address at the dedication of the Penniman School House in Braintree, in October, 1900. In that address he suggested the formation of The Penniman School Association along similar lines to those followed by the older Jonas Perkins Association. Later still other school associations were formed in Braintree, as other schoolhouses were built, and all of them are more or less active still. The Hollis School Association, however, in Braintree, is fortunate in having a central location and a large playground in a picturesque situation, conveniently reached by trolley from various sections of the home town and neighboring towns. A fine band stand has been erected, as well as a commodious refreshment booth. The school hall is a popular place of assembly in the winter months. During the summer season there is an excellent two-hour-long band concert every Thursday evening, during which refreshments are served in the refreshment booth. A large number of people respond to these summer attractions; and the winter entertainments, consisting of lectures, discussions, music, readings, etc., are well attended. There are no admission fees to a given entertainment. The funds are raised by a modest entrance fee, an occasional gift, and by the sale of refreshments. In the Parish House of the neighboring First Congregational Church a carefully supervised moving picture entertainment is given every Wednesday evening, with an admission fee of 15 cents.

These community features have been in operation long enough to have passed the reaction gauntlet. While it might be wise to combine them into a single enterprise, their value and vitality constitute a concrete illustration of the possibilities of the community movement, even in a suburban locality where many other things are "going on."

The dangers of this movement lie along certain obvious lines, such as the tendency of a few dominating personalities to get at the control lever and utilize the organization for partisan purposes; or the tendency of such organizations to degenerate from their more serious functions into mere amusement occasions. If kept by wise leadership upon a high plane they are dynamic with far-reaching possibilities.

The Report of the Surgeon-General of Virginia has come to our notice and its statistics as a whole may well be gratifying to the citizens of that State. In one respect, however, it is far from gratifying. While showing that Virginia is one of the twelve states which produced the largest percentage of men physically fit for war

service, the figures in one instance that of venereal diseases are very poor, and even disgraceful. The ratio of 85.91 per 1,000 is next to that of Alabama, which was 90.54, or the highest of all. The report states that "venereal diseases are found predominantly in the southern tier of States; this is probably due to the large proportion of colored recruits from those States. Of the first million drafted soldiers sent to camp, the twelve States having the highest ratio per 1,000 of soldiers physically defective because of venereal diseases. were: Alabama, 90.54; Virginia, 85.91; Florida, 85.39; South Carolina, 80.01; Georgia, 55.45; Texas, 46.35; Oklahoma, 44.95; West Virginia, 40.05; Mississippi, 39.19; North Carolina, 38.77; Tennessee, 37.91; Kentucky, 37.45."

These figures, in more ways than one, carry a message to the schools. Since many, we had almost written, most, parents will not give instruction on sex subjects to their children; and since the schools are the creation of the State; and since the venereal diseases are a menace to the State's welfare, if not to its very existence, we think that it follows that instruction on this subject should be given in a proper and efficient way in the public schools. We shall have more to say about this during the year. We have one or two excellent articles on this subject from esteemed contributors, awaiting publication.

The old saying that "fools rush in where angels dare not tread,” was well illustrated recently by a double column, page-long tirade that appeared in the leading Boston dailies over the signature of one of the fools. The said tirade was directed against all forms of higher education and called for the limitation of public expenditure for school purposes to the elementary schools.

In this writer's view, the high schools, colleges and universities succeed only in unfitting their students for life. His attack was particularly against the private schools. Most of his paragraphs began with the statement "Everybody knows," followed by a lot of assumptions that nearly everybody knows to be false, if they know anything at all about our educational system. But such screeds as this are mischievous, in that there are a lot of people who do not know, and who easily swallow such stuff when they see it in public print and put forth with rhetorical flourishes by a blatant ignoramus.

According to this writer every child should be given the rudiments, in the elementary schools, and then be put to work in some of the material production industries. Any further training, in his opinion, is wasted. It only makes our boys and girls into snobs. They be

