choral organizations. In several of the evening high schools social dances among the students are a regular feature of the year's work. Another illustration of the workings of the social motive is shown in the evening schools of Richmond, Va.:

An attempt has been made to correlate social activities with the work of the regular night schools. An advantage of this plan is in the increased interest on the part of the pupils, and in saving extra heat and light. Instead of the regular night-school work being interrupted, it seems to be facilitated by this social work.

This work consists of physical games, basket ball, folk dancing, athletics, literary and dramatic clubs, reading rooms, study hall, story telling for younger children, etc. Occasional talks by local talent along civic, vocational, and other educational lines are being conducted with satisfactory results. Many of these social activities have been made possible by the support of outside agencies, as social workers and others. A strong effort is being made to have the schools become community centers for all activities that lead to a higher standard of citizenship.

A more elaborate working out of this idea is found in the new evening-school system in Pittsburgh, Pa. According to its printed prospectus:

Any public-school building will be opened if a sufficient number of citizens of the local district call for its use as a community meeting house. Wherever the people organize for general meetings or activities by clubs or groups, the board will appoint a secretary to serve the local center in the necessary clerical and supervisory work, and to unify the plans and needs of the people's organizations with the spirit and purpose of educational extension. The activities under social center work may include home and school associations, mothers' clubs, civic and social groups, vocal and orchestral music, literary and athletic exercises, debates, contests, and general lectures and entertainments. When a social center shall call for regular class instruction in any department, such classes, with the persons in charge, will come under the evening-school regulations.

The report upon evening schools and extension work for November, 1913, in Pittsburgh, shows that 19 schools were accommodating a total of 34 of these social-center groups. One of the most interesting results of this work is shown in the musical life which it has stimuIated. In the second year of the plan there are now 5 choral societies, 4 chorus classes, 1 class in vocal culture with a combined membership of 600, and 3 orchestras with a total membership of 60. For the administration of this work a department has been provided under the head of a "director of special schools and extension work.”

LIBRARY EXTENSION THROUGH SCHOOL BRANCHES.

"There is a growing tendency to extend the use of the school library, that the parents as well as the children may receive benefits therefrom." This note from Salt Lake City states a fact that is true also for other parts of the country. Throwing open the school library facilities is having the significant result of enriching the literary resources available for the pupils. How this is coming about in many communities is illustrated by an instance from South Orange,

N. J. At the Maplewood School in that city a circulating library has been developed by the library division of the local home and school association, a librarian has been installed, and the books properly catalogued and made accessible to the public one afternoon and one evening every week. The school pupils have access to this room, and the board of education cooperates by furnishing the room and some of the books.

In some places reading rooms where current periodicals are made accessible to the public are being provided through the aid of individuals and voluntary organizations. The extension of library facilities is coming about through the school board's desire to increase the use of school buildings by the public, and the library board's desire to get more books to the public. Where cooperation between. these two boards has been effected, one of the first results is to permit the use of schoolhouses as distributing stations. The outgrowth of this movement is the installation of branch libraries in the schoolhouse, as is illustrated in the case of Grand Rapids, Mich.; Erie, Pa.; and a number of other cities. School children going to and from school make good distributors of circulating books, while the location of the library branch in the schoolhouse makes its facilities more accessible both to the neighborhood and to the school's pupils.

THE HIGH SCHOOL AS AN ART CENTER.

The well-known art gallery in the Richmond (Ind.) High School has now a rival in the Municipal Art Gallery located in the foyer of the new Washington Irving High School, New York City. At the free exhibitions which bave already been held in the Irving School the collections have come from private homes, art societies, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The gallery is open to the public during school days from 8 a. m. to 9.30 p. m., on Saturday mornings, and on Sundays from 1 to 5 p. m. In the securing of material the principal has the cooperation of the high school's department of art, several art societies, and the Gramercy Neighborhood Association.

EXTENSION OF DAY ACTIVITIES.

A longer day school program, such as obtains in Gary, Ind., represents a tendency that is found in an increasing number of school systems. In many places the gymnasium facilities are thrown open to the boys and girls for periods immediately after the close of school. This is also a favorite hour for band rehearsals, meetings of mothers' clubs, improvement associations, and folk dancing classes. In Grand Rapids, Mich., domestic science classes for parochial pupils are held in several schoolhouses from 4 to 6 p. m. In Louisville, Ky., and Milwaukee, the social centers are open in the afternoon.

In New York City school playground work has been inaugurated at 163 public schools under the direction of the department of physical training. In a number of cities school buildings have been opened Saturday mornings for various activities, such as classes in domestic science and physical and manual training. The laundry installed in the basement of the Lincoln School, Lexington, Ky., is open after school hours throughout the week for the use of the housewives of the neighborhood. At Fort Dodge, Iowa, the shower baths in one of the new buildings are open Saturday afternoons for boys and in the evenings for men, under the supervision of the physical training teacher.

These are only a few of the instances of this kind of school extension.

ADAPTING SCHOOL BUILDINGS FOR COMMUNITY USE.

The superintendents' letters make many references to the installation of electric lights, bathing and gymnasium equipment, movable classroom furniture, and screens for lanterns. More significant still, numerous cities are adding new rooms to old school buildings for the purpose of meeting some new community demand. For example, in Everett, Wash., a school has received an addition which contains quarters for settlement work and a branch of the city library, as well as a ground-floor auditorium. From Stockton, Cal., comes the report of an extension to a high school which contains accommodations for manual training, and a capacious gymnasium. The latter is equipped with elevated seats along the sides for 700 people. On occasion several hundred more can be seated on the main floor by bringing in chairs. The new equipment is provided for studentbody dances, bazaars, and various social gatherings.

