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time he is full of the zest of life, fond of all sorts of out-door sports and pleasures, and a favorite everywhere. In particular, he is said to be an excellent comrade for any sort of excursion. In him are mingled the strains of Cavalier and Puritan, who were the founders of this country and the creators of its institutions. The tide of Puritan emigration that flowed westward from New England through Ohio after the Revolution, and the tide of Cavalier emigration that flowed westward from Virginia through Pennsylvania and Kentucky after the Revolution, focused in St. Louis, where Mr. Churchill grew to manhood; and here was the origin, and near here was some of the fiercest fighting of the Civil War, the final conflict between the types of civilization represented by those two races. A thoroughly patriotic American, his investigations into its history have extended far beyond and outside of books, and have been devoted especially to bringing out the individualities of the men and women who have influenced its course.

One of the results, for example, of the publication of "Richard Carvel" was an immediate revival of interest in John Paul Jones. Mr. Churchill went to the sources in endeavoring to learn Paul Jones's character, and presented the famous old sea captain for the first time as an actual man. Everything about Paul Jones soon came to be of popular interest, with the result that several biographies of him have since been published, that his burial place in France was sought and found, and that his ashes were exhumed and brought to the land whose Navy he first led to victory.

What Mr. Churchill undertook to do in writing "Richard Carvel," and his attitude toward his work, he set forth in an interview published shortly after the book appeared. In it he said that the historical novel, as he regards it, undertakes to

give a complete and historically accurate picture of life, customs and character. In reply to a question as to the place of the historical novel in a nation's literature, Mr. Churchill said:

"It is the business of historical fiction, as I conceive it, to give an absolutely faithful picture, complete on all its sides, of the thoughts, ideas, manners and customs, dress, occupations and pleasures of a given people in a given age. In one way it is a needful supplement to history, partly because you can tell so much more and partly because you can introduce a great many things which would be utterly out of place in a history. It is the details that count, you know; the little things too unimportant to be included in a history are the things that make the historical novel like life and give a true impression. Beyond that, the historical novel serves the purpose of interesting people in history and tempting them to read into it further for themselves.

"But it is not sufficient nowadays that a novel should merely give a truthful picture of life, no matter how complete it may be; you cannot simply tell a story with a historical background, no matter how accurate the setting; the history, as well as the life and the manners and customs, must be a vital and essential part of the novel, and it must all be woven inextricably together. And no matter how well and how faithfully a man may do this, no matter how profound and inexhaustible may be his knowledge, he is falling below the standard of the present day if his book be in any place dull. Every line of it must be alive with interest."

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good pictures of Lincoln and Grant, showing how they grew out of the conditions that produced the crisis, and how they dominated it and brought it to such an issue that the country became better and greater and stronger for the cataclysm that had threatened to disrupt it. Mr. Churchill's next book, in the series of historical romances which he began with "Richard Carvel," is entitled "The Crossing," and was published in the spring of 1904. Its title refers to the crossing of the Alleghanies by the tide of American immigration after the Revolutionary War. A portion of the volume is the thrilling account of the journey of some pioneers across those mountains, of their siege by the Indians, and of the expedition of George Rogers Clark and his little band of followers to capture Vincennes. The Mississippi from St. Louis to New Orleans and the States on the eastern shore form the background of most of this novel, which perhaps contains more of the adventure element than any other of Mr. Churchill's works.

Meanwhile, Mr. Churchill had become actively interested in politics. In the year 1903 he became a Member of the New Hampshire Legislature, in which he has served two terms; and quite recently he announced his candidacy for the nomination for Governor of his State. This attention to politics is eminently characteristic of Mr. Churchill, the bent of

whose mind, actively interested in actual things, leads him to desire to know what history in the making means to the men connected with it. His new novel, " Coniston," is the direct outgrowth of his participation in politics.

In "Coniston" the fascination of Mr. Churchill's style and of his manner of telling a story appears to far better advantage than ever before. It is more attractive, engaging and enjoyable than any of his previous books.

