Food that is prepared in such large quantities is not often what it should be. The spreads that are so enjoyable are ruinous to the digestion. The constant visiting among the girls makes late hours necessary for study, and this loss of sleep tells after hard work and we have frequent "breakdowns " as a result.

4. Every girl during her college course should have the experi ence of dormitory life for the good there is in it, but let it be no longer than necessary for that knowledge.

CRITICISM. 1. Necessarily: 44, 2.-One: Avoid the repetition of this word. The freshman: Why is the used? Is it not ambiguous? -General outlook: Clear?-Consequently: Superfluous ?—General : What objection to the word here?

2. The This use of the article may be noticed often in these themes. It reads awkwardly, betraying the inexperienced writer. See 42 and 40. See also the criticism of ¶ 3 of "Early Education." -Rearrange the parts of this sentence.-Average: This use of the word is sometimes criticised, but it is difficult to find another word. -Well: Repeated.-Thrown: The sentence moves rapidly toward a somewhat unexpected conclusion. Prepare the reader by making two sentences of it and supplying proper connectives.-One . . they: Very loose.-Small: Is not little more idiomatic ?-Made. of: Express more elegantly. - So: 42. Note the excessive use of very.

3. Ones: App. A.-To consider: Vague.-Strangeness: Obscure. -Then after: Expand the sentence.—The spirit: Construction ?— Dormitory life: Some connective is needed to indicate the transition of thought.-Such: Cp. so above.-Not what it should be: A weak euphemism. The spreads: Once more the article is unsatisfactory. It takes uncertain ground between the generic and the specific. Better amplify, explaining "spreads." So also in next sentence.Visiting among: Something omitted. This: Reference ? - Paragraph ends in a slovenly manner.

4. Reference of it. . . it?—That knowledge: Some confusion of thought here-knowledge points back to experience rather than to good.

Note that the essay is fairly well organized. Its conspicuous faults are (1) loose and inadequate expression, and (2) incoherence. The second fault is most marked in ¶ 3.

V. EARLY EDUCATION.

1. The little education with which our forefathers were blessed, was obtained under circumstances so vastly inferior to what we now enjoy that it is difficult to realize the state of affairs in those days.

2. For many years after the first settlements in North America the people were so completely absorbed in fighting Indians, building homes, clearing the land, and managing to exist, that there was no time for thinking of education. The first indication we have of any public interest being taken in the matter was in 1677. At that time Connecticut voted six hundred acres of land to each of the four counties for the support of schools in the county towns. From this time until the present day there has been a continual advancement in the cause. Gradually the people were brought to realize the importance of public schools and the necessity of public aid. As early as 1785 provision was made for the setting aside of one section in every township for school purposes. This has now been extended to two sections with an additional allowance of two townships for the support of a university. There have been various other land grants made for special schools, and asylums, etc., besides substantial money gifts.

3. Even in the beginning of the present century the schools were very deficient. There was a general lack of state organization for the control and management of school lands and school funds, and much was lost through mismanagement. In the district the same trouble was experienced; there the schools were under the supervision of a self-appointed committee who knew little or nothing of such affairs. Certificates were not required of the teachers, and in many cases an ability to spell correctly every difficult geographical name known was the only requisite. As a consequence many worthless teachers were employed. Some of the ambitious college students often spent the winter vacation in teaching in some country districts, and it is to be hoped they were an improvement on the common teacher.

4. The state aid was by no means sufficient to maintain a

school, and so local taxes, subscriptions, and rate-bills were resorted to. These means caused much trouble for the one who subscribed the most usually claimed most control and then if there was any financial trouble in the country the school-tax was immediately withdrawn and often the school would remain closed for a year at a time.

Usually con

5. In equipment the schoolhouse was a wonder. structed of logs, it possessed no outward attractiveness and the interior still less. It was invariably built on the crossroads and the school was disturbed by all the confusion of travel. They were poorly lighted and poorly heated. In many of them a huge fireplace occupied the entire end of the room; the wood was usually supplied by the pupils, each one bringing his share on a certain day. If that pupil failed to attend that day, school had to be dismissed. Then the parents often took this means of disposing of all their green wood and so the children suffered from smoke and cold. Neither was there any provision made for ventilation; in the times of the fireplace the air escaped by means of the chimney.

6. Another evil from which they had to suffer was the uncomfortable desks or benches. There were numerous methods in arranging the seats; in some schoolhouses the desks were fastened to the walls and the children sat on benches facing outwards; in others the order was reversed and the seats were against the wall so that they faced the centre. The teacher's desk usually stood in the centre, around which was placed benches for the little ones, just high enough to prevent their feet from touching the floor.

