ONE of le is its own reward; but is it?

NE of the earliest lessons imprinted on the youthful

Now I am-or, at any rate, I try to be-a truthful person. Truthfulness is a virtue. Therefore I ought to be rewarded. But when I am confronted with the task of writing testimonials for fifteen people in one evening, I do not feel myself sufficiently recompensed by the sort of remark just made to me by one of the aspirants for my recommendation-" I should be so grateful for a testimonial from you; I am sure it would carry great weight, for what you say is to be relied on." To which I reply inwardly, "Don't lay the flattering unction to your soul that reliable information about you, would go far towards getting you a post."

However, having promised to help these fifteen people to make a start in life, I sit down at my desk, and meditate where to begin. Were I living in the days of goose quills, I might gnaw my pen for inspiration; as it is, I find myself drawing all sorts of grotesque figures on my blotting pad, till the fire is kindled, and I can speak, with, at any rate, some truthfulness.

The first idea. I make an alphabetical list of the candidates seeking work; then, one list suggesting another, I jot down qualities to be desired in applicants for the various posts, for example, energy, alertness, conscientiousness, resourcefulness, tactfulness, pleasant manners, good tempers, high principles, &c., for experience has taught me that, given the ideas denoted by these terms, it is not difficult to turn words into sentences, thereby filling up the more easily the necessary two sides of the notepaper. Next, I try to apply ideas suggested by list two to individuals in list one, and there's the rub.

I begin with Miss A, who, like the majority of the fifteen, is applying for an assistantship in an elementary school. I conjure up a mental picture of her in the hope of being able to work in some of the virtues in my list, and immediately I see her, in my mind's eye, walking into the breakfast room four minutes after the gong has sounded, with her hair tousled, down-trodden bedroom slippers, revealing, as she walks, big holes in the heels of her stockings, and her face covered-not too artistically-with pink powder, for it is a fixed delusion, with some young women, that powder, like charity, hides a multitude of sins. When there is no time for washing, a powder puff is a most useful institution, enabling one to have a quarter of an hour extra in bed. Then, I try to imagine Miss A rising at 7 o'clock to catch a 'bus or tube that will convey her to her school in Barking or Whitechapel, but my imagination is unequal to the strain of such an unlikely event. Evidently “energetic" and "alert" are not suitable adjectives. I must try others. Pleasant mannered, good tempered? Yes, I can say that, for like many another lazy, slatternly person, Miss A is both. So I seize my pen and elaborate these themes, and by means of omitting all mention of qualities conspicuous in her by their absence, and by writing in larger hand than usual, I manage to fill up my two sides of paper.

Now for Miss B. At first on glancing down my list, this seems easy. Energetic, alert? Yes, indeed. My mental picture shows me a girl who rises early and too late takes rest; one never to be seen without a book in her hand. I see, too, her name always at, or near, the top of examination result lists. But after all, I have to recommend Miss B as a teacher rather than a student, and, stopping to think, I realize that she is wrapped up in her own ambitions, deaf and blind to the life around her, too busy to take an interest in, or do a good turn for, any of her fellow students, and I fail in my attempt to envisage her as a person, who, by sympathy and insight, would win the esteem and affection of her class. So again I seize on the salient points in her character that are good, and make the most of them.

In this way I go down my first list, and congratulate myself that the fifteen will be ready by post time, when suddenly an idea flashes into my mind which gives me pause. I think of a shrewd and capable headmistress whom I have known for years, and imagine her reading one of my well-meant effusions with caustic comments thereon.

"

"Miss F's conduct during her course of training at X College has been irreproachable." (Humph! not enough energy and enterprise to get into scrapes.) She has always worked to the utmost of her capacity (probably has had to, to make up for want of brains), "and should take a good degree in her Final B.A. in June next." (Should! but will she?)" She has pleasant and courteous manners" (ah! she has acquired the art of getting round the college staff), “and is kind and obliging, always ready to help in emergencies" (this won't do, no amount of kindness makes up for stupidity. I see no mention of capability, nor intelligence). "I am sure she will prove a valuable addition to the staff of the school which secures her services" (what do you know, my good woman, about my staff ?), "and that her influence over the children committed to her care will be entirely for good" (padding, padding! put in to fill up, it doesn't impose upon me). So poor Miss F's application goes into the waste-paper basket, and my kindly meant endeavours to help her have contributed towards her rejection.

Again I sit and meditate, wishing devoutly I dare copy an ingenious testimonial I came across recently, which ran I have much pleasure in supporting the application of Mr. Z and hope he will secure a situation commensurate with his talents. I feel confident his work will meet with the reward which it deserves."

However, hope rises within me once more, when glancing down my name list, I discover some of whom I can honestly say nothing but good. My pen flies along rapidly now, and when post time comes more than half my task is done, the rest I will "sleep on," having come sadly to the conclusion that, in writing testimonials, the highest virtue to which I can attain is summed up in one of Robert Louis Stevenson's epigrams: "It is possible to avoid falsehood, and yet not tell the truth."