There are a good many characters in the story, and the drawing of these is admirable. This is true even of the characters which appear only two or three times; in these cases their personalities and their whole attitude toward life are suggested in a few words so vividly that you feel that you know them. The political contest, which appears at intervals, in one form or another, throughout the whole course of the story, is handled in all its phases with the most masterly skill. The description of the Woodchuck Session and of how Jethro Bass carried through the Truro Franchise Bill is one of the most exciting and skillfully written passages of the kind in literature. But, superb as are these occasional glimpses of a political contest for control of a State, they never long distract attention from the most bewitching, piquant, vivacious and ingenuous of all Mr. Churchill's heroines-Cynthia Wetherell.

What's in the August Magazines

Wealth and Democracy in American Colleges, by President Arthur T. Hadley Harper's; Trend in American Education, by Andrew S. Draper -Appleton's; Spirit of American Literature by Winifred Webb-Arena; A dissolving view of Punctuation, by Wendell P. Garrison-Atlantic; Boy, Let Him Redeem Himself, by Ben B. Lindsey-Home; Child Winning by Sympathy, by Sarah E. Heyne-Home; Training of Young Children, by Marianna Wheeler-Harper's Bazaar; Elmer E. Brown, U. S. Commissioner of Education -Review of Reviews; Women improving School Houses, by E. C. Brooks-World's Work; Social Service of a City School-Craftsman; The Demand for College Men, by H. G Hapgood-World to-day; Why Some Boys Take to Farming, by L.

H. Bailey-Century; Children and Their Educators, by Agnes Reppelier-Appleton's; Art of Vine Growing-Craftsman; About Evergreens. by Arthur P. Anderson - Suburban Life; Walt Whitman, by Louise Collier Willcox-North American Review; Life and Times of Andrew Jackson-Watson's; The Nature Club of America, by Anna B. Comstock-Country Life; Work at the Philadelphia Public Industrial Art SchoolTechnical World; Romance in the Victorian Age, by Raymond M. Alden-Reader; Modern Hostility to Certain Words, by T. R. Lounsbury-Harper's; The Long Labrador Trail, by Dillon Wallace -Outing; Som Rare Elements and their Application, by R. K. Duncan-Harper's.

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Articles by teachers of experience are wanted for publication. They should not contain more than 1,500 words.

Editorials

THE New York State Council of School Superintendents are planning an interesting program for the annual meeting which will be held at Rochester, October 17-19.

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LIGHT and ventilation of schoolhouses

should not be sacrificed to extravagance in ornate architecture. Utility and economy, not art and show, should be the motto of boards of education.

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BEAUTY has nothing whatever to do with the success of a teacher. Often the homeliest of them are the most attractive. Strong character, culture and refinement, a sympathetic nature with sound education are the elements that count.

MEDICAL inspection of school children. by physicians shows a decided improvement in conditions, especially in the general appearance and health of the children. It has been found that many teachers have marked down backward pupils as dull whose only trouble was defective hearing or eyesight.

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THERE is no phase of education more important than the question of county supervision; first because of the inexperience of rural teachers, and second, because rural communities deserve as much attention in proportion as is given to villages and cities. No one has yet worked out a satisfactory system, but a change is bound to come soon.

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AS SCHOOL Opens, we urge upon every principal and superintendent the duty of giving subordinate teachers the fullest possible measure of authority. Lack of authority is the principal cause of failure in discipline, and consequent worry and trouble on the part of the teacher. Authority commands respect and gives dignity to the office of teacher. Authority also gives a teacher the confidence in her own power necessary for the best control of the pupils.

THOSE in charge of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching have paid a delicate compliment to Dr. William T. Harris by making him the first recipient of the benefits of the re

tirement fund. Dr. Harris is to receive the largest sum that can be awarded, $3,000 yearly for the remainder of his life. This is a well deserved compliment, for Dr. Harris has rendered the cause of education in this country a distinct and valuable service.

A COURSE of lectures should be maintained during the winter in every rural,

village and city school in the country. There is always local talent which can be secured, and, in New York State, the State Department of Education can furnish illustrated lectures on a great variety of subjects. School principals should not neglect an opportunity of this kind because it will prove a strong factor in increasing the educational interest of both parents and pupils.

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A MISS BIRD, for nineteen years an instructor in the astronomical department of Smith College, is reported to have resigned because the trustees accepted gifts from John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. Evidently she does not agree with Chancellor Day of Syracuse, who believes that a college president can take the taint away from any millionaire's money which may be fortunate enough to fall into the college coffers. As Miss Bird is a star gazer, her ideas would naturally be flighty.

