To the teacher whose heart is in the work, a thousand ways of making the library useful will suggest themselves. Some of our teachers have organized reading clubs, which have proved very interesting and of great benefit to the members. An imaginary journey may be taken, or a noted character studied, and the pupils allowed to search the library for information. Often pupils whom it seemed impossible to interest in their regular school work have been the most active in the club work, and led to take a greater interest in their lessons..

A day may be appointed as “nature day," when the pupils shall report upon what they have observed on some particular branch of nature, and the books treating of this branch set aside for inspection and listing by them.

Many magazines and papers have now very worthy, and in some cases fine, reproductions of famous paintings, cathedrals, and noted people, and the children could be encouraged to preserve them for use in scrapbooks or portfolios to be kept in the library. Old numbers of children's magazines may be called in, sorted, and bound. St. Nicholas, Harper's Young People, and Wide Awake, form a library in themselves.

There is no greater blessing for a boy or a girl than a good library. The books lived in furnish ideals higher than their own and often than those of other homes. Parents also read the books brought home by the children, and are refined and elevated by their tone. One noble book may change a whole life—yes, many lives. How many boys have been influenced for good by Tom Brown at Rugby! How many girls have built their ideals of true womanhood on Miss Alcott's or Miss Whitney's stories of sweet girl life!

Mr. George Ticknor's idea of the library was that it should be as free as possible, and as attractive to all classes, especially for those whose tastes for reading were not yet formed. The habit of reading is the first and indispensable step. Once established, it is a recognized fact that readers go from the poorer to the better sort.

As a rule, children choose a better class of books than older persons. They are eager to learn about the world, and what the world has been doing all these years. Their eyes are wide open to the wonderland of science, which, in these days of vivid writing, is made a veritable home of fairies. Jean Andrews, with her stories Mother Nature Told, and Ten Boys from Long Ago till Now, Miss Morley, with her Bee People, Miss Buckley, with her Fairy Land of Science, and many other writers of the same character, make knowledge a rich mine they are eager to explore, and, what is better, the stories are quite as interesting to their elders as to them, as any really good child's book always is.

I cannot add more fitting closing words than by quoting from an address of Sidney Smith's delivered at the Royal Institute in London

and which has been emblazoned on the walls of several of our public libraries :

Therefore, when I say, in conducting your understanding, love knowledge with a great love, with a love coeval with life, what do I say but, love innocence; love purity; love that which, if you are rich, will sanctify the bland fortune which made you so, and teach men to call it justice; love that which, if you are poor, will make poverty respectable and forbid the proudest to mock at the meanness of your fortune; love that which will comfort you and open to you the kingdom of thought and all the boundless regions of conception? Therefore, if any young person has embarked his life in the pursuit of knowledge, let him not be daunted by her cheerless beginning, or by the difficulties hovering around her. Let him rather follow her as the angel that guards him and the genius of his life. She will bring him out at last into the light of day, and exhibit him to the world comprehensive in argument, strong in reasoning, paramount above his fellows in all his relations and offices of life.

DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

SECRETARY'S MINUTES

FIRST SESSION.- WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 1902

The department was called to order at 2: 30 P. M., in the Hennepin Avenue Methodist church, with Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, president, in the chair.

A vocal solo by Mrs. Maud Ulmer Jones, accompanied by Miss Margaret Gilmore, introduced the regular program of the department.

Dr. C. M. Jordan, superintendent of schools, Minneapolis, Minn., delivered an address of welcome, which was responded to by the president, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell; Dr. Wm. T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education; and Professor Augustus H. Kelley, Boston, Mass.

Upon motion of Dr. J. C. Gordon, of Jacksonville, Ill., the secretary was authorized and directed to send a telegram to the convention of Instructors of the Blind, in session at Raleigh, N. C., conveying greetings, with a cordial invitation to participate hereafter in the proceedings of the department.

A paper was read by Mr. F. W. Booth, editor of the Association Review, Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, on "The Lesson to be Learned by the General Teacher from Teaching Language to the Deaf."

Music vocal solo, Mr. D. Alvin Davies.

Mr. James N. Tate, superintendent of the School for the Deaf, Faribault, Minn., read a paper on the subject, "What is Minnesota Doing for her Deaf Children ?"

This was followed by a paper by Mr. B. P. Chapple, instructor in the School for the Blind, Faribault, Minn., on "What Minnesota is Doing for her Blind Children."

Dr. A. C. Rogers, superintendent of the School for the Feeble-Minded, Faribault, Minn., next addressed the department on "What Minnesota is Doing for the FeebleMinded."

The president, upon motion of Professor W. D. Parker, state inspector of schools for the deaf, Madison, Wis., appointed the following Committee on Nominations:

Miss Cornelia D. Bingham, principal of the McCowen Oral School, Chicago, Ill., gave illustration of work of the pupils of the McCowen school with the pupils of the school present.

On account of the lateness of the hour and the brevity of the exercises just witnessed, it was decided to devote Thursday morning to the presentation of school work by the children of the McCowen school.

A special session of the department was held on Thursday morning from 9:30 to 12 o'clock, during which time Miss Cornelia D. Bingham, principal, assisted by Misses Andrews, Cannon, Pearse, Taylor, and Freedman, gave an exhibition of school work with thirteen pupils of the McCowen Oral School, Chicago, Ill. The exercises covered four grades, from the kindergarten to the advanced work of the school.

SECOND SESSION.-FRIDAY, July 11

The department convened at 2: 30 P. M., President Bell in the chair.

The president suggested that a committee on resolutions be appointed, and a motion in accordance with the suggestion was passed. The following named persons were appointed as the committee:

Dr. Joseph C. Gordon, Jacksonville, Ill.
Dr. A. C. Rogers, Faribault, Minn.

