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Un des symbo'es suivants apparaitra sur la dermdre image de cheque microfiche, selon ie cas: le symbols —► signifie "A SUIVRE ". le symbols V signifle "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre flim6s a des taux de reduction diffArents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clich6. il est film* A psrtir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d drcite, et de haut en bas, en prenent ie nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants iilustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 T qpHM MiPNPMni ■«•■« K^apete 1R:ea6 tv p; ; <■_ *'. II I ^Z ''■x : —AT THE— ?■■ AMILTON % ^ * S&OCIATION. April, 1393, K^ ;V. H. DAVIS, President. A. S. HENDRY, Secretary. s]-^ S^5® ^^^ "(Dmuia eujrcrat 13irtu!5." .£• Y"-" Herbert Fairbairn Gardiner, Hamilton, Ontario. \-\ H 1 EDUCATIONAL IDEALS By the Rev. Samuel Lyle, B. D. -■■ ■ --1 ^,. ''I HE popular mind is intensely realistic. It regards every form of Idealism with suspicion. The world is in reality what it appears to be, and 9nly idle dreamers call in question the message of the senses. Nature may give hints of the need of mind to interpret sensations, and to have them, but the crude undeveloped soul refuses to listen, and lives in the sentient, the material and the ephemeral. In vain does the poet stretch out his helping hand to the sense-bound ; in vain does the philosopher demonstrate that the world is not what it seems ; for the spiritually undeveloped cannot see the light of reason, and are content to remain in the dark prison house of the sonses. Indeed the poet and the untutored son of toil regard the world of matter and of man from two distinct standpoints, and see things in two different lights. " The sensual man," to use the language of Emerson, "conforms thoughts to things, the poet conforms things to his thoughts. The one esteems nature as rooted and fast ; the other, as fluid, and impresses his being theron." A thorough reading of Shakespeare or any of the other great masters of song — a reading that would rouse into activity the latent mental activities, and absorb the best the poet has written — would in a measure emancipate the spirit from the tyranny of the senses. To complete the work, the student should read Plato, Kant, Green and Caird. Such a course would open the eyes to see through the fallacies of the senses, and en- able all taking it to rise above imposing physical forms, understand the meaning of the ever changing phenomena of the material, and in the higher regions of the mental, the moral, and the spiritual, reach the abiding, the real and the divine. Thus educated we could not fail to see the force of the remark made by Michael Angelo, in relation to external beauty — a remark regarded by the crude and half educated as false. This creative spirit said of the beauty embodied in external form, that " it is the frail and weary weed in which God dresses the soul, which He has called into time." Instead of matter existing by itself and for itself, it has been called into existence by the creative mind of God, has the stamp of the divine on its laws, and is the instrument to watcli the nod and do the bidding of Uiind as it exists in God or in man. Instead of matter giving little to mind and developing it, mind has made the world, and uses it for spiritual ends, This being so, it is important to emphasize the spiritual and ideal — the spiritual and ideal so much and so constantly lost sight of by the sense- bound masses that are the slaves of sensation, and of matter. The thought and action of the age centre chiefly around the body. Instead of remembering that our bodies are ever dying and in the agonies of a perpetual flux ; that we live in our bodies which are perishable houses ; that we work with our bodies that are the mere tools to be used by the spirit; and that God has "put eternity into our hearts" ; we forget what man is,— forget that he is "so noble in reason, so infinite in faculty, in apprehension so like a God ; " and as the sad result we be- come materialistic and degraded. The grossness of our age may be seen in the disgusting sensationalism of our literature, in the teaching of science and philosophy, and in the representations of art. Accus- tomed to think most of matter, the mind so to speak is materialised. It is disposed to weigh all things in heaven and oii earth — truth, right and beauty, the motives of man and the aim of God — in the scales of merchandise, and to value them at the price paid in gold in the marts of the world. Mental power that does not materialise into current coin, the graces of moral character that hinder .•ather than help to riches, the devotion of soul to loftiest ends, that- neither fill the purse nor enlarge possessions, are despised, and unsought by the wise of the age. If w^e are to judge men bj^ their deeds, then, most men are materiahsts and sceptical of the spiritual and the ideal. But if the mind is the eternal and the real, then mind cultivation is most important, and all that pertains to the spiritual becomes most interesting. How to develope a man out of the materials in the child is a vital question to th^ parent and to the teacher. If the educationalist would dv the best for his pupils he must work on the most approved lines, the lines of nature and of God, and aim at the highest ends possible for man to reach. Indeed no one ought to enter the honoured ranks of those engaged in the hi^ and holy calling of moulding the character and develop- ' ing the crude youth into the perfect man or woman unless he has true ideals and knows how to reach them. As Mr. of tter the 8 Nettleship in his scholarly essay in Hellenica on Plato says that the state and the individual cannot undertake to educate in a sj'steraatic way '' unless they start with some idea, not only of what they wish to teach, not only of the type of cliarcter which they wish to produce, but also of the living being to which the matter to be taught is relative, and upon which the given character is to be impressed. The practical man who onlj^ believes in results, will be disposed to regard such psychological considerations as fanciful or far-fetched, and yet the most fatally impractical thing in the world is to go on testing methods by results which take every factor into account except the one upon which the whole result ultimately depends, that factor in man is the human mind, in Englishmen the English mind, in different classes of Englishmen the minds of those classes ; and to discuss what kinds of education are in themselves the best, without considering metal organization, is as idle as to discuss what is the best kindof foodintheabstrac without regard to the stomach which has to digest it." According to Nettleship the true ideal system of education adapts itself to the actual condition of the pupil, and does the most that can be done to develop mind, bodj^ and soul, so that man may be-perfect. But granting that this is so, still the great question remains — What is the best method to reach the desired end ? Four answers have been given to this — answers now to be considered. 1. There are those that regard education as a means to make money. In the battle of life the educated man has an immense advantage over the uneducated. With his knowledge of figures, his ability to read the daily papers, his wits sharpened in school, and his brain developed by study, other things equal, he can easily outdistance the untrained in the race for riches. Since money is with most the chief end of life, and since education opens the way to gold fields, the school must not be neglected. But if edu- cation did not pay ; if it did not butter the bread it helped to buy ; it would be despised and rejected by most men. This bread and butter theory of education— a theory half true and wholly false — has hosts of enthusiastic advocates. But what is the latent principle underlying the ravings of the champions of the bread and butter school? It is assumed that what a man has is more important than what a man is ; that what a woman wears is of primary im- portance, and what she is of secondary. But surelv a man is move than meat, and a woman is more than clothing ! surely to be is infinitely more important than to have. Indeed to be a well developed man is the surest way to success in life. He who is sound in mind and in nmscle ; he who is taught to weigh things as the true scholar is ; he who knows how dangerous guides the feelings are, and has, under an intelligent master, learned to listen to the voice of reason and of conscience, is better prepared to make the most of life's opportunities, than the crude, ill-balanced creature of lust and prejudice. In this world of temptation and of difficulty the uneducated are ill prepared to meet the foes that all must fight. The child is asked to do the work of a man, and must, if he tries, do it badly. The best thinkers, from the days of Plato down to our own, denounce the bread and butter theory, and brand it as philosophically false, and as practically degrading. Plato bitterly complains that in his day the true functions of science and of art were neglected. Arithmetic instead of being regarded as a means of mental and moral develop- ment, is studied because it is useful in commerce ; Geometry is valued, not because it expands the mind, opens up vast new fields of thought, and calls out and strengthens man's innate ideas of jusice, but because it enables men to measure fields, roads and goods ; Astronomy, not for its power to unlock the secrets of the universe, bring the distant near, and infinitely widen out the vision of the soul ; and harmonics, not for the refining influences on the mind and heart, but for the financial gain of the professional musician. In the face of much opposition and scorn, Plato witnessed a good confession, — taught the degraded mater- ialists of his day that each of the sciences, and each of the arts might be made a means of *' purging and rekindling an organ of the soul, which would otherwise be spoiled and blinded, an organ more worth saving than ten thousand eyes, for by it alone, the truth is seen." But it would be a great mistake to suppose that Plato was indifferent to the material advantages of education. He does not " deny the importance of such practical applications in their proper sphere ; on the contrary he himself emphasises the practical utility of arithmetic and geometry to a man who is to be a soldier and tactician." While admitting that education aids man in all he does with his hand, and ought to be so used, still it has higher uses. He further points out that the education demanded for practical life is essentially different in its methods and aims from the education that developes the true man. To Leglect the one or the other is to inflict an injury on tho pupil. Every man oui^lit to be taught to labour with his hands, and thus be prepared honest- ly to fight his way to his bread, and not be dependent on the bounties of others, and at the same tin\o every man ought to have the best in him called out, built up and pofished, so as to bring out the grace and tlie glory latent in his manhood. Too much attention to the one will lead to neglect of the other and thus a one sided and defective education will be the result. Because of this the bread and butter theory miist be rejected as false and dangerous. And the duty of rejecting becomes all the more pressing because of the strong materialistic tendencies of our age. If " every door is barred with gold and opens but to golden keys "the true educationalist must lead his pupil to something higher and better, — must lead him to the " shining table lands to which our God Himself is moon and sun." Instead of bowing down and worshipping " the gold that gilds the straitened forehead of the fool," the true successors of Socrates and of Plato must take up their cross, and teach the truth us Christ did in the shadow feared of all,— the truth that the development of a man is a work worthy