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 MORAL TRAINING IN THE 
 SCHOOL AND HOME
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 NKW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO - DALLAS 
 ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 
 
 LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
 MELBOURNE 
 
 THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 
 
 TORONTO
 
 MORAL TRAINING IN THE 
 SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 A MANUAL 
 FOR TEACHERS AND PARENTS 
 
 BY 
 E. HERSHEY SNEATH, Ph.D., LL.D. 
 
 PROFESSOR IN YALE UNIVERSITY 
 AND 
 
 GEORGE HODGES, D.D., D.CX. 
 
 DEAN OF THE EPISCOPAL THEOLOGICAL 
 SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE 
 
 WeiD gork 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 1914 
 
 All rights reserved
 
 Copyright, 1913, 
 By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 
 
 Set up and electrotyped. Published May, 19x3. 
 Reprinted December, iqi;^ February, 1914.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The aim of this Handbook is to furnish teachers 
 with a manual for moral training in elementary 
 schools. It is not a guide for teaching ethics to 
 children, for such instruction belongs to a later pe- 
 riod of their development. It merely aims to assist 
 teachers in their efforts to train children systemati- 
 cally in the virtues. Such training, however, involves 
 imparting moral lessons, and of course the teacher 
 must know what these lessons are, and when and 
 how they should be imparted. This book deals 
 briefly, and in a very concrete manner, with the sub- 
 ject matter and methods involved in such moral 
 training. It is the outgrowth of the authors' expe- 
 rience in preparing a graded system of moral in- 
 struction by means of fairy tale, myth, fable, legend, 
 parable, allegory, hero and heroine tales, biographical 
 sketch, and historical event, in the form of a series 
 of literary and ethical readers {T/ie Golden Rule 
 Series, The Macmillan Company, New York). The 
 book may be used independently or in connection 
 with the Series. It is the earnest hope of the authors 
 that both the Handbook and the Series may prove 
 serviceable to teachers desirous of introducing sys- 
 tematic moral training into elementary schools, and to 
 parents desirous of introducing such training into the 
 
 home. 
 
 E. HERSHEY SNEATH. 
 
 GEORGE HODGES,
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Moral Training — Its Aim and Method . i 
 
 II. The Bodily Life i6 
 
 III. The Bodily Life {continued) .... 36 
 
 IV. The Intellectual Life 57 
 
 V. The Social Life (The Family) . . .71 
 
 VI. The Social Life (The School) ... 89 
 
 VII. The Social Life (The Community) . .112 
 
 VI 11. The Social Life (Relations to Animals) . 129 
 
 IX. The Economic Life 139 
 
 X. The Political Life .' 153 
 
 XI. The yEsTHETic Life 166 
 
 XII. The Moral Atmosphere of the School . 189 
 
 XIII. Religion and Moral Training . . . 202 
 
 INDEX 221
 
 MORAL TRAINING IN THE 
 SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 ■2. (h O S <^ 
 MORAL TRAINING — ITS AIM AND METHOD 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that some of the things of 
 most importance receive least attention in our edu- 
 cational schemes. Probably no one, on a little reflec- 
 tion, will question