Mr. J. J. Dow, Faribault, Minn.
Miss Alice Damon, Mystic, Conn.
Miss Jennie C. Smith, Eau Claire, Wis.

Music - vocal solo, Miss Inez Adell Davis, accompanied by Miss Eulalie Chenevert. The following telegram received from the vice-president of the department, Mr. Edward E. Allen, attending the convention of Instructors of the Blind, in session at Raleigh, N. C., was read:

Blind convention indorses report of Committee on Reorganization. Congratulations.

The president introduced Signor G. Ferreri, ex-vice-principal of the School for the Deaf at Siena, Italy, who addressed the department, giving his impressions of the work of the instruction of the deaf as carried on in American schools.

A paper on "The Organization of Associations of Parents of Deaf Children as an Aid to Schools," was read by Mrs. Helen M. Hefferan, president of the Illinois Mothers' Congress.

Discussion followed, participated in by Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, Professor W. D. Parker, state inspector of schools for the deaf, Madison, Wis., Senator J. D. Stout, of Wisconsin, and Miss Mary McCowen, supervising principal of the day schools for the deaf, Chicago, Ill.

The next paper presented was by Mr. James J. Dow, superintendent of the School for the Blind, Faribault, Minn., on 66 Necessary Evils."

This paper was discussed by Professor H. R. Sanford, of New York; Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, Professor W. D. Parker, Miss Jennie C. Smith, principal of the day school for the deaf, Eau Claire, Wis., and Mr. J. N. Tate, superintendent of the School for the Deaf, Faribault, Minn.

A paper by Miss Mary McCowen, supervising principal of the Chicago day schools for the deaf, on "A Comparison of Kindergarten Methods for the Deaf and the Hearing Child," was followed by exercises by the four grades present of the McCowen Oral School, Chicago, under direction of Miss Cornelia D. Bingham, principal, and her assistants.

BUSINESS MEETING

The department, at 5: 30 o'clock Friday afternoon, at the close of the regular program, continued in session as a business meeting.

Professor W. D. Parker, chairman of the Committee on Nominations, presented the following report:

For President- Edward E. Allen, Overbrook, Pa.

For Vice-President - Mary McCowen, Chicago, Ill.
For Secretary - Miss Sarah Fuller, Boston, Mass.

Upon motion the report was accepted and the persons nominated were elected as officers for the ensuing year.

Dr. J. C. Gordon, chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, presented the following report:

1. Resolved, That this department approves of the action of the Board of Directors, changing the name and defining the scope of the department, and recommends the adoption of the report of the Committee upon reorganization, which is as follows:

a. The name of the department shall be," Department of Special Education-Relating to Children Demanding Special Means of Instruction."

6. The object of this department shall be to bring persons engaged in the education of children requiring special methods of instruction into contact and affiliation with teachers in general, for the interchange of ideas for mutual benefit.

c. All communications shall be non-technical in character, for the purpose of securing an interchange of ideas between those engaged in general and those engaged in special education.

d. To secure from specialists papers of general interest for presentation to the general convention or its sections.

e. To secure from prominent educators the presentation of papers before this department.

f. All matters to be presented at any meeting shall be approved in advance by the Executive Com mittee.

2. WHEREAS, The usefulness of this department in its work calls for information and statistics gathered systematically from a large field, and

WHEREAS, It is desirable that this information be made available at the next meeting of the National Educational Association,

Resolved, That a committee be appointed and authorized to confer with the National Bureau of Education with a view to securing a compilation of existing statistics relative to children in the public schools who need special methods of instruction, and the gathering of more complete returns from the large cities of the United States.

3. Resolved, That the efforts of the school authorities of the city of Boston to provide special instruction in special classes for pupils whose mental development is impeded by such physical conditions as partial deafness, imperfect sight, etc., is worthy of commendation.

4. Resolved, That the graduation of persons deaf from birth or from early childhood with academic degrees from Harvard, Vale, Columbia, and the University of California, as well as from Gallaudet College for the Deaf, and of blind students from many colleges, is worthy of note by this body as an encouragement to high endeavor on the part of pupils and teachers alike.

5. Resolved, That the larger and freer use of written language and of speech from year to year by pupils in schools for the deaf is a progressive step worthy of note and of commendation.

6. Resolved, That day schools for young deaf children, with efficient teachers and competent supervision, should be encouraged, especially for such children as cannot be reached by institutions or boarding schools, which, with their manifold advantages, cannot cover the entire field in many states.

7. Resolved, That the thanks of this department be extended to Wm. T. Harris, LL.D., United States Commissioner of Education, and other prominent educators who have addressed this department; also to the local Committee on Arrangements and to the ladies and gentlemen taking part in the musical program; also to Miss Cornelia D. Bingham for the living exhibit from her school in Chicago, and to A. Graham Bell, LL D., our president, for invaluable services rendered to this department.

Upon motion the resolutions were adopted by the department as read.

In conformity with the second resolution the president appointed Mr. F. W. Booth, editor of the Association Review, to compile and gather statistics relative to children in the public schools who need special methods of instruction, to report at the next meeting of the National Educational Association.

Upon motion, the department adjourned.

Department headquarters were maintained thruout the sessions of the National Educational Association at Parlor 222, West Hotel.

An interesting and impressive exhibit of products of the industrial work carried on at the School for the Feeble-Minded, Faribault, Minn., was shown in the parlors of the Hennepin Avenue Methodist Church.

The occasion of a dinner given on the evening of Friday, July 11, at the West Hotel, to the members and friends of the department by Dr. and Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell, was rendered doubly enjoyable and memorable by the fact of its being the twenty-fifth anniversary of Dr. and Mrs. Bell's wedding day.

F. W. BOOTH, Secretary.