one occasion I presented to his Holiness a young married couple from Quebec. As soon as I mentioned Quebec the Pope remarked: "Oh, you are under the jurisdiction of Archbishop Begin," adding, "Monsignor Begin is the successor of Cardinal Taschereau." Then turning to me, he said: "Cardinal Taschereau received the red hat with your Eminence." We may judge of the accuracy of his retentive faculty from the consideration that upward of fourteen years had expired since this incident occurred. On another occasion I accompanied his Holiness while he was giving an audience to about one hundred and fifty persons assembled in the Sala Clementina from various parts of the Christian world. The Pope having asked a lady surrounded by her children whence she came, she replied by giving the name of a Spanish city. He at once remarked: "You have recently lost your bishop." We cannot but admire this retentive memory when we consider that the Pope was in daily communication with upward of one thousand bishops scattered throughout the globe.

The interest of Leo XIII in the affairs of the United States was intelligent and constant. His memory was unfailing for all the little details that concerned the great republic of the West. This surprised me very much during my several visits to him, and I have reason to know that President Roosevelt's gift to him of the "Messages and Papers of the Presidents" was exceedingly agreeable to him.

For myself, as a citizen of the United States, and without closing my eyes to our shortcomings as a nation, I say with a deep sense of national pride and gratitude that I belong to a country where the civil government holds over us the ægis of its protection without interfering with us in the legitimate exercise of our mission as ministers of the gospel of Christ. Our country enjoys liberty regulated by law, and exercises authority without despotism. She rests secure in the consciousness of her strength and her good will toward all. Her harbors are open to welcome the honest immigrant who comes to advance his temporal interests and to find a peaceful home among us.

But while we are acknowledged to have a free government, perhaps we do not receive credit for possessing also a strong government, though since our war with

Spain, Europe has been impressed with our military power. Our nation's strength lies, under the overruling guidance of Providence, in the majesty and supremacy of the law, in the loyalty of her citizens, and in the affection of her people for her free institutions. There are, indeed, grave social problems engaging the attention of the citizens of the United States, but I have no doubt that with God's blessing these problems will be solved by the calm judgment and sound sense of the American people, without violence or revolution or any injury to individual rights.

The creation of John Henry Newman as cardinal was one of the glories of the reign of Leo XIII. It was an augury of the policy which was to make his pontificate what it has been. It was an evidence of that singular nobility of mind and that sympathetic comprehension which impressed themselves on all the writings and actions of the Holy Father. He was above all considerations of petty criticism, and he knew the truth had nothing to fear; so, in spite of the scruples of those who misunderstood Newman, he made the author of "The Development of Christian Doctrine" a cardinal deacon in 1879. In the summer of 1880, on my way to Rome, I first met Cardinal Newman, and heard with pleasure his high appreciation of Leo XIII -an appreciation of the Holy Father's intellectual ability which time has confirmed.

Pius IX, whom I did not know so well as Leo XIII, was unfailingly amiable; his face was radiant with sweetness and kindliness. I well remember that his benevolence impressed me most, while in the case of his successor I was most impressed with his courage and what I might call, in the best sense, his exaltation. There was a noble light in his face which actually seemed to shine through and illuminate it. As often as I have gone to Rome I have delighted that each voyage brought me nearer to the pontiff, who every time seemed more fatherly and more friendly. Courage and strength and understanding marked him. In him it may be truly said that charity and faith had cast out fear. He seemed to be the very spirit of the Christian sage and soldier-the martyr, even. Indeed, nobility of character, which years of communion with God had raised to the highest point, seemed to me to be the principal trait of this wonderful Pope.

TH

A WISE LEADER

'HE paper by Booker T. Washington in this number of THE CENTURY was prepared some time ago, at our request— made before events had started up the recent controversy about the name of the author. It was designed simply to be one of the series which has been published from time to time in our pages on heroism -the heroism of others besides the combatants of war. Appearing now, this paper has peculiar interest, both on account of its subject and by reason of its authorship. Never was the dark race under keener criticism, and for obvious reasons; and, also, never was there a time when greater efforts were being made by leading members of the white as well as of the dark race, North and South, to lift the black man to the level of his highest possibilities. As examples of this effort we may refer to the address in April in Richmond by Chancellor Hill of the University of Georgia, from which quotation was made in our July number; as well as to the discussions in Boston in July in connection with the meeting of the National Educational Association. Mr. Washington himself is a still more interesting personality than he was a few years ago, on account of the influence of his principles as affecting other communities and continents than our own, on account of the liberal gift toward the endowment of his labors by Andrew Carnegie, and especially on account of the tactful manner in which he has carried himself and supported his cause in circumstances of appalling difficulty.

