101. The Golden Age of Greece 102. Chinese Rugs 103. The War of 1812 104. Great Galleries of the World: The National Gallery, London 105. Masters of the Violin 106. American Pioneer Prose Writers 107. Old Silver 108. Shakespeare's Country 109. Historic Gardens of New England NUMBERS TO FOLLOW July 15. AMERICAN POETS OF THE SOIL. _By Burges Johnson, Associate Professor of Literature, Vassar College._ August 1. ARGENTINA. _By E. M. Newman, Lecturer and Traveler._ * * * * * [Illustration: CENTRAL OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES WEATHER BUREAU, WASHINGTON, D. C.] WEATHER SERVICES AT HOME AND ABROAD Monograph Number One in The Mentor Reading Course Posted up in public offices, in hotel corridors, and other conspicuous places in our cities, the official weather map is a familiar sight. Even more familiar is the official weather forecast, displayed, as a rule, on the first page of the daily newspaper, and sent broadcast over the country on the little brown cards which one may see in the village postoffice as well as in the city drug-store. When a great storm sweeps over land or sea, detailed official reports concerning its progress and characteristics are published in the daily press. When a lawsuit involves a dispute as to the temperature or the state of the sky on a certain day, the official weather records are consulted. How much do you know about the branch of the national government that is charged with the duty of keeping watch of the weather--recording its vagaries as they occur, and also predicting them, as far as is humanly possible? Besides its office in Washington, where more than two hundred persons are constantly employed, the Weather Bureau has about two hundred stations, manned by professional meteorologists and observers. One of these will be found in almost every large city, while some are in towns of very modest importance. A regular Weather Bureau station is well worth a visit. The instrumental equipment of these stations is almost superhuman in the accuracy with which it sets down on paper the chronicle of weather happenings from day to day and from moment to moment. Little less marvelous is the system by means of which weather information--past, present and future--is disseminated from these official foci. The postoffice, the telephone, the telegraph (wire and wireless) are all pressed into service to the fullest extent--especially in giving timely notice of approaching storms and other destructive forms of weather. These agencies are supplemented by visible and audible signals, in the shape of flags, lanterns, railway whistles and so forth.