Association is the outgrowth is one of the oldest in the world. It is as old as Curiosity—and just as human. The “Wonder Why” of Curiosity is always linked with the “Want to Know.” The two lead on to Knowledge. What has always been wanted and what is wanted now is a quick, easy and agreeable way of getting Knowledge. That is what The Mentor Association gives.

The plan of The Mentor Association fills so definitely a real want, that every one ought to know about it. All members of the Association and all others who see The Mentor will want to know not only what we have done and are doing, but what we shall do for months in the future. In a broad, popular, educational plan of this kind there should be the fullest confidence. The importance of this grows week by week, for The Mentor idea has drawn the interest of many thousands, and the membership increases day by day.

Though these lines are headed “editorial,” we feel a good deal of hesitancy in using the word. It gives the impression that The Mentor is simply a magazine, while actually it is much more than that. It is an important part of a broad educational plan, which includes an Inquiry Department, Suggested Courses of Reading, and other advantages.

It is not easy to find the exact word for a plan of this sort. Some day a brief phrase will come to us—no doubt some member of the Association will supply it—that will tell fully and adequately all that The Mentor Association stands for. We have described it many times. We cover the plan fairly well when we say in our prospectus that “the purpose of The Mentor Association is to make it easy to learn the things we want to know and ought to know,” but in that we say nothing of the beautiful pictures, which are a most important feature. There is a value in the stimulating phrase that we use, “Learn one thing every day,” but there is no hint in that of the delight afforded by the exquisite illustrations furnished in The Mentor. In the service of The Mentor Association Information and Art go hand in hand.

The quick recognition of the value of The Mentor plan during the eight months of its existence is naturally gratifying, but what is most interesting is the wide reach of its appeal. We have hundreds of letters coming to us from all sources, and the message is much the same, whether it be a lawyer, a college professor, a teacher, a clubwoman, an engineer or a doctor. The burden of all these messages can be summed up in three phrases: First, “The idea is fine”; second, “You have carried it out admirably”; and third, “It fills a real want.”

We have referred to our prospectus. This is a booklet in which the plans and purposes of The Mentor Association are fully described, and the schedule of the year is given. It also tells something of what we have in preparation for 1914. Send for copies of this prospectus. If you are a member of The Mentor Association you will, of course, want it, and you should have some extra copies to give to your friends. You will be doing them a service.

JAMESTOWN TOWER