The corner stone of the new $100,000 high school building in Fort Atkinson was laid with appropriate ceremonies on December 14. Hon. L. B. Caswell, who for over fifty years has been a member of the school board, gave the principal address. Ex-Governor W. D. Hoard was also one of the speakers.

A very strange robbery occurred in Racine county last month when the Ives school was entered at night and 600 books stolen, all of which must be replaced by the parents of the pupils. The total loss is about $300. The motive of the theft is not apparent for the books could not be disposed of without detection.

Two neighborhood centers have been established in rural districts, one near Mishicot, Manitowoc county, and another in the town of Oakland, Jefferson county. Meetings have already been held and reports show that both have been eminently successful. There is no reason why more of these should not be established throughout the state.

A vitriolic business man of Beloit who answered one of the referendum circulars on the dancing. question made the statement that "The present generation of high school pupils tended to become pimpled, cigarette-smoking mollycoddles." is rather strong language and might possibly apply to a very small part of our high school students.

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The headquarters of the state teachers' retirement fund board are rooms 323-324 Washington Bldg., Madison, Wis. All communications should be addressed to Miss Elizabeth Herfurth, Secretary. In our February issue we expect to announce several important decisions regarding the teachers' pension laws which the board will soon act upon.

Fort Atkinson, Oshkosh, and the west Green Bay high schools each claim to be the champion football players for the present season, and considerable discussion has been going on in the press of the state regarding the relative claims of each. The proposition has been made to fight it out in the auditorium at Milwaukee sometime during the winter.

John P. Lewis, for some fourteen years county superintendent of Adams county, has been appointed upon the state board of control by Gov

ernor Francis E. McGovern. Nearly every county superintendent in the state knows Mr. Lewis, and knowing him will rejoice in the good fortune that has come to him. The salary is $2,500 a year and traveling expenses.

The story comes from Spooner through associated press dispatches of the death of Miss Jennie Derosiers, a seventeen year old teacher. One afternoon she left her school to reach home but was obliged to battle her way through deep snow drifts in zero weather, and when she reached the home of a neighbor two and a half miles distant, she fell dead from exhaustion.

Hon A. J. Myrland, district attorney for Burnett county, one of the old-time schoolmasters of this state and a graduate of the state university, has recently received the appointment of secretry for the state tax commission. He takes the place of Mr. Francis who has been secretary since the organization of the commission and who has just resigned. The salary is $2,000.

Upon the recommendation of Supt. Guy D. Smith of Fond du Lac, the regular trained nurse of the city was instructed to examine the eyes, ears, throats, and teeth of all pupils in the public schools of the city and to report their condition to the parents. The social center movement has reached Fond du Lac, and already several meetings have held in the ward buildings.

The board of supervisors of Taylor county has increased the salary of the county superintendent from $900 to $1,200 a year, provided $360 annually for clerk hire, and ordered the monthly payment of all the expenses of the superintendent. Taylor county evidently appreciates the services of Supt. Smith and realizes that the making of good schools is a wise commercial investment.

The appearance of several cases of smallpox in Superior called for the enforcement of the health laws in the matter of vaccination, and in one day last month 700 pupils were refused admission to the schools because they failed to bring vaccination certificates. It became necessary for many teachers to be vaccinated, and at one time fifteen were incapacitated for work on account of sore

arms.

Supt. F. W. Oldenburg of Brodhead, has established a four year agricultural course in his

high school and the influence of it is being felt in the immediate rural communities. On December 4-8, a dairy and farm school was conducted at Brodhead under the leadership of Mr. Oldenburg. The attendance was good and the farmers felt that the undertaking was a most profitable one for them.

Under the editorship of Prin. L. C. Hatch of the Augusta schools, a very neat and comprehensive manual of the course of study of the Augusta public schools has been issued by the board of education. Prin. Hatch is making a strong feature of his agricultural course in the high school, and is exemplifying what can be done in a practical way in this subject where the best of facilities and equipment are lacking.

The first annual school fair at Wild Rose was held on December 1. The fair was given for the purpose of raising funds to make minor improvements in the school building. Various devices were resorted to such as are seen at carnivals and church fairs. In every way the entertainment was a success and netted a neat sum for the benefit of the school. The entertainment was engineered by Prin. W. R. Bussewitz.

A member of the state senate of California has introduced a strong resolution denouncing as false and treacherous the statements made by H. A. Adrian, formerly superintendent of schools at Santa Barbara, concerning the justification of the Revolutionary War. The resolutions demand that histories and teachers voicing such doctines be weeded forever out of schools. The details of the cause of this resolution are not given in the press dispatches.

The many friends of Mr. W. L. Morrison, formerly at the head of the Dunn county training school, will regret to learn of a recent accident which befell him at his home in Redlands, Calif. While repairing the roof of his house, he accidentally fell to the ground sustaining three very serious fractures on his left side, the bones of the hip, the elbow, and shoulder all being shattered. Mr. Morrison had just recovered from a long siege of rheumatism and was on the way to health when this unfortunate accident occurred.

Supt. G. H. Landgraf of Marinette, is chairman of a special committee of the Council of Education to consider the offer of Mrs. Brown of

Neenah, donating a home for superannuated teachers. Very few educators in Wisconsin seem to know much about this donation or to feel its necessity. The gift is certainly a magnificant act on the part of Mrs. Brown, but there seems to have been no demand on the part of teachers themselves, and the pension act just passed seems amply sufficient for the present. The committtee will investigate the matter further and report to the association next year.

Prin, W. J. Sizer of Union Grove, conducts once each month a public exercise to which the citizens generally are invited. No charge is made for admission. Even on stormy nights, Mr. Sizer reports that the assembly room has been taxed to the limit. These programs do two things-they bring the school and village into more sympathetic relations, and they furnish an excellent opportunity for the pupils to appear in public and thus insure confidence in themselves.

Remember the change in time of the southern Wisconsin teachers' association which meets at Madison. It will be held March 8-9. Pres. George Vincent of the University of Minnesota will be the leading speaker, while W. C. Bagley of the University of Illinois and other prominent outsiders will be present to entertain and instruct the teachers of the southern part of the state. Pres. W. G. Clough of Portage, has the program well under way, and a big meeting is promised.

Milwaukee: The first class in dressmaking was graduated from the girls' trade school last month. At present there is only one married woman in the entire force of Milwaukee teachers although there is no rule barring them from teaching. The new twenty-second district school number four will be ready for occupancy early this month. The city has decided to permit dancing in the public school buildings properly supervised by school authorities and parents. This movement has the approval of Supt. Pearse. The attendance of the ten district schools providing night classes has been 1,860. The cooking classes have had 135 pupils and the evening high school numbered 350. A warning has been sent out to teachers that slapping and cuffing of pupils is not the permitted. Gustav Scholz, principal of twentieth district school number two, has given up school work after thirty-five years in the service