February Patriotism.

The month of February, containing the birthdays of two great American statesmen and of at least one favorite poet, offers the best time in the year for the teaching of patriotism. Public opinion is unanimous in thinking it a part of the teacher's duty to instill patriotic ideas; and so it is pertinent at this time to ask What is true patriotism?

Professor Woodrow Wilson of Princeton, in a very able discussion of "Spurious as contrasted with Real Patriotism in Education", makes it very clear that patriotism is a kind of national nobility that is most nearly akin to unselfishness. "When we say that a man is noble we mean that he serves something besides himself; that he has, if I may express it, a margin, a surplus, a free capital of character, which he can expend in undertakings which are for the general welfare as well as in undertakings for himself. He is not consumed and used up in serving himself; there is a generous remainder which he is ready to share with his neighbors and with his fellow citizens and with his friends. . . It seems to me that it is but an extension of these same terms when we speak of patriotism. Patriotism is the fine unselfish exercise of energy".

According to this view, then, patriotism is much more than a weak sentiment which is apt to smoulder in the public mind most of the year and to warm into a flame on special occasions only. It is more even than the expression of a sentiment. A man may be eloquently patriotic until the actual test comes and finds him cowardly, selfishly unpatriotic. The soldiers and sailors who are not called into action during times of war may be just as brave, just as ready to battle and die, as those who are in the thick

est of the fight, but it is to the troops who come home scarred in the service that we take off our hats. These have proven themselves. So the essence of patriotism appears to be service, duty. It may long be potential, but it must become actual whenever the occasion arrives.

But while it seems clear that patriotism finds its true expression in service we must bear in mind that the military service mentioned is but a very small part of a man's duty to his country. Happily it falls to the lot of but few in America to serve with gun and sword, and the periods of such service are usually short. But the flag should stand for principle more than for arms. This must be doubly true under a democratic form of government; and in teaching children to honor the flag we should teach that the army and navy together constitute only one of our national institutions.

We should teach that the school, which continues its work steadily, year after year, is a vastly greater institution than that of the army and navy which may be called into action. only during times of national danger. We should teach the meaning, the value, the sacredness of the home. We should teach the meaning of law, the necessity for law, and the importance of obeying the law. Every boy and every girl should know the process of law-making, not only in the nation and the state but in the county and the municipality. They should be taught what a farce government by the people becomes when its management is indifferently left to the professional politician. They should be taught the significance of the free ballot, and every voter's duty in a government by the people. But the greatest lesson of all is the one that will teach selfgovernment. The man who is willing to make his personal advantage subservient to the good of the community is likely to make the best citizen. And the nation of citizens who seek earnestly the best good of home, school, community and state will be the nation in which government by the popular will is most nearly possible. It is this importance of individual self-government that has led us to take such an interest in the experiments of school government by pupils themselves. For, to quote Professor Wilson again, "It is easy to be wise out of books, but it is infinitely difficult to be wise in the midst of affairs."

So, as we learn anew this month the les

1. The pupil is a dual being. He consists of a real self, and of an ideal self. The real self is so constituted as to feel instinctively that it is truly this ideal self, although

at present only potentially. Therefore, the child is the natural ally of the teacher in all efforts to spell out the meaning of the universe, unless his native unrest in the real,

his native longing for the ideal, has been repressed by unskillful, unsympathetic work.

2. The greater self of the child is found in nature, in art, and in the activities of society. Therefore a course of study must give him the opportunity to seek his greater self in

a. Nature, b. Mathematics, c. Language, d. Institutions, e. Art.

3. The child is essentially in touch with each of these realms of the greater self from the beginning. Hence, all must be before him throughout the course.

4. The institutions and the art of his own time and country contain elements peculiar to the present, but they contain also, positively or negatively, elements of all the past. The present condition of both is a development from the past. Hence, the child's approach to his own institutions and his own art should be through the successive development of these so as to enable him to live them.

5. The true development of an individual. or of a nation is found, not in direct efforts to increase that element which separates from others, but by laboring for that larger self which is found in other persons or in

other nations. Hence the child should be led to esteem most highly those acts of the individual or nation that further the interests of others while advancing his own welfare. Only those acts of the individual should be sanctioned that reinforce the institutions and are reinforced by rational institutions. Only those acts of a nation are to be approved by its patriotic citizenship which further the moral progress of the world and are strengthened by such progress.

6. Some of the acts in nature, art, and society are accessible to the pupil directly. To him may be present a plant, a statue, a transaction in society. Other arts appear in books. The aim of education is to equip the child with the desire and the ability to wrest from the plant, work of art, printed page the aspects of his permanent self. He is to be given the power to cope with any one of these when alone with it. Hence, education must gradually emphasize, more and more, processes and not facts. Education is not merely to confer on the child knowledge of plants, art, books. It must endow him with power to study a new plant, work of art, book, chapter, sermon, lecture or editorial.