In respect to new buildings, a typical comment is from Spokane, Wash.: "All our new buildings are equipped with assembly rooms." In Oakland, Cal., club rooms are also provided in new ward buildings. Harrisburg, Pa., reports a 12-classroom building with an auditorium having capacity for 750 people. According to the plans adopted, this auditorium will have movable seats, in order that the room may be used for a variety of purposes. A gymnasium is also planned for the building, which will cost, exclusive of grounds and equipment, about $90,000. The newest style of Jersey City public school has a library and reading room available for use as a branch of the public library by the public during and after school hours.

As might naturally be expected, the new high schools also show many provisions for a larger public use. Wallace, Idaho, is constructing a building which will have a gymnasium with considerable audience space, an auditorium, a swimming pool, and a bowling alley. The new high school in Selma, Ala., has two auditoriums;

the smaller, with a seating capacity of 150, is designed especially for the accommodation of women's clubs and for occasions when a large auditorium is not desirable.

The most striking consideration of community needs in schoolhouse structures is being shown in several new schools which have been given by individual benefactors. Evanston, Ill., reports a "neighborhood house" for smokers, card clubs, and sewing circles, which was donated by a benevolent citizen, who also contributes $1,500 a year for extension work. In Natchez, Miss., the Carpenter Memorial School, a building having capacity for 400 elementary children, has not only an assembly room, gymnasium, and swimming pool, but also generous space for library work. These latter facilities include reading, stack, and reference rooms. Woodworking and domestic science quarters are also provided.

In Waitsburg, Wash., a $40,000 school has been given to the city which has a very complete equipment for vocational and physical education. Its capacious gymnasium is fitted with a collapsible platform and folding chairs so that it can be used for large meetings and school entertainments. The domestic science rooms have equipment for serving a large number of pupils. large number of pupils. Bowling alleys and a swimming pool are also provided.

SCHOOL EXTENSION IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

In the brief space available but slight mention can be made of the multitudinous evidences of the growth of activities in country schoolhouses. From many States come reports of farmers' institutes, lyceum and Chautauqua courses, meetings of school improvement leagues, and agricultural extension courses. In Wisconsin, where the agitation for a more sociable country life is very active, the university extension division is sending out lecturers, lantern slides, motion-picture films, and suggestive programs for neighborhood meetings and is arranging community festivals. At its suggestion in one of the townships the school board has arranged for adults free transportation by omnibuses to evening gatherings in the township high school. Several other State departments are also lending lantern slides, sending out handbooks for civic-center activities, and stimulating the formation of local associations for parents and teachers. As a result of the agitation for improved agriculture, tomato clubs, corn, cotton, and hog clubs, are being formed in many sections of the country. All of these center at the district school and increase its importance to the community.

In many districts the new buildings have additional rooms for domestic science and manual training; these rooms are also adapted to social and recreational uses by the community. Along with this larger equipment there is a considerable extension of library facilities.

One of the most important factors in this movement is the township high school. A notable example is the new La Salle-Peru (Ill.) Township high school. The main building contains a large auditorium, which is separate from the regular high school assembly room. The domestic science department is equipped to provide hot lunches in a regular dining room at a trifling cost. A social center building, donated by a local philanthropist, is attached to the main school by a roofed gallery. It contains a large swimming pool, bowling alleys, gymnasium, auditorium, library, reading rooms, and space for billiards and pool. The obvious service which such an equipment can render to country life will undoubtedly be influential in bringing about the incorporation of similar accommodations in other township schools throughout the country.

WIDER USE LEGISLATION.

The following synopses outline the main provisions in recent State enactments touching after-day class activities in public schoolhouses: California.-Establishes civic centers in every schoolhouse where citizens may engage in recreational activities and discuss all subjects which pertain to the educational, political, economic, artistic, and moral interests of the community. Light, heat, and janitor service to be provided for out of school funds. Such use to be granted free except where an admission fee is charged. Management vested in school board. Approved June 6, 1913.

Indiana. Upon application of one-half or more of the voters, any schoolhouse capable of wider use shall be opened for the free discussion of public questions and for other civic, social, and recreational activities. Nonexclusive associations of citizens shall have the use of schoolhouses free of charge when not being used for regular school purposes. School boards may provide for other civic, social, and recreational uses. Approved March 15, 1913.

Idaho.-School trustees may authorize the use of any schoolhouse as a community center. Article XXI, section 185.

Iowa.-School boards authorized to use school grounds as recreation grounds. Provides also for levying tax to support same.

Kansas.-District boards authorized to open schoolhouses for the use of religious, political, literary, scientific, mechanical, or agricultural societies or societies for the suppression of crime. Laws of 1913, chapter 284, section 1.

Kentucky.-District trustees authorized to permit use of schoolhouses by any local assembly of educational, religious, agricultural, political, civic, or social bodies, occasions, or gatherings. Passed March 13, 1912.

Massachusetts.-School committees may conduct educational and recreational activities upon school premises and allow the use thereof by individuals and associations for educational, recreational, social, civic, and philanthropic purposes. Passed May 19, 1914.

New Hampshire.-District boards may grant use of schoolhouse for a writing or singing school and for religious and other meetings.

New Jersey.-School boards may permit the use of schoolhouses and grounds for giving instruction; public library purposes; social, civic, and recreational meetings, and for occasions where admission fees are charged; also for polling places, registration of voters, and holding political meetings. Passed in 1913.