to speak, so that the tones of his voice are determined before he
is able to express them. This influence is also marked when the child
begins to talk. Babies and young children instinctively do what adults
learn not to do only by study,--follow the pitch of others' voices. Can
we then overestimate the effect upon pupils' character of teachers who
radiate vitality?

The character and fitness, aside from scholarship, of applicants for
teachers' licenses are now subjected by the board of examiners of New
York City to the following tests:

1. Moral character as indicated in the record of the applicant as
a student or teacher or in other occupation, or as a participant
in an examination.

2. Physical fitness for the position sought, reference being had
here to all questions of physical fitness other than those covered
in a physician's report as to "sound health."

3. Satisfactory quality and use of voice.

4. Personal bearing, cleanliness, appearance, manners.

5. Self-command and power to win and hold the respect of teachers,
school authorities, and the community.

6. Capacity for school discipline, power to maintain order and to
secure the willing obedience and the friendship of pupils.

7. Business or executive ability,--power to comprehend and carry
out and to accomplish prescribed work, school management as
relating to adjustment of desks, lighting, heating, ventilation,
cleanliness, and attractiveness of schoolroom.

8. Capacity for supervision, for organization and administration
of a school, and for the instructing, assisting, and inspiring of
teachers.

These tests probably exclude few applicants who should be admitted.
Experience proves that they include many who, for their own sake and
for children's sake, should be rejected. The moral character, physical
fitness, quality of voice, personal bearing, self-command, executive
ability, capacity for supervision, are qualities that are modified by
conditions. The voice that is satisfactory in conference with an
examiner may be strident and irritating when the teacher is impatient
or is trying to overcome street noises. On parade applicants are
equally cleanly; this cannot be said of teachers in the service, coming
from different home environments. Self-command is much easier in one
school than in another. Physical fitness in a girl of twenty may,
during one short year of teaching, give way to physical unfitness.
There