Henry S. Pritchett, UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION, Dr. P. P. Claxton, Dr. Samuel P. Capen. INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF CATHOLIC ALUMNAE As the REVIEW goes to press we learn that the Second Biennial Convention of the International Federation of Catholic Alumnae, held at Baltimore, on November 24, 25 and 26, was well attended, and its proceedings were marked with even greater enthusiasm than that of the organization and constitutional conventions of 1914 and 1915 respectively. The following was the preliminary program: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23 9 a. m. to 12 noon-Meeting of the Executive Board. 2 to 5.30 p. m.-Meeting of the Executive Board. 2 to 5.30 p. m.-Meeting of Committee on Amendments. 2 to 5.30 p. m.-Meeting of Committee on Resolutions. 7.30 to 9.30 p. m.-Credentials Received. 8 to 10 p. m.-Receiving of Delegates by Officers. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24 9.30 to 11.30 a. m.-Credentials Received. 10 a. m.-Official Opening of Convention. 12 noon-Adjournment. 1 p. m.-Business Meeting: Report of Chairman of Local Biennial Board; Reports of Officers; Reports of Committees. Conferences: Education; Social Work; Literature. 6 p. m.-Adjournment. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25 9 to 10 a. m.-Credentials Committee Closes. 9 a. m.-Business Meeting: Reports of Governors of States and Provinces; Report of Credentials Committee. 12 noon-Adjournment. 12 to 2 p. m.-Election of Officers. 2 p. m.-Business Meeting: Unfinished Business; New Business; Announcement of Elections. 6 p. m.-Adjournment. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26 11 a. m.-Solemn High Mass. 2 p. m.-Governor's Afternoon. 8.30 p. m.--Reception and Installation of New Officers. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27 Play Day in Washington. TRINITY COLLEGE NOTES On November 6 the students of Trinity College had their annual reception and concert in honor of His Excellency, Most Rev. John Bonzano, D. D., Apostolic Delegate. The two hundred and fifty-five students enrolled this year were presented in turn by the presidents of their respective classes to the distinguished guest. The musical that followed was attended by the reverend professors of the Catholic University who are members of the Trinity College faculty. A pleasing program was rendered by the students and an address delivered by Miss Eleanor McCormick, president of the Student Government Association. To this Msgr. Bonzano responded in his happy manner, thanking the performers and urging all to profit well by the exceptional opportunities afforded them in a pioneer Catholic college for women. On Sunday afternoon, November 19, in Trinity College auditorium, Prof. Johann van Hulsteyn, violinist of the Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, gave a recital which was greatly appreciated by a large audience of music lovers. The affair was in charge of Mrs. John J. Noonan, corresponding secretary of the auxiliary board of regents of Trinity College, and was for the benefit of the Anna Hanson Dorsey Scholarships Fund. These are four scholarships, open to residents of the District of Columbia and to be awarded by competitive examinations. Students have been received on these scholarships for the past five years. CATHOLIC SUMMER SCHOOL OF AMERICA The Board of Trustees of the Catholic Summer School of America, which holds its sessions at Cliff Haven, N. Y., at their annual meeting on November 9, held at the Hotel Savoy, New York City, elected the following officers for the ensuing year: President, the Rev. John J. Donlan, Ph. D., Centre Moriches, N. Y.; First Vice-President, the Right Rev. Msgr. M. J. Splaine, D.D., Boston, Mass.; Second Vice-President, George J. Gillespie, New York; Secretary, Charles Murray, New York; Treasurer, F. P. Cunnion, New York; Chairman of Executive Committee, Charles A. Webber, Brooklyn; Chairman of Board of Studies, the Right Rev. Msgr. M. J. Lavelle, V. G., New York; new Trustees, the Rev. John D. Roach, New York, and the Rev. M. F. McGuinness, Paterson, N. J. The board expressed their appreciation of the generous devotion of the retiring president, the Right Rev. Msgr. John P. Chidwick, whose many duties as president of St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie, prevented him accepting the office this year, and also of the retiring chairman of the Board of Studies, the Rev. F. P. Siegfried, of St. Charles' Seminary, Overbrook, Pa. The report of the session just closed, the silver jubilee year of the Summer School, showed a gratifying growth in all departments of the school, especially in that of the lectures which were more