Wisdom and will in educationCharles William Super


HARVARD UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY OF THE
GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF EDUCATION




















\Y\ i.
IN'



I


WISDOM AND WILL
IN EDUCATION
By
CHARLES WILLIAM SUPER, Ph.D., LL.D.
Ex-President of the Ohio University
and Professor of Greek, Ibidem; Transla-
tor of Weil's Order of Words; Author
of a History of the German Language,
Between Heathenism and Christianity, etc.
Harrisburg, Pa.
R. L. MYERS & CO., Publishers
1902


, $2
OCT. 3, 1921
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
gKADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
&ONROE c CUT.VtAN LIBRARf.
Copyright, 190a
By R. L. Myers & Co.


"If thou wilt mighty be, flee from the rage
Of cruel will: and see that thou keep free
From the foul yoke of sensual bondage:
For though thine empire stretch to Indian sea,
And for thy fear trembleth farthest Thule,
If thy desire hath over thee the power,
Subject then art thou and no governour."
Wyat.
"For when-was public virtue to be found
When private was not? Can he love the whole
Who loves no part? He be a nation's friend
Who is, in truth, the friend of no man there
Cowper.
"And more than common strength and skill
Must ye display;
If you would give the better will
Its lawful sway."
Wordsworth.


TO MY COLLEAGUES BOTH OF THE GENTLER AND THE STERNER SEX,
WHO DURING THE PAST TEAKS WERE ASSOCIATED WITH ME IN THE
INTERNAL MANAGEMENT OP DHE OHIO UNIVERSITY, WHO SHARED
WITH ME THE PLEASURES AND THE PAINS, THE PENALTIES AND THE
PLAUDITS OP COLLEGE LIFE, AND BUT POE WHOSE KINDLY PARTICIPA-
TION IN THE MANIFOLD DUTIES OP A LABORIOUS POSITION THESE
WOULD HAVE REMAINED TO ME NO TIME FOB SYSTEMATIC LITERARY
WORK, THESE STUDIES ARE GRATEFULLY DEDICATED BY THE
AUTHOR.


CONTENTS.
Pads
Introduction, 0
Aspects of Ancient Greek Education 25
Aspects op Ancient Greek Ethics, 54
Knowledge ash Morality, 74
Reason and Sentiment as Factors in Social Progress, ... 86
Responsibility, 112
Patriotism and Partisanship 130
Spiritual Verities, 151
Self-renunciation 171
Fiction as a Factor in Education, 130
Heredity and Environment -13
National Education, 238
The Relation of Private to Public Morality 280
(7)





INTRODUCTION.
"We can not get along with the women; but" (after a
pause) "I suppose we can not get along without them."
This remark was made to me many years ago by a fellow
teacher after a somewhat stormy altercation with one of
his female patrons who had been endeavoring to instruct
him in the rights and privileges of her children. It has
often seemed to me since, when I have recalled the quota-
tion, that with a slight change it is applicable to our pres-
ent social conditions. Everybody realizes that we can
not get along without education; yet many intelligent per-
sons are reiterating that education is not accomplishing
what may be justly expected of it. If the putting in
practice of a rational system of instruction were entirely in
the hands of teachers we should doubtless see a rapid
advance toward so desirable a goal. But in democratic
communities where almost everybody has something to
say about what is to be done and how it is to be done,
especially in matters that concern or are supposed to con-
cern every man, woman and child, progress in popular edu-
cation can, in the nature of the case, move forward no
faster than progress in general enlightenment.
Notwithstanding the title of the book the contents are
for the most part of a sociological rather than of an edu-
cationnl character. They deal with man in his collective
(9)


10 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
capacity more than with him as an individual. The body
politic does not consist of a sum total obtained by adding
together a number of homogeneous units like a sum in
arithmetic. It is well known that a howling mob is often
made up of individually sane men. Man in his collective
capacity is more easily moved by an appeal to his good or
his evil impulses than when alone.
While it is true that we have no guide for the future
but the experience of the past and that men have remained
substantially unchanged within the historic period, the
same conditions are never exactly duplicated and conduct
must be constantly readjusted to new circumstances as they
arise. If. therefore, it is wisely regulated it requires care-
ful thought. There are, however, certain fundamental
rules of action that are as invariable in their operation and
effects as any law of nature, and the fundamental prob-
lem of scientific pedagogy is how to stimulate the self-
hood or the self-activity of the individual so that he will
always shape his course in conformity to these laws.
It is the business of the sociologist and the psychologist
to investigate, to define and to formulate the fonJes, both
external and internal, that make one people or one age
different from another; that of the educationist to put
into operation the agencies that will bring about the re-
sults he wishes to produce. It is to be feared that herein
will be found the chief shortcoming of the great body of
teachers. They regard each subject that enters into the
curriculum as an end in itself, whereas it ought to be sub-
sidiary to the remoter object of preparing the rising genera-
tion for the performance of those duties that devolve upon
it in the complex relations of institutional life.
The history of education is in the main the history of
civilization; or, we may transpose our terms and say that


IS
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
tional or local element and not enough on the cosmopolitan.
Each nation, it is true, must, in virtue of its situation and
to some extent by reason of its history and traditions, move
toward the goal to be reached by a somewhat different
route, but the goal is the same for all. Truth is unvarying
in all ages and countries, and will continue so to the end
of time. It is a sad fact that the governments of the
world have so often repeated the same blunders, instead
of profiting by the experience of others. Some, even of
the States of our Union have at times tried to accomplish
by legislation what the attempts of others in the same
direction ought to have shown them was impossible or at
least unwise.
It can not be too often or too vigorously called to the
attention of our public that the school is not the only
agency by which the youth are trained and their charac-
ters moulded. The bench, the bar, the press, the pulpit,
the medical profession, the family and public opinion are
all potent educators. Is the preponderance of their influ-
ence educating upward or downward?—this is the im-
portant question. If the latter, be it ever so little, the re-
sults will in time be serious. Are we not in danger of
becoming so much occupied with the welfare of the Cubans,
the Filipinos and with other more or less far-off projects
that we overlook the threatened lowering of the ideals that
should serve as beacon lights to those in power and au-
thority? It is well to be generous; it is better to be judi-
cious. If the good Samaritan had discovered that the man
whom he was succoring was not without means and had
subsequently succeeded in collecting a pretty large bill for
services, he would probably be none the less regarded as a
philanthropist, but his care of the wounded stranger would
not have been transmitted to posterity as the deed of a


16
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
decades. Unless an increasingly large number can be made
to realize that upon them depends the well-being of the
next generation, that generation will be the worse for their
short-sightedness. In theory not many persons in any com-
munity are inherently dishonest or untruthful, but many
maintain that the current ethical ideal is too high for this
practical and matter-of-fact world. They regulate their
dealings according to a new commandment which they,
have, perhaps, never formulated into a sentence, but which
they nevertheless observe sacredly, or at least as sacredly as
they observe anything, "Thou shalt not get found out."
It is a healthful sign that nearly all our periodicals of
the better class are now giving attention to matters that
not many years ago used to be regarded as of interest and
importance to teachers only. We have herein the evidence
of a wide-spread conviction that education means more
than mere "schooling," and that the largest possible public
must be enlisted in the work of fostering and creating
a wholesome public opinion.
I am neither a pessimist nor an- alarmist; but I am un-
able, or rather I have no desire, to close my eyes to the
tendencies I see about me. It is much pleasanter to com-
mend than to criticize, but it is far less wholesome. To
belittle a danger neither removes it nor makes it less. It
'is well to recall often the weighty words of Lincoln's sec-
ond inaugural: "I see in the near future a crisis arising
which unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety
of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have
been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will
follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor
to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the
people until all the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and
the Republic will be destroyed. I feel at this time more


INTRODUCTION.
17
anxious for my country than even in the midst of the war."
The destruction of the Republic as a form of government
is not necessarily the worst misfortune that could befall
our posterity; for history abundantly proves that nominal
republics may be the worst of tyrannies. But history also
shows that a society may become so corrupt and effeminate-
that there is no cure for it except virtual extermination.
Does such a fate await any of the great nations now ex-
isting upon the face of the earth?
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, and unremitting
industry the indispensable condition of progress. There
must not only be the wisdom which is founded on a knowl-
edge of what has been, but the will to transform it into
action. While it is well to know what is, it is still better to
know what ought to be and to strive for its realization.
From the watch-tower of the present we may, if we will,
behold by means of the powers which science puts into our
hands the causes that led to the destruction of so much in
the past that would seem to have been well worthy of
preservation. Will the nations go on cycle after cycle try-
ing to do that which the eternal decrees have over and over
shown to be impossible? Righteousness and righteousness
only exalteth a nation. It may become conspicuous by
other means and for a time occupy a large place, but there
will be no permanence in its prestige. If our age is on
the whole better than any that has preceded it the condi-
tions are due to the genuinely patriotic men and women
who have not been wholly absorbed in the selfish quest for
power and pelf, but who have devoted a part of their ener-
gies to the public good. The hope of our country lies in
the persistent activity of its moral forces. It will avail us
nothing to solace ourselves with the reflection that because
we have done fairly well hitherto—remarkably well, com-
2


18 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
paratively—we shall continue to prosper. Every genera-
tion needs to realize that it is the custodian of its successor;
that it is in duty bound not only to transmit to posterity all
the inheritance it has come into possession of, but also to
increase it and to add to its value. The nation that is
always "pointing with pride" to its past achievements is in
serious danger of forgetting its duty to the present. Let
not this be our folly and our fate. All the world admits
that the American people may have a glorious future be-
fore them. They have their own history that is on the
whole an honorable one, and that of the race, for their guid-
ance like the rest of mankind; they have also like them the
priceless intellectual treasures so abundant everywhere and
so easy of attainment in our day. But they have this in ad-
dition that they are not shackled by the irrational tradi-
tions that so generally warp the judgment, nor cramped in
their development by financial burdens. By their position
and resources they are secure against foreign wars; by the
abundance and variety of their natural products they are
only dependent upon the outside world so far as they care
to be. If their career closes like that of so many powerful
nations that have preceded them .it will not be because it
was their destiny but their desert. It will be because in-
ternal corruption has weakened them and made them a
prey to the disintegrating agencies that are sleeplessly vigi-
lant for harm in every body politic.
While we need not take in their bald literalness the lines
of George Berkeley's poem beginning,
"The muse, disgusted at an age and clime
Barren of every glorious theme,"
Yet we see more than a grain of truth in the conclusion,


INTRODUCTION. 19
"Westward the course of empires takes its way;
The first four acts already past,
A fifth shall close the drama with the day:
Time's noblest offspring is the last."
Every people has its heroes. They are usually regarded
with a reverence that increases with their remoteness in
time. Posterity endows them with all those qualities and
excellencies and disinterested motives which it admires but
looks for in vain among contemporaries. It is the exclu-
sive privilege of Americans to be permitted to look back
upon their history and to contemplate in the full blaze of
its clearest light one name at least in which the reality em-
bodies the ideal. Well might Eliza Cook pen lines like
these:
"Land of the West! though passing brief the record of
thine age,
Thou hast a name that darkens all on history's wide page!
Let all the blasts of fame ring out—thine shall be loud-
est far;
Let others boast their satellites—thou hast the planet star.
Thou hast a name whose characters of light shall ne'er
depart,
'Tis stamped upon the dullest brain and warms the cold-
est heart;
A war-cry fit for any land where Freedom's to be won;
Land of the West! it stands alone—it is thy Washington!"
Yet it would be unjust to others, notably to Abraham
Lincoln, to say that he had less ability or was a less disin-
terested patriot than his illustrious predecessor.
It can not be too often or too insistently called to the at-
tention of the young that patriotism does not consist wholly


20 WISDOU AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
or even chiefly in the display of bravery on the field of
battle,—an opportunity that comes to but few—but in per-
forming day by day those civic duties that are the privilege
and ought to be the pride of every lover of his country and
his race.
Few persons are interested in the virtues in the abstract:
all are attracted and many inspired by them when incor-
porated in flesh and blood and exhibited in activity. It is
a great moral and pedagogical advantage to have such char-
acters to place before the youth of our land for their en-
couragement and imitation. The privilege can not be over-
estimated and ought to be assiduously improved. If we
would maintain the prestige among the nations of the
earth that has so unexpectedly fallen to us within the last
few years we must see to it that our intellectual and moral
progress not only keeps pace with our political power but
outstrips it. Our destiny will be determined by the man-
ner in which we perform our duty.
It has seemed to me, as a serious student of ethnological
psychology and its outward expression in the development
of institutions to be not altogether superfluous to collect
the following papers into a book. The private soldier can
justify the recital of his uneventful experiences with the
plea that though unimportant they are not quite paralleled
by those of the commanr'er-in-chief. No two persons can see
a thing from exactly the same point of view; but if their
views be founded on truth there will be a substantial agree-
ment, no matter how large the number of observers. No
claim is made to originality. It has, however, occurred to
me and to others who have seen or heard these papers and
addresses that if collected into a volume they might here
and there find a reader who could get from it a few ideas
that he had not come upon eleswhere. Some of them have


22 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
When we are treating of those agencies that lead to
the accumulation of wealth and the exploitation of the ma-
terial resources of the earth we are justified in using
strong terms. In this respect our age has far outstripped
all that have preceded it. On the other hand, we can not
shut our eyes and our minds to the visions of poverty and
distress that meet us on every hand; while in the spiritual
realm we are on the whole far poorer than were our fathers
and grandfathers. To affirm that powerful disintegrating
agencies are at work among us, as they are in every civil-
ized state, is not to deny the cogency of many conserving
forces. To assert that our modern educational systems
still leave much to be desired is not equivalent to denying
that they are wholly or even largely failures. If they
were doing all that may be expected of them we should
not see so many of our best minds engaged in studying
and suggesting how they may be improved. It is a fatal
sign when individuals and peoples are so well satisfied
with themselves that they see no need of change and have
no desire for it. Judicious criticism is not grumbling, and
fault-mending is not fault-finding. Yet nobody is the
better for being told that things are amiss if it is not also
suggested to him how they may be righted, or if the critic
is himself unwilling to take a hand in the work of im-
provement.
"The smallest effort is not lost;
Each wavelet on the ocean toss'd
Aids in the ebb tide or the flow;
Each raindrop makes some floweret blow;
Each struggle lessens human woe."
Tt is a sociological quite as much as it is a spiritual
truth that "none of us liveth to himself and none dieth to


INTRODUCTION.
28
. himself." Society is not in any of its stages a work of art
that has come complete and finished from the hand of the
master. Neither is it to be compared to an immature
plant or animal that needs but to be placed in a favorable
environment in order that it may attain its full develop-
ment. It is a unique entity. While always imperfect, it
may be brought continually nearer to an ideal perfection.
It is an organism composed of an infinity of self-conscious
but not self-constituted units. The rapidity with which
it approaches perfection will be determined by the clear-
ness with which its units apprehend the goal before them
and the effort with which they strive to attain it. In other
words, the progress of society will always be regulated by
the wisdom with which the end to be attained is appre-
hended by those who constitute society and the will that is
exerted toward its attainment. A strenuous life is good; a
purposeful life is better. C. W. S.
Athens, Ohio, September the twelfth, 1902.





26
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
For the last four or fire centuries the Greeks have been
our schoolmasters, as they were of the Romans of the
older time, and the inquiry is certainly pertinent: Who
were the schoolmasters of the Greeks? The search after
the mysterious influence that made them a unique people
is like the quest after many of the still undiscovered secrets
of nature. We can describe results and set forth prox-
imate causes, but there always remains a residuum that
eludes our closest scrutiny. National characteristics arc
something for which no adequate explanation has yet
been found. Anthropological and ethnological psychology
is a historical, not a mathematical science; its data cannot
be used for predicting the future. The adept can ex-
hibit the How of many phenomena, not the Why. A na-
tion's history is, no doubt, in a large measure, the result-
ant of the physical conditions in which it lives, but not
wholly. The same soil and the same atmosphere have fre-
quently nourished, and still nourish, nations of widely
different mental characteristics. So, too, national traits
often change—slowly, it is true—where physical condi-
tions vary but little, if at all. Sometimes the great think-
ers of a nation are the acme and culmination of its psychic
forces; they are only primi inter pares. This is true of the
age of Pericles, of Augustus, of Elizabeth, of Louis XIV.
Sometimes they stand out like intellectual and spiritual
monuments amid the general abasement or indifference
which serve only to show that the spirit of their country-
men is not wholly extinct. Such was the age of Milton in
his almost solitary grandeur, and in a less degree of Goethe
.and Schiller. The coryphaei of Italian literature form, for
the most part, a small and hapless procession as they pass
before our mind's eye; and some of the brightest intellects
of ancient Greece seemed at times to be oppressed with the


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK EDUCATION. 27
feeling of their loneliness. Whose was the fault I do not
say: 1 only speak of the fact.
The progress of a people or a nation may be measured
by its system of instruction; and as the people of the
nineteenth century are taking an unprecedented interest in
all that relates to popular education, there has been a grow-
ing desire to look more carefully into Greek pedagogy in
-order to ascertain, if possible, whether it contains anything
of stimulus or warning for our times. Probably no one
familiar with the facts would deny that the audiences that
listened to the speeches of Pericles, or the coteries that
gathered about Socrates, or took sides in the bitter for-
ensic contests between Demosthenes and Aeschines, were
the most intelligent ever assembled for a like purpose.
Nevertheless, the society they represented had in it the
seeds of decay that soon developed into vigorous life and
destroyed the organism in which they had planted them-
selves. In our day those to whom is entrusted the instruc-
tion of the rising generation are held to be largely re-
sponsible for its morals and its patriotism. Does a like
responsibility rest upon the teachers of the ancient Greeks?
Did these enlightened commonwealths fall into political
disintegration because their schoolmasters were faithless
to their trust, or fail through shortsightedness to point
out to the rising generation the way of safety? Or did
misfortune come upon all because no such state-constituted
guardians existed whose duty and privilege it was to hold
up persistently the true aim of life? The answer, at least
in part, is that no state of Greece had a system of educa-
tiony as the term is now understood; that the teaching of
the sophists was well calculated to accentuate the inherent
selfishness of the Greeks, and that the Greeks were cursed
with certain fundamental vices which probably no system of


28
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
education could have wholly neutralized. At any rate,
they are quite as conspicuous to-day as they were at any
"time in the past.
The student of the history of education, beginning with
the remotest times, can hardly avoid the conviction that
the men who have made the deepest impression upon the
life and thought of the world are the product of times
when the state did but little for the enlightenment of the
masses. There may be little or no connection between the
two conditions, but we constantly find them existing side by
side. In Athens, the era in which lived Socrates and
Plato, Aristotle and Demosthenes is a conspicuous exam-
ple Few men of antiquity have so profoundly influenced
the thoughts of the world, beginning almost from the day
of his death, as Cicero, yet he, in no sense, owed his edu-
cation to the laws under which he lived; neither did Caesar,
nor Horace, nor Virgil. Many of the countries of mod-
ern Europe have had their universities for four or five
centuries, but in most cases their conservatism has been so
pronounced that they afforded but little stimulus or scope
for independent investigation. Some of them have
not yet been aroused out of their mediaeval sleep, while
others were stirred from their lethargy by intellectual
forces which were created outside of the sphere of their in-
fluence and against which bars and bolts were powerless.
We are almost forced to the conclusion that there is no
necessary connection between a nation's greatness and its
educational system, nor even between the former and the
great men who are born upon its soil. If, therefore, we
study systems of instruction with the hope of finding there-
in that which will show us how a nation becomes great, we
shall almost invariably be disappointed. They do not make
great men. They have chiefly a historical, rarely, if ever, a


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK EDUCATION. 29
practical value. Much as there may be in the intellectual
productions of great men—Socrates, for example, has fur-
nished food for the mental digestion of millions of think-
ing people—there is little apparently in the age in which
he lived to show that he was its natural outcome, though
there is no doubt that if he had lived amidst a different en-
vironment his activity would have been directed in a differ-
ent channel. Men of his type can not be called into exist-
ence at will. There is much truth in the statement that a
nation's history is a biography of its great men. In the
last analysis thought rules the world more than most per-
sons are willing to believe. The truth, when steadfastly and
disinterestedly proclaimed, is certain of a wider recogni-
tion than the bounds of a nation or the limits of an age.
Why is the Greek education that produced the great men
of the fifth and fourth centuries before Christ of more in-
terest to us than that in which were trained Shakespeare
and Milton, or Lessing and his contemporaries? Because
all these fed more or less on the intellectual product of the
ancient soil. In a sense, then, a study of Greek pedagogy
is an examination of the sources from which the later com-
ers drew their intellectual inspiration more or less directly.
But they used these materials only as genius and talent
uses such materials—as stimulus.
It is not the purpose of the present paper to furnish a
history of Greek education. It is too brief for that. On
the other hand, it is impossible in our day to write more
than a mere sketch, for the reason that the extant ma-
terials are exceedingly scanty. There is only room here to
record a* few fairly well authenticated facts and to set forth
certain inferences that have occurred to the writer during
the quarter of a century that he has studied the subject.
The scantiness of the material that has come down to us is


30
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
sufficient evidence that the Greek public did not attach the
importance to national education that is attached to it by
the leading nations of the day. If the large cities of
Europe or America were to be swept from the face of the
earth as completely as those of ancient Greece, there is
hardly one among the ruins of which would not be found
unmistakable evidence that it had been the seat of great
educational institutions. But the ruins of Greek cities tell
us little of education. There were no buildings correspond-
ing to our colleges and universities, as no Greek state seri-
ously concerned itself for the instruction of its youth beyond
the mere rudiments of knowledge. It is greatly to be re-
gretted that we have so little definite information about
Greek elementary education. Many writers have more or
less to say upon education, but they tell us rather what it
ought to be than what it was. While, therefore, it is com-
paratively easy to write a history of Greek educational the-
ories, it is impossible to say much about Greek educational
practice without feeling that a great deal of what we say is
possibly erroneous. We know almost nothing of Greek
school-rooms; the preparation required of teachers, though
of their fitness they were probably themselves the sole judges;
of the books and other appurtenances used, such as maps,
globes, slates, etc. In short, on the external appliances for
teaching, that are now considered well nigh indispensable,
we have only the most meager information. It is prob-
able that these things played a very subordinate part in the
work of instruction and that the stress was laid almost
wholly upon purely mental labor. Need we be surprised
because such great results were produced by such meager
means? Or is it not rather the great vice of modern peda-
gogy that it helps the pupil too much?


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT CREEK EDUCATION. 31
A leading trait of the Greeks, especially of the Ionians,
was the desire to know. Paul tells us that even in his
time many of them were constantly on the alert to find out
some new thing. This desire in its inception is mere idle
curiosity, but it is the foundation of scientific inquiry.
From it sprang the fruitful growth of Greek, and indeed
of all philosophy. It impressed the Apostle, because to
his Oriental mind it was something almost incomprehensi-
ble. In the Homeric Poems but faint traces of it are mani-
fest, and it was never very conspicuous among the Dorians,
but reached its fullest development among the Athenians.
To what it led is well known. It is related of many Greeks
that they visited the older countries of the East in order
to observe and study their institutions and their natural
productions. Surprise has often been expressed, and it is
certainly a matter of regret, that these quick-witted trav-
elers took so little note of the speech of the people they vis-
ited. But there is reason for this. Language was regarded
by them as a mere external manifestation of what was in
the human mind. In itself it had to the Greek no intrin-
sic value. His own language was manifestly superior as
an organ of expression to any with which he came in con-
tact. If he could discover the underlying thought, of
which speech was only the medium of communication, he
was content. He concerned himself with foreign lan-
guages only so far as they had a practical value, and re-
garded them of no further importance, because they re-
vealed no radical differences in the human mind. The case
was otherwise when there was a question of foreign institu-
tions and the history of foreign countries. Here was some-
thing radically unlike anything he could find at home.
The Greeks attached a high value to training both
physical and intellectual. Every Greek city had its build-


?»2
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
ings and grounds suitably furnished for gymnastic exer-
cises, and to be unfamiliar with such exercises was regarded
as the mark of a slave or a barbarian. In fact, the state
concerned itself far more with such training than with
training of the mind. But here, too, the principle was be-
lieved to be of chief importance. Greek writers have so
much to say in disparagement of extensive information
when acquired at the expense of thorough mental training,
that this thought must have had a firm basis in public
opinion. Plato regarded as the important principles of
education, the correlation of all knowledge, the recognition
of the unity of all sciences, the desire to pursue truth to
its discovery, and the determination not to stop short of
this goal. From this point of view Greek education was
strictly rational and philosophical. It did not multiply
issues. Indeed, it could scarcely have done so, because
the intellectual product available ior pedagogical purposes
was limited in amount. Its aim was not to make profes-
sional men, but intelligent citizens. In this it served its
purpose admirably.
How simple the most liberal course of study was to the
time of Aristotle, when Greece'was already in its decline!
There was but little history in the modern sense of the
term, and hardly any natural or physical science. The
speculations of philosophers, though wonderfully shrewd
in many cases, were hardly more than mere guesses. They
thought deeply, and observed with some care, but their ob-
servation lacked accuracy for want of suitable instruments.
There was no study of geography and no scientific study
of music. It was made up chiefly of literature, practical
politics, and some mathematics. We get a fairly accurate
notion of what it must have been by subtracting what we
know that it could not have included.


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK EDUCATION.
33
What we see taking place in the case of individuals in
our own day has taken place from time immemorial in the
history of nations, and the Greeks were no exception. The
parent who, by natural ability, has succeeded in acquir-
ing a larger amount of knowledge than his fellows, soon
recognizes the superiority that his attainments give him,
and desires the same advantages for his children. He
then endeavors by artificial helps, applied in the form of
more or less systematic instruction, to transmit to them
the benefit of his acquired knowledge and experience.
When a considerable number of persons have reached the
recognition of this advantage they strive to establish na-
tional systems of instruction. The Greeks, owing to their
pre-eminent natural genius, fostered by advantages of soil
and climate, unconsciously produced the Homeric Poems.
Later generations recognized their value as a means of
culture, and made them the basis of a national system of
instruction. This literature was, however, spontaneous
and unconscious, as indeed is all the earliest literature of
every nation. But the product of the Greek muse was far
superior to everything else of the kind. That it came into
existence by a sort of inspiration was a fact well recognized
by the Greeks themselves when they began to reflect upon it
and study it. They saw that it could not be called forth
at will, though many of them tried to do this by a scrupu-
lous observance of a set of rules instinctively followel by
the creators of Greek literature.
Sometimes a nation recognizes the superior value of a
foreign literary product to anything of its own creation
and makes an imported article the basis of its national in-
struction. The Romans followed this course and their
earliest text-books were translations of the Homeric Poems.
Somewhat similarly the school-books used in this country
3


34 WISDOU AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
until a comparatively recent period were more or less close
imitations of those in use in the mother country. In time,
however, the Romans gradually laid aside their translations
from the Greek and brought into general use the writings
of native authors. And it may be added, we are having a
like experience with the literature of Great Britain.
It has been stated above that Greek writers often speak
of the evil effects producel upon the mind by the effort to
know many things. This judgment is not only endorsed
by the universal testimony of mankind, but by the exper-
ience of the Greeks themselves. When we come to the Al-
exandrian period, pre-eminently an encyclopedic age, we
find how greatly the Greek intellect has deteriorated.
There are few great thinkers, and no great men except auto-
cratic political leaders. The Greek literature of this period
is vastly inferior to that which preceded it. We have en-
tered upon an era of great scholars who are often mere
pedants—men sadly lacking in the power of original
thought. Yet it was this highly artificial product that was
chiefly admired by the Romans. We know more of it from
its image reflected through Roman minds than we do
directly.
Passing thence to Rome we are confronted with what
may well be regarded as a peculiar condition of things.
The Roman people manifested almost no interest in intel-
lectual pursuits. The meager education they imparted to
their youth was based on a foreign product. The lack of
imagination is strikingly manifested in Roman mythology.
Yet they exhibited a genius for government that is with-
out a parallel in the history of the world, and created, with-
out a model, a body of laws that subsequently became the
basis of all European legal systems. In like manner the
English people, at least before the present century, con-


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK EDUCATION. 35
tribnted but little to the original thought of the world, yet
they have known how to extend their empire around the
globe. Their educational system, until recently, took but
little account of the common people, while that intended
for the higher classes was founded on the intellectual cre-
ations of Greece, more or less modified by Roman ideas.
Their legal system is likewise more original than any other
now obtaining in Europe. It should be observed, however,
that the comparative isolation of England was in some
measure due to her insular position. Her history presents
some striking points of comparison with that of Rome, so
far as her experience with tributary nations is concerned,
but England has rarely been guilty of exploiting her col-
onies for the benefit of the mother country. Rome did
this almost systematically.
If the aim and purpose of popular education is to train
the young for intelligent action in institutional life, that
of the Greeks was in a large measure a failure. As a po-
litical factor in the history of the world they accomplished
little during their independence, after the repulse of the
Persians. They had no comprehension of the importance
of a regular and orderly development in the growth and
permanence of a state. Almost every man of large views
among them felt constrained for reasons of personal safety
to keep aloof from the political turmoil that was constantly
seething about him. Narrow selfishness usually took the
place of broad patriotism. No services, however brilliant,
no sacrifices, however great, could protect a citizen from the
vindictive whims of the populace. Too many men were
ever ready to sacrifice the commonweal for personal aggran-
dizement. The gold of the despised barbarian was al-
ways welcome to those who sought for the nonce to get the
better of a rival. In no country has political animosity


36
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
cost so many lives compared with the whole number of citi-
zens; no where did this vindictiveness profit any man or
any party so little. When the conflict with Philip, and
afterwards with Rome, threatened the independence of the
different States and the liberties of Greece; when only a
united effort could repel the invader, such a unity of effort
could not be brought about. Two millenniums later, when
the Greeks sought to shake off the Turkish yoke the event
proved that they had learned nothing in the long interim.
Had it not been for the intervention of foreign powers
Greece would to-day be a province of the Turkish Empire.
A most important influence was exerted in Greek educa-
tion by the Sophists or "Masters," as Bergh calls them.
Though only a passing phenomenon, they fill a large place
in the intellectual history of Athens during the fifth pre-
Christian century after the repulse of the Persians, for the
accomplishment of which Athens had made the largest
sacrifices. A new and wider horizon opened up before her
young men. The traditional education was found to be
too circumscribed to meet the new conditions. At the
same time the pre-eminence of Athens attracted men from
various parts of the Grecian world who came hither to
"make their fortune," as we say. The impressibility of
the Ionic temperament, the eagerness with which all proposed
innovations were listened to, and the readiness with which
new enterprises were entered upon, especially by the Athen-
ians exposed them to all sorts of influences, both good and
bad. Besides, the democratic form of government which
opened all public offices to shrewdness and a glib tongue,
served as an attraction to ambitious spirits who were for
any reason discontented with the conditions at home. Here
there was a fertile field for the teachers of a new kind of
eloquence; for men who professed to be able to qualify their


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK EDUCATION. 37
pupils to talk equally well on opposite sides of the same
question; for instructors who made little of facts but at-
tached the greatest importance to words. Such professors
were not only welcome to the champions of a democracy
like the Athenian, but to a people like the Greeks, in whom
the moral forces were always somewhat weak. The inher-
ent centrifugal tendencies of the Greek political ideals was
accentuated by the doctrine that made man the measure of
all things, while conversely the doctrine found the more
ready lodgment in minds naturally predisposed to receive
it. Aristophanes, the arch-conservative, thus contrasts the
old education with the new. The voice of the past, that of
the "good old times," speaking to the youth, says, "Choose,
with confidence, me, the better course, and you will learn
to hate the Agora, and to refrain from baths, and to be
ashamed of what is disgraceful, and to be enraged if any
one jeer at you, and to rise up from your seats before your
seniors when they approach, and not to behave ill toward
your parents, and to do nothing else that is base, because
you are to form your mind in an image of modesty. You
shall spend your time in the gymnastic schools, sleek and
blooming; not chattering in the market-place rude jests,
like the young of the present day; nor dragged into court
for a petty suit, greedy, pettifogging, knavish; but you
shall descend to the Academy and run races beneath the
sacred olives along with some modest compeer. If you do
these things which I say, and apply your mind to these,
you will ever have a stout chest, a clear complexion, broad
shoulders, a little tongue, large hips, little lewdness. But
if you practice what the youths of the present day do, you
will have in the first place a pallid complexion, small shoul-
ders, a narrow chest, a large tongue, little hips, great lewd-
ness, a long psephism; and this innovator will persuade you


38 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
to consider everything that is base to be honorable, and
what is honorable to be base." After making all allowance
lor the license of the poet and the enthusiasm of a laudator
temporis acti this quotation from the Clouds probably pre-
sents a view of the case as it appeared to many Athenians
toward the close of the fifth century B. C.
While the activity of the Sophists was confined to a single
century, the influence they exerted upon Greek education
was ineffaceable. Moreover, we meet with teachers of this
type at two or three periods during the first Christian
centuries. While they differ from the older Sophists in
minor points, they are their true spiritual descendants in
the stress they lay on the ability to speak interestingly and
persuasively on any topic, no matter how void of content.
The study of the poets in the schools of ancient Greece
seems to have been about as follows: Boys are first taught
their letters at school,—for be it remembered that girls do
not go to school—and as soon as they can read a little, the
teacher places in their hands as they sit on benches, the
works of good poets, which they are required to learn thor-
oughly. How much of the teaching was oral we do not
know, but some of it must have been from manuscript
copies. "The purpose was not only to form the boy's lit-
erary taste, or to give him the traditional lore; it was es-
pecially a moral purpose, having regard to the precepts in
the poets, and to the praises of great men of old,—'in order
that the boy may emulate their examples and may strive to
become such as they.'"—Jebb.
So late as the close of the first century B. C. Homer still
holds his place in the schools as a text-book for children.
It should, however, be remarked that some of the ancient
philosophers objected to this universal use of Homer on
moral grounds, and with good reason; but, so far as we


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK EDUCATION. 39
know, their protests produced no effect. As usual, it was
the status quo that so long held its ground against the ini-
tiative.
Here again our thoughts almost involuntarily turn to
Italy and Germany, the home of music, poetry, painting
and philosophy—countries until recently as badly governed
as the states of ancient Greece. Only after centuries of
internecine strife, disintegration, and the most wretched
administration have these countries achieved a national
unity, the permanence of which is by no means assured.
Will their efficient educational system effect what the
genius of the people aimed at in vain? It is not much
wonder that practical people do not greatly concern them-
selves about national education. The Greeks were not
lacking in patriotism. Their orators are never weary of
calling up the memory of the heroes of Marathon and Ther-
mopylae, and their hearers never failed to manifest a justi-
fiable pride in the glorious deeds of their ancestors. But
they could not be aroused to emulation and to a willingness
to make similar sacrifices when occasion called.
Greek writers on education generally lay much strees on
the importance of making the systems of instruction con-
form to the existing constitution. Speaking broadly, this
means that where the established form of government is
aristocratic, the young should be taught to respect it, and
where democratic it should be looked upon with the same
feeling. Socrates, as is well known, went to the farthest
extreme in his reverence for the laws of his country, and
voluntarily sacrificed his life to an edict that he held to be
clearly unjust. He felt, as few men have felt since his
time, that for no possible excuse should a law be evaded.
Though a great admirer of the institutions of his native
city, he was keenly alive to the pernicious influence of


40
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
demagogues, a class of men who were ever ready to advo-
cate any measure that promised to subserve their immediate
ends. During his trial he tells his judges that he is di-
vinely commissioned to act as a monitor to his countrymen,
and that he dared not abridge his life by exposing it to the
animosity of an opposing political party.
Convinced as he was that virtue and knowledge were re-
ciprocally interchangeable terms, he believed that all that
was needed to make a man virtuous was to make him intel-
ligent. The corollary to this belief was that the form of
government under which men live was unimportant. On
the other hand, the chief thinkers of the Socratic school
were not fully in accord with their master on this point,
and nearly all exhibit a preference for the aristocratic con-
stitution of the Dorians. The fickle democracies of their
times wrought a feeling of disgust in the minds of most
thinking men who were not practical politicians, and they
looked to a government in the hands of a small number of
persons to guarantee the State against ever recurring inno-
vations. We have in these opinions some pretty clear an-
ticipations of compulsory education as advocated in recent
years by the majority of educators. It was held that a
strong government should early take the prospective citi-
zen in hand and instruct him in the political duties that
pertained to the sphere he was intended to fill.
The ruinous effects of democratic government in Greece
became, in the course of time painfully evident, yet it is
not easy to see that, in the main, the aristocrats governed
any better. Greece, indeed, found peace under the protec-
tion of a strong power exerted from without, but it was
at the expense of all that had made her a conspicuous place
in the history of the world. Plainly, the price paid was
much too high for the value of the commodity.


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT OREEK EDUCATION. 41
Many intelligent Greeks seem to have reached the same
conclusion now held by not a few of our thinkers. An
enormous mass of matter issues from the press in our day
designed to warn the public against the dangers to be appre-
hended from an unenlightened democracy. The only rem-
edy proposed is more intelligence for the masses. Our pan-
acea is likewise a thorough system of instruction vigorously
administered. In fact, the same view is generally held in
Europe, and current history is a repetition on a large scale
of the history of ancient Greece. The Germans expect to
strengthen and perpetuate monarchy by a thorough and effi-
cient system of public instruction; the English and French
look for the same results from the same cause under a re-
gime in which democracy is constantly growing in power
and influence.
An important fact that should always be kept in mind in
the study of Greek education is that even where it was not
aristocratic it was always exclusive. It kept in view but a
small portion of the actual population. The inhabitants of
Attica, during the period here under discussion probably
varied in number from 400,000 to 600,000. Of these from
20,000 to 30,000 were citizens. The remainder were slaves,
with a small number of resident aliens. 'Women were en-
tirely excluded from the benefit of systematic intellectual
training. All they learned related exclusively to domestic
affairs. The few women who figure in Greek history were,
at least so far as Athens is concerned, of the class whose
reputation was questionable. There were not lacking evi-
dences of dissatisfaction with this state of affairs, but it
produced no tangible results.
Slavery was an institution so firmly established in the so-
cial fabric of antiquity that we rarely meet with any who
questioned its justice. Greek writers, almost without ex-


42 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
^eption, looked upon it as founded in the nature of man.
They held that many men are servile by nature and only
fitted to be in subjection to others. Admitting this reason-
ing to be correct, we are at a loss to see how they overlooked
th« fact that men often fell into slavery through no fault
of their own. The almost inevitable fate of the vanquished
in war was to be sold into servitude, a fate that bore heavi-
est on women and children. These rarely had the oppor-
tunity of choosing between death and bondage. The in-
tense love of liberty that has always been a conspicuous trait
of the Greek character makes it all the more remarkable
that slavery should be regarded by them as the proper con-
dition of many people, not excepting some that belonged
to their own race.
Note.—It ought, perhaps, to be said that the Stoics taught, at
least indirectly, if not directly, the natural equality of all and
the universal right to freedom. Paul doubtless had this doc-
trine in mind in his speech on Mars Hill when he said that God
had "made of one every nation of men for to dwell on all the face
of the earth." But neither Christianity nor Stoicism exerted any
marked influence on the status of the members of the body politic
for many centuries, and therefore not on that of the slave. The
early converts who were slaves, did not claim that their conver-
sion gave them any title to freedom, and Christian masters did
not feel called upon to manumit those in bondage to them. That
in Christ "there is neither bond nor free" must not be understood
as interfering with the social condition of those professing it any
more than the same admission would have required the Southern
white man to treat his blacks as his equals. The theory repre-
sented an aspiration that had hardly a perceptible influence on the
fact. In like manner the dictum that "God is no respecter of per-
sons" was equally held by the later Stoics and the Christians; but
its practical effect hardly meant more than that the Christian
master will treat his slave in a brotherly manner and the Chris-
tian slave will serve his master faithfully. The early Christian


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK EDUCATION. 43
Freedom to do, at least within certain limits, whatever
-one liked, was a right that was always ardently maintained
by the Athenians. Thucydides lays great stress upon this
trait of his countrymen in the well-known oration that he
puts in the mouth of Pericles. The Spartans who gave up
their lives at Thermopylae desired posterity to know that
this deed of patriotism was done in obedience to the laws of
their country. On the other hand, the Athenians exhibited
equal bravery at Marathon and elsewhere because they rec-
ognized that the liberty of all Greece was at stake. Theirs
was a voluntary sacrifice for the good of their country, not
mere obedience to law. It was a notable exhibition of in-
dividual prowess rather than obedience to tradition.
Nowhere was this love of liberty and the lack of it more
strikingly shown than in the educational system of the two
states. In Sparta the child became at birth, or even be-
fore, the ward of the state. It was trained by the state
and for the state exclusively. We are astonished at the
overwhelming power of tradition. But as this training was
almost entirely of a military character, it was of little value
except in times of war. The arts of peace received no at-
tention, and the consequences could not be otherwise than
disastrous. Sparta, like Athens, fell a prey to the foreign
conqueror, and left behind no memorials of her former
greatness. But Athens, even in her ruins, is glorious.
It is probable, however, that even in Athens the state, or
a strong public sentiment, required the citizen to give his
teachers were even more careful than the Stoics not to countenance
anything that might cause them to fall under the suspicion of
stirring up sedition. Their disciples seem to have been equally on
their guard. It is worth noting, too, that under some of the
Roman emperors the Stoics, no less than the Christians, were per-
secuted.


44
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
boys at least the rudiments of an education; but no more
seems to have been required, and there is ample evidence on
record that not all Athenians were intelligent. If a citi-
zen neglected the education of his sons it was a matter that
concerned only the parties in interest and nobody else.
There were laws to regulate the management of schools,
but apparently none compelling their establishment.
The Greeks considered plenty of leisure as an indispens-
able prerequisite to liberal culture. They could not con-
ceive that a person who was compelled to labor with his
hands might also be an earnest searcher after truth. The
importance of liberal culture being conceded, it was argued
that plenty of spare time was necessary for its acquisition,
and that it could only be had by relegating to slaves those
callings that were necessary to provide the means of liveli-
hood for all. The question does not seem ever to have been
seriously considered by any one whether it was possible so
to educate those who have to toil with their hands that they
might find in their hours of relaxation the solace and en-
joyment of a trained intellect.
The treatment of slaves in Attica was exceptionally mild.
All the Greeks were simple in their manner of life and
their wants were easily supplied. Nevertheless, the free citi-
zen was expected to devote himself to philosophy and to
politics, but not to a handicraft of any kind. The poorest
were not without their slaves, whose duty it was to provide
for their physical wants. It must not be inferred that be-
cause leisure and literature were here found together, the
one was the necessary corollary of the other. The people
of our Southern States before the War of the Rebellion
were not lacking in leisure. A social system existed not un-
like that which prevailed in ancient Greece, yet the South
produced neither artists, nor literary men, nor philosophers.