THE Board of Education of Auburn, N. Y., has voted to increase the salary of the teachers in its public schools. Over $3,000 of the amount will go to the teachers of the lower grades. The value of the primary teacher's work is becoming more fully recognized than ever before. It was only a few years ago that the idea prevailed that almost any high school girl could teach in the first three grades, but now the people have awakened to the fact that the teachers of young children must have special training and be especially adapted for the work. After all it is the teacher who makes the salary.

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PRINCIPAL W. S. STEELE of Harrisburg, Pa., formerly of New York State, denies emphatically the statements attributed to him in a report of an address which he delivered at the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania State Educational Associa

tion held recently at Altoona. The newspapers quoted him as saying that the New York school, system was honeycombed with graft and that school positions are bought and sold; that teachers simply crammed pupils for the State examinations and that the system of high school inspection had a tendency to create many sham schools, high schools in name only, in the country districts, because the size of the district appropriation depended largely on the high schools.

We know that Mr. Steele does not believe any such rot. He is not that sort of man.

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ONE of the chief criticisms made against the public schools is that they do not teach the pupils to study. Much can be accomplished with pupils during the study period by a capable teacher who

takes the time to discover their individ

ual needs. Methods of teaching bear an important relation to the pupil's habit of study, and therefore careful preparation on the part of the teacher is necessary in order that the study period may be of the greatest value to the pupil. Principals should devote attention to this work and should test the classes occasionally in their power and method of study as well as upon their ability to acquire knowledge.

The Home and the School

THE home and the school, the two principal factors in the education of children, must work in harmony if the best result is to be obtained. Parents must become educators. They must learn the nature and purpose of the work of the school and make the home teaching such as will support and increase the interest aroused by the teacher. They must help the teacher in his efforts to understand the child and show him that he has their sincere confidence and esteem. The

teacher must become acquainted with the parents and familiar with the home conditions of his pupils. He must feel free to talk with the parents concerning the health and work of their children, and to give and receive suggestions.

Too often the home and the school are antagonistic. Parents send their children to school merely to comply with the law and the schoolmaster teaches them merely to secure his salary. In such cases the children go to school because they are sent and study because they are compelled. They have no genuine interest in their school work, and consequently receive little benefit therefrom. Com munities where these conditions exist have the forms of education without its substance. They may even have fine school buildings with complete equipment, and the pupils may secure high standings in school examinations, but if an abiding interest in education is lack ing the work is largely wasted.

An agency that is doing much to bring the home and school together and to increase the interest of the community in education is the Parent-Teachers Circle. This organization aims to make teacher and parents acquainted with each other, to create a real sympathy and friendship between them. It also promotes child study on the part of both teacher and parent.

Teachers everywhere will do well to encourage the formation of these Circles and to cooperate in every possible way with the enterprising women that are organizing and maintaining them.

* * *

War History Prejudicial ALTHOUGH time has wrought many changes since the days of '61 and sectional feeling between the Northern and Southern States has become greatly ameliorated, yet the old sores caused by the conflict are not entirely healed.

Moreover it is interesting to note that the continuance of some of this old sectional animosity is attributed to the difference in the methods of teaching the history of the war period to children of the North and the South. The school histories used in the North would be thrown into the stove without much ceremony if the publishers ever attempted to introduce them into Southern schools, while the histories used below the Mason and Dixon line are regarded by the Northerner as rabid and distorted views of the whole Civil War period.

Of course both sections of the country have a right to their opinions, and the South is to be commended for having enough of pride and devotion for her institutions to attempt to justify her action. However, we believe that the North has been largely to blame for the hostile attitude manifested in the historical accourts of the struggle and the causes leading up to it. All the prominent histories have been written from the Northern point of view, however unbiased the writers may have been, and that Southerner would be deserving of little respect who could read these accounts without a flush of pain. The slavery question had two points of view. And while the re-establishment of the Union with slavery abolished, the relations of the negro race to the constitution, and a radical change in the laws and society, settled the question of the right of secession, yet they could not convince a large body of Southerners that they were wrong and the North was right.

It is natural, under the circumstances, that the Southern blood has not cooled very much, and it seems the height of folly that either the national or state governments should now permit in the schools of the country the use of textbooks which tend to perpetuate the illfeeling. It would be better to cut out the war period altogether from the school

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