At the last annual meeting of the National Education Association of America, which was held in Los Angeles, in July, the board of directors considered the question of the representation of the association at the proposed Millennial Celebration of King Alfred's death to be held at Winchester. On the motion of the Hon. W. T. Harris, it was resolved that a committee consisting of the secretary and the treasurer of the Association and of Professor Charles Mills Gayley, of the University of California, be appointed to further the plans for this celebration; and that Professor Gayley be the delegate of the Association to the Alfred Celebration in England, October 26, 1901. -Book Reviews.

Public school teachers in San Francisco are required by a recent State law to join a pension association. Each pays $1 a month into the treasury and will be allowed to retire after thirty years' service with an annuity of $600 a year. Teachers disabled before they have served thirty years will be allowed a proportionate annuity. A reserve of $50,000 will be acquired by retaining one-fourth of the receipts at the outset. This, says the Lebanon Report, is a most commendable act in behalf of the greatest and most patriotic army in the world-the public school teachersthat has yet been enacted by any State. The publie schools are everywhere recognized as the pillar of the country, and Bismarck hit the nail on the head when he said, "It was the public schools of Germany that won the battle of Sedan." The army and navy pale into insignificance in comparison with our public schools in upholding the liberty of our country. What else but the education of the masses makes our army and navy so invincible? There is no more responsible position than that of a model teacher, nor any other that accomplishes so much good. Yet, strange to say, there is no body of men or women who manifest so little interest in behalf of their future welfare, or for whom the State seems to care so little. Pennsylvania School Journal.

A little more than one hundred years ago Benjamin Franklin left $5,000 to Boston, his native city. It was to be loaned to artisans at 5 per cent. for one hundred years and then invested for the public good. The accumulated sum is now $366,421, and the mayor and council have decided to build with it a public library, reading-room, gymnasium and baths. What a lesson this teaches us! Southwestern School Journal.

Resolutions calling for the immediate resignation of Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews, superintendent of public schools in Chicago, have been

offered in the common council of that city because of his public advocacy of the British side in the South African war.

Recently Justice Harlan, of the United States Supreme Court, gave an opinion sustaining the Georgia courts in the case of A. W. Cumming and others vs. The Board of Education of Richmond County, Ga. This case, instituted by colored persons of Richmond county, Ga., grew out of alleged discrimination on the part of the board in the matter of the maintenance of high schools. This board closed the colored high school for want of funds, leaving a white high school in existence, and the suit was instituted for the purpose of securing an injunction to prevent the collection of taxes for the maintenance of the school system generally.

In passing upon the case, Justice Harlan said that the education of the young had been re

mitted to the several States, and that it should be

generally left to their control. The court had not been able to discover that the Supreme Court of Georgia had erred in refusing to grant an injunction, hence the verdict of that court adverse to the petition of the colored people was affirmed.

By the will of the late Cornelius Vanderbilt, of New York, Yale University receives $100,000, and Vanderbilt University $50,000.

D. F. Converse, a mill owner of Spartanburg, S. C., who died recently, left one-third of his estate, valued at $500,000, to Converse College, an institute for the higher education of women, founded by him in Spartanburg ten years ago.

A course in dyeing and bleaching has been established in the University of North Carolina. The lectures are given by Professor F. P. Venable and the laboratory work is in charge of Dr. Thomas Clarke. The primary object in establishing this course was to provide, for the increasing number of the students of the University who go into the cotton mills, something more directly applying to their future work.-Book Re

views.

VIRGINIA.

Dr. Southall, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, recently visited several districts in the State in the interest of the schools. The Doctor was much gratified at the flourishing of the schools and the lively interest manifested in educational matters. He made addresses at Onancock, Harrisonburg, Berryville and Warrenton to large assemblies of teachers gathered at these places for the purpose of hearing him.

At the annual meeting of the Richmond College Library Committee, the Librarian and Curator,

Dr. C. H. Ryland, submitted a report of the year's work. This library is one of the few in the South that has an endowment. The endowment is 21,000, of which $1,000 was added during the year. The library, as it stands at present, is the creation of the years subsequent to the Civil War. All books gathered from 1832 to 1864 were taken away by an army order, and distributed in the camps of the Northern army and in their hospitals around the city after the surrender. This act of the Northern army was in part the basis of the bill before Congress to reimburse the College for its losses during this occupation.

The number of volumes now in the library is 13,320. Of these 312 were added during the past year. Lists of books were presented to the committee by the different professors and by the librarian, and a liberal appropriation made for their purchase. Several sets and series of historical and other works, essential to the best working of the College classes, will be added.

