BUT the result of this (Vermont) convention is not to be looked upon as a defeat for Mr. Blaine. He was defeated and disappeared from the field three months ago.—N. Y. Times (Ind.).

If Blaine is dead why do you keep wasting powder on him? What are you afraid of?-Brooklyn Times (Rep.).

JUDGING from the signs of the times Grover Cleveland will be the nominee of the Democratic party in 1888. He is the only man in the party that stands a good chance to be elected. This is our candid opinion and is based upon the closest observation and calculation.—Washington Gazette (Ind.):

SENATOR LOGAN has already been nominated for the Presidency by two excited Chicago clubs and one Baltimore organization that may possibly change its mind. The remaining portions of the country have not yet been heard from, but they don't amount to much anyhow.-Philadelphia Times (Ind.).

THE Grand Old Man upon whom the British people are heaping such testimonials of admiration and regard has a Grand Old Woman with him everywhere he goes. President Cleveland has "caught on to the idea in time for the campaign of 1888.-St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Dem.).

MR. EDMUNDS is still the favorite Republican son of Vermont. Leastwise the proceedings of the State convention at Montpelier are to be so interpreted, and Mr. Blaine should not fail to make a memorandum to this effect in his political note-book.-New York World (Dem.).

MR. BLAINE'S information bureau seems to be in full swing. Thursday a big bundle of marked copies of a Boston paper, containing a three-column interview with Blaine and comments, were received by the fish dealers in Fulton market, New York.-Rochester Herald (Rep.).

THE Sage of Greystone appears to be a statesman after Mr. Hill's own heart, but if he wants to follow in the steps of his adroit predecessor, he must remember that there is no future for the politician who is habitually afraid to speak his mind. -Brooklyn Union (Ind.).

MR. BLAINE would seem to head the field in the race for the Presidential nomination in 1888; but though a matchless statesman the party will do well to consider if success would not be surer with Logan or Sherman.-Warren, Ohio, Tribune (Rep.).

"THERE are many obstacles in the way of a second term for Mr. Cleveland," says an "independent" newspaper. It is true. At any rate there is one huge Hill between Mr. Cleveland and the nomination.-National Republican (Rep.)

GOVERNOR HILL, it is now worthy of note, has grown considerably as a public man, and, friend or otherwise of President Cleveland, he seems now fairly entered by general consent for the Presidential race.-New York Journal (Ind.).

ALLEN G. THURMAN in the White House would be very acceptable to the masses. In fact, Allen G. Thurman anywhere in high office would fit better than almost anybody else we can recall at present.--Arkansas Gazette (Dem.).

THE drift of opinion seems to be that Mr. Cleveland will try for a second term, notwithstanding he started out as a one-term man. Marriage is calculated to make a man change his mind about many things.-Indianapolis News (Ind.).

MR. BLAINE is the only Republican candidate seriously considered for 1888. Sherman, Logan, Evarts and Edmunds cut no figure. The Democrats and the mugwumps will have to make friends again.-Galveston News (Dem.).

IF Mr. Childs' personal objection can be overcome and his candidacy secured Americans will for once have an ideal type of Presidential candidate of whom all parties and all men may feel justly proud.-Media, Pa., Record (Ind.).

PERHAPS the Republican party will, prefer to fight the campaign of 1884 over again with the same candidates and the same issues. The result would be different in 1888, we are confident.-Albany Journal (Rep.), June 17.

Ir the Democrats had to choose a Presidential candidate next month, they would nominate Grover Cleveland, and they would do so because they know that no other man would be so sure of election.-New York Star (Dem.).

WE have great admiration for Blaine, but we don't want to run a serious risk of another defeat of the Republican party. We know that the issue, with Mr. Blaine at the head of the ticket, is doubtful.-Dayton Journal (Rep.).

MR, CHILDS has made a warm place for himself in the hearts of a good many

people in this country, and has won universal respect by his liberality and the integrity of his life.—Springfield Republican (Ind.).

THE Kentucky delegation in Congress want a free-trade candidate for President next time, apparently. At a dinner on Saturday they all expressed themselves for Speaker Carlisle.—Philadelphia Press (Ind.).

