And this must be taken in no abstract and general sense; it means that this teacher, here and now, in this particular firstreader lesson, is vividly conscious of its full life meaning in the act of conducting the lesson. In general propositions we admit all this, but what needs to be insisted on is the necessity that the teacher, in his daily, concrete teaching experience, be stimulated and guided by the largest meaning which the lesson has for the child. We often speak of a teacher's profes sional spirit. Professional spirit is the feeling born of the consciousness of skill in aiding the pupil to realize the highest ideal of human life. It is the ideal in his life which the teacher labors to realize. How can there be professional spirit in teaching unless the teacher, in the act of teaching, sees the relation of what he is doing to the pupil's life process, taken as a whole?

If we should draw more nearly to this law we should find that it means that the teacher must be conscious of the unity between the life of the pupil and the infinite life about him. The highest conception the teacher can reach, and which is required by the law, is how the pupil is to be brought into unity with the thought and life of the world about him, for it is in and through this infinite life that he is to find himself. To know how the pupil's life unfolds is to know its relation to the world about it, since it can unfold only in touch with the spirit and thought manifested in that world. The little flower whispers of the infinite; the teacher must know what message it has for the pupil, what increment of life it brings to him. The lily speaks of thought, and plan and purpose; breathes forth innocence, purity and beauty. How such may be realized in the pupil's life is the question. "My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky," said Wordsworth, for he found his life in it. To him a rainbow was a heart leap. The problem for the teacher is how to get the heart leap out of the rainbow for the child. It is not ultimately a question of petty methods and processes. Socrates's life was strong, self-sacrificing and heroic; the problem for the teacher is to make the pupil one with Socrates in self-denial and heroism. The heavens declare the glory of God; how shall the pupil make that glory his own. Thus the pupil's finite life realizes itself through its touch with the infinite life. The law of the

school requires the teacher to be conscious of the relation of one of these to the other; to be conscious of how the pupil finds his highest and truest self in the life which is in all and through all. This is the highest consciousness with which a teacher can teach; the law of the school permits nothing less. The foregoing emphasizes the idea that the teacher in living touch with the pupil constitutes the school. But the school is not found in this simple form. All in all, it is quite a complex piece of machinery. There are many pupils; there are classes; there are school officers and school laws; schoolhouses, apparatus, libraries, etc. There are many processes to be performed aside from the central one above described. Teachers must be examined, the coal bought, the house cleaned, the record kept, classes called and questions asked-a manifold process so absorbing in variety and interest of details, so overshadowing the little silent process wherein the miracle is wrought that the external means become an end in the consciousness of the teacher. The central process described should command all the external and remote appliances and processes; it should ever hold a commanding place in the teacher's thought; but it is uniformly true, and necessarily true, it seems, that the teacher, before reaching his freedom in the central law of the school, must pass through some form of bondage to the machinery which conditions his labor. This is also true of the state. Machinery we must have. We must have laws for raising revenue, a school system, school officers and such instrumentalities. Indiana's record in struggling to secure a school fund and a school system is a worthy one; but sometimes it seems that the greater emphasis given to the system the more danger there is in forgetting the child. With some thoughtful people whom I have heard express themselves it seems a question whether the child can survive the machine -the machine versus the child. We have just pride in our success in grading our schools, but who has not been pained by the fact that the grading became the end, and the life of the child crushed out in the process? For some time we have had more to say about our perfect grading than about the thing we are really here to do. We cannot have good schools without good grading, but a very poor school may be found where there is good grading. We scarcely say anything perti

nent when we boast of such things. Let us tell what kind of teaching is being done; certainly in the teaching act is the place to test all appliances. No appliance is good so long as it is used as an end. All appliances are good when subordinated to their proper relation and work. One of the most interesting and difficult problems for the superintendent of a school or system of schools, whether city, State or county, is to find his way to the pupil through the complex machinery with which he necessarily labors. The teacher finds his way directly, the superintendent indirectly; but he must find his way or he is no superintendent. His life must touch the life of the child. The long line of appliances and forces standing between him and the child are there only as a means by which he can reach the many, and, if he gets himself tangled up in the machinery, may not reach the child till too late for the

rescue.

INDIANA UNIVERSITY AND HER PRESIDENT.

The past ten years have witnessed great changes in Indiana University. The attendance has more than trebled, the fac ulty has grown from a small number to almost fifty, and the efficiency of the school has in every way been greatly improved. The inauguration of the noted scientist, Dr. David Starr Jordan, as president in 1885 was a decided innovation in the college world. Many were the prophecies that only failure could result. As a matter of fact, it marked the first great advance in the history of the school. The reform in the curriculum was almost sensational. That it was genuine is proven by the large number of institutions now adopting it. A leading professor of Columbia College pronounces it the best. By this reform Indiana University announced to the world her belief in the democracy of letters. Any study, properly pursued, is the equal of any other. She grants the A. B. degree for Greek or German, mathematics or botany, philosophy or economics; in fact, for any subject that is carefully and thoughtfully studied throughout the college course.

President Jordan's promotion to the presidency of Leland Stanford, Jr., University, in 1891, is well known. Dr. John M. Coulter, another well-known scientist, was immediately elected

as his successor. For two years he was the popular and successful president. He was in complete harmony with the plans of his predecessor. On his resignation to accept the presidency of Lake Forest University, Joseph Swain, professor of mathematics in Leland Stanford, was placed at the head of the institution.

The new president was born at Pendleton, Ind., June 16, 1857. His early life was spent on the farm, working in the summer and attending the district school in the winter. When still quite young he became a school teacher. He taught several terms with marked success. His teaching whetted his desire for an education, and so we soon find him in the academy of his native town preparing for college. He entered Indiana University in 1879 and graduated in 1883. During his college course he was a popular student and the recognized leader in many college affairs. Immediately after graduation he was elected assistant in mathematics in his alma mater.

He continued to study both mathematics and biology. He is the independent and joint author of numerous scientific papers which have appeared in the publications of the National Mu

seum.

In 1885 he was elected associate professor of mathematics, with a year's leave of absence. The year was spent in study at Edinburgh University. His work here brought him into close contact with Prof. C. Piazzi Smythe, astronomer royal for Scotland, and Prof. Chrystal, the great mathematician. From 1888 to 1891 he was professor of mathematics in Indiana University. The department, under his leadership, became one of the very strongest in the university.

In 1891 Dr. Jordan called him to the head of the mathematical department in Leland Stanford, Jr., University. He organized the work and made the department a strong one. As the close personal friend of President Jordan, he had perfect insight into the workings of the university, and as the chairman of the committee on student affairs he had a great deal to do with the practical administration. This work helped to develop his native executive ability, and prepared him well for his duties as president. Senator Stanford had the greatest confidence in him, and it was his desire that he should be made vice president of Stanford and the general control placed largely in his hands.

As a teacher Prof. Swain is patient and careful. He gives that careful attention to details that insures to his students a true understanding of the subject. He is popular and inspires great confidence.

He has brought into the office of president a strong business sense that insures the financial affairs of the university to receive the same careful attention that is demanded by any other large business concern. He has remarkably good judg ment. His estimate of men as to their suitability for college positions is surpassed by few, if any, college presidents of the country. His wide experience and his contact with men of all kinds has given him the power to sympathize with all classes of students. His frank open-heartedness makes every student his friend, and, reciprocally, he is the real friend of every stu dent.

The present year, the first of his presidency, has been by