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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Stre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 d partir de Tangle sup^rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaira. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 'TBT A work deal point of vie of the Superii •peakinj Pcc An ("A quoi TRJ THE MV 17 RICH] Tns3lated<''oat]uTesthFnicb Edition. ^^ A work dealing from a French point of view with the causes of the Superiority of the Knglish< •peaking Peoples. Anglo-Saxon Superiority:^ to what it is due. /I ( ("A quoi tient la Superiorite des Anglo-Saxons.") u BY EDMOND DEMOLINS. TRANSLATED BY LOUIS BERT. LAVIGN] -v.^ : .-1, . /^ .^ THE MUSSON BOOK CX)MPANY : : i < \ 17 RICHMOND STREET, WEST ; TOitONTO 1899 ,* V.,.. . y ■. '• .*.j ^ r Author's In' Author's Pb Author's Pr] THE I C2^ / S 9 9 OUAPTBR I. Does ts II. Dobs te III. Does te IV. How AR THE PB I. Our Mo IN Fr II. Our Moi SlTUAl ITT. How Ai FOR T Chara rv. How his Anglo CONTENTS. Author's Introduction to the English Edition Author's Preface to the French Edition Author's Preface to the Second French Edition PAOK V ziz xxii BOOK I. THE FRENCHMAN AND THE ANGLO-SAXON AT SCHOOL. OHAPTBR I. Does the French School System form Men ? .. II. Does the German School System form Men? lU. Does the English School System form Men ? IV. How are we to bring up our Children? ... 1 11 88 68 BOOK 11. THE FRENCHMAN AND THE ANGLO-SAXON IN PRIVATE LIFE. I. Our Mode of Education reduces the Birth-Rate IN J; RANCE ... ,.. ... ... ... ... o4 II. Our Mode of Education compromises the FiNANciiL Situation of France 100 III. How Anglo-Saxon Education prepares Children FOR THE Struggle for Existence. Types and Characters Ill IV. How HIS Mode of Home-Lifb contributes to the Anglo-Saxon's Success 185 %. IV Contents. BOOK III. THE FRENCHMAN AND THE ANGLO-SAXON IN PUBLIC LIFE. CHAPTER PAOK I. The Political Personnel m France and in Enq- liAJ^D ••• tat ••• ••• ••• ••• •■• XO«o 11. Why the Anglo-Saxons are more hostile to So- cialism THAN the Germans and the French . . . 188 in. The Frenchman and the Anglo-Saxon conceive a Different Idea of the Fatherland 220 rV. The Frenchman's and the Anglo-Saxon's respec- tive notions of Solidarity are Different ... 241 v. What Social State is most conducive to Happiness ? 258 vi. insufficieli cy of moral action and symptoms of Social Regeneration 281 French PuBLisimRs' Appendix 807 AUT TE ITRUSl meanii as applyin of Great B In this ^ analysis d( Tourville, sider the p glo- Saxon i for Englan and superi distinction institutions The Celt Ireland, in of Australi tendency is tions peculi Owing to agricultural suits of ag liberal proJ achieve moi Owing tc more taste f AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. THE THREE ELEMENTS OF ENGLISH SOCIETY. I TRUST the English public will not misunderstand the meaning and import of this book, nor take my opinions as applying to all the inhabitants and all the institutions of Great Britain. In this work, by the application of the methods of social analysis devised by F. Le Play and completed by H. de Tourville, I seek to carefully isolate and exclusively con- sider the phenomena which appear to be derived from An- glo-Saxon influence, because these phenomena alone ensure for England and the United States their social original) <'y and superiority. AbDve all, I endeavour to make a clear distinction between these phenomena and the customs and institutions peculiar to the Celts and Normans. The Celtic element, which predominates especially in Ireland, in the Scotch Highlands, in Wales, in the towns of Australia, in New Zealand, etc., contributes — and its tendency is to maintain — in a certain measure, the tradi- tions peculiar to that social type. Owing to their original mode of life, more pastoral than agricultural, the Celts have no liking for the absorbing pur- suits of agriculture; they have more inclination for the liberal professions than for the commoner callings, and achieve more success in the former. Owing to their traditional clan organization, they show more taste for public than for private life, for political than VI Author's Introduction to for agricultural, industrial, or commercial struggles. In the Anglo-Saxon world, the Celtic populations mostly fill the ranks of the lower proletariat, or higher in the social scale — the liberal and political professions. The Celtic race belongs to the " Communistic Clan forma- tion," which never attains social superiority: pure Celts ever were vanquished socially, and always will be, as long as they are not transformed by contact with a superior race. The Norman element, more mixed and diluted in the social body, has yet left in England profound traces, which rigorous analysis could determine exactly. From this ele- ment (now expropriated to a large extent from the soil) has arisen, as part of its results, the enormous domains, and from it have also arisen the law of primogeniture, the hereditary nobility, and House of Lords. Norman tradi- tion appears to me to be found again in the organization of the English Universities and the spirit of caste which ani- mates them (the American Universities seem free from this influence). Moreover, the spirit of snobbery is another result of Norman influence. Whilst the Celtic element weakens especially the lower classes, by dragging them into labouring pauperism, the Norman element weakens especially the upper classes by promoting Lordolatry, Patronage, and Snobbery. Even as the Celts belong to the " Communistic Clan forma- tion," so did the Normans belong to the "Communistic State formation." In accordance with the qualities inherent in their origin, the Normans undertook to establish in England that type of great centralized and authoritative State which Spain was to know with Philip II., France with Louis XIV. and Napoleon, and Germany with Wilhelm. We all know that those vast political machines^ smothering as they do all the English Edition, vu individual initiative, never produced other than an appar- ent, factitious, and ephemeral prosperity ; they are but the royal road to decadence. It is precisely among these two elements — Celtic and Norman — that the socialistic doctrines have found any echo in the Anglo-Saxon world.* Socialism indeed is but a manifestation of the Commu- nistic formation which leads men to seek redress of social evils by the help of the group, the community, rather than by the activity of the individual. If the Governments of Australia and New Zealand have attempted to mingle socialistic institutions with reforms that have nothing social about them but their outward appearance, that is because the Scotch or Irish element abounds among their politicians, owing to the tendency which I have shown to exist in men of the Celtic race, and which is thus verified. But these socialistic experiments will be brought to an end for the simple reason that they are signally unsuccessful, whereas private Anglo-Saxon en- terprise obtains increasing success. It is but a matter of time. Indeed, that r.hich uirtinguishes England and sets her apart from Continental nations, and decidedly accounts for her social superiority at the present time, is the fact that she has gradually succeeded in freeing herself from the Celiic and Norman influences. She has been able to ac- * As M. Metin ascertained, the leaders of English Socialism **are, according to their own confessions, guided by the love of the Beau- tiful, and also by some impulse inherited from Celtic ancestors. In- deed, nearly all of them boast Irish, Scotch, or Welsh origins, and declare that they owe it to their Celtic forbears to be keener-witted and more free-minded than their Anglo-Saxon rivals. . . . The idea of Land Nationalisation was brought to England by Irish agi- tators returned from America. *'— *' Le Socialisme en Angleterre, " by Albert M§tin, p. 84o • • • VIU Author's Introduction to complish this enfranchisement thanks to the preponderance which the Anglo-Saxon element has gradually assumed over the other two — a preponderance whose progress no human force can now stop. It is precisely and solely this Anglo-Saxon dement which I have in view; this will explain the title of this book, and should be kept in mind. The Anglo-Saxon no longer belongs to the Communistic formation, but to the Particularistic formation, thus named because instead of causing the community to predominate over the individual, the individual is made to prevail over the community, private life over public life, and in conse- quence the useful professions over the liberal and adminis- trative professions. Such is indeed the real foundation of Anglo-Saxon supe- riority. The whole of the history of England is affected and explained by the slow but constant evolution of the Saxon through the dense Celtic and Norman shell. I will only sketch out the principal scenes in this great stirring drama, and for the details of demonstration refer the public to the Essays which M. de Tourville is shortly to publish in La Science Sociale on the subject of the " His- tory of the Particularistic Formation" [Histoire de la forma- tion jyctrticulariste) ; he is the first exponent of the curious evolution of this group of populations, and it will be seen that he has done the work in a masterly and definitive style. First Scene. — Predominance of the Saxons over the Celts. The Saxons settle in Great Britain in the fifth century, principally south of the Thames, where they spread their own name : Wessex, Sussex, Esse^. They drive away from these parts the British Celts, whom a half -pastoral life at- tached but dreamer tl defeat, whi of King Ai The Sax( the geogra] settles firm] till, and fix is the found is perfectly cal chiefs. army any bi interest to i worth fighti chiefs is pui first and dist an embryo I mot), and i where every Such a so( tocracy of bi of independe other — contrj The admir of the public neighbouring essentially S{ All this is Prankish chi( tion with the 7 ms. lir m ,t- thc English Edition. IX taohed but imperfectly to the soil. The Celt — more of a dreamer than a worker — consoles himself by singing his defeat, which he deems glorious. Suoh J3 .ne epic legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The Saxon, unlike the Celt, is a born farmer, thanks to the geographical conditions of his previous abode. He settles firmly on the soU, which he proceeds to clear and till, and fixes his dwelling in the midst thereof, llis ideal is the foundation of a rural estate on which the individual is perfectly independent of his neighbours and of the politi- cal chiefs. Alfred the Great himself cannot enrol in his army any but the Saxons who are willing, and who have an interest to serve, or who consider that the cause of war is worth fighting for. Besides, the authority of the Saxon chiefs is purely temporary and elective. Here we have the first and distant manifestation of self-government, and even an embryo Parliament in the reunions of the people (Folk- mot), and gatherings of the wise men (Witenagemot), where every one had a right to be present. Such a society presents no military aristocracy, no aris- tocracy of birth ; but only land-owners, all equal in rights, of independent estates, none of which is subordinate to the other — contrarily to the feudal practice. The administration of the law, also, is quite independent of the public powers : it is organized spontaneously between neighbouring land-owners. This is the beginning of the essentially Saxon institution of the jury. All this is very different from the system which the Frankish chiefs established on the Continent in collabora- tion with the G allo-Romans. Author's Introduction to Second Scene. — Predominance of the Savons over the Angles. In the sixth century the Angles started from the eastern slope of Schleswig and landed in Northern Britain. They drove away the Britons in different directions and founded the large kingdom of Northumbria. They afterwards spread southwards as far as the Thames and formed another large state, Mercia. Although they were better husbandmen than the Celts, the Angles were inferior to the Saxons in this respect. While the latter only invaded small territories, that is, only as much as they could well cultivate, the Angles spread over large areas, because they were more anxious to extend their dominion than to exercise agriculture. This was one of the first causes of weakness. There was another : an hereditary nobility — Jarls, Ethels, and Ethel- ings. Social science explains nowadays this difEerence between the Angles and Saxons ; I only note it down. Sound these nobles flocked a numerous suite of compan- ions, comites and milites, a kind of patriarchal clan. This clan was a means of strength, but also a cause of weakness for the chiefs, as, in order to maintain obedience, they were compelled to extend unceasingly their conquests and do- minion. Finally, another cause of weakness was that implied by the vast area covered by the estates which this hereditary nobility was obliged to possess in order to maintain its ad- herents. So these men did not attach themselves to the soil, did not firmly establish their race in it in the fashion of the Saxon husbandman. The land was only valued in so far as it served to reward personal services and to keep their retainers in idleness. .^ There li( umbria: th We knoT the domina the Angles officials upc developmen in private 1 ministering the Romanf Their ideal Thus wei States of E] the model o call himself And yet he However, sway upon M. social influe: vate life an work and c( large tracts ( occupying t Angles, as i S;ates are gr language anc Continental ] The above word "Anglo '•*:;x-p-*-\. the English Edition. XI There lies the explanation of the rapid decline of North- umbria : this kingdom lasted barely a century and a half. We know how, under Egbert, the Heptarchy feU under the domination of the Saxons. But the latter did not give the Angles a Saxon government, nor did they foist Saxon officials upon them, for the good reason that their political development was most limited, their strength lying more in private than in public life. They never dreamt of ad- ministering conquered peoples in the fashion adopted by the Romans, and later by the Spaniards and the French. Their ideal was rather — and has remained — a Federation. Thus were started by the Saxons those former United States of England. So little did they aim at constituting the model of a large empire, that their king continued to call himself simply " King of the Saxons of the West." And yet he was sovereign of the whole island. However, if the Saxons did not impose their political sway upon the Angles, they exercised over them a profound social influence, by the very fact of the superiority of pri- vate life among them, and by their greater capacity for work and colonization. They gradually spread over the large tracts of land which the Angles had annexed without occupying them. They thus thoroughly Saxonized the Angles, as in our days their descendants in the United S :ates are gradually assimilating and bringing to their own language and social organization the immigrants from old Continental Europe. The present explains the past. The above process and its results are expressed by the word "Anglo-Saxon." m Xll Author's Introduction to I Third Scene. — Predominance of the Saxons over the Danes, The Saxons were not left long in peace : about 867 the first batch of Danes appeared on the scene. They occupied the territory of the Angles as far south as the Thames, and the Saxons kept then, there for seven years. It is not my task to explain the social genesis of these Danes. M. de Tourville shall do this in La Science So- dale. Let it be stated only that they were, above