EXETER
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EXETER HALL
make it less bookish and verbal; and make it more objective and concrete, more experimental.
All studies deserve to be based as far as possible upon direct experience. There, however, are certain studies which especially demand outdoor work and more or less extended excursions away from the school-house.
The chief classes of excursions may be stated thus:
1. Nature-study excursions. It is generally admitted that plants and flowers, birds and bees, butterflies, rocks and soils, field and country can best be seen and studied in their natural habitat. Books can not take the place of these outdoor conditions, and a close observation of these real objects in their relations to one another is the best kind of teaching.
2. In primary geography" much of the work should be done out of doors, visiting the hills, valleys and streams of one's neighborhood, the shops and factories of one's native town, studying the commerce and shipping by wagons, railroads and by water, the construction of houses, the local political interests of the town and also the weather-conditions and changes of season. Children can not get these first experiences out of books, and the excursion is especially suitable to these topics in home geography.
3. Places of local historical interest are visited. Many neighborhoods have such spots, where the Indians lived, where the first settlers built, where the oldest buildings stand, where eminent men have lived or performed important deeds. Some towns have museums where old relics and mementoes of historical interest are preserved and may be seen by the children.
4. It is not unusual now to take children on a visit for a day or more to the state capital, the state university or some place of great scenic interest or to some large city, as Chicago or Cleveland, New York or San Francisco. The museums of fine arts in some of our cities are especially worthy of visitation by school-children, as the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Art Institute in Chicago, the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburg, etc.
5. A visit to the city of Washington from those states near enough to allow it is of special interest for the purpose of seeing public buildings, monuments, etc.
Excursions have long been generally introduced into the scnools of Germany. It is not unusual for a teacher in Germany to set off with a group of boys for a trip of two or three weeks through some interesting region, such as the Thuringian Forest, or the Harz Mountains, visiting famous scenic resorts, climbing mountains, seeing the places made famous by great men, cities and towns, churches and noted buildings, etc.
There are some serious difficulties to be considered in excursions with children. It is a great burden and responsibility to take charge of children upon such excursions. Most teachers prefer to keep children orderly in the school-house. It is expensive to transport children to any considerable distance in large cities by street-car or boat or by railroad. In visiting factories and shops certain dangers and interferences must be avoided.
In spite of these troubles and difficulties the advantages are so great that the tendency to extend the excursion is growing, and they are likely to be much more generally introduced in the future.
Many nature-study books suggest good excursions, as follows: Field-Book of American Wild-Flowers (Mathews); Birds @f Village and Field (Merriam); A Guide t& Trees (Lounsberry); Life in Ponds and Streams (Furneaux); How to Read a Pebble (Charles); Outdoor Studies (Needham); Excursions and Lessons in Home-Geography (McMurry); and My Saturday with a Bvra-Class (Miller). C. A. McMuRRY.
Ex'eter, England, the capital of Devonshire, 171 miles from London, is "as good a specimen of an English county-town, at once prosperous in business and with a quiet air of aristocratic distinction, as can be found within the four seas." It is built on the summit and slopes of a flat ridge, rising 150 feet from the left bank of the Exe, and as a seat of commerce and industry has been left behind by rriany younger cities. Its woolen trade, once second only to that of Leeds, is a thing of the past, but it is yet the chief market of Honiton lace. It also has large nurseries and manufactures of gloves, agricultural implements, etc. A ship-canal extends five miles to the tideway. St. Peter's cathedral is a long, low edifice with massive towers. These towers are the original Norman ones (1112). The town has a picturesque guildhall (1464); while the Devon and Exeter hospital (1743), the lunatic asylum (1865) and the Albert Memorial Museum (1868) are the most noteworthy of modern buildings. It had a stormy time from 876, when it was captured by the Danes, down to 1688, when William of Orange entered it. The tragic burning of the new theater, Sept. 5, 1887, entailed a loss of 188 lives. See Exeter, by Freeman, in the Historic Towns Series. Population 48,660.
Exeter Hall is a large building situated on the Strand in London, England, completed in 1831. It will seat over 5,000 persons. It is rented chiefly for religious assemblies, and is in great request during the May meetings of religious societies. Many fine musical concerts have been given in it. In 1880 it was purchased for the Young Men's Christian Association for $100,000,
