and doctors, but to make noble and enlightened men. Hence the final thought in all work is that we work not to have more, but to be more; not for higher place, but for greater worth; not for fame, but for knowledge. In a word, the final thought is that we labor to upbuild the being which we are, and not merely to build round our real self with marble and gold and precious stones. This is but the Christian teaching which has transformed the world; which declares that it is the business of slaves even, of beggars and outcasts, to work first of all for God and the soul. The end is infinite, the aim must be the highest. Not to know this. not to hear the heavenly invitation, is to be shut out from communion with the best; is to be cut off from the source of growth; is to be given over to modes of thought which fatally lead to mediocrity and vulgarity of life. To live for common ends is to be common. But they believe in what they love and do. Upbears them all in perfect harmony. We cannot set a limit to the knowledge and love of man, because they spring from God, and move forever toward him who is without limit. That we have been made capable of this ceaseless ap proach to an infinite ideal is the radical fact in our nature. Through this we are human; through this we are immortal; through this we are lifted above matter, look through the rippling stream of time on the calm ocean of eternity, and beyond the utmost bounds of space, see simple being-life and thought and love, deathless, imageless, absolute. This ideal creates the law of duty, for it makes the distinction between right and wrong. Hence the first duty of man is to make himself like God, through knowledge ever-widening, through love ever-deepening, through life ever-growing. So only can we serve God, so only can we love him. To be content with ignorance is infidelity to his infinite truth. To rest in a lesser love is to deny the boundless charity which holds the heavens together and makes them beautiful, which to every creature gives its fellow, which for the young bird makes the nest, for the child the mother's breast, and in the heart of man sows the seed of faith and hope and heavenly pity. Ceaseless growth toward God, -this is the ideal, this is the law of human life, proposed and sanctioned alike by Religion, Philosophy, and Poetry. Dulcissima vita sentire in dies se fieri meliorem.* Upward to move along a Godward way, Where love and knowledge still increase, And clouds and darkness yield to growing day, Is more than wealth or fame or peace. No other blessing shall I ever ask. This is the best that life can give; This only is the soul's immortal task For which 't is worth the pain to live. It is man's chief blessedness that there lie in his nature infinite possibilities of growth. The growth of animals comes quickly to an end, and when they cease to grow they cease to be joyful; but man, whose bodily development even is slow, is capable of rising to wider knowledge and purer love through unending ages. Hence even when he is old, -if he has lived for what is great and exalted,-his mind is clear, his heart is tender, and his soul is glad. Only those races are noble, only those individuals are worthy, who yield without reserve to the power of this impulse to ceaseless progress. Behold how the race from which we have sprungthe Aryan-breaks forth into ever-new developments of strength and beauty in Greece, in Italy, in France, in England, in Germany, in America; creating literature, philosophy, science. art; receiving Christian truth, and through its aid rising to diviner heights of wisdom, power, freedom, love, and knowledge. And so there are individuals-and they are born to teach and to rule-for whom to live is to grow; who, forgetting what they have been, and what they are, think ever only of becoming more and more. Their education is never finished; their development is never complete; their work is never done. From victories won they look to other battle-fields; from every height of knowledge they peer into the widening nescience; from all achievements and possessions they turn away toward the unapproachable Infinite, to whom they are drawn. Walking in the shadow of the too great light of God, they are illumined, and they are darkened. This makes Newton think his * Sweetest life to know each day that one is growing better. knowledge ignorance; this makes Saint Paul think his heroic virtue naught. Oh, blessed men, who make us feel that we are of the race of God; who measure and weigh the heavens; who love with boundless love; who toil and are patient; who teach us that workers can wait! They are in love with life; they yearn for fuller life. Life is good, and the highest life is God; and wherever man grows in knowledge, wisdom, and strength, in faith, hope, and love, he walks in the way of heaven. To you, young gentlemen, who are about to quit these halls, to continue amid other surroundings the work of education which here has but begun, what words shall I more directly speak? If hitherto you have wrought to any purpose, you will go forth into the world filled with resolute will and noble enthusiasm to labor even unto the end in building up the being which is yourself, that you may unceasingly approach the type of perfect manhood. This deep-glowing fervor of enthusiasm for what is highest and best is worth more to you, and to any man, than all that may be learned in colleges. If ambition is akin to pride, and therefore to folly, it is none the less a mighty spur to noble action; and where it is not found in youth, budding and blossoming like the leaves and flowers in spring, what promise is there of the ripe