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The pur

pose of the dramatist at this point, therefore, is to furnish evidence of their power. Three proofs are given, arranged in order of their importance: one of the sisters has been killing swine; a second is seeking revenge upon a sailor's wife; while a third brings the thumb of a pilot who was shipwrecked upon his way home. The student should be required to interpret the meaning back

of these statements made by the witches, and also to observe the medium by which they express themselves. Rhyme is introduced in place of the blank verse of the first two scenes, while the short trochaic verses give the weird effect suggestive of the horrid dance of the witches. Finally, the choice of words is important as indicating the author's conception of the characters he describes.

After this introduction the real purpose of the scene becomes evident. The battle has been fought and won, and Macbeth and Banquo, on their way to the king, are met by the three wierd sisters. We learn the effect upon Macbeth of their prophecy through Banquo's words, "Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear?" But one interpretation is possible; the thought of being king is not new to Macbeth. In the

rest of the scene, Banquo and Macbeth are skillfully contrasted; the one innocent, unsuspicious, half inclined to chaff the strange looking creatures, and frankly puzzled at their mysterious disappearance; the other earnest, conscious of guilt, hungry to know more, and bitterly disappointed at the meagreness of their announcement. A little later, when the first part of the prophecy has come true by reason of the announcement to Macbeth of his elevation to the thaneship of Cawdor, he can think of nothing save that "the greatest is behind." The scene closes with the consciousness on our part that Macbeth, while pretending to leave the whole matter to fate, is only awaiting a favorable opportunity in order to seize the throne.

The most difficult problem in this, the longest scene in act I, is the relation of the witches to Macbeth. Some critics would have it that, up to the time of the meeting upon the heath, Macbeth is innocent of all thought of evil, and that the weird sisters suggest to him the crime which he is afterward led to commit. This, however, is clearly not the true view, for in that case Macbeth would be represented merely as the puppet of fate, a view which is inconsistent with all of Shakespeare's work. Had it not been for the peculiar affinity of Macbeth's soul for the elements represented by the power of the witches, their words would have had no more effect upon him than upon Banquo. Professor Corson well says: "The weird sisters represent the night side of nature-the powers of evil which are ever attracted to the soul whose elective affinities favor such attraction. The devil visits those only who invite him in".

The pupil's study of this third scene should make clear to him the purpose of the dramatist in writing it and the means employed to accomplish that purpose. If the teacher relies upon asking the questions suggested by the notes, or contents himself with calling for quotations and paraphrases, he has no means of knowing whether the student has grasped that which is truly essential. In order to assist the pupil in his preparation and to form a basis for the discussions in the class-room, topics such as the following may be assigned at the time of announcing the lesson.

ACT I. SCENE 3.

1. Read the scene through slowly and

thoughtfully. What is the general subject?

2. Mark the words and phrases which throw light upon the character of the weird sisters. Do you doubt the witches' power? Why not? Can you think of a reason why Shakespeare gives space to such incidents as are here narrated?

3. Note the use of rhyme in this passage and try to account for it. Note, also, the mysterious way in which the witches speak. What is the precise meaning of “weird?”

4. Study carefully the effect of the witches' greeting upon Macbeth and Banquo. What differences do you detect? Can you think of any reason why Macbeth should "start and seem to fear?" Find evidence throughout the passage that Banquo does not take the prophecy seriously. What significance, then, do you attach to the fact that Macbeth is ready and eager to believe whatever the witches say?

5. Study Macbeth's soliloquy, spoken after the announcement has been made to him of his appointment to the thaneship of Cawdor. Observe his agitation and doubt. What characteristics are revealed?

6. Write an estimate of Macbeth's character, based upon the first three scenes, and support your statements by quotations.

The fourth scene is short, but very significant, for in it Macbeth and Duncan meet face to face. Just as we contrasted Macbeth and Banquo in the third scene, we must now contrast the general and the king. Duncan cannot read character, as he himself bears witness; he is weakly sentimental, and he makes a fatal mistake in diplomacy when he chooses the present, of all times, in which to name his successor. The effect of the whole is to make clear to Macbeth his opportunity, and to make strong his determination to be the next king. We cannot help feeling that the true leader, the man who stands forth most prominently in this scene, is not Duncan, the king, but Macbeth, the man who should be king.

The teacher may properly devote some time to a discussion of the differences between the drama and the work of fiction. Besides the distinctions which are at once apparent, the thought should be developed that in the drama we are left to judge the character of a man by the words he is made to say, while in the novel the author is at