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of England. The English themselves do not know all that the public schools mean to them, nor does any one recognize the colossal strength of their influence, past and present. Their action is direct and indirect,-direct, on them who attend them; indirect, on the private schools. The public schools force the private schools to maintain an appearance of the effort and the excellence of public schools. The public school is a living organism; a society which, though held within narrow boundaries, embraces all forms of the active and reactive collectivities of civilized society at large. Never, in any country, has pedagogy possessed a more finely finished or more smoothly-running system than we find in the English schools.

The school teaches the English lads the lesson of life; to be a man and to rule his conduct by the high law of the citizen's duty to himself and to his fellowcitizens.

The general idea of the English school, says this French writer, is to stand firm; and to teach the child to stand firm, to stand his

ground, is the chief business of the schools. The work of the schools is,-why not say it frankly,—to form the Englishman's ideal; the gentleman. In this England has never changed."

The national mind of England, Baron Coubertin maintains further, is changeless. "This is a great fact, a marvelous fact; it is doubtful if any country but England could produce its like."

The French, the Germans, the Americans, the Russians,-ali have changed. The English have not changed, nor have they shown any of the symptoms of change. If now and then, here or there, London gives us the impression of something new, even as we gaze, it assumes the always strong and durable, though vague and indefinable aspect of England; and by that we know that it is English. Such is the English mind in the year of Grace, 1908.

THE VERDI "RETREAT" FOR OLD MUSICIANS.

A GRAPHIC description of the Retreat for Old Musicians, in Milan, founded by Giuseppe Verdi, is given in a recent issue of Hojas Selectas, the illustrated Spanish monthly of Barcelona. Within this building repose the remains of Verdi and those of his wife, Josephina Strapponi. Certainly a nobler monument was never erected. After entering the edifice, which is built in the Venetian style, the first rooms the visitor is shown are those constituting the Museo Verdiano. Here are gathered together many mementoes of the life and work of the great composer, such as the rude harpsichord on which, as a child, he made his first timid essays at composition; the Viennese cimbalo used by him in his youth; the grand piano upon which he composed his "Othello"; manuscripts of his operas, and fine busts of the composer and his wife, by Vincenzo Gemito. The room in which Verdi died was transported intact from his home, and its contents have been preserved unchanged.

The central court gives entrance to the upper story, where dwell the aged musicians. The founder left 75,000 lire ($15,000) in government bonds as an endowment for the institution and, in addition to this, the product of the royalties on his works, under the condition that the management of the Retreat shall only expend the sum of 50,000 lire annually from this latter source during the first ten years, so that, from the remainder of the revenue, a capital might be accumu

lated to increase the endowment of the foundation. Because of this restriction, which endures until 1912, the Retreat shelters only thirty-six men and seventeen women at the present time.

The right wing of the building is assigned to the men and the left to the women, and there is no intercourse between the sexes in the interior of the institution. The inmates assemble in their respective refectories, each of which is supplied with a piano, so that, by evoking their favorite melodies, they may have recreation during the long winter evenings. Each wing ends in pleasant gardens, bounded by terraces, whence the plains of Lombardy can be discerned in the distance.

In this way these musicians and lyric artists, whom old age has robbed of the means of subsistence, tranquilly pass the last days of their existence.

The idea of their approaching end sometimes casts a shade over the faces and dims the eyes of these poor old people, for whom life has again become endurable. On the lower floor there is a room, only opened three or four times during the year. Black funeral cloths, fringed with gold, hang from its walls; in the center rises a sumptuous catafalque. One after the other those who lead the way along the pathway of death will come to rest upon this, and the survivors will chant the funeral hymns with timid

and tremulous voice.

On such occasions the idea that their time may come to-morrow, in the ceaseless election of death, takes stronger hold of the survivors. those who have reached the evening of life and Theirs is the tranquil but incurable sadness of dread the eternal night.

WHAT THE UNITED STATES NAVY OWES TO PRESIDENT

ROOSEVELT.

WHEN the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt comes to be critically analyzed by the historians of the future there can be little doubt that their unanimous opinion will be that one of the greatest services rendered by him to his country was the development of the navy, which rendered possible the remarkable cruise of sixteen battleships, a convincing evidence that the United States had entered the rank of world-powers. Now that this cruise is practically a fait accompli, it is amusing to recall the prognostications of "trouble" abroad and the hostile criticisms of the President to which it gave rise. And perhaps the most noteworthy outcome of the whole voyage was the setback which the prophets of evil received in the fact that the particular nation whose ire the advent of the American fleet in Pacific waters was certain to rouse was the very one whose welcome to the officers and men of the United States Navy was such as to fairly stagger them by reason of the magnificence of its hospitality. The cruise itself was really the successful issue of the President's labors in naval reform.

