THE ENGLISH ASSOCIATION.

This Association was instituted in 1907 for the purpose of affording opportunities for intercourse and co-operation amongst all those interested in English language and literature, of helping to maintain the correct use of English spoken and written, of promoting the due recognition of English as an essential element in the national education, and of discussing methods of teaching English, and the correlation of school and University work, and of encouraging and facilitating advanced study in English language and literature. Meetings are held to further these objects, and reports of papers read or discussions held at such meetings, as well as other leaflets, are printed by the Association. The central body has nearly 1,000 members, and there are branches of the Association in Birmingham, Bristol, Cumberland and Westmorland, Durham, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Yorkshire, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kelso, St. Andrews, Stirling, South India and Toronto. The President for the present year is Sir Sidney Lee, D.Litt.; the Chairman of Committee, Colonel John Buchan; the Hon. General Secretary, Miss K. S. Block; and the Secretary, Mr. A. V. Houghton, Imperial College. Union, South Kensington. The annual subscription is 5s., and life membership entails a payment of £3 3s.

THE MONTessori soCIETY.

Montessorian principles and practices have done much to quicken the study of pedagogical methods in this country, and to direct thoughts and efforts for improving educational conditions and procedures for the normal mental evolution and physical well-being of young children. Dr. Jessie White, the Honorary Assistant Secretary and Treasurer of the London Montessori Society, has kindly furnished us with the following particulars regarding the latest developments of the Montessori Society (London): Founded in 1912, the Montessori Society of the United Kingdom underwent reconstruction in the autumn of 1914 at the hands of the provisional committee elected on the eve of the outbreak of war in 1914. The new committee elected

in the autumn of 1914 consisted for the most part of Dr. Montessori's own students with a sprinkling of others who had more leisure to devote to the organization of the Society than had those who were engaged in the task of pioneering Montessori classes and schools. It saw that its chief task lay in bringing into co-operation those teachers who had already come under Dr. Montessori's inspiration through her books, and in arousing the interest of those who had not yet been kindled into enthusiasm for the reformed school which should make the scientific study of children possible by giving to the children a freedom more complete than they had hitherto been granted in practice. To do this it established study circles, limited to thirty in number, and engaged in the serious study of Dr. Montessori's educational ideas with the help of those who had studied directly under Dr. Montessori. The work of the study circles was aided by the establishing of the Children's House of St. Bartholomew in the autumn of 1915 as an Observation School, in which teachers might see a class actually at work under a teacher holding the International Montessori Diploma. It was also aided by the kind preference which Mrs. Hutchinson--the Head Mistress of a large L.C.C. Infant School, and herself a Montessori alumnus who attended the first International Course in Romeshowed to the members of study circles by giving them preference on her visiting days. Whereas the number of children in the Children's House of St. Bartholomew is limited to twenty, in Mrs. Hutchinson's school large classes can be seen at work in a manner that has convinced teacher after teacher that Dr. Montessori's ideal is no idle dream. A start has been made with study circles in the provinces, and it is, not inappropriate that the first should have been formed in Rugby, a town famous in the history of English education. In 1916 a new departure was made in the holding of a summer school in a Berkshire village where a Montessori School was established for three weeks in a village hall which was almost as though it had been built for the purpose. In January, 1917, the Montessori Society became affiliated to the International Montessori Associa

tion provisionally for a year, and during that year the members would have welcomed their President, Dr. Montessori, to England had it not been for the increased activity of the submarines. War conditions are responsible for the substitution in August of this year of a vacation study circle, limited to thirty, in London for the more ambitious summer school of last year. The Society works quietly and strenuously, rejoicing that every day the movement gains ground and wins new adherents. While chaiming to be an educational Society par excellence, it never loses sight of the fact that it is also a welfare Society, and one which looks towards the future with no uncertain hope. Further particulars may be obtained from Dr. Jessie White, at 49, Gordon Mansions, London, W.C.1.