The library hall is handsomely equipped and is kept open all day, and its tables are filled with all the leading magazines.

Dr. Ryland's report embraced the work of the Museum department also. During the year the gift of $1,000 by Mr. James Thomas became available for the purchase of statuary, cases and other equipment. The hall, which is one of the most beautiful in the country, is now graced by paintings, statuary and other choice art treasures deeply interesting to students and visitors. It is proposed to open the museum at regular hours to the public.

The committee elected Dr. Ryland to succeed himself as Librarian and Curator, and Mr. John Garnett Broaddus, a student, in the College, his assistant for lhe present session.

Prince William county is a competitor for one of the three white Normal Schools in prospect for summer. Superintendent of Public Instruction Southall has been placed in possession of communications from the authorities of the county asking for the honor. An interesting statement is made by the Prince William people to the effect that the first Normal ever held in Virginia was conducted in Prince William in 1877. No other Normal has since been held in the county. Prince William contends that her turn is about due again.

On July first, five new students arrived at the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute from Cuba, four boys and one girl. They have come with the idea of fitting themselves for future usefulness and returning home to help their people.

Send all orders to THE VIRGINIA SCHOOL JOURNAL, P. O. Drawer 926, Richmond, Va., and be sure to send the cash with the order.

For a brief period the American Monthly Review of Reviews and THE VIRGINIA SCHOOL JOURNAL will be sent to any address, postpaid, for one year, for $2.75. The regular price is $3.50. Our readers know that the American Monthly is indispensable to lovers of good literature who wish to keep abreast of the times. Orders for this combination should be addressed to THE VIRGINIA SCHOOL JOURNAL, P. O. Drawer 926, Richmond, Va.

The Department of the Interior has recently published a wall map of the United States, prepared under the direction of the Commissioner of the General Land office, 4 feet 11 inches by 7 feet 2 inches in size, mounted on muslin and attached to rollers ready for immediate use. In addition to the features ordinarily characterizing maps of the country, on this are shown by clearly defined boundaries, the several acquisitions of territory upon this continent by the Government of the United States as determined by the latest investigations, together with all military, Indian and forest reservations. It is supplied by the Department at eighty cents per copy, the cost of printing, mounting, etc. The law permits the sale of only one copy to any individual, but to schools and other institutions as many copies can be furnished as are desired for separate buildings

or departments. The Department also publishes small maps about 2 by 3 feet, unmounted, of the several States and Territories in which public lands of the United States are located, which are sold at 12 cents per sheet. All remittances in payment for maps should be by draft or postal money order made payable to the order of the Financia! Clerk, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C.

The Southern edition of VICK'S GARDEN AND FLORAL GUIDE for 1900 is a very handsome catalogue. James Vick's Sons, the reliable seedsmen, of Rochester, N. Y., are selling the best seeds, plants, and bulbs at low prices.

Book Table.

For more than half a century Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. have been engaged in the publication of the choicest productions from the pens of distinguished authors of the past and present, of both Europe and America. Their latest great undertaking, the publication of the TWENTIETH CENTURY TEXT-BOOKS, under the general editorial supervision of Dr. Nightingale and Prof. Thurber, will meet the demands of the country along the higher plane of educational work by furnishing a complete and correlated series of textbooks fully embodying the latest advances in our education. Nearly one hundred volumes of this remarkable series are in preparation, and several volumes have been issued. We have received:

PLANT RELATIONS. A First Book in Botany. By Jno. M. Coulter, A. M., Ph. D., head Professor of Botany, University of Chicago. (264 pps., cloth, $1.10.)

This book will admirably supplement work in the laboratory and the field by organizing the results obtained from investigation and giving explanations of them. It is a work of great excellence, beautifully printed and illustrated.

LA TULIPE NOIRE. By Alexander Dumas. Abridged and annotated by Edgar E. Brandon, A. M., Professor of French in Miami University. (40 cents.) American Book Company.

An excellent abridgment of one of Dumas' best works. The omissions of the original are supplied by a satisfactory English resume. As a reader for elementary or somewhat advanced pupils, this edition will prove altogether satisfactory. The Black Tulip is in Dumas' best style. The continued story, full of life and incidents dramatic and pathetic, will prove a valuable addition to the library of the young student of French.

STORIES OF ANIMAL LIFE. By Charles Frederick Holder, LL. D., author of "Elements of Zoology.' (60 cents.) American Book Company.

This is a charming addition to the admirable series of the "Eclectic School Readers," issued by the American Book Company. We have already noticed with pleasure Needham's "Out Door Studies" and Kelley's "Short Stories of Our Shy Neighbors," earlier numbers of this series.