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK EDUCATION. 45
Even its politicians were as much of a failure as those of
ancient Greece. The literary product of England did not
come from the leisure class. The English nobility were
often the patrons of literary men, but not themselves cre-
ators of literature. From these facts it is again evident
that when we study the ancient Greeks we are dealing, not
with a peculiar condition, but with a unique people.
When we are examining Greek education it is well to
keep in mind the important part played in it by the social
habits of the people. In time of peace it was customary
for many of the citizens to meet together almost daily for
purposes of literary and philosophical discussion. That ques-
tions of this kind were not of interest to all is sufficiently
evident; but that many took part in them is well attested,
in spite of the fact that the political clubs of Athens and
other Greek cities were the foci of all manner of schemes.
No better school for young men can be imagined than these
coteries, in which older men were the chief speakers, and
where all questions of human interest were discussed over
and over. It would not be difficult to name a score of
men who might be found together in Athens at almost any
time during the period here under consideration, whose
conversation, if well profited by for a year or two, would
of itself constitute a liberal education. How valuable such
a privilege was no one in our day can so well appreciate as
the solitary student. The Greeks had a strong aversion to
the written character. On this point I can not do better
than to quote the words of Butcher. Says he: "The sever-
ance between writing and the fine arts—beneficent as it
was from the artistic point of view, and no less so
from the point of view of convenience—was unhappy for
the prestige of writing, which was long regarded by the
Greeks as mechanical, symbolic—almost cabalistic. They


46 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
dissociated from it the notion of organic beauty and artistic
form. Now, as artists, they disliked all mere routine—all
work that was merely mechanical. The free inspiration of
the poet was checked by the use of conventional symbols;
the epic and the drama depended, if not for their very ex-
istence, at least for their vitality, on the living voice and
on listening crowds. Add to this fact that poetry, with its
musical accompaniments, could be carried in the memory
without external aid and appliances. * * * * Socrates
says writing is the mere image or phantom of the living and
animated word. It does not teach what was not known be-
fore; it only serves to remind the reader of something
that he already knew. It enfeebles the power of thought.
It is delusive even as an aid to memory, for it weakens and
supersedes this faculty by providing an artificial substitute.
Moreover, it has no power of adaptation; it speaks in one
voice to all; it cannot answer questions, meet objections,
correct misunderstandings, or supplement its own omis-
sions."
The student of Greek pedagogy can hardly fail to be im-
pressed with its weakness in what we call its moral ele-
ments. Socrates, indeed, taught that it was just as far
from right to injure an enemy as to injure a friend, and
his countrymen seem to have had a sort of vague notion
that justice prevails in the end. On the other hand, the
Greek orators in their harangues seldom appeal to any other
motive than a rather narrow and short-sighted expediency.
Whatever they may have thought, they seem to have felt
that it was only by such appeals that they could produce
the impression they desired upon their auditors. A kind of
fatalism, either latent or expressed, runs through the en-
tire body of Greek literature. It seems to have been ad-
mitted that men might do what they would, the event lay


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK EDUCATION. 47
in the hands of the gods, who were often whimsical, and
who often interfered in the best laid schemes of mortals
without regard to their moral qualities. The religious be-
lief of the Greeks, so largely formed and moulded by the
Homeric Poems, had a deleterious effect upon their con-
duct. This was so keenly felt by men like Plato that they
wished to exclude them from the list of educational books.
But this was only a theory, and no one seems to have ever
thought seriously of putting it into practice. These poems
exhibit, along with much that is surpassingly beautiful,
the most revolting scenes of inhumanity, unchastity, lying
and deception. There could hardly be a greater contrast
between the books now put into the hands of the young
and those that were in the hands of Greek boys from their
earliest childhood. The effect of this teaching, both direct
and indirect, was of the most pernicious character. The
qualities most conspicuous in Greek heroes of both history
and fiction were rarely such as would now commend them
for imitation.
There is nothing more prominent in the instruction of
the young Greek than the extraordinary stress laid upon
the cultivation of the memory. It is the key-note of the
entire system. From the beginning to the end of his school
days he was constantly employed in learning by heart the
literature of his country. The case of a young man is re-
corded by Xenophon who was required by his father to
commit to memory the entire poems of Homer; and there
is nothing in the anecdote to show that the feat was re-
garded as exceptional. In this connection we may also re-
mind our readers of the story told regarding the humane
treatment accorded by the Sicilians to those Athenian cap-
tives who could repeat considerable portions of the dramas
of Euripides. In this respect the later Greeks were doubt-


48 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
less influenced by the earlier rhapsodists who were in the
habit of reciting long extracts from the Homeric Poems at
the various entertainments and assemblies so common
among their countrymen.
Yet this method, now regarded as so objectionable, and
which is so rapidly going out of use, not only produced
great literary characters, but great thinkers, great his-
torians, great physicians, great mathematicians, great sci-
entists, great artists, and great orators. With these facts
and results before us, is it not safe to conclude that but
one thing is indispensable for the most efficient intellectual
training of the young, and that is a thorough acquaintance
with the highest literary achievements of the race? The
example and experience of the ancient Greeks furnishes
useful lessons for our time, both positively and negatively;
positively, as showing that a small amount of knowledge
may be so used as to produce intellectual excellence of the
highest order; negatively as making plain the fact that
something more than this is needed to make good citizens
and guarantee the perpetuity of the state.
It is a remarkable fact, to which there is room here for
only a passing reference, that our own day is the witness of
a return to the fundamental principles of Greek pedagogy
in the prominent place advocated for the study of litera-
ture. What the Greeks actually did we are strongly urged
to ±o, namely, to begin the study of the best authors in the
lowest grades and continue it through the highest. It goes
without saying that the modern movement has no connec-
tion with antiquity, but is the outgrowth of a careful study
of our social condition and needs. Nevertheless, some-
thing more than literature is necessary. Mere literature is
a product that is too spontaneous in its origin to be a safe
guide to conduct. We need to know history; we need to


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK EDUCATION. 4Q
have placed before our young people the results of con-
duct, the political and social experience of the race, if we
would have them learn the effect of human conduct on
the happiness or misery of mankind. If the habitual prac-
tice of honesty, chastity, sobriety, truthfulness, self-denial
for the good of others, do not in the long run bring the
greatest good to the greatest number, and if the disregard
of these virtues does not produce the opposite results, as
shown by the experience of the older governments, where
shall we find our sanctions for moral conduct?
The extraordinary amount of attention bestowed upon
athletic training by the Greeks has been referred to above,
and is, moreover, a fact so well known that not much need
be said about it here. Strength, agility, swiftness, and en-
durance were qualities of supreme importance to the citi-
zens of states that were more at war than at peace. The
Athenians strove to make sound bodies as well as sound
minds; or, rather, they regarded both as of equal import-
ance. The Spartans, on the other hand, almost wholly
neglected the mind, but trained the body to the highest de-
gree of efficiency. The practice of athletic games was more
nearly universal among the Greeks than attention to moral
culture. The various governments provided the necessary
buildings and appurtenances with far greater liberality
than they provided for schools. A collection of houses
among which there was no gymnasium was not regarded as
entitled to the name of city. It was especially in athletic
contests that emulation and rivalry were stimulated to the
highest degree. The Athenians, however, went farther and
instituted literary contests, and their intellectual superi-
ority is in no small degree due to this fact.
Sparta and Athens are usually spoken of as the leading
states of Greece, but we do not always keep in mind that
4


50
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
what we know of the achievements of Spartans comes to us
through the records of their hereditary enemies, the Ath-
enians. To the latter we may fitly apply the words of
Longfellow and say that most of them are both "writers-
and fightersto the former the line of Dr. Johnson is more
suitable, for they live to us only "To point a moral or adorn
a tale."
As the moon and the stars would be invisible except for
the illuminating rays of the sun, so Sparta and the lesser
states of Greece would emit but a few faint glimmerings in
the dark vista of history were it not for the light shed upon
them by Athens. If we would form a just estimate of this
remarkable people we need to keep in mind the small num-
ber of Athenian citizens at any time, and then consider that
among this number were more men in a single century who
profoundly influenced the progress of thought than ever
appeared in the same length of time subsequently in the
whole world.
While its true that the conditions under which they lived
cannot again be restored, the study of this age, so prolific
in great men, must ever continue to be one of profound in-
terest. No wonder that Schiller, looking back from the
troublous times in which he lived, should give vent to the
feelings that burdened his sad heart in the beautiful lan-
guage of his poem, "The Gods of Greece," the closing stanza
of which reads:
"Home! and with them are gone
The hues they gazed on and the tones they heard;
Life's beauty and life's Melody:—alone
Broods o'er the desolate void, the lifeless Word;
Yet, rescued from Time's deluge, still they throng
Unseen the Pindus they were wont to cherish:


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK EDUCATION.
51
Ah, that which gains immortal life in song,
To mortal life must perish!"
The genius of the Greek people, as expressed in literature
and art, remained but a short time at the zenith of its
glory. Greek history is not without interest, even to the
fall of the Eastern Empire; but more than a thousand
years before this event took place those elements of Greek
social life that are the most important to posterity had
virtually disappeared from the earth. The Alexandrian
period was one of intense intellectual activity, but this
activity was concerned almost wholly with the past. After
Greece had become a Roman province, schools of rhetoric
were established and maintained in nearly all the cities
and towns of the East as well as in Greece proper. A
knowledge of the Greek language was a common accom-
plishment in almost the whole Roman Empire, and there
seem to have been few illiterates. It is a noteworthy fact
that Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans in Greek. Long
after the separation of the Eastern from the Western Em-
pire the great mass of the classical writings, as well as
most of what had been produced in the interim, was still in
existence, and much of it read in the schools. It is to the
Saracens and, perhaps, in an equal degree to the inroads
of the Crusaders that is due the immense loss of manu-
scripts that modern students so greatly deplore.
It is hardly possible to contemplate the history of Greece
without a feeling of profound sorrow for her manifold
misfortunes and a feeling of contempt for her wretched
statecraft. All accessible evidence goes to prove that the
lessons of the past have been almost wholly lost on the
present generation, no less than upon their immediate
predecessors for two or three generations. Nations have


52
WISDOM AND WILL IX EDUCATION.
no guide for the future but the experience of the past, and
if they refuse or neglect to profit thereby they are certain
to reap the bitter fruits of their folly and shortsightedness.
It is a sad fact that though the people of Europe have
been studying Greek life for at least five hundred years
they have profited little by the lesson left upon record—
as little as the Greeks themselves. The moderns appro-
priated from the ancients what gratified the taste, but
gave hardly any practical attention to the things that
would have made life a thousandfold more worth living.
What would we say of the wisdom of that man who should
give much attention to the art of dressing well and taste-
fully but should concern himself little about the laws of
health? In theory no one maintains that it is better to
look well than to be well; in practice this is the uncon-
scious maxim the vast majority have followed. Of no
people can it be said with more truth than of the Greeks:
if the will of the majority had supported the wisdom of
the intelligent—not the intellectual—minority, the history
of the world would have been many times brighter.
Note.—Francis Galton, a severely scientific investigator thus
expresses himself in regard to the Greeks, in his Hereditary Ge-
nius. "The ablest race of whom history bears record is un-
questionably the ancient Greek, partly because their master-
pieces in the principal departments of intellectual activity are
still unsurpassed and in many respects unequalled, and partly
because the population that gave birth to the creators of these
masterpieces was very small." He then gives a list of the dis-
tinguished men produced between 530 and 430 B. C. numbering
fourteen. After citing a quantity of facts, he says further: "It
follows from all this that the average ability of the Athenian
race is, on the lowest possible estimate, very nearly two grades
higher than our own—that is, about as much as our race is above
the negro. This estimate, which may seem prodigious to some,


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK EDUCATION.
53
is confirmed by the quick intelligence and high culture of the
Athenian community before whom literary works were recited
and works of art exhibited, of a far more severe character than
could possibly be appreciated by the average of our race, the
caliber of whose intellect is easily gauged by the contents of a
railway book-stall."
His reasons, actual and inferential, for the rapid decline of the
"marvelously-gifted race" are thus stated. "Social morality grew
exceedingly lax; marriage became unfashionable and was avoided;
many of the more accomplished and ambitious women were
avowed courtesans, and consequently infertile, and the mothers
of the incoming population were of a heterogenous class. In a
small sea-bordered country where emigration and immigration
are constantly going on, and where the manners are as dissolute as
were those of Greece in the period of which I speak, the purity of
a race would necessarily fail. It can be, therefore, no surprise
to us, though it has been a severe misfortune to humanity, that
the high Athenian breed decayed and disappeared; for if it had
maintained its excellence, and had multiplied and spread over
large countries, displacing inferior populations (which it might
well have done, for it was naturally very prolific), it would as-
suredly have accomplished results advantageous to human civiliza-
tion, to a degree that transcends our powers of imagination."


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK ETHICS.
There is perhaps no social question on which it is more
difficult to form a correct opinion than upon the ethical
standard of a people. It is not easy when we take into ac-
count our contemporaries, or even our neighbors; but it is
tenfold more difficult when we study nations that are widely
separated from us in time and space, or both. An addi-
tional element of complexity is introduced into the prob-
lem by the fact that ethical standards are not uniform, nor
are all the parts that enter into it regarded as of equal im-
portance. They exhibit a kind of moral stratification,
some of the layers of which are thick and easily observed,
while others are thin, or do not exist at all. It is true, the
moral characteristics of a nation have more or less relation
to each other, but they are not all, nor necessarily, con-
nected. For instance, commercial integrity is not always
found associated with continence, or with that virtue that
is known in modern times as temperance. It is safe to say,
that, on the whole, the commercial integrity of the French
is as high as that of the English; but there is every reason
to believe that social purity is regarded as of less import-
ance by the former than the latter. Again, in a study of

(54)


66
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
define carefully the various elements that make up the
standard. Speaking figuratively, we may say that it is a
compound into which a number of ingredients of necessity
enter, and in varying quantity. We shall be more likely to
attain definite results if we make the comparison along
certain lines, or follow certain strata, so far as this can be
done with the available material. It is a matter of common
experience, that foreigners differ widely in their estimate
of the general character of a people among whom they have
dwelt for a time. We sometimes find their reports diverg-
ing so widely that we are at a loss to understand how
they can refer to the same community. The same thing
often occurs in the case of individuals; and we are driven,
for an explanation, to the extreme fallibility of human
judgment.
As it is proposed in the present article to make a brief
study of Greek ethical standards, we need here only to refer
to a fact well known to scholars, that modern writers upon
this question have reached widely different results. I be-
lieve that, generally speaking, the conclusions of the mod-
erns have been too favorable. I believe, further, that this
is largely owing to undue stress laid upon certain noble
traits exhibited by the Greeks and an excessive admiration
for their aesthetic qualities, to the neglect of other equally
* important characteristics in the make-up of national char-
acter. Strange as it may seem, the Germans appear to have
come widest of the mark, while the French and English
have exhibited the Greeks more nearly in their true light.
Friedrich Jacobs, for instance, in his enthusiastic admira-
tion of the aesthetic taste of this people, frequently draws
inferences favorable to their ethic qualities to which they
are hardly entitled. Schiller's well-known "Goetter Greich-
enlands" has contributed not a little to shed a halo over the


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK ETHICS. 57
mythology of the ancient Greeks. No doubt there are
points of view from which the free-and-easy life of an-
tiquity becomes attractive to us, hemmed in as we are by
the conventionalities among which we live and move from
day to day. But if their condition is studied from all
sides, and from the standpoint of every member of the body
politic, the verdict can scarcely fail to be less favorable.
The history of Greece, no less than the writings of her phil-
osophers, is adequate evidence that the citizens of the
Greek republics very often suffered quite as much from too
little government, at least of a wholesome sort, as the con-
temporaries of Jacobs and Schiller suffered from too much.
It is a well-marked tendency of our times to idealize a
social condition so much nearer to nature, in a certain
sense, than our own, that makes so many writers glorify,
and at times sigh for, the life of our Germanic ancestors,
or even the nomadic life to the undivided Aryan race. By
directing our attention too much to those features of social
life that contrast favorably with our own, and leaving out
of account the many disagreeable features that are an es-
sential part of the picture, it is easy to make the mistake to
which I have just referred.
It is unwise to lose sight of the fact that restraint and
civilization move forward hand in hand. In the evolution
of social life, there is a constant tendency to abridge the
liberty of the individual, for the good of the community,
and in order to secure greater freedom for him as a member
of the body politic. It can be clearly shown that what is
so often called the natural state of man is a misnomer, and
that one state is no more natural than another. Our mod-
ern Weltschmerz, the desire to be something else'than what
we are and where we are, has led many a man to construct
out of a figment of his imagination, a state of existence that.


58 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
could never be found anywhere on the face of the globe. If,
like the usurer of Horace, of whom he sings in his second
Epode, they were brought face to face with this imaginary
state, they would probably decide, as he did, that, after all,
they are better off than they would be if transplanted into
their imaginary paradise.
Let us consider for a moment what we are to understand
by ethical conduct. Perhaps we cannot better define it than
to say, that it is conduct regulated according to a law not
made by ourselves that makes for righteousness. But a
great deal depends on what we understand by righteous-
ness, and there is not room here to discuss the point. As
soon, however, as an individual recognizes such a law and
voluntarily obeys it, in contravention of a narrowly selfish
impulse, he begins to be an ethical being. It is evident
that, until he admits the binding force upon him of such
a law, he is unfit to be a member of a political or social
body. It is asserted by some writers.—Muensterberg in
his "Ursprung der Sittlichkeit" expresses himself very
positively on this point,—that the people which the Ger-
mans call Naturvoelker act wholly without any ethical
elements in the motives that influence their conduct. But
it is not easy to see how even the most primitive people
can exist in a state deserving the appellation of "social,"
with feelings towards each other so nearly on a par with
brutes. On the contrary, it seems to be nearer the truth,
that all human beings, even the lowest, perform some acts
and refrain from others from ethical motives. It is prob-
ably more correct to find the germs of ethical conduct in
certain brutes. To assert anything positively on either
question is' hazardous, and to draw inferences from our
meager knowledge accessible in both cases is scarcely less
so. If the lowest savages are governed wholly by impulse


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK ETHICS. 59
and the desire to gratify their passions immediately and
without regard to the remoter results of conduct, it is hard
to see at what stage the germs of altruism are discoverable.
Certain it is that the Greeks of the earliest ages had
already long passed the primitive state, and even that oc-
cupied by all the Eastern nations, except the Hebrews.
They were intensely patriotic, in the sense of being ar-
dently attached to their fellow-citizens, their ancestral cus-
toms, and their native land. For these they were generally
willing to sacrifice everything they possessed, not except-
ing life itself. They recognized national, and to some ex-
tent international, obligations. They had some conception
of the importance of family life in the perpetuity of the
state. They had a strong sense of the dignity of manhood
and a deep-seated aversion to monarchy in all its forms.
The ethical systems of some of the Greek philosophers were
far in advance of the popular standard, and approximated
more or less closely to that of the New Testament. On the
other hand, it is extremely doubtful whether any believed
in their system so thoroughly as to make its precepts the
norm for the regulation of their own lives. Besides, the
popular notions as to the character of the gods had a most
deleterious influence on private morality,—an influence
from which even the noblest philosophers were not wholly
exempt.
The Greeks when they first come under our observa-
tion, had already passed, by a long interval, beyond a prim-
itive stage of religious belief. Nevertheless, to them the
universe was literally filled with divinities, benevolent or
malevolent, as circumstances might dispose them. The
most serious hindrance to any consistent line of conduct,
in the popular mind, was the caprice of the divinities.
Their good-will was sometimes gained, and their enmity


60 WISDOM AND WILL IK EDUCATION.
often incurred by the most trivial acts,—acts which in their
nature had no ethical value, but frequently the contrary.
Unlike the Romans, the Greeks knew of no way to compel
the favor of the gods. But even the most august and
powerful of the dwellers on Olympus was not wholly su-
preme in the affairs of men or of the gods. A mightier
than he was blind fate, inscrutable destiny, that was the
final arbiter in everything.
The Greeks when they first come before us in the Ho-
meric Poems are already organized into civic communities.
They recognize a body of unwritten laws which the Ro-
mans designated by mos majorum, mos patriots and other
like terms. The validity of these customs has its sanction
in the experience of men everywhere, but they are most
scrupulously obeyed where the talent for political organiza-
tion is most marked. Neither in politics nor in ethics were
the Greeks very firmly attached to tradition, though this
attachment was stronger among the Spartans than else-
where. The willingness to accept foreign arts and cus-
toms had a deleterious effect upon their morals; and it is
well established that some of their worst vices were intro-
duced from the East. They never exhibited the moral earn-
estness manifested by the Hebrews at a much earlier
period. They were too fond of having a "good time";
too ready to give the loose rein to their passions; too willing
to gratify sensual desires. In consequence, they could not
be induced for any length of time to follow the counsels of
those who had more wisdom and political insight than has
the average man. If we turn aside for a moment to com-
pare the moral character and earnestness of the ancient
Hebrews with the Greeks, the result of the comparison will
be very greatly to the advantage of the former. From the
very nateire of the case, a code of laws formed by a single


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK ETHICS.
61
mind, able to discern intuitively the remote effects of con-
duct, will always be superior to one that is the product of
evolution by an entire people. It is doubtful whether
any one man in the history of the world has so deeply and
lastingly influenced its thought as the patriarch Abraham.
Coming forth as he did from among an idolatrous people
to proclaim the unity and spirituality of God, his was a
step forward and upward the far-reaching consequences of
which cannot be over-estimated. Judaism, Mohammedan-
ism and Christianity are based upon this thought. The
more the career of this man is studied, the more remarkable
it is; inexplicable, we may well call it, from the mere hu-
man standpoint. From the central idea around which his
whole life revolved, his people, in spite of their frequent
moral lapses, never entirely departed. When we consider
the abominations that idolatry has always and everywhere
countenanced, the ethical import of Abraham's life is
brought into still greater prominence. Greatly as we must
admire Socrates for his wisdom, his keen insight, and his
moral earnestness along certain lines, we can but feel that
his friendliness toward the mythology of his country was
detrimental to his influence as a teacher of morals. It was
such a tissue of ridiculous absurdities, that it is hard to
see how so intelligent a man as he could have had any pa-
tience with it. Or, if he regarded the popular mythology
in its true light, his best friends have strangely misinter-
preted his attitude. The history of the world shows with
painful distinctness, that, until men had emancipated
themselves from a belief in the plurality of gods, there
was no ethical basis possible for the regulation of human
conduct.
The Greeks of Homer's age have often been compared to
children; and not unaptly. But it should not be forgotten,


62 WI8D0M AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
that, while they exhibited some traits that we expect to
find in children, they often gave way to the basest passions
of full-grown men. The range of their ethical ideas was
more circumscribed than that of the moderately well-
trained child of our day. The ferocity they sometimes
manifested is appalling. A typical example is the treat-
ment of the dead Hector by his slayer Achilles. There is
no shadow of excuse or justification for his conduct toward
a chivalrous foe. He had engaged in a deadly duel with
the odds against him, and under circumstances that would
naturally have aroused compassion in any breast but that
of the lowest savage. Yet even the poet who relates the
story of this harrowing deed has no word of condemnation
for the victor or of compassion for the vanquished. In
subsequent times this same bloodthirsty and vindictive
Achilles was regarded by all the Greeks as the embodiment
of youthful beauty and heroic bravery. Similar ferocity
is sometimes exhibited under other circumstances, as in
the case of Medea, but there is usually more or less justifi-
cation for it. But the influence of the Homeric Poems
upon the popular mind was far greater than that of any
other literary production.
It was an unfortunate circumstance for the ethical de-
velopment of the Greeks, that their literature for the most
part commended itself, in spite of its low moral tone, by
reason of its aesthetic excellence. That some of their best
thinkers clearly recognized and deplored this fact is well
known. It is hardly to be doubted that the Homeric Poems
retarded the moral growth of the Greek nation quite as
much as they refined and elevated and promoted their lit-
erary taste. While there is no question, that, from the
dawn of philosophic inquiry, many persons began to out-
grow the anthropomorphic ideas they embody, this intel-


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK ETHICS.
63
lectual emancipation brought with it little or no profit to
the cause of morality. The Greek rationalists, like the
French freethinkers of the eighteenth century, not only
lost faith in a religion that was largely supported by hy-
pocrisy, but they also surrendered that part of it which
furnished a support and sanction for moral conduct. In
the time of Aristophanes even the Greek populace had seem-
ingly given up all respect for their gods, or faith in their
traditional mythology; yet, with a strange inconsistency,
they feared the very beings whose existence they doubted.
Temple robbery and sacrilege were at all times regarded
as heinous crimes, and severely punished. Long after the
period here under consideration, Paul found the Athenians
scrupulous observers of the external forms of religion, and
indifferent to its spirit. While it is probably true that
the conduct of Socrates at his trial was the chief cause of
his death, it must be said, to the eternal disgrace of his
countrymen, that they were willing deliberately to enter-
tain charges of the most ridiculous character against him;
and they condemned him to death for crimes that nine-
tenths of the jury must have known that he had not com-
mitted.
This brings us to another reprehensible trait of the
Greeks—their slight regard for human life. Men were
put to death upon the flimsiest pretexts,—sometimes singly,
sometimes in large numbers. Socrates tells his fellow-
citizens, that he would probably not have survived many
years if he had engaged in politics, for in the nature of the
case, he must ere long have fallen a victim to party ran-
cor. The ferocity with which their feuds were often car-
ried on almost exceeds belief. In every city, and at all
times, there seems to have been a large number of "outs,"
who neglected no opportunity to get possession of the gov-


64 WISDOM AND WILL IX EDUCATION.
eminent. Their object was always purely selfish, except
in some rare instances where self-preservation was the mo-
tive. In these internecine struggles, men were as recklessly
deprived of life as if it were a thing of little value. Ju-
dicial proceedings in capital cases were characterized by
the same precipitancy. One would suppose that the plain-
est dictates of prudence would plead for leniency toward a
defeated party. A turn of the political wheel might easily
bring those who were below to the top, and mercy shown
could be used as a valid ground for asking mercy in re-
turn. But, as would be expected of short-sighted children,
the only question with the dominant party was always, how
to root out every particle of unfriendliness, as if this could
be done so effectually that it could never raise its head
again.
The Greeks never grasped the importance of law in the
development of civic institutions. What the Germans call
Rechtssinn was almost entirely lacking in their char-
acter. As if afraid to trust themselves, they frequently
passed decrees fixing severe penalties on any one who should
propose the repeal of a law. The persistence of this racial
type is plainly seen in Greek politics in our own day.
Every citizen is or wants to be a politician or a statesman,
and there is little doubt that if modern Greece were a
pure republic, the people would want to elect a President
at least as often as once a month, and turn out all the office-
holders in order to make room for a new set. The injus-
tice this mode of procedure has worked from time immemo-
rial need not here be dwelt upon. Greek political writers,
beginning with the earliest, often deplore this fickleness
of their countrymen. Again and again they said: If you
will cease to quarrel among yourselves, compose your in-
ternal feuds, and unite in a common enterprise, you can


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK ETHICS. 65
easily make yourselves masters of the entire world. But
such admonitions almost always fell upon deaf ears It is
not remarkable, then, that a strong foreign power which
promised to put an end to internal strife should be wel-
comed by many thinking men in Greece. It was the best
thing attainable imder the circumstances. The Greeks
never grasped the importance of personal responsibility.
The citizen was merged in the city. In many cases a body
of men that might fitly be characterized as a mob, decided
what was right and what was wrong according to the pas-
sions then prevalent What a travesty upon justice their
collective action when laboring under excitement often was,
is well known.
A cardinal moral weakness of the Greeks was their readi-
ness to accept bribes. Not only were many of them always
willing to receive money from the Persians, but offers
from their own countrymen rarely came amiss. It is true
that public sentiment was strongly against such conduct,
but it was not strong enough to make the business thor-
oughly odious. It seems to have been felt that the loudest
outcry was often made against it by those who were so un-
fortunate as not to have been subjected to temptation.
This penchant is, in part at least, explicable by two char-
acteristics that were prominent in the Greeks: one of these
was the keen enjoyment of sensuous pleasures; the other,
a decided aversion to labor. As public opinion was strongly
against the citizen who engaged in money-making enter-
prises, other avenues for getting rich were readily entered.
The citizen must not labor; if he does, he forfeits the re-
spect of his fellow-men, no matter how much his charac-
ter may be deserving of it. Personal worth is not the de-
cisive factor in such a case. The state is the arbiter in the
5


66 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
matter; and the state has decided that labor is for the
slave, state-craft and philosophy for the free man.
Nothing strikes us as more remarkable in the most ad-
vanced Greek thought than its attitude toward human
slavery. That the popular mind accepted the status quo
without a question is not strange, but that the philosophers,
almost without exception, were unable to see that the "sum
of villanies" must eventually be abolished, is inexplicable.
They anticipated modern thought in many directions. In
some things they seem even to have divined the goal it
would ultimately reach. But slavery was to them so es-
sential a part of civic and social life, that no thought of its
ultimate abolition dawned upon the mind of any one. The
justification of slavery by Aristotle and others reminds one
of the puerile arguments sometimes heard, in ante bellum
days, in favor of letting slavery in the South alone, on the
ground that the owners of slaves had lawfully paid for
them. When the Stagirite tells us that some persons are
by nature of a servile disposition, and fitted only for a
station in which they will be wholly under the tutelage of
a superior, we readily assent; but, when he proceeds to
justify slavery on this account, we involuntarily ask our-
selves, whether he is in earnest, and expects to be taken
seriously. It was sometimes the misfortune of the wisest
and noblest to fall into slavery. As wars were anciently
carried on, it could not be predicated with certainty of any
one that he would never be sold as a slave. The weakest
and least deserving from any point of view,—the women
and the children—were most in danger. Their birth did
not decide their destiny, though it might in some cases
mitigate the treatment they received. Where slavery ex-
ists, human life is cheap. It brutalizes men, not only
toward the unfortunate beings who are in their power, soul
and body, but also toward equals. It has been an unmiti-


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK ETHICS. 67
gated curse wherever it has existed; yet governments have
clung to it, and encouraged it, with a persistence worthy of
a hetter cause. Perhaps, after all, we need not be surprised
that no ancient philosopher looked forward to the time
when slavery should be abolished in every civilized country.
Compare note on page 42.
It is well known that in all the Grecian and Roman cities
there was a considerable population debarred from the
rights and privileges of citizenship, though to some extent
under the protection of law. There is no doubt that the
existence of numerous slaves, together with the class just
referred to, had a most deleterious effect upon the public
morals. Abundant experience has proved that the surest
way to bring the state to its highest efficiency and its great-
est security, as well as to elevate the tone of its morals, is
to grant to as large a number as possible of those enjoying
the protection of its laws a direct share in the government.
This gives to all a personal interest in the internal affairs
of the state, and makes every one more or less responsible
for its perpetuity. There is no way to ruin a young man
more completely than to make him feel that, do what he
will, he can never become of any importance to any one.
not even to himself. As he cannot elevate himself, lie has
no interest in assisting others to rise. But he may, and
generally does, revenge himself and gratify his social in-
stinct by dragging others down to his own moral level.
Wherever slavery has existed, human life has been cheap.,
and public morality low. That the latter was exceptionally
so in ancient Greece becomes more and more evident as
one's knowledge of the subject deepens.
There is abundant testimony to show that chastity and
conjugal fidelity on the part of men were neither com-
mended nor practiced. Prostitution was frightfully com-


68 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATIOX.
mon. Married women were held to strict account, lest
they might debauch the state by illegitimate offspring, but
there was no restraint upon husbands, either in the laws or
in public opinion. A few passages bearing upon this point
may properly be cited here. In the second book of his
Memorabilia, Xenophon reports the following remark as
made by Socrates to his son: "And, in truth, you are not
to assume that men beget children for the sake of mere
sensual pleasure, since the streets as well as the brothels
are full of the means of gratifying desire." This state-
ment bears strong testimony to the prevalence of the social
evil in Athens in the fourth century B. C, but it is also
evidence of the matter-of-fact way in which it was regarded
by men like Socrates. Testimony to the same effect is
furnished by Demosthenes in his harangue against Neaera
We quote a single passage: "We have mistresses for the
sake of pleasure; concubines for the daily attendance upon
our persons; wives for the sake of legitimate children and
of having faithful guardians of our households." Here
the orator's "we have'" shows that he is speaking of what
is universally admitted, and not of himself alone. He is
but identifying himself, in the matter of sexual morality,
with the mass of the citizens. A wife is not regarded as a
companion or an equal, but as a creature that exists solely
in order that legitimate offspring may be brought into the
world. If one would realize what such a confession im-
plies, let him remember the public occasion on which it
was uttered; then let him picture to himself what the effect
of such an avowal would be if made in the presence of
hundreds, perhaps thousands of men in our day. Let him
remember, too, that we are not dealing with the mere off-
scourings of a great city; but that the orator is standing
in the presence of the most respectable citizens, who had


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK ETHICS. 69
met together for the purpose of hearing what a great orator
would say on an important case. I am aware that this
oration is now generally regarded as wrongly attributed to
Demosthenes. This, however, detracts little from its value
as testimony to the moral status of the Athenians in the
time of the great orator. Its importance in the history of
Greek morals remains unimpeached; besides it only cor-
roborates testimony of the same character found in other
writings. When one reads some of the Plays of Aristo-
phanes for the first time he involuntarily asks himself
whether a condition of things such as he in part describes,
and in part assumes to be well known, can have existed in
any community having any claim to be called civilized; yet
a more thorough knowledge of the then current sexual mo-
rality of the Greek cities soon convinces the student that
the witty poet has not painted his picture in too deep colors.
The Epistles cf Paul, written several centuries later, make
it painfully evident that Greeks and Komans, even after
their conversion to Christianity, were slow to yield the lax
moral notions they had held while heathen.
Social purity was a vice so deeply ingrained in the
habits of the people that it was almost impossible to eradi-
cate it. To this day the effort has been successful only in a
very moderate degree. Nothing is more clear than that the
Greeks made light of such a command as, "Thou shalt not
commit adultery"; much less did they realize the high
moral standard of Christ set forth in the words, "Whoso-
ever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath already
committed adultery with her in his heart." It is doubtful
whether this phase of conduct was ever seriously considered
by any of their philosophers.
In all Greek literature there is no more typical character
than Ulysses. His prominent traits are fertility of re


ASPECTS OF ANCIENT GREEK ETHICS. 71
to which few of his countrymen ever attained even in their
philosophical systems, much less in their conduct. It must,
however, be admitted that in spite of the short-comings of
the Greek people in both their public and private life most
of the Greek thinkers had a profound conviction of the
moral order of the world. Their Weltanschauung is largely
tinged with pessimism because their countrymen so often
chose and persisted in courses that could lead nowhere but
into disaster. Herodotus somewhere says that the most
unfortunate situation in which a man can find himself is
when he sees calamity approaching and is unable to avert it.
Aeschylus inquires, "What defence are riches to a man
who insolently spurneth out of sight the mighty altar-
throne of Justice?" After enlarging upon this theme he
cites the case of Paris as a warning example of a man who
by frivolous and unrighteous conduct brought innumer-
able woes upon his family and his country. He contends
that "Justice shines in houses dark with smoke and honors
virtuous life; while gold-bespangled seats, where hands are
filthy, she leaveth with averted eyes, and unto pious homes
repairs, revering not the power of wealth with spurious
commendation stamp'd." "The swift stroke of Justice
comes down upon some in the noonday light; pain waits on
others in the midst of darkness, and the gloom of night
overshadows them." At another place he says: "There is
a voiceless law which is not seen by thee while thou sleepest,
walkest and sittest; which accompanies thee, now at thy
side, now behind. For the darkness of night does not
conceal thy evil deeds, but whatsoever crime thou hast
committed, doubt not some one has seen it."
The historians are equally certain that wrong-doers can
not escape the penalty of their misdeeds. There is room


72 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
here for but a single citation. Herodotus puts into the-
mouth of a Spartan the following anecdote:
Three generations ago a certain Milesian came to Sparta
to a citizen of that place renowned far and wide for hi»
probity, and left with him a valuable deposit of money.
He also gave to the citizen, whose name was Glaucus, cer-
tain tallies with the directions that the money was to be
returned to the person who produced the tallies. Many
years after, the sons of the depositor appeared before Glau-
cus and, producing the tallies, asked to have the deposit re-
turned. The Spartan now professed to have forgotten the
matter, but promised to do what was just in case he really
had received the money, as the strangers asserted. He
wanted four months for reflection. Meanwhile he went to
Delphi to consult the oracle as to whether he might be per-
mitted to swear that he had not received the money and
so make a prize of it. The Pythoness replied that he might
do as he wished since death is equally the lot of those who
keep oaths and of those who do not; but the Oath-god over-
whelms with destruction the perjurers and preserves those
who keep their promises. Glaucus, now thoroughly fright-
ened, besought pardon of the Pythoness for his question,
but she answered that it was as bad to tempt the god as to
have done the deed. "At the present time," adds the nar-
rator, "the family of Glaucus is extinct in Sparta."
Whether we read the poets, the philosophers, the historians
or the orators we find the same clear views of the penalties
involved in the infringement of the moral law.
The Athenian people may be compared to a woman who
is endowed with all the possible charms of mind and per-
son,—fair in face, stately in form, majestic in carriage,
graceful in movement, bewitching in manner, with a ge-
nius, it may be, for poetry or painting or sculpture; but


ASPECTS Of ANCIENT GREEK ETHICS. 73
who is capricious, often utterly unreasonable, untrust-
worthy, given to moods, now an angel, now a demon, yet
always exhibiting the same \merring taste and displaying
the same passionate love of what is beautiful.
Many modern writers have interested themselves in
showing how the ethical elements of Christianity were grad-
ually evolved from the tenets of the Greek philosophers.
One of the most instructive recent contributions to this
question is the "Logos Spermaticos" of Dr. Edward Spiess.
a volume of more than five hundred pages of parallel pas-
sages to the New Testament from the writings of ancient
Greeks. The inquiry is not without profit, as showing that,
in the fullness of time, the world was ready for the teach-
ings of Christ, and that his appearance was not out of har-
mony with social evolu^'on. But the ethical philosophy of
the Greeks lacked some important principles that were es-
sential to the healthy and uninterrupted progress of the
world. A gradual evolution will not account for the ap-
pearance of the first man, nor of such characters as Abra-
ham and Moses; least of all will it explain the coming of
Christ, unless we mentally supply some essential factors
for which we have as yet no data. The weakest part of
Greek philosophy was its morality, because it was tinged
with ethnic characteristics; the power of Christ's teachings
lies in their ethical elements of universal validity.


KNOWLEDGE AND MORALITY.
There is, perhaps, no thought that occupies men's minds
more frequently at the prensent time than admiration for
the wonderful age in which we live. Nor is this surprising.
When one compares the closing years of the nineteenth
century with the end of the sixties, and examines somewhat
in detail the inventions and discoveries of the intervening
period, he finds himself indeed in a new world. In nothing
has public opinion undergone a more marked change than
in the estimate placed upon the value of knowledge, per se.
So many secrets have been wrung from the keeping of ma-
terial nature, and the information thus gained has been
turned, in so many ways, to the effective service of man,
that the world seems to be looking for its temporal salva-
tion in this direction. That the increase of the public wel-
fare is commensurate with the advance of knowledge is an
axiom that has influenced public opinion within the last
few decades to a remarkable degree.
The most tangible expression of this belief is the liber-
ality shown, both by states and individuals, in the estab-
lishment and support of institutions for the highest edu-
cation. It is entirely safe to say that more money has been
donated and voted for this purpose during the last ten or
(74)


76 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
If the effect of the general diffusion of knowledge is to
promote the highest welfare of the largest number, it is
probable that the form of government has little to do with
the problem. But it will be profitable to consider, whether
those periods of the world that are most conspicuous for
intelligence were, on the whole, the happiest; whether there
are not other factors of the social organism, such as na-
tional traits, individual characteristics, and creeds, that
are more potent for good than mere knowledge; and
whether, conversely, we are not mistaken in assuming that
all we need to do to make men better is to make them more
intelligent. It is taken for granted that to make men
more intelligent, or at least better informed, is to make
them more reasonable. Is the assumption correct? Is
it true that, as the majority becomes enlightened, as the
world judges enlightenment, they will be more ready to
help those, always a large proportion, of the population
who need help and guidance and encouragement?
One cannot read attentively the history of the ancient
Greeks without feeling all the time that many of them
clearly recognized the horrors of war, and the futility of
engaging in it with a view to gaining any permanent good.
This is plainly indicated in their historians, their philoso-
phers, and their dramatic moralists. They recognize,
clearly, too, the existence of a rule of right that was not
dependent upon the changing beliefs and impulses of men.
They nevertheless were compelled to yield to public opin-
ion in the midst of which they lived, and Greek civilization
decayed under their eyes and through forces against which
they continually protested. A modern historian even goes
so far as to say that the Greeks were not naturally a war-
like people, in spite of the fact that they were almost con-
stantly engaged in war. Even in the Homeric Poems the


KNOWLEDGE AND MORALITY.
77
transcendent value of obedience to law and the rule of
right are clearly recognized. Yet how little influence did
this recognition have on the progress of events. It is al-
most literally true that the most civilized and intelligent
people of antiquity went to their destruction with their
€yes open. Though wanting to do good, evil was ever
present with them. It was impossible to make head against
an all-powerful pernicious public opinion that received its
inspiration not from reason, but from sentiment.
On the other hand, the Roman state was built up and
maintained by the intense feeling of patriotism which made
its citizens always act in the spirit of the maxim, "My coun-
try, right or wrong." The Romans possessed a genius for
government which was not founded on intelligence, but on
a national trait. Passing over a large interval of time,
we find this genius the most marked in the English. Yet.
taken on a whole, it will hardly be claimed that they have
been the most intelligent people of Europe for the last three
or four hundred years.- On the other hand, it seems clear
that the moral forces have, during most of this time, been
more active and more influential in England than in any
country on the Continent.
Though there is some apparent injustice in comparing
the two periods, owing to the difference in time, we are
safe in saying that the Reformation in Germany had much
less influence on the morals of the people than the move-
ment inaugurated in England by the Wesleys and White-
field. In mere scholastic learning Germany was unques-
tionably far ahead of England in the middle of the eigh-
teenth century, and probably for a long time before. The
same is true in a more marked degree of France. Yet,
while France and Germany were filled with scholars and
men of genius, the country was going from bad to worse.


