liberty to assist us by his own observations. Again, in the inferior drama, as in the inferior novel, incident plays the most important part; that is, the author seeks to gain attention by the novelty of the situations and the sensational character of the events narrated. In such a work as Macbeth, however, the student must look back of the incidents to the words of the speakers, and back of the words to the thought suggested by them and the traits of character which they reveal. The mental attitude of the student, then, should be that of one who reads not merely to get the story, but to understand the significance of each act and word. The student of Macbeth has the best of opportunities for the study of human nature. Suggestive topics upon this scene may read somewhat as follows:

ACT I. SCENE 4.

1. Duncan reveals much of his character, and confirms the impression given in the second scene, in his speeches in this scene. What do you see? Underline every significant word and phrase.

2. Notice that Macbeth and Duncan are here brought together for the first time. Compare closely the words spoken by each, and determine. which man is stronger, more masterful, more kinglike. Can you think of any reason for calling this scene a crisis in the drama?

3. Write a character-sketch of Duncan, calling attention to his good points and to his defects. What is your feeling toward him?

4. What do you consider to be Shakespeare's purpose in this scene?

Act I is now rapidly approaching a climax. Urged on by his ambition, by the prophecy of the weird sisters, and by the way in which Fate is playing into his hands by Duncan's intention to go to Inverness, Macbeth starts for his home, ostensibly to prepare for the king's reception, but in reality to advise with his wife. That she may be ready to counsel with him, he sends first a letter in which he relates his wonderful experiences, confident that she will see what to do. In her ambition for him, Lady Macbeth comes to the conclusion that Duncan must be made way with, even before she knows that the king is to be her guest. She is not criminal by nature; she simply does not know the

cost of crime. When her husband arrives she proposes verbally what must have been in his mind from the first. It is worth noting that he speaks but little, apparently standing in need of her encouragement.

In the following scene, Duncan arrives. at Macbeth's castle. The contrast between the passion and fearful plotting of the two preceding scenes, and the repose and quiet here described, is striking. Duncan suspects nothing:

"This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.'
And Banquo:

"This guest of summer, The temple-haunting martlet, does approve By his loved mansionry that the heaven's breath Smells wooingly here.'

Macbeth dares not appear. He is not old in crime; he fears that he will reveal "the mind's construction in the face." And so the king, gentle and trusting even if weak and incapable, looks for the last time upon the light of heaven.

Only one point remains to screw Macbeth's courage to the sticking place. Everything has combined to urge him on, yet he hesitates. Whether this hesitation is due to nobility of character or not is made plain in the seventh scene. The first twelve lines are deeply significant. Macbeth fears to do the deed, not because of the revolting crime, ten times more revolting because the helpless king is his guest, nor yet because he fears eternal punishment, but because he is afraid of retribution in this present life. If the assassination were all, he says, and could include in itself all the consequences, so that the crime might be the only inconvenience, he would risk the life to come; but he fears that some one will commend the

poisoned chalice to his own lips.

The student should next observe the means employed by Lady Macbeth to overcome her husband's scruples. She does not think of the consequences; she little knows the terrible sufferings which must come to those who commit so great a crime.

Keen

ly reading Macbeth's mind and knowing hesitation into resolute purpose by showing the reason for his hesitation, she changes that the responsibility for the crime may easily be laid upon Duncan's servants.

STUDIES UPON SCENE 5.

1. Note carefully Lady Macbeth's estimate of her husband's character. It is an

important aid to the understanding of the following scenes.

2. Explain Lady Macbeth's words (1. 29), "Thou'rt mad to say it."

3. Note how few words Macbeth uses in the scene.. In view of the determination he reached in the fourth scene, is not this surprising? How do you account for it?

4. Commit to memory Lady Macbeth's characterization of her husband.

SCENE 6.

1. In this scene, are your impressions of Duncan's character in any way confirmed? 2. Note that Macbeth does not appear in person to welcome his king. Account for this breach of courtesy.

3. Do you notice any contrasts between this and the two preceding scenes?

SCENE 7.

