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their manifold relations at the supreme instants of awful decision. How few of our great population are competent to form any sort of picture of that plan!

They are usually unknown to the public during their lives, perhaps always. It is the function of the school and the college to teach knowledge which is already the possession of man; but the university has a further duty,-it must discover new forms of knowledge. There is a too popular notion that we have no need of support of experiment stations, laboratories and seminars of investigators; that the state has done its full duty in providing for elementary instruction. But a democracy which neglects the function of discovery is doomed to stagnation and decay. It is not enough to communicate to children what we already know; we must support scholars and specialists while they push on beyond the frontiers of the known and claim new continents for the race. The financial basis for this task of discovery may be furnished either by public or private wealth. America is far behind Germany is this respect, and, until recent years, it has been necessary for our best scholars to go abroad for such special training. This is a humiliating and a dangerous condition. The American mind is in danger of remaining dependent, superficial, a borrower of second-hand ideas. Its science and its literature may become a mere quotation. We all believe in the mental power, acuteness, versatility of Americans. We can certainly invent threshing-machines and electric motors; but we pilfer German chemical and physical science for our ideas. The American teacher should seek out true scholars, in city and country schools, and show them that a high school and college education, with a Bachelor's degree, is only the "commencement" of science and art. He who would add even one truth to the sum of knowledge must give himself to research in universities many years after grad-knowledge and holding up the social ideal of a man uating from college.

There is another form of invention which we too often overlook, one of the most valuable to mankind, new social combinations of men and institutions. It requires more than average intellectual power even to appreciate some of these inventions; we enjoy the results without comprehending the causes. Examples may be suggested. The recent campaign against Spain involved a new scheme of collecting and arranging military and naval forces in the Pacific and Atlantic ocean; the avoidance of collision with any one of the thousands of principles and rules of international law; the adoption of measures to the opinions and prejudices of parties in all civilized countries; the purchase and movement of a vast quantity of supplies, ammunition, medicines, of many varieties. The brain of our President was charged with a multitude of ideas and plans, and he was compelled to hold them together and see them in

The organization of great trunk lines of railroads to take the place of petty little branches was an invention as truly as was the steam engine, and one which involved far more complex elements. Not only the simple factors of steam and iron, but the wills of millions of different men and countless local interests and warring volitions had to be considered. The modern manufacturer's and commercial combinations may be attended, like all human changes, with injustice, dishonesty and cruelty, but they mark a new era in the trading life of mankind. Some of the operations of modern commerce require an order of inventive genius and combining power far higher than the daring schemes of Cæsar or Napoleon. Only a large experience in life can enable a student to appreciate the magnitude of these colossal undertakings and their value to the race. In order to bring these creations of genius under control of society, so that they may not prove a curse to all, we have yet to educate or discover political and economic and administrative leaders who can find for us a still higher and grander unification and method of conducting business, a method which shall retain all the advantages of individual enterprise and those of collective control. Socialism thus far has had the merit of stating one side of the problem, but none of its leaders has shown the peculiar kind of genius which produces actual results. We need not doubt that humanity will yet develop the right man or men for the situation. Meantime let the "little red school-house" be busy imparting

who has the power to conceive, the will to dare, and the love of humanity to surrender personal advantage for the common good in business, as soldiers do in battle, as physicians do in plague, as missionaries do for religion. Who knows but some one-roomed rural school of Indiana may at this moment be teaching the man for the great opportunity,-a boy with a big brain, a healthy body, a clear intellect, a noble heart?

A closing word. The writer of these lines begs the privilege of a personal word to his Indiana friends. That great and noble "Hoosier" state is dear to him as his birth-place, his education in her public schools, and the field of ten years of his first public life. There are the graves of his dead. In having this year for his readers many thousands of her teachers he finds one of the highest privileges and honors of his life. For all the proofs of kindness and appreciation which he has received he here takes occasion to return his sin

cere thanks. The service rendered has been imperfect, but up to the best of his powers and with entire good-will.

