is reported by the Associated Press just below the headlines. Such faults as these are discouraging, but they are all so human. In order to get a fair view of the place newspapers have occupied and do occupy now in our history as a people, the class is referred to the series of articles by Will Irwin (Collier s Weekly beginning Feb. 4, 1911). In these articles we have a brief trace made of the history of newspapers in the United States together with very significant chapters on such matters as the newspaper in relation to its advertisers and to the public in general. It is shown clearly that there is an intimate connection between the amount of advertising in a paper and its circulation that often a big block of advertising will cause the editor of the paper to take special note, of the thing advertised or the party advertising, in the editorial or news sections and it is not hard to show that the better newspapers of the United States are more than successful business enterprises; that those which really are a business success permanently are honest with themselves, the public and their advertisers; that such fearless newspapers are the greatest one force in forming, leading, and interpreting public opinion therefore such newspapers are worthy of confidence and respect.

Space will not permit any more extended accounts of attempts to make the teaching of history concrete, but it is well to mention other cases at least.

Magazines are examined and classified according to their value to history teachers both in the grades and High Schools. This examination is made by having each student read copies of the magazines. For example the class uses for several days the

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History Teacher s Magazine as a text. Just as there is an easy transition from the study of newspaper to magazine material so it is very easy to work from the magazines devoted to history, to the history of the writing and teaching of history. For this last purpose no one book has been quite so valuable as Bourne s Teaching of History and Civics, though a carefully selected list of books on the writing and teaching of history is given as recommended reading.

In this kind of work there will, of course, be a survey of the reports of the Committees of Seven, Five and Eight, of the American Historical Association. But it is only a survey in order to get the historical setting of each report. Experience has shown that these reports are best examined by using them as reference material. As an example of this reference use the class will have several class room exercises devoted to the material in such books as Bourne and Benton s Introductory American History. It is assumed that each member of the Class is responsible for from one to three of the stories; in such a book. Some member of the class will be called upon each day to tell the story or stories covering the complete assignment just as if a sixth grade class were sitting in our presence. There is a great insistence on the story being told without interruption and in an interesting way. In order to do this well, the adult student must be conscious of the main purpose or purposes running through each and every story. Therefore the report of the Committee of Eight (Sixth grade) is referred to almost every day. Another illustration is found here, then, of one of the prime requisites of any successful teacher of history -  to be able to narrate or to cause his pupils to do so.

The class in the Teaching of History is shown in detail how to use well tried and successful scientific mechanical methods in collecting material for the writing of history  - and, once the material is collected, how to write it up so that it will be of actual use. Each member of the class therefore, writes a paper, the subject of which is left largely to the choice of the student. Two big things are insisted on in this paper: 1. Correct mechanical methods such as any scientific student would use; 2. The paper must be written for a definite use, e. g. -  to be used by a teacher

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in the first grade, or read by a class in the sixth grade. In doing this work, the student is lead to make an annotated bibliography, classify the material into such groups as sources, secondary authorities, illustrative works, pictures, geography.

Another concrete case of how to teach history was introduced by Miss Doolittle of the Practice School. This is a study of Primitive Life. This study has taught us as nothing else could the painful steps through which man has become a social being. The class or some members actually make fire by one or other of the primitive methods and this surely illustrates blitter than most any other way a real experience of a primitive man. Miss Doolittle s work on the constructive side of history has been of the greatest value. She has shown us how to construct a Greek temple and a Medieval castle out of clay by letting us see the children doing it. And what can do more to teach sympathy and understanding for the past than such exercises? These exercises bring out the essence of the stock and trade dramatization idea without its mere advertisement and show.

Without taking any more of our concrete cases let us state in a summary by way of conclusion the serious purposes of this course.
1. To show several successful methods of teaching history, both in the grades and in the High School. In the instance of the grades, the Practice School is the place for illustration. In the instance of the High School, the class itself, not being far removed from typical High School thinking, can be its own laboratory -  thus there is actual doing instead of very much talking about doing things.

2. To know something of the teaching and writing of history both in the past and at present by tracing the story and collecting a bibliography.
3. To show how history may be of practical use to the one who reads little else than the daily newspaper.
4. To show what relation history bears to other subjects, especially those subjects having to do with human relationship. In other words the history teacher should be able to orient himself.
5. To help to bring together in close cooperation the Practice School work and that of the Normal School proper.

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6. To examine the apparatus of history teaching -  as illustrative material, text books and material from the past such as the historical museum contains.

7. To stir up a solid pervading enthusiasm for history study and its teaching, so that within its scope will be found safe anchorage for what is best in our changeful developing civilization, and so that again all children in our schools and their teachers may be conscious of their own place in this our common life.

