Teazle, true to her home training, bids farewell to "Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious town." In Eighteenth Century life we find in Fanny Burney a filial devotion beautiful to consider and a loyalty to duty, combined with a rare sense of modesty concerning her achievement of Evelina, that command great respect and admiration. No feminine character, in this period, is sweeter than Mrs. Sheridan, that most womanly woman who made life so pleasant for her husband; who found the family hearth her favorite sphere; and who, with her grace, beauty, brilliancy, and worship of Sheridan, was indeed his good genius. Pause a moment, Twentieth Century girl, forget your fox-trots and obvious knee-caps for a little whisk of time; and think a bit about the girl, that in your heart of hearts you truly admire about that supremely fine creature! You can be that very girl, my dear, with your superb health, brains, capacity for scattering joy, and insistence upon frank honesty. And remember, when all is said and done, a mere man, in any age, adores placing his chance of happiness in the hands of the girl who loves a fireside. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Rae: Life of R. B. Sheridan. Sheridan's Plays. Everyman's Ed. Fanny Burney and Her Friends. L. B. Seeley. 6. Fanny Burney and Her Friends, p. 29. 7. The Duenna, p. 150. 8. The School for Scandal, p. 307. We are quite in sympathy with the article on The Bible in the Schools, by Principal E. E. Cates, which appears on another page of this number of EDUCATION. Were all other books destroyed,-from whatever nation and in whatever language, but the Bible preserved in but a single language, or only in the hearts and minds of a singlenation, it would soon be possible to recreate a world literature out of and by the inspiration of this single surviving book. And it would be a literature that would be worthy of a high culture and am advanced civilization. The Bible meets the need of the human mind and heart. It embodies the wisdom of the ages in reference to man's body, his physical life and well being; his mind,-his intellectual capacities and needs; and his heart, his affections, his emotions and desires. It teaches him how to use all these varied capacities and powers, separately and in combination, to develop a perfect manhood and womanhood, a society, with mutual relations between the individuals composing it, and between mankind and God. It stimulates all kinds of intelligent, helpful co-operations, whereby the race is developed into a social community and state. And it establishes a still higher personal relationship and accountability to the Almighty and Allloving Creator, thereby completing the circle and making real the fact and vision of immortality. And yet, some still say, "Keep the Bible out of the schools!" The Bible is in the schools;-not as fully recognized or as directly used and studied as we could wish, and as were well. But its influence is there and no power can keep it out while the race preserves its intelligence, its reason, and its appreciation of what is wise and true and good. Keep sectarianism out of the schools! Keep atheism out! Keep nihilism away from the thought of youth! Keep bolshevism out! But let in the light of life, the joy of sacrifice, the glow of truth, and the love of an all wise and loving father-God, and there will be something to live for and build on. Society rests on the foundation of love, love of God for man, and love of man for God and his fellow man, as set forth in the eternal Word of God. It is cheering, in connection with this subject, that we are permitted to quote, from the report of a single center for the distribution of the Bible,-viz., the New York Bible House, the following statement: "Dedicated to the printing of the Holy Scriptures 'without note or comment,' and to their circulation to the ends of the earth, the (New York) Bible House has been, for nearly three score and ten years, a House of Blessing to the world. From it have gone over a hundred million of the one hundred and forty million Scriptures in one hundred and fifty languages and dialects, that have gone forth, a river of blessing to the nations, during the one hundred and five years of the Society's life. During recent years, counting an average of eight hours worked each day, and omitting Sundays and holidays, the output of the Society has been an average of sixteen books printed and bound every minute of every working day of the year. Many of these 'books were large volumes in embossed type for the blind, and handsome editions for pulpit and private use. The American Bible Society distributes the Bible not only in the languages in which it prints it, but its workers are furnished with any one of the translations which may be needed. Up to 1919, the Word of God had been printed throughout the world in 713 languages and dialects. During the past decade, some complete Book of the Bible has appeared in a new language on an average of one every six weeks,-the British and Foreign Bible Society and the American Bible Society being the chief producers." In many quarters, among the rank and file of those who through their votes decide the educational policies of the towns and cities,especially in districts remote from the larger centers, there is too little appreciation of the real meaning and value of schooling. The costs of the schools bulk large. The average voter sees and feels these costs in the tax rate. The compensating gains are vague and remote. It is therefore frequently the case that economies and retrenchments are popular, and an aggressive policy comes hard. The many are for a conservative budget. The motion for a constructive budget, higher paid and superior teachers, more books and new buildings, is lost. Thus the children and youth are made to suffer for the "penny wise, pound foolish" policies of the unprogressive citizens