all, pirates, Vikings, little prepared or disposed to fix themselves firmly on the soil by agriculture. They organized a system of military occupation, and were content with assuring their subsistence by raising regular and arbitrary levies. The Saxons were obliged to submit, like the rest of Eng- land, to the Danish armies, because no peasants can well resist warriors with the might of arms. But at any rate they did not do as the Britons had done, and never let go their hold of the land — which they held firmly indeed by the means of agriculture. Thus they were able to await a favourable opportunity. It presented itself under Alfred. Then did the Saxons take the offensive ; they first liberated their own territory, and then that of the Angles. The Danish pirates were turned out of England. Once more the Saxon race tri- umphed throughout the island. So great is the superiority which his hold of the land invariably gives the husbandman over the warrior's military or political domination. But the Saxons were not at the end of their troubles. Fifty years later, in 994, another Danish host arrived. These were not mere pirates ; they were better organized politically ; they were the Regular Danes, whose origin and formation M. de Tourville will explain. Thebo Danes, however, had no other social idea than to constitute i regularly at ones, somcT the Christia This was no real posse no implanta As practic Saxons immi They offered they would well-known to fight unle Since they w pay. Moreo cal power. They went favourable o] it was so un£ tails of the e^ that the Sax named Hown< wards and tu took to the se numbers." * patriotic expl known as the actly the chari was bound to that their adve hold the soil 1 thing. *Augustin TJb tome 1, p. 163. w the English Edition. Xlll Is. constitute themselves into a governing class and to live regularly at the expense and by the work of the conquered ones, somewhat in the fashion adopted by the Turks with the Christian populations. This was therefore another political conquest in which no real possession of the land was taken, in which there was no implantation of the race into the soil. As practical business men, which they already were, the Saxons immediately formed a simple treaty with the Danes. They offered to pay as a tribute the sum of money which they would have spent had they waged war : that is the well-known Danegelt tax. Quite a Saxon process: never to fight unless there is something well worth fighting for. Since they were in possession of the land, they preferred to pay. Moreover, the Saxon does not care to exercise politi- cal power. They went on cultivating their estates, awaiting another favourable opportunity. It came so naturally, so fatally, it was so unavoidable, that history is silent as to the de- tails of the event, and only records the issue. It is stated that the Saxons gathered round an obscure personage, named Howne, and rose in arms. " Speedily driven north- wards and turned out from town after town, the Danes took to the sea and reached their native land in diminished numbers." * And the historian adds : " Unfortunately the patriotic exploits of this Saxon army are nowadays as un- known as the name of its leader is obscure." This was ex- actly the character of obscurity which a revolt of peasants was bound to assume. Their rapid success clearly shows that their adversaries had no real hold of the country. To hold the soil by the means of agriculture, that is every- thing. *AugU8tin Thierry, "Hiatoire de la Conqu6te de rAngleterre," tome 1, p. 163. V: i \\ m XIV Author's Introduction to « Once more England remained to the Saxons, from North to South. Those small peasants had been doing good work. And what did they proceed to do when they found them- selves masters of the situation? They immediately and solemnly reasserted their favourite form of self-government, and defined it by drawing up the Saxon customs in all their purity: this was the famous Common Law. It affirmed the narrow limitation of the public powers by ensuring individual liberty and by the institution of the jury. But the Saxons had not done yet with adversity : another squall was rising on the horizon. The Kormans were com- ing! TouRTH Scene. — Predominance of the Saxons over the Normans, The Normans were but improved Danes ; they had been perfected by the feudal regime, whose military hiera.rchy they had adopted in Normandy. They took advantage of the Dane's departure to invade England with William the Conqueror. After a short resistance, the Saxons accepted the Norman monarchy, as they had accepted the Danish monarchy, asking but to be left to work in peace, ^hey therefore went on acting as practical men of lousiness. They were ever willing to renounce the exercise of power, provided they were guaranteed what ^they considered the greatest boon obtainable — independence in private life; provided, also, they had assurance of the public peace. Thus in our own time, in the United States, the Anglo- Saxon is disposed to leave to the Irish and Germans the political offices and civic functions; ♦ they themselves pre- fer the commoner callings. * It is known that in New York the famous Tammany Hall is Unfortui independen recruited b them disrej sufficiently have fiefs gi but to explc with what ( pro^oerty in generally lef tithes. Then begj which lasted tain complete resources, the their private The Saxon of bequeathin control; (2) j *o pay; (3) t they were ma amongst them (5) that they towards any o ferred any con Far from i aimed to esta whose powerfi land — Norman This nobilit France. In F] in England, th mostly in Irish hi all Irish or Scotcl the English Edition. XV Unfortunately, the Normans did not long respect the independence of the Saxons. The bands of adventurers recruited by William in different parts of France, most of them disreputable men (the composition of this arm] is sufficiently known to-day), had but one end in view: to have fiefs granted them, not in order to cultivate the land, but to exploit the populations. Domesday Book tells us with what care they surveyed and registered all landed property in England, shared it amongst themselves, an& * CHAPTER III. DOES THE ENGLISH SCHOOL SYSTEM FORM MEN? IF the social question could be summed up in one formula, we might fearlessly say that the question is specially one of Education. Upon the whole, the actual necessity is that men should be adapted to the new conditions of the world — which call on individuals to take care of their own welfare. The old social framework, on which men for- merly depended, is either broken or insufficient. It is our luck, good or ill, to live at the time when this troublesome evolution is taking place. Our present embar- rassed position is wholly due to the contrast feh between our archaic system of education and the newly arisen neces- sities of social life : we continue forming men for a society which is absolutely dead. It is extremely difficult for any man to react against such an education. I do not know whether my readers realize the fact, but for myself the phenomenon is but too obvious. I make out distinctly that there are two men in me ; the one, thanks to the scien- tific study of social subjects, sees clearly what ought to be done, and can discourse about it more or less learnedly ; the other, imprisoned in his primary formation, and over- whelmed as it were under the weight of the past, cannot put in practice the inspiration of the better side, or can do so only partially and witn difficulty. My head has entered fully enough into the mode of Particularistic formation, which develops the power of initiative, but the rest of me 88 The English School System. 39 remains stranded in its Communistic formation.* We might well paraphrase a well-known line of Virgil, and say : " how difficult 'tis to shake ofE our social forma- tion!" But what is difficult for such of us as are of riper age, is not so for our children ; they are softer clay, and can re- ceive and keep fresh impressions. Even if we are to be left behind, let us help them to cross that Rubicon. Ay, that is the great duty of contemporary heads of families ; those who do not fulfil it fail in their most sacred obligation, and will be severely punished for it in their sons. Personally I wish to fulfil that duty, and I took advan- tage of another sojourn in England to study more closely and from a practical point of view the question of educa- tion. I hope the present study may bring as much en- lightenment to my eovfreresy the French fathers of families, as it brought to myself. I. Although English education is much better adapted than ours to the new conditions of life, and succeeds better in forming active, self -relying men, yet the English are more anxious than we are to secure educational reforms. Being more advanced than we are in the way of changing condi- * Societies of a communistic formation are characterized by d ten- dency to rely, not on self, but on the community, on tlie group, family, tribe, clan, public powers, etc. The populations of the East are the most striking representatives of this type. Societies of a particularistio formation are characterized by a ten- dency to rely, not on the community, not on the group, but on self. Amongst them the private man {le '"'■ particulier^'' ) triumphs over the public man. Anglo-Saxon populations are the most striking repre- sentatives of this type. (See P.S. to Introduction to English Edition.) Cj * 40 Does the English tioDS, they realize better than we do the necessity of keep- ing up with the times. This necessity consists essentially in forming young men fit to shift for themselves in all difficulties and emergencies, in turning out practical and energetic men, instead of officials or mere scholars, who know of life only what they have learnt in books, which is little enough in all con- science. The product they endeavour to obt"in is exactly what the conditions of social evolution actually demand — men. I was talking one day in Edinburgh with a professor of the University of Dundee, on British education ; he said to ]x 3 : " We expect to-morrow, at the Summer Meeting, a man who is bound to interest you ; he is the founder and principal of a School established in the Midlands, Dr. R " I felt much astonished, next day, when we were introduced to each other. There is in France a classical type of the School prin- cipal, of the teacher: most correct tenuey sombre-hued garments, long dark frock-coat j the solemn, formal, con- scious air of a man thoroughly convinced of his sacerdotal functions; the gait slow, manner full of reserve, and a habit of dropping sententious sayings fit for improving the minds and souls of youth. Above all, dignity- — an ex- traordinary amount of dignity. The man who was shaking hands vigorously with me was quite different. Did you ever attempt to figure to yourself a pioneer, a squatter of the Far West? As for me, I do not picture him to myself different from the person of Dr. R Tall, spare, muscular, remarkably well- made for all sports that require agility, suppleness, energy ; and with all that, a costume that completes the whole to a nicety ; grey tweed jacket with band round the waist, knickerbockers, thick woollen stockings folded down under V -^j ^ School System Form Men ? 4 1 the knees, big strong boots, and, lastly, on his head, a Tarn o' Shanter cap. I am giving you these details, be- cause I consider the man as a good representative of the type of School whicl I am going to describe : such a mas- ter, such a school. The next day, which was a Saturday, when the classes do not meet, we were parched. Dr. R and myself, on the seat of one of those huge English omnibuses, on an excursion in connection with the Summer IVIeeting. On our way, and during the greater part of the afternoon, the doctor was expounding to me the idea and plan of his School, answering my questions and putting questions to me in return. This is the gist of his explanation. Contemporary teach- ing no longer answers the conditions of modern life; it forms men for the past, not for the present. The greater part of our youths waste most of their time studying dead languages for which very few will have any use later on. They get a smattering of modern languages and natural science, but remain ignorant of everything that concerns real life, practical matters, and che structure of society. Our system of games is as much in need of reform as our methods of tuition. Athletic overtraining is as much a reality as over-cramming. What makes the reformer's work difficult is the fact that our Schools are under the in- fluence of the Universities, for which they prepare a cer- tain percentage of the pupils. I^ow, the Universities, like all old corporations, hardly have any responsibility; and an invisible and intangible spectre hovers above the chan- cellors, masters, principals, and professors : it is the spirit of tradition and routine, which has more power than authority itself. Good. But how does your School manage to modify this system? \. 42 Does the English I Our aim is to achieve a harmonious development of all the human faculties. The boy is to become a complete man, so as to be capable of fulfilling all the ends of life. To achieve this, the School ought not to be an artificial centre where there is no communication with life except through books; it ought to be a small world, real, prac- tical, where the child may find himself in close proximity to nature and reality. Theory is not enough ; there must be practice as well ; those two elements should be present in the School, as they are around us. Otherwise, the young man is condemned to enter a world entirely new to him, where he loses all his bearings. Man is not a mere intelligence, bat an intelligence attached to a body. We are therefore to train the pupil's energy, will-power, physi- cal strengtk, manual skill, agility. As the doctor went on, I could perceive gradually the general idea which inspires and pervades his work; but to me this idea was somewhat confused and hazy. I asked him to describe for me, in detail, the employment of a whole day. The School time-table and other details (to which I will return presently) completed the informa- tion. Our excursion was to end by a visit to the old church of D , whence we were to go and have tea at the house of a large landowner of the neighbourhood, Mr. B This gentleman, who for the last three years had attended my lectures at the Summer Meeting, and who is a reader of La Science Sociale, had had the courtesy to invite me to stay at his house over Sunday. I asked him whether he had heard of Dr. K 's School. He said that he had visited it, and that his eldest son, aged thirteen, was to enter it as a pupil in about a month. He had not been content with visiting it, but had referred to parents of pupils, and their opinions struck me by their unanimous ap- '! School System Form Men ? 