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ment and teaching resources are not sufficient to enable it to compete successfully with universities of similar rank, such as Harvard, Columbia, and Yale. Consequently, the ambitious graduate seeks a university in some other country which will afford him an opportunity of pursuing his favourite studies and attaining a certain degree of eminence in literary and scientific research. He naturally thinks first of England, which to him is the mother country in every respect; but, on finding that nothing is really offered in graduate work, he turns to the United States, where, as I have said, he finds a ready and hearty welcome. Now, will not the universities of our mother country rouse themselves a little in regard to this important educational matter?

-AT a recent meeting of the Protestant Board of School Commissioners of Montreal it was agreed that the board should co-operate with a sub-committee of the Protestant Committee of Public Instruction to arrange for an address and presentation to Dr. Robins, principal of the Normal School, in connection with the celebration of his jubilee. The chairman, the Ven. Archdeacon Evans and Dr. Shaw were appointed a committee with power to co-operate with the other sub-committee to make the demonstration in Dr. Robins's honor-which will take place on February 24, in the High School-a success, both from a social and material point of view. The chairman referred in flattering terms to the long connection of r. Robins with the work of Protestant education in the city, he having been superintendent of the Preparatory High School, and among the first to formulate the course of instruction in the schools, which was, at the time referred to, in a chaotic state, while Archdeacon Evans said that if he had devoted himself to any other sphere of activity he might, to-day, be a wealthy The thought was expressed that probably the public would like to show their appreciation of the work of Dr. Robins by contributing to the success of the occasion.

inan.

The EDUCATIONAL RECORD joins with Dr. Robins' many friends in congratulating him upon his "jubilee" as a teacher, and in expressing the wish that he may long be spared to a life of usefulness in the educational world.

"Ir has," says Education, "been well called a pathetic plea which goes up to the United States government from the white people of the Indian Territory asking that provi sion be made for the education of their 30,000 children,

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who are in dense ignorance and growing up without educational advantages. This state of things is a disgrace to our country." The pathos seems to be intensified when the present movement in the United States in favour of expansion" and "imperialism" is taken into consideration. -HAVE you an "educational creed"? If not, listen to what the Schol Journal has to say to you. "There is something radically and fatally wrong with a teacher who has no educational creed. Education is a responsible and complicated work, which must be carefully planned from beginning to end. There must be a definite aim and a clear understanding of the ways and means of reaching it. In other words, the educator must have in his mind some fixed principles of action. Without them he is like the captain of a ship without a compass. Every fad that stirs up a breeze may turn him from his course. If he is a routinist, his pupils will be deprived of many opportunities for educational development. In short, only a teacher who has clear and rational educational convictions can be safely entrusted with the training of children."

Current Events.

As an evidence of the fact that the older universities on the other side of the Atlantic are prepared to meet the requirements of modern progress, it is said that the University of Cambridge has decided to appoint a professor of agriculture at a salary of four thousand dollars a year.

---AN exchange gives this list of the largest universities of the world, arranged according to the number of attending students -Paris, 11,090; Berlin, 9,629; Vienna, 7,026; Madrid, 6,143; Naples, 5,103; Moscow; 4,461 ; Harvard, 3,674; Oxford, 3,365; Cambridge, 2,929; Edinburgh, 2,850.

WHILE McGill University is not being forgotten by her benefactors, the wealthy friends of universities of the United States continue to bestow large gifts upon the favoured ones. Among these is the University of Chicago, which is to receive two million dollars more from its founder, John D. Rockfeller. This gift is conditional upon an equal amount being raised by January, 1900. Of this sum more than a million and a half dollars has already been subscribed. The total amount will be expended on estab

lishing and developing the professional school of the uni versity. By the will of the late Henry C. Warren, of Cam ̄ bridge, Harvard University will receive property valued at a million dollars. It includes all Mr. Warren's real estate in Cambridge, which is near Harvard College, and which will probably be used for college purposes. Mrs. Phoebe Hearst is to give to the University of California new buildings costing 25 millions, and has offered $25,000 in premiums for the best plans. Miss Cora Jane Flood has also given 3 millions to the university, consisting of her mansion and grounds at Menlo Park and four-fifths of the capital stock of Bear Creek Water Company.

