the subject is really receiving as much attention in the schools as any subject ever receives in so brief a time as has elapsed since the passage of the compulsory law for teaching this branch.

[State Superintendent Charles R. Skinner, of New York, 1895-96.]

Instruction in physiology and hygiene.-The legislature of 1896 amended the act of 1895 providing for instruction in "the nature of alcoholic drinks and other narcotics" for four lessons per week for ten weeks in each year, by reducing the amount of instruction to three lessons per week for ten weeks "or its equivalent." By this amendment, thirty lessons given during a school year comply with the requirements of the law. The State superintendent of public instruction is required by the act of 1896 to include in his annual report a statement showing every school, city or district, which has failed to comply with all the provisions of the act during the preceding school year. All reports made to this department by local officers contain affidavits showing that the law has been complied with. While difficulties have been found in complying with the strict letter of the statute, it is very evident that teachers and school officers throughout the State are cheerfully endeavoring to meet the spirit of the law. No complaint or appeal has reached the department that the law has been violated. It is gratifying to note that during the year much misunderstanding and misrepresentation have been removed, and it seems to be generally understood that the attitude of the department has never been antagonistic to instruction which teaches the importance of temperance as a personal virtue and a social benefit.

Mr. F. P. Peirce, one of the school commissioners of Oneida County, reports: "Physiology has been taught, according to the provisions of the statute, in all schools. To say that its effect is either good or bad, would presume a too intimate acquaintance with each individual. There are, however, startling and widely known examples of bad results from the present method of teaching the subject."

[State Superintendent Henry Sabin, in Iowa School Report, 1894-95.]

Every county superintendent reports that in the county institute he gave the subject the consideration which the law requires. The secretaries for the different school boards report that the law is generally complied with in the graded schools of the State, as well as in all the schools in the country districts.

As far as the letter of the law is concerned there is a general compliance with its provisions. Not that there are no exceptions. There are some districts in which the most conscientious teacher, owing to complications beyond her control, finds it difficult to decide what course should be pursued. In regard to what precise method the teacher is to employ, the law is silent, as it should be. The term scientific temperance instruction is misleading. The aim should not be alone to implant in the mind of the child a vivid idea of the evils of intemperance, lest that which we hold up as a warning may become, first, an impression, and afterwards a hideous growth. There must be something more than this.

The chief aim in temperance instruction should be to convince the child that the only path to happiness or success lies through a life of temperance and sobriety. A high ideal of a noble life, like a beautiful picture on the wall of a room, is an ever-present, all-powerful influence for good.

The law itself is one in which the spirit far overshadows the letter. Unless the instruction given reaches the heart and convinces the judgment, it fails of its purpose. The boy is not greatly benefited by the instruction given in the school if, after reciting his lesson upon the ruinous effects of tobacco upon his system, and perhaps before he leaves the schoolhouse yard, he lights his cigarette and sinokes it on his way home.

This law, as well as the one forbidding the sale of tobacco to minors under 16, is very wholesome in its tendency. Such laws, however, add new and grave responsibilities to the teacher's office. That some teachers fail to appreciate this is due simply to human nature. That others fail to appreciate the fact that precept is futile when not supported by practice is pitiable. On the whole, we believe the teachers in our schools are anxious to do their duty in observing this law. If parents, in many cases, were as watchful as the teachers, and as willing to make sacrifices, if necessary, in order that their children might be taught habits of soberness and temperance, the work of temperance instruction would be much more effective.

[State Superintendent H. R. Corbett, of Nebraska, 1895–96.]

Temperance instruction. The subject of physiology and hygiene, with special reference to the effects of alcohol and narcotics, receives special attention in the new course of study.

The teachers of Nebraska are heartily in sympathy with the spirit of the law providing for such instruction. Whenever such teaching is neglected, it has usually been due to a lack of definite outlines and directions. Great care has been taken to supply this need in the new course.

[State Superintendent W. W. Pendergast, of Minnesota, 1895–96.]

Stimulants and narcotics.-That the law providing for regular and systematic instruction in physiology with special reference to the effect of stimulants and narcotics upon the human system has been generally observed, is evidenced by the fact that but one complaint has been made to the department during the past year. It is nevertheless true that in many districts it is honored "more in the breach than in the observance.' The attention of teachers is called to their duties in the matter at institutes and summer training schools and in teachers' associations and examinations held by county superintendents. Most of them are in cordial sympathy with the object of the law, and enter into the work with alacrity and a sincere desire to carry out its provisions conscientiously and faithfully. Much good has already been done, and there is apparently no opposition to it.