1. Write in your own language lines 1-12. Be sure to express fully the different shades of meaning. Explain in writing the metaphor at the end of Macbeth's long speech in troducing the scene.

2. Why does Macbeth hesitate? Does this hesitation show nobility of character? Do you agree now with Lady Macbeth's characterization of her husband as given in the fifth scene? Give reasons for your statements.

3. Observe the means employed by Lady Macbeth to induce her husband to commit the murder.

4. Commit to memory Macbeth's words (11. 46-47):

"I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none."

But is he altogether sincere in this? If not, does he say it through hypocrisy, or for some other reason?

5. Observe what finally causes Macbeth to decide to do the deed.

REVIEW OF ACT I.

1. What is the reason for dividing a drama into "acts"? What determines the point at which one act should end and the next begin? Why does Act I end at this point in the story?

2. In a paragraph, tell the story of Act I. Make your narration as vivid and interesting as you can, and do not fail to emphasize the important points.

3. The first act contains only 475 lines. Compare with the same amount of any story

or novel you have read. In which case are the most results accomplished? Why? How does Shakespeare condense so much into so little space? Should Macbeth be read as rapidly as you read Silas Marner or the Sketch Book?

4. You now have certain ideas as to the character of Macbeth, Banquo, Duncan and Lady Macbeth. How did you get these ideas? Can you apply similar methods of judging character to daily life? Are such methods of any use to the business man? To the lawyer and the minister?

5. Note that in ways and at times when we are least aware of it we are giving to others the materials by which they judge us. It is impossible long to deceive others as to what we are; all our acts and words bear testimony against us or in our favor.

*

*

As was suggested in the preceding article, additional studies may be assigned as supplementary matter. Studies of words are important, and may include the naming of poetic words, with reasons for such classification; the study of obsolete and archaic forms; and the study of word derivation. Under the last topic such words as weird, metaphysical, remorse, compunctions, fell, courage, scruple, and many others, will be found to have interesting derivations. The study of rhetorical figures, with their emotional values, should not be neglected; and for spelling and composition work there is abundance of material.

It

The central thought throughout this series of articles is best expressed by the words, "Understanding by means of investigation." Students of literature should observe and investigate as truly as students of science, and the results are quite as valuable. has not been many years since the natural sciences were studied solely by text-book work, by reading about elements, rather than by dealing with them at first hand. Similarly, literature was studied, where studied at all, by learning and repeating critical opinions concerning masterpieces which the pupil had never seen. There is vast difference between allowing a pupil to content himself with writing a paraphrase of Macbeth and reading several criticisms by recognized authorities, and the method which compels him to work out for himself his own interpretation. His expression may be crude at times, but at least it is his own, and it has meaning for him.

The last of the studies in the review of Act I makes clear the relation of this work to the pupil's life. It is of more value for the boy to be shown that by his every act he reveals his true character, and that he must look closely enough to interpret the meaning which lies under the surface, than to be forced to memorize long lists of learned notes, the majority of which he must forget as soon as possible after the term examination. Power of insight, of interpretation, of self-analysis cannot but be of the highest value to the student and to the man in the midst of active life. These aims must be set up as the highest in the teaching of lit

erature, and commentaries and notes are to be considered as helps toward interpretation, not as ends in themselves. Questions

as to definitions, allusions, parallel readings, etc., must be asked, but they are asked not to form a basis for setting down a mark for or against a pupil, but as means toward larger ends. It is only a difference in the point of view, but that difference is very great. The teacher must see to it that in all the work of the school sharp distinction is drawn between that which is of paramount importance and that which is of little consequence. It is the function of the school, not to give knowledge, but to give power.

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY.

THE individuals

'HE individual or the institution which

gives life must become both cause and effect. Every valuable institution that has the betterment of the community as its fundamental aim must both create and satisfy its own demand.

