SELF-CULTIVATION IN ENGLISH AND THE GLORY OF THE IMPERFECT BY GEORGE HERBERT PALMER ALFORD PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY EMERITUS, 808 P17 1917 COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY T. Y. CROWELL & CO. COPYRIGHT, 1925, BY GEORGE HERBERT PALMER COPYRIGHT, 1908 AND 1917, BY GEORGE HERBERT PALMER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE The Riverside Press CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. INTRODUCTION Books on education are usually addressed to teachers, as those on sight to opticians. Common people have eyes as truly as scientists; they look out of them as often, but more rarely look into them. If they attempt examination, they find they have not the knowledge which would make what they see significant. Just so minds that are to be educated can reach but a limited comprehension of the problems and processes of education. They may know when they are badly taught; but when the teaching is good, their attention will be absorbed in the subject and they will hardly notice the agencies which bring it before them. Accordingly, in writing on education, I have hitherto usually addressed my fellow teachers, summoning them to enjoy and explore our glorious and intricate art, relating my own experiences in it, and sketching the partial conclusions I have reached as regards what can and cannot be done. The present papers have an altogether different aim. Here I talk with learners rather than with teachers, and try to show beginners what is their |