MR. BLAINE Smiled and said: "Perhaps they had better try some other man next time." A great many others than Mr. Blaine are of the same opinion.— Indianapolis Journal (Rep.).

THERE is talk of Daniel Manning and of David B. Hill for President, but the man for Grover Cleveland to beware of is Daniel Lamont.-Louisville CourierJournal (Dem.).

WE still think, as we thought two years ago, that in selecting a candidate the true policy is to find a man whose nomination will unite the party.-Milwaukee Sentinel (Rep.).

THE Republicans in some sections have begun to boom General Gresham for President. What will become of the Plumed Knight?-Wheeling Register

(Dem.).

THE David Bennett Hill boom for President is enjoying an interval of extraordinary activity. There is no eight-hour law agitation about it.—Philadelphia Press (Rep.).

BLAINE is coming South as a sort of Mahomet compromise. The South never would go to Blaine.—Louisville Commercial (Rep.).

MR. CLEVELAND will be his own successor if the people have their way.Florida Times-Union (Dem.).

THE Vermont Republicans may love Edmunds much, by they love Blaine more. Newark News (Dem.).

Gov. HILL'S visit to Boston has added sixty cubits to the stature of his beautiful boom.-National Republican (Rep.).

CONGRESS OF AMERICAN NATIONS.

THE passage by the Senate on the 17th inst, by a unanimous vote, of Mr. Frye's bill "to promote the political progress and commercial prosperity of the American nations" is the subject of the following comments:

New York Tribune (Rep.), June 19.

SOME of the men who criticised this proposition when it was brought forward by the Garfield Administration are now its warm supporters. The progress of events has opened their eyes. A bill somewhat similar, though less comprehensive and effective, was weeks ago favorably reported in the House. If that body is responsive to public sentiment and is governed by the interests of the nation, it will substitute the Senate bill for its own and promptly pass it. The bill provides for a conference of delegates from each of the Republics of Mexico, of Central and South America, Hayti, San Domingo, and from the Empire of Brazil, to assemble in Washington, at the invitation of the President, to confer with representatives of the United States in regard to such questions as will promote the common welfare of the American States. Among the measures enumerated are the formation of a customs union, the establishment of steamship communication, the adoption of a uniform system of weights and measures, a common silver coin, a plan of arbitration of differences and such matters as may promote peace and prosperity. The measures agreed upon are to be recommended to their respective governments for adoption. For the purpose of meeting the expenses of this conference the bill appropriates $100,000. It is a wise proposition, and can not fail to be one of national benefit. No argument is required to show our need of taking some action to open markets for American products. In doing this it is well to go further and secure the consideration by the States and statesmen of the American continent of all questions relating to their common interests and harmony of institutions. Over half a century ago the question was being debated in Congress whether or not it was wise to look for the extension of our interests west of the

Mississippi River. The men who stood in opposition to the growth of the country in that direction were not more blind than those of to-day who oppose wise efforts to extend our trade and commerce to the south.

New York Commercial Advertiser (Rep.), June 18.

So far as unanimous vote by the Senate is an indication we are to have a convention of American nations to talk over the trade relations of the continent. The idea has been growing in favor at Washington for some years, and now, under the management of Senator Frye, the Senate has committed itself unreservedly to the project. We are willing to see what good there may be in it. Certainly, our South American trade is now in a languishing condition, and possibly it will help all parties to come together and discuss the situation. The political aspect of the scheme is more open to criticism. We should not wish to assume the part of "big brother" to all the quarrelsome little nations on the continent, even if our supervision were desired, and we have received intimations more than once, in a shape not too polite, that our meddling in our neighbors' affairs was distasteful to them. Senator Whitthorne's speech a few days ago in favor of the congress put anew before the country the main facts as to our commerce with our continental neighbors and the possibilities of extending it if we pursue a wise policy. There has just been published, also, a pamphlet on South American trade by the Bureau of Statistics, from which many suggestive facts may be gathered; and the Commercial Advertiser, not long ago, published very interesting and important facts and suggestions from experts concerning the subject. A glance at the export tables in the pamphlet will show one or two glaring absurdities in existing trade relations which a conven