-NINE years ago there were in the city of New York, as then constituted, 129 school buildings, in which 3,473 teachers and principals were employed. The interests of these schools were administered by twenty-four separate local boards of trustees and a board of education consisting of twenty-one commissioners. There was a superintendent and seven assistant superintendents. Now, these boards of trustees have been dispensed with and there is a single board of education. In the boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx there are 175 school-houses, in which 5,396 teachers and principals are employed.-Education.

-IT is interesting to note what Primary Education has to say regarding the experiment of admitting college graduates to the public schools for professional training, which is being made at Brookline under Superintendent Dutton. This class is open only to college graduates or those who have received the equivalent of a college training. The students are admitted to the class-rooms for observation, and after a period take charge at times of the class under the class teacher and the director of the training class. So successful has been this experiment in professional training that it is now put on a firmer foundation, and is more directly recognized as a part of the city's educational work. The superintendent says that a college graduate can acquire mastery of a subject much more quickly that can an untrained observer. The effect on the children has been good. It has accustomed them to recite to and before strangers, until an outsider's presence in the room passes almost unnoticed.

-IN the State of Maine a league has been formed which has for its object :-(1.) To improve school grounds and

buildings. (2.) To furnish suitable reading matter for pupils and people. (3) To provide works of art for school rooms. The membership is to be composed of teachers, pupils, school officials and other officials. It is proposed to institute a system of exchange whereby all works of art purchased shall be exhibited in all the schools of the State.

"SCHOOL DENTISTRY" is one of the newest educational terms, it seems. A School Dentists' Society has been inaugurated in England. The first president, in his presidential address, said the special object of the society was by means of mutual assistance to promote school dentistry. As an outcome of the general advance made in recent years in the practice of dentistry they must have been prepared to find increased attention being paid to the value of systematic care of children's teeth. Very many of the troubles which they were called upon to deal with in the adult would never occur if proper dental supervision and treatment were provided for the young. He was able to assure the authorities having charge of children that figures showed that less than 15 per cent. of boys and girls, of an average age of twelve years, did not require some treatment for decayed teeth.

-AN English educational journal draws attention to the fact that in the Section of Education in the Paris Exhibition of 1900 it is proposed to hold an International Congress of Higher (University) Education. Among the subjects set down in the provisional programme for discussion is "University Extension; the means already employed, or to be employed, by the universities to cause scientific methods, scientific ideas, and the scientific spirit to penetrate, as far as that is possible and desirable, to every class in the nation." Still more satisfactory, as a sign of the times, is the following: "The formation by the universities of primary, secondary, and university teachers." The proposal for the Congress is due to private initiative, but, if the scheme is efficiently carried out, it may mark an epoch in the training of teachers.

Correspondence, etc.

SIR, I desire to call the attention of Secretaries of Local Associations of Protestant Teachers, which have a bona fide existence, to the fact that Presidents of such Associations

are ex-officio Vice-Presidents of the Provincial Association, provided, of course, that they are members of the latter body.

Will Secretaries of Local Associations, therefore, send me official notice of the formation of such bodies, together with the names and addresses of Presidents thereof?

32 Belmont street,

Montreal.

A. W. KNEELAND,
Corresponding Secretary,

P. A. of Prot Teachers.

OUR FLAG.-We are asked by an esteemed correspondent to give the meaning of the emblems or designs upon our Union Jack and to give the origin of the three crosses.

Until the year 1606 the red cross of St. George, the patron saint of England, was England's flag. In consequence of the union of 1603, King James the first ordered that a new ensign be used which should blend the red St. George on a white ground with St. Andrew's white diagonal cross on a blue ground.

This flag is known as the first Union Jack, it being said that its name was derived from King James, or Jacques.

In 1801 our present Union Jack was designed by blending the red, diagonal, cross of St. Patrick, on a white ground, with the previous crosses.

It would be a good idea to have the pupils draw the Union Jack, indicating the colors, or displaying them with colored crayons.

Practical Hints and Examination Papers.

The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do, without a thought of fame.

LONGFELLOW.

"We are so busy earning a living that we have no time to live," says some thoughtful student of life.

We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial.

We should count time by heart throbs.

He most lives

Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.

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BAILEY.

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