He

wagons was the subject of the lesson. heard our dull rendering of the text, with a running fire of comments upon it, and then read for us. As he went into the precise meanings of the words in their derivation and use, tearing them to pieces, and"suiting the action to the word," for, of course, he was standing-showed us how graphic was Cæsar's description of the fight, we were at fever-heat of interest. We saw the hurtling javelins fly, and the fierce thrust of darts and spears between the

wagon wheels, and felt the stubborn defence of the doomed Helvetians.

One word in the lesson, subjiciebant, as with quick gesture he put meaning and derivation before us, gave us, with the vividness of the lightning flash, a realizing sense of what is meant by etymology-a branch of study that, like the rich "lead" of the gold deposits, rewards the miner in proportion to the diligence with which he labors. We have since worked this "lead" to some purpose and with much enjoyment-thanks,

in great part, to the impulse given by Mr. Higbee in those old days-until able to feel with Dr. Holmes that "the poetry of words is quite as beautiful as that of sentences."

From first to last the session was a good one, and to the now gray-haired man who contributed very much to make it so-his hair black enough when the note of "January '54," was written-many of the old boys are ready to say that it is as he had hoped: "The memory of it has been a source of delight in after years."

We regard the State Superintendent who has just left the office as the Common School man of Pennsylvania-but change, like death, will come; and coming, there is no man in the college work at whose good fortune we are personally more glad than that of Dr. Higbee, our old-time teacher, to whom we have long felt so keen a sense of personal gratitude. May his administration be characterized by wisdom, energy, and discretion, and the ever-present purpose of "the greatest good to the greatest number." He stands at the threshold of the grandest work he has ever been called upon to perform or direct-the most far-reaching in its influence for the general good. We believe that he will do it as in the Master's eye; and may the guidance and the blessing of that Master whom he serves be with him through it all.

THIRTIETH YEAR AND THIRD EDITOR. From Penna. School Journal, November, 1881.

THE first number of The Pennsylvania School Journal was issued in January, 1852; that for the month of December, 1881, our next issue, will complete its thirtieth year, though not its thirtieth volume-the first volume having been made to include eighteen instead of twelve numbers. During that time there has been no break in the continuity of its monthly issues-so that the next will be its three hundredth and sixtieth number; -there has been no change from its original form of double-column royal octavo pages, and there has also been but a single change in its editorial management.

In its nineteenth volume Dr. Thos. H. Burrowes, its founder and first editor, laid down the pen after thirty-five years of such service in the field and at the desk as men have seldom rendered the cause of popular education. For the period of eleven years, elapsed since that time, Dr. J. P. Wickersham has been its editor-in-chief. With what ability, good judgment, and thorough knowledge of the field, his work has been done, the volumes of The Journal,

year by year, bear noble witness. With the next number, Dr. E. E. Higbee succeeds to the editorship, having assumed charge of these columns in recognition of the fact that the Organ of the Department of Public Instruction should be under the direction of the Superintendent of said Department.

As Dr. Wickersham was the worthy successor of the venerable Dr. Burrowes in the editorial management of The Journal, so in no less degree is Dr. Higbee, in his turn, a worthy successor of Dr. Wickersham. For, while he is a quiet man, of genial temper, who can tell a good story and enjoy a hearty laugh, and to whom mere glitter and parade are utterly distasteful, he is at the same time a man of intense energy, of great force of character, honest and fearless, an able speaker, and a forcible and elegant writer. As to his scholarship: Among the forty thousand men and women-teachers, superintendents and directors-engaged in the common school work in Pennsylvania, we have little doubt that he is the foremost scholar of them all.

It seems fitting and desirable that something be said to the readers of The Journal of the unusual attainments of its new editor in the realm of letters. It is also proper that the educational men of the State should know the breadth of scholarship of their official head and leader. Of this we can, from our own knowledge, speak only in a general way, and for more specific information have therefore applied to those who are able to express an opinion from the standpoint of intimate personal acquaintance and thorough competency to form a correct judgment. judgment. Dr. Higbee is a modest man, and, did he know of this article, would doubtless disapprove it. But he does not know of it, and will be greatly surprised to see the following notes from his old coworkers in the field of letters, themselves among the foremost scholars in the State. That first given is from Dr. Thos. G. Apple, President of Franklin and Marshall College:

