school attendance laws. School attendance in percentages of children 6 to 14 years of age is as follows, according to the bulletin on Compulsory School Attendance published by the Bureau of Education in 1914:

High, 90 and over-Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.

Medium, 80 to 90-California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

Low, 70 to 80-Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas.

Very low, below 70—Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Virginia.

No law can be effectively enforced unless public sentiment is back of it. One of the most effective agencies in the enforcement of compulsory school laws is found in an act of the Nebraska legislature for 1915, which provides that three-fourths of the State school fund shall be distributed to the several districts pro rata according to the average daily attendance last returned by the directors of the various districts. Such a law is not only fair, reasonable, and just, but it immediately appeals to the enlightened selfishness of the people themselves. Under such a law as this, public opinion will demand that all pupils of school age who are without a reasonable excuse shall give proper attendance while school is in session. It is much

more equitable to apportion school money upon the attendance of pupils at school than it is to make such apportionment on their non-attendance. To equalize the burden of a reasonable school term, Nebraska apportions one-fourth of her State school fund equally among the several districts of the State, and where a school district votes the maximum school tax and conducts its business properly, the State comes to its assistance by direct State aid in sufficient amount to provide a minimum school term of seven months.

A MEANS TO AN END. Character development, through an attractive yet wholesome program of activities, and the required daily good turn by Scouts and the community service by groups of Scouts, is the fundamental object in Scouting.

Every step in the Scouting program is but a means to this end. The variety and interest, as well as the practical knowledge insured by the Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class tests are, after all, but a means for holding the interest of the boy, pledged to the Scout Oath and Law, under such leadership as will bring about character development. Likewise the whole scheme of merit badges is primarily for this same purpose. The form of troop organization, the Scoutmaster and his assistants, the local council, and indeed the National Council, and all of its officers, are also but a means to this end.

This character development manifests itself in health, efficiency, chivalry, loyalty, patriotism and good citizenship. From the Report of the Chief Scout Executive.

WHAT ENDURES?

its strength a song. It dwells in the

ties.

What do you think endures?

Do you think a great city endures? Or a teeming manufacturing state? or a prepared constitution? or the best built steamships?

Or hotels of granite and iron? or any chef-d'oeuvres of engineering, forts, armaments?

Away! these are not to be cherished

for themselves,

They fill their hour, the dancers dance,.

the musicians play for them,

The show passes, all does well enough of course,

All does very well till one flash of defiance.

A great 'city is that which has the

greatest men and women,

If it be a few ragged huts it is still the greatest city in the whole world.

-Walt Whitman.

A COUNTRY GIRL'S CREED. I am glad I live in the country. I love its beauty and its spirit. I rejoice in the things I can do as a coun try girl for my home and my neighborhood.

I believe I can share in the beauty around me,-in the fragrance of the orchards in spring, in the weight of the ripe wheat at harvest, in the morning song of birds, and in the glow of the sunset on the far horizon. I want to express this beauty in my own life as naturally and happily as the wild rose blooms by the roadside.

I believe I can have a part in the courageous spirit of the country. This spirit has entered into the brook in our pasture. The stones placed in its way call forth its strength and add to

cases that imprison them and push through the dark earth to the light. It sounds in the nesting notes of the meadowlark. With this courageous spirit I, too, can face the hard things. of life with gladness.

I believe there is much I can do in my country home. Through studying the best way to do my everyday work I find joy in common tasks done well. Through loving comradeship I can help bring into my home the happiness and peace that are always so near us in God's out-of-door world. Through such a hope I can help make real to all who pass that way their highest ideal of country life.

I believe my love and loyalty for my country home should reach out in service to that larger home that we call our neighborhood. I would join with people who live there in true friendliness. I would wholeheartedly give my best to further all that is being done for a better community. would have all that I think and say and do help to unite country people near and far in the great Kingdom of Love for Neighbors.-Jessie Field.

CREED OF PUBLIC HEALTH

CLUB.

I

I believe in good health, the greatest blessing on earth, creator of happy homes, useful schools, richer states, and greater nations; and in sanitation, the stepping stone to it, which was conceived by honest doctors, told to loving mothers, who taught it to their growing children, and the results of same are now known to all. I believe in plenty of sunlight, fresh air, pure food, pure water, the proper exercise and care of my body, especially of my

teeth and eyes, the destruction of germs, the swatting of flies, also their breeding places, the batting of rats, and the eradication of any other animal or plant which interferes with the life or health of man. I believe in the public school, the children who attend it, the teachers who teach them, and will see to it that the condition of the schoolhouse and surroundings are always in first-class shape, that the outbuildings are of the best possible variety, and that the well is safe from surface pollution. I believe in the laws and regulations of health boards, and am ready to assist in the enforcement of same in order to prevent sickness and death in my, or my neighbor's family. All this I firmly believe now, and I will believe more when I am shown that some new measure will prevent disease, which I now know can be prevented.-C. M. Siever, M. D.

