the experts prepared from. their 684 classroom visits short examinations to see whether or not the upper grades were being taught what is actually used by able business men in Springfield. These tests in spelling, history, arithmetic, and geography were given to eleven of the most prominent and successful citizens. And the lamentable and laughable result of those examination papers has made over the course of study. For the marks showed between the work of the school and the work of the world little intimate relationship. This is changed now, and the course of study is being made-being made, not was made not by the Board of Education, but at conferences joined in by all the teachers of a grade, principals, and superintendent. And this is true for grammar schools and high schools.

High schools? you ask. Does a city of sixty thousand have more than one? Springfield does now, thanks to the survey. And so enthusiastic was the community in putting into effect the recommendation for the junior high schools, so enthusiastic has been the response of pupils and teachers and parents. that it has been said that these schools alone are justification for the survey.

It has always been true in Springfield that the high school cost more per pupil, and for many less children, than the grammar schools. Instead of having eight and four year systems, try the six-three-three plan, with intermediate groups, called junior high schools, of seventh, eighth, and ninth grade children, said the report. This gives a special kind of schooling for the difficult adolescent period, with a fine chance for vocational training for both boys and girls. And it is especially wise for Springfield now, when the high school is overcrowded. Ninth-grade children remain in school, in their own communities, and when the break does come, changing to the senior high, it is accompanied by no break in studies.

This worked like a charm in the three junior high schools organized in the city. One outlying district, generally sending one or two children to high school, graduated nineteen on a Friday at the end of January, and on Monday the whole nineteen turned up for high school work!

iRegarding vocational training, Springfield's greatest need is for the boys, and this could be given in the junior and senior high schools, using for its material all the kinds of work volved in maintaining the school buildings

Last year one group of boys made boxes and chests of drawers for the baby welfare station and the nursery in their school. girls made the curtains and kept them laundered. One class made steps for the auditorium platform, a ladder for the movingpicture booth, and the framework for the curtains over the semicircular windows. This last item proved the survey correct as to economy, for the curtains cost ten dollars less than the lowest estimate from a downtown store!

Another school made most of the apparatus for a playground that is one of the indirect results of the survey, and a good illustration of community action; for this summer of supervised play was financed by the Woman's Club, and carried on in a school-yard; : the boys of the neighborhood did the work, and received in return a recommendation in both school and recreation reports.

In any faétory it is the little leaks that spell inefficiency; and. one of the valuable parts of the report are the many suggestions for little things which in the past meant waste, but may be easily corrected; such things as that the filing system in the main office is needlessly complex, that few towns spend so much for supplies, and recommending a businesslike way to remedy this and save money; that class-rooms and corridors and coat-rooms have waste space, with the result that Springfield's buildings are fifty per cent

larger than those of other cities for the same number of children.

It is a little thing, perhaps, to point out that coat-room hooks and blackboards and seats should have some reference to the size of the children using them; that there should be no running in fire drills; that all outside doors should have "panic bolts "-preventions of tragedy; that the lighting in classrooms is below standard in amount; that just two rooms have windows at the left only, these same windows being washed twice a year in some schools, twenty times in others. But it is the little things that count in school housekeeping.

But, you ask, is there nothing found satisfactory in Springfield? Indeed, yes; scat

THE "PANIC BOLT WITH WHICH THE DOOR SHOWN IN ADJOINING PICTURE IS EQUIPPED

tered all through the report you will find emphatic indorsements and little pats of approval, on which parents and teachers and children and Board may justly pride themselves classes averaging only thirty-six, and no part-timers; high promotion rates; friendly relations between pupils and teachers; discipline good; writing and spelling up to the average of other cities, though the arithmetic is done more rapidly and less accurately; efficient collection and accounting of funds; and Board members unsparingly generous in the time and attention they give, give, "their altruistic interest and personal self-sacrifice" being "splendid and valuable assets to the city.".

But the surveyors did not go to Springfield

with any idea of bestowing only approving nods, enlarging on the good points or work already well begun. So these statements are briefly put, and almost every one is followed by some little recommendation for still better results in the future. The school nurse is entirely competent and devoted to her work, but has more to do than one person can do thoroughly. Springfield needs. three nurses and a half-time doctor; why not have a competent physician for this and the municipal work, as suggested in the public health report? The city has an extra nurse

now.

