10 DECEMBER 1921, Page 26

The School of Life. By Charles T. Smith. (Grant .Richards.

6s. net.)—An account of the attempt of an Elementary School master to educate his scholars mainly through contact with music and the drama. The book illustrates the application of the author's principles through the performance, by Elementary School children in the Isle of Dogs, of Mozart's The Magic Flute. Mr. Smith is clearly an educational genius. Though his book is extremely interesting and we are in agreement with the greater number of his contentions, he is obviously a man who could infuse life into a study of Sanskrit grammar. Thus, his contention that the drama and music are the readiest methods of humanizing the child, though perhaps true, remains unproved In this book.