Where the school attendance is large-over 300 or more pupils-there is generally a principal appointed from the sisters in charge to supervise the daily work; to look after the discipline of the pupils, and to report to the rector the more serious violations of rule. It is her duty to see that the work in the various grades is properly done; to aid and direct younger teachers, and she supplies the place, sometimes, of a teacher who may be temporarily absent because of illness or some other cause. The principal makes out the weekly and monthly reports which are sent to the rector and the parents of each pupil.

Herewith are appended copies of such reports which are used in the school of which the writer has charge. We find the weekly report of great benefit in securing a high percentage of attendance:

The monthly report shows at once the parent or guardian how the child is doing at school. Here is a copy of the report generally used in our parochial schools:

REGULATIONS.

First. Regular attendance of pupils.

Second. Pupils will be in class rooms promptly at 9 a. m. and 1 p. m.
Third. Parents will oversee home studies.

Fourth. Parents will explain in person to rector or sister in charge when their children are absent, tardy, or fail to prepare night work.

Fifth. Parents will examine and sign this report each month and see that it is returned the following morning.

These reports have proved of the greatest assistance in securing a high percentage of attendance as well as stimulating pupils in their studies. To take the last year's attendance of the parochial school with which the writer is connected, there was an enrollment of 650 children, and the average weekly attendance during a ten months' session never fell below 94 per cent, and was for several weeks as high as 96 and 97. This splendid showing we attribute largely to the Weekly Report and the investigation which follows of each individual case of absence or tardiness by the clergyman in charge of the school. We have little, if any, need of the truant officer to enforce the compulsory school law of the State.

COURSE OF STUDY.

For the information of those who may not be familiar with the daily workings of a typical parochial school the following table is herewith printed. The school is a well-graded one, and provides a course of study covering a period of eight years. No child is admitted under 6 years. The pupils in the eighth year, or grammar grade, have been admitted with scarcely a single failure for a number of years past into the local public high school.

Table showing course of study in a parochial school, and time devoted daily to each subject.

To show more clearly and in detail the nature and character of the teaching and what each grade is doing, I select an outline of the work that is being done during the third and the last years of the course in the various branches:

THIRD YEAR'S WORK.

Religious instruction.

Review work of preceding year: Commandments, Precepts, Sacraments.

Christian doctrine: First to fifteenth chapters. Explanation of principal feasts.

Language.

Review last year's work.

Teach correct use of "shall" and "will," of "in" and "into," of "rise" and "raise,” of “off” and "of," of "learn" and "teach."

Oral reproductions of short stories.

Written reproductions of observations made or stories told by teacher.

Train pupils to distinguish common and proper nouns, singular and plural Louns, writing of possessive case. Continue drill for use of capitals, period, question mark, apostrophe (contractions and singular possessive), hyphen, comma in a series, abbreviations.

Teach exclamation point.

Oral and written tests of misspelled words. Teach syllabication.

Letter writing to begin here, letters to be copied, attention called to date, to form of salutation, to manner of closing. Capitalization and punctuation.

Arithmetic.

Teach numeration and notation to fifth order. Fractions: Review and teach &,, . Denominate numbers: Same as in second year, also cu. in., sq. ft., sec., min. Roman notation to 100. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division continued. Operations in United States money.

Related practical problems, requiring pupils to make and solve similar ones. Multiplication tables completed.

Analytical arithmetic: Fundamental processes and application.

Spelling.

Oral: New words in all subjects.

Written: In columns, words selected from reading lesson, technical terms from other subjects of the year.

Phonetic spelling, diacritical marks, Modern Speller, from page 21 to 41.

Definitions of familiar words.

Writing.

Attention to position and holding of pen. Drill in stem and loop letters, capitals, and figures. Train pupils to write rapidly and accurately from first.

Use pen and ink. Copybook No. 2.

Drawing.

Form: Study ellipsoid, cone, and pyramid, as whole and in detail; also objects resembling them.

Color: Recognition and naming of six standards and twelve spectrum hues.

Reading.

Complete Second Reader and first part of Third. Lesson I to XXX.
Frequent exercises in elementary sounds for articulation.

NOTE.-Object of reading-getting the thought-should be insisted upon.

EIGHTH YEAR'S WORK.

Religious instruction.

Prayers and approved pious practices: Christian Doctrine, Deharbe's Catechism; feasts of the year explained; also mass; vestments, color, names, et.

Lives of saints that have influenced the thought of the world.

Bible history: History of the church

Language.

