line of every school study. As readers of this chronicle know, this same vivacious Anna knows more and says more about the Scopes trial than all the rest of us together. It was therefore appreciated by all when Papa Rose announced that Anna Aim-and-Scopes would talk upon the new evolution book' which Messrs. Allee, Bartalmez, Bretz, Carlson, Chamberlin, Cole, Coulter, Cowles, Downing, Jordan, Judd, Lemon, Moulton, Newman, Romer, and Steglitz have given to the world.

"Here," said she, "is a signal public service. A great university gives the community in simple, every-day language and in engaging style a summary of the latest discoveries and conclusions in fields of large importance where progress has been so rapid in our time as to leave the ordinary citizen several years behind. To read it is like visiting the scenes of one's youth where new streets, new buildings, amazing changes have come. I knew the nebular hypothesis of the origin of worlds. The gentlemen with telescopes have found so many facts irreconcilable with it that Pere Laplace, his wonderful conjecture, cannot stand. The planetesimal theory of the universe, a philosophical creation of this century, replaces it. My geological, geographical conceptions, my volcanoes, earthquakes, order of earth and of water forms of life, go glimmering away, as in these pages I read the proofs of their invalidity and find new propositions in their stead. Of what does this superb collection treat? Of earth and suns and stars, of rivers and oceans and winds and rain, of energy and the new wonders of the atom and the forces of matter and of life, of the coming of man, of our inheritance, physical and mental, of our destiny. I feel, as I read, that I am communing with authority, that I am in reliable company, that words are used with that caution and exactitude that deserves my confidence. Yet the authors are so human as to have retained unspoiled the wonder and reverence which gives to us ordinary mortals the rich enjoyment belonging to the discovery of the secrets of nature. The duty behind the writing of this book seems to me noble; the

'The Nature of the World and of Man.-By Sixteen Members of the Faculty. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill. 566 pp. $4.00.

team-work of its execution, most admirable; the idea of a university radiating its influence through so large a field, inspiring. Perusal of these illuminating chapters means the rounding of one's knowledge into a more symmetrical circle such as symbolizes the intelligence of the well informed. It is a general science for grownups and concerned with the great ideas of life and mind presented in a mood really epic."

Said Doctor Batwell, "I have here a little book2 on public speaking. It is by a practical teacher who has nearly a score of books to his credit. Ten years ago I read a series of little manuals by him upon the different kinds of addresses. I thought him then more direct, less padded in his style than any writer upon speaking I had ever been exposed to. His latest volume strengthens my earlier impression. Mr. Law's main theme, running through the whole treatise, is that the audience is the main consideration. No matter what you think or what you say it must get into the minds of your hearers or it is naught. Public speaking is an exercise of courtesy, consideration, unselfishness. It is an expression of respect for the people in front of you. It is good manners; it is salesmanship; it is the guidance of human intelligences; it is getting outside of yourself, producing effects upon a coterie made up of different temperaments. If your self-conceit appears, if your mannerisms attract attention to yourself personally, if you fail to be heard or understood, no matter how choice your ideas, you fail. With the intent to get your attention upon the various means of reaching, holding, and affecting an audience this experienced and vivid writer proceeds through seventeen short chapters tracing the process from the choice of a subject to exercises in practice. You have to work if you are going to make a success of speaking. But, if you keep thinking of what you should do for an audience the work is among the most interesting and fascinating of all employments. You may see your progress all the time. Don't

"How to Write and How to Deliver an Oration. -FREDERICK HOUK LAW, Head of the Department of English, Stuyvesant High School, New York. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 162 pp.

defer the beginning of your preparation. Hurry is very damaging to it. Get rid of the fallacious idea that inspiration will come to you. Demosthenes, Cicero, Burke, Webster, all the speakers who get across, worked out their ideas with the care of an architect, a sculptor, an artist. The best impromptus are from speakers who study the process. Respect for an audience requires that you give your best.

"Mr. Law's book is intended for young men and women, high-school boys and girls, college students. It is simple, specific, circumstantial. Its exercises adapt it for classroom teaching; its general content make it interesting and corrective for the adult and seasoned speaker. Be brief, be simple, be considerate, says our very natural and human professor. Stand on both feet; don't lean over a table; keep your hands out of your pocket; think of your audience, not of yourself; watch your auditors;

look into their eyes. You needn't roar but you must get your words to the whisperers on the back seats. Consonants, lips, syllables won't take care of themselves. You have to think of them as you do of your feet when you are learning to dance, or of the keys when you are learning to typewrite.

"I commend this book to teachers, principals, superintendents, ministers, lawyers, women's clubs, and carmen who call out the names of streets or stations."