tion would properly deal with. We are naturally a cotton manufacturing nation. We grow the staple and our cotton mills are as good as any. It might be supposed, therefore, that we would export cotton goods in large amount to our neighbors. But as a matter of fact we supply them with this line of goods in a far less amount than England, and even France and Germany. To quote the figures for two or three of the states which offer the principal market, we sold in Brazil last year $516,827 worth of manufactures of cotton, while Great Britain sold that country $14,111,960, France $467,074, and Germany $535,738. For the Argentine Republic the figures are as follows: United States, $410,914; Great Britain, $5,775,105; France, $726,391; Germany, $546,924. These ratios hold fairly good throughout the whole list of Central and South American customers. There

is no reason in nature or in policy why this country should not make a better showing than this in the export cotton trade. And in other details of commerce similar absurdities may easily be cited. If a congress can suggest a policy which shall correct these evils, we shall be glad to welcome our visitors.

Brooklyn Eagle (Dem.), June 21.

We do not desire to cast doubt on any of the sanguine views which these gentlemen entertain in regard to this pet scheme of the man from Maine, but people do not require to have very long memories to recall the time when the same lively gentleman was engaged in what the people of Chili regarded as an attempt to swindle that friendly state-an attempt which provoked the strongest feelings of resentment among its people, who are certainly the most energetic and enterprising of any in South America. Nor will it be forgotten that the members of the South American Commission, which returned from its visit to that continent about a year ago, met with a very cool reception in most of the states, especially in Chili, where the little affair of Mr. Blaine and the bogus claims he stood behind had not been forgotten. Still, it is possible that the people of South America may be in better temper a year hence, and if anything can be done to increase trade with them it will be well.

Philadelphia Record (Ind.), June 20.

THE Dominion of Canada, the West Indies, and the European territories in South America are to be excluded from the proposed congress for the reason that they do not possess the attributes of sovereignty; but the Dominion of Canada could consent to most of the arrangements which this congress is designed to effect without asking leave of the mother country. It is very likely, however, that the projectors of this scheme do not desire any trade reciprocity with Canada, and this is the reason why our northern neighbor is not to be invited to the banquet. The discussion of free fish, free coal, and other little reciprocities of trade might arise which would prove extremely embarrassing to the statesmanship of Maine.

ment.

Charleston News and Courier (Dem.).

* *

misinformation it possesses. When Jefferson Davis made his recent tour of the South and spoke of the lost cause as not lost, Republican papers very generally were silent or merely deprecated the demonstration in honor of secession. A few Republicans who felt in duty bound to protest against the demonstration, and a number of Grand Army posts, denounced the sentiments of Davis, but, as a rule, the people of the North did not permit themselves to express the sorrow and indignation they felt. The few expressions of dissent or protest which were made were promptly denounced by certain Democratic papers and those which are known as Mugwump organs. Probably the general silence of the Northern press, and the rebukes administered to those who did protest, led the Charleston News to assume that the North is changing grounds in regard to the rightfulness of secession and the late rebellion. We repeat that all this is a misconception. There has been no such change. The people of the North hold that secession is unconstitutional and that the rebellion was treason. Can not the Charleston paper let the matter drop? The North desires to do so.

Boston Herald (Ind.).

THIS expression of a leading Southern newspaper has agitated the Republican organs of this section; yet it might have been incorporated in Mr. Blaine's historical comments without criticism. We suppose that philosophical students of history in the North have already given the South the credit of fidelity to its construction of the Constitution, and would concede the truth of the statement that its construction of the Constitution was the construction which obtained at the time the Constitution was formed. The South was behind the times. It did not keep step with the North in political progress. The nation was a growth. Chief Justice Marshall extended its powers, and Daniel Webster magnified its authority. In the North, nothing interfered with this growth. In the South, the institution of slavery prevented it. That demanded all the limitations which had been provided by the Constitution makers. The mistake of the South was in organizing rebellion before the rights of the States had been interfered with. But even that was a step in the evolution of the nation. The tree of liberty had outgrown the tub in which it was planted, and in one way or another a change was inevitable.

Boston Journal (Rep.).

MISCELLANEOUS.

