department for filling orders for back numbers, a large subscription department with its complicated system of mail lists, free lists, expirations, renewals, and so forth. Beside these there was the postal department, not to mention the book-keeping and cashier departments, and the printing of the magazine, which was a business by itself; and on top of all the departments, were the publishers of the magazine. After this flood of light had been directed upon her mental retina, she was led gently to the proper department and given her magazine, with no worse results, I believe, than its possession entailed.

Yet another illusion is that the name accepts the manuscript, while unknown genius has no chance. If these deluded ones could see the lists of famous rejecteds," or could observe an editor, hot on the trail of a promising Unknown, their ideas would be somewhat modified.

66

Fifthly and finally, a favorite illusion is, that if an article is good, it is good to print anywhere,-and so time is wasted again and again in sending the right thing to the wrong place. One day a poetess-by courtesy-while waiting for one of the editors, insisted that I should read her poem, a bloody production on "Bloemfontein." I hastily assured her that I was not an editor; whereupon she returned with amiable promptness, "Of course not. But you are the Public, I may say, the General Public." I pass over the feelings of the dog on whom “Bloemfontein" was to have been tried, to the point, which is that if more contributors would change their vague General Public into a Particular Public they would not appeal so often in vain. No longer would solid scientific essays, admirable for solid scientific papers, be sent to popular monthlies; nor doggerel, calculated to brighten the funny column of a country weekly, be forwarded to critical reviews; nor love poems be tried on children's magazines. No longer would manuscripts have to pass through so many experiences and hands before they attained the peace of the editor's safe or were drawn and quartered by the artist and served up in the magazine. Among the few unwritten subjects, there remains yet to be written a most instructive history, one of infinite value,—a help to writers and a hindrance to scribblers,-"The Epic of the Manuscript." When it comes, may it get through the Door!

HARRIET CHALMERS BLISS '99.

Leo Nikolaievich, or Count Tolstoi, is now an old man of seventy-three years. During the last thirty years of his life he has been continually busy writing. Although his works are written A Glimpse of Count Tolstoi for the Russian and primarily deal with Russian problems, yet, for this very reason, we are able to read them with more freedom than a native, for some are prohibited entirely and others are much expunged. So Tolstoi's name and influence have gone into every country, and more than any one else, he has awakened the present world-wide interest in Russia.

Russia is such a far-away place to us in America, that to say a man lives in Moscow means little more than to say that he lives in Russia. Yet that country is much larger than the United States, and there is much more difference than with us between the inhabitants of the different sections. Mus

covy is the nucleus of the Russian Empire, and therefore is the oldest district. Here, in this central position, the people are less mixed with other races, and have the purest Slavic blood in their veins; and here too the peasants are the poorest, and the nobles the richest. There is no true Russian middle class; the Jews supply its place and carry on the trade.

In this district, a short distance from Moscow, Tolstoi grew up, living as a noble on his father's estate. Afterwards he entered the army, became an officer, and visited many parts of Russia in the service. Later he left the army and traveled considerably through the countries of Europe. He could read and speak English, German, and French, and as he traveled he made a study of the laws and economics of the countries. At about forty he came back to his estate near Moscow, and soon after his first book appeared. During his life he has seen great changes in his own country. He was born in the reign of Nicholas I., the great-grandfather of the present Czar. During the following reign of Alexander II. he saw the emancipation of the serfs, soon followed by the growth of the Nihilist party and the assassination of the Czar. Following upon that, Alexander III. used his severest measures of repression, and enormous numbers were exiled to Siberia. Also during this time the great colonizing movement had been going on, until at the present time the Czar controls more land than any other ruler. For the last thirty years Tolstoi has been writing on many subjects, including theology, philosophy, and sociology. He has developed certain theories of living which he practises in his daily life. He lives up to his beliefs, and devotes not only his time but his property to philanthropy. At the present time he has gathered about him a number of disciples who think and reason as he does, and help him in his work.

At the time when he gave away his property, his wife kept her share, which included a house in the city of Moscow. It is Tolstoi's custom to live in a peasant's cottage on the land which was his estate. But of late years he stays more and more in his wife's city house. When I saw him, he was recovering from an attack of influenza, and was staying during the very cold weather in the city. This house also was small and unpretentious, being on a narrow street in a quiet part of the city. Although a high fence surrounded it, as is common with houses of the upper class in Russia, yet the fence was made of rails, and a passer-by could see between and get glimpses of a park of considerable size beyond.

