tion is rather tame and weak, if not dead; it is anything but
stimulating (and if education means anything it means stimulation). It
is this kind of situation which has led in recent years to a discussion
of the rural school as one of the problems most urgently demanding the
attention of society.

=That Picture and This.=--Let us now consider, after looking upon that
picture, what the situation ought to be. In the first place, there
should be a large school ground, or yard--not less than two acres. The
schoolhouse should be properly located in this tract. The ground as a
whole should be platted by a landscape architect, or at least by a
person of experience and taste. Trees of various kinds should be planted
in appropriate places, and groups of shrubbery should help to form an
attractive setting. The school grounds should have a serviceable fence
and gate and there should be a playground and a school garden.

=Architecture of Building.=--No school building should be erected that
has not first been planned or passed upon by an architect; this is now
required by law in some states. A building with handsome appearance and
with appropriate appointments is but a trifle, if any, more costly than
one that has none. Art of all kinds is a valuable factor in the
education of children and of people generally; and a building, beautiful
in construction, is no exception to the rule. Every person is educated
by what impresses him. It is only within the last few years that much
attention has been given to the necessity of special architecture in
schoolhouses.

Men of intelligence sometimes draw up their own plans for a building and
then, having become enamored of them, proceed to construct a residence
or a schoolhouse along those lines. If they had shown their plans to an
architect of experience he would probably have pointed out numerous
defects which would have been admitted as soon as observed. Neither the
individual nor the district school boards can afford, in justice to
themselves and the community they represent, to ignore the wide and
varied knowledge of the expert.

=Get Expert Opinion.=--Expert opinion should govern in the matter of
heating and ventilating, in the kind of seating, in the arrangement of
blackboards, in the decorations, and in all such technical and
professional matters. Every rural school should have a carefully
selected library, suited to its needs, including a sufficient number of
reference books. The pu