ceive that Reality which is behind the veil of appearance; and yet it is said to be our duty to believe (and in so far to conceive) that this Reality exists in a certain defined manner. Shall we call this reverence? Or shall we call it the reverse?" -The Reconciliation, page 110, First Principles.

So far I have quoted from the Second Edition of First Principles, entered for copyright 1864, and bearing the imprint of 1870.

Mr. Spencer either knew or he did not know what he wanted to say, and he told it, or he did not tell it. When he, or any other one as to that matter, lays down certain ultimate principles as the very essence of a system of philosophy, to be consistent with himself, he is forced to accept conclusions validly deduced from his premises, or else turn around and repudiate his own doctrine.

It has happened in more instances than one, that an author started out to prove a certain theory in the beginning of his writings; but before he had completed his work, he saw the precipice, and instead of falling headlong over it, he wheeled about and took another track. But Mr. Spencer marches up to the brink; looks at it awhile; hesitates; and then proceeds to the great work of Reconciliation.

Mr. Spencer's system of philosophy is a one-ended chain," and he and his followers are continually clutching at the dangling end somewhere in the region of the Unknowable.

It is clear to my mind that Mr. Spencer teaches that the Infinite, the Absolute, God, Essence, Motion, Force, etc., are inconceivable and unknowable, and that the essential element in the doctrine of Religion is that God transcends the human intellect. His religious psychology was admirably stated a few years ago by a distinguished philosopher, who said: "The thirty-nine articles should be condensed into one, thus: There is an Unknown, which I know that I cannot know."

There is no escaping the conclusion, after admitting Herbert Spencer's premises, that Science and Religion are reconciled in the Unknowable, only by committing intellectual suicide, a fact that is not uncommon among that class of materialistic philosophers.

J. M. GREENWOOD.

THE report is now circulating that obnoxious monopoly has reached even to educational matters. Against such a trust all educators and influential men should unite with the people in an earnest protest, so emphatic, so loud, that these men shall not be able to consummate an arrangement which will simply build up their own fortunes at the expense of the children and school system of our land.

IN

THE STEELE ORPHANAGE.

N the EDUCATION for June 1888, it was my privilege to give an extended account of the Steele Orphanage at Chattanooga, Tennessee, that wonderful result of the faith and energy of one woman, Mrs. Almira S. Steele. The article commanded attention, especially in the South, being, to my knowledge, copied entire in one of the influential Southern papers. Since then the work has so progressed that a few facts gleaned from Mrs. Steele's Annual Report just received may be interesting at this time.

The Home, it will be remembered, started as Mrs. Steele's personal property, for she bought the land, had the buildings erected, hired the workers and paid the bills. Desiring it to be a permanent institution, she selected a Board of Trustees, who secured, at her request, a state charter. Then she deeded the property over to them with the proviso that she be the manager, without pay, as long as she lived. As none of the benevolent societies of the North fostered orphanages, and as the majority of the Southern real estate owners were not as yet willing to have their property taxed to feed the "little blacks," the work had to be an independent affair. Left, then, with the care of an institution in which had been put every cent of her little property saved for herself and daughter, Mrs. Steele went to work, in faith that the money would be forthcoming for its support. And in marvelous ways the money has come. During the five years since the Home was opened the entire cash receipts for the work, aside from the county appropriations of fifty dollars a year for each child belonging to Hamilton County, have been as follows: :

Last year the first legacy, or gift by will, was received. This was fifty dollars, from a Hebrew gentleman, the father of the proprietor of The Chattanooga Times. During this five years 286 children have been received in the Home, over a hundred having been inmates at once. Good instruction under Massachusetts Normal School graduates is given in two comfortably furnished schoolrooms. The matron who has charge of the Sunday school, sewing school and evening instruc

tion, is from a normal school in Illinois, having been a teacher under the "New West Commission" in Utah. Two of the helpers are from General Armstrong's school in Hampton, Virginia. All of the other assistants in the Home are from Massachusetts.

The children who are old enough to work are detailed each month for special labor in the several departments under the careful supervision of helpers. Cane-seating has been made a specialty. At the age

of fourteen or fifteen, the children are sent to some industrial school where they may work for their board and learn a trade. "In that way," says Mrs. Steele, "we hope to fit them for honorable and useful lives, rendering them capable of leading among their people. Our desire is to lay the deep foundation for honesty, industry, frugality, truthfulness, and purity."

This idea so possesses Mrs. Steele that a small beginning has been made for another orphanage in Atlanta, Georgia, a city twice as large as Chattanooga. This seemed to her a necessity as there were five institutions for helpless and homeless white children but none for colored ones. Under the name of "vagrants and prowlers," these poor little unfortunates are committed to jail. For petty offences, like stealing a ride on a street car, they are put in the chain-gang to work on the streets until their fines are paid. She especially desires this Home at Atlanta, as in Chattanooga, to succeed, because there is no reformatory in the state. She is convinced that such homes for unfortunate children are a greater need even than any reformatory.