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MISSOURI HISTORY IN THE SCHOOLS*

E. M. VIOLETTE

For some time there has been a slowly growing sentiment thru out the nation in favor of the study of state and local history in our schools, and recently some special attention has been given to the methods that should be employed in that study. In some states the subject has been considerably emphasized, but in Missouri the progress has not been so marked. It is therefore high time that we as history teachers should address ourselves to the matter and see what should be done.

For some years the State Superintendent of Schools of Missouri has recommended in the state course of study that Missouri History and Government should be studied in the rural and elementary schools. In this course he has suggested that Missouri stories should be read in the fifth or sixth grade, and that Missouri History and Geography and Missouri Government should be studied in the seventh or eighth grade. The State Superintendent has no authority to impose this course of study upon any school, but as a matter of fact it is very generally followed thru out the state in the rural and village schools, the county superintendents modifying it here and there and adapting it in their courses of study to suit local conditions. The result is that most all of the rural and village schools in the State that cover the work thru the seventh and eighth grades make some attempt at presenting Missouri History and Government. Practically all the counties have adopted a text on the subject, 88 per cent of them having adopted Rader. Moreover in many of the towns and cities which are free to make their own courses of study, Missouri History and Government is given a place in these courses.

But when we say that Missouri History and Government is being studied in our rural, village and town schools, we can not be sure that both Missouri History and Missouri Government are being studied. In fact it is most generally Missouri Government

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*Read before the Missouri Society of Teachers of History and Government at St. Joseph, November 13, 1914.

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that is being pursued and not Missouri History and Missouri Government as a rule. An investigation that has just been made by a committee of this Society regarding history in the elementary schools of the State, would seem to support this view of the matter, as far as the village and town schools are concerned. This committee sent out thru the State Superintendent a questionnaire to about 500 village and town schools. Only 159 replies were returned, but these came from schools of such different rank in sufficient numbers to enable us to draw some conclusions that may approximate the truth in a general way. One of the questions asked was the following: "Is Missouri History and Government taught in your school? If so when and how? Do you think more time should be given to it?  Of the 159 schools that replied, most of them reported that Missouri History and Government is being studied in the seventh or eighth grade, generally in the eighth grade, and that about one-half of the school year in that grade is being devoted to it. But unfortunately the question was not stated in the questionnaire in such a way as to bring out the fact in the replies as to whether Missouri History is being studied or not. I am sure that in a great many instances where it was reported that Missouri History and Government is being pursued, Missouri Government was meant and not Missouri History and Missouri Government. In many of the replies the comment that followed the statement that Missouri History and Government is being studied, revealed the fact that it is Missouri Government that is really being pursued and not Missouri History and Missouri Government. I have conferred with some of the men in the State Superintendent s office and with a few county superintendents, and they think that Missouri Government is very generally studied thruout the state, but they can not say the same for Missouri History. The impression one gets from talking with these men is that most of the schools that study Missouri History do so because the material for it is to be found in the back part of the text book on Missouri Government, and that if the classes get thru with the government part before the term is over they then take up the history and keep on until the close of the term, which generally means that they seldom finish the historical part.

From the defective sources of information that we have, we

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can not draw very definite conclusions, but it looks as tho the government of our state is being very generally pursued in our rural and elementary schools, but that the history of the state is getting comparatively very little consideration.

Now what explanation have we for the fact that Missouri History is not being studied any more than it is? Is it because there is no time for it, or because it is not considered worth while, or because the means for studying it successfully are inadequate? Personally I am not ready to grant that the subject is valueless, and I am sure that I am not alone in that view. Practically every state in the Union has a history that is worth studying by her sons and daughters in her schools, and this is particularly true of Missouri. Missourians who know the history of our state intimately, deplore the fact that the pupils in our schools give a good deal of time to the founding of the thirteen colonies and know the details of the story of John Smith and the Pilgrim Fathers, and yet remain ignorant of Laclede, the founder of St. Louis, and know nothing of the early settlements in Missouri; that they are familiar with the debates that were carried on in Congress and in the north and the south over the Missouri Bill, but never once hear of the agitation that went on in Missouri at the time; that they are able to discuss the Compromise of 1850 and the circumstances that led up to it but scarcely realize that this compromise cost Thomas Hart Benton his seat in the United States Senate; that they can relate how South Carolina and the other southern states seceded but know practically nothing of the unsuccessful yet desperate attempt made to draw Missouri out of the Union; that they are acquainted with the Battle of Bull Run and the Peninsular Campaign, but hardly know of Wilson s Creek or Price s Raid; that they can outline the history of the reconstruction of the southern states, but are oblivious of the Drake Constitution and the Radical Rule in Missouri after the war. Other instances might be given that would contrast the fairly intimate knowledge of our pupils with events and conditions in our national history that are more or less remote from us, and their ignorance of events and conditions in our state history that are relatively near to us, but these are doubtless sufficient to make clear the point. Lest the matter be misunderstood, let it be said that there is no attempt

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in this comparison to minimize the importance of our national history, but the position is taken that there are events in our state history that should be known to our pupils along with those that are made prominent in our national history.