[State Superintendent Emma F. Bates, of North Dakota, 1895–96.]

Scientific temperance.-There are some, but not many, exceptions to compliance with the provisions of this law in the letter. The spirit of the law is not always fulfilled as it might be.

The child may be taught scientific facts about alcohol and narcotics and be no more helped thereby in his conduct in life than by the knowledge he has of scientific facts in geology. The aim should be to so teach him that he will desire to refrain from all injurious habits. Next, having the right desire, he must have the properly disciplined will power to execute his desires.

We believe that the teachers as a rule do the best they can with the knowledge and appliances and conditions at their command to fulfill this law in letter and spirit. We urge, however, a greater effort on their part to inculcate the principles that will lead the child to a life of temperance and pure living. School directors might well supply needed aids in the line of literature for instruction on this subject.

[From the report of the Committee of Twelve on Rural Schools-Appendix M, by A. P. Marble.] Physiology is now required by law to be taught in the schools of nearly all the States. As too frequently taught, it concerns itself about the chemical effects of certain substances upon various parts or processes of the body. Such a treatment of the subject is too abstruse for children in the schools; it goes beyond their knowledge and their experience. They need to be taught the effect of green apples upon the stomach before they are taught the effect of alcohol upon the brain. We ought to learn wisdom from the concrete teaching of nature about eating green apples in her monitory pains. People mean well when they teach the evil effect of alcohol to little boys and girls who do not know what alcohol is. It would be better to teach these children the good effect of wholesome food and drink, and especially to teach them that the whole alimentary canal should be kept in healthy, regular, and daily movement throughout, and to teach this and all that relates to the necessary bodily functions with delicacy and propriety and without any squeamishness. Is any teacher too delicate, cultured, and refined a lady or gentleman to give this instruction concerning the bodies of the children? Then let them be relegated to the land of spirits, to teach where the mortal coil has been shuffled off. It is high time to inaugurate a campaign of hygiene, and not the least important branch of child study is the study of their bodies, and how those bodies may be made in school to grow strong, robust, healthy, natural, at ease"the temple of the living God."

[From Bulletin of the Department of Labor, No. 8-January, 1897.]

Crime.-During the twelve months covered by the investigation, there were 26,672 convictions for various offenses, of which 17,575, or 65.89 per cent, were for drunkenness, and 657, or 2.46 per cent, for drunkenness in combination with other offenses. In 21,863 cases, or 81.97 per cent, the offender was in liquor at the time of committing the offense. Taking only the cases in which drunkenness did not form part of the offense, or 8,440, there were still 3,640 cases, or 43.13 per cent, in which the offender was in liquor at the time the offense was committed, and 4,852 cases, or 57.49 per cent, where the offender was in liquor at the time the intent was formed to commit the offense.

In response to the inquiry whether the intemperate habits of the criminal led to a condition which induced crime, an affirmative reply was made in 22,514 and a negative reply in 4,142 cases, the facts being unknown in sixteen instances. Disregarding the cases in which drunkenness was a factor, there remain 4,294 out of 8,440 cases of conviction for other crimes, or 50.88 per cent, in which the intemperate habits of the criminal led to a condition which induced the crime. In 16,115 out of 26,672 cases of conviction for crimes, including drunkenness, the criminals reported that the intemperate habits of others were influential in leading them to a condition which induced crime. In 217 cases this information was lacking. Taking only the 8,440 cases of conviction for crimes other than drunkenness, it is found that 3,611, or 42.78 per cent, attributed their condition to the influence of the intemperate habits of others.

CHAPTER XXXI.

ART DECORATIONS IN SCHOOLROOMS.1

The first notable effort to encourage the decoration of schoolrooms seems to have been made in Boston, Mass., in 1870. Charles C. Perkins and Prof. John D. Philbrick were the prominent leaders in the movement. They began their experiment by placing casts of antique sculpture in the girls' normal and high school building in West Newton street, Boston. The suggestion had been made two years before by a member of the educational committee of the American Social Science Association, and had been approved "as a simple but efficient means of introducing an æsthetic element into the educational system of the United States." The hall of the new building had been arranged with reference to this purpose, and with the concurrence of the school committee the plan was successfully carried out. The casts, in addition to most of those of the frieze of the Parthenon, which were arranged as a frieze of the hall, comprised ten statues. Among them were the Venus of Milo, the Demosthenes, the Diana of Gabii, and the Pudicita of the Vatican. Eleven antique busts were put in position around the hall. These casts were bought in London, Paris, Rome, and Boston. The total cost, including importation, was about $1,500, which was met by private subscriptions. The significance of this movement is emphasized by the fact that it was only in 1870 that the Boston Museum of Fine Arts was incorporated, while its collections were not opened to the public until some years later. Besides a few casts of antique sculpture possessed by the Athenæum, there was then no similar collection open to the people of Boston.