43 preciation of the results attained. But judge for yourself from the letters : — "Dear Sir, "... My son, aged fifteen, spent eighteen months in the A School ; he improved more there than he had done in any of the other schools he had been to. He profited morally and physically, and I was more than satis- fied with the results. Dr. K is a man of strong in- dividuality, and a born teacher. I consider the methods and principles of the School excellent. My son liked the School and the work very much, and I believe this to be the general feeling amongst the pupils. The moral tone of the School is unexceptionable, and 1 am sure you cannot do. better than send your son there." "Dear Sir, " In reply to your letter I have much pleasure in answering your inquiries. " We have two boys at A , and both have imp 1 - "^ed much in health during the time they have been there. They write us that the last term has passed very quietly, and that they are quite happy. The mode of life there is a very healthy one. The boys are taught to rely upon themselves so as to become independent. The moral tone of the School is good; and the pupils, as far as I can judge, belong to good families. "The relations between masters and boys are cordial. One of the teachers spent Christmas with us, and we were struck to see on what brotherly terms he was with our boys. The latter seem to like all their masters. "Our eldest son is progressing rapidly in his studies. The second is more backward, but we fiud him much brighter, and both have become more active. The School methods encourage individuality. • I 44 Does the English "There is no denominational teaching, but morning and evening prayers are gone through ; besides that, the boys attend the parish church. We are Congregationa- lists, and the boys are always happy to return to their chapel. " We hope soon to send another son to the School ; but he is too young, being only eight and a half. . » \. ^ ^ n "Dear Sir, " I am able to answer with the greatest pleasure your inquiries anent the A School, as my son has been there for the last four terms. He feels very happy there, and is thriving. You may have realized, from the prospectus, what the aim of the School is. The classical teaching is not too prominent, but they teach modern lan- guages and everything that may prove of use and perhaps necessary to the boys in after-life. Morals and health are particularly looked after. " The food is excellent and varied ; quite different from the food generally served in Schools. " The principles advertised in the prospectus are rigor- ously adhered to by its Director — a man of very decided miud and character, and at the same time full of sympathy for young people. " The number of pupils being limited to about fifty, each boy can be studied and carefully trained. I spent a couple of days there, and was greatly impressed by the pleasant- ness of the life. " I see no fault in this system of education, unless it is — and you may perhaps think that is no fault — the absence of any denominational teaching of Scripture. " The house is healthy and comfortable. J. may add that the masters are pleasant and cultured men. Dr. R evidently makes a point of engaging gentlemen of high and School System Form Men? 45 refined characters, who may influence the boys for good. Several amongst them are accomplished musicians." The opinion expressed by Mr. B , and the testi- monials here recorded, induced me push the inquiry further; here are the results of m}^ Jr ^estigation. II. The School founded by Dr. R was opened in 18(S9, at A , in D — shire. It is situated in the open country, in the middle of a rural estate — which is, as we shall presently see of essential importance to this new sys-. tem of education. 1 e prospectus takes good care to men- tion that " there "s l large town in the immediate neigh- bourhood. " Although of rt ent date, this institution has already given birth t brother School, constituted on the same principles, by one of the A teachers, Mr. B , who was trained by Dr. R ; it is situated in the south of England, at B , in Sussex. I have before me an article in the Review of Eevieivs which, under the title, "Two Experiments: A and B ," gives a pithy account of the tv/o Schools, with illustrations sup- plementing the description. Moreover, I have recently made two stays at the B School, and was thus able to study its working in the minutest details. The two Schools are most unlike our own cold, bare school-buildings; they are comfortable English country- houses. They produce an impression of real — not artifi- cial — life; they cannot fail to remind the inmates of their own homes — not of a barracks or a prison. Instead of our French narrow yards, shut in between high walls, all round is air, light, space, verdure. The 46 Does the English first exterior view is that of a pleasant residence, and it has not yet been proved that a School ought to present a for- bidding appearance. The same effect prevails when you get inside. The B diuing-room, for instance, is quite a family room — cheerful and comfortable ; the table is elegantly laid, the cloth snow-white J the furnituro is good and artistic; a piano, pictures, statues, easy-chairs betoken an equal ap- preciation of the pleasant and the useful. Compare this with our detestable French school refectories, and one is struck at the outset with the difference between the two systems of education. The feeling will be intensified when I add that the mas- ters, the principal and his wife and daughters have their meals with the pupils. It is family life. Here the child is not violently withdrawn from his ordinary surroundings, and transported into a special and thoroughly artificial world; he has merely passed from one home to another. As the prospectus says, " This School is a homey not merely a place for teaching." Such is the frame ; let us now gaze at the picture. I believe the simplest way is for me first to reproduce the time-table, and then enter into the principal divisions : mi 6.15 a.m. (7 o'clock in winter) The pupils rise and partake of a light collation. Drill. School -work. Chapel. Breakfast (this is a serious breakfast, d VAnglaise, com- prising bacon, eggs, etc.), after which, tidying of the bedrooms : each pupil is expected to make his bed. School -work. Light lunch ; if weather permits, exercise of the lungs in the open air (naked to the waist) . 11.15 ,, School- work. 6.30 6.45 7.30 7.45 8.30 10.45 it 1 1 School System Form Men ? 47 12.45 p.m. SInHng or swimming in the river (according to season). 1.0 ,, Dinner. 1.30 ,, Organ or piano practice. 1.45 ,, Games and garden -worlc, or wall^ing, cycling, etc. 4.0 ,, Practice in the worlisliops. 6.0 ,, Tea. 0.80 ,, Singing ; dramatic or musical rehearsing, etc. 8.30 ,, Supper and chapel. 9.0 ,, Bedtime. The chief impression in reading this time-table is pro- duced by the variety of exercises which make up the day's work. You can trace a purpose in avoiding every kind of "forcing," at the same time developing simultaneously all natural aptitude ; thus we have scholastic, manual, and ar- tistic instruction. Here is how the day is spent : — Intellectual work „ 6 hours. Physical exercise and manual work ... 4^ ,, Artistic worli and indoor recreations ... 2^ ,, oic>(' yy •■■ «•• ••• ••• ••• V Meals and spare time 3 Total ... 24 • * »• We may add that on Sunday there is no work, the boys' time is their own. In fact, each week is divided into three distinct parts : the morning is especially reserved for intellectual work, actual school-work ; the afternoon is kept for manual work on the estate or in the workshop ; the evening is conse- crated to art, music, and indoor recreations. Let us try, by examining in detail these three divisions, to gain an insight into the working of the new School and its likely results. The school-work is actuated by the following objects: " Make the pupils intimate with the things as well as with 48 Does the English ve never make them compete among themselves. Ko doubt it often happens that they work together at the same subject; but when giving an account of the work of each, I take care to express myself in such a way as not to indicate which of ; V School System Form Men ? 49 the pupils has done best. T tell each one, * You have done better — or worae — than on such a day;' never, * You have done better than So-and-So.' I am of opinion that it is bad for a boy to be able to say, * I am superior to another;* he must be able to say, * I am superior to what I was a week ago. ' " The teaching of languages, especially modem languages, takes an important place in the new School, and differs markedly from the method generally in force. No one will be astonished when I say that we study languages, but do not learn them. Evidently our method is wrong. The method employed at Dr. R 's seems to me more success- ful. During the first two years, children of ten and eleven . years of age are taught in English. Afterwards, for a similar period, the instructor explains himself in French as much as possible ; then, for another two years, German is employed. Latin and — for those who wish to learn it — Greek come at the end. It will be understood, without my being insistent, that such polyglot teaching is only possible Avhen a practical method is adhered to, consisting, so far as modern lan- guages are concerned, in learning to speak first, reserving the study of grammar for a subsequent period, and even then limiting its study to what is strictly necessary for acquiring a practical mastery of the language. This method, generally unknown to modern language teachers, is that of Nature herself ; through it, without effort and almost unconsciously, we have all learnt our mother-tongue, but in such a way as to be able to use it, which surely is of some importance. I have four children, the eldest of whom is nine years old ; they are learning German on this method — by talking with their governess; their progress has been extremely rapid. After four months they not only used German in their games, hi:, what is thequintes- 4 5° Does the English li ■•l< t'v: m. sence of success, they quarrelled in German! They are now learning the German grammar ia German, exactly as they learn the French grammar in French. I have made a point of citing this example, which is present before me, to justify the method employed in the new School. In order that the pupils may not forget the languages learnt in preceding years, they continue using them in their conversation for several hours every day. The teaching of mathematics partakes of the sar n> prac- tical character; pupils are required to work applications of the theories expounded. They manufacture certain objects on scientific principles; they go through surveying opera- tions. They are furnished with the different bills and memoranda concerning the expenditure on the farm, the garden, the workshops, the games, stationery, the chemi- cal laboratory, food, fuel, etc. They have to complete all these accounts, enter them, make all necessaiy calculations, verifications, etc. It will be granted that such processes impart to abstract studies a peculiar interest ; their prac- tical utility is obvious. Figures are made to live; they help equally in teaching the art of the housekeeper, and that of the industrial or commercial organizer. In short, the School prepares practical men, and may be credited with possessing a really social character. The study of natural sciences begins vv^ith the direct ob- servation of nature ; which is the easier here because the School is in the country, and the children have not far to go for object-lessons. They gather numerous specimens — mineral, vegetable, and animal. Moreover, the habits of animals and their appearance and characteristics are studied before their internal organization ; the shapes and struc- tures of plants are considered before their classification ; the names and aspects of stars and planets before the laws governing their motions. Excursions (on foot or on cycle), t; V School System Form Men? 51 which we have seen mentioned in the time-table, offer ex- cellent opportunities for observation. Science thus becomes more natural, more intelligible, more attractive; it reaches the mind more easily, and is absorbed more deeply. Study thus breeds no disgust — as too often is the case with our own methods ; but scientific curiosity has been awakened, and a desire for further knowledge is developed after the boy has left school. History is taught on a method similar to that advocated for social science. To create interest in the work, the School relies mostly on " the observation of causes and effects in the characters and movements of the drama, rather than on taxing the memory with whole series of facts and dates." Great importance is attached to the study of the physical character of a country, and its rela- tion to its political and commercial development. They begin with the history of England, then proceed with some characteristic period of universal history. Thus, with Greek history, the origin of our social systems is inves- tigi*ted; with Roman history, they examine the type of State whose huge public powers most favour the foreign expansion of a race. Up to fifteen years [of age the teaching is the same for all pupils ; after that it differs more or less according to the profession chosen for each boy. More time and attention are given to different subjects, according to whether a pupil is destined for one of the Universities, for a professional career, or whether he chooses as his vocation agriculture, industry, commerce, or colonization. The suppleness of the programme, the absence of a uniform groove into which all the students are expected to adjust themselves, is not one of the least remarkable points in the management of the School. The teaching is adapted to the pupils — not the pupils to the teaching. Upon the whole, the dominant idea in the programme is 52 Does the English I a determination never to separate practice from theory, and to impart to the pupils as far as possible an education that "will really be of service to them in the conduct of their lives. III. The different courses of study just enumerated occupy the three morning classes. The afternoon is almost wholly given to manual training and physical exercise ; the educa- tion of the body following that of the mind. Considering the sovereign contempt of the body evinced by our educa- tional system, this part of the programme will, no doubt, astonish our French fathers. I met lately a boy of nine, a pupil at the College Stanislas in Paris, who after working all day at school was yet obliged to study at home every night until nine or ten o'clock. Such overwork is not only disastrous for health, but equally so for the studies them- selves; it rests on the mistaken belief that a person learos in proportion to the time spent over his books. The afternoon (1.45 to 6.0) is devoted to garden- work, the workshops, or excursions (afoot or cycling). " Our aim, " says the programme, " is to develop physical education, a knowledge of and interest in industrial occu- pations, energy of enterprise, and the exact appreciation of any accomplished work — whether that work is to be done by the pupil's own hands, or only superintended. Many breakdown 3 in life are caused by bodily weakness: our boys are tnerefore drilled daily, they take plenty of exer- cise, and are put to some manual work every day. This is necessary for invigorating the body and diminishing its sensitiveness — which arises mostly from mental overwork and a too sedentary way of living." This shows again an intention to enable the pupils to accomplish work which may have a practical purpose and School System Form Men ? 53 be of actual use in real life. In fact, the boys have almost built and organized their School ; like Robinson Crusoe in his desert island, they have themselves produced a good part of the objects that surround them and which they use and enjoy. At the foundation of the School the garden was a wilder- ness of weeds, the farm a waste of rubbish. The boys took it in hand. They made pathways and established a whole system of drainage. They tarred all the gates and railings, painted the woodwork and buildings, and prepared and enclosed a football ground. In the workshop, where they are taught carpentry and the rudiments of the joiner's craft, they have manufactured a considerable number of the articles of furniture in use in the house. Among different objects manufactured by the pupils in the workshop, I note a table, a chest of drawers, a diver's apparatus, a duck-house, a pigeon-house, a wood-shed, two boats ; and another boat is actually on the stocks. During a farm labourer's three-days' illness, some pupils volunteered to do his work, and take care of his cattle — and did so. Others, wanting to become joint-owners of a horse, went to the fair and purchased onej older pupils taught them to ride and drive him. In the summer, garden and farm work naturally assumes great importance ; cricket and tennis take the place of foot- ball ; cycling and photographing expeditions occupy all free afternoons. As I am writing, I receive a letter from Mr. B , who has just taken his son to A , and is kind enough to tell me what he has seen there. " When I arrived, " he writes, " several boys were busy with their cricket belongings, manufactured by themselves the preceding year. They talk now of building another bridge over the river, which is thirty or forty yards wide; 54 Does the English !'