They were fortunate, too, in having an excellent building, with a library located in it, and reading-parties held by residents and others. The Students' Union also had been of great use in binding the students together. Each class had a conversazione at intervals, managed entirely by themselves, while during the summer they had various excursions. He believed their chief need now was to broaden the basis of election to their committees, so that the students should be more completely represented, and also to give the students a closer connection with the Central Society. He was present at the last annual meeting of the Central Society, which was of a purely formal character. He had never seen so many resolutions passed in so short a time. He was sure that, if the students could be members of the Society and elect representatives on the Council, the meetings would become more real and useful. He ventured to hope that they would in future frequently have conferences similar to that one. Mr. KNAPP (Kingston) asked a question as to the functions of the Council, which was answered by Mr. ROBERTS.

Mr. SKINNER (Dulwich) said he thought they wanted a Toynbee Hall in every district of London. He believed the solution of their difficulty was, to a great extent, one of bricks and mortar. He had the completest confidence in the gentlemen and ladies who formed the Council of the Society, and did not think anything would be gained by giving the students direct representation, as had been suggested.

Mr. MCCORMICK (Whitechapel) thought the work of the Society had proceeded too much on academic lines. Many of the subjects did not appeal to the people we wanted to reach. The middle classes were, on the whole, well provided for. He felt we ought to try to reach the working classes.

Mr. SCOTT (Poplar) said that the question of giving permanence to the lectures had been touched upon, but not in a practical way. He thought the best plan was at each centre to try to connect the work with some school or local institution, such as a public library. He felt sure that gatherings such as that one did much to make the work permanent. Their difficulty in Poplar had been as to subjects. Should they take up bread-winning subjects or culture subjects? He believed that the latter was the main function of the Society. Other bodies were engaged in providing technical education. People often pressed for subjects that are examined in by the Science and Art Department, but what we had to do was to provide, not so much for the wants as for the real needs of centres.

Mr. E. J. C. MORTON was called upon by the CHAIRMAN, and said-One great good may be done by Toynbee Hall. From the lecturer's point of view, one great lack of the system at present is want of continuity and consequent thoroughness in the work. A few of the students want to go on, but a sufficient number cannot be got to meet the expenses of a course. He suggested whether a kind of advanced centre might not be formed for all London, where second courses might be given, to which students from various centres might come. Referring to the resolution before the meeting, he asked what body was to elect represen tatives on the Council? It was clear that each centre must form a local society or association consisting of the students, which would manage the lectures at the centre through its own elected committee and officers.

Mr. CORRIE GRANT drew attention to the fact that it was getting late, and that one subject set down for discussion had not been touched upon. He ventured, therefore, to suggest the adjournment of the conference till some date to be fixed.

Mr. R. D. ROBERTS pointed out that adjourned meetings were seldom successful, and suggested that perhaps the better plan would be to bring the meeting to an end that night; but that, as the feeling was obviously strongly in favour of another similar gathering, he would undertake to call another conference in the autumn.

The CHAIRMAN put the resolution, which was carried unanimously, and the meeting separated after passing a vote of thanks.

Reports of Societies, Meetings, etc.

TOYNBEE HALL NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. A MEETING of students and residents was held at Toynbee Hall on the 15th April, to consider the advisability of forming a society which would embrace all the natural sciences now studied by the students at the centre, and to consider how to so weld them together as to facilitate their studies. It was decided to form such a society, and its name to be the Toynbee Hall Natural History Society. For the present five sections are to be taken up, viz.:-Botany, Zoology, Geology, Physical Geography, and Microscope. Five gentlemen have undertaken the direction of these subjects. The method of study will be mainly by excursions into the country to places affording special interest to the students of the various subjects. It is earnestly hoped that all students who take an interest in the natural sciences will attend the next general meeting of the society, to be held at Toynbee Hall on the 6th of May, at 8 p.m. The Honorary Secretary Natural History Society, Toynbee Hall, will be happy to afford any further information.

