TEACHERS’ INSTITUTE AT MEMPHIS.
BY MISS ELLA A. HAMILTON.
I have thought that perhaps the readers of the Missionary would be interested to know something of the Institute held at LeMoyne for the colored teachers of Shelby and the adjoining counties. The Institute was continued for two weeks, beginning on the first Monday in June. Prof. Steele was appointed conductor by the State Superintendent. Teachers were present not only from western Tennessee, but also from Mississippi and Arkansas. On the first day our enrolment list reached eighty-nine, and increased during the succeeding days to one hundred and fifteen. Our daily session began at quarter before nine with short devotional exercises. These were followed by the recitations in the different branches. The lessons were given and studied by topics, and each teacher was provided with a blank book, in which he kept the topics for study and also any notes which he wished to remember. The Rev. Mr. Imes had charge of reading, Prof. Steele of arithmetic, grammar, penmanship and geology, while I took history and geography. A certain time each day was devoted to any matters of interest which we should wish to present. At this time several talks on school organization were given, an object lesson on coal was presented by Miss Lovell, principal of one of the public schools, the temperance charts showing the effects of alcohol upon the stomach were exhibited, and Miss Wadsworth, a worker under the W. C. T. U., addressed the teachers, answering many questions which they asked her. The teachers present were, without exception, earnest, enthusiastic and anxious to get good, that they might do good. One young man said to me at the close of the Institute: “This Institute has given me work to do for twelve months to come; it was just what I needed.” Many others told us of the good they had received during the Institute, and seemed to feel that they should do their work in their school-rooms better for the work they had done there. The county superintendent, who was with us for two days, told us that the colored teachers would average quite as high as the white teachers, who were then in attendance at a similar Institute at Bartlett, the county seat. This is about the first work of the kind that has ever been done in Tennessee, but if the results are as good as we have every reason to hope, we are sure it will not be the last.