If our missionaries were to stay at home until the wilds of the Orient or the Occident were crying for a deeper religious life, the gravestones of our mission bands would stand nearer the parental homestead. If a school had to wait for its establishment until the entire community should find itself ready and thirsting for the fountain of knowledge and praying that their waters might burst forth from the rocks, then must our education languish and the great forerunners of our systems and institutions would have died with all their glory unrevealed. The progress of our life has not been by unanimous consent nor even by a majority vote.

Guizot it was who said that the discovery of every new truth finds coupled with it the desire to give that truth to the world. When Paul saw the new light his first act was to proclaim the new truth in the synagogue. Every one believes in Paul's conversion for it is a part of the habit of every human soul.

Every college in Indiana has to-day more

students than its faculty and equipment can adequately provide for; but if we could know the struggles and discouragements that were the experiences of the few zealous souls who planted these institutions, we could see the pictures of truth, implying growth. The benefactor of the human race must be a missionary in spirit. Don't misunderstand me. I do not mean he must work wholly without compensation and live upon the kind of food given to the prodigal son while he was working with the committee on foreign relations. But I mean he must be willing to take part pay in soul growth. The person who simply earns his salary under the letter of the law is an unprofitable servant and sooner or later must be cast into outer darkness. The one who urges the establishment of a library or a movement for its improvement is a missionary, and the person who works in a public library without the spirit which accepts part pay in human life, should be relieved of such responsibility.

UNSELFISH GOOD IS CONTAGIOUS.

As the presence of one helpful man in the community creates the demand and finally the necessity for others of like kind, and as the creation of a great university gives a new impetus and a new standard to every

educational institution within a radius of two hundred miles, so does the presence of a library enthusiast in a locality multiply himself or herself many fold, and as in all other nature the offspring much resembles the parent. The establishment of a good public library in one of the progressive towns of Indiana becomes the impelling force in the same lines in many other towns. It is not difficult to see how inoculation takes place nor how the microbes scatter and infest the whole social body when inoculation once occurs. The malady is incurable after it once gets started; even a health board is totally useless, yet sometimes the school board has been known to check for a short time the growing tendencies; but in very recent years even the school board is almost powerless to so much as produce even a temporary interference.

The spread of library growth is sometimes contracted by one city superintendent from another at their various valuable and other meetings. Yet many of our superintendents still show strong evidence of early vaccination, which remains so effective that the process will not have to be repeated for many times seven years. Sometimes where it is epidemic in one town it is carried by club women visiting back and forth, for nothing has so far been discovered that a club woman will not take that is prevalent with her class and set. She must always be entitled to the largest privilege.

GRATIFYING GROWTH.

The large number of libraries established in Indiana within the last two or three years is phenomenal for Indiana, however well or poorly it may compare with growth in other states. Crawfordsville, Columbus, Greenfield, Shelbyville and other towns with well organized and well managed public libraries, with Newcastle, Goshen and Elkhart moving in that direction, are encouraging. It has been said that the one who agitates the movement must be actuated by the missionary spirit, yet it is infinitely more true of the one who as librarian leads the public library on to successful operation among the people. Subordinate, then, to these foundation principles, it may not be out of place at this time and on this occasion to specify distinctly some of the larger details which must be met, and some of the problems which must be solved by every community

in the establishment, maintenance, and conduct of a public library in one of our towns.

FOUNDATIONS.

It is useless to talk of a public library without funds in cash to meet actual requirements of the business, and some controlling body with absolute power to act, and with equally positive responsibility to the people for their acts. The fund upon which a library can be founded and maintained must have at least three characteristics: (1) it must be adequate to give permanent and respectable business aspect; (2) it must be sure as death and from as reliable a source, but unlike death it must be (3) calculable in advance. These things all point to the fact that a public library can not be run on popular charity; for, while charity is good, it is both too variable in its expression and too spasmodic in its efforts to make the basis of business or public interest, and in such cases too uncertain to secure to itself popular respect. The fund should be, although not necessarily so, an ever-increasing one.

