PREFACE 



"Where no wise guidance is, the people falleth; 

 But in the multitude of counsellors there is safety/' 



Out of the experiences of many people, tested, retested, 

 and tested again, this book has grown. May there be in it 

 words of help and direction ! In a sense it is a composite, 

 but it is only in the way in which the civilization of today is 

 a composite of what has gone before. No man dare say that 

 he stands alone in his achievements ; preceding ages and con- 

 temporaneous efforts have helped place him where he is, no 

 matter how strong within him may be the personal element. 

 So with this book. Superintendent, supervisors, teachers, 

 and pupils, with perhaps an unusual degree of harmony, 

 have worked together over the problems of the schoolroom. 

 Some of the helpful deductions thus made are recorded here. 



This is a book of methods rather than of subject matter. 

 Both might well be presented, but to do so would overburden 

 such a publication. While it is true that without subject 

 matter methods are valueless, the supposition is that a man 

 or woman who is admitted today into the schoolroom is 

 fairly well provided with the knowledge requisite for the 

 task. Many teachers fail, however, in handling their equip- 

 ments; many and many a pupil wastes a large part of his 

 time in school because of the imperfect way in which the 

 subject matter of even a common school education is pre- 

 sented; many parents, eager for the best interests of their 

 children, find themselves bitterly disappointed with the 



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