Then came a fine array of doch-an-dorrachs, some hot, some cold, whether they were brewed from the browned berry of Brazil or from the seeds of the cocao or from the spicy rootstock of the tropical zingiber with carbon dioxid and iced withal. To which were added sundry sustaining foods meet for a company of friendly souls.

paths

world

all

MORRIS HIGH SCHOOL

NEW YORK CITY

A

LL READY FOR THE CONVENTION. The holding of conventions is one of the great American industries. More than twelve thousand conventions are to be held this year in the United States. Approximately fifteen million people will attend these conventions. They represent all phases of our national life business, labor, scientific, political, fraternal, and educational. Conventions are the principal clearing houses of ideas and plans for our great national organizations. There is scarcely any group of importance which is without such an organization. Business has the United States Chamber of Commerce; labor has the American Federation of Labor; law has the American Bar Association; medicine has the American Medical Association, and education has the National Education Association.

When the superintendents of schools meet at Dallas, February 26-March 3, 1927, it will be the fifty-seventh annual convention of the Department of Superintendence of the National Education Association. Modern education has become very complex because modern life itself is making many new demands on the schools. Because of this variety of interests and the great numbers who wish to attend, it was found desirable long ago to hold two educational conventions each year. The one in the summer is to transact the business of the parent association through the Representative Assembly, and to emphasize in its program the problems of teachers. The one in the winter is for school superintendents and other executive officers, with programs emphasizing problems of educational administration.

Advance drafts of the various programs for the Texas meeting reveal the varied aims

and needs of our schools. Every hour is filled with activities. The regular convention week has come to be too short, and so a number of organizations are scheduling meetings for the week previous to the convention. The first of these preliminary gatherings will be held Wednesday, February 23, by the Department of Deans of Women. Among other early groups may be mentioned the American Association of Teachers Colleges, National Association of Educational Sociologists, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Supervisors of Nature Study and Gardening, and the National Council of State Superintendents and Commissioners of Education. Records of hotel reservations indicate that several thousand visitors will be in Dallas when the first meeting of the National Society for the Study of Education is called to order in the Fair Park Auditorium, Saturday evening, February 26.

The President Makes Plans.-Superintendent Randall J. Condon has prepared a splendid convention program. The opening Vesper Service on Sunday afternoon, February 27, in the Auditorium of Southern Methodist University, will be addressed by the famous pastor of the First Baptist Church, Dr. George W. Truett. General sessions will be held every morning, as well as on Monday evening, Tuesday evening, and Thursday afternoon. The convention will come to a close with a grand concert Thursday evening by the National High School Orchestra. The executive session of the Department of Superintendence for the nomination of officers and transaction of business is fixed by the constitution for Tuesday morning. The election will be by

ballot. Polls for voting will be open from II A.M. to 6 P.M., Wednesday. The program for Tuesday evening has been arranged by a joint committee of the Commission on the Curriculum and the National Society for the Study of Education. Wednesday evening is reserved for college dinners. Many state dinners will be held Tuesday evening, and of course, there are breakfasts and luncheons every day. Among persons outside the educational field who will appear as speakers, will be Hon. John H. Clark, formerly a Justice of the United States Supreme Court; Henry Turner Bailey, authority on art; and Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker, prominent in the work of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, and active in many national organizations. The international champion in the oratorical contest on the Constitution has accepted an invitation to give his ten minute address. He comes from Hollywood High School, California. Inspector Hughes of Canada and a representative from Porto Rico are to appear on the program.

National High School Orchestra.-The musical feature at Dallas will be an orchestra composed of the finest players from high schools in all parts of the United States. Musicians from thirty-eight states have been selected by the committee in charge of this event. Mr. J. E. Maddy, Supervisor of Music of the public schools at Ann Arbor, Michigan, is chairman of the committee and leader of the orchestra. Arrangements have been completed by which the boys and girls of the orchestra will be entertained as guests in the families of students in the Dallas high schools. Plans are under way for a special train from Chicago and St. Louis to carry the players and their parents. This train This train will leave Chicago Thursday night, February 24, arrive in St. Louis Friday morning, and reach Dallas in time for the first rehearsal at 10 o'clock Saturday morning. Once before a similar orchestra was assembled. This was at the Detroit convention of the Music Supervisors National Conference. The fine impression made at Detroit prompted Presi

dent Condon to organize along similar lines for the Department of Superintendence. Music for meetings of allied organizations and section groups will be furnished by portions of the orchestra. The main event, however, will be the grand concert Thursday evening, March 3, which is intended to be the crowning feature of the meeting.

