READING CIRCLE. This The State Teachers' Reading Circle is reported in good condition. important work has recently made great advancement through the energy and zeal of the present secretary and manager, Prof. D. W. Jarvis, of the Portland public schools. As a result of a State reading circle, as well as numerous local circles, a marked improvement has been observed both in professional knowledge as well as in the taste acquired and inspiration given for the reading and study of our best literature. Our teachers should make their calling a professional one. For this a special mental training is necessary, and this may be easily secured through the reading circle. As a rule, all otoer professional people have special lines of textbooks, papers and magazines, and the teacher should recognize the necessity of establishing some plan so that the teacher's vocation shall have some permanent basis of improvement for its members in the way of securing literary, scientific, and professional knowledge. The reading circle will serve as a means to this end, and it is hoped that all of our enterprising teachers will become members of this organization. ARBOR DAY. Arbor Day was observed with more enthusiasm this year by the schools than ever before. The reports indicate that the exercises were more largely attended by school patrons than usual, that the celebration had induced increased interest in the matter of beautifying the school grounds and school property generally. There is yet great room for improvement in many of our school districts, and especially is this true with the rural schools. Many of the school sites are very uninviting and indicate anything but a happy home for the children. Broken down fences, no shade trees, no woodlouse, and miserable outbuildings, are too often seen in our country districts. It is high time that there is greater progress in the matter of preparing healthful and comfortable homes for our teachers and pupils. One of the primary objects in the celebration of Arbor Day is to arouse a better public sentiment in making our school properties more attractive in the improvement and adornment, not only of the exterior property, but of the interior buildings as well. Our schoolrooms ought to be decorated with pictures of famous American men and women, window curtains ought to be supplied, good black boards ought to be provided, and many other useful things which tend to elevate and enrich the work of the teacher and of the children. SCHOOL FLAGS. One of the new features in school work is the introduction of current topics; and, among these, we note with pleasure the introduction of patriotism as a special study for the consideration of our children. This education is necessary and should receive the earnest attention of all our teachers. Many of our schoolhouses now float the "Stars and Stripes," and it is a grand sight to see a large well-graded, well-drilled school salute the flag with military precision. Each school of the land should have a flag to fling to the breeze. The names of our country's greatest heroes, as well as the leading men of our own State, our pioneers, our statesmen, and others, should be made known to our youth in familiar stories, reciting the various epochs of our past history as a State and nation. Every child should be taught the true American patriotism that clusters about the flag, and they have a right to know its history as well as a knowledge of its past guardians and defenders. Our children should be inspired with true patriotic spirit, and should be taught the duties of citizens to our cominon country, and, in this way, they will come to see and respect the rights of others as well as the rights of their school companions, and thus ultimately they will become active, useful, upright, and above all, loyal citizens. OREGON'S EDUCATIONAL EXHIBIT AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. The general educational exhibit of the United States presented and located in the Department of Liberal Arts at the World's Colunibian Exposition, last year in Chicago, was most thorough and complete. Various lines and products of school work could be seen from all parts of the civilized world. It would be impossible, here, to give even a very brief account of the many marvelous features presented in this exhibit, indicating the progress of the world for the past centuries. ORGANIZATION. The first steps, towards organizing and preparing an Oregon State Educational Exhibit for the Columbian Exposition at Chicago were taken December 1, 1891, at which time the executive committee was appointed, with City Superintendent I. W. Pratt, of the Portland Public Schools, as Chairman, and Prof. B. J. Hawthorne, of the State University, as Secretary. From that time until March 1, 1893, the importance of making a complete exhibit of our eductional institutions was constantly kept before the teachers and schools of our State by lectures at county and district institutes, and by the issuance of several thousand circulars of information by the committee from time to time. The exhibit was completed and promptly shipped in one carload to Chicago on March 24, 1893, and the same safely reached its destination, and was installed by Superintendent I. W. Platt in the Department of Liberal Arts, on the first day of May, exactly complying with the rules and regulations governing that department. PLAN OF EXHIBIT. The cut, appearing herewith represents the arrangement of the Oregon Educational Exhibit at the World's Fair, in 1893, and is modeled after the plan adopted by the Board of Directors of the Kansas Educational Exhibit at the Columbian Exposition. This represents an area of three thousand square feet, 100 x 30 feet, and gives two aisles 100 x 9 feet, and four cross aisles six feet wide. It gives four lines of tables three feet high and three feet broad, and in the rear of each line of tables a wall surface six feet in height. On the tables were displayed the bound volumes of school work, apparatus, etc.; on the walls were placed charts, drawings, photographs, plans of school buildings, etc. The exhibit was prepared through the energy and public enterprise of the teachers and pupils of the many leading schools in the State, and these efforts were the more valuable, because, they were entirely voluntary and wholly produced and inspired by commendable pride in the advancement of our State. The exhibit was well received, and some of the leading features attracted a great deal of attention from the general public. The throngs of visitors frequently seen in the several booths, clearly indicated a deep interest in the educational intelligence of the far West, as presented in the various forms of school work and school handicraft manifested and shown in the various departments of the exhibit. ENGRAVING OF EXHIBIT. The picture presented herewith is a partial view of our State Educational Exhibit at the Columbian Exposition, and appeared in the Chicago and Milwaukee School Journals. About one half of the exhibit is shown in the engraving. The entire display included five booths, three of which are shown shown in the picture. The engraving was kindly furnished this department by the above named school journals. PRESS COMMENTS. Below we give brief extracts regarding our educational exhibit by leading Eastern papers:— |