The greater portion of the written work, classified by subjects and grades, was bound into volumes, 300 in all, of 400 sheets each, the binding for the selected papers differing in color from the binding for the volumes representing the work of the entire class. Selected papers also were mounted on cardboard and inserted in wall cabinets.

In order to display properly the written work, drawings, maps, photographs, sewing, cord work, raffia blanks, circulars, etc., 58 wall cabinets and 90 albums were used. Each wall cabinet had 33 sheets of mounted cardboard, 22 by 28 inches, and each album had 25 leaves, 18 by 22 inches, mounted on both sides. In the glass of each door of the cabinet the seal of the board of education was daintily sketched, and back of each glass was a large photograph or group of photographs representing some educational activity, so that the first impression on entering the inclosure was a pleasing one.

The photographic exhibit was very complete. It consisted of ten or twelve hundred photographs, 8 by 10 inches or 11 by 14 inches, and covered the whole field of the city's educational activity. These photographs represented classes at work, the conditions under which they worked, and, as far as possible, the method of work in the day and evening schools, vacation schools, playgrounds, recreation centers, recreation piers, roof playgrounds, kindergartens, laboratories, and gymnasiums; classes in the parks, at the botanical garden, zoological park, natural history museum, and aquarium.

The photographic exhibit was of special value in representing the great achievements made in recent years in schoolhouse architecture. Upon the inside walls and upon the corridor side of the inclosure there were 35 large framed photographs and drawings in colors of some of the latest and best school buildings erected in the city. Two of the wall cabinets were filled with photographs of school buildings, so that anyone interested in schoolhouse construction could easily study every detail of the best type of school buildings that has found expression in this city.

On the floor, placed on high tables, were four elegant and expensive models of school buildings--the Morris High School, the De Witt Clinton High School, Public School 62, and a horizontal section of the third floor of Public School 62, the largest elementary school building in the world.

On the walls of the inclosure, in addition to the photographs and drawings of school buildings, were 80 frames, 24 by 30 inches, for charts and mounted material under glass. The statistical and graphic charts showed the remarkable growth of the city in population, in school enrollment, school attendance, expenses, etc., during the past fifty years. Valuable statistical information bearing upon the number of teachers employed, the attendance of pupils in the day, evening, and vacation schools, expenses, etc., for the year 1903, was displayed on charts. A tabular view of the teachers' salary schedules attracted much attention and favorable comment.

The arrangement and contents of the 58 wall cabinets, beginning at the right in the entrance from the State inclosure, were as follows:

Cabinets 1, 2, and 3 were devoted to vacation schools and playgrounds. Much of this exhibit was in the nature of photographs of classes at the outdoor and indoor playgrounds, evening play centers, and roof playgrounds, baths and swimming pools, and of classes engaged in the various industries taught in the vacation schools. Specimens of work in fret sawing, whittling, burnt wood, bench work, Venetian iron, leather, basketry, chair caning, elementary and advanced sewing, drawing, millinery, embroidery, knitting, and crocheting were displayed on the walls and shelves and in show cases near by. Cabinets 4 and held photographs of classes at work in the evening schools, elementary and high, of classes in regular class rooms, laboratories, drawing rooms, and

assemblies, and specimens of mechanical and architectural drawing, and drawing from life and from cast. The evening schools furnished a dynamo, a chemical and physical apparatus, and specimens of work in dressmaking and millinery. The hats made of raffia were of superior workmanship. Cabinets 6 to 11, inclusive, held a large variety of specimens of cord and constructive work and sewing taught the boys and girls through the first three years, and of sewing taught the girls through the remaining years of the school course. The constructive work in cord and raffia-knots, chains, stitches, weaving, and basketry—were a progressive series of exercises to develop the creative and inventive faculty of children and to train the muscles of the fingers to freedom of movement and deftness of touch. The specimens of sewing were carefully graded from elementary stitches on canvas worked with worsted and coarse needle to fine sewing and garment making. Cabinet 12 included charts and theme work, illustrating and explaining the work attempted in domestic science in the last two years of the elementary school course and showing the close correlation of this subject with the other subjects of the school curriculum. In a glass showcase was an excellent exhibit of canned and preserved fruits and vegetables and of bread and caudy making. In frames on the walls were illustrations of the work in nursing and laundering and in personal hygiene. On a stand near by in a glass case was a model sitting room arranged from a hygienic, artistic, and economic standpoint. Cabinets 13 to 20 included selected specimens in drawing, construction, and design. The cabinets were arranged to illustrate the eight years' course of study, one cabinet for each year. In each of the cabinets the first ten cards were devoted to drawings of familiar objects, the second ten cards to illustrative drawings in the lower grades and to drawings and painting in water color of plant forms in the higher grades, and the third ten cards to models illustrating the course in construction and applied design.

On the shelves and tables were displayed a large variety of articles in cardboard and wood constructed in class rooms and in workshops, illustrating the coordination of the work in drawing, construction, and design. The communal models made by groups of pupils of the upper grades represented apparatus of value used in the elementary science lessons. The decorated models represented one phase of the training in art.

