investigations and more comprehensively than in most other states of the union. It has now reached a point, to quote a recent report, "where over 8000 of the more active farmers of the state have solidly aligned themselves behind it; where over 1000 persons are serving on committees to promote definite extension projects; where nearly half of the funds in support of the work is raised in the counties themselves; and where it is clear that the farm and home practices of the state are being momentously affected."

It is worth while considering that the welfare of the state is bound up inevitably with the problem of rehabilitating its agriculture. Unless farming can be made more profitable, the drift away from the country, which was clearly shown by the 1920 census, will continue; and unless more of New Hampshire's food can be raised economically within her own borders, her manufacturing concerns will find themselves more and more unable to hold their own with the competition of the South and Middle West. To produce more at less cost per unit, to market more efficiently, to improve farm home conditions, these are the slogans to which the Extension Service has rallied the bulk of the farming population.

Among the far-sighted plans of President Hetzel none has been developed with greater determination than to make the institution a great educational forum, at which all interested state organizations and individuals might confer on methods of state progress. Boiled down to its essence, it is only good "factory management;" the state's educational plant should be kept busy in its offseasons. Hence various civic, social, religious, official, agricultural and home organizations are welcomed to the campus during the vacation perids. The buildings are thrown wide

open; and the people who attend are treated not so much as visitors as the rightful heirs of a public institution.

For four summers practically all of the state-wide agricultural and home organizations have united in the Farmers' and Home-Makers' Conferences. The streets of Durham are lined on both sides with parked automobiles; the lecturerooms are filled with intensely interested men and women; and from five to six thousand people in one week have enjoyed the facilities of the college. Last summer for the first time a summer school was also started, with a view to giving six weeks' instruction to teachers, students needing extra credits, graduate scholars, and others.

Still another service to the state has been rendered through the SmithHughes teacher-training work. Sixteen high schools where agriculture is taught now receive the benefit of supervision from the college, while students at the college are trained in all of the divisions along pedagogical lines, and students in the home economics courses are assisted for eight weeks in the year in actually giving instruction in this subject in various centers of the state.

Perhaps nothing has been more phenomenal in regard to New Hampshire College than its rapid growth during the last decade. Legislators have been alarmed by it. Alumni have viewed it with swelling pride. Faculty members have scratched their heads to find ways to accommodate it. Executives have even raised tuition and fees to check it. Yet the enrollment and demands upon the institution have kept mounting. Something in the state has reached out to Durham as a plant gropes instinctively towards the light; and this desire, in the breasts of multitudes of people, for a higher education is one of the most hopeful and significant signs of the times.

More students have meant more teachers. The faculty to-day numbers nearly one hundred, and, together with the members of the extension and research staff, is now as large as the entire student body was at the beginning of the century. Class rooms, laboratories, dormitories, auditorium, faculty offices, library, heating plant, all of the resources of the institution have been strained to the utmost to respond to this urge on the part of the people of the state for greater knowledge and better training.

"We have been in the position of a growing family," says President Hetzel. "There have been each year more mouths to feed, new calls for room and accommodations. The need for economy has been constant -we have had to measure carefully each expenditure, and yet the necessity for expenditure has been more and more urgent."

Yet during the past five years, in spite of the fact that the institution. has more than doubled in size, the state has not been asked to provide more buildings! This fact, amazing on the face of it, can only be accounted for in three ways: (1) the generosity of a true friend of the college, Mrs. Alice Hamilton Smith, in providing a girls' dormitory caring for more than 100 young women; (2) the foresightedness of the college executives in making a permanent use of the buildings, labor and funds provided by the Federal government during the emergency period; and (3) a most careful expenditure of all moneys.

A great part of the increase in enrollment has been due to the growing demand on the part of young women for an education on a par with that given by the state to young men; and the gift of Mrs. Smith was an inestimable aid in making it possible to fill this need. No less valuable was the construction work done during the war when the college was a military training camp. In a great many institutions the buildings erected at that time have been considered only of temporary value and have been scrapped. Not SO at New

any other state college, while its charge to state students is only exceeded by one. In the majority of state colleges no tuition fee at all is required of residents.