THE EDUCATIONAL REFORM LEAGUE. IN pursuit of its aim to improve elementary teaching, the Educational Reform League invited a party of Government inspectors, officials, and teachers last month to hear Mr. Sonnenschein at Toynbee Hall. In a long address this gentleman showed how the best teachers were crippled by the Code and the system of payment by results. Foreigners, he said, could not understand how such sensible people as the English put up with a system which encouraged teachers to neglect the intellect of the country, and all the colonies at once renounced the system. Conceive," said he, "the folly of forcing a teacher, after three months, to put aside a third of his class, saying, 'These are safe for the next examination, I have no need to teach these;' saying the same of another third after another three months; and then devoting himself for six months to cram the remaining dull third with answers which they would forget the month after the examination." "Conceive," he said, "the folly of thus leaving untrained, of thus spoiling the boys whose brightness and intelligence would make the wealth of the country; yet this must be the result while payment is by results and the teacher is expected to pass ninety-five per cent." As he made this charge against the system of payment, so he also made a charge against the Code and its arrangement of standards. He then gave some amusing instances how in the teaching of arithmetic the children are crammed, and given rules without reasons-how, even in some sums issued by the inspectors, common sense was defied and impossible fractions introduced. In conclusion, he urged that there should be greater freedom allowed to teachers, and that inspection should take the place of examination. A school ought from the beginning to interest the children, enlisting both their reason and imagination.

Mr. Sonnenschein said enough to show that the Educational Reform League has before itself a very necessary work. Amid the din of politics the need is hardly recognised; yet while education is incomplete, there can be little judgment in politics. The many enthusiasts who are associated in Toynbee Hall cannot do better than give their time and strength to forwarding the objects of the League.

THE POPLAR UNIVERSITY EXTENSION CENTRE. THE East London University is still a thing of which dreams are made. Toynbee Hall is as yet but the centre of a few classes, and not at all the head-quarters of those who in East London seek after truth. Hitherto its hospitalities and its associations have been confined to its own body of students, but during this month it has welcomed the students of the Poplar centre at a conversazione. These neighbours came, numbering one hundred and twenty persons, under the guidance of their secretary, Mr. Pickett Scott. They spent a pleasant evening listening to Mr. Norman Lockyer, looking at the pictures, or talking in the drawing-room. The event in itself was small and its immediate effect evanescent, but the presence of these neighbours in

Toynbee Hall marks, we believe, a distinct step in the organisation of the future. Mr. Barnett and Mr. Roberts, who spoke to the welcome guests, dwelt on the fact that they were all members of a great society, with a common source and a common mission. Theirs it was to draw their teaching from. the fountains of learning, and theirs it was to make that learning common. Success in their mission was impossible until they felt their union. Social life lay behind all movement, and they could not succeed in extending university teaching until by frequent meetings they had learned to know one another. Mr. Barnett sketched out a plan by which all the students of East London might take part in directing the operations of the society, urging that even universities must in the future be democratic. He hoped that these representatives might decide on the localities and the subjects for the lectures, and that the fine rooms of Toynbee Hall might be considered not the property of one set of students, but the common meeting-place of all.

THE WHITTINGTON CLUB.

IN the early days of the Whittington Club there was danger that the governor and the self-governed might come into collision on points of necessary discipline; but sympathetic guidance has averted the difficulties before they have become serious, and that there is good feeling between the manager and the boys was evidenced by their presentation of a valuable ivory-handled_umbrella, with a silver mount, on which was engraved: "Presented to Mr. William Tourell by the members of the 'Whittington Club' as a mark of esteem, April 7th, 1886." Mr. Gardiner, in addressing the meeting, told the boys that they were happy in being gov erned by a man like Mr. Tourell, who guided while he governed, and who taught the boys, through all his severe discipline, that self-mastery was worth more than the sceptre of any king. In referring to the plan adopted at the club of the government of the boys by the boys, he pointed out that true growth must be the growth of all, and that it was only when all cared for right that right could be established. He congratulated the club on the success which had attended its life, on the absence of gambling with its destructive force, and on the presence of goodwill. He hoped that in common work they might not only secure the establishment of their building, but also of a common life by which the strong should support the weak. When Mr. Gardiner sat down, some speeches were made by the boys, all full of promise.

EAST LONDON ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY.
PROCEEDINGS.

