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trude Rowan assisted by Miss Sabin, both of the state university, had charge of the domestic science and Superintendent Stoner of the city schools the manual training. The training was practical and is being worked out by the teachers who enrolled in the various schools of the county. Beside two practice periods each day, there was a period devoted to lecture and demonstrations each day. This was a very popular department during institute week and will be repeated. Greshem, Waco, Benedict, McCool, Thayer and about half the rural schools of the county have organized industrial clubs, enthusiastic and endeavoring to do the best work possible. This has truly been an era of industrial work in York county, the date of the first contest, November 3, 1908, being the beginning of the era. The parents, teachers and school boards have joined hands with the county superintendent in this great work and it is bound to succeed. We have all been inspired to do and appreciate this work by our state superintendent, E. C. Bishop, who has been untiring in his efforts to establish this work in Nebraska. Since Mr. Bishop was our county superintendent for four years it seems fitting that this county should succeed in the work la which he is so much interested.

     We believe that York county and its teachers stand among the progressive, educational forces of the state of Nebraska.

ALICE FLORER,            
County Superintendent.     

     My work began three years ago in the "old frame building" of three rooms. To say that we were crowded, poorly equipped, and decidedly uncomfortable, is putting the matter very mildly. The question of more room and school improvements generally had become imperative, and our patrons and taxpayers needed only to have the matter brought fairly and squarely to their attention. Today we have a building of brick large enough to accommodate admirably our present enrollment aside from the reservations for the future.

     The twelfth grade and normal training were added to our course at the beginning of the school year just closed, and we have been pleased to be able to appreciate the recognition of our normal training by your department in addition to that of the state university by the inspector of high schools.

     I graduated my first class in Adams this year, May 27. This will indicate in a way the real number of grades three years ago. Three

additional teachers have been added to our teaching force In this time The high school enrollment has more than doubled and daily attendance has been exceptionally good. Thus far we have had very little need for the compulsory educational law.

     Free high school attendance has been steadily increasing and prospects for the ensuing year are quite flattering. Our new building is what is known as an eight-room structure, in which twelve rooms can be brought into service whenever the occasion should demand it. The lighting, heating and ventilating are excellent. Building is fairly well equipped. We have a fine start in physical and chemical apparatus. A library, small, at present, is growing steadily and bids fair for a healthy future.

     The adaptation of studies to the needs, tastes and talents of the student is an educational principle. To meet the full requirements of this principle colleges and universities can, with mutual and judicious exercise of judgment, successfully introduce an elective system of study. Below these institutions experience does not seem to furnish evidence of general satisfaction among the patrons in whose schools the elective course has been adopted.

     Prompted by the above facts the Adams board of education has adopted and presented to the patrons of our schools a course of study adapted, it is hoped, to the needs of every young person who expects to attend the Adams schools.

     The attempt has been made with some degree of success to place our schools on a permanent foundation. They have been so graded and classified that pupils of ordinary ability will he able to complete, without difficulty, the work as outlined in each grade, or year. Pupils completing the first eight years of the prescribed course, and passing all examinations as required in the several departments, will be entitled to admission to the high school department.

      All students completing the full course of study and passing the required examinations, will be granted a diploma from the Adams high school.

     Any student failing to complete the course in full will not be allowed the privilege of graduation.

     The Adams high school is an accredited school, thus admitting its graduates to the advanced classes of the University of Nebraska and of leading colleges without examination. It also contains a normal training department for teachers.

     Prompt and regular attendance and strict obedience to wholesome laws, as well as earnest, diligent and intelligent study are essential to the best results in disciplining and educating the mind and in making the citizen; therefore, student, parents and guardians have been and are earnestly requested to extend their hearty co-operation and assist-

ance in securing the successful and effective operation of all rules and regulations.

C. P. BEALE,            
City Superintendent.     

     The attendance in the grades in Albion has increased very rapidly during the past few years. A new teacher was secured last September to relieve the crowded condition in the primary grades, and another will soon be needed for the intermediate grades.

     The compulsory attendance law was not enforced during the year 1909-10, but had always been enforced up to that time.

     About one-third of the high school pupils are from the country districts, taking advantage of the free high school attendance law.

     Albion has two buildings, both brick, well heated and lighted. The playgrounds are large, but have no equipment.

