poor and yet how content these simple people are. A pound a month is a good wage, and a pound a week is mentioned with bated breath. Nothing could convince them that we were anything but wealthy and important personages, and when we left there, the crowd which assembled at the tiny station gazed at us with an awed admiration which we never hope to inspire in our fellow-mortals again.

Our good ship awaited us in Liverpool, where we went straight from Glasgow. Our trunk was in our stateroom; our berth was piled high with letters and packages; the stewards welcomed us with smiles and willing helpfulness. After all, it was good to be going home!

On the way home the following table of expense was compiled. This includes all the money expended, except what was used for souvenirs. and post cards:

Thus we had spent exactly two hundred and twenty-four dollars and thirty-seven cents apiece.

In conclusion, we would say but one word to those who want to go abroad: GO!

Never mind if you haven't much money; never mind if you speak only English. Pay no attention to the timid who say it can't be done. The average "foreigner" is as honest and obliging as the average American. No one is waiting to tear you limb from limb, take your money away from you, or put you on the wrong train. With average common sense and a sense of humor you can get along comfortably though you have only the English language and a little money. Without these two senses you will be uncomfortable though you speak ten languages and have an unlimited letter of credit.

CALLING UP INFORMATION

E. L.-I should very much like to have the writer of the article on travel in Europe tell me how a woman can manage to carry enough clothing for a fifty-two-day trip in a suit-case.

The author of Europe Reduced to TwoTwenty-Four will have an answer ready for the May issue. The same reference has been made of the question of Mrs. J. W. R.

R. A. C.--What is meant by one-class ocean steamers and what are their advantages and disadvantages?

One-class boats are those with one-class cabin accommodations. They carry steerage and hence might be called the same as secondclass on a first-class boat. The advantage of the one-class steamer over the second-class ac

commodations is better staterooms-in partand the freedom of the decks. For this latter reason alone many, who refuse to be penned in second-class decks on the regular steamers, will take a one-class boat. The disadvantage -to some-is the slowness of such boats; and as that is a merit in the eyes of many, the oneclass steamers are becoming popular.

The experience of our readers on particular boats would be welcome.

"Easterner."-What are the chances for long river trips on the Ohio and Mississippi, for instance between Pittsburgh and New Orleans? Give me some idea of time and fares.

Who will answer?

In the memory of some of us who are not grandmothers, spelling was taught by a graduated system beginning with the phonetic value of the letters. Long lists of words of similar sound but with different initial letters were given, and possibly with one or two exceptions or variations sandwiched in. The ear and the mind, from frequent repetition, grew accustomed to a certain combination, and, once learned, it was never forgotten.

To-day I take up the spelling-book of a child and attempt to hear him his lesson. What do I see? A list of "Things to Use on the Table." He spells "bread" "salt," and "plates" correctly, and sticks at "knives." He goes back, studies it again, and again sticks at "knives." Why should knives be spelled as it is? He cannot understand. The fact that it is something to use on the table does not help him. I turn to the preface of the book and learn that spelling, forsooth, should be taught "by an association of ideas"! Now, spelling is not an association of ideas. It is an association of sounds. If you teach it by association of the idea of sound, well and good. Why should the child be robbed of the help which association of sounds would give him? Why should each word be made an exception and have to be learned by a distinct mental process? Let us thank our lucky stars that we were educated before there was an effort to make learning picturesque.-Lippincott's.

We ignore the barbarism of the spoken word, and devote our energies to getting our young people to write well. The influence of classical learning and methods which disregarded the spoken word and aimed at writing only-is obvious. So we have a dual language: the debased language of the street and of vulgar speech, and the (theoretically) standardized language of the schoolroom and of written discourse. The colleges lay no stress upon speech, and pay no practical heed to it. They care not how barbarous a student's oral expression may be; all they ask is correct written language. It is a ridiculous situation.

Think of the plays of Shakespeare, written to give a vivid hour to those rude apprentices that thronged the pit of the Globe, but now submitted to our high school and college clinics! How those "honeyed corners at the lips" of our great dramatist would widen to smiles or pucker to sneers could he but know of our cold-blooded post-mortems on his plays! We murder to dissect.Percival Chubb.

Resumé of Lessons I. and II.

I. The Rice Fields of Japan.

"All Around Asia," Redway, page 123. "Industrial and Commercial Geography," Morris, page 283.

"How the World Is Fed," Carpenter. "Asia," Carpenter.

"Asia," Tarr & McMurray; map (distribution).

Geographical data: Japan Islands; Japan Sea; Japan Current; Trade Winds (influence upon climate); Rice; Races; Mongolians; modes of life, occupations; bamboo; Tokyo; Yokohama.

(1) Height, 3 feet to 9 feet. Arrangements of grains on stems.

(, TV. People.

(1) Asia, "The rice continent." (2) The great rice countries; Japan, China, India, United States. (3) Grown in all hot, moist countries. (a) Rich, low soil around rivers. (b) Irrigated higher slopes. II. Varieties.

(1) Size. (2) Color; from light yellow to reddish brown. (3) Odor; some very fragrant. (4) Qualities: Japan and United States raise the best. Necessity for importing the cheap grade from China for the Japanese; Japanese rice being too expensive for any but the rich. III. Value.

(1) Great amount of labor. (2) Compare with wheat raising. One process for wheat frequently corresponds with two for rice. IV. Uses.

(1) Grain. (a) Food; in the grain, also flour. (b) Saké or wine. (2) Straw. (a) Matting. (b) Mats. (c) Rope. (d) Clothing; hats, raincoats, sandals.

Lesson V

Lantern Exhibition.

The rice industry.

General views of life in Japan.

II. The Art of Japan

"All Around Asia," Redway.
"Asia," Carpenter.

Lesson I