The American public knows President Roosevelt as an advocate of a greater navy writes Mr. Henry Reuterdahl in Pearson's for December, but few know the amount of attention and thoughtful study that he has given to the navy and its affairs; how earnestly he has worked to make the sea forces of the United States efficient; how he has endeavored to improve the organization of the Navy Department so that the navy will be at all times prepared for war.

There are no votes in the navy; but he has been fighting for an adequate navy because he believes it is right to do so,-fighting for it as he would have fought for the Union or the abolition of slavery had he lived at that time. The President believes that there should be more interest in the actual state of the navy as a fighting force, and he has made it plain that he desires that the navy should be known intimately by our people and that they should take as intelligent an interest in our navy as the British do in theirs. He believes that it is the absolute duty of Congress to provide for the maintenance of a strong naval defense. In order to do so we must advocate more and better ships.: Our national honor and whole being depend upon the existence of a powerful navy. With a fleet of ships in each ocean and with the Panama Canal completed the country can look forward to years of peace and prosperity.

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He came to his desk like a whirlwind: he was

there to work and not to play the politician. Mr. Roosevelt's dynamic energy opened up the labyrinth of red tape and he shook off the lethargy of tradition and routine. He said: "I am trying to devise a system by which, if a captain of a ship which was tied to a navy-yard dock saw a coil of rope on the dock and wanted it, he could get that coil of rope without going through an endless mass of red tape. Under the present system the captain would have to write to the commandant of the yard, who would send his letter with his endorsement through the proper officer of the yard to the Assistant Secretary, who would refer it to the proper bureau of the Navy Department, whose chief would refer it to the commandant of the yard, who would again send it back to the captain of the ship, who would then be able, on proper application through his executive officer, to get that coil of rope ten feet away from where his ship lay. What I am trying to do is to work out a scheme by which the captain of that ship could get that rope without all that red tape."

Red tape and office routine have not been

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the only obstacles against which the President insubordinate; it was pigeonholed and not has had to fight in his efforts for navy re- acknowledged." form. He has had to overcome opposition on the part of certain overcautious navy officials and resistance on the part of legislators who are disposed to exploit the navy for their own and their constituents' selfish ends." The President strongly believes that the navy can only be made better by changing the present administration of the Navy Department. He says:

I have from time to time recommended the

reorganization of the Navy Department; it is absolutely necessary, and we will work and work until we get it, and we shall get it.

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This came to President Roosevelt's ears. Again he did the unusual and unprecedented, and took the matter out of the hands of the Navy Department. He at once ordered a board the truth of the charges and recommend what of officers to meet in conference to investigate changes could be made in the construction of these ships.

The conference substan

tiated practically all criticisms made by Com

mander Key.

But it is in the matter of straight shooting that the President has worked a complete reform in the navy. The father of modern gunnery, as Mr. Reuterdahl reminds us, was Captain Percy Scott of the British cruiser Terrible, whose ship in 1901 established the world's record,-100 per cent.,-for accuracy, making eight hits in a minute with a six-inch gun. Only actual holes in the target counted as hits. Lieutenant Sims formed a friendship with Scott on the China station. He was allowed to witness the British practice, and he gathered full details of the system. that time the American gunners were firing at imaginary targets and making one hit as against six of the British.

The President may be fitly described as the apostle of preparedness and straight shooting. In 1900, says Mr. Reuterdahl, a wellinformed officer reported that the navy has never been in a relatively more inefficient condition.'" The United States Navy Department has no policy determining the program of shipbuilding, as is the case with the naval bureaus of other nations. The ram Katahdin is “now a million dollars' worth of scrap iron." The Charleston, St. Louis, and Milwaukee, cruisers, "are the evidences of ill-spent money. They cannot fight, and they are too slow for scouting." Each cost about $3,000,000. The battleships Idaho and Mississippi, which cost another $10,000,000, "are slower than the rest of the fleet." Lieutenant Sims, reporting on the defects of the Kentucky, described her as "a slaughter-pen with unprotected guns and open turrets." These are some of the elements of unpre- of doing nothing. paredness for war which have convinced the President that "the navy possesses no real fighting power." In his annual message of 1906 he said: “It was a waste of money to build the modern single-turret monitors.' On the recent cruise each officer was required to report upon the characteristics of his own ship.