Cabinets 21 to 30 included the course of study and syllabuses and written exercises in copy and dietation, composition, grammar, electives, literature, nature study, geography, history, civics, and mathematics.

The space between cabinets 27 and 29 was occupied by three units of class libraries, the first unit filled with typical books for pupils of the third and fourth years, the second for pupils of the fifth and sixth years, and the third for pupils of the seventh and eighth years. The exhibit was designed to give visitors an idea of what the city is doing in the line of class libraries in all of the schools.

Cabinets 31 and 32 and the large show case between them held an exhibit of the work of the New York City Training School for Teachers. Cabinet 31 illustrated the course in sewing and cord work, and cabinet 32 a graded course in map interpretation. The show case held teachers' and pupils' outfits in map interpretation and models of trees, roads, rivers, fields, farms, gardens, yards, houses, and villages, made by students in the city training school. Cabinets 32 to 47 included work of the high schools in ancient and modern history, ancient and modern languages, English, commercial branches, bookkeeping, mathematics, physics, chemistry, physiography, biology, and drawing. In the latter subject four cabinets were given to pictorial and constructive lines of work, followed by special art work. Cabinets 48 and 49 were filled with photographs of school

buildings in various stages of completion. These photographs exhibited some of the best types of elementary and high school buildings, internal and external arrangements, floor plans, assembly halls, class rooms, laboratories, libraries, gymnasiums, workshops, school kitchens, baths, hallways, stairways, basement and roof playgrounds, yards, heating, lighting, ventilating, and sanitary arrangements. Cabinet 50 represented various phases of school activities through photographs; also exercises on board the school ship St. Mary's. Cabinet 51 presented a view of our school system through a brief history of the public schools of the city for the past fifty years, the organization of the department of education, names of the members of the board of education, committee assignments, superintendents, directors, and heads of departments, powers of each, and statistical tables bearing upon day schools, evening schools, vacation schools, playgrounds, recreation centers, truant schools, nautical school, free lectures, etc. This cabinet also contained circulars and blanks bearing upon compulsory education, child labor, children's court cases, attendance officers, and licensing of newsboys. Cabinet 52 was devoted to a brief sketch of the various teachers' associations, their aim and work. The latter part of the cabinet was filled with illustrations of exercises in blackboard sketching which were given to a class of teachers in an extension course provided by the New York Society of Pedagogy. Cabinet 53 presented a complete view of the free lecture system of the city for workingmen and workingwomen. These courses provide for adult education to a large extent in the form of illustrated lectures and experiments. Cabinets 54 and 55 were filled with sample circulars and blanks used by the several departments in the educational system, by the city, associate city, and district superintendents, by principals, directors and supervisors, by the board of examiners, the auditor, the superintendent of supplies, the superintendent of school buildings, and by the secretary and committee of the board of education. These cabinets also contained questions used in examinations for licenses, minutes of the board of education, board of superintendents, and committees, sample report cards, licenses, diplomas, etc. Cabinet 56 gave a scheme for class-room decoration, following closely the course of study. It presented the purpose of schoolroom decoration, viz, (1) to make the decoration of a room a unit, the expression of an idea; (2) to use pictures that interest and inspire pupils, and (3) to connect the decoration of each room with the work of the grade, especially in the line of literature and history. It gave a selected list of appropriate photographs to correspond with the general plan of the course of study, as well as a list of selected photographs for special rooms-sewing, music, drawing, geography, history, etc.

The following subjects formed the keynote for class-room decoration in the elementary grades: 1a, Mother Goose; 1b, stories of familiar animals; 2a, fairy tales; 2b, the animals of Aesop's Fables; 3a, Indian Life (Hiawatha); 3b, child life; 4a, myths; 4b, legends; 5a, the children's poet; 5b, the city of New York; 6a, explorers and colonists; 6b, American heroism; 7a, early English history; 7b, later English history; 8a, Shakespeare; Sb, Sir Walter Scott. Cabinet 57, and two glass show cases near at hand, exhibited the work of over 100 kindergartens in drawing, brush work, constructive work, clay modeling, free cutting, folding, mounting, sewing, and cord weaving. The photographs represented the arrangement of various kindergarten rooms, views of games, of children at play and on excursions. The statistics gave a registry of 14,797 children in 434 kindergartens. Cabinets 59 and 60 represented through photographs, charts, and printed material, the well-organized work in physical training in the schools of the city. This consisted of story gymnastics, active plays, indoor games, freeband exercises in class rooms, light apparatus in gymnasiums, school yards, and

assembly halls, heavy gymnasium work, athletics, and the work of the Public School League.

A special section was given to the treatment of defective and diseased children, the physical care accorded them, the examination by a physician, attention by trained nurses, methods of record, report, and classification. The methods of treatment of atypical children-exceptional, backward, or mentally defective-were explained fully.

