on the new "Child's own library" bookcase, 26 inches wide by 40 inches high, in one corner of the children's room. I followed largely the list recommended by Miss Hunt of the Brooklyn public library in her "The child's own library," adding a few others that I thought especially good. As I am much interested in village improvement work, I wanted to try a few such suggestions, too, for the town is rather lacking in civic pride and ambition for betterment. In the spring I also tried another plan to interest the children in gardening that proved attractive to many of them. Underneath a wall poster calling attention to garden books, I had a miniature garden in a shallow box on a low table. It represented a vacant lot made into a garden next to a lot on which a house, barn and windmill stood. These latter were made of cardboard and painted by children in one of the primer grades. Flower seeds were planted around these premises and the vegetable seeds planted in rows and labeled, in the garden. The children could hardly keep their fingers off the seedlings in their zeal to point out to each other what were coming up. It took no more time to get into shape than a well-made picture bulletin would have taken and, I think, was much more effective. Colored pictures of flowers and fruits from the picture collection were hung around the room. These suggestions may seem more appropriate for use in schools than in libraries, but our library is very closely associated with the schools of the town, both being managed by the same board, and I thought we might try other than the usual reading list and picture bulletin methods. Books educate a man, purify his tastes, make him realize his connection with the rest of the world and gradually force him. to a recognition of the true standards of literary judgment. In time they make him indifferent to any judgment but his own, and that is the best service that books or men can do for men. Children's Magazines Margaret C. Fraser, teacher, Alcott school, Magazines have been a popular feature of literature both for adults and young people for many years. The demand for good magazines is growing greater every year, but as yet the field of magazines for children is very limited and of little literary value. A desire for firsthand knowledge in the subject led me recently to investigate material at hand designed for children. viewed were: Youth's Companion, Saint The American magazines which I reNicholas, World's Chronicle, The American Boy, The Boy's Magazine, The Children's Magazine, Little Folks, some of the children's supplements of two Chicago newspapers, and also the children's pages of Ladies' Home Journal and Woman's Companion. The majority of these magazines are suitable for boys and girls over 10 years of age. The contents of the first five run along parallel lines; they contain stories, short and continued; travelogues; current events; humane papers; review of new books; departments of photography; construction work; electricity and mechanics; collections of stamps, coins, curios; popular sciences; tangles, puzzles, jokes. The Youth's Companion has a special page for girls which deals with occupations for women, such as art leatherwork, beadwork, etc.; hints on nursing the sick, and household economics. The Youth's Companion and Saint Nicholas also have pages for little folks. All these magazines are on a par with one another in their various departments. The current events are well chosen and treated in a broadminded, dignified manner, giving the reader a clear, concise idea of the topics under discussion. The travelogues are well selected and intelligently written. In Saint Nicholas, Youth's Companion and World's Chronicle the travelogues are illustrated with excellent prints. The articles on "kindness to animals" are very good and ought to be of great benefit to boys and girls in teaching them how to care for and protect animals. The departments of photography, construction work and engineering are most scientifically managed and are of great value to the readers. Magazines must give to their readers something besides the technical line of reading. Boys and girls want stories and need stories, and this is where the majority of these magazines fail. The best stories are to be found in Youth's Companion, World's Chronicle and Saint Nicholas. These stories are simple, wholesome and well written, emphasizing the best qualities of the characters involved. Most of them are illustrated by black and white prints. In the Youth's Companion and the World's Chronicle these prints are too small and not very clear, but in Saint Nicholas the black and white prints are very good and the colored pictures are most artistic. Among the splendid collection of stories in Saint Nicholas I found a group of illustrated stories which might well have been left out of a magazine of such high character. It was a group of railroad stories in which the boys find themselves in the most precarious situations, always escaping most tragic deaths and hailed as heroes by everyone. The illustrations were extremely sensational, more worthy of the Police Gazette or Fireside Companion than Saint Nicholas. These stories were well written and held the attention of the reader. The American Boy and The Boy's Magazine are full of sensational stories like the above, but their composition and form are not as good. The characters move in good society, which serves as a cloak to the underlying trend of sensationalism. Their English is extremely cheap and slangy. The moral element involved is far from uplifting. These magazines are subscribed for by families in which the nickel weeklies would not be tolerated, on the strength of the value of the other articles found in them. Such stories should be discouraged. The effect on young folks is only too well known, as shown by the records of the juvenile and criminal courts. The other extreme of children's liter ature is also to be decried, such as is frequently found in Sunday school weeklies. The children in them are often preternaturally good and extremely sentimental. They are good not because of the joy to be gained in living by being good, but because they