E—ls.

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spirit to train a boy, say, to design the most beautiful cover he can for his notebook, and to execute it to the best of his ability in leather or cloth, or for a girl to do similar work on a travelling-bag she makes for her mother, or for a child to learn accuracy by the discovery that he has made his measurements so carelessly that the parts of his miniature machine won't fit and won't work. Remembering that these schools in question are picked schools, and that the teachers are picked teachers, ix is still something to say that they can express themselves in their mother-tongue as well as Italian, or Swiss, or German children can in theirs ; that they can read, and write, and do their arithmetic as well as children 4 of the same age or class in England or Scotland ; that they can make toys and working-models better than Swiss children ; can sing better and know more about music than German boys and girls ; can draw or design in colours, or in light and shade, well enough to compete with junior students in a school of art; have a more intimate knowledge of nature, and of geography and history in their human and civic significance than could probably be found to be possessed by children in any land ; and that at the same time, unlike, say, the German boy or girl, they can play as eagerly and as joyously as any children born in 3unny New Zealand. The children find out as much as they can for themselves ; they learn to do and to make things themselves, discovering by their own trials and suggestions the best ways of doing and making them ; they learn to express themselves in oral speech, in writing, with charcoal or brush, with chisel, or needle, or loom; they act over again or represent in miniature on their sand-tables the life of the past, the primitive man, the Greek or Roman, the Viking, the mediaeval knight, the discoverers and settlers of America, the people of many lands ; they rear and watch animals and plants ; they hear and tell again the old classic stories of many literatures ; they go through the process of making simple objects in wood, metal, clay, and textile fabrics, in order that they may understand the relation of the fundamental manufactures to the progress of mankind from savagery to modern civilisation. The teacher guides, suggests, corrects mistakes, but gives very little instruction ; with us the teacher teaches too much, and often the most earnest teachers are the worst offenders in this respect. Some of the class-rooms resemble workshops at all times, others are transformed into workshops for this or that lesson. It would be a mistake to suppose that there is no " drill " in arithmetic, or in word-building, or, later, in the grammatical forms used in speech ; but the drill periods are short, and often the children are allowed to suggest the form the drill should take —I saw, for instance, a splendid spelling lesson given by means of a game at dumb-crambo, all the riming words being written on the board, and explained by the children left in the room. The acting by those who went out had to be correct, in accordance with historical or other facts known to the children, or it would be criticised by the other children. After the word Was guessed, other possible rimes were written on the boards, the child writing a word having to explain how it should be acted. The children were about eight years old. In twenty minutes or half an hour they really learnt how to spell more words than they could have learnt in any other way —and theylknew the meaning of the words. ' Great attention is paid to physical education ; the children are regularly measured and examined from time to time by a doctor, who advises the staff in special cases as to changes to be made either in the physical exercises or in the mental work of the child. There are gardens for the children —even those of Grade II (about seven years old) have their plots for work and observation ; the greenhouse is found very useful, especially in winter-time, both for the students and for the children ; the latter also rear plants in pots and glasses. Aquatic animals and plants are to be seen in the tanks or aquariums, and they, as well as the animal pets, are cared for by the children. The children go for many walks and excursions for the purpose of geographical and other naturestudy, or to visit factories, museums, picture-galleries, or spots of interest in local history. Both in New York and Chicago the elementary schools, and the high schools connected with the Teachers' Colleges, have their own special papers —in one instance, at least, this is printed on the premises by the children themselves. Attached as they are to two of the best Teachers' Training Colleges in the world, these schools are necessarily experimental. Not being part of the State system, fees are charged ; the fees are rather high, compared with ours —at the Horace Mann Kindergarten the charge is £15 a year ; in Grades I to IV, £30 ; Grades V to VII, £40 ; High School, £50. All the pupils are day pupils. In the New York Teachers' College the Horace|Mann Elementary and High Schools are used only for observation purposes, the Speyer School (which is free) being used for practice in teach-