over most of his English readers, Cardinal Newman must be ranked with Carlyle, Ruskin, and our own Emerson as one of the greatest prose writers in the greatest age of prose in English literature. That such authors as Cardinal Newman, who wrote the wonderful hymn "Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom," and Matthew Arnold, who has written poetry which ranks him next to Tennyson and Browning, should abandon poetry, and devote their lives to the writing of prose is certainly significant. The technique of Victorian poetry is good, but the high spirit of inspiration is lacking. As to our poetry in general, we have specimens of the most elaborate workmanship, as in Tennyson, yet lacking in depth and originality, and poems of great originality and profundity as in Robert Browning, yet crude in expression. The bird-like note of spontaneity, the fine careless rapture of the early years of our century is lacking. For example, you may search through Stedman's Victorian Anthology, and Palgrave's second series of the Golden Treasury of Lyric Poetry, the most recent and most representative volumes of the poetry of our age, and if your search be for a poem coming from the very heart of nature herself, as Shelley's Ode to the Skylark, your search will be in vain. At first one might think that the temptation to win sudden renown by contributing to the popular magazines and newspapers would account for lack of merit in the poetry of the age, but it is not so. A great amount of time and conscientious effort has been expended on poetry, and the amount produced is great, but our poets do not sing to appreciative ears. They are not encouraged and stimulated to higher flights. They appeal to cold hearts, to calculating minds and to deadened, ears. Calliope, the name among the Greeks for the muse of poetry and eloquence, has been given by us to the steam piano. It is the steam whistle and the whirr of factory wheels which make the only sweet music to the ears of most of the money-making men of the present age, and the laws of compensation apply here. Nature says to us in the language of Emerson, "the world is all before you; children, take what you want;

but pay the price for it." The question becomes a practical one. Put in a practical way which we are well qualified to understand, are we not paying too great a price for the things in which we so much pride ourselves? Let us hope our eyes may be speedily opened that we may see things as they really are.

Changes have taken place so rapidly, and we have progressed at such a rate that we have grown impatient with what is old. Innovation is almost a ruling passion. Often we are led to give up the old too soon, and to welcome ardently plans which prove not to have been sufficiently wrought out. Good things are condemned because they are old, and new things are praised because they are the latest while often they are not superior nor are they the equal of the old. So far as literature is concerned such experiments are not fraught with dangers. We have had artistic fads in the Victorian era. They have been tried by time, and conclusively and speedily relegated to their proper places. Hereafter it will be only the special student of literature who will care to enter into more than a casual reading of the aesthetical school of poets or the works of the Symbolists or Impressionists. So also the extreme realists will doubtless prove in the future but "idle singers of an empty day." All such attempts prove the lack of genuine inspiration. Sometimes the innovators become too bold and the outcry against works such as those of the Naturalistic school is irrepressible. Yet denunciation avails little. Some readers are led through curiosity to read the works so condemned. Any recognition of them is more than they deserve. It is fortunate that the prominence of such works is short. Our literature in general grows cleaner and purer every day-a progress which is due to the development in public taste, for we have no other censorship of the press. The purity of Victorian poetry and prose is one of the great features for which it should be praised. In true literature the element of novelty, mighty and attractive as it is in the periodical, has no legitimate place. What is older than Homer, yet what is more genuinely new? Dante, Ga

briel Rosseti and William Morris soon find their place. They appear artificial; they do not satisfy. Kindred souls are attracted to them but they do not influence their age nor are they influenced by it. They are treated as Orlando and Rosalind each in turn treat the melancholy Jaques in the forest of Arden. When Orlando is encountered by this type of the melancholy man who "is sad as night only for wantonness" and is bidden by him "sit down with me, and we two will rail against our mistress, the world and all our misery," the manly reply comes at once, although Orlando has many causes to be sad, "I will chide no breather in the world but myself, against whom I know most faults"-"Adieu, good monsieur melancholy." And Rosalind says to this same Jacques, "Farewell, monsieur traveller; look you, lisp and wear strange suits; disable all the benefits of your own country; be out of love with your nativity and almost chide God for making you that countenance, you are, or I will scarce think you have swam in a gondola."

It is here also that Swinburne fails. He is out of touch with his age. Had he continued as he began, and had he fulfilled the expectations of all those who read his early poems, the world would have been delighted to place upon his head the wreath of the poet laureate; but

he has yielded to the sadness of the age, and he has forfeited that which seems his by virtue of divine gift. The malady of the century is seen also in such poets as Arthur Clough. It is the sadness resulting from the ruin wrought by the sweeping changes in all domains of thought and action. In contrast to all other authors of the age let us dwell upon Browning and Emerson. Their voices are so clear and inspiring, so helpful and ennobling to all who desire to live in the spirit that they must ever rank among the most influential writers of this age. Our human impulses toward beauty and love, they assure us, have their true and natural field of expression. They urge us toward endless endeavor; the triumphant optimism of them both is the healthiest and truest note which has been struck in this era.