     The high school has an assembly room that will seat 110 pupils, and three recitation rooms. The laboratories have been well equipped, but are run down at present.

     We have a fairly good reference library consisting of about 200 volumes. We have added very little to it, since the city library was established.

     Our course of study is the Latin course suggested by the manual, with but three years of Latin. We have no electives.

     There were eighteen members of the normal training class, five of them being seniors.

     We have no industrial work, but hope for it next year.

     We had two literary societies in the high school last year. Each society gave one program during the month.

MYRTLE V. PRICE,          
Principal High School.     

     There are few schools in Nebraska that have witnessed a greater growth during the past eight years, than the schools of Alliance. In 1902 there were but fifteen regular teachers with no special teachers for any subject. These were all housed in one building. The enrollment in the high school did not exceed fifty-eight pupils, average daily attendance, while but one assistant was employed in addition to the principal. Since that time the yearly enrollment has increased 100 per cent in the high school, and over 75 per cent in the grades.

     Three modern school buildings are now utilized in accommodating the increased enrollment. One of these, a ward building, costing $11,000, was built in 1904, and another, a building used for high school only, costing $30,000, was built in 1907-08. This building Is modern in respect to lighting, heating, ventilation, seating and equipment.

     The schools now require the services of twenty-six teachers. Among these is a supervisor of music and drawing, a teacher of domestic science and manual training and a physical director. The high school contains a large gymnasium, thoroughly equipped with all the apparatus necessary for a thorough physical training. Another room is used as domestic science laboratory, and is fully equipped with the essential apparatus for carrying on a complete course in domestic science.

     There are now five teachers in the high school in addition to the high. school principal and superintendent. It has been the policy of the hoard of education to pay teachers higher salaries than any other school of similar size. As a result of this policy, Alliance teachers receive higher salaries than are paid in any other school of Nebraska, outside of Omaha and Lincoln, and the school retains only thoroughly qualified teachers in all departments. Only teachers who have been well trained in the normal schools and have had successful experience, are engaged to teach in the Alliance schools.

     Last year the board of education installed a complete system of medical inspection. This with strict adherence to the laws of hygiene and sanitation, has practically eliminated the danger of disease and epidemics arising in the schools. It has also resulted in a higher per cent of attendance, less truancy and has practically eliminated tardiness from the schools.

     Normal training was established in the high school in 1908. There are enrolled in this department from sixteen to twenty students every year. The normal training graduates find employment in the schools of the borne county, thus proving of great benefit in raising the standard of these schools.

D. W. HAYES.            
City Superintendent.     

     The high school has doubled in attendance in the past four years. The grades have grown almost as much la proportion.

     Delinquent pupils are reported to the county superintendent.

     Last year the county judge acted as a juvenile court judge in cases reported to him.

     One-third of our high school is composed of students who get free high school attendance under the free high school law.

     Building almost new. It is equipped with electric lights and furnace heated. The ventilating is not so good as it should be.

     Equipment is not as complete as it should be, but new apparatus is being added from time to time. This year much has been added to the chemical laboratory, many new books have been purchased and maps have been ordered for history teaching.

     The grounds are well kept around the building. Across the street is a large strip of ground where the children play.

     Our library contains about 350 volumes, consisting of fiction, history, biography and normal training subjects.

     Our course of study follows the manual except that we combine classes in grades eleven and twelve. One year we have chemistry, the next physics. We follow the same plan in normal training work, one year grammar and reading, the next geography and arithmetic.

     Our normal training work is planned to follow the outlines seat out by the state department.

     When the pedagogy class visits the grades the teacher accom-companies (sic) them.

EDITH WOODBURN.          
High School Principal.     

     The Arlington school is just now enjoying some of the very best years in its history and the prospects for the future are indeed bright. The remarkable improvement may be attributed to a number of causes, as follows:

     First: The excellent work and proper planning of teachers and patrons in the past.

     Second: The building of a fine new strictly modern building, one of the most complete for the size in the state.

     'Third: The addition of two more teachers, followed by a marked increase in attendance.

     Fourth: Putting in the eleventh and twelfth grades and working the school up to the standard required for accreditment.

     Fifth: As a natural result the gaining of a large non-resident attendance.

