la señora madre (p. 50, 1. 1), "the lady mother" (vocabulary)? Would not a note be desirable? No explanation is given of such idioms as se trata de (p. 47, 1. 14); a cargo de (p.. 47, 1. 22), nor he hecho lo posible (p. 46, 1. 29). These are but a few of the many passages which should be elucidated for any except the very advanced student. The note to pacholes (p. 19, 1. 29) says: "Pachol is not found in the dictionaries, but its apparent meaning is pod." Cecilio A. Robelo in "Diccionario de Aztequismos" (Cuernavaca, 1904) refines the word as follows: "Pachol, (PAZOLLI: maraña. radicales desconocidas) Pelo enmarañado." (p. 629). The "Pequeño Larousse Ilustrado" gives the same definition, and as a synonym, greña. The meaning is evidently "vines" or "young plants." The biographical and geographical notes might be more complete without greatly increasing the size of the book. Four lines are given to Humboldt, while Garcilaso de la Vega is dismissed as "a Spanish poet," and the great Lope de Vega gets but little more mention. Cervantes scarcely "was Spain's most famous author" at the time he wrote, if we may judge by his poverty and the hardships of his life, though he has doubtless become so since. The text has no exercises and is apparently intended to introduce the student to the life and literature of Mexico, rather than to be used as a drillbook in conversation and composition. As such it is very welcome, and there is room for editions of some of the greater novels of Mexico, selected from the works of Rafael Delgado, Federico Gamboa, López-Portillo, and others. "La Navidad en las Montañas" is short and should find a place in the second or third year of high school, as well as in college classes devoted to the study of Spanish American literature. The story has been cut very little; suspension points are used to indicate the few omissions. These three editions show a wide range of editorial workmanship. (a) marks the extreme of careful attention to detail. The student is almost lost in the maze of "helps"; with two sets of notes, vocabulary, and a treatise on the verb, he will find everything he needs to know laid out before him -if he looks in the right place, sometimes, perhaps, being in doubt just where to look first. By cross-references he can learn grammar to his heart's content, and if he memorizes the exercises he can discuss Rosas, Buenos Aires and Argentine history. The tendency in text-making nowadays is towards the type of (a), and it is no doubt most desirable when the subject-matter is suited to beginners, but in the present case this may be seriously questioned. (c) gives the student almost no help. It is little more than a reprint of the text, since, as has been shown, the reader must go to a dictionary anyway for many definitions, and the material in the very few notes may be found in any encyclopedia or in the "Pequeño Larousse," which every teacher of Spanish should have at hand. It makes available, however, for advanced classes an excellent little sketch of Mexican life and customs. (b) is a happy medium between these two extremes. It gives the student in classes to which "María" is really adapted, all the help he needs, yet there is nothing superfluous, save perhaps the illustrative exercises. Professor Keniston's suggestion that the text be used as a drill-book in conversation will not meet with universal approval. Some of us prefer drilling the stu dent on more commonplace topics than the story of two romantic lovers in little-known Colombia. This does not imply that it is not profitable for the teacher to discuss in Spanish the parts read and to encourage students to do the same, but that is a step far beyond the usual conversation exercises with their set questions and answers. How many of us would recommend "Ivanhoe," "The Last of the Mohicans," or "The Vicar of Wakefield" as conversation books for a class in Buenos Aires studying English? Yet these are assigned as high-school reading in literature, and would be valuable in giving the Argentine student something of the spirit of England and the United States. Let us have conversation and more conversation, composition and more composition, but let us select the material for such conversation and composition from the everyday life of Spain and Spanish America rather than from historical and romantic fiction. Then, when the student has acquired a certain feeling for the language and can at least combine simple sentences in Spanish, let us use these great works of literature to put him in closer touch with the mother-country and her offspring in the New World and to make him more sympathetic with the peoples whose language he is learning. UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA CHARLES A. TURRELL BIBLIOGRAPHY I. SCHOOL TEXTS A Foundation Course in Spanish by L. Sinagnan, of the Stuyvesant High School, New York. 278 pages. After a short introduction there are 46 chapters of grammar, followed by an Appendix of Verbs, containing paradigms of regular verbs, verbs with orthographic changes, and radical changing verbs. The irregular verbs come next, arranged alphabetically. Finally, there are the usual vocabularies and an index. The familiar forms of address and corresponding verb forms are omitted, in the first part of the book. Each chapter contains grammatical explanations, followed by Spanish and English exercises. Connected reading exercises are begun early. Distributed through the first nineteen lessons are expressions in Spanish for class-room use. Object pronouns and the subjunctive mode receive especially good treatment. The book is well arranged, and should prove an interesting book to work with, from the point of view of the pupil as well as that of the teacher. 