Though the country may lack school buildings, the cities and towns are better provided with other public buildings than most places of the same size in the United States. And the eagerness with which the people seize upon the statements that their children are to be given the same opportunity for an education as children in the United States have, indicates that the schoolhouses will soon dot the island. The streets of the smallest villages are paved, and all contain some place of recreation and attempts at ornamentation. Each village has one or more public squares laid out with trees, walks, flowers, seats, and usually with a band stand in the center. We do not find these improvements in all our own small towns. But the people need better schools, more nourishing food, and improved methods of farming. Sanitary measures need to be introduced into the homes and communities. Harbors need to be dredged, that ships may come closer to land. The water power of many rushing streams needs to be chained and made to generate electricity, to grind corn, to hull coffee, to cook food, to pull cars, and to light cities. There should also be fountains, baths, and sewers; the land in certain sections should be irrigated, and the streams should be bridged, that means for travel and transportation may be afforded. Perhaps all this will be done, ere we visit this island again. At any rate, we sincerely hope that this may be the beginning of a new and better day for Puerto Rico. [Illustration: PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY.] * * * * * REFERENCE BOOKS. "Our New Possessions," by Trumbull White. Cloth, 676 pp........$2.00 "Puerto Rico and Its Resources," by Frederick A. Ober.......... 1.50 "The West Indies," by A. K. Fisk. 414 pp....................... 1.50 "Porto Rico," Hall............................................. 1.00 "Porto Rico," Rector........................................... 1.25 "Porto Rico," Dinwiddie........................................ 2.50 "Porto Rico," Robinson......................................... 1.50 "The West Indies and the Main"................................. 1.75 "At Last" and "A Christmas in the West Indies," Kingsley....... "Three Cruises of the Blake," Alexander Agassiz. 2 vol......... 8.00 "Down the Islands," Palon...................................... 2.50 "The West Indies," Fiske....................................... 1.50 "In the Wake of Columbus," Ober................................ 2.00 "Due South," Ballou............................................ 1.50 "The Foreign Commerce of Our Possessions," etc., Treasury Department, Washington..................................... "Porto Rico," National Geographic Magazine, '99, 25 cts. a number; per year......................................... 2.00