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lessons are treated in it in a more comprehensive way than is usual in Sundayschool helps. The writers in it afford perspectives of the lessons, such as help a teacher to present them most effectively. The names of the writers, Rev. Drs. Dunning, Boynton, Griffis, Leavitt, Wright, Foster, Clark, etc., — have become as familiar as household words. The Monday Club sermons have become indispensable.

AN ARITHMETIC FOR PREPARATORY SCHOOLS, HIGH SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES. By Charles A. Hobbs, A. M., Master of Mathematics in the Belmont School, Belmont, Mass. New York: A. Lovell & Co. Pp. 343. Cloth. In preparing this book for use in Preparatory and other schools of similar grade, Professor Hobbs has omitted the four fundamental operations, and after giving four pages to a brief review of them, begins with fractions and considers the various processes in advanced Arithmetic. An especial feature of the book is the large number of practical examples and special problems, which are of a nature to be met with in daily business life, and will test the knowledge of the student in a way to benefit as well as test him. It is evidently a practical book, containing much good, large, "round-about common sense."

JACQUES BONHOMME. John Bull on the Continent. By Max O`Rell, author of "Jonathan and his Continent,” “John Bull, Junior," "John Bull and his Island," etc. New York: Cassell & Co. Pp. 168. Paper. Price, 50 cents. For sale by Damrell & Upham.

"Cum grano salis" will apply exceedingly well to this book if it is after the same style as far as exaggeration is concerned as his "Jonathan and his Continent." While to one perfectly acquainted with the people of whom Mr. O'Rell is writing, these books will afford a little very mild fun, they are almost sure to give the stranger an erroneous idea of people and country.

NURSERY FINGER-PLAYS. By Emilie Poulsson. Music by Cornelia C. Roeske. Illustrations by L. J. Bridgman. Boston: D. Lothrop Co. Price, $1.25. It would be difficult to find a more bewitching book for the kindergarten than this collection of little poems, uniquely illustrated by an artist full of sympathy with his subject, and set to simple music especially adapted to the voices and abilities of the very young children for whom it is chiefly intended. The eighteen finger-plays contained in this dainty volume are for children, up to seven or eight, to be used for kindergartens, and we can conceive of no prettier sight than a class of little tots going through the various motions under the direction of a bright teacher who could thoroughly enjoy such training.

But the book must be seen and used to be appreciated, and we are safe in saying that no mother or teacher who can possibly afford the investment of a dollar and a quarter, will ever regret purchasing this unfailing source of pleasure and profit, in the home and the kindergarten.

THE NEW ENGLAND MAGAZINE in its new form, with new dress of type, new style of cover, new corps of Editors, and new business management, is a very pronounced success, and a monthly which every true New England family in or out of these states will enjoy reading and find of real value.

Of the new management we need only say that with General Chamberlain, late Governor of the State of Maine and Ex-President of Bowdoin College, at the head of the business department, and Rev. Edward E. Hale, D. D., and Mr. Edwin D. Mead in the double editorial chair, the quality of the work done will not be less than first class.

The editors in the prospectus of the new magazine say of the policy they are to pursue, "The magazine will be devoted especially to New England life, thought, and history. This special object, however, will be construed in no narrow or provincial spirit. It will concern itself with whatever pertains to general American development and is of interest to the American people." The September and October numbers now out bear witness to this policy well carried out.

The first number is devoted almost entirely to Plymouth and the history of the Pilgrims. Within that month the great Pilgrim monument at Plymouth, finally completed after thirty years, was dedicated. No recent event has been of greater import to the people throughout the country whose roots are in New England, or who are moved by the New England spirit.

The October number is largely an educational number. It contains an article on Dr. William T. Harris, who has just been appointed United States Commissioner of Education, with portrait and other illustrations; an article on The National Educational Association, by Dr. A. P. Marble, the retiring President of the Association; and a paper on the Educational Institutions of Nashville, by Mr. David G. Ray, of Nashville. A general illustrated article on Nashville, by Col. A. S. Colyar of that city, will also be of interest to the teachers of the country, this "Athens of the South” having been the place of this year's meeting of the National Educational Association.

