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New and better ideas of child education are steadily making their way. Nearly every one now acknowledges that the school room should be primarily a place of entertainment, that the true vocation of the teacher is to amuse in an instructive manner, and that study is really a scientific form of play. Also, it is quite generally admitted that methods which involve mental effort on the part of the child are not to be tolerated.

So much progress has already been made. But now there has just appeared a book which bids fair to carry the educational advance as far ahead again. This book, entitled "A Baseball Primer of French," substitutes for the conventional pedantry of conjugations, syntax, etc., a vivid account in French of an imaginary world's series. Any boy who studies it will understand it instinctively; for if the foreign text prove obscure, he has only to read the English translation underneath.

The author, Speed Stevens—who, it may be remembered, was captain of his college nine,—shows a profound knowledge of baseball. Indeed, it is on account of his ability as athletic coach that he holds his position of instructor in French at Croton.

The following extract gives an inkling of the rare pedagogical value of the book:

Dans le dixième point, avec deux hommes

In the tenth period, with two men

sur bases et un sorti, Harburg éventa. Alors

on bases and one out, Harburg fanned. Then

Bill le Rosseur ramassa sa chauve-souris et

Bill the Walloper picked up his bat and

marcha à grands pas à l'assiette. Hank

strode to the plate. Hank

Harrigan, vrai à ses lauriers de plus grand

Harrigan, true to his laurels as the greatest

vivant tournoyeur sud-patte, partit avec un

living southpaw twirler, started off with a

tirer-dedans qui faisait zip-zip, entaillant une

zipping in-shoot, scoring a

frappe. Le suivant fut un bal. Dugan, au

strike. The next a ball. Dugan, on

premier, descendit avec son bras et vola la

first went down with his arm and stole

deuxième base, mais Brown fut mis en dehors

second base, but Brown was put out

au troisième. Alors la cruche mis en dessus

at third. Then the pitcher put over

un bal saliveux: frappe deux. Puis, vinrent

a spit-ball: strike two. Then came

encore deux bals. Le comte était maintenant

two more balls. The count was now

trois à deux, et les éventails s'asseyaient sans haleine.

three to two, and the fans sat breathless.

Bill assomma une longue mouche qui tomba

Bill knocked out a long fly which fell

volaille. Il suiva celle-ci avec une volaille

foul. He followed this with a pop

poppeuse, qui l'aurait fini n'eut été un

fly, that would have finished him,

manchon stupide de la part de l'attrappeur.

but for a stupid muff by the catcher.

Harrigan devenait grincé, et Cathaway,

Harrigan was becoming rattled, and Cathaway,

voiturant de la ligne de côté, lui criait, "Bras

coaching from the side-line, yelled at him, "Glass

de verre! Il monte! Il monte!" La

arm! He's going up! He's going up!" The

cruche envoya une goutte facile; Bill débarqua

pitcher sent an easy drop; Bill landed

là-dessus carrément, le menant par-dessus la

on it squarely, driving it over the

tête de l'arrête-court, loin dans le champ

short-stop's head, far into left

gauche. C'était un oiseau d'une frappe. Dugan

field. It was a bird of a hit. Dugan

entailla, et puis Bill, gaiement circlant les

scored, and then Bill, gaily circling the

sacs, glissa sauf chez soi, pendant que les

bags, slid safe home, as the

blanchisseurs allaient sauvages.

bleachers went wild.