In nearly all the wall cabinets containing typical papers or other exhibits of school work the first inside page contained a syllabus of the course of study. In this way the general plan and scope of the exhibit was shown to be a gradual and logical presentation of the steps taken in the various grades and subjects in the city's public schools curriculum. Nearly all of the photographs and work represented in the wall cabinets were duplicated in the ninety large albums found on the tables and shelves.

On the wall above cabinets 45, 46, 47 was a large topographical map of Greater New York, 12 by 12 feet, with the school districts clearly outlined. The public school exhibit from the city of New York received high commendation from all visitors.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS.

BY F. LOUIS SOLDAN, SUPERINTENDENT OF INSTRUCTION.

ORGANIZATION.

The board of education of the city of St. Louis consists of twelve members, who give their services without receiving any salary or compensation whatsoever. Each member is elected from the city at large for a term of six years. Four members retire every second year, and their places are filled by a general election. Vacancies caused by resignations are filled by the mayor of the city. It is a corporation independent of the rest of the city government, and has no official connection with other administrative powers of the city.

The board of education exercises legislative, directive, and supervisory functions. It shapes the policy of the public schools, directs and supervises its officers, and approves or rejects their recommendations. It levies taxes for the support of the schools and for the erection of school buildings. The administrative and executive work is placed in the hands of paid officers, who are elected for a term of years. Officers of the board of education are: A secretary and treasurer, a superintendent of instruction, a commissioner of public school buildings, a commissioner of supplies, an auditor, and the attorney of the board. The regular meeting of the board of education takes place once a month. The standing committees of the board are appointed annually by the president of the board, and are named as follows: The committee on instruction, on school buildings, on finance, and on auditing and supplies. While the rules of the board vest all executive functions in the salaried officers, each committee has supervisory power over the department indicated by its name.

Printed copies of the reports to be tendered are sent to each member from three to seven days prior to the monthly meeting of the board. The monthly meetings of the board are brief and businesslike.

The annual revenue of the board during the scholastic year 1902-3 was $2,299,518.68. The greater part of this revenue was derived from the tax levied in the city of St. Louis itself. By a vote of the people passed in November,

1902, authority was given the board of education of St. Louis to levy a tax not higher than 6 mills on the dollar.

There are at present 129 school buildings in the city. There are, however, only 96 schools, since a few schools are conducted in several buildings standing in the same yard. The present type of school building is a two-story building of 18 rooms, with a large kindergarten room attached. Each room in the new buildings is about 25 by 33 by 14 feet in size, and is capable of accommodating approximately 54 children. The average number of children in each room in the city is about 47. There is a separate desk for each child. Both seat and desk are adjustable to the height of the pupil. There are at present 15 fireproof buildings and 60 semifireproof buildings. It is the intention to remodel the old buildings gradually, or replace them with new fireproof structures. With the increase in revenue this may be done in the course of five or six years.

In the purchase of school sites it is the policy of the board to buy large sites— if possible, a whole block of ground-so as to leave room for play and exercise. Once a year the board of education causes a population map to be made. This population map shows the point of the densest population, and the new site is purchased in accordance with the information presented by the map.

From one to eight janitors are appointed to each school, according to the number of rooms. Usually two janitors are required for an 18-room building. The janitors have the care of heating and cleaning the schools. In the large schools, in addition to the regular janitors, a scrub woman is employed, who spends her whole time in cleaning. Under the charter the appointment of janitors is entirely in the hands of the commissioner of school buildings, but the board of education determines their salaries and prescribes the way in which the janitors shall be selected.

All nominations for teachers' positions are made by the superintendent of instruction. The board of education approves or rejects the nominations thus made. All new teachers are appointed for a term of probation. Teachers in the district schools are employed first as substitutes, and fill short temporary vacancies; the successful substitutes are then assigned to fill positions of teachers that are absent for a longer period, and after eight months of probationary work, a substitute, on recommendation of the principal in whose school she has been teaching, is nominated by the superintendent for appointment. The teacher's tenure of office is practically unlimited. A teacher, once appointed, holds her position as long as she is efficient in her work. While this is the practical condition, each teacher, according to the terms of her contract, is appointed for one year only. The board of education does not discharge any teacher unless there is evident cause.

In each school there is a principal, and a number of assistant teachers. The teacher next in rank to the principal in the larger schools is called the head assistant, and takes the principal's place in case of his absence. There is in each school a small number of teachers whose length of service and merit is recognized by a higher rank and salary. They are called first assistants; all the other teachers are called second assistants. The maximum salary of the second assistants is $700; of the first assistants, $800, and of the head assistants, $1,000. The principal of a first-class school receives a maximum salary of $2,400; the salary of principals of smaller schools is less, according to the number of rooms. Each teacher in the district schools begins at a minimum salary ranging upward from $420 paid to young beginners. Each year during which a teacher serves adds an advance to her salary until the maximum salary of the grade she holds has been reached. This advance in salary takes place according to a schedule fixed from time to time by the board of education. All the assistant teachers in the district schools are women. A large number of the