fear some terrible punishment will befall them after death if they are not so. Such stories are most dangerous to the children in whose hands they fall, because they often upset and sicken them, causing them to shrink away from religious teaching. The Children's Magazine and Little Folks are for children under 10, but are of little literary value. They contain fairy stories, animal stories, stories for everyday life, etc., poems, puzzles and jokes. The composition of these stories is not good and the English used is very poor. The poems are little verses by unknown authors. The pages for very little ones are stories with pictures inserted here and there in place of words, making them puzzles instead of stories. The pictures in Little Folks are very simple, such as little children enjoy. Both black and white and colors are employed. These are the best features of the magazine. The pages for little folks in Saint Nicholas and the Youth's Companion are interesting and of good quality, consisting of simple animal and child life stories, poems, puzzles, etc. The illustrations are correspondingly good. The pages for children found in the woman's magazines are very interesting also. Some of the stories told by Laura Richards in the Ladies' Home Journal are interesting, but I do not like her fables, which are pure copies of sop's fables, in which she places other animals as characters. For instance, "The fable of the foolish tortoise" is an exact reproduction of "The foolish crow," with the surroundings changed to suit the environment of a tortoise. When one considers how few mothers and children's nurses are acquainted with good, suitable stories and poems for children, what a wonderful opportunity all these magazines lose in not placing among their contents more of the stand a ard stories and poems suitable for children of various ages. In all my magazine reading I did not find any of the standard animal stories, folk tales, fairy stories or fables, and very few poems by well-known authors. In many homes the only literature children read are the magazines and newspapers. What splendid education it would be for parents, nurses and children if some such literature was to be found in them. Every magazine should also have a department of suggestive reading for young folks conducted along the lines of Hamilton Mabie's outlines for reading in the Ladies' Home Journal. This would make the readers realize that magazine articles are only a very small part of literature and would help them to make a better choice of books. If indulged in moderately magazine. reading has a very broadening effect. The reader gets an insight into many subjects he would never touch upon otherwise. The current events columns keep him posted on the daily events of importance in the world. The stories interest him and tend to instill in him a desire to read more. The better the stories the better his appreciation of literature will be. The greatest evil of magazine reading is to get the magazine reading habit to such a degree that all other forms of reading are neglected, especially the reading of good books. The too constant reading of magazines makes the reader always desirous of a change of subject, resulting in the most detrimental habit which exists among so many adults today-that of starting a book at dinner time and sitting up most of the night to finish it. The consequence is that no book of value can be read that way and the reader gets such a bare idea of the plot that after reading several books in the same way he does not know to which story certain characters belong. It is much better for the young reader to acquire the habit to read a few good standard books over and over again, absorbing not only the story involved but also the style and language of the author. small; the number of valuable children's magazines is infinitely small. Our libraries carry very few of them. The Newberry library carries none at all. In the Thomas Hughes room of the public library I found Saint Nicholas, The American Boy and The Children's Magazine. Of these three Saint Nicholas alone is worthy of a place. Besides these were a few other magazines of travel and outdoor life, but these were not essentially for children. Our public schools are promoting a good cause in organizing The World's Chronicle clubs, the members of which are subscribers to the magazine of that name. They are thus putting into the hands of the children a wholesome and valuable magazine which is very inexpensive. Twelve Lessons on the Use of the The following program is the one used by Miss Tobitt of Omaha (Neb.) public library in her work with the teachers in the public schools of that city. 1. Classification and the use of the card catalog. 2, 3, 4. Reference books. 5. 6. a. Encyclopædias and dictionaries. b. Authors and their works, c. Nature books. Poole's index and the use of the magazines. How to prepare a bibliography. 7. The essentials of a good book for children. The guidance of children's reading. 8, 9. Classes of books for children: picture books, myths and legends, poetry, stories, etc. IO, II. Books for the use of teachers in teaching:-Education, biography, history, nature study, geography, public documents, state laws. 12. General review. Constructive work after each lesson. The relations between schools and libraries are growing stronger all the time. Such work as it carried on in Omaha The number of children's magazines is greatly helps that growth. The Trip to the Pasadena Conference The route to and from the A. L. A. meeting at Pasadena offers attractions equal to any on the continent. Opportunities like this to become acquainted with the beauties and wonders of our country, are seldom offered. Friends of A. L. A. members are welcome to join this party and have full benefit of all rates and hospitalities on payment of entrance fee and membership for one year in the A. L. A. ($3.00), to C. B. Roden, treasurer, Public library, Chicago, Ill. The traveling arrangements have been placed in the hands of Raymond & Whitcomb Company, whose services will in sure the maximum of comfort and minimum of trouble. The trip outlined has been carefully chosen by the Travel committee as giving the best and most famous scenic features of the Southwest. The prices are the result of months of comparison and revision, and are the best that were offered. The announcement is made in two parts: 1) The personally-conducted party. 