     Three years ago the enrollment was 172, two years ago 224, and last year 251. Enrollment in four high school grades was forty-nine two years ago and sixty-five last year. Graduating class of six in 1909, nine in 1910 and prospects of sixteen in 1911. We had twenty-five nonresident high school students last year.

     The board and patrons are providing the necessary equipment for the maintenance of a full twelve-grade school. We are adding year by year to the library, laboratory and other facilities.

     The normal training work has not been attempted and we do not consider it advisable with the present number of teachers. However, we have advanced and review work in all the common branches in our twelfth grade. Our course of study has been shaped to meet the requirements of the new state course and of the state university. The school was given full four years accreditment last year.

     The school building is beautifully located on a hill, overlooking the town, a lot of fine horseshoe lakes and one of the prettiest farming communities in east Nebraska. The grounds include a full block 300x360 and is well surrounded by choice trees. The building con-

sists of a large, well lighted basement and two full stories for school rooms. The equipment for heating, lighting and ventilating is strictly modern in every respect.

EARL J. HADSELL,          
City Superintendent.     

     The public schools of Ashland have experienced a peculiar change during the last few years. There has been a fluctuation in the growth both in the lower grades and in the high school. The tendency in the grades has been toward a decrease, while that of the high school has been to increase. The latter has been due largely to the number of pupils coming under the free high school privileges. The decrease in the lower grades is due not to fewer families in the district, but to fewer children of school age in the families.

     The census report last year showed 489 pupils of school age in the district. The enrollment in the grades for the year was 303, and in the high school 116. The average daily attendance in the grades was 222; in the high school 92.

     Little difficulty has been experienced in enforcing the compulsory education law. The janitor of the West school qualified as truant officer. His services in this capacity was little called for and when occasion demanded he made his work effective, so that a second call was unnecessary.

     Forty pupils were enrolled in the high school under the free high school privileges; four paid tuition, making a total of forty-four nonresident pupils in the school. A large per cent of these remained in school during the entire year, forming a stable and highly satisfactory class of students. On the whole they have come well prepared for the high school studies and make good students.

      The high school building is one of the oldest in the state; built in 1871 with a new addition ten or twelve years later. Located on a prominent point overlooking Salt Creek valley, it has natural drainage in all directions and its surroundings are sanitary. The building has been made modern, a private sewer and steam heating plant having been added as necessity demanded. No particular plan for ventilation has been provided because of the nature of the building. Ventilation and heat regulation depend largely upon the watchfulness and skill of the teachers.

     The school is well equipped with maps charts, globes and such other apparatus as is necessary for the best work. The laboratories have received special attention during the last two years, nearly $200 worth of apparatus being added.

     The library consists chiefly of reference and pedagogical works. It contains about 180 volumes. New books are added each year along the line of history, geography, science and pedagogy. A few volumes of standard literature are on the shelves, but most of these are in the city library, to which the high school students have access.

     Very little is done along the line of industrial education except a strong course in agriculture in which attempts are made to make it practical. We have hopes of getting some form of manual training established in the near future, especially in the lower grades. The course when started will be directed toward a complete course through the ninth grade.

     A great deal of expense has been incurred in establishing normal training in the high school. A number of changes in the course has been made and the addition of another teacher in the high school made necessary by its establishment. The work has proved effective, efficient and satisfactory. It is not popular among the pupils of the school because the majority are looking forward toward a college course. However, those who plan to teach find it a great aid and are appreciative. We endeavor to make the course as practical as possible and all substitute teachers for the grades are chosen from the senior members of the class. In this way they receive actual experience in teaching aside from their practice and observational work. The introduction of the course has proved a good stimulant for good teaching in the high school and grades.

     Athletics are encouraged and teams are maintained in season. No provision has been made for a room so that indoor work may be done during inclement weather and no room in town is available for such. As a result systematic body building work becomes difficult and nearly impossible. The board of education is furnishing funds for the erection of play-ground apparatus, which will aid in the work.

     Last year a debating club for the boys and a literary society for the girls were organized. Substantial prizes for the best work in each line were offered. The result of the year's work was gratifying in the numbers engaged and the wholesome interest manifested by all.

     The school enrolled in the State Debating League. The team chosen won the championship of the district to which we were assigned and sent a representative to the state contest.