of the sacrifice of a God. 2. Some regard the ideal education to be the draping of the pupil in all the graces of culture. If the culture touched mind and heart and moulded character and made the internal and the external to harmonize,- to be a glorious unit— there would be little or no objection to this theory. But as generally held, enlargement of mind and refinment of spirit are not thought of, and the powers to attract the attention, and dazzle the onlookers are regarded the main, if not the only thing to be desired and sought for. This principle is in the secular, what Pharisaism is in the sacred, — is the masked attempt to live a lie, — is the ill disguised effort to put the hollow heart on the throne of God and have it worshipped. But as in the religious world the stench of the rotten bones concealed in the whited sepulchres will force its way out to the disgust of all ; so the crude ill-informed mind, the coarse uncultnred heart, and the tainted instincts will make their way through the thickest veneering ever plastered on the outside, and in spite of all their victims can do will declare the poverty of spirit, the inner odiousness that could not exist, if the foundations of true educationhad been laid. Instead of pro- ducing men and women this system brings forth, and lets loose on society decorated asses and mincing apes. Were it •^" not for tliis education in school, at liome. and in the so called so(!ial circle, women would not dej^rade themselves to play the part of fij^ures for the display of milliners-ware ; and num would not carry canes and crease their pants because some fools did so before them. Instead of the ambition to dance gracefully, and be as neat and as insipid as a doll, men and women would, if rightly educated, long to dare and to do what only the ^reat and the ^ood can or will do. Our yoiui^: men that fto about the streets with bent backs and M:o^M:^e stare— young men " smelliftg of musk and of insolence, "-nature's i)oor abortions that have their heaven in he heartless smiles of languishing beauty, and have lost all ideas to duty ; our young women that read with beating hearts the fulsome flattery of hirlin^- pens that minister to minds diseased the poisoned food ot the Society Paper, — deluded dupes believing half the rubbish written about their charms and their dress, and delighted to see their names in print side by side with that of the great Mrs Grundy, and the sweet Miss Grandsome — weak senti- mential creatures that weep profusely over the novalist's glowing discription of the sufferings of a dving ass, and have no ear to hear the. actual groanings of God's great world, no heart to feel for the toilers in the nelds and factories and marts of real life, and no desire to help to lessen the sum total of the sorrows of the race, are the result of the accomplishment idea, — the outcome of the foolish attempt to make a man from the outside. The ancients had this abomination in germ ; we have it fully developed. Isaiah saw it in the streets of Jerusalem, and gives us a picture of the haughty daughters of Zion as they walk with stretched forth necfis and wanton eyes ; Dion Chrysostom speaks of two kinds of education — the one human and the other divine — the one all show and sham and the other solid as a rock and fruitful of good ; and Marcus Aurelius says, I owe it to Rusticus that I formed the idea of the need of moral reformation, and that I was not diverted to literary ambition, or to write treatises on philosophical subjects or to make rhetorical exhortations . . . . and that I kept away from rhetoric and poetry and foppery of speech." The mere accomplishment idea leads to an education that poses as most learned and cultured, mouthes its words, and quotes foreign phrases to the neglect, of its mother tongue and at times becomes hysterical in its efforts to be sensa- tional, and impress on all the vastness of its acquirements. called » play ; and jcause ion to I doll, dare II do. Jacks and Baven have with that ►ciety ^'itten ) see ^reat lenti- list's and This rude display of vulgarity is as bad in the educational world as lon^ hair in the pulnit, as bad as hair parted iu the midst of the empty head in trie camj), or ms acrobat perfor- ances on the platform. Who wants to see the fair form that God made erect, and to which he ^av^e the i tower to walk, deformed by Grecian bend or Alexandrian limp V Ls it not saddening, to all that love to see a man as God made him, to have to gaze on the indescribable stiff backed youth as he carries his cane, sets out his elbows as if wishing to fly like a goose but is unable ? An education based on the laws of our nature would kill all such monstrocities ; an education in any way influenced by the accomplishment ideal is certain to develop this kind of useless creatures. If the state wants men to make her great, and keep her pure ; if the army must have men to meet the foe, die in defence of home, of family, of country, of God an^ of the right ; if Society demands the presence of true women to inspire men with courage, to help the heroic to reach the highest ideals, to cast out the base, the false, the coarse and the brutal, and to bring in the noble, the true, t:he pure and the Christ that is to be ; then the motto of every school in the land must be, no accomplishments taught here, but men and women made after he image of God— made like the Ideal Man Christ Jesus, wiio was unmarred by any of the so called accomplishments of the world. 8. Some regard education as the imparting of know- ledge to the pupil. It is the duty of the master to give, and of the child to receive. This theory looks upon the mind as a tub to be filled— filled to overflowing by the master with all the treasures of poetry and of art, all the facts of history and of biography, and all the truths of science and of philosophy. If when the pupil has occasion to tap the vessel, he finas it empty, then, the teacher has failed in the discharge of his duty. But if the needed information is forthcoming then all is well. This system reduces the work of the educationalist to the cultivating of the memory, and tries to dwarf the pupil's soul into one faculty, and that not the most important granted to man. A mind developed to th3 utmost possible on this vicious plan would be as great a monstrocity in the spiritual world as a creature all stomach or all mouth would be in the physical. Instead of treating the mind of the child as a living growing organism — an organism to be fed with food convenient, developed by natural exercise, and I ', i 8 thus put on the glorious path of in^nite and eternal pro- gress, — it is regarded as dead, mechanical, and to be handled as any piece of matter. When mind is thus abused, the result is a learned fool, and a crammed incapable. Instead of fitting the pupil to meet new complications and solve new difHculties, it makes him cling to the dead past, and afraid to act in the living present. Had the perceptive powers been cultivated, had the reasoning faculties been drawn out ; had the will been strenghtened by action ; had the mind, the body, the whole man been trained ; then, the pressing emergency could have been met, and the urgent demand dealt with and satisfactorly settled in an instant. In a hvmdred instances the creature of memory will be able to deal with one, and the man of reason and of will with ninety-nine. With change everywhere, the man of mere memory is reduced to utter helplessness — is an infant in power though a man in years. This theory of education forgets that the mind is many aided, — is a force rather than a capacity, — is something that can be drawn out, and not something to be ])Oured into — something to be stimulated and not to be crammed. The true teacher labours to awaken mind, to strengthen it by work, to call out its latent love of knowledge, and to leave it hunger- ing and thirsting for truth, as the healthy man does for bread and water. In awaking and developing the mental and moral in man, all the stores of knowledge to be found in history, literature, science and art ought to be used, because these are the natural food and stimulant of the mind. The wise instructor knows how to use these so as to call out the soul powers, and round them out into perfect manhood. Instead of regarding the mind as made to hold the facts of history, and the principles of science, these will be regarded as foodand used to stimulate mind development. Indeed all things exist for the mind ; " Whether Paul or A polios, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come." Viewed in this light the mind of the most stupid child is more important than all knowledge. In the language of Mark Pattison, spoken in relation to university education, " the germ of the future plant is supplied to our hands in the intelligence wliich our pupils bring with them ; it is ours to apply the light and heat required to expand the germs. The light and heat are supplied from the atmosphere and the soil. The young plant is transferred from the school to the university, where it is to find, it may be more finished Greek scholars, better mathematicians, more experi- enced teachers in every department than he has before en- m o tl 9 joyed ; where no science is unrepresented by some leading name, probably an authority in his science wherever it is known ; he finds himself in a society where self-i. iprove- ment is the one absorbing aim ; among companions in whom an ingenious curiosity to know is the ruling passion, by whom pastime and amusement are reduced from a pursuit to a re- creation, and the time spent upon them is grudged as so much lost to the work of life ; he finds himself under tutors and teachers, among whom is mai^^itained a mental life, quick, active and various. Here at least is one corner of the world where the day is not divided between money making and sensual employment ; where a man is rated at what he is in himself, and not by his position ; where the petty disputes of local politics cannot establish a footing ; where tne religious demagogue is estimated at his true value. " The teacher that would do the best work, must know, and act on the principle that man in himself has an impor- tance, a health of soul, a beauty of character, a perfection of nature, and that it is the chief business of education to enable the pupil to reach this end, and be a man such as God meant him to be. Not to inform the mind, but to form it ; not to fill the soul with thoughts and ideas and feelings as a vessel is filled with water, but to enlarge, to correct its modes of thinking, and to refine it ; not to treasure up and pour forth as the occasion demands, but to teach it to observe carefully what is presanted through the senses, to weigh accurately the facts, to master all the details, rightly to draw conclusions, and be able to make the most of what is thus known in the work of the world is the end and aim of a true liberal educr.tion. Nor is this an easy task. To so school the mind as to give it the masterly over its own powers; "to temper it to all the fiexibility, keenness, sagacity of which the raw material is capable ; to endow it with method and philosophical grasp ; to set it free from the dominion of prejudice, pre- conceived opinion, of early bias of popular illusion ; to assert its just rights without oversteping the limitation of its powers ; to realize in its serene and balanced existence the paradox that it is at once cognizant of the absolute and fettered by the phenomenal ; to purge it from the moral evils of pride and!