Foreign Notes

EVENTS IN LONDON

The London County Council has made important provision for the "vocational" training of girls by a system of "trade scholarships". Of these awards, 200 will be available the coming year, and the recipients will receive free education with grants for living expenses, at day trade schools in which they will be prepared for skilled trades such as dressmaking, millinery, corset making, photography, designing and upholstery. Candidates must be between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, and their applications must be supported by the recommendations of head masters or mistresses, "in respect of intelligence, conduct, and dexterity in handicraft."

It is announced that an Imperial Conference on Education will assemble in London, probably in April next, to which educational representatives of the various parts of the Empire have been invited. This Conference, which is an outcome of that which took place in 1907 under the auspices of the League of the Empire, is being held at the invitation of the Imperial Government, which expressed the desire that future conferences on the subject should be convened officially. Delegates are expected from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and Crown Colonies, but the exact representation is not yet known.

The centenary of Berlin University.-Only those who participated in the centennial ceremonies of Berlin, which occupied four days, beginning October 10th, can fittingly speak of the impressive event. But every student of history feels a thrill at the thought which inspired the foundation of this noble institution. At the lowest ebb of fortune, in the fateful year 1809, the resolution was taken under the councils of Humboldt, to subordinate brute force to the higher power of intellect and patriotic fervor. In this spirit the University was created, the apotheosis, as it were, of the unconquerable things of the spirit.

Provision for Technical Training in Germany and France. The forthcoming report of the Commissioner of Education comprises important chapters dealing with the foregoing subject. The chapter on the vocational schools of Prussia is a translation of the introduction to the third report of the Landesgewerbeamt, with summaries compiled from the appended detailed accounts.

The chapter relating to technical education in France traces the historic development of this provision with an extended account of primary technical education and of typical schools which pertain to this division of the subject. It is interesting to note that three of the schools selected for special consideration, namely Eccles Diderot, Boulle and Estienne, are characterized by Dr. Kerschensteiner as models, worthy of imitation, in respect to the union of special training with the instruction which is necessary for good citizenship. This

encomium occurs in his now famous book on fundamental questions of school organization (Grundfragen der Schulorganisation) in which also the defects of the German system are candidly admitted.

Training of Teachers: The professional training of teachers has come to be almost a cant phrase in the discussions of popular education. It is applied in this country to conditions as unlike as that of teachers who have attended a short course in a summer institute and that of graduates who have earned a Ph. D. by a severe course of study and examinations. The expression has definite meaning in European countries, although the methods and standards of preparation for the profession are not the same even in contiguous countries. Switzerland, Germany and France all stand high in this respect. In France the course of training is conducted in the more liberal spirit; in Germany it is more disciplinary. In Bavaria candidates enter the training school at the minimum age of sixteen years, and receive two years' education at the cost of the State. Following this is the practice year without salary. Those who pass the probationary year, successfully, are appointed as assistant teachers for a period of three years after which comes the final examination. This test consists of two parts, written and oral, the former occupying three days. After the final examination the candidate must pass from two to four years in a subordinate position before receiving full appointment as a teacher (lehrer). Naturally after such elaborate preparation the work is a life career, commanding a fair salary and a pension upon retirement.

Teachers' Associations in Europe are devoted to the promotion of the material interests rather than the professional development of the teachers. Apparently this purpose and the exchange of school experiences are taking possession of the National Education Association in this country. It is worthy of note in this connection that the two great scientific organizations of English speaking countries, the British Association and the American Association, both of the advancement of science, have created education sections which bid fair to become the centres of constructive thought in regard to this interest. It is significant that the attention given in the educational press of this country, to the presidential address of Principal Miers before the education section of the British Association, is reciprocated by the interest awakened in English circles by the address of Dr. John Dewey before the corresponding section of the American Association.

The former address which was on the relation of university_teacher and student has already been noticed in these columns. Dr. Dewey's address was on Science as subject-matter and as method. Both the addresses recall one of Dr. Harris's favorite doctrines, namely, that system is the union of principle and method. It looks as if the two associations named were destined to continue the search for essential principles.

A. T. S.

Book Notices

A History of Education During the Middle Ages. By Frank P. Graves. New York: The Macmillan Co. Price, $1.10.

This is the second of a series of volumes on the history of education, the first one dealing with education before the middle ages. In this volume the same vitalizing point of view is consistently maintained as that in the first volume, the development of individualism. The educational period covered is from the rise of Monasticism to the time of Rousseau.

As in the previous volume, considerable space is devoted to a consideration of social and political conditions as forming the necessary background for the study of the different educational ideas and systems. The work covers the period much more completely and comprehensively than any other history of education we have. While one may not always agree with the conclusions of the author, the careful reader cannot fail to feel that these conclusions are not snap judgments, but represent careful research, and that judicious sifting of evidence which is so necessary in a work of this kind and which is so unusual. The estimates of the influence of various educational ideas are eminently fair.

The author's treatment of the character of scholasticism and its influence is very helpful and emphasizes an aspect of the movement too often neglected. In the chapter on The Humanistic Education of the North the author has made available for general use much exceedingly valuable information which has hitherto been all but inaccessible to the general reader and to the college student. This throws a new light upon the education of those times and helps to interpret the beginnings of education in this country as well. It cannot fail to be of great assistance to all interested in the history of education. We shall await with interest the next volume of the series.

-Review by Arthur J. Jones, Providence, R. I.

My Voice, And I. by Clara Kathleen Rogers. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co. $1.50.