THE CARNEGIE UNITED

KINGDOM TRUST

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The Carnegie United Kingdom Trustees having considered carefully the reports prepared for them, now in course of publication, with regard to the physical welfare of mothers and children, and having also had before them a large number of suggestions as to the way in which financial assistance might be rendered by the Trust towards helping forward the many and various attempts towards a solution of the national problem in question, make the following suggestions. The part of the income of the Trust which can be devoted to child welfare work is limited, and its application has to be considered in relation to the United Kingdom as a whole. order to stimulate public effort, local and general, and to provide useful examples of what might be effected by wise organization, the Trustees will presently designate certain urban areas in which they are prepared to meet the cost of erection and equipment of model welfare centres, to be controlled and maintained under an approved scheme by the local authority with the aid of Imperial grants. The Trustees also will be prepared to consider favourably the cost of the acquisition or erection of a suitable building in London for the housing of a central bureau or institute of a national character, to serve as a co-ordinating agency for all the vari

ous local and other organizations connected with infant and maternal welfare in England and Wales, and of a similar central institution for Scotland. The Trustees will, of course, need to be satisfied that the constitution of the body controlling such a central establishment is of a nationally representative character, and that resources are available for its proper maintenance. The purpose of the proposed central institutes would be to assist the various voluntary and statutory bodies engaged in the subject in England and Scotland respectively, not to supersede them or encroach upon their proper spheres of local interest. The Trustees hope in these ways, during the next three or four years, to employ the limited funds at their disposal in promoting a few welldevised experiments in organized effort towards the solution of a grave national problem. They cannot undertake during that interval to consider applications for assistance to local or general schemes for maternal and child welfare other than those which are above proposed. The Trustees will also be prepared to consider favourably, in a few suitable cases, applications from local authorities for assistance towards the initial capital outlay on the preparation and equipment of open spaces for children's playgrounds, which the authorities have acquired for the purpose, and are prepared to maintain.

NOTA BENE.

The British Association for the Advancement of Science have issued from the offices of the Association, Burlington House, W.1, a "Report on Science Teaching in Secondary Schools" (price IS. net). The members of the Committee are well-known experts, and their aim has been to consider the method and substance of science teaching in secondary schools, with particular reference to the essential place of science in general education. The Report is highly informing and practical, and merits the consideration of all educationists. There are a number of valuable communications on typical science courses, and the appendices contain data regarding such practical matters as Salaries of Teachers, Science Subjects in Typical Girls' Schools,

Laboratory Accommodation and Staffing, Academic Qualifications of Head Masters and Head Mistresses. It should be noted that the Chairman of the Committee is Professor R. A. Gregory, and Dr. E. H. Tripp, 3, Milton Road, Bedford, is Secretary. The Report formulates the aims of the teaching of science thus: (1) To train the powers of accurate observation of natural facts and phenomena and of clear description of what is observed. (2) To impart a knowledge of the method of experimental inquiry which distinguishes modern science from the philosophy of earlier times, and by which advance is secured. (3) To provide a broad basis of fact as to man's environment and his relation to it. (4) To give an acquaintance with scientific words and ideas now common in progressive life and thought.

The New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, 105, East 22nd Street, New York City, have issued "A Survey of Evidence regarding Food Allowances for Healthy Children," by Lucy H. Gillett, which contains tables and dietaries and much information regarding the proper nourishment of children. The brochure contains a useful bibliography. Another pamphlet has also been issued by the same Association dealing with "Food for the Family," in which much serviceable guidance is afforded regarding meals for growing children.

Under the title of "Instruction in Gardening, in Co-operation with the International Children's School Farm League," there has been issued particulars regarding the establishment of a School Garden Training Centre in the New York Botanical Gardens. Full particulars may be obtained on _application to the headquarters of the League, 47, West 34th Street, New York City.