But beyond all merely personal consideration are the interests of the mighty commonwealth to which we owe gratitude and service. Self-sacrificing ancestors, pioneers of glorious empire, have laid foundations broad and deep. Let their successors build, while they live, according to their wisdom and strength. There is no room for the easy-going optimism which imagines that progress will be given without toil and pains. Nor is there room for the croaking pessimist who dulls courage and hope with his despondent complaints. We can do little as individuals, but each can do something, and all together we are leviathan.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.

C. R. HENDERSON.

PLATO'S REPUBLIC.

1. The advanced education of the Republic is reflective and not imitative. Heretofore the individual has had his gaze fixed upon shadows, particular objects, changing phenomena, considering them as real, as essential. He is now to turn about and fix his eyes (1) upon the invisible principles (hypotheses) underlying the various sciences, and then (2) upon the" unhypothetical" principle which exhibits itself in each of these limited principles. This "unhypothetical" principle is the " absolute good." The process is symbolized by the passage from the shadows in the cave up to the sun. It is the passage from "opinion" through "understanding" to "reason" or "dialectic." The elementary education led the pupils to admire the beautiful and dimly feel the true. The higher education was to give clear understanding of the true.

a. For hints of the function of the higher education see Bk. VI, secs. 503-511; Bk. VII, secs. 515-522.

2. The process in elementary education is imitation of the environment. (Sec. 401-403.)

a. In the light of this principle consider-
(1) The school premises.

(2) The teacher, as to dress, bearing, language, pro-
cess in instruction and in discipline.

(3) The literature to be used in school and home.
(4) The use of pictures in school and home.

3. The process in advanced education is that of reflection or insight. (See Book VI, secs. 509-511, and the Allegory of the Cave at the beginning of Book VII.) It involves a fourfold ascent toward truth. This ascent indicates four kinds of objects

a. Shadows, reflections in water, art productions, etc.
b. Real objects, as stones, plants, houses, etc.
c. The truths of science, i. e., invisible principles.
d. Absolute ideas, as truth, beauty and goodness.

[The first two objects constitute that which is considered in the lowest stage of thinking, as explained by Commissioner Harris in Chapter IV, of Psychologic Foundations of Education.

The third object is that considered in the second stage of thought (understanding); the fourth object is the subject-matter of the third stage of thought (reason or insight). Mr. Harris regards Plato's contribution as to the ascending stages of thought as one of the most important ever made.]

The work of the common schools lies within the first and second stages.

(1) Select the historical material given in sections 1 to 4, inclusive, pp. 1 to 6, of American History by Montgomery.

a. Indicate the kind of work with this material appropriate to the first stage of thought.

b. Show with the same material the kind of work that would tend to stimulate the second stage of thought.

"The advanced education of the Republic is reflective and not imitative." (Outline p. 46.)

"The process in elementary education is imitation of the environment."

"We would not have our guardians grow up amid images of moral deformity, as in some noxious pasture, and there browse and feed upon many a baneful herb and flower day by day, little by little, until they silently gather a festering mass of corruption in their own soul. Let our artists rather be those who are gifted to discern the true nature of beauty and grace; then will our youth dwell in a land of health amid fair sights and sounds; and beauty, the influence of fair works, will meet the sense like a breeze, and insensibly draw the soul even in childhood into harmony with the beauty of reason."

It is this principle which makes it important to pay much attention to the material arrangement and equipment of the school in all of its minute details. The school premises should be artistically arranged, the building a model of the architect's art and should be kept neat, clean and attractive; not simply to gratify the senses of the teacher and pupils, but because it is a silent stimulus to the pupil to embody these characteristics in his own activity and life. It is also a strong basis for consciously insisting on these qualities in whatever the pupil does. Again, it is incumbent upon the teacher to observe habits of cleanliness, neatness, politeness, etc., in his work as teacher, in school and in the community. Such little points as the arrangement of books, etc., on the teacher's desk, placing work on the blackboard, cleaning the blackboard, etc., are more potent than we think in creating tastes and sentiments in the pupils which sink into their characters as humanizing elements. All the little influences of this kind tend silently to elevate the standard of life in the minds of the pupils as much as the direct teaching of politeness, cleanliness, etc. In the selection of literature for children it must be remembered that they are impressed as much, if not more, by the particular or image side of it as by the deeper meaning which may be consciously brought before them. We cannot change the child's nature, and therefore material must be presented which is suited to it and which will leave a correct or ennobling impression. It is

dangerous to put questionable images before the child, even though it contain a great truth, in the hope that he will grasp the truth and avoid the image, because it is his nature to be impressed by that which appeals to the most active element in his nature, viz., imitation. It is not here meant to leave the impression that the particular side or image must be historically true, but that it must not contain vicious or immoral images.

Pictures and works of art generally are strong means of stimulating the æsthetic nature in both old and young. With children it is more their external attractiveness than the profound truth which they teach. This, however, is not a reason for selecting works of art which are practically meaningless. While children are attracted by the superficial side first, by frequent contemplation with occasional explanation, the deeper meaning and finer beauty will gradually take possession of them. But the fact that things of beauty do silently appeal to children is the reason for placing them in both the home and the school. The fact that the pupil cannot interpret them fully is no reason for withholding them. He can interpret them in the same degree that he can other means of education which we are constantly placing before him as in geography, arithmetic, etc. Aside from works of art the same end is furthered, to a great degree, by beautiful buildings, decorated walls, etc. One of the glaring defects in education is the little attention given to these little features of the pupil's environment which silently and constantly appeal to him, and leave their impression for good.

The same principle shows itself in companionship. Children readily take on the habits of those with whom they constantly associate. Finally, it would seem that a large part of the effort in educating children should be given to throwing around them the conditions suited silently to stimulate them to form correct habits. Then the rest of the effort should be directed toward a conscious stimulation of the pupil's activity toward a rational self-activity. .

"The process in advanced education is that of reflection or insight."

As indicated in the previous discussion, education is a growth. Plato evidently has this in mind when he says: "But if this be true, then certain professors of education must be mistaken in saying that they can put a knowledge into the human soul which was not there before, like giving eyes to the blind.”

"Whereas, I said, our argument shows that the power is already in the soul.”

Holding to the idea that the soul is an activity with capacity for growth within it, Plato has indicated that there are certain steps or stages in its

development. These are indicated in the outline, p. 47. In studying these stages of thought the reader would be greatly helped by reading the reference referred to in the outline, viz., Harris' discussion of "The Three Stages of Thought" in Psychologic Foundations of Education, Chap. IV, pp. 32-37. His opening statement is as follows:

"The most important discovery ever made in psychology is this one of the three ascending steps or grades of thought which any one may take with due study and meditation. It is attributed to Plato."

In the chapter he discusses three grades or stages of thinking. First, the stage of sense-perception. The stage in which mind thinks objects as independent and isolated. It does not penetrate to the essential relations. This, as suggested in the outline, includes the perception of the first two kinds of objects, viz., shadows, etc., and material objects. These two phases of perception Plato calls "imperfect vision or opinion.”

The second stage is called the "understanding." This in the stage in which the mind thinks relations as essential. This is the scientific stage and results in a knowledge of the principles of science. Plato also calls this the stage of understanding.

The third and highest stage is that of insight or reason. This is the stage in which the mind grasps things as totals and the self-determining principle which underlies them. This is the philosophic phase of thinking. Plato also uses the term "dialectic."

Plato says that music and gymnastics are not sufficient for this higher phase of education, and hence lays out a course which he thinks is suited to it. The course includes arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and harmonics. He grants their practical value but would emphasize the theoretical side because as such they are abstract sciences and tend therefore to draw the soul towards truth. It is important to keep in mind the distinction between the elementary education in which the mind is not self-directive but largely imitative, and the advanced education in which the mind is self-directive. In the former the learner cannot depend upon his own imperfect knowledge, because, as Plato holds, he has only opinion based on superficial ideas and relations. It is for this reason that he needs guidance at every step until his experience is extended enough and his insight deep enough to grasp some fundamental principles which enable him to stand alone mentally. In the higher education the mind is able to direct its own activity, and is therefore able to start with particulars, just as in the other phase; but it is now equipped with developed powers and the conscious distinction between the essential and the non-es

sential, and is able, therefore, to penetrate to the heart of things and grasp their true meaning. It is this phase of education which enables the individual to set up what Harris calls a "view-of-theworld." If he is in this highest stage, his view-ofthe-world will be a rational one in which he thinks the world of phenomena as the manifestation of a thinking personality which is in them and out of them and above them. Plato thinks that such an individual is competent to think society in its essen: tial relations and is able to apply his wisdom to the needs of the state, and hence, the only competent ruler.

CERTAIN ESSENTIALS OF LIBRARY EQUIP-
MENT.

(Continued from page 16.)

What are some of the popular delusions of library management regarding juvenile equipment? One is the belief that, put side by side, the masterpieces for children will finally crowd out the commonplace. The young reader will read Autun House, Being a Boy, The Story of a Bad Boy, The Dog of Flanders, Rab, Hector, The Jungle Books and the few other classics and will feel their charm; but he will immediately with apparently quite as much relish read a class of juvenile fiction where everything is false to life, where the painting of characters is the grossest daub, where all the cant and unreality are presented in a medium of desertlike commonplace. A moment's consideration of the immaturity and inexperience of youth who reads, and the exquisite observation and wise in

It is the main function of the school to employ the means of education so as to stimulate the maximum of mental effort on the part of the pupil in order to give him the highest possible degree of independence and freedom in his thinking. The school furnishes three kinds of exercises to accomplish this end. First, the rest period which af-sight of him who can produce a children's classic, fords an opportunity for the spontaneous activity of the pupil. Second, the study period, which has as its aim to train the pupil in systematic habits of study and in independent study. Third, the recitation period, which furnishes an opportunity for the highest effort because, under the direction of the mature mind of the teacher and the stimulus of equals, the pupil's capacity is put to its highest test. Thorough work in the grades and lower schools equips the pupils both in mental capacity and knowledge for independent activity in the higher stage, in the higher schools and in society.

Space will not permit a full illustration of the first and second stages of thought from the material assigned in Montgomery's History pp. 1-6. We will note one or two points for each.

For the first stage may be given the story of Columbus, bringing in all of the facts that can be brought within the comprehension of the pupil.

For the second stage the theories held by the race and by Columbus may be definitely dealt with since the pupil is assumed to have sufficient knowledge of the geography of the earth, etc., to grasp the points definitely in the light of relations and facts which he understands.

is sufficient to make us realize how impossible it is for the youth to compare and discriminate. I say, therefore, your classics, few in number on your library shelves, will never crowd out or even jostle the throng of commonplace juveniles by their side. As a consequence I go far, and counsel that the lists of books written for young people be kept small. It would be wise indeed to increase to the fullest extent the copies of the few classics and to begin a war of extermination on the commonplace. Librarians are fond of claiming that the classics drive out the others. Such instances can generally be reduced to the children where there are literary traditions and a literary environment; or to the occasional but always exceptional child springing out of unpromising conditions, but born with literary hunger and virility. The capacious maw of such children may emerge from a period of indiscriminate reception apparently unharmed. Such an exception is probably the girl of fourteen, whose answers among three hundred were conspicuous for their intelligence and for the excellent writing and spelling, but who, in six months, had read sixty-eight books— Longfellow, Scott, Dickens, Alcott and also Mrs. Southworth and twelve of the Elsie Books.

In an effort to test what young people are read

This closes our discussion of this important book. The reader who drops this phase of studying and how they read, with the comparisons of

at the close of the institute work is not wise. He should enter into it even more largely and make a more extended study of Greek history and then Greek philosophy, especially of the three greatest thinkers in that period of the race's history. It is a part of the inheritance of the race which every school teacher should claim and appropriate.

A. R. CHARMAN.

different ages and classes, I recently obtained answers to six questions from 300 chosen from different schools and sections of a city. These questions were prepared with as much ingenuity as I possessed in the hope of getting really frank answers; but I failed. Even though the names were not disclosed, the unconscious bias of answering as they thought they should was apparent in so many answers that any statistics from them going

to the question of their actual reading would be misleading. It is not very safe to generalize much upon an answer that the authors mostly read were Longfellow, Bryant, Scott and Milton; when, according to a later statement, those authors must have written books called The Fire, Going for the Doctor, The Runaway and A Brave Boy's Deeds. For another and different reason the answers many times do not disclose the actual reading. A great deal of the stuff read, a considerable number do not even recall as books. One boy answered: "Have read eight books and many novels."

But the answers indirectly disclose many interesting and suggestive signs of the times. For instance, little reading is no longer a sign of careful reading, intelligent reading, or appreciative reading; nor of the loving reading and re-reading of favorite books. This was very noticeable. Again the children of to-day evidently rarely read any of their books aloud. In my youth it was a common practice for children to read aloud, following the mother from room to room as the exigencies of household labor required. The discipline and training of the vocal organs, the practice in pronunciation, the compulsion to consult dictionaries are yet very vivid memories with me; it is hardly necessary to say how valuable and how necessary such continuous reading aloud of books is. The point I have claimed as to the absolute brotherhood and equality of the good and poor books received amusing corroboration.

One read Alcott, Burnett, Dickens, Longfellow and the Elsie books; another, Longfellow, Bryant, Dickens and Si Klegg; another, Longfellow, Lowell and Mrs. Southworth; another combination was James Russell Lowell and Augusta Evans; James Russell Lowell, Peck's Bad Boy and Fighting Joe; Stevenson, Motley and Henty; Henty and Hawthorne; The Adventures of Jimmy Brown and Tennyson's poems; Augusta Evans and Dickens; Tom Brown's School Days and The Weird Enchantress; Henty and Alger and Lew Wallace and Whittier; Hiawatha and Ten Years a Cowboy, and Bill Cody; Hiawatha and Diamond Dick, Jr.; Homer and Shakespeare and Henty and Alger. In the same week another read Elsie books, Oliver Twist and The Monastery. INDIANAPOLIS, IND.

John Bright said that he always selected American poets as more clear, intelligible, and unconventional. Whittier, Longfellow, and Lowell he classed as always clear as a running brook, as bright as sunshine, and refreshing as breezes, while the English poets aim at subtleties.

FEBRUARY FACTS AND FANCIES.

February despite its few days is by no means the least cheerful month of the year, for at this time, winter's force is broken; each morning the sun rises earlier and its rays become more powerful; icicles fall from the dripping eaves; a warm wind comes from the south; the poultry yard is full of noise; the cattle stand dreaming in the sunshine; the maple sap begins to flow; on such days may be heard the notes of the bluebird, mere wandering voices in the air," and with like harbingers, February makes promises of spring, promises for March to break.

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In February have occurred some of the great events of the world's history. In the record of our own country we find that this month holds an important place. In February 1664 an English fleet appeared in the harbor before New Amsterdam and demanded the surrender of the Dutch colony. The quiet Hollanders welcomed the invaders believing that English colonists enjoyed greater freedom than they. Disregarding the commands and entreaties of their governor, Peter Stuyvesant, who claimed that his authority was by appointment of God and the West India company, the people gladly surrendered, to find that under English rule they did not gain as much as they expected. Savannah was founded by Oglethrope in February 1733. In February 1763, France, in the Treaty of Paris, ceded to England, Canada and all French claims west to the Mississippi river, with the exception of New Orleans. It was in February 1778, following that dreadful winter at Valley Forge, the darkest of the Revolution, that France acknowledged the independence of the United States and entered into a treaty with our nation, a treaty providing commercial intercourse and binding the two nations not to lay down arms until Great Britain also acknowledged American independence. This alliance was indeed a joyful event to the Thirteen Colonies. On February 25, 1779, at Vincennes, the British colors were hauled down and the American flag was raised for the first time in this part of the country, by Gen. Clark. It was then that the great principle of religious liberty was established west of the Alleghany mountains. When a Catholic priest came to the victorious commander begging to be allowed to die with his people, Gen. Clark replied, "The United States makes no war on any man's religion. All are free to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences." Greene's famous retreat through North Carolina to Virginia, occurred in February 1781. In February 1789 the first president of the United States was elected. In February 1791 the

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