The day is past when the study of history is said to be dull and uninteresting. Two things have wrought the miracle. First: we have learned to think history in terms of ourselves, of our surroundings, of our likes and dislikes, of our dress, of our commerce, labor and foreign relations. This has given the past a certain relation to the present which has vitalized it and made it real. Second: we have begun to reproduce it in concrete form. If the class is studying the Pilgrims, they make the Mayflower, and dress a doll as the Pilgrims dressed. If they are studying the Spanish Armada, they build in the sand pan the geographical situation, fold paper ships, and actually work out the attack. Thus every incident in history, with a possible few exceptions, can be visualized by some form of construction work. Some will be done by the teacher as illustrative work because too difficult for the pupils to do. Most of it, though, can be done by the pupils as self-expression.

KINDS AND MATERIALS.

Construction work may be of the following kinds and materials: (1) Blackboard illustration using free-hand drawing, stencils or "cut-out" pictures: (2) Paper folding for caps, boats, tables, chairs, tents, cradles, flags: (3) Paper cutting, posters or upright figures: (4) Weaving, raffia or reed, for baskets, and

hammocks; woolens for rugs, mats, blankets; beads of wampum, headbands: (5) Color work, pen and ink, crayons, water colors, oils, dyes: (6) Wood chairs, tables, beds, wagons, and so forth. A sharp jack-knife and the crates for fruit, or cigar boxes can be used. Best of all is basswood one-eighth inch by six inches by any length, 5c. per foot at Tschudy Hard Wood Lumber Company, Kansas City, Mo.: (7) Cardboard for houses, wagons and so forth. Corrugated paper is excellent: (8) Clay; almost everything imaginable can be made in clay. An excellent quality can be obtained from the Western Stoneware Company, Monmouth, Ill., $7.50 per barrel of 500 pounds. A good substitute is Plasticnic. Clay when hard can be painted with water colors and baked in the ordinary

oven: (9) Sand table; a good one can be made by taking an old table, say three feet by five feet, and nailing around it boards five inches by one-half inch. Line it with white table oilcloth which covers the bottom and comes up over all the edges. In this use sand, salt, cotton or sawdust. For water, use plain window glass over blue paper. Iron pans eighteen inches by ten inches by two inches, painted blue inside, make good individual sand pans. Pasteboard

HISTORY PATTERNS.

suit boxes make good substitutes for a sand table. If none of these can be secured, spread papers on a table or on the floor and use sand, salt, or sawdust on it. In the sand table, more ideas can be developed and more problems worked out and more busy work taken care of than in any other kind of construction work: (10) Salt; besides using this alone in the sand table (Eskimo study), it may be used in a cooked form. Take one-half cup of salt, one-fourth cup corn starch; mix thoroughly; add one-fourth cup of cold water; stir until smooth; set on stove to cook, stirring constantly until it thickens into one lump. Take it off immediately and squeeze with hands as you would clay or wax. Mold into forms desired: (11) Pictures, discussed elsewhere: (12) Miscellaneous, toothpicks, clothespins, tissue

paper, crepe paper, tin foil, toy animals, animal crackers, boxes of all kinds, cotton, sparkle, beads, horse hair, glue paste, soda fountain straws, peanuts, walnuts, almonds, cloves, corn stalks, corn husks, wire, chicken feathers, adhesive tape, court plaster.

Things to make usually suggest themselves. The following are easy and suitable:

PRIMARY GRADES.

Indian life, the home: Moundbuilders, clay, sand, salt, dirt: Cliffdwellers, clay, coal, soap stone: Pueblos, clay, paper cutting: Plains Indians, wigwam, tepee, wickyup, hogan, lodge, long house, cloth, paper, chamois skin, kid gloves, sticks, wire, branches, corrugated paper, toothpicks: Eskimo igloo, seals, polar bears, dogs, sleds, cotton, clay, wood, leather, chamois skin: Indian life, childhood, papoose, cradle, hammock, dress: Indian life, customs, canoe, bow and arrow, snow shoe, moccasin, knife, war bonnet, shield, battle ax, tomahawk, war club, war shirt, peace pipe, pottery, totem pole, wampum, writing, blankets: Pilgrims, Mayflower, Plymouth Rock, cradle, fireplace, herb still, pewter platter, Indians and corn and fish, Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, loaf of bread, mashed potatoes, apples, pumpkin. pie, plum pudding), map of Plymouth harbor: Washington, soldiers, hat, tent, gun, horse, tree, hatchet, house, mother and trunk and the sea, flower bed and George written in it, rows of soldiers and drum: Local history, log cabin, a fort, guns, prairie schooner, pony express: Memorial Day, the flag, a cannon, tents, wreath of flowers: Heroes of other times, Joseph's coat of many colors, Moses in the bulrushes and his smiting the rock, David and his sling, harp, Alexander's black horn, Bucephalus, Robert Bruce and his spider, Joan of Arc and her being burned at the stake: Columbus and his three ships: The flag, class make it of paper, in clay, paper folding and so forth.

FOURTH GRADE.