fruit which nourishes life? The love of excellence bears us up on the swift wing and plumes of high desire, Without which whosoe'er consumes his days, Do not place before your eyes the standard of vulgar success. Do not say, I will study, labor, exercise myself, that I may become able to get wealth or office, for to this kind of work the necessities of life and the tendency of the age will drive you; whereas, if you hope to be true and high, it is your business to hold yourselves above the spirit of the age. It is our worst misfortune that we have no ideals. Our very religion, it would seem, is not able to give us a living faith in the reality of ideals; for we are no longer wholly convinced that souls live in the atmosphere of God as truly as lungs breathe the air of earth. We find it difficult even to think of striving for what is eternal, all holy, and perfect, so unreal, so delusive do such thoughts seem. Who will understand that to be is bet ter than to have, and that in truth a man is worth only what he is? Who will believe that the kingdom of this world, not less than the kingdom of Heaven, lies within? Who, even in thinking of the worth of a pious and righteous life, is not swayed by some sort of honesty-bestpolicy principle? We love knowledge because we think it is power; and virtue; because we are told as a rule it succeeds! Ah! do you love knowledge for itself?— for it is good, it is God-like to know. Do you love virtue for its own sake?-for it is eternally and absolutely right to be virtuous. Instead of giving your thoughts and desires to wealth and position, learn to know how little of such things a true and wise man needs; for the secret of a happy life does not lie in the means and opportunities of indulging our weaknesses, but in knowing how to be content with what is reasonable, that time and strength may remain for the cultivation of our nobler nature. Ask God to inspire you with some great thought, some abiding love of what is excellent, which may fill you with gladness and courage, and in the midst of the labors, the trials, and the disappointments of life, keep you still strong and serene. SIDE LIGHTS ON HISTORY. BY MARY MARTIN, LANCASTER. WEARS ago I knew a girl who would go home from school, occasionally carrying with her a list of dates to be com mitted to memory-her "history lesson." She would present them to another member of the family who had a marvelous memory for dates, saying, "Here's more stuff to get into my head by Tuesday," and sometimes she would add: "Mind you do your work better next time, as I failed on about half my list to-day." Then would begin a drill, morning, noon and night, a few dates at a time, until all were mastered in a parrot fashion. It is doubtful whether any vitality, even by accident, ever crept into those "history" lessons-though sometimes a witty girl would decorate with a border of skulls and cross-bones the list displayed on the blackboard for general use, in view of its concise record of battles, murders, and sudden deaths. Certainly, if we were obliged to remember only the awful story of violence, fanaticism, tyranny and hate which such lists of detached events call to mind, the study of history would be a dreary business to an intelligent student. Happily, in these days many even of the ordinary text books of history are made delightful reading, as they present a general view of a subject and show that each epoch is but a part of the universal drama. The vitality of the "new" history is due to those writers who have worked on scientific principles, and so have been governed by serene impartiality. It is told of Ranke that when hailed as comrade by a zealous divine who had also written on the Reformation, he replied with scant courtesy: "No, no, an impassable gulf is between us! You write as first of all a Christian; I write as first of all a searcher for the truth." Such historians as Ranke and his disciples and followers insisted that the history of a period was not to be made interesting at the expense of the truth; that facts must be searched for laboriously by comparing and criticising ancient original documents; and that these facts, once determined, must be told with clearness, precision and elegance-leaving no room in their field for either the stylist or the Shoulder to shoulder with these masters, however, came Mr. Froude, and soon the accurate were busy criticising his methods severely. Possibly he deserved it all, but his style, unequalled in dramatic power and eloquence of diction, set so high a standard, that nowadays the layman never need read a dull page of history unless he prefer dullness to vitality. romancer. Although to-day the study and reading of history per se are made interesting and vivid, there is yet room for the storyteller; and, indeed, all stories that are sure to live, from those of Homer, of Virgil, of the Arabian Nights, onward, give valuable side-lights on people, times and movements in the world of thought. If you have never reflected on the novels you have read which give flashing sidelights on historical periods, try the interesting exercise and note the results. Your list of those bearing upon English history will be very large; but we may begin also to make a very respectable showing of books that give new meaning and interest to our own colonial and revolutionary days and to the heroic figures of those periods. We may begin with Cooper's "Pilot" and "Spy," include nearly all of Hawthorne's tales, much of Long ་་ fellow's and Lowell's poetry; and, among more recent stories, The Seats of the Mighty," Mrs. Barr's "The Bow of Orange Ribbon" and "Battle of the Alamo;" "Hugh