Visual Education (Jan 1923-Dec 1924)

February, 192 3 39 don't know what to give her. She says she is putting a fairy story on the sand table and needs a castle to put the giant into." "What's the grade?" said I. (The grade is very important. "Verisimilitude is needed less and less as the age decreases.) "Kindergarten," reported the assistant, after inquiry. "Give her the little stucco castle out of the aquarium," said I, "and put a castle on the list of things we ought to have. Castles appear three times in the course of study. We need a really correct one for the high schools." One day during the war, a gentleman whose business it was to make miniature models of residences and factories, and who made them with wonderful skill, dropped into our Director's office, inquiring for work. The war had decreased his orders. "I'll work reasonably in this interim," said he. "Can we use a maker of miniature buildings ?" asked the Director of the Curator. "We need a castle, I see," said the Curator. And so it is we have three historically correct castles, about 15 by 24 inches, each in a box with handles. They have flags floating from their roofs, green hills behind them, blue skies above. They have moats and drawbridges and portcullises that go up and down when you turn a screw, and they can be illuminated effectively by pseudo sunlight if there is electricity in the schoolroom. One of them stays in what Miss Meissner of St. Louis calls the "Index Museum"; two of them travel about. They do not "supplement" or "illustrate" the school lessons on literature, history, art or sociology. They form the objective basis without which these lessons would consist of a jargon as meaningless as Jabberwocky. They restore the foundation on which these subjects rested before they came to a castleless country. They give meanings to words. And words without meanings are iniquitous. Boy Scouts Thirteenth THE week of February 8-15, which celebrates the thirteenth birthday of the Boy Scouts of America, will be observed on a national scale. This great movement, which has for its underlying purpose the development of "Citizenship — by Service," now commands an active ■ — an exceedingly active — membership of 430,000, with in addition nearly 150,000 men giving their services as scoutmasters and executives. It is an interesting sign of the times, by the way, that many of our leading colleges and normal schools today offer training classes for scoutmasters. Every one who has come to learn, at first hand, what Scouting means to a boy in the way of character development, in formation of to Celebrate Anniversary health habits, in training for loyal and efficient citizenship, will be eager to co-operate in broadening the Scouts' field of service. Millions of other now indifferent citizens will be aroused, through the publicity of Anniversary Week, to the practical value of pushing along a movement that means so much to America's present and future good. The Scouts' most effective propaganda is every community's little army of clean, active, competent, courteous lads, always first in line for service when there is work to be done for the public interest. These are boys who have adopted the Scout Law and sworn the Scout Oath. That law covers twelve major points : to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, Public Health Exhibit Planned ONE of the most recent visual projects to be undertaken on a national scale is the movement to create a great popular exhibit on public health. This is to be housed at Washington, D. C, in the Smithsonian Institution, with its proud record of over half a million visitors every year. A distinguished committee has been formed to collect, prepare and install the material secured from official and voluntary health agencies. The following members constitute this National Committee on Exhibits Showing Advances in Sanitary Science: Surgeon General H. S. dimming, U. S. Public Health Service, Chairman; Dr. D. B. Armstrong, National Health Council; Miss Mabel T. Boardman, American Red Cross; Surgeon General M. W. Ireland, U. S. Army Medical Corps ; Dr. Victor C. Vaughan, National Research Council; Dr. C. D. Walcott, Smithsonian Institution; James A. Tobey, National Health Council, Secretary. The Secretary's office is in the national headquarters of the American Red Cross at Washington. obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. That oath binds them to do their duty to God and country, to obey the Scout Law, to help others, to keep physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. Any organization inspired by such ideals deserves to grow. It deserves every ounce of friendly support and help you and I can give it. Write to Boy Scout headquarters, 200 Fifth Avenue, New York, for suggestions on how you can best "lend a hand" during Anniversary Week.