the first time possible to introduce a content possessing something of the progress of thought which the story form possesses, extending through a single lesson or through several lessons. If the transactions be drawn from the school, the home, the neighborhood, and the city in which the children live, it is possible through demonstrations in the schoolroom, dramatic, documentary, etc., and through excursions to supply the present notable deficiency of first-hand acquaintance in children above the second grade with the social occupations in which the arithmetical processes of the third to eighth grades are used. Both of these innovations-the coherence of content and the direct experience-will serve not to make arithmetic qualitative, but to make the transition from the unitary qualitative and quantitative to the quantitative gradual, keeping pace with the child's power to abstract. It is not claimed that these changes will produce the desired change in the motives which actuate the child to study arithmetic. They will do so only so far as the children in imagination easily and naturally identify themselves with the actors in the situations thus made vivid to them.

Evening High Schools.

SUPERINTENDENT CHARLES S. FOOS, READING, PA.

F all recent agencies to educate the masses, the evening high school appeals to me as one of the most effective. Fifteen years ago little was known of an advanced evening school, and the pioneers in the work, no doubt, were compelled to argue long and vigorously in behalf of such an institution of learning. The burden of proof, however, is shifting, and to-day thousands instead of hundreds are among the advocates of the evening high school. Thus far, however, this mode of education has been confined to about twenty-five of the larger cities. The elementary evening schools have had such an uncertain tenure that, as one superintendent puts it, "Few of us have ventured far beyond the coast in evening schools."

The failure of elementary evening schools does not entail the failure of an evening high school. The evening high school appeals to an entirely different class of pupils, and wherever it has been fairly tried it has proved a success. In every community many boys and girls leave school before beginning or completing the high school course. Later comes the longing for something higher, something better, something nobler; young men and young women dream of and plan a life that leads them to increased remuneration or to more distinguished achievement. The success of the evening commercial colleges, the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Association educational classes, the correspondence schools, the Chautauquan and University Extension courses, and the many other potent factors enlisted in the cause of education, verifies this. Notwithstanding the fact that many of these educational forces are doing an excellent work and helping upward many deserving Young men and women, the evening high school fills a peculiar and important place of its own. With free text-books and free instruction, this school is open for any prepared to do the work. Then, too, the pupil nightly comes in contact with the teacher,

has the benefit of continued personal instruction, thus making the possibilities of discouragement or failure less.

The value of an evening high school to a community is inestimable. It appeals to young men and young women who have neglected their opportunities and realize it; it reaches the young men and young women whose services are required to help support the family; above all, it affords an equal opportunity to all better to equip themselves for the duties of life, not only from a utilitarian or practical point of view, but from the æsthetic as well. In such a school young men and young women may not only be started to make a more comfortable livelihood and to develop keener minds, but they may be led to a higher ideal of living. One of the objects of the evening high school, as the Boston prospectus puts it, should be "to raise the moral and intellectual standard of the community by preparing pupils to become more intelligent citizens, to make better homes, and thus to increase public and private welfare." The evening high school cultivates a taste for better things. Boys and girls gradually realize what they are and what they might be; they begin to read, and their horizon broadens ; they become young men and young ladies. As Principal Coolidge, of Cambridge, Mass., writes: "I have noticed very marked improvement in the appearance, behavior and spirit of boys and girls who have been our pupils, and have been surrounded with school influences instead of street companions. They become young ladies and gentlemen. The mere monetary advantages are too apparent to need mention. I have watched the influence of our school on many a mischievous boy, and have seen him become thoughtful, industrious, ambitious and self-respecting."