ORIGIN OF THE POTATO.-An interesting article on this subject is given in a recent number of Nature, from which it appears that we have as yet no certain knowledge of the original home of our popular tuber. Whether it came from Peru or Virginia has yet to be settled. The writer says the question of the introduction of the potato is a very complex one. Potato is but the English way of pronouncing batata. But what is the word batata? To what language does it belong? The first European knowledge of it appears to be traceable to Cuba, San Domingo, or some of the neighboring isles at the time they were discovered by Columbus, 1492, etc. But, then, the sixteenth century writers on Peru also use it as if it were a common word there, and, if it were, it is at least interesting, if not strange, to find a word thus widely spread over and across districts where, it has been said, languages so vary with tribes that one can not even understand another, though neighboring, tribe. But first we have to consider: Is there any contempo rary evidence that the West Indian natives did make use of a word which, when written by the Spaniards, appeared as batata? It would involve a special search among such materials as Navarette had at his disposal to decide that. Compilations are not to be trusted, and English versions are of no avail. What the actual word was, written by Columbus or his companions, is what is wanted. Then, if it were a true West Indian word, and introduced and known with some plant in Spain and Portugal in the early part of the sixteenth century, what is the proba bility that, at the middle of it, writers on Peru used it as a name that would be understood at home, even though not used by the South American natives? With regard to papas, it is distinctly stated by Acosta it was a native name in South America, but the writer does not know of any passage in which batata is said to be. It has been pointed out above how the mistake arose that papas has been considered a Virginian name, and it is possible batata may prove to be not a South American name at all, There is a Quichau word, ascu, equivalent, apparently, to papas, to which only Mr. Clements Markham among English writers seems to have drawn attention. At present, in English translations of travelers in Peru, papas and batata appear often confounded. Then in regard to our own use of the word batata, did we have it with roots through the Spaniards, or direct from the West Indias? The earliest use of the word does not yet seem to have been fully searched for. It may, however, be found earlier than in the list of literary quotations, usually given. For example, it occurs in the account of Sir J. Hawkins' voyage, 1565: "Hennes, potatoes, and pines." The earliest description the writer has been able to trace of what the potato was is in the botanical work of 1570, published in London, Lobel's " Stirpium adversaria nova." A figure is given of the root of the batata, and at the heading is " Anglice Potades." In 1596 the form potation is met with. In 1627 and 1676 potadoes, and in 1655 pottato. Batata itself, by the Spaniards, seems to have been spelled indifferently batata or battata. Then there is another curious point. How has it come to pass that for the same plant the Spaniards of to-day retain papas, while the Portuguese use batata, for the plant we now call the potato? In speaking of questions in connection with our having changed the use of the word potato from one plant to another, it is an advantage for preventing confusion to refer to the two plants by their pres ent botanical names, the Batatas edulis, which belongs to the convolvulus "order," and the Solanum tuberosum (perhaps including the supposed different species, Maglia) our common potato, which belongs to the nightshade "order." Of the two it was Batatas edulis, called then, long before Linnæus' binomial system, simply battata, that seems to have been first known in Europe. The first European knowledge of the plant Solanum tuberosum (or Maglia) was under the name

RELIGIOUS.