Wynne," now running in The Century, and dozens of others that might be suggested. Pre-eminent among those who have written delightful stories of periods is the great Sir Walter, and the popularity of the new Scotch school of novelists ought to revive interest in his books, as he is the only Homer among them. All of Scott's novels can be classified to periods, and all of his characters are full of loyalty and patriotism and devotion to duty. Scott is not so much read as he should be, but a review of his heroes, men of action with no time for unhealthy and morbid selfanalysis, would be a good antidote for some of the modern novels in which single-heartedness is unknown. His influence has been great not only in delighting the young but in awakening a real and deep interest in the past. His poetry, breathing the spirit of the feudal and heroic age, also furnishes many an indelible picture. In descriptions of feudal and war times, of the usages of chivalry, and of the rites of the church, he is unsurpassed. He has done so much to make us understand history and to let in light and sympathy upon a wide range of events which but for him would be without life or color, and he has been so truly the delight and instructor of the young for several generations that I could prefer to stop here and give an analysis of his books, and make a plea for an old favorite, but space forbids. Howard Pyle's "Robin Hood," which along with "Ivanhoe" and the "Talisman," also illustrates life in Merrie England in the days of Richard Lion-hearted, is in great demand among boys especially, and Mr. Pyle's "Otto of the Silver Hand" does some fine illuminating work on the period of baronial feudal times. It is hardly safe to mention many books of very recent publication, but these two and Mark Twain's "Prince and Pauper" have started young readers of all sorts into inquiring about the real personages mentioned by the story writers. Another author whose books illuminate the time in which their scene is laid, is Charles Kingsley. His "Hypatia" gives a fine picture of that gifted woman, as well as of the struggles between the dying paganism and the several parties PUBLIC MONEY WASTED. RECENTLY suit in which a school board was sued by two parties for the payment of nineteen sets of relief maps, two maps constituting the set, and the total bill being $456. In this case the Board had decided to buy a relief map of the United States and one of Europe for each school. The size of the former map was 25 by 39 inches. Its surface was ten times the area of a similar map belonging to a series of thirty maps which the writer purchased for five dollars, or at the rate of sixteen cents per map. Hence the larger map should have cost $1.60, but it was sold for twelve dollars. The exorbitant price is not the worst feature of this larger map. If the state of Rhode Island had been placed in a vertical position, it would not have been as high as Long's Peak or Mt. Tacoma. Two feet away from the map the depression for the Cumberland Valley could not be seen, so that the pupil taught on this map was in danger of getting the idea that both York and Bedford are situated in the Cumberland Valley. In fact this valley, which is miles in width. did not seem by the map half as wide as the ordinary range of the Blue Ridge. The unit for vertical elevations is thirtysix times that used for horizontal dis tances—a violation of the laws of projection which must result in conveying totally false ideas of the mountains, the valleys, and the other relief forms of the continent. It is indeed strange that agents can swindle the School Boards in this way, and thus secure for themselves and their firms the money raised by taxation in the name of education. Reading charts at upwards of twenty dollars, mathematical blocks at upwards of thirty dollars, globes at upwards of forty dollars, and relief maps at twelve dollars apiece or one hundred dollars for the entire set leave the suspicion of crookedness on the part of somebody. Sometimes a director is paid a big price for taking the agent to see other directors. At other times a director is won by the offer of a considerable sum for delivering the goods. Occasionally there is the present of a map or a box of blocks to win a vote. The Lancaster Inquirer has, within the past few weeks, exposed the methods of an agent who offered checks varying from twenty to seventy-five dollars to directors upon condition that they take for each of twenty-one schools a box of the mathematical blocks which he was selling. This waste of school funds is a sin against the taxpayers, who look for a judicious expenditure of their money in the support of the schools. It is a crime against childhood, and a fraud upon the Commonwealth. So many offences of this kind are reported to the Department that we are compelled to speak thus plainly upon a most unsavory subject. cepted an invitation from the Park Commissioners to contribute trees to the public parks. A contribution of two cents from each pupil was asked for by the teachers, and enough money was received to purchase sixty-six trees, pay for a band, and meet other incidental expenses. The children, in four equal divisions, were simultaneously marched into Centre Square from different directions. After countermarching over a prescribed route, the heads of the four divisions united on one of the principal streets and preceded by the school board and the park commissioners, marched to Penn Park. Here where they sang "America." At the they were massed around the band stand, conclusion of the exercises they returned to their schools and were dismissed. Each school had an