613 



LANGUAGES AND LETTER-WRITING. 



SOME little time ago the American School Peace 

 League, which has representatives in several 

 European countries, sent, as delegate to Eng- 

 land, Mrs. Fannie Fern Andrews. Her object was to 

 explain that school history books are often one-sided, 

 and usually give undue prominence to military subjects, 

 therefore she hoped to interest British teachers in 

 the League and to secure their co-operation. 



She also desires to arrange for an international 

 exchange of correspondence on friendship lines and 

 not chiefly for language improvement, the letters to 

 Ije written in English, of course. 



The League offers prizes of 75, 50, and 25 

 dollars for the three best essays on (i) The Oppor- 

 tunity and Duty of the Schools in the International 

 I'eace Movement ; or (2) The Significance of the 

 Hague Peace Conference. The competition is 

 open to senior pupils in all countries; the essay 

 should not e.xceed 5,000 words, about 3,000 being 

 the best number ; it must be,written on one side of 

 the sheet only, very legibly, and typewritten preferred. 

 Paper 8 inches wide, 10 inches in length, with a 

 margin of i J inches at least. 'I'he name of the writer 

 must not be on the essay, which should be accom- 

 panied by a letter giving the writer's name and school 

 and the home address. The packet should be posted 

 flat, not rolled, to Mrs. Fannie Fern Andrews, 405, 

 NLirlborough Street, Boston, Mass., U.S.A., not later 

 than March ist, 1912. I suggest that the essay 

 should have an identification signature and be posted 

 SI ]) irately from the letter, as MS. does not cost so much 

 as letter post. 



Moiieni Language Teaching for November (Black, 

 Soho Stjuare, W . 6d.) contains, among other in- 

 teresting matter, an article upon Foreign Language 

 Home Study for Adults, and one upon the Russian 

 Language by Mr. Troijhimoff, invaluable as an intro- 

 duction to the study of that language. 



'J'he President of the .Modern Language Association 

 for 1912 will be the Master of University College, 

 Oxford, Dr. R. W.Macan. 



The English Echo, a little fortnightly published in 

 (Jertnany in the interests of German students of 

 English, has in the November nwmhtix 3, facsimile of a 

 postcard sent by the first U.K. aerial post; it is 

 addressed to a German weekly, Rcclani' sUniversum. 

 The same number contains also an amusing descrip- 

 tion of the visit of the .American teachers to 

 Ciermany. 



ESPERANTO. 



The Record of the Proceedings of the First 

 I'niversal Races Congress has just come to hand, 

 and several Esperanto associations are amongst those 

 otiticially represented. Amongst the resolutions was 

 the following : — " That the First Iniversal Races 

 Congress, considering that the object of the Congress 



is to bring together the divers races and nation- 

 alities of the earth to a better understanding 

 and mutual esteem, and thus to co-operate, each 

 one in his own way, in producing a more perfect 

 type of humanity, is of opinion that for that 

 object it is of absolutely primary importance that 

 these divers races and peoples should possess, apart 

 from their national languages, a second language, 

 neutral and common to all, in which their individual 

 genius shall find its expression, and which shall serve 

 as a mirror for the universal conscience ; and, the 

 Congress finding that such a common language is no 

 longer a project but an accomplished fact, as the 

 Esperanto language is spoken by an elife of all classes 

 from end to end of the world, desires that the 

 members of the First Universal Races Congress learn 

 and propagate the international and inter-racial lan- 

 guage Esperanto, and form in their own circles and 

 countries Esperanto groups and societies ; and demand 

 of their respective Governments the introduction of 

 Esperanto into the schools." — (Signed by H. La- 

 fontaine, Belgium; Alfred Hermant, France; Mrs. 

 Lucia Ames Mead, U.S.A. ; Dr. W. E. Du Bois, 

 U.S.A. ; Mrs. Anna Zipernowsky, Hungary ; Fr. 

 Fleck, Germany ; Hadji Mirza Yahya, I'ersia ; Dr. 

 H. Dhizunez, Poland ; V. Moscheles, England ; 

 General Legitime, Hayti ; Oscar Browning, England ; 

 Chedo Miejatovich, Servia ; R. Hatkowsky, Russia ; 

 Professor Krauterkraft, Italy ; Dr. Syed A. ^L1jid, 

 India ; Mile. S. de Boulogne, France.) 



This resolution should not be allowed to become a 

 dead letter. Any Espcrantist willing to help to make 

 it a reality should send a post-card to the olfice of the 

 Ri:viKW OK Rkvif.ws, giving name and address, and 

 whether willing to help pecuniarily (this last not being 

 a necessary condition). Post-cards should be 

 addressed to the Esperanto Secretary. 



A communication has been received from Spa, 

 Belgium, to the eflfect that the Mayor of the town 

 earnestly hopes that many Esperantists will spend 

 Christinas there. There is no gambling; it is a 

 beautiful spot, sanitary and other arrangements good, 

 mineral baths well known, hotels cheap, and there 

 are many other advantages. Esperantists from 

 several places have 'already intimated an intention 

 to be present. Madame Biske, Hotel de la. Chaire 

 d'Or, Spa, the well-known Russian doctor, who has 

 organiied an Esperanto group there, will gladly 

 answer inquiries. 



Mr. Montagu Butler is giving elementary and 

 advanced lessons in Esperanto at the L.C.C. (Queen's 

 Road Schools, Dalston, on Tuesday and Friday 

 evenings. 



All Esperantists will hear with sorrow and regret 

 that Colonel Pollen is retiring from the Presidency of 

 the British Esperanto Association. 