■ the pillars will be made of masonry , ^c. ay to offer more resistance to tl • Gli.vri. The wh-^^- will be done by the pupils. * There is a lit de woo Je J valley that extends from the grounds to the school buildings, which latter stand on an eminence about a hundred ieet above the river level. A tiny brook follows the bottom of this valley, which the boys have utilized in the construction of several little ponds or reservoirs connected tcciiether. All clearing away was done by them, save where the intervention of the masons was judged absolutely necessary. " There is also a project of adding to the school build- ings until they are capable of containing one hundred pupils, the extreme number which Dr. K thinks it possible to direct in a thorough manner. As preparatory work, the pupils will make a survey of the ground and draw an exact plan of the esta])lishment. "Close to the houi.e, there is a temporary chemical laboratory, and a c^^penter*s workshop, where the boys, under the supervision of Herr N (whom you met in Edinburgh), accomplish varied work either for their own personal use or for that of the School. It is intended, next term, to undertake special work in wood, on the Slojd pro- g^'^^sive method, which you have seen worked at the Sub. Jier Meeting. " Inside the house I note the absence of all useless lux- ury, whilst all rooms are furnished most comfortably. At lunch, I was struck by the happy looks of the boys and their lack of bashfulness. They were seated round half a dozen tables, each presided over by a master. The prayers at meals are sung with vigour and enthusiasm. " The frankness and confidence of the boys towards their masters is very remarkable. The latter are in the habit of going about and behaving with the boys rather like elder broth ( stantlj at tim| in ap] mastei initiati instanc them v| Sue] an elei of pia they al degree fully tl underst precise] — the a "We boys' g: erly no\ to good growth and dui velopuK our reg True th ness ani portant quired ; are inte Here weight, gains d j School Svstem Form Men ? 55 Tht'Y aie con- ^e. aiKi even brothers than persons of a different ^evel. stantly ny>ing Llie Same oxpfessioii3 jf 1 .n*^i at times the same slaxig as the boys. Tl ■> (.nlv Cii'tinction in appearance is a sort of a^adeujiO loba vi rp. by the masters. "... Dr. R considers it an irnporijmt point to initiate the boys in a knowledge of otrtside business ; for instance, he sends them on very serious errands, trusts them with the drawing of money from the bank, etc. . . ." Such ordinary occupations and manual tasks are not only an element of education, a means of acquiring a quantity of practical knowledge which theory cannot impart; but they also develop the body and gradually train it to the. degree necessaiv for men who will have to confront success- fully the difficulties of life. It will therefore be readily understood why Dr. R wished to ascertain very precisely — in fact, with an almost mathematical exactness — the actual results obtained from this point of view. "We wished," he says, "to ascertain the rate of the boys' growth, so as to make sure that thf ir bodies are prop- erly nourished and that their way of living is favourable to good health. To this effeol v.e nifuie out the rate of growth of ei;,ch boy whilst at ti. Mchi'ol on the one hand, and during the holidays on the v sher. If the corporal de- velopment had been less during the sojourn at the School, our regime obvio^ ly Ought to be ( 'lusidered defective. True that our scu.os do not register the degree of supple- ness and agility acquired by our scholars; but it was im- portant to make sure that these qualities had not been ac- quired at the 'xpense of others. The results registered are interesting." Here follow two comparative tables, one relative to weight, the other to size, stating in both cases the boys' gains during the school and home periods respectively. 4 ! i I 56 Does the English From these it appears that the increase was greatest during the school period. In fact, this circumstance should surprise no one, for the mode of life we have just described is eminently favourable to physical development. "Without making too much of these figures," Dr. R goes on, "they at least prove that in our School — thanks to our system of food, of dress, and of living — strong and sound men are made. We've had to deal with little illness; even mere headaches and colds are unf requent here. Our mode of life teaches young men that good health ought to be the general rule, and that disease is the consequence of error, ignorance, vice, over- work, and misconception of what work ought to be. We make it a great point for our pupils to be very careful in their habits of cleanliness and personal hygiene." They bathe daily ; each boy has his tub at the side of his bed. I make of this a point of comparison with the practice of our Schools, where water is so sparingly allowed that it is almost an article of luxury. We are quite as sparing of air as of water; at A and B the boys sleep with open windowS;, summer and winter alike. IV. What with school-work, which fills the morning, manual work and physical exercises, which occupy the afternoon, we have now reached G p.m., tea-time. There are still three hours left until bed-time. How are they employed? According to De Bonald, " man is an intellect served by organs :" we have just seen how the morning was employed in developing the former, and the afternoon in developing the latter. But man has other attributes ; he is a sociable being. In order, therefore, to entirely develop the man he should be trained in view of this sociability, he should be i ve School System Form Men ? 57 taught good manners and rendered capable of giving and taking pleasure in the company of his kind. The last three hours of each day are devoted to forming the " sociable man." The process is interesting to examine. "Our aim," said Dr. R , "is to accustom our young men to be neither awkward nor shy, and to enjoy the company of their elders. So every night they gather in the drawing-room, to meet the ladies of the School and our visitors. The room in which our evenings are thus spent has been arranged so as to give an impression of happiness and harmony; the furniture, the pictures, the statues were chosen with this end." From six to nine, the School is thus transformed into a family drawing-room ; but mere conversation is not the rule, they also play and sing, rehearse comedies, give concerts, etc. Music, indeed, forms an important feature in this School. The prospectus says : " Music is one of our chief subjects. Every week we have a musical soiree, and every evening some jjicino performances. The boys feel greatly the effects of this. There are here as many violins as cameras." For the dramatic performances, the pupils have them- selves constructed a theatre. These exercises are not only for amusement, but are considered as a serious means of education. One evening weekly is given to reading the works of Shakespeare. We shall give a very complete idea of this side of the school life when we add that there are two Debating Clubs m the School, and that the pupils have their school Maga- zine (illustrated). "This publication develops literary ex- pression and artistic skill ; moreover, it gives the boys an idea that their School is a complete little world." Another element which also contributes to promoting ar- tistic feeling is the school Museum, in course of formation, 58 Does the English and which already includes some copies of the old masters, sculptures, specimens of beautiful furniture, etc. The day, which began with a visit to the chapel, ends in the same wt.y. However, the School professes no con- formity with any particular sect; religious practices are wholly undogmatic and unsectarian. At chapel, as in the prayers which precede meals, the services are limited to reading out of the Bible, hymns, and prayers of a general religious character. However, as the Sunday is a holiday, the boys are at liberty to attend their own particular place of worship in the neighbourhood. Thus several pupils, who are Koman Catholics, attend mass at a church not far distant. Concerning religion, the prospectus says : " Religion per- meates our whole life, and life should indeed be saturated with it. We do not present religion to children, as a por- tion of our daily life, but as a harmonious whole which is to penetrate us thoroughly, whatever sect we may belong to. During a quarter of an hour, morning and evening, we meet together to express faith and hope with exterior signs." Such is this School, and such is its programme. It is an extremely interesting School, insomuch as it seems to me to mark a stage in the evolution of a system of educa- tion better fitted to the new conditions of social life. In its practical character, in its chief aim to form the man, the whole man, and develop all faculties and the full power of personal energy and initiative, this School presents a striking contrast to all our modern systems of teaching. It is an example of skilfully taken bearings in the direc- tion of the Particularistic formation which 13 actually tak- ing possession of the world. For a new world a new edu- cation is needed, one that may train a man to rely on himself alone, rather than on the community or any group ; one that may lead a man to look always to the future, in- stead of the past. School System Form Men? 59 V. I was talking one day with a friend about this new School. He said: "This experiment is most interesting; but there is here, in my opiuion, a grave fault: the school is an internat.^^ Now, the ^^internat" such as prevails in France is in- deed an institution equally unhealthy for the body and for the mind: large barracks, enclosing hundreds of closely penned-up children, subjected to the narrowest discipline; every initiative on their part restricted or crushed. A system lit, perhaps, for the formation of a soldier or offi- cial, but certainly fatal to the development of virile energy, spontaneous action, and the consciousness of personal worth. It would be a gross mistake for any French person to imagine that there is any similarity between French and English boarding-schools {internats). Let us beware of the treachery of names ; the same name is frequently ap- plied to very different things. At A , the number of pupils is limited at present to fifty, and will never be more than one hundred, as stated by Dr. K , who knows that educating a larger number under one roof is an impossi- bility. Moreover, when his pupils quit their families, they enter another family — that of their principal, in whose company they take their meals and whom they meet every night in the drawing-room; it i^, so to say, a magnified home life. Then, the boys' separation from their own families is nothing like so complete as among us ; holidays are more numerous and longer ; seven weeks at Midsummer, four weeks at Christmas, three weeks at Easter. The boys are therefore amidst their own people, for three and a half months every year^ at varying periods, and are never quite outside hone or family influence. 1 { l^ 6o Does the English i Each type of society has its own modes of education, and produces a scholastic system adapted to itself. Societies of a Communistic Family formation are charac- terized l)y the grouping of sevi ral couples into one house- hold : this type is that of tlie less progressive populations of the East. There, the children do not rely on themselves for their establishment, but on the family community, which will keep them or welcome them back if perchance they have left home and failed. In these conditions little personal instruction is needed, and only a minimum in- struction is given : the family, sometimes helped by the priest, is sufficient for imparting it. "We know, indeed, that these societies do not shine much in the matter of cul- ture ; they are fully representative of education within the family and by the family. In societies of a Communistic State formation^ the large public community takes the place of the dissolved family community ; here the young people rely principally on the State for their establishment in life, through the many ap- pointments which the State distributes in the army or the different services. Most of the nations of Western Europe, notably France and Germany, belong to this type. To ob- tain these appointments examinations have to be passed, which, in order to keep away the bulk of applicants, are made stiffer and more difficult. The cramming system is the result of such conditions, and it pervades all teaching : scholastic " forcing" the process of mnemonic learning re- sults in a mass of indigestible matter. There is no ques- tion here of forming men fit to confront the difficulties of life, but only of forming candidates prepared to face the chances of examinations. The kind of School which most readily springs from these conditions is the grand internat. Here everything is sacrificed to the supreme and onlj'- goal — Lxamination, tLe apparent end of the young man's life, \ School System Form Men ? 6 1 towards which he is led by unceasing overwork. There is every advantage in crowding within each of these huge col- leges live hundred, one thousand pupils, or more; for it is not the business of the masters to follow fiach individual boy, to make a man of him, to fill the place of a father; indeed, the master need not associate with his pupils in any way. Really, in such conditions, the best master is not the worthiest, the most learned, or the most clear- sighted, but rather he that displays most skill in over- cramming the boys in the shortest time ; he who is the most up-to-date as to the tricks that succeed at exams., and the best informed as to the fads and peculiarities of the examiners. The third type is that of aorietics of an Individualistic forviation, of which the Scandinavian and English-speak- ing races are the best examples; and among them education is a very different affair. Here the individual relies for his establishment neither on the family nor on the State, which disposes of but few appointments, because public powers are not much centralized, and do not employ a very largo number of officials. Here the individual relies prin- cipally on his own energy and resources to succeed in an independent career. The chief aim of education, in such a state of society, must therefore be to develop these qualities, and form practical men. For this, the School must needs preserve as much as possible the atmosphere of the outside world. The kind of school which best answers these conditions, and consequently is most flourishing, is a school limited to a comparatively small number of pupils; day schools for families li/ing in towns, and boarding-schools for those who live in the country. Even the latter tends to repro- duce family life, which keeps the youngsters in touch with the normal conditions of home. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) & / L/j z. 1.0 I.I 121 12.5 |: ^ 136 la* us IJJ u I 2.0 iS. IL25 HI 1.4 — 6" Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WeST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 62 The English School System. Obviously a division of schools into day and boarding schools {exttrnats and internats), is inadequate; either word may express in diametrically opposite social states scholastic establishments of a totally difEerent character, and giving absolutely contrary results. From these considerations it appears that ihe great ob- stacle to reforming our Schools in the sense just indicated, is to be found in our social state, in our very customs and manners, which urge our youth to embrace the ready-made careers which can be entered only through examinations. It might be supposed, then, that the new type of School pre- sents for us but a platonic interest. It is by no means so. As long as the numbers of candidates for examinations were relatively limited, the young men could entertain hopes of success after a fair amount of cramming; but circumstances are changed. Nowadays our youth rushes to the storming of the ready-made situations; the rank and file of the people join in the melee; there are a hundred competitors for every place. The examination is no longer an open entrance to a career, but a high and almost im- pregnable wall. To urge our children to go and break their heads against a brick wall is hardly wise. In consequence, the shrewder and more thoughtful among us are beginning to look upon independent callings with less disdain. But to succeed in such callings, precisely those qualities are re- quired which are not to be expected from our present sys- tem of education, and which are, on the contrary, devel- oped in the highest degree by the kind of school we have just described. CHAPTER rV. HOW ARE WE TO BRING UP OUR CHILDREN ? I. OUR guiding principle in establishing our children, on this the French side of the Channel, consists in gather- ing for each, by dint of economy, a dot — a portion ; then we marry them to consorts similarly placed as to fortune ; and in time we have them admitted, if possible, into some public office. This series of processes is just now met by a new and growing difficulty, expressed by the fall in the rate of in- terest on money. From five per cent, it fell to four, and now we can only obtain three. With such a rate of inter- est, it is becoming more and more difficult to endow oue's children. Until now, this difficulty has been partly hidden, owing to the abundance of money in France. We boast that France is a wealthy country, controlling an enormous quan- tity of bullion, which is quite true. In fact, the greatest money market of the world is at present in France. Unfortunately, this abundance of money at command is not due solely to national money-earning; it proceeds partly from factitious causes which cannot act much longer, and which are in truth symptoms of decadence rather than of prosperity. This abundance of money was first caused by restricting the number of our children. We know but too well that the number of births in France is diminishing year by year, , 63 64 How Are We to and that, according to the last census, deaths are more numerous than births, which is a very rare phenomenon in the history of humanity. At the present time, France is the only country in this plight. Now, a small number of children in a family is an abun- dant source of economy. If to bring up half a dozen chil- dren, you spend, say, six thousand francs, you may bring up one child at an outlay of only one thousand francs, and thereby save five thousand francs per year. The French practise this form of economy wholesale, with the result that they generally can boast of more ready money than populations given to rearing large families. This is actu- ally one of the reasons why France represents the largest money market. But there is another cause, namely, the aversion shown by the French for independent callings — agriculture, in- dustrial pursuits, commerce. These professions are not sought after ; we prefer administrative positions. All our young men rush to the Government Schools, and the crush at the doors is general. This is no exaggeration. Every Frenchman who may have made a little money as a farmer, a manufacturer or a merchant, has no brighter dream than to retire, and make his son an officer or an official, or launch him into one of the liberal professions. In consequence, we have no tendency to trade with our own capital. Our savings are invested, and whether in stocks, consols, or stock exchange ventures, the money is brought on the market. This is how our reluctance to enter independent professions contributes to swell the amount of unemployed money in France. But the very factors which bring about this abundance of money tend to diminish it yearly, and will end in the near future by exhausting the supply. Indeed, if the limited number of children on the one Bring Up Our Children? 6s hand increases our savings, on the other it lessens the work- ing or producing power. A father obliged to feed and edu- cate six children has to work more, and consequently con- tributes more to the public wealth than the man who has but one child to look after. Moreover, young people who are members of large families, and therefore unable to count upon paternal resources, are naturally bound to dis- play a greater disposition to personal effort, and more spirit of initiative than an only son, who finds it but too natural to count on his parents' help for his success in life. On the other hand, if through our aversion to lucrative occupations, we are induced to bring the whole of our wealth on the market, the source of that wealth is stopped by the very deed, for there is no other source of wealth than agriculture, industry, and commerce. We are too much given to forgetting that all other professions are but para- sitical occupations, drawing the resources that feed them from the three essential callings I have just named. Some people may say, " Well, this will surely last our time." But I am not so sure of that. At any rate, it will not last as long as our sons' time. Already many of those wretched young men, in spite of the number of places, are kept away from them by the endless lines of candidates who only meet with failure for their pains. And what are they to do now? What can they do? What are they fit to do? For what were they fitted by the education they received at the hands of the family and at the School? They were educated for an administrative career, or for the army. They were repeatedly told that there was noth- ing else respectable, nothing else worthy of their ambition. Such is the order of the day, not only in the upper middle class, but even in the more modest walks of life. In the 66 How Are We to drawing-room, as in the shop and the farm, this same un- reasonable prejudice flourishes, making the whole nation as mad as March hares. Indeed, according to official re- ports, for a single vacancy you may often count thousands of candidates. And the poor fellows go on waiting : they fill the admin- istrative ante-chambeiE ; they try to move heaven and earth; they complain aloud. One thing they do not do: they do not manage to do something for themselves; they never think of attempting some kind of independent work which might easily be more lucrative, and in which they certainly would find more dignity and freedom. They do not do so, because they foolishly believe it to be infra dig. To be an unsuccessful candidate for an offi- cial post, youth and substance wasted by indefinite waiting, seems to them not so despicable. They do not mind being almost an official. The mere phrase — un fonctlonnaire — has, alas ! a glamour about it in this official-ridden country. They do not attempt to do something for themselves be- cause they are powerless to do so. Our French training, excellent for the formation of officials, is of no value in forming independent, resourceful men, able to cope with the difficulties of life. They are good for nothing but sub- ordinate functions, the remuneration for which will be a fixed salary, gained without exertion and payable monthly. On entering, the man sees in advance his whole life. At such an age he will be sows-cAe/ (second in command of .one of the offices of a subdivision of a department) ; later he will be chef de bureau; and later still he will get his re- traite. The only date he does not seem to know is that of his death. Of the chances of a man's life this is the re- ductio ad ahsurdum. We therefore cannot arrive at any other conclusion than this ; That the education of our children must be on differ- se Bring Up Our Children? 67 ent lines if we wish them to be equal to the necessities of the times, if we wish them to be enabled to fight for them- selves in the social crisis which is just opening. The universal character of this crisis requires us to make a very clear exposition of the educational question as it ac- tually presents itself. The points are : The methods of transmitting to our chil- dren the continuation of our work have to be altered. The present methods no longer answer the purpose. We edu- cate our children in view of their success in life, to the best of our ability to this end, we employ those methods which succeeded best with ourselves; and yet the results now prove quite different, and often the very opposite of our expectations. Some of our most serious, the most thought- ful, most cultured, men, some of the best connected too, are anxiously asking themselves this question : " How on earth are we to bring up our children and successfully es- tablish them?" (Indeed, they have cause to be anxious!) Now, the teaching of social science bids us not to be scandalized at such a state of confusion. Scandal is the word to express the effect produced on the minds ; men are ashamed, indignant at such a state of things. Some see in it most uncanny signs : an evil spirit is alleged to be abroad, conjured by the general cowardice and abandonment of all good principles. Men become angry, and disposed to mu- tual recrimination, and meanwhile they go on as in the past, actuated by a conviction that we ought to return to the old methods — and their failure is wholesale. Social science teaches us a more just and more conclusive appreciation of facts. By the analysis, comparison, and classification of these facts we are shown that our world is now passing, and necessarily, to a new condition which is not ephemeral, but durable, by a transition between the past and the future. 68 How Are We to M TbuB we are taught the causes, the direction, and the ultimate results of this crisis, which iu some points is ex- ceptional in the history of the world. First, the causes — What are they? These causes are derived from the continuous change in the methods of pro- duction and transport — in other words, change in our means of existence. Formerly, the places of production were small workshops, often at home. The clientele was limited and local. Work was done by hand or with small motors, and methods of work were permanent and often traditional. The father used to transmit them religiously to the son ; of innovation there was little or none, and what there was of it was exceedingly slow in its action. Competition only existed between artisans of a neighbourhood, for the feeble means of transport at command did not allow of any con- siderable amount of export or import. Moreover, competi- tion was made still less serious by a whole series of restric- tive regulations which fixed the methods of manufacture, the numb masters, workers, and apprentices. Everyth ^ tended, therefore, to assure stability and promote traditional methods. Hence an education directed towards stability, tradition, and the past, was perfectly adapted to the social necessities of those times. The re- sults obtained were appreciated for a long period. Social conditions are now reversed: production takes place in large workshops with the help of motors of enor- mous power, the clientele supplied is world-wide, and the demand almost unlimited. The methods of work are sub- jected to constant improvement, following the progress of science. Innovation takes everywhere the place of tradi- tion. Men must be ever ready to produce more, or better, or cheaper, if they will hold their own against competition. Instead of a calm, jog-trot kind of existence, it is life in- tense and struggling. Moreover, there is no choice, no al- te an Bring Up Our Children ? 69 le re- ternative; the new conditions intrude themselves brutally and must be humoured. Now when human means of existence are modified, the condition of humanity at large is modified ; and this consti- tutes a social crisis — a crisis in the mears of existence. The new situation was brought on by the sudden advent of modern natural science, which will never say its last word, and, as every one who has eyes can see, is now only beginning. The world is henceforth launched into a career of everlasting transformations, which cannot be stopped. This cuts as off definitely from the past, when things had some stability and even apparent fixity. The question is how to be prepared to make the best possible use of this evolution and guard against its temporary dangers. Between the man of the past and the man of the present, there is the same difference as between two sol- diers : the one called to defend a citadel, the other sent to the front for defensive and offensive warfare. The differ- ence is total and complete. And there is in all this no evil spirit or general cowardice, as is the gloomy refrain of blind fault-finders ; there is a novel material situation for humanity, ordained by Providence, which gave man the progressive science of Nature. It is for man to accommo- date himself to such progress, not only in his own interest, but also as a matter of duty. I have said that social science shows the direction as well as the causes of the crisis, and the direction is very distinct indeed. The crisis leads men towards a new state, in which they are no longer to be enrolled as heretofore ; no longer are they to count for their maintenance on any con- stant surroundings, or on habits of life adapted to any per- manent situation. These surroundings have long been cracking around them, and are now subsiding and dissolv- ing from the effect of the necessities just stated. Hence- 7° How Arc We to • \ i forth any man educated and settled according to the old enrolling methods is condemned to swift failure and ulti- mate fall. Education, therefore — instead of fitting men for enrolment and training them to rely on family surround- ings, and transitory institutions — instead of forming them for factitious administrative careers and promising them these snug little berths in which there is demand for neither effort nor initiative, and which might fail them at any time — education ought to make our men fit to rely upon them- selves in all emergencies, and quick to fall on their feet after all accidents. That system of education which tends to adapt the young men to any institution, whether family or political, is bound to fail; the only successful education is that which will adapt the young man to his environment, and will train him to make the best use of himself under any circum- stances. This is exactly the contrary of what we French have been aiming at for the last hundred years. When speak- ing about their children, French parents are wont to use such language as this : " Oh, let them do as we did ;" or, " A good family and many friends — that's enough to push you on and settle you in life •" or, " What the boy wants is a good appointment in one of the services, in the magis- tracy, or perhaps in the army: such posts are safej the boy will be free from trouble, and will meet with no ups and downs;" or again, "We have enough, and our sons need not worry ; they will have enough, too, with a safe salary and their wives' dowry," and so on. Such language we know but too well. Many of us have used it ourselves. All this is beginning to sound singularly false to our ears. No family connections, no friends, no public career, no dowry offer nowadays any guarantee as to the future of ourselves or children. There is nothing for it but to make Bring Up Our Children ? 