Mr. H. A. Wootton, Headmaster of Kingswood School, Bath, is to succeed Mr. W. H. D. Rouse, who is retiring from the headmastership of Perse School, Cambridge, after a tenure in office of over twenty-six years. Mr. Wootton was an exhibitioner of Nottingham High School and a scholar of Clare College, Cambridge. He obtained first classes in both parts of the National Science Tripos (second part in chemistry) and was awarded the Wiltshire University Prize in 1904. After service as a demonstrator in University Chemical Laboratory, Cambridge, and assistant lecturer at Clare College, he was appointed a member

of the assistant staff at Westminster School. He became Headmaster at Kingswood in 1919, after having acted as a sub-station director in the Ministry of Munitions from 1916-19.

Ar the last meeting of the Teachers' Panel of the Secondary Burnham Committee, Mr. W. Jenkyn Thomas, Headmaster of Halkey Downs School was elected chairman in succession to Mr. R. F. Cholmeley, C.B.E., who has held the office for eight years. Mr. Jenkyn Thomas is Joint (Continued on page 254)

so well and so willingly throughout his career to the profession generally and to individual members. As a mark of their appreciation the Panel presented him with a book as a souvenir in which the following inscription had been entered: Presented to Mr. R. F. Cholmeley, C.B.E., by the members of the Teachers' Panel of the Secondary Burnham Committee as a slight expression of their gratitude for his great services as Chairman and their deep appreciation of his devoted work, in that capacity as in many others, on behalf of the profession of which he is so distinguished a member." Each member of the Panel present entered his or her signature in the book.

*

THE death of Mr. Matthew Vaughan, which occurred last month, will be deeply regretted by Haileyburians all over the world. He was appointed as assistant master at Haileybury in 1878, and retired after thirty-two years' service in 1910. During that period he was housemaster of Edmonstone for fifteen years. He was an old boy of Felsted and a student of St. John's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1877 with a first class in the Classical Tripos. ONLOOKER.

GUILD OF THE BRITISH INSTITUTE

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The College comprises the following Faculties and Special Schools : FACULTY OF ARTS (including Economics.) (Dean: Mr. Norman H. Baynes, M.A.)

FACULTY OF LAWS. (Dean: Prof. J. E. G. de Montmorency, M.A., LL.B.)

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FACULTY OF ENGINEERING. (Dean: Prof. E. G. Coker, M.A., D.Sc., M.Inst.C.E., F.R.S.)

SLADE SCHOOL OF FINE ART. (Slade Professor: Henry Tonks.) BARTLETT SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE.

Richardson, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A.)

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and DEPARTMENT OF TOWN PLANNING. (Prof. S. D. Adshead, M.A., F.R.I.B.A.)

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M. E. Delafield, M.B., B.Ch., L.R.C.P., D.P.H.)
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RESIDENTIAL HALLS: UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HALL, EALING
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The book is suitable for use in the lower forms of Public and Secondary Schools, and in Preparatory Schools it affords an admirable preparation for "Common Entrance.' In the examples, as well as in the text, constant use is made of the pupil's out-of-school interests and activities. This is a delightful little book with which to introduce the study of Geometry."-The Journal of Education.

THE SOCRATES

ENGLISH LITERATURE SERIES

General Editor: H. M. MARGOLIOUTH, M.A.
Each 96 pages. With Questions and Exercises.
Price, in paper, 1s., in cloth, 1s. 3d.

I. Addison: Selected Essays

II. Milton: Paradise Lost, Books 1, 2, and 3
III. Ben Jonson: Epicone, or The Silent Woman
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V. Eighteenth Century Letters

VI. De Quincey: Reminiscences of his Boyhood
VII. Goldsmith: She Stoops to Conquer; and Re-
taliation

HISTORY IN THE SCHOOL

"

The article by "Layman" in the March issue of The Journal gives the impression, whether right or wrong, that his occasional experience with "odd" history classes has not developed a correct conception of the aims of modern methods in history teaching. His cheap jest, too, at the innocent Time Chart," which an Old Boy bequeathed to his school, appears out of place. It is true that one cannot treasure all specimens or models received as legacies; if valueless they may be destroyed, but if kept they should be respected.

Do any handicrafts or history teachers pretend it is? Certainly none that I know do so. What they do say is that many children are stimulated, often for the first time, to read history for its own sake as a result of having constructed models of castles, weapons, &c. One cannot construct models of castles and weapons without consulting history books or visiting local museums or historical monuments, and it is not surprising to find that boys often want to know something worth knowing concerning the people who constructed the castles and weapons which they to-day copy on a smaller scale.

So, too, boys who are not at all keen on "book" geography, may quite conceivably become tolerable geographers because they have constructed a series of models illustrating the "Development of the Ship."

