amazingly few in number. Thus, a municipal gymnasium would be occupied throughout the school hours, leaving ample time and opportunity for other classes of townspeople, since the children need now no longer be considered in the municipal undertaking. The school gymnastics will be quite sufficient, especially if supplemented by playground activity. This then brings the children in the environment of which we promise fruitful results. Here they are taught subordination unconsciously, here the dull boy or girl is aroused, the shirk awakened from his laziness, the stronghead and quick tempered subdued, the timid given self-confidence, in brief, citizenship, with all what that term implies, is given a life-lasting impetus here in this laboratory of ethics. Every form of physical activity has a legitimate place in the gymnastic lesson, whether this be æsthetic dancing or folk dancing, cat and mouse or football, tumbling or pole vaulting. Some time during the school life some one of these forms predominates, and the boy and girl leaving high school to enter college or to enter a vocation will then be able to choose which kind of exercise to pursue, and will seek the gymnasium and playground voluntarily. There will then be no need for compulsory exercise in college. A generation of boys trained in this broad and liberal way, based upon ethics, will not be guilty of commercialism and the other deplorable ills of athletics of to-day. Gymnasium and equipment, however, are not all that is essential for these fruitful results. The man or woman entrusted with the management of such a "laboratory" plays the most important part. A poorly equipped gymnasium, with a typical and resourceful teacher in charge, will bring forth far better results than a magnificently appointed gymnasium with an unfitted teacher at the head.

A gymnasium instructor can become the most important factor in a boy or girl's life. He stands closer to the child's heart than any other teacher, has many times more of its confidence than the parents. Is not this a relation and influence which should be offered every child, and is not such a life's work as profession a most noble and desirable one? The selection of a teacher for this work should be made with greater care

than that of any other, because of this influencing relationship. I look back with delight to my school days, and the one figure which always looms up first is that of my gymnasium instructor -a whole-hearted man who understood us boys, and who in consequence had the love and confidence of every boy as reward. It was not only his teaching in the gymnasium or on the playground which caused us to admire him, but more so when he invited us to outings, either in form of tramps on foot in the summer, or trips on skates in the winter did we feel nearer to him than ever. Again I ask, how much of all this is possible in fifteen minutes, between desks and under the leadership of a cold, unsympathetic teacher? It is the stone, indeed, instead of the fish. The one legitimate question which the profession must ask itself, and which the educational world has the right to ask the profession is: How much of our effort and of what we give will be retained by our present pupils in their after school life? Is there anything contained in what our youths receive which may induce them to seek wholesome exercise in the gymnasium or on the playground after they enter into life's work? I fear the answer must be in the negative as far as the public schools are concerned. Some few do get a taste of the "real thing" when they go to high school. But the vast army of boys and girls, whom either from lack of municipal provision or from the necessity of becoming breadwinners is denied this taste, are utterly ignorant of what good things await them. They have never been made to experience the buoyancy, joy and fullness of life, which results from a typical hour of physical activity; but, instead, they are rendered an easy prey to evil temptation because of this deprivation of wholesome pleasure. A statement made by a Belgian writer expresses this in the following words, "If your child shuns open play it will be haunted by secret vices."

In recent years a tendency has made itself felt to consider manual training a substitute for physical education. This is a most erroneous idea, and borders on a now almost extinct conception of physical education, namely, that work or labor is synonymous with physical education. It is exercise to be sure, but as remote from physical education as the college yell is

from voice training. In manual training the youth practically works at a trade, and in doing that work develops just such physical tendencies as are credited to the various trades. Physical education does not aim to do a definite piece of work, so that the exercises are chosen for the sole purpose of development. A substitute is as impossible as is the promotion of one phase of this great source of education for national happiness. Why still seek for a short cut toward an end which we well know necessitates the whole and not only one infinitesimal part? It is utterly wrong and futile on the part of the profession to concentrate its effort upon trying to make the fifteen minute schoolroom gymnastics become physical education. Warum in die Ferne Schweifen, wenn das Gute liegt so nahe. Instead, let us bend every effort to obtain for our youths that time and environment which is essential for the promised fruits. Let us not lose ourselves in promoting a system, or plays, or dancing, or athletics, or any one feature, but give the whole, choosing wisely when and where to give it. Let our course be marked by definiteness and principle, and let our demand upon the educational powers be based upon stability by the entire legitimate profession; not one fad in the East, another in the West, and still others in the North and South.