Mrs. Rogers, who years ago was known on the stage as "Clara Doria," is a high authority on the subjects with which she here deals, and comes naturally by her love for and knowledge of musical matters. She is of English birth, her father being the famous composer, John Barnett, called by Grove, "The Father of English Opera,” and her mother, daughter of the celebrated violoncellist, Robert Lindley, was also musically gifted. After a successful career as an opera and concert singer, our authoress married a Boston lawyer, and has since devoted herself to teaching and composition with much success. In 1883 she published: "The Philosophy of Singing," and now in the present volume she "sets forth the fruits of her ripened experience,"-for the last fifty years. Mrs. Rogers speaks with the conviction and authority of knowledge and experience. She "lays great stress upon the Ego as the voice-controller and developer," and gives large place in the cultivation and

development of the voice to "the reasoning power, the imagination and the will." She has little use for mechanical methods and machine singers, but urges the full development of the singer's higher faculties. To be master of his art one must first be master of himself. "The real productive cause of voice is the singer's fiat." A great artist by the finest touches, which the multitude do not comprehend, makes an audience feel better than it knows. The true artist has a very fine perception of vocal sounds and "expresses adequately and with security all that he feels and knows." Teachers and students of vocal music will do well to weigh her suggestions and ponder over her conclusions.

The Unexplored Self, by George R. Montgomery, Ph. D. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

This is a strong, vital, readable book. Its author is the assistant minister at the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, New York City. But he is not a man bound by tradition or dogma. He is a clear, cogent reasoner, doing his own thinking in his own way. And it is a delightful way. As a youthful agnostic he sets out to discover "the purpose in existence," and soon finds it has a value and that there is a meaning in things. He was greatly helped to this by what he saw of the life and work of missionaries. Building on this foundation and as a teacher noting how little definite religious influence his pupils at Yale and at Carleton College seemed to have, has led him to prepare this volume, which is intended to catch the attention of teachers and students, set them thinking on the highest things of life, and serve as an introduction to Christian doctrine. In 23 short, pregnant chapters, he considers The worth of man, The Divinity of Christ, The witness to God, Incarnation, The living Christ, Self-giving, Under authority, The atrophy of death, The armor of light, Faith an apprisal, The reborn self, The place of the Church, The men and women of to-morrow, etc. We wish every college student in the land might read these fresh, virile, soul-stirring and uplifting pages. It would help them to find the meaning of life and to enter into the very spirit of Christ.

Readings in Civil Government, by Prof. Percy Lewis Kaye, Ph. D. New York: The Century Co.

Professor Kaye, head of the department of history in the Baltimore City College, has packed into this volume of 528 closely printed pages a vast amount of valuable matter concerning the Spirit, the Form and the Functions of American Government. Extracts, usually of from two to ten pages in length, are taken from ninety-one different authors or authorities to explain and elucidate every phase of the working of our Government. Among the great writers in this list we note such names as the historian Bancroft, Alexander Hamilton, Rufus Choate, Lyman Abbott, Woodrow Wilson, H. C. Lodge, President Taft, C. F. Amidon, S. E. Baldwin, E. R. Seligman, Talcott Williams, J. S. Mill and James Bryce. He who will carefully read this volume will gain a broad and full knowledge of both the foundations and workings of our Government. The book is full of interest as well as instruction, and it is well indexed.

Don MacGrath, by Randall Parrish. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co. $1.50. Here is a breezy story for boys. The scenes are laid on, or by the side of, the Mississippi River. Don, the son of wealthy parents in a small city on the Illinois side, has been stolen while a very little child by some brutal river men and brought up in an atmosphere of oaths, drunkenness and hard work. How he finally runs away, his thrilling adventures, his friendship for Mark Dean and all that came of it, his acquaintance with Laila and her brave dog Rover, and how he is twice captured by the desperado, Tom McGrath, but is finally rescued after a deadly battle and restored to his fond parents, is all very interesting, and once you begin it you will not lay the book down till you find it out. The plot is cleverly worked out. Aud there are several illustrations by John W. Norton.

How to Read Cчaracter in Handwriting, ¡by Mary H. Booth. Illustrated. Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Co. 50 cents.

This excellent little book, with only 56 pages of text, is intended as a "guide for the beginner and student of graphology." Teachers realize that the vast variety of forms and styles and movements which people develop in writing are due largely to temperament and environment. Here are valuable hints for all who would read character. Sloping letters indicate a warm, emotional nature; vertical letters a practical, energetic nature; angular letters reflect activity, rounded letters indicate amiable natures, legible letters a sincere nature, and illegible a weak, impulsive or hurried brain; small letters a studious, thoughtful mind, etc. This booklet deserves study.

Standard Musical Biographies, By George P. Upton. A. C. McClurg & Co. $1.75. A useful volume for music lovers and concert-goers. It gives a brief account of the lives and works of the leading composers, together with the verdict of the popular judgment concerning their merits. The author has had a long and wide experience as a musical critic.

Democracy and the Party System in the United States. A study in extra-constitutional Government By M. Ostrogirski. The Macmillan Company. $1.75 net.

This volume affords the American public the opportunity to see our governmental system through the eyes of a profound foreign student and writer, who has studied us with the mind of a master, and who describes what he has found with the pen of a ready writer. The author is a distinguished Russian statesman, and this book is a revised edition of a part of a much more extensive work, Democracy and the organization of Political Parties. It has been published at the urgent request of scholars and politicians in both Europe and America. It is a masterful discussion of the Constitution of the United States and of the relations of the two great parties that dominate our government.

State Socialism in New Zealand. By James Edward Le Rossignol, Professor of Economics in the University of Denver, and William Downie Stew