To justify the preparation of an educational exhibit, where neither the incentive for gain nor the brilliance of the exhibit enters largely into the problem, its value to the public and the state must be demonstrated. The questions we most often hear are: What can you exhibit in education, and what is the value of an educational exhibit? Concerning the latter point, the only way to judge the future is by the past. Without attempting in this brief article to trace the conditions which rendered possible the result, we may cite the following more prominent examples: The Crystal Palace Exhibition in London in 1851, which led to the establishment of the School for Industrial Art at the South Kensington Museum; the educational exhibit at the Centennial Exposition of 1876, which led to the introduction of manual training in the public schools of this country, the introduction of shop work as a part of the curriculum in technical schools, and the beginning of the training which has ren

zation of primary education in France as a result of the educational exhibit at the Paris Exposition of 1878; the rapid growth of manual training and industrial art instruction as a result of the impetus given by the Chicago Exposition of 1893; the action of the French government in arranging to send students annually to this country for the study and investigation of our industrial and commercial methods as a result of the United States educational exhibit at the Paris Exposition of 1900.

Briefly, the value of an educational exhibit lies in the opportunity for comparison. Methods of administration, methods of teaching, equipment of schools and colleges, course of study, with the demonstration of the theory which underlies their construction and the results which attend their enforcement, are brought side by side from every quarter of the globe for the investigation of the student. It is not to be expected that every great Exposition will mark a decided change in educational methods, even in one department, but the sum total of suggestive material taken from an Exposition to every state and country in the world, and directly reflected upon the growth and development of that country, is beyond calculation.

The preparation of an educational ex

hibit should be made for the sole purpose of appealing to the scientist. The information which the educational expert needs, and which he comes to the Exposition to find, must be afforded. Experience has proven that the exhibit which meets the scientific test and criticism most strongly appeals to the general public. In precisely the same way that it is fatal for a speaker to under-estimate the intelligence of his audience, it is fatal in an educational exhibit to attempt to popularize with the intention of attracting the crowd.

The exhibit of a city or state, or a university, should have as its central object the demonstration of the value of its course of study. The latter contains the best thought and experience evolved from the trials and experiments of generations. It marks the differentiation of school systems and universities, and should be made the chain to which every item of an educational exhibit should be attached for illustrative purposes. The machinery of an educational exhibit is necessarily limited, and must consist in general of charts, photographs, printed matter, maps, models, apparatus and specimens. These heads are general, and perhaps the three most important are charts, photographs and printed matter. Thousands of dollars can be expended to good advantage in the masterly grouping of facts and their graphic presentation to the public eye. An examination of the census reports of the United States is almost unmeaning to the average intelligence without the comparative charts accompanying them. The use of instantaneous photography has rendered it possible to present a series of actual pictures of school life and methods, which is only a little less satisfactory to the student than actually witnessing the operations. The entire work of a class in a chemical laboratory, for example, may in a dozen photographs be accurately and completely told. The school accommodation of a city can be set forth in a series of photographs with great accuracy. One exhibit differs from another in the skill with which these photographs are combined and made to tell the story. A printed series of monographs on the most important phases of a school system or of the work of the department of a university are almost indispensable, as a corollary to the exhibit. The thing for which the United States exhibit at Paris,

in 1900, will be longest remembered was the series of monographs covering every phase of education, from the kindergarten to the university, prepared by experts in the various topics. The exhibits illustrated the monographs, and the monographs explained the exhibit and established the scientific unity of the whole.

One of the great innovations in the exhibit features of the St. Louis Exposition has been the endeavor to make an exhibit of processes. So far as possible, this has been introduced into the educational department. Laboratories in operation, domestic science and manual training schools where pupils are at work, and the actual instruction of the deaf, dumb and blind are made special features. Further than this, the "live exhibit" can not successfully be carried. The "spirit" of the schoolroom, which is one of the most essential features in mind-training, is thoroughly put to flight in an Exposition atmosphere. The only topics which are capable of demonstration by pupils, are those which demand the constant use of hand and eye, as well as brain.

In the Paris Exposition of 1900, education was made the first group of the classification, in accordance with_the theory advanced by Commissioner General Picard, that education was the source of all progress. The St. Louis Exposition has followed this precedent, but has gone a step further and made education the keynote of the entire exhibit classification. The attitude of the Exposition authorities towards the Department of Education has from the beginning been one of sympathy and liberality. It is the first Exposition ever held in which a separate building has been assigned to education. education. Even in Paris, where the sympathy for letters is much higher than in this country, and where the status of the student and the scientist ranks above any other class of society, most of the educational exhibits were placed in the gallery of the Liberal Arts Building. The Palace of Education at St. Louis is in the very center of the Exposition activites, bordering upon the 600-foot avenue leading to Art Hill, and upon the main transverse avenue. It covers 210,000 square feet of ground, approximating five acres, and is designed in modern classic style. It cost $350,000. Its purely classic lines render it, in the opinion of experts, the most beautiful building in the "exposition picture." There

are available for educational exhibits | 156,670 square feet of space, net, of which 43 per cent. is devoted to foreign educational exhibits. There are no galleries in the building.