It is not surprising that the calmness and wisdom of his courage should have subjected him to the suspicion and attack of some exasperated members of his own race. A recent instance of the manner in which he met such attack is still fresh in the public mind. He insisted upon keeping a calm front against injustice and upon an appeal to the better element in the community,

rather than entering on a course of hysterical vituperation. It is not surprising that one of our prominent metropolitan newspapers should have expressed surprise the other day at the continuing evidences of Booker Washington's wise leadership.

His public career has indeed preserved a remarkable consistency, from the time his name sprang into national prominence by means of his Atlanta speech, down to the present moment. A few months ago he addressed the students at Hampton in words which seemed to sum up his gospel to the black race. We can testify to the enthusiastic reception given his words then by those to whom they were particularly addressed. They were, indeed, golden words. Would that they could be fixed in the understanding of every youth of color in America! His address was in line with all his public utterances to like audiences, and consisted of a fervid appeal to his people to disarm criticism of their alleged racial faults, not by mere argumentation, but by industry, thrift, and all the virtues of conscientious citizenship. Mr. Washington has never been tempted into bitterness and regrettable denunciation; he has appealed to the better sentiment among the white people; he has generously acknowledged their confidence and their assistance, and he has gone on to build deep the foundations of racial regeneration.

His statesmanlike attitude creates an obligation for his moral support on the part of all men and women of good will in every part of the country, but especially in the Southern States. Much of the best element of the South is already enlisted in this support, and in that of the industrial methods of education for which Hampton and Tuskegee stand so conspicuously, and which are gaining ground in all directions in the South. The attempt to uplift the negro would not be complete without the point of view so eloquently and pathetically set forth by a scholarly advocate like Professor W. E. B. Du Bois. But

National Educational Association was the place given to the kindergarten in the general scheme of education. On the first day of the session President Hyde of Bowdoin, in reviewing "The Educational Progress of the Year," declared that the kindergarten idea is improving teaching in all the primary grades. "The wiser kindergartners are learning that the spirit of Froebel enables them to dispense with a good deal of the letter of the law and to make their teaching a helpful preparation for the primary work."

One day was devoted, in the "Department of Kindergarten Education," to "The Extension of the Kindergarten Ideal into Other Fields of Education," and another day to the subject of "The Kindergarten and the Community." While commendation was the prevailing tone, there was also suggestive criticism. The essays and debates constituted a remarkable evidence of increase in the general acceptance of kindergarten methods and ideals.

A striking evidence of the actual increase in the number of kindergartens was furnished by a statement as to the kindergartens in New York. In 1877 a public kindergarten was established in connection with the Normal College, and in 1878 one in connection with the Society for Ethical Culture. But in 1888, in all the territory now occupied by Greater New York, there were probably not as many as half a dozen kindergartens, public and private put together. To-day there are over five hundred. This increase has been brought about, to a considerable extent, through the efforts of those connected with the New York Kindergarten Association, established, in 1889, partly with the object of inducing the authorities to introduce kindergartens into the public-school system of the metropolis.

Whatever may be the theoretic view of the kindergarten entertained by this or that

educator or critic of educational methods, it is generally found that those best acquainted with the practical workings of the system are the ones most convinced of its immense utility. Evidence was brought before the convention not only that it was a good thing for the children of "the masses," but for the children of families of all grades of culture and wealth. An important feature of its work is the

ignorance of childhood and of child nurture and of the psychological and moral management of children being by no means confined to the dwellers in the crowded tenements.

