I SHOULD not be surprised were "H. J. H." to receive a number of letters from headmasters desirous of availing themselves of his valuable services as an assistant. It must be refreshing to a headmaster to find a man taking so exalted a view of his profession as to be anxious about questions of principle. Unless I am much mistaken, the majority of assistantmasters are in the position, chiefly owing to their own folly at the Universities (and elsewhere) of being concerned with pecuniary rather than moral obligations. A headmaster cannot be blamed if he refuses to take seriously the opinions of men whose interests are necessarily narrow and selfish.

With regard to the point raised by “ H. J. H.,” I think it is an assistant's duty to credit his "head" with the honest desire to promote the interests of the school; otherwise loyal co-operation is out of the question. Viewed in this light, an assistant's responsibilities, when differences of opinion between him and his headmaster arise, certainly do not necessitate his resignation. After all, however much of the actual work of the school devolves upon the assistant-masters, the (generally speaking) greater experience of a headmaster should have its due weight in the decision of points connected with school discipline and management. Resignation is a violent way of emphasising a protest, and "the Lord was not in the earthquake."

Nonconformist Grammar School,
Bishop's Stortford,
April 9th.

E. W. HURST.

It seems advisable to add a word or two to the arguments put forward by "H. J. H." in your April number, on the vexed question of differences of opinion between a headmaster or headmistress and an assistant. The issue involved is rarely clear enough for either side to take up a definite position on a mere principle of right or wrong, and the personal equation is a more disturbing factor than "H. J. H." seems to admit. Still cases have arisen in which assistants have been called upon to support a policy condemned by experience, and the continuance of which must lead to results having a serious and grave influence for evil on more than one generation of schoolboys. But it is not easy to convince others of this view of the policy; and the self-respecting man, if he honestly believes that this result is inevitable, will not hesitate, whatever the effect on his future career, to resign rather than allow himself to become a party to maintaining such a course of action. But such cases are happily rare.

The ordinary differences of opinion which are continually recurring in school life, and from which arise the more serious cases already referred to, can generally be avoided by a greater knowledge on the part of each of the other's position. The assistant cannot work effectively if he is working in the dark, and he has a right to look to his superior officer for a large share of his confidence and his views on the relation his work bears to the other work done in the school. If this work does not rise to the standard of the school, then the head should, of course, call upon his assistant to remedy the defect, and, as a rule, he will not call in vain. The idea that the assistant-master is a machine paid to turn out certain work by the term should be an exploded one in these enlightened days, for the best work is only obtained where there is the greatest freedom of action consistent with an agreeable and easy co-operation. On the other hand, the headmaster must feel certain of obtaining from his colleagues immediate and accurate accounts of what is taking

place in the school life as it presents itself to them, remembering that the opinion thus obtained has intrinsic value, and is of the highest importance to himself in obtaining a broad and reasonable estimate of the discipline and moral tone of his school.

To conclude, I should urge, as a remedy for what is undoubtedly a terrible evil in our educational system, a greater freedom in the exchange of opinion between the headmaster and his assistants and the more genuine desire of each to liberally interpret what may be the opinion of the other.

THE essays in this class were generally satisfactory. Most of the es-ays exhibited a correct proportioning of the various parts, and the coherence of ideas was well maintained. The chief failing was a poorness of vocabulary. Mistakes of spelling and syntax were too frequent, and in a few cases the handwriting left much to be desired.

The best essay was that sent in by W. G. King, Kensington Coaching College, W., though the style is occasionally too florid. Special mention must be made of the essays by:B. P. Williams, A. Harris, G. M. Hilbery, T. H. Beckett, W. H. King, J. W. Hepple.

Girls over 15.

:

The standard of merit in this class was very much higher than in the corresponding class of boys. The greater number of competitors and the average excellence of the essays point to the conclusion that mistresses have a higher conception of the importance of the English essay than their colleagues of the male sex. The task of awarding the prize was very difficult. So much care had evidently been bestowed on the composition of the majority of the essays that very minute points had necessarily to be taken into account in weighing the claims of several competitors for first place. The essays of the following competitors are the best of many very creditable ones :-Constance

Pearson, Ethel E. Feather, Helen McNabb, Isabella C. Morrison, Gwen M. Williams, Mona J. Drysdale, Edith Fletcher, Gladys Sherrard, Nellie Hughes, Barbara Little, Eva F. Barker, Nellie Cowles, Jessie Walker, E. Audrey Sparke, Lily Goodwill, Marjory Stephenson.

After careful consideration, we have decided to award the prize to Mona J. Drysdale, Mortimer House School, Clifton, Bristol.

Boys under 15.

The examination of the essays in this class produced a feeling of disappointment. This was due to the carelessness which was so characteristic a feature of the majority. In very few cases was sufficient attention paid to the "Skeleton Essay" provided; divisions of the subject were either ignored or received but scant recognition. The hints that were given with regard to the highwayman's motives and his personality were not generally utilised; the conclusion of the encounter was, as a rule, far from being dramatic, and the courage and cowardice of individuals were not well brought out. In other respects, too, the essays showed signs of carelessness; the new moon had, in more than one case, unusual powers of illumination; snow was made to appear and disappear in a wonderful fashion, and the number of travellers sometimes varied in the same essay.