78
^YISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
and, so far as a regeneration came, it was not inspired or
carried out by them. In England, moral and religious
forces have always been active and vigorous, as they still
are; on the Continent, except at rare intervals, weak. No
matter how large a stock of facts we accumulate, if one has
no inclination to use them, of what advantage are they?
And, while England is doing less to-day than either France
or Germany to promote intelligence, and put the highest
learning within reach of all, we do not hear of much
that is done to promote practical morality in the latter
countries. If we are to judge the situation from the testi-
mony of Germans and Frenchmen, the moral condition of
their countrymen is becoming worse as they are becoming
more intelligent or at least more intellectual. Plainly the
salvation of the world does not come through worldly wis-
dom. This is a truth confirmed by past experience and
present observation.
In view of the testimony just cited, the man who believes
that "righteousness exalteth a nation" may well ask, What,
then, shall we do? Evidently to fill the land with scholars
is not to fill it with men of character, with men who be-
lieve in doing right because it is right. If the more intel-
ligent members of a community are truthful and commer-
cially honest because the practice of truth and honesty are
the characteristics of a gentleman, but take no interest in
the weak and degraded, it is not hard to see where and to
what such indifference will lead.
If there is any good reason for the somewhat widely dif-
fused faith in the efficacy of mere education to promote the
happiness of mankind, it ought to become strikingly mani-
fest in the growing aversion to war. Is this so? A recent
writer truthfully says: "If men forsake the use of swords
and spears, it assuredly is not to convert them into plough-


KNOWLEDGE AND MORALITY.
79
shares and pruning hooks, but to substitute rifled cannon
for these antique instruments of slaughter, now found in-
effectively murderous. Surely never was the aspect of
Europe so threatening as it is at the present hour. Stand-
ing armies of a vastness hitherto undreamed of confront
one another. The frontiers of every country are embattled.
Railways are converted into military roads. The physical
sciences are ransacked for engines of carnage. The whole
continent is an immense parade-ground, destined,—who-
can say how soon ?—to become a vast battlefield." "'Tis
pity, and pity 'tis, 'tis true." In this willingness of the
nations of the earth to engage in deadly conflict with each
other, upon a trifling pretext, we see the power of irrational
motives operating destructively. It is the spirit of a pack
of mastiffs ready to fly at each other's throat as soon as
an opportunity is offered. One does not need to have been
a very profound student of history to know that when two-
governments wanted to go to war with each other they
easily found a reason for so doing. Most of these professed
reasons were flimsy enough, but they served their purpose.
The world is still ready, as it always has been, to applaud a
weak nation for taking up arms against a strong one,
though the outcome is plain beforehand. It at least shows
pluck,— a praiseworthy trait, certainly, but it needs proper
direction.
We all know the story of the German professor, who>
when told that his house was on fire, said to his informant;
"Go tell my wife; I never meddle with domestic affairs."
He was a typical student; absorbed in some insignificant
matter, he took no account of what was going on around
him. In truth, the people have never perished for lack of
knowledge, but for lack of the will to use it. When we
see on what utterly useless trifles many men have spent


82 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
the marvelous insight into the needs of their time ex-
hibited by the writers. They developed and applied the
simple teachings of the Founder of Christianity in a man-
ner that cannot fail to command our admiration. Every
Epistle is different from every other, according as the cir-
cumstances of those addressed were unlike; yet the funda-
mental theme is everywhere the same; the motives to
which appeal is made, are the same. The various schools
of Greek philosophy had each essayed in vain to provide
a regenerative force. They were all originally too intel-
lectual, and had in time degenerated into mere idle specu-
lation, or into quiescent introspection. So far as they
had any definite aim, it was to know, not what and how
to do. The author of the "Education of the Greek People"
well says, "Until the supernatural sense can recognize
as its object a living God, or Being with perfect intelli-
gence, love, will, supernaturally correlated, but in no
sense identical with the spirit of men, so that his perfec-
tions are their goal and not his being, their grave, it will
never be able to maintain itself against abstracting reason
or supply the basis of moral life." And again, "The les-
son of history is, that of all the faculties of the human soul,
that which demands the most careful training is the super-
natural sense. While it remains undeveloped all other
education leads ultimately to nothing. It was the failure
to recognize this that made Greek education impotent to
save the world, and forced it to crown itself with Chris-
tianity, whose function is to train the supernatural sense
to a recognition of the living God as the Father of Spirits,
the guardian of the moral law, and the bond of institu-
tional life."
Passing again to modern times, for we are not here con-
cerned with chronological sequence but with parity of con-


KNOWLEDGE AND MORALITY. 83
ditions, we find many points of resemblance between west-
ern Europe in the eighteenth and the beginning of the
nineteenth century and the Roman Empire in the time of
Christ. What is called the literature of these periods takes
singularly little account of the common people. They are
not the submerged tenth, but the neglected two-thirds or
more. The classical writers of these periods rarely men-
tion them, except to stigmatize their brutality, rail at
their ignorance, or sneer at their stupidity. It is true
there exists a considerable body of devotional literature
called into existence by the spiritual wants of those who
aspired to a better life, but these books rarely found their
way into the hands of the educated, and certainly did not
exercise any influence on them. As in England, so in
Germany and France, there was always a considerable por-
tion of the population that were genuinely pious and sin-
cerely desirous to lead pure and holy lives. But the masses
were little, if at all, influenced by their example. Not
until our own day did it occur to any one to write a His-
tory of the English People,—apparently because hitherto
readers were only interested to know what the upper class,
those who were more or less concerned in shaping the po-
litical destinies of the country, did.
In another paper I have given a quotation from Kidd's
Social Evolution, which puts in a striking light the atti-
tude of the educated classes in England toward most of
the reforms that have been brought about in that country
during the present century. The extract occurs on p. 105,
but deserves to be read in this connection.
I am aware that he who undertakes to show the influ-
ence of motives generally classed as irrational in the de-
velopment of society and to set forth their potency for
good lays himself open to the charge of returning to the


84
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
text on which the school of Rousseau preached so man3r
powerful sermons in the last century. The influence and
vitality of the doctrines so forcibly proclaimed by a man
who was almost without education is a strong tribute to
their truthfulness. In Germany a man of different mould,
but aroused by the same conditions, was spurred to action
while his French prototype was content to talk and write.
The new doctrines were promulgated at a time when
Europe was at least to some extent prepared for them,
though this preparedness consisted rather in dissatisfac-
tion with the old than a clear recognition of the needed
remedy. The conservatism of the upper classes had be-
come well-nigh unendurable. Their rule of life was regu-
lated by the thought that for them the state existed; for
them government performed its functions; it was right
for them to exploit the resources of the country to the
fullest extent it would bear. Almost all who had the
courage to cry out against the existing conditions were
proscribed; were often in danger of incarceration and even
of their lives. That one man is as good as another; that
all men are brothers and bound together by obligations to
mutual helpfulness; that it is the duty of the weak to
protect the strong, are not articles that are found in the
creed of those who stand foremost in the ranks of the in-
telligent. It is Christianity, and Christianity alone, that
has always insisted on the supreme importance of such
teachings to the welfare of mankind in the widest sense.
And it was just because the intelligent classes, not except-
ing those whose calling made them the exponents of Chris-
tianity, had long ignored these teachings, that a protest
arose against the wretched condition in which the poor
were perforce kept, from so many of those who had no
sympathy with the prevailing religious creeds. It was al-


KNOWLEDGE AND MORALITY.
85
truistic feeling breaking through the crust of custom that
had been hardened by the conservatism of centuries.
This brief sketch of facts and inferences is not intended
as a protest against the growing intelligence of our time.
It is written for the purpose of calling attention to a
serious danger into which we seem to be rapidly drifting.
Some of the European nations are already on the verge of
a precipice over which they may topple at any moment.
There are few things for which it is impossible to find a rea-
son. The most atrocious crimes have had their defenders;
the most unjust institutions their apologists. Sentiments
and ideas, too, are often misleading; yet it is in obedience
to these mainsprings of action that the world has grown
better. They are the prime motors in human progress.
They furnish motives to which all men in every progres-
sive country naturally respond. It is with them that re-
formers have primarily to reckon; it is to them they must
chiefly look for support; against them it is impossible to
go forward. We may enlighten the head as much as we
please, if we do not succeed in filling the heart with proper
sentiments we shall not inspire any one to activity or to
self-sacrifice for the good of others. It will hardly be de-
nied that a large proportion of those who are engaged
in research have no interest whatever in the welfare of
mankind. Unquestionably the wisest activity is condi-
tioned by the largest knowledge; but he who never acts
until he is sure of being familiar with the entire situation
will usually never act at all. I know of no caution that
the enlightened nations of the world need more at this
time than that against implicit faith in the doctrine that
a training of the senses, pure and simple, will bring about
that condition of society for which all good men labor and
devoutly pray.


REASON AND SENTIMENT AS FACTORS IN
SOCIAL PROGRESS.
It is generally held by philologists that the word which
in the Teutonic tongues designates the head of the animal
kingdom is closely allied to a verbal root whose significa-
tion is "to think." Man is, therefore, the thinking being
par excellence in the realm of animated nature. Whether
this derivation be correct or not, and necessarily without
reference to it, man is wont to assert for himself the proud
pre-eminence of occupying the highest place among the
creatures that inhabit the earth, and to claim that this
position has been accorded to him, or that he has won it
for himself, because he is alone the possessor of reason. It
may be interesting, and it is certainly not without profit,
from the practical point of w w, to examine to what extent
the history of the race, so far as it is fairly well authenti-
cated, bears out the common belief that reason has been the
prime factor, the chief motive power, in human progress.
Such an examination will prove almost beyond a doubt
that ideas, impulses generally irrational, tradition, inter-
ests real or imaginary, and national traits have played a
far larger part in shaping the destiny of the world, and
are doing so still, than is generally believed. A saying at-
(86)


FACTORS IN SOCIAL PROGRESS.
tributed to Franklin, that there would be no advantage in
being a reasonable creature if one could not find a reason
for doing what he wants to, pointedly expresses the sub-
ordination of reason to other motives that impel men to
action.
When a man makes up his mind to do a thing he can
generally prove by a mental process to his own satisfaction
that he ought to do it. Let us take the burning social
problem of the day and see how far the influence of reason
has been effective in dealing with it. We mean the drink
problem. The advocates of temperance have nearly all
the reason on their side; their opponents have everything
else, including the appetites of those who drink and the
avarice of those who sell. The intelligent class among all
European peoples are on the side of temperance. Writers
and speakers are incessantly warning their countrymen
against the dangers of alcoholism. They are demonstrat-
ing from day to day that more than one half the evils that
afflict the body politic are due to drink. They point to the un-
contradicted testimony furnished by the records of poverty.
crime and wretchedness as evidence of the reasonableness of
their teaching. Yet how little has been accomplished, how
few drunkards have been reclaimed, by argument! Often the
very men who are firmly convinced of the danger of med-
dling with strong drink—and who is not?—are unable to
resist an appetite when once strengthened by indulgence.
The inefficacy of reason to stand against desire for drink
has been so fully demonstrated that it has largely changed
the methods by which the demon of alcoholism is to be
combated. Instead of arguments addressed to reason,
training is applied for the formation of right habits. Pro-
phylactic agencies are brought to bear upon the child while
in the plastic state; and, though the reasoning powers are


88
WIBDOU AND WILL 1\ EDUCATION.
yet weak, this has been found to be the most effective, and
indeed the only generally effective, preventive of drunken-
ness. We have no desire here to enter into a discussion of
the temperance question, and have only touched upon it
because it illustrates in a striking way, and by examples
.familiar to all, the subordinate position of reason in direct-
ing human affairs.
Although the philosopher Schopenhauer was a cynical
critic of his fellow-men, he often told the truth plainly and
pointedly. 'Who will say that he exaggerated when he
wrote the following?
"Brainless pates are the rule, fairly furnished ones the
exception, the brilliantly endowed very rare, genius a por-
tentum. How otherwise could we account for the fact
that out of upwards of eight hundred millions of existing
human beings, and after the chronicled experience of six
thousand years, so much should still remain to discover.
to think out, and to be said? By far the greater part of
humanity are wholly inaccessible to purely intellectual en-
joyments. They are quite incapable of the delight that
exists in ideas as such, everything standing in a certain
relation to their own individual will, in other words, to
themselves and their own affairs. In order to interest
them it is necessary that their wills should be acted upon,
no matter in how remote a degree."
The material of which reformers is made is furnished by
nature in such small quantities that none of it gets into the
great mass of mankind. They are pretty well content with
the world as it is, and expend far more thought in making
themselves as comfortable in it as may be than in making
it better. "We must take the world as it is," or "Why
should we concern ourselves with the doings of our neigh-
bors so long as they do not interfere with our own?" has


FACTORS IN SOCIAL PROGRESS.
always been the conscious or unconscious creed of a large
majority of the human race. The researches of anthropol-
ogists and historians have thus far failed to discover any
evidence of the existence of human beings upon earth who
were intellectually inferior to those now living. In so
far as there has been or is any inferiority it is quantitative
rather than qualitative. The most abject race can be civ-
ilized in a generation or two when placed under proper con-
ditions. No new faculties need to be created; it is only
necessary to develop those already existing. Yet human
progress is a comparatively recent thing. But faint traces
of it are discoverable until the advent of the Greeks.
Egypt and Babylon appear to us, at the other end of the
vista of historical perspective, about as we find them two
or three thousand years later. This could hardly have
been possible if reason had been a force in ancient society.
In so far as it was, it can only have been the reason of the
modern Turk, who finds the idea of progress utterly re-
pugnant to him and who is content to be what his father
was before him. If progress is founded upon reason, and
not rather upon race characteristics, it is impossible to
explain the wide differences that exist among the inhab-
itants of the globe.
There is no question affecting the relation of man to
man upon which the civilized world is at present more
nearly agreed than that slavery is wrong. So deep-seated
has this feeling become that the foremost nations of our
time have not only ceased to tolerate it among themselves,
but have undertaken to extirpate it from the face of the
earth. While we may question to some extent the disinter-
estedness of the motives of some of those who engage in its
suppression, there is no doubt that they have a strong
public sentiment back of them. How glaring is the con-


1)0
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
trast of public opinion to-day upon this question with
that of antiquity! No intelligent man will assert that in
the power of thought, in the ability to reason, the world,
has advanced one iota in two thousand years. It is uni-
versally conceded that no greater men ever lived than
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. These men, to say nothing
of many others, seemed to have divined by a sort of super-
human prescience almost all the lines of human progress
for all time to come. Yet how little they have to say upon
slavery, except to recognize it as an existing institution!
Aristotle even enters into an elaborate discussion to show
that servitude is the natural state of a part of the human
race. Might has always made slaves. Even slaves found
nothing reprehensible in the practice and submitted calmly
to their condition, though they now and then rebelled
against oppression. Those who had themselves been slaves
never hesitated to enthral others when by a turn of for-
tune they found the power in their hands. Not many
years have passed since it was a common thing to defend
slavery, and even the pulpit took a share in this defense.
We were frequently told that it was ordained by God him-
self; that its abuse was no reason for its abolition; that
it would be just as reasonable to turn all children over to
the care of the state because some parents maltreated or
neglected their offspring. Dean Alford, writing in 1864.
expressed his contempt for the American people for several
reasons, and among others for their "reckless and fruitless
maintenance of the most cruel and unprincipled war in
the history of the world." This dignitary of the Church
uttered not only his own sentiments, but those of almost
the entire aristocratic class in England, to which the An-
glican Church professes to belong. How delusive the prog-
ress of the last score of years has proved the learned dean's


FACTORS IN SOCIAL PROGRESS.
91
reasoning to have been! How few persons can be found
to-day who defend slavery! England itself abolished slav-
ery, not because it was more unreasonable in the nineteenth
century than in the eighteenth, but because the growth
of the altruistic sentiment among the English people would
no longer tolerate it.
It is doubtful whether in the last analysis war is ever
a reasonable procedure. Under certain conditions a peo-
ple may be justified in taking up arms. When a govern-
ment becomes so tyrannical that its subjects can endure its
domination no longer there is sometimes no recourse but
rebellion. But not many of the wars that have drenched
the earth with blood have been of this sort. Generally
they are born of the lust of conquest or of the desire to
uphold that peculiar sentiment, national honor. Many
wars have been undertaken from a religious motive, and
these have usually been the most relentless; yet the su-
periority of one religion over another is the last question
that can reasonably be settled with the sword. Hardly
different is the case when national honor is involved.
Take, for instance, the Franco-Prussian War. The French
people held that their nation was insulted in the person
of their ambassador. Every intelligent man knew that
this was a mere pretext for engaging in a conflict that
had already been determined upon. Two individuals who
happen to have a dispute can usually settle their differ-
ences by referring them to a third party, especially if force
in the guise of law is behind the arbitrator. It is gener-
ally found that one or the other party is in the wrong, or
it may be both. In the nature of the case a national dis-
pute might be decided in the same way. But it is rarely
done. It must be decided in a way that always proves
costly to both parties and terribly costly to one of them.


92
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
lieason and experience have proclaimed their lessons, for
the most part in vain. In spite of our boasted progress
there is a painful amount of truth in the recent words of
a Congressman: "Nineteen hundred years have passed
since the advent of the Man of Nazareth, and instead of
growing nearer and more near to the universal era of peace,
all the energies, all the inventive talent, all the genius of
the human mind are now devoted to the manufacture and
construction and suggestion of implements of war more
horrible, more fatal in the power of execution, than any
which the world has heretofore seen." The intellectual
pre-eminence of the Athenian people is well known. But
how did they use their intelligence? Was it employed to
promote the welfare of one another? It was rather used to
defend the institutions to which they had fallen heir by no
effort of their own. Far more thought and labor were ex-
pended in trying to injure one another than in the work
of promoting their own welfare or that of their neighbors.
Most people are theoretically in favor of the principle of
arbitration and practically in favor of it when it con-
cerns any nation but their own. It is easy to point out
the right course when our interests, our possessions, or our
putative honor are not involved. That the American peo-
ple are passionately devoted to enforced arbitration for the
settlement of international disputes was clearly proved
by their attitude toward the recent controversy between
Great Britain and Venezuela; that they were little disposed
to accept it for themselves was shown with equal clearness
by the spirit with which they received the suggestion for
a similar mode of adjusting their differences with Spain.
There is probably no sentiment that dwells permanently
in the human breast, and is hardly ever absent from any
member of the race, for which so little can be said on the


FACTORS IN SOCIAL PROGRESS. 93
ground of reason as the love of early scenes. Tacitus
failed to see how anyone could endure to live in such a
country as Germany, unless it were his native land. But
affection for home and familiar surroundings is hardly
ever effaced, no matter how unpleasant they may have
been, and how far subsequent prosperity has removed one
from them. Early habits leave such an abiding impress
on us that we review the familiar scenes with a certain de-
gree of pleasure, even when this is not untinged with sad-
ness. The Irish peasant never forgets the land of his
birth, though his recollections are wholly of abject poverty,
or squalor, and half-satisfied hunger; and he is ready at all
times to take up arms against the government that he holds
responsible for his woes. The German seeks to transplant
his native customs to every land that hospitably receives
him, and to make his new home in many respects as much
like the land of his birth as he can. The Scandinavian
from the Far North, a land almost unendurable to those
accustomed to warmer regions, is never so happy as when
he is permitted to return to his early haunts and to live
over again the familiar scenes of his youth. There is no
explanation of this curious psychological fact except that
we feel a certain pleasure in doing over again that to which
we have been accustomed, though at first it may have been
unpleasant and even painful. Men are prone to run in
grooves. It is hard to get those who have not been trained
for it to do some new thing, to entertain new thoughts, to
strike out new paths. Much easier is it to accept a tradi-
tion than to examine its trustworthiness. There is no
harder work than thinking; and it is a kind of labor to
which the common man is much averse. No wonder that he
finds pleasure in doing and believing what has become fa-
miliar and easy. No wonder that early habits and beliefs


WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
have such powerful hold on most of mankind that they
are ready to fight and even lay down their lives to pre-
serve them. And what shall we say of the influence of
chivalry upon the history of the world, using the term in
an ethical rather than an historical sense? It is almost the
sole secular motive that lights up the dark wilderness of
mediaeval history. "Order, veracity, loyalty, self-sacrifice,
and mildness of manners, the protection of the weak and
the innocent, and the punishment of wrong" were the mo-
tives that gave it birth and nourished it into full-grown
maturity.
From the mythical age of Haemon and Antigone to the
day of the contemporary novelist and poet, affection be-
tween persons of the opposite sex has been a powerful in-
centive to human action. The fact that it plays so large
a part in the literature of fiction is but the proof that the
shadow furnishes of a substance not far away. What
deeds of prowess and daring has it not inspired and car-
ried to successful issue! It is true that its reign has not
been one of unmixed good. From the courts of emperors
and kings to the home of the peasant it has exerted its
baleful or benevolent influence. We are not here con-
cerned with the purity of the motive, but with its strength.
No one who takes time to reflect can doubt that the devo-
tion of the lover to his lady, or of the lady to her lord, has
been one of the most powerful factors in the development
of the race. Whether it has been the ephemeral passion
whose fierce flames burned out the fuel upon which it fed
in the brief space of a day or the conjugal fidelity as abid-
ing as life itself, its potency none will dispute. Often the
source of its inspiration, as in the case of Lady Macbeth,
was demoniacal rather than divine; its potency was none the
less the arbiter of the destinies of nations and individuals.


FACTORS IN SOCIAL PROGRESS.
95
And what shall we say of a mother's love? By the al-
most unanimous consensus of enlightened mankind there
is no emotion of the human breast that partakes more
largely of the divine than the love of a mother for her
child. Irving well portrays it in the following language:
"There is an enduring tenderness in the love of a mother
to a son that transcends all the other affections of the
heart. It is neither to be chilled by selfishness, nor daunt-
ed by danger, nor weakened by worthlessness, nor stifled
by ingratitude. She will sacrifice every comfort to his
convenience; she will surrender every pleasure to his en-
joyment; she will glory in his fame and exult in his pros-
perity; and if adversity overtake him, he will be the dearer
to her by misfortune; and if disgrace settle upon his name,
she will still love and cherish him; and if all the world
beside cast him off, she will be all the world to him. It
is never exhausted; it never changes, it never tires." Can
any one say that this undiscriminating affection has done
more good than harm? How few mothers there are who
will recognize the stern demands of justice when their chil-
dren are concerned? Who is there that has had to do with
the instruction of the young that has not been reminded
over and over again how hard it is to convince a mother
that her child is in the wrong even, when the denial puts
everybody else in the wrong? If mothers had their way
few malefactors would be punished and none executed. It
is true, not all mothers are blind to the faults of their own
children and lynx-eyed to the short-comings of others; but
those whose judgment in such matters is not overborne by
their emotions are greatly in the minority. While it is
true that fathers are not impeccable there is a considerable
measure of truth in the words of Seneca:


96
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
"Do you not see how differently fathers and mothers
show their love for their children? The former want their
sons to be roused early in order that they may betake them-
selves to their studies; their vacations even they would
not have them pass in idleness, and they even draw sweat
and sometimes tears from the youths; but mothers want
to fondle them on their bosom, keep them in the shade;
they would never have them weep, never be sad, never
undergo toil."
Perhaps no fact in what we may call ethnological psy-
chology is more potent than the constitutional inability of
any nation to form a just estimate of itself. And it some-
times seems as if this weakness increased, if such an ex-
pression be admissible, with the rank and intelligence of
those who exhibit it. No reader, except a native, will
rely upon the history of any country written by a native
historian. In nine cases out of ten, wherever there is in
the narrative an opportunity for the display of national
bias we are sure to find it.* That France marches at the
*It is refreshing to find occasionally a writer who openly ad-
mits the truth even at the risk of being charged with the lack of
patriotism. From a book published in Madrid in 1900, entitled
"Education' in the Twentieth Century," I take the following con-
fession of the author: "In foreign countries no one takes any
account of us; we exist as if we did not exist. No important pub-
lication pays any attention to education in Spain. No statistician
takes note of us or mentions our name. Now and then a French
publicist devotes to us a brief article in which he either treats
us with a certain consideration, whereupon we reproduce it and
think over it; or he treats us with a contempt which we do not
resent." Is this backwardness of Spain due to national traits or
to her comparative isolation? That the latter factor is important
is proven by the relative prosperity of those portions nearest to
France.


FACTORS IN SOCIAL PROGRESS.
97
head of civilization is an assertion one would endeavor in
vain to refute in debate with a Frenchman. In their opin-
ion they have never had occasion to go abroad for any-
thing that was desirable. Yet it is an accepted fact that
the French people know less of other countries than almost
any others of Europe. Another typical case is afforded by
recent histories of Germany. The success of the Germans
in the Franco-Prussian war has turned the heads of al-
most the entire people; and the German historians fre-
quently talk of their fellow-countrymen as if they be-
longed to some higher order of beings and had always so
belonged. This, too, in spite of the fact that German
literature, from the close of the Reformation almost to
the time of the French Revolution, is hardly more than
a blank; while for a still longer period the German people,
oppressed at home and despised abroad, were of no political
consequence whatever. Difficult is it to get material for
self-glorification out of German history. But national
prejudice has abundantly demonstrated its power to oc-
complish this feat. As few persons have access to original
records, the great majority see facts only at long range
and through the distorted medium of national vanity or
prejudice, or both, with results that may be and often have
been painful enough. It is sad indeed that so few persons
can be led to see that truth alone makes free. Zeus is rep-
resented in a passage of the "Odyssey" as saying: "Lo,
how men blame the gods! From us, they say, spring trou-
bles. Yet of their own perversity, beyond what is their
due, they meet with sorrow." It is evident that Homer's
chief god was a careful observer. His sagacious remarks
were not only history, but prophecy also.
In one of his lectures Professor Giesebrecht used the fol-
lowing language: "The sovereignty belongs to Germany
7


1)8
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
because the Germans are an elite nation, a noble race; and
for the same reason it ought to exercise such an influence
on its neighbors as it is the right and duty of every man
endowed with superior intelligence and force to exert upon
those individuals less highly endowed about him." How
an honest man who knows the history of Germany can
give utterance to such sentiments is incredible. Sometimes
poor mortals who have lost their reason imagine themselves
to be God. Such persons are usually confined in asylums,
where they can harm neither themselves nor others. But
in Germany we find men in professors' chairs and even
wearing titles of nobility, telling their countrymen that they
belong to a race of demigods, the speakers included, and
are charged with the mission of enlightening their neigh-
bors. This would be amusing if there were not always
danger that it would lead to grave consequences. Yet it
would be well for the world if this species of mental aberra-
tion were confined to one country. Let us at least give
the German professor credit for sanity in the moral he
draws.
In France the case is not greatly otherwise. Gallic
pride has been terribly humiliated. Yet in reason what
ought it to matter to the French or to the people of Alsace-
Lorraine who governs them, provided they are well gov-
erned and permitted to possess their property in peace?
The attachment of the latter to France is all the more ridic-
ulous for the reason that they are radically German.
Here, again, we see the inability of reason to make prog-
ress against a mere sentiment. Many a brave Frenchman
has laid down his life for the delusive phantom la gloire;
and to what purpose? Taine, speaking only of the Na-
poleonic era, says:


FACTORS IN SOCIAL PROGRESS.
99
"According to him (Napoleon) man is held through his
egotistic passions, fear, cupidity, sensuality, self-esteem,
and emulation; these are the mainsprings when he is not
under excitement, when he reasons. Moreover, it is not
difficult to turn the brain of man, for he is imaginative,
credulous, and subject to being carried away; stimulate
his pride or vanity, provide him with an extreme and false
opinion of himself and his fellow-men, and you can start
him off head downward whenever you please." The re-
sults of proceeding upon this policy are thus summed up
by the learned writer:
"Between 1804 and 1815 he has slaughtered more than
1,700,000 men born within the ancient boundaries of
France, to which must be added probably 2,000,000 of men
born out of these limits, and all for him, under the titles
of allies, or slain on his account, under the title of enemies.
All that the poor, enthusiastic, and credulous Gauls have
gained by confiding their public welfare to him is two in-
vasions; all that he bequeaths to them as a reward for their
devotion, after this prodigious waste of their blood and
the blood of others, is a France shorn of fifteen depart-
ments acquired by the republic, deprived of Savoy, the left
bank of the Ehine, and of Belgium—losing 4,000,000 of
new Frenchmen which it had assimilated after many years
of life in common, and, worse still, thrown back within the
frontiers of 1789, alone diminished in the midst of its ag-
grandized neighbors, suspected by all Europe, and lastingly
surrounded by a threatening circle of distrust and rancor."
A few years before, the French people, for an idea which
they expressed in the trinitarian formula, "Liberty, equal-
ity, fraternity," destroyed every man and every institution
that seemed to stand in the way of a practical realization
of the creed it embodied. Yet hardly a decade had passed


100
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
before they were ready to follow implicitly the most uncom-
promising tyrant that ever deluded a people. The desire
to be free from oppression is eminently reasonable; but
what can we say of a people who had just broken the yoke
of bondage that had so long and heavily lain upon their
own necks trying to fasten a new one upon their neighbors
as well as upon themselves? No wonder Napoleon had a
poor opinion of men when he saw how easily they could be
led en masse into crime and misery.
During the past few years we have heard much about the
so-called Monroe Doctrine. In definition it apparently
amounts to about this: when any government administered
in Europe interferes in the affairs of any country on the
Western hemisphere, except in case of its own possessions,
the people of the United States are to regard such interfer-
ence as a direct menace against them. Yet the territory vir-
tually owned by Great Britain on the Western continent, to
say nothing of other European governments, is probably
equal in extent to the Union, and England may therefore
reasonably be supposed to have an equal interest here with
ourselves. Nor is there any doubt that most of the Span-
ish-American States, if they were administered by an en-
lightened people like the English, in spite of their short-
comings, would enjoy peace and prosperity such as they
have never known. We have assumed that the attitude of
a monarchy towards a republic is always that of an op-
pressor, without inquiring into the facts of the case.
Again, there has for a long time been a feeling of sym-
pathy for the Cubans in their desire to free themselves
from the heavy yoke of Spain. There is not much doubt
that this feeling was strongest in those States that fifty
years ago led the Union into an unjust war with Mexico
for the purpose of acquiring territory with a view to the


FACTORS IN SOCIAL PROGRESS.
101
extension of slavery, and a few years later plunged the
whole country into a civil war, largely for the purpose of
keeping the shackles of bondage on several millions of hu-
man beings—a far worse condition than that of the Cu-
bans under the government of Spain, except possibly when
in a state of actual insurrection. A story is told of a
Russian countess who wept over the misfortunes of an im-
aginary hero as she beheld them portrayed on the stage
while her coachman was freezing to death at his post on
her carriage outside. How many of us can say that we
have never been guilty of a similar if less shocking incon-
sistency? Sometimes that which transpires immediately
under our eyes moves us most strongly; at others that which
is more or less remote appeals most vividly to our imagina-
tion. He who gives a dole or a dinner to a beggar or a
tramp often does him and the community more harm than
good; but it is so much easier to yield to the paroxysm of
sympathy aroused by a personal appeal than to try to in-
telligently to remove the conditions that make tramps
and beggars.
The fundamental activity of the soldier is expressed by
the lines,
"Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die."
The soldier is not to inquire for a reason; he has but to
do what he is ordered to do. He is usually a young man;
not so young that his reasoning powers are undeveloped.
but yet so young that his energy is prone to find expression
in action rather than in deliberation. War needs not only
men who are physically strong, but men who can be de-
pended upon to subordinate their reasoning powers to the


102
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
word of command. Whether the command be a reasonable
one does not enter into the problem. The best soldier
is not he who looks at war in a large way, and who is
capable of understanding the cause for which he is to lay
down his life; but it is he who is best able to use the means
within his reach to accomplish the ends placed before him
by those in authority over him. It is a question whether
intelligence is so important a factor as is generally believed.
No country has been so uniformly successful in war as
Russia, because no armies fight more bravely than the Rus-
sian. The Russian peasant, grossly ignorant as he has
always been and is, never hesitates to lay down his life for
his emperor, if the latter wills it. Apparently he has never
concerned himself about the reason why. Yet what aston-
ishing results have rewarded his prowess! While he can-
not frame into words the Horatian dictum, "Dulce et de-
corum est pro patria mori," he does more—he is the living
exponent of it. Public sentiment finds ten heroes on the
battlefield to one in civil life. That foolhardy bravery is
often displayed and life lost in unwise and foolish conflict
makes little difference. - The world is interested directly in
the act, and looks no farther. Physical courage is still
rated far higher than moral courage; if it were not so the
world would to-day present a very different aspect from
that which we see.
Prom the consideration of mere personal bravery the
transition is easy to the contemplation of patriotism. Here
is a sentiment that is as 'versal as man himself. Every
man, no matter how low in the scale of civilization, feels a
certain degree of affection for the land of his birth; it is
an affection akin to that which he feels for himself. But
patriotism is an idea that, per se, will not for a moment
stand the test of reason. The patriot is not necessarily wiser


FACTORS IN SOCIAL PROGRESS. 103
than the man whose motto is, "Ubi bene, ibi patria." The
Fuegian loves his country just as fervently as the most en-
lightened European. If the former were compelled to
change place with the latter both would be equally unhappy.
The one would protest as loudly against the efforts to ele-
vate him as the latter to degrade him.
Patriotism is not necessarily unreasonable, but it is al-
ways unreasoning. A man may be able to give a good ac-
count for the faith that is in him, and he may not. Leasing
wrote, "Of love of country I have no conception; it appears
to me but a heroic weakness which I am glad to be with-
out." Goethe was frequently blamed for his lack of patriot-
ism. And, in truth, there is little in his writings that ex-
hibits a distinctive German feeling, and there was equally
little in his life. Plato, a coryphaeus among philosophers,
is singularly free from national bias. When the historian
Polybius made a study of the history of Rome, he found
that its steady growth was not an accident. Though a for-
eigner he could see that its government was stable from the
absence of the forces that made the government of his own
people unstable. The Romans had instinctively put into ef-
fect those principles which the Greek philosophers had for
centuries preached in vain to their own countrymen. The
Romans were no philosophers, and despised philosophy. But
they had the instinct of government, and rarely followed
this instinct to their own detriment. Practical wisdom
does not come through knowledge, often not even through
experience. It may serve men who think, but this class is
generally too small to make its impress permanently felt in
the growth of states. Frederic the Great is reported to
have said that if he wanted to ruin one of his fairest prov-
inces he need only to place it under the government of the
philosophers. Akin to this is his remark that "one pinch


104
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
of common sense is worth a university full of learning."
Though a man of exceptionally keen penetration he did not
always see to the bottom of things. And so here. He mistook
the appearance for the reality. He mistook for philosophers
the pedants of whom his country was full, men who spent
their lives in delving among musty tomes filled with the
lore of the past or in disputing about philological, metaphy-
sical and theological subtilties without once looking up to
take note of what was going on in the world around them.
Who was it if not the real philosophers that formulated the
admirable system of instruction that has been to a greater
or less extent the model for every progressive nation? While
Germany's thinkers have borne a leading part even her
dreamers have done something. The investigator may by
accident discover some important law in the physical uni-
verse, but it is the philosopher only who can interpret its
bearings and potency.
Plato thought that unless philosophers became kings or
kings philosophers there would be no cessation of evils
among men. This is doubtless true, but true only on
the assumption that philosophers are genuine lovers of
wisdom and not mere devotees of their own theories and
prejudices. Of the latter there are a score for every one of
the former.
It seems almost like a law of nature that the different
peoples of the earth should have an antipathy toward each
other. This is particularly true where and when national
prejudices are strengthened by real or supposed national in-
terests. But even among men of the same nationality who
are reputed equally wise there are often the bitterest ani-
mosities. Truth, for most persons, is not an abstraction.
Those who are engaged in the search for what they believe
to be the truth are men with passions like ordinary mortals


FACTORS IN SOCIAL PROGRESS. 105
and often as likely to be blinded by them or at least to allow
their intellectual vision to be obscured by them. Here then
we find the same difference of opinion as to what is reason-
able, sentiment again overmastering reason. Reason is arti-
ficial, deliberate, skeptical. Its function in human affairs
is to regulate and control, not to supply "idea-forces." It
decides how to do rather than what to do. Only in a re-
stricted sense can it be said that intelligence rules the world.
We believe the author of Social Evolution has stated a
truth of far wider application than he makes of it when he
says:
"It has to be confessed that in England during the nine-
teenth century the educated classes, in almost all the great
political changes that have been effected, have taken the side
of the party afterward admitted to have been in the wrong,
they have almost invariably opposed at the time the meas-
ures they have subsequently come to defend and justify.
This is to be noticed alike of measures which have extended
education, which have emancipated trade, which have ex-
tended the franchise. The educated classes have even, it
must be confessed, opposed measures which have tended to
secure religious freedom and to abolish slavery. The mo-
tive force behind the long list of progressive measures car-
ried during this period has in scarcely any appreciable
measure come from the educated classes; it has come almost
exclusively from the middle and lower classes, who have in
turn acted, not under the stimulus of intellectual motives,
but under the influence of altruistic feelings." Let us at
least credit them with seeing and admitting their errors.
Progress needs a motive force, and this reason does not
provide. The most powerful emotion that moves men par-
takes more or less of a religious character. It is every-
where in the foreground in the Babylonian and Assyrian


106 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
wars. It played an important part in the struggle of
Greek with Greek, or of Greek with barbarian. A Roman
army was invincible only when it was confident that it
went into battle with the favor of the gods. The religious
idea carried the victorious armies of the Saracens over a
large portion of the known earth in an incredibly short
time. It is not necessary to enumerate any further; every-
one can recall the course of events for himself. Christian-
ity does not appeal primarily to the reason. Its Founder
taught "as one having authority, and not as the scribes."
His precepts are not usually supported by what men call
reasons, nor are they arrived at by processes of ratiocina-
tion. Their truth is intended to be spiritually apprehend-
ed, not to be worked out by the rules of logic. They are
intended for those who can feel, as well as for those who
can reason. And how large the preponderance of the for-
mer over the latter!
If I have read the history of philosophy aright it takes
singularly little interest in the emotional nature of man.
The ancients, indeed, make a great account of the pas-
sions, but they generally regard them as a sort of disturb-
ing element in the economy of society. Modern philoso-
phy, beginning with Descartes and ending with Kant,
seems to regard man's emotional nature as a matter of
little consequence; as a sort of penumbra of the reasoning
powers. With the advent of Rousseau a different state of
affairs began to prevail. Rousseau himself was not much
of a philosopher, because he lacked system in everything
he did. But he was full of fruitful ideas, and he came at
a time when the world was ready to listen to what he had
to say. In his mental make up the emotional element
largely predominated; he was so much a creature of im-
pulse that there is nothing surprising in the extent to


FACTORS IN SOCIAL PROGRESS. 107
which he moved the world. The world had come to recog-
nize that, while reason must not be ignored in the instruc-
tion of youth, it cannot be wholly depended on as a guide.
Modern pedagogy lays large stress on training, on giving
direction to the young citizen or the young Christian be-
fore he is old enough to reason much about it. It seeks to
cultivate his sympathies for the needs of society before the
selfishness that he is destined to find all around him in
later life gains the mastery over him. He is taught that
the poor and degraded have a claim upon his charity, al-
though this charity is to be kept under the control of rea-
son. He may not let the slave or beggar perish from neg-
lect, even though both are largely responsible for their con-
dition. It is sympathy, not reason, that is the moving
force in the philanthropic spirit that we see manifesting
itself so powerfully wherever man has any claim to be
called civilized. Examples are numerous and ready to
hand every where. Surely nothing can be more reasonable
than the doctrine that every man is inherently as good an
another; yet how slow the world has been in recognizing
this self-evident truth, even in theory! Christianity first
enunciated it, but even Christianity was not able to bear
up permanently against the tide of sentiment and tradi-
tion that bore down upon it. The early Christians them-
selves were slow to accept the doctrine, with all the conse-
quences that seemed likely to flow from it. Even to-day
it is far more a matter of theory than of actual practice, so
slowly does the world outgrow its prejudices.
The spiritual nature of man, that prescience of God's
plan in the government of the world, that sublime faith
in the ultimate triumph of right which we often see mani-
fested in highly endowed natures, is in no wise amenable to
the laws of reason. We see this exhibited in the most
r


108 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
marked degree in the Hebrew prophets. Their lofty faith
in the coming of a Messiah who should rule the world in
righteousness was a trait of a highly endowed spiritual na-
ture. The intellect colored its outward expression, and to
some extent modified its form, but was not its source.
Many of the world's greatest benefactors—in truth, the
large majority of them—have not been men of pre-eminent
intellectual endowment. They were men whose will was
aroused to activity by a contemplation of the situation in
which they found themselves. Kant said there is but one
good thing in the world, and that is a good will. But the
emotional nature seems to be more clearly related to the
will than to the intellect, and to be more readily influenced
by it. The result is that progress, in the best sense of the
word, is not primarily intellectual. Its various phases do
not, in the main, originate with the intellectual class,
though men of large intellectual endowments often identify
themselves with it. It is a mistake, therefore, to suppose
that by stimulating and cultivating the intellect alone we
can make the world better. Knowledge is not even power,
as we are so often told. It is, indeed, an indispensable pre-
requisite to power; but power is latent unless stimulated
into activity by the will. They are sadly mistaken who
imagine that nothing is necessary to insure the continuous
amelioration of the condition of mankind but a continu-
ous increase of the world's stock of available knowledge.
After this brief review of the psychic forces that have
been chiefly instrumental in shaping the destinies of men
and nations we need not wonder that human progress has
been slow, painfully slow. Irrational motives have been
predominant everywhere. Yet morality is a child of the
intellect. Even the most disinterested altruism may do
more harm than good if it is not intelligently directed. If


FACTORS IN SOCIAL PROGRESS. 109
man were not an intelligent being he would make no more
progress than the lower animals. In the future as in the
past we must look to the regulative faculty to point out the
course of safety. It is like the compass upon which the
mariner depends to guide him across the watery waste.
For while it has no power to move his ship an inch the
stronger the propelling forces that urge him forward the
greater the danger he incurs without its guidance. While
this general truth has been patent to a few far-sighted
men almost from time immemorial,—Socrates especially
pointed it out with great clearr"ss and his disciples after
him—it has never been so widely comprehended as now.
The theory of modern education proceeds on the assump-
tion of the paramount importance of the human intellect.
This is not saying that education should be exclusively
intellectual. On the contrary, moral should precede in-
tellectual education in time and be its constant companion.
But even moral education can accomplish little unless
wisely directed. If we are inclined to look with distrust
on the large claims made for national education in our
day by its most enthusiastic champions, because even the
best education the world has had in the past seems to have
counted for so little, let us remember that education in
a large way is hardly older than the present generation.
It has never had a trial. It has always been confined to a
class or to a few classes. When attempts have been made
to put an education, even the most elementary, within
the reach of all its quality has been very inferior. Yet
few competent judges will deny that much more might be
done by teachers under present conditions and with the
present financial resources at their disposal than is at pres-
ent being done. While there is little difference of opinion
among educationists as to the ends of education, there is
considerable difference as to the means and methods by


110
WISDOil AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
which these ends may be most surely attained. Nor is
it probable that entire agreement will ever be reached, but
a substantial agreement is palpably not far in the future.
It is not here contended that the most nearly perfect system
of general education'the human mind can desire will ever
totally eliminate from society the pauper and the criminal.
The poor and the vicious we shall always have with us.
On the other hand when we consider how much is being
done under intelligent direction and how much has already
been accomplished to enable all the members of the body
politic to help themselves to make life more worth living
for all who constitute civilized communities and that the
good work had only begun on a large scale we may well be
hopeful of the future.
Note.—Charbonnel, in his "Victory of the Will," tells us how
this victory is to be gained. "The philosophers have established
laws for the discipline of the emotions and the control of our
whole being,—namely, when an emotion or a sentiment favorable
to our ideal arises in our consciousness, we are to fix our atten-
tion on this passion or sentiment, so as clearly to recognize its
purity and grandeur, and to arouse in ourselves an effort of the will
which shall be conformable to it; when an emotion or a senti-
ment arises which is antagonistic to our ideal, we must refuse
it any attention, not even think of it, and thus let it pass into ob-
livion. If we have already allowed an evil passion or an emo-
tion to grow and exercise an invincible power over us, we must
examine seriously the ideas connected with it and the object it
proposes to our will. Finally in the case where a desirable pas-
sion or sentiment is lacking in us, we must search out the ideas
with which this passion or sentiment may have some affiliation,
and turn our mind toward these ideas, keep them constantly pres-
ent to our consciousness, and arouse the natural law of associa-
tion which connect such emotions, such ideas, together."
Again: "A noble life, it has been said, is the grandest master-
piece which any man can achieve. It is an harmonious and
beautiful achievement. It is our privilege to subordinate and co-