Yearly General Meeting.-Saturday, 27th March, Toynbee Hall, 8.30 p.m. The officers of the Society were selected; of the old Committee, two members were selected and one resigned; three new members of Committee were elected (it having been decided to increase the number of the Committee by two); some other arrangements were made and some new members elected. Present 17. Excursion.-S. Martin-le-Grand, 10th April, 3.30 p.m.

Owing to some unexplained cause the church was not opened, and after waiting for some time the Society adjourned. Present 15.

The Exhibition Catalogue.* THE catalogue of the St. Jude's Art Exhibition is certainly one of its attractive features. It is intended to teach the people how to look at pictures, and though, perhaps, it points more to the moral than to the artistic side of the picture, yet it certainly suggests ideas which add an additional charm to the hours spent in the rooms, as well as food for reflection on later days. The 141 descriptions are evidently written by different hands and for different sections of the spectators. For some of the pictures there are excellent historical or biographical notices, to which are added wellchosen portions from Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Ruskin, Tennyson, Rossetti. Such words cannot but fail to make a picture additionally interesting even to the cultivated mind. Other descriptions are written for the poorer of the visitors, and these, in simple words, tell what is self-evident to those at all accustomed to works of art, but what would otherwise have been missed by the eyes "blinded by ignorance." Besides these there are occasional efforts to show the deeperhidden things of life, the spirit behind the picture, as it were. Such, for instance, is this of F. Goodall's "Holy Mother" :

"Cradled in love, and safe from fear, the child looks out into the depths beyond its mother's vision. But she, too, can see in her child what others cannot; for love and pain can clear human eyes of the selfish blindness which would choose the lesser rather than the greater, the wreath of roses rather than the Crown of Thorns." Or this of some drawings by Turner :

"Those who care for Turner's pictures will find hundreds of beautiful water colours like these in the National Gallery. Turner's secret is that he saw and painted the spirit of things as well as their forms, the soul of them as well as their shapes. In these drawings he shows us the spirit of the Rhine-the river around which gathers so many legends of mystery and romance."

Or this of Watts's "Spirit of the Ages":

"A figure representing the Spirit of the Ages waiting for the truth which is to be revealed. A trumpet is in the hand ready to blow the news to the end of the world. Wings encircle the figure to bear it to where it listeth. A heart is in the centre, for the world is moved by feeling more than by thought, by love more than by letters. A star is on the forehead receiving and giving light. The figure sits, but not in repose. The arms are folded, but are ready for action. The head is crowned with wings, that so the imagination may soar to realms not reached by grosser things. I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs, And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns." It is words like these which cause such pictures to be looked at at all. Those who are too indolent or too poor to pay the penny for the catalogue pass them with a hasty glance, "not seeing much in that."

Perhaps, however, the happiest of the descriptions are those in which all three styles are combined-such, for instance, as in the following, where the story is simply told, the deeper meaning suggested, while the poetry gives an additional charm to those with enough culture to follow "music ordered words ":

"In all nations there is a legend of an enchanted castle, where rich treasures are to be found, but which is left untouched by the fear of men, and is guarded by beasts. Men cannot reach their hopes, such legends tell us, because of their passions and their fears-symbolised in this picture by the tigers that are 'burning bright' between the pillars, and the adders and poisonous lizards that crawl about the polished floor. At last one man-like the Knight in Tennyson's Sleeping Beauty'-strong in the strength of faith and inspired by the love of a woman, whose scarf he wears, is brave enough to face the dangers; before love and faith the enchantment is broken, and by one man's sacrifice the hopes of many are realised. The Sleeping Beauty is awakened, and 'evermore a costly kiss' becomes 'the prelude to some brighter world.' All precious things, discovered late, To those that seek them, issue forth; For Love in sequel works with fate, And draws the veil from hidden worth.

-(Tennyson.)" That there are faults in the catalogue is hardly to be won. dered at. The pictures do not come in until Saturday, and between that day and Tuesday at four o'clock the descriptions are written, and the whole printed. We wonder what a Government Department would say to such reckless despatch as this.

* Printed by Messrs. Penny and Hull, 53, Leman Street, E.-id.

It is particularly requested that orders for the Journal, as well as all other BUSINESS communications, may be addressed, NOT to the Editor, but to the HON. MANAGER of the TOYNBEE JOURNAL, 28, Commercial Street, E.