In addition to all this responsibility, Mrs. Steele has still the care of the Steele High School at McNeills in Hampton County, South Carolina, founded by her seven years ago. She employs Northern helpers and pays their fare and wages. This has proved such a good seedsowing that last October she opened a new school in Allendale, Barnwell County, South Carolina, where she pays the fare and wages of three more teachers.

The secret of Mrs. Steele's strength, in daring to take upon herself these burdens, independent of the assured help of any society, denomination or individual, is in these words lived up to, "We rely," she says "on the religion of Christ, with the influence of His spirit to accomplish this work through our instrumentality." The little money which she had planned to use for the comfort of herself and daughter she said she dared not save for possible future needs, when so many children were uncared for and needing help at once." Her only excuse for undertaking the work was that it "seemed so wicked to let these neglected ones go into paths of sin and into the chain-gang without an earnest effort on the part of some one to do permanent work in caring for their souls and bodies." She felt that Sunday school work was not

enough. The great need was the every moment work of organized Christian homes, which, at least, through her marvelous faith, tact, and energy, have become a reality for the "little blacks."

That her own soul has been blessed is seen in the closing words of her Report. "There has been more solid enjoyment in the work, than a palace with all its luxuries, or lavish expenditures on ourselves in any form, could afford."

Chelsea, Mass., January, 1890.

ELIZABETH PORTER GOULD.

FOREIGN NOTES.

REFORMS IN SWEDISH SYSTEMS. - A certain class of critics are continually waxing eloquent over the superiority of foreign systems of education as compared with our own. It is not to their purpose to see any defects in the systems which they elect to approve. Dispassionate students of the facts, however, will find much to condemn in systems which have developed under conditions of society and government unlike and often antagonistic to those of the United States. Further, they will discover that there are evils inherent in all systems which have grown to excessive proportions abroad, while they have but small development in our midst. Among these must be counted over-pressure, an ever-present factor in the problems of secondary education in European countries. Attention has already been called in these pages to the agitation of this subject in Germany and in France. Sweden was one of the first countries to give warning of this tendency. Complaints of the great influx of students into the universities have also long been heard there. Some thirteen years ago, certain patriotic men foreseeing the inevitable result of unbroken continuance in the established order, founded a school which, after its head master, received the name of "Palmgren's Practical Work School." It was intended to give a liberal education, and has now proved its efficiency in that respect, as some of its pupils have, during the last two years successfully obtained their matriculation degree. The school lessons are here somewhat fewer than in ordinary schools, and instruction in manual work Sloyd-is obligatory for all pupils. Moreover, children who do not attend the school lessons are admitted to the Sloyd instruction at a very moderate fee. Instruction is also given to men and women in sewing, embroidering in gold and silver, lace making, macramé, etc. Also in bookbinding, pasteboard work, joinery and turning. There are in addition, courses at the school of three months each, for future male and female Sloyd teachers. Besides instruction in Sloyd work,

these students have lessons in drawing and the pedagogics of Sloyd. They have also to instruct children in Sloyd for one or two hours a day, under the superintendence of their teachers. During the summer holidays a shorter course is given for ordinary teachers.

In all the Scandinavian universities the method of instruction is somewhat different from that that followed in Germany. "Examinatorien" and "praktische seminarien" are rare. Many professors deliver their lectures, and only meet the students in the lecture halls. Whether the young student can follow the lectures, whether he puts them down or studies them afterwards, or even whether he attends the lectures at all, are things which many Scandinavian professors only inquire into when the student is passing his degree examination. A Swedish university committee has now moved that the youngest students shall receive instruction more resembling that given at school; that the professor shall personally advise the beginners how to plan and commence their university studies; that he shall further ascertain by oral and written examinations, whether the students follow his prescriptions; and finally, that none but those who pass an examination are to be admitted to the higher classes where scientific lectures by the professors are the student's sole guide. This motion is now being considered by the government.

In March last the Swedish Rigsdag passed a bill enacting that women shall be eligible to local school boards and boards of guardians. The bill was supported by the government, but the parliamentary committee had recommended it to be thrown out by the chamber. In spite of this it was carried, owing to the eloquent advocacy of the Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs.

EDUCATIONAL PROVISION OF FINLAND. - The Lutheran province of Finland comprises a little less than two per cent. of the entire extent of the Russian dominion, and a little more than two per cent. of its total population. In respect to provision for education, it presents a striking contrast to the great bulk of the empire.

According to the latest statistics, but a trifle over two per cent. of the inhabitants of Russia, omitting Finland, receive elementary instruction, whereas in Finland nearly ten per cent. of the population are enrolled in the elementary state schools, or brought under instruction by means of the ambulatory schools. This represents about one-half the youth of school age (i. e., 7 to 16 years). The remainder are either taught at home or are gathered into the Sunday schools, so that virtually the entire school population is under instruction. These Sabbath schools, it should be observed, give instruction in the same branches as the day schools.