In Indiana there are but two methods by which such financial backing can be secured, and these are either by endowment or the levy of a specific tax upon all the taxable property of the library unit; that is, the town, township, or county. The former is fine when it works, but it so seldom works in our state that it is usually idle to speak of it. A library can be started in almost any town by a general subscription, which is a good thing to do, but it cannot be permanently supported on this basis. So, then, in my judgment, when a library is to be established and supported outside of the possibility of finding some one who will establish a library fund, and the general possibility and almost certainty of a good general subscription to start with, there is but one thing to do with regard to funds, and that is to secure the levy of a tax upon the property.

Adding a small tax is a fine political bugaboo and furnishes street corner chat, but scarcely any person in any town will object when he sees what it will actually cost. him, for he does not care what it costs others, and the best method of silencing the objector is to multiply his assessment by the rate of the library levy, and when he finds that he can supply his family with reading matter for fifteen cents a year, where he has usually spent several dollars, he will

imitate the man rather than the mule, and kick forward rather than backward. Thus, a good body of evangelists to start with, can convert the whole town in the time usually given to a winter revival with less exposure to ill-ventilation and night air.

LIBRARIES AND SCHOOL BOARDS.

In Indiana it becomes the business of the school board in incorporated towns to levy this tax and to have financial management of the library and be responsible financial agents between the people and the common property. Whether we like this or not, and whether it is best or not, it is our law now, and likely to remain so. It has been charged that the library must be a secondary interest with the board and will be made subordinate to rather than coordinate with the school. It has been further charged that politics will thus enter. into the management, that special fitness on the part of the librarian will be disregarded in the selection. All these things may be true but not necessarily so. When the library spirit prevails these things will not usually happen. When a few people really appreciate the significance of a public library, bad management is the exception rather than the rule. It has also been held that when school trustees have control of the public library they are likely to locate the library in the school building and thereby exclude the public, or rather leave the public to exclude itself by inference, the inference being that when the library is in the school building it is for the use of the school. If the people are thus led to this inference and the consequent conduct, then the practice cannot be too strongly condemned. The matter is simply a question of fact. I fear there is danger, yet the experience of those who have tried it will be the better test. At present, however, my advice would be against placing a public library in a school building if it can be avoided at reasonable expense. I am sure that unless people have changed within a dozen years they do dislike to go into a school building as feeling that it is under special control and not for the elders.

The objection that school trustees will make the library a secondary interest has been answered by some boards transferring the direct management of the library to a board composed of those citizens who are at once much interested in library work, and

who by nature and education are fitted for such special work. This seems to me a happy solution, but in case the board of trustees hesitates or objects to doing this it is a delicate matter for any citizen to urge.

Whether we think the school board best fitted for the place provided by law for it with regard to the public library, the law at present is so and a change would be strongly opposed by many trustees and school men, and a change would be difficult if not quite impossible. The immediate hope if things are not as they should be is to create and cultivate such a demand for a public library and such an imperative demand for its proper management that no board of public servants by any name will dare to offer indifference or disobedience to the popular feeling.

WHAT MAKES A LIBRARY?

The trustees and the people must be led to see from the first that a collection of books is not a library, but only one of the conditions under which a library becomes a possibility. Books classified. catalogued, shelved and known, make a library. None of these can be omitted in the constitution of a public library worthy of that name. Unless the trustees feel these things and are strongly supported in the feeling by popular intelligence, mismanagement is the most logical result. I count by all odds the most important event in the life history of a library is the selection of the librarian. I would place this in all respects of greater importance than any, in fact I might say than all other things after the funds are provided. Funds and a librarian will make a library.

WHO SHALL BE LIBRARIAN?

A library has been determined upon, funds have been provided, whom should the trustees select for a librarian? Whom should the people urge for this position? Should the trustees select one of their nieces or the sister of one of them? Maybe so. Should the Baptist church urge one of its young women who is out of a job and who is such a good church worker? Possibly so. Should I as a leader of the dominant political party insist that the place be given to the daughter of the chairman of the central committee? I might. How would it do to give the place to some dear soul who was such a good teacher, but who is either too