Men before Books.

BY THE REV. E. H. BRADBY, D.D.
(Late Head Master of Haileybury College.)

THE chief question for a student is not so much what subject he is taught as who teaches him. That is the substance of a point that was urged by one or two of the speakers at the interesting conversazione for the more regular attendants at the U.E.S. classes, which was held on April 10th at Toynbee Hall. The remark is so important, and touches the whole question of education at such a vital point, that it deserves to be singled out and further insisted on.

The effect of the U.E. movement has been to open a highway into wide regions of knowledge and acquirement for hundreds of young students to whom they were before practically unapproachable. It is no wonder if their first impulse is to go where they like, and wander at their own sweet will, thinking that any route they take is sure to be pleasant and profitable, and that, though a guide cannot be quite dispensed with, his main use will be just to show them the general lie of the land, and the shortest cuts to the spots that they want to reach. But the more thoughtful among them soon find out that a real guide means much more than that.

Suppose a batch of our city children are sent down for a day's outing to some country farm. Some of them are given in charge to the first farmservant that comes to hand, with the simple instruction that he is to see that they enjoy themselves. Accordingly, they wander about pretty much as they like. They break a few hedges, do a certain amount of mischief, and get into a few scrapes; but they see a good many strange and interesting things, and get a good deal of pleasure and excitement. At night they return with a confused jumble of impressions, but without any notion of the true meaning and relative value of the sights that

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they have seen, and report that the country is a fine place for amusement-perhaps some of them add that it is a capital place for shying stones, with no policeman to vex you. Others of the party are more fortunate. They are taken in hand on their arrival by the farmer himself. He happens to be a man who knows every inch of the ground that he tills, and loves every tree and every creature to be found on the estate. He is interested in these city children, and is well aware that they will really enjoy themselves most if some method be thrown into the madness of their pleasure. So he leads them round to byre and stable, hen-roost and piggery, grass-land and fallow, not thrusting all his own knowledge down their unaccustomed throats, but putting in a pregnant remark here, and a simple explanation there, just as he sees that they are needed to help them to understand and remember what they are gazing at. The result is that the man acts like a magnet on the steel of all those young hearts and intelligences, and at the end of the day every boy is a sworn farmer and all the girls are dying to be dairy-maids.

Now, this may be a trifling apologue, but it contains a serious moral, which may be applied to higher things than a day's jaunt into the country.

Books are not men, and never will be. If they were, the U.E. movement would be a mere superfluous effort. The books were in existence already, and all that would have been needed would have been to set up a few good libraries, easily accessible, and in suitable places, and to publish a few lists of "the best hundred books," drawn up by "the best judges of the day"; then to open wide the doors, and bid the public come in and devour. Probably, under such circumstances, the public would not come in, at any rate in large numbers; but, if they did, they would get informed in a rough, crude way, but they would not get educated. For, to educate means, not to give information merely, but to give leaven with it, which shall make the information live, and work, and propagate its like in the mind into which it is conveyed. Now, this process of conveying leaven is, for the most part, a personal work. It needs the contact of mind with mind-yes, of eye with eye. The torch

of learning is passed on from living hand to living hand, not set up upon a stand, where all men may come and light their ineffectual fires, if they list. A few books, a very few, can indeed impart this leaven to almost any reader, and a good many more can impart it to minds already prepared by culture for its reception; but for the mass of us the the voice, the gesture, the subtle sympathy of the living teacher is required. And to bring men who can really teach, not books, to the students of London is the chief function of University Extension.

But teachers are many-they may be picked, like blackberries, from every hedge-real leavengivers are few; and therefore it holds good that a wise student will first and foremost do his best to find a teacher of the right sort, and, when he has found him, will let him choose his own subject and his own method. The man will make the subject interesting, and, what is more, fruitful, because it will be for him a vehicle by which he infuses, perhaps almost unconsciously, something of his own mind into the minds of his hearers. Not by base imitation, but by the quickening of a new life within them, they tremble with his enthusiasm, they burn with his zeal for knowledge, they bow with his humble reverence before the shrine of truth. Meanwhile they will be gaining a knowledge of that particular subject in which he is instructing them-a better knowledge, a mastery, than they once thought possible-but they will be gaining much that is worth far more, even intellectually, than the knowledge of any one particular subject. I say even intellectually, because there is a moral gain also. Nothing humbles, and at the same time inspires, one more than contact with a leaven-giver.

