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not include a collar, and he may never wear one till the day he leaves. The girl's hat may always be held by a chin elastic and the glories and possibilities of a hat-pin will be unknown to her. A library of really excellent books is very often provided, and perhaps he is allowed and even encouraged to retain possession of a book until he has read it; or, on the other hand, his leisure reading may be limited to a "good" book on a Sunday afternoon. He may see the daily papers, but in many institutions these are an unknown world to him. It is quite rare to see such in a girls' institution. Is it too much to expect that these children should be taught to shop, to learn the value of money, to choose clothes which will wear, rather than flimsy rubbish, to learn the thrill of a bookseller's shop, and the joy of choosing and buying your own book? What a joy and training might be made of the choosing of a girl's hat in her last year at school, or for a boy in his choice of a tie. The energy and individuality of the superintendent means almost everything to the boys or girls, and whereas in one place games, competitions, hobbies, and pets are encouraged to a wonderful extent, in another no child does anything different to another" It would be impossible to arrange it in this school," is the excuse. In such an institution spare time is not allowed; "Satan finds mischief for idle hands" is a maxim so well learnt that no risks are taken. "What has been, must be," is the rule, and authority determines everything, allows or disallows, checks and controls, and slowly but surely drives away any initiative the child might possess. The schoolrooms vary tremendously, and owing to the large classes of children of varying ages and standards the teacher is often in a hopeless predicament. He is often overworked, has no opportunity of visiting other schools and may be quite out of date. The progress is often that of the slowest; at a certain age or standard the child is considered to be educated and leaves school quickly to forget much he has learnt. Only exceptionally, do bright children receive special attention and are sent to technical or other classes in the nearest town. Some institutions send all their children to public elementary schools, an excellent arrangement which

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enables the children to meet others, gives them a daily walk, ensures a better classification in the schoolroom and widens their outlook on life. But in other cases such an idea is met with difficulties of all kinds, the parents of children attending the school do not want little orphan brats or industrial school children sitting with their children, or the fear of infectious disease looms too large in the minds of the managers to allow such a dangerous experiment. The industrial training is often exceptionally poor. In boys' schools bootmaking and tailoring occupy many of the lads, and as disposals to these trades are rare they must be looked upon as mere moneysaving devices for the benefit of the institution. In institutions for girls laundry work is the main training for the same It is an unhealthy occupation for a growing girl, the anæmic appearance of the elder girls is sufficient to prove that, and it is a matter of congratulation that market gardening is beginning to be recognized as something more suited to the girl who needs an active and vigorous life." We are particularly glad to find that Dr. Norris does not hestitate to condemn much of the life in connection with institutions devoted to the care of adolescent girls: "The training in girls' institutions, and particularly penitentiaries, calls for the careful consideration of all concerned. So often the girl is kept so secluded from and ignorant of the world and its dangers that at 16 or thereabouts when she leaves the institution she starts life with a want of knowledge which is dangerous in the extreme. The domestic training in one institution was such that a class of girls of 13 to 15 years of age considered elevenpence a pound a fair price for potatoes, a single cup of tea might be made by putting a handful of tea in a teapot and filling up with warm water, an egg would be lightly boiled after ten minutes boiling. Of liberty for the institution child there is often an amount which surprises those who know little of institutions, yet in some cases, rare perhaps, children may never leave the grounds of the institution for weeks or months on end. In many reformatories and industrial schools children who have been in the school for some time are allowed to go in and out, do messages

