sition of Paris revealed a considerable progress in English industry which was due to the artistic movement since 1851 by the great institution at South Kensington, what must not be expected from the American activity stimulated by the Philadelphia Exhibition? Everywhere educators begin to point out what is wanted; they awaken interest, and they find sympathy among professional and industrial men.

Moreover, the same movement manifests itself everywhere; China and Japan join their efforts in the new conditions of art to those of the European nations. France must keep up her preeminence in art, which has hitherto not been contested. France has immense resources which she must fertilize by a well organized primary education. With us, as elsewhere, it does not suffice to have excellent special drawing teachers and good drawing courses and schools; it is necessary that all the teachers should be capable of giving to all the pupils of their classes the first instruction in drawing. France, resuming work after her misfortunes with remarkable energy, must with no less energy devote herself to the study of drawing, and reinvigorate her productive forces at the fountains of art.

DRAWING IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

Chapter XIX describes the methods of drawing in American schools and reproduces a number of the best specimens of drawing exhibited by different schools. The résumé and conclusions are as follows:

The methods of the South Kensington Museum, introduced into America by Mr. Walter Smith, will render as great service to America as they have done to England. Three years ago drawing was taught in a very unsatisfactory manner and in a few special schools only. There were neither models nor methods nor teachers, and now it is made obligatory in many places. Competent European teachers were engaged to give this new branch of instruction a correct organization and an energetic impetus. Several large cities rivalled each other in efforts and sacrifices, and they submitted the results of their efforts to the judgment of the nations represented at the Philadelphia Exhibition. As a whole, these exhibits were very satisfactory, and if we take into consideration the fact that they were the result of two years' trial only, we must admit that such results have never before been obtained in so short a period.

SINGING AND MUSIC.

Training in music, the universal language, innate in every one, has always been considered a part of a good education. Nothing is more desirable than to extend it to the primary school. Many European countries have long since introduced singing and music into elementary education; for example, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and even England, which places to-day the instruction in singing within the reach of everybody, young children not excepted. But it is in the

United States that the most persevering and systematic efforts have been made to render music, and especially vocal music, popular through the school. Singing is obligatory in all the grades of primary schools in the large eastern cities; it is especially well organized in the schools of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and San Francisco. Even in the South, where education is still in its rudiments, singing is often found on the programme of city schools, e. g., at Nashville, Louisville, Shelbyville, &c. Moreover, in places where singing is an optional branch of study, it makes rapid progress from year to year.

Here follows a description of the methods used in American schools and of the results exhibited at the Centennial. In concluding, the writer says:

Does not a great lesson result from all the foregoing remarks? This lesson is, that singing could and should be introduced into the schools, and this not only in the higher classes, where special teachers are employed, but also in the lowest elementary grades. To accomplish this, a knowledge of the elements of music must be made one of the conditions of obtaining a diploma on leaving the school. The example of America proves that, with a preparation which is not very difficult, the pupils who intend to devote themselves to the profession of teaching may become, if not artists, which is entirely useless for their career, at least excellent teachers for beginners. They will often be more successful with young pupils than would accomplished artists, whom the want of patience makes nearly unfit to be good primary teachers.

GYMNASTICS.

The writer quotes the opinion of Horace Greeley, Mr. Philbrick's report for 1873-74, and Dr. Wickersham's School Economy. He also mentions some of the schools in which gymnastics are taught and speaks of the movement in favor of introducing gymnastics into the schools.

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION.

The writer gives an account of the origin of the religious question in the United States, of the separation of church from state, and its consequence, the separation of the church from the school. He then speaks of the religious exercises in public schools, of the Bible question and the struggles connected therewith, of the Sunday schools and their exhibit, their literature, their organization, and their libraries, and he finally gives the statistical tables relating to Sunday schools published in the Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1874.

MORAL EDUCATION.

The part assigned to the school in the moral education of the young is not the same everywhere. In Europe, especially in France and Ger

many, the programmes, the regulations, and the very spirit of the schools subordinate moral to religious instruction. Switzerland, Italy, and certain parts of Austria, without actually separating moral from religious instruction, begin to distinguish between them. Their new programmes devote a part to moral education proper. In the United States, circumstances require a complete organization of regular moral instruction, distinct from religious, since religion is excluded from the public schools. Is this want, so generally felt, sufficiently supplied? We do not think it is. No question is of greater importance and more difficult to solve. We need not repeat the causes which, in the United States, render the moral education of the young at once more urgent and less easy than in other countries. It suffices to call attention to the fact that the family and the church have little power over the young, and that the incessant contagion of vice has a bad influence on public morality. The American school has, under these circumstances, a very difficult task to perform. Fortunately, many eminent educators do not hesitate to call the attention of the American people to this most important question.

Here follows a series of extracts from superintendents' reports.