I was led to try the experiment of an advanced evening school or evening high school last winter, and I have been highly gratified with the results. The newspapers, the patrons, and the directors are much pleased with the experiment. The Reading, Pa., "Times" thus comments: "The establishment of a night school for advanced study has proven one of the most popular moves the Reading School Board has made. . . . The Board entered upon it with some misgivings, but to-day it is

a proved success, and even the most hesitating controller is now an enthusiastic supporter of the project. From the outset it has shown itself to be in line with a very general demand." The Reading "Herald" reads thus: "At the mention of night school there arises in many minds a vision of a dull, half-lighted sort of place, with heavy atmosphere, and either uniform misbehavior or uniform stupidity round about. To have all this dispelled one need only go to the night high school. . . . Whatever has passed over the spirit of their dreams, the school is one to make Reading throw out its chest and take off its bonnet to the teachers." The Reading "Telegram" and the Reading "Eagle" commend it with like enthusiasm. Principal H. R. Brunner in a report says, " Its success has surpassed my most sanguine expectations." The success of the school is not to be wondered at. It fills a need. The attendance is voluntary, and this makes teaching easier and more effective. This is the universal opinion. Reading is one of the smaller cities that has undertaken the work, but, in my opinion, it will succeed equally well in still smaller places. Superintendents will be surprised at the large number who will apply for admission, at the interest and zeal manifested, and at the results obtained. Teachers as a rule experience more pleasure in teaching the evening schools of this character than the day schools. Of course, only the best teachers should be employed. A study of the evening high school problem will prove interesting. A few facts that I have gathered may be of service to any contemplating the project.

The evening high school is probably an American product, and in its crudest form has had an existence of less than forty years. It is difficult to ascertain just when the first effort was made in this country to establish an evening school for instruction in the higher branches. From 1860 to 1890, except during the Rebellion, Philadelphia had an Artisans' Evening High School. In 1890 the present evening high school was established. In New York and in Baltimore evening high schools. were organized soon after the close of the Civil War. New York has eleven schools,-four male, six female, and one mixed; Boston, Chicago, and St. Louis have also had evening

high schools for many years. Of other cities that have evening high schools the age of each is as follows: Cambridge, Mass., 15 years; Washington, D. C., and Fall River, Mass., 14 years; Newark, N. J., 13 years; Cincinnati, Ohio, 12 years; Jersey City, Paterson, N. J., Los Angeles, Cal., 10 years; Worcester, Mass., and Providence, R. I., 9 years; Baltimore, Md., New Haven, Conn., and Lawrence, Mass., 8 years; Hartford, Conn., 7 years; Springfield, Mass., 6 years; San Francisco, Cal., 5 years; Albany, N. Y., 3 years; Cleveland, Ohio, Rochester, N. Y., and Reading, Pa., one year; Brockton, Mass., also reports an evening high school; Omaha, New Orleans, Milwaukee, Syracuse, Louisville, Pittsburg, Allegheny, Detroit, Toledo, Wilmington, Del., Des Moines, Indianapolis, Columbus, Scranton, Kansas City, St. Paul, Memphis, Minneapolis, St. Joseph, report that they have no evening high schools. From Denver no information was obtainable.

In the organization of evening high schools a number of problems have arisen, and it is interesting to note how the several cities have solved them. The number of months these schools are open varies from four to seven. The Reading, Pa., school was open six and one half months; New York, Worcester, and Springfield, six; Cambridge, and Providence, R. I., five and one half; Baltimore, Cincinnati, Lawrence, Washington, St. Louis, and Chicago, five; Philadelphia, four and one half; Hartford, New Haven, Albany, Fall River, four. San Francisco reports ten and one half.

The number of sessions per week varies in the several cities. New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Worcester, and Providence, R. I., have five; New Haven has five before Christmas and four after; Philadelphia, Baltimore, Hartford, Fall River, Cambridge, Washington, St. Louis, and Springfield, Mass., only three; Reading, Albany, Cincinnati, and Lawrence have four. Providence has some studies three evenings per week, and others two.

The number of recitation periods, the length of the recitation period, and the length of the evening sessions are by no means uniform. The majority of cities, however, have two periods; some have three periods; and several have four. Where there