These books will delight every lover of field, forest and stream, (and the broader his experience the more pleasure will he receive), and will create a desire to know, by personal observation, more of the out-door and out-of-the-book world. Dr. Holden is an enthusiast in the field of natural history, and his pages glow with life. His pen is as quick in telling his stories as his eyes are keen in observation.

Of course in these "Short Stories" older readers will come across much with which they are familiar; at the same time, few will fail to get new views, and always in an entertaining way; but the book is intended, primarily, for boys and girls of ten and twelve years. No well ordered child will fail to be delighted and instructed.

THE AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY makes important additions

to its High School and College List
by the purchase

of the Harper texts.

For the past few years the American Book Company has been pursuing the policy of constantly enriching its list of publications in the direction of high school and college work. It has made connections with important authors and has been developing its plans constantly to meet every demand for secondary and higher education.

When, therefore, Harper & Brothers, in their recent reorganization found it expedient to part with their high school and college text-books, the American Book Company saw an excellent opportunity to make a long stride in the direction in which their plans had been trending for some years, and, accordingly, purchased the entire list.

The books thus secured from Harper & Brothers number about four hundred titles. They include important works in literature, history, mathematics, natural science, and ancient and modern languages. A large number of these are well known to scholars and specialists throughout the country, and have been in publication for so ne years. These are works of standard excellence, which are practically without competition in this country. There is also the very widely-used and approved Rolfe's Shakespeare in forty volumes, annotated for school use and special study, and other English Classics similarly edited. Then there are some twenty Latin, Greek, and Classical dictionaries, which are monuments of critical study and are unrivaled in their respective fields. The Student's History Series, containing some thirty volumes, is well known in higher schools and to special students of history.

Among the recent works brought out by Harper & Brothers, which have had immediate indorsement of the best scholars and have enjoyed wide use among the secondary schools of the country, are Hill's Rhetorics, Phillips & Fisher's Geometries, Ames's Physics, Buehler's Exercises in English, and there are still newer books which promise equally well.

An important eonsideration to the American Book Company in this purchase, as furthering their general policy in this line of publication, was the acquisition of a large number of books soon to be published, written by many of the best known men in leading colleges and universities.

Doubtless the change will be welcomed by the public since it will be a distinct advantage to schools and colleges to have these books furnished by a well-equipped text-book house, devoting its energies solely to the business of educational publication, and closely in touch, through its numerous depositories and agents, with the institutions of learning throughout the country.

Editor.

Result of Examination for State Certificates, 1899.

We are enabled to publish in this number of THE JOURNAL the names of those who obtained life and professional certificates at the examination held last summer. While it is gratifying to note that twelve persons succeeded in securing certificates in 1899 as against eight the previous year, yet this number is all too small for the expense and labor involved in preparing and holding the examinations, and in correcting the papers. Then again, it is found on investigation that out of the twenty-nine applicants who failed to complete the examination in 1898, only six stood the examination in 1899. This is very strong proof that there is something wrong about the method of holding the examinations. Teachers frequently stand the examination without having made any previous preparation, and others pursue their studies in such an irregular or desultory manner as to receive but little advantage either in mental discipline, professional culture, or special preparation for the examination. So far as we can ascertain, it is the unanimous opinion of those who have held, and those who have stood, these examinations that candidates for life diplomas and professional certificates should pursue systematically the course of study required for these honors, and that they should be requir d to file in advance with the Department of Public Instruction applications setting forth their qualifications and the studies on which they intend to be examined at the next examination.

One reason for the small number of teachers who take these examinations may be found in the fact that they are held only at the summer normal institutes, and that consequently they are not accessible to the great majority of those who would otherwise take them. This suggests the propriety of establishing centers in the various sections of the State where these examinations may be held under such restrictions and regulations as may be deemed necessary. In view of the present situation, it is highly probable that such a policy may be adopted. These examinations are of great value in the public school system of Virginia, and the honor that attaches to those who successfully complete them is a wholesome stimulus to professional work among teachers. Following are the names of those who received certificates on the last examination, and those who passed on separate subjects:

Uniform Examinations For Teachers' Certificates. (Continued from December Number.) HISTORY--CONTINUED.

6. [a] Define the three branches of the government. [b] What Departments are represented in the President's Cabinet?

7. [a] Why was Monroe's administration called the "Era of Good Feeling"? [] What is the Monroe Doctrine?

8. [a] What infringement of the Monroe Doctrine was attempted during the Civil War? [b]

The result?

9. [a] Which of the Presidents have come into office by right of succession and not election ?