"6 Phrygian nature-god.' This does not sound like the language of restraint. Where does the truth lie? The teacher does not know. Her vision becomes distorted, and soon some college professor is complaining that pupils seem to lack a sense of the reality of history. Of the book reviews which should clear the situation, only those in American publications are available for the ordinary teacher. Foreign reviews are not accessible even if time could be given to their study. If some arrangement could be made whereby systematic regular reviews of current work in historical research, written by experts in each field, could be brought within the reach of the high school teacher, the educational effect would be far-reaching. We have now occasional addresses and magazine articles, so that we know what is going on in spots, but there are many gaps between. Such an arrangement would call for a degree of self-sacrifice on the part of the writers, but as a result students coming to college would no longer need to complain that they had to unlearn what they had been taught in the school. They would not only have a better knowledge of the facts of history so far as they are established; they would also reflect the influence of a historical habit of thought and the true spirit of historical scholarship. To what extent, then, do history courses in school fit for the college history course? Only in a mod erate degree at present. The demands of the preparatory course pull one way, the demands of the college course another. The only hope of the schools, in the mind of one high school teacher at least, lies in a closer co-ordination of the two. The teachers have done their very best under the present conditions. They see "vast vistas opening beyond" to a region where their task and its requirements shall be so well-defined that no waste of energy need mar the efficiency of their work, but of themselves they are impotent. They place their whole reliance on the helping hand of the college professor. Some years ago when the National Education Association met in Boston I was detailed to act as guide in the old Museum of Fine Arts. One afternoon I noticed a man walking about in a dazed fashion; so I went up to him and asked if there was any part of the exhibit in which he was especially interested, or anything he would like me to show him. His face brightened at once, he became alert and interested, and said, "Yes. Show me the way out of this place." I have come to think of him as a very fair type of the preparatory school teacher of history. We, too, are bewildered by the labyrinth that. has been builded for us. There is no straight road through the many openings. You, the college professors, are our guides in this journey. Show us the way out." A Pageant of the Middle Ages BY MARY PRATT, LINCOLN SCHOOL, INDIANAPOLIS, IND. Some weeks ago, as a member of a history class, I was assigned a special topic on the subject of "Motivation." Upon investigation, I found that this topic did not prove as appalling as it sounds. The bark of pedagogical terms is worse than their bite, and motivation is merely another way of saying dramatization, or the enacting of history instead of the repetition of the words of the book; etymologically, making history move. Toward the conclusion of the article I was reading, I forgot that it was a special topic and actually became interested in it, to the end that I found myself beginning to "motivate' a little in the interests of one of my own classes in history. My 7A history classes had been rambling along in the period of the Middle Ages, studying amiably and aimlessly, reciting politely and perfunctorily. Said I to myself, "Why read and not practice? Let us motivate a bit for ourselves." To this end I labored during a whole Saturday and produced something which seemed to me in a sort of fashion to embody the high places, the main points, the chief characteristics of the thousand years which we include in the Middle Ages. So I called it "A Pageant of the 6"The Choice and Use of Books Relating to the History of Greece," George Willis Botsford. THE HISTORY TEACHER'S MAGAZINE, June, 1914, p. 171. Middle Ages." There were forty-five characters. This number is very elastic, as new speeches may be written in or old ones omitted at will. Every child had a short speech, and carried a symbol to represent his niche in the scheme of things. The speeches were for instruction, the