7> them capable aud strong enough (alas I that they should not be so) to confront by themselves the ever-changing dif- hculties of the struggle for existence. Unfortunately, that is precisely what we feel very incap- able of doing, because most of ud have been trained in other ways. We simply do not know how to do it. And yet the results make it worth while trying. This new education will give us men, strong men, who will not sink under difficulties, aud will not yield to them. They will become Christian free agents who will rely on nothing but their own capacity. There is the same difference be- tween us, attached as we are to our surroundings — our own world, as we often say — and men trained to self-reliance, as there is between us and those savage tribes which are converted en masse by the meio example of their chiefs. Such are the causes, the direction, and the results of this social crisis, whose portents affect education and the whole world. Whether we like it or not, we shall have to pass through it, and what we have to do is about the opposite of what we have done up to the present time. I shall be told, " That is all very well — but how are we to manage it?" In order to avoid all groping in the dark, all mistakes and fiascoes, we must be guided by actual experience ; and as we have had no experience at home, where education has been on wrong lines, we must needs look for it abroad. We must act like those peoples who have surmounted the diffi- culty, and who bring up young men capable of shifting for themselves independently of any family, friends, connec- tions, or State aid. Now, such peoples do exist, and unless we are blind we are bound to see them, for they invade the world, clear the land, and put it under cultivation, colonize it, and oust the tenants of the old social regime, accomplishing the whole of 72 How Arc Wc to the stupendous task by the might of private initiative and the triumphant power of the self-relying individual. And if one single example can give an idea, as I believe it will, of the difference between men formed by the new methods and men formed by the old (which unfortunately are still our own), look at what they have made of Northern Amer- ica, and then look at what the other race has made of Southern America. It is the difference between night and day, between light and darkness. On the one side, a for- ward motion of Society, and the greatest known develop- ment of agriculture, commerce and industry ; on the other, Society thrown backwards, and plunged to grovel in a morass of idle, unproductive town life, and given up to offi- cialism and political revolutions. In the North we have the rising of the future; in the South, the crumbling and decaying past. So true is this, that we already see Southern America in- vaded by the robust offspring of the Northern races, who gradually take possession of the rural estates abandoned by Spanish and Portuguese incapacity; gradually they are taking possession of the railways, the banks, industry, and trade. At the time of our last Universal Exhibition, I was talk- ing of these things with the President of the Argentine Republic section. He spoke of that invasion of the Eng- lish and their brothers the Americans, and he lamented it. He found fault with the invaders, as the weak always do, because recrimination is easier than adopting the ways of the strong. Ay, such are the ways of those redoubtable competitors. Their growing youth is not afraid of the strife. They are the race which, through their training, can always preserve their moral and religious energy. Their faith is not wholly that of the Catholic Church, and yet there is not by far as Bring Up Our Children 73 much infidelity amongst them aa there is here. Why? Simply because they are more convinced of thef' '1 respon- sibility of every individual man. This is easily explained. In the old social system the individual is sustained less by himself, his own will and initiative, than by the proter^tive framework of Society, whether it take the form of frtmily, school, regiment, office, or the State itself. The props that sustain him in his tra- ditions and beliefs — political, social, or religious — are held up from outside, and there is no interior foundation for them. In other words, the individual acts or thinks in such 01 such a fashion only because everybody else in his little world acts and thinks in the same fashion. Consequently this is what follows. As soon as the pro- tective framework happens to subside, the man breaks down. In the old society, the domestic, political, or social framework was sufficiently strong and rigid to uphold even enfeebled individuals — like those decrepit houses which are only kept standing by the help of others on either side. Look out, however, when the props are removed! That is precisely what happened to our old social frame- work, the debris of which now covers the soil. And as we were unprepared to do without our props, we have com- pletely lost our bearings. We call to our help all those in- stitutions on which we had been accustomed to rely — the family, the corporation, the State (Monarchy for some, Republic for others), the Church — we cry to everything to help us, and never think of helping ourselves ! We fill the air with our complaints, instead of finding out the course followed by those wjao rely on individual initiative, and doing likewise. 74 How Are We to n. Well, what course do these peoples follow in regard to their children? This is what they do : 1st Frocess. — They do not consider that their children be- long to thenij nor that they are a mere continuation or sur- vival j as it ivere, of themselves. They consider, on the con- trary, that they are beings who presently will have to be independent of them. Hence they have no greater anxiety than to hasten their emancipation (since they must be emancipated) under the best possible conditions. They aim at nothing else; that is the form assumed by thdr pa- ternal devotion. This devotion does not consist on their part in absorbing their children, appropriating their per- sons, and making them obedient, pleasant companions. In the form assumed by our own paternal devotion there enters a large jjroportion of selfishness — properly disguised selfish- ness, of course. We have all seen such a thing as a mar- riage put off because the young people would have had to go — not abroad, but only into the provinces or into some other towns. We are too fond of our children ! But do we love them so dearly for their sake only or for our own? ^nd Process. — Among these peoples, parents treat their children from tne very heginningj and ever after, as grown- up persons, as separate personalities. By this they make them responsible, original personalities. Treat people as of some value, and they will endeavour to acquire that value. We, on the contrary, treat our children as chil- dren, not only while they are children, but also after they have grown to quite a ripe age ; we cannot drop the habit of treating them as children, because they are our children ! 8rd Frocess. -—Among them, parents educate their children 's^W I Bring Up Our Children ? 75 in view of future necessities; not up to the pasty but up to datey up to the future. They do not propose their own past careers and environments as models to their children. We act as did those French noblemen of the last century, who at the beginning of this century still brought up their chil- dren as if for the olden time, for their former rank, their vanished fortune, the Court — for vain memories, for ghosts of memories. 4th Process. — Among them, parents study most carefully the health (so do we — but we often sacrifice it to studies, examinations, enforced dwelling in cities, and what not?) ; they also endeavour to increase, as much as possible, the strength, energy, and physical development of their children. And they are not so foolish as to attempt to promote vigour by an ever-training in physical exercises which would weaken the body ; they go in for no gymnastic feats : their comprehension of the normal conditions of physical life is remarkable. You are aware that an attempt is actually being made here to import English sports and games, and substitute them for our detestable regulation gymnastics, one addition amongst others to our pedagogic methods, into which there enters no interesting or spontaneous element. Again the hateful restraining framework ! I know very well that this following of the English games has not always been very successful J that in this, as in a good many other things, we may be displaying but a short-lived infatuation ; that the games are conducted in a somewhat too administrative fashion ; that many of our schoolboys yield rather to a wish to avoid their school-work thau to any desire to improve their constitutions. But at least from this imperfect copy one can form some idea of the original. It is incontestable that such games are eminently favourable to physical im- provement, and contribute, moreover, to impart calmness 76 How Are We to and self-possession, without which there is no success pos- sible. 5th Process. — Among them, the children are very early initiated into the practice of material^ every-day acts ; thus there is no hesitation in letting them go about by them- selves, trusting them with certain affairs, or commissions within — and sometimes purposely beyond — their capacity. This sort of thing astonishes a Frenchman on a visit to England or America. English people, in their turn, are astonished at our astonishment — so natural is the thing to them, so essential a point in that system of education whose aim it is to turn out men and not mere scholars or officials. If I were not uneasy lest I might scandalize my reader, I would add that those people treat their girls very much like their boys, for similar reasons. But it would then be necessary for me to explain a good many things to justify this practice — for which we are unprepared in France, but which over there presents more advantages than drawbacks. But this would take me too far. 6th Process. — Among them, as a ruley parents have their boys taught some manual trade. Indeed, they feel none of that superb disdain which we entertain for manual work. They have long ago shaken off that old prejudice which to us has been more disastrous than a hundred defeats on the battle-field; they do not believe that there are noble and ignoble callings, but more correctly consider that some men are capable and others incapable, some idle and others dili- gent. So the son of a peer will become a farmer, a manu- facturer, or a tradesman, without losing in anything; in fact, this is happening every day. Yet I am mistaken; there are two professions which they consider inferior to all others, namely, that of a politician and that of an offi- cial. First because it " does not pay" — as they say — to be either, only tb highest posts being lucrative; and then Bring Up Our Children? 77 because both rob a man of his independence. Those posts axe therefoio not numerous, and generally left, in Great Britain, to persons of Celtic origin, Irish, Scotch, or Welsh, and in the United States to Irishmen and Germaas. My friend, M. Paul de Rousiers, who went to America and studied the States on our principles, has shed much light on this fact in his remarkable work, " La Vie Americaine." This tendency to teach boys manual trades is well in keeping with their methods, according to which most pro- fessions are learnt by practice alone, whereas our whole teaching is done at the Schools. For instance, their engi- neers are not trained in the Schools, but at the works. Indeed, what is theory in all professions but the comple- ment of practice? The contrary is the case among us, where theory is given the first place. Thus we have placed in Paris our Institiit Agronomiquey which prepares officials for the Agriculture Department ; and there is a proposal to transfer to Paris our Naval School! • ; 7th Process. — Among them, the parents precede the chil- dren in the knowledge of all tilings that are nev r>'>id useful. How could it be otherwise in a society where the minds are turned to the future and the unceasing improvements in the usual professions, not to the past and the essentially stationary administrative situations; in a society where success is sought, not with the help of State machinery, but almost entirely through individual initiative and per- sonal worth? Hence there is a constant preoccupation on the part of the Anglo-Saxon to gather solid, positive facts, most often without much order or method, but yet facts of value. That is what he requires from his newspapers, which resemble ours as day resembles night. The aim of our newspapers is to amuse, the aim of our so-called serious papers is to raise political passions, which is another way i \ i I: 78 How Are We to of f, musing — that is to say, of wasting time. Their news- papers, on the contrary, seem to have as their aim to give correct and speedy information. Little theory, few general observations — facts, facts, facts. Those two utterly differ- ent forms of journalism would be almost enough to com- pletely illustrate in what manner the two societies differ. After this, one cannot be astonished to find that a father's conversation with his children bears on serious, real, manly topics. Their talk does not run on the world of fashion (English fashion!), and Society tittle-tattle, nor on the good old time whan life was so easy, so calm, so pleasant! No, they vaunt the Struggle for Existence, and Self-Help. 8th Process. — Among them there is little display of pa- rental authority; they reserve such display for exceptional and extraordinary circumstances. Have we not said that they consider their children as independent beings, and treat them as men? Indeed, you cannot form men by keeping them constantly under a yoke, even if it be the paternal yoke. They think that real education consists not in con- straint, but in what they call "training." They do more by advice and gentle persuasion than by actual ordering, and are careful to make their disinterestedness more ap- parent than their authority. The child is allowed to digest this process — and set to work. 9th Process. — The following, which I have kept for the end, is the most fundamental and decisive process: The boyc knoiv that their parents will not take care of their situation in life. In France, we are accustomed to such a question as this : " What will you do with your son?" The serious answer is : " I'll make a magistrate, an official of him, " or something of the sort. The man would not think himself a good father unless he assured the future of his son, and found for him whatever situation he (the father) thinks most suitable. His devotion even goes the length of his us. Bring Up Our Children ? 