^ self-admiration and from the meaner vices of acquiescence, servility degredation to selfish ends, ambition of place and profit ; to maintain among ourselves an intellectial republic, within which nor wealth, nor rank, 10 I nor station may enforce their vulgar claims to honor, but in which every one has accorded him without envy, without depreciation, that consideration which properly oeloncs to him for that which he is in himself " is a work to tax all the energies of head and of heart to the utmost , through long years of well directed study. A work so hard is not likely to be under- taken in earnest unless its paramount importance is clearly understood. Neither parent nor teacher can do the best for the child if he acts on the mistaken idea that the mind is a vessel to be filled with the best of the artists, of the poets and of the philosophers. And in this department of work such masters as Newman have fallen into the mistake of supposing that the chief office of a university is to pour air sorts of information into the mind of the student. In his truly great work on universities Newman says " a truth, a subtle, invisible, manifold spirit, is poured into the mind of the scholar by his eyes and e-rs, through his affections, imagination and reason ; it is poured into his mind and is sealed up there in perpetuity, oy propounding and repeat- ing it, by questioning and requestioning, by correcting and explaining, by progressing and then recurring to first principles. ... It is the place where the catechist makes good his ground as he goes, treading in the truth day by day into the ready memory, and wedging and tight- ening it into the expanding reason." To-day we are not likely to adopt the principles that have made Catholic Countries what they are, and that have reduced an Italian University to the lowest stage of mental developement. But we may do most foolish things under the leadings of a positive philosophy, that is agnostic in faith, materiaUstic m science, and utilitarian in morals. Indeed not a few educationalists have adopted the old ideas of Catholicism, when placed in the new light of positivism, and are priding themselves in rheir progress. And in this pretentious and shallow system of thought, the inculcation of knowledge is the chief and only idea of education. The positivist places the good of man in that of the state and of society, and his theory of progress, — the inevitable march of scientific truth, — ignores the rights and the well being of the in- dividual, — ignores to a large extent the spiritual by laying too great an emphasis on the physical. Like the Roman Catholic Church, it aims at the enthronement and supremacy of the truth over the intellect, and not at the development of the intellect and heart so as to be able to know the truth, love it, and use it in the interest of the race. In the one the Church is the supreme embodiment of hii be Tl I tl fr, but in I without ^OllM to all the Iff years •eunder- J clearly best for [ind is a ^e poets f work (take of to pour >nt. In a truth, »e mind ections, and is .repeat- ing and ;o first itechist te truth d tight- are not 'atholic Italian ement. ffsof a ialistic a few iicism, >riding us and Jdge is places ^» and entific he in- aying 'Oman and 't the ble to f the in|nt 'I 11 of truth, and must be obeyed ; in the other, a formulated system of truth demands our admiration and our obedience. As Pattison puts it, "the Catholic teacher desires to imbue his pupil with the propositions in morals and politics he believes to be true, because he believes them to be true. The objective truth is to him fully represented by those propositions which constitute the deposit of tradition — in his estimate the one permanent and enduring substance, each generation of mankind bein^ but the transitory medium through which flows the majestic current of eternal truth. The importance of the individual is sunk in that of the atom ; a man's life is a moment in the perennial ex- istance of the hierarchical society. Positivism too, measures welfare by that of the society, and its theory of progress is the inevitable march of scientific truthspromot- ing man's control over the material world. However different the objects aimed at by the catholic ideal of educa- tion and that of the man of science, they both meet in one point. They both propose as their end the exclusive supremacy of certain truths, not the cultivation of the intellect. " While admitting that there are elements of truth in this theory,— important elements that ought not to be neglected, — still it is one sided, defective, and fails to reach the highest end. Because of this it must be rejected, and have no plaee in the creed of the true educationalist in quest of the best. 4. Education is the drawing out and the developing to the utmost possible perfection all the powers of body and of mind, and thus fitting man to do his duty, and to enjoy Ufe. This is substantially the Greek ideal, — an ideal that has survived the shock and trials of the ages, and has produced the best fruits in all lands and under all conditions of society. If we are to judge a tree by its fruit, then we must conclude that this Grecean tree is the best, — is one planted by God's own hand, and cared for by the heavenly Husbandman. Ever aiming to reach this high ideal, Greece has done much that is permenantly valuable, and has done it well. Professor MahafEy gives the Greek theory and practice the highest place — as best fitted to develop men for the higher ends and enjoyments of life. The Greeks were far behind us in the mechanical aids to human progress ; they understood not the use of electricity, or of steam, or 12 of gunpowder, or of printing. But in spite of this, the Greek public was far better educated than we are — nay, to some extent, because of this it was better educated. For Greek life afforded proper leisure for thorough intellectual training, and this includes first of all such political training as is strange to almost the whole of Europe ; secondly, moral training of so high a kind as to rival at times the light of revelation ; thirdly, social training to something higher than music and feasting by way of recreation ; and fourthly, artistic training, wnich, while it did not con- descend to bad imitations of great artists, taught the public to understand and to love true and noble ideals." In the persuit of her important mission to the world, Greece has become the teacher of science, philosophy, litera- ture, art, and statesmanship. Her poets have taught the world's gifted son's how to sing ; her historians have so written the deeds of her sons and daughters as to become the models to those wishing to write the story of the nations; her artists have so skillfully used brush and chisel as to inspire the lovers of the true, the good and the beautiful with loftiest ideals, and the purest love of the fair in form, in color, in thought and in act ; her glorious commonwealths, and empire, built up by able statesmen, famous soldiers, and wise teachers, that moulded men, and made a nation, have become the important object lessons for the study of every patriot and lover of his race ; and her philosophers are, and must ever be, the rich mines of purest thought, the most precious treasure handed down to us from the past. In every department of thought, and of action, the Greeks have golden lessons to teach us. Their literature is fresh as the fields in spring, their thought is soul stirring and thought producing as if instinct with the divine ; and their life helpful to all wishing to live as men in earnest should. True, Greek education interfered too much with the liberties of the individual, and laid too much stress on the rights of the state, and at the same time was too limited in its spiritual outlook. The Greeks were the children of time, whereas man is made for eternity ; the Greek heart centered on the finite and the physical, — on the world, — whereas man's heart longs for God, the living God, and refuses to rest in anything less than the infinite, and the spiritual. Robert Browning in his " Old Pictures in Florence " maintains the position that early Christian art, inferior in workmanship to Greek art, is higher than is, the lay, to For lectual 'aining ondly, les the lething and ►t con- ht the s. » world, litera- ht the ave so )ecome of the ih and nd the he fair lorious esmen, sn, and ons for nd her nes of down it, and 3h us. lought t with ive as h the )n the ted in en of heart rld,- , and d the es in 1 art, than 13 Greek because dealing with the spiritual, the eternal, and the infinite. Greek art, attains its end, , reaches its ideal, exhausts itself and dies ; Christian art, aiming at the in- finitely high, and working mines that are inexhaustible, has not yet attained, and is not yet perfect.— is fresh with the vigour of youth, full of hope and of power, and can never die of exhaustion. •* To-day's brief passion limits their range, It seethes with the morrow for us and more. They are perfect— how else ? They shall never change. We are faulty— why not ? We have time in store. The artificer's hand is not arrested With us— we are rough— hewn, nowise polished ; They stand for our copy, and, once invested Witn all they can teach, we shall see them abolished. 'Tis a life long toil our lamp be leaven— The better 1 what's come to perfection perishes. Things learned on earth, we shall practise in heaven. Works done least rapidly, art most cnerishes." But admitting that Grebk education was too socialistic, and too much conducted in the interest of the nation ; that it was limited, earthly, and one-sided, still much of the teaching of Europe and of America in late years has been too individualistic, and too ' ' other worldly." Man's relation to the state, and the duties arising therefrom ; man's rela- tion to the race, and his duties £,rising out of his position as a member of society, have been thrown into the shade, and have been kept in the back ground by the claims of caste, and the demands of the indiviaual,so that instead of working for thedays "when the war dr um" shall throb" no loiiger, and the battle flags" shall be furled, "in the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world," the nations have in their selfishness, done little, but growl, snarl " at each others heels," and fight. In the pulpit and out of it, men were urged to save their souls,— to save their souls though their bodies might go to the dogs, and society to the devil. Men were urged by the fear of hell fire, and dv the desire for gain to make the best of both worlds. Social compacts took the place of eternal laws and unchanging duties ; and liberty was the right to do what the individual pleased. The state was the creation of the individual, and existed for the good of the individual, and for that alone, the church was a great voluntary society that could be made and unmade by the passing of resolutions — a society whose sole end ana aim was to save souls ; and all ideas of the claims of the state, of the church, and of society were disallowed,ancIin some in- stances regarded as the rankest and most dangerous 14 heresies. The ideas of Crod's Fatherhood, of man's sonship, and of the brotherhood of the race were locked at more m the light of rhetorical flourishes than in that of solid and glorious facts. The individual and the state, the soul and the church, the member and society were opposed, and could not be reconciled on the principles of the politics and of the dogmatic theology then dominant in the press, and in the pulpit. Instead of regarding the members, and the body, as one and as mutually helpful, and essentially friend- ly, they were treated as foes, and regarded as having inter- ests mutually destructive. Instead of regarding the person as the unit, and the body and the members as one, this false philosophy setup the claims of the individual as paramount. To-day while granting the individual more freedom, more rights than the Greek did, we are not unmindful of the claims of the church, of the state and of the race. There is a healthy re-action against the individual- ism of the last two centuries, and in favor of the best Greek thought, such as may be found in the pages of Plato. A deeper knowledge of the laws and principals of the social world ; a more thorough study of the social side of Christianity ; and an intense desire to right the wrongs existing, and a nrm determination to stop the growing evils that are threatening church and state, have modified men's ideas, and have made them more Greek, more social, and more human. Instead of opposing Jhe state to the individal thi& antithesis is regarded as utterlv false. In the newer social science, the state exists for the individual, and the individual for the state. It is now clearly seen thutman cannot be developed apart from the state — that the very idea of man implies that of state ; — and that the state takes for granted the idea of the idividual. As the members exist for the body, and aid themselves by serving the body, so it is in the bodv civic. The idea that the individual stands or falls with tlie state ; that the unit has a living relation to the mass, and thtit the one can help the other is accepted by the best writers on politics and on religion. ! I With this thought ever in the mind, the educationalist ought to aim at the development of men and women to fill the private and public positions in such a way as to bring credit to themselves, and strength.if not glory,to the nation. The bodies ought to be developed by manly sports, and healthy modes of life ; the minds oughit to be broadened out, and made vigorous by exercise ; the feelings ought to be directed to the pure and the elevating ; and the character so I .Si-- »onship, .rnore m |lid and >ul and i^d, and |ics and sss, and ind the friend- ?inter- I person [is false lount. » more of the » race, ddual- >f the iges of pals of ial side wrongs g evils men's al, and iividal fn the il, and it man B very takes sexist , so it ids or ion to bedbv Jo built up and strengthened, that in the world the pupils will long to reach the heroic heights of duty, and by years of severest discipline, self-denialand self-control at last reach their ideal, a perfect man. To the teachers before me. let me say as a joint worker in the same great cause, your aims, your passions, your highest ambition ought to be to build up the best types of individual manhood,— a manhood that willl stand up for the right in the presence of the foe, and be the strength and the glory of the land, — a manhood that will spurn to do what is wrong, to think an unkind thought, or to cherish an unbrotherly feeling. Let the teacher and the preacher join hands, enter into a holy crusade against all that dwarfs body or mind, — all that puts gold before duty, self before country, and soul before God. True to our Grod, to our Christ, to our conscience, and to our Dominion ; prepared to sacraince all that we may reach our ideal; in the end we will find that on the stepping stones of our dead selves v/e have risen to higher things— things worthy of God's children. You stand in the ranks of the immortals, and the great and the good of the ages appeal to you to do your best. In the roll of teachers are to be found the names o*" those of whom the world is not worthy — the names of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, of Christ and of His Apostles, of Augustine, Anselm, Scotus.and Aquinas, of Copernicus, Galileo and Newton, of Pascal, Kant, Green and Caird, and of Luther, Calvin and Knox, — not to mention hosts of other great teachers whose mission it was to enlighten the world. Act worthy of your work, and of those directly engaged in the upbuilding of manhood. Magnify your office, and make it second to none. Lay the best thought of your minds, the purest love of your hearts, and the most skillful work of your hands on the altar of duty to God and man. Your best is needed. Let it be willingly and lovingly bestowed on all. Give as God has enabled you, and those privileged to sit at your feet, and be influenced for good, not to speak of the coming generations, will rise up and call you blessed. aalist :o fill bring tion. , and lout, to be er so 4 ( i ! 'I SCIENCE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. By J.B.Turner, B. A., Vice- Principal and Science Master of Hamilton Collegiate Institute. IT is a significant and hopeful fact that matters pertain- ing to education have never received more attention than they are receiving at the present time. In everycountry where a system of education has been estab- lished we find this earnest discussion of educational topics prevailing, not only among those immediately engaged in this work, but also amon^ all those who desire to see improve- ment both as to the subjects to be included in a course of of study and the methods employed by those entrusted with the education of the rising generation. In this case as in every case where free and intelligent discussion is carried on improvement is seen. The old idea as to the three K-'s being a sufficient course of study for the average child is gradually dyirg out, and with it also is dying the idea that unless a child is being crammed full of facts, he is not receiving an education. These ideas arose from a totally erroneous notion of what the object of an education is,' but this false notion has the stamp of centuries, I had almost said of ages upon it, and consequently is deep-seated and tenacious of life. Although an improve- ment in this respect is gradually being effected, yet it is a plant of slow growth and requires all the fostering care we can bestow upon it, especially when as at present the measure of the teacher's work is, in too many cases, the result of a test examination at the end of a prescribed course of study. The improvement referred to is the result of a new conception of what constitutes an education. The educa- tion which does not seek as its first object the training of all the faculties of the child is scarcely worthy the name. The .training of the mind should be the first aim in the education of the child. Subordinate everything to this. The acquisition of knowledge is a necessary concomitant to his trainiii^ ani n33i not b3 lost sight of. Indeed I am 17 satisfied that if a prescribed course of studj' be dealt with as a medium for the training of the mind better results even in the acquiring and retaining of facts will be obtained than in any other way. This of course runs counter to idea of the man who thinks that the whole aim and object of our schools is to -;ave the children perform such mar- vellous but utmost useless feats of memory as to name the railway stations between Hamilton and Windsor or perform some other equally wonderful but nonsensical task. ' I shall not stop to discuss the reasons for considering the object of an education to be such as I have stated. I take it for granted that you, from the experience you have had, and the "professional training you have received, will allow this to be the correct idea of an education. You grant me this, then how does our present course of instruction meet the requirements? There is plenty of scope in it for the exercise of the memory, plenty of scope for the exercise of the reasoning faculties, but is that enough? All knowledge comes to us primarily through one of the senses, principally through the sight, and what are we doing to train our pupils in the accurate use of the organ of this sense. If we omit the subject of drawing, quite recently added to the course of study, we are doing absolutely nothing, and even drawing calls the eye into use in only a general way. I have only to point out to you that the successful men of the world of all time and in every calling were close observers to shew the necessity of cultivating from the first this important faculty. Besides it is nature's method of teaching, a method which should ever bo followed as closely as circumstances will permit. What are we to do to supply this deficiency in our present system of education? Already all our time is occupied in teaching the subjects prescribed and if more be added our life will become a burden too great to be borne. You admit that this important faculty of observation is receiving practically no attention, some means must then be devised by which it can receive the attention its import- ance demands. My present purpose is only to suggest the means for its cultivation by pointing out the subjects specially suited to attain the object in view and asking you to seriously consider whether a change cannot be made in the direction I indicate. 18 The subject without doubt, best suited to this purpose is the study of natural objects treated in a practical way. The study of natural objects includes the subjects, chemistry, physics, zoologv and botany with almost unlimited sub- divisions of eacn. It will be our duty then to consider each of these divisions and see which one under all the circum- stance best meets the requirements, and, having made a selection, point out when and how the subject should be in- troduced into our schools. The first two, chemistry and physics are so closely allied that the same remarks will apply to both. The proper teaching of these subjects, as of any science subject, requires that the pupil be brought in actual contact with the material of study. This in the case of chemistry and physics will require a considerable expenditure of money in the purchase of apparatus, materials and ap- pliances, besides the danger attendant on the performance of many of the experiments make them altogether un- suitable for small children. These objections are not in- surmountable but if we find a subject with all the advant- ages of these, with none of their disadvantages this is the subject for us to adopt and I unhesitatingly sav that botany is that subject. No apparatus is required although some simple pieces such as a pair of mounted needles and a magnifying glass are advantageous. But what about aoology you will say? The subject I admit is an interesting one and there is work in it that can well be done, but the manipulation of zoological specimens, is as a rule much more difficult than that of botanical specimens and no training except perhaps manual training, in some degree, can be obtained from it that cannot be obtained from botany. Having selected botany then, as the subject for science study, the next question that arises is, at what period in the school life of the child should it be introduced? In answering this question it is all important that we have a clear idea of the object of introducing such a subject. As I have already said the object of introducing a science subject into the programme of studies is not so much that the child- ren become acquainted with the facts of the science, as it is to properly train certain faculties which at the present time are almost wholly neglected. The faculty of observation v«dll receive a training by correct methods of science study that it is impossible to obtain by the methods of any other 19 subject. If then the object of introducing a science subject be to cultivate the observation, the question as to where to introduce such a subject is easily settled. I believe it is a good educational maxim to follow the teaching of nature as closely as possible. Following this guide in the matter of observation, we shall be compelled to say, that the proper time to introduce the study of botany, the science subject we have selected, is at the earliest possible moment of the school life of the child. I con- sider it quite unnecessary to stop here to give reasons for saying that this is according to nature's method. Any one wno has paid any attention to the process of acquiring knowledge on the part of the child from infancy will see the force of this argument. Following then the teaching of nature in this matter, we should commence the study of botany in the kinder- garten class, and continue it as a matter of course in all th3 succeeding grades. The natural method is claimed to be employed in the kindergarten to a greater extent than in the riiore advanced classes. The child is being trained by dealing with pleasing and entertaining objects. The eye and the hand are being educated by working with materials of different kinds. The child is trained by the use of the needle, cardboard, blocks, clay, straws and numerous other objects to appreciate form, number, color, and so on. If these inanimate objects can be successfully employed for this purpose why could not the infinitely more beautiful and attractive animate objects, flowers and different parts of plants be made use of for the same purpose. The kindergartener, who more than any other must be a born teacher in order to be successful, will readily devise means of adapting the methods of the kin- dergarten to such objects. Assuming then that we have shown the advisibility, indeed the necessity of placing science in the curriculum of our public schools, in order to complete the course of train- ing that should be given in such schools, and assuming that botany is the most suitable one of the sciences in view of all the conditions and requirements, also that the proper time for introducing it is in the kindergarten, the question naturally presents itself how in the succeeding grades shall we continue the subject. Here I shall point out some of the errors that are committed in the teaching of science, ! i; 20 subjects which all will do well to seriously consider, and do their utmost to avoid. Some ycjirs aj?o there appeared a series of Sciences Primers published by McMillan and Co. and prci>ared by such celebrated scientists as Hooker, Huxley, Balfour Stewart, Foster and Geikie, which were intended to serve an excellent purpose, and in a way did serve a good purpose in directinj? attention to the import- ance of S(uence study but their weakness consisted in that they aimed rather at giving a knowledge of the subjects than training the mind of the learner. Take for example the primer in botany to illustrate what I mean. This primer of botany, instead of taking a few typical specimens and dealing with them so as to acquaint the learner with the best method of investigating for himself, proceeds with a general description of the different parts oX a plant dealing witn them so fully that by an exercise of the memory the learner may acquire a limited knowledge of the subject without once having examined a specimen. Compare the method of this book with that of Prof. Oliver's Elementarv Text-Book of Botany, or our own High School Botany, by Mr. Spotton,and the superiority of the last two will be readily seen. Again do not enter into a long, tedious, dry and un- interesting description — for I am aware that it is possible to make even an interesting plant the subject of a very un- interesting dissertation — of the plant you are studying no- thing can more certainly defeat the object of true science teaching than for a teacher to take the object of study in the hand hold it up before the class and talk for half an hour about it. Very soon such teaching will create a dis- like for the subject on the part of both the teacher and the pupils and absolute failure is sure to result. Do not map out too pretentious a course. You will pardon me I hope if I refer to a science sequence which I nave in my possession which I believe is being followed to some extent, at least, in the schools of the city. After going over it carefully and thinking out the subject fully, I must say I consider it a mistake. I wish you to remember the point of view from which I am considering it, in weighing what I say with regard to it, I am now considering solely its educational value. Physics and chemistry both have a place on it, and I say unhesitatmgly, you can do nothing with these subjects without some appliances at least. These I do not think you have in our schools. Those / 21 subje.v'' then had bjttor be struck off, until sui-li time tiH you have proper equipment for teaching them. The study of animal forms occupies a considerable phice in it also, but I fear that too often the zoological specimen, whatever it may be, becomes the subject of an object lesson and for which purpose a brick will do as well. Having pointed out some things to be avoided, I shall now attempt to place before you, as briefly as possible, how the teaching of botany should bo conducted. There arc three stages in the stadv of botany as of any scientific subject. First the stage cl-evoted to the acquiring of facts, second, the period devoted to the classifying and arranging of these facts or the period of comparative work, and third, the period of generalization. To some extent these periods will necessarily overlap each other, but generallv speaking they follow each other in the order in which I have given them, and, on the accuracy and extensiveness of the work done in the first, the value of the last two will depend. By far the most important of these from the point of view of our public schools is the first, while the second may be undertaken to some extent in all the clas.ses, but especially in the higher ones, the third should as far as possible be reserved for students of riper years. Let us briefly direct our attention to the first of these divisions and see how it may be used to the greatest advant- age as an educational factor. As all successful work in science requires that each pupil be brought in personal contact with the subject of study, it is absolutely necessary that each student should be provided with a specimen of the part of the plant to be studied. Of course naving planned your lesson before hand, you will see that your pupils are supplied with the speci- mens best suited to the requirements of your lesson. Once having mapped out your lesson and having supplied the most suitable specimens, the more the teacher remains in the background the better. The object now is to have the pupil use his own hands and eyes, and thus acquaint him- self with as many facts as possible in connection with his specimen. The work of the teacher consists in sug- gesting by carefully framed questions the direction that it is desirable the lesson should take. This is no easy task, only constant watchfulness and thorough preparation will prevent the teacher from falling into the habit of telling the pupils what to observe when they do not readily observe for :■!■ II I 22 themselves. It is po much easier to lell a pupil what to look for than to wait until he has made the observa- tion for himself. The temptation to do so is great, but if you wish your teaching to be the most effective possible, the temptation must be resisted. These are some of the general principles which apply to the first stage in the teaching of botany, the application of these principles in any particular case must to a large ex- tent be determined by the circumstances of the case. No one is in so good a position to determine what will best suit the class as the teacher who is in charge of it. Neverthe- less I might suggest that with the youngest pupils large objects be taken for observation. The different parts of a plant, the root, stem and leaves might be used to good advantage, to better advantage even than the flower as its parts are small and more difficult to deal with, and the root, stem and leaves, their variety of form and structure are no less interesting than the parts of a flower. It will be necessary for you to continually test the accuracy and completeness of the observations made. Two methods of doing this suggest themselves. First have the observer describe in his own words what he sees. With young pupils the application of this method will necessarily be very restricted as their command of words is limited and then there is the difficulty we all experience of conveying in words our exact meaning even with a ^eater command of language. The second method of testing the accuracy and com- pleteness of observations, is by having the observer make a sketch however rough of the object. This method is valu- able not only as a test of the observations, but as a means of co-ordinating the hand and eye to a very considerable degree and is the beginning of a manual training which is obtained in a course of science study which is by :io means to be despised. The drawings made by the pupils must be carefully supervised and anything which shews that the observations are either inaccurate or incomplete should be marked and the pupil required to make the drawing again after having a second time carefully examined the specimen. M\ experience teaches me that the greatest care possible must be exercised at this point, as, unless you are most watchful, the pupil will draw an ideal specimen and not the actual one before him at all. Here as at every step in the teacher's course, constant watchfulness only will ensure 28 success, but persevere and you will eventually overcome the difficulty, and the result is worth the effort. I have dwelt somewhat fully on the first stage of science study, because I think that for the purposes of the public school it is by far the most important but when I say this I do not wish to convey the impression that the second stage or period of comparison is to be wholly neglected. Indeed it is so closely interwoven with the first that it will be impossible for you to neglect it. Very soon the young learner will begin to compare the root of one plant with that of another, for instance, and if you are prompt to take advantage of his comparisons you will soon find him arranging all roots in a few classes. A judicious question or suggestion on the teacher's part will soon lead him to the point where he has the roots correctly arranged as to form, or by using the comparisons of the pupils you may direct them to distinguishing between the root and the stem. I give these merely as examples of how the comparative stage in the study of botany may be made use of in the training of the mind. The importance of this phase of science methods is recognized by students of every department of knowledge, for even the student of the ancient classics of Greece and Rome, however much they may deplore the aggressiveness of science, still do her the compliment of im- itating her in that they have adopted to the full the comparative method of research, a creation of the study of science. The third period in the science course is the formulating of laws, but as these are in every case obtained as an in- duction from a great number of cases it need scarcely be touched in the science work of a public school. But if in your estimation the necessity for a law arises test the law by a great number of particular cases. Especially in biology do laws require to be submitted to the test of an almost infinitude of special cases. The fact that Darwin spent years in collecting facts before he stated his theory, known as evolution, sufficiently attests the importance of having a great number of facts to work from. Enough has been said on this point to show that any work in this direction may be deferred until a, later stage, but let it never be for- gotten that the ultimate object, apart from its educational value; of all science work is to ascertain the relationships existing among the objects or material being studied. Before I close I may say a few words with regard to scientific terms and their use in science work. How to 24 I overcome the difficulty presented by the long and apparently very often meaningless terms of science is one of the first questions which presents itself to the teacher of the subject. The difficulty however is more apparent than real and with care and good judgement it gradually melts away until you wonder how you ever thought there was such a thing as difficulty to be overcome. A safe principle by which to be guided in the introduc- tion of new technical terms is first to create the necessity for a name by reference to the object under study, and after having done so the name must as a matter of course be given to the pupil. As an illustration cf what I mean, take the stamen of a flower. It is different from any other part of the flower and thus will naturally ' suggest to the observer the necessity for a name for this new object. Closer examination reveals the fact that a stamen is made up of a little rounded body situated at the extremity of a fine thread, and one of the first questions the teacher is likely to be asked is what is this little round body or what is this long slender part. The necessity for the name has arisen, and there is no reason as far as I can see why the name should not be given. Either it or some round about expression for it will have to be given, and in my opinion the botanical term is the better. To sum up then what I have said : The object of an education worthy of the name is to train all the faculties of the child so as to produce a mind well developed in all its parts, not to cram the child with facts regardless of whether his faculties are being properly trainedor not. Our j)resent course of study is deficient in that it neglects some of the most important faculties, little or no attention being given to the cultivation of the faculty of observation, and nothing or at best very little being done to educate together the hand and the eye. The study of a science subject will largiy supply these deficiencies, the science subject best suited to the requirements of the case is botany. This subject can be most effectively studied by supplying the pupils with suitable specimens for purposes of observation. Test the accuracy of their observations by descriptions and drawings of the parts. See that the observations are full and accurate. From observations made introduce comparisons between different forms of the same part and between the different parts of the ^ame plant. Generalizations based upon obser- vation and comparisons are only to be introduced at a late stage. Introduce technical terms only after having created the necessity for such terms. The Teachings of Eng^lish with Special Refepenee to Eng^lish Literatupe. By W. H. Elliott, Ph. B., Specialist in English, Hamilton Collegiate Institute. Mr. President and Fellow Teachers : — I must ask your pardon for the ver^^ general nature which my paper has assumed. The necessities of my Collegiate work have demanded so much of my attention that since I was invited by your President to assist in the proceedings of your Convention, I have not hr.d time to concentrate my energies on a more limited department of the subject. My subject as announced is " The Teaching of English" with special reference to ''English Literature." Then first what is literature? By it we mean the written thoughts and feelings of intelligent men and women arranged in a way which will give pleasure to the reader. Literature has to do then with the things about which we learn and think and feel. And in whatever form it may be presented, whether in prose or in verse it is created for the pleasure of the readtr. AikI just here I think is where a great mistake is made by lliosr wlioso duty it is to present to the minds of students the Literature ordinarily prescribeed by educational authorities. Instead of its being made " a thing of beauty and a joy for ever " it has become in its handling transmuted into a veritable nausea so that the very sight of the literary product of a representative author breeds disgust. To adapt the words of John Morley— literary instruct- ion has been made much more repulsive than it need to have been, and more repulsive than it ought to have been beca use those who have had the control of this work for some years have been anxious to make the type of primary instruction conform to the type of advanced academic instruction proper to learned men. The principles f instruction have been too rigorously ascetic and ouritancal and instead of making the access to knowledge ^s easy as possiblcj we have delighted in forcing every ailgrim to make his journey to the shrine of the muses with p hair shirt on his back and peas in his shoes. ^1 26 We are to a vast extent the products of the past, and he would attain to things higher must build his superstruc- ture upon the foundations laid by preceding generations ; and since literature displays in its strata the fossil thoughts and feelings of our predecessors, how important it is that our boys and girls should early have their minds imbued with these. la Canada and in Ontario more especially influences are at work as in tlie mother country to centralize population. Following in the wake of this is an enormous increase in the number of the poorer classes whose advantage com- pared with those of their more favored neighbors are im- measurably diminished. Commercial competition has become keen and the toil for bread and thirst for wealth has correspondingly increased and the time at disposal for literary improvmement has become lessened. With the advance of democracy the question of educa- tion not only becomes more pressing but also changes its character. It must henceforth not only extend its area but it must become a much more "^itense influence, because it has to cultivate not only a new class but a rude class. That politeness which is seen in its perfection in the English aristocracy is not the product of book learning, but has been inculcated through the personal influence and supervision of parents ; it is the tradition of their families and their homes. Book learning the parent leaves to the school master but the higher moral education, in fact all that is included under the term cultivation, he furnishes himself by his example, by the society in which his family is reared. But the problem before us here and now is to educate the whole nation. We have to educate a class who have none of these tradations, no inherited refinement, no common stock of literature forming an intellectual atmos- phere around every child. For this class the teacher must do much, because the parents and the home do little. He must be to them a kind of priest or missionary of culture. He much consider that just so much enlightenment, breadth of view, liberality and magnanimity as he can contrive to impart to his pupils just so much, and in many cases no more, will they carry with them into the world. How important therefore for us as teachers to impart to those intrusted to our care an appreciative knowledge of the best of our literature, to stimluate within them a love for the beautiful and the good, so that as they go forth from land 'aC- ms ; fehts that iued 27 our hands they not only may be the better enabled to dis- charge the duties of life dvolvinj^ upon them, but in the hours of disappointment and wordly coldness they may have an inner sanctuary of refined thouft-ht and feeling- to which they may recur and from which they may derive the balm of comfort. The results of the study of literature (uin not be over estimated. All great works of literary genius in their humanizing and educative influences, must if properly brought to bear on the minds of this generation immeasur- ably exalt the prospects of future sociery. All cultivcttion lies in these. There is nothing else in education which could not better be spared. That the common s])irits among men should pass under the inliuence of the greater and rarer spirits, this is the chief thing for us to aim at. All mere knowledge says Prof. Seele3\ seems to me of less value. Thos. Carlyle somewhere proposes the question . — ''Which would we English people sooner give up our Indian Empire or our Shakespeare ? " A similar question might be pro- posed in education, and I should be disposcnl to answer it as Mr. Carlyle does. For works of genius I w^ould give up the multiplication table. To my mind there is no department of study which more strongly conduces to the educating (leading out) of those higher and nobler elements of man's nature, the emotional and spiritual. The w^orld has had a surfeit of purely in- tellectual food, till the body politic has become well-nigh dyspeptic. The other mental faculties have been literafly starved. We have been rearing in our schools and colleges prodigies of intellect to the dwarfing of the heart and soul. What the world needs to-day is not less perceptive power, but more heart culture, more of soul sympathy, inspiring men to good and noble deeds of self sacrifice and to the reaching out after " whatsoever is pure." In the works of literary genius man has embedded the noblest aspirations of the human soul, the brij^htest thoughts that have ever subtiiy influenced and determined the world's history. In these are written as in letters of fire the life struggles of fellow man, against the downw^ard in- fluences of nature and the world, his yearnings after the higher possibilities of his existence and the successes or defeats which have crowned or withered those efforts. In these the reader at every turn finds his counterpart, discovers that others in the conflict of life with the forces 28 of the world as strongly opposed to them, have through strength of an indomitable will and a supporting conscience boldly accepted the odds, aixd though the battle at times seemed inclined to the enemy, have, with heart and eye constantly fixed upon the laural wreath, cut their way through the opposing forces and now wear the joyous crown of victory. What an inspiration to the reader who in the heat of conflict and too conscious of his own weak- ness quails at the enemy's front and is about to ignomini- ously yield ! He is roused to gird on his armour once more and nerved by the example placed before him, he too carves his way to victory. These inspiring works are the oases in the Saharas of life ; when the sun beats strong and the sands burn and the air stifles, the traveller raises his eyes to behold at hand the verdant patch with its crown of palms and gurgling spring ; his eye brightens, his heart beats strong, the sands seems cool, the sun is forgotten, he is saved T What student can be brought into sympathetic touch with Wordsworth in his "Lucy Gray," that picture of sublime solitude; or "We are Seven" in its child-like simplicity of faith, or his lyrics, the "Daisy" and the " Cuckoo " without having his higher moral and imaginative nature refined and strengthened, and through the direction of a teacher in full harmony with the author lifted near the ideal of human perfection? Who of us after a weary day's work, can read Tennyson's "Idyls of the King" or the " Locksley Halls " and not feel the pulses of his being thrill with a new life ? What man or woman among us with a heart still sensitive to the wrongs and sufferings of his fellows, on whom fate with its iron heel treads so heavily, enters into the thoughts and feelings of the author in " Evangeline "or " Enoch Arden " or the " Vision of Sir Launfel," without experiencing new sympathies and silent influences stealing through his oeing, transforming the evil into the good, the malicious into the loving ! And what inspiration we may derive from such litera- ture, pupils I affirm may derive, provided the teacher be thoroughly imbued with his work and has the happy faculty of imparting to others the experiences of his own soul. And what a field is open to the willing reader ! what possibilities of truest happiness for the coming race and for us too ! Books for the weary, books for the down trodden and oppressed, for those that think and those that toil. 29 for every condition of man , suited to every temperament ! Books of this kind says Ruskin have been written in all ages by their greatest men ; by great leaders, great states- men, great thinkers. These are all at your choice ; and life is short. You have haard as much before ; yet have you measured and mappel out this short life and its possibilities ? Do you know if you read this you cannot read that, that what you lose to-day you cannot gain to- morrow ? Will you go and gossip with your housemaid or your stable-boy when you may talk with queens and kings ; or flatter yourselves that it is with any worthy conscious- ness of your own claims to respect, that you jostle with the common crowd for entree here, and audience there, when all the while this eternal court is open to you with its society wide as the World, multitudinous as its days, the chosen and the mighty of every place and time? Into that you may enter always ; in that you may take fellow- ship and rank according to your wish ; from that, once entered into it, you can never be outcast but by your own fault; by yo ur aristocracy of companionship there, your own inherent aristocracy will assuredly be tested, and the motives with which you strive to take high place in the society of the living, measured, as to all the truth and sincerity that are in them, by the place you desire to take in this company of the dead. It •' t Montesquieu used, to say that he had never known a pain or a distress which he could not soothe by half an hour in a good book, and it is probably no exaggeration to say that he who can read French with comfort need never have a dull hour. But our own literature has many a kingly name ; in boundless riches and infinite imaginative variety, there is no rival to Shakespeare in the world ; in energy and height and majesty Milton and Burke have no masters ; " and in our own century what a coterie of inspired singers have been chanting not only to the enlightment of the understanding but to the enrichment of the character which is a far higher thing than intellect and mak- ing it constantly alive with the spirit of beneficence. Now having dealt with the results that may be attained through the influences of a good literature well taught, let us for a little while examine the means whereby such desir- able ends may be attained. And first let me say that just as it requires a trained eye to perceive the beauties in a painting and an educated ear to detect the hidden harmonies of a musical strain, so none the less does it require a keen- ness of intellect, acutenes of imagination and sympathy of 80 soul to detect the inner significance of a poem, the play of its fancy and the subtle harmonies that lurk beneath its surface. It is therefore clearly evident that for the pupil to to be thus equipped he will require a special training and this training must come from the teacher. Now not every teacher is fitted to undertake this diffi- cult task for there are so many qualities essentil to the fitness of such a one. Let us examine a few of them. In the first place since Literature is the exponent of the mind's thought he will require strength of intellect to translate the aul hor's meaning. There will frequently arise intricacies of thought even in our simplest of literary works which will require severe powers of discernment, hidden mysteries of meaing veiled in the simple word to call forth the nicest judg-Tient. As an illustration of this take the simple little poem of Herrick's, to Daffodills, a poem which shows a love of and communion with nature as pure as that of Wordsworth two centuries later. Take the lines : " As yet the early rising sun Has not attained his noon." Stay, stay, ' Until the hasting day has run But to the even song ; And having prayed together we Will go with you along." On a first casual glance these lines would be interpreted thus: — daffodills, why do you die so soon ! As yet the sun has not attained its meridian (mid-day). We are sorry to part with you. Remain with us but to the time of the evening service, and having offered up our devotions, we will go with you to rest, — the rest of night. Now evidently this is not the sense intended by the poet Herrick, as can be seen when read in connection with 2nd stanza. The lines are but intended by comparison with the daffodils to suggest to us the very short and transitory life of man. The noon then will represent the noon of life, and the even song the autum of life when the sun descends and its brightness dims and amid the long shadows of night man goes down to the grave. And again what a sympathic force there is in the monometer " Stay, stay !" the spondaic foot w^ith its long drawn vowels imaging forth the longing clinging desire of his soul for the companionship of the daffodils. 31 What has been su^oested in this stanza is true of the greater part of our literary works. How necessary therefore that the educator be himself trained in the intellectual faculty, before attempting to unravel or develop to the minds of his pupils an ap])reciative knowledge of the selection. Then to have in emotional coloring processes of thought and remain as dead to in addition to this the teacher requires a marked degree, a sympathetic soul, or as Raskin puts it he must enter into the heart of the author. The mathematician may prove the Binomal Therem or solve the Theory of Probility without the mearest ripple of the logician may evolve his with all the precision of Aristole feeling as a stone, but he who would have his pupils in touch with an author must have the pulses of his o vvm being beat- ing in sympathetic harmony with that author. Sympathy begets sympathy. Does the teacher live for the time being in the atmosphere of his author? so then do his pupils. The necessity of possessing this power is so self-evident and its exercise brought so prominently into operation in the every-hour work of all of us as teachers I need not speak of it further. In the third place a teacher requires a wide reading. We are all aware how much use is made of the principle of " comparison" and in no department of school work is it brought more into play than in that of literature. A writer's own works frequently throw the strongest light upon the thought and feelings of some individual passage. Again additional evidence in support of certain conceptions of a passage can frequently be adduced from other authors, and the teacher whose reading is so limited as not to be able to bring these flash lights to bear upon the point at issue fails to a great extent in attaining the end towards which he is aiming. And lastly, equipped with all these qualities of mind he must have made a most thorough preparation and mastery of the passage to be taught. He may possess warm sympathy, good judgment, keenness of preception and refinement of taste in marshalling the points and yet fail through lack of special preparation of this particular passage. I can well remember attempting to teach " The Highland Girl" by Wordsworth. xou remember the lines :— In spots like these it is we prize Our memory; feel that she hath eyes ; Then why snould I be loth to stir .-* I feel this plaee was made for her ; To give new pleasure like the past, etc. What a fatal error I had fallen into by trusting to a casual reading of the poem. I interpreted the word her " to refer to the girl : — This was the girl's sphere in life and here she had been placed by Providence that she might be to others what she had been to Wordsworth a source of ecstatic joy and poetic inspiration. In reality the "her" refers to memory personified a few lines above, and the in- terpretation is, then why should I be averse to leaving such a scene when I know that memory will treasure up all its "beauties and remain a fountain of joy welling up continually ir the soul. This is one very simple instance of how easily a teacher may fall into a misinterpretation of a passage through lack of preparation. Yet I do not for a moment think it neces- sary that the result of all your research and study and analysis is to be given to the pupil. It must be kept before the mind of the teacher that the amount and character of the study of the poem depends upon the age and developement of the class. The work must proceed upon pleasurable paths to a vast extent, and entering upon work beyond the comprehension of the pupil can but tend to make him dislike it. Besides this thorough preparation fits the teacher" for any emergencies that may arise. Now having outlined in a brief manner some of what I conceive to be the most essential elements in a teacher of English, let us also briefly notice the method which might, with satisfaction, be made use of in unfolding in and to the pupil the thoughts and feelings and beauties of the literary passage. METHOD. The method adopted in the unfolding of any subject must be determined, 1st. — By the status ofthe class, 2nd. — by the aim in teaching that subject, and this in the teach- ing of Literature is to lead the pupils clearly and fully to understand the meaning of the author they are reading and to appreciate the beauty, the nobleness, the justness or the sublimity of his thoughts and language. In whatever form literature appears there are invariably two elements present which will demand the attention of both teacher ana pupils, a »> 'r-' viz : Thought and Expression. The first of these, owing to the nature of child-mind will, in the initial stages of literature teaching demand the more attention. The latter, " Expression," must, to a great extent, be post- poned to a later stage of development ; and yet I am not one of those who believe that the " -Esthetics" of Litera- ture should be deferred till the child has passed his entrance and begun Collegiate work. What child of nine or ten years of age who has had continued in him that wonderful process of development inaugurated in the Kindergarten cannot detect the "rhythmic-differentia" between the "Rainy Day" of Longfellow and "The Old Cradle" by Frederick Locker. What pupil of this age cannot, by a few judicious questions of a teacher, be brought to feel the effect of the iambic tetrameters with their hypermetric accompaniments; their long, monotonously-recurring vowels, and the adaptability of these to the thought and feeling in the lines, "The day | is cold, | and dark. I and drea i ry ; It rains, | and the wind i is nev | er wea | ry," etc., or detect the harmony between the lighter and more happy feeling of the latter poem and the more lively expression. Note a stanza : " And this is your cradle ? why, surely my Jenny, Such cosy dimensions go clearly to show You were an exceedingly small pickaninny Some nineteen or twenty short summers ago." Now in the first place let us consider for a few moments the interpretation of the author's thought or meaning : Suppose the selection to be of a narrative nature and complete in itself, that is, it contains the whole narrative. Then the selection should be read as a whole in class. This should be accompanied by such a running commentary on the part of the teacher as will enable the pupils to under- stand the story. The commentary should not, however, be such as to interfere with the interest of the story, but simply what is necessary to the general understanding of the piece. It will often require the explanation of many words that are but vaguely understood by the pupils, and attention to such constructions as require elucidation. After this the pupils should be questioned as to the subject of thought in the selection. When this has been satisfac- torily decided, it is well to have the class reproduce orally what thev have read and remembered of the selection. This, by the way, has a triple merit. It proves an incentive to work on the part of those pupils who are not Indus- / 84 trioiisly inclined ; it trains tlio power of expression and begets self-confidence. And liere is a point, I think, in vvliicli we Canadian teachers may well follow our Amer- ican neighbor in the training of children in English. Our youth are not, generally sj>oaking, easy and correct in their expression of thought^), and more especially in the oral expression. I have had the privilege on two occasions of visiting public schools in one of the large cities of the Eastern States, and while there was struck with the facility with which the pupils, even the youngest, expressed them- selves in the reproduction of ])assagcs in English. And while I believe that it is in the teaching of literature more than in that of any other dei)artment that the faculty of expression can be taught, yet I believe everj'^ other depart- ment of school work will also, if properly dealt with, furnish scope for its development. John Morley snys. ''you know as well as I or any one can tell you that knowledge is woith little until you have made it so perfectly your own as to be capable of repro- ducing it in precise and definite form. Goethe said that in the end we only retain of our studies, after all, what we practicallj' employ of them. Nobody can be sure that he has clear ideas on a subject unless he has tried to put them down on a piece of paper in independent words of his own." And it will never do for us as teachers to allow our pupils to form the habit of ''dealing with ideas that they find in books or elsewdiere as a certain bird does with its eggs - leave them in the sand for the sun to hatch and chance to rear." Pupils who are allowed to follow such a plan would possess nothing better than " half-hatched ideas and convictions reared by accident." The subject being ascertained and expressed by the pupils, it will next be necessary to deal with the separate paragraphs or stanzas that go to make up and elucidate that general subject. In dealing with these I think it well to have the pupils write in brief from the substance contained in each division, so that when complete they will have an epitome of the whole selection, aud not only so, but they will have it in such a shape as will enable them easily to examine the method of development, the relation of passage to passage and their logical bearing on the general topic. At this stage it is well for teacher and pupil to examine the arrangement of the thought. This examination -^on- 85 ductctl by tlie teacher will furiiisli uu excellent drill for tlu- child's lo;;icjil faculty, which, by the way. seems to be in these days of i^iish and exaniination, sadly nej^lected; ami not only so, but positively injured and dwarfed by tii^ t3achor's doinj^ the i)U[)'rs tliinkinj;', (and that, in many cases, very poorly) and by the substitution of media iiicMl memoranda for lo;;ical processes. This exinulnation of the arran^-ement, if judiciously conducted, will inuneasural-.ly strenj^then the logical i)Owers of the i)upil, jn'ovided, how- ever, that every step in critical analysis be immediately followed by a corresponding- stop in synthesis. Li t every impression have a corresponding' expression whieli shall react and deepen the impression. This haviu}.^' been done, it is well in many cases to .subject each division of the selection to such a further critical analysis as will show the relations of the sentences, clauses and phrases to each other and to the topic of the division. In this last examination, involving- the relations of words will, of course, be considered the precise meaninj; and application of the words, thus enlari»-in^' the vocabulary of the pupil, and at the same time illustrating;- their proi)er use. I should devote much time and care (in the subsequent stages of literature teaching) to the explanation of words. I should take the words as they occurred in the reading- of English authors, and require a rigid account of them. Not only would the pupil in this way gain an understanding of words hitherto unintelligible to him, but he would gain the utmost benefit from the effort to explain such words as he understood. The exertion of clothing- a thought in a completely new set of words increases both clearness of thought and mastery of words. It is the test of a solid thought that it will bear a change of clothing. Hollow and delusive thoughts are known by their always wearing the same formula, as spectres always appear in the same dress. Under this head comes the distinguishing of synon- yms. Almost all niceness of literary taste depends upon this. It is, therefore, by this exercise more than any other that your pupils will be brought gradually to appreciate those writers whom we call elegant. And this is the more important because, without some such training these writers will always be a sealed book. Whether or no Shakespeare be read in schools, he will continue to be in some degree appreciated by everyone who has human feelings or imagination ; everyone who has an ear will 36 admire Milton's music, but Addison and the poetry of Goldsmith and others will have Httle charm for those who have not been led to reflect on the finer properties of language. The pupils will then be able to understand what is meant by purity and precision of style and to apply their knowledge in examining other selections. This habit which the pupils have formed of seeing the exact meaning of words, and the force of particular constructions will aid them in writing clearly. Now may follow an exercise involving all that has been done viz : an exercise in criticism or an estimate of the merits and faults of the selection. An examination into whether it gives us a distinct and consistent conception of the story to us as a whole. Or is there something wanting, or but vaguly hinted at, which is necessary to a perfect understanding of the author. A perfect exatnination in these regards will determine its quality with respect to completeness. Is there more than is necessary to give such a con- ception something not so intimately connected with the subject as to render the conception more vivid and well defined but rather to confuse ? On this answer will depend its unity. Then may follow an examination of the style. Are the words such as are sanctioned by good usage ? Do they express the thought fuUy, clearly, forcibly, beautifully or otherwise ? How much of the proceeding should be done in the several classes will depend on the pupil's power of appreciation and the time devoted to the study. This work in my estimat on should bfj followed by a written essay on a theme based on the selection. Let the class tell what the poet has attempted, how he has succeed- ed, what are the impressions made by the characters or scenes, and when written these essays should be criticised by the teacher and pupils. Such would be my manner of dealing with a narrative selection complete in itself. When, however, the selection is but a short portion taken from some larger work, it is well for the teacher to give the pupils an understanding of that portion which leads up to tne selection under obser- vation and bv his art of expression so interest the pnpiis that they wy.f be eager to read the whole w^ork for themselves. 37 If the work be in the descriptive vein I should proceed, with slight variation, on the same lines as those outlined under narrative, making sure that the pupils have a mental grasp of the scenes depicted by the author, by having them orally and in writing, draft the scene as it appears to them. In all of this transcript or paraphase work by the pupil good clear English must be insisted upon, and though the task may seem trying to a teacher vet "in due time he shall reap if he faint not." When this work in critical analysis has been completed, interpretative oral reading should ni^tually follow. A great mistake made in the teaching of this department of literature is in requiring pupils to read a passage the mean- ing of which they have not studied. The main purpose in reading is, to interpret, by means of the tone, pitch and emphasis of voice, together with time and gesture, the thought of the author; and how can a pupil be expected to do this before being brought into sympathetic contact with that thought ? In this subordinate division of my subject there is ample material for a separate paper ; I shall there- fore forego its further development here. I anticipate some opposition on the part of you teachers to the method outlined above, and I am not sure there is no ground for such opposition. It may be objected that such a systematic analysis of a literary selection will tend to destroy the pleasure of the pupil in that selection. Such may to a very limited extent be the case ; but without a systematic training of this nature the pupil will never be in a position to appreciate the deeper beauties, or drink in the more elevating influences that proceed from an author's production. For every one of us is aware what new beauties in a poem were unfolded to us through the directing influence of a teacher. I remember well some ten years ago reading the " Ancient Marinere " by Coleridge, and to my mind then a more senseless thing could never have been written. In fact its incredibility and unnaturalness were so prominent that to me it had no more interest than the product of the pen of an insane person ; but I assure you that, when under the guidance of my teacher, the im- agination was stirred to perceive the awful panorama of the Marinere's experience, the aesthetic nature quickened to feel the sweet melodies that chant from every line and the moral being roused to receive the deep lessons of life and love that echo in ever verse, then it became and has since f ■ 38 ■ remained to me a master piece of poetic genus, not a mere ephemeron depending for its life on some transient caprice of human life, but lasting as life itself, an exhaustless source of pleasureable meditation and comforting thought. And do you not think that the average pupil will feel amply repaid at every step in this process if he can by it be led to see in the soclection what before was veiled to him. He does not have to go through all the process in order that he may reap some indefinable pleasure or good when he has concluded such analysis ; at every atep if the work be judiciously conducted he is greeted with new insight into thought before unperceived, new beauiy opens up to hifti her fountain of elevating pleasure. In every case such powers of discernment cannot be attained without some sacrifice ; there is a possibility of carrying the sugar coating process to such a degree that the pupil leaves school in many instances without the slightest grasp of those principles which would enable him to read intelligently and pleasurably the host of good books free for reading. " I do not suppose" says Seely again, " there is any rational man who would not admit it to be a most desirable thing tliat the great mass of a population should have a knowledge of great English writers of the past ages a dis- crimination of the best English writers of the present. I am not generally a sanguine reformer, but I confr ■ s i see no reason m the nature of things for that gross ig;.; juce with which we are surrounded. It is surely not a n« . < ^sity that persons in decent circumstances, in decent society, persons who have passed several years at school should go through life without any intellectual tastes, without any sense of literary excellence, falling victims to every tinsel allurement of style, entirely outside the influence of living genius " and scarcely aware even as an historical fact that Bacon, Shakespeare, Milton and Tennyson have bequeathed to us such undying genius. Train the children in an appreciative knowledge of our literature and we beget within them such an independence of thought that they cannot become what their parents in too many cases ape to-day, slaves of every demagouge, " sports of every random guest." Now to increase the pupil's love for good reading it is clear we must extend this work beyond that of the ordinarily prescribed school texts. Fnv this purpose School Boards should furnish in cheap binding such works as are i 39 deemed suitable for the various grades in both Public and High Schools, and there should not only be one or a dozen copies of each of such works but a sufficient number to give each pupil a copy for himself. This supplemental reading will prove an offset to anv tedium occasioned by literary analysis. For it is not to be subjected to such. Flowers are not all to be picked and analysed, but to be enjoyed as seen by him " who runs." Some books are to be tasted, others ro be swallowed, some tew to be chewed and digested. Let the pupil have his exercise m merely tasting books with enjoyment as the chief end. Let the teacher be his guide and merely ask him to report what he finds. In other wjrds, let him read as we all read when we read for pleasure, with his mind at ease and open to every charm that genius can present. Let the teacher make the book the subject of conversation with his class and draw their attention by his questions to the chief points which makes it noteworthy. In this way a certain gentle constraint would be exerted over the boy's private reading. He would first find that he had not time to read trash ; he would be driven and not against his will to good literature and in due course he would find to his astonishment that good literature was much the more delightful reading. #