symbols for enlightenment. A regard for parents and purses dismissed at once the idea of costumes; they were not missed at all. The blessed imaginative mind of childhood, when unspoiled by theatres, can supply more elaborate costumes than mothers can concoct. The children made or assembled their various symbols, and the success of the pageant was due in some measure to their interest and enthusiasm in working up these details. Enter the pageant to the slow, solemn strains of the Pilgrims' Chorus, played on an invisible Victrola (an anachronism concealed by a screen). It is a long procession of children, of ages twelve to fourteen, dressed simply, in every-day clothes, no curls, no Sunday gowns on a solemn occasion like this. There is no smiling, only a dignified, careful onstepping, full of the seriousness of representing these momentous characters. First of all, some six feet ahead, comes a herald, bearing a trumpet whose pen 7 A paper read before the New England History Teacher's Association, Boston, Mass., October 24, 1914. nant, downward-hanging, proclaims ominously, "By Order of the King." The herald announces the oncoming pageant, and bids ye be present, or "your head will be in forfeit to the King's Executioner." Then, slowly, the pageant proper. A girl bears a Norman castle, battlements, ramparts, moat, drawbridge, all made by herself out of white drawing paper. It is very noble. Her speech tells the place of the castle in the life of the times. In her train come the lords of the castle, bearing shields (made in the manual-training class, and painted with heraldic devices copied from a history); they bear also swords, and wear "ribbons gay for their ladies." Then come the ladies of the castle, one embroidering a tapestry, which she explains, another with handiwork. Then, suddenly, a peddler from the far east, with a bag full of laces and rare perfumes from the Orient; the ladies and their damsels hover near and buy his wares. Then the damsels, who tell of their lovers gone to war, their sports (one bears a falcon on her wrists); one quotes Gareth's oath. Following them, a page bearing his lord's sword on a cushion; an esquire, whom the lord knights; King Arthur's oath to his knights is given. Then more knights, who recite stirring verses from Tennyson; then a band of guildsmen, carrying the signs of their craft; then serfs, carrying "rude tools of wood;" then Crusaders, flaunting long white banners which bear the legend, "It is the will of God," between red crosses. They tell of their trips to the Holy Land. The castle group ends with two minstrels who enact very briefly the story of Richard's discovery through Blondel's song. dral-girl made a speech about the place of the building at this time, what it stood for. Attending her were a Bishop, the Pope of Rome, the City of Rome, the town of Canterbury and Pilgrims, carrying staves and wearing Pilgrim emblems, as St. George and the Dragon and Canterbury bells, made of pasteboard and copied from pictures. Every person connected with the Cathedral or the Monastery wore a cross, except the Pilgrims. They were a very impressive sight and, I think, felt the solemnity of their parts. In fact, I have never seen children enter so fully into the spirit of the times and the idea as did these into the solemn grandeur of the Middle Ages. Then came the Monastery, so large it must needs be carried by two. One of them described its functions. A group of monks followed, each with his cross and his open book, eyes prayerfully downcast. They held a conversation about the duties of monks their vows, prayers, religious services, work among the poor, agriculture, making of books, etc. One displayed an illuminated missal. They were followed by nuns, who explained in the same way the life of the nunnery. By this time the pageant had wended its way onward until it stretched in a long line across the front of a large hall. They stood there while "Epilogue" delivered the following, which, while not appealing as poetry, yet seemed to clinch things in the child-mind: "We hope our pageant has not proved a mystery- When every bad knight was a wicked raider, Farewell. What people are these days of ours, remember, Exeunt, solemn and slow, down center aisle, to strains of the Pilgrim's Chorus. This pageant, while designed primarily for instruction to the children, proved both instructive and absorbing to the rest of the school, the teachers and