Browning's "God's in His Heaven-All's Right with the World" awakens an answering echo in our hearts. We read Browning and Emerson in spite of their obscurity and peculiarity. We learn to love them because they have done so much for us, and we defend them when they are assailed. We even come at last to think their faults are beauties, and battle for these authors, forgetting that in matters of taste there should be no dispute.

[Concluded in September.]

The National Educational Association has been to Charleston and gone home to talk it over. A more interesting place in itself and its environs could hardly have been chosen. A place more unfitted for taking care of a convention would be hard to find.

Charleston is all untouched by the spirit of progress that is so evident in many parts of the South. There the southern gentleman still lives behind his wall and the visitor rings at the gate for admittance. There the vultures "clean up" the market space when market hours are over. Siege, cyclone, tornado, fire and

earthquake have left their marks on more than one quarter of the city, but the chimes of grand old St. Michael's are just as sweet as when, for one hundred and sixty-two years they rang the curfew for a people living under a social regime more interesting than anything since feudal times.

The N. E. A. had rivals in plenty. Magnolia cemetery is one of the most beautiful of the cities of the dead. Old Fort Sumter, grim guardian of the harbor, with its tremendous guns, is a trifle disappointing in extent, but full of interest for all that. It is interesting to

know that, while this old fort retains the outward appearance that it wore at the close of the Civil War, the inner walls have been strengthened until they are practically impenetrable. A shot or shell, to reach the men in the gun pits, would have to crush through several hundred feet of concrete.

Palm Island, which boasts the finest surf bathing in the world, attracted hundreds of visitors daily. Chicora Park provided amusement of many kinds, and— this is a fact to which every visitor can testify the mosquitoes greeted guests cordially and, in large armies, guarded them while they slept.

But, for all this, Charleston is not an ideal convention city. No town with but one hotel, however delightful its surroundings, can successfully handle a convention whose minimum attendance is three thousand, when the mercury is frisking around the hundred mark. Visitors are apt to grow ill tempered when they have no place to sleep and not much to eat. Those who were fortunate enough to secure entertainment in one of Charleston's old homes feel that the people there fully justify their reputation for hospitality, but the committee had too few such places on its list. Twenty-four hours spent in looking for a comfortable lodging place seemed a waste of time. Half that time spent on the Isle of Palms would have left pleasanter memories.

was

The convention itself, though smaller in numbers than any for a great many. years, was generally conceded a success. The program committee did well to so arrange the exercises that interest in the sessions was sustained to the last. A higher standard of excellence than heretofore in the character of the papers and the attention of the audiences reached. This was true of the departmental meetings as well as those of the general sessions. The papers presenting the highest ideals, not only in educational work, but concerning all matters touching the relations between South and North, were received with the highest enthusiasm. The reception accorded to Booker T. Washington, the orator of the convention, is one of the significant straws which

show which way the wind of progress is blowing.

This from the Charleston News and Courier:

"Booker Washington spoke at the National Educational convention last night and spoke well. He never fails to impress himself on his audience, whatever that audience. We regard him as one of the greatest men of the South to-day. He is at once the Moses and the Aaron of his race a wise leader and always a forcible speaker. He has accomplished more to set his people in the right way, to lead them up to an appreciation of true liberty and civilization, than any other man that has ever lived and spoken in this land.

"Mr. Washington is doing a grand work, not only for the uplifting of his race but for the benefit of the white people of the South as well. He deserves the sympathy and support of all those who, like him, are working for the best solution of the social and political problems which confront us. His constructive genius, his wise leadership, his thoughtful eloquence, all commend the utterances. of this spokesman of the colored people to the consideration of the white men of the country, and should command for him the support of those of us in the South who would promote the welfare of the country by improving the citizenship of the South."

Indiana had a prominent place on the program and was liberally remembered in the distribution of offices for next year. Dr. Swain's paper was regarded as one of the strongest productions of the convention.

Charleston, with a commendable courage, urged the convention to come to her in order to encourage on the part of southern workers in the educational field broader conceptions of the duties and responsibilities of the schoolmaster, a deeper appreciation of the demands of the southern field. Realizing the need of the cooperation of those who live and work in other parts of the country in meeting the difficulties and overcoming the obstacles to southern development and progress, she reached out for the convention, and got it.

Utterances from many sources in the South indicate that the meeting has already proven of more service than any convention ever held in the South in sup

porting and inspiring a revival of interest in education and particularly in industrial education.

The function of the study of geography is to acquaint man with his most general terrestrial world relations and to properly correlate him with them. Modern geography is the general premise from which all other branches of study are derived and co-ordinated. Consequently it furnishes the basis of an absolute curriculum. Its central theme is the general consideration of energy and gravitation in their manifold relations with matter of the terrestrial sphere and their myriads of derived relations known as terrestrial creation.

Modern geography teaches that all terrestrial relations and creation may be classified into objective reality, subjective reality and pure subjective.

Objective reality includes, all terrestrial relations independent of man. Subjective reality includes all terrestrial relations dependent on man. Pure subjective includes those relations not wholly controlled by the universal psychological law.