I can appeal with confidence on this subject to the experience of those who have had the benefit of a full Public-school and University training. When we look back on the past, do we not feel that the chief debt we owe is not to books, but to men? And to which men among the many under whose hands we have passed? Why, just to those two or three who set us thinking. And if we go on to enquire how it was they so affected us, we shall find that it was not because they were more learned than other teachers-though, of course, they were masters of their own subjects—but because there was a life in their teaching which awakened a responsive life in us. It was not simply what they said that moved us, but the way in which they said it. They had sympathy; they had the power of seeing things with our eyes, and anticipating our difficulties, and tracing out the source of our blunders. They had irony, enthusiasm, buoyancy. They displayed a love of thoroughness which shamed us out of all plausible makeshifts for knowledge. In a word, they treated us as beings with faculties to be lovingly developed and cultivated, not as bags to be stuffed to a fixed

measure of distension with facts, and turned out by the dozen, as per pattern.

There is much more that might be said on this subject, but I fear lest I have already exceeded the modest limits of a paper; I will, therefore, end with this simple advice to the student :-Get, before all things, a true teacher, and, when you have got him, prize him and stick to him. Don't attempt to judge him you can't; but absorb him. Fancy the sunflower judging the sun! Enough for it, if it can twist humbly and painfully round upon its stem, to catch as much genial light and warmth as may be. By and by, when he has lifted you to something like his own level, then you may judge him, and judge him freely; but that will not be for a long time yet. Meanwhile, be humble and learn. "Before honour is humility."

Notes and Notices.

The reports of the examiners at the Whitechapel centre are very varied. The best is that of the Hygiene class, though the examiner pays them a somewhat two-edged compliment by remarking that "if the candidates put into practice the knowledge of principles which they seem to possess, they will most certainly live more hygienically themselves"! The History report is also good, though there was only one first-class, and the examiner has some damaging criticism to offer on the style and orthography of the candidates. On the other hand, the reports of the examiners in Electricity and Chemistry are unsatisactory, both complaining that the examinees show imperfect knowledge of laws and principles. Those who are posted only in details have their scientific knowledge hung up in the air: after all, it is far more important to nine-tenths of us to gain a clear conception of scientific method than to acquire any quantity of knowledge of isolated facts.

Separate certificates have been issued this year on the work of the two terms; thus, instead of the class being awarded on the joint-result of both terms' work, a different class may be gained on each. On another page will be found the class lists.

By-the-by, we hear that the Universities' Joint Board, with a view to making the work more thorough, have decided to give more weight to weekly paper work in awarding certificates of distinction.

The Natural History Society is now well under weigh, and bids fair to prosper. We hope it will be much more than an institution to organise pleasant country-walks. As a nurse of scientific observation and reasoning its value should be great; and perhaps it will render an even greater service by developing a loving intimacy with Nature, who reveals herself to those alone who duly seek her.

One danger we hope it will steer clear of. The mere passion for collecting natural objects is not an amiable trait. Few things dwarf character more than

"The gloom of uninspired research Viewing all objects unremittingly, In disconnection dull and spiritless." Classification is all very well up to a certain point; but the exaggeration of the analytic spirit, which, "still dividing and dividing still, breaks down all grandeur," is as alien to true science as it is to art.

It has been suggested that not a few students would like to spend part of their summer holidays at Oxford or Cambridge, if arrangements could be made to make their visit as pleasant and profitable as possible. Steps are being, therefore, taken at both Universities to form committees which will keep a register of cheap and good lodgings which they can recommend ; and the secretaries (whose names and addresses can be had at Toynbee Hall) will be glad to help visitors with information as to the buildings and other objects most worth seeing, the times and terms of admission, etc. We hope that the scheme may result in many pleasant holiday parties, and form another link between the Universities and East London.