2) The rates for those wishing to travel independently. To register with the special party send $5.00 as first payment on ticket, at once or not later than April 20, to F. W. Faxon, 83 Francis street, Boston, Mass., stating kind of accommodation wanted and information regarding roommate at hotels en route. Remainder of payment to be made to Raymond & Whitcomb Company, 306 Washington street, Boston, before May 1. Members from the East will start on May 12. The special train will start from Chicago, May 13, at six p. m., over the Santa Fé railroad. Those from such points as St Louis and cities south of the Ohio river will join the train at Kansas City, May 14. For special information delegates from the vicinity of Chicago should write to J. F. Phelan, Public library, Chicago, Ill.; those in or near New York city, to C. H. Brown, Public library, Brooklyn, N. Y.; all others in the United States and Canada, to Raymond & Whitcomb Company, 306 Washington street, Boston, Mass. The first stop will be made at Albuquerque, N. M., to allow a visit to the Fred Harvey Indian and Mexican amine the Indian Pueblo village of museum, and a stop will be made to exLaguna, N. M. The arrival at the Grand Canyon will be early on Saturday morning, and the party will be transferred to the El Tover hotel, where a stay of 36 hours will be made. This hotel is at the brink of the canyon, which is nearly a mile deep and 13 miles wide at this point. Trips into the canyon on horse- or mule-back, rides and walks. along the canyon rim, and sunset trips to Hopi Point are among the possibilities. The week at Pasadena will be entirely independent, no reservations or expenses are provided for by the committee. The special party will leave Saturday, May 27. In the meantime an excursion to Mt Lowe by trolley, a climb up Mt. Wilson, a trip to Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, 25 miles out in the Pacific ocean, are possible. Visits to Riverside with its Mission Inn, Redlands, and others of the beautiful towns surrounded by orange groves, can readily be made. San Gabriel Mission, the ostrich farm, Long Beach and San Pedro will offer special attractions at special rates. Parties for all these will doubtless be arranged for by the local committee. On Saturday morning, the party will leave for the North, the first stop being Santa Barbara, remaining there over night at the Hotel Potter. A trip along the beautiful shore, and a visit to famous Santa Barbara Mission, with its noted bells and view, will be some of the attractions. An all-day ride along the coast, passing several interesting places, brings the party to the famous Hotel Del Monte, at Monterey. Two nights will be spent here, and the "Seventeenmile drive" will be taken by auto. The Del Monte stop will be one of the most enjoyable features of the whole trip. The next day the party will take lunch at the Big Trees near Santa Cruz, and after inspecting this grove of giants, will proceed to San Jose for the night. An opportunity to visit the Lick observatory is offered here. The next day a luncheon at Leland Stanford Jr university is offered by the Stanford library club, and the afternoon brings the party to San Francisco. Headquarters at San Francisco will be at the Fairmount hotel, one of the finest and best located hotels in the city. The view here is superb, and the whole city may be seen, with the wonderful bay beyond it. The stay here for two days will be used to good advantage. Those taking the Yosemite Park trip will leave San Francisco June 2, the trip through the valley being so arranged that it can all be seen by daylight. Those who do not take the Yosemite trip will proceed to Sacramento, and the day will be spent there seeing the city. The next stop will be Salt Lake City, where opportunity will be given to see the city, the tabernacle and Great Salt Lake. After leaving here, the journey is through the heart of the Rocky Mountains, winding up and down, in and out through canyons, gorges, tunnels. The highest point reached is Tennessee Pass, 10,440 feet above sea level. The Royal Gorge is the culmination of the trip, where at the narrowest point the railway passes over a bridge hung from girders mortised into the smooth sides of the canyon, over the boiling river, while the rock walls tower 2600 feet above. Two days will be spent at Manitou, where a drive through the Garden of the Gods is included in the ticket. Other points are Pikes Peak, Crippled Creek, Ute Pass, Cheyenne Canyon, etc. From Manitou the party goes directly east, with a stop at Denver, where opportunity will be afforded to see the library and the capital city of Colorado. A. L. A. special party prices All the reduction in rates is made from Chicago and St Louis and points west thereof, so that passengers not listed in the above, will purchase one-way tickets to point of junction with the special party. Those from Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Washington, will join the party in Chicago, and arrange with Raymond & Whitcomb Company to purchase party tickets from there. Information for those not traveling with the special party Tickets are on sale only May 12, 13, 14, in the Middle West, and only May 11, 12, 13 on the Atlantic seaboard, good returning until July 31. They are good going by any of the central or southern transcontinental lines, and a Railroad round-trip fares and Pullman The round-trip fare from Boston will be $116.50, and $18.50 for Pullman one way; New York, $112.50 and $18; Pittsburgh, $93.50 and $15.50; Chicago, $72.50 and $13; St Louis $70 and $12.50; Memphis, $70 and $12; Little Rock, $70. and $10; Kansas City, $60 and $11; Washington, $106.50 and $17.50; Minneapolis-St Paul, $73.50 and $13; Omaha, $60 and $11; Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, $60 and $10. The rates are given on the Santa Fé railroad. If stop at Grand Canyon is made, an additional charge of $6.50 on |