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The December Magazines.
W7TTH the end of the school year
" came the inevitable parting with
those who have had the conduct of school
magazines. I have found great pleasure
in reading magartnes from all over Aus
tralia and from New Zealand, and have
found unbounded interest in reading what
the young people have to say. I have
to thank editors for having sent me copies
of their publications, and I am looking
forward to receiving the new batch.
In many of the magazines there is much
original matter, and I have been struck
by the ability displayed. Some magazines
still retain the old idea of making the
school paper merely a record of happen
ings. Others, and fortunately they are in
the majority, cultivate original writings,
and it is refreshing to read the opinions
of boys and girls on subjects of public im
portance.
Young people nowadays cover so much
ground in their reading and express them
selves so well that there is much to learn
from the school magazines. I have to
thank the editors for their assistance in
the past, and to express the hope that
they will supply me with copies of their
latest publications. While they are away
on holiday I will have to carry on, and I
invite them to send all their magazines
so that I may make extracts from them.
Bright Lad's Effort
F GENUITY counts for much In an
examination. I once heard ol a bright
lad who was "swotting" for a history
examination. He decided on an ingenious
plan to outwit the examiner. He knew it
was probable that one question would be
"Write the life of King In order
to be prepared, he learned all he could
about William n., Edward III., Hairy
VII., and George IV. When he looked at
his examination paper he found "the life
of a King" question, but, to his horror,
the examiner wanted to know about Henry
V., and he did not know a word about
him. Nothing daunted, however, he wrote
a thrilling story about the only Henry he
knew, Henry VH. Then he showed his
ingenuity. In red ink,he wrote across the
top of the first slip, "On reading this
through I find I have misread the ques
tion, and have written about the wrong
Henry. I hope the examiner will accept
this instead." Years after, when as an
old boy he revisited the school and saw
his old history master, he asked if the
incident was remembered. He received the
answer, "Yes, and you wrote such a good
answer about Henry VII. that I gave you
full marks for it; but I have often won
dered if it was really a mistake." The
old boy made no comment.
True Citizenship
rr*HE "LUCERNIAN," the magazine
of the Presbyterian Girls' College,
Geelong, has in its December issue an
article on true citizenship. The following
extract will be interesting:-*
"Dreaming alone will not bring changes;
there must be among us those who, being
shown the ideals, have the ingenuity and
the skill to plan their materialisation. They
must preach the gospel of truth and know
ledge, inspire in others the desire for im
provement, and show the possibility of
making those dreams into reality. By so
doing they excite the spirit of. adventure
which is in everyone, though perhaps lying
dormant.
"Thus they in their turn, with their en
lightened imagination, form a necessary
link in the chain of progress. But who
do they link together? It is the imprac
tical dreamer and the ordinary worker
who execute the great plans of the intel
lectuals.
"Those workers are you and I. Our names
may never be written among the great or
tbe renowned, but we are indispensable to the
successful achievement of our leaders' plans.
Always we shall be called upon to perform some
tisk. maybe one which «mib *nd tn
significant, but it is never too insignificant to
be unimportant in the general scheme.
"Our duties are diverse and interesting If
we regard them with seal, and, with our ideals
before us, we work for the distant goal, under
the directions of our great organisers. In
loyalty to ourselves, our compatriots, our
leaden, and our dreamers we must work In
unison. That is what is known as true citi
zenship-the united effort of every man and
woman to work unselfishly for the improve
ment of their country. This work, carried
on every day and .every year, brings the In
evitable changes, which, according to the spirit
and wiU ot the people, are for better or worse.
"Let us, then, play our part nobly In life,
and assist the world in Its experiments, which
bring about tbe changes that are part of the
progressive movement toward perfection."
An Editorial
TTROM Warwick, Queensland,' on the
f fringe of the Darling Downs, comes
the Slade school magazine. What an
educational centre Warwick has become.
The editor of this magazine asks himself
a question, "What is tbe object of an
editorial?" and he answers thus:
"I have been reading through many school
magazines, both Australian and English, to
try and find an answer, but X am afraid I am
no nearer to a solution. My mind has become
thoroughly confused. In some eases It seems
to offer aa excuse for the editor to become
very highbrow, and to give us a great many
flowery platitudes: in others, to preach a sermon
full of pious aphorisms; in others again to
attempt to moralise; and, finally, 'to some to
talk about nothing in particular. The Oxford
dictionary gives the definition of the word as
?an article written or sanctioned by tbe editor.'
"This explains a great deal. It is no wonder
so many editorials see daylight, and escape the
editor's usual 4>lue pencil-It U the editor him
self who is responsible for its insertion. Hence
the appearance of this in print, and not in
the editor's waste paper basket. And now,
what? A choice of evils! A sermon? I have
exhausted my store of these, and my book of
sermons has, unfortunately, no provision for
such an occasion. Moral advice? But ! leave
that to Beverley Nichols (The Pool Hath
Said'J; or nothing in particular? But will
you then 'Cry Havoc'? It is indeed a choice
of evils! Oh, for a 'Lucid Interval'! This I*
the title of a very recently published and de
lightful collection of essays by Walter Murdoch,
which I km now reading."
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