in the town, go home on leave or for a holiday, and rarely break the trust imposed upon them. Ignorant and misinformed people often picture these institutions as sort of modified prisons surrounded with high walls and the inmates guarded zealously. Do we encourage visitors to come and see our institutions, to take an interest in them and the children? In recent years, the practice of taking all the inmates of children's institutions away for an annual holiday often by the sea and sometimes camping out has become much more usual and has had an excellent influence on the children, particularly in the case of girls' schools." Much of the limitations and deficiencies existing in connection with child welfare work is due to the indifference and ignorance of committees of management and those responsible for the organization and administration of institutions. "Trustees, managers, and committees of institutions vary as much as the training of the inmates. In some cases they take an immense interest in the life of the children and make great sacrifices of time and money to secure their ideals; in other cases they rarely. enter the building, know little or nothing of what goes on inside, and even hold all their committee meetings fifty miles from the school. They rarely visit other and similar institutions, and if they did would not admit that anything was better done by others than by themselves. Financially, nearly all children's institutions are in a bad position, and this limits and indeed is often almost entirely responsible for the narrowness of the training, though sometimes it is only the excuse for standing still. It is a matter for comment that the State should allow nearly a quarter of a million of its children to be brought up under conditions where money must be and is very much the determining factor in deciding any improvement in their training. Such are briefly some of the limitations of institutional training. Others could be mentioned and will occur to every one. the other hand, there are, of course, numerous advantages which an institution child possesses which children in good and indifferent homes do not have, but this paper deals with the other side of the question. It must not, however, be thought for a moment that any one

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institution has all these failings; indeed, it is a matter of experience to every inspector of institutions that nearly all these limitations are really barriers which could be easily removed and are actually overcome, some in one place, some in another." Dr. Norris is a constructive reformer, and is able to point the path to progressive betterment in ways and means for improving existing conditions: "The difficulties in the way are want of knowledge, initiative, and courage to experiment, and worst of all, absolute confidence and satisfaction with the present. Can we not improve on this? First, if it is an accepted fact that an institution is not equal to a good-some people would say a moderate-home, it is surely the duty of the head of an institution to make quite certain that it is necessary for the child to remain an inmate. Little children should be boarded out where possible; many a child sent to a reformatory should have been sent to an industrial school, and should be transferred at once. Many a boy or girl should have been put on probation with a kind but firm probation officer. to be hoped that the children's organizations will take a larger share in the future in probation work than they have done in the past. The child's home, if it possesses one, should always be under observation, so that if the reason for taking the child from the home ceases to exist he may be returned to it. This applies particularly to those responsible for the management of industrial schools. A knowledge of the child's home and family is a help to the intelligent head of any institution. Surely if he or she can manage to improve the home it is worth doing for the child's sake alone, for it must be borne in mind that sooner or later every child returns home. It is the greatest possible mistake for the staff of any institution to cut off from the child God's own gift of home life. The ideal should be to make that home fit for the child and give the child sufficient strength of character to return to its home, even if it is not all that can be desired. The main interest of the parent may be a sordid one, but there is almost always in the worst mother some love for her child. Secondly, all children's institutions should be under inspection. Inspectors must, of course, be careful not

to become mere critics, but must be able and willing to help from their encyclopædia of information gathered by the exceptional opportunities they possess of visiting a large number and variety of institutions. At the same time an inspector should never hesitate to condemn where condemnation is necessary, and never accept the plea of impossibility. The children's institutions have done and are doing a wonderful work; they will always be necessary, but they must always be improving their methods. Surely it behoves all responsible for the care of other people's children to have a frequent stocktaking and examination of methods, ideals, results, and to ask themselves and each other if all is well. Is our institution as good as it might be, is it any better than it was a year ago-if not, it is certain to be worse-are we keeping ahead of modern ideas, are we shutting our eyes to what is wrong, or defending it because we feel criticism to be censure? Surely a wise man may learn from others? Without doubt the greatest need of institutional life is that managers and staff should meet and encourage a free interchange of ideas, freely visit other schools, and equally freely admit visitors to their own, and discuss their difficulties on the spot. The worst institution may have its good points and may often give an idea to the managers of the best. After all, every institution has its weak points, its limitations, its failures, and though no one expects perfection, ignorance, blindness, and slackness are crimes which cannot be forgiven. An old Arab proverb recently quoted in a London evening paper might well be hung in the office of every institution :

"He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool-avoid him.

He who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep-awake him.

He who knows not and knows that he knows not wants beating-beat him.

But he who knows and knows that he knows is a wise man-follow him."

Dr. Norris has provided abundant material for thought and discussion. We earnestly hope that before long it may be possible to have a representative commission which shall thoroughly investigate all matters relative to the life and institutional care of the nation's children.

MISCELLANY.

