21 NOVEMBER 1903, Page 11

A POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL OF INDUSTRY FOR WOMEN.

Ideals in Practice. By the Countess Zamoyska. Translated from the French by Lady Margaret Domvile. With a Preface by Miss Mallock. (Art and Book Company. 2s. net.)—We learn from the preface to this little book that the Polish national character is wanting in "certain qualities—such as discipline, order, industry, patience, and perseverance," and that it inclines even to an "overweening contempt and impatience of work of any kind." Conscious that these faults and failings are at the root of the calamities which have overtaken her people, the Countess Zamoyska has contributed her part to the reformation of the national character. She has written an admirable little book on "Work," called in Polish 0 Parcy, in which she explains to women and girls the important truths of the relation of hand-work to brain-work, and the reaction of both upon character, moral, intellectual, and spiritual. And she has founded at a health resort, among the Carpathian Moun- tains, a school of industry where a hundred and thirty young girls are trained. The Zakopane Industrial School has now been in existence for more than twenty years, and it is evidently doing very good work. Some of its pupils "are young girls of good family, who, after leaving school or college, come for a post-graduate course in matters pertaining to household management. Some are members of the bourgeoisie,' the comfort of whose future homes will be likely to depend on their own personal exertions ; while others are the daughters of peasants and artisans, who on leaving the primary schools are received at the Zakopane home for a three years' course of practical training, of a sort likely to be equally useful to them whether they marry or go into domestio service."