ral under their influence of sorrow. Shakespeare has, therefore, in the interests of truth, consistency, nobility, changed the characters of the hero and heroine as he found them, and has made them two beings more fit to oppose their wills to those hard circumstances, which nevertheless prove unconquerable, and proving unconquerable cause the tragedy which is the theme of what the world has judged the classic drama of ill-fated young love.

Hamlet

Thou darling of the world, and frolicsome,
With quips and jests, which fantasy alarm,
Born for the flood of joy, not for the harm
That springs from others' doings! Hamlet, come
And be my teacher at my own heart's home,
That I may better yet appreciate

The divinity of thought. For now my fate
Cries out and truly tells me that the sun
Of much of life's experience is yours;
That we though twain have much in unison.
Away with remedies, away with cures!
There is no cure! When victory is won,
'Tis won in heaven-the human soul endures,
And sweeps in splendor toward the shining sun.
-DANIEL HUGH VERDER.

American Notes-Editorial

A thoughtful reading of some good pedagogical literature is an ever present duty, not to say privilege, of every earnest teacher. We fear that it it a duty which is more or less neglected. What kind of service should we expect of a physician who was not also a student? What kind of sermons should we get from a minister whose reading was discontinued on graduation from the seminary? Not less essential is it than in these instances, for an educator to keep his soul active and alert and his mental storehouse full by continuous contact with the brightest and best thoughts, discoveries, methods and practices of the ablest workers in the great profession of teaching. For it is a great profession, becoming such in hardly more than a generation, and yet it has established its principles and perfected an abundant literature, which is thoroughly worth reading and to neglect which is to perish, professionally. It is as disastrous for a teacher as for a doctor to stop studying and still go on practicing his profession. Lamentable consequences, the wreck of physical lives in the doctor's case, and of intellectual lives in the case of the teacher, follow such neglect. It is a question whose responsibility is the greater?

This is the season of the year in which to lay out a course of reading for the long autumn and winter evenings. If two or more teacher friends are so situated that they can work together it is all the better. It is a splendid practice to read a good, solid, worthwhile book with one or more comrades and stop now and then to discuss its meaning and debate suggested questions. This not only makes the content of the book more thoroughly your own, but it also stimulates original thought and cultivates the ability of self-expression. The results will immediately be felt in the class room. There is always a demand for live, growing teachers for preferred positions. The publishers offer many worthy series of books for the self-cultivation of teachers. Ask the Appletons, the Macmillans, the American Book Company, D. C. Heath and Company, or the HoughtonMifflin Company for suggestions. They will lay before you a feast of delectable viands that will whet your intellectual appetite to the utmost. Do not go to seed! Keep alive and growing! It will pay in satisfaction, in pleasure, in terms of efficiency, and, in all probability, in ultimate promotions.

Aside from any religious significance, the emphasis upon which will be variously placed by different individuals, the Bible may well be regarded as the greatest pedagogical treatise in the world. No teacher can afford to overlook it.

In the first place the language of the Bible is educative in the highest degree. The person who habitually reads the Bible and ponders its marvelously condensed and incisive sentences, unconsciously acquires a style of thought and speech that is at once most effective and a mark of true culture. Again, the greatest and most practical truths are conveyed in its pages. The wisdom of the ages, the truth precipitated in the human consciousness by the persistent and costly strivings of the human spirit to realize itself and to find its own place and mission in the scheme of the universe, is to be found in the Bible as in no other literature. This book tells us not only what God is but also what man is. It reveals the soul life and the fundamental needs of the heart of man.

Take, for instance, its estimate of child life; its counsel about sparing the rod and spoiling the child; its presentation of the wise son that maketh the glad father; its safe and sure prescription "wherewithal a young man shall cleanse his way"; its ever charming and immortal examples of filial love and devotion, of faithfulness to duty, of courage, of strength and self-sacrifice in the Isaacs, the Josephs, the Samuels and tlie Davids;—where else shall we find such revelations of the values of childhood and young manhood? And, most impressive of all, the child, Jesus, with the estimate put by the man, Jesus, upon childhood when he took a little child and set him in their midst and said: "Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." These familiar passages are only a few of the more obvious instances of the helpfulness of the Bible to those who have to do with children. When one makes a business of studying almost any of its books, seeking their messages of truth in relation to the needs of his own individual soul, he finds in it as in no other literature depths of wisdom and heights of inspiration. It becomes to him veritably the word of God. For these reasons,-because it feeds the mind, sustains the soul, and interprets life, the teacher, of all others, should not neglect the Bible.