A TEACHERS' MEDITATION. In a bulletin issued by the New Jersey State Department of Education, some very good advice for all teachers is given under the above caption. The following are some of the resolutions:

1. I will try to have a clean, attractive and well-cared-for schoolroom and grounds. I will encourage the children to assist in their care, for the more they do themselves the more likely are they to have orderly and pleasing surroundings later in life. I I realize that the school trains for both the present and the future.

2. I will make the acquaintance of as many fathers and mothers of my pupils as may be practicable. So far as I am able I will call on mothers, not only when it may be necessary to point out some fault in a child, but

more especially if I can consistently do so to speak well of him, perhaps, of his cleanliness, his politeness, his industry, his self-control. I will have at least one open or public day in the year to which parents are invited, the children writing the children writing the invitations. I have heard a story of Charles Lamb that one day, in the presence of some friends, he said, "I hate that fellow!" One of his friends said, "I did not know you knew him." "I don't," said Lamb, "I can't hate anybody I know."

3. It is my belief that both teach

er and children should be happy in their school life. I am convinced that a teacher, being associated with children who themselves are naturally happy and optimistic, should look on the bright side of life. To have a good school both my pupils and I must be interested. I have heard that the most efficient men in business are the ones who have a well-tempered enthusiasm for their work. This, too, I will try to have. I will endeavor not to complain or to be discouraged. I believe it is beneath the dignity of a teacher to be ill-tempered, and that one way of keeping young is to be sweet-tempered. I will not, without protest, allow anyone to pity me because I am a teacher.

4. I will try to remember that children are trained more by what they do themselves than by what is done for them. I realize that the temptation of the teacher is to do too many things for children, and that a strong temptation, sometimes almost irresistible, is to talk too much. I recall that Dr. Hinsdale once said that talking is not teaching. "If it were, the village gossip," said he, "would be the best teacher." I am sure that children should express themselves more in recitations; that some of the time

could profitably be used in teaching children how to study and in making a child at home with a book. I need to remind myself that children learn to think by thinking, to read by reading, to speak good English by speaking good English, to make gardens by making gardens, to sew by sewing, to be polite by being polite, to swim by swimming, to stand erect by being erect, and to be obedient by obedience.

5. I believe that the school should,

by means of its courses of study and otherwise, train children in habits of self-control and self-direction; in habits of industry and thoroughness; in habits of obedience and respect for authority; in habits of politeness and good manners; in habits of kindness and regard for the rights of others; in habits of neatness and order; in habits of telling the truth and of using pure and chaste speech. I will foster ambition and love for study.

6. I will study and use the monographs issued by the Department at. Trenton. If I am a teacher in a country or small school I will not ignore the pamphlet on the making of school programs. By its use I shall save the time of my pupils.

8.

I am a part of a great state institution for the education of children the public schools. It is my duty to do my part, that it may be a better institution; therefore, my interests shall not be confined within the four walls of my own schoolroom. The area of my usefulness includes hearty co-operation with the Principal, the Superintendent and the Board of Education.

9. I will display the United States flag upon or near the public school building during school hours, as required by law. I will see that the Flag Salute is a daily exercise of the school, in accordance with the recom

mendation of the State Board of Education. I will teach my children to memorize and sing "America," and to stand while they sing this patriotic If I am a teacher in the higher grades I will see that the children

song.

memorize and recite Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address."

own

10. I will look after my health, for a teacher's health is a necessary part of her equipment. cordingly, I will try to have some physical recreation in which I forget the word "pupil." I will try also to have some appropriate social or other interest through which I may at times. forget the word "school." Seeing a good play or listening to good music. is a means of my personal cultivation. The making of suitable and enduring friendships will not lessen my worth

States. I will make use of the suggestions for reading made by the Public Library Commission or by the Department of Public Instruction, at Trenton.

as a teacher. I am sure that worry undermines both mental and physical

awake nights because I have not lived up to my ideals as a teacher:

"A man's reach should exceed his grasp,

Or what's a heaven for?"