that have given rise to a bill which has been presented to the chambers, although with small prospect of immediate attention. The bill provides for a standard of qualification for teachers' positions, and the intervention of the State in the matter of salaries. This is a mere straw, but it shows that ideals are reviving.

BRUSSELS.- Public Care of Young Children.

The chief cities of Belgium are peculiarly solicitous as to the physical well-being of the children of the poorer classes. By a recent order of the City Council of Brussels (collège échevinal) the infant schools (J'ardins d'Enfants) are to remain open the entire year save only the ten days at Easter when they will be repaired and cleaned. The teaching body is to be divided in two classes, the first taking an annual vacation from July 15, the second the month following. Thus the young children of the common people will always have a place where they can play and sing and sport, out of the streets and under watch care.

BERLIN.

In Berlin the experiment of providing needy school children with a mid-day meal has been on trial for several years. A correspondent gives the following particulars of the measures adopted in one of the poorest districts of the city during the severe winter just passed: "Under the inspectorship of Dr. Zwick the municipal board combined with the Society for the Vigilance of Children Out of School Hours in fitting up a room in School 193 with five small kitchen ranges (such as the people themselves use), five small tables and five sets of open shelves stocked with the simplest utensils. Here lessons are given four times a week to classes of twenty girls of twelve, thirteen and fourteen years of age, the scholars taking two hours' less needle-work in the week. The lesson lasts from three to four hours, including a pause for relaxation, and the time involved in the setting of tables and washing up. The girls are attached to their tables in groups of four, and are marshalled by the teacher with admirable dexterity. All that goes on in the pot is worked out in sample in glass vessels on the teacher's raised table, and the children are given every opportunity of proving for themselves the worth of many a good wife's dictum. Household chemistry, physics and economy have here a natural place. Bad materials and good are alike handled, and it is not considered waste of time to send the more advanced scholars round the corner to market for the rest. Only so can they become acquainted with the resources of their own neighborhood and gain familiarity with weights and prices. Sometimes the teacher will

herself bring a basket of produce for the lesson, and convert her table for the time being, into a market stall, at which the children come to buy, every child keeping her own account-book and receipt-book. Two children together cook for one typical family of father, mother and one child, or, roughly speaking, for five children. When the lesson is over, the tables are laid with white oil-cloth, spoons and enamel bowls, and the food is served to the poorer children of the school at one penny per portion, boys and girls feeding on alternate days. I was assured that there has been little or no difficulty about the charge; the parents are out at work all day, and are glad to have the children provided for. When, through acute distress, it appears that the penny is not forthcoming, the matter is looked into and settled on its own merits, some charitable person generally supplying the fee, which is, in all cases, paid, so that the children stand on the same footing of equality, with regard to each other. In the official report, the cost of food material is averaged at three marks a day for forty to fifty children. Houseroom, coal, water, gas, heating are supplied by the municipal school board, with a special grant of $125 per annum; the education department gives $100 towards the teacher's salary, and the rest of the responsibility is borne by the society above mentioned for the "Vigilance of Children out of School Hours."

English Elementary School Teachers.

The 26th annual meeting of the "National Union of Elementary Teachers" was held at Manchester the last of April. In his opening address, the newly elected president, Mr. Ellery, recalled that in a quarter of a century, that had elapsed since the earlier meeting at Manchester, the union had grown from a membership of 5000 to 27,600. The speeches were spirited, and the discussions exceedingly practical. There is very little theorizing in these conferences, interest centres chiefly in the relation of the school work to the government requirements, and especially in the scope and method of the inspectors' examination and the relation of teachers to the local authorities. Secure tenure, pension provision and freedom of professional judgment are the three conditions for which the members of the union are now contending. Their influence is seen in the gradual substitution of a system of free classification and flexible curriculum for the castiron system enforced under the original regulations.

Attendance at German Universities.

The official statistics of German Universities for the summer semester of 1894 show a total of 27,679 students. Berlin leads with 3744, Munich follows with 3144 and Leipsic with 2764; Bonn, Breslau, Erlangen, Fribourg, Halle, Heidelberg, Tübingen and Würtzburg have each above 1000, the range being from 1122 to 1634. Of the total number, theology claimed 4399 (Catholic, 1163; Protestant, 3236); law, 7440; medicine, 7935; philosophy, 8049. A few students took double courses.

A. T. S.

tage.

MULTUM IN PARVO.

AUTHOR OF "PRESTON PAPERS."

Family life colors school life.
Be reasonable, even in discipline.
Avoid the dead levels of imitation.
Discipline is not your only function.
Criticism comes easily to theorists.
Learn to recognize your opportunities.

tled?

Nagging" is the resort of a petty mind.