The final report was signed by Rear-Admiral Evans. The freeboard was declared too low, the guns were too near the water, the position of the armor belt was questioned. The torpedo deteuse was found inadequate, the ammunition hoists were too slow, and the open turret was condemned. The broadside guns would be unable to fire even in ordinary trade-wind weather. The judgment It was a severe arraignment. came from the men who have to handle the ships

in battle.

In the summer of 1908 Commander Key alled the attention of the Secretary of the fects in the battleships North laware, under construction. considered disrespectful and

At

Worse than that, the New York fired during
an "efficiency practice" 428 shots and made eight
hits.
Sims pointed out that "upon our
naval gunnery depends the existence of the na-
tion," and he pictured what the outcome would
be should we fail to improve our shooting. His
earnest appeals landed in the official pigeonholes
of the Navy Department, where they were buried

or suppressed. This was in 1901-'02. .
But the Navy Department continued its policy
Sims as a last resort

appealed directly to President Roosevelt.
He ordered Sims' reports to be printed and dis-
tributed to all the ships in the service. Further-
ships of the North Atlantic fleet were sent to

more, an official test was made and five battle

sea for target practice. Shooting at a condemned

lightship with the fleet firing all their broadsides resulted in three hits. These three hits repre

sented the fighting efficiency of five of our battleships which had cost the country $30,000,000. In 1901 the British cruiser Terrible had all alone hit the target 114 times.

President Roosevelt soon saw that something had to be done. Overriding criticism by the bureaus, he made Sims inspector of target practice. He also established prizes, and the gun pointers received extra pay on "Target practice was becoming expert. transformed into a sport, and a gun crew The effect was instaninto a football team. taneous; the officers and men tackled the new system with vim and enthusiasm." As a result, one year after the lightship affair 50 per cent. of hits were obtained in the first practice.

Sims had for two years recommended improved gunsights, which the bureau system had persistently rejected. The President again intervened. He ordered that all guns should be fitted with new sights. The change required three years and cost "hundreds of thousands of dollars." But the money was well expended. At 6000 yards and over "many of our turret guns have made over 50 per cent. of hits at targets 30 by 60." In 1905 the Wisconsin "fired with her thirteeninch guns eighty-eight shots, and made eightyeight hits at 1600 yards. The American gun pointer is now without a peer."

Mr. Reuterdahl's article is a pretty severe arraignment of the bureau system, and it is difficult to see how the detailed charges of inefficiency which he offers can be disproved. But there is ample testimony to the fact that the nation owes a mighty big debt to the President.

coming the inertia and resistance of the bureau By intelligently using the "big stick," oversystem, President Roosevelt has increased our naval preparedness and established a new era. In a few months he will be out of the White House, but the standard that he has set must be maintained. Retrogression should not be permitted.

WAS PARADISE AT THE NORTH POLE ?

THE cradle of the human race has always been a favorite subject of inquiry, both scientific and non-scientific; and speculation has run riot in attempts to locate the Garden of Eden. In our own day scholars and trained theologians like Cheyne ("Traditions and Beliefs of Ancient Israel "), Friedrich Delitsch ("Wo lag das Paradies?"), Gunkel ("Die Paradieserzählung"), St. Clair ("The Garden of Eden "), and others have propounded new locations for Eden almost solely on the ground of new conjectural identifications of the four rivers of the Paradise described in Genesis. The sites proposed are widely distant from one another and include Jerusalem, Somaliland in Africa, a place in the German Rhineland, and the Scilly Islands. In an interesting article on the recent literature on this subject in the Methodist Review for November-December, Dr. William F. Warren wisely remarks that the discovery "of the unknown country in which our race originally took its place among the living tenantry of the earth must be by proper scientific methods.

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To students of language, of early arts, of social institutions, civilization, government, religion, no less than to the anthropologist, a knowledge of the true starting-point of the development about to be studied by them is a desideratum comparable to no other.

The fact is that a comprehensive treatment of the problem, a treatment in which all the lines of evidence entitled to a hearing are taken into account,-is extremely rare.

Trained scientists and untrained writers in , scientific lines have often taken the data of some one field of nature-knowledge and have therefrom attempted to show where the cradleland of our race must have been. Thus one has used facts of geography only, another the teaching of

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tralia, in Southern Asia, and "possibly
'possibly" at
the poles, the blacks at the southern and
the whites at the northern. But "by no
such narrow procedures as these is this prob-
lem of problems ever to be solved."

