We will leave it to the reader to think out the educational bearings of this incident. It seems to the writer that they lead far into the field of morals, sociology and economics, and suggest questions that are worth thinking about. But it would be too bad to spoil a good incident by "preaching" home its moral, so we forbear comment.

One of the marvels of modern times is the transformation wrought in an incredibly short time by the American Farmer and the American School in the conditions of a given locality in our great West. Here is an incident related by Mr. C. J. Blanchard, Statistician, and published in the "Reclamation Record" by the Department of the Interior at Washington, D. C.

"I quizzed a newcomer from Illinois as to why he left the Middle West for Idaho. He said there were two things which induced him to come cheaper land and better schools. 'Why,' said he, 'do you know that my boy and girl go to the finest graded school in the United States? There isn't a better school in the world attended by country children than the consolidated school of Burley.' Pretty strong statement, wasn't it? It made me want to look into it, and I did. Putting myself in the hands of Prof. Roe, superintendent of instruction, I discovered that Burley and the country districts by combining forces and capital have produced about the last word in the consolidated school. The movie man, with camera ready, undertook to film the school at close of day, but 1,100 children homeward bound are not to be controlled. Five hundred of them were rushing pell-mell for the long line of school wagons ready to start for the country districts. Think what a picture this was to one who 10 short years ago saw the country a desert."

The

One of the most generous bequests ever made to a municipal university is the gift of Francis H. Baldwin to the University of Cincinnati. Mr. Baldwin, a merchant of Cincinnati, left the major part of his estate to the City of Cincinnati for the unspecified uses of its university. The bequest is approprimately $675,000. suggestion has been made that the bequest be converted into an endowment fund, the proceeds to be offered each year to the point of greatest need. It is likely that the next new building, possibly an assembly hall, will bear the name of the donor.

Educators and religious leaders will get together to consider the religious significance of the present world struggle in the convention of the Religious Education Association which meets at Boston, February 27th to March 1st, 1917.

The Fourteenth General Convention of the Religious Education Association takes up the theme "Religious Education and the Coming Social Order." The program is planned to face the question: How should youth be trained and prepared to meet the needs and demands of the great changes that are sure to follow the world war? It is therefore a convention on "preparedness," but not on preparedness by armament but by education. The association is an international organization; it has members in all the warring countries and it is expected that the attendance will represent many nations and lands.

For its real educational and human interest we quote the following excerpts from a Bulletin of the Washington Bureau of Education. It is with the purpose of more clearly defining the ideals held by those teaching home economics that the Commissioner of Education recently caused a letter to be sent to the teachers in the high schools of the smaller cities and villages asking the reason for the giving of lessons in home economics in their communities. A few of the thoughtful answers that have been received are quoted below in the hope that all the teachers of home economics may be influenced to make their ideal the expression of the highest service they can render. Concisely stated the purposes in home economics teaching are expressed as follows:

IDAHO "We endeavor to develop interest in the activities of the home and to make our girls more efficient in the duties of the housekeeper and better able to cope with the problems of life."

INDIANA "Our purpose in teaching the household arts is to give our girls a sense of the responsibility which they now have in the home and will have in the future, also of their responsibility to their community."

MISSOURI "I consider the purpose of teaching home economics in the high school to be that of placing the girls who study it in a position to properly adjust themselves to their environment, by having as a sound foundation the principles which underlie the building of the home to-day."

MASSACHUSETTS "I believe that every girl should be able to plan, cook, and serve a simple meal; to make, alter, and repair simple dresses; to buy all household supplies with judgment; and to carry on with intelligence the ordinary household processes. I think, too, that high school work should be inspirational and that as potential home makers the girls should acquire ideals along with a knowledge of principles which should fit them to take their part in community and national housekeeping"."

TEXAS "We teach home economics to our girls in order to raise their estimate of the value and dignity of home duties; to arouse a scientific interest in the subject; and to establish closer relations between school and home."

Foreign Notes

ENGLAND. One of the most important of the education committees working on plans for reconstruction in England was appointed to review the teaching of modern languages. The province of the committee is very broad. They are charged to have regard to "the requirements of a liberal education, including an appreciation of the history, literature, and civilization of other countries, and to the interests of commerce and public service." They must, therefore, comprise in their inquiry the work of schools, of universities and of specialized institutions, and they will of necessity depend upon similar investigations that have been ordered by the different classes of schools and the associations particularly interested in this subject. Among these auxiliary bodies is the subcommittee appointed by the Modern Language Association "to investigate the facts and report on the question of university appointments in modern languages." The original reference was subsequently expanded as follows: "To consider the question from the point of view of the relation between schools and universities." This committee has already rendered a report which is comprehensive and precise and full of instruction for teachers and school officers in the United States to whom the problem of modern language teaching has become one of supreme consequence. This report together with an illuminating discussion of the scope of the government committee is comprised in the supplement to the London Journal of Education for December.