CRITICISM.-1. Vastly; See dictionary.-To what: Elegant? If we change what to those, what further change must be made?— Those days: Reference ?

2. Settlements: Is the verbal force felt strongly enough to warrant the ellipsis of were made?-For thinking of education: Express more precisely.—Managing to exist: Precise enough? As loosely expressed here, it does not add a wholly new idea: the struggle for existence in a broad sense is implied in fighting Indians, etc. If it be intended as a sort of summary, and not as an additional idea, something in the language or form should indicate this intention.

Have: Find a better word.-Being taken: Necessary ?-Indication was in 1677: Is this a neat expression? Many a phrase, when reduced thus to its simplest terms, betrays its weakness.-At that time: 1677 is specific, time is general; try in that year.-The four counties: What four counties ?-This time: Any reason for changing from that time to this time?—The cause: Explicit enough ?— Were brought: Tense ?-This: What does the reader naturally refer it to at first? See 43, 2. Does the statement apply to Connecticut only ? If these statements do not apply to Connecticut, that sentence should have been subordinate.-There have been made: Recast.-Besides money gifts: Express less crudely.

3. In the beginning: Compare at the beginning.- Much: Much what?-Such affairs: What affairs?—The ambitious college students: Why the? If we strike out the, some of is not needed. For this use of the, compare the ambitious student, the conscientious workman, the habitual drunkard. The used thus with a singular has the effect of distinguishing one class from another, and, in so classifying, it has a collective or partially pluralizing effect. The use of it with the plural grows out of confusion. It is used with the plural however when it is intended to distinguish one class of some particular body. If we have some particular college in mind, we may speak of the ambitious students of that college. So always, when there is further definition, as "the boys on the field who wore black sweaters "the black-sweater boys"; but note that a particular crowd of boys is had in mind. So "in the college of fifty years ago," but "in colleges fifty years ago." Compare 42.—In teaching in: Improve.— Some districts. (Note repetition of some.) Omit some, or write district.—An improvement on: Does the humorous intention justify the inelegance of the phrase?

=

4. A school: The schools ?-These means: What, in strictness, caused the trouble? Note, too, repetition of means.-For: Ambiguous for a moment; 63, 2 (2).—The most usually: Awkward and ambiguous.-And then: Exact force not clear.

5. A wonder: Compare an improvement on.-The interior still less: Balance ?-Confusion: Where was the confusion-in the travel, or in the effects of the travel on the school ?-They: Reference ?—Then: Somewhat loose.-This means: Reference?—In the times of the fireplace: Different from, or the same as, the time described in the other portions of the paragraph? If the same, the thought-relation is obscure, for we are told here that there was ventilation, although perhaps no special provision for it was made.

6. They: Reference?—In arranging: Preposition?-Outwards : Obscure. They: Antecedent? - Around which: The statement which follows hardly gives a characteristic of the teacher's desk-it simply adds something that is closely connected; therefore write and around it.- Was: Grammatical concord?-Just high enough to prevent: If the state of affairs here described was accidental, the phrase should be "commonly too high to allow," etc. As the phrase stands, it implies purpose, and we are made to wonder whether the benches were thus constructed as a precaution against unnecessary noise. The addition of "just" indicates an almost diabolic ingenuity that could inflict this Tantalus-like torture upon the innocent. the phrase was intended to be half-satirically humorous. state of affairs was due to ignorance only, satire is uncalled for. And the writer should forego humor rather than leave the statement obscure. The matter is one of much interest and we have a right to demand exact information.

Does the title fit? Is it wholly clear?

No doubt

But if the

1. As soon as we had finished our lunch we jumped down into the pit and then, stooping a little, entered the cave through its long, low mouth. The boys lighted the way with candles, as it was quite dark inside of the cave. We went straight down an inclined walk of lime rock. It was quite damp and there was a constant dripping of water. The floor of the cave seemed quite smooth and rather slippery-but the roof was covered with stalactites.

2. We went down the passage for some moments and then it broadened into quite a room. We could stand and walk about comfortably. The boys showed us a narrow hole which they said opened into a long passage which ended in a large room, but they did not think that it would be wise for us to explore these deeper recesses as it was necessary to crawl for some distance.

3. On the other side of the room there was a larger hole. We all crawled through that one and then worked our way along, on our hands and knees, up over a large slab of lime rock. Beyond that rock there was a small lake of water. It looked very dark and quiet. We were now at the end of the cave and were many