gently required a change. In the autumn of 1917 a scheme was undertaken for sending away for periods varying from a fortnight to three months, children whose nervous system had been affected by air raids. About 2,000 children were dealt with, and sporadic cases of raid-shock have been treated throughout the winter and spring. It has been found that a prolonged stay in the country has been of the greatest benefit in establishing the nervous equilibrium and warding off threatened serious consequences.

The Fund now hopes to be able to send away during the summer months a certain number of the more delicate children. War-time difficulties, and chiefly the shortage of visitors, and provision for country accommodation will do much to hamper and restrict the work of the Fund. Full particulars regarding the aims and endeavours of the Children's Country Holidays Fund may be obtained on application to the central office, 18, Buckingham Street, Strand, W.C.

It

NOTA BENE. Baby Week is to be celebrated during the first week of July. Active preparations are being made and local committees are hard at work in many parts of the country. Committees who are anxious to arrange Baby Week celebrations should procure the Report of the Council for last year (price is., post free, to be obtained from the central office, 27A, Cavendish Square, W.1., or from Messrs. W. H. Smith and Son's bookstalls). This gives all the leaflets published by the Council last year, together with accounts of many local celebrations. Specimens of the new leaflets for this year may be had from the central office on application.

The Children's Fresh-air Mission, established in 1882, and with headquarters at 75, Lamb's Conduit Street, W.C.1, have a fine record of service. Up to the end of 1917 96,037 had been sent to the country. Last year 1,428 children were given a holiday. A number of little sufferers from air-raid shock were helped. It is hoped that the work of the Mission may be continued during the summer months, but war conditions are raising many difficulties.

The Weaving Studies at 35, Upper Grosvenor Street, Park Lane, W.1, have been established as a practical measure of rescue work among girls requiring a new start in life but who by character or upbringing are unsuited for domestic service or factory life. A hostel is maintained in connection with the industry.

The Duke of Northumberland, President of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, has placed at the disposal of the Institution the sum of £100, to be used for presenting prizes for the best essays on “The Heroic Work of the Lifeboats ” written by children. The competition is open to children in the senior classes of all elementary schools throughout the United Kingdom, participation therein being voluntary on the part of the head teachers. Particulars may be obtained from Mr. George F. Shee, M.A., 22, Charing Cross Road, London, W.C.2.

The National Food Reform Association, the headquarters of which are now at Danes Inn House, 265, Strand, W.C.2, have just issued in convenient vest-pocket size No. 15 of “Facts for Patriots (fourth series), (price 5d. post free). provides much timely information : tells all about war bread, the use of barley, rye, potatoes, maize, rice, and there is up-to-date information about fats like margarine and oil. The little book is issued with the approval of medical and other authorities. The three earlier numbers deal with cheese, pulse, and other meat substitutes, the economical use of meat, fish, milk vegetables, salads, fruit, &c. The complete series may be obtained post free is. 6d.

During the spring and summer Child Welfare Exhibitions, arranged by the National Union of Women Workers, will be held in various parts of the country. Application for the loan of the exhibition should be made to the Secretary, Child Welfare and Health Exhibition Committee, 27A, Cavendish Square, W.1.

The Shaftesbury Society, formerly known as the Ragged School Union, has added to its variety of child welfare agencies the Fallow Corner Home for Children, at North Finchley with accommodation for eighty babies and young children. This work is mainly for the first children of unmarried mothers, and was started twenty years ago by two trained nurses, Miss Wright and Miss Kingsford, who still continue their active management, while the Society assumes financial responsibility. An appeal is now published for £4,000 to clear off liabilities on the old building account. The Home receives boys up to 8 years and girls up to 14 years, but many children only enter for short periods until mothers or guardians can resume charge. Over 600 children have been taken in since the Home was founded. The Society has also opened a small House of Rest for Mothers and Babies at Addiscombe, Surrey. Further particulars may be obtained on application to Headquarters, 32, John Street, Theobald's Road, W.C.1.

“ Proceedings of the National Conference of Social Work,” held in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, June 6-13, 1917, and issued as a bulky volume of upwards of 700 pages from the permanent headquarters at 315, Plymouth Court, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., is a work which will be of interest and value to all students of social problems on both sides of the Atlantic. It contains papers on

“ The Family and the Community,” “Infant and Child Welfare Work," " Juvenile Courts,” “Unmarried Mothers and Illegitimacy,” and “State Programmes for Child Welfare.” There are also sections on Public Charities, Mental Hygiene, Community Programmes, Social Insurance, Corrections, Rural Social Problems, and Social Problems of the War.