FACTORS IN SOCIAL PROGRESS. Ill
ordinate in ourselves, by the exercise of our will) our varied and
contradictory emotions. The ancients compared the soul to an
harmonious lyre, which gives forth sweet sounds under the fin-
gers of the wind. This, which is true of the poetic soul, is
equally true of the moral soul. It should be a well-tuned and
well-strung lyre, responding to all the impressions of life. And
the best law for the development of the higher life is not the stern
repression of our emotional nature, or the violent destruction of
this part of our being, but the wise and firm direction of it by
the will. No repression, no suppression, no mutilation, but a
peaceful and serene domination of the will in our harmonious
soul."
Metaphysicians and psychologists may dispute as much as they
please about the freedom of the will; in the last analysis every-
body acts as if his own will were free and that of all other persons
likewise. The entire theory and practice of rewards and punish-
ments is based on this postulate. As Froude says, "To deny the
freedom of the will is to make morality impossible." Neverthe-
less action is always directed by the strongest motive and motive
is wholly subjective. What a man's motives are in general de-
pends almost entirely upon his education, directly and indirectly.
Two men have the same opportunity for making a great deal of
money. One of them says, "The morality of the proposed trans-
action is questionable; I can not be a party to it." The other
has no such scruples,—is not "squeamish," as the worldling puts
it,—and becomes rich. Here the external conditions for both men
are precisely the same and the motive the same; but the will leads
to diametrically opposite action. If education can not keep the
young free from temptation it can do much toward enabling them
to meet it as becomes beings who are normally responsible. With
a quotation from Epictetus I may fitly conclude this paper:
"There is nothing good or evil save in the wilL"


I
RESPONSIBILITY.
When the Lord said unto Cain, "Where is thy brother?"
the latter took the question as an impertinence, and re-
joined, "Am I my brother's keeper?" No wonder the mis-
creant was offended. He was not in position to give an
account of his treatment of his brother. He would no
doubt have been ready and willing to answer much harder
questions than this one, but when he was asked about a
matter of which he was fully cognizant he preferred to
feign ignorance. It seemed the shortest and most direct
way out of a difficulty.
I do not here use the term brother in the sense in which
it was understood by the first murderer who has the mis-
fortune to have his name handed down to posterity, but in
the sense generally attached to it in the New Testament.
The progress of civilization or at least of national and in-
ternational intercourse has made closer and closer the
bonds that bind together the remotest dwellers upon the
face of the earth. But in every community every man is
more or less responsible for his fellow-citizens, usually
quite as much as if he were the son of the same father and
mother. The question, Am I my brother's keeper? has
made a good many people uncomfortable since the son of
(112;


RESPONSIBILITY.
113
Noah first asked it. Some answer it in the affirmative,
some in the negative; but society will not accept the latter
answer. Glance over the list of objects for which taxes are
collected and you will see that to a very large extent every
man is his brother's keeper. Even if the responsibility
does not go so far as to require a direct contribution,
it requires something. Yet the tax-list represents but a
small part of the claims our fellow-men hav3 upon each
other. When a demand comes to them in the garb of
law most people will recognize it more or less willingly:
it is the claims that carry with them no legal obligation;
that grow only out of the recognition of a mutual respon-
sibility which give the genuinely good man the most con-
cern. A man may strictly observe the statute law yet
be neither a good man nor a good citizen. We can not
say of a man who does no more than the law prescribes
that he does his duty even to this extent; he merely per-
forms reluctantly a disagreeable task. We repeat then
that every man is to a greater or less extent his brother's
keeper whether he wishes to be or not. The question is
not whether he will assume the responsibility that circum-
stances place upon him, but how he will discharge that re-
sponsibility. Will he lift up his brother or will he drag
him down? If he is weak, will he aid and strengthen him
or will he allow him to succumb to his weakness? When
we study a human being from the intellectual side only
we must admit that Hamlet was right when he exclaimed,
"What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving, how express
and admirable! In action how like an angel! In appre-
hension, how like a god! The beauty of the world! The
paragon of animals!" On the other hand it is equally
true that "man is but a reed, weakest in nature, but a reed
8


114
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
that thinks. It needs not that the whole universe should
arm to crush him, a drop of water is enough to kill him.
But were the universe to kill him he would still be more
noble than his slayer because he knows that he dies and
that the universe has the better of him. The universe
knows nothing of this." On the other hand we may well
ask: "How was it possible that it should ever enter into
the thoughts of vain man to believe himself the principal
part of God's creation, or that all the rest was ordained for
him, for his service or pleasure? Man, whose follies we
laugh at every day, or else complain of them, whose plea-
sures are vanity, and his passions stronger than his rea-
son: who sees himself every way weak and impotent; hath
no power over external nature, little over himself; can not
execute so much as his own good resolution; mutable, ir-
regular, prone to evil. Surely, if we made the least reflec-
tion upon ourselves with impartiality we should be ashamed
of such an arrogant thought. How few of the sons of men
for whom they say all things are made are the sons of
wisdom! How few find the path of life! They spend a
few days in folly and in sin, and then go down to the re-
gions of death and misery. And is it possible to believe
that all nature and all providence are only, or principally
for their sake? Is it not a more reasonable conclusion
which the prophet hath made, Surely all things are van-
ity?" In reality both views are true and not inconsistent
with each other. "Man's two-fold nature is reflected in
history. He is of earth, but his thoughts are with the
stars. Mean and petty "his wants and desires; yet they
serve a soul exalted with grand, glorious aims, with im-
mortal longings, with thoughts which sweep the heavens
and wander through eternity! A pigmy standing on the
outer crust of this planet, his far-reaching spirit stretches


RESPONSIBILITY.
115
outward to the infinite, and there alone finds rest. His-
tory is a reflex of this double life. Every life has two as-
pects—one calm, broad and solemn—looking towards eter-
nity; the other agitated, petty, vehement and confused—
looking towards time." It is true that the fountain of
human effort sends forth bitter waters and sweet,—a mix-
ture of that which is pure and refreshing and healthful
with what is noxious and debilitating and deadly. There is
abundant evidence of the worth of a man, but the evidence
of his vileness is almost equally abundant. Yet it is doubt-
ful if a human being exists that is wholly depraved. No
doubt every- man is more or less selfish. We are all willing
to let our fellow-men have some of the good things of this
life, but we are not all of one mind how the division shall
be made of what is really valuable. Even the wise virgins
said, "Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you;
but go ye and buy for yourselves," when they must have
known that if their foolish sisters followed their advice
they could not return in time for the wedding, even if they
had the wherewithal to purchase. It is hard and often
impossible to draw the line between selfishness and en-
lightened self-interest. We too often find that the man
who has no money is dissatisfied because the man who has a
dime will not divide with him. He does not stop to con-
sider whether it is not his own fault that he is penniless.
Without a certain measure of regard for one's self on the
part of the great majority of mankind there can be no
enlightenment. If the experience of the race has proved
anything it has proved this. No matter how tenaciously
the miser holds on to what he has acquired during life the
world at large generally gets the benefit of his accumula-
tions in the end. He can not take his treasures with him
when he leaves this world, and if he has not learned how


11G WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION*.
to keep wisely and spend judiciously while he lives his
possessions do him little good unless it be in the reflection
that his heirs will be more far-sighted than he. What-
ever we may say against avarice, it is after all nothing
more than a legitimate and healthful passion grown to
excess. We do not give it a harsh name in its inception
any more than we designate the wholesome desire for food,
gluttony. So far as we are able to judge such things the
richest nations are those among which individual happiness
is the greatest, and vice versa. The talk of the socialist
ubout the equality of opportunity and the right of all to
.in equal share of the good things of this life can not be
regarded as anything more than idle rant in the mouths
of those who most use the phrase, especially if these things
are sought under present conditions. But we can hardly
refuse to acknowledge that it is a noble aspiration toward
the realization of which men may approach nearer and
nearer as the days and the years go by. The rapidity of
this approach is dependent solely upon the effort, the self-
denial and the clearly divined purpose of the successive
generations of men as they come upon the stage of action.
In spite of the misery in the world; in spite of the abso-
lute want; in spite of the unequal division of what are
called the good things of this life—all of which are pain-
fully evident almost every day, I am persuaded that the
world is not only not growing worse, but is improving.
The poorest man has within his reach many things that
go to make life agreeable that cost him nothing and which
his ancestors did not have. No one will deny that we
might be better off in many things than we are and that
in not a few regards the times are out of joint; but this
is something quite different from the charge often made
that we are going from bad to worse.


RESPONSIBILITY.
117
"I doubt not thro' the ages one increasing purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of
the suns."
This purpose is not in the material forces that hold us
in their pitiless grasp and have not changed since the
world was created, nor in the intellect of man which has
not gained in acuteness since the appearance of our first
ancestor upon the face of the tarth; it is in the moral
forces that are visibly gaining in power and prestige day
by day. These forces are generated in the mind of the in-
dividual, but their growth is stimulated by emulation and
co-operation. There is most progress where there is most
liberty, properly regulated by law. Communism has
been tried many times and in a number of different
places, but it has never prospered. The development of
human institutions has been steadily away from such a
condition of things. Only here and there do we find
a man who is as willing to labor for others as for him-
self. You can never get many of them together; if
you could, there would. be no sphere of activity in
which their self-denial could become effective. The self-
ishness of most men only makes the absence of it the more
conspicuous in a few. It is the light shining into dark-
ness, and it is this light that draws the attention and com-
pels the admiration of men. While in one sense the ten-
dency of the world for more than a thousand years has
been to circumscribe the sphere of the individual, in an-
other and wider sense it has been in the direction of enlarg-
ing it. There never was so much individual liberty in the
world as there is now. With the growth of individual lib-
erty has also grown the spirit of self-activity for the bet-
terment of society as a whole. While modern states have
never done so much as they are now doing for the educa-


RESPONSIBILITY.
119
by a recognition on the part of its leading spirits that a
transformation was necessary.
As to the body politic, we need to remember that it is
not an association from which we can withdraw at pleas-
ure as if it were a business concern of which we did not
like the management or a profession that has become dis-
tasteful to us. As we are in it to stay, we shall do well
to make the best of it, or rather, do what we can to make
it as good as possible. No greater misfortune can befall
a young man than to get "soured on the world," as the
expression goes. We often hear it said that there are
tricks in every trade and if you would succeed you must
learn and practice them. I very much doubt this unless
you give the term "tricks" a very much milder meaning
than is usually attached to it. I can, of course, not deny
that men often succeed by the methods of the heathen
Chinee, at least they achieve what some persons are wont
to call success; but if their example were followed by men
in general all confidence between man and man would be
destroyed and civilized society made impossible. The solid
men of the business world are they whose word is as good
as their bond.
We have among us a large amount of literature that
it is the custom with some to disparage on the ground
that it smacks of the Sunday school. It is the sort in
which vice is invariably punished and virtue rewarded.
There is a deep meaning in this popularity. It is the con-
crete picture of human life as the human heart desires it
to be. It represents the ideal state toward which the world
is striving, however slow its approach may be. It is the
silent but powerful voice of mankind in its best estate
pleading through the pen of the literary artist for the re-
ward of Virtue and the punishment of Vice. When the


WISDOil AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
conditions are reversed violence is done to man's better
nature, to the universal conscience. Consider the case for
a moment and you will see that almost the entire body of
modern fiction does homage to this longing of our natures
In real life the result is often different, but in imaginative
literature rarely. No English writer has enjoyed such
long-continued and unbounded popularity as Scott. The
thought that runs like a thread of gold through all his
writings may be fitly expressed in the words, Virtue and
Vice always get their deserts. The same statement is
true in almost equal measure of Dickens and Thackeray
and George Eliot and a host of others, all of whom seek
to enlist our sympathies for the good and arouse our de-
testation of the bad. Even when strength triumphs over
weakness; vice over virtue; wrong over right, the reader
almost always feels that he would rather be the vanquished
than the victor. It is the voluntary choice of the human
heart when unbiased and unpolluted by the selfishness that
so often makes its power felt in the actual world. We take
much greater pleasure in Ihe study of life as we wish it to
be than as it is. We involuntarily recognize the goal
toward which the actions of men ought to be directed.
Yet something more is necessary to success than mere
honesty, in fact a great deal more. Honesty is indeed
fundamental, but to these must be joined tact, common
sense, a willingness to deny one's self a good many things
which it would be pleasant to possess, and industry. It is
not hard for a judicious observer to see why some very good
people do not get along. In spite of their virtues those
who know them have no confidence in them. While al-
ways moved with the best intentions, they lack some im-
portant qualifications and others who are morally less
worthy outstrip them in the race of life. It would clearly


RESPONSIBILITY.
121
be a perversion of the truth to say that inefficiency in such
cases is synonymous with uprightness, or that such per-
sons were failures because they were too honest. Besides,
it is natural for men to feel a certain degree of satisfac-
tion in the manifestation of power. We involuntarily ad-
mire the man who does things, who accomplishes his pur-
poses, even when the means he employs do not meet our ap-
proval nor the ends aimed at commend themselves to our
moral sense. A negative man, one who always stands on
the defensive, who is never aggressive, may be a good man,
but he is rarely of much use in the community. But the
number of persons who are so constructed that they may
flagrantly disregard the rules of right and yet achieve suc-
cess in any calling is very small.
A lucid writer in a very recent work gives expression to
his conviction in the following language. "Morality"—
meaning by this term moral conduct in its widest sense—
"is a necessity of social life. The relations of human be-
ings to each other are organic, and conduct must be regu-
lated to some degree by every one with reference to others.
Under the pressure of the social situation of mankind,
ideals of duty grow and a moral sensibility is developed.
As this sense increases in power, it tends more and more
to dominate the whole mental nature and to control con-
duct; that which is right is approved and that which is
wrong is repugnant. The moral consequences of actions
are regarded closely and educational influences become of
importance. Moral men and women please and the im-
moral are displeasing. Our sympathies are with the right-
eous and our aspirations are toward moral ideals."
It needs to be constantly kept in mind that the world's
estimate of what constitutes success is often a wrong one.
It looks for visible, tangible and immediate results, when


122
WISDOM AND WILL IN .EDUCATION.
in fact the most abiding results are the slowest to make
themselves felt. How many thousands of men have lived
who were regarded as great in their day who were soon ut-
terly forgotten by almost everybody! It does not after all
matter very much, if we are conscious of doing our best,
whether we are appreciated or not. Men of large views
and keen penetration are always ahead of their time. It
is an unfortunate weakness to be always on the lookout for
praise. If men never took a step in advance of public
opinion for fear of arousing some one's displeasure there
would be no progress. Some of the most important public
measures and not a few of the world's greatest benefactors
have encountered the most violent opposition. On the
other hand few persons, especially among the young, can
resist the seductions of praise. In truth, however, censure
is far less dangerous, and he is a wise man who heeds even
if he can not allow himself to be influenced by it. Popu-
larity is mere surface valuation. The great mass of man-
kind do not care to go deeper. It is only the thinking
man, the careful student in a large way that can distin-
guish between what is really good and what seems so.
It is a common mistake to underestimate the important
part the individual, even the one who seems the most in-
significant, may contribute to the general welfare and
progress of the community. Suppose it were possible to
make every member of ever so small a social organism feel
that the reputation of the whole for honesty and fair-
dealing depended on him alone, what a step forward that
would be! Suppose that every scholar in any particular
school could be made to realize that its good name de-
pended on his conduct and studiousness, how quickly it
would become a light that would shine near and far! There
are not many men who are endowed or entrusted with ten


RESPONSIBILITY.
123
talents; there are more who have in their keeping five
talents, and many more who have one. How important
then that all the men of one talent should consider ear-
nestly how to make the best of it! There are so many
ways in which the good of the little community of which
most of us are a part, may be promoted. This is not done
by waiting for great opportunities that rarely present
themselves, but by improving the small ones that so often
come in our way. Maydole, the celebrated hammer-maker,
once said to James Parton, "I have made hammers here
for twenty-eight years." "Well," said Parton, "you ought
to make a pretty good hammer." "No, sir," was the reply,
"I never make a pretty good hammer. I make the best
hammer in the United States." And buyers had long be-
fore endorsed his statement. The president of the Cam-
bria rail works, one of the largest concerns of the kind in
the world, being asked the secret of the enormous develop-
ment of their business, replied, "We have no secret. We
always try to beat our last batch of rails."
But there are so few people who are really anxious to
do their best. The great majority want to be taken at
their own estimate of themselves, and when they find that
this is not done they are dissatisfied and are ready to de-
clare that success in this world is all a matter of chance. I
do not wish to deny that there is such a thing as luck, but
it finds very few people, and rarely, if ever, those who are
waiting to be found.
While it is true that there is most progress where there
is most liberty, and therefore the trend of events is favor-
able to democracy, we need to beware of trusting too much
to government or indeed to institutions of any sort that
exist only on paper. What is theoretically the best gov-
ernment in the world may in practice be the worst. Every


124 WISDOM AXD WILL IN EDUCATION.
organization is what its members make it. It depends
upon the temper of the individual. It is important, there-
fore that the individual be enlightened in order that the
entire community be enlightened. This necessity is being
more and more felt everywhere; hence the abundant means
in our day for promoting general intelligence. But what
use shall be made of these means again depends upon the
individual. We often hear it said that the progress of a
country depends very largely upon its colleges and uni-
versities. To what extent this is true rests wholly upon
the spirit with which they are managed. Russia and
Spain and even Turkey and China have their universities,
as well as Germany and England and the United States.
Yet I am not aware that they contribute anything worth
mentioning to the progress of these countries. They are
rather the strongholds of the conservatism that is so fatal
to progress and of those nations that look to the past rather
than to the future. The spirit of the higher education
is the spirit of the nations that foster it. If you want
a tree or a shrub to grow luxuriantly and healthfully you
must plant it in a fertile soil and allow the rain and the
light to fall upon it. Sometimes it may be advisable to
protect it against adverse atmospheric conditions; but
too much protection will defeat the very ends you aim at.
The same is true of education. It needs to be wisely di-
rected from above, but not cramped by too much regula-
tion. It needs to be fostered by governments, but not ham-
pered by them with too many and too minute regulations.
The same is true of the church. It can do nothing or
next to nothing by the mere fact of its organized existence.
It needs life, it needs direction and above all things its
members need to be permeated by a wholesome and pro-
gressive impulse that is always looking for something that


RESPONSIBILITY.
125
will make the world better. The most intelligent educa-
tors of our time, and indeed of all time, insist on the su-
perlative importance of developing and strengthening the
self-activity of every child in order that conduct in after
life may be wisely directed toward useful ends. We do
not surrender our individuality when we make up our
minds to submit to wise leadership; but we ought to un-
derstand clearly whither we are led and by what means.
They only are free whom the truth makes free. What
precious word liberty is! How men have fought for it
and suffered for it and died for it! How they have en-
dured chains and darkness and misery for themselves in
the hope that those who came after them might enjoy its
blessings! There is probably no ideal good for which men
have so valiantly striven as for liberty.
No one will deny that we have this blessing in abun-
dance. We have all the liberty we can use, all the liberty
we can ever hope for, but few know how to make the most
of it. Here is a lesson we have yet to learn. It seems
that the great majority of mankind is so constructed that
it must have masters. If they are not born under one
they soon make one for themselves; and so it comes that
many barter away by their own choice or in ignorance the
birthright which is the open sesame to all that makes hu-
man life worth living. If the diffusion of knowledge can
teach men anything it must teach them the right use of
liberty. It must teach every man to think for himself,
to act for himself—in short to make the best possible use
of his manhood, not merely for himself but for others.
Probably every thoughtful person is at times attacked
with a feeling of despondency. There is a good deal of a
certain kind of pessimism in the social atmosphere. It is
not necessarily an unwholesome feeling, nor do I believe


RESPONSIBILITY.
127
of this, to him, all-absorbing question. Whenever a life
is not guided by reason and controlled by the will it sinks
to the level of that of the brute.
While almost every adult, especially in a democracy, is in
some respects responsible for the conduct of his fellow-men,
he is in a much larger degree responsible for his own.
Neither God nor man expects anybody to do what is beyond
his power, but both have a right to expect us to do our best
and not only to live up to the measure of the light we have,
but always to seek for more. Goethe's last words, "More
light," make an excellent motto to put before ourselves at
the beginning of our lives to be kept before ourselves al-
ways. We ought to be unsparing critics of ourselves,—
more unsparing than of anybody else. Only by being such
can we continue to grow in knowledge and wisdom to the
end of our earthly existence. Wisdom is the principal
thing and wisdom is acquired only by that careful observa-
tion and experience that we ought to incorporate into our
earthly existence. I once heard a man say: "Don't tell
me what I was; tell me what I am." The justness of his
remark has impressed me more and more the longer I have
meditated upon it. But it has no meaning for those who
in early life become confirmed and fixed in their modes of
thought, whether they be good or evil. He is a rare man
who can listen dispassionately to a disagreeable truth when
it affects himself, his friends or his country. How often
has it happened that men have vigorously and even pas-
sionately defended measures which they had denounced
with equal heat when advocated by their opponents. See
how King David's anger flared up against the man who
had been guilty of the abominable deed which Nathan re-
ported to him, little thinking that he was uttering his own
death-warrant when he said: "As the Lord liveth, the man


128 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
that hath done this thing shall surely die." "The grandeur
of man's nature turns to insignificance all outward dis-
tinction. His power of intellect, of love, of knowing God,
of perceiving the beautiful, of acting on his own mind, on
outward nature and on his fellow-creatures,—these are his
glorious prerogatives. Through the vulgar error of under-
valuing what is common, we are apt, indeed, to pass them
by as of little worth. But as in the outward creation, so in
the soul, the common is the most precious. Science and
art may invent splendid modes of illuminating the apart-
ments of the opulent; but these are all poor and worthless
compared with the light which the sun sends into our win-
dows which he pours impartially over hill and valley,
which kindles daily the eastern and western sky; and so
the common light of reason, and conscience, and love, are
of more worth and dignity than the rare endowments which
give celebrity to a few."
In most of the more ancient cities of the Old World
stand churches and cathedrals that were erected many cen-
turies ago. Of but a few the architects who planned and
builded them are known by name, while the thousands who
carried out their grand conceptions are long since buried
in oblivion. But their works are the beautiful and abiding
symbol of the faith of those who conceived and erected
them. They are the visible and tangible expression of that
belief in a higher power that is common to all mankind;
and of the faith that mortal men are the chosen instru-
ments through which its designs are executed. They are
mute but eloquent witnesses to the universal conviction
that our life and our labor should at least in part be de-
voted to the spiritual good of the generations yet unborn.
The lowliest and weakest mortal who did no more than
contribute a single stone to their solid walls contributed


PATRIOTISM AND PARTISANSHIP.
"History must not keep silent because history is the con-
science of humanity; and let those understand who do not
fear it that its justice can not be appeased and that its
castigations are without end." These words were used by
the late eminent publicist Castelar in a comment upon one
of the worst kings that ever sat upon the Spanish throne.
but they are of universal validity. No one who has care-
fully studied the past will deny their truthfulness. His-
tory is nothing more than amplified biography and those
who made it were men of like passions with ourselves. It
is more truly the conscience of the world than the con-
science which every man is supposed to carry in his bosom.
I may intentionally wrong my neighbor and succeed in
justifying my conduct. At any rate it is but an incident
between two individuals and is soon forgotten. When my
father of my grandfather has, by any act, left a stain
upon his memory, though I can not blot it out, I may ex-
cuse it as well as I can. But that does not alter the case;
the deed is done, the final record made up, the books are
sealed. Still, this is not a matter about which the larger
public is concerned. But when I move into a wider sphere
and see weighed before the tribunal of morals the acts for
which my country is responsible I can neither conceal nor
(180)


PATRIOTISM AND PARTISANSHIP. 131
successfully justify what is wrong. The evil deeds in
which I am, at least by implication, a participant, can not
be concealed from the curious eye of the future investi-
gator. My ancestors, my government, my country were
guilty of wrongs that I may condone but the disinterested
reader will not. There exist archives centuries old to
which even at this late day no one is allowed access. Their
custodians seem to feel that they are involved in the guilt
of the evil-doers, though they are connected with them by
the slenderest jties, perhaps only by the bond of a common
creed or a common country. It is like the mature man
trying to cover up the sins and follies of his youth, though
it is much more unavailing.
Nearly two thousand years ago Plutarch justified the
calamities that sometimes befell states for the wicked deeds
of previous generations. Said he, "The public calamities
of states have obviously their reason in justice. For a
state has unity and continuity like a living creature, not
divesting itself of indentity by the changes that occur at
successive periods of its life, nor becoming a different being
from its former self by the lapse of time, but always retain-
ing a conscious selfhood with the peculiarities that be-
long to it, and receiving the entire blame or praise of
whatever it does or has done in its collective capacity, so
long as the community which constitutes it and binds it
together remains a unit. But dividing it by successive
periods of time so as to make of a single state many states,
or rather an infinite number of states, is like making one
man many men, because he is now elderly, yet was once
younger and still earlier was a stripling. The state re-
maining the same we regard it as involved in the disgrace
of its ancestry by the very right by which it shares their
glory and their power."


WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
Every man instinctively feels that he is more or less
closely bound up in moral sense with his family, with
the community of which he forms a part, with the govern-
ment of which he is a citizen. When I hold up to an in-
telligent Englishman, the shortsightedness of his govern-
ment at certain periods of the past, or to a wide-awake
Frenchman the follies that have characterized his ances-
tors in their mad quest for what they called gloire, or to
a well-read Teuton the pusillanimity of the German people
for centuries, they usually admit the truth of the indict-
ment, but they have a ready answer by pointing to the po-
litical corruption that has hung over our land like a pall
for nobody knows how long; to our frequent lynchings;
to our repudiation of state and municipal debts; to our
toleration of human slavery for a century; to our unjust
war with Mexico, and more of the same sort. Then I have
little to say, but I can heartily join with my interlocutors
in the wish that these things were none of them so. Or
we may all join in the pharisaical congratulation that we
are not so bad as the Spaniards, or the Turks, or as a last
resort, the Malays. Under such circumstances one is
often inclined to take refuge in the philosophy of the Arab,
who, when charged with being a notorious thief and un-
mitigated liar, retorted that if a man had only two or three
faults he was not very bad. Let us not forget that na-
tional glory will not take the place of national character.
The former may and is pretty sure to be transient if not
founded on the latter. The true glory of a nation is not
something that needs to be boasted of. For centuries
Frenchmen have been asserting that France marches at
the head of civilization. They were so conscious of their
superiority that they did not think it worth while to ex-
amine what their neighbors were doing and refused to


134
WISDbM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
the persistent effort of man to secure justice. It is at least
avowedly for the purpose of securing justice to every mem-
ber of the body politic that all enlightened governments are
organized—justice in taxation, justice in meting out re-
wards and punishments, justice in representation, justice
in the care of those who are not able to take care of them-
selves, justice in the privilege to worship the Supreme Be-
ing. No sane man asks more than equality of opportunity,
a fair field and no favor. Governments have followed each
other like the divisions of an almost endless procession of
mourners across the stage of time because they have failed
in this regard. What has happened so many times will con-
tinue to happen as long as man remains the same and like
causes produce like effects. Only that nation may safely
claim to be built on an enduring foundation whose civil
machinery is so constructed to bring it constantly nearer
and nearer to that ideal condition that is realized only in
the vision of the prophet and the dream of the sage. So
profound is the universal conviction of the essential up-
rightness of public opinion that no man in his public ca-
pacity has the courage to defy it. The most pronounced
despots have justified their tyranny by a liberal patronage
of the arts and sciences, by the plea that the masses are
not fit to govern themselves. Sienkiewicz in Quo Vadis
thus pays tribute to the natural goodness of man: "Bronze-
beard is a faint-hearted cur. Although there is no limit
to his power, he makes all his acts appear plausible. I
have often asked myself why is it that every crime, be it
as great as Ceasar's and as certain of impunity, seeks the
cover of the law, of justice or of virtue? Why should it
trouble itself? Nero seeks to justify himself because he is
a coward. But let us take a Tiberius. He was no coward,
yet he sought to justify his every act. Why, then? What


PATRIOTISM AND PARTISANSHIP. 135
is this involuntary tribute which evil places at the feet
of virtue? Knowest thou what I think? It is done because
vice is disgusting and virtue divine." We used to hear
slavery defended because it was good for the slave. Now
we are told that immense armaments are conducive to
peace. I venture to assert that no law was ever enacted
for which its promoters did not claim that if it worked
injury to some it benefited a greater number. It is no
longer contended by anybody, so far as I know, that a
state of belligerency is natural to men, or that it repre-
sents a condition upon which all first-class nations are
not making continual inroads. This is unconsciously ad-
mitted by the assertion which we meet so often that the
best way to secure permanent peace is to be always pre-
pared for war. Apparently hardly anybody wants to fight
though almost everybody is in favor of preparing for it.
The tendency toward a more peaceful civilization is
marked. Rome was almost continuously at war during the
. thousand years of her existence. Insignificant as many
of these wars were they always meant a great deal of misery
for at least one of the belligerents. The eighteenth cen-
tury was ushered in by war, passed out in war, and the
middle period was filled with "the din of arms." How
different the nineteenth! When we remember that the
Napoleonic struggle was an inheritance of the preceding
century we must admit that the one just closed was much
less bloody than any that preceded it, far as we still are
from a reign of peace and righteousness.
Why should men be more unreasonable collectively than
individually? Yet they are. In any civilized country
when two men undertake to settle their differences with
weapons or fists they are promptly arrested and fined.
Usually it is the soggy undercrust that has recourse to vio-


136
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION. 1
lence. With what contempt we view even the elite in
some of our States who are ever ready to adjust their dif-
ferences by physical force or it may be with revolvers. It
is a pity we can not all read as often as once a year Bacon's
essay on the idols of pre-conceived opinion. Such a pe-
rusal would do much to enable our mental vision to pen-
etrate the mists of error that constantly surround us. Or
we may change the figure and say that if these idols were
taken away we should have a clearer vision to worship the
true God. About us and in us are the idols of the tribe,
the fallacies that are incident to humanity in general; idols
of the den, the misconceptions that grow out of our indi-
vidual mental constitution; idols of the market place, er-
rors due to the power of words and phrases; idols of the
theater, errors due to false systems and illogical methods
of reasoning. When we remember that some men are so
constituted that, with the best intention, thy can not see
the truth,—to ask them to do so is like asking a five-foot
man to look over a six-foot wall—and that others do not
want to see it because of the labor involved, or because
they believe it more to their advantage to cling to error
and that these classes embrace the immense majority of
mankind, we can not wonder that the world is still largely
dominated by error and false reasoning.
But, leaving aside all considerations of the quest for
truth, how many people are there even in the most enlight-
ened countries who devote any considerable portion of their
time to reflection upon what will make them wiser, better
nobler? Surely these are matters that would seem to at-
tract and occupy the attention of all more or less. That it
does not is because it is easier to persist in the old, much
as we may complain about it, than to keep readjusting our-
selves to new conditions. We thoughtlessly do what we


PATRIOTISM AND PARTISANSHIP. 137
have always done; and what we have always done is what
our elders did before us. If we are a little better in some
things than other people we lay the flattering unction to
our souls that we are in all respects their superiors.
Some of the very persons who have only scorn and con-
tempt for the people of those countries or States of the
Union who readily resort to arms when they have a dis-
pute with another man will almost in the same breath
hurrah over the prospect of war between the United States
and some foreign country, especially Great Britain. When
we ask them for the cause of their hilarity they can give
no reason except that we can "lick" England and all crea-
tion and we want a chance to prove it. We can settle our
private difficulties before courts of law and we scoff at those
of our neighbors who can not settle theirs in the same way;
yet many of us do not want to adjust our disagreements in
this manner when we have a quarrel with another nation,
though it may speak the same language, be proud of the
same political traditions, and lay claim to the same litera-
ture.
It is true a court of law is not exactly a peaceful tribunal
like a court of arbitration. Behind it is in most cases
physical force as a last resort, but this is always in the
background. Moral force has in most instances taken its
place. And what an advance is a court of law upon con-
ditions that prevailed very widely at one time. Gentlemen
settled their disputes by strength and skill. Perish the
thought that they could be settled in any other way. Yet
these honorable men have almost disappeared from the
earth and will soon be little more than a curiosity or an
object of ridicule.
All history is but the history of civilization. This is
a hard term to define, yet everybody knows what it signi-


PATRIOTISM AND PARTISANSHIP. 139
country of the world only not quite so pronounced. This is
the practical side of politics, but the converse and senti-
mental sides demand for every man equal treatment with
every other. Our Federal and State courts forbid the pas-
sage of laws that are not of general application, but in
practice we have many such laws. Here sentiment and
practice are again in conflict and here, too, there is a steady
effort to reconcile them. It is a common saying that
facts and events are more powerful than theories. Those
who reason thus have a short vision. If this were true
we might well exclaim, "Right forever on the scaffold.
Wrong forever on the throne." See how this dictum has
been proven false! Might has indeed often prevailed over
right, but it has not continued unless it justified itself.
Slavery and serfdom have not been abolished wholly or
even chiefly by might, but by the sentiment of mankind
The theory of equal rights before the law was for centuries
the main support of the Roman Empire. Governments
are at last beginning to put in practice the theories of edu-
cation advocated by Greek thinkers and demonstrated by
a few individuals. For centuries the civilized world, the
most civilized nations have been trying to make real the
ethical theories preached by the Hebrew prophets and the
Christian Apostles. How little the Jews have figured in
the politics of the world, how large in its morals, what an
epic is their annals! What a mark they have made in his-
tory and are still making, but it is through the arts of
peace. No people have so profoundly influenced the
thought of the world as they, none can boast of such endur-
ing achievements, yet these achievements have almost all
been peaceful. "In order to get rid of war we must make
peace heroic." The chief glory of Washington was not so
much that he was first in war but first in peace. The


PATRIOTISM AND PARTISANSHIP. 141
self has enough to eat. A most competent authority says:
"The only Chinese in the Empire who arp alert, inquiring,
eager to know what the world is doing, and especially what
China and the rulers of Peking are thinking of, are the
converts,—that is, the pupils of the missionaries or of those
intelligent foreigners who have some other care concern-
ing the Chinese servants than mere exaction of labor and
payment of wages. Out of Chinese official life or from the
literati it seems impossible to get honesty or virtue in any
vital sense. The earnest, the thinking men of China know
that her vital lack is neither capital nor machinery, but
men. They realize that the Chinese system does not pro-
duce men of conscience or of sterling character. They
know that it has hitherto been impossible to secure any
such persons, except by importation. How can it be other-
wise in the future?" In the same connection another
writer, speaking of Morocco, says: "It is a popular cus-
tom of travelers to disparage missionaries. Let their work
be difficult, their faith a mockery to those who share it not.
their object hopeless, their achievement insignificant, or.
it may be, illusory, their faults apparent, their methods
absurd; the missionaries, of whatever creed, are the noble
few who live for the future, and no seed that they sow if
lost. Every pure and earnest life, whether by a missionary
or by any other, will tell on the nation."
It is an established fact that the lower forms of anima'
life which first appeared on our globe have all disappeared
or have been greatly modified in their structure to suit the
changing physical conditions. Even those that belonged
to a somewhat higher order have for the most part become
extinct. The huge beasts, strong of limb and irresistible
in physical force that are the wonder of our museums,
destroyed or devoured the weaker ones until they them-


142
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
selves were cleared from the face of the earth by forces
too strong for them. With all their strength they could
not arrest the physical changes that were inevitable. Un-
able to suit themselves to circumstances they paid the debt
of nature. With men the course of events has been simi-
lar. They followed into the dark recesses of oblivion
the beasts with which successive generations contended.
The mighty empires of the earth that were in the course of
time established form no exception. Force was swept
from the earth by greater force, for especially in the
psychic world it is not force unaided by intelligence that
wins in the end. The great states of antiquity were strong
so long as they represented power that could be hurled
against weaker rivals, who were in turn either crushed or
absorbed. We are scarcely in position to say why those
mighty empires that once existed in Mesopotamia and the
Nile Valley have so completely disappeared. And while
we may regret the destruction of so many valuable works
of art it is doubtful if anything of real use to the human
race has perished. They represent the degradation of man
rather than his elevation. Greece stood for a higher type
of civilization, but a lower type of patriotism and her
statement looked so closely to the immediate future that
they failed to recognize the claims of a remoter future.
The Komans were wiser, and yet not much wiser. As long
as they considered the state more important than the indi-
vidual they kept growing stronger and stronger. There
was an idealism in their politics that we of to-day can not
help but admire. Yet this condition of things likewise
passed away. Factions were generated in the state that
were more bent upon the destruction of their opponents
than upon the good of the citizens as a whole.
If there is one thing that modern research has estab-


PATRIOTISM AND PARTISANSHIP. 143
lished beyond a doubt it is the solidarity of history. We
may for convenience speak of Ancient History and Medi-
aeval History and Modern History, but the making of his-
tory is a continuous process. No new forces have been
introduced in the world; the relations of the various forces
have to some extent been changed, but no new ones have
been added. Just as the adult is not something radically
different from the child, though he bears to it only the
slightest resemblance in feature, form and figure, so the
race is to-day what it always has been. Sometimes when
a man is dead an autopsy reveals that fact that his dis-
ease was incurable. There was no human help for the
victim. As an individual, with his separate physical ex-
istence he could draw no support from his fellow-beings.
But how often has it happened that physicians in learning
the cause of one man's death discovered how to save those
similarly afflicted! Not so with states. They have never
died of physical but of moral diseases, and the fact that
we know the causes ought to admonish us to look to our-
selves. The Hebrew prophets foretold the woes that were
sure to come upon their nation unless they changed their
ways. But the men who for the most part managed af-
fairs ignored these solitary theorists. They probably said,
if they thought them worthy of consideration at all, "You
are idealists; this is a practical world. You must take
men as they are." Woe to the world if this be so! If all
the efforts to make men better by instructing the rising
generation ends in the maxim, "You must take men as they
are," our doom is sealed.
Everybody that can read knows something about Demos-
thenes and Cicero. Both these men were victims of a lost
cause. But in one respect they were superior, and in one
only, to the great orators among their countrymen; in the-


144
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
moral earnestness that pervades their political orations.
Edmund Burke was likewise the champion of a lost cause
when he espoused the side of the American colonies. His
plea for right, for justice, for fair treatment, passed al-
most unheeded, but time has vindicated the wisdom of his
course. I imagine there are few Englishmen to-day who
would not rather have stood with Burke and Chatham, and
lost, than with George III. and Lord North, though they
won for the time being. In speaking of these events a re-
cent English historian says: "The shame of the darkest
hour of English history lies wholly at the door" of the
king. There are two senses in which we may use the
maxim, You must take world as it is. In the one we sim-
ply accept the situation and regard existing conditions
with indifference. Like the servile herd that flattered the
basest of the Roman emperors, and their numerous repre-
sentatives in later times, we may do the best we can to
live at ease from day to day, taking no thought for the fu-
ture. In the other, we recognize surrounding conditions,
but keep bestirring ourselves to make them better. This
is the purpose of every moral agency that has for its ob-
ject the betterment of men. It is the soul and essence of
pedagogy. Amplified, it applies to the body politic the
same principles that right instruction applies to the child.
Every intelligently constructed educational system means,
Take the child and make of him the best of which he is
capable. So instruct him that each generation shall be
better, wiser, nobler, than its predecessor. Teach him to
obey existing laws and to labor for the enactment of better
ones. Let him strive to defend his own rights and to ac-
cord the same rights to others.
We often hear a defense of the maxim, "My country
right or wrong." What are we to understand by my coun-


PATRIOTISM AND PARTISANSHIP.
145
try in this sense? Is it her institutions, her policy, her
standard of morals, her laws? If so, who is responsible for
them? Is not every thinking man dissatisfied more or
less with his country? Is any one so well satisfied that he
does not criticize and seek to make improvements? If im-
provements are not held to be necessary the country has
come to a standstill like China. True patriotism consists
not so much in maintaining that we have the best and are
the best as in an open mind for what is good and a deter-
mination to have it. There is a kind of patriotism that is
a sign of decay; it is evidence that the career of a nation
is drawing to a close. The golden age of Greek oratory
was an era of decline. When there was little to commend
in the present men looked to the past for examples of hero-
ism and self-sacrifice. We often see the same sort of pride
in families. When the generation that is on the scene of
action is doing little to commend it, its representatives are
apt to boast about the abilities and achievements of their
ancestors. Yet what is this worth if there is no disposition
to do likewise? It seems strange, inexplicably strange,
that it is so hard to look facts squarely in the face. Dur-
ing our late war with Spain, Continental Europe was
against us almost to a man. It was a case of "Kick my
dog, kick me." The merits of the case scarcely entered
into the discussion at all. Spain was near by and a mon-
archy, the United States far away and a Republic; of
course the latter was in the wrong and it was not worth
while to look into the merits of the controversy. In four
cases out of five you can predict with certainty on which
side the recent South African war a man's sympathies
were if you know his ancestry.
We need not go very far into the past to see the melan-
choly effect of political short-sightedness. Less than four
10


140
WISDOU AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
hundred years ago Poland occupied a large place on the
map of Europe. With its thirty-five million inhabitants
it was one of the most powerful states of the world. A
hundred years later, though much diminished, it was still
strong. No longer ago than the time of our Bevolution it
yet numbered twelve million people. Since then it has
ceased to be a nation. There is a Polish people, but there
is no citizen of Poland. Every Pole, whether at home or
abroad is in a sense an exile. Campbell said, "Freedom
shrieked when Kosciusko fell," but whatever we may think
of Kosciusko and a few genuine patriots, their cause was
doomed from the start. It deserved no better fate. The
freedom for which too many Poles fought was simply lib-
erty to make war against one another, to plunder one an-
other. It was not patriotism, but selfishness. Alison, the
historian, after quoting the line of Campbell continues,
"But the truth of history must dispel the illusion and un-
fold in the fall of Poland the natural consequences of its
national delinquencies. The eldest born of the European
family was the first to perish because she had thwarted all
the ends of the social union; because she united the turbu-
lence of democratic to the exclusion of aristocratic socie-
ties; because she had the vacillation of a republic with-
out its energy, and the oppression of a monarchy without
its stability. Such a system neither could nor ought to
be maintained."
How different is the history of Switzerland in spite
of many dark pages!
Even if the individual be nothing more than a link in
the chain of human endeavor his efforts will not be in vain,
if intelligently directed. We need not ask ourselves
whether we are heirs to a personal immortality. A clear
grasp of this doctrine answers the question for every man


PATRIOTISM AND PARTISANSHIP. 149
against their better judgment. The world has far less
need of a few great men than of many genuinely patriotic
citizens. Patriotism means statesmanship, rather than
mere statecraft. If it elects war, it is only as an un-
avoidable necessity and because it will secure a more dur-
able peace. It directs the policy of William of Orange, of
Stein, of Washington and Lincoln, rather than that of
Louis XIV, of Metternich, of Talleyrand, of Napoleon, of
Calhoun and Davis. It is less concerned about immediate
effects than lasting results.
But I have been advocating the cause of the sentimental
as against the practical statesman and now that I am ap-
proaching the end of my discourse, I find that I have been
advocating the cause of reason against sentiment, or, at
least, against passion, against impulse; it is an appeal from
Philip drunk to Philip sober. I have made a plea for a
practical, for a reasonable policy, if not against a system of
politics as yet practicable. I am sure if such a system is
as yet beyond our reach it represents the goal towards
which statesmanship has been tending, slowly, it may be,
but tending nevertheless. Surely as men grow wiser they
grow more humane, more capable of self-control, more will-
ing to live and to let live. If they talk less about the rights
of men they are not therefore less willing to recognize and
accord these rights. It is true, much thought, much en-
ergy, much time and much money are still expended on the
art of destruction, but I believe still more are expended
on the arts of peace, on the arts that increase the happi-
ness of mankind. Sad to say, this is not the case in all
countries, but it is so in some, probably in many. Even
what is ostensibly intended for war may ultimately pro-
mote peace, for no nation lives wholly or even chiefly by
war. There are no longer perpetual national feuds, as


150 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
there have been and still are perpetual tribal feuds. Some
of the great powers may still be ready to fly at each others'
throats, but they deliberate more carefully before making
the fatal plunge.
It is a noteworthy fact that with the growth of nationali-
ties wars have decreased in frequency. Until compara-
tively recent times the different portions of Great Britain
and Ireland were engaged in almost continual conflict.
What is now France was much in the same case. Some of
the Italian States were almost continually at loggerheads
with others. In nearly all the wars in which Germany
has been engaged some of the States were on one side and
some on the other. It does not seem easy to say anything
bad that is an exaggeration about the government of Rus-
sia, yet it can not be denied that the growth of the empire
has been conducive to internal peace. We may think of
the motive as we please, it can at least not be said that the
idea that has for two hundred years inspired the govern-
ment of this great empire of the north has thus far and on
the whole produced a retrograde movement in the cause of
civilization.
But, finally, let us not deceive ourselves as to the facts
and to the duty of present and future generations. The
world will only go forward so long as men will to advance.
It is easy to stop or to fall behind; it is not easy to go on.
In the world of volition we are not dealing with physical
forces that can neither be increased nor diminished.
United effort toward a common end, toward a common
goal that all progressive nations perceive more or less
clearly will greatly accelerate the common weal. We must
not strive to make ourselves as contented as we can amid
conditions as we find them, but rather endeavor to bring
them a little nearer conditions such as every normally con-
stituted man would like to have them.


