conditions, to the light and airy buildings of to-day, with their ventilating plants, roof playgrounds, fine sanitation, and conveniences of all sorts, has been quick enough to savor of magic. The almost invariable red brick and brown stone of the old days has given place to a variety of material-limestone, red sandstone, gray brick, red brick and terra cotta, with slate or tile for roofing. With such a choice of materials as this, sameness vanishes and an opportunity is afforded for some excellent color effects, of which the Girls' High School, soon to be erected, will be a delightful example. This building is to be of red brick, with limestone trimmings and a roof of moss-green tile.

The tidal wave of humanity which swept over this country from 1840 to 1890, and which increased the population of New York more than a million, combined with the sluggishness of the municipality in preparing to meet the ever-growing demand for school accommodations, culminated in a state of affairs which is briefly summed up in the report of the Board of Education for 1896. According to that report, 10,381 children had been taught in halfsessions during the year, and there had been 28,825 refusals to admit on account of lack of room. Though it is explicitly stated that some of these refusals were undoubtedly duplicates, it was apparent that there was a crying need for energetic action to remedy such a condition; and in 1897 the appropriation by the Legislature for school purposes (sites, buildings, and equipment) amounted to ten million dollars, or double what it had been for either of the two preceding years. At the end of his report to the Board for the same year, the Superintendent of School Buildings makes the following interesting statement: "The number of contracts to be let for new buildings for

1897 is somewhat problematical, but from all appearances it will not only be the largest in the history of this city, but of the world." From that time New York has been wonderfully alert in her efforts to provide school accommodations of the best description as rapidly as possible.

The massive building on the corner of Mulberry and Bayard Streets, in the heart of the Italian quarter, may be called the first expression of the "new thought." No departure from time-honored custom was made in the way of material, the usual red brick and brown stone being employed;

but in the wide projecting cornice and square tower, two characteristic features of Italian architecture, a graceful and imaginative tribute was paid to the people who throng that part of the city. One wonders how many homesick Italians, lounging on the benches in the opposite square and remembering sadly the blue skies and olive groves of Italy, have looked up at that building and comprehended the gracious, if timid, overture that their adopted home is making to them there. It is New York's effort to say a few words of welcome in Italian.

The building was completed, and, as the small boy who daringly omitted his prayers one night boasted the next morning, "nothing happened." So the experiment was tried again, the school authorities growing bolder each time, and finally breaking loose entirely from the early tradition. time there are several plans which are used more than once in the new schools, but the changes of detail necessary in order to adapt them to different sites gives to each building a more or less marked individuality.

At the present

Of all these plans, the one known as the H plan is apparently the most satisfactory solution of the problem of securing

occupies the bar of the H on two floors, the gymnasium being in the same, space on the top one. By means of sliding partitions, these assembly-rooms are quickly converted into six class-rooms, ready for the reception of pupils, without so much as the moving of a chair. The assemblyroom, is not, however, a new feature in the New York schools.

The platform, that integral part of the class-room to the person who went to school in New England or the West, is not used in these schools, save in the assembly-rooms. The teacher's desk, a most unobtrusive affair, sits close to the front row of seats, and a broad, unbroken space is thereby left for her to "prance about in," to use the enthusiastic but undignified phraseology of an expert in school matters. In order to bring her, when seated, well within view of all the children, she is provided with what appears to be the high chair of a baby giant. The use of this chair is likely to prove a great puzzle to the uninitiated person, until the mystery is cleared up by

the sight of a teacher occupying one. The rows of seats have just space enough between them to allow the children to pass back and forth with ease, the only wide aisle being along the sides and back of the room. By this compact arrangement, a saving in space is effected in the size of the room, and the strain upon the teacher's voice is reduced to a minimum.

Before going any further, it may be interesting to linger for a moment over Mr. Snyder's report of his visit to representative European schools. In 1896 he visited those of London, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam, to discover (we quote from the report) "if there were any desirable features which might with profit be incorporated in the large number of new schools which we are about to erect." He calls attention to the English law which fixes the minimum size of a school site at a quarter of an acre to each two hundred and fifty children, "in the absence of exceptional circumstances," and expresses the hope that the time will come when New York will enact a similar law.