Oxford as an Educational Center for Women

LILLIAN V. LAMBERT, PH.M. (UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO), PROFESSOR OF LITERATURE, IOWA STATE NORMAL college, cedar falLS, IOWA

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HERE is nothing magnificent in the scenery round about Oxford. The city is located in the midst of an agricultural district surrounded by farms, many of which are small and unpretentious. These, however, have a modest, homelike beauty of their own, especially in spring when the fields are green, when vine and moss have come to hide the roughness of the stone walls with their picturesque covering, and Nature, with her lavish hand has scattered flowers all over the meadows and hedges.

The University of Heidelberg is surrounded by lofty mountains. First of all, the wondrous sublimity and grandeur of nature appeals to one. The university itself is of secondary consideration.. Such is not the case with Oxford. It is known throughout the world for the work, not of nature, but of man. It contains within its boundaries twenty-four colleges and halls for men and five for women. Just as the mountains show the incomparable power of nature, so these colleges reveal the capability of man-what he has done, what he is still attempting to do. It is primarily in relation to man, then, that Oxford interests us. It has been the home of many of England's greatest educators, reformers, statesmen, philosophers, historians, artists, and poets. To the woman who delights to find educational customs tinged with traditions from the far-away past, who is susceptible to the influence of association, who finds a part of a great man's personality still lingering in the haunts that he frequented, no place will give her more pleasure intermingled with her work than does Oxford.

The University of Oxford is made up of the following colleges that are open to men only: All Soul's, Balliol, Brasenose, Christ Church, Corpus Christi, Exeter, Hertford, Jesus, Keble, Lincoln, Magdalen, Merton, New College, Oriel, Pembroke, Queen's, St. John's, Trinity, Wadham, Worcester, St. Edmund

Hall, University College. Aside from these, we have the following institutions that are exclusively for women: Lady Margaret Hall, founded in 1879; St. Hugh's Hall, founded in 1886; St. Hilda's Hall, founded in 1893; Norham Hall, a place for residence and study for foreign women; and Somerville College. The latter was opened in 1879. On October 20, 1904, extensive new buildings were added when the institution, hitherto known as Somerville Hall, assumed the dignity and rank of a college.

Women are not admitted to matriculation at Oxford, neither are they granted degrees. They are given full privileges of study, however, and the opportunity of attending nearly all the courses of lectures offered by the University and the various colleges. The entrance requirements for women are the same as those for men. Some time before the end of the first term they must pass responsions or its equivalent. This consists of arithmetic, algebra or geometry, Latin and Greek. Special attention is given to the last two subjects, as a knowledge of the classics is still considered an essential part of each person's mental equipment for life. There are but two other examinations during the college course: "moderations," which occurs during the second year and includes everything up to that time, and "finals," which close the course. There are two grades of examination following upon the course pursued, the "pass examination" and the "honor examination." The latter is more comprehensive and of a higher grade than the former. Women are admitted to "honor examinations" only. They are given a certificate indicating their rank, but no degree is conferred upon them. This certificate is here considered equivalent to a Bachelor's degree from any of our best colleges.

Women do not wear the cap and gown. This is a custom reserved for man only. The latter are not permitted to appear on the streets after nine o'clock in the evening without academic dress. A proctor accompanied by two scouts, known by the boys as "bull dogs," is out each evening to see that this rule is observed. If he sees a young man without his cap and gown the scouts give chase. If the student can reach his college without being caught, he is safe. Otherwise he is brought before the authorities next morning and fined five shillings.