The Division of Intelligence and Publicity of Columbia University are issuing a valuable series of "Columbia War Papers." No. 10, on "City Gardens," by Henry Griscom Parsons, of the New

Garden School of the New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, is a stimulating brochure with directions and suggestion for the preparation and cultivation of a city garden plot. All the pamphlets of the series deal with problems and duties of American citizens under war conditions.

The pamphlet, Herb Collecting for Boys and Girls," by Mrs. T. Chamberlain and Miss E. C. Wheelwright, issued by the Gardening Association, 62 and 64, Lower Sloane Street, S.W.1, has now reached a second edition (price 3d.).

The National Herb-Growing Association, 15 and 16, Verulam Street, Gray's Inn Road, E.C.1, have issued a useful leaflet, "A Calendar for Herb Collectors" (price id.).

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The Duty and Discipline Movement, 117, Victoria Street, S.W.1, have just issued in attractive brochure form Report of the Speeches delivered at the Annual Meeting, June 14. The Movement exists "to combat softness, slackness, indifference and indiscipline, and to stimulate discipline and a sense of duty and alertness throughout the national life, especially during the formative period of home and school training, and to give reasonable support to all legitimate authority."

The Lord Mayor of London is presenting to the Gresham Committee for the Royal Exchange a panel illustrating the recent visit of the King and Queen to the Armies in France and Flanders. Mr. Frank O. Salisbury has been commissioned to paint the picture, and their Majesties and the Prince of Wales have consented to give sittings. The artist is now on a visit to the Front for the purpose of selecting the particular scene to be depicted. The panel will form a valuable addition to the series of historical paintings already on the walls of the Royal Exchange.

A reproduction of Mr. Salisbury's great picture depicting Jack Cornwell appeared in our last issue.

"The Unfolding of Life." By W. T. A. Barber, D.D., Head Master of the Leys School. Published for the Fernley Lecture Trust. Pp. 246. London: Charles H. Kelly, 25-35, City Road, and 26, Paternoster Row, E.C. 1917. Price 3s. 6d. net.

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Dr. Barber's Fernley lecture is not to be viewed as a continuous theological treatise or complete religious thesis, but as a collection of stimulating and thoughtful essays on various aspects of religious life and character training as viewed from the standpoint of a head master of one of our public schools and a Minister of the Wesleyan Church. The volume contains seventeen chapters, and deals with such subjects as "A Child's Religion," "The Child in the Church," "The Beginnings of School," "Dawn of the Will," Discipline and Habit," "Public School Character," "Public School Teaching," "Methods of Religious Training," "On Leaving School," "Changing Values," and "The Next Generation." It is a book which parents, teachers and the clergy of all denominations should read. The author treats his subject with insight born of experience and much intimate intercourse with children and youths. The religious aim and atmosphere is maintained throughout, but there is a breadth in the outlook and a true sympathy with, and understanding of the spiritual needs of the child which will make the book welcome and helpful to readers of all liberal and progressive schools of thought. We would particularly commend the book to the unprejudiced study of all ministers and religious teachers. There is nothing abstruse or forbidding about these chapters. The truths they seek to set forth are attractively presented in clear-cut sentences and with many happy and effective illustrations. We are glad to find that Dr. Barber has had the courage to condemn much that prevailed until recent days in the instructions of strict parents, evengelical ministers and Sunday school