The object of the educational exhibit is twofold; first, to secure a comparative exhibit from all countries of the world noted for educational effort; second, to present a thoroughly systematic exhibit of all phases of education in the United States. Both of these objects seem assured. The following foreign nations have prepared exhibits in accordance with this plan: England, France, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Japan, China, Ceylon, Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. We think the exhibits will be of immense interest to the American educational and general public. The classification adapted by the Exposition authorities is as follows: Group 1. Elementary Education. Group 2. Secondary Education. Group 3. Higher Education. Group 4. Special Education in Fine Arts.

Group 5. Special Education in Agriculture.

Group 6. Special Education in Commerce and Industry.

Group 7. Education of Defectives. Group 8. Special Forms of Education -Text Books, School Furniture, School Appliances.

Of the space devoted to domestic education, 47 per cent. has been assigned to states and cities for the public school systems, 22 per cent. to Higher Education, 13 per cent. to Technical and Agricultural Education, 4 per cent. to Art Education, 6 per cent. to Education of Defectives, and 8 per cent. to miscellaneous educational agencies and to commercial firms. Thirty of the States of the Union -Pennsylvania being one of them, under the direction of Supt. Addison L. Jones as State Director - have been allotted space. Every section of the country is represented by these States, and in every State a generous portion of the legislative appropriation for participation in the Exposition has been assigned for its educational interests. Five cities of the country, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland and Indianapolis, make independent exhibits, showing the perfection to which municipal school systems are brought. The first three mentioned illustrate the highly complex system of a

large city, and the latter two are typical of the smaller cities.

One of the most interesting exhibits is that of the Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges and Experiment Stations of the United States, which has been prepared under the special appropriation of $100,ooo made therefor by Congress at its last session. There are many working laboratories in this exhibit.

In the university section of the exhibit, which occupies one of the quadrants of the court, as opposed to the other three quadrants occupied by foreign exhibits, are grouped the more prominent universities of the country. Among these are Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Virginia, Chicago, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, Washington and St. Louis. Nearly all of these exhibits are departmental in character, although some emphasize particularly the work of one or two departments. The work of the polytechnic schools of the country is presented by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Troy Polytechnic Institute, Purdue University, Pratt Institute, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and others. In the department of Higher Education of Women, the participants are Vassar, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Smith and Mount Holyoke. A special feature at the St. Louis Exposition is the art school exhibit, in which space has been granted the leading art schools of the country, such as the St. Louis School of Fine Arts, Art Institute of Chicago, Art Students' League, New York, Pennsylvania Museum of Fine Arts, Museum School of Fine Arts, Boston, and Boston Normal Art School.

Reference has already been made to the exhibit of the actual work of schools for the deaf, the dumb, and the blind, which is maintained by the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf, and the American Association of Instructors of the Blind. Another feature of the educational exhibit is a lecture hall, with a seating capacity for 250 people, fitted out for stereopticon and lantern lectures, in which during the Exposition special lectures and talks will be given by educational experts from all parts of the world. The tentative allotment of space was made in the Department of Education on September 1, 1903, in order that schools and colleges might have at their disposal the entire scholastic year up to

the opening of the Exposition for the preparation and installation of their exhibits.

The twentieth century will be noted for the struggle between nations for commercial and industrial supremacy. At At times an appeal to arms will be made, because of a clash of interests, but the nations who will win, and who will control the trade of the world will be those who train their future citizens from the standpoint of efficiency. The test which will establish the higher efficiency will be that of success; and the nation whose system of education gives to its citizens breadth of observation, power of adaptation to emergencies, and the ability to do things, will stand pre-eminent in the educational and commercial world. The importance of this question and the keenness with which it is appreciated gives the key to the interest felt by all nations in the educational exhibit at the St. Louis Exposition and the meaning of the value of a close comparative study of the systems exhibited. The influence which the Department of Education may exert upon this leading problem of the scientific and commercial world is the warrant for the expenditure here made.

L

HOPING FOR THE BEST.

A BRUYERE has a hard saying to the effect that only three great events are common to all mankind: birth, life, and death. Men are, he remarks, insensible to their birth, they suffer when they die, and they "neglect to live." This witticism has the bite of truth which must be apparent to many persons when they see how large a number of their friends and acquaintances banish joy and mirth and content by worrying, often about trivial things. It is a truism that worry does no good, but that does not cure the habit. The disposition to lock on the favorable side of things rather than on the unfavorable, is worth, as Hume, the Scottish philosopher, says, more than $50,000 a year; it often makes all the difference between a happy and a miserable life, between failure and success; a career in which the powers have been fully developed and a blasted existence.