The new residential buildings around Toynbee Hall are now scaffold high, and promise to be ready before Christmas. Many theories are in circulation as to their future use. They have been called "married quarters," ," "students' chambers," and "industrial dwellings." The last, it is needless to say, is the object with which they have been built, in obedience to the discovery made a few years ago as to the homes of the poor. The plans have been got out by Mr. Hoole, who has shown his sympathy with humanity, which is the same in the poor and in the rich, by making the dwellings something more than barracks. They will have a beauty and character of their own. If they are occupied by workmen, it is the hope of the promoters to give the tenant a share in the management, a proportion of the profits, and a hope of ownership. It may be, though, that the fervour of learning will be so strong that the buildings will be occupied by students, married and single. In that case, all sorts of arrangements will have to be made, about which the minds of some are even now busy.

Subscriptions to the reading-room come in slowly. £500 more are required; and unless a considerable proportion of this is forthcoming shortly, the work will have to be postponed till another year. The following donations have been received:-Marquis of Ripon, £50; T. W. Gibson, £50; Mr. Lushington, £10; X. Y.,

In

10; Professor Monier Williams, £2; T. A. Crook, £2; E. Catesby, 10s. 6d.; Miss Drake, 10s. 6d. addition to these the Warden of Toynbee Hall has assigned £200 from his salary to the fund.

It

Hurry is as fatal in co-operation as in politics. is the rock on which many promising co-operative ventures have been wrecked. They have been in a hurry to make a start before sufficient capital is subscribed. This rock the London Productive Society determined to avoid. Resisting the solicitations of impetuous friends, they would not start until they felt they had enough to start upon. Many friends and many co-operative societies have already taken shares and promised support. And a start could have been easily made but for a difficulty which curiously illustrates the sensitiveness of the co-operative conscience. To the society's original scheme, it was objected by some co-operators in trouble about their souls, that

the Society was not truly productive unless it ground. as well as made and packed its cocoa. The Committee therefore resolved to raise more capital, and purchase the necessary machinery for crushing and grinding. This, of course, has caused delay, but the Committee now seem to be in a position to begin operations.

The fire which destroyed the Co-operative Wholesale Stores has given occasion to the authorities at Toynbee Hall to offer their hospitality to the cooperators at their monthly and quarterly meetings. As educators the co-operators have a full right to be welcomed as fellow workers in the head-quarters of the University Extension Society. They are providing means of life as well as means of livelihood. No one, indeed, can be in full sympathy with a co-operative association without breaking the narrow limits of society. He is bound to consider the causes which make so many poor and weak among us, and he is bound also to face an ideal where there shall be both joy and plenty. His mind as it grapples with such facts and hopes, opens to take in anew the old lesson, that life consists not in the possession of things so much as in the knowledge of whatsoever is good and true and lovely.

The destructive fire at the premises of the Co-operative Wholesale Society last winter has had one pleasant and unexpected effect. It has brought the representatives of co-operation and the residents of Toynbee Hall into closer relation. It must be for their mutual advantage that working-men and University men come together in the equality of social intercourse. It must be for mutual strength that two movements for the good of the people should meet in association.

It were to be wished that Mr. Farmer could infuse some of his zeal into the members of the choral classes of the Popular Ballad Concert Society. Without, in the least, undervaluing the good and unselfish work they do of which a series of musical evenings at the Commonwealth Club is only one example-their best friends feel that they are not all they might be, either in numbers or efficiency. They have a great future if they will realise it. They should be missionaries of music.

The Students' Union is arranging an excursion to Oxford on June 19th. It will be conducted on the same lines as that to Cambridge last year. The price of the tickets (including dinner, tea, and guide-book) will be 8s. 6d.

The Recreation Committee will be glad to hear of lawn-tennis players who will help to organise names. Mr. Stokes, Hon. Sec. of the London Pupil-Teachers' Association, would be grateful for assistance from cricketers.

A Lawn-tennis Club has been formed under the presidency of the Rev. S. A. Barnett, open to U.E. students at Toynbee Hall. Practice-nights have been fixed for Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings, from 6 p.m. It is hoped that all students who take an interest in the game will apply to E. Dispecker, 33, Arbery Road, Bow, E., the Hon. Sec., who will be happy to give any information,