Empire Day should be suitably celebrated this year.

Lord Peel, Chairman, and Lord Meath, Founder, of the Empire Movement, express the hope that, as Empire Day (May 24) is now officially recognized by the Government and observed by the hoisting of the Union Jack over Government buildings in the British islands, all public authorities and patriotic citizens will follow the example thus set them and fly the national emblem on public buildings and private dwellings. They state that in England and Wales 308 education committees, seventeen-eighteenths of the total number,

have sanctioned the observance of the day in their 27,000 schools, training colleges, and other institutions, with an average attendance of 5,400,000 scholars, while 142 chief magistrates have signified their desire to celebrate the day in their respective cities and boroughs. Last year the day was observed in 71,000 schools throughout the Empire with an attendance of nearly 10,000,000 scholars, and it is estimated that some 20,000,000 of people were connected with the movement and responded to its watchwords : "Responsibility, Duty, Sympathy, and Self-sacrifice.” The League of the Empire's annual Empire Day service will be held on Saturday, June 1, at 6, at St. Paul's Cathedral. Among societies cooperating in the celebration will be the Boys' Brigade, Church Lads' Brigade, London Diocesan Church Lads' Brigade, Boy Scouts' Association, Navy League, Boys' Life Brigade, Girl Guides, Church

ursing and Ambulance Brigade, Newport Market Army Training School, Foundling Hospital, Girls' Life Brigade, and Dr. Barnardo's Homes. The Bishop of Willesden will preach. The sixty-four flags of the Empire will be carried by a detachment of the London Diocesan Church Lads' Brigade and trooped before the Altar for the Blessing.

The Somers Town Nursery School, 18, Crowndale Road, N.W.1, near Mornington Crescent Tube Station, is being conducted under the direction of Miss E. E. Lawrence. The Report for 1917 has just been issued, and is a record of wellplanned and highly successful endeavour.

The National Council of Public Morals for Great and Greater Britain, 20, Bedford Square, W.C.1, have issued an attractive and informing

“Reconstructive Programme, 1918-1919."

A summer course of special lectures and demonstrations

" Ambulance Work and First Aid ” will be held at the College of Ambulance, 3, Vere Street, Cavendish Square, W.1, commencing Thursday, May 16, at 4.30 p.m.

66

on

or

“The Advanced Montessori Method: Scientific Pedagogy as Applied to the Education of Children from Seven to Eleven Years. Vol. II. The Montessori Elementary Material.' By Maria Montessori. Translated from the Italian by Arthur Livingston, Associate Professor of Italian at Columbia University, Pp. xviii + 455, with 58 plates, special charts, and

diagrams, and other illustrations. London: William Heinemann, 21, Bedford Street, W.C. 2. 1918. Price 12s. 6d. net.

Should this volume fall into the hands of one who had not previous knowledge of the Montessori movement, he would undoubtedly fail to realize the extent of the revolution in educational principle and practice of which it forms part. But for those who have read Vol. I (reviewed in the March issue of THE CHILD) and have some knowledge of the didactic apparatus, invented (or compiled) by Dr. Montessori for children from 3 to 6 years of age, this second volume, dealing with the period from 7 to 11, will prove of absorbing interest. It does not, it is true, cover the whole curriculum for this period, and some of the omissions, though easily to be explained, seem nevertheless regrettable. It is clear, for instance, that by far the greatest part in the mental (and perhaps spiritual) development of “ Montessori” children of the ages dealt with will be taken by the books they read for themselves. The small space given to a discussion of the literary food to be provided for them (5 pages, as compared with 150 for grammar) makes one wonder whether even the great reformer herself quite realizes how far the “Montessori” child will be in advance of the average child of the same age, or how deeply he will be able to penetrate during these five years into the “Realms of Gold.” Probably, however, the dottoressa felt compelled to restrict herself to such parts of the curriculum as are most susceptible of being presented by special didactic apparatus. But the short list of books used for reading aloud (pp. 191 et seq.) only

whets one's appetite for a suggested library of international literature in which the children might browse at will. Would it be framed on a theory of parsimony (I can imagine, for example, that a good case might be made out—and not merely on religious grounds for early concentration on the Bible), or would it offer a generous width and variety of choice? The brief list of books for “audition"

suggests the latter. Incidentally it gives the coup de grâce to the superstition that Dr. Montessori altogether rules out works of imagination, as Hans Andersen heads the list, which contains also “Fabiola” and “Uncle Tom's Cabin.” Immensely interesting to teachers of history will be the discovery of the avidity with which the children took to "I Liberatori” (Makers of Freedom), the special feature of which is its contemporary documents reprinted in facsimile. The "animated discussions” and “acting” of episodes started by this book recalls to the present reviewer a time when he and his companions (aged 8) at “dame" school divided themselves into Athenians and Spartans and reacted the eternal struggle between culture and physical force. It is clear that as far as intellectual capacity is concerned there would be very few authors in prose or poetry which a Montessori child of 9 to 11 years could not tackle. The grammatical and mathematical apparatus continues with great ingenuity the stimulants to self-education provided by the infants' material. It is quite impossible within the limits of this notice to go into any detailed explanation of the use made of beads, insets, letters, diagrams and graphs. Perhaps room may be found in a subsequent issue of THE CHILD for illustrations giving a clue to the general method. This method is not the “principle”—which is scientific observation and experiment upon “free” children. The apparatus is but the jumping-off ground; but "he who has all this material ready to his hand has an easy

a

task in bringing about the natural development of the psychic life of the child. With such objects at his disposal every teacher may realize the ideal of liberty in the school."

CECIL GRANT.

I build a warm fire for the Children, the

Children. To my tower oft beleagured allies I call, They shine like the sun to the eyes of the

Children, God's men-at-arms keep us by gate and wall. I leave in safe keeping the Children, the

Children, Down to the cities my way I take, Past the walls and the sentry, alert for the

Children, I creep

in the shadows fur lhe Children's sake. I gather rich stores for the Children, the

Children, The lowing of oxen is heard as I come, I carry the sheaves in my arms for the Children,

O, sweet on the hill-top the lights of home.

Unless the Lord build it, the house for the

Children, Unless He be with me my labour's vain, He has thought it, and planned it, the fold for

the Children, Where the lambs are folded without fear or

stain.

I fight the holy fight for the Children, the

Children, The Sons of God, glorious, sit down at my

board, Though foes hem us in, shall I fear for the

Children, Fighting the strong fight in the name of the

Lord ?

" The Sayings of the Children." Written down by their mother, Pamela Glenconner. Pp. ix + 138. With portrait, frontispiece and 4 illustrations. Oxford: B, H. Blackwell, 50 and 51, Broad Street, · 1918. Price 3s. 6d. net.

This dainty, artistic, beautifully printed volume is altogether a delight. It is a work which every mother should possess. As a maternal record of the mental development of five children the book is · unique. Portraits are given of the five; all are exceptionally gifted children, and at least one possessed psychic powers. The children, moreover, have clearly been the constant companions of a clever, religious, and poetic mother. They were brought up to be well acquainted with the Scriptures, “The Pilgrim's Progress," and much of the best in classical literature. The volume has a distinct literary charm, but it is a real contribution to the study of the psychology of early childhood. The “sayings” of the children are skilfully strung together like pearls, in a fascinating necklace, but each offers material for scientific analysis and discussion. At the end of the volume is a collection of “Songs, Plays, and Ballads," by “Two," written between the age of 4 and 9 years. Mrs. Glenconner has incorporated some wonderful extracts from the poets, and we hope we may be pardoned for reproducing the strong lines written by Katherine Tynan for “ The Children's Mother.” They are lines which will bring strength, comfort, courage and grace to all mothers striving for the safeguarding of their sons and daughters. I build a strong, tower for the Children, the

Children, With moat and portcullis I keep it still, The foe clangs without, but within it the

Children Sleep soundly and sweetly till cock crow

shrill. I wage a holy war for the Children, the

Children,
My hand against the world that they may live,
I am cunning and crafty as the fox for her

Children,
Wise as the serpent lest the children grieve.

at

"The Jukes in 1915." By Arthur H. Estabrook, of the Eugenics Records Office. Pp. vii + 85. Washington: The Carnegie Institution. 1916.

This monograph appears as Publication No. 240 of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and Paper 25 of the Station for Experimental Evolution Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York. The Jukes were first studied by Richard L. Dugdale, who died in 1883. His first study of the Juke family was issued in 1875, and in 1877 it was elaborated into book form and is now in its fourth edition. Recently much further evidence regarding the members of this neuropathic family came to light, and a new investigation was undertaken which has lasted for three years. “Every Juke possible to see has been personally visited.” The results of this remarkable research are set forth in detail in this elaborate monograph. There are numerous charts