Parlor soldiers can't stand much real service.
Motive is sometimes of more value than action.
It is easier to discuss a subject than to utilize it.
Your heart in the work, and the work in your heart!
Be "the latest thing out" of your school-at night.
Even clams can be taught to keep their mouths closed!
Bible living is the most practical kind of Bible reading.
Selfishness is not a component part of the ideal teacher.
Familiarity with any subject doesn't grow on chance bushes.
Indifferent friends may carry more injury than open enemies.
Sound is not always sense. Which predominates in your work?
Information that is poured in will all the more easily float out.
Ventilation of your school-room may prevent stagnation of study.
Lessons are as easily dove-tailed as wood, and with equal advan-

"Honors are easy," but it takes cash to pay the printer. Set

No one educator is headquarters for all that is good in the profession.

Short cuts to education mean superficial preparation and halfway work.

The daily miracles of the schoolroom carry eternal influences in their train.

Even otherwise really good teachers sometimes lose sight of their self-control.

Have you ever hypnotized your school into a love for study and mental effort?

Educational literature is not a rank poison, even if frequently soporific. Try it!

Your greatest disappointment may be the cradle of your most brilliant successes!

The common things of life have a pick-me-up-and-use-me value to the wide awake teacher.

Length doesn't always stand as a synonym for strength in school children, nor in argument.

Educational novelties come cheap, and ought to be classified and put on the five-cent counter.

Constantly raise your own standard, or as Emerson puts it: "Hitch your wagon to a star."

Moral and religious training does not necessarily mean sectarian bias and denominational ruffles.

Don't rest satisfied short of your very best. You will enjoy the reflection therefrom in your school.

There is no special discount on checks presented at educational banks. Each is good for face value.

Appeal to the originality of your pupils, by the means of language and drawing, as often as consistent.

Mathematics is not the only thing in the curriculum, although some schools seem to lose sight of all else.

Your bodies can't be entirely supported on intellectual feasts; and faith is well backed by apple dumplings.

Theories of concepts sometimes get elbowed out of the way by the overwhelming necessity for practical work.

Syllabic monstrosities may pay in verbal museums, but sledge hammer Saxon is more effective as a working language.

Appreciation of your work, by your pupils, will increase with their years. Suppose your main work is fault finding?

School-room ethics includes many minor matters, such as keeping the black-boards presentable-as well as yourself.

Educational renovation is always in order, but it must work from within outwards; whitewashing is not the first process.

Education is now brought to the very doors of even our poorest citizens, and it becomes possible for all to pass the portals of scientific knowledge.

Pedagogy is quoted in the educational reports and markets, and so is psychology; but common sense is a cash article anywhere. Invested? Big dividends, with "millions in it."

It doesn't take long to say "Thank you," and a majority of your pupils will not think it requires too great mental strain for every day use if they have your hypnotic influence in the matter.

Some of our educational dummies are all right so long as they only attempt to run on a narrow-guage road; but they can't make schedule time if, by chance, they get switched off to another track.

Every day work, by one every day practical teacher, will give more and better practical men and women for every dollar invested in education than all the cut-and-dried theorists the country can produce.

Teachers are answerable for enough faults of their own, without asking them to bear the blame of results from weak or insufficient legislation, and injudicious parents. Be fair, even to teachers and superintendents.

AMONG THE BOOKS.

To accommodate readers who may wish it, the publishers of EDUCATION will send, post paid on the receipt of price, almost any book reviewed in these columns.

SHELDON'S NEW LANGUAGE SERIES consists of two books, one for primary use and one for grammar grades. The first book is, in many respects, one of the best of its kind, the language work being most carefully graded, and progress is made by easy and natural stages. The pictures to be studied and talked about are excellent ones, and the poems selected are worthy of study and learning. In the advanced lessons we have a book which combines most happily the technicalities of the language with lessons in composition. The lessons are on the inductive plan and are lucidly developed. The series is a practical attempt to make the study of our language a sensible one, and the books must secure extensive use in the schools. New York: Sheldon & Co.

Leach, Shewell & Sanborn re-publish in the Student's Series of English Classics Macaulay's admirable essay on the LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON. It is put up in very neat form.

The American Book Company re-publish in their Eclectic English Classics Webster's great orations on Bunker Hill Monument, the Character of Washington and the Landing at Plymouth. 20 cents.

Numbers 73 and 74, in Houghton, Mifflin & Company's Riverside Literature Series are, respectively, ENOCH ARDEN AND OTHER POEMS, and GRAY'S ELEGY, and COWPER'S JOHN GILPIN AND OTHER POEMS. In Number 75 of the same series, which is a double number, we have a very interesting historical biography of George Washington, by Horace E. Scudder.

Noah Brooks has written a handy little volume entitled HOW THE REPUBLIC IS GOVERNED, which is published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. It will be highly appreciated by the numerous classes and debating societies which are studying the principles of good citizenship.