States, we find evidence of this provincial spirit. With rare eloquence he speaks of our material wealth, our marvelous growth as L a nation, our wise institutions of government and well-regulated liberty, all of which attracted an immense concourse of immigrants to this favored land. "Other governments," he says, "are convulsed by the innovations and reforms of neighboring states; our constitution, fixed in the affections of the people, from whose choice it sprung, neutralizes the influence of foreign principles, and fearlessly opens an asylum to the virtuous, the unfortunate, and the oppressed of every nation." This allusion indicates that all minds were occupied at that time, 1834, with the internal development of our own country; the opening of the West and the onward movement of population until the shores of the Pacific were reached; the question of slavery and the Civil War, followed by the weighty problems of the reconstruction of the Union. In the meantime, the influence of the West was gradually receding upon the East, and this helped to complete the greater America, freed from sectional and local prejudices, our leaders waiting for new occasions to teach new duties and, finally after the Spanish-American War, to witness the birth of the international mind. The rainbow of promise now spanning the broad Atlantic, from the battlefields of the Revolution and the Civil War, to the hallowed soil of France, resting at either end on the eternal foundations of justice and equal rights, which have been consecrated by the heroism and sacrifice of two sister Republics, is an evidence that, in the matter of obligations, "the thoughts of men are widened with the courses of the sun." Two hundred years ago, the frontiers of empire touched this land of undeveloped opportunity, but today we have extended the frontiers of democracy across the seas into the very midst of autocratic power. We can never return to the former conditions of provincialism; therefore, history is vitally concerned with this new American spirit, which has been slowly manifesting itself during the past twenty-five years. The field of research is widened, the difficulties of treatment are multiplied, but the historian of this more recent period will be fully equal to the task imposed upon him if he faithfully observes the canons of author

ship established by the best authorities. A noteworthy example of this is seen in that excellent work, "The United States in the World War," by Prof. John Bach McMaster, of the University of Pennsylvania.

While in the study of American history we naturally devote much time and attention to what our fathers did in making this continent the home of a great nation, we should not neglect their struggles to realize the precious ideals of liberty, nationality and democracy. Let us constantly emphasize this side of our eventful past, for we owe much to the idealism of James Otis, Patrick Henry, George Washington, Daniel Webster, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Washington, idealist as well as soldier and statesman, was deeply concerned to the end of his days in the welfare of the Republic, and in his mind the golden circle of our happiness would be completed only by means of a wisely-planned system of education, crowned with a national university where the youth from all parts of the United States might be trained in urbanity and receive the polish of erudition in the arts, sciences, and belles-lettres. He was convinced that manners, culture, and character formed the chief aim in education, and these elements are as vitally important today as they were when he offered his shares of stock in the Potomac Company to the endowment of the proposed university. Himself a gentleman, he was disgusted with the finesse and chicanery of foreign diplomats, and he expressed the wish that character should be valued most highly among the American youth; that sincerity, candor, truth and prudence should be placed above all other considerations. Teachers cannot do better than contrast these simple virtues so much esteemed by George Washington, with the philosophy of might as expounded in the German universities. Witness the power of ideals when Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the Civil War to be a struggle for human freedom. The publication of this state paper won the moral support of the world, and Lincoln's vow made at New Orleans in 1831, was thus fulfilled: "By God, if I ever get a chance to hit that institution (Slavery) I will hit it hard!" Witness the

power of ideals in President Wilson's messages concerning our duty in the European War, messages that have made him the democratic spokesman of mankind. "It is a fearful thing," he says, "to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest to our hearts, for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world at last free." This message, and others of a similar character, have been carried into the remotest parts of Europe, offering a promise of hope to the toiling peasant on the Danube, and in every other land where men have been bound by the thralls of the ages. President Wilson's idealism is being written into the charters of nations, and this new force in statesmanship, a mighty lever in human progress, is largely responsible for the overthrow of autocratic power, and for the support of govenments founded on right and justice, free to work out their own destiny and make their own contributions to civilization.