Quite in contrast to the butler in livery, the hall, and stairway, was the atmosphere of the room in which our party was received. At the door stood Tolstoi. The long gray beard, piercing gray eyes and the open-necked, gray workman's blouse were the first impression. After shaking hands quite informally with each of us, he seated us around a large wooden table at one end of the room, taking a chair among us himself. The room itself was large and bare, being lighted by oil lamps. Besides a piano and a few plants. there was nothing,-no curtains at the windows nor pictures on the wall. However I did notice in one corner the ever present Russian icon. A Catholic Russian will never live in a room without one, and it was with interest I noticed it left hanging; because within a year, since the appearance of "The Resurrection," Tolstoi has been excommunicated from the Greek Catholic Church.

The Czar is the head of the church in Russia, and notwithstanding the excommunication, Tolstoi and he seemed to be on good terms. He spoke of having just written to the Czar concerning some case he was interested in, and he seemed to expect a favorable reply.

As Tolstoi sat among us it seemed impossible to believe that this simple old man was the one in Russia who dared to speak. He is somewhat bent now, and his hands trembled as they rested on the arms of his chair. But his eyes and voice were firm, and the straightforward and convinced manner he used in talking showed the force of his character. He spoke English slowly, but with little accent, very much as a Scotchman speaks. He was quite eager to talk with us about America, and much more inclined to know if any of us knew Mr. C. F. Dole or the translator of Omar Khayyam, than to talk about himself. He did not seem to realize how far his name had gone, or keep track of what his writings were doing. He was quite surprised when we told him we had seen "Die Macht der Finsterniss," played recently in Berlin. He said that he thought that the German government had prohibited it, as well as the Russian. He told us he was very much interested in our country, and that he was always so glad to see Americans. He was more interested in politics and economics and more posted on those subjects than on any others. For our modern literature he did not seem to have much respect, remarking it was too bad we had not had any more fine literature since Emerson and Lowell. He knew more about our writers in certain lines such as sociology and anarchism, and spoke of several men, whose names are connected with these subjects, with whom he was in correspondence. But as to our present drift of expansion and imperialism he could not speak strongly enough. He said, "You know I do not believe in any government," and "I am so very sorry to see that tendency."

Tolstoi is still a very busy man, not only with his writing. but with looking after the schools and other schemes he has started. Besides that he lends a willing ear to those who come to him for help. At the time we were there, he said there were people waiting in the next room to ask his assistance. After leaving him, we felt we had seen a fine old man, and one who sacrifices himself entirely for what he thinks right. Tolstoi has sown many seeds; what they will grow to remains to be seen. I was told on good authority while in Moscow that besides influencing his disciples, Tolstoi has aroused interest among many of the landed proprietors, especially some of the younger princes. They see the great need of education, which the government does not seem able to take in hand yet, and many have left the army and navy and are devoting themselves to building schools and improving their peasantry.

MARGARET KENNARD '98.

There is one question. which must inevitably come to each college girl after graduation and indeed before it, that of future work—the life-work, for the perfection of which these years in college have been lived. It is the supreme question for each one, the question which must be answered individually by each, and which has as many answers as there are graduates. For this reason, there is

The Bible Normal College of Springfield

no part of the Monthly so interesting to the graduate as is the alumnæ column, and this not alone because she is anxious to read about her friends, but because of an ever-widening interest in seeing just what is open to the college girl. Thus she may not know the one who is writing upon the postgraduate work at Yale or Radcliffe, or at the medical schools, but she is deeply interested to know in just what ways these schools and colleges are to give the additional preparation needed for the life-work. She is constantly interested in the account of settlement work, the new idea of women's managing laundries, and of the woman as the architect or lawyer.