SPIRITUAL VERITIES.
It is not safe to assume that we know much about what
is passing in other people's minds; but to judge from what
we see going on around us it may well be doubted whether
any considerable portion of our fellow-mortals give the
question of how to make the most of life any serious
thought. Years before they reach the age of maturity
the large majority have lapsed into the ruts of the hum-
drum existence led by those about them, and it is almost
a miracle if by some fortunate chance are lifted out
of it. The merchant in his buying and selling, the artisan
at his trade, the professional man in the pursuit of his
daily vocation, are chiefly concerned about making the
largest pecuniary gains out of the particular transaction
in hand, and about little else. It is true that now and then
we find parents who are intelligently solicitous for the
welfare of their own children and that of the rising genera-
tion as a whole and who are willing to make almost any
sacrifices for the attainment of so noble an object; but with
the large majority the wish is a mere sentiment that does
not find expression in a consistent line of conduct.
We Americans take a great deal of credit to ourselves
because we are not idealists and sentimentalists, but prac-
tical men and women who have our gaze steadily directed
(151)


152
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
toward tangible objects. In politics as in business every
man has an eye chiefly to his personal advancement, and
he who should desire a public office chiefly for the oppor-
tunities it would give him for benefiting the public at
large would be regarded as a very peculiar sort of a man, if
nothing else. A few men can be found who openly advo-
cate the doctrine that in our elective offices the first qualifi-
cation of the nominee should be character and ability,
though many are willing to assign to these the second place,
while reserving the first to party fealty and the power to
win votes. Yet it sometimes dawns upon us, if only for
a moment, that there is such a thing as being too practical;
at least we are willing to admit that the other fellows are
so. Rich men are coming more and more to fill our im-
portant offices because of their practical methods in the
canvas. They have a way of carrying elections and of
getting places for themselves and friends that is out of
reach of him who relies on character alone. And those
who elevate them to office are practical men; why should
they exert themselves for an abstraction, an ideal, when it
is possible to get ready cash, or its equivalent?
"You take my life
When you do take the means whereby I live,"
says Shylock, most truly, if life consists chiefly or wholly
in the abundance of the things that a man hath. On the
same principle a man will work for those who promise to
afford him the means of putting money in his purse, with-
out a very careful scrutiny of the merits of the question in-
volved. The issue is simply between the individual and the
whole community. I suppose that the man who accepts
what the law calls a bribe justifies himself by the same


SPIRITUAL VERITIES.
reasoning that the man uses who works for the candidate
that commands the most influence. Of two equally com-
petent candidates why should I not support that one who is
able and willing to give me something of practical value,
whether it be dollars or something else? I am persuaded
that a good deal of the indignation that now and then
breaks out against successful candidates arises from a state
of mind like that of the little girl who said, "Mamma, see
what a pig my sister is; she took the largest orange in the
dish, and I wanted it." It is not so much indignation at
the disguised bribery, per se, as vexation at the condition
of things which made it possible for the other side to
bribe heavier than ours. The great misfortune of this
condition of things is that it keeps most of the real states-
men, the men who are able and willing to legislate for
the general good rather than local interests, out of our
legislative halls, and puts in their places men of narrow
views and limited information. One does not need to be
very widely read to see that much of our bad or imprac-
ticable legislation is simply a repetition of the same or
similar legislation in other states. If we are not willing
to profit by the experience of Europe we ought to be willing
at least to profit by that of our sister states, and be only too
glad to use their dear-bought experience when it can be
had for almost nothing, in preference to buying it over
again. And when questions of world-wide interest are to
be legislated upon, such as those which concern the cur-
rency and international commerce, it is the most short-
sighted folly to ignore the experience of the foremost Euro-
pean countries. A man or a nation that undertakes to
contravene the laws of nature inevitably does so to his
own detriment. The time has passed when any civilized
nation can get along without the rest.


154 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
To me it is very clear, as it must be to every careful
reader of history, that in politics the winning principle is
idealistic; it is what the careful interpreter of the past sees
and what the mere time-server does not see. It is the pur-
suit of ideal aims that distinguishes the mere politician
from the statesman. The one seeks his country's good in
the largest and fullest sense, though it may sometimes be at
the expense of his present popularity and personal interest.
The other puts self and section first.
In England the years that preceded the American Revo-
lution showed clearly the party of ideals in contrast to
those who were interested only in their present welfare
and personal interests. When King George proposed to
Grenville the alternative of taxing the colonies or resigning
his office, he chose the former, though clearly convinced of
its inexpediency—let us at least give him credit for this
much. Looking at the record of English legislation dur-
ing this period it is plainly evident that the party of ideals,
of principles, the impracticables, though for a time com-
pletely defeated were in the end victorious. The English
people had to pay for the follies of their rulers. It was
not the "king's friends," but his opponents, his enemies,
as they would doubtless be often designated, Pitt and
Burke, and those who stood with them, those who had the
courage to defend an unpopular course, for the reason
that it was founded on right, who are now ranked among
her leading statesmen. It was these English defenders of
a "lost cause," though lost only for a time, that posterity
no less at home than abroad, now delights to honor, not so
much for what they accomplished in their day, as for main-
taining views which time proved to be just and true and
expedient. It was the cause of humanity, the cause which
the progress of events shows is always and everywhere des-


SPIRITUAL VERITIES.
155
tined to win. How different the fate of these men from
that which is overtaking the defenders of another "lost
cause," in our own day. However much we may respect
the personal qualities of some of those who were led into
it we can not shut our eyes to the fact that they fought for
a sectional issue, for a principle that the world had out-
grown and that they undertook to do that which has never
been done, put back the hands on the dial-plate of time.
The world at large is taking less interest in their names
and their fate and historians will ere long use these only as
they do that of the Napoleons,
"To point a moral or adorn a tale."
For centuries the German people had suffered inconceiv-
able miseries from the all-powerful spirit of particularism
that dominated its rulers. Concerned only for that which
would prolong their lease of power or conduce to personal
aggrandizement her petty princes took little account of the
needs of their subjects and of the whole country. The
dream of German unity lived only in the books of histori-
ans and philosophers, or was whispered from lips to lips
in the little coteries of idealists that existed here and there.
Yet that which was for centuries but an idea, an aspiration
and a hope, is to-day a reality, because there were some who
never despaired even in the darkest hour, because they in-
terpreted more correctly than the practical politicians the
signs of the times and the tendency of events.
The recent history of Italy closely resembles that of
Germany; with this difference that her outlook for unity
was even more hopeless. For the century preceding her
unification Germany had maintained a vigorous intellec-
tual life, while Italy had sunk into a condition of mental
torpor. Yet Cavour and those who shared his views and
sympathized with his aims did not despair and only ceased


SPIRITUAL VERITIES.
157
oughly uncongenial. Not least did he show his wisdom
in this that he spent his days in putting on record the
truths which few of his countrymen had the prescience to
comprehend, as a testimony to the world how different its
fate would have been had they heeded but a small portion
of his suggestions. Whenever a people has sought purely
practical aims by the sacrifice of justice and righteousness
somebody has had to pay the penalty. Regarded from the
purely practical point of view no course had ever so little
prospect of success as Christianity. A little company of
converts to a new religion, in an unimportant city of an
obscure province of the Roman Empire, calmly planning the
conquest of the world with spiritual weapons alone. Sub-
lime was the spectacle, immeasurable the faith in the hearts
of these zealots! But time has justified their hopes and set
the seal of approval on their vast undertaking. What did
it signify that they would be bitterly opposed by both those
who held to the religion which they had given up and by
those who cared nothing for any religion! What matter that
they would come into conflict with paganism in its various
local cults and with the whole power of the Roman Em-
pire! The things that were not seen proved mightier than
those that were visible and tangible. In a few centuries it
was the victor and in a condition to dictate terms to the
powers that but recently had despised and hated and
striven mightily at times to eradicate it. The same sub-
lime faith and undaunted courage still animates the
church. The spiritual regeneration of Asia, with her
teeming millions, looks like an idle dream. But it is not
any more impossible of realization than the conquest of
Europe was eighteen centuries ago.
What is the literature worth that looks only to immediate
profits? Things are changing somewhat in this regard,


158 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
yet even now they who write what will yield the largest
and swiftest returns are producing only for to-day. To-
morrow no one will care for it. It is the pursuit of the
ideal, the effort to realize so far as may be the subjective
conception of what is loftiest and best that gives to the
work of the artist in every department that which is of
permanent value. If I read history aright the world owes
about all that is valuable in it to dreamers and idealists,
to men who live in the future rather than in the present.
"Human progress depends upon the dreams of enthusiasts.
The inventor, the discoverer, the reformer are dreamers
who, prophet-like, see in their imagination things that
other mortals know not of." Many dreams have become
realities and are common-place facts to us now. It is
hardly too much to say that civilization consists of realized
dreams. We call dreams which are not all dreams, ideals,
and the only reason why all dreams are not useful as ideals
is because the stuff of which the ideal is made does not
conform to the actual state of things and is not handled
according to the laws of nature. We must admit that in
the domain of physical science the dreamer may often ex-
pend toil and anxious thought in that which is destined to
remain forever unrealized. We may labor to turn a baser
metal into gold and fail, or to construct a flying-machine
that will never fly, but it is not so in the domain of the ar-
tistic and the ethical. Here no honest labor is ever thrown
away. Think of personal immortality as we may, death
is no finality and we must not form our rules of conduct to
accord with the idea that the exit of our individual life is
the end of all. People who have no interests, no care or
ideals that reach beyond the grave, may enjoy themselves
better than others who live their lives with a constant pros-
pect of immortality; yet in the long run of many genera-


160 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
grateful remembrance of his services to his country. These
profuse floral tributes may have been in part the expression
of private friendship and esteem, but that which endeared
him to a wider circle was his indefatigable and disinter-
ested zeal in behalf of the rights of the people, in behalf of
democracy and against ecclesiasticism. It is probable that
he accomplished little that directly benefited his country,
but he did much indirectly in the way of stimulating
thought and in pointing out to his fellow-citizens in what
directions national greatness and prosperity lay. Poster-
ity delights to honor him not so much because he achieved
great things, as because he disinterestedly devoted a long
life and great abilities, not to the accomplishment of pri-
vate objects, but to labors for the public good.
It is well to remember that not every life which seems
to be a failure is really so, and that not every enterprise
which proves abortive, has been undertaken wholly in vain.
The list of names of men and women whose earthly careers
were a failure, judged only by the common standard of their
own day, is a long one; yet as we look back upon their
record viewing it in the light of subsequent events few of
us would hesitate to take their places rather than that of
an equal number who won transient renown and a large
inheritance of perishable possessions.
In that most remarkable poem of the nineteenth century,
a production into which the author has wrought the sub-
jective experience of a life extending over more than three-
quarters of a century, we have finely contrasted, at least
by implication, the diverging results of a life spent for self-
ish and practical ends with the same life devoted to the
good of others. In the First Part of Faust the hero is
placed before us as a man endowed with the highest intel-
lectual gifts and enjoying the respect of bis fellow-men be-


SPIRITUAL VERITIES.
161
cause of his learning and talents. But his life had been
spent solely for self and in pursuit of selfish ends. The
time comes when he realizes to its full extent how unsatis-
factory such an existence is and he seriously contemplates
putting an end to it with a poisonous draught. An evil
spirit suggests to him that there is still one thing untried
and advises him to seek enjoyment in sensuality, advises
him not only to renounce a mode of life that was at least
harmless, but to enter upon a course that will stop at noth-
ing, not even the sacrifice of the happiness of his fellow-be-
ings, provided it will contribute to his own gratification. It
need hardly be said that to one so gifted, to one who appre-
hends so clearly the constitution of things, such a course
must prove even less satisfactory than the former.
Made a wiser but a sadder man by the bitter experiences
of more than half a lifetime of misdirected effort, he is
led to take a wider and juster view of his relation to so-
ciety and the world of which he forms a part. He thence-
forth directs his attention to an altruistic object and re-
solves to devote the remaining years of his life to that
which aims at the good of others rather than himself. Here
almost to his surprise he finds satisfaction and the inter-
nal peace which he had so long sought in vain. We believe
the experience of Faust is the experience of every one who
is not intrinsically and totally depraved. Fortunately for
the world the number of these is small; but unfortunately
they are too few who, endowed with talents and learning,
never give up the problem of life until they have solved it,
and found the solution in the salvation which the hero of
Goethe's poem worked out with such determined earnest-
ness of purpose.
German literature furnishes us with another instructive
contrast in the person of the two men who by universal
11


SPIRITUAL VERITIES.
163
During the former part of the last century a music
teacher connected with one of the gymnasia of the city of
Leipzig was diligently and unostentatiously pursuing his
chosen vocation. He was known as a performer on the
organ, of more than ordinary merit, but he cared little for
notoriety and his reputation hardly spread beyond the circle
of his personal acquaintances. Yet he was a diligent com-
poser for every musical instrument then known and seems
to have been satisfied when his thoughts had been com-
mitted to paper or at most executed by such inadequate
help as could be found among his pupils. Scantily ap-
preciated during his life, doubtless owing to his modesty
and indifference to public applause, he was soon almost for-
gotten after his death except by a few admirers, and his
musical compositions neglected and scattered. Two gen-
erations later Mendelssohn began to direct the attention
of his fellow-musicians to the inexhaustible wealth of har-
mony treasured up in the works of John Sebastian Bach,
and it was soon acknowledged by competent judges that
this almost forgotten composer was a genius of the highest
order. His organ compositions are now admitted to be
not only "unsurpassed but unsurpassable," and in the lan-
guage of Schumann "music owes to him almost as great
a debt as religion owes to its founder." Posterity became
possessed with the desire to make some amends for the neg-
lect of contemporaries, by erecting over the grave of this
wonderful master of harmony, some token of its apprecia-
tion. But lo! the last resting place of the man who was
worthy to sit as the peer of Handel and Beethoven could
not be found; and to this day his dust reposes in an un-
known and unmarked grave. Yet this poor musician who
during life earned little beyond his daily bread and who
after death had no one to place even a tablet to his memory,


164 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
had erected for himself a monument "more enduring than
brass, and loftier than the pyramids' royal structure; which
not the wasting shower, not the raving northwind can
have power to overthrow, or the countless succession of
years, and the ages' flight." He had steadily pursued the
highest ideal of excellence that he could conceive and had
never stopped to see whether his efforts were appreciated.
All the millienaires on the earth could not purchase an im-
mortality like his. They might erect costly monuments
and gorgeous tombs, but the world would remember that
they were nobodies and care nothing for them except per-
haps to gratify an idle curiosity, unless there was something
more than wealth to entitle them to remembrance.
Here, then, was another life that was a failure, according
to the ordinary scale of measurement, but it was a brilliant
success when measured by that loftier standard which has
regard rather to things as they are than as they seem to
be. It is, of course, easy to argue, as men often do, when
the matter of aims in life is under discussion, that the ex-
ample of men of extraordinary talents is worth nothing to
him who has all he can do to make a living. But what is
the mission of great men if it is not to serve as examples
to the rest? The world is not made up of great men, but
of ordinary ones. Every man may and ought to work for
some ideal; it need not be a high one, and yet be of great
advantage to himself and to others. The man whose aim
is to make a better shoe than anybody else in his town de-
serves commendation for that. The man whose ideal is the
perfect citizen will serve as a useful example to many.
It is not always the man who occupies the most conspicuous
position who is the greatest benefactor to the community.
The social structure may be compared to a building of
stone in which each separate piece has its place and its


SPIRITUAL VERITIES.
165
office. The key-stone over an arch or the block over a
window or a door may be more essential to the solidity of
the structure than some of the smaller fragments; and yet
not a piece that has once been assigned to its place can
be taken away without marring the beauty and symmetry
of the building. Nor can it be said that what is used to
form the top of the wall is any more important than the
bottom, even though some of the latter be quite out of
sight. We may say here in the words of Scripture, "If they
were all one member, where were the body? But now there
are many members, yet one body. And the eye can not
say to the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again, the head,
to the feet, I have no need of thee; nay, much more those
members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are
necessary; and whether one member suffer, all members
suffer with it; or one member be honored, all members re-
joice with it." Or again, "ye also as living stones are
built up a spiritual house.*' Viewed from a purely theo-
retical standpoint it seems easy to inspire the world with
higher aims in life. It is only necessary for each individ-
ual to put a better spirit into one person and that is him-
self, or if that is making too large a demand, we will ex-
pect nothing of one-half the members of society, by their
own efforts and expect the other half to raise one person
besides himself to higher grounds. Or, again, let parents
devote themselves solely and singly to the good of their
children, and with the next generation the millenium
would be ushered in. The orphan alone would be left for
some one to take care. of, and it would be easy for the child-
less to take upon themselves that charge. But alas!
what is theoretically so easy is practically impossible; too
many care nothing for themselves and equally little for
others. You all know the story of the man who bequeathed


SPIRITUAL VERITIES.
167
of the children, only a panic horror of the inexpressibly
pitiable calamity of their living a ledge or two lower on the
molehill of the world—a calamity to be averted at any
cost whatever, of struggle, anxiety and shortening of life
itself. I do not believe that any greater good could be
achieved for the country, than the change of public feeling
on this head, which might be brought about by a few
benevolent men, undeniably in the class of 'gentlemen,'
who would, on principle, enter into some of our commonest
trades, and make them honorable; showing that it was pos-
sible for a man to retain his dignity, and remain, in the
best sense a gentleman, though part of his time was every
day occupied in manual labor, or even in serving customers
over a counter. I do not in the least see why courtesy, and
gravity, and sympathy with the feelings of others, and cour-
age, and truth, and piety, and what else goes to make up
a gentleman's character, should not be found behind a
counter as well as elsewhere, if they were demanded, or
even hoped for, there." These remarks though used of En-
glish life, may with a slight modification be applied to
ourselves. But I shall not speak here of the dignity of
labor; we hear a great deal about that and believe very
little of it. But I do insist on the dignity of life; upon
the supreme importance of striving for the attainment of
some worthy object, and of so living that each to-morrow
may find us farther than to-day in all the elements of true
manhood and womanhood.
But it is not those who are chiefly engaged in labors
of a more or less mecl-mical sort to whom society has a
right to look for ideal aims in life. It is the cultured, the
intelligent, the educated who should take the lead. And
what is knowledge worth to the individual and to society
if it does not lift men above the narrow mercantile spirit


168
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
of the age. The illiterate and uncultured man may well
say, especially if his motives are pure and his life upright,
"I do not see that my intelligent neighbor is one whit more
self-sacrificing or less grasping or less eager for dollars
and cents than I am." He is right when he holds that
knowledge alone will not save men. It is not enough to
know what ails a patient, it is equally important that one
should know how to cure him and be willing to make the
sacrifices necessary to his restoration. Yet intelligent men
are the saviors of the world. Turkey has not advanced in
half a dozen centuries, because she has no scholars, no citi-
zens with ideal aims either in art or science or morals.
With the Turk the only question is how to get through the
day. Spain is very much in the same case; for the few
to whom life means more than merely to eat and drink and
sleep have little influence on the unregenerate masses, so
largely in the majority.
I beg you to consider whether it is not the pursuit of
ideals; and moral preaching that has brought the world to
where it is. And if you find it so, will you not put heart and
head and hand to this glorious work? Take this stand from
principle and pursue your object unremittingly through
life. There is hardly a man living who would not like to
have the credit of being honest and generous and benevo-
lent, but selfishness hinders so many noble impulses from
blossoming into action. Men resort to hypocrisy to gain
credit for deeds which they have not the moral earnestness
to perform. How much better it is to strive for real ex-
cellence than for the mere credit of it; for a reality than a
sham. I do not know whether the inhabitants of the spirit
world take any interest in what is going on in our mundane
life; but it seems to me that if it is possible for disembod-
ied souls to look upon this struggle between what is good


SPIRITUAL VERITIES.
169
and what is evil, between what is high and what is low,
between what is ideal and what is selfish, and the thought
were forced upon them: In all this I took no part and had
no interest; I never contributed a dollar nor an hour's la-
bor to sustain the good against the evil, but allowed my in-
significant self to fill the entire horizon of my mental vis-
ion, that would be torment enough.
I know that it is not easy to be true to the ideal of our
youth, through a career of disappointment, such as every
life is to a greater or less degree. I have no doubt that
every successful man in an ethical cause has often had oc-
casion to say with the Psalmist, "My feet had well nigh
slipped, when I beheld the prosperity of the wicked." But
for the very reason that so many lead aimless lives the ob-
ligation is the more binding on the few who have a deeper
insight. He that would be greatest among you shall be
your servant.
"Not many lives, but only one have we—
Frail, fleeting man!
How sacred that one life should be-
That narrow span!
Day after day filled up with blessed toil,
Hour after hour still bringing in new spoil."
But while we have but one life to live, that is not the end
of us even in this world, unless we will have it so.
"So to live that when the sun
Of our existence sinks in night,
Memorials sweet of mercies done
May shrine our names in memory's light,
And the blest seeds we scatter'd bloom
A hundred-fold in days to come."


170 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
This is not a mere fancy sketch—it is something that is
within the reach of even the humblest, but it requires a
fixed and earnest purpose.
I can not more fitly conclude the lesson of the present
hour than with some words Carlyle uses in closing his life
of John Sterling. Would that the same could be used
of us all!
"In Sterling's writings and actions, were they capable of
being well read, we consider that there is for all true hearts
especially for young and noble seekers, and strivers toward
what is highest, a mirror in which some shadow of them-
selves and of their immeasureably complex arena will prof-
itably present itself. Here also is one encompassed and
struggling even as they now are. This man had said to
himself, not in mere catechism-words, but with all his in-
stincts, and the question thrilled in every nerve of him,
and pulsed in every drop of blood: What is the chief end
of man? Behold I too would live and work as beseems a
denizen of this Universe—a child of the Highest God. By
what means is a noble life still possible to me, ye Heavens,
and thou Earth, oh how?" This is the question which
every honest, God-fearing man asks himself every day, and
even oftener. But the sum and substance is contained in
the words: "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things
are honorable, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsover things are of good report; if
there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these
things."


172
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
forces cease to be active in building up its tissues; so in the
social organism, when the natural forces which exist in
man as an individual overpower the spiritual forces de-
veloped and strengthened by the attrition of man against
man in society, progress is stopped and disintegration be-
gins.
Self-denial or self-sacrifice is a convenient term to desig-
nate the law of progress, selfishness the principle that coun-
teracts it. The terms can be reversed and the statement
will be equally true. Let us look at their applicability in
'the explanation of a few historical eras of first rate im-
portance. The fundamental principle of the ancient Greek
states, notably Athens and Lacedaemon, was the obligation
of the individual to consult the interests of the common-
wealth rather than his own. It was each one's duty to
sacrifice all that he had upon the altar of his country. As
long as their citizens recognized and acted under this feel-
ing their political power was greater than any force that
could be brought against them. But though the East
could not evercome them in battle it was able by the assidu-
ous nurture of selfishness to undermine their civic virtue
so that in time they fell an easy prey to those who were
eager for their destruction. The citizen preferred ease
and personal gratification to liberty maintained by per-
sonal sacrifices. With the decay of civic virtue, literature
sank lower and lower until it was no longer worthy of the
name. The spirit that once made the Athenian proud of
his nationality, of the beauty of his native city, of the
splendor of her festivals, the genius of her artists, the glory
of her choric exhibitions, that made him boast of the re-
nown of her achievements in everything that was noble, no
longer animated him, and the self-seeking Greek had be-
come a byword and a reproach.


SELF-RENUNCIATION.
173
Many centuries later on another continent a feeble nation
is engaged in a life and death struggle with a powerful
enemy. . But it was not entered upon in the spirit of self-
seeking. No sentiment was more frequently uttered than
that growing out of the conviction that it was not so much
for the benefit of the contemporaries as for the good of
those yet unborn. Luxury had not yet undermined civic
virtue and the contest ended as every such contest ends,
not in favor of the strongest but of the most worthy.
Less than a century ago Germany lay prostrate before
the overwhelming power of Napoleon. He had been vic-
torious as long as there had been but little self in his plans.
The baseness of the self-seeking German princes had
brought untold misery upon their subjects. But to them
as to our forefathers the burden became unbearable and
forgetting self they determined to throw it off. They felt
that the sufferings of the present, great as they might be,
were not to be compared with the glory that should fol-
low. And their faith was not in vain. Just as the de-
generate* Greek subjects of the Macedonian and the Roman
Empire looked back with pride at the deeds of his fore-
fathers, even when he was too weak to imitate their exam-
ples, so the German of to-day no less than the American
regards the deeds of a century past with an ever-growing
satisfaction. Degenerate indeed is he who can dwell in
spirit upon those former days of toil and sacrifice and
heroism without feeling that he would gladly have shared
them because, great as may have been the cost, the reward
is still greater. Yet the success of every holy cause must
be purchased with sacrifices, not only of blood, which many
are ready to make, but of self in a hundred other ways,
to which a much smaller number of souls is adequate.
Let us not be misled by our admiration for the past; let


174 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
us not sigh because we live in these degenerate times, as
they are often called; there is a future joined to every
present, and opportunity is never wanting to him who
will use it.
It is worth at least a passing remark that many are to-
day seeking their temporal salvation through the same
methods that preserved it to the foremost nations of an-
tiquity. They would make the commonwealth all-power-
ful, the individual nothing, except so far as he contributed
his mite to the formation of public opinion. Few, I be-
lieve, who advocate the self-abnegation demanded by so-
cialism are aware that they are advocating a return to a
condition of society that has been outgrown forever. But
the obligation of every man to the community is as binding
now as it ever was, only the recognition of that obligation
must find expression voluntarily. No man's services to
his country or to any cause is worth anything if his first
object is to benefit himself to the exclusion of others.
When two parties contend for a loaf, each expecting to get
two-thirds, both are sure to be disappointed. The cate-
gorical imperative represents our perfect rule of conduct
and we approach perfection as we approach a realization
of it in our lives.
The spirited lines of Scott forcibly express the great fact
that only the unselfish man can be a lover of his country.
"High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power and pelf,
The wretch concentred all in self,
Living shall forfeit fair renown,
And doubly dying shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored and unsung."


SELF-RENUNCIATION.
175
Those nations, both ancient and modern, have made the
greatest progress among whom the law of self-denial was
most vigorous in the national consciousness. Otherwise
it is simply a thing to laugh at, like the silly pride of the
modern Spaniard or Turk. The nations of the East had
no coherence, except to some extent the Jewish, because
their units were held together by an external force. How
proud were the citizens of Rome to be called by that august
name, how eager to purchase the title when not born to
it! It is not a mere accident that so many founders and
reformers of Greek states, as well as of Rome, live in le-
gend as having freely offered their lives for the good of
their country. The most ignorant could appreciate this
embodiment of the national consciousness in flesh and
blood, and feel the inspiration to imitate them.
After the states of modern Europe began to emerge from
the darkness of the Middle Ages it was in France first that
a strong and permanent national feeling was developed;
and it is a trite remark that France' led the civilization of
modern Europe. National salvation, national greatness,
civilization in its highest and best sense is only possible in
a country a majority of whose citizens voluntarily place
country before self, even to the extent of all that men hold
dear.
I do not forget that patriotism in the vigorous language
of Dr. Johnson, may be the last refuge of a scoundrel.
There is little hope for a country where its citizens say "our
country right or wrong." Patriotism is only worthy of
that sacred name when it puts national honor and honesty
first and national greatness last, for that greatness is alone
permanent which is founded upon that rock of truth and
right. National power should be used to promote most
vigorously only those principles that are imperishable in
human constitutions.


176 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
A recent writer applies the words of Froude upon Davis,
the English navigator, to the case of John Brown, and I
use them here because they fully describe the condition of
life that I am now trying to sketch, "A melancholy end
for such a man—the end of a warrior, not dying Epamin-
ondas-like on the field of victory, but cut off in a poor
brawl or ambuscade. Life with him was not a summer
holiday, but a holy sacrifice offered up to duty, and what
his master sent was welcome. It was hard, rough, and
thorny, trodden with bleeding feet and aching brow, the
life of which the cross is the symbol; a battle which no
peace follows this side the grave; which the grave gapes to
finish before the victory is won; and strange that it should
be so—this is the highest life of man. Look back along
the great names of history; there are none whose life has
been other than this. They to whom it has been given to
do the really highest work in this world, whoever they are,
Jew or Gentile, Pagan or Christian, warriors, legislators,
philosophers, priests, poets, kings, slaves—one and all,
their fate has been the same: the same bitter cup has been
given them to drink."
"Whether on the scaffold high,
Or in the battle's van,
The fittest place where man can die,
Is where he dies for man."
We live in times where personal valor no longer finds
constant and fit expression in terms of bodily prowess;
it is less necessary that one or a few shall die for the many.
But it is not the less necessary that each shall exercise his
proper share of self-denial that the community receive no
detriment. Salvation through self-denial is the formula


SELF-RENUNCIATION.
177
which expresses objectively the idea embodied in the well-
known words, salvation through faith.
In one case we speak in the language of philosophy, in
the other in the language of theology. Through salvation
by faith we save ourselves, through salvation by self-denial
we save our fellow-men.
Here we have the law of human progress, yet while con-
stantly recognizing, how constantly do men resist it.
Against no other law of the spirit does he make such unin-
terrupted though it may be silent resistance. In order to
get into the kingdom he is willing to expend ten times the
strength that would take him into the strait gate, in order
to get in some other way, provided his feelings of selfish-
ness be gratified. He wants his own neighbors to see the
feat of scaling the wall, of breaking a breach, or to know
how much time he spent on it, or a monument to commem-
orate the achievement. How many there are who would
purchase health of body or purity of heart at any price
except that of a bad habit! How many there are who
would purchase learning, public gratitude or posthumous
fame at any price except that of constitutional disinclina-
tion to exertion!
But God will not have it so. We all must pay the same
price for real excellence, and no one can pay it for us, and
that price is self-denial.
The sentiments with which a people regards the spirit of
self-denial and self-sacrifice is an index of its place along
the scale of civilization. The degenerate Carthagenians
endeavored to purchase the favor of the gods by the sacri-
fice of their children to Moloch. Many an Indian has
hoped to purchase heaven by death under the wheels of
Juggernaut's car. Not a few Christians have sought to
12


SELF-RENUNCIATION.
179
•
moral excellence. Almost in the same words the his-
torian of European morals says: "The first condition of
all really great moral excellence is a spirit of genuine self-
sacrifice and self-renunciation." Nor is there anything sur-
prising in this. So long as our lower and carnal self is
our master it is not possible for us to follow the guidance
of our higher and spiritual self. Men in all the stages of
civilization have instinctively felt this and unconsciously
recognized it. The Buddha's highest claim to admiration
lay in the fact that he renounced kingship to minister to
the poor and humble. The Savior of mankind left a
greater kingdom for a like purpose. There are no heroes,
whether real or legendary, so fondly remembered as those
who have sacrificed themselves for the good of others. The
Athenians thought no one worthy to reign after King
Kodrus, who made himself a voluntary offering for the sal-
vation of his country.
The Romans cherished with feelings stronger than ven-
eration the remembrance of Horatius and Regulus. Arnold
Winkelried is held up as an example not only by his own
countrymen but his devotion to country is regarded as an
inheritance in which all patriots may share. No man is so
great that he could not enhance his reputation by saving
the life of a child at the risk of his own, or sacrificing his
own in the attempt to do so. Some people may think that
it is the element of personal bravery that charms men in
instances such as these. But personal bravery displayed
upon an unworthy object is mere foolhardiness for which all
right minded persons feel only contempt. If there be any
virtue in this it is that of the bull-dog rather than of a
human being.
But self-sacrificing for a national cause is not the only
sacrifice that finds a permanent and cherished place in the


180 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
human heart. There are no scenes in the Greek mythology
which poets have dwelt on more fondly and which audi-
ences tired less of seeing upon the stage than Antigone
braving the wrath of the cruel Kreon and a horrible death
in order to perform the last rites of affection over the dead
bodies of her brothers; than Alkestis laying down her life
voluntarily that her husband might live; than the strife be-
tween Orestes and Pylades as to which should die for the
other. Few are they in any audience who would not ad-
mire and applaud such heroic deeds though they might fall
far short of the nobleness of mind which would enable them
to do likewise. It is when no element of personal interest
hinders the soul from beeing an act of self-denial in its di-
vine loveliness that the highest motives of the human heart
assert themselves. It is then that the spark kindled from
heaven is fanned into at least a momentary flame and the
ignoblest soul manifests its divine origin. The chief spirit-
ual nourishment of the mediaeval church for centuries was
the lives of the saints which abounded in acts of self-denial,
voluntary poverty and devotion to the cause of the poor and
lowly. The legend which bore the current epithet of the
golden and which Longfellow has clothed in a modern
poetic garb is a type of this class of stories. And these
gained new currency by the example of many whose lives
are briefly recorded in the New Testament. No matter
how little is told us of the representative characters therein
named, we find at least this, that they strove to do their
Father's will rather than their own. It was not alone the
divinity of Christ that charmed the world, it was also the
essential humanity of his disciples that centered not in self,
but in others. He who would never cease to grow, intellectu-
ally, morally and spiritually, must engage in a life-long
contest with the unconscious selfish impulses of his nature.


SELF-RENUNCIATIOS'.
183
the lowly; yet it is only the self-denying efforts of such
that keeps the social classes from arraying themselves
against each other for mutual destruction.
It is becoming more painfully evident from day to day
that our traditional political economy needs to be in part
reconstructed, and merged in or at least largely recon-
sidered with reference to that wider subject, social ethics.
No people can be permanently prosperous whose policy it is
to build up their own enterprises at the expense of all
other nations. The doctrine of the mutual interdepend-
ence of all governments has always had some advocates,
but their ideas are found in books rather than in practice.
Albeit, there are some clear signs, it seems to me, that
some of the nations of the earth are beginning in their
dealings, both with each other and with their own subjects,
to recognize that secure possessions are more to be valued
than large ones. And I would fain believe, too, that an
increasing number of persons are coming to recognize the
fact that the most valuable possessions are not those that
can be measured or weighed or counted, but are something
far less gross, and in several senses far less difficult of at-
tainment.
Christianity is pre-eminently the doctrine of self-denial.
Not that it has not been taught elsewhere in isolated cases;
but nowhere else is there so much stress laid on the fact
that it is better to suffer affliction with the children of
God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. The
author of "Four Phases of Morals" truthfully says: "We
must observe that the Christian is pre-eminently equipped
with that self-denial and self-control * * * which
are the necessary postulates of all moral excellence. A
man who will take the world easily will never take it
grandly; all excellent things are difficult. The Christian


184 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
recognizes the difficulty but delights in it as the stout old
Eoman did in the foes which added fuel to his victories, or
as the strong modern engineer does in mountains, that
he may show the triumph of his art in boring through
them or in winding around them. The man of genius de-
nies himself in a thousand ways that he may work out a
perfect body for the imaginary ideals that possess him;
the great soldier denies himself through leagues of hard-
ships that he may repel the rude invader and preserve the
honor of his country unstained; and the man of virtue
must deny himself also, if virtue is a thing which a crea-
ture of high enterprise and lofty purpose may reasonably
have to do with." It is every man's bounden duty "to real-
ize as much goodness as possible in his own personal life
and in the life of that society of which he is a part, by the
two-fold process of nursing virtues and weeding out vices:
an ideal which can never be reached by those who com-
mence life, after the Epicurean fashion, with a low calcula-
tion of pleasures and pains, but by those who are inspired
by the vision of what Plato preached as divine ideas and
Paul as divine commands."
The vitality of this doctrine is something wonderful.
Despite the constant assaults of all the lower impulses in
man's nature it has lived, has never been without its repre-
sentatives. It is the vital and vivifying spark that is found
in every human bosom, and which is almost sure to be
at least occasionally fanned into a momentary flame. But
in the heart of the Christian it burns steadily casting light
upon his pathway and making him a conspicuous object
among his fellow-men. It must not be lost sight of that
Christianity does not mean ecclesiasticism, yet people make
no more frequent mistake than to regard the words Chris-
tian and member of a Christian church as synonyms.


