He serves his party best who serves the country best. Flag of the free heart's hope and home! By angel hands to valor given. Thy stars have lit the welkin dome, And all thy hues were born in heaven. Where breathes the foe but falls before us, And Freedom's banner floating o'er us? - JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE. Your flag and my flag, And how it flies today In your land and my land The stripes forever gleam; The good forefather's dream. Sky-blue and true-blue, with stars to gleam aright The gloried guidion of the day, a shelter through the night. Glorified all else beside the red and white and blue! Home land and far land and half the world around, Old Glory bears our glad salute and ripples to the sound! Professor of Education and Director, College of Education, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 1. Importance of the School. About eighteen million pupils between five and eighteen years of age are annually attending the public schools of the United States. Only about six per cent of those who enter the elementary schools reach the eighth grade, therefore, whatever the school may be able to accomplish for the large majority of these pupils must be done while they are in the primary and intermediate grades. Upon the work of these grades rests largely the maintenance of American institutions. The work of the common school is second to none in its importance, and every teacher occupies a position of great trust and responsibility. Moreover, no period in the child's life is more important than the years spent in the common school. During these years the impress he receives affects his entire future, and what this impress shall be depends more upon the teacher than upon all other influences of the child's life. Every teacher should realize and feel this responsibility as she enters upon the work. The school demands the best that |