Bubbling drinking fountains are a credit to Springfield, but place them in the corridors, not in the toilet-rooms, as in some schools. The generous grounds are another score in Springfield's favor; but unless they are used. after school hours, Saturdays, and in the summer they are a costly investment lying idle. The surveyors would have been delighted to see the supervised play carried on in five schools last vacation.

And the buildings themselves should be used more. Well, in these two years the branch libraries have increased to eleven, all in schools, and five hundred books circulating in a month is a frequent occurrence. week last spring there were no less than seventy-five meetings held in the schools, and in not one was there any disorder-meetings for debates on municipal questions to be submitted to the voters, pre-election talks by the city commissioners, mothers' clubs, even elections !

Aside from the economy, pollingplaces in school-houses have helped the community.

"If you could know what this district was like before!" said one principal. They used to drive right up to the door with their carriages of voters, half of them drunk. But last election there was nothing like that, and I heard one fellow advise the others, None of your rough stuff here-our kids are having school upstairs !" "

But how, people frequently ask, is the expense of carrying out the survey recommendations to be met? Increased taxation? Impossible for Springfield, already taxed to the limit. A survey is all wrong if it tells only how to spend money-anybody can do that. Here the cogs do not fit exactly; they can be made to fit. Try this. There oil is needed; spend money for your oil but make sure you have the right kind for this particular machine. And there is not, in the whole

two, till these youngsters now getting acquainted with the bank become investors and borrowers." And this isn't wholly selfish," commented a bank president. "Children who failed to form the right habits at home, and the saving habit is one, used to be at a disadvantage all their lives. Now the community is trying to balance things up, to give the handicapped child a show. And in this savings habit the banks of Springfield are doing their share."

These are but a few of the tangible results that can be pointed out. But still more important are the intangible ones summed up in Springfield's new view of things. Not only is the taking of the next step made easier, but in those instances where the survey

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recommendations have been discussed and rejected or where to date nothing has been done the city finds it impossible to go back to the old standards, to have the old indifferent spirit about the community's work.

Perhaps Springfield hasn't a new conscience, for it must have been some vague stirrings of community conscience that made the survey wanted; but it has been aroused and stimulated. In the survey and its followup work Springfield has resolved that the community" shall have, under God, a birth of freedom." And this not for themselves alone, but for the other Springfields, the twenty-six that share its name, and the one hundred and ninety-six that share its problems and opportunities.

I

As

T was in the summer of 1910 that I first saw Tamines. Traveling from Charleroi to Namur by railway, we passed through a number of little towns, and Tamines must have been one of them. a matter of fact, however, I did not remem-. ber it; for my only recollection of that ride through the valley of the river Sambre was a hazy one, slightly reminiscent of the less attractive environs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Doubtless I casually opened my Baedeker, read the following elucidative passage, "Tamines (312 ft.), a small town with 2,500 inhabitants," and straightway forgot.

Five years later, in the summer of 1915, I again followed the windings of the Sambre. This time, however, I was in no such casual frame of mind. For I had heard that in the churchyard of Tamines was epitomized the whole tragedy of the invasion of Belgium.

Motoring from Namur by the Waterloo road, we passed field after field dotted with white wooden crosses. Some were inscribed, "Two Belgian soldiers who died for their country;" others, perhaps, "Eight German soldiers who died fighting for the Fatherland." All the way were these quiet reminders of that relentless gray flood which had swept over the region the year before.

We entered Tamines from the northwest. At first view the little town seemed undamaged. We turned into the main street and

passed the Hôtel de Ville; still, to my surprise, not a scar, not a "souvenir of August, 1914," could be seen. At the sharp turn to the railway crossing three soldiers barred the road; one stood at attention with bayonet fixed, one waved a red flag, and one held aloft a signboard with the definite instruction, "Halt."

For the eleventh time that day I produced my passport. And after the ancient bearer of the red flag had read and re-read it carefully and pointed out several of its paragraphs to his friend of the signboard, they both muttered, Gut," and we were allowed to pass.