The universal psychological law is as follows: Any two minds may attain identical opinions concerning the same thing, provided they speak the same language, employ the same terminology, use the same units of measurement for contrasting conceptions, classify deductions by the same system of co-ordination and have the same point of view.

Modern geography also teaches that: (a) Anything whatever that may be thought upon may be termed a world relation. (b) That form of thought expressing relations existing between the factors. of reality is mathematical. (c) The summation of all possible world relations is termed the universe. (d) The visible universe is termed the world. (e) Man is finite; the world is infinite, and man's conception of the world must ever remain

a relative term. (f) However great man's conception of reality may become, it may be divided into a series of orders of notion such that any order is of an infinitesimal relation to the order following it and of an infinite relation to the order preceding it respectively. Each order of notions possesses a definite measuring unit and limit. The units and limits of the orders are such that the unit of any order is the limit to the unit of the next lower order and the limit of the order is the unit of the next higher order of notions respectively.

All reality may thus be conceived as a summation of the infinite and infinitesimal world relations arranged in a series of orders of notions. The names of the orders of notions as determined by their respective units and limits are, the ethereal, the molecular, the biological, the subjective, the geographical and the astronomical orders of notions respectively.

In the ethereal order of notions, the unit is the particle of ether, the limit is the molecule. Knowledge of this order is obtained by the study of physics.

In the molecular order of notions, the unit is the molecule, the limit is the cell. Knowledge of this order is obtained by the study of chemistry.

In the biological order of notions, the unit is the cell, the limit is man. Knowledge of this order is obtained by the study of biology.

In the subjective order of notions, the unit is man the limit is the earth. Knowledge of this order is obtained by the study of sociology, or the relations existing between the home, church, school, State and vocation.

In the geographical order of notions, the unit of measurement is the earth, the limit is the solar system. Knowledge of

this order is obtained by the study of geology and physiography.

In the astronomical order of notions, the unit of measurement is the solar system, the limit is the visible universe. Knowledge of this order is obtained by the study of astronomy.

Hence, from the ether particles to the limits of the visible universe, all possible world relations may be arranged into a system of co-ordination of notions in terms of their units and limits. The six orders of notions thus co-ordinated may be expressed in their relations in mathematical language by taking the geographical order of notions as a basis and representing it by the symbol A. Let represent an infinite relation of the first order. Then

will represent an infinitesimal relation of the first order or the unit of the next lower order, which in this case is the subjective order of notions. A will represent the unit of the second lower order or an infinitesimal relation of the second order below or the biological order of notions. Consequently, all world relations may be represented in a series of orders of notions by the following formula: A+A+A+ A+ A+ A∞ +Ax2 =

all possible world relations. A popular representation of the same thing may be stated as follows: (Ether particle.... molecule) + (molecule....cell) + (cell.... man) (man....earth) + (earth....solar system) + (solar system. ...visible universe) equal all possible world relations in terms of their units and limits. If the last two terms of the above formula be omitted, the remaining terms express all possible terrestrial world relations that may be conceived by mortal man. Thus it may be demonstrated that the function of the study of geography is properly to orient man with his world relations and that in doing so he will necessarily be compelled to agree with the Universal Mind in the matter by obeying the dictates of the universal psychological law.

In modern geography, man must consider his world relations from God's standpoint: that is, off the earth. The finite notion of things depends upon the

re

unit of measurement and the point of view employed to make deductions in fundamental relations. Heretofore, the geographer and the philosopher (fundamentally the same) have considered world relations from the standpoint of the individual. Consequently, the unit of measurement and the point of view have been erroneously taken and deductions made by them are proving inadequate for present-day quirements. Modern man is deriving a new geographical science, a new world philosophy. The spirit of the age can not be adequately expressed in the terminology of the past. Man finds himself in a maze of new world relations with which the experiences of his ancestry do not wholly prepare him to contend. It is the business of the modern geographer to set the mind of man to right relations, find for him the psychological pole-star, construct for him a compass for his guidance, determine the latitude and longitude of his activities and the haven for which he is bound while on this terrestrial sphere. So, in company with his beloved and talented astronomical brother, the modern geographer, betakes himself to the plane. of the ecliptic in the fourth quadrant at the twentieth celestial hour outside and near the earth's orbit and there contemplates terrestrial relations for the enlightenment of man. Here he establishes conceptions of them in the grand system of co-ordination of notions, by the aid of his other equally beloved brethren, the physicist, the chemist, the biologist and the sociologist-from the ether particles to the limits of the visible universe.

In this wonderland the earth is his unit of measurement, the plane of the ecliptic is his point of view and the solar system is his limit to terrestrial world relations. From this standpoint, the geographer conceives the earth in its relative dimensions and distances from the sun and its two motions. The thin column of energy from the sun is perceived to affect the rotating surface in beautiful mathematical relations around the central and direct ecliptic ray. And as each portion of the surface intercepts this column of celestial potency, terrestrial relations arise which are