If then the History of Missouri is not without value as a study in our schools, it must be that the method by which it is pursued is at fault for its backward condition. In fact it may not be putting it too strongly when we say that the prevailing system of studying it is very much of a failure, and that unless we can devise a better means of pursuing it we can not hope for any sustained interest in it very long.

Now the principal reason why the method of studying Missouri History that generally prevails in our schools is a failure, is, as I see it, that it is pursued separately and apart from American History. As long as it is studied in that way it lacks the historical setting that is necessary to give it meaning, and so long will it continue to be without value in the lives of the pupils upon whom it is thus thrust. I have made it a point to ask my students from time to time as certain new classes have been organized what they got out of their study of Missouri History and the answer has been pretty generally nothing, and the explanation for this is undoubtedly to be found in part at least in the fact that the subject was studied without any reference to its historical setting.

But how is it to be pursued in connection with American History? In a word I would answer by sandwiching it in at appropriate points in the regular courses in American History. And here let me say that Missouri History should be taught in connection with American History in our High Schools as well as in the seventh or eighth grades, In fact only the simplest phases of our state history can be taught in any form in elementary grades; and since a course in American History is given in the High School for the purpose of enabling the pupils to enlarge upon what they learned in the subject in the elementary school, it would seem that the same sort of logic would justify our giving attention to Missouri History in the High School. And if it is well to teach Missouri History in connection with American History in the elementary grades, it would be equally well to proceed in the same way in the High School.

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To this suggestion of combining Missouri History and American History, I think I hear a strong protest from certain quarters. First, there are those who say that the course in American History is already overloaded and there is no room for anything else, especially for so big a subject as Missouri History. A few years ago the course in American History was rather simple and definite. Attention was then confined to the political phases of our history almost together, as was the case in practically all the other fields of history. But such is not the case today. History is getting to be a very complex subject. We have learned to give heed to the industrial, social, and religious development of the human race, and we find it just as important to discuss trade guilds, routes of commerce, and religious institutions in the medieval period and the development of new industries in the modern period, as the territorial expansion of the royal domain of France, the development of the English Parliament and the rise and fall of political parties in our own history.

Now we must concede that there are limits to what a course will take on, and we must guard against overloading it. But if we admit that state history is worth pursuing, and if we hold that it needs to be given a proper historical setting to make its pursuit profitable, we must discover a way to introduce it along with the course in American History. The most practicable way it seems to me is to readjust our courses in American History so that we shall, first, lay less stress than we have been accustomed to do on certain topics or omit them altogether; second, put special emphasis on certain other topics that have a direct bearing on our state history; and third, introduce from time to time, when it can be done logically, the material that is more or less strictly local and yet is somewhat connected with the general development of the nation.

On the first point in this scheme of procedure I do not care to dwell or to offer any recommendations as to where less stress should be laid or omissions made. If the point is well taken, we may leave it to each teacher to decide for himself what topics in American History he will treat in this fashion in order to make room for Missouri History.

But on the other two points, I do wish to offer an illustration or two in order that their meaning may be made clear. Suppose

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the class in American History has reached the point in the course when it is studying the Treaty of 1763 whereby Spain acquired from France the territory west of the Mississippi River. Since Missouri was a part of that territory, thus acquired by this treaty, this subject may well be emphasized and the opportunity seized to make some study of the settlements that had been made in Missouri up to that time. Since many of the very first settlers in Missouri migrated from the settlements that had been made in the Illinois country east of the Mississippi, some attention should be given to these settlements and to the causes that led them to move from thence to Missouri up to about 1763 or a few years later. This will involve an account of the founding of at least Ste. Genevieve in 1735 and St. Louis in 1764.