8ELF-RENWSCIATI0N.
185
Often a man's zeal in behalf of his church makes him to-
tally forgetful of what his profession as a Christian de-
mands of him. Christ Himself founded no church, but
only laid down a rule of life the fundamental precept of
which is that men ought to deny themselves in obedience
to a higher law, "a diviner impulse. But alas how many
mistake form for substance, ceremony for sacrifice, and a
less gross form of selfishness for self-denial!
It might be supposed that the evolutionary doctrine of
ethics would look coldly upon the enthusiasm of kindness.
But it, too, is found upon the side of Christianity when
comparing the respective merits of egoism and altruism.
It leaves us in no doubt as to which represents the higher
law. Its great Apostle expresses surprise "that any one
should have formulated his experience by saying that the
conditions to success are a hard heart and a sound diges-
tion." He regards this formula marvelous, considering
the many proofs that success, even of a material kind, de-
pends upon the good offices of others. He further says:
"That to see that those who care nothing for the feelings
of others are, by implication shut out from a wide range
of aesthetic pleasure it needs but to ask whether men who
delight in dog-fights may be expected to appreciate Beetho-
ven's Adelaide, or whether Tennyson's In Memoriam
would greatly move a gang of convicts."
The pedestrian along the eastern shore of Lake Zug in
Switzerland may notice near the highway where it crosses
a narrow valley, a plain monument. Drawing near he may
read that it was erected to commemorate the brave deed
of a young man who lost his life in an unselfish but vain
attempt to rescue two girls who were carried down the
ravine by a sudden rise of the mountain stream flowing
through it. Had he died the death of thousands of his


186 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
peers he would be quietly sleeping to-day in an unknown
grave. Though the three persons were irrevocably buried
in the lake, their neighbors were not willing to let the
memory of the heroic attempt at rescue be forgotten, and
they in their humble way immortalized it. In like manner
-Grace Darling, Ida Lewis and others would never have
been known outside of a narrow circle had not similar deeds
immortalized them and caused their names to be placed in
every cyclopedia.
While it may be true to some extent that the evil which
men do lives after them, it is not so tenacious of life as
the good that they have done. Each succeeding biographer
of the men and women whom the world used to regard as
bad and only bad finds a little more to commend in their
lives. In many cases a single good deed has illuminated
a life which but for it would have been wholly dark.
Hardly a year passes that we do not hear of some new proj-
ect to commemorate a life or a deed that had, for a time,
perhaps for centuries, been forgotten. Time makes a won-
derful change in the relative importance of human ac-
tions. Stephen Girard was an important man in his day,
but he is now remembered not because of his wealth as a
whole but because of that portion which he devoted to the
establishment and support of a college for orphans. The
millionaires of our day will be remembered only so long as
the monuments of their benevolence endure. But for these,
future generations will take no more interest in their
names than it does in that of Croesus or Lucullus.
It is a sorry spectacle to see a man or woman of intelli-
gence frittering away a large part of life over such triviali-
ties as how a thing is to be eaten or how it is to be worn.
Not that such things are not entitled to any share of our
attention, but verily not the chief share. What does justly


SELF-RENUNCIATION.
187
claim our chief attention is self-improvement through the
diligent and constant search for truth and knowledge, and
the purification of the soul from vulgar fears and base de-
sires: those things which tend to lead us in pursuit of
that which is worthy of a true man or woman. Next in
order come those objects which tend to elevate the com-
munity of which we form a part. If we can not do both
we can at least do one. It is right that charity should be-
gin at home, no matter how narrow the circb which you
designate by this name; but it is worth little if it stops
there. To do these things so as to accomplish any results
worthy of the name there is needed no small amount of
intelligence, a pure heart and an honest purpose, on the
part of our better and higher self as against our baser and
lower. The greater part of our efforts will not be appreci-
ated by our contemporaries, yet they will not therefore
have been in vain. The sublimest courage is often the
courage of failure, the courage to lead a forlorn hope.
We dare not say, I have done some deeds of benevolence,
but they were not appreciated or were met with ingratitude,
henceforth I propose to serve myself only. It is those few
disinterested, though it may be temporarily unappreciated
benefits, that are from time to time conferred upon others
that advance the world, and elevate the human race: all
the rest that we do perishes with us, or in the doing.
I believe that the true philosophy of life is found in
the words of that mother who said, "I have spent more
than half a lifetime of self-denial in bringing up and
properly educating a large family, in the constant effort to
set them a worthy example, and to provide for them every-
thing really needful. And now, as I begin to see that my
voluntary cares have not been in vain, that my labors do


188 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
not end with those upon whom they were bestowed, but
go on in ever widening circles, I am a thousand times re-
paid. The seedtime and the sowing that was spent in
sacrifice is nearly past, but the harvest is becoming richer
and more abundant as the years go on."
It is a current tradition that when Anne Boleyn learned
of her condemnation she said, "I care little what becomes
of me—my child will at least be royal." The sentiment is
a noble one and well worthy of the mother of the illus-
trious Elizabeth. But it may have a wider application.
It matters little what becomes of each present generation
if that which succeeds is better and wiser.
I may fitly close this discourse by a brief reference to one
of Browning's poems in which as in so many others the
author gives us his interpretation of life and its rela-
tion to duty. In "The Boy and the Angel" a boy in a
monastery follows his craft as a shoemaker, doing his
work well and praising God. Blaise, the monk, tells him
that his praise reaches his Creator as surely as the Pope's
at the Easter Festival in Rome. But this did not satisfy
the youth's ambition; he longed to praise God in some
great way. In time he realized his ambition, and with
Gabriel's help became Pope. As there was now no one
to do the work the boy had left the angel took his place;
however, the work and the praise were not the boy's.
When the angel became conscious of this he went to Rome,
found there the Pope preparing the great Easter Festival,
proud of his realized ambition. Gabriel made known to
him life as he now sees it: man can only do God's work in
his own proper sphere. The Pope, too, saw his mistake,
went back to his bench and remained there till he died. A


SELF-RENUNCIATION.
189
new Pope dwelt in St. Peters. He died also, and both
shoemaker and Pope went to God together.
"One vanished as the other died:
They sought God side by side."
How much better it is to encourage ourselves as well
as others to do to the best of our ability whatever is worth
doing rather than to strive for some larger sphere in
which we may perhaps waste our strength in the struggle,
so that even if we reach the goal of our ambition we shall
have little energy left to make ourselves useful in it. If
we fail our life is sure to fall short of its full fruition and
it may fall far short. Better is it to be a thoroughly
honest and competent shoemaker than the inefficient ruler
of the widest realm the world ever saw,


FICTION AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION.
It must be evident to every one who takes note of the
main current of contemporary thought that it is essen-
tially materialistic. "Other-worldliness" is one of the least
prominent characteristics of the present generation. It is
bent on having a good time in this world, be the conse-
quences in the next what they may. In education the cry is,
"Teach facts," and by facts thus understood are always
meant external phenomena, rather than the experiences of
psychic life. It is demanded of teachers that in their in-
struction they shall lay the chief stress on those things that
can be weighed and measured and counted. A liberal edu-
cation, one that is not a direct aid to getting on in the
world, has come to be almost a thing of the past.
It is not here contended that this state of affairs is
wholly new. More than half a century ago, Thomas Grad-
grind, who may be taken as the type of a class, said, "Now,
what I want is facts. Facts alone are wanted in life.
Plant nothing else and root out everything else. You can
only form the mind of reasoning animals upon facts; noth-
ing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the
principle upon which I bring up my own children, and this
is the principle upon which I bring up these children.
Stick to facts, sir." Yet, as is 30 often the case in this
(190)


FICTION AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION.
191
world reputed to be so thoroughly matter-of-fact, Grad-
grind, when in sore trouble, was consoled and strengthened
by two of the most unpractical people imaginable. While,
then, the clamor for facts is not now heard for the first
time, it was probably never heard in so many quarters, nor
does it seem to have been so persistently reiterated.
In view of these conditions it will be interesting to take
a passing glance at the part played by fiction, the culture
of the imagination through poetry and the novel, in the
education of the human race. Let us begin with the peo-
ple that may justly be regarded as the torch-bearers of
civilization. Such a survey, however brief, must make it
plain that the fictitious element in literature has been
a very potent force in human progress—a great deal more
so than what is usually called history. So much that is
subjective is injected into almost all history that rises
above the grade of mere annals that if the reader had not
the names of leading characters to guide him he would
sometimes be led to question whether two authors who are
professedly dealing with the same period or persons are do-
ing so in reality. History, if of any value, must set forth the
truth; yet as a matter of fact almost all history is re-
written two or three times in a century, and always ac-
cording to a standard more or less determined by the per-
sonal equation of the writer. Less than half a dozen his-
torical works produced three or four generations ago are
still regarded as well worth reading. While it is true that
time has not dimmed the luster or impaired the value of
some of the histories that have survived from pre-chris-
tian times, it might be said of at least a few of these that
they are the only records we have. If we are unwilling to
accept their testimony there is nothing to put in their
place. Plainly, then, the student of history is rarely cer-


192 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
tain that he is dealing with facts, and sticklers for facta
can hardly hope to find them except where they can be
brought under their personal observation or verified by
experiment.
A careful study of the laws of the physical universe and
their application to the affairs of life has probably done
much to increase the happiness of mankind; yet as we
have no method by which we can measure pleasure and
pain, it would be rash to affirm this with positiveness. But
it can not be denied that our knowledge is far in advance
of our practice. Would it not be a fortunate thing for
the world if not another new discovery were made for a
hundred years to come, to the end that men might have
time to make full use of what they already know? If
progress in this direction were barred, the next two or
three generations would have time to exploit fully and in
a practical way the truths that are already common prop-
erty, as well as to give the more earnest heed to man's
spiritual and moral needs. The saddest reflection sug-
gested by the history of mankind is that their knowledge
has always been far in advance of practice.
The imagination has played a large part in the drama
of human life and has had much influence in shaping the
destinies of nations. It enables men to put themselves
outside of their bodies and above their milieu where they
may realize with greater vividness the hopes, feelings, emo-
tions and sentiments of their fellow-beings. When the
imagination is kept under the control of reason and trained
by logical methods so that it shall not run into the wild
extravagances that characterize the literature of the East,
as exemplified in the Arabian Nights, it is man's noblest
faculty. Its influence in art, in literature, in morals,
even in science, can not easily be over-estimated. The


FICTION AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION. 195
character received the careful attention of smaller coteries
of philosophers. No one needs to be told what a superla-
tively excellent mental discipline it is to be associated with
persons who habitually express themselves with precision
and conciseness, nor how much modern life loses in this
respect by the reading habit. The finest thoughts are
only half comprehended in the haste to get over many
pages. Little time is taken for reflection and none for re-
production.
If by education we mean the putting in action all
those forces that enlighten the understanding, stimulate
the power of thought and cultivate the taste, the ancient
Greeks had formulated, in a large measure unconsciously,
an educational system that has not been surpassed, prob-
ably not equaled. That it had its limitations and what
they were has to some extent been pointed out in another
paper. When we consider the small number of free citi-
zens that Athens contained at any one time and the extra-
ordinary large proportion of great men among them we are
compelled to admit that a like condition of affairs has never
existed since. Indeed it is doubtful whether during any
one century in the history of the world there have lived as
many men that have exercised so profound an influence on
human thought as those who spent the whole or part of
their lives in one small city in the century that was about
equally divided by the year B. C. 400. What will seem
most surprising to many persons is the fact that this in-
tellectual pre-eminence was produced upon what would at
the present day be regarded as pitifully meager pedagogical
material. This consisted of little else than the Homeric
Poems and political institutions of such a type that the
intellectual powers of those living under them were stimu-
lated to the highest degree. The Greek people were in a


FICTION AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION. 197
crete thinking, names stand for types. Thus the poet
arouses an interest in his men and women when clothed in
flesh and blood and named that could be affected in no
other way. Impersonal character studies are to most peo-
ple insufferably dull reading. To the majority of the
Greeks their national heroes were real persons, and some
of them may have been so, but others judged more cor-
rectly: yet even with this deduction their legends had
their interest and value, as they still have. They are por-
trayals of Greek life, thought, and institutions. They
could scarcely be less true if such persons as Agamem-
non and Achilles, Hector and Andromache, Ulysses and
Penelope and many others never existed. In this re-
spect they are to be classed with the great novels of which
the present century has produced such a number that it
seems invidious to name any. It would be hard, if not
impossible, to point out works professing to be history
that are truer to life than Waverley, Guy Mannering, and
Ivanhoe; than Tom Jones or Lorna Doone or Romola.
What single book gives the reader a more just idea of the
means and methods by which France was consolidated than
Quentin Durward; or of the character and last days of
Charles the Bold, than Anne of Geierstein; or of the mor-
als of a certain class of Englishmen and English women
during the Napoleonic era, than Vanity Fair, or of the
feelings of the common people in France during the same
period, than the Erckman-Chatrian novels? In all these
the purely fictitious is no more than the frame in which
the picture is set or the canvas on which it is painted. It
may be compared to the sugar-coating on the pill; the
medicine thus disguised is easier to swallow while its effi-
cacy is in nowise impaired. The life of Washington as a
whole is none the less true or his character none the less


198
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
correctly portrayed if the story of the hatchet be a myth;
nor is Tell any the less truly a representative man of his
time if a person bearing this name never existed. The
tragic death of Antigone, as represented by the poet, for
performing what she believed to be a pious duty moves us
no less profoundly than the closing scene in the cell of
Socrates as set forth by the historian. For the culture of
the mind and heart, psychological truth is more valuable
than the historical verities; it is neither limited in time
nor confined by space. Hamerton has well stated the
case when he says, "Thackeray and Balzac will make it
possible for our descendants to live over again in the Eng-
land and France of to-day. Seen in this light the novel-
ist has a higher office than merely to amuse his contem-
poraries; he hands them down all living and talking to the
remotest ages." Thackeray himself said, "Out of the
fictitious book I get the expression of the life, of the times,
of the manners, of the merriment, of the dress, the plea-
sure, the laughter, the ridicule of society; the old times
live over again and I tread in the old country of England.
Can the heaviest historian do more for me."
If we desire to harmonize our conduct. with the moral
order of the world or contemplate the manifestation of the
laws of beauty and truth we can find lessons anywhere
and everywhere.
The common people of mediaeval Europe fed the crav-
ings of their moral nature almost entirely on fairy tales
and legendary lore of a similarly unhistorical character.
Amid the social chaos of a thousand years the sagas of the
Nibelungen Circle, the stories of the Knights of the Round
Table and the myths that attached themselves to the name
of Charlemagne—the last two especially—are noteworthy
for certain moral qualities that pervade them in spite of


FICTION AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION.
199
much that grates harshly on modern nerves. The Gesta
Romanorum and Aesop's Fables, with their numerous
progeny, are more prosaic, more allegorized and more di-
rectly didactic. While much of this literature has its som-
ber side, I recall but one popular allegory that sets forth
in detail the career of a successful villain, namely Reynard
the Fox. Yet even this cunning rogue is more shrewd than
wicked. Usually he makes his enemies to fall into the
same pit they had digged for him. Generally the authors
of mediaeval romances of whatever name or sort linger
with evident satisfaction on the virtues of courage, self-sac-
rifice, chastity and their kin. They rarely fail to make
prominent those higher aspirations that dwell in the bo-
soms of almost all men and at times influence even the
worst. In spite of the fact that the founder of Chris-
tianity manifested a deep interest in children and that
his immediate successors followed his example the peda-
gogy of the Christian Church almost up to our own day
was brutal in the extreme. Not only is this true of the
schools, but family government was usually of the same
type. Hardly anybody seems to have cared to take the
trouble to understand children. Every real or supposed
delinquency was treated as a willful crime, not as the re-
sult of an error of judgment. The government and train-
ing of children remained essentially heathen long after
Europe had become nominally Christian. The Roman
Orbilius, whom the poet Horace has immortalized with the
epithet "plagosum," has had a numerous spiritual prog-
eny. I remember a saying of Luther's to the effect that he
was whipped at school fourteen times in a single half-day.
At home he fared but little better. I recall but one child
that is treated by an ancient classical author with marked
interest and affection: it is the boy Ascanius. But he is


200
WISDOM AXD WILL IX EDVCATIOX.
chiefly of importance to Virgil because he is destined to
be the progenitor of a royal house. It is true Plato, Quin-
tillian and other writers have more or less to say about the
training of children; but the former regards them as a sort
of necessary evil, a species of wild animal that needs to
be tamed before anything can be made of him.*
Careful students of Shakespeare have called attention to
the fact that in spite of his many-sidedness he shows little
sympathy with children and child-life. When he appears
to take any interest in children—and this is rarely—his
interest is akin to that which we find manifested in Greek
and Roman antiquity; it is not because of what they are
but because of what they may become or on account of the
importance of their ancestors. With all his myriad-mind-
edness the prince of poets could or would not grasp the sig-
nificance of childhood in the development of the human
race. That it is possible, in a great measure, to change
'Terence says: "He is sadly mistaken, at least in my opinion,
who holds that the government is more potent or more stable
which constrains by force rather than binds by amity. This is my
way of thinking, and so I have made up my mind. He who per-
forms his duty under compulsion only does so as long as he thinks
he is watched. When he believes that he is not observed he re-
turns to his natural state of mind. He whom you bind by a
favor acts in sincerity, seeks to repay in kind, and, whether
present or absent, remains the same. This is a father's duty:
to accustom his son to do right of his own accord rather than
from fear of another. This is the difference between a father
and a master. Let him who can not do this acknowledge that
he does not know how to manage his children."
These reflections are not original with the Roman poet. Socra-
tes and other Greek thinkers had said the same thing centuries
before. That you can not always trust to mild measures goes
without saying; that they ought to be the rule, not the excep-
tion, should be equally self-evident.


FICTION AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION.
201
the course of events by the judicious training of children
seems not to have occurred to him. Most of his dramas
show that a fundamental article of his creed was, If you
do wrong, if you sin against the moral order of the world
you will surely be punished for your evil deeds; but it does
not seem to have occurred to him that society is under
obligations so to train the rising generation that when it
comes upon the scene of active life it shall deviate from the
right as little as possible.
Interest in childhood and children really dates from the
time of Rousseau. Of this paradoxical man it may almost be
said that he discovered children; he at least succeeded in
convincing the world that they have rights that adults are
bound to respect. No single writer has contributed so
much toward revolutionizing the current theories of educa-
tion as he. Everybody read his books, and to read was to
be converted to his theory. Here was a man who at last
realized to its full significance that instruction should be
adapted to the child, not the child forced to conform as well
as might be to a ready-made system. As no one had ever
seriously attempted to put in practice such a theory as he
advocated, except possibly on a small scale, he was obliged
to resort to fiction to show how his plans were to be carried
out. Like all writers of fiction he exaggerated. Not only
did he paint social conditions darker than they were, but
he proposed reforms than can never be realized to the ex-
tent that he believed possible. In order to get something
he demanded a great deal. In order to make his readers
see the need of a process of purification for the social system
he boldly asserted that society was rotten to the core. In
order to expose the defects of the current educational meth-
ods he declared unequivocally that they were without a
single redeeming feature. Except for him we should never


FICTION AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION. 205
without making them unnatural. Little Dorrit, Little
Nell, Little Paul, Oliver Twist and others of his juvenile
characters have become household words.
Recent French literature brings to our attention some
interesting children of both sexes. Little Gavroche is a
masterly study of the typical Paris gamin. But his un-
timely end leaves a sad impression on the mind of the
reader. An English writer would hardly have closed the
career of the poor waif as Hugo has done. On the other
hand the vicissitudes of Cosette, in spite of her ignoble
origin, arouse a multitude of varied emotions in the reader
and exhibit the remarkable gifts of the great Frenchman
in a striking light. Indeed, Hugo, is at his best when por-
traying children. Rose and Blanche, in the "Wandering
Jew," are two girls that hold the attention of the reader
through a long and somewhat rambling story. The myriad
minded Balzac is also at home in this field. Little Pierre
in George Sand's Mare au Diable is a delightful study
and serves to show both the skill of the distinguished au-
thor and her insight into the juvenile mind. German lit-
erature, too, possesses an extensive gallery of children's
portraits; which is but natural for the land that has pro-
duced the charming Tales collected by the Brothers Grimm
and others. The novelists had lovingly studied children
long before the psychologists thought of doing so, and
many of them were quite as successful, if they did not
follow strictly scientific methods. Verily, ours is the age
of children.
Just as we can gauge the culture of an individual by the
kind of fiction he reads when left to his own choice, so we
can, at least in a great measure estimate the moral qualities
of a nation by the imaginative literature on which it feeds.
It is perhaps unduly venturesome to pronounce judgment


20G
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
upon a people's literature except after a very wide reading;
yet I am compelled to believe that there is a sad lack of
that imaginative element in French literature, including
its poetry, as well as in that of the Latin nations generally,
which discerns intuitively the moral order of the world
and seeks to represent it concretely both in the life of in-
dividuals and in the social group. No German or English
poet would treat the memory of a national character of
such prominence and sanctity as Joan of Arc, as Voltaire,
the greatest name in French literature has treated hers.
Matthew Arnold rightly says: "When we look at the popu-
lar literature of the French at this moment and at the life
of which this literature of theirs is the index, one is
tempted to make a goddess out of a word of their own, and
then, like the town-clerk of Ephesus, to ask, 'What man
is there that knoweth not that the city of the French is a
worshipper of the great goddess Lubricity ?'" French
literature is primarily scientific in spirit; then ascetic in
form, and only lastly ethical in purpose. In English fic-
tion these three attributes are reversed.
Of Germany's great literary trinity, at least two mem-
bers, Lessing and Schiller, persistently keep the moral ele-
ment in the foreground, while Goethe divides his atten-
tion about equally between the three factors. Is it too
much to say that the remarkable growth and expansion of
the Germanic peoples, especially those whose native speech
is English, as compared with the static condition of the Latin
races, is largely due to their view of life as reflected in
their imaginative literature? The person who fears not
God nor regards man is a favorite character in French fic-
tion. Not so in English. The English have the reputa-
tion of being eminently practical; but in their fiction they
are pronounced idealists. The ever recurrent theme, the


• FICTION A8 A FACTOR IN EDUCATION. 207
one on which constant changes are rung, is the need of
moral and social regeneration. In the realm of the imag-
ination no leading part must be assigned to the man or
woman that is out of harmony with the moral order, by a
writer who seeks popularity. What is morally hideous
must be kept in the background. In French fiction the
conditions are in a great measure reversed. The villain
is a favorite character. Ignoble characters and the social
conditions amid which he moves and thrives are a favorite
theme. Noble characters are not lacking, but they are
too often weak; they arouse our sympathy more than they
excite our admiration. They seem to be created merely
to provide victims for the strong and wicked.
America has not been behind the other civilized nations
in assigning an important place to children in its literature
of fiction. Many of the novels of the last half century
are veritable revelations in this regard. It would be an
interesting study for one who had the time and the ca-
pacity for such work, to extract from representative recent
novels the varied conceptions of childhood as set forth by
their authors. What has already been done has shown
that Wordsworth was right when he called the child father
to the man, and that the field for the study of child-types
is almost as illimitable as that offered for the study of
adults. It would not be the less interesting to estimate, so
far as that is possible, the debt the children of the present
generation owe to these delightful and instructive studies.
There is no doubt that the important place assigned to
children in modern fiction has produced the most far-
reaching results, at the same time that it is of permanent
psychological importance. As has already been shown, an-
tiquity took little interest in children. The Middle Ages
followed its example. Of all the Greek poets Euripides


208 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
had the widest sympathies and the largest intellectual out-
look, if not the deepest penetration. He brings several
children on the stage in his dramas. But what caricatures
they are! He shows at once that he knew nothing about
the mind of the child, for we may be sure that the chil-
dren of his day were not so unlike those of our own that
they talked and acted like adults. He makes it plain to
his readers that he never thought it worth while,—perhaps
he considered it beneath his dignity,—to try to comprehend
a child's thoughts and feelings.
The wide currency of the fables attributed to Aesop has
already been alluded to. In fact, the Fable, the Allegory
and the Parable or Story have from time immemorial been
favorite vehicles of instruction among peoples both civilized
and uncivilized. The phenomenal popularity of Bunyan's
works, especially his "Pilgrim's Progress," the greatest
and best sustained allegory ever written, is well known.
While it is not historically true, and the author's dramatis
personae never existed under the names he gives to them,
they are real men and real women nevertheless; the situ-
ations in which he places them are so true to life that every
Christian recognizes at a glance the experience they are
designed to portray. Christ frequently conveys His les-
sons in the form of a parable, and those of Jotham and
Nathan in the Old Testament are among the best of their
kind. The fables current under the name of Pilpay be-
long to the oldest in existence. Their origin reaches back
to the remotest antiquity. "In India from the earliest
time the parable or example has been the recognized
method of conveying moral instruction. In the didactic
literature, some general truth or some rule of life is stated
in the form of a maxim and a fable or other story is added
as a concrete instance. The folk-lore of which these are


FICTION AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION.
209
a reflex is not the exclusive property of the great religions
of India, but is common to Buddhism, Jainism and Brah-
manism alike." A selection from these fables is contained
in one of the earliest books printed; and their popularity
is attested by the fact that four editions were issued from
the press in Ulm between 1483 and 1485. In about a cen-
tury the number of editions had increased to seventeen.
Professor Lanman says: "The great number of editions of
the work and their rapid succession are the best proof of
its importance as a means of instruction and amusement
at the beginning of the age of printing. The examples
themselves had doubtless pointed the moral of many an an-
cient homily before the days of Gutenberg."
Notwithstanding Christ's rebuke to those who thought
he ought to ignore children, it was not till after the lapse
of nearly eighteen centuries that the world began to take
his exhortation to heart. Both Christians and non-Chris-
tians now sought to turn toward the most important mem-
bers of the family. Through literature, in fiction and in
life, practical philanthropists began to labor with increas-
ing earnestness for the amelioration of their condition and
to make some amends for the long neglect. At last their
claims upon the adult world received recognition here and
there. It hardly admits of a doubt that the relatively
rapid progress of pedagogic science within the last half
century is more due to fiction than to any other single
agency. Its unlimited resources enable the novelist to
study and exhibit society from every possible point of view.
While then fiction has from time immemorial been the
greatest teacher of the world it has recently become not'
only a preacher but a practical reformer.
If we were to eliminate from the literature of the world
the element that is usually regarded as fictitious, all the
14


210
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
delightful aroma that pleases and attracts would go with
it. Such a process would deprive us of Bonier and Virgil
and the great tragedies of ancient Greece. It would take
from us the Nibelungen sagas, the Divina Commedia, Don
Quixote and Faust. It would expunge the greater part of
our poetry and the most attractive of our prose. If it did
not sweep away wholly the fruitage it would leave us little
of the bloom of what men have thought and felt and striven
for. It would make the vast field of human experience one
dead level of uniformity instead of the varied and instruc-
tive panorama of mountain and hill and valley, of sea and
lake and river that is spread before us whenever we become
absorbed in some great literary masterpiece. The serious
question is not, Can our boys and girls, and our adults, too,
for that matter, afford to read fiction? it is rather, What
fiction shall they read?
Whatever may be thought of the dictum that the true
artist must neither preach nor teach, it has never been
generally recognized by the English-speaking people.
Their great writers have made it a paramount object to har-
monize the conduct of men with the moral order of the
world, and to lead them to a recognition of this all-per-
vading law. That the poet should be a teacher rather
than a creator was a belief that inspired Milton, Words-
worth, Shelley, Tennyson, Browning and an innumerable
host on both sides of the Atlantic. The same creed is con-
stantly cropping out in those writers of fiction that best
hold their ground in popular esteem. On the other hand
poets who, like Keats and Swinburne put the sensuous fac-
tor in the foreground are either without a well-defined po-
sition in English letters or are not generally read. While,
then, it is true that the English school system has always
left much to be desired, it has been the conviction of the


FICTION AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION. 211
leaders of British thought that the teaching agencies should
take a wider scope. The school has been regarded as but
one of the many forces by which the body politic is to
be enlightened and stimulated. The result has justified
this half unconscious faith. Where the school has been
looked upon as the sole, or at least the principal agency for
moral instruction the result is almost sure to be disappoint-
ing, as has been demonstrated by the recent experience of
France.
'As the Eoman poet would not voluntarily take refuge
under the same tree during a shower nor embark in the
same boat with one who neglected the gods, we should
with equal prudence stand aloof from those who are un-
willing to enter with us the delightful region of the imag-
ination to seek there surcease from the sorrows and disap-
pointments of practical experience and to gain new
strength and new inspiration to sustain us in our labors
for the Good, the Beautiful, the Just and the True. Wisely
does Thackeray say, "Novels are sweets. All people with
healthy literary appetites love them."
I can here quote with entire approval some words from
Euskin's Introduction to an edition of Grimm's German
Popular Stories. "Every fairy tale worth recording at all
is the remnant of a tradition possessing a true historical
value,—historical, at least in so far as it has naturally
arisen out of the mind of a people under special circum-
stances, and risen not without meaning, nor removed alto-
gether from their sphere of religious faith. It sustains
afterward natural changes from the sincere action of the
fear or fancy of successive generations; it takes new color
from their manner of life and new forms from their chang-
ing moral temper. As long as these changes are natural
and effortless, accidental and inevitable, the story remains


HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT.
The belief in heredity, in the transmission of certain
mental qualities from father to son, is as old as the re-
corded history of the human race. Without entering into
a discussion of the origin of tribal society, we find already
among the Israelites a strongly marked feeling of exclusive-
ness growing out of their belief in a descent from a com-
mon ancestor, in virtue of which they belonged to a higher
order of men than the Semitic tribes by whom they were
surrounded. Though Christianity in its inception was
intended by its founders to break down the middle wall
of partition between Jew and Gentile, the early Christians
attached great importance to the evidence that its author
was a legitimate descendant through both parents from the
father of God's chosen people. After the adoption of sacer-
dotal celibacy the transmission of merit from father to
legitimate son became impossible. On the other hand
it may be argued that the doctrine of apostolic succession
was but the reappearance of the same belief in another form.
It is well known that the ancient Greeks laid so much
stress upon a legitimate parentage that their idea of the
state both in theory and practice was entirely founded upon
it. Only under exceptional circumstances were persons of
alien birth admitted to -civil rights. The Spartans traced
(218)


HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT.
215
record of its leading dynasties. So completely has the
great mass of mankind been held spellbound by what many
men regard as a mere delusion that we have no political
history, until comparatively recent times, that is not com-
pletely dominated by it.
No man that has ever lived was less influenced by purely
sentimental considerations than the first Napoleon. He
looked forward only, not back. He aimed at tangible re-
sults of a strictly practical kind, viewed from his personal
standpoint. Yet the time came, and it was when he was
at the acme of power, when he found it advisable to
strengthen his position among the monarchs of Europe by
intermarriage with one of its oldest dynasties. One might
suppose that a man who had achieved what he had, by
the force of genius alone, would take a keen pleasure in
casting ridicule on the pretended claims of superiority
made by the contemporary sovereigns from whom he had
compelled obeisance, by showing the world that he had no
need of the adventitious support of a hereditary royalty.
But he had a mightier force than genius to reckon with,
and he was compelled to bow to it. The time came when
he saw himself forced to secure for himself and especially
for his successors the prestige that noble birth alone could
give. He seems to have believed that a sentiment would
hold for all time to come what force had gained in less
than a generation. But in the end he was sadly mistaken.
It is hard in our day to conceive of anything more ridicu-
lous than the tenacity with which many an insignificant
nobleman, whose only tangible possessions are his debts, to
use an oxymoron, clings to his pedigree, unless it be the
recognition of his silly pretensions by persons who display
good judgment in most other matters.
It is a tendency of the human mind to expect something


216 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
more than ordinary from the descendants of an extraor-
dinary man. There are few persons who will not go at
least a little out of the way to get a glimpse of a man who
bears a name he has inherited from a distinguished an-
cestor. Though the teachings of Christianity have from
the beginning been diametrically against anything that
savors of caste, the Defender of the Faith or his most
Christian majesty would have scouted the suggestion to put
himself on an equality with any of his subjects, even
though they might have had an undisputed claim to an un-
questionable apostolic succession. So widely do men's
professions often diverge from their practice.
Strange as it may seem, the doctrine of the essential
equality of all men on a practical basis did not find its
most vigorous and most eloquent defenders among the
clergy, but among a class of thinkers who acknowledged
scant allegiance to the Christian church. This doctrine
took its rise in France in the middle of the last century,
and found its first application in the sphere of the state in
the American Declaration of Independence; yet with the
usual inconsistency the signers of that document gave the
lie to their professions by holding in slavery some of their
fellow beings on the ground that they were the inferiors
of their masters. Plainly enough "all men" to them did
not mean every man. We are here reminded of the lamen-
tations of the Koman aristocracy over the loss of their lib-
erties, a loss which in the mouths of most of them meant
no more than the curtailment of the privilege of plunder-
ing those who had no redress. The ancients, who never
questioned the justice of slavery as a status, did not deny
that it admitted of exceptions. They freely recognized
that an inherited social condition does not predicate a ser-
vile intellect. Accordingly the manumission of slaves be-


HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT.
217
cause of talent or of services rendered was of frequent
occurrence. The notions of political equality prevalent in
all civilized countries a little more than a hundred years
ago had not yet advanced beyond those maintained by
Aristotle. "Man" was not necessarily conterminous with
"human beings," nor did mere manhood postulate a claim
to the rights of citizenship.
History thus clearly testifies to the almost universal be-
lief in heredity; and the belief is still widely held in one
form or another. For thousands of years it has been regarded
as an almost axiomatic truth that one man is by nature
better, of higher worth, than another, and that this superi-
ority is inherited not only by individuals but by classes or
castes, by those forming the social environment wherein the
individual moved and had his being. Modern historians
admit the truth of this belief, so often and so persistently
maintained by the ancients, by attributing the decay of
most pre-Christian states to the introduction of alien ele-
ments in the population, that had not inherited the con-
servative traditions of government which were the birth-
right of the ruling families. Yet nothing is plainer to the
student of political history than that some of the worst
governments the world has ever seen were those of fami-
lies that had for several generations held the reins of power.
On the whole it may be accepted as an established truth
that every aristocracy inherits an increasing number of so-
cial and political traditions of a conservative type, the mass
of which in the end becomes so great as to bar effectually
every initiative toward progress. This not being the case
in a democracy, talent more readily makes its way to the
front and to a leading position in the direction of affairs.
From the nature of the case this form of government is
everywhere more or less gradually superseding every other.


218
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
Though the belief in heredity had been almost undis-
puted from time immemorial, we have seen when and how
it began to be called in question in the sphere of the state.
In quite recent times attempts have been made to ascertain
to about what extent this belief rests upon a scientific
basis so far as it concerns individuals. Galton's "Hered-
itary Genius" is generally regarded as the first systematic
attempt to show that this widely accepted dogma rests on
a basis of fact. But, with all due deference to its dis-
tinguished author, it may be questioned whether he is
strictly scientific, for he says, "I propose to show in this
work that a man's natural abilities are derived by inherit-
ance, under exactly the same limitations as are the forms
and physical features of the whole organized world." As
to the method, it may be said that science, strictly so called,
does not seek to establish preconceived theories; it seeks
only the truth. Moreover, if this dictum be true we may
well ask, Where do the progressive forces of society come
in? If we merely transmit to posterity what we have our-
selves inherited, civilization must always remain at the
same level. This is an application of the law of the conser-
vation of energy where it manifestly does not belong. Fou-
illee seems to be nearer the truth in holding that heredity
is merely a conservator, and that evolution must supply the
motive power that is to carry each generation beyond its
predecessor. Galton limits his remarks to a single cate-
gory of prominent men, to-wit, the English judges between
the years 1660 and 1885. In a subsequent part of the
same volume he makes analogous investigations in the par-
entage of noted men in all departments, and arrivs at sim-
ilar results. On the first point it is a question whether the fa-
voritism so often shown in English politics, as in that of all
other nations, particularly in the earlier period under con-


HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT. 219
sideration, is not calculated to throw a good deal of doubt
on the ability of many of those who obtained preferment
by royal favor. Further, it cannot be denied that the epi-
thets, illustrious, eminent and remarkable, are very vague;
yet for more than half the men on his list the author has
been unable to find any ancestors to whom any of these
designations would apply. Besides, it is very natural, and
has of late become much the fashion, to attach undue im-
portance to what we may call the reflex influence of a
great man. We are loth to believe that a high order of in-
tellectual ability can appear unheralded.
This removal of the cause a generation or two upward
does not really help in the least to an explanation, but it
seems to have satisfied many a seeker for a cause. The re-
cent "Life of Goethe" by Heinemann is a striking case in
point. He undertakes to show how such a man as his
hero came into the world just when he did; how he com-
bines in character and disposition traits inherited from
his father and his mother; how much these in their turn
had inherited from their parents; how Goethe was a sort
of condensed encyclopaedia of his blood relations that pre-
ceded him for several generations. He attempts further
to set forth to what extent North and South Germany were
united in this remarkable man; why such a personality had
to be born and brought up in a city having a particular
political constitution and in what class of its citizens he
must necessarily be born. This "Life" is a striking ex-
ample of the psychological method applied to biography.
That it breaks down utterly when employed in the case
of scores of men is evident on a moment'? reflection. The
thoughtful reader can hardly help asking himself why
there has been but one Goethe when the conditions amid
which he was born and brought up were by no means


220 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
unique. It is no disparagement of scientific methods to
say that there are domains to which they can be applied in
but a limited degree.
Another striking case is that of the first Napoleon.
Here it is next to impossible to find any antecedent cause
for his exceptional genius. All his blood relations, both
ascending and descending were thoroughly commonplace
people. A recent review of his life by Professor Sloane
says: "Capricious, unscrupulous, destitute of feeling he
was; but what could one expect of one almost destitute of
religious training, thrown upon his resources at an early
age by the death of a thriftless father, buffeted by fate,
knowing almost every vicissitude of adverse fortune, and
cast into the seething chaos of ideas and events of the Kevo-
lution? His genius was titanic, but there was nothing
mysterious about his character. It was the natural pro-
duct of his training."
In Galton's later work, "English Men of Science," he
continued his researches by addressing to 180 contemporary
members of the Koyal Society a large number of questions
bearing on their nurture and training. This method gave
inadequate results, for the reason that many of those to
whom the inquiries were sent returned no answer at all;
others answered them only in part or without sufficient
clearness. Besides, the author himself admits that the list
should have been extended to three hundred to have made
it fairly complete.
It is evident from the answers reported, as well as from
much that has been written on this subject, that the term
"heredity" is used in different senses. It surely does not
follow that because a man has a liking for mechanics he
inherits his taste and skill from a father or grandfather
who was equally clever. A man may completely underes-


HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT. 221
timate the influence of the milieu in which he was brought
up. Physicians' sons are often physicians, yet heredity
has probably in most cases nothing to do with the choice.
We may inherit our occupation just as we inherit our re-
ligion, but the law of heredity has, strictly speaking, little
to do with either. Gray's "mute, inglorious Milton" is
not a figment of the poet's imagination. Many a man has
come into the world whose "lot forbade" bis attaining the
renown he might and would have attained in a different
environment. There is ample evidence to prove that the
English who emigrated to America were not inferior in
mental capacity to those who remained behind. But the
conditions that surrounded them in their new home com-
pelled them to turn their attention toward material and
away from intellectual pursuits. It is highly probable that
the Audubons, the Bartrams, the Bafinesques, to name only
a few, would have attained greater distinction had they
been born under more favorable circumstances. Other
men of talent still more unfavorably placed were never
heard of, while the Wests and Copleys found a more con-
genial sphere abroad. It required more than two hun-
dred years before the hardships incident to the opening up
of a new country were sufficiently overcome to permit any
portion of the people to give some attention to purely in-
tellectual pursuits. During all this time the indispensable
mental pabulum was drawn from the mother country,
where the supply was abundant and easily brought into
use by identity of language. That Americans were not
inferior in talent to Englishmen is plainly evident from
the fact that in those departments of political activity to
which they turned their attention the new product was fully
equal to the old. The United States produced an array of
talent in oratory, in statecraft, and in war that ranked
high, the British people themselves being judges.


222
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
The importance of environment is also attested by the
direction which the intellectual development of the South
took as compared with the North. In the creation of what
properly constitutes an American literature the former
had virtually no part, but her statesmen were for a long
time more than a match for those of the latter section. It
may be questioned whether the traditions inherited from
the mother country were as favorable for the creation of a
literature in the northern parts of the Union as in the
southern; the environment, however, turned the intellec-
tual energies of the people wholly in another direction and
completely absorbed their talents. With the suppression
of the Rebellion, material interests again came to the fore.
Few people were content to use, in the enjoyment of intel-
lectual pursuits, the means they had already acquired. A
veritable craze began to show itself among rich men to be-
come richer, and among the well-to-do to become rich.
While education has been vastly the gainer by this state
of things, we may well ask, Where are the successors of
Irving and Cooper and Bryant and Lowell and Whittier
and Holmes? Yet our literary poverty is hardly greater
than that of England or indeed of most of the European
countries. Material interests predominate everywhere.
Authors are more concerned to write what will sell well
than what the world will "not willingly let die."
De Candolle, in his "Histoire des Sciences et des Sa-
vants depuis deux Siecles," recognizes the fact that re-
searches in heredity have not been conducted according to
rigidly scientific methods, and that its influence has not
been clearly established. He holds that it would be bet-
ter to select without any preconceived notions, and without
regard to merit or" capacity, as large a number of persons
as possible whose distinctive characteristics were known,


HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT. 223
as well as those of their parents and, if possible, of their
grandparents, in order to ascertain how far these character-
istics have been transmitted or not transmitted from one
generation to another. Here again the difficulty of obtain-
ing strictly accurate data is very great, and one is especially
liable to underestimate the influence of environment. The
author's conclusions, briefly summarizeed, are that the in-
heritance of mental and physical chracteristics is a law
that suffers few exceptions; that the interruption of hered-
ity during one or several generations is rare, perhaps five
or ten times in a hundred; that inheritance through the
female line is less distinctive than through the male, espe-
cially in the domain of the intellect; that it is difficult to as-
certain whether characteristics acquired by education and
social influences are transmitted; and that the most marked
characterostics of an individual are those that he receives
from his two parents and other relatives.
He next studies the Associate, Foreign and Correspond-
ing members of the Koyal Society of London, the Academy
of Sciences of Berlin, and the Academy of Sciences of
Paris. His list again testifies to the fallibility of human
judgment, the strength of human prejudice, and the lim-
itations of human knowledge. But twenty-two per cent. of
the names are found in two of the lists, and but five in
three. Both Franklin and Lavoisier occur in but one.
Evidently the personal equation, or the political milieu,
had had not a little to do with election to membership in
these societies. De Candolle attached less importance to
*' heredity than Galton. While admitting that the number
of persons connected with families producing men of merit
is much greater than one would obtain from the mere cal-
culus of probabilities, he does not think'this to be neces-


HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT.
225
tinctively Protestant countries. Thus, Switzerland, which
is only about three-fourths Protestant, furnished fourteen
members, without a Catholic among them. The Catholic
population of Great Britain and Ireland has no repre-
sentative; nor has Austria; while the Catholic portions of
Germany are represented by very few.
In 1881 Dr. Paul Jacoby published a work in which he
treated of the genesis of great men chiefly from the path-
ological point of view. His object, like that of Dr. Max
Nordau more recently, was to establish the degeneracy of
every aristocracy, including that of men of talent. His
conclusions are in the main in accord with a statement
sometimes met with, that the greatest men never have
equally great sons. As a basis for his calculations he takes
the "Biographie Universelle," and selects therefrom the
names of all the prominent men born between January 1,
1700, and December 31, 1799, and dead before 1845. His
list embraces 3,311 names. It is not e?sy to see how a
better list for the author's purposes could be made. But
it must be evident on a moment's reflection that its defects
are grave. What weight can be attached to the mere ap-
pearance of a man's name in a biographical. dictionary?
It always means that its bearer was for a time in the public
eye, but frequently nothing more. One can easily con-
vince himself of this truth by a glance into any similar
work.
Another work that contains much interesting informa-
tion in a brief compass, bearing upon heredity in its rela-
tion to pauperism and crime, is R. L. Dugdale's "The
Jukes." It is here shown that inheritance and environ-
ment have an important reciprocal influence upon each
other, and that the latter in many instances entirely neu-
tralizes the former, while the converse does not often take
IB


226
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
place. The following are a few of the author's tentative
inductions. Pauperism is an indication of weakness, and
is divisible into hereditary and induced. Hereditary pau-
perism rests chiefly on disease, and tends to extinction.
Pauperism in adult age indicates a hereditary tendency
which may or may not be modified by the environment.
Hereditary pauperism is more frequent in men than in
women. Harlotry may become a hereditary characteristic,
but is in most cases accompanied by an environment that
runs parallel with it. Where chastity is inherited it is
accompanied by an environment favorable to it. Where
the heredity and the environment are in the direction of
harlotry, if the environment be changed at a sufficiently
early date, sexual habits may be amended.
Further testimony to the important bearing environment
has in neutralizing the influence of heredity is furnished
by the experience of our government in its effects to civilize
the Indian. It will not be denied that up to a certain
point these efforts have been remarkably successful. The
experiment has not, however, been in progress a sufficient
length of time or on a sufficiently large scale to make a
prediction as to its final outcome entirely safe. But pres-
ent indications seem to warrant the conclusion that at no
very distant day the Red Man may attain to a civilization
not much, if at all, inferior to that of the whites.
Among recent writings on heredity those of Professor
Cesare Lombroso, of Turin, have perhaps attracted the
most attention. This has beeji owing more to the agree-
able style of the author and the oracular tone in which he
writes than to the intrinsic merit of what he says, though
it will not be denied that he has published a good deal
that is valuable. In his "Men of Genius" he undertakes
to prove that genius is a form of neurosis, and is closely re-


230
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
ment between the dates named, Professor Odin finds none
so well suited to his purpose as the French. After a care-
ful study of its biography and bibliography he selects from
the complete list before him 1,136 persons, whom he feels
justified in designating as gens de lettres de talent. The
elite of French literature, however, contains but 144 names,
and those who belong to it he calls gens de lettres de genie.
By gens de lettres are to be understood persons whose
writings are of general interest, though he includes among
these a few persons who have written little themselves, but
who have, nevertheless, contributed greatly to the develop-
ment of French letters. The list excludes great military
captains, explorers, actors, investigators, princes, compos-
ers,—in short all who have not made permanent contribu-
tions to literature. By this method of inclusion and ex-
clusion it becomes possible to grasp all the influences that
bear on the genesis and nurture of French letters, so far
as this is possible from the study of printed records. When
we examine somewhat carefully the civilization of the five
principal nations of modern Europe and make comparisons
between them, we are soon struck with the unevenness of the
growth of their literature. French, as before stated, is to
a considerable extent an exception. At the close of the Mid-
dle Ages the social conditions in southern and western
Europe were not widely different. It is, therefore, not
easy to see why there should be so marked an ebb and flood
in the tide of literary productiveness within the next four
or five hundred years. Evidently the doctrine of heredity,
broadly stated, will not solve the mystery, for a period of
decay would not follow a period of growth throughout
an entire nation.
If we divide the literary history of Europe, excepting
France, beginning with 1400, into periods of fifty years,


HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT. 231
we find the primacy for the first to be with Italy; neither
Spain, Germany, nor England having produced a name of
first-rate importance, except Chaucer, whom, strangely
enough, Professor Odin has not in his list. During the
next period Italy is still at the head, and furnishes more
great names than the other three countries combined. In
the third period Spain stands at the head. During the
fourth, Spain and England keep abreast of each other,
Italy having fallen behind, and Germany far behind. All
through the seventeenth century England is in the lead,
Italy in the first half furnishing but one name of prime
importance, and Spain in the second half none at all.
Even in France, where the production of literary men has
been remarkably regular, there is some fluctuation. In
the period extending from 1600 to 1650 the number of
great writers was above the average, while in that between
1725 and 1750 it was considerably below. From 1700 to
1750 England and Germany furnish about an equal num-
ber of names, Spain being .lowest in the list. Between
1750 and 1800 Germany stands first, England second, and
Italy last. There seems little doubt that of the world's
great literati born in the first half of the nineteenth cen-
tury a much larger number used the English language than
any other language.
A study of the genealogy of the literary men and women
of an entire nation is beset with great difficulties. The
first is that, for the earlier periods especially, biographies
are seldom sufficiently full. Sometimes a remarkable man
has had among his direct ancestors one or more persons of
merit of whom little or nothing is known. Then, again the
reflex influence of a distinguished man upon his ancestors
obscures the vision of posterity and makes the real facts
hard to ascertain.


HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT. 238
rejecting the baneful, so a great mind instinctively finds
its mental pabulum in whatever circumstances it may be
placed. The cases of Shakespeare and Burns will have at
once occurred to the reader; but there are many others. It
is very doubtful whether a system of education that affords
equal opportunities for both sexes will materially increase
the proportion of the lower classes as contributors to a
national literature. Such a system undoubtedly makes
broader and solider the foundation of national prosperity,
but it can do nothing for genuine talent.
The importance of environment is further confirmed by
the birthplace of noted French litterateurs. Out of 5,233
such men, 1,229 were born in Paris, 2,664 in other large
cities, 1,265 in other localities, and 93 in country-seats.
Of women the proportion falling to cities is much larger,
rising as high as eighty-four per cent. of the entire num-
ber; while about one-half were natives of the>capital. The
testimony of these figures bearing upon the predominating
influence of what are called the "centers of civilization" is
further corroborated by similar data taken from other
countries. Of fifty-five eminent Italian literati, twenty-
three were born in large cities, and most of the remainder
in small municipalities; though, strange to say, not one
had Rome as his birthplace. Of the fifty Spaniards who
are generally regarded as holding the highest rank in the
literature of Spain, sixteen were born in Madrid, and a
large proportion of the remainder in cities of the first rank,
several of which contain universities. The coryphaei of
German literature seem at first sight to make an excep-
tion to the conclusions that naturally spring from the above-
stated facts. The great writers are quite evenly distributed
over what now constitutes the Empire and Switzerland.
Three large cities are the birthplace of three great writers-


234
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
each; two, of two each; while the rest have produced but
one each. This calculation embraces about thirty who
stand confessedly at the head; yet if we increase the num-
ber the results are not widely different. Here again the
importance of the environment is strikingly made promi-
nent. During the last five centuries Germany has had a
large number of capitals, many of which the reigning mon-
arch tried with more or less success to make centers of art
and literature.
It is also shown by statistics that the occupation of the
parents, especially of the father, has exercised an important
influence on the career of the sons. The nobility, the of-
fice-holding class, and the liberal professions in no coun-
try of Europe form so much as a tenth part of the popula-
tion. Yet from this small minority seventy-eight per cent,
of the primates of Italian and German literature, eighty
per cent. of Spanish, and sixty-nine per cent. of English
were descended.
If we examine the nativity of French writers according
to their geographical distribution, including as before the
adjoining territory in which French is the native speech,
we find that northern and eastern parts have been most pro-
lific. Taking France by provinces, Ile-de-France leads the
list, with 1,572 names out of a total of 5,617. Next in
order comes Normandy, with 413 names. The adjacent
districts of Picardy and Artois furnish 373. Provence
gives us a register of 295 names; Lorraine, 240; Touraine,
Anjou, and Maine, 207. All others fall below two hun-
dred. Except in a general way it can not be known what
relation these figures bear to the total population, as no
census of France was taken until comparatively recent
times. If we make an estimate on the present basis of in-
habitants the relations of the districts will be somewhat


HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT. 235
changed. Ile-de-France will stand at the head; but the
second place will be taken by French Switzerland, the third
by Provence, and the fourth by Orleannais. Another in-
teresting fact made plain by Professor Odin's figures is
that, if French territory as a whole had shown the same
fecundity as Paris, there would have been nearly 54,000
great writers instead of less than 6,000; or if the same re-
gion had been as fertile as the other large cities there
would have been 22,000. Or, again, if French produc-
tivity had been regulated by the smaller places, there would
have been but 1,522; that is, a trifle more than one-fourth
of the actual number. That literature in France is not
only essentially an artificial product is thus made perfectly
plain, but the same general fact is true, in perhaps even
a larger degree, of Spain and Italy.
Yet this is not all. Not every great city has given birth
to an equal number of writers of merit in proportion to
its population. Lyons, for example, is the birthplace of
a comparatively small number of distinguished authors;
Geneva, on the other hand, of an unusually large number.
The same statement appears to be true of Liverpool as com-
pared with several much smaller cities in England. This
difference in productivity is in all probability due to the
fact that the interests of commerce and trade have largely
absorbed the energies of the citizens; an inference that is
supported by a similar condition of affairs in other parts
of the world. The religious environment has, therefore,
not always a preponderating influence. On the other hand,
when all other conditions are virtually alike, and the
creeds professed by the people unlike, we are safe in at-
tributing difference in production largely to this cause.
It is well known that among French writers in all depart-
ments, Geneva has produced a much larger proportion than


236 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
would be expected from the number of its inhabitants.
For more than four centuries it has been a Protestant city,
while the rest of French territory has for the most part
been Koman Catholic. It is worthy of remark, too, that
in Germany, including by this designation its territory
linguistically and not politically, the Catholic portions of
Bavaria and Austria have given birth to a relatively small
number of persons who are entitled to the highest rank in
letters. We have already seen that in the production of
men of science the religion of a country seems to play an
important part. We are justified in drawing the same in-
ference in regard to literature. That French Catholicism
has had a weaker conservative influence than any other
in Europe will be plain to those who examine its character.
From the data already cited and from other data that
might be given it is evident that European literature is in
but a limited sense a national product. It is almost en-
tirely an artificial creation, in which the bulk of the popu-
lation has taken no part and had no interest. It was born
and brought to maturity in the salons of the nobles and
in the houses of the rich or well-to-do. It is essentially
the outgrowth of civilization, and of a civilization that
bears the impress of the ruling class. When now and then
a person of exceptional psychical powers has been born in
the lower stratum of society, it has early become the chief
object of his ambition to identify himself socially with
those who stand at the top. He did not therefore modify
materially the environment in which his first years were
passed.
May we not infer from these studies that social progress
is to a large extent dependent upon human volition?
While it can rarely be said of an individual that he has his
destiny in his own hands, it may be said of the larger ag-


NATIONAL EDUCATION.
239
that there would be no dissenting voice to the acceptance
of the doctrine advocated by Godwin in his Political Jus-
tice that education should mean "the adoption of every
principle of morality and truth into the practice of the
community." It is only when the how of this adoption
is discussed that we find the wide diversity of views now
prevalent.
It is easy to frame an ideal system of training for the
young and it has often been done. The difficulty lies
in bringing about the acceptance of a workable system.
Anent many things to be taught in school there is not and
can not be much divergence of opinion. There are not
several kinds of mathematics, or of physics, or of biology.
If these subjects are taught at all and so far as they are
taught they are substantially alike.
The controversy, or at least the discussion, is about those
subjects that are in their nature intangible, but which are,
nevertheless, tangible and practical in their results. All
education is based on the assumption that many if not
most of the ills that afflict the human race are preventable
by human means.
Few persons will dispute the dictum of Matthew Arnold
that conduct is three-fourths of life, and those to whom
this claim seems too large will admit that conduct is at
least an important part of life. Now if the primary object
of all education is to influence conduct for the better; if it
is to impress upon the young the importance of keeping
in check their selfish desires and cultivating their altruis-
tic impulses; if it is to lead them to see that only such
knowledge is wisely used that is used for the good of others,
how shall these ends be best attained? Is the current edu-
cation of our day in the United States and abroad contrib-
uting materially to these ends? or at best, is it contribut-


240
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
ing as much as it should? No man who has eyes that
see can fail to have observed that there is a great chasm
between our education and the life into which the gradu-
ates from every kind of school are ushered. The great
majority of our graduates from High School, College and
University are idealists. Whether they have been particu-
larly good students or not, the very fact that they have re-
mained as long as they have in an atmosphere that at its
worst does a great deal to encourage the pursuit of knowl-
edge for its own sake, while many of their companions are
engaged in "making money," testifies to this fact. The
education imparted in our schools is and can not but be
largely derived from books, at least in so far as it is in-
tended to influence conduct. It embodies the best thought
of the wisest men that have lived in the past.
Our young people read the speeches of Chatham, of
Burke, of Webster; they study the writings of Washington,
of Lincoln, and of many others who have deserved well of
their country, to say nothing of poetry. Their histories
teach them that the French Revolution was a vindication
of the rights of man, and that the course of past events
furnishes indubitable evidence of the moral order of the
world in the case of nations as well as of individuals.
Avarice, greed of power, disregard of justice, inhumanity
and other vices have always met their fitting reward.
But what is the mental state of nine-tenths of these young
people after five years of contact with the great world,
with the hurly-burly of practical life? Their ideals have
been laid in the grave from which there is no resurrection.-
They read no solid books; they keep up no systematic
study of any branch of knowledge; they have no interest
in a scholarly atmosphere, even when such an atmosphere
can be found: In short, five years after graduation finds


NATIONAL EDUCATION.
241
nine-tenths of our young people on a decidedly lower in-
tellectual and moral plane than any day of their under-
graduate course. They still have a sort of vague faith in
the moral order of the world, but they fail to see, or at least
to apprehend clearly, that in the small concerns of life, in
the career of each individual these vices are just as hideous,
just as subversive of social order, and if not restrained,
just as sure to bring their punishment sooner or later, as in
the case of those who manage the affairs of states. In the
ethical domain there is not one law for the usurper, one
for the elected representative of a free people and one for
the private citizen.
We profess to believe firmly in what we call the higher
education; that this profession is in the case of most per-
sons genuine is proved by the princely sums that have been
given for the endowment of private institutions and the lib-
eral grants made by many of our State legislatures. Has
this liberality had any appreciable effect in purifying our
political atmosphere? Has it made our legislators of what-
ever name or grade more disinterestedly patriotic or less
venal? Has it made any considerable portion of our citi-
zens willing to serve the commonwealth or the community
without a consideration in hand or in prospect? He who
will answer these questions in the affirmative is either fatu-
ously optimistic or strangely blind
Let us hear what a writer in a recent number of the
Westminster Review has to say on this matter. That he
tells the truth no one who has the opportunity to study
the conditions will deny. What the final outcome or even
the effect in the not very distant future will be it is im-
possible to foretell. After speaking of the penchant for
the false, the puerile and the decadent, he continues: "If
the chimera of the golden-winged dragon is a dangerous
16


242 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
symbol in the Old World, the danger is no less great in
the New, where certain wealthy people are possessed by
the idea that the word imperial contains a magic power to
accomplish the impossible, to compel Europe to a sense of
reverence and awe, to change the institutions, ideas and
aspirations of a natural and noble democracy into the sor-
did and fantastic ambitions of a few society leaders whose
chief aim in life is how to surpass the fetes of sybaritic
potentates, and equal the grim and empty pomps of their
apparent triumphs." "There is in America an element
of snobbery so keenly ambitious, so callously domineering,
that nothing wholly escapes its withering influence.
Under the guise of national interests it makes its presence
felt at the Capitol and in Church councils, as well as in
commercial centers whose leading minds are secretly actu-
ated by a spirit of display, social rivalry and a desire to
connect themselves with the European aristocracy." "While
Europe is imitating and adopting many of the best cus-
toms and inventions of the Great Republic, a large class
in America are imitating all that is decadent in the life
of Europeans. New York is now so intimately connected
with London that the social elements in these two cities
have become practically one. But there is this difference;
while the aristocracy in the old country is being gradually
levelled down to a democratic standard, the wealthy classes
in the new world are copying the very things which caused
degeneracy in the European noble, for there is nothing so
blind as snobbery. The all-important question among
certain people is how to throw off the aegis of republican-
ism and democracy."
"Three things have caused this premature old age: rapid
and continued increase of wealth, the American's love of
travel, and a hasty, superficial culture. Long-continued


NATIONAL EDUCATION.
245
or unwisely, were by a large majority opposed to the recent
changes; nevertheless the Emperor had his way. Perhaps
he discerned the spirit of the age more clearly than the ex-
perts. The case is here referred to neither for approval
nor condemnation, but merely as striking evidence of the
impuissance of the educationist in a country where the one-
man power is so pronounced.
The second is what we may call the Nietzsche cult. Fried-
rich Nietzsche, who died in 1900, after several years spent
in a madhouse, proclaimed with burning eloquence the un-
adulterated gospel of selfishness. In his writings he is
never weary of pouring bitter scorn and sneering contempt
on all the altruistic sentiments. With equal eloquence he
advocates the cause of brute force, the total disregard of
the claims of the weak and humble to the slightest consid-
eration: In fact he does not admit that these have any
claims whatever on the strong. This gospel of brutality
is so utterly at variance with every principle of Christian
and humane civilization that one can hardly suppress the
emotion of amazement when he sees large numbers of pre-
sumably intelligent people taking it as a real contribution
to modern thought. A pack of ravenous wolves would be
a peace society compared to a body of men trying to put
such a creed into practice. Moreover it is interesting to
note that according to competent evidence the originator
of this tiger-creed was one Caspar Schmidt, who wrote
under the pseudonym of Max Stirner, and who died in
1856 without attracting much attention.* When Niotzsche
appeared on the scene the times were ripe for the doctrine.
The disciple pleaded the master's cause with so much fer-
vor and laborated his system with such care that men
* Hermann Tuerok. Der Oeniale Mensch. Berlin, 1901.


'24<;
WISDOM AND WILL, IN EDUCATION.
began to take the author and his creed seriously, either to
be combated or commended.
To the educationist no less than to the student of the
history of civilization no country presents so much that is
of interest as England. Since about the middle of the six-
teenth century its internal development and its outward
expansion have been almost uninterrupted. The loss of the
American colonies was no serious check. During these
three and a half centuries it has been almost without a
break the foremost power on the globe. This pre-eminence
was won and has been maintained, partly by force, partly
by that elastic science called diplomacy, but always by
methods that were neither worse nor better than those uni-
versally in vogue. While England invariably looked out
for herself, often selfishly, often unscrupulously, her con-
duct in this regard was no baser, generally not so base as
that of her rivals. Her success as a colonizing power is
abundant evidence that in the main she dealt fairly with
her subjects abroad, no matter how gained.
England was the only country that came out of the crisis
of the Reformation stronger than she entered it. Notwith-
standing the diversities of religious belief within her bor-
ders all the creeds were overwhelmingly Protestant. Ca-
tholicism did not have a sufficient hold upon her people to
weaken her politically as was the case with more than one
country of Continental Europe. During this period she
produced an almost uninterrupted succession of great
names in literature. In philosophy, her achievements were
eclipsed only in the latter portion of this period by Ger-
many, but the impulse came from England, or, more
strictly speaking, from Scotland. In subjugating the
forces of nature and employing them in the service of man
England has led the world except duriig the last few


NATIONAL EDUCATION.
247
decades. The same statement may be made in regard to
her position in science, at least in its practical aspects,
Her constitution has been a demonstration of the theories
of the political philosophers of the Continent and was
often held up by them as the model of what a government
ought to be. Comparing the English with their nearest
neighbors we may say that they "are far less fertile and in-
genious in resources than Frenchmen, but far more likely
to do the right thing. They are far less educated than the
Germans, and yet they are more reasonable; far less log-
ical, but saner; far less open to ideas, but infinitely more
impervious to sophistry." These things being true, Eng-
land might consistently be expected to have had a superior
system of public education. So far from this being the
case, she is still at the beginning of the twentieth century
behind at least half a score of other countries of Europe.
In England expert educational opinion counts for amaz-
ingly little. Here then we have the spectacle of a country
that has had an almost uninterruptedly progressive devel-
opment since the days of Magna Charta; that has passed
through no crisis that has materially modified its form of
government; that changed its religious fa'th without seri-
ous internecine strife; that has at times been ruled by as
inefficient monarchs as ever sat upon a throne; yet with all
these vicissitudes has suffered no detriment or check. Nev-
ertheless, the general average of the intelligence of its peo-
ple has been rather low, the proportion of its illiterates
always large. While England has contributed much to the
political instruction of the race it has added nothing to
educational thought or experience. Surely here are con-
• ditions that border on the marvelous! We might explain
England's political supremacy as we explain that of Rome,
as due to an instinct for government developed by special


248 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
conditions; but the parallel breaks down before it is well
started. I shall make no attempt to explain it: I am
only concerned with a lesson of history that seems to give
the lie to modern theories of education which make the
prosperity of a nation depend upon its general intelligence,
or upon its educational system. Contrast with England
her great rival of former days and for a long time the lead-
ing power of Continental Europe if not of the world.
Spain is the most hopelessly unprogressive country of
Europe, not even Turkey excepted. Is it her destiny or
her fault? All the nations of the world that have at differ-
ent epochs acted a part in its history have exhibited certain
traits and characteristics that were, as it seems, modified
neither by time nor experience,—qualities that in some
cases ultimately led to their destruction. Was this ob-
stinate resistance due to stupidity, perversity or inexorable
fate?
In this connection the transition is easy and natural to
Loyola. When discussing the merits and demerits of a na-
tional system of education as contrasted with a scheme of
instruction designed to be cosmopolitan we have, to some
extent, the light of experience to guide us. The system of
the Jesuits, which was ushered into the world almost full-
fledged by its framer may not have been either rational or
philosophical in the strict sense of the term, but that it
was admirably contrived for universality and that it skill-
fully avoided the disturbing forces growing out of differ-
ences of nationality no one can deny. Neither will it be
disputed that Jesuitism is the most potent educational
agency ever devised,—the most consistent and the most
minutely elaborate curriculum of instruction both in its 4
conception and execution the world has yet seen. It is
admitted that the Jesuits arrested the rising tide of the


250
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
tion imparted to the learner the less he is educated. As
to institutions, are we to keep in view those that now exist
or those that may be developed in the course of time? If
they are to be modified, what is to be the determining fac-
tor? Study present conditions and see how opinions differ.
In Germany, as has already been shown, public education
is shaped toward the maintenance of a rigorous autocracy,
in spite of some pretty loud protests; in France, toward the
strengthening of republicanism, though not without oppo-
sition. England is in a somewhat chaotic condition, as it
has always been. In the different sections of our own
country, and even in different portions of the same State,
public opinion is moving in various directions. In the
South the evident trend is toward the nullification or
elimination of all influence on the part of the colored peo-
ple. There, as well as in some portions of the North, the
rights of the white man and of the black man are measured
by totally different standards. Abstractly judged, such a
state of affairs is more unjust than the old-time creed that
the laborer's sons are to be brought up as laborers; the
peasant's children to remain peasants, while the nobleman
shall not be permitted to forfeit his nobility no matter
what he does; because the rule always admitted of excep-
tions. Again, in Germany religious instruction with a
strongly dogmatic flavor is obligatory in all primary and
secondary schools. To some extent the same statement ap-
plies to England. On the other hand, in France all re-
ligious instruction is rigorously barred from the schools.
In the United States the conditions are mixed. What we
call popular education is non-sectarian and non-religious;
but a large proportion of the people, both Catholic and
Protestant, are dissatisfied with the omission and are en-
deavoring, in various ways, to supply the lack.


NATIONAL EDUCATION.
251
That denominationalism still has a strong hold upon the
people of this country cannot be doubted. In fact it seems
to be a characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race. Again, a
rational system of instruction, rational instruction of every
kind must be based on truth, or at least on an honest quest
for truth without regard to the consequences. Truth al-
ways prevails in the end. The wise nmn profits by his
own mistakes and is careful not to repeat them, or if he has
the opportunity, he takes warning from the blunders of
others. How is it with nations? Are they, generally
speaking, willing to have the disagreeable truths of their
past history put before the rising generation? We may
answer, Never. For more than three centuries we have
had Protestant histories and Catholic histories, neither
party being willing to accept the others as the truth or ac-
knowledge that its own side may have now and then been
in the wrong. A school history that is acceptable to the
Southern people does not meet with favor in the North.
The men who sacrificed their lives on the battlefield are
called heroes in one section, rebels in the other. We have
been taught to believe that the men who brought about the
separation of the Colonies from the mother country were
all patriots, ready to sacrifice everything on the altar of
their country. The facts tell a different story; but these
facts are known only to a few special students of our his-
tory. We are not a military nation; yet public opinion is
wont to characterize as treason or something closely akin
thereto any expression that appears to disparage our na-
tional prowess by land or sea. Fouillee says, "There is
nothing more unmeaning than historical facts, unless we
make them mean something more doubtful still when we
want to make them mean anything. Orators on each side
of the house will draw their arguments from history. His-


252
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
tory, especially contemporary history, proves everything
and nothing. Even the events of our own age are as yet
only documents, the final value of which is uncertain. The
history of Napoleon I., for example, is not yet written.
Read Lanfrey after Thiers, and Taine after Lanfrey and
draw a conclusion if you can."
Almost every year sees the appearance of a fresh Life
of the Great Corsican that claims to throw some new light
on his career and his character. Taine is one of the most
popular of recent French writers; of his method Henry
James truthfully says: "A thin soil of historical evidence
is made to produce luxuriant flowers of deduction." Some
of the most widely read books professing to be histories are
not histories in any proper sense of the term. To make
history popular it must be more or less polemic, no matter
what period is dealt with. Mitford and Grote constantly
draw opposite conclusions from the same data, and inject
the present into the interpretation of events that occurred
more than two thousand years ago.*
Few persons who have studied our war with Mexico will
deny that it was a most unjustifiable war of aggression.
On this subject, however, most of our school histories have
not a little to say about the bravery of our soldiers and
•The unwillingness of a people to be reminded of their national
sina is strikingly exemplified by the conduct of the Athenians with
reference to the dramatic representation of the Capture of Miletus
by the Poet Phrynicus. Tho whole theatre, Herodotus tells us.
burst into tears, and the author was afterward heavily fined by
the assembly for recalling to them their own misfortunes. A
law was likewise passed that no one should ever again exhibit
this piece. The sting of the reminder lay in the crooked policy
that it recalled. As if silence could condone a mean or a mis-
taken act!


NATIONAL EDUCATION.
253
the brilliant strategy of our generals, while they are silent
upon the merits of the controversy.
A few years ago the so-called Dreyfus affair was a burn-
ing question in France. Nine-tenths of our periodicals
were on the side of the accused and vilipended the French
people, and especially the courts of justice, for their sub-
serviency to the military spirit. They professed to know
all about the case, when from its very nature they could
know very little. We are constantly meeting with similar
disparaging judgments upon army-ridden Germany.
Albeit, few of us seem to notice a similar condition of
things at home. Without any reference to the merits of
the case, the man who publicly criticises our army or im-
pugns the motives of those who fought in any of the wars
in which this country has been engaged is certain to be
branded by many as disloyal. If some one ventures the as-
sertion that many lawyers are dishonest, or that some min-
isters of the Gospel are hypocrites, or that not all who
teach are fit for their vocation, nobody takes exception.
Such assertions are frequently made and accepted as mat-
ters of course. But let some one affirm that many who en-
tered our army did so from mercenary motives or from love
of adventure; and that not a few who belonged to it were
cowards and skulkers, the affirmation is sure to be branded
as a lie or as evidence of a bad heart.
How much we are still dominated, as we have always
been, by the military spirit is shown by the fact that nearly
all our Presidents had seen service in the field: some of
them would never have been thought of in connection with
this high office except for their military record. The Ger-
mans have erected many statues to great soldiers and in
commemoration of important battles: Is the proportion
any less in this country, compared to the civilians thus


254 WISDOM AND WILL IX EDUCATION.
honored? At present we are spending more money for
wars past and to come than any government on the face of
the earth.
It is the nature of man to glorify brute force, to extol
the exhibition of physical courage even in a prize-fight,
and to ignore or make light of the display of moral cour-
age,—that courage which silently opposes wrong from day
to day and which is a thousand times more important to
the welfare of the community than the sporadic and the
spectacular. It constantly happens that more fortitude is
required to refrain from doing than to do.
When we reflect upon this universal tendency to laud and
magnify violent measures we become painfully aware of
the length of the way the world has still to travel before it
shall have outgrown the centuries and aeons of inherited
tendencies and reached the goal of a truly enlightened
civilization. We are still sadly dominated by the instincts
of the savage and the brute. If we do not ourselves fight
we pray for and commend those who do. We still have the
civilization of the boys who when they cannot settle a
dispute by argument fall to blows in order to determine
which party is in the right and which in the wrjong.
How strangely inconsistent are the nations of the earth!
They all profess to believe that historical judgments are
the applications of morality in the case of other nations:
in their own case they do not wish to have the whole truth
told to the rising generation lest it impair the vigor of
their patriotism. As if patriotism and pugnacity were in-
terchangeable terms!
You may moralize as much as you please, provided you
do not approach too near the present in time and place.
In a court of justice, when it is important to ascertain
the character and reputation of a man, testimony from


NATIONAL EDUCATION. 255
friends or relatives and otherwise interested parties is rig-
idly excluded. But in national history we reverse the pro-
cess; we do not want to hear disagreeable truths that
wholly disinterested parties might tell. Yet the world
talks of adjusting its international disagreements by arbi-
tration through disinterested parties! We repeat trip-
pingly from the tongue,
"0 wad some pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
And foolish notion."
But we rarely think of acting upon it. Except under com-
pulsion the testimony of a foreigner or a stranger is ruled
out in advance: as if truth and honesty, veracity and char-
ity, courage and fidelity were not universal virtues! As
if anything could make the nations of the earth genuinely
free except the truth! Before we reach the age of forty
most of us have become impervious to new ideas; our stock
of wisdom is complete. Few persons are sincerely desirous
to know the truth; yet our schools are expected to teach the
truth and the truth only!
What is it to be educated ?. I can do no better, when at-
tempting to answer the question, than to quote from an
essay of the late E. R. Sill. "An educated man—what
is it that we understand by the phrase? If it would not
be easy to set down all that it connotes in our various
minds, we should probably agree that it includes, among
other things, such qualities as these: a certain largeness
of view; an acquaintance with the intellectual life of the
world; the apprehension of principles; the power and habit
of independent thought; the freedom from personal pro-


'258
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
Neither is it just to assume that all who teach are compe-
tent and in their places because of merit. Everybody who
cares to know is aware that such is not the case. It must
be said to the credit of the business as well as to that of the
professional world that it has little use for drones and in-
competents. They are soon weeded out and thrown into
a corner to eke out such an existence as they may.
I repeat, there will always be some who learn nothing, but
the number ought to be continually growing smaller until
it becomes an insignificant minority. It is plain that there
are many subjects in our school courses that can not be
judiciously presented in such a way as to bring out promi-
nently their full moral import. Often it is not wise to
insist too strongly on facts, if they are calculated to give
rise to controversy. Many a conscientious teacher has lost
his place through lack of tact or disregard of possible conse-
quences. But the progress of truth can not be permanently
arrested. The supremacy, like Alexander's ring, will be-
long to the most worthy. Even so short an experience as
that of one generation proves this incontestably. Every
country of Europe, with a possible exception or two, al-
most all North America and much of the rest of the world
is far better off than it was two or three score years ago.
All this is due to the advance of science, to the enlighten-
ment fostered in a greater or less degree by educational
systems, unphilosophical as they still are. Progress has
never been uniform; nor has it been without relapses here
and there. But we can say with Galilleo in the fullest con-
fidence, E pur si muove. What richer reward can we wish
for ourselves than the honest conviction that we have con-
tributed something, however little, to the movement, even
though our acts have at times brought us unpopularity
and unjust treatment? Time will vindicate us.


THE RELATION OF PRIVATE TO PUBLIC MORALITY. 261
apparent omission. We may be sure that it was not an
oversight on the part of the distinguished lecturer, nor need
we be surprised that he did not solve a problem that has
engaged the attention of some of the ablest men that have
ever lived, since they too have not been able to solve it. Four
hundred years B. C. the wisest of the Greeks, a man who
has exercised an abiding influence on the progress of
thought, was condemned to death by his fellow-citizens for
crimes of which he was not guilty. It was a clear case of
injustice committed by the body of the citizens in their
sovereign capacity against an individual. Yet the victim
calmly submitted to his fate rather than resort to any of the
means of escape that were proposed by his friends. His
argument was, in substance, that he had all his life acknowl-
edged the authority of the laws under which he was con-
demned to die and that to thwart them in any way in their
operation would be committing a greater wrong than he
was about to suffer; that if his fellow countrymen were will-
ing to incur the odium of putting an innocent man to death,
it was their matter, not his; and that it is always better to
suffer wrong than to do wrong. The unanimous verdict of
posterity is that he reasoned rightly. Yet this same man
was the first great champion of the rights of the individual.
He vigorously denied that men can make that right which
is not intrinsically so. The burden of his philosophy is
that underneath and behind all convention there are eter-
nally valid principles that vary not with different people
nor grow old with the lapse of time. And so for nearly two
and a half millenniums the world has regarded Socrates as
a martyr to his devotion to truth and consistency.
The history of the Christian church records the names of
many who shared the fate of the Greek philosopher, and for
the same reason, viz: the conflict of individual opinion with


262 WI8D0U AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
political institutions. Thousands of good men and women
have had brought home to them the question addressed to
the rulers by Peter and John, "Whether it be right in the
sight of God lo hearken unto you rather than unto God,
judge ye; for we can not but speak the things which we saw
and heard,"—in other words we can not but follow the
dictates of our own consciences.
A distinguished Greek dramatist has treated the same
conflict of duties in the tragedy of Antigone. The heroine
finds herself in a position where she is compelled to choose
between obedience to an absolute monarch who has her
destiny wholly in his hands, and obedience to a higher law
that long antedates human institutions. She unflinchingly
takes her stand for what she conceives to be the right and
expresses her willingness to bear the consequences of her
disobedience to the edicts of a temporal sovereign. The
poet plainly shows where his sympathies lie, and posterity
remembers Antigone as one of the noblest characters handed
down to us from ancient times. She suffered a painful
but glorious death while the gods took terrible vengeance
upon her slayer.
In the last century when the agitation was going on in
this country for a separation from Great Britain there was
in some of the colonies a strong party that was opposed to
such action. They were loyal subjects of the government
under which they lived and they justly regarded the move-
ment for separation as treasonable. Nor have we any right
to question the motives or the sincerity of these so-called
loyalists. But the stars in their courses were against them
and the Declaration of Independence made them outlaws.
Many of them lost their lives for the cause to which they
adhered. I do not think there is any reason to question the
motives of most of those who led in the movement for inde-


THE RELATION OF PRIVATE TO PUBLIC MORALITY. 263
pendence, but it would be a strange misapprehension of
human nature to assume that all who called themselves
patriots were men who unselfishly sought the welfare of
their country. In this conflict of duties face to face with
which many people found themselves, some took one course,
some another. Shall we say that because independence was
achieved the separatists alone were right and their oppo-
nents wrong, or shall we say that no question of right and
wrong was involved but only one of expediency? Or shall
we say that in this cause it was impossible to determine a
priori what was right and what was wrong; that the issue
of the conflict alone could decide the question? It is true
such epithets as traitor, treason, rebel, and others of like
import, do not necessarily belong in the vocabulary of
morals. They are oftener mere political terms and have no
ethical import whatever. The careful thinker is not misled
by them, but in the mouth of the multitude they usually
have a dire significance.
Dr. Ruemelin distinctly maintains that the state, that is,
men organized into a government, may do things that would
be clearly wrong for any individual or group of individuals.
This position is as old as government, and I fear that in
this case too we often speak of right and wrong where we
really mean expediency. Let us not be misled by confound-
ing right with rights. The two words are almost identical
in form, but widely divergent in signification. There can
not well be any question of the right of the government to
take from me the rights it has conferred upon me. Pro-
tection to life and property, a certain measure of liberty of
action is guaranteed by all governments to their subjects.
Here we are dealing with prescriptive and statutory, and
not with inherent or natural rights. The history of slavery
is testimony to the fact that until comparatively recent


THE RELATION OF PRIVATE TO PUBLIC MORALITY. 265
most practical form of this altruism is seen in the labors of
the missionary. It goes even beyond men and includes
within its sphere the entire sentiment creation. This senti-
ment has been fostered and greatly promoted by the growth
and spread of intelligence by means of national and inter-
national commerce. We can feel no interest in a people
about whom we know nothing. It is true we may know
and yet be indifferent; but the feeling of interest and sym-
pathy must have something to feed on. If we do not know,
we are sure to be indifferent.
Itvis the custom of some people to disparage commerce
as founded on mere self-interest; and there is some truth in
the charge. But self-interest is not necessarily selfishness.
It may be wisely directed, and generally gives as much as it
takes, and very often more. With the increase of knowl-
edge and the frequency of intercourse there is developed the
clearer recognition of what is due from one man to another.
Facility of commercial intercourse is fostered by commer-
cial integrity. Business can not long be carried on except
on well established business principles. Otherwise it is
robbery.
Without exception the nations of Europe are living on a
higher moral plane than that of a hundred years ago, and
on a considerably higher plane than that of two hundred
years ago. I do not believe there is a nation in Europe to-
day that would tolerate the low private moral standard that
was almost universal in court circles of the last century.
Speaking only of England, Thackeray says: "No wonder
that Whitefield cried out in the wilderness,—that Wesley
quitted the insulted temple to pray on the hillside. I look
with reverence on these men at that time. Which is the
sublimer spectacle,—the good John Wesley surrounded by
his congregation at the pit's mouth, or the Queen's chaplain


26G
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
mumbling through his morning office in the anteroom under
the picture of the great Venus, with the door opening into
the adjoining chamber where the Queen is dressing, talking
scandal to Lord Hervey, or uttering sneers at Lady Suffolk,
who is kneeling with a basin at her mistress's feet?"
The history of the world is a gruesome tale. It is little
else even for the times of peace than the record of intrigue
of court against court; of courtier against courtier; of
wickedness in high places and of the oppression of the
lowly. Vice, crime, trickery, and immorality seem to have
held high carnival from age to age. But let us not forget
what our greatest poet says: "The evil that men do lives
after them, The good is oft interred with their bones." If
the ruling classes in general showed no sympathy for their
subjects, these often displayed deeds of heroic self-sacrifice
toward each other. God has never been without his wit-
nesses ; nobility of soul without its representatives. Count-
less acts of kindness have passed unnoticed except by the re-
cipient and there has never been a total lack of those who
felt that they were their brother's keeper. I freely acknowl-
edge, for I can not disbelieve the evidence, that our politics
is still sadly corrupt; in some parts of the country, fear-
fully so. Yet I am convinced that on the whole it stands
on a higher plane than ever before. If as yet not as much
has been accomplished in the way of its reform, as good
men have wished, the generally acknowledged necessity of
reform is in itself a hopeful sign. We are at least alive to
the dangers that threaten us. And before we can escape or
avoid danger we must know what and where it is.
Dr. Euemelin distinctly says that the statesman individu-
ally owes allegiance to the moral law, but not in his public
character. In other words his politics need not be regulated
by an ethical standard. This looks to me like a dangerous


TEE RELATION OF PRIVATE TO PUBLIC MORALITY. 267
doctrine. How shall we separate the man from his acts?
Do not a man's habitual acts constitute his character? Can
a man in public office distinguish between his actions and
say of the one, This I do in my representative capacity and
this as a private individual? In the one case I always tell
the truth and keep my word; in the other, only when I
think it expedient. We sometimes find men who are mor-
ally weak exhibiting great strength as statesmen both
creative and reformatory. A man's policy may be better
than his life; just as a great writer may be a despicable
character. But here we find the conditions reversed. Our
author, at least by implication, tells us that a statesman
may resort to fraud and falsehood, trickery and deception,
in order to enchance the greatness of the nation for which he
is acting, but he must not do these things in his private ca-
pacity. I grant that a temporary advantage may be gained
in this way, but I question its expediency in the long run.
The citizen of a representative government often finds him-
self in the unpleasant dilemma of having to choose between
a candidate whose public policy he endorses and whose pri-
vate character he detests. To which shall he give the pref-
erence^—to the man or to his views on public questions?
There is hardly any doubt that in matters of grave import
the policy is to be preferred rather than the man; but there
are many minor questions in which it is possible to show a
preference for the reputable citizen, and in this way parties
may be compelled to select worthier candidates. Unfortu-
nately, too, the voter rarely has the privilege of registering
his sentiments on all questions in which he is interested.
So many issues are usually involved that he is compelled to
strike an average, yet if he can not in all cases make choice
of what he regards best he can at least enter his protest
against the largest number of evils.


2G8
WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
What has been the practical effect of the policy that the
ruler or the statesman is not subject to the moral law? Al-
ways and everywhere pernicious in the extreme. What is,
or at least ought to be, the object for which all government
exists? To secure justice. On this point there is not likely
to be any disagreement. It is hardly correct to say that
governments were instituted to dispense justice among the
governed; it is nearer the truth to say that governments, or
rather government, was developed by a gradual process be-
cause men could exist in no other way. Wherever there
is collective activity there must be organization, there must
be government. Every man must have his assigned place
and know the duties devolving upon him. Boys can't so
much as play a game of ball without first coming to an
agreement as to the rules that shall govern it. These rules
are the laws of the game. Just so in the state. Its laws
are the rules according to which men are required to regu-
late their conduct in a political sense; they define within
certain limits the relations that men sustain to their fellow
men. There is no scientific frontier beyond which statute
law can not pass. Hence in some countries many acts are
illegal of which the law-making power in others takes no ac-
count. With every enlightened legislator the supreme prob-
lem is how to make such changes in the laws from time to
time as will best secure the end for which all laws exist: the
largest liberty of the individual with the highest good of the
community and the state as a whole.
Under a republican form of government laws are as a
general thing an expression of public opinion. A certain
line of policy is often followed by a community or a state
before it has been formulated into a statute. Generally,
however, leaders are necessary not only to formulate the
wants of a clientele, but to see that these wants when put


THE RELATION OF PRIVATE TO PUBLIC MORALITY. 269
into the form of laws are observed by all who come under
their operation. Murder and theft are everywhere punished
whether there be a statute to that effect or not. And so on
through a long list of acts.
It is true that an absolute ruler may enact laws and sec
that they are enforced that are in advance of public opinion,
but this sort of rulers has been rare in the history of the
world. If such rulers were always guided by the moral law
which commands all men to do justly and to love mercy
they would seek only the good of their subjects. Generally,
however, they have sought mere personal aggrandizement
at the expense of the governed. It was by following such
a policy that Louis XIV inflicted untold injury on France.
It is the same policy persistently carried out for centuries
that has brought Spain to its present unhappy condition.
Turkey is wretchedly poor, Italy is little better off, and
Spain is on the verge of ruin because those in authority,
those best able to bear the burdens of government have per-
sistently refused to do their duty and have compelled the
poorer members of the body politic to support a policy with
the formulating of which they had nothing to do. Auto-
cratic rulers are more likely, as experience teaches, to be in
the rear of public opinion than in advance of it. They
usually find themselves more comfortable and more secure
in maintaining the status quo than in yielding to proposed
changes. For this reason republican governments are more
progressive, except in rare cases, than monarchical. Even
under the best monarchs, those who are ever ready to ini-
tiate progressive measures, there is always danger of a stag-
nation. The people become accustomed to look to their
ruler for the initiative, and when this is not forthcoming,
there is no force to take its place.
No one will deny that the fundamental law of the state is


272 WISDOM AND WILL IN EDUCATION.
against Napoleon? How was the law of self-preservation
to be applied? We have had similar difficulties to solve. A
typical case is furnished by Gen. Robert E. Lee. His pri-
vate character was above reproach, yet he embraced a cause
that time shows more and more plainly to have been counter
to the moral order of the world. He believed that it was
the duty of the patriot to go with his state, deeming his
allegiance to her stronger than to the Union. He made a
mistaken application of the law of self-preservation, within
the narrow limits of a state, and he left behind him the
melancholy example of a noble man who wasted his energies
and misused his talents in a cause that was abhorrent to the
moral sense of the world.
The view held by almost all writers on government, until
comparatively recent times, was that the powers that be have
authority not only to determine the rights of the subject but
also what is right for the subject. Of course there have
always been conflicts, especially when the individual con-
science was infringed upon. In all cases of religious per-
secution this doctrine was shifted from the domain of
theory into the sphere of practice. But the theory was
never given up and almost invariably the persecuted became
persecutors in turn as soon as they had the power. The
doctrine that governments derive their just powers from the
consent of the governed, as a practical principle, is not older
than our Declaration of Independence. Since its promul-
gation there has been a constantly growing tendency to
reconcile the rights of the individual conscience with the
functions of the state. It is now generally held that it is the
duty of those in authority to make the government so good,
the laws so just that the subject will himself recognize the
fact and yield willing obedience. The problem is by no means
yet fully solved but the enlightened nations of the earth


THE RELATION OF PRIVATE TO PUBLIC MORALITY. 279
during the present century has been along lines then mark-
ed out. In other words, it has come to be a recognized
principle of statecraft that in the main governments derive
their just powers from the consent of the governed. In
practice the theory can not be consistently carried out for it
is impossible to secure unanimity on many of the problems
that must be decided in order to make a viable government.
Institutional life will always necessitate many compromises.
But most governments no longer undertake to decide polit-
ical questions without consulting the body of the citizens.
They are putting more and more faith in the potency of
reason and less in coercion. It is the essence of democracy
that the minority, no matter how large, shall learn to sub-
mit to the majority for the time being, no matter how dis-
tasteful. It is because some of the Spanish-American states
have not learned this lesson that they are in the chronic
throes of revolution.
If intelligent patriotism can be taught,—and who doubts
it?—it must be done by enabling every citizen to express
with the ballot, an intelligent opinion, on every question of
public interest. The greatest good of the commonwealth is
best secured by promoting the interest of the largest number
of individuals. While the duty of the citizen and that of the
private man are not always identical they ought not to con-
flict. It is hard to see wherein the good citizen differs
from the good man and vice versa.
I give here the closing paragraph of the translation refer-
red to on p. 260, for while some of the passages are intended
to have a special application, they also embody- general
truths. "On the other hand, we can hardly fail to notice in
the management of public affairs an increasing tendency to-
ward nobler ends. In the eighteenth century politics consist-
ed mainly of cabinet intrigues, mutual espionage and plot-


THE RELATION OF PRIVATE TO PUBLIC MORALITY. 283
high a price to pay for the truth and the right. In the
end he will not only lose nothing but assuredly gain much.
It would be a grand consummation if such an esprit de
corps could be engendered among teachers as to make the
public fully aware that none of them could be induced to
take the place of one who had been dismissed for any cause
except proved inefficiency or immorality. It is safe to assume
that such a condition of things is nearer than the time when
employers shall have ceased to seek places for the in-
competent, except in their own business. The poor and the
inefficient we shall always have with us and so we shall al-
ways have the problem of providing for those who are un-
able to provide for themselyes.
The End.





R. L. MYERS & CO.'S
SCHOOL ALGEBRAS
By Fletcher Dcreix, A.M., Ph.D., and
Edward R. Robbins, A.B.
Mathematical Masters. the Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, N. J.
These books are remarkable, both for the originality in the
development of the subject and for the wonderful skill in pre-
paring, adapting, and grading a large number of examples and
review exercises. While seeking to develop the theory of the
subject in a manner entirely new in school algebras of to-day,
the authurs keep in close touch with the best current practices
of teachers in other respects.
A GRAMMAR SCHOOL ALGEBRA. 258+xxix
pages. Half leather. 80 cents.
This volume closes with the subject of Radicals. It is
intended to contain only so much of the subject of Algebra as
pupils in Grammar Schools are likely to study.
A SCHOOL ALGEBRA. 336+xxxviii pages. Half
leather. $1.00.
This volume covers the requirements of admission to the
Classical Course of Colleges, as agreed upon at the conference
between the representatives of leading Colleges and Prepara-
tory Schools.
A SCHOOL ALGEBRA COMPLETE. 416+xlvii pages.
Half leather. (1.25.
This book contains, in addition to the subjects usually"
treated in a School Algebra, the more advanced subjects required
(1902) for admission to Universities and Scientific Schools, to
wit: Permutations and Combinations. Undetermined Coeffi-
cients, the Binominal Theorem, Continued Fractions, Loga-
rithms, etc. This Algebra contains a chapter on the " History
of Elementary Algebra," the first of its kind published in
America.
Points of Superiority Peculiar to the Dnrell & Robbing
School Algebras
1. The general theory, which makes evident to the pupil
that new symbols and processes are introduced, not arbitrarily
but for the sake of the economy or new power which is gained
by their use. This treatment of Algebra is better adapted to
the practical American spirit, and gives the study of the subject
a larger educational value.
2. Clear and simple presentation of first principles. Bright
girls of ten years read the first chapter; and with very little
explanation on a few points of secondary importance, they
understand the chapter clearly on first reading.