Then, as we made the turn, a panorama of Pompeian desolation was suddenly unfolded before our eyes. The half of Tamines on the south side of the railway was in ruins. Across the tottering walls and fallen wreckage we could see the church and two houses near it still standing; but they were the only buildings which had been spared.

Henri, the Belgian chauffeur, stopped the car, and we gazed in silence. Finally he spoke : "The Germans burned two hundred and sixty-four houses here. You see, monsieur," C'est bien arrangé, n'est ce pas ?"

"It is well arranged "-that is the customary expression among the Belgians for an occasion like this. I have heard it uttered in exactly the same tones on the heights

above Dinant, at the station of Spontin, and on the steps of the Hôtel de Ville at Louvain.

Presently we drove slowly through the main street, piled on each side with débris. At the second corner Henri pointed out a particularly desolate ruin. "In other times," he explained, "that was the café where one could find the good Burgundy; then, with a characteristic shrug of his shoulders: "Quelle affaire, monsieur, quelle affaire ""

And so we came to the churchyard of Tamines.

"You may enter," said Henri; "and in there you will find the graves of three hundred and fifty of the four hundred and eighteen peasants who were executed by the Germans on the evening of the 22d of August a year ago."

Going in, I walked to the north side of the church. All at once I stopped, rooted to the spot.

Before me was the saddest sight I have seen in Belgium. In a space of only about sixty by six feet were over two hundred rude wooden crosses, each with the name of a Belgian upon it, each with the inscription: "22 Août, 1914."

On the other side of the church was a smaller plot with one hundred and fifty more crosses, each bearing the same date.

Some of them were tall, some short; all were so crowded together that they appeared to lean upon one another for support.

The scene of the execution was close bya large open common with the river Sambre flowing along the far side, and a high brick wall, its surface battered and bullet-marked, standing at one end and extending from the churchyard to the river bank.

This afternoon two little girls were playing with dolls in front of the brick wall, and a man of about thirty-five or forty years was watching them listlessly.

"That is Paul

"said Henri, pointing

to the man. "He will give you better than I an account of what happened here, because he is one of the Taminois who were present. when the Germans came:"

Walking over, I made friends with the little girls, while Henri explained to their father that I would be interested in his story. And so our conversation began.

"Yes, monsieur, the little girls were here a year ago too, and their grandfather is buried in the churchyard with the others who were shot that terrible evening. You may

see his cross in there; it is marked Age de 76 ans,' and, like the others, 22 Août, 1914. But, since you wish it and you are not a German, I will tell you all the story.

"Just one year ago we were very happy in Tamines. My wife, the little girls, and I lived in a small house by the railway, and I worked every day in the mill of Grogneaux, at Auvelais. In the evenings we would go to the café, and sometimes there would be the cinema in the square.

"It was just after my older girl's first communion that the war came. At first we did not believe it could be true; then refu gees brought the news of the terrible things which had happened at Vise, and we began to realize.

My friends in the Garde Civique were mobilized and ordered to Namur. Our mill was closed. I stayed at home and at the café, for no one worked in those days.

Then, far away in the distance, like thunder, came the booming of the great guns of Liège. Ah, that defense of Liège ! And every day we heard that the English had come; that they had been seen going through Nivelles or Gembloux en route for Liège. Then the report would say that, though they had not come yet, they were on their way. 'Les Anglais viennent,' that was our hope and our prayer.

"But still the English did not come.

Ah, those days of rumor and excitement! Our Belgian troops were moving, trains were rushing through. We knew not what to think nor what to do. And all the while could be heard that distant, ominous rumbling from Liège.

"Then on Sunday evening-I think it was the 16th; yes, just six days before the 22d-when we were all at the café, Pierre came among us, and told what had hap pened at Jemeppe.

"A cavalry patrol in strange uniforms had ridden down the road from Moustier, and the villagers thought that the English had come at last. Great was their enthusiasm Rushing from the houses they shouted, Vive l'Angleterre Vive les Anglais l

"But what a surprise was theirs. The riders turned angrily in their saddles, growling, Taisez-fous l' and muttering in guttural tones. Some one cried, The Germans I' And, sacré, it was-a patrol of Uhlans.

"They galloped through the street, and were about to turn away by the road towards Onoz when some imbecile of a villager