It is well, if possible, for a teacher to connect himself with some study-class in a Bible school of the community where he resides. Or, better still, to become the leader and teacher of such a class. The Sunday Schools of the country have made great progress in the past few years in their methods of Bible study. The International uniform lessons inaugurated a few years ago marked a new era in such schools. More recently, the Graded Lessons plan has made another distinct pedagogical advance. It is now possible to carry out a worth-while study in biblical history and literature in connection, with almost any well organized Sunday School. Teachers sometimes hesitate to take up work of this character on Sunday because it is of the same general nature as that which they are engaged in during the week time. In some cases the argument is valid; but

where health and strength remain unimpared we believe that the extra tax of an hour's work of this kind on Sunday would be negligible, while the gains from it, both in personal inspiration and in added influence in the community, would be of the greatest value. In this connection we would call the attention of any interested teachers to the increasingly abundant and helpful recent literature on the study and interpretation of the Bible. This paragraph is in no sense an advertisement of any publishing house; but we may fittingly refer with personal enthusiasm to the splendid books and series of studies of the Bible recently coming from the University of Chicago Press, the Scribners, and several of the denominational publishing houses. Surely we are richer in the aids to learning and culture than any previous age in the world's history. Among these aids the Bible, in the light of its modern interpretations, still stands preeminent.

After years of careful study and effort, a great bill, which will be a boon and blessing to millions of children of this and future generations, has just been passed by Congress. It is known as "The Child-Labor Bill". President Wilson signed it on September 1st, and its provisions will go into effect one year from that date. It provides that children under sixteen years shall not be employed in mines and quarries, that children under fourteen years shall not be employed in shops and factories and canneries, nor children between fourteen and sixteen employed more than eight hours a day or during the night season-it prohibits the shipment in interstate commerce or the offer for shipment of the products of any quarry, mine, factory, or cannery where children below these recognized standards of child pretection were employed.

The Review of Reviews commenting on the passage of this bill says: "The bill favorably affects not less than a quarter of a million children under sixteen years of age at work in mines, quarries, factories, sweatshops, and canneries, some of whom the census omitted because they were not at work or happened to be in school on the day in April when the census-taker came around. Many of them are more or less protected by State laws. But as a decade rolls around the children set free from premature or too long continued daily toil may be counted by the millions. The example of the federal government will be a potent one to the more backward States and the friends of the children will be left unhampered by the only organized opposition that has hitherto been successful, when they attempt to bring up all the States to the best standards. The neglected problem of child labor on the farm can now be solved with due regard to the welfare of the child and his opportunities for education. The conscienceless offenders against public morals are always more careful

when Uncle Sam decides that what was immoral shall be also criminal. The beginning of the end of the system in America may be seen."

An Organization of a National Committee of One Hundred to induce a large number of non-English-speaking immigrants to attend night schools and learn English has been practically completed by the United States Commissioner of Education, P. P. Claxton.

The Honorable John Price Jackson, who is the Pennsylvania State Commissioner of Labor and Industry, has been appointed chairman of the National Committee of One Hundred, and Harrison H. Wheaton, Specialist in the Education of Immigrants in the Bureau of Education, has been designated to direct the "America First" Campaign in the capacity of chairman of the executive committee. Other officers and members of the executive committee have also been appointed to act until such time as the Committee of One Hundred can meet and complete its organization.

A complete plan of activity is being outlined by the chairman of the executive committee. This plan will enlist the active co-operation of every governmental agency, organization and individual interested in the education and welfare of immigrants.

The appeal for co-operation already sent out by the Bureau has met an enthusiastic response from every section of the country. Several national organizations reaching the immigrant industrially, educationally and otherwise are already co-operating. Foreign-language newspapers have agreed to print articles on the advantages of attending night schools, while national organizations of immigrants are taking steps to reach thousands of non-English-speaking members.

Mr. J. L. McBrien, School Extension Agent, Bureau of Education contributes the following concrete illustration of the evil of laxity in the enactment and enforcement of attendance laws for our public schools.

The enrollment in Pennsylvania's public schools for the year ending July 5, 1915, reached the colossal figures of 1,461,937. The average daily attendance in her public schools for that year was 1,166,513making her average daily absences climb to the startling number of 295,424. The cost of enforcing the compulsory attendance law in Pennsylvania for the same year was $198,991.71. These figures cover both rural and urban schools. The latest available statistics on separate attendance in urban and rural schools of Pennsylvania (1910) show that the number attending daily in every 100 enrolled in the urban schools of this State was 82, while in the rural schools it was only 76.6. It is evident, therefore, that the rural schools of Pennsylvania had a