The article by Edwin D. Mead entitled, “Did John Hampden come to New England," in the two numbers before us, is well worthy the author, and will find many interested readers. It is very careful and exhaustive. The article on Dr. Holmes, by George Willis Cooke, should not be passed without a word of commendation. Many other excellent contributions are deserving of notice, but space will not permit.

A most encouraging feature of the publication of this new monthly is the hearty reception given it in and out of the New England States.

We shall look forward to an evening with the New England Magazine each month with genuine satisfaction, and shall realize our expectations of excellent articles, finely illustrated upon first-class paper. In short we are anticipating a thoroughly first-class magazine of high literary quality monthly.

the periodical press.

The weekly

The current periodical literature is replete with valuable contributions. religious press is full of accounts of great annual and triennial gatherings of different denominations. Perhaps never has so much thought and careful attention been given to the thorough discussion of religious matters as during the last few weeks. In the Magazines for the current month, of especial interest are the article by Prof. William

T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education, on "Edward Bellamy's Vision," in the Forum, in which he shows many of the impossibilities of the scheme. "The Australian Ballot System," by Edward Wakefield will interest many in different parts of the country. Teachers of higher geography will find in Scribner's for October two articles which will give them many new ideas of two very different portions of the earth; they are "How I crossed Masai-Land," by Joseph Thompson, and “A Summer in Iceland," by Chas. Sprague Smith. Both quite fully and carefully illustrated. Students of history will find in the Magazine of American History a never ending source of delight. In the October number the accomplished editor, Mrs. Martha J. Lamb, has given us much to enjoy and be benefited by. Among the articles are "Georgia the only Free Colony," "The Discovery of America by Columbus; Boston and New York Celebrations One Hundred Years Ago," and "Romantic Beginnings of Milwaukee." Mr. Kennan holds the post of honor in the Century for October; the leading article is his under the title "In East Siberian Mines." "Molière and Shakespeare," by C. Coquelin, follows, and is in turn followed by three most interesting chapters in the "Life of Lincoln," while of professional and particular interest to the teachers of America are "The Training of the Teacher," by Nicholas Murray Butler, "Manual Training as a Factor in Modern Education," by Francis Newton Thorpe, and "The Democratic Ideal in Education," by Felix Adler. The Catholic World for November is of interest to educators whether Catholic or Protestant. The leading article is "Lessons of a Century of Catholic Education.". That the new Commissioner of Education is not without literary activity still, in spite of the duties of his office, will be seen by a study of "The Spiritual Sense of Dante's Divina Comedia," in the last number of the Journal of Speculative Philosophy.- -We could wish some of our correspondents could read and apply the article entitled " About Handwriting," by J. F. Genung, in the October number of The Writer. — The list of authors which have written for Harper's Magazine is not only very large but of a high order. Among those who have contributed for the October number are Lucy Larcom, Austin Dobson, William Wordsworth. Charles Dudley Warner, Edward Bellamy, Prof. W. G. Blakie, D. D., and others. — " The Kindergarten," Chicago, is more than usually attractive in its October issue, by means of its exquisite frontispiece, Love's Blossoms, three beautiful child-faces, instinct with confiding affection. Prof. Edward G. Howe continues his invaluable series of lessons on Systematic Science for Kindergarten and Primary School.

PAMPHLETS RECEIVED.

Mr. Parkman's Histories. Champlain on the Coast of New England. Boston. Old South Leaflets. Series 1889, No. 3. The Rev. Egerton Ryerson, D.D., LL. D. Founder of the School System of Ontario, by J. George Hodgkins.· Morality in the Schools, by William F. Harris. Boston. Christian Register Association.— Road Legislation for the American State, by Jeremiah W. Jenks, Ph. D. Baltimore. American Economic Association. Report of the Proceedings of the American Economic Association, with Addresses by Dr. William Pepper and Gen. F. A. Walker. Training of Teachers in Austria, by E. Hannak, Ph. D. New York. New York College for the Training of Teachers.. Clark University. First Official Announcement. Worcester.- Thirty-first Annual Report of the Washingtonian Home. — A Method of Christian Co-operation for Reaching the Non-Church-Going Class, by Rev. Frank Russell, D. D. New York. 42 Bible House. Constitution and List of Officers and Members of the American Economic Association. — Handbook of Music Lessons. First Year Grade, by Tilton, Ginn & Co. Electoral Reform, with the Massachusetts Ballot Reform Act and New York (Saxton) Bill. New York. Society for Political Education. Science Teaching in the Schools, by William North Rice. Boston. D. C. Heath & Co. What Manual Training Is and How It Can Best be Conducted. Boston. D. C. Heath & Co. Proper Forms of Address. New York. John B. Alden. Proceedings in Commemoration of the Settlement of the Town of New Haven. — How to Introduce Drawing in Public Schools, by C. E. Meleney, Supt. of Schools, Somerville, Mass. New York. College for the Training of Teachers —Josiah Quincy, the Great Mayor, by Mellen Chamberlain. Boson, Mass. Society for the Promotion of Good Citizenship. · The Study of Modern Literature in the Education of Our Time, by James MacAlister, LL. D.- Le Mari de Madame de Solange, by Super, with notes. Boston. D. C. Heath & Co. Effe, frak, vergeffen, by Otto Schwetzky and Traiti sur Le Geme des Noms Francis, by Paul Louis Guerin. Boston. Carl Schoenhof.