The findings of the committee on university appointments centered in the choice and preparation of future teachers of modern languages. This subject is considered in a third article in the supplement referred to by Cloudesley Brereton, a member of the committee and an authority on the subject, of high repute both in England and on the continent.

It is interesting to note that an enormous impulse has been given to the study of continental languages in Great Britain, and that while the importance of French has been increased by the experiences of the war, Spanish, Italian, and Russian now dispute second place with German.

The position of president of the board of education in the reorganized government under Lloyd George has fallen to Dr. H. A. L. Fisher, Vice Chancellor of Sheffield University. This appointment is characterized by the London Times as "a momentous departure from all political precedents." His selection is taken as a sign that the Prime Minister is in earnest about pushing the measures for educational reconstruction that were started under Premier Asquith. Dr. Fisher was one of the original members of the Modern Lan

guages committee and also of the committee on the civil service, duties which he will probably have to surrender for the larger responsibilities now thrust upon him.

FRANCE. EDUCATION OF ADULTS.-The system of classes for the continued education of youths and adults started by Jean Macé in 1894 has continued without interruption to the present time. The State contributes an annual appropriation to this work which, beginning with 20,000 francs ($4,000) in 1894-95, reached in 1914, 900,000 francs ($180.000). The municipalities bear the greater part of the expense, appropriations from this source in 1914 amounting to $360,000. The instruction is carried on chiefly by regular teachers of primary schools assisted by professors of secondary education. It takes the form of a lecture or course of lectures, but ample opportunity is given for question and explanation so that the lectures often assume the character of class instruction. The total number of lectures in 1914 was 54,351 employing the services of 60,000 teachers, many of whom were assisting with the stereopticon. The lectures are intended either for young men or young women, or for both sexes according to conditions.

As a consequence of the war, the attendance upon the continuation classes, as they may be called, declined in 1916 to 30,000, over half the attendance in 1913-14. In part this was due to the loss of ten departments which were either occupied for the time by the enemy or were the scene of warfare. At the same time the response of 25,000 male teachers to the call of the army deprived these evening classes of many devoted workers. So far as possible the losses were made good by women teachers. This change greatly increased the number of lectures attended by both sexes, and it was noticeable that the young men showed great respect for the women teachers while the presence of both sexes in no way diminished the interest in the instruction. It appears, therefore, that coeducation has received a new impulse from the necessities of the war. Necessarily the audiences were limited almost entirely to youths excepting in the larger towns where women and refugees eagerly sought to extend their limited education. The programs were adjusted to conditions growing out of the war. For young men they consisted in the review of matters learned in the primary school to which were added practical lessons, commercial, industrial, or agricultural in their character, and illustrative lectures on geography, particularly that of the countries of the allies. The courses of instruction special to young women, related chiefly to domestic subjects, management of the home, expenditure of money, etc. In many towns of France this work assumed the character of re-education for disabled soldiers. In such cases the

instruction assumed an individual character and in several cases amounted to a veritable apprenticeship. In particular is noted the case of soldiers whose right arms had been permanently disabled, but who were taught to write and draw with the left hand.

INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES.-One of the most interesting educational events in 1916 was the visit of representatives of the French universities to the universities of England in response to a special invitation from the latter. When the invitation was received the question naturally arose, why choose a time for such a visit when the universities are stripped of their students and their entire work disarranged as a consequence of war. The answer to this natural inquiry is found in a report of the visit published in the latest number of the Revue Internationale. The itinerary of the French visitors included the principal university centers of Great Britain. Everywhere the same conditions were encountered: The university youth of Great Britain are all with the army, nevertheless intense interest was excited by the researches and experiments conducted in the university laboratories in the interests of war. The higher institutions have been converted into laboratories of the mechanical sciences and chemistry, and workshops for the manufacture of instruments of precision and implements of warfare. The impression made by this display strengthened the ties between the two countries now united in a common purpose.

The intellectual relations between France and Spain were commemorated by a visit of representatives of the Spanish academies to the Sorbonne in October. Among notable addresses made on this occasion was that by Dr. Altamira on the philosophy of history. In the opinion of this philosopher and statesman one effect of the European war will be the formation of a new moral concept in regard to the true mission of nations in the progress of humanity.

A. T. S.