In the face of these facts, the increasing demand on the part of New Hampshire's young men and women to share in the opportunities of a state educational plant can well be considered anew. New Hampshire College is not so much of a problem to the tax-payer as it is to the prospective student. Viewed in the

light of the popular response of other states to the movement for a higher education, the state has been asked for an absolute minimum of support. It is a conservative and safe statement that in no other commonwealth has the state received as much for the amount which it has put in. If state appropriations were bonds and increased education were dividends, then would the would the brokerage columns of our newspapers quote "N. H. C." at the highest point above par.

N

TEW England's discovery of winter is to be ranked as one of the most beneficial discoveries of the last decade. Ten years ago one put away sleds and skates with other childish things and spent the months from November until March hibernating either in some warmer clime or huddled close beside the fire at home. Today there are not a few of us who get more real outdoor sport in January than in June.

On our desk as we write is a partial list of Winter Carnivals which have been held or which will be held in New England this winter. The list includes twenty-five events and is incomplete and tentative at

that. that. It is interesting to notice that of the twenty-five nearly one-half are in New Hampshire.

During January perhaps the most unique event was Manchester's carnival. This month all eyes are turned upon Dartmouth, whose celebration February 8-10 promises to be even better than in years past. Immediately following the sports at Dartmouth, Laconia will be the scene of the races of the New England Skating Association. Concord and Berlin are having their carnivals early in the month and undoubtedly other towns and cities will follow suit, either formally or informally, before the snow begins to melt.

The editors regret that it has been necessary to postpone publication of the article on Manchester's growth by Miss Savacool, which was an

nounced for this issue. It will appear in the March issue of the GRANITE MONTHLY-and it's worth waiting for.

W

"Why not help myself to a part of it before Mike comes?" he murmured. "He'll think Joshua sent it away at the last minute."

He pondered the matter awhile, breathing deeply. His eyes narrowed as he asked himself another question: "Why not all of it? I might as well be a whole hog as part."

Carefully he considered the proposition, glancing uneasily around the room as though he half-expected some eye was upon him. Finally he tiptoed across the room, took a box from the mantel-shelf, and opened it. He fumbled for a moment, then brought forth a key. Laying this on the table, he drew out a shapeless object object which gleamed redly in the light of the kerosene lamp. At first he stared at this curiously, then as if fascinated. His breathing became audible and he ran his fingers through his hair with a nervous gesture. For perhaps ten minutes he stood there and stared at the shapeless object which lay in the palm of his trembling hand. At last, as if awaking from a trance, he replaced the article in the box, threw the key in after and put the receptacle back on the mantel.

"No," he ejaculated, "I'll not double-cross Mike. I hope I've I hope I've got a little honor left. 'Honor among thieves.'" he soliloquized.

He broke off suddenly and strode across the room to the front door. Placing two fingers in his mouth, he sounded a piercing whistle. A moment of waiting and an answering call came from somewhere in the darkness outside.

Bob stood in the doorway waiting. Although it was October, the night was not cold; yet he shivered. He shivered until his teeth clicked together as he stood in the doorway waiting. A full moon spread its light over the landscape and rendered far distant objects visible. Bob could plainly see the hay barn in the south meadow one-half mile away. There was a shadow on the north side as though the sun were shining.

Somehow the moon affected Bob curiously. He did not feel at all comfortable. A vague fear oppressed him. He tried to assume a blasè manner, but many disturbing thoughts came into his mind. One thought that persisted was of the shapeless object that he had just held in his hand and that had gleamed redly in the light of the kerosene lamp. He laughed nervously as he rolled a cigarette.

"Must be I'm moonstruck," he murmured. "I've heard of such. things."

A shadow, which had detached itself from the woods below the garden, was coming up the road. The shadow speedily resolved itself into a man and entered the dooryard.