THE PULPIT AND THE POOR.-Christianity in doctrine and service recognizes the brotherhood of man. Of all systems of faith and practice it is in this vital direction conspicuously alone. Its granite rests on the levels of human right and duty. There may be factions in its sects, class distinctions in some of its organizations, and the millinery of rank in its councils and churches, but in its spirit and essence it is unreachable and incorruptible, as above and beyond the gold lace and the tassels of all aristocracism in human rights and aspirations. Its inauguration was democratic. It annulled all popular ideas of social imperialism. Its representatives were not of the Sanhedrim, but of the fishing flesh. Its morning orb shone not on the shields of the Roman or the marbles of Tetrarchs, but on the huts of the Nazarene and the docks of Capernaum. It evangelized among publicans and sinners, and its mercies, like healing dew, fell not in the gardens of Herod, but over the gateways of the poor. There is no fact in history and no force in philosophy so sublimely solitary in recognizing the rights of the common race as this self-same Christianity. In spite of all surface appearances to the contrary, it is now, as then, the unspent volition of all that constitutes humanity, justice, and freedom. Acknowledged or disavowed, accepted or controverted, its forces cannot be extinguished or its ministrations annulled. It has survived all abuses of priests and kings, and though the mockery of invocation has misused its name in all kinds of tyranny and wrong, it remains as untainted as an opal is with the spawn of a frog or a crystal with the spit of a toad. It is true that many men who have been the leaders in much of modern labor emancipation have either ignored its claims or denied its authority. I confess to an old-time surprise at this, but maturer experiences have, if not providing good reasons, found some potent excuses. The modern reaction of feudalism found the old wrong intrenched and consecrated by state religions. The revival of liberty began in the "common people," for whom then, as now, the pulpit had its thunders and the church its back seats. Reformers associated the parson with the dragoon, and faith vanished when the gospel was identified with the scabbard of a trooper. We are out of that age, but not altogether free from the old evil and the skeptical spirit. The pulpit of to-day with the masses is more a relic than a power. They charge it with being dumb on matters that challenge the animosity of wealth and power. It is not so in many cases. It is so in too many-if not in words, yet in spirit. The estrangement of the laboring classes from the churches is one of the most momentous signs of the times. The minority is church-going, the rest is either neutral or absorbing the poison of communism and secularism. Take away our mission rooms and Sunday schools, and the temples in squares and esplanades are not worth a future insurance. The causes are many. There is no lack of scholarship in our pulpits. Profes. sional preaching is, in an artistic sense, a success; homiletics and philosophy never commanded such histrionic talent; self-abnegation and devotedness was never, perhaps, more widely exemplified; but the "people" keep away. Is the hay held too high for the sheep, or would the poor prefer the home-made bread of plain and vital truth to the Sunday cake provided for jaded fashion? Are not politics swamping ministerial unction? Is not pastoral support for the "next campaign already a political point? Is not spread-eagleism and the "whip-all-creation business too often heard in the pulpit ? Is poverty as welcome to our churches as he who wears a gold ring and abashes the usher with his jeweled shirt front? It is time the shepherd should awake. We have been deputing Christianity to conventions, constables and legislators. We are trying to do good by proxy. Meanwhile greater forces for evil and social calamity than history ever knew are quietly mustering, for which there is but one cure and one corrective, the pure and simple truth of Christianity. "The Gospel preached to the poor was the message sent the rugged prophet of the Jordan as its own sublime distinction. Can it now be as truthfully said along the Mississippi?-Fred Woodrow in The Age of Steel.

EDUCATION.

HOME STUDY FOR GIRLS.-Home study is proverbially difficult. Of the many girls who leave school intending to pursue their studies hardly one in ten carries out her intention.

No doubt there is many a useful home daughter whose time is fully occupied in the details of domestic duties; others devote their time to philanthropic work; and some are so involved in a round of social engagements that they have neither time nor thought for anything beyond. But there are many girls who do not belong to any of these classes-girls who have perhaps had a sound school education, and to whom neither the will nor the opportunity is wanting; yet, after a few spasmodic attempts they relapse into mere desultory reading, or abandon their efforts in despair. It is to such that I wish to give a few hints. "If only I could go to college, I know I could study."

Yes, I have no doubt you could; but if that is out of the question for you, you must do what you can at home. Let us see what it is that college life really does for the student, and whether its favorable conditions are indeed so vastly superior to those under which you live.

Well, I should, at any rate, be free from interruption."

I grant that in her own rooms, without any pressing duties, social or domestic, the student has a great advantage; but are you quite sure you can not secure some time, however short, for your own work? You have tried and failed, you say; but did you choose time and place with wisdom? Of course it is hard to study in the midst of other people, but is there really no time in the day when you can have a room to yourself? And these interruptions you talk of-how many of them are the result of your own negligence? You had barely sat down to your book when cook came for some raisins; you undertook to put out the groceries; why did you not see to that first. Then Jack rushed in to know the time of the first train to B; you had the railway guide yesterday, why did you not put it back in its right place? If you deduct these avoidable interruptions, you will find that your studies could be carried on fairly well; and while you can never get the undisturbed quiet of college life, interruption is not fatal to work. The habit of concentration and the power of returning to take up the work where it was laid down are worth striving after.

