The American Botanist 



VOL. XXI 



JOLIET, ILL., FEBRUARY, 1915 



No. 1 



XJhe birch tree throws a scarf of (j^reen 



Ground her, siluerj/ white. 

 Woven of little polished leaves 



^11 delicate and bright, 

 St swaj/s with everj/ passing breeze 

 i^nd shimmers in the li^ht. 



— E. B. Howard. 



AN ILLINOIS SCHOOL CAMPUS 



By Frank Keffer Balthis. 



HE Normal School of Northern Illinois was established 



in the year 1889 at DeKalb. Its business, as is usual 

 with schools of like character, is to instruct students in the 

 mysteries of teaching, and to prepare them for that profession. 

 Starting with a small number the school has grown until in 

 recent years it graduates more than one hundred at each com- 

 mencement. The total enrollment at present is 480 of which 

 430 are of the fairer sex. It may be of interest tO' the readers 

 of a magazine which appeals to the aesthetic to know something 

 of the environment under which these students live. 



DeKalb is an enterprising city of 10,000 inhabitants. Its 

 close proximity — fifty-eig'ht miles — to the City of Chicago 

 enables the people to enjoy practically all of the advan- 

 tages which a large city affords. The people are up-to- 

 date. They become familiar with the best in art and the drama, 