EDUCATION

DEVOTED TO THE SCIENCE, ART, PHILOSOPHY, AND

LITERATURE OF EDUCATION.

VOL. X.

No. 4.

DECEMBER, 1889.

CONTINUITY IN EDUCATION.

SOME

BY CHARLES TUDOR WILLIAMS.

OME of us may remember a little story that went the rounds of the press at the time of the laying of the first Atlantic Cable. The "paying out," as the unreeling of the cable was called, was attended with constant testings in order to make sure that the magnetic connection with the shore end remained unin-terrupted. This connection was called by the engineers in charge the continuity, and whenever the magnetic current ceased operating, the ship would retrace its course, backing water, and drawing in the cable, until the cause of the broken current was discovered. The constant use of this term led one of the ship's crew, presumably an Irishman, to account, on one occasion, for an unusually long delay, with the reason, "Why, sure, they're hunting for the continuity."

In examining the field of education, with its apparently diverse interests, the pulling and hauling of the different theorists as to its proper conduct, we are moved to ask, like the Irishman, whether the continuity has not been lost, and to wonder whether some one should not set about trying to find it again: for, surely, there ought to be, in the nature of things, some one, continuous current of communication across the ocean which lies between the continents of ignorance and knowledge. In the eyes of some theorists, utility is the mysterious current which thus operates a right union between the two extremes; with others, it is mental discipline, and with others again, moral character. Theorists of

the first class mentioned are promoters of Industrial and Polytechnic schools; of the second class, of Classical schools, and schools of Pure Science; of the third class, of strictly Religious and Sectarian schools. There is another very large class who go on the laissez-faire principle — recognizing no necessary continuity in education; even denying it; assuming, for instance, to set apart the college and university from primary education of all degrees as belonging to an entirely different genii; having little in common. There is no denying that the question of education, coupled as it is with the great social questions of the day, is assuming an aspect of the highest importance, if we should so speak of a question which has always been considered highly important; and throughout all history our most authoritative guides on this subject have never lost sight of the unity or continuity of any system of education. For the clearest understanding of this subject, as of so many other purely intellectual questions, we must go back to the classic age, an age in which we find the human intellect less sophisticated, less prejudiced by long-fixed institutions, less checked by the now omnipresent, destructive, and often malevolent critic; an age, in fact, in which the stream of intellectual life was less polluted. Just here lies the chief value of the lessons to be learned from the early philosophies of the human race. They are, at least, genuine, like their bronzes and poetry. Let us glance at any consistent system of education taught by the ancients; that of Aristotle, Plato, or Xenophon, for instance, and try to see the unifying basis of it, or the continuity by which the beginning and end of education are placed in mutual correspondence. Xenophon's idea of education is embodied in the romantic account of the education of Cyrus the Great, and tallies well with his own experience. Indeed, what man's theories are not largely developed from his individual experience? A "mens sana in corpore sano," with the emphasis on the "corpore sano," is the continuous thread that runs through Xenophon's system as exposed in the Cyropedia. The results aimed at were a strong physique, a business practicality, a homely and honest philosophy.

Plato's system, quoting from Professor Packard's "Studies in Greek Thought," is the work of a law-giver, and aims to produce men qualified to the work of government. "First" (in his order of training) comes music, including the literature and music which is to form the character from the very earliest youth.

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