LITERARY NOTICES. 



701 



errs, in our opinion, is in making the 

 wealthy portion of society a simple bur- 

 den upon the poor. Such is not the 

 case. On the contrary, it is the men of 

 wealth who have done more than any 

 other class to direct labor into useful 

 channels and generally to vivify and fer- 

 tilize the industry of the world. If Mr. 

 Bellamy could amend his story of the 

 coach so as to bring this undoubted fact 

 into prominence, he would do more jus- 

 tice to the century in which he lives, and 

 take a little of the sting from the dia- 

 tribes of his Dr. Barton. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Education in the United States : Its His- 

 tory from the Earliest Settlements. 

 By Richard G. Boone. New York : D. 

 Appleton & Co. Pp. 402. Price, $1.50. 



This is the eleventh volume of the " In- 

 ternational Education Series," and is char- 

 acterized by the general editor of that se- 

 ries as the first noteworthy attempt to pre- 

 sent the subject, and as forming "a tol- 

 erably complete inventory of what exists, 

 as well as an account of its origin and de- 

 velopment." We find it a systematic and 

 comprehensive treatise, presenting the im- 

 portant facts in their bearing upon one an- 

 other and their relations to contemporary 

 conditions. The history is divided into the 

 Colonial and the Revolutionary periods and 

 the period of Reorganization, to which is 

 added a review of " Current Educational In- 

 terests." The discussion of " The Colonial 

 Period " comprises the history of the earli- 

 est American schools, of colonial colleges, 

 and of colonial school systems. Under 

 " The Revolutionary Period " are sketched 

 the conditions of elementary, secondary, and 

 collegiate education during the time in- 

 cluded. The third part, "The Period of 

 Reorganization," includes accounts of the 

 transition from the old to the new, with its 

 centralizing tendencies, the agencies and 

 methods for the preparation of teachers, the 

 development of the course of instruction in 

 the more recent colleges, the aspects of pro- 

 fessional, technological, and special educa- 

 tion, the growth of supplemental institu- 

 tions, learned societies and libraries, and the 



relations of Government and education. 

 "Current Educational Interests" embrace 

 " Compulsory School Attendance," " The 

 Gradation of Schools," "Education in the 

 South," and "The Higher Education of 

 Women." To each chapter is appended a 

 bibliography. The author's aim has been 

 " to suggest lines of thought for the teacher 

 and sources of information, and, avoiding 

 mere description on the one side and per- 

 sonal criticism on the other, to exhibit faith- 

 fully the development of contemporary in- 

 stitutions and educational forces, with some- 

 thing of their national setting." The editor, 

 Dr. Harris, sees in the trend of the educa- 

 tional movement, as disclosed in this his- 

 tory, a tendency from private, endowed, and 

 parochial schools, toward the assumption of 

 education by the state, away from isolated 

 efforts and toward system and supervision, 

 and in methods toward the adaptation of the 

 matter of instruction to the mind of the 

 child and toward improved discipline. The 

 entire educational idea of the people, too, 

 " has progressed in the direction of divine 

 charity," as is exemplified in the greater 

 attention paid to the education of women 

 and to institutions for unfortunates. The 

 author finds our educational system still 

 very imperfect, and notices as problems yet 

 unsolved or not provided for the means of 

 securing a supply of qualified teachers ; a 

 way, while shaping the understanding mind, 

 of bringing up youth with sound bodies and 

 a love for truth ; the relation which the pub- 

 lic schools should sustain to industrial train- 

 ing; questions concerning infant and pri- 

 mary and free public higher and profes- 

 sional education ; extra-school training ; and 

 the constitution of a citizenship education. 

 A hopeful outlook is discerned in the fact 

 that common - school questions are being 

 studied by college presidents and professors 

 as related to their own labors, and by econo- 

 mists and historians. 



Indoor Studies. By John Burroughs. Bos- 

 ton and New York : Houghton, Mifflin & 

 Co. Pp. 256. Price, $1.25. 



Mr. Burroughs is best known as a writer 

 about Nature, or outdoor subjects. In that 

 department he has gained a position among 

 the select representative authors of our coun- 

 try. Completely at home amid rural sur- 