who were the pupils in the schools of yesterday and who have not kept up with the splendid developments of educational thought and method in the new age. Not long since we witnessed at close range such a situation, and listened to the debate in the arena of a series of public meetings called to consider the building of a new High School. The public was interested, and the "Town Hall" was filled to its utmost capacity for several whole evenings, with reports of committees, presentation of plans, citation of precedents, etc., galore. The old school building was shown to be wholly inadequate, unsanitary, and, according to the testimony of more than one witness, unsafe. The town was growing rapidly in population. Desirable prospective families seeking homes frequently looked over the town with a view to purchasing homes, but turned away after examining the inadequate school facilities. The debate was long and hot between the proponents and opponents of the project. Personalities were not infrequent in the debate. From the first it was evident that though the need of the new building was great there was a probability that it would be difficult to carry the motion for the new High School, for the proponents had to secure a two-thirds vote in order to enable the town to borrow the amount needed to construct the new building. The motion to build was finally lost, by a clear majority, although a large number of the best people of the town were positive in their conviction that there was a sore need of a new High School. This, however, is neither here nor there to the readers of EDUCATION. We have referred to this local instance merely for the example it furnishes of a common situation, and that we may call attention to two or three points which were brought out in the debate above mentioned, which are symptomatic of a common public sentiment that often crops out in such discussions of school affairs, especially in suburban and country districts, and which should be fairly and squarely met and thought through for the sake of educational efficiency and progress. The first point to be noted is the common one of sectional jealousy or rivalry that entered into this discussion. In many of our larger suburban or country towns there are "East" districts and "West" districts, or "North" districts and "South" districts, with correspponding disagreements over all sorts of projects that in reality equally affect the interests of all. So, at the public meetings held for the purpose of devising methods and appropriating money for necessary improvements and progress, one side of the town is pitted against another side, and there are neighborhood cliques and combinations of certain groups to defeat the will of other groups; and the real interests of all are sacrificed. In such situations the leading citizens of each group should get together beforehand and agree upon a common plan, which plan should be propounded at the final general meeting of the town as a whole, and presented as the carefully thought. out and accepted plan of the different sections. This would forestall acrimonious debate and tend toward efficient and purposeful action. Again, we noted in the case referred to above, a widespread misconception of the relative value and usefulness of elementary and secondary education. One gentleman of high standing and good education made an elaborate statement as to why he was against the motion for a new High School. His position was that the voters should "begin at the bottom and work up," in other words, elevate the standards of the Elementary schools before voting more money for High Schools. Improve the grade schools and let the High School take care of itself. Look out for the foundations before building the superstructure. The difficulty with this argument is that it applies to personality the method that might in some instances work well with material things,--but that won't work with spiritual and intellectual personalities. This argument ignores the great incentive of ambition. Given a good, well conducted High School and there will be little trouble with the majority of the grade school pupils. They will know that to gain admission to the High School they must do their grade school work efficiently and well. They will feel that no disgrace is so disgraceful as to fail to "make" High School at the end of the elementary course. In other words, to improve the grades improve the High School! It is easier to pull up the grades than to push them up. One other misimpression that was voiced at this meeting may be mentioned. It was repeated in different forms by several speakers and constituted the burden of the argument in a printed communication to a local paper, and it is often seen in print in other and larger places. It was a statement that implied that the chief end of education is to enable people to answer, offhand, various questions relating to facts,-such, for instance, as how many pints there are in a bushel of cranberries? or how much interest will be earned by the sum of $345 invested for two and a half years at six per cent? or how old was George Washington when he assumed the Presidency of the United States? The proponents of this theory voted against the High School apparently under the impression that modern education, with its higher institutions and methods, produces educational snobs who cultivate fads and know little or nothing that is worth knowing. They overlook the fact that real education consists in ability to think, a love for truth for its own sake, the development of character, the appreciation of literature and art, spiritual insight and growth, world vision. Beside these, memories of dates and tables and percentages are comparatively insignificant; though the well educated man will not despise them, and will, as a rule, pass an examination upon them with far more ease and accuracy than the uneducated man. |