PREPARATION FOR COLLEGE. 25 



of a certain number of graduates of the English High School at 

 graduation at Harvard College. This was not a comparative 

 statement ; but any schoolmaster who is in the habit of sending 

 pupils to Harvard College would know at sight that it was a very- 

 remarkable exhibit. Very truly yours, 



(Signed) " Chaeles W. Eliot. 



" Mr. John F. Casey." 



During the year immediately preceding the time when I made 

 my inquirj^, in the class of '92, two English High boys were the 

 only ones who received "A" in all their examinations in their 

 regular work of the year. During the same year, in the class of 

 '93, an English High graduate and a young man from Chicago 

 were the only ones to receive " A " in all their examinations in 

 their regular work of the year, and at the same time two English 

 High boys outranked all others in college in English composition. 

 During that year, of seven honors in mathematics given to all 

 the classes, three were taken by graduates of the English High 

 School. Of 'three theses selected by President Eliot as especially 

 meritorious, two were written by boys from our school. 



As might be expected, the subjects in which English High 

 School graduates receive distinction are different from those in 

 which classical school graduates would seek honors. The sub- 

 jects in which our boys have obtained distinction are English, 

 French, history, political economy, mathematics, natural history, 

 chemistry, botany, and meteorology. S. M. Ballon, in his special 

 work in meteorology, wrote an article opposing the cold-wave 

 theory held by the Weather Bureau at Washington. This essay 

 was translated and published in Europe, and Ballon received quite 

 flattering letters in regard to it from eminent scientists one espe- 

 cially from Mr. Woeckoff, head of the Russian Meteorological 

 Department, in which he said that Ballou's article completely dis- 

 proved the theory held by the authorities in this country. Young 

 Ballon afterward met Prof. Russell, head of the Meteorological 

 Department at Washington, and, having previously sent in his 

 card, when ushered into Prof. Russell's presence, was greeted 

 with, "I suppose you are Mr. Ballou's son." He failed to recog- 

 nize in the stripping a scientific opponent. In English " B " 

 course, which all sophomores are obliged to take, in 1888 Parker 

 was one of four to receive "A"; in 1889 Lovett was one of ten; 

 and in 1890 Ballon was one of three. 



Among the list of instructors I find in the catalogue of Har- 

 vard College the names of four graduates of the English High 

 School. Two English High School graduates, while undergradu- 

 ates in Harvard, have been one an assistant instructor in botany 

 and one in the fine. arts. That reminds me that ^ drawing, once 



