Parents and guardians must present the best of recommendations before pupile are received.

Study Class,

A New Department in

The Catholic
Reading Circle Review.

The object of this department is to encourage more practical study of subjects contained in the several courses conducted through the REVIEW, to bring to the individual member in the home the advantages of ripe scholarship through contact with instructors of eminent ability, by means of correspondence, examinations, and such other helps as may be conducive to more fruitful reading and study.

The first study treated in this manner will be American Literature, and the instructor will be Thomas O'Hagan, M. A., Ph. D. Doctor O'Hagan's reputation as a writer and a scholar is a guarantee that the subject will be treated with ability and thoroughness, and on lines of sound Catholic and philosophical teaching.

The text, or subject matter, for this study is now being conducted in serial form in the REVIEW, accompanied by copious notes and questions helpful to the student, and which tend to make the reading of the subject more profitable. Examination questions will be sent to members every three months, and a final set will be sent upon the completion of the course. The first set of questions will be ready the first or second week in January. These examination blanks will be filled out by members and forwarded to the office of the REVIEW. They will be personally examined by the instructor, Dr. O'Hagan, and returned to the members critically marked and rated. On the conclusion of the course and the fulfillment of the requirements, a certificate or diploma will be given to each member.

For pass certificate the serial papers in American literature, now running through the REVIEW, if faithfully studied, will be quite sufficient. Those desiring honors, however, should give some attention to the Suggested Readings. Pass is for those who are busy with other work; Honors for any one who has leisure for investigation.

Sixty per cent. of the examination questions correctly answered will be required for the January and April examinations, and seventy-five per cent. for final examination. Ninety per cent. will be required of those desiring honors. Students may join the class at any time.

The fee shall be fifty cents. Upon the payment of this fee, members will be registered as students of the class in American Literature. Members will be registered as individuals and not as clubs; but the course may be followed by individuals or by clubs. Clubs offer so many advantages in mutual help and encouragement, that members are urged to join them and organize them wherever possible. Small clubs of from six to ten members may be found better than larger ones. This plan offers an opportunity to individuals who have no desire to join reading circles, or who would prefer to follow the course alone, or with one or two agreeable friends. The expense of the course has been made so nominal that everyone, with studious intent, may partake of its benefits.

Other courses, covering a wide field of useful knowledge, will be added as may be warranted by the demand.

Application for membership in this class should be forwarded at once, accompanied by the fee, to the office of the REVIEW, So that members may be registered and begin the study without delay.

CONDUCTED BY THOMAS O'HAGAN, M. A., PH. D., IN CATHOLIC READING CIRCLE

REVIEW.

A study of American Literature involves a study of the ideas which have dominated American civilization. It is something more than the cataloguing of authors or assessment of their works. If literature, according to Matthew Arnold, means a criticism of life, then American literature must mean a criticism of American life.

In the series of papers dealing with American literature which shall appear in the REVIEW during the current academic year, it shall be our purpose and aim to deal with it as a study of the evolution of human life in the New World, reflecting the growth and triumph of ideas and principles-not as a mere record and chronicle of literary achievement.

We shall endeavor to keep in view from the very outset the great agencies which determine the character of a literature, namely: Race, Environment, Epoch and Personality.

For the purpose of classifying the periods, we shall in the main deal with the genesis and the development of American literature under the following headings:

GENERAL OUTLINE.

The First Colonial Period-The Second Colonial Period-The Revolutionary Period-The First Creative Period-The Second Creative Period.

Again the writers of these periods will naturally divide themselves into historians, poets and novelists.

Each paper may be expected to suggest some masterpiece for close analysis and study.

That our studies may be thorough we must go beyond the manuals of literature and touch with our minds the quickening life of each literary product in prose or verse.

Our standard should not be that of England or France or any one country, but rather the permanent, absolute standard of the whole world set up through the ripening judgment of centuries.

Our own day has, without doubt, more interest for us than the twilight of American life and letters, yet we must not forget that the rude lyrics and ballads of colonial days reflect as truly American life and thought as the most polished epic or idyl of a Longfellow, a Stedman, or an Aldrich.