More than one of the copy books exhibited at the Centennial showed what excessive liberty the pupils enjoy, and how they abuse it. If it is frequently said in Europe that "all respect for authority is disappearing," what must be said of the United States? Pupils do not hesitate to give in their school essays accounts of how they deceive their teacher and to make malicious allusions to the misfortunes of their teachers and parents. We noticed illustrated copy books which did not give a very edifying idea of a class. In one volume, exhibited by the Cincinnati school board, a pupil represented his German teacher as a man with eyeglasses, a pipe in his pocket, an empty bottle, an empty glass, and a tobacco box on his desk, and in the background a blackboard with the inscription: "Ich trinke. Ich habe getrunken. Ich werde trinken." (I drink. I have drunk. I will drink.) And in spite of the inconvenience of this disrespect, there are few Americans who would be willing to return to a more rigid system of discipline. There are few who do not see in this liberty, or rather license, a thousand times more advantages than disadvantages.

HIGH SCHOOLS.

The writer gives the history of the establishment and development of high schools in the United States, an account of the present condition of several high schools, of the investigations at Cincinnati and St. Louis relative to the occupations of the parents of the pupils, and of the courses of study. He quotes several American opinions relative to the aim of high schools. Concerning the teaching of moderh languages he says:

Despite the good impression made by the exhibit of the instruction of modern languages, we do not believe that the American high school has much to teach us in this respect either in regard to methods or to the results obtained. It is difficult for foreigners who only pass through the classes to judge correctly of what is done and to avoid the errors of appreciation which may result from local, personal, or accidental circumstances, the secret of which is seldom explained to them. Nevertheless, after having visited about sixty of the higher classes, where the modern languages are on the programme, and after having almost everywhere inquired relative to the results achieved both in German and French, we must admit that we found scarcely one school in which either of these languages was at all familiar to the pupils, if we except the pupils of German or French origin. Often the French teacher modestly asked to be excused from giving a lesson in our presence; in other cases the teachers who complied willingly with our request knew the rules of grammar, but they evidently had no knowledge of the spoken language; in some cases it was just the opposite. In general, there seems to be more demand for German than for French. This fact, which it is useless to conceal, is explained very naturally by the great numerical superiority of the German population. We may say that from this day the French language will localize and confine itself to the several parts of the Union where there remain groups of Frenchmen or Canadians.

As a whole, the instruction in modern languages is of about the same quality as that of the ancient languages, which is rather mechanical and one sided, and which is characterized by the preference of a speedy method and the acquirement of mediocre results, more for practical use in life than for any other purpose. We do not wish to criticise this method; it is doubtless most suitable for primary and even for advanced schools; we only want to prevent the mistake of exaggerating the intellectual efficaciousness, the educational effect, and the literary value of this mode of teaching ancient and modern languages.

The writer then cites some specimens of lessons in the history of literature, and he remarks:

The study of the older English literature is generally pursued with great zeal. We are far from cultivating in our schools and colleges the ancient French with the same care and the same success.

NORMAL SCHOOLS.

The writer quotes from the work of Francis Adams on the free schools of America,1 from the Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1875, and from various programmes and reports of normal schools. He then gives an account of several normal schools, their establishment, their courses of study, and their rules and regulations. Among the institutions specially mentioned are the normal schools of Bridgewater, Mass.;

Free School System of the United States, by Francis Adams. London, 1875.

Kutztown, Pa.; West Chester, Pa.; Terre Haute, Ind.; Winona, Minn.; Ypsilanti, Mich.; the Normal College of New York; the Normal Department of Milwaukee; the Normal School of St. Louis, and the Normal Training School of Washington, D. C.

TEACHERS' INSTITUTES-EXAMINATION OF TEACHERS.

The writer gives an account of the historical development of teachers' institutes in the States of New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, and Iowa. He then quotes American opinions relative to the examination of teachers and extracts from various reports relative to the results obtained. Then follows a translation of examination questions used in different States of the Union.

AUXILIARIES TO THE SCHOOL SYSTEM.

We should have but an incomplete idea of popular education in the United States if we considered it as consisting only of three grades of the public schools and their continuation, the normal school. Popular education comprises yet other establishments for a special class of the population and for certain special purposes, such as schools for deafmutes and the blind, for the feeble-minded, for orphans, industrial and reform schools, and night schools. The establishment of these institutions is facilitated by the liberty of action which the recognized corporations, as for instance, the boards of education, enjoy, and by the facility with which new associations obtain charters of incorporation. The writer then gives an account of the condition of various such institutions and the statistics thereof.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS.

Chapter XXVIII discusses the character of private schools in America and seeks to indicate their place in the sphere of general educational activity.

SCHOOL STATISTICS.

A country which makes of the public schools its most important national institution cannot be indifferent to school statistics. Public opinion has too much interest in keeping account of the wants, the sacrifices, and the results, not to insist upon frequent information and periodical reports about their condition. There is probably no country which can to-day rival the United States as far as the organization of general school statistics is concerned, especially of primary education. The European nations which commenced a few years ago with considerable energy, are still far from being able to present a collection of works comparable to those of the United States, either in regard to the extent of the researches, the simplicity of the statistical tables which summarize those researches, or the value of the deductions made. It is worthy of remark that the countries in which the administration of public instruction is centralized