teachers regarding the relationship of the child to religion, and in evidence we venture on the following quotations: "The teaching of our Lord's life and sayings should warn us against the overclouding of the whole of a child's life with the expectation that wrong-doing is to be the staple experience until some moment of violent penitence and change. ... One of the faults of the evangelical movement, with all its virtues, was to expect a child to manifest religion in the same way as an adult does. . . . A wholesome child is repelled by a prig, is quite naturally indisposed to long prayers, to. religious meditation instead of games, and does not want to go to heaven. It is possible to lead a child honestly enough to desire the same spiritual expression as that of his elders; but high farming takes too much out of the soilthe premature forcing will inevitably lead to reaction. An unspiritual and often irreligious manhood is the probable result of such a priggish childhood." We would particularly commend the essay on "The Tides of the Spirit" to all religious advisers of youth. "The norm for the Christian child should be the gradual simple growth, without violent change, into the realization of his sonship. In dealing with young people the too frequent mistake of the evangelical Churches has been to expect the same manifestations of convulsion as in the converted drunkard. In the years of adolescence the whole emotional nature is in a state of flux and instability, and nothing is easier than to work upon the emotions of a boy. Nothing is more dangerous too, and dangerous above all is it to work upon those emotions in the stratum of religion. . . . In the case of the child whose course we have been contemplating it is most dangerous to exhaust the stratum of religious emotion by strong or threatening presentations of sin, punishment, immediacy. Effects can be produced, but the lode in this spiritual

mine will soon be worked out, the sensitiveness of this spiritual receptivity will be seared, and the remainder of life will be deadened through this premature excess. . . . The mistaken expectation that a boy is not converted until he gives the same manifestations as an adult has led too often to an unnatural forcing and resultant precocity which reacts viciously on later development. . . . It is impossible to pay too great a respect to the dignity of a boy's freewill." Dr. Barber does not hesitate to expose misconceptions and fallacies and worse, and his outspokenness adds much to the charm and service of his book. Here is an illustration "John Wesley never made a greater mistake than when he borrowed from his German-Moravian friends the aphorism, If he play when he is a boy, he will play when he is a man,' and therefore sought to keep his Kingswood boys from playing." There is much further in this wise exposition of the unfolding of the vital elements of being, to which we could wish space would permit us to direct attention, but we have indicated sufficiently of the aims and contents of this most interesting and helpful of recent books on the evolution of a child's spiritual life and growth of character to show that it is a work which no serious student of childhood and its thoughts and ways can afford to neglect.

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This brochure contains valuable data relating to boy betterment and practical suggestions deserving serious consideration. The author rightly contends that the boy must be regarded as a future citizen, as an industrial and national asset, and as possessing the right to be sufficiently well clothed, well fed, and well housed; and if the State performs her part Great Britain and the British Empire will be a healthier and happier country. But child welfare must be our special care." Between the ages of 14 and 18 there are no less than 1,210,000 adolescent boys engaged in various industries. Every year from 60,000 to

70,000 children leave the elementary schools of the London County Council to become wage-earners. Throughout the country 600,000 on attaining their fourteenth birthday leave school. It would seem that 176,000 children leave at 13 and 386,000 before 14, and we spend £26,000,000 on elementary education.

The London County Council incur an annual expenditure of £6,000,000 for 728,000 children under their charge. The General Federation of Trade Unions is said to represent 146 societies, with a membership of 1,086,000, but the number of youths unrepresented is estimated at 1,210,000. "Such measures as the Factory and Workshop Act of 1901, the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act of 1904, the Education (and Administrative Provisions) Act of 1907, the Children Act of 1908, and the Education (and Provision of Meals) Act of 1906, are merely the beginning of legislation in the interests of children.' Mr. Macartney urges with sound wisdom that "it is of little use to expend much care upon the health of children in connection with the schools if it is not to be extended when they become wage-earners." He presents the following as ideals to be aimed at : "(1) That no boy should enter employment unsuited to his age or physical condition. (2) That so far as is possible activities directed towards the amelioration of physical defects discovered on leaving school, and subsequent aftercare shall not cease, even though they may be altered in kind, at the moment the child enters employment. (3) That industrial conditions should be supervised by the proper authorities in relation to the physique and the health of the young worker." The need for coordination of work and co-operation of workers is well brought out. "Boy life must engage our serious study, and we must possess the organization to link up all schools of thought associated with youths throughout the country under one central body: (a) Men conversant with the problems of boys should come forward and work in unison, so that others may be affected with enthusiasm; also that the more fortunate may assist the less fortunate. (b) All the local boy welfare associations should be co-ordinated under a Boy Industrial Council, whose