H. M. GARRETT,          
City Superintendent.     

     The past three years have witnessed a remarkable growth in the Atkinson schools. The enrollment has increased during that time from 249 to 321, the last year's enrollment nearly reaching the total number of the school census.

     The library has been increased by 250 volumes, making a total of nearly 400 volumes, exclusive of books of reference. One hundred and seventy-eight pupils were regular patrons of the school library during the past winter.

     The course of study has been revised so that university accreditment could be secured. The class of 1910 was the first class in the history of the school to graduate with full freshman credit.

     Normal training has proved very popular. This department has been in operation but two years, with fourteen enrolled the first year and eighteen the second. More direct good has been secured from this course than from any other feature in the school.

     A notable growth has taken place in the high school. During the year of 1907-1908 two teachers handled the high school work with the eighth grade in addition. At present three teachers devote their entire time to the high school. The enrollment during that time has increased from 43 to 63. There were eighteen non-resident pupils in the high school during the past year, but because of the change recently made in the free high school law only five had their tuition paid by their home district. Of the eleven members of the senior class of 1910 seven were pupils of country districts. The school has been active in debating, having won the championship of the northern district of the Nebraska High School Debating League in 1909.

     A four-room addition to cost $13,500 is now in process of construction. The building will be ready for use by November 1 of this year. There is a good healthy school spirit in Atkinson and I believe the future has in store greater prosperity for the public schools here than has ever been witnessed in the past.

CHAS. A. MOHRMAN,      
City Superintendent.     

     The Aurora city schools have had a steady and healthy growth during the last ten or twelve years, keeping pace with a rapidly developing community.

     The following items concerning our schools means the most to those who have been in close touch with the educational interests of Aurora and surrounding country. Three teachers in the high school and ten grade teachers constituted the teaching force in the fall of 1900. During the year of 1903 one more high school teacher was added on half time; the high school enrollment reached 165 and the grades 280 that year, and a graduating class that numbered twenty-five. In the summer of 1903 the North school was remodeled, which made it possible for all of the upper floor of this building to be used for high school work.

      The high school building burned in April, 1907, after which class work was carried on for the remainder of the year in the various churches of the town, free of any charge on the part of each congregation. A new building was erected, the corner stone of which was laid in the spring of 1907, and in September of the same year the high school and grade pupils of the North ward were housed in one of the best high school buildings of the state. The building is modern throughout, heated with steam and lighted by electricity. There are three floors used for school purposes in the building. The first floor space is taken up by a fine large gymnasium, a manual department,

a domestic science department, a kindergarten department, a boys' toilet and bath room and a girls' toilet.' The second floor is used for grade work only. The third floor is the high school proper. The assembly room seats 250 students. The physics and chemistry laboratory is equipped with sufficient apparatus for individual work for each student. The botany, physical geography, physiological and agricultural laboratory is equipped with twelve compound microscopes and other apparatus suitable for teaching the above subjects from a thorough scientific standpoint. The campus of this new North ward and high school building includes one and one-half blocks of ground artistically laid off and beautifully adorned with flowers and shrubbery aptly chosen for such a purpose.

     The South ward school building is modern in every respect except being lighted with electricity. This building underwent a thorough change for the betterment for school purposes in every respect during the summer of 1910, being renovated and put in modern shape. One block of ground is occupied by the South ward school.

     The course of study in the Aurora high school is largely the same as prescribed by the state department of education and the State University in the high school manual. The courses which have been added are manual training and domestic science, which are offered in the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth grades. These two courses are filling a place in the Aurora schools for which nothing else would substitute. There is a demand in the Aurora schools for industrial education where the hand may be educated as well as the mind for future usefulness. Both manual training and domestic science are proving a success and meeting 'the demand and expectation of student and patron. The high school has increased materially in attendance since these courses have been added. The Aurora high school was one among the first to add a normal training course to its curricula and since the 1907 law passed for normal training in high schools Aurora was recognized as properly equipped for such a course and has been graduating large classes each year. The present normal training class numbers twenty-four.

     At present there are eight teachers in the high school and twelve in the grades, with a total enrollment of over seven hundred pupils, one hundred and eighty-one of which are in the high school.