Complete grammar from infinitives and review. Review in use of critics, syllabication. Teach spelling of words from all subjects studied. Drills and tests in sele ed words, oral and written.

Practice paragraphing.

Reproduction of poetry into prose.

Composition: Writing biographies in connection with history; description of pictures, statuary, and buildings in connection with literature and art. Letter writing: Social and business forms. Selections from good authors, calculated to give general information (Irving's Sketch Book, etc). To serve as reading for grade.

Arithmetic,

Complete and review, strengthening previous work. Analytical: Section VI.

Algebra.

Milne's Elementary: Teach to quadratics.

Spelling.

Oral: Complete Modern Speller. Review.

Definitions: Pages 140-160.

Written: Review difficult words in speller; dictate long paragraphs.

Thorough review of previous grades.

All review should be topical.

Geography.

Make special study of United States and countries commercially related to it; also mathematical geography.

Use supplementary geographies and other related reading matter.

Writing.

Further drills in rapidity, accuracy, etc.
Practice business and social forms; composition.

History.

With text-book study from beginning of the national period of the United States, making progressive maps to show growth of territory. Study the Administrations to close of civil war, connecting the events of each with preceding.

Then review the national period by topics, such as extension of territory, slavery, wars, business matters, internal improvements, foreign matters, Indian removals, etc.

From 1865 to present time, present by topics, giving special attention to international affairs. Make biography prominent in all the work.

Drawing.

Construction: Making to a given scale working drawings.

Studying section and development.

Representation: Angular perspective. Drawing groups of three or more objects. Drawing from nature, sprays, or plants. Free sketches.

Review fundamental principles of design.

Color: Study harmony, and design in harmonious combinations.
Observe the effects of color in nature.

What is specially aimed at in the average parochial school is the avoidance of dilettanteism and experimentation-fads and follies—and the giving of a thorough practical training in what used to be called "the three R's." We have no reason so far in the development of our parochial schools to deplore what President G. Stanley Hall recently styled "the tyranny of things" in our educational methods.

"We are afflicted." said President Hall, "in our modern pedagogy with a tyranny of things. There is our natural science, industrial education, the teaching of art, all using objects or pictures of objects. If the child, under such a system, can not think without visual provocation; if it is losing enthusiasm for public, social, and ethical questions; if it is being crippled for intellectual pursuits, cares only in a languid way for prose and poetry, and responds only to commercial interests, then something must be promptly done to remedy this fourfold root of the present linguistic decadence."

It is said that the arts of speech and writing are degenerating year by year. If so, the reason may be found in the fact that pupils are taught too much "through the eye and too little through the ear." Our parochial schools are generally free of "the fourfold root of the present linguistic decadence."

Special attention is given in the parochial schools to the study of the history of our country, and the spirit of patriotism is constantly inculcated. The great national holidays-Washington's birthday, Memorial and Thanksgiving days-are duly observed on the afternoon of the preceeding day with appropriate exercises by the pupils.

DIOCESAN SUPERINTENDENTS.

Before leaving this part of the subject it may be well to state that the local management of the parochial schools receives great aid and valuable direction from the diocesan superintendent. He is a priest who is well up in educational matters and is set apart by the bishop for this work. He is relieved from the usual parish work and devotes his whole time to the supervision of all the schools in the diocese. He makes regular visits and holds examinations at stated times. He publishes annually a full and detailed report of the parochial schools of the diocese, giving the standing of each school. I have before me as I write a number of these reports, and no one can examine them without being convinced that the diocesan superintendent has been a powerful factor in the great progress made of recent years in these schools. It would be well, as recommended in the recent parochial school convention held in Philadelphia, if every diocese had such an officer. Indeed, there can be no perfect organization of the system without him.

TEACHERS OF THE PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS.

The teachers in the parochial schools are for the most part members of the various teaching orders of men and women who have consecrated their lives to the work. Many lay teachers are found in the German, Polish, and Slavish schools, as well as in the parish schools conducted in small towns or rural districts where it is not possible to maintain a religious community. The parochial school-teacher devotes his or her whole life to teaching. And thus the religious teacher has, in this respect, a decided advantage over those teachers who occupy themselves with the important duties of teaching until something more lucrative or attractive is found. The child's future welfare is always the first and great consideration with these religious teachers. No one is, or should be, admitted to undertake the responsibilities of a teacher who is not fully qualified for the work.

a of the schools represented in the Catholic Educational Exhibit at the World's Fair, Chicago, 1893, 97 per cent of the schools were in charge of the various religious orders. Doubtless the same percentage holds in the parochial schools of the United States to-day.