268 NATURE STUDY REVIEW [9:8— Nov., 1913 



which mechanically brought out the appropriate book at the proper 

 time for study and opened it, and at the end of the time of allotted 

 study, closed it and set it on the shelf, and the next one to be 

 studied followed. Withal, the book is a fascinating tale of a pro- 

 ductive boyhood that led on to a superb manhood. 



Country Life and the Country School by Mabel Carney Pages 

 XXIX-H405, Row, Peterson & Company, Chicago. Price $1.25. 



The author's preface opens as follows: "This book is for 

 farmers and country teachers, written not about them but to them. 

 It takes form as the direct outgrowth and personal need of eight 

 years' work in country teaching and the training of country 

 teachers " and it is a very excellent message that the book contains 

 from an earnest and wise woman. If superlatives were not 

 dangerous I should say it was the best book on the Rural School 

 and its problems. It certainly is among the best. 



Chapter one is on the Farm Problem and its Solution. We have 

 constantly had the farm problem presented and it is refreshing to 

 find someone confidently attacking its solution. Then come 

 chapters on the farm home country church, the grange, farmers' 

 institutes, roads, country life and the country school as an agency. 

 It is not necessary to give further the chapter headings as this 

 suffices to give the scope of the work. 



In the appendix there is given the outline of a course in country 

 school teaching for country teachers. Here is to be found a dis- 

 cussion of the building and its equipment, with the names of supply 

 firms and prices of materials. Here, also are given the sources of 

 illustrative material , of good literature , music, etc . There follows a 

 directory of rural progress and a good bibliography. 



Throughout the book one is impressed with the concreteness of 

 the discussion. It is an account of what has been done, with 

 detailed instructions as to how it was done, with facts and figures 

 as to the results and careful statements of the expenses down to the 

 last cent. If one is at all interested in the problem of the country 

 he will read the book with as keen a relish as he would an exciting 

 novel and lay it down with the conviction that the country school 

 problem is meeting a very satisfactory solution. 