"But at college there is so much to help one-prefessors, lecturers, and fellowstudents."

Of course there are professors and lecturers who do help one immensely; men of genius, whose words are almost an inspiration; patient scholars building up stone by stone the temple of knowledge; and, more helpful than all, the contagious enthusiasm of more gifted students. Yet these are exceptions. Intellectual work, like every other kind of work, involves hardship, and even at college you might find some of your lecturers dull and some of your fellow-students quite commonplace. And the advantages there are in the teaching to be obtained at college may be to some extent secured at home. There are few towns now without their university extension lectures, or their institute with lectures and classes; and if you are really beyond the reach of personal teaching, why not avail yourself of some of the many correspondence classes, by means of which you can get first-rate instruction in almost any branch of study?

"But it would be so much easier to work with an object before one. I would do anything to get a real degree.”

That objection is not a very formidable one. If the stimulus of an examination is what you want, the difficulty is to choose which it shall be of the many open to you.

I have said enough to show you that some, at least, of your difficulties are of your own making, and that others are not wholly insuperable. Let me say a few words as to the choice of subjects and the methods to be employed.

First, as to choice. Most home students err in taking too wide a range of subjects. You can not keep up all your school studies; perhaps it is hardly desirable that you should. School work is largely disciplinal, and many of the subjects in the ordinary curriculum are little more than mental gymnstics, training and developing the various capabilities of the mind. When childhood is over this is no longer all important; the trained faculties may be devoted to some more useful work. Specialization, which would be unwise and premature in the school-room, is almost essential to the progress of the adult student. I think that much of the desultory character of home study is due to a want of clear concepton as to the difference between the purposes of study for the chlid and for the woman. Next, as to method. What is worth doing at all is worth doing well." Mathematics or music, art or anatomy, language or literature, give to it good, earnest work. Do not content yourself with mere slipshod knowledge, never really conquering a difficulty nor surmounting an obstacle. The distinction in thoroughness between the standard of amateur and professional excellence is one which ought not to exist. And if you do not attain to the standard you have set before yourself, be sure your work will not suffer from the influence of too high an ideal.

"Who aims the sky

Shoots higher far than he who means a tree."

Lastly, a word of caution. You have one difficulty which is peculiarly your own; one from which the college student is almost entirely free. While you live at home, your home duties must come first. You are bound not merely to perform the actual duties assigned to you, but to respond to all the claims on your sympa thy and attention which are implied in the word "home." No amount of intel

lectual progress can compensate for the neglect of the simple, yet sacred, duties of family life. It is a noble ideal to be a great scholar, but it is a far nobler one to be a helpful and loving daughter, sister, or wife.-Barbara Folley.