An Education for Educators.-School officers always find much of interest and importance among the exhibits. The Fair Park Exhibit Hall offers unusual facilities for educational and technical displays. Mr. William H. Vogel of Cincinnati has charge of the educational exhibits. The Business Division of the National Education Association will, as usual, direct that portion of the exhibit assigned to commercial firms and organizations. Mr. Vogel contributed largely to the success of the building exhibits at Chicago and Cleveland. He was actively in charge of the art exhibits at the Cincinnati convention. Mr. Vogel's aim has been to secure exhibits illustrating art in life along the line of life, liberty, happiness, common defense, and general welfare. Among the particular subjects for which exhibits have been promised are garden design, school planning, theatrical stage setting, clothing selection, design and appreciation, linoleum block prints of booklet covers, lining papers, school magazine illustrations, holiday cards, and calendars. Posters will be shown on such subjects as health, community fund, city beautiful, kindness to animals, Junior Red Cross, foreign relief, wild flowers protection, thrift, bond issues, and school entertainments. Space is also to be given to displays of the business of printing in connection with art training and other school activities. Local high school students will print a daily convention paper in a booth at the exhibit hall. Leading architects have been invited to participate in a selected exhibit of the latest achievements in school house planning. The Progressive Education Association is to contribute a display illustrating advance steps in education. The Research Station in Character Education_of

the University of Iowa, under the direction of Mr. Edwin Starbuck, will present a display on this important topic. The exhibit of the work-study-play plan of platoon schools, will be in charge of Miss Alice Barrows of the United States Bureau of Education. Over two hundred commercial exhibit booths have been provided. All of them were taken within forty-eight hours after announcements were made. Some firms are planning to spend not only hundreds, but thousands of dollars in putting on their displays. Registration and other convention service will be in the Exhibit Hall.

To complete details for this part of the convention, a conference was recently held in Cincinnati, attended by Superintendent Randall J. Condon, president of the Department of Superintendence; William H. Vogel, director of the educational exhibit at the Dallas Convention; George E. and L. J. Fern, decorators for the Dallas exhibit; Mr. Garvin, of Garvin and Woodward, technical advisor for the architectural exhibit at Dallas; H. A. Allan, and S. D. Shankland, of the headquarters staff at Washington.

Pertinent Convention Facts.-Convention headquarters will be located in the center of the Exhibit Hall, which is immediately adjacent to the Fair Park Auditorium, where the general sessions of the Department of Superintendence will be held. Comfortable lounging rooms, a restaurant and tea room, will be located in the Exhibit Hall for the convenience of visitors.

Round trip tickets on the identification certificate plan will be sold at one and onehalf fare for members of the National Education Association and dependent members of their families. Ticket sales begin February 22 in southwestern territory, February 21, in the middle west, and February 20 in more distant localities. When validated at the regular ticket offices in Dallas, tickets will be good for return to reach original starting point not later than midnight, March 10. These certificates may be obtained from J. W. Crabtree, secretary, National Education Association, 1201 Six

teenth Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C. If in arrears, inclose check for membership dues. If you neglect to secure in advance your identification certificate, no adjustment of fare can be made after arrival at Dallas.

An address by President Randall J. Condon will be a part of the opening exercises at the Exhibit Hall on Saturday, February 26. Registration all day Saturday. All activities connected with registration and exhibits will be closed on Sunday.

Discussion groups of the Department of Superintendence are scheduled for Monday afternoon, and sectional meetings for Tuesday afternoon.

No headquarters hotel has been designated. A record-breaking attendance is forecasted by the huge advance demand for room reservations. Inquiries regarding such reservations should be addressed to the chairman of the Housing Committee, Mr. Z. E. Black, Chamber of Commerce, Dallas, Texas.

Nicholas Bauer, superintendent of schools, New Orleans, extends a whole-hearted invitation from the public school people of New Orleans, to stop-over in that city on the way to or from Dallas. Superintendent Bauer will have open house and do everything possible to make the visit pleasant.

The officers of the Department of Superintendence are: president, Randall J. Condon, superintendent of schools, Cincinnati, Ohio; first vice-president, Frank W. Ballou, superintendent of schools, Washington, D. C.; second vice-president, David A. Ward, superintendent of schools, Wilmington, Delaware; executive secretary, Sherwood D. Shankland, 1201-16th Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.; executive committee, Frank D. Boynton, superintendent of schools, Ithaca, N. Y.; M. G. Clark, superintendent of schools, Sioux City, Iowa; Norman R. Crozier, superintendent of schools, Dallas, Texas; E. E. Lewis, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.

Principals at Dallas.-The Department of Elementary School Principals will have meetings in the Fair Park Auditorium on the afternoons of Monday, Tuesday, and Wed