the parents of the children. For two performances we had only four real rehearsals. No child has a long part, every child in the class may partake, and other classes will be interested in helping out. Any part may be omitted, shortened or enlarged without disturbing the unity of the whole. This period of history has become real, vital and full of meaning since we have given this pageant. The time required for it was about fifty minutes. "The Pedagogical Seminary" for September, 1915, contains a brief, but interesting study on "Wandering Scholars " by Prof. M. W. Meyerhardt, of Clark University. The wandering scholar was an outgrowth of several phases of earlier medieval life-the wandering priests who dated as far back as the fifteenth century, the crusades, the wandering salesman and the traveling merchant, the relatively late foundation of the German universities which compelled the students of that land to travel far afield for their learning. and the highly specialized universities of the day. The author also considers their intellectual pursuits and their achievements, which were not inconsiderable. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HISTORICAL PAGEANTS AND SCHOOL DRAMATICS. Interest has been keen during the last few years in pictorial representation of the historic past. Many teachers have constructed tableaux, plays and pageants from local material, and although such exhibitions may be crude, they have the marked advantage of appealing to the students and adults of the school vicinity. A considerable literature respecting the subject has appeared, a brief bibliography of which is printed below. The list was prepared from material furnished by the United States Bureau of Education, from "Sources of Information on Play and Recreation" (New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 1915) and from other sources.-EDITOR. HISTORICAL PAGEANTS. American Historical Pageants. "Independent," 63: 16667, July 18, 1907. American Pageant Association Reports and Bulletins. Baker, G. P. What the Pageant Can Do for the Town. "Ladies' Home Journal," 31: 44, April, 1914. Bates, Esther W. Pageants and Pageantry. Boston, New York [etc.], Ginn & Company [1912], vii, 294 pp., 8°. Bibliography: pp. 281-87. Bland, Henry M. California May Fete. "Overland Monthly," 1, n. s. 52: 248-49, September, 1908. Illus. Chessire, J. K. C. Bethlehem Tableaux. New York, E. P. Dutton, 1913. 102 pp. Illus. Chubb, Pervical, and Associates. Festivals and Plays in Schools and Elsewhere. New York, Harper's, 1912. 403 pp. Illus. Clark, Lotta A. Pageants and Local History. HISTORY TEACHER'S MAGAZINE, V., 287. Coleman, A. I. du Pont. Oxford Pageant. 'Bookman," 25: 349-51, June, 1907. Columbus Day. Fitchburg (Mass.) Normal School. "Journal of Education," 74: 238-39, 244, September 7, 1911. Illus. Coburn, Frederick W. The Educational Pageant at Boston. Dye, Charity. The Historical Pageant in the Schools. "Atlantic Educational Journal," 6: 90, 207-10, November, 1910; February, 1911. Illus. The Dramatizing of History Material, "Indiana University Bulletin," 13: No. 10, p. 20, September, 1915. Foster, Paul Pinkerton. Reviving the Elizabethan Pageant. "World To-day," 15: 827-33, August, 1908. Illus. Farnsworth, Charles F. Festival Course at Dartmouth. "Independent," 73: 371-74, August 15, 1912. Farwell, A. Pageant and Masque at St. Louis. A people's drama on a national scale. "American Review of Reviews," 50: 187-93, August, 1914. Illus. Festivals. "Atlantic Educational Journal." A monthly department conducted by Prof. P. W. Dykema, Baltimore, Md. Mackay, Constance D'Arcy. Patriotic Plays and Pageants for Young People. New York, H. Holt & Company, 1912. viii, 223 pp. 8°. Mackaye, Percy. St. Louis-A Civic Masque. New York, Maercklein, Burdette Crane. Historic Pageants and Spectacles enacted at Hartford during the great bridge fete. "New England Magazine," n. s. 39: 426-33, December, 1908. Illus. Merington, Marguerite. Festival Plays. New York, Duffield, 1913. 302 pp. Illus. Holiday Plays. New York, Duffield, 1910. 164 pp. Mero, E. B. Value of Holidays in the Building of Citizenship. "American City," 9: 354-367, October, 1913. Needham, Mary Master. Folk Festivals: Their Growth and How to Give Them. New York, Huebsch, 1912. 244 pp. Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. Historical Pageants. HISTORY Pearson, Alvick A. Tournament of Roses. "Overland Schauffler, Robert H. Our American Holidays. New York, Moffat, Yard & Co. "Spectator " (pseud.). Scenes at Quebec. "Outlook," 89: 885-92, August 22, 1908. Stevens, Thomas W., and Goodman, Kenneth S. Pageant Taintor, J. F. An Historical Pageant in a Small College 66 Dix, Beulah Marie. The Enemy. Boston, American School Peace League, 1915. 24 pp. 8°. A Pageant of Peace. Boston, American School Peace League, 1915. 20 pp. 8°. A Pageant of Peace. In National Education Association Bulletin, 3: 27-36, April, 1915. Stewart, Jane A. For Peace Day. "Journal of Education," 81: 411-12, April 15, 1915. Trask, Katrina. In the Vanguard. New York, the Macmillan Company, 1914. 148 pp. 12°. "Eng DRAMATIZATION IN SCHOOL WORK. Abbott, Allan. A High School Course in Drama. lish Journal," 2: 93-98, February, 1913. Barney, Mabel I. The Dramatic Instinct in the Elementary. School, including the Pilgrim Play. "Teachers' College Record," 8: 118-26, May, 1907. The College Play-What is Being Done with It and What Can be Done with It. "Public Speaking Review," 3: 5-11, May, 1913. Carter, Elsie H. Christmas Candles. New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1915. Clapp, John M. Plays for Amateurs. Drama League of America, 1915. 44 pp. Cone, Adelia W. The Value of Dramatics in the Secondary School. "Ohio Educational Monthly," 61: 462-64, September, 1912. Craig, Anne Throop. The Development of a Dramatic Element in Education." 'Pedagogical Seminary," 15: 75-81, March, 1908. Curtis, Eleanora W. Dramatic Instinct in Education. New York, Houghton, Mifflin, 1914. 245 pp. Dorey, J. Milnor. A School Course in Dramatics. "English Journal," 1: 425-30, September, 1912. Dramatization a Factor in School Education. "School and Home Education," 29: 13-22, September, 1909. Dryer, Mabel Elizabeth. The Making of a Play. "Elementary School Teacher," 8: 423-36, April, 1908. Finlay-Johnson, Harriet. The Dramatic Method of Teaching. London, J. Nisbet & Co. 256 pp. Illus. 12°. Fleming, Martha. The Making of a Play. "Elementary School Teacher," 8: 15-23, September, 1907. Fry, Emma S. Educational Dramatics. New York, Moffat, Yard, 1913. 69 pp. Guide and Index to Plays, Festivals and Masques. Compiled by Association of Neighborhood Workers. New York, Harper's, 1913. 44 pp. Guild, Thacher H. Suggestions for the High School Play. English Journal," 2: 637-46, December, 1913. Reprinted from the April Bulletin of the Illinois Association of Teachers of English. Gives a list of some plays which have proved successful at the University of Illinois and the local schools. Hall, Jennie. Some Plans of Dramatic Representation in Primary Grades. "Elementary School Teacher," 4: 566-78, April, 1904. "Good Heniger, A. M. H. Drama's Value for Children. Housekeeping," 57: 636-647, November, 1913. Illus. Herr, Charlotte B. The Value of Dramatic Work in the Teaching of English. "Journal of Education," 67; 95-97, January 23, 1908. MacClintock, Porter Lander. Drama. In His Literature in the Elementary School. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1907. Pp. 212-28. Mackay, Clarence D'Arcy. Costumes and Scenery for Amateurs. New York, Henry Holt, 1915. How to Produce Children's Plays. New York, Henry Holt, 1915. 151 pp. Oglevay, Kate. Plays for Children. Drama League of America, 1915. 15 pp. O'Shea, Michael Vincent. The Dramatization of School Work. Outlook," 89: 93-94, May, 1908. Payne, Bertha. Dramatic Play in the Kindergarten. "Elementary School Teacher," 4: 588-93, April, 1904. Purcell, Helen Elizabeth. Children's Dramatic Interest and How this May Be Utilized in Education. "Elementary School Teacher," 7: 510-18, May, 1907. Scherz, T. J. How Dramatization of Stories Helps in Teaching Modern Languages. "Francis W. Parker School Yearbook," 4: 147-153, June, 1915. Smith, John Talbot. The College Drama. "Catholic Educational Review," 7: 315-24, April, 1914. The Drama in the School. Catholic Educational Review," 4: 364-71. October, 1912. Specimen School Dramas. Catholic Educational Review," 4: 398-408, November, 1912. Spaulding, Alice Howard. The Drama and the Public Schools. "Pittsburgh School Bulletin," 6: 1468-71, 1497-1501, November, December, 1912. Welch, John S. Dramatization. In His Literature in the School. Aims, Methods and Interpretations. New York [etc.]. Silver, Burdett & Company [1910]. Pp. 59-63. Woodbury, Sarah E. Dramatization in the Grammar Grades. Los Angeles, Baumgardt Publishing Co., 1909. 49 pp. Illus. 