1917-Macmillan Co. $1.00. Leyendas Históricas Mexicanas, por Heriberto Frías Edited by James Bardin of the University of Virginia. XIX + 181 pages. There are ten legends in the collection. The first eight are stories about the Mexican Indians before the advent of Cortés. The last two concern the Spanish conqueror and his dealings with the Indians. The tales, in spite of the difficult Indian names, are fascinating. There is plenty of information in English to make the reading of the text intelligible and enjoyable. Besides a general historical introduction, there are explanatory introductions before each selection and numerous footnotes. Grammatical notes occupy 27 pages and there is a full vocabulary. The text is embellished with about a dozen illustrations, including a map of Mexico. The book could be used as a profitable reading text either in high school or college. 1918-Macmillan Co. 80c. Amalia-por José Mármol Edited by Ames Haven Corley of Yale University. XVI + 300 pages. The writer of this melodramatic novel of life in Buenos Aires, under the rule of the Dictator General Rosas, was both author and politician. Being an enemy of the autocratic Rosas he paints him in the blackest colors. The story is full of action, and what is more to the purpose, contains a good deal of conversational Spanish. The text is condensed from the original, which would have been too lengthy for school use. A historical introduction in English prepares the reader, unacquainted with South American history of the time, for a thorough enjoyment of the story. The text covers 150 pages, with footnotes in Spanish. Following the text are 44 exercises for oral and written work, consisting of cuestionarios and short composition exercises. There are 22 pages of notes explaining grammatical difficulties. A chapter on the verb, adapted from the grammar of Fuentes & François with a table of numerals, followed by a carefully prepared vocabulary, completes the volume. It is a book containing much valuable class-room material, aside from its thrilling interest as a story. The volume is illustrated with 9 pictures and a map of Argentina. 1918-Macmillan Co. $1.00. Mas vale Maña que fuerza: Proverbio en un Acto by Manuel Tamayo y Baus, edited by Carlos E. Conant of the University of Chattanooga. 80 pages (49 text, 4 exercises, 22 vocabulary). This serious comedy offers very useful and entertaining material for school work. The linguistic difficulties are adequately dealt with in footnotes. The few pages of exercises are excellent. The vocabulary is complete. 1918-World Book Co. 52c. HIGH SCHOOL OF COMMERCE MICHAEL S. DONLAN II. PERIODICAL LITERATURE PEDAGOGICAL JOURNALS Modern Language Journal, II, 8, May—E. W. Bagster-Collins, A Brief Study Showing the Relation and Treatment of the Annotated Reading Test. J. P. Diehl, Choosing a Grammar for Beginners. (Points that the teacher should consider. "A book in which the appeal is chiefly to the analytical, reasoning power of the mind is unsuited to the young high-school pupils, while one with very extensive inductive apparatus is out of place in rapid, college instruction." Inexperienced teachers are advised to avoid extreme types of grammars.) J. Warshaw reviews Supple's Spanish Reader of South American History, New York, Macmillan's, 1917. and Luquiens' Elementary Spanish-American Reader, New York, Macmillan's, 1917. E. Potter reviews Fuentes and François' A Trip to Latin America, New York, Holt & Co., 1917. School and Society, VIII, No. 185-A. F. West, The Immortal Conflict. (The importance of memory to the individual and the nation. History, together with the classics, ancient and modern, is the world's memory. A condemnation of modern impatience of the remote in time and space. A refutation of four disquieting modern heresies: 1. There should be no "formal discipline" in education. 2. The student should take only those studies which interest him at the time. 3. There should be only vocational training. The author thinks that this is the least democratic form of education, because it tends to make the recipient of it a mere tool of society by fitting him exclusively for one calling or group of callings. The student equipped with a liberal training is freer to make readjustments later. 4. We are Americans living in the twentieth century and should provide our children with an exclusively American education without reference to other countries and the past. This point of view is in direct opposition to the present tendency toward a league of nations and a world community of interest. There are numerous opponents of modern language study among the members of our faculties of education. Fortunately, the man in the street can see how we are now suffering from our neglect of modern languages in the past.) The Shortage of Teachers. (Quoted from the New York Evening Post. The shortage is most acute in the Middle West. Only a speedy increase of salaries will remedy the situation.) 199. Isabel A. Ennis, Causes of the Present Shortage of Teachers. (1. Salaries are too low. 2. The superior attractions of other fields of work, quite aside from the salary matter. 3. "The training value of successful teaching as preparation for other fields is under-advertised." 4. “Working conditions of schools and supervision are many times uninspiring and unagreeable even when not disagreeable and discouraging." 5. "Public and social recognition is too low.") Education, XXXIX, 1, Sept.-John Fairfax, College Teachers' Salaries. (A discussion of the salary question always makes interesting reading. The importance of the teacher. Of the 8,000 names in Who's Who for 1900, 5,768 |