new buildings have. The floors of playrooms are now made of asphalt, which is a great improvement over the board flooring of the past, and along the side of these rooms is a row of faucets (over stone troughs), which must simplify matters wonderfully when, at recess, the stampede for a drink begins. training room, or a room with very light equipment for physical exercise, takes the place of a gymnasium. Expert opinion has been consulted as to the best color for the walls of class-rooms, and a very pale tan-almost the exact shade of a postal card, in fact-has been chosen. In an H building, the large assembly In some of the buildings a physical- room where morning exercises are held occupies the bar of the H on two floors, the gymnasium being in the same space on the top one. By means of sliding partitions, these assembly-rooms are quickly converted into six class-rooms, ready for the reception of pupils, without so much as the moving of a chair. The assemblyroom, is not, however, a new feature in the New York schools. The platform, that integral part of the class-room to the person who went to school in New England or the West, is not used in these schools, save in the assembly-rooms. The teacher's desk, a The teacher's desk, a most unobtrusive affair, sits close to the front row of seats, and a broad, unbroken space is thereby left for her to "prance about in," to use the enthusiastic but undignified phraseology of an expert in school matters. In order to bring her, when seated, well within view of all the children, she is provided with what appears to be the high chair of a baby giant. The use of this chair is likely to prove a great puzzle to the uninitiated person, until the mystery is cleared up by the sight of a teacher occupying one. The rows of seats have just space enough between them to allow the children to pass back and forth with ease, the only wide aisle being along the sides and back of the room. By this compact arrangement, a saving in space is effected in the size of the room, and the strain upon the teacher's voice is reduced to a minimum. Before going any further, it may be interesting to linger for a moment over Mr. Snyder's report of his visit to representative European schools. In 1896 he visited those of London, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam, to discover (we quote from the report) if there were any desirable features which might with profit be incorporated in the large number of new schools which we are about to erect." He calls attention to the English law which fixes the minimum size of a school site at a quarter of an acre to each two hundred and fifty children, "in the absence of exceptional circumstances," and expresses the hope that the time will come when New York will enact a similar law. AN IMPRESSIVE MAIN DOORWAY, SCHOOL 165, NEW YORK At this time, it seems, the subject of ven- bly-rooms on every floor, but they are without seats, and the children stand during the morning exercises. In stormy weather they are used as recreation-rooms: and they are rented out, at about one pound per night, to any decent person who wishes to give an entertainment therein. In New York's schools, the assembly-rooms, as we have seen, become class-rooms after the morning exercises are over; and the play-room, which occupies the greater part of the first floor of New York school buildings, corresponds, In a way, to the London assembly-room. The London buildings, though very substantial, are smaller than ours. They have numerous lavatories, with soap and towels. In the schools of Paris, which are strangely crude in sanitary accommodations, there is even an elaborate bathing apparatus. The Paris schools have plenty of light and air and ample playgrounds, and at half-pasteleven each morning a lunch is served to the children in the play-rooms. The flag of the Republic floats over them continuously, and is never taken down except when it becomes necessary to replace an old flag by a new one. Mr. Snyder's report closes with the following statement: "The only points of comparison where the public-school build ings of this city cannot more than successfully compete with the best of those shown me is in the restricted class-rooms and outdoor recreation space." The latter of these shortcomings he has subsequently tried to meet in the crowded districts by the roof playgrounds; while the former is gradually being met by the large number of new buildings. In order really to appreciate the difficulty of providing school accommodations for the children of the lower East Side, one must go there. Statistics, or even the small black sinister squares which appear on the maps that show relative density of population, fail to convey an adequate idea of it. In an area about 1,300 feet east and west by 800 north and south, taken at random in this district, there are five schools, with an enrollment of 10,377 pupils. It is in such places as this that some of the great new gray-brick buildings stand, rising impressively out of the surrounding squalor, and carrying the stars |