There should be no North, no South, no East, no West in our literary appraisement. Provincialism is death to high ideals. Literature takes color and form from its surroundings, but its standard is based upon the universal taste and judgment of the people.

It is true that devoid of the spiritual, an art product is meaningless, yet nothing so ill-becomes a critic or a literary student as holding in his mind the faith of an author while passing judgment upon his literary works.

We hope then to do justice to every American writer of note, Catholic or non-Catholic, and shall see to it that such illustrious names as Brownson, Shea, Ryan and O'Reilly find a place in our studies as builders and toilers in the great temple of American letters.

Let us, however, see to it that in our study and estimate of American literature we do not attempt to galvanize mediocrity into greatness, simply because an author professes or has professed the Catholic faith. We Catholics should demand entrance into the temple of American literature by a front door, not by any side door.

Reading Circle

ARTCH S LDEN FO

REVIEW.

DEVOTED TO

History, Science, Religion, Literature, Art, Philosophy.

VOLUME X. — APRIL, 1897.— NUMBER 1.

Catholic Summer School of America.

DIRECTING BOARD.

Rev. Morgan M. Sheedy, Chairman, Altoona, Pa.; Mr. James Clarke, New York; Rev. John F. Mullany, LL. D., Syracuse, N. Y.; Rev. Walter P. Gough, Philadelphia, Pa.; Warren E. Mosher, A. M., Youngstown, O. OBJECT. The object of this institution is to encourage the diffusion of sound literature; to give those who desire to pursue their studies after leaving school an available opportunity to follow prescribed courses of the most approved reading; to enable others, who have made considerable progress in education, to review their past studies, and, particularly, to encourage individual HOME reading and study on systematic and Catholic lines. It is designed to meet the requirements of those who are desirous of self-improvement, and to enable them to become familiar with the Catholic aspects of the various important questions of the day. In short, it aims to unite earnest people who are anxious to devote their spare moments to the pursuit of knowledge and the cultivation of the intellect.

METHODS. The plan consists of clearly defined reading courses and carefully selected books. In these courses various books bearing on the subjects are indicated and a criticism of the same given, together with practical questions that make the reading of the books more profitable. The course for each year is complete in itself. Members may pursue one or more of the studies recommended for any year.

The lessons in these studies are marked in advance for each week, and the amount of reading in each study clearly defined. About forty minutes each day will accomplish the reading. The members procure the books recommended and read the lessons at home. Those who may have other approved books on the studies than those recommended, may use them. If there should be several persons in a place reading the course, they may meet together for mutual help and encouragement, and thus form a Local Reading Circle.

TERM. A full course requires four years' study, but members may join for one year of longer. The term each year begins October 1st, and ends July 1st. MEMBERSHIP. Any person of good character, (atholic or non-Catholic, who is desir ous of truth and self-culture, may become a member of this Reading Circle Union.

FEES-The annual fees for Circles are as follows: Ten members or less, $100; ten to twenty-four members, $2.00; twenty-five to forty-nine members, $3.00; fifty members and upwards, $5.00; individual fees, 25 cents. This fee is required to meet the necessary expenses incidental to the work of maintaining a general office or bureau for the propagation of the movement, and should be remitted to the General Secretary with the application. Applications may be sent in at any time.

CARD-A membership card will be issued to each member on the payment of annual fee.

CLASSES. All members joining the Reading Circle Union in any year become members of the class for that year. Each class may effect its own organization, select officers, adopt a class name and a motto. These classes may be organized each year during the session of the Summer School. CERTIFICATES. An honorary certificate will be issued on the recommendation of the president of each Circle that the member has followed any subject of the four years' course. The certificates will be issued to graduate students during the session of the Summer School, on Reading Circle day; those who may not be present will receive their certificates by mail. Members not connected with any Local Circle will receive their certificates on their statement that they have faithfully followed the course. No examinations are required

COURSE OF STUDIES FOR 1896-'97-October to June Inclusive.-American Year. 1. Studies in American History by Marc F. Vallette, LL. D. 2. American Literature, by Thomas O'Hagan. A M., Ph. D. 3. Social Problems, by Rev. Morgan M. Sheedy, published by DH McBride & Co. Chicago-Price 50c. 4. Studies in Civics. 5. Social Institutions of the United States.