HARVARD COLLEGE

LIBRARY

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Being the third volume of Carpenter's Readers on Commerce and Industry, which deal with the primary necessities of man-food, clothing and shelter. The children are taken all over the globe, to learn for themselves where the materials in their houses come from and how they are prepared for use. They also see the various kinds of houses of other countries, and in their travels learn to know the principal trade routes and the world of commerce. They are taught the evolution of the house, and have a glance at some of the buildings of the past. This book is in accord with the present tendency to teach the elements of commercial and industrial geography in the upper grammar grades, and is most attractively illustrated.

TALES

Years 7-8

No other collection of Indian tales for school use covers so great an extent of territory. The majority of the stories are wholly original. Almost all the tribes of North America from Nova Scotia to Alaska are represented by their legends. The language follows, to some degree, the Indians' mode of expression, and the stories illustrate their primitive ideas of the Great Spirit, the Creation, the Deluge, the introduction of fire, the beginnings of agriculture, etc. Interspersed with these mythical tales are other stories of savage life, which will be equally interesting to children. The illustrations of the book are striking in their simplicity and show to some extent the Indians' ideas of pictorial representation.

Vol. LXXIX.

Merry Christmas

"Co-workers with God in the uplift of humanity"-in words like these or words to that effect, if the quotation be not literally correct, Horace Mann defined the mission of teachers. It is a good definition to adopt and live up to. Now, the Alpha and Omega of God's purposes with mankind is happiness. Eden was the beginning, Heaven is the hoped-for end. Joy is the consummation. It is the keynote of worship. There is no truer way of testifying to one's trust in the All-Father than by being joyful always. Fretting, grumbling, and fussing people and those with hang-dog faces are of another Kingdom. The schoolrooms presided over by "co-workers with God in the uplift of humanity" are radiant with joy-the joy of working, the joy of helping, the joy of achieving, the joy of being alive. In such soil all that is best will thrive.

That is why thoughtful teachers have declared Christmas to be the season richest in educational opportunity. Thanksgiving Day ushers in the joyous days. How can we best give thanks? By making others glad. So then, we will get to work and save from our routine tasks as many minutes as we can for Christmas activities. The room shall be a bower of beauty. The branches of the Christmas tree shall bear loving remembrances of parents and friends, all done by the children themselves. The poor shall be supplied from a store of good things contributed by free gifts from those who have to give. Crumbs and grains shall be strewn in sheltered places where birds will find them. One thought shall be supreme: Let all the world be merry. Yes, merry! Joy unconfined, ringing out in laughter and merry noise, marks the Christmas season. Not a word, of course, shall be heard about whispering and such like bugbears of irritable teachers, and there shall be seen no beams in children's eyes except sunbeams. For this is the joyous time of the year; let everyone make merry.

"Equal pay for equal work" has won the victory at last. One flagrant injustice in the appointment of salaries for the teachers of New York City has now been righted by law. The

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new conditions, to be sure, have brought to the surface, and into prominence, other inequalities which will have to be adjusted before long. Some short-sighted people seem to regard these inequalities as creations of the new law. No, friends, they existed right along. Now they stand out in all their glaring disproportion to the pay-roll as a whole. That is the difference.

Grace C. Strachan and her valiant co-workers have compelled New York City to discriminate no longer against women teachers charged with responsibilities usually reserved in the past for men. Thereby they have earned the gratitude not only of the women who are directly benefited, but of every teacher who now, in comparison with the new conditions, appears shamefully underpaid.

Grace Strachan has proved the forcefulness of her leadership by results. Perhaps it is a bit inconsiderate on our part to suggest that she be chosen to marshal the forces anew to a battle for justice to the primary teacher. The strain upon her of the stress of the campaign that is past will never be fully realized except by friends that are nearest to her. The struggle, with the attendant sorrows of being misunderstood and maliciously misrepresented, has told upon her erstwhile splendid physique, tho her will has lost none of its indomitableness, nor her spirit its sweetness, nor her personality the charm that established her leadership. She is entitled to rest and comfort, and the best that her friends can do for her or wish for her. But if she should lend her help, the movement for further extension of justice to the teachers would surely succeed.

The Milwaukee Press writes that "the greatest banquet ever held in the State of Wisconsin" was given on October 21st by the Principals' and Teachers' Association of that city, in the N. E. A. The Governor of the State and prominent local officials, together with fifteen hundred teachers paid tribute to his leadership both by their presence and addresses. hundred and forty girls from the Domestic Science Department of the Girls' Trade School prepared the five-course banquet, and served the guests. The man who is honored at home is honored indeed.

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