Thus we learn that it is our solemn duty to read and teach history in its completeness, thereby avoiding the common error pointed out by Viscount Morley, of mistaking some early scene in the play as if it were the fifth act, and so conceiving the plot all amiss. Centuries ago Thucydides sounded a like note of warning, when he wrote: "So little pains will most men take in search for truth: so much more readily they turn to what comes first"; and Cicero asked, "Who does not know that it is the first law of history, not to dare a word that is false? Next not to shrink from a word that is true. No partiality, no grudge." We should adopt the ideals of those who wrought when the world was young, for guided by their example, and inheriting the fruits of their labors, may we not hope for a faithful record of the American contribution to civilization.

Y

Books and the Boy

REA MCCAIN, BOWLING GREEN, OHIO.

OU'VE got to take boys as they are and learn to know them as they are."

In the first year room of an old-fashioned High School a boy stood kicking at the iron support of his desk. He had been told to stay because of failure in Latin conjugations. He didn't like the teacher, he had bragged about what would happen if she "tried to keep him in," and now he had to stay. The easiest way to endure the enforced delay was to invent some excuse for stopping to speak to the room teacher and so loiter around until the halls were empty. If he did this the boys would not see him enter that loathed recitation room.

"Haven't you something I could take home to read?" The question was a surprise, for only under compulsion had this boy read the books recommended. The room teacher was amused; she had been warned privately that he was not to be allowed to escape before he had recited those conjugations. She was interested, too

She didn't look at the boy, but began to sort the scattered books on the desk. "What sort of a book do you want?"

The paint on the iron support suffered, the baseboard back of the desk was scarred, and a chair was jammed against the bookcase before that conversation was over, for it lasted long. The boy had found one story he liked and he told about that. "It would be some fun to read if there were more stories like that. Why don't the magazines get some? All they have are about girls and love. I want stories about folks who do things."

He went to his Latin conjugations unhelped. The little room teacher had been brought up on girls' stories, and though it had been many a long day since she had outgrown her fondness for the Elsie books, she did not know a great deal about boys' novels. Usually teachers and mothers don't know what boys' books are.

There is a great deal written about the fairy tale and much reliance is placed on the cultural power of the classics. Girls do not fare so badly. At the age when they used to put on longer skirts they seize upon their mothers' reading and are quite happy with "The Harvester" and "The Rosary." The value of such literature is not the subject of this discussion. These books need not enter in a consideration of the Boys' Novel, for boys won't read them. Frequently they stop reading altogether when they outgrow children's stories. The pity of it! Librarians in all the big cities know dozens of books "which boys have liked." They'd gladly send lists to the small libraries and schools, but funds are short and popular attention is directed to the fairy tale and legend. These are for boys and girls alike. The primary teacher need never consider sex when she is selecting books. Later preferences vary so widely that catalogues show separate lists.

A comparison between the books published for girls and those for boys will bring out the most startling differences. The writer for girls works largely in familiar surroundings and with the ordinary events of domestic life. Within the last ten years this has been changing as more occupations have been opened to women, but boys have always preferred the novel setting. There are only a few books written for boys about the ordinary home life. "The Story of a Bad Boy," "A Boy's Town," and "Tom Sawyer," are notable exceptions to this rule. With young readers "Tom Sawyer" is easily the most popular of these and it offers several adventures which are not within usual experience. To put the matter plainly, the boy isn't interested in himself as he is. What he's going to be is much more attractive, and what he'd like to be is best of all.

There used to be books about the lives of boys as their parents would like them to be. You remember what Penrod's aunt said. to him: "I'll tell you what your mother thinks you are. Her real belief is that you're a novice in a convent. I know she thinks that, because whenever you don't behave like a novice she's disappointed in you. And your father really believes that you're a decorous, well-trained young business man, and whenever you