There are at least two classes who look habitually on the dark side of things. Some people, unfortunately, come to think early that life is all a cheat. They are

like Hamlet, who declares: "This goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory: this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors."

Consider the lot of those who have no hope, no interest in life, who admire nothing, love nothing, have no "illusions"

they in the false wisdom of their own conceit are the most deceived of all mankind. Hope must be cherished in order to keep life sweet. The accounts of the early missionaries, explorers and adventurous spirits the world over detail many incidents which leave a lasting impression on the careful reader. The provisions give out, the path through the almost pathless wilds is lost, perhaps. The travelers press on, half starved, worn in mind and body. Rescue and safety seem to be attainable only by a miracle; the spirits of the party desert them; human nature can stand no more. Then a sign tells them that help or refuge is near, and suddenly, as if by magic, the power of hope exerts itself on the human mind, and the bodies, which were actually worn out and incapable of further exertion when they were despondent, start out again with renewed vigor, undergo untold hardships again, and reach the goal.

Is not the comparative success of two persons readily predictable when one of them starts in life or on an enterprise without hope, and one is inspired with confidence and enthusiasm? Without hope there would be no endeavor, no progress; and the cynical and the pessimistic, who look habitually at the black aspects of all things, and flatter themselves that they have obtained wisdom, labor under a heavy handicap.

People who have nothing but ennui to combat do not compel sympathy, but there are troubles which will come to everybody in life; they can no more be avoided than fate. Sufficient causes of worry will exist, and the problem is not how to dodge them, but how to meet them and cast them off. The fact is now being recognized that the mind has a mighty influence not only over the character, but even upon the bodily health. And on the relation of self-control to worry, John W. Churchman, in a recent number of the Atlantic Monthly, gives some sound advice:

"If the children of to-day, who are tomorrow's men, be taught to overcome that sort of selfishness which centres attention on one's sensations, future health will have been promoted by the relegation to history of that class who enter the large army of the neurasthenics and worry themselves into their graves. For the striking fact is that people of high intelligence actually offer a stronger front to disease, other things being equal, than their weaker brethren. With a properly schooled mind the man of an average constitution, decently cared for, may actually avoid that great class of diseases which are certainly furthered, if not started by an improper mental attitude. High-minded and intelligent indifference to small but annoying ailments, beyond cavil, increases effectiveness and makes for health."

THE

BY PROF. F. M. MCMURRY.

HERE is a remarkable increase in the amount of subject-matter in the common school curriculum of the present compared with that of one generation ago. A quarter of a century back the common studies were the three R's, plus spelling, geography, some history, some physiology and hygiene, and possibly some music and drawing. To these have been added hand work, including either manual training, domestic science, domestic art, or all three; nature study, literature in the primary as a subject separate from beginning reading; and physical exercises. Hence there are several more studies now than a generation ago.

The topics included under the various studies have also increased. For instance, while history was formerly confined to the eighth grade, or to the sev

* Paper read by Dr. F. M. McMurry, of Columbia University, New York, at the Atlanta meeting Department of Superintendence of National Educational Association, February, 1904.

enth and eighth, it eighth, it now frequently includes pioneer life and industrial history, and extends through the higher four or five grades. Home geography has been added to the former geography, and the whole subject now extends frequently from the third or fourth grade through the seventh or eighth, while formerly it began with the fifth year of school. Music and fine arts are also much more prominent than formerly, extending over a greater number of years.

Finally, the amount of detail considered under the individual topics has also greatly increased. One generation ago we were reasonably content with mere outlines, or at least with brief presentations of subjects. Now the principles of interest and apperception require enough detail to produce vivid and interesting pictures, so that our books are now thicker than formerly, and oral instructionwhich allows much "filling in"— is more popular. The increase of subjectmatter from this cause is possibly even greater than that due to either of the other two causes.

It is evident, therefore, that we now have more studies than formerly, more topics under many of them, and more detail under the topics. These additions altogether, probably double, and possibly treble, the work required a generation ago. If we assume that children at that time did all the work that they well could, and that general conditions have remained the same, children are now submerged with school work. But the full truth of that assumption is to be doubted. For example, beginning reading receives about half the time devoted to it twenty years ago, oral work in literature often receiving the other half. But children now learn to read more rapidly, beyond question, than formerly, reading from two to five times as much matter during the first three school years. other words, we may assume that improved methods have led to the accomplishment of more work in a given time. in education, as in manufacturing.

In

Nevertheless, it is too evident that the common school curriculum is seriously overcrowded, to need discussion. Many educators are extremely emotional in their complaints on this account, and suggest that from one-quarter to one-half of the present material be dropped.

But the reasons for the overcrowding are not so apparent. Secondary teachers