In preparation for this study the teacher would do well to emphasize the explorations of the French in the Mississippi Valley, especially those of Joliet, Marquette, and. La Salle. And altho the history of these explorations form a part of the history of Missouri, they do not deserve in a course in American History in our Missouri schools any special stpdy because of that fact, for the simple reason that there is nothing about them that pertains to Missouri History as distinctive from that of several other states in the Mississippi Valley. But the Treaty of Paris of 1763, while it affected other territory in the same way as it did Missouri, affords an opportunity for a digression into Missouri History that the explorations of Joliet, Marquette, and La Salle do not. In fact this treaty seems to be the first point in a course in American History when it would be appropraite to introduce any thing on the history of Missouri at all. By that time the occupation of the territory by the white man had begun, and an event as momentous as the transfer of the vast tract of territory of which Missouri formed a part, would seem to be the appropriate point at which to introduce the first efforts of the white man to occupy this region.

After the class has finished its study of this section of Missouri history in connection with the Treaty of 1763, it would resume its work in American history until it came to another topic that would suggest another excursion into Missouri history. For example, the Purchase of Louisiana would furnish a most excellent opportunity for just such an excursion. After that subject had

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been developed in the usual fashion or with perhaps a little more emphasis than usual because Missouri was a part of Louisiana, it would be quite in order to study among other things the growth of the settlement in Missouri between 1765 and 1803, the governmental organization under the Spanish regime and the inauguration of the American government in 1804.

Again when the class comes in the regular course in American history to the Missouri Compromise, why should it not go into such matters as the changes that were made in the territorial government of Missouri from 1804 to 1816, the petitions from the territory for admission into the union, the constitutional convention, and the agitation in the territory over the debates in Congress and in the north and south, as well as into the debates themselves? Usually in a course in American history all that Missouri pupils and students get concerning the Missouri Compromise is the debates in Congress and out of it in the north and the south; but why not broaden the subject out for them by way of introducing the things just suggested?

These illustrations however bear only upon the second point in the above mentioned scheme of readjustment of our courses in American history. They show how that topics in American history that are concerned with affairs connected with or centered in Missouri should be emphasized and how the opportunity should be used to bring out the local conditions. Let me offer an example that will illustrate the third point, that is how material that is more or less strictly local and yet is somewhat connected with the general development of the nation, can be introduced in the ordinary course in American History.

I can think of nothing that will illustrate this point better than the history of railroads in Missouri from about 1830 to 1860. As our students are studying the early development of the railroads thruout the country up to about 1850 or 1860 and, the wonderful effects they produced on the course of our national history, they might find it very profitable to follow out the early stages of railroad building in Missouri and note the direct effects produced on our own resources and industries. And at the same time they could acquaint themselves with the way in which the state placed its credit to the use of the railroads by way of issuing bonds amounting to about $25,000,000 by 1860, and either then or later they

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could go thru that dismal and very discreditable chapter which relates how the state was subsequently swindled in the matter and the people were forced to pay the bill.

So far we have been concerned with the objections that have been raised by those who oppose combining American history and Missouri history because it tends to overload the course in American history. The scheme of procedure that has been outlined may not be acceptable to all those who have raised the objection, but it is at least a workable one and will realize some of the ends it is intended to produce.

But there is another group who object to this combination of American history and Missouri history on the ground that Missouri history if presented in this fashion will consist of disconnected scraps and hence will lack continuity and coherency. They favor a separate course in Missouri history with as much back ground in American history as possible, but with no gaps or breaks in the thread of the story of grand old Missouri. Now some attention must be paid to their view of the question.

The best answer that can be given to those who object to the study of Missouri History in what they might call a series of disconnected scraps sandwiched in between slices of American History, is that such a scheme eliminates much that is merely incidental and non-essential that has found a place in our Missouri History when given as a separate course. Why should we have our pupils study the biographical sketches of our Governors and other prominent men of the state? Why should the history of Col. Gentry s regiment in the Seminole War come in for special consideration, and why, one may not be pardoned for hazarding the suggestion, is Doniphan s expedition made to bulk so large in the annals of our state? I am not raising these questions to detract one iota from the reputation of any of our heroes, political or military, but the teacher of history must be constantly making new evaluations of his material, and I venture to throw out a suggestion here at this time on this matter.

This scheme of study not only compels the elimination of the incidental and non-essential but also that which is merely repetitive of what is brought out in the ordinary course in American History. For example, pioneer life is very much the same in our history, no matter when or where it was lived, so that if the sub-

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ject is taken up in connection with the colonial period, there is no need of making any special study of it in Missouri History as is always the case if Missouri History is pursued as a separate course. Moreover such topics as duels, cholera, treatment of slaves, and the Grange are properly topics in American History and need no special consideration in Missouri History.