SCHOOL ALGEBRAS
3. Abundance of practice: (1) About 4,000 problems and
examples In the complete book—nearly 1,000 more than in any
other book of similar grade. Compare any chapter with corres-
ponding chapter in other leading books. (2) Every exercise
well graded; easy examples first; hardest examples last; work
may be limited with any problem. (3) The problems are all
sensible; no "catch," unusual, or bizarre examples, which
have no place in a text-book.
The Durell & Robbins School Algebras are superior not only
in the development of the theory and in the number and char-
acter of the exercises—the main points to be considered in
determining the strength of a text-bock on Algebra—but also
in modern methods, new treatment of subjects, systematic
grouping of kindred processes, early introduction of substitu-
tion, emphasis placed upon verification of equations, concise
definitions, clear and specific explanations, tactful omissions
of a number of answers, frequent reviews, superior typog-
raphy.
The success of these books is likely unprecedented. They
have already secured for themselves, without any agency work
except in Pennsylvania, adoptions in the foremost schools in
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Maine,
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, South Dakota, California,
Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia and
Maryland.
Extracts from letters by Superintendents, Principals, and Teachers
of Schools in Which the Books Are Used
W. F. SLATON, City Superin.
tendent, Atlanta, Ga.—The Durell
& Robbins Grammar School
Algebra is admirably suited to the
advanced grades of grammar
schools and to the lower grades of
high schools. In my judgment,
factoring cannot be better taught
than it is done in this book.
THOMAS A. BLACKFORD, Com-
mantant of Cadets, Cheltenham
Military Academy, Ogontz, Pa.—
The authors of the Durell & Rob-
bins School Algebra have certainly
accomplished their purpose, to
simplify principles and to make
them attractive. I know of no
book that I would stronger recom-
mend for adoption.
GEORGE GILBERT, Principal
Chester Academy, Chester, Pa.—I
am pleased with the book under
the test of the school-room. It is
certainly gotten up on the right
plan. * * * it must be a favorite
with teachers.
THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL
OF EDUCATION, A. E. Winship,
Editor, Boston.—The Lawrenceville
School, Lawrenceville, N. J., is one
of the foremost secondary institu-
tions in the country, and Messrs.
Myers & Co. have made "a great
hit," in the language of the hour,
in securing the mathetnatic.il spe-
cialists of that institution for the
preparation ofsuch a series of books
as these prove to be. The books are
attracting much attention.
CHARLES F. HARPER. Princi-
pal Public High School, New Brit-
ain, Conn.—• * * A first-class
binding; excellent type ; carefully
chosen, progressive graded prob-
lems; clearly stated rules; easy
explanations; and an abundance
of varied examples, both for daily
studies and reviews.
SISTER M. FLARIA, Directress
St. Peter's Academy, Columbia.
Pa.—It is the most complete work
in Algebra I have yet seen.


SCHOOL ALGEBRAS
PROF. H. R. HIGLEY, A.M.,
Department of Mathematics, State
/formal School, East Stroudsburg,
Pa.—We have used the Durell &
Robbina School Algebra Complete
in our classes during the past year,

Dr. Fletcher Durell.
and expect to use it for years to
come. The book is just what the
practical teacher should have.
Our pupils were never so well pre-
pared i s they have been since we
use this book.
THE EDUCATIONAL FORUM,
The Auditorium, Chicago, Illi-
nois.—The subject of Algebra has
in this book (Durell & Robbins
Grammar School Algebra) been
simplified, and the practical reason
for each step is given in such a
plain common-sense way that alge-
bra is made far more attractive
than by any previous text-book.
* * * This method is extremely
practical, and adds materially to
the interest of the pupil.
WILLIAM J. BOONE, President,
The - College of Idaho, Caldwell,
Idaho.—The Durell & Robbins
School Algebra presents the subject
in the liveliest, clearest and most
forceful manner. I am acquainted
with about two dozen texts on
elementary Algebra; but I con-
sider Durell & Robbins the best*
W. W. RUPERT, City Superin-
tendent, Pottstown, Pa.—The book
is, indeed, an excellent one; writ-
ten. evidently, by men who are
both mathematicians and first-
class teachers.
DR. D. C. MURPHY, Superin-
tendent Training- Department,
State Normal School. Slippery
Rock, ft.-We are using the Durell
& Robbins Algebras in both the
training department and the nor-
mal department of this institution.
These books are superior and are
better than their publishers repre-
sent them to be.
SUPT. ISAAC FREEMAN HALL,
City of North Adams, Massachu-
setts.—The Durell & Robbins Gram-
mar School Algebra leads the pupil
naturally, not arbitrarily, from the
known to the unknown. It is
planned to give power (dynamic
rather than mechanical) to the
student. It is superior in the selec-
tion and grading of problems.
DR. L. C. BOTKIN, President
Board of Education, Burgetts-
town. Pa.—Permit me to add my
feeble voice to the praises of these
Algebras and to the protests against
publishing a key to them. So long
as I may be a member of any
school board, I will vote against
the use or adoption of any books
whose publishers also publish a
key.

Frof. Edward r. robbins


R. L. MYERS & rO.'S
PRACTICAL ARITHMETICS
By Flbtcher Durell, Ph.D.
Mathematical Master in the Lawrenceville School, and
Edward R. Robbins, A.B.
Mathematical Master in the William Penn Charter School
FIRST LESSONS IN NUMBERS. 88 pages. 25 cents.
The development of numbers to 100, attractively illustrated.
THE ELEMENTARY PRACTICAL ARITHMETIC.
201 pages. Half leather. 40 cents.
The first part is devoted to the development of numbers;
it is fully illustrated, and this part in itself is a valuable pri-
mary arithmetic. The second part begins with the fundamental
operations and closes with the subject of interest. It is an
interesting treatment of the more useful topics of arithmetic.
THE ADVANCED PRACTICAL ARITHMETIC.
363 pages. Half leather. 65 cents.
This volume covers the courses of the best American State
Normal Schools, and meets the requirements for admission to
the best American Colleges. It is also especially adapted to
the more practical demands of the rural schools. Much obso-
lete and valueless matter found in many text-books is omitted
and increased attention given to arithmetical analysis, cancel-
lation, common fractions, decimal fractions, practical
measurements, applications of percentage, applications of
interest, mensuration, etc., etc It contains also a chapter
on Arithmetical History, which is of great educational value
and offers scholarly possibilities to the bright teacher.
The same points of superiority that have distinguished the
esteem and confidence of t achers and pupils are fou nd in the
Durell and Robbins Arithmetics, to wit: the original and
scholarly development of the theory and the wonderful skill
of the authors in preparing, adapting and grading a large num-
ber of examples and review exercises.
In developing the theory, the authors have shown more
plainly than has been done heretofore the common-sense rea-
son for every step or process. This treatment is better adapted
to th? practical American spirit and it also gives the study of
Arithmetic a larger educational value.
In making the problems and illustrative solutions, modern
conditions and practices have been kept in view. The problems
are consequently interesting and sensible, and the solutions
are up-to-date. The exercises are well-graded and thorough.
On every page of these books is stamped the class-room
experience of scholarly, practical teacners.
Durell

won for these books the


SCHOOL ARITHMETICS
FRED. H. SOMERVILLE, Law-
renceville. N. /.—The Durell and
Robbins Advanced Practical Arith-
metic ia unique in that it combines
clearness of explanation with a
remarkably practical application
of principles. The conciseness of
the subject matter, the skillful
gradation of the examples and the
const int recurrence of carefully
Srepared review exercises give it a
istiActive value not to be found in
any text-book that has come to my
notice. I find the book of special
helpfulness to young students,
since H serves to cultivate an
Interest not generally obtained.
HOWARD SMITH, Instructor in
Mathematics. The Lawrenceville
School, Lawrenceville, N.J.—Much
useless and obsolete matter found
in so many other Arithmetics has
been omitted by the authors of the
Durell and Robbins Advanced
Practical Arithmetic. The book is
dear* concise, aud comprehensive,
and meets in every particular the
demands of our public schools,
normal schools and academies.
HISS ALICE M. DUDLEY, Sen-
ior Teacher of Arithmetic,William
Penn Charter School, Philadelphia.
—For giving students correct ideas
of business problems done in a
business-like way, I consider the
Advanced Practical Arithmetic, by
Durell and Robbins, the best I have
ever used.
MISS LUCY CHANDLER, Wil-
liam Penn Charter School, Phila-
delphia.—.The Durell and Robbins
Advanced Practical Arithmetic is
excellent for grammar school
pupils needing a thorough drill in
work that has been taken in an
elementary way.
GEORGE E. WILBUR, Depart-
ment of Higher Mathematics, State
Normal School, Bloomsburg, Pa.—
The Durell and Robbins Advanced
Practical Arithmetic is, in every
respect, a splendid work. I shall
recommend it to our teacher of
Arithmetic.
IULEFF PARDEE, Teacher, Guy%s
Mills, Pa.—We are using the Durell
and Robbins Arithmetics. I have
taught thirty-two years, and con-
sider these the best Arithmetics
that I have ever used or examined.
The authors present the different
subjects so clearly that the average
pupil makes rapid progress with-
out much help from the teacher.
R. G. MILLER, Principal, Eliza-
beth, Pa. — I like it principally
because it is, as its title indicates,
"practical," and has omitted a
number of useless subjects.
F. E. DOWNES, Principal, Dick-
inson Preparatory School, Carlisle,
Pa. — We have been using the
Durell and Robbins Arithmetic
long enough to learn that it is just
the book (or a college preparatory
school. In general arrangement
and in the treatment of each sub-
ject the book is thoroughly logical.
The explanations are clear to the
student; the problems are well
selected and practical. It is the
most teachable book we have as
yet been able to secure. It is giving
entire satisfaction.
M. J. MILLER, Principal, Con-
neaut Lake, Pa.—We have used the
Durell and Robbius Algebras for
two years, and are now using the
Arithmetics by the same authors.
We find the books well adapted to
practical scho >1 room needs and
strictly up to date.
M. S. BENTZ, Principal, South
Fork, Pa.—We are using the Durell
and Robbins Arithmetics in our
schools with excellent results. The
presentation of the subject matter
is clear and concise, with plenty of
problems of a practical nature to
insure its comprehension.
MISS MAUD FISHER, Teacher,
Berne, Pa. — They are admirable
books. I am pleased with the
varied examples, and especially
with the reviews after every new
subject.
MISS MARGARET B. CONLEY,
Teacher, Shermansville, Pa.—We
are very much pleased with the
Durell and Robbins Arithmetics,
and I also find the Algebra superior
to any I have ever used.
MISS LILIAN HAYES, Teacher,
Elton, Pa. — We are using the
Durell and Robbins Arithmetics,
and I know of no books that I
would recommend so strongly for
adoption in public schools.
WILLIAM P. TAYLOR, A.B.,
(Vale) Principal, Birmingham,
Ala.—I like the Advanced Arith-
metic for its attention given to fun-
damentals and its omission of
the useless "stuff" that has lit-
tered most of our text-books on
Arithmetic.


R. L MYERS & CO.'S
GRADED SPELLING BOOKS
By Martin G. Benedict, Ph.D.,
Professor of Pedagogy, Pennsylvania State College, State College, Pm.
BENEDICT'S PRIMARY SPELLER. 91 Pages. Cloth.
20 Cents.
BENEDICT'S ADVANCED SPELLER. 168 Pages.
Cloth. 25 Cents.
Well arranged spelling books will assist pupils to do at
least three things: (1) To speak words correctly. (2) To write
words correctly. (3) To use words correctly. To speak words
correctly, one must know and be able to make the sounds of
which words are composed. To write words correctly, one
must know the elements of which they are composed, and the
order in which these elements occur. To use words correctly,
either in spoken or written language, one must know the
ideas for which they stand. Benedict's spelling books are writ-
ten to harmonize, to correlate, and to emphasize these points.
A popular correlation of spelling to other studies is observed,
not for the purpose of teaching reading, or language, or geog-
raphy, but to emphasize spelling as relative to every other
branch of study and to clothe it with a living reality. The
proper study of these books will incite an interest in words
and in word study that will abide after the spelling book has
been forgotten.
DR. A. E. WINSHIP, Editor N.
E. Journal of Education, Boston,
Mass.—Professor Benedict, of the
State College of Pennsylvania, has
had experience as principal of city
schools, has been at the head of a
normal school, and has had much
-experience in meeting teachers at
institutes, and this book is the
result of many years of thought up-
on the subject of teaching spelling.
This is an excellent book, words
well selected aud arranged. sounds
correctly marked and grouped, and
meanings clearly indicated in exer-
cises intended for thought discrim-
ination. It is a spelling book that
trains in correct pronunciation
and syllabication. as well as orthog-
raphy. Synonyms and antonyms
are abundant. Dr. Benedict evi-
dently thinks that the correct spell-
ing aud pronunciation of a word
often depends upon its grammat-
ical use, for he teaches language
incidentally. He gives most help-
ful exercises In homonyms.
Names of articles of commerce
are well emphasized. Plurals are
well handled. Proper names are
duly prominent. Word building is
a prominent feature. Cognate
words and ideas are skillfully
treated. Derived words are grouped
advantageously. In every respect
this is a valuable speller, good for
every child in the grammar school.
So better book, to say the least, has
been made for securing intelligent
and correct use of the words of
every day life.—(In the 44 JV. E.
Journal of Education," fan. 26,
1899.)
SUPT. L. 0. FOOSE, City
Schools, Harrisburg, Pa.— * * *
Both books contain much that is
new, suggestive and helpful to both
teacher and pupil, stress being laid
upon the critical knowledge of the
form of a word as well as on its
meaning and use in a sentence.
They contain about all the ordinary
words that are in use in the lan-
guage, anl if mastered ought
to make good spellers beyond
doubt.


GRADED SPELLING BOOKS
MISS ADA V. NORTON, Teacher
of Orthography and Commercial
Course, State Normal School, Ship-
pensburg, Pa.—We have used Bene-
dict's Speller for more than two
years with most gratifying results.
The arrangement of the work is
logical. It incites interest in word
work, and its correlation with other
subjects makes it thoroughly inter-
esting, hence easily taught."
Supt. j. M. BERKEY, City
Schools, Johnstown, Pa.—We are
using Benedict's Primary Speller
in our fourth and fifth grades and
find it very satisfactory. It con-
tains a well selected and carefully
grade i list of words, which is the
essential requisite in any spelling
book. The author, moreover, has
wisely left the teacher to suggest,
and the pupil to work out the
spelling exercises. It is not bur-
dened, as too many of our spelling
books are, with suggestions, hints ,
methods, rules, and language exer-
cises. It is simply a good, all-
round primary speller. I cheerfully
endorse it. (Since the above Was
written the Advanced Speller has
also been adopted.)
F. J. STETTLER, Superinten-
dent, Slating ton, Pa.—Spelling was
almost a "lost art" in the Slating-
ton schools a few years ago. A
change in text-books as well as a
change in the methods of teaching
spelling was absolutely necessary.
Our school authorities adopted and
introduced Benedict's Spellers last
September. Our teachers spe^k in
high prai-e of the merits of the
books. Their results are excellent.
The pupils of our middle grades
have learned to know the diacritical
marks and are able to use the dic-
tionary intelligently. Spelling now
has an upward tendency in our
schools.
NORMAN G. REISER, Principal,
Delaware Water Gap, Pa.—I have
carefully examined Benedict's
Spellers. They are unquestionably
the best series on the market
to-day. In scope and arrangement
of matter, they are most practical
and theoretically correct. The
phonetic analysis, synonyms and
autonyms and the classification of
words are among the strong and
most meritorious features. They
will prove a revelation in spelling.
We shall immediately adopt them.
MISS M. E. BURNHAN. Super-
intendent, Sutton, Vtj—The Bene-
dict Spellers are the best I have yet
examined and I am glad that I rec-
ommended them for adoption.
SUPT. ADDISON JONES. City
Schools, West Chester, Pa.—We are
usiug Benedict's Primary Speller.
The w «rds are arranged so that
they are easily learned without
worrying the pupil. I have not
seen a speller better suited to our
use.
M. L. MAI Eft, Ph.D.. Presi-
dent. Kee Mar College, Hagers-
town, Md.—The Benedict Speller
was adopted a year ago in our in-
stitution. The selection of words
and the classification of the text is
far superior to any I have exam-
ined.
D. C. STUNKARD, Principal,
Bedford, Pa.—Benedict's Spelling
Books have been in use in the Bed-
ford public schools since their
first publication, three years ago,
and we have secured better results
from their use than we ever attain-
ed by the use of any other books;
and we have reasons for expecting
even better results when our course
is thoroughly introduced and
brought up to our expected stand-
ard.
MRS. WINIFRED SMITH RICE.
Teather of Literature, State Nor-
mal School, East Stroudsburg, Pa.
—Benedict's Advanced Speller has
been used in this State Normal
School since its publication,. In
1899, and we have found it to be the
most up-to-date book on spelling
published. It does all that is
claimed for it in the preface, teach-
ing, in the shortest time possible,
three things: to speak or pro-
nounce words correctly ; to write
or spell words correctly; to use
words correctly. Without doubt,
it is the best book that could be
made for normal school purposes;
as the diacritical markings corres-
pond, on the main, to the phronic
methods employed in the best
reading systems, thus teaching the
student his reading methods inci-
dentally with his spelling. The
diacritical markings also give the
student a foundation by which he
may later help himself in the study
of language. Its simplicity and
progressive arrangement are also
strong points in its favor.


R. L. MYERS & CO.'S
HISTORY
OUTLINES OP GENERAL HISTORY
In the Form of Questions
By J. R. Fuckingbr, M.A.,
Principal State Normal School, Lock Haven, Pa.
Size, yxSyi. 169 Pages. Cix>th. Linen Paper.
50 Cents
Extracts from the author's preface: "All teachers of gen-
eral history in the secondary schools of this country know
that, owing to the lack of time, very unsatisfactory results are
attained. Daily recitations, topical or otherwise, finally accu-
mulate in the mind of the pupil such a mass that there can be
no satisfactory assimilation. To obviate this defect, these
questions were framed. ***** By this means, the
constructive mental qualities of most students are exercised.
Then, too, it is a well-known pedagogical fact, that most of us
are of the motor type, and that it is necessary for us to construct
that which we would master.
^tS^A . "Without question, the
arises from a lack of time, as has been said, but that the gradual
accumulation of a mass of matter assists in further deteriora-
ting the work of the teacher for each term. Both teacher and
pupil become discouraged, and they lose interest, and, hence,
tenacity of purpose. By supplementing the narrative method
with a series of suggestive questions, not only will the interest
be maintained, but the student will be encouraged along the
line of least resistance."

best possible method of
studying history is that of
the seminary, by which orig-
inal sources are examined,
and both oral and written
construction of the narrative
is practiced. This method,
however, can only be used
in the university, and can-
not be thought of in our
secondary schools. There-
fore, these questions have
been framed in order that
we might have a compromise
method between the best
and the poorest methods^
The author believes that a
great deal of the poor teach-
ing done in this subject
Prof. J. R. Flickinger.


HI'STORY
FLASE-LIGHTS ON AMERICAN HISTORY.
By Dawsey Cope Murphy, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Training Department, State Normal School,
Slippery Rock, Pa.
208 Pages. Illustrated. Bound in Cloth
Price, 65 Cents
This book is not the work of a professional author. Dr.
Murphy is a careful student of history, and an able lecturer
upon this subject. He was formerly a teacher of prominence
in public schools; and for the past seven years he h-s been
training teachers for every grade of public school work. FLASH-
LIGHTS on American History is therefore the outgrowth
of the school-room and the platform, and is a reader of real
value to the schools. It will awaken a deeper interest in his-
toric study, and create a greater fondness for beautiful selec-
tions of prose and poetry. Subjects are arranged chronologi-
cally. The explanatory notes are helpful. The historical
recreations excite renewed interest. All in all, it is one of the
best of supplementary readers. Where it is not provided for
class use, it should be on the teacher's desk and in the school
library.
SAMUEL HAMILTON, Superintendent, Allegheny Co., Pa.—"Flash-
Lights on American History" is an admirable work. It is a connecting
link between history and literature, adding new life and interest to both.
It is especially well adapted to the wants of the public school as a supple-
mentary reader.
DR. M. G. BRUMBAUGH, University of Pennsylvania.—-Murphy's
"Flash-Lights on American History" is an admirable book for the
teacher, and is full of most helpful historical material, written in a fas-
cinating manner. The author is to be congratulated upon producing so
excellent a treatise.
From AMERICAN SCHOOL AND COLLEGE JOURNAL, St. Louis,
Mo.—The hope of the author of" Flash-Lights on American History" has
already been realized. The children in the home wish to rea- and to re-
read every page of this most admirable and timely compilation. Older
people, too, have read it and will read it again. It is a book all alive with
stories, in prose and verse, of noble and daring deeds. A soul-stirring
poem, or a patriotic address, based upon some heroic event such as'we
find here, sets the hearts of pupils aflame with Interest.
W. S. BRYAN, Principal, Carnegie, Pa.—We like your book. It
creates a new interest in .he history classes. We count it our best supple-
mentary reader.
D. J. DRISCOLL, Principal, St. Mary's, Pa.—X secured one of the
first copies that came from the press. I am delighted with it. The pupils
ask to take it home oftenerthan any other book in our library, and several
of them have already read it through.


£. L. MYERS & CO.'S
THE PENNSYLVANIA SERIES
. Ever since the union of the thirteen colonies, Pennsylvania
has been known as the " Keystone." She is by nature and by
achievements entitled to this distinction. There is no equal
area on the face of the Globe to which the Creator has given so
great a variety of blessings in soil, rivers and mountains. Three
of the five richest agricultural counties in the country are in
Pennsylvania. Her mines of iron, wells of oil, and pockets of
gas are almost matchless, while she has the world's richest
storehouses of anthracite and bituminous coals. Sixty-six of
her sixty-seven counties are penetrated by great railway sys-
tems; and the Ohio, the Susquehanna, the Schuylkill, the
Delaware, the Lehigh, the Allegheny and the Monongahela
form a combination of rivers unequaled by any other State.
. All these blessings are at the mercy of the coming genera-
tion. Never before was the need of civic patriotism so great.
Civic clubs are demanding it; churches are preaching it; and
the schools are urged to teach it. History is the foundation of
true patriotism and real civic pride. Better than mines and
forests, than water power and navigable rivers, than railways
and shipyards, is the State's inheritance from William Penn,
the statesman, philanthropist, educator and Christian; from
Benjamin Franklin, Thaddeus Stevens, Robert Fulton, and
other great leaders; from Independence Hall, Valley Forge,
Gettysburg, and other hallowed spots made sacred by the suffer-
ing, the bravery and the blood of a patriotic ancestry.
In view of the importance of Pennsylvania, it has been
deemed advisable to publish a series of school books bearing
upon the State and her institutions, and the first two books of
the series are herewith announced.
A HISTOBY OP PENNSYLVANIA
By L. S. Shimmell, Ph.D.
Teacher of United States History and Civil Government, High School,
Hamsburg. Author of" The Pennsylvania Citizen"
Pages 356. Folly Illustrated. Cloth. Price, 90 Cents
In his simple, clear and accurate style, so well-known to
all schoolmen in Pennsylvania, the author of this new book
tells of the Indians and their dealings with our forefathers;
fives an account of the early settlements of the Dutch, the
wedes, the English, the Germans, the Welsh, the Scotch-
Irish and the French Huguenots; describes the growth in popu-
lation and the adjustmeut of territorial boundaries; explains
the early forms of government; records the administrations of
the government during the colonial, the revolutionary, and the
constitutional period; relates the industrial and educational
history of the State; and closes with a chapter of biographical
sketches, that to any teacher is alone worth the price of the book.


THE PENNSYL
VANIA SERIES
DR. D. J. WALLER, Principal,
State Normal School, Indiana, Pa.
—Shimmell's "Pennsylvania Citi-
zen" merits the wide adoption
given it, and his History is of even
greater interest ior Pennsylvania
Because it is of as deep interest for
women as for men. Dr. Shimmell
is to be congratulated upon hav-
ing produced a book that was
needed, aud upon having produced
one so good thai another will not
soon be? written for the same pur-
pose. He has succeeded in com-
pacting a large mass of facts into a
hand-book and yet in writing his-
tory. Every school in Pennsylva-
nia in which American history is
taught should have copies of this
book. It will win its way.
DR. GEO. EDWARD REED,
President £>ickinson College,
Carlisle, Pa.—I have examined Dr.
L. S. Shimmell's excellent work
"A History of Pennsylvania " with
considerable care, and am very
much pleased with the simple
and natural arrangement of the
matter of the volume. The literary
style of the author is very attrac-
tive, and the whole arrangement
of the book is such as to render
it particularly well adapted for
text-book purposes. It would be a
most valuable book to introduce in
the Public Schools of Pennsylvania.
PROF. J. C. TAYLOR, Superin-
tendent* Lackawanna County, Pa.—
Every teacher of history in the
Stateshould have a copy, and every
school should be supplied. I think
of contributing a copy to each
library in this county.
DR. J. R. FLICKiNGER, Prin-
cipal, State Not mat School, Lock
Haven, Pa.—X compliment the au-
thor on the skill he has shown in
the balancing of his data. He has
done good pioneer work and his
book should have the encourage-
ment of Pennsylvania teachers. As
soon as we can find a place for it
we shall giv.* it a trial. It is very
attractive in appearance.
PROF. A. WANNER, City Super-
intendent, Yorkt Pa.— Shimmel's
History of Pennsylvania happily
presents the leading facts in the
history of our State. The graphic
arrangement by which along paral-
lel lines, the great closely related
phases of development, separately
treated, are presented, immensely
adds to the interest and value of
the book.
THE TIMES, Pittsburg, Pa.,
May 9, /goo.—There are few things
that it is necessary to know about
the story of the Keystone State
that cannot be found: in this vol-
ume. It is illustrated by many
engravings of historic buildings
and places and with many por-
traits. A valuable feature of the
volume is a series of brief, well
written biographies of men promi-
nent in the various activities of
the Commonwealth, from the be-
ginning to the present.
PROF. H. MILTON ROTH,
Superintendent, Adams County,
Pa.—I have thoroughly examined
"A History of Pennsylvania M and
am much pleused with it. I am a
firm advocate of having State his-
tory taught in the public schools,
and bespeak a prominent place for
"A History of Pennsylvania" in
the schools of our Commonwealth.
May it be as helpful to the student
as the " Pennsylvania Citizen" has
been.
DR. J. D. MOFFAT, President
Washington and Jefferson College,
Washington, Pa.—It is certatnlv a
practical book, embodying an im-
mense amount of information in
small space, and presented in a
simple, straight forward way that
is both interesting and instructive.
PROF. A. G. C. SMITH, Super-
intendent, Delaware County, Pa.—
I am quite pleased with it and I am
sure it will be found a useful book
in both public and private schools.
It is written in a pleasing ftyle
and contains much that every
Pennsylvanian should know. I
bespeak for it the success the
efforts of the author deserve.
DR. G. M. PHILIPS, Principal.
State Normal School, W'st Ches-
ter, Pa.—I have looked through it
with some care and with much
interest. The work is not only
well doue, but, what is almost more
important in a history, and espe-
cially a local history, it is interest-
ingly done. I congratulate both
its author aud its publisher upon It.
HON. HENRY HOUCK, Deputy
State Superintendent, JIarrisburg.
Pa.—Pennsylvania has a historv of
which every one of its citizens has
a right to feel proud, and this book
tells the story veil. I have read
many State school histories and I
am glad to say that in my opinion
this book rauks with the very best.


X. L. MYERS & CO.'S
THE PENNSYLVANIA CITIZEN
By L. S. Shimmkll, Ph.D.
Teacher of U. S. History and Civil Government, High School,
Harrisburg
THE PENNSYLVANIA CITIZEN is a complete civil gov-
eminent of Pennsylvania, and contains al o the essentials of
the national government. It is used in a majority of the school
districts of the State, including the following cities and
boroughs: Allegheny, Altooua, Bethlehem, Braddock, Carbon-
dale, Columbia, Corry, Danville, DuBois, Dunmore, East on,
Erie, Franklin, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Hazleton, Huntingdon,
Jeannette, Lebanon, Lock Haven, McKees- ort, Mahanoy City,
Meadville, Middletown, New Brighton, New Castle, Philadel-
phia, Pittsburg, Pottstown. Shamokin, Shenandoah, South
Bethlehem, Steelton, Sunbury, Titusville, Tyrone, Uniontown,
Wilkes-Barre and York.
The recent law requiring teachers to be examined in civil
government, including State and local government, is evidence
that the book supplies a demand that is general all over the
State. Although its sale is limited to Pennsylvania, yet the
Pennsylvania Citizen has reached its ioo,ocoth volume.
Comments oa "The Pennsylvania Citizen"
DR. LINCOLN HULLEY, De-
partment of History* Bucknell
University. — " The Pennsylvania
Citizen "is an admirable book. I do
not know of anything so suitable
for schools in Pennsylvania as this
book. I shall recommend it wher-
ever I get a chance. The study of
State government is as important as
that of the National. if not more so.
DR. EDWARD BROOKS, City
Super in tendent, Ph ila delp hi a. —
"The Pennsylvania Citizen" is
well adapted to give that training
in civic knowledge so essential to
every citizen of our country. It
will do a good work in the State in
educating patriotic American citi-
zens.
DR. J. S. TAYLOR, Grammar
School 86, New York Cily.—l wish
there were a New York edition of
"The Pennsylvania Citizen," and
that it were on our list. I am
using , which is entirely too
prolix, and does not come close
enough home for school children.
It is too abstract and attempts too
much. I congratulate you on this
book. The style in fluent and
lucid, and your choice of the topics
most happy.
WILLIAM LAUDER, General
Manager Kemble Iron Company,
Riddle$burg,Pa.; also President
of Broad Top Township School
Board.—Shimmell's ''Pennsylvania
Citizen " is one of the best books in
that line I have seen. and it ought
to be made a compulsory text-book
in all our schools. If the states-
men were as active as the W. C. T.
U. they would soon put it into use,
and it would do more good than
physiology.
MISS MARY B. ROCKWOOD,
Girl's Latin School, Baltimore.
Md.—" The Pennsylvania Citizen"
should certainly be immensely
popular in Pennsylvania, for it has
the same excellent qualities that
we all appreciate in the "School
Gazette." It is clear, it is simple, it
is comprehensive, it is interesting,
it is " up-to-date."
DR. JOHN BALLENTINE, State
Normal, Clarion, Pa.—I have care-
fully read Shimmell's "Pennsyl-
vania Citizen." The work is brief,
but the facts are clearly and accu-
rately stated. Chapter II contains
information not usually found In
short mauuals. Chapter IX has
valuable definitions. This is the
third outline of the government of
our State that has found its way
into our school, and, according to
my judgment, the best. It ought
to be studied in every commvu
school in Pennsylvania.


IDEAL MUSTC COURSE
IDEAL MUSIC COURSE
By J. A. SPRBNKSL
Supervisor of Music% Bethlehem, Pa.
In the preparation of this course, two conditions have been
carefully considered. (i) That vocal music in our public
schools must, in the great majority of cases, be taught by the
regular teachers. Special attention, therefore, is given to sug-
gestive lessons and exercises in the theory of vocal music.
(2) That the songs of the school room are treasured in the
minds of the pupils, and are seldom forgotten. Good thoughts
and sentiments are, therefore, fully as important as pleasing
music. It has, consequently, been necessary to omit many
so-called new songs, and to draw largely from standard poetry,
suggestive of noble thoughts and fancies.
PRIMARY IDEAL MUSIC BOOK. 96 Pages. Half
Cloth. 35 Cents.
The rudimental department is simple and thorough. The
music includes a wide range of subjects and styles. The songs
are bright and pleasing. It is a standard primary work.
ADVANCED IDEAL MUSIC BOOK. 198 Pages.
Cloth. 60 Cents.
This is one of the best books for teaching purposes and
chorus work ever published. It is divided into departments,
and each department is as nearly perfect as it could well be
made. Every piece of music is good; every song will be sung
and enjoyed. There is not a poor page in the book.
This course is complete in itself, but "The Ideal Music
Chart1' has been provided for those who wish to use one.
DR. NATHAN C. SHEAFFER,
Superintendent of Public Instruc-
Hon, Pennsylvania.—It has been
my pleasure at different institutes
to listen to the talks of Prof. J. A.
Sprenkel, and to hear him conduct
the exercises in singing. He pos-
sesses rare powers for holding the
attention of an audience, and
superior abilities as a leader of the
singing in large gatherings.
PROF. A. U L. SUHRIE, Prin-
cipal Public Schools, Si. Marys,
Pa.—Prof. Lion, my first assistant,
is a musician, and he has taken
charge of the music in our schools.
He is much pleased with the books,
and we hive been able to secure
excellent results thus far.
DR. ARNOLD TOMPKINS, Chi-
cago University.—Prof. J. A. Spren-
kel is not only an enthusiastic and
an efficient teacher of music, but
one whose bearing and character
exert a wholesome influence on
those about him. He is the author
of music books of high merit.
PROF. A. J. BE1TZEL, County
Superintendent. Cu mberland
County, Pa.—The "Ideal Music
Course" has been generally intro-
duced into the schools of the
several townships and boroughs
in this county, and the books are
giving the best of satisfaction.
* * * The - charge that music
cannot be successfully taught with-
out a special teacher falls to the
ground in the face of the success
achieved by our teachers and pupils
during the present term, in sight
reading. time, and part singing.
Directors and patrons are highly
pleased. The course has my
strongest endorsement.


R. L. MYERS & CO.'S
THE IDEAL MUSIC CHART
By C. H. Congdon and
O. E. McFadden
Directors of Music, St. Paul and Minneapolis, respectively
44 Pages, 32x44
Price, Including Chart Supporter, $7.50
This chart is most excellent, musically, educationally, and
typographically, and in every way will stand the test of intelli-
gent criticism. The exercises are not merely samples of many
difficulties in time and tune; but they lead pupils naturally
through one difficulty after another, by the use of many tune-
ful, pleasing exercises and songs, so carefully graded that each
succeeding exercise can be sung at sight. The proper use of
it will develop the intervals of the scale and cultivate sight-
singing ability.
PROF. FRANK DAMROSCH, of New York City.—It gives me pleasure
to tell you that your "Ideal Music Chart" is being used in my classes
with much success. and that I find it of great assistance. I think it is one
of the best charts for elementary instruction I know of.
MISS SARAH L. ARNOLD, Supervisor of Primary Work, Boston
Schools.—I have carefully examined the " Ideal Music Chart," and have
noted the progress of the classes where it has been used. I am confident
that it will prove satisfactory wherever it is introduced. It presents a
laige number and variety of simple exercises, which are thoroughly
adapted to primary work.
CHROMATIC PITCH INSTRUMENT
Patented by C. H. Congdon
Price, 50 Cents
ft sounds "Do " for ten keys. It saves valuable time often
used in getting and keeping the pitch. It is necessary to the
greatest success in any singing exercise. It contains a separate
German silver reed for every pitch. It does not get out of tune,
and requires no adjustment.
Eeoommended and Used l>y the Following Well-Known
Supervisors of Musio:
H. E. Holt Boston
O. Blackman Chicago
N. Cob Stewart, . . Cleveland
B. Jepson New Haven
Mrs. Emma A. Thomas, . Detroit
Frederick H. Ripley, . Boston
W. A. Osden Toledo
Joseph Mischka, . . . Buffalo
O. E. McFaddon, . Minneapolis
Miss Fannie Arnold, . Omaha
Leonard b. Marshall, Boston
Mrs. Agnes Cox, . . . Chicago
Irving Emerson, . . Hartford
P. C. Hayden Quincy
F. N. Cottle, .... Chicago
S. W. MOUNTZ, .... Chicago
T. P. Giddings, . . . Oak Park
P. M. Bach, . Colorado Springs
Herbert Griggs, . . . Denver
James W. McLaughlin, Boston
Carrie V. Smith, . . . Winona
Sara L. Dunning, New York City
Mary A. Grandy, . Sioux City
Geo. C. Young, . Salt Lake City


BOOKS FOR TEACHERS
BOOKS FOR TEACHERS
THE NEW MANUAL AND GUIDE FOB
TEACHERS
By J. M. Berkey, A.M.
-City Superintendent Schools, Johnstown, Pa., and late Superintendent
of Somerset County, Pa,
131 Pages. Firmly Bound in Cloth. Price, 50 Cents
The constantly increasing demand for the former edition
of the Manual and Guide has entirely exhausted the supply
and made its further publication necessary. In the preparation
of the new edition, the author has taken the opportunity to
thoroughly revise the work and to add to it a number of new
and valuable features. It is no longer a manual for the teacher
of the elementary district school only, but in its enlarged scope
and application it will be found equally helpful in all grades
and departments of the city and town schools. As now
arranged, its aim is to unify elementary school work and to
harmonize along essential lines the advanced or high-school
courses of study. The principle of uniformity, however,
applies only to fundamental requirements common to all school
work, while giving the widest possible latitude in the choice of
text-books, methods of teaching, and adaptation to local con-
ditions.
Extracts from Letters Relative to "The New Manual and Guide for
Teaohers."
PROF. M. G. BRUMBAUGH,
A.M., Ph.D., Department of Peda-
gogy,University of Pennsylvania.—
"The teachers' Manual and Guide"
is the best thing for the public
schools I have yet seen. * * * I
hope to see it used everywhere.
SUPT. A. M. HAMMERS,
Indiana County.—It has been used
in this county with the most grati-
fying results.
SUPT. JOHN W. SNOKE, Leba-
non County. — Our schools have
greatly improved by the introduc-
tion of the graded system.
SUPT. W. F. ZUMBRO, Frank-
lin County.—I shall want one hun-
dred copies for our teachers.
SUPT. ELI M. RAPP, Berks
County. — Every teacher of our
mixed schools should possess a
copy.
SUPT. W. A. SNYDER, Clinton
County.—The Manual is just the
thing we need for our schools, and
our teachers are of the same opin-
ion.
HON. HENRY HOUCK, Deputy
Slate Superintendent, Pa.—It is
the best I have ever seen.
SUPT. H. S. WERTZ, Blair
County.—I am pleased with the
New Manual and shall favor its
adoption in Blair County.
SUPT. T. L. GIBSON, Cambria
County.—The New Manual and
Guide for Teachers is one of three
books made the basis ol examina-
tions in theory of teaching in Cam-
bria County.
SUPT. E. E. PRITTS, Somerset
County.—This manual has done
much in Somerset County to syste-
matize the work of ungraded
schools.


R. L. MYERS & CO.'S
JUKES-EDWARDS
By A. E. Winship, Litt.D.
Editor New England Journal of Education
I2MO. Cloth, 50 Cents. Paper, 25 Cents
This is one of thi greatest educational studies ever pub-
lished. Every teacher, minister, statesman and philanthropist
should read it.
Th< descendants of Jonathan Edwards are contrasted with
the infamous "Jukes" family of degenerates. Shiftlessness,
ignorance and neglect have given to the world a family of
1,200 paupers, criminals, invalidsand imbeciles, costing the State
in crime and pauperism $1,250,000; while a high original pur-
pose, good surroundings and good education have given to the
world a family of 1,400 of the 11 world's noblemen."
DR. EDWARD BROOKS, Phila-
delphia, Pa.— 'Jukes-Edwards" is
an excellent book, and would prove
a strong influence for social and
moral reform wherever it may be
read.
DR. SAMUEL HAMILTON, Brad-
dock, Pa.—The story is one that
tells and the book ought to be read
by every parent as well as every
citizen.
SUPT. JOHN MORROW, Alle-
gheny City, Pa.—I would like to see
all our teachers and parents read
"Jukes-Edwards."
SUPT. C.A. BABCOCK, Oil City,
Pa.—Itseems to me that it would
be a good plan to have some one
rend a review of "Jukes-Edwards"
before every Institute in the State—
or in as many as possible. The
facts in the book should be known
by every one.
SUPT. E. MAC KEY, Reading,
Pa.—I have used "Jukes-Edwards"
in my Normal Class, and I would
be g ad to see a copy of it in the
hands of every teacher.
From THE PICAYUNE, New
Orleans, La.—The moral is obvious
and it is emphatically asserted.
From THE ARGONAUT, San
Francisco, Cal. — Forcible argu-
ments for mental and moral train-
ing.
From THE HEIDELBERG
TEACHER, Philadelphia, Pa.—One
of the most intensely interesting
books we have ever read, setting
forth the constructive force of train-
ing and environment and the de-
structive force of idleness and vul-
garity. The Jukes family offers a
good illustration of degeneracy,
while a study of the Edwards
family presents a cheery, comfort-
ing and convincing contrast. The
biographical details given add
attractiveness and value to the book
that cannot fail to inspire numer-
ous sermons and abundant food for
thought to parents.
LUCIA AMES MEAD, in Boston
Transcript —Never was there more
conclusive evidence of the results
of early nurture in virtue than in
the 1,400 descendants of J< nathan
Edwards. * * * * Not only have
these cost the State nothing beyond
their public school training, but
their contribution to American life
has been great and continuous.
From THE CHRISTIAN ADVO-
CATE.—He gives the maxims by
which the famous divine (Jonathan
Edwards) shaped his life. relates
his manner of training his eleven
children, and shows a genealogy
without the name of a single de-
generate (and but one that needs
an apology, Aaron Burr).
From THE RELIGIOUS TELE-
SCOPE, Dayton. Ohio.— ♦ * *
The book should be read by every
minister, teacher, and parent.


PENMANSHIP
PENMANSHIP
THE NEW IDEAL COPT BOOKS
By Hugh C. Laughlin, A. M.
High School for Boys and Girls, New York City
Numbers i to 6, 75 Cents per Dozen
In learning to write, the use of the eye is as important as
that of the hand. Through the eye, the brain must picture the
forms of letters before the
hand can be trained to write
them. Whatever interferes
with the eye in making
quick and accurate mental
pictures of the letter forms
impedes the progress of the
hand in learning to write.
In the New Ideal Copy
Books, the author has
enabled the young pupil
to concentrate his mental
vision upon the copies with-
out having his perception
confused by surrounding
figures, printed words,
unnecessary ruled lines, etc.
In this way, distinct impres-
sions of the letter forms
to be copied are made and PKOr. Hugh C. Uuoblin.
the automatic movement of
the hand and arm is, consequently, more readily acquired.
No explanation is any longer expected for preferring the
vertical system of writing. It would seem foolish to oppose that
which is more legible, occupies less space, and has won its
claim to rapidity. The adoption of vertical forms does not
necessitate the abandonment of grace and beauty. Hence in
selecting letter forms for the New Ideal Copy Books, the
author's aim has been to secure, first, simplicity and utility,
and next, grace and beauty; and in no case has he sacrificed
the former for the latter. The author being a classical scholar
as well as a practical penman, his copies are also a collection
of literary gems.
The New Ideal Copy Books have been adopted for exclu-
sive use in a number of counties in Iowa and Maryland and in
a large number of townships and towns iu Pennsylvania-