American explorers, Columbus in chains, De Soto buried in river, Magellan's route marked on a tennis ball, Drake and a Spanish ship as a prize: Virginia life, John Smith and his compass, first church, the pirates' flag, black with white skull and crossbones: New England life, Miles Standish's sword, John Winthrop's collar and hat, John Eliot's Bible, King Philip's war bonnet, New England fireplace, logs, andirons, Dutch oven, hour glass: Dutch, Quakers and others, Dutch houses, Dutch girl, Penn's Quaker dress, southern plantation, cotton, tobacco: New France, traps, doll dressed as a Jesuit priest: George Washington, as a surveyor, tripod, compass, raft for journey to Ohio: Benjamin Franklin, boy with loaves of bread, gets lightning, Poor Richard's " almanac.

FIFTH GRADE.

Declaration of Independent, the bell: Benjamin Franklin, his aid from France: Daniel Boone, his tree, his stump and his Boonesboro: Mississippi river, flatboat: George Washington's inauguration clothes: Eli Whitney's cotton gin: Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana, map: First steamboat, made of paper and cardboard: First railroad, made of paper and cardboard: Erie Canal, map in sand pan: David Crocket, the Alamo: Spanish missions, a mission: Discovery of gold in California, spade, pick, pan.

bellion, white apron brigade; intercolonial wars, show various ways Indians used in destroying settlements, lead plates buried by French can be made in clay: Colonial transportation, corduroy road, wagons, coaches, canals: The Revolution, stamps, tea chest, map of Boston showing location of the long wharf, old state house, old north church, old south church, Paul Revere's house (sand table, blackboard or paper), Paul Revere's lantern. Almost all the great battles can be worked out in sand pan; mold Independence bell in clay; reproduce the Independence Hall at Philadelphia (cardboard), map showing territorial results of treaty of

1783.

EIGHTH GRADE.

Ordinance of 1787, map of land claims, colored with crayons or water color, map of New York City and environs showing where Washington landed, when he was received officially, where he worshipped, where he was inaugurated, where he lived while the capital was at New York, also Wall street, Broadway and Trinity church (sand pan, blackboard or paper): Transportation, early roads, canals, express, Conestoga wagon, flatboats, pony express, steamboat, railroads: Evolution of crops, kinds, where, amount, value, maps locating each: Slavery, cotton field, slave quarters, southern home, cotton gin, slave driver, spread over new territory, Civil War, emancipation: The pioneer, frontier life, prairie schooner, forest clearings, log cabin, coon skin and rain barrel furnishings: Texas, map showing evolution of the state, different flags of the state: Civil War, forts, guns, torpedoes, soldier's dress, Lincoln's dress, hat, Mrs. Lincoln, the family, confederate flags: Reconstruction, Ku Klux dress, flag, notices, warnings, carpet-bag: Twentieth century, air craft, submarine, automobiles, modern schools, churches, evolution of woman's dress, evolution of ships for ocean travel.

All these are but suggestions as to what may be made to make plain to the eye what has been made plain to the intellect. To do all this one needs patterns of many things, and often one should give each child the pattern to This can be done on the hectograph. A good home-made one can be made as follows:

use.

Dissolve four ounces gelatine in a pint of cold water. Add one pint of glycerine. Put on stove in double boiler. When it comes to a boil, pour it into a shallow granite pan 8 inches by 12 inches. Put the pan in level place to cool. If air bubbles form, take sheet of writing paper and pass edge over it. If too soft add more gelatine. If too hard, melt again. If surface is rough or discolored, place over a pan of warm water on stove, melt it and set it away to cool. Use coarse stub pen, hectograph ink and onion skin paper. See that every stroke of pen leaves a metallic luster when dry. Press it far down on surface of hectograph. Leave it there one or two minutes. When through with hectograph, wash it immediately with tepid water. Use fingers or soft sponge. Never leave surface dry.

Some of the best sources for patterns are: Something To Do (monthly), Bennett Publishing Company, 120 Boylston street, Boston, $1.00; Busy Hands, Isabelle F. Bowker, A.

Flanagan, Chicago, 60c.; The Plan Book; With Scissors and Paste, Grace Goodridge, A. Flanagan, Chicago, 25c.; Normal Instructor, The Cut of Book, Ruth O. Dyer, A. Flanagan, Chicago, 50c.

The advantages of this construction work are: (1) Busy

work; (2) compels accurate knowledge first; (3) stimulates that activity; (4) provides a valuable means of individual initiative and self-expression; (5) gives a definiteness and a permanency to information and makes history a reality.

00

THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.

The Cincinnati meetings of the American Historical Association, held at the Hotel Sinton and the University of Cincinnati, December 26 to 30, 1916, were well attended, and proved fully as interesting as usual. About four hundred persons registered, among whom were many younger men and women, while quite a few of the older members were not in attendance. The local committee on arrangements succeeded admirably in entertaining the members. Most of the meetings were held in the headquarters hotel, thus keeping the visitors together and making it possible for them to enjoy those personal conferences and conversations which mean so much to all. One delightful day was spent at the University of Cincinnati. where the members were the guests of the university at luncheon. A reception was held on Thursday evening after the presidential addresses; a smoker for men was provided on Wednesday evening, and Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Taft entertained at tea on Friday. The courtesies of the city's clubs and of the Ohio Historical Society were extended to the guests.