In my youthful days I acquired a lot of useful geographical knowledge as a result of collecting postage stamps. I did not know then I was learning geography, but it was so, and as to-day it falls to my lot to organize the "geography throughout the school," I acknowledge, with gratitude, my indebtedness to Stanley Gibbons and his kind.

Years ago I had little more respect for handicrafts than has "Layman" to-day. I know better now, and I do not hesitate to say that in the hands of a teacher who knows his work thoroughly, handicrafts can be an invaluable stimulus to sound work in history, geography, science, &c.

I am sure, too, that if " Layman" will go into the matter a little more thoroughly, and with an open mind, he will soon change his opinions.

"

"EASTWELL."

I fear that my remarks in reply to Eastwell" must be explanatory rather than controversial. That is no doubt my fault, though in a short article it is obviously only possible to develop one's main thesis and-hope for the best.

In speaking of myself as a layman, I meant that I had not made a specialist's study of the subject, such as that for a degree. I have, however, had many years' experience of teaching the subject throughout certain of the smaller schools, and have even one or two of the highest university scholarships to my (scholars') credit. But during the past few years I have had an "odd" history class only, as a sort of filler-up for my time-table, so that, whilst I am not entirely out of touch, the subject has taken on for me something analogous to Wordsworth's Emotion Recollected in Tranquillity."

I did not intend to be disrespectful to the old chart. I thought I was describing in a sprightly way what was a really sprightly attempt to do the impossible. The implication of the article was that, though it was not really of any practical use, it was better than the simplified (and, therefore, falsified) modern substitutes.

With the making of historical models as exercises in handwork I have no quarrel-so long as they are well made and artistically finished, so as to serve the real purpose of handwork. Nor do I deny that they are useful auxiliaries to the real work. But it is not history, and if much of it is done in the name of history it gives rise to an altogether false idea of the subject. At best, the interest developed is that of the antiquarian. The latter

is a useful "fag" to the historian, or, more respectfully, the skilled artisan on whom the historical artist has to rely for the collection of his materials. But antiquarianism is not history, and, except in the case of those capable of original research, of no value to any one except as a pleasant hobby.

The real practical work of history is the application of facts and principles to the problems of modern or other life, and this is the work of the brain, not of the hand.

I know not whether I have, or have not, grasped the aims of modern methods in the teaching of history, but I can see little indication that any of the results one hopes for are being achieved. My own view of what these results should be is as follows:

1. A balanced reverence for our past, which gives on the whole an example of sane and orderly development, which in its turn should lead to a sense that noblesse oblige.

2. A clear sense of the continuity of human life and development, so that the problems of the present are envisaged as results of the past.

3. Some conception of the contribution made by each nation to the sum of human progress. All combining in

4. A clear perception of our present position in relation to the world of to-day, and of our duty to posterity.

Incidentally the method should be such as is calculated to develop sound political judgment, the power to deal with matters of some complexity with a proper sense of proportion. These qualities are not acquired by handwork.

Handwork is very valuable in its proper place and time. The writer does not under-estimate its value. On more than one occasion he has written in protest against the glorification of academic work at the expense of hand and art work. He is even enough of a trained craftsman to earn a living at more than one manual trade—has actually done so. But the recognition of its value in one sphere is no argument in favour of forcing any kind of activity on to subjects which definitely require the exercise of an entirely different kind of activity.

A little arithmetic is always useful. Two lessons plus one prep. = two hours. Multiply this by 36 for the school year, and we have 72 hours per annum in which to achieve the aims mentioned above, together with the memorizing of the necessary facts. It is an impossibility, if any time is to be subtracted for handwork. We must take the direct method. And that is why I protest against the burying of what is essentially an intellectual subject beneath a mass of clay and carpentry. "LAYMAN."

DIRECTORY OF EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS These items arrived too late for inclusion in the March list. APPOINTMENTS BOARDS.

College of Technology, Manchester.

(d) Technology, Manchester. (e) City 7225-7. Mr. David Cardwell, M.Sc., B.Com., College of Technology, Manchester. Health and Cleanliness Council.

5 Tavistock Square, W.C.1.

Industrial Psychology, National Institute of.

For the application of psychology and physiology in industry and commerce. (d) Eesilabor, Holb., London. (e) Holborn 2277. Mr. F. W. Lawe, M.A., 329 High Holborn, W.C. I. World's Federation of Education Associations.

To bring the five million teachers of the world into more fruitful and sympathetic relations with one another. Any organization interested mainly in education can join. Full membership costs one cent for each member of the affiliated organization (minimum 25 dollars, maximum 1,000 dollars). 36 organizations of approximately 1,750,000 teachers. (c) News-Bulletin. (d) Williams, Columbia, Missouri. (ƒ) Geneva, Switzerland, July 28-August 4, 1929. Mr. C. H. Williams, 101 Jesse Hall, Columbia, Missouri, U.S.A.