The Wood-Gatherer is the first of the three degrees. The creed of the Wood-Gatherers is to Seek beauty. Be happy. She is permitted to wear the ring which is the symbol of the degree, as well as the blouse with the Camp-Fire emblem on the left arm. It is far more difficult to become a Fire-Maker and requires at least 3 months' preparation unless the candidate is able to devote all her time to it. There are 13 definite requirements, which cover quite a wide range, from such practical occupations as preparing and serving meals for camp-fire meetings, mending stockings, living the healthful life involved in sleeping with open windows and taking an average of at least a half hour's out-door exercise daily, to the knowledge of what to do in cases of emergency, of the chief causes of infant mortality, and of what a girl of her age should know about herself, and the study of some good poem and the life of some woman who has done much for the country or State. There are certain honors connected with this broad variety of work, each represented by a bead of a different color, and a girl must win at least 20 of these beads before she may become a full-fledged Fire-Maker. The Fire-Makers have the following guiding song: As fuel is brought to the fire, So I purpose to bring My strength, My ambition, My heart's desire, My joy, And my sorrow To the fire Of humankind, For I will tend As my fathers have tended, And my fathers' fathers Since time began, The fire that is called The love of man for God. To advance to the third rank, or that of the TorchBearer, is not so difficult. This is her desire: That light which has been given to me I desire to pass undimmed to others. After having attained to the excellencies of the other two degrees, the Torch-Bearer merely pledges herself to pass the good results of her own efforts on to others. But, as with the Fire-Makers, there are honors to be won which are symbolized by beads. In fact this is true of the whole three degrees, which contain altogether 7 groups of honors, each represented in its entirety by a chain of beads; so that a girl may win altogether 7 chains of beads. In the "Home-Craft" group, or the group of activities centring in home-life, it is possible to win a necklace of 50 beads. Each Camp-Fire Club is presided over by a head person, or guide, who is known as the Guardian of the Fire. She gets her license from the head-quarters of the organization and may work out the activities of the club in various ways. The ideal way is, of course, the real summer camp in the woods with its real evening camp-fire. But tramps and trolley rides and in-door activities in winter and during inclement weather are in some respects even more effective, because of the greater number who can participate. Girls may also win honors for doing many helpful things about their own homes, and for others outside the home, which are not enumerated in the list of honors. This gives a broad social significance to the movement, and makes it valuable not only in satisfying the play instincts and conserving the health but also in preparing girls for the beauties and duties of home-life. The Drama as A Social Force. Doctor Brander Matthews in a recent address declared the drama to be the most democratic of all the arts because it appeals to all classes. It is also the most exacting of all the forms of literary expression and this gives it high value from the artistic point of view. The dramatist is compelled to pack his ideas into a few acts, and therefore is obliged to omit unessentials and to present only the strongest points in his representations. He must also present his ideas so that they unfold naturally and entertainingly. But he is portraying life, and, if he does it skilfully, he will always win the interest of his audience, for the dramatic instinct is present in both young and old. This gives the drama high possibilities as a moral and social agency. Doctor Matthews answered the cry against the deterioration of the stage by saying that a country probably has as good dramas as it deserves: "If we do not have the proper kind of plays, whose fault is it? It is ours. If we want them better we can have them better. The theatrical managers tell us they give us what the public demands. We must first educate ourselves, then the general public, and last of all the theatrical managers." And what Doctor Matthews says of the drama is just as true of the motionpicture displays, especially when they are used for dramatic representation. Museums as an Educational Force. There are many museums and picture galleries in this country whose valuable collections are comparatively unknown in the cities where they are located. While some of them attract crowds of visitors on fair Sunday afternoons, these visitors are usually attracted by mere curiosity, and no one who knows the meaning and worth of these collections but deplores the slight meaning they have for most of their visitors. That these collections can be raised from a passive to an active educational force has been abundantly demonstrated wherever the school and the museum or gallery have coöperated in this phase