The Program Committee provided for conferences upon the various fields of history, including ancient history, English history, American history, European history, the history of China and Japan, and the history of Constantinople. The number of papers closely related to present-day affairs was greater than usual. At one evening session three papers dealt with historical phases of the present war; another session discussed the European peace congresses of the nineteenth century; at other meetings there were presented such topics as the recent history of China, the American government of the Philippines, and the influence of the war on the teaching of history. It is noteworthy, also, that a large proportion of the papers read were prepared by the younger members of the association.

Two conferences on the teaching of history were held. The first of these discussed the field and method of the elementary course in college history. There were seventeen speakers provided for this session representing various sections of the country and different types of institutions. The general sentiment was strongly in favor of European history for this course, although there was some divergence of views as to whether the entire field of European history should be covered or only medieval history or modern history; and one speaker endorsed English history for introductory work. Quite general agreement also seemed apparent that the lecture system should not be used for the introductory course if the finances of the institution permitted the splitting of classes into small groups under competent instructors. Some colleges reported the continuance of the lecture system, but always in conjunction with frequent conferences, recitations and quizzes. A number of the papers of this session will be printed in the MAGAZINE in the near future.

No such unity of subject appeared in the conference upon the teaching of history in secondary schools. Prof. C. E. Pray advocated the study of historical personalities; Mr. G. L. Swiggett urged more adequate training for business and the consular service; Prof. A. E. McKinley pointed out how largely the teaching of history in European schools had been affected by the war; Prof. S. B. Harding gave instances to show how German sympathizers in this country were trying to influence the text-book histories of the war. Prof. Harding, in the absence of Prof. W. S. Ferguson, reported upon the progress made by the Committee on History in Schools. He stated that the task of the committee is not to make a syllabus, but to select a series of topics, to point out what material may be omitted, what emphasized, and how the material shall be handled. The committee may also consider the place of history in the school curricu

lum—that is, the possibility of giving social, functional value to it. The committee has not as yet decided to give any suggestions concerning the new two-year course in ancient, medieval and modern history, which has been adopted in many places, and recently was recommended by the Committee on Social Studies of the National Education Association.

Abundant evidence was shown from the program and from the action at the business meeting, that the association is taking a deeper interest in local and hereditary historical societies. Special conferences were devoted to hereditary historical societies, to local historical societies, and to the problems of the care and administration of archives. At the business meeting a report was adopted providing for a semi-independent organization of the Conference of Historical Societies. The conference, according to this report, should have its own officers and an independent income and treasury based upon the membership of the several societies joining the conference. The conference, with the assistance of the Newberry Library, of Chicago, will prepare a bibliography of historical societies for the years 19051915.

Many members attended the conference called to consider the advisability of publishing a journal devoted to the interests of European history. A strong sentiment in favor of the plan appeared. The chairman, Prof. George B. Adams, was authorized to appoint a committee to canvass the possibility of obtaining financial support for the journal. Later Prof. Adams appointed the following committee: Prof. D. C. Munro, chairman; Prof. James T. Shotwell, Prof. W. S. Ferguson, and Prof. E. R. Turner.

Another interesting conference was that upon the organization of a University Center for Higher Studies in Washington. A report, accompanied by a proposed constitution, was presented by a committee appointed at a preliminary conference held at Columbia University, May 13, 1916. The present plan is to lease a house or houses in Washington near the Library of Congress, and provide separate arrangements for men and women with private rooms and common living rooms. Ultimately it is hoped to provide for meals at the Center. Besides the values of community life and of mutual stimulus, it is hoped to appoint a permanent director who will aid inexperienced students in the effective use of original materials. If practicable, short courses by visiting professors will be arranged, and conferences provided with officials of the Government and other scholars residing in Washington. The expenses of the Center, estimated at $7,000 for the first year, and $4,000 for subsequent years, will be borne by contributing institutions who will control the Center, and by contributions from individuals.

The manifold activities of the association were well shown at the business meeting. Upon recommendation of the Council, the invitation of the University of Pennsylvania was accepted, and the next annual meeting set for Philadelphia; the recommendation of a registration fee of fifty cents for those attending the annual meeting was also adopted; the tenure of officers was voted to begin immediately after the election at the annual meeting, thus giving an opportunity for the new and old officers to meet and plan work for the year; the recommendations for the Conference of Historical Societies were accepted. The plan for a quarterly bulletin to be sent out in the intervals between the publication of the numbers of the "American Historical Review" was adopted, and a subscription was taken on the spot to finance the bulletin for the first year. The first number of the bulletin in each year. according to the plan, will be devoted to an account of the annual meeting, the lists of committees, etc.; the second number will contain the list of members or changes in membership; the third number will deal largely with personal news and notes of the