MEMORIAL TO THE FOUNDER OF THE ART FOR SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION.
(TO THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR:I
Sin,—A number of the friends and colleagues of the late Miss Mary Elizabeth Christie are joining together to commemorate ber work in connexion with the Art for Schools Association, which, with the sympathy of Mr. Ruskin and Mr. G. F. Watts, she founded in 1883. It was her strong desire to make the best pictures more familiar to the children in public elementary and secondary schools than was ordinarily the case a quarter of a century ago. She was one of the pioneers of a great change in public opinion in regard to the value of pictures as a means of educational influence. She always upheld the view that, so far as might be possible, the children from the poorest homes should be brought into contact with the work of the greatest painters, and not be thought capable of appreciating only what is second-rate. She believed that pictures, wisely chosen and sparingly displayed, refined the taste of many children, and in some cases coloured their ideals of life. As one memorial of her life's work, it is intended to present to each of a number of schools in the poorer districts of London and other large cities a series of pictures, the frames of which will bear an inscription recording her name and her work. As many of her friends who may wish to join in the memorial will otherwise not hear of it, we venture to ask you to give publicity to this letter. Subscriptions, however small, sent for the M. E. Christie Memorial Fund will be gratefully received by the hon. secretary, Miss M. Lyttelton, Passmore Edwards Settlement, Tavistock Place, W.C.—We are, Sir, Ac., M. E. SADLER, Chairman of the Executive Committee. LIONEL G. ROBINSON, HOD. Treasurer. MARGARET DITTELT°N, 1 ELM."' Secretaries. LAURENCE BINTON,
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