FRANKLIN

LANCASTER, Oct. 25th, 1881. Dear Sir: In reply to your note of this morning, I would say that I regard Dr. E. E. Higbee as one of the first scholars in the State. His scholarship covers the whole ground of liberal and professional culture. He is an excellent classical scholar, a good mathematician, and acquainted with German and French. His acquaintance with what are called the Natural Sciences is thorough, but not, I should say, as a specialist. In the department of History and Philosophy his attainments are far beyond ordinary scholarship. His abilities as a thinker, as

well as his long experience in teaching, have made him a master in these departments. In Psychology, Ethics, Esthetics, and Metaphysics proper, including the history of Philosophy, he is entirely at home. My relations have been most intimate with Dr. Higbee for many years, and I regard him as an excellent scholar, and a good, strong thinker. His merits as a speaker are too well known to refer to them here, and and I feel assured that the interests of public education in our great Commonwealth will receive the very best attention at his hands. THOS. G. APPLE.

The second is from Dr. Wm. M. Nevin, the venerable Professor of English Literature and Belles-lettres, a very fine classical scholar and literary critic:

FRANKLIN

LANCASTER, Oct. 25th, 1881. Dear Sir: I have received your note of yesterday, asking for my estimate of the scholarly attainments of Dr. E. E. Higbee, and what I regard his rank among the scholarly men of the state in the same lines of study that he has pursued. I am happy to say that I consider him to rank among the very first. He is a general scholar, of which others will bear you better witness; but my own intercourse with him, which has been long and intimate, suiting himself when we met to my own partialities, has made me better acquainted with him as a man of fine literary taste and culture. His familiar acquaintanceship with the classical authors whether of the ancient or of the modern world, whether of Greece, Italy or England, I have always admired; and his keen appreciative or censuring remarks upon them I have always equally enjoyed. In his long course of giving instruction, whether in the high school or in the college, whether as professor or president, over whatsoever branch he was presiding, whether literary, scientific, or philosophical, he had the happy faculty of presenting his themes in the most engaging manner, so as to elicit the students' continued attention, kindling by his own enthusiasm a corresponding interest in their breasts, carrying them thus along with him unwearied to the end.

As editor of The Pennsylvania School Jour

nal, therefore, I deem him admirably qualified for preserving its acquired excellence, and rendering it, as heretofore, highly interesting, useful, and instructive. It could not have fallen into better hands, Yours truly,

WM. M. NEVIN.

A gentleman who has enjoyed advantages of scholastic training both in this country and abroad, and who has been intimately acquainted with Dr. Higbee and his worka College professor of judicial cast of mind, conscientious in the expression of opinions, and in every way competent to speak upon the subject-writes us at length in reply to certain questions. We condense his letter into a single paragraph :

In Latin and Greek Dr. Higbee is far ahead

of most men who have given special attention to the study of the classic languages. If occasion required, he could write a good book in either, but especially in Latin, with little difficulty. For the purposes of study and investigation he reads Hebrew, German, French, and kindred Romance languages. In the whole field of English Literature, History, and Philosophy, he is thoroughly at home. His lectures on Ethics and Esthetics evince the most careful study and the strength of his thought-power. In brief, as a classical and belletristic scholar, he has made extraordinary attainments. In Mathematics he excels. To different branches of Natural Science he has given attention sufficient to render him a working student and successful teacher in these directions, but not enough to merit rank as a specialist. His articles in the Mercersburg Review will show you what he has done in the several departments of theological learning. He was at one time coeditor of that periodical with Dr. Thos. G. Apple, now President of Franklin and Marshall College. He has also been synodical editor of the Reformed Church Messenger. His whole work, indeed, has been of such a character as to challenge comparison with that of the best; but because he has attained and mastered scholarship for its own sake, and not for any extraneous purposes such as reputation, popularity, etc., he is not now so well (widely) known as some whose learning is nearer the lips, but lacking in the substantial breadth and solidity of true culture.

Dr. Higbee is also a gentleman of fine taste in art and music, so cultivated as to make him a judicious critic in these directions. He is the author of several hymns that have found their way into the books. He is familiar with the best works of the

leading novelists, with hearty admiration of Sir Walter Scott, whose masterpiece, "Ivanhoe," in particular, he has read an almost incredible number of times until it might fairly be said that he knows it by heart. We like him all the better for this, and confess to a life-long preference for learned music, the drama, and the fascinating pages men who find recreation and delight in of the great masters of fiction.