The French and English have made similar efforts. In 1881 a report on the subject of art in schools was presented to the French minister of public instruction. About that time a similar report was made to an English institution in London, of which Mr. John Ruskin was president, and Mr. Matthew Arnold, Sir Frederick Leighton, and other eminent men, vice-presidents. The object of this association was to bring within the reach of boys and girls in our board and other schools such a measure of art culture as is compatible with their age and studies." They proposed, therefore: (1) to negotiate with art publishers for the purchase of prints, photographs, etchings, chromo-lithographs, etc., and to supply them at the lowest possible price to schools; (2) to reproduce carefully selected examples that were likely to have a large circulation; (3) to print a descriptive cata. logue and price list of the examples which the committee were prepared to recommend to the notice of schools; (4) to present to schools, as the funds of the association would allow, small collections and books explanatory of them; (5) to arrange loan collections to be placed at the disposal of schools on such terms as might prove convenient; (6) to bring together a number of examples to be exhibited in a suitable place as a tentative model of a standard collection. This model collection was to consist of: (1) Pictures of the simplest natural objects—birds and their nests and eggs, trees, wild flowers, and scenes of rural life, such as town

1 Compiled by Dr. Stephen B. Weeks.

children seldom see and country children often fail to enjoy consciously until their attention is specially called to them; (2) pictures of animals in friendly relation with human beings, especially children; (3) pictures of the peasant and artisan life of our own and foreign countries, incidents of heroic adventure, etc.; (4) pictures of architectural works of historic or artistic interest; (5) landscapes and sea pieces; (6) historical portraits; (7) scenes from history; (8) such reproductions as were available of suitable subjects among the numerous works of Italian, Dutch, and modern schools. The report of this committee as outlined is comprehensive and practical. It includes both elementary and superior instruction and proposes to use pictorial illustrations for the purpose of familiarizing town and city bred children with country scenes as well as to attract the attention of children to the direct observation of nature.1

In America, although the proposal of 1870 by Professor Philbrick and Mr. Perkins brought no immediate results, the subject was not forgotten. In a report of the committee on drawing of the Boston school board for 1883 Mr. Perkins, the writer of the report, makes reference to the desirability of forming an "art for schools association" based on the French idea of 1881. The committee goes on to say that "although we can not ask the cooperation of the school board in our proposed effort to found an art for schools association in Boston, yet we believe that the decoration of schoolhouse walls with good prints and photographs will not only bring good influences to bear upon the pupils, but will also materially aid teachers of drawing, history, geography, and natural history as objects of

reference."

It was not until May 20, 1892, however, that the organization of the Boston Public School Art League was actually accomplished. Its creed is love of art; that it may be more widely known and more highly appreciated, "believing that art refines the mind, enriches the heart, elevates the soul, that art is one of the essentials of the perfect life, and that the refinement which comes from the presence of an association with works of art is an important element and aid in the development of character, both mentally and morally."

Its aim is "(1) by daily contact with objects of art to bend, educate, and elevate the mind of the young to familiarity with, liking for, and due appreciation of things beautiful (not necessarily useful) and correct standards in the art of architecture, painting, and sculpture, and the lives of those who have made the arts noble, to the end that children of the present generation may, when they come to man's estate, reject the false, demand the true, and so raise the art of our time and country to a plane which will, in ages yet to come, reflect true greatness and not material aggrandizement, (2) to place upon the walls of schoolrooms objects of art in the shape of casts, photographs, engravings of statuary, buildings, and paintings, illustrating recognized standards in art; also art centers, as Athens, Rome, Florence, Venice; also portraits of the old masters; also original works by leading artists, foreign and American. We believe this movement to decorate our schoolrooms is worthy the sympathy and support of all our cities. The end can be gained through legacies and gifts of worthy objects of art by individuals for general distribution or special use, and by donations of money for specific purposes, such as the decoration of rooms marked for memorial or historical interest."

The league, although restricted by the lack of means, began its work of decoration with two rooms. Room No. 4 of the English High School was made a Roman room, and there were placed in it photographs of the Arch of Constantine, the Temple of Vesta, the Coliseum, St. Peter's, exterior and interior; casts of the busts of Cæsar, Virgil, Marble Faun, Eros, Cicero; consoles supporting casts of

1 See Report on Art and Industry in the United States, by I. Edwards Clarke, Part II, pages 3-12.