come unable to do anything in life but to wear good clothes, keep their hands clean, and spend the money created by the work of the toilers. Such an exhibition of ignorance and intolerance is scarcely worth noticing, except that it often foments discontent and leads to enmities on the part of a certain class of people who are to be found in all our industrial centers. Perhaps it would not be amiss at this time, when so much is being thought and taught along the line of patriotism and of Americanization, if some one should contribute to the daily press (which is about all the literature that the mass of the people read, nowadays), a series of articles which should aim to show the direct bearing of the courses of study in our secondary schools and colleges on the daily life and common interests of the ordinary run of people. Such a series might begin with a showing of what education has done in improving the health conditions in which the civilized and fortunate workingman (so-called) is doing his work; the improvements in machinery, resulting in the lightening of human labor, can be directly traced to the studies required and promoted by the high schools and colleges, whose faculties and students have patiently and laboriously worked out the principles and applied them to the practical problems of labor, to the infinite benefit of the workers and of the race. We heard a vicious complaint not long ago, from a workingman, to the effect that the minister of a certain church had nothing to do save to wear his good clothes, go about and call on a few old ladies, and get up and talk for a half-hour a couple of times a week, for which he was being paid (naming the minister's salary) out of the people's hard-earned money. We happened to know that the day before, this minister had had to conduct four funerals in a single afternoon. And we did say that if this critical workingman (so-called) had had to get up and preach before a critical congregation on the previous Sunday he would have perspired over it worse than he had over any other piece of work he had ever undertaken. The mental cares, labors and responsibilities of the professional classes are just as real and fatiguing as are the physical labors of those who manipulate materials and do the physical work of the world. Each must learn to understand and appreciate the trials, difficulties, labors and discouragements of the other. This lack of understanding is the mischievous thing. It should be the aim of education to create a common sentiment of mental sympathy and appreciation between the different classes of society in our complex population. Such one-sided statements as those referred to do no good. They tend to misunderstanding and jealousies, which are as needless as they are harmful. The papers which publish them (at a price) should be made conscious of an indignant public protest.

Book Reviews

A SHORT HISTORY OF SCIENCE. By W. T. Sedgwick and H. W. Tyler. The Macmillan Company. Price $2.50.

While this volume is called a short history, it covers, with the Index, 474 pages, besides a number of full-page illustrations. It furnishes the student or the general reader with a clear outline of the origin and development of the science method which has had so much to do in the past hundred years with the development of human life. It goes back to Babylon and Egypt and comes down to the twentieth century with its wonderful development of energy and application of force for the well-being of mankind. This volume will make an excellent college text book.

THE ESSENTIALS OF EXTEMPORE SPEAKING. By Joseph A. Mosher, Ph.D. The Macmillan Company. Price $1.00.

Another excellent book, giving assistance in preparation for the important function of "thinking upon one's feet." The book is particularly well arranged in topical chapters. It will aid any student in gaining control of himself, cultivating an effective style, arranging his material properly, using his voice to the best advantage, and cultivating the habit of expressive gesture.

COLLEGE ALGEBRA. By Ernest Brown Skinner. The Macmillan Company. Price $1.50.

This book puts college algebra upon a more elementary basis, in view of the shortening of the time given to algebra in the secondary schools, and the consequent placing of mathematics in competition with the new subjects. The college teachers find that many freshmen come to them with but a single year of algebra in preparation for college entrance. Often that year lies far in the past, therefore a more elementary college text in the subject is necessary. This volume also seeks to make the subject concrete in its application to the affairs of every-day life, thus making it more interesting. The author has worked out his ideas very completely and very attractively, and the book will be a boon to both teachers and pupils in this subject in the early college days.

HOW THE PRESENT CAME FROM THE PAST-THE SEEDS IN PRIMITIVE LIFE. By Margaret E. Wells. Macmillan Company. Price 56 cents.

This is a beginning book in history for young children. It will acquaint them with primitive man and show them how he started upon his career in a primitive way and gradually moved forward toward the wonderful and complex life of the present age. We shall watch for the successive volumes of this series with interest.

THE THIRD AND FOURTH GENERATION, AN INTRODUCTION TO HEREDITY. By Elliot R. Downing. University of Chicago Press. Price $1.00 net.

This book deals in a helpful way with human social problems upon the physical, moral and religious side. It is particularly a book on sex questions, and is intended for use in schools both secular and religious where there are teachers who are capable of properly taking up this important but difficult subject. It is written in a direct scientific style, and will undoubtedly accomplish a useful mission.

WINNING DECLAMATIONS, AND HOW TO SPEAK THEM. By Edwin DuBois Shurter, Professor of Pubblic Speaking in the University of Texas. Lloyd Adams Noble, publisher. Price $1.25.

Books of this kind are in great demand in schools and colleges, Young Men's Christian Associations, etc. The present collection is made up of good selections in both prose and poetry, each being usable and not too long. The material is chosen from the subjects of great statesmen, well known writers, and other persons who have been able to write or speak impressively. We particularly recommend the book for the purpose indicated in the title.

LIFE HISTORY OF AMERICAN INSECTS. By Clarence Moores Weed, Professor of Zoology, New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts. Macmillan Company. Price $1.50.

Nearly all that has been said of the volume on the Life of Mammals by the same publishers is true of this volume, which is, however, much shorter, but so fully illustrated that the pupil will gain through the pictures alone an excellent idea of the common insects in their various stages.