THE BEGINNINGS OF PUBLIC INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION.-In no single department of activity that can be named have the public schools of our cities advanced so much within fifteen years past as in the development of the constructive faculty. It is only sixteen years since the Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in this city, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington. That same year, 1870, drawing was introduced as one of the prescribed studies in the common school course in Boston. Two things have helped in this movement more than any other-the dissatisfaction of the people at large with the "unpractical" nature of our common-school curriculum, and the introduction into this country of the "natural method" of education. Our public schools were founded as a result of the natural belief, handed down from Puritan times, that the superstructure of the State rests on the two pillars of education and religion. In our form of government, where every man has a voice, it is necessary theoretically that every man's voice should be intelligent, and without education that could not be. But with the growth of the country, with the tremendous and unprecedentedly rapid development of its material resources which the past fifty years and especially the past fifteen years has witnessed, there gradually grew, in the national consciousness, the belief that the national education should conform to the facts of its environment; that it should have an intimate and necessary relation to them; that it should equip, or at least aid in equipping, the pupil who completed its course of study to make the best use of his powers for the bettering of his condition; in short, that it should be "practical." To this growing belief the strong tendency of American life to measure all things by a financial standard contributed a powerful support. If money-getting be the chief end of man, certainly no education is complete or practical, or even useful, which does not tend directly to increase the future man's money-getting power. This a large part of the old-fashioned education does not do; hence the demand for something different. The second of the factors we have named has been scarcely less powerful than the first. If that has been widely operative among parents and pupils, this has been no less widely operative among teachers, and it has modified their views not only as to what matter is most desirable to present to students, but as to the manner in which that matter shall be presented. The root principle of this no longer new "natural" method is that things, rather than words, shall be studied. The kindergarten is a direct development of it; the "object teaching" in primary and grammar schools is an extension of it into realms which at first it dared not penetrate. It is easy to see how both these causes, working so powerfully from different directions upon both teachers and taught, have affected the position of drawing as a topic of common school study. To the "practical" parent or pupil, drawing is the gate to success in all the industrial arts. No good carpenter, or engineer, or builder, or machinist, and, of course, no architect, designer, or constructor can get along without some practical knowledge of it, and the more the better.. So, to the teacher by the "natural" method, the first step, after the observation of the things to be studies, is clearly the graphic representation of those things. For this both pen and pencil may be, and are, called into play; but the pencil, when skilfully used, conveys at a glance what the pen labors through many sentences to delineate, and with greater accuracy and precision, as well as greater speed. These tendencies were both at work more than sixteen years ago, but the year 1870 marks an epoch, as we have already said, in their practical development. The founding of the Metropolitan Museum of Art was a momentous occasion in our municipal life, and the influence of that institution has been among the most powerful agencies in extending the appreciation of art, both pictorial and industrial, among our people. Even more directly influential-because more closely related to the people was the introduction of drawing as a required study in the common schools. At first it was an experiment, the outcome of which was looked for with some anxiety, and not without apprehension, but from Boston it has spread throughout the United States, until there is scarcely a city of any size in which the elements of industrial drawing do not form as essential a part of the curriculum as writing or spelling. New York Mail and Express.

A STATUE TO PEABODY.-The movement to place a statue of George Peabody in the Capitol at Washington, inaugurated by the Southern States that have received aid in education from his munificent benefaction, is one that deserves the highest commendation. Perhaps there is no record in history of so much having been accomplished by such a moderate outlay as by the distribution of the income of this fund for twenty years past. The small gifts, placed at vital educational points, always on condition of similar home efforts, have greatly stimulated the establishment of the graded schools, which have themselves so largely influenced the establishment of the American system of free public instruction at the South. The lesson of this organization is worth careful study everywhere. Our educational gifts have too often been used in the same reckless way as our national business has been transacted, and with similar results. The statue of George Peabody, in the Capitol, will at once be a reminder to statesmen that education is the foundation of true politics; to the millionaire, that no use of money is so profitable as that which enlarges the power and intelligence of the people; and to the economist, that it is not the amount of public expenditure, but the putting every dollar in the right place and seeing that-it does its work, which tells on national prosperity. Journal of Education.

NOTES.-The National Educational Association holds its annual meeting at Topeka, Kansas, July 19th.- -Twenty years ago there were not 15,000 colored people in the South who could read; and now 1,000,000 colored children are in the public schools of the South. There are 16,000 colored teachers, and more than 80 newspapers owned and edited by colored men. Over 100 schools for higher education are now in successful operation. In fact, in the history of education nothing can compare with the present work among the colored people.—The novel feature of the Detroit Training School, summer session, will be a department 1

under Miss M. L. Rayne in the Art of Journalism. The subjects treated will be "Art and Ethics of Journalism," "Composition," "Proof-reading," "Stenography," "Typewriting," and "Type-setting."- -The legacies of Jennie McGraw-Fiske to Cornell University, amounting to a million and a half dollars, for library purposes, have been unsuccessfully contested in the courts.-About a million gross of steel pens are worn out every year in the United States.- -In a short time a female educational institute will be established in Palestine.- -The report for 1885 of the Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin, under the direction of Dr. Hildesheimer, states that during the year the institution was attended by 28 students. The number has since increased to 40, of whom 27 are Germans, II Austro-Hungarians, and 2 Russians. The receipts wers 47,865 marks, and the expenditures 35,618 marks. The reserve fund has been increased to 224,433 marks. The report is prefaced by a paper of Dr. Hildesheimer, entitled "A Contribution toward a Knowledge of the Geography of Palestine, in connection with numerous citations from Talmudical and Gaonic works.". -There were no commencement exercises of the Vincennes, Ind., city schools, because eight white girls refused to graduate with a colored young woman, who was ahead of them in scholarship and merit.-College commencements, baccalaureate sermons, graduation essays, diplomas and new professor ships are on the tapis at the present time.Of the 140 members of the class to be graduated from Yale College this year 109 have replied to inquiries concerning their expenditures in the four years of the academic course. Their answers exhibit quite as great a diversity in Vale as exists in Harvard, where it has been fre quently alleged of late that there exists a demoralizing difference between students. The average of the 109 is $960 per year. The extremes for any one year were $150 and $3,500. Twenty-three members of the class have earned their own support during the course.