     We have an enrollment of fifty free tuition country and village pupils. The compulsory educational law is strictly observed.

A. E. FISHER,            
City Superintendent.     

     Our school has grown from a twenty-three credit point to full accreditment of thirty-two points. Our enrollment has not increased very much in grades, but we have, doubled in number in high school and doubled in number in free high school. We have a new school

building, erected three years ago, a. modern eleven-room building, steam heated, well lighted and ventilated. Nicest ground in the state, one of the best equipped laboratories of any school of its size, library of 1,200 volumes. Just getting out a new course of study.

W. H. STEINBACH,       
City Superintendent     

     The total enrollment for the school years of 1906-07 was 2,109; 1907-08, 2,263; 190809, 2,180; 1909-10, 2,182. The enrollment in the high school for these same years was 308, 371, 385 and 439.

     The school census for the year 1909-10 was 2,859.

     The average daily attendance for the same year was 1,637.

     The compulsory' educational law has been enforced during the past year as well as could be under existing conditions.

     Sixty-five boys and girls have taken advantage of the free high school attendance law, and eleven attended our high school who were unable for some reason to take advantage of this law.

     The new high school building which has been used for the past year is modern and up-to-date, being heated and ventilated by the gravity system, and we believe it is one of the finest buildings in the state.

     The building contains about thirty-three rooms. The study hall has a seating capacity for 475 pupils on the first floor, with a balcony which has 250 opera chairs. The chemical, physical and botanical laboratories are well equipped with the best apparatus. There are fourteen recitation rooms each containing thirty desks. The domestic science and manual training departments are being fitted to accommodate classes of twenty pupils each. The gymnasium is fifty-seven by eighty feet. It contains lockers and spray baths and is exceptionally well lighted and ventilated.

      We have eight ward buildings, each in good condition. These buildings contain from two to ten rooms.

     At the present time much interest is being shown by the citizens in the beautifying of the school grounds.

     Several years ago the high school library, consisting of nearly 1,000 volumes, was given to the Beatrice public library, with the understanding that there should be co-operation between them. Arrangements have been so made with the librarian that pupils may visit the library for looking up references during school hours.

     The Beatrice city schools have courses of study for the high school and the grades, which are similar in most respects to the state course.

     The high school course not only contains the subjects usually required, but as electives we have added recently domestic science, manual training, mechanical drawing, shorthand and typewriting and music.

     Every year in the normal training department we have classes varying from twenty-five to thirty pupils. Generally these young peo-

ple are girls who go through school with the idea of becoming teachers, and in many cases are leaders in the class. This year the valedictorian and salutatorian were among the number.

     The student organizations are the Crabtree Forensic club and the I. F's., which are boys' debating clubs. These clubs meet weekly and the high school faculty are honorary members. The Smithsonian Science Club was organized during the past year and is under the direction of the instructor of science. This club included both boys and girls who are especially interested along this line. A high school orchestra of nearly thirty pieces is making rapid progress under L. F. Stoddard, music supervisor.

     Much interest is shown in athletics in general. Last year our football team was one of the best high school teams in the state.

     The earnest efforts of the Beatrice teachers are manifested in the spirit of the pupils and the interest of the patrons. In my opinion, Beatrice is to be congratulated on the success of her schools.

E. J. BODWELL,          
City Superintendent.     

     Five years ago Beaver City high school had an enrollment of about sixty-five, carried eleven grades and had two teachers. Today we have twelve grades accreditment to the state university, normal training and have four teachers and an enrollment of 131.

     Several causes have operated to enlarge our school. First, the free high school law; second, grading of country schools under the leadership of County Superintendent Frank Munday; third, the broadminded policy of our school board; fourth, the hard work of our teachers. Nor would it be fair to overlook the enthusiasm of the students themselves. One boy rides a motor cycle fourteen miles, another walks four and one-half miles, two girls have driven nine miles the last two years and a large number come from four to six miles.

     Our school has shown a steady growth during these years, the average attendance for each of the three years being seventy, 100 and 116. At the opening of the school this year our enrollment was 131, which is one greater than our total for last year.

     Almost exactly one half our high school is made up of non-residents and these cannot be distinguished from our own students from the town in industry and appearance. Last year our graduates were ten non-residents and nine town students.

     Normal training was put in the year following the passage of the law and has gradually gained in popularity so that now our class numbers forty-three, of whom twenty-seven are seniors.

     In 1909 State Superintendent E. C. Bishop organized a domestic science club among our girls, which finally adopted the Crete plan and we now have about forty-five girls and two boys in the classes. The ladies of the town under the able leadership of Mrs. T. A. Boyd

are making the work both pleasant and profitable. We think the plan superior to a laboratory course in domestic science as it is more practical and does much to make the connecting link between the school and the home.

     Our school was the first in this section of the state to enter the State Debating League and won the district championship the last two years.

     The school spirit of the community is fine and is further shown by the fact that about one-third of our graduates attend college upon completing the high school.

     The proportion of the school in the higher grades has grown rapidly till now we have twenty-nine in the senior class, twenty-eight In the junior, thirty-five in the tenth grade and thirty-eight in the ninth grade.

W. T. DAVIS,             
City Superintendent.     

     The Beaver Crossing public schools have made a decided advance in efficiency during the last few years. The high school was placed on the three-year accredited list by the university during the year 1907-08. The following year, with the addition of another teacher and the necessary laboratory equipment it was placed on the four-year accredited list and also approved for normal training. Each of the five graduates of that year was a member of the normal training class.

     For the year 1909-10 it was again necessary to add another member to the teaching force, making a total of eight teachers for the entire school. The 1909-10 report showed a census of 291, a total enrollment of 290, and an average daily attendance of 237. The high school report, which is included in the above, showed an enrollment of fifty-four and an average daily attendance of forty-seven. The graduating class was composed of nine members, seven girls and two boys. Eight of these completed the normal training course.

      Received $426.75 for non-resident tuition. Of this amount, approximately $200 was collected under the free high school law.

     The laboratory is well equipped with new apparatus worth over $400. The library has over 200 volumes besides a new international encyclopedia and a special library for normal training students.

     The new steam heating plant installed last year has given general satisfaction and has added much to the material comfort of the pupils.

JOHN E. OPP,          
Superintendent.     

     Bloomfield is provided with a modern school building, which is being used for its sixth year. It stands on a rise of ground at the

end of a main entrance street, and is surrounded by a well kept lawn and cement walks. The building is built of red pressed brick, with trimmings of buff brick and sandstone. It has two stories and a basement. The basement contains the boiler and coal rooms, a store room, a science laboratory, and the kindergarten room. On the first floor are four school rooms, all opening into the same hallway. Narrow rooms on each side of the main entrance are used for storing supplies and books. The second floor has two grade rooms, a high school assembly room, a recitation room, and the superintendent's office.

     All parts of the building are supplied with gas burners connected with the city gas plant, so that light is available for evening gatherings. The entire building is heated with steam, and the ventilation is of the indirect type. The fresh air is heated by steam coils in the basement, and the foul air ducts empty into an outlet heated by the smokestack.

     Each room is provided with single seats so arranged that the light comes from the left and rear. The school is well supplied with text books, maps, globes and other apparatus. The high school laboratory is furnished with a chemistry desk, a physics table, botany tables and an adequate supply of science apparatus. The board of education has been liberal in the matter of appropriations for supplies, being willing to purchase whatever it could be shown that the school needed.

     The school has a library of about 600 volumes. One-third of these books are used for reference only. The others are withdrawn by the pupils of the grammar grades and the high school for reading. These books consist of stories and literature suitable for the various grades. Worn out books are replaced from time to time and new books purchased. The money necessary for the maintenance of the library has been raised through entertainments given by the school or has been appropriated by the board under the library law.

     The course of study followed by the school has been provided by the superintendent and the work is similar to that being done by other schools of the state. Instruction in music and drawing has been introduced in the grades. Two twenty-minute periods are given to each of these subjects twice a week. Since the school is not large enough to afford special teachers la these subjects, the work has been done mainly by the regular teachers. In drawing the practical drawing series has been used as a text. The superintendent has given his personal supervision to the music, teaching the subject at least half of the time for each teacher.

     Outside of the manual work done by the lower grades and occasional contests in domestic science, no attempt has been made to introduce industrial education into the school. There is serious talk of erecting a $10,000 manual training building, to include science laboratories and a gymnasium. One generous school board member

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