of their work. The school, both in its regular daily work and in its evening social-centre work, affords an excellent opportunity for making such collections not only popular but full of meaning. Although many of the exhibits cannot be brought bodily to the school, pictures and interesting descriptions of any of the exhibits can. In these days of the projection lantern and the moving picture it should be easy to give more meaning and profit to these great storehouses of possibilities for educational uplift. Chicago has been so much disappointed at the slight use made by the schools of the Field Museum, which repre sents an outlay of great sums of money as well as of vast amounts of thought and effort, that Mr. N. W. Harris, a rich banker of that city, has given $250,000 for establishing small cabinets of exhibits to be prepared by this museum and sent from school to school. These travelling exhibits are to be accompanied by brief lectures on the things represented in them. The idea is not a new one in educational practice; but it is to be hoped that the Chicago effort may arouse to new life much of this dead concrete educational material lying at the very doors of so many of our urban schools. There are also many good reasons for gathering together in every large community school, whether in the city or in the country, a collection of products and processes, of pictures and descriptions that help to an understanding and appreciation of geographical and historical facts or to a fuller and better knowledge of the animals, plants, and minerals found in the vicinity. Such a local museum can be made a matter of community pride as well as a thing of great educational value. The Library in Education. EXTENSION OF PUBLIC LIBRARY WORK.-Helen Lockwood Coffin calls attention, in the May issue of Everybody's, to the many changes that are occurring in the policy and work of the modern library. The fact that the public has been drifting away from the public library into other interests has led to many things that would have been regarded, even in the recent past, as entirely outside of the province of a library. As the public drifted away from the library, librarians and associations of librarians ceased discussing technicalities of method and devoted their time to inquiring into the causes of low library-appreciation. "Library conferences, instead of considering ways of cataloguing, discussed ways of people." Finally, it was concluded that the public was not coming to the library as fully as it should because "it wanted to play, to be amused, to be recreated; it wanted action, brisk and stirring. It wanted to gossip, debate, discuss, talk back," fully as much as it wanted to read books. Hence, the library became a social centre. Written warrant for this movement, Miss Coffin says, is as old as a statement made in the charter of the Redwood Library of Newport, R. I., in the year 1747, and which was to the effect that the purpose of that library was "to inform the mind, to reform the practice." The public library of St. Louis well represents this new type of work. Its work is divided into two parts, educational and recreational, and each is given a social trend. The social work of this library is best represented in its branches, because they are smaller and come into more intimate relation with the neighborhoods where they are located. "Here are held club meetings, church conferences, Christmas festivals, May parties, school graduation exercises, cadet drills, mothers' meetings, classes, and so on through all the diverse interests of the usual social centre. The branch librarian makes a series of house-tohouse visits, interesting the people in the library, and discovering by personal contact the needs and desires of her constituency.' The work in St. Louis is based upon the idea, as stated by the librarian, Dr. Arthur E. Bostwick, that the public library is a public utility and that therefore Whatever the public needs it is the duty of the public library to supply." 66 Other libraries of this type are endeavoring to extend their influence by having play-rooms and gymnasiums; by conducting technical schools, with classes in cookery, marketing, mechanical and electrical engineering, architecture, drawing, etc.; by conducting lecture courses; by maintaining business men's information bureaus; by providing meeting places for clubs and organizations; and, in case of the public library in Madison, Wis., by owning and operating a moving-picture "show." 66 But some of the most progressive, successful, and popular libraries in America do not enter largely into the social centre and general educational feature in their work. Miss Coffin cites the public library in Cleveland, O., as one of the best of this type which emphasizes the cultural side of the work rather than the social. It issues bulletins generously and keeps in close, sympathetic touch with its patrons, but always with the frank purpose of raising the standard of reading." Its attitude, she says, is well indicated in its selection of material for the story hours given to the children each week. While other libraries are apt, |