12°. PLAYS AND DRAMATIZATIONS FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN. Allen, Alice E. School-room Plays and Exercises for January. Boston, New York [etc.]. Educational Publishing Company. School-room Plays and Exercises for February. Boston, New York, Educational Publishing Company. Chapman, John Jay. Four Plays for Children. New York, Moffat, Yard & Co., 1908. 156 pp. Contents: The Lost Prince, King Ithuriel, The Hermits, Christmas in Leipsic. Clark, Frances E. Dramatizations. An "At Home" on Mount Parnassus. "Popular Educator," 29: 83-86, October, 1911. Lazelle, Mary A. Dramatizations of School Classics. A dramatic reader for grammar and secondary schools. Boston, New York [etc.]. 160 pp. Illus. Lutkenhaus, Anna M. Plays for School Children. New York, 1915, the Century Co. 283 pp. (Programs for special days, pp. 271-283.) Mackay, Constance D'Arcy. Dramatizations. George Washington's Fortune. Popular Educator," 29: 31516, February, 1912. Dramatizations. In Witchcraft Days. A play for young people. "Popular Educator," 29: 144-45, November, 1911. House of the Heart, and Other Plays for Children. New York, Henry Holt, 1909. 226 pp. Plays of the Pioneers. New York, Harper's, 1915. 175 pp. Illus. Maguire, Emma M. Story Plays for Little Ones. A handbook for teachers. Boston, New York [etc.]. Educational Publishing Company, 1910. 128 pp. Illus. 12°. Myers, Emma A. The Story of Sir Galahad, the Best Knight in the World. "Primary Education," 20: 100101, February, 1912. Pratt, Mary. A Pageant of the Middle Ages. HISTORY TEACHER'S MAGAZINE, VI, 277-279. St. Nicholas Book of Plays. New York, Century Co., 1900. 231 pp. Illus. Simons, Sarah E., and Orr, C. I. Dramatization: Selections from English Classics Adapted in Dramatic Form. New York, Scott, Foresman & Co., 1913. 95 pp. Tucker, Louise E., and Ryan, Estelle L. Historical Plays of Colonial Days. New York, Longmans, Green, 1912. 157 pp. Illus. Walker, Alice Johnstone. Little Plays from American History for Young Folks. New York, Henry Holt, 1914. 155 pp. American Colonies and the British Empire Colonial History, Old Style and New BY W. T. ROOT, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. The Colonial Period of American history has ever been a field of wonderful attraction for historical workers. It has furnished countless themes and an almost exhaustless body of material; the results have been embodied in a wealth of historical literature. This literature in itself occupies an important place in the records of historiography. There is an old style of treatment of the period, and a new style, each illustrating the force of the familiar saying that each generation writes its history with interests and attitude furnished by the spirit of the times. Among the older generation of historians there was a lack of balance and perspective, an inability to see historical relationship, a proneness to insularity and purpose. It is hardly to be expected that those who wrote in the generation of the American Revolution, when passions ran high and the spirit of separatism was dominant, would view the past calmly and broadly. Gordon and Ramsay on the Revolution displayed a pro-American bias; 1 Chalmers and Sted 1 1 David Ramsay, "Amer. Rev." (2 vols., 1789); William Gordon, "Amer. War" (4 vols., 1788). man a pro-British attitude. Chalmers wrote to prove that the colonies had always been actuated by a conscious desire for independence, and Stedman tried to prove that English arms failed through the incompetence of Howe and Clinton. Hutchinson, Belknap, Trumbull and Proud penned histories of the separate States, still to be numbered among the foremost of local histories, but intensely provincial in character, explaining local history by local causes alone.3 John Marshall, the famed justice of strong federal sentiment, wrote a history of the colonies to do the prefunctory service of laying a background for a life of Washington, the chief of nationalists. George Bancroft began his great work in the decade of the thirties, when the principles of 2 George Chalmers, "Introd. to Revolt of Cols." (vol. I, 1782); Chas. Stedman, "Hist. Amer. War" (2 vols., 1794). 3 T. H. Hutchinson, "Hist. of Colony and Province of Mass." (2 vols., 1764, 1767); Jeremy Belknap, "Hist. of N. H." (3 vols., 1784-1813); Johnathan Trumbull, 66 Hist. of Conn. to 1764" (2 vols., 1818); Robert Proud, "Hist. of Pa." (2 vols., 1797-1798). 4 John Marshall, "Hist. of Cols." (1824). |