numerous and better attended than in any previous year. PATRICK J. MCCORMICK. REVIEWS AND NOTICES First Communion Catechism, by Right Rev. Msgr. Day. Helena. Naegele Co., 1916. Pp. 48. To present to the immature minds of our children the principle mysteries of our holy religion, in a manner sufficient to meet their needs, is a task, the success of which is proportionate to its difficulties. To imbue the little ones with that knowledge and love of the truths of holy faith, necessary for the reception of first holy communion, is a duty lovingly incumbent on the Catholic school teacher. Any assistance that can be offered toward perfecting our methods and achieving success deserves our closest attention and warmest commendation. Right Rev. Msgr. Day, in preparing this little volume, has taken a step in the right direction. He has rendered to the teaching communities of the diocese of Helena, where this catechism has been adopted, a real service. The volume is an outgrowth of a paper, entitled, "How the Sisters Can Help the Priests in Preparing Children for First Holy Communion under the New Law," read at the Annual Educational Institute of the diocese of Helena, August, 1913. In the following words of the Right Reverend Author the precise object of the book may be discerned, "What then are we to do? If we cannot use the whole of the Baltimore catechism let us use those parts of it which contain what the child should know in order to be admitted to First Holy Communion in accordance with prescriptions of the new law." The thirty-five questions and answers, culled from the Baltimore catechism, which in the opinion of the author contain all that our children are required to know in order to receive Holy Communion, together with the preparatory explanations, form the subject-matter of this little volume. The method employed is an approach to the context method of teaching religion. The helpful hints given in the preface and fairly well worked out in the subsequent pages of the book will, we feel confident, aid in removing from the teaching of so important a subject as religion the many unscientific conditions that too often surround it. As a text-book for children, the book needs some few alterations. The same type should have been employed in the first part of each lesson as in the latter part. A false impression may otherwise result, viz, that portion of each chapter which is really the most essential is liable to be regarded by the children as of secondary importance. The language is, in our opinion, beyond the ability of the average child, for whom the book is supposedly written. This defect can easily be rectified by making the setting for the stories a little more concrete. If the sixteen excellent full-page reproductions of the old masters had been done in colors, not only would they have aided the pupil in grasping more vividly and vitally the chief points of each lesson, but they would have served to develop the children's asthetic faculties as well. Despite these obvious shortcomings of the volume as a textbook, there are so many good things in this well-bound little volume from a standpoint of matter and method that it can be used with great value by the teachers, to whom we warmly commend it. LEO L. MCVAY. Manual of Play, by William Byron Forbush. Philadelphia: American Institute of Child Life, 1914, pp. 353. Lovers of childhood have often rebelled against the suggestion that play should be utilized for definite purposes in the educational scheme. Their feeling is that the play of little children should be free and untrammeled, free from rules and free from all conscious aims. This, in fact, is the chief charm of the play of little ones. But is it not possible to cultivate what is in itself good and thus lend to it a superior excellence? Can we not guide without destroying freedom, or give purpose without introducing selfconsciousness? The author of the present volume endeavors to throw some light on this problem. He tells us in the opening paragraph of his preface: "By games we mean organized play with definite rules; by plays we mean free play. Games are formal; plays are informal. Free play is the earliest, and throughout childhood, the most important kind of play. Excellent treatises on play exist, but they are illustrated chiefly from the realm of games. There seems to be room for a handbook that will show mothers and teachers how to use and stimulate the love which children and young people have for imaginative and constructive plays, without precedence and unhampered by rules." Algebra Review, by Charles H. Sampson. Yonkers-on-theHudson: World Book Co., 1916, pp. vi+41. "This book has been written to make review work in Algebra really effective." |