"First Notes on Speech Training" is a four-page collection of instructive notes prepared by Miss Elsie Fogerty, and published by Messrs. George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 40, Museum Street, W.C. (price 4d. net). It provides helpful guidance for teachers dealing with children who are the subjects of indistinct or incorrect utterance, mismanagement in pronunciation and articulation, and erroneΑ ous breathing and voice production. set of serviceable remedial exercises is provided.

"Palestine and Jerusalem: Salient Points in the Geography, History, and Present-day Life of the Holy Land," by Rev. H. Sykes, M.A., Secretary of the Palestine Mission of the Church Missionary Society, published by Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton (price 10d. net), is described as "A Soldier's Handbook," but it is also a manual which every minister of religion and teacher of children should make a point of studying. It is a condensed account of the geography, history, and present-day conditions of the Holy Land. An immense amount of invaluable information has been concentrated and attractively presented in these sixty-four pages. There are two excellent maps.

"Facilities for Children's Play in the District of Columbia" is a Report issued from the Children's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor, and forms Miscellaneous Series Publication No. 8, and Bureau Publication No. 22 of the valuable records now being issued from the Bureau, of which the Chief is Miss Julia C. Lathrop. It is a remarkable document, with its numerous plans and wellarranged data, and serviceable information regarding facilities for the essential recreation of children in given districts of Washington. Such a Report might well be taken as a model on which returns for other centres might be prepared. We hope the day is not far distant when some such publication may be possible in this country. All interested in the furtherance of the Play Movement for Children should secure a copy of this valuable official publication.

Workers seeking the protection of children from the ravages of tuberculosis and desirous of arresting or ameliorating the

disease in boys and girls who have fallen victims to the scourge should procure copies of "Aux Enfants de France" and the various picture-postcards and illustrated posters issued by the most wise and serviceable Commission Américaine de Préservation Centre la Tuberculose en France. Our cousins and allies from across the Atlantic are accomplishing a noble service for the sons and daughters of France. The headquarters of the Commission is at 12, Rue Boissy d'Anglas, Paris, VII.

Messrs. Warwick and York (Incorporated), the well-known educational publishers, of 10, East Centre Street, Baltimore, Md., U.S.A., have just issued a useful annotated "Bibliography of Educational, Psychological and Miscellaneous Publications," issued by them from 1908 to 1917. The list is one which educationists will find of much service for reference. The price is 25 cents.

The current number of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine (May, 1918, vol. xi, No. 7) contains the Report of the Committee appointed by the Section of Obstetrics and Gynecology to investigate the Effects of Scopolaminemorphine Narcosis, "Twilight Sleep,” in Childbirth.

We are informed that the Children's Year Movement is being enthusiastically developed in all parts of Great Britain. Schemes of great variety are being adopted for the physical, mental and moral betterment of the young, and in some important centres Maternity and Child Welfare Councils have been established as the result of meetings organized in connection with the Movement. In Cardiff, we understand, the Juvenile Organizations Committee has decided to signalize the year by compiling complete data with regard to the young life of the city, with a view to taking in hand an exceptionally comprehensive programme, which will be followed with much interest by all who are alive to the daily increasing value of the child as a national asset. One of the most significant features of this Movement, which is now almost world-wide, is the fact that it emanated from the National Sunday School Union, and is being urged forward by that important Society with a thoroughness and breadth of conception

which embraces every aspect of infantile, child, and juvenile well-being.

In order to further the teaching of geography to young children, Mr. E. G. R. Taylor, B.Sc., Lecturer in Geography at the Froebel Educational Institute, has published, through The Modern Geographers, Ltd., 15, King Street, Holborn Viaduct, E.C.1, a number of highly suggestive and helpful pamphlets for teachers, under the titles of "Life in other Lands," "The Well-balanced Syllabus," "Books of Proved Worth," Sorts of Things about Rivers," "The Junior School Syllabus" and "The Senior School Syllabus" (price 3d. each). The same publishers issue The Geography Teacher's First Aid as "a bi-termly Record of the Modern Geographers" (price d. each number).