appropriate banner, and at the head of the delegation from each building was a flag. The waving of banners and flags, the beating of the drums by the proud drummer-boys ahead of each school, and the excellent marching, were greatly enjoyed by thousands of spectators. An iron marker at each tree gives its name and also the name of the building or school by which it was donated. The president of the State Forestry Association, Mr. John Birkenbine, of Philadelphia, happened to be in York on the day of the celebration, and was so favorably impressed by the event as to send to Supt. Wanner the following letter of congratulation: DEAR SIR: The few words of congratulation which I was able to offer yesterday, while you were busy with the Arbor Day parade of the school children of York, were intended as an earnest expression of appre ciation. But I feel that the demonstration merits in addition some emphatic endorsement from me as president of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association. You and your assistants are certainly entitled to credit for a well planned and splendidly executed parade, made possible by the excellent discipline of your teachers and the exemplary conduct of the thousands of scholars. Most of the parades which occur in Philadelphia pass my place of business, and I am therefore familiar with their attractive and impressive features, but I recall no demonstration more impressive and beautiful than the countermarch of the school children of York in the Square and the subsequent massing of the parade in the park. As the representative of an organization the one purpose of which is to encourage appreciation of the value of trees and the importance of maintaining forest growths for the future benefit of our State, I recognize the great value of the demonstration which you so ably marshaled. If the growing generation is taught to care for individual trees and watch their growth, those composing it will develop an interest in forestry which will make them better citizens. The citizen who uses and does not abuse or waste nature's resources, is the truest and best representative of a self-governed people. The lesson of yesterday therefore can not but have a wide-spread influence upon the future welfare of our great State, and I shall take pleasure in giving it mention in Forest Leaves. DON'T KILL THE BIRDS. of N a recent number of the Ladies' Home Journal we find an excellent article by the editor, Edward W. Bok, called "The Bird on a Woman's Hat.' It takes a practical view of the case, and he directs attention to that rather than to the mere sentimental features, along which lines the crusade against the slaughter of the birds has been mainly carried on. It takes up the every day, utilitarian side of the bird slaughter which is waged all over the world. Of course this is not a new view by any means, but it is a most important one, and lends additional force to the argument drawn from a humanitarian point of view. He proceeds to say that "anybody who has given even the most cursory attention or study to botany knows that all forms of life have their origin in plant life. Every animal which exists either lives directly on some plants or on insects which destroy plants. The birds find their substance mainly in the insects that injure vegetation and ofttimes kill it en tirely. A sufficiently large number of insects will kill a crop. If there are no birds, naturally the insects have everything their own way. I have recently gone to considerable pains to find out from farmers to what extent the decrease of birds is affecting their crops, and I find that the condition is more alarming than we, who live in the cities and large centres, have any idea of. All the farmers to whom I spoke or wrote agreed that last year the increase of insects was unusually great while the decrease of birds was even greater. For every hundred birds killed about sixty are born. Hence it is easy to see that the greater the number of birds killed, the more exposed become the crops of the farmer to the insects. The same may be said of our trees, for the bird is really the balance of Nature. To what extent this balance is being upset by fashion it is easy to realize from the statement that during 1896 the plumage of over three millions of birds was received in New York. * ** It is these things which I would like women to think about when they purchase birds for their hats. Naturally a supply depends upon a demand. If women would moderate their buying of hats adorned with birds or their plumage, fewer birds would be slaughtered. Those who kill the birds cannot be rightly attacked. They simply supply a demand. The reform in this matter lies with the women who have adopted this fashion." The law passed by the legislature of Massachusetts imposing a fine of ten dollars for wearing certain birds, or wings and feathers of these birds, or for killing them, has aroused a wide-spread interest. When the Chief of Police sent out a circular containing a copy of the act, much of this condemned stock was shipped out of the state by milliners and dealers in these birds and their feathers. Let the schools everywhere aid in this good work. The following petition was written by one of the most distinguished men of New England, the venerable statesman, Hon. George F. Hoar. It was illuminated by Miss Ellen Hale, and presented to the Massachusetts legislature. Let it be read in the schools for its many pleasing and helpful suggestions. We, the Song Birds of Massachusetts, and their Playfellows, make this our humble petition: We know more about you than you think we do. We know how good you are. We |