Twenty-four years ago Dr. Warren himself published a more comprehensive treatment of the subject than had ever before been attempted; and his work, entitled "Paradise Found: The Cradle of the Human Race at the North Pole," has since gone through eleven editions.

The conclusion reached was that the prime

that the Arctic region was the cradleland of all the Indo-Germanic peoples. Meantime paleontologists and anthropologists of every school have been accumulating fresh facts, and men of the standing of Kriz, Moritz Wagner, Haacke, Rawitz, Wilser, in Germany; and Scribner, Wortman, Dolbear, and Wieland, in America, are of all searchers for origins, animal or human, from year to year renewedly directing the gaze to "Arctogæa," the zoögraphic zone whose zenith is the polar star.

It is worth noting that as early as 1844 Count Björnstjerna, of Sweden, in his "Theogony of the Hindoos," had remarked: "It is possible that the appearance of man took place at the same time in both regions [the two poles]; perhaps the white race in the countries about the North Pole, and the black race in those about the South Pole."

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val homeland of our race was a,-later submerged, circumpolar continent within the Arctic Circle. Some of the lines of evidence then presented were as follows: First, the overwhelming majority of Biblical scholars have openly and definitely abandoned the idea that the problem can ever be settled by any imagin- Dr. Warren calls attention to the wide able interpretation to be put upon the Garden prevalence in ancient thought of two paraof Eden narrative in Genesis. Second, the earliest habitable portions of the slowly cooling and dises, one on the earth and the other in the gradually solidifying globe must have been the heavens; usually connected by a "bridge,” circumpolar. Third, at one stage in the secular "ladder," or "pillar." This medium of incooling of the earth-mass the biological condi- tercommunication was in every instance tions in the circumpolar regions must have been incident in position with the upright axis of more favorable to the origination of the floral and faunal life-forms than any existing on any the heavens and earth." Moreover, in the portion of the earth's surface to-day. Fourth, ancient Babylonian conception of the world the scientific surveys of the floral and faunal the polar summit of the earth reached to the life-forms of early geologic ages have led the chief authorities to the conclusion that the earli- floor of the second heaven. Egyptologists, est diffusion of vegetable and animal species too, hold that in the mythology of the Nile over the earth proceeded from one center rather Valley the heavenly On, the throne-city of than from two, and that this one was within the sun, was at the north pole of the heavens. the Arctic Circle. Seventh, the early spread of shipless paleolithic men over all the Dr. Warren's theory is not without support continents is more easily explained on the theory among modern scientists. Our own anthroof a primeval Arctic point of departure than on pologist, W J McGee, maintains that “it any other yet propounded. Eighth, the tradi- is now more certain than two decades ago tions and mythologies of the oldest nations contain data which are incapable of credible inter- that men existed in Tertiary times." Mr. pretation except as faint memories of a time Samuel Waddington, a distinguished memwhen far-off ancestors lived in a circumpolar ber of the Anthropological Institute of Great region. No reviewer of the treatise has Britain, holds that "the evidence clearly ever disproved, or even challenged, any one of these representations of the "pertinent facts." shows that our ancestors were in North . Years have passed, but the writer has America during the later portion of the Terfelt no misgiving as to the outcome of the dis- tiary epoch, and that they came there from cussion. Had it been otherwise, treatises well or by the Arctic regions, Bering Straits, or adapted to dissipate every doubt were every now and then appearing. With amazing erudition, in Greenland." And Mr. Edward Clodd, in a work of more than a thousand pages, John his "Story of Creation," unhesitatingly deO'Neill set forth the circumpolar, and indeed clares: “ It is therefore to the North Pole the Arctic, standpoint of every early mythology. Independently of him, a native Sanskrit scholar of India, Tilak, in a work translated and reproduced three years later in Germany, next claimed that the earliest Vedic hymns were composed in the lands of " the Midnight Sun," and that the

far-off ancestors of the Hindus must have come

from those lands. With even stronger evidence from the Avestan literature he substantiated the like claim of a high north origin for the Iranian stock. Independently of him, a constantly grow ing line of investigators.-successors to Latham and Schrader and Penka,-have in successive treatises made it more and more difficult to doubt

that all evidence points as the area of the origin and distribution of life." The trend of recent literature on the subject seems unmistakably to be toward the conclusion that "the cradleland of the animal kingdom was within the Arctic Circle "; and, as Mr. G. Hilton Scribner suggests, the homo sapiens may have reached his human stage after his animal progenitors had left the cir-` cumpolar country and while they were en route from polar to equatorial regions."

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