MEDICAL.

CLIMATE, AND ITS INFLUENCE ON HEALTH.-Three years ago, having a press of literary work to accomplish in a given time, which required freedom from care of all kind, and leisure to concentrate, I settled matters comfortably at home, and went to reside at Bournemouth. I did not-so I reasoned-require a bracing air, but quiet was essential, so I settled among the pine woods of the East Cliff. Í worked and worked, pretty hard, too, but never with a will; it was all a toil. The truth is, the air was too relaxing; there was nothing bronchitic about me, so I changed over to the West Cliff, where no woods are, but only a wide bracing moorland, which was then covered with heath and heather in richest bloom-a paradise for the bees. I was as much a bee as any of them, and had to work quite as hard. Well, I had suddenly changed from a relaxing to a bracing climate: too suddenly, for I caught cold, so that-though all my own fault-my stay at Bournemouth was one I can not look back to with unalloyed pleasure. But from this experience of mine we may cull a lesson or two. One thing we should remember is, that there is really no need to go abroad for change of climate, and expose ourselves to expense and the danger of a vile cuisine; another, that we can not be too careful in the choice of a climate; and a third, that we ought not to change climate too suddenly, or without making some preparations for the change. I wish my readers to bear what I have just said in mind, for I know it is only a too common thing for ailing people to come to health-resorts which, theoretically speaking, ought to be just the places to suit their complaints, and find themselves worse instead of better. They at once conclude the place does not agree with them; it never strikes them that the change may have been too sudden, and that no one can get acclimatised in an hour. However, off they hurry to some other spot which some one else has recommended as an earthly paradise; and there are, I happen to know, in this world, a race of roving invalids, who are ever on the move in search of health, never staying long enough in any one climate to acquire it. Now, in this paper I am not going to speak of particular climates or healthresorts, but simply to give some plain advice that will enable my reader to choose for himself.

It might be asked what is meant by the term "climate." The simplest answer, if not a direct one, would be that what is termed "climate" includes the nor. mal condition of the atmosphere plus the soil of any place. The atmosphere would be considered according to temperature, its pressure, its humidity, and its prevailing winds, the soil according to its substance, its clothing (vegetation, including trees, &c.) and its surroundings, whether hilly or the reverse, and, I may add, its electric tension.

The ailments for which change of climate is to be recommended are, among many others, dyspepsia of almost every kind, disorders of other parts of the digestive canal, as well as the stomach, liver complaints, kidney troubles, nervousness, neuralgia, ennui, hypochondriasis, or low spirits, asthma-which is a nervous disease with functional or organic causes, gout, rheumatism, and various ailments of the lungs or air passages, including consumption. Now, no one who was of a highly nervous and irritable temperament, or who made blood too fast, and therefore was liable to inflammation, would seek for change in one of the exciting climates. Nor would such an one choose a very bracing climate; but for the over-worked and over-worried, those who wish to rebuild a shattered frame, a bracing climate with sea-air would be suitable, while a relaxing climate would do positive injury. But though climates are thus easily divisible into four classes, we hardly ever find them partaking altogether of the nature their names would indicate. All climates fluctuate; all are in some measure compound. The majority of days, however, will bear out the name; and on those that do not-when the climate seems to change all of a sudden, and the bracing health-resort becomes moist and relaxing, or the sedative one grows exciting for a time-then must the invalid take all the better care of himself. Are we to study the death-rates of climates before we choose one that we think may suit us? To some extent we may be guided by these, but we must not forget that they are deceiving. In places, for instance, where invalids congregate to a great extent, the death-rate may read high, for we know