An opening for the college graduate, which has not before been mentioned in these columns, is that of the trained church and Sunday-school worker. During the last few years the demand for trained teachers in Sunday-schools and for trained superintendents of Sunday-schools has steadily increased, and gives evidence of a still greater growth throughout the country. The churches are beginning to realize that their strength is to be largely dependent on the proper education of their young people, and that to realize this they must have the best of teachers. So many are beginning to offer salaried positions to those who have especially fitted themselves for this purpose. Because of the demand for Sunday-school teachers, superintendents, and pastors' assistants, as well as to prepare others for settlement work, for city, home, and foreign missionaries, we find schools for such preparation all over the country; such as, The City Training Schools for Christian Workers, The Chicago Bible Institute, The Bible School at Montclair, The Training School at Northfield, and The Bible Normal College of Springfield. It is of the work and aims of this latter that we especially wish to write.

courses.

The aim of The Bible Normal College is essentially to prepare its students for a broad, sympathetic Christian work. To do this, it recognizes the need, first, of comprehensive Bible study; secondly, of pedagogical, and thirdly, of philosophical and sociological training. Its course of two years comprises the three branches, though many special students limit themselves to one branch. The student has every facility for making the most out of the There is a well-equipped library of reference books, the inspiration of working among those with a common purpose, and the broadening atmosphere of coming into contact with men and women whose lives have been or are going to be lived in all parts of the world. There are courses specially planned for those who are hoping to spend their lives on the home or foreign mission field, for those who wish to work among the city poor, for the Sunday-school and church workers, for pastors' assistants, superintendents of Sunday-schools and for Bible normal teachers. As a result, students of all denominations and of all purposes are studying together, with the one great purpose which binds them so closely together. There are missionaries, home for their vacations, spending a few weeks or months in deeper study, as well as college graduates, glad to have this opportunity for an added preparation for Christian work. Practical work in the city missions, Christian Associations, and churches of Springfield is opened to the students and is a great help, running side by side as it does with the more theoretical training. In fact, every side of the work of the two years is most carefully planned that it may meet the individual needs of those who feel that they wish to give

their lives to Christian work, in one of its many forms, whether it be in the cities, or abroad, or in their own church in their own homes.

ALICE JACKSON '98.

The difficulties which an undergraduate encounters in trying to conduct a department for alumnæ have been keenly felt. It is almost impossible for one in her position, with a necessarily limited acquaintance outside the college, to know what the many alumnæ are interested in, and what use they would like to have made of their particular part of the Monthly. With every month, too, there has been increasing difficulty in securing personal items of any kind; and the accuracy of such as do appear, coming often in roundabout ways from uncertain sources, is sometimes questionable.

In view of this, it has been suggested that some alumna be associated with the undergraduate editor in the conduct of the department. Her advice as to topics for treatment, and those best qualified to treat them, would be very valuable. But it is particularly in the work of collecting and sifting items that it is hoped she would prove the greatest help. As to the practical working out of this plan, nothing definite has been decided. The present board of editors simply wished to present it for discussion to the alumnæ. All communications will be gladly received by the editor of this department.

The Western Massachusetts branch of the Association of Collegiate Alumnæ was delightfully entertained at the home of Miss Leona M. Peirce, Smith '86, in Springfield, on March 6. After a short business meeting, the president introduced Miss Mary E. Woolley, President of Mount Holyoke College, who spoke in an interesting way of the university life of women in England and Scotland. The branch, which was formed early in the fall, now has a membership of over seventy, of which thirty are Smith alumnæ. Its object is to bring together for sociability and general profit the eligible graduates of colleges, in this part of Massachusetts. The next meeting of the branch is to be held on the campus at South Hadley in May.

ANNA S. THATCHER, Smith '96,
Secretary-Treasurer.

The Chicago Association was recently entertained by Miss Helen Taylor at Chicago Commons. Professor Graham Taylor, head-worker of the Commons Settlement, gave a talk illustrated by the stereopticon on the work of the settlement among the poor of Chicago.

The last meeting of the Boston branch of the Smith College Alumnæ Association was held on February 9, and Miss Jordan was present and spoke in a general way upon the interests of the college. "The Romancers" by Rostand is to be given under the direction of Miss Josephine Sherwood, a pupil of Mrs. Irving Winslow and a prominent member of the Cambridge Dramatic Club, in Copley Hall, April 17 and 18. Those taking part are not alumnæ, but men well known in amateur theatrical circles. Miss Sherwood takes the only female part. The proceeds are to be devoted to the Students' Building Fund.