came down to take a closer look, when who
should come to the doorway but Silas himself. He was laughing
and shouting, "Now I have something to keep you away. The
scarecrow shall keep you from bothering me any more." He laughed
and laughed, but I watched my chance and flew behind this being
and scratched off his cap. Then the story was out. It was only a
straw man. I went back to my companions and explained, and
before evening we had picked the scarecrow to pieces. Next day I
was unfortunate enough to put my foot in a wire trap and then
they sent me up here for life.'

"At this moment his keeper came up with something to eat, so I
bade him good-bye and left."

English, in these classes, is so alive with interest that the children
write with ardor and read eagerly the literature which, improperly
handled, they learn so soon to despise.

The time-honored studies of the old curriculum may be charged with
interest if they are linked to life. The most irksome task has its
pleasant aspects. Even the three R's may be translated into current
thought.

VII School and Home

Even more significant for the future is the work which is being done in
a few cities to train girls for their chief work in life--homemaking.
The home schools at Indianapolis and Providence are, perhaps, typical.
The Indianapolis School Board bought a number of wretched homes near one
school in a crowded district. The boys in the school renovated the
homes, converting one into a rug shop, another into a mop factory, and
still a third into a shoe-shop. In these shops the children of the
school did their trade work. Another house was made into a model
home--(model for that quarter)--in which the domestic science department
was located. Of this home the girls took entire charge, living in it by
the day. There they were taught, by practical experience, the art of
homemaking.

The home school of Providence, Rhode Island, under the direction of Mrs.
Ada Wilson Trowbridge, has received nation-wide recognition. Six hundred
dollars, appropriated by the Board of Education, renovated and furnished
the flat on Willard Avenue in which the school is held.

The girls who elect to take work in the home school--the work is wholly
elective--may come on Monday and Tuesday, or on Wednesday and Thursday.
The hours are 4 to 6, or 7:30 to 9:30. On Friday, anyone comes who cares
to. The day pupils are from the grammar schools and