The prize is awarded to E. L. Gibbon, Manchester Grammar School; the essays of A. Pietzsche, F. Wholly and R. H. J. Sasse deserve commendation.

Girls under 15.

There were some two hundred essays in this class; the majority of them were very fair, and several were distinctly good. Neatness was a pleasing feature of nearly all, but greater attention should have been given to paragraphing. The essays followed the outline much more closely than those by boys in the corresponding class, and very little carelessness was manifested. One competitor, however, received her invitation in March! We have selected the essays of the following girls for special mention :-Hilda Foster, D. R. Wilson, K. Winifred Marriage, Ethel Johnson, L. Weathersby, May Hunt, Dorothy Fitzgerald, Gwen Sizer, Connie Lee, Josie Magenis, Ella Hills, Ruth Graham, E. Matson, Elsie Gertrude Milner, Margery Cossens, Kattie Gough, Daisy Giles, C. M. Herrick, Mildred Clarissa Babb, Edith Buckle, Agnes Yates, Maggie Rankin, Mary Gibson, Mary Blackhurst, I. Hadland, Mabel MarriottDodington.

Three of these wrote very pleasing narratives. K. Winifred Marriage gave a graphic account of an Esquimaux party; D. R. Wilson's essay was well illustrated by pencil sketches in the margin; Ida Hadland, Holland House, Beverley, contrived, in the form of a letter, to give so vivid, interesting and coherent an account of her Christmas party that I have no hesitation in awarding her the prize.

List of Schools, &c,, from which Essays were received. Sherborne School for Girls; Holland House, Beverley; St. Paul's Vicarage, Burslem; Sunnyside School, Fleetwood; St. Michael's School, Norton. Malton; Trinity House, Southport; Lady Berkeley's School, Wootton-under-Edge; Ursuline Convent, Waterford; Monmouth High School; The Modern School, East Grinstead; The Convent, Birkenhead; Old Manor House, St. Margaret's, Ipswich; Nôtre Dame, Brixton; Girls' Grammar School, Berkhamsted; Far Hill, Stroud; Crieff House, Eastbourne; Mortimer House, Clifton; St. Monica's Convent, Skipton-in-Craven; St. Bernard's School, Newton Abbot ; Grosvenor School, Wokingham; Girls' High School, Bayview, Wigtown; Higher Grade School, Cambridge; Greenway House School, Tiverton; The College, Stoke Bishop; Bellerive Convent, Liverpool; Church High School for Girls, Leek;

"Beechcroft," Richmond, Surrey; Higher Grade School, Colwyn Bay; Newcastle House, Lewes; School of Science, Clay Cross; Mercers' School, London; Grammar School, Manchester; County School, Bedford; Praetoria House School, Folkestone; Queen Mary's School, Walsall; Bottwnog County School; Intermediate School, Newport; Liverpool College; Radley College; Boys' Modern School, Leeds; Wilsford House School, Devizes; University College School; Grammar School Morpeth; St. Cuthbert's College, Worksop; Ursuline Convent, Wimbledon; Buckingham Palace Academy, Portsmouth; Convent of Nôtre Dame, Northampton; Hampton House School, Redland, Bristol; Miss Harrison's School, Brighton; Kensing. ton Coaching College; Bickerton House, Birkdale, Southport. A few essays were received without any indication of the name of the school.

No. 15.-Short Stories of School Life.

It is a common complaint of schoolmasters and schoolmistresses that most of the popular stories concerned with school life show a want of knowledge, on the part of the writers, of the peculiar relations between teacher and taught, and the conditions under which they live and work. There is much justification for the criticism. The novelist generally has only the misty recollections of his own school days to guide him. Acting schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, however, certainly possess minute knowledge of the many aspects of school work and school politics, even if their powers of expression are more limited.

If teachers could be persuaded to describe some real or imaginary incident of school life in the form of a short story, it should be possible to secure light sketches free from ridiculous improbabilities and reflecting with a minimum of distortion some scenes or incidents experienced or suggested by teachers or pupils. In the hope of securing at least an approximation to this ideal, we offer two prizes, one of two guineas and one of one guinea, for the two best short stories in which the characters or incidents are connected with school life. The stories may be imaginary or based upon fact, but verisimilitude, as well as literary style, will be taken into consideration in judging their merits. The stories should be written on one side of the paper only, and should reach this office on or before the last day of June, accompanied by a coupon from the May or June number. The length must not exceed 1,500 words.

The award of the Editors is to be final, and will be announced in the August issue, when at least one of the prize stories will be published.

The School World.

A Monthly Magazine of Educational Work and Progress.

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343 U.E.P.I. Candidates prepared successfully for this Examination during 1895-1900, of whom 62 gained distinction. At the latest Examination, December, 1900, which is confined to Mathematics and Languages, of the three candidates who took distinction in German two were prepared by this Institution; so also was one of the two who took distinction in French. Also in Mathematics, one of the two who took a first class was prepared by one of the Mathematical Tutors of the Institution.