As State Superintendent, he has taken hold of his great work with that wise discretion which was anticipated by his friends at the time of his appointment. We believe that his administration of the Department of Public Instruction will be characterized throughout by the same good judgment and careful regard for the interest, of the Common Schoool System. He has made friends everywhere by personal contact with school men in various parts of the State; and this article is written mainly that these men and others may have some more definite conception of the many-sided scholarship, and the

many-sided character, of him who stands at their head, in the direction of the important work in which all are alike interested.

With the breadth of acquirement and maturity of judgment that have come through a life of intense intellectual activity, at heart he has, and must always have, the quick, fresh impulses of the boy. Nor is he more at home in the pulpit, on the platform, in the professor's chair, or at the editor's desk, than in the gymnasium or on the play-ground, in full sympathy with the lad that wears the gloves or takes the bar, catches the ball or swings the bat; or, in the woods and by the streams, with him who climbs and runs and skates and swims. But of the attractive freshness of this feature of his character, and of his bearing and influence in the school-room, as we knew it when a pupil in his classes, we have elsewhere spoken-in the April number of The Journal, at the time when he entered upon the duties of his present position.

Above all, and more than all, Dr. Higbee is an earnest Christian, with an everpresent sense of whatever that full word implies of constant care and special guidance by the Providence who controls human affairs. He has long been a student of the Bible as of no other book-almost, indeed, as if it were the one book and there were no other. It is this type of broad men who are the best men. It is these men whose influence for good is longest felt in the sphere of labor to which they are "called"-men who look for and are guided by that "inward light" of whose existence more human beings than good George Fox and his disciples have made convincing proof. In a recent address to young men, Robert Collyer is credited with these remarks:

I have said that the fourth thing in a man's life is that good fortune which is but another name for the good providence of God. 'Friends" follow what they call an "inward light." This is the most pregnant truth you can take to your hearts. That "inward" light will be sure to shine in the supreme crisis of your life. Don't budge one step until you see it. Hang on until then to the thing you are doing, and do your best; but when it shines, don't argue or doubt or fear. Follow the light.

On reading this paragraph a few days since, it seemed to present the views held by Dr. H. in relation to his work, be that what it might, and hence it is quoted in this connection. The first time we met him after his appointment as State Superintendent he seemed in no sense elated by the new dignity, but rather to take it as a matter of course in the providential dispen

sation of affairs. He said: "I was not looking for this. I thought Providence had something for me to do, and that it would come, but did not suppose that it would come in this shape. I will do the work as well as I can, and if I see that I cannot do it well, will resign the position at once."

"As well as he can" will, we have little doubt, be good enough to satisfy the best friends of the Common School System in all parts of the State. Upon the encouragement and support of these men everywhere he relies with confidence, and he will not rely in vain.

We have written thus far con amore; and our article has extended much beyond the limits originally designed. Having made "a clean breast of it," we are now ready to apologize to Dr. Higbee for the very free and unauthorized use we have made of his name. The only plea we offer in extenuation of the offence is, as we have already said, that the readers of The Journal should know its Editor, and the State at large should know its Superintendent.

FOUR YEARS AFTER.

From Penna. School Journal, January, 1886.

THE resolution that was recently adopted at the closing session of one of our largest and most intelligent County Institutes, was in strict accord with the facts, in congratulating Governor Pattison upon the re-appointmeut of Dr. E. E. Higbee to the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction, because of "extraordinary qualities of fitness for the discharge of its high duties and responsibilities."

Four years ago it seemed well to the present writer-who wrote then as he does now, without the slightest knowledge or consent of the subject of his article-that some definite statement should be made as to the scholarly attainments and certain personal characteristics of the gentleman who had come, with quiet manner and comparatively unknown, to direct the work of forty thousand men and women entrusted with the guardianship of a million children in their most sacred right of education-physical, moral, intellectual, and, in a sense, spiritual. It was thought, as was then said, that "the State at large should know its Superintendent." Four years have passed, and the State does know its Superintendent.

The advent of Dr. Higbee to the Superintendency was to many of our best school men an appointment of more than novel interest. They did not know the man, and could but await events with keen solicitude,