Naturally, the most appreciable social uplift and the most picturesque results of the kindergarten are visible in the houses and districts where there is the greatest poverty with the greatest congestion of population. By no means are manners always brutal where the struggle of life is severest; nevertheless the story that was quoted at Boston from Jacob A. Riis as coming from Hull House in Chicago has typical value. There was a picture of a quiet harvest scene: the woman resting on the ground -perhaps just before getting out the lunch; the father standing by, mopping his brow. A boy looks at the picture contemplatively for a while, and then, turning to Miss Addams, says: "Well, he knocked her down, did n't he?"

The fortunately limited custom of sewing on the clothes of children for the winter in New York was also described; and the piling on of skirts in the hottest weather, the clean on top of the soiled.

Children of from three to six, going into the public-school kindergarten, bring the whole family, sometimes a whole neighborhood, into physically and spiritually helpful influences. Through the kindergarten children learn cleanliness, selfrespect, mutual kindness, observation, an interest in nature and in handiwork, a sense of law and order, the possibility of wholesome and unscolded childish happiness. The parents learn something of sanitation and hygiene, a better way of training their children, and many other things taught by contact with teachers who do not offend by airs of patronage.

There are so many evil object-lessons and influences in America just now, there is such a frightening increase of the lynch

ing mania and of civic corruption, there is such violence in connection with labor troubles, that an institution like the kindergarten, which takes the child at the earliest possible age and trains him in the virtues which are inimical to these unsocial forces and influences, commands, and is cer

tainly receiving, the deepest attention of our educational authorities, whether these authorities belong to our governmental or voluntary systems of education. As was said at the convention, in such a time as this, if there were no such thing as the kindergarten, it would be necessary to invent it.

The New Movement in Commercial Education NEW educational movement is in progress proportions and have a marked effect on the future prosperity of our country. I refer to the systematic study of commerce. Heretofore it has been urged, mainly by the practical merchant, that the best way to learn commercial methods was to engage in actual business; and the youth who expected to pursue a mercantile career has been advised to get into his line of work as early in life as possible. Even the time spent under the broadening influence of the high school has been begrudged by the more narrow-minded commercial enthusiasts.

The old idea that merely a long apprenticeship gave the best preparation for the successful prosecution of almost any calling has been discarded for the most part, and in all lines of work requiring skilled labor it has been found desirable, and in fact, under modern conditions, a necessity, to supplement the lessons of actual experience by instruction in professional and trade schools. The result is that hundreds of technical schools are now scattered over our land, and although the instruction is not everywhere on the same plane, yet it is always sufficiently thorough to enable the aspiring young apprentice to obtain some knowledge of the general principles which underlie his chosen calling.

That some kind of preliminary business training is desirable began to be recognized upward of a quarter of a century ago, when the so-called business or commercial college sprang into existence. The aim of these schools has been to devote a few months to the training of persons for the routine of business; to give them some knowledge of how to keep books, and of the methods employed in business exchange, and to fit them to perform with correctness and celerity some special duties which are necessary for carrying on commercial undertakings. The study of the broad condi

tions of commerce has been neglected, however, and it is the realization of this that has started the new movement in commercial education.

It is difficult to point to any one specific cause which has been more influential than any others in starting this new movement into activity. It may be that commercial men have felt that their youth ought to have the same facilities which the farmer enjoys in the agricultural colleges, or the mechanical worker in his trade schools. It may be that the fastchanging conditions of commerce, which have in prospect a vast foreign trade, are demanding a differently trained class of employees from those of other days, when local, or at least domestic, trade was all-important. It may be that through closer contact with foreign traders, and the wide-spread diffusion of the knowledge concerning foreign commercial methods which our consuls are reporting to our State Department, our business men are beginning to feel that they ought to take advantage of everything which points toward the more successful prosecution of trade.

Probably all of these causes have been effective in changing the old conditions; but, on the other hand, the present movement can be accounted for merely on the grounds of the recent rapid elevation of the standards of education throughout the country, and the awakening of an interest in economic studies in our colleges and universities.

Whatever the cause of its origin, the idea of commercial education has arrived; and it has come to stay. Moreover, it is of such importance and far-reaching influence that there can be predicted for it a magnificent future development.

We have witnessed the division of the high school of former years into high school, Latin (or college preparatory) school, and manualtraining school. The next movement is to make still another subdivision and allow the commercial high school a place in the league.