"All

At the Cambridge Summer Meeting, August 1 to 13, the main subject of study will be "The United States of America," and the inaugural address will be given by the Ambassador, Dr. Walter Hines Page. Among the lecturers, in addition to the Vice-Chancellor (Dr. A. E. Shipley, F.R.S.), will be Dr. Bumstead, Dr. Canby, Mr. G. H. Nettleton (Professors at Yale University); Dr. Santayana, Mr. F. C. de Sumichrast (late Professors at Harvard University); Mr. J. W. Cunliffe (Professor at Columbia University); Sir William Osler, Bart.; Right Hon. G. N. Barnes, M.P., Lord Charnwood, Archdeacon Cunningham, Dr. H. D. Hazeltine, Professor Kenny, Mr. G. T. Lapsley, Rev. Dr. Lawrence, Mr. J. A. R. Marriott, M.P., Lord Eustace Percy. In the Theological Section a course of lectures will be given on "The War and Unity," and the lecturers will include Right Hon. J. R. Clynes, M.P., Very Rev. Professor Cooper (ex-Moderator of the Church of Scotland), Canon Masterman, Rev. E. Milner-White, D.S.O., the Bishop of Peterborough, and Rev. Dr. Selbie. Tickets and further information may be obtained on application to the Rev. Dr. Cranage, Syndicate Buildings, Cambridge.

An interesting eight-page little paper for children is being issued monthly (price 2d.) by Miss Theodora Wilson Wilson, from 39, Doughty Street, W.C.1, under the title of The Explorer: A Paper for the Rising Generation.

CHILD WELFARE AND STATE SERVICES.

In this section are inserted records of the progress of Child Welfare Work as carried out by various State Services dealing with Health, Education, Industry, Delinquency, Defectiveness, and other questions relating to the care and control of the young. We shall be glad to receive copies of reports and all other official publications as soon after issue as may be possible.

THE EDUCATION BILL.

The Education Bill now before Parliament is one of the most fundamental of measures if Britain is to secure reconstruction and readjustment adequate to meet the judgment days which are drawing nigh. Victory in the fields of war will avail but little if powers do not remain for the development of the resources of peace. To win and to hold the best gifts which this world can give and mankind can use, an educated people are essential. And yet but few realize the fundamental meaning and purposes of education, and even those with vision and understanding show but little enthusiasm and enterprise in kindling the light which should enlighten the darkness in which many souls are enveloped. Apathy, ignorance, selfishness are the ancient foes which in all ages oppose educational advancement. Mr. Fisher in his noble adventure to bring in a brighter and better day for the children of Britain and so for the great Commonwealth of which both young and old form a part, has had to contend with blindness of spirit and hardness of heart. Vested interests have opposed his purposes. Il'e cannot but regret the necessity for the concessions which have had to be made and which not a few educationists claim are a capitulation to the enemies of educational progress. We cannot afford to be laggards. Even amidst the stress and strain of war Germany is carrying on research work and is planning for great advancements in its already elaborate educational system. Britain must not waste the days appointed for its salvation. To postpone the application of the most fundamental powers of the Education Bill is to defer the establishment of our surest defences. There is some com

fort in the knowledge that the principle of continuous education has been accepted. But subtle and insidious foes lie in ambush and they will not hesitate to hinder and hamper the bringing in of the desired means for securing the proper mental and moral development and adequate protection of our coming citizens. We need a mobilization of a spiritua! and intellectual special police to make the path safe and sure for our sons and daughters. It is lamentable that Parliament has not insisted on limiting child labour on Saturdays, Sundays and during holidays. Surely Sunday should be safeguarded as a day for rest and refreshment and moral and mental invigoration. The apathy and silence of the churches in regard to this important matter of saving Sunday for the child is inexplicable. As the Times Educational Supplement for June 20, in its leader on "The Dangers of Delay," well puts it, "a child who is worked at full pressure on Saturday and Sunday is certain to be useless for school work on Monday and Tuesday." Every effort should be made to apply at least on Saturday a statutory limit of eight hours for child labour. We anticipate far-reaching advantage will result from the extension of medical inspection to secondary, continuation and other schools, but it will be long before a highly-trained medical school service will be available for the work which urgently requires attention at once. The Education Bill, although seriously impaired, still promises to secure valuable means for the upbuilding of British children and youths called to the inheritance and ultimately to the government of a world-wide Commonwealth. Educationists of every school, patriots of every form of political faith, and lovers of childhood and youth

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