Rader and Viles have devoted about 200 pages in their texts to Missouri History. For the average eighth grade class this is material for forty to fifty lessons at least. If the incidental and repetitive material were eliminated, as it would be if Missouri History were studied in connection with American History, then the essentials might be encompassed in perhaps one half that number of lessons, at least in not more than thirty. In the average course in American History in both the eighth grade and in the High School, the class meets five times a week for 36 weeks. That makes 180 meetings in the school year. Reduce that by ten to allow for holidays and examinations. That brings the numbers of meetings down to 170. Is it too much to devote about one sixth of those meetings to Missouri History? Moreover it should be remembered that some of the subjects counted as a part of Missouri History are equally as much a part of American History and would appear as such in every such course; as for example the Purchase of Louisiana and the Missouri Compromise, and that, the special emphasis given these subjects would not take very much more time than is ordinarily given to them in the regular course in American History. So that perhaps even less than one sixth of the time would be needed for those matters that are distinctively Missourian in character.

Furthermore the few lessons on Missouri History that are woven into the course on American History need not be altogether disconnected. Tho they may come at intervals in the course in American History, the material in them maybe arranged, at times at least, so that they may have some connection with each other. But even if that end is not always attained it does not necessarily follow that any serious injury has been done to an intelligent understanding of that which is really vital and essential.

Finally this scheme permits of the study of certain topics in Missouri History out of their chronological order. For example, the history of the Mormon troubles in Missouri which occurred

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in the thirties always comes in for consideration in strict chronological order when Missouri History is studied separately. But if it were pursued in connection with American History, the history of the Mormon troubles in Missouri might be deferred until the subject of the development of the Far West and of Utah in particular were taken up. If dealt with in that way the Mormon troubles in Missouri would serve to throw light not only on our state history but also on the far westward movement.

Now that we have discussed the chief features of the plan to teaching Missouri History in connection with American History, let us notice briefly in conclusion what books are needed to put it into successful operation and how we can make use of the material that is at hand until the day of better things arrives.

The ideal text book would be a Missouri edition of the text in American History, one suitable for the elementary grades and another for the High School. And by that I do not mean a text in American History that has a supplement in the back part consisting of paragraphs on different topics in Missouri History, but a book that has incorporated in the body of the text at suitable points material that bears directly upon Missouri. For example in such a book the account of the Missouri Compromise would be expanded so that such matters as were mentioned a while ago in connection with this topic would be treated in a manner suitable to the grade for which the book was intended; viz., the growth of the population of the territory from 1803 to 1820, the changes in the territorial government, the petitions for admission into the Union, the excitement in the territory over the debates that occurred both in and out of Congress, and the Solemn and Public Act of the Legislature which Congress finally imposed upon Missouri as the price of admission.

Some time ago the attention of the publishers of a well known text book on American History was called to the desirability of getting out a Missouri edition of their text along the lines just indicated. They admitted that such a book would be admirable for Missouri students but feared that the expense in getting it out would not justify them in doing so. They said that new plates would have to be made for most, if not for all, of the book, and the uncertainties of the returns made them hesitate about undertaking such a venture. They offered to get out an edition of their

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book with a supplement of a hundred pages or so in the back that would contain matter on Missouri History, but such an edition would have nothing to commend it to any one, and so the matter was dropped. But that need not be the end of our hopes. If the idea takes firm hold upon our teachers that Missouri History should be studied in connection with American History, Missouri editions of American History text books will be forthcoming. It is really up to us to say whether they shall be produced or not.

But in view of the fact that Missouri editions of American History texts are not yet available, the only way to study Missouri History; with American History is to have the pupils to provide themselves with the two texts and to make use of those portions of the text on Missouri History that are considered vital to an understanding of the history of the state at those points in our national history that offer the best opportunity. And for this sort of a combination Viles  text is admirably adapted. In fact Professor Viles has seen more clearly than Rader or the other text book authors the necessity of giving Missouri History its proper setting in American History, and has therefore introduced a good deal of our national history as a sort of background. He has thus succeeded in giving our state history a much clearer interpretation than the other authors. But after all he has written his book for the use primarily of those classes that pursue Missouri History as a separate subject, and hence it contains much material that needs to be eliminated if used in connection with a text in American History. 

But the combination of texts that has just been described is practicable only in the eighth grade. Viles and Rader are not intended for high school students, and as yet nothing has been written that can be used as a companion to the text in American History in our High Schools. It is to be hoped however that such a book will be produced sometime soon so that the study of Missouri History in our high schools may be inaugurated in a manner that will he fairly creditable and profitable. It is also to be hoped that studies and monographs on Missouri History may be multiplied and made available in cheap form for our high school libraries. The task that is before us is worthy of our best efforts and heartiest cooperation and its end should be realized in a not distant future.

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