79 of robbing himself of part of his fortune in order to endow his children. An English or American father does not portion his chil- dren ; each generation has to take care of itself. Among us, on the contrary, one generation is expected to provide for the establishment of the next. And this is what happens : — You have, it may be, three, four, or five children. In order to obviate your children going down in the social scale, you have to make — in addition to your own — three, four, or five fortunes, and that before your children have attained their majority, that is, within about twenty years. Otherwise, how can you get them married, since they will be accepted mostly on account of their money? You know that means working like a horse — enough, indeed, to " give up the situation," which Is what so many French fathers are doing with enthusiasm, by being content with having only one or two children. I was^ re-reading lately Franklin's correspondence. In a letter to his mother he alludes to one of his sons, who, probably relying on his father's fortune, showed little eagerness to find a situation for himself. "He must be disabused, " writes Franklin, " and shown that, at the rate I am spending my money, tLore won't be any left for him." You fire with indignation at the idea of leaving your children no hereditary/ fortune. Your fatherly love revolts at the thought. You are forgetting that the Anglo-Saxon father, who gives no money to his children, gives them in reality what is infinitely more than money ; he gives them precisely what we are anxious to give, but cannot succeed in giving to ours, — that devouring spirit of initiative, that capacity to take care of themselves which we would fain purchase with gold, and which all the gold we actually put by so painfully, so meanly, only smothers. As a =»■• ■/^*"" 80 How Are We to matter of fact, we go on saving, living as beggars, and practising systematic sterility, so as to allow our children to live without working, or by working as little as possible. We fancy we are thus assuring their future. However, look around you and see what men rise in the world, are most successful in all careers, and everywhere get the best places ; nine times out of ten, such men are parveiius, self- made men, men who originally had to rough it, and who only succeeded through their dogged perseverance and per- sonal initiative. And now, look at the others, the Jils dc familley thus named rightly because they rely more on their families than on themselves, more on their parents' fortune and prospective wives' dowry than on their own work. Well, these fils de famille are sinking daily to the very bottom; they are, as a rule, inferior to all in every- thing, in spite of having received a " first-class" education ; they have lost in this country all influence, all authority ; they have made monarchy an improbability. Incapable as they are of improving themselves by their work, they only succeed in maintaining themselves if their case is that of an only son, or through the instrumentality of a mariage d^argent. Young men brought up in the Anglo-Saxon way — that is, made strong in their bodies, accustomed to material facts, having always been treated as men, trained to rely on themselves alone, and looking upon life as a battle (the Christian view of life) — bring a superabundance of youth- ful strength to cope with the difficulties of existence ; they enjoy these difficulties, expect them, triumph over them; fitted as they are for the strife, they improve in the midst of it as in their element. And now judge, compare, and come to a decision. I have tried to show what are the hidden springs which .mpye that race to thrj^at^n and invade ,the older and more Bring Up Our Children? 8i decrepit societies. The miracle which is being accom- plished by that race is that they are on the point of ousting others with but a modicum of public power at their backs. Where, then, lies their power? They can boast the strong- est social power— and social force is bound to prevail over all the armies and public powers of the world. The great peril, the great rivalry, are not, as we think, on the other side of the Ehine; militarism and Socialism will spare us the trouble of getting rid of that enemy — and that before long. The great peril, the great rivalry, are on the other side of the Channel, and on the other side of the Atlantic ; they are wherever is to be found an Anglo-Saxon pioneer, an Anglo-Saxon settler or squatter. The man is not much considered, because he does not come, like the German, along with big battalions and perfected weapons; he is de- spised because he arrives with his plough and by himself. This comes froii our being ignorant of what that plough is worth, f.Ld what that man is worth. When once we know that, we shall know where the danger is, and at the same time where the remedy lies. M \ ^^ BOOK II. THE FRENCHMAN AND THE ANGLO-SAXON IN PRIVATE LIFE. THE differences in education which we have just stated are reflected first in private life. I intend to give in this book a few examples taken from France and from Eng- land. Our French education compromises our vitality and our social power j this is a double cause of inferiority. On the other hand, English education and the whole social atmosphere develop in the highest degree the capa- bility of the race to rise and triumph over the contemporary difficulties of existence. ,:iiii;:l.r III |!ni' OUR MODE OF EDT CHAPTER I. iON REDUCES THE BIRTH-RATE IN PRANCE. THERE is no need here to prove the diminution of births in France. Abundant proof on this score has been furnished by statistics. Moralists, economists, and politi- cians have vied with each other in treating this vital ques- tion. But if they all agree in stating the fact, they cease to do SO when the problem is to determine its exact causes. All method on their part is reduced to irresponsible groping in the dark. We shall, therefore, examine it with the help of the light shed by social science. As we have said, the diminution of the birth-rate in France is an incontestable fact, but a few figures will clearly establish it. The following is a table of births during a period of more than a hundred years per 10,000 inhabitants: — Years. Births. Tears. Births 1770-1780 880 1841-1850 274 1801-1810 825 1851-1860 267 1811-1820 816 1861-1868 264 1821-1830 809 1839-1880 245 1881-1840 289 1880-1896 220 As you see, from 1770 to 1896 the proportion of births fell from 380 to 220 per 10,000 inhabitants, a diminution of more than one-third. 84 The Birth- Rate in France. 85 In 1881 the number of births in France was 937,057; in 1890 it was only 838,057— that is, say, 100,000 less. Now mark that this number of births is lower by 38,446 than that of deaths. This victory of death over life occurs in times of peace. Such is at present the normal record of births in France, and it becomes accentuated year after year. There were in 1890— 42,520 births less than in 1889 44.580 1888 61.275 1887 74,V79 1886 86.490 1885 99.699 1884 09.885 1888 Marriages also diminish year by year, althou proportion. Tn 1884 there were 289, 555 marriages. ». 1885 ,, „ 283,170 „ 1886 . ,, 283,208 M 1887 „ „ 277,060 ., 1888 ,, „ 276.848 „ 1889 „ ,, 272.934 M 1890 „ ,, 269,332 So in 1890 there were 20,223 marriages less than in 1884, a period of six years, and the decrease has been con- stant, except in 1886, when the increase was only a few units. . . - * On the other hand, the number of deaths increase steadily. In 1881 there were 828.828 deaths. „ 1882 ,, ,, 833,539 ,, u ,, 1883 »* „ 841.141 »9 „ 1884 «> ,, 858,784 $P M 1886 • > ,, 860.222 *» „ 1890 • * „ 876,505 *( I- MM ■ JinL 1 86 Our Mode of Education Reduces So that in 1890 there were 47,677 more deaths than in 1881, and 35,364 more than in 1883; whilst there were 100,000 less births in that year (1890), which means 135,090 vacancies in the population. If now we compare the French birth-rate with that of other nations, we shall find that Norway doubles her popu- lation in 51 years ; Austria, in 62 ; England, in 63 ; Den- mark, in 73 'y Sweden, in 89 } Germany, in 98 ; and France, m 334. There are discrepancies in the various statistics, but all agree in placing France much behind other countries in the matter of birth-rate. The decrease in the number of births being an estab- lished fact, let us seek the reason. On this point, statistics are powerless to enlighten us ; they furnish us with figures, averages, generalities, but their mission is not the explanation of phenomena. Fall in the birth-rate is generally attributed to very many causes. In a pamphlet,* the Marquis Je Nadaillac enumerates no less than seventeen, some of which, how- ever, are but repetitions. When submitted to close exami- nation, they can be divided into two categories : 1. Assumptions that are not causes. 2. Secondary causes derived from one primary cause. We shall examine in turn those categories, and compare them; then we shall endeavour to find out the primary cause. ^ M. de Nadaillac, Corresponding Member of the Institut de France, " Affaiblissemeut de la Natality en France." Paris: G. Masson. the Birth-Ratc in France. 87 II. Amongst the alleged factors^ we find in the first place the assumption of " the natural lack of fecundity of the French race. V " All races," says M. de Nadaillac, " are not equally proli- fic. Climatic, social, economic, and biological conditions ex- ercise influence on the point — although this influence may as yet be but imperfectly defined. The fecundity 0.^ Chinese women is remarkable, that of Polynesian women is feeble. It may be stated in a general way that the Latin races (and the French particularly) are less prolific than the Slavonic and Anglo-Saxon races. This constitutes for us, from a population point of view, an incontestable inferiority." * No doubt some races seem to be more prolific than others, and the causes of such differences might be easily traced by a methodical analysis of the physical and social condi- tions of each ; but we have now to do with France alone — and we can hardly admit that the decrease in the birth- rate is a question of race. If it were, how could we explain the extraordinary fecun- dity of the French race until the Kevolution, its increase in Canada, in Louisiana, in India, at Haiti, Mauritius, Bour- bon, in Italy, etc. ? Even in our own days, how is it that our Canadian descendants are multiplying at a much higher rate than the Anglo-Saxons themselves? The French Ca- nadian population doubles once in every twenty-eight years, whereas the population of France doubles in three hundred and thirty-four years. Obviously we have to deal here with no race question, but with the effects of some other cause which began to act at a relatively recent epoch. It is worthy of notice, too, that the birth-rate is very high in some parts of France — Brittany, for instance, * Nadaillac, ibid., pp. 71, 72. 88 Our Mode of Education Reduces " During the four years 1880-83, the excess of births in the five Breton departements rose to 74,990, a total nearly equal to that of the whole of France in the same period. If all the provinces could produce such a contingent, we should have nothing to envy in our neighbours, in the matter of increase of population." * Moreover, the increase is steady enough in our industrial departementsj as we shall see presently. In the others the decrease has been constant ever since the beginning of the century. Yet there has occurred no alteration in the race that could explain this growing diminution. The race argument is therefore valueless, being contrary to facts. Facts also controvert the argument based on intemper- ance. For the last fifty years intemperance has been severely aggravated by the substitution of distilled for fermented drinks. The consumption of alcohol has increased in a large proportion : in 1788 it was about 370,000 hectolitres j in 1882 it was 1,766,000 hectolitres. True; but it is none the less true, on the other hand, that the consumption of alcohol is less in France than in some other countries, particularly in Northern Europe, where, however, the proportion of births is highest. Even in France, one of the zones where intemperance makes the worst ravages is precisely the prolific Brittany. In the South, on the contrary, where the populations consume very little alcohol, there are some departements where deaths are in excess of births. We must therefore recognize that intemperance has not, in France, any influence on the num- ber of the population. The weight of military compulsory service is another of the alleged causes. * Nadaillac, ibid., p. 618. the Birth- Rate in France. 89 But general compulsorj* service also exists in Germany, and yet we have seen that the increase in the population is in no way affected in that country. It is stated that mor- tality is higher amongst young men serving in the army than with the rest of the German youths, but this circum- stance does not modify sensibly the general result. Lastly, the heavy charges on tax-payers are said to form one of the causes. These charges are assuredly very heavy. Under the second Empire, the tax-payer paid yearly 59 francs; in 1872, 85 francs ; he pays to-day 109 francs. Since 1820, the land-tax revenue has risen from 243 to 357 million francs ; the Fortes et Fenetres (Door and Window Tax) rose from 29 to 40 million francs j the tax on patents from 40 to 163 million francs. If this alleged factor had any serious iujfluence it would be found that those regions in which the taxes weigh heav- iest, that is the poorest regions, would present the smallest proportion of births; and the wealthiest show a high in- crease. But precisely the contrary is the fact. The rich farmers of Normandy and Picardy, who realized such fine profits until the agricultural crisis set in, keep to one or two chil- dren, whereas such poor regions as Brittany, and the Ard^che, Lozere, Aveyron, the Haute Loire, Corr^ze, etc., show constant increase. I have before me a representative map of births in France, on which the lower rates of births are shown by dark tints ; these tints are spread over the richest parts of the country, and thus refute the tax argument. These diverse factors have therefore no perceptible action in the matter. But there are causes which seem to act more effectively. 90 Our Mode of Education Reduces III. The causes whi3h we are going to examine evidently exer- cise an influence over the diminution of births in France. They are not fortuitous. Indeed, so many causes could not be present in one country at apy one time, unless some peculiar circumstance favoured their existence. Their very coincidence suffices to demonstrate that there must be an ulterior reason. When a man commits blunder after blunder, fault after fault, mistake after mistake, it can be rightly said that there must be in that man something lacking, or deranged. So it is with France. Indeed, you will see that all the causes alleged to explain the diminution of births are them- selves inexplicable without the intervention of an ulterior reason. 1. The first assumption is somewhat naive. " Man^s will, " says M. de Nadaillac, " is one of the pri- mary causes of the low birth-rate in France." There can be no doubt, indeed, that if the French wished to have many children, they could have quite as many as other people. But wAi/ do they not wish it? that is precisely the question. It is obvious, then, that this explains nothing. 2. The increase in the number of small properties. Here a distinction must be drawn. If by " small properties" we mean little estates of a per- manent character, which heads of families transmit to their heirs according to their best judgment of family necessities, then the birth-rate is in thic? case by no means lower than among the larger land-owners ; indeed, the birth-rate is as high as in England, which is a country of large landed properties, and as high as in Norway, the Hanoverian Luneburg, the Swiss cantons, the Basque provinces, etc., where small estates prevail. the Birth-Rate in France. 9« If, on the contrary, by " increase of small property" we mean enforced, constant dividing and parcelling out of es- tates, whatever their dimensions, that is another question, as we shall see presently. Let us only statu here that in France, where this process prevails, the proportion of births is as low on the large estates of Normandy and Pi- cardy as among the small holdings of Champagne. 3. The aversion of the French for matriaf/e, and the demoralization incident to the indulgence in luxury, the satisfaction of factitious wants, artificial pleasures, etc. There is indeed a progressive diminution in the number of marriages. If we only take into account the marriage- able portion of the population, our country comes eleventh on the list; the English, the Dutch, the Austrians, etc., come before us. The growing demoralization surely has something to do with this. But what ought to be stated is why the French for the last hundred years have shown such an estrangement from the institution of marriage, and why they have shown themselves more subject to demoralization than their neighbours. 4. A i^elfish desire to secure a larger share of enjoyment. This certainly does exist ; but there would remain to be shown why the French suddenly displayed such thirsting for enjoyment. Why are not the English, the Germans, the Russians consumed with the same thirst? Is it to be supposed that they, too, are not naturally inclined to in- crease their sources of enjoyment? Or is there some cause (no longer active among the French) which prevents them trying to secure more personal satisfaction by limiting the number of their children? What is the explanation? 6. The development of the mearis oj personal comfort^ owing to the rise in wages and salaries. This, too, is a world-wide change, and cannot explain any situation peculiar to France. M. de Nadaillac himself 92 Our Mode of Education Reduces acknowledges that this fact explains nothing. "Every- where," says he, "there is a large increase in the ease and comfort of rural as well as urban populations ; everywhere we find considerably higher wages, the people feed and dress better, the homes are healthier and more adapted to the needs of families, hygienic conditions are better under- stood and applied. Everywhere, too, these causes have been favourable to the increase of the birth-rate. Through what fatal law do these causes produce in France totally different effects?^' * Yes, why is it? We must find an- other reason to explain this fact. 6. The development of urban districts^ where the birth- rate is lower. The decrease of the agricultural and the increase of the urban poulations are incontestable facts. In 1846 the population of the rural districts made up three-quarters of the population of France; now it is barely 65 per cent, of the whole, and is constantly decreasing. The cities alone show an increase equal to five-sevenths of the whole. But if this fact is incontrovertible, it is also general, and therefore does not explain anything in our special case. In England, the development of large towns is even greater. Out of every ten persons, five live in towns. In Germany the town populatioi; has increased from 14 to 15 per cent. Berlin, which two centurieo ago had 17,400 in- habitants, now has 1,316,282. The same is true of Italy, of Spain, of Austria — everywhere. How, then, is it that notwithstanding these unfavourable conditions, the birth-rate does not decrease in other coun- tries as it does in France? It must be that France, on this point as well, is placed under some peculiar influence. 7. The overwork in Schools. In no country is that overworking so prevalent as it is in * Nadaillac, ibid., p. 18. of a vid the Birth-Rate in France. 93 France. Moreover, it is further aggravated by the effects of the sedentary life imposed on the boarders in our lyciesy a kind of life which is bound to breed debility in the indi- vidual and his offspring. This fact may appear as a tri- umphant proof; but really it only acts on the more highly educated classes. Besides, we have yet to find the cause of such over- working. It is not a spontaneous product peculiar to the French soil. IV. The different reasons Just enumerated are obviously in- suflBcient to explain the situation. They necessarily must spring from some higher, more general cause. Whatever it may be, the cause we are s- jking is un- doubtedly one whose influence on the family is strong" and direct, since the family is the source of the population. There must be some mysterious pressure which makes the conditions of the family particularly difficult in France. Perpetuation is the natural tendency of every family; man loves to see himself repeated in numerous offspring. When nothing occurs to thwart this tendency, he gives way to it : the children are many, and the advent of each is joyfully welcomed. This is because in such cases a nu- merous family is a force, and the children are a support instead of an embarrassment. And wherefore? Because the great question, the establishment 0/ the chil- dren is easily and naturally solved, through the very mech- anism of social conditions. That is what happens indeed in societies where the family community still prevails more or less : among them, parents may rely on the help of the community in bringing up and establishing their children. The populations of the East are eminently prolific. The 94 ^^^ Mode of Education Reduces general feeling finds vent in such proverbs as " Large fami- lies are blest by the Lordj" or again, "Woe to the barren woman I" In France the birth-rate is maintained only amongst the few populations which have more or less preserved the communistic form, such as are met with in Brittany, in the Pyrenees, and in the mountainous regions of Central France. At the other extremity of the social world, we find the same fecundity among societies of a particularistic forma- tion. There, too, the fate of the children is assured, not by the community, but by the intense development of indi- vidual activity, thanks to the training given to young peo- ple, which enables them to find positions for themselves. Heads of families have no need to provide for their chil- dren's establishment; they give them no portions. Why is it not so any longer over the greatest part of France? Why are large families no longer envied? Why, on the contrary, do we pity them? Why is it our ideal to have two children — a boy and a girl — or even only one child, the "son and heir"? Because, among us, a numerous family is such an over- whelming burden that, do what they may, there is but one resource for the parents, and that is to elude the difficulty. They cannot rely for the settling of their children either on the family community, which is dissolved, nor on the children's own initiative, which is smothered by their mode of education. The establishment of tne children therefore remains in charge of the parents. A French father cannot get his children married except by giving each a portion; he is thus compelled to make as many fortunes as he has chil- dren, and this before the marriage of each, that is to say, within a period of eighteen to thirty years I the Birth- Rate in France. 95 You have just married. One year later, you have one child. Is your vision that of a fair little head, a sweet smile? No J the vision is the surging ghost of a dowry, a portion which you will have to find. Eighteen months or two years later, another child — that is another porti'^n to constitute. Two portions in twenty -five years ! You feel unequal to doing more, and in presence of a material im- possibility you make up your mind to stop the expense. And that is why the French have few children. The social conventions make their task an impossibility j and then, not being able to destroy the conventions, they de- stroy the race. They are the more inclined to limit the number of their children, because after marrying off, they will find their circumstances reduced by the amount of the portion given, which their honour is at stake in making as large as pos- sible. Everybody knows how much Mr. So-and-So gives his children. Thus it is the parents' business to provide a competency for each of their children, and moreover to see that their own fortunes do not suffer from the repeated assaults. Statistics fully establish the influence of the dowry sys- tem in promoting voluntary storility ; the wealthier, the more provident classes (those who have to raise the money wherewith to portion their children), are those that have the smaller families. The poorer and less provident (the working classes) have large families ; they are the classes whose children are left to grow and start in life as best they can. Thus, in the industrial departernent of the Nord^ where the working population is numerous, there is a considerable excess in the number of births as compared to deaths — 51,197 births, against 35,089 deaths. On the contrary, in rich agricultural districts, the death-rate is higher. In the i I , ' ■A : ■ 96 Our Mode of Education Reduces Uure, 6842 births, and 8128 deaths; in the Owe, 8851 births, and 9068 deaths; in the Ovie, 6851 births, and 8534 deaths, etc. So that we must arrive at this strange conclusion, that in France, with sundry exceptions, the birth-rate is partly maintained only through the multiplication of the improvi- dent and the incapable. What sort of a future can such circumstances foreshadow for France? We shall now see that such conditions imposed on the family can explain the secondary causes before enumerated. First, the determination to have few children is suffi- ciently explained by the impossibility on the parents' part to gather the money for a number of portions. In such conditions marriage is but a heavy charge which must be avoided. Having thus renounced the hope of rearing and establish- ing a large family, having reduced their liabilities to a minimum of one or two children to be settled, they feel in- clined to indulge themselves in the greatest possible sum of enjoyment. A childless couple, or a couple with but one or two children, have much in common with the " selfish bachelor" type. They have none of the stimulus towards thrift and sacrifice which is furnished by the necessity of bringing up and starting in life a numerous family. It is a very remarkable fact, indeed, that our social state produces two quite different results. On the one hand, large families make the parents' situation most difficult and their lives a series of privations. On the other, those who have few children find themselves in very easy circum- stances ; they can enjoy great comfort and can indulge in all pleasures. In short, they can live almost like bachelors. As for the children, accustomed to rely more on the pros- pective portion than on their own initiative, they are little inclined to make for themselves independent positions — the Birth-Rate in France. 97 whether at home or abroad — and are mostly tempted to em* brace administrative careers. In order to stop the rush, examinations are multiplied — but in vain. The crowd of candidates becomes a crush. Any one who wishes to obtain entrance must overwork himself; hence the cramming in the Schools. All the causes advanced by economists proceed, there- fore, from one primary and only cause ; the conditions im- posed on the family by our social state. V. Is this diminution in the birth-rate in France an evil or a boon? Are we to rejoice at it, or should we deplore it? Economists do not agree on this point. M. Maurice Block has contended, in the Journal des Dehats and in the Revue des Deiix-Mondes,* that a rapid increase in the population of a country is a cause of weak- ness on account of the poverty which is the necessary result. M. de Molinari arrives at the same conclusion in the Journal des ^conomistes \ which he directs. Do facts justify such a conclusion? First, we cannot see how sterility profits France. If our country was surrounded by a Chinese Great Wall, which forbade entrance to every foreign element, we would feel more at our ease on a sparsely peopled soil ; the diminu- tion in the population would increase for each the share in the natural resources and the work at hand. But such is not the sase. The voids brought about by our low birth-rate are immediately filled up by the flow of immigrants from abroad. The surplus population of all ^ur neighbours — Belgians, Germans, Swiis, Italians, Span- ish Basques, etc., filters into France more and more. * Issue of October 15, 1882. f Issue of December, 1886. 7 ■( , 98 Our Mode of Education Reduces In 1861 we had 379,000 foreigners among us; in 1801, 499,000; in 1872, 799,000; in 1876, 801,000; in 1881, 1,001,100 — that is to say, one foreigner for every 7.S French people. "It is an important fact," says M. de Foville, " this rapid infiltration of the foreign element into a population which would otherwise be almost stationary." * France is the country where the rate of emigration is lowest, and immigration highest. Those writers who are in favour of a low birth-rate know this; but far from being alarmed, they are elated by the fact, and declare it to be a cause of economy for France, which is thus receiving a host of workers whose education cos*:3 us nothing. "Let us suppose," says M. da Molinari, "that instead of importing 1,000,000 adult workers, who came to fill the gaps in our population, France had had to educate them, what would they have cost us? To obtain 1,000,000 of men twenty years old, 1,300,000 children have to be brought into the world. Now, the average cost of rearing a million children up to adolescence is 3,500,000,000 francs. France has therefore saved a sum of three milliards and a half (£140,000,000) by importing educated workers instead of herself educating a like number ; and has not this sav- ing contributed to the increase of public and private wealth? Is it not obvious that if France had received free from the neighbouring countries 1,000,000 oxen, destined to provide for our deficiencies, we would have benefited by the whole expense incurred in Belgium, Switzerland, etc., in breed- ing them and bringing them to a productive state?" f For this reasoning to be just, there is only one thing lacking : that is, that men should be oxen. What results from the fact that men are not oxen? * La France ^cononiiqiie, p. 27. f Journal des £ca)iomistes, issue of December, 1886. («■ !' VjSi the Birth-Rate in France. 99 This : that our few children — not being given the rough training which is the lot of children in large families — not being from a tender age accustomed to the idea that they must take care of themselves in life, and that they must not reckon on a forthcoming portion or wife's dowry — it being taught success is for the most painstaking, the boldest and most enterprising — those children consequently do not become men. Moreover our only sons, spoilt and tied to their mothers' apron-strings as they have been, when once they are brought into competition with the more strongly nurtured offspring of large families, are always and every- where shamefully beaten and ousted. Our own merchants and engineers prefer German or Swiss clerks, and Belgian or Italian workmen to their own countrymen, because they find them more obedient, more diligent, more thrifty, and less exacting. Those foreigners save money on wages which our workers vote insufficient. Without them our production would be twice as dear, and we should be still more powerless than we are to cope with foreign competi- tion. Thanks to their wholesome minds and vigorous bodies they save our industry and our agriculture. But they do so at the price of our energy and lowered moral sense, at the cost of our force of expansion, of our colonizing power, of our prestige in the world, of our very nationality which is being gradually submerged under the invasion of the foreigner. c w Diu::!Gri:^A :vi-;: