lower schools upward, and not from the higher schools downward, came these institutions which provide for the higher education of the sons and daughters of the people at the expense of the State and the community. "Free schools," said our late lamented President McKinley, "are the necessary supplements of free men;" and the public high school arose as the necessary supplement of free elementary schools.

And the growth of these institutions is one of the marvels in the history of American civilization. When the nineteenth century dawned there was not a single high school in the entire country. Originating in Boston in 1821, and followed in 1836 by our own high school, these institutions have so multiplied that to day there is hardly a town or a village throughout the United States that does not boast of its public high school. As late as 1860, Dr. Harris tells us, there were only forty high schools in the United States; in 1870 there were four times this number, or 160; in 1880 there were twenty times this number or 800; in 1890 there were more than sixty times that number, or 2520; while in 1890 the number had increased to more than 6000.

These institutions are the pride of the American people. A few of our larger cities can point with laudable congratulation to their colleges and universities, but nearly every city and village in the country feels proud of its high school, in which the sons and daughters of its citizens are being educated in the higher branches of learning. Forty years ago, as one traveled through the country, and entered a town or city, it was the church or court house that attracted the eye of the visitor; to-day the public high school building is often the most conspicuous and elegant edifice in the town. The ancient Greeks erected temples to their deities, among the most celebrated of which was that to their goddess of wisdom, Minerva; the public high schools are our temples of learning reared to the genius of free education, more potent in their influence than the magnificent structures of Athens that crowned the brow of the Acropolis.

The public high school, in its origin and purpose, is the embodiment of the spirit of free government. It is a school of the people, by the people and for the people. The college and university, more or less aristocratic in their origin, are still to a certain extent exclusive and aristocratic in their clientele and their influence. The sons of the great mass of the people, no matter how bright the stamp of genius on their brow, are as a rule unable to enter the classic halls of the distant college. In the public high schools the son of the poorest citizen has the same opportunity to drink from the fountains of higher culture as the child of the wealthiest citizen, even if he is obliged to sell newspapers in his leasure moments to provide himself with proper clothing. At the same desk may sit the son of the Mayor and the son of the Mayor's washerwoman, their standing in the school being determined by their talents and industry, rather than by their parents' money or the social or civic circle to which they belong. The high school is thus the school of democracy, the people's college,

in fact, as in the intention of those who founded it; and in this is its glory and its pride.

And it is this democratic spirit that so eminently fits the school for the education of the sons of those whom Mr. Lincoln designated as "the plain people." In the city high school no emphasis is given to those distinctions of social and financial conditions that often breed discontent and unhappiness in the minds of the young. There is no danger of a young man's acquiring spendthrift habits, or of being educated outside of his own sphere of life, and away from a spirit of contentment with an humble beginning in the solution of his life problem. Managing their own societies, baseball clubs and foot-ball teams, there grows up a community of interest that will be of vast advantage to them in the future as they engage in the different occupations and professions which they may select. The friends and relations of a young man, educated among his own people, who regard his attainments with pride, not only take an interest in contributing to his success in life, but as an object of their admiration he exerts a strong influence in lifting them and the community up into higher social conditions. It is this union in the city high school, on a common basis, of students from the various stations in life, that gives it its special distinction and influence. From the homes of the wealthy or well to-do citizens whose sons are educated in the city high school, there comes a flavor of culture and refinement that has its influence in the social atmosphere of the institution and thus indirectly upon the social life of the city. From the homes of the less wealthy comes a spirit of industry and self-sacrifice that wins the respect and admiration of the more highly favored students. The association of all classes and all nationalities in the class-room affords an opportunity for a mutual understanding and appreciation of their various peculiarities and traits of character; and there grows up a feeling of mutual interest, a feeling of fellowship and goodwill, that will do much in the future to give tone and health to the social and civic atmosphere of the city. The high school in thus reaching out its hands to all classes, and through its educational influence uniting them into a community of feeling and appreciation, does a great work in welding together the different elements of society and the state into a homogeneity of feeling and appreciation that is indispensable for the highest interests of Republican institutions.

The primary function of the city high school, as indicated by its origin, is the complete education of its pupils in the higher branches of learning. In the progress of education, however, these schools have entered upon a second stage of work, that of preparing students for a collegiate course of instruction in higher institutions. In this work the records of the higher schools of Philadelphia are most gratifying. The standing of our high school girls at Bryn Mawr and our high school boys at the University is a cause for congratulation and pride. But while every encouragement should be given to the high school in its work of "secondary education," we believe with its founders that the main purpose of the city high school is and should be the complete academic education of

its students. The city high school is most influential in a community when it is looked up to as the alma mater of its graduates and as the centre of their school recollections and educational experiences. Its literary societies, its associations and traditions, even the tricks and jokes associated with student life-these live in the memory and cement their attachment to the school and hold together in strongest bonds of mutual interest a body of alumni who are an inspiration to one another and a power in the community in favor of all those social and civic influences that make for the well being of the city. This magnificent building bears testimony to the influence of the alumni of this school, who have stood side by side with the Board of Education in its efforts to arouse public sentiment and secure an appropriation for its erection and equipment. But to fulfill this purpose in accordance with the educational demands of the times the course of instruction should be increased two years, so that its col· legiate degrees may correspond with those of other collegiate institutions.

And this leads to the conclusion that the highest value of the city high school is found in its relation to the social and civic life of the city. The men who rule or shape the policy of the government of modern cities are not those who were reared amid wealth and aristocratic surroundings; they are the sons of the plain people, educated in the public schools of the city, men who by energy and native talent have lifted themselves out of the humble positions in which they had their birth into positions of power and responsibility. And as a higher education broadens the outlook and raises the

ideals of life. the more of these men in any community who can be given that higher culture afforded by a city high school, the broader and more liberal will be the policies that shape the civil institutions of the city In this respect the past records of the Central High School have been most conspicuous and worthy of high admiration. Several of the most influential members of City Councils, a large num ber of the honorable Judges of our courts of justice, many of our most distinguished clergymeu, attorneys at law and prominent public officials, the President, Vice-President, Secretary and a large number of the members of the Board of Public Education, and a large number of the distinguished citizens and professional and business men of Philadelphia, are the graduates of the Central High School, having received their training for their life work within its walls.

The Central High School has thus projected itself into ihe civic and professional life of the city, and helped to mould its institutions and shape its history. And what it has done in the past, amid its humble and inadequate facilities, is but an earnest of what we may expect it to do in the future, housed in this magnificent building, with an extended course of instruction, and the best equipments which a public spirited Board of Education and a wise and liberal policy of Councils may enable it to provide.

It is this great school, with its honorable record in the past and its high promise for the future, whose new building-this magnificent

public school edifice, unequaled by any other high school building in the country-we are assembled this afternoon to dedicate to the cause of free higher education And it is to these exercises of dedication that I, in the name of the Board of Public Education, the Faculty and alumni of the school, have the honor to extend to you all a most hearty greeting and a most cordial welcome.

Dr. Nathan C. Schaeffer, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, spoke on "The Function of the High School,' which is of two kinds-the training which it gives in school, and the other out of school. It is only in the case of defectives that the school attempts to usurp the function of the home and social life. Failure to draw this distinction causes many people to mistake its primary purpose and misconceive the function of the high school as a public institution. The function of the elementary school is to banish illiteracy. If that school teaches the pupil the right use of books he is half educated, and the other half belongs to the high school and the college.

He then discussed the function of the high school from the labor standpoint, and from that of a higher life. He showed that the railroad laborer spiking the rails to the ties, important as his work is to the safety of the traveling public, is the lowest paid in the service. In the central office men are better and better paid as they deal more with things requiring a higher mode of thinking, until thinking at last is expressed in symbols and relative signs. The primary function of the high school is to think the relations that lie at the basis of science. Scientific truth is the base of modern life, and it is the education that fits the pupil to hold his own in the markets of the world. The high school that does not only increase the earning powers of its pupils, but also fit them for a higher life, is a failure. The function of the high school is to enable its pupils to think the best thoughts of the best men adown the ages. Its function is to fit the boys and girls to live that higher life of faith, hope and love; love of home and country, love of kindred and friends, love of truth.

Dr. Thomas M. Drown, of the 35th class of the Central High School, and President of Lehigh University, took for his subject "From High School to College." Our system of education as it exists to day is based on the earnest conviction of the people that American boys

and girls should be compelled to go to school to get the foundation of a good education, and should have the opportunity to continue their studies in secondary schools and colleges, if they so desire. It is only in the States west of us that the college and university are a part of the system of free education of the State; but here, also, there is such ample provision by the older colleges for free tuition for needy students that one no longer regards poverty as a barrier in the higher education. But the college and university will always be for the few favored ones who have the time as well as the aptitude for advanced study. For the masses the high school remains the cap stone of our educational fabric, and by reason of the extent and variety of its curriculum, broader, indeed, than the college course of fifty years ago, is not inappropriately called the "People's College." He questioned the wisdom of the advanced college entrance requirements, but said that this measure has at least increased the dignity of the high school course to such a degree that the graduates of our best equipped and best manned high schools are as well prepared for their life's work as were the college graduates of the middle of the last century.

Dr. Martin G. Brumbaugh, of the University of Pennsylvania, and ex-Commissioner of Education to Porto Rico, spoke on "Some Educational Ideas Conserved by the High School," and said:

There is nothing static in education. The fundamental factors with which education deals are endowment and environment. Both are subject to endless modification. And the insight of the teacher is equally a changeful factor in the educational process. Teaching to-day is a wholly changed activity. A study of psychology, pedagogy and the history of civilization, has given a wider view and a vastly nobler conception of the entire process of education. Education is the conscious effort the race puts forth to fit the individual to adjust himself to his environment and to create new conditions in that environment to the end that he may live most helpfully by living most completely. Midway between the kindergarten and a life career stands the high school-the transition school-in the educational economy. To many it is, indeed, the final, formal equipment for a life career.

The pupil enters the high school for a definite purpose. It is here that he is changed from life unity to life complexity. For the first time in life departmental instruction claims his time and challenges his effort. The elementary school-the reflex of the home-with its simplicity of process and its single instructor, yields

to the high school-the reflex of life-with its complexity of processes and its group of instructors. This transition is most significant. Many pupils find it practically a hopeless transition, and drop from the schools, with great loss to themselves and to society. The Amer ican high school is a home school. It is the culmination of the educational organization as it touches the pupil while he resides at home. All higher education assumes a foreign environment. The pupil in the high school is a home pupil. The pride of the city is entwined in the garland we weave to-day, because this school has given a splendid array of efficient men to its activities.

The high school is not to give a maximum of knowledge, but a maximum of discipline. It is not to load the pupil for life, but to toughen him to carry that load. This requires time, and no true lover of childhood will ruthlessly rush the pupil through school and prematurely into life. The larger meanings of an education are not realized in a day. The time has come for a systematic protest against haste in education. There should be a demand for time in study.

The secondary school is thus seen to meet a critical need of the boy as he turns from childhood to face manhood. The work of this school is to be measured by the equipment it gives for the forward advance. The elementary school should fill the child mind with all the rich

products of its variform environment. It should aim, not to impart scientific determination, but to arouse a sincere and abiding love for all things. The high school must organize these loves of childhood into all forms of law and order, principle and formulæ, to the end that life may be viewed from great guiding principles. To adapt the lines of Lowell:

Teaching, indeed, is eternal, but its effluence,
With endless change, is fitted to the hour;
Its mirror is turned forward to reflect
The promise of the future, not the past.
He who would win the name of truly great
Must understand his own age and the next,
And make the present ready to fulfil
Its prophecy, and with the future merge
Gently and peacefully as wave with wave.

Dr. Thompson then invited the audience to visit any part of the school and inspect its arrangement and equipment, which, he said, they might find worthy of their attention and possibly of imitation.

Ex-Governor Robert E. Pattison presided at the evening session, when many valuable gifts, portraits and works of art, were presented by the alumni of the school. In his address he said: "We are here to do honor to the memory of the men who have contributed to the success of the High School. They served in their day and generation faithfully and well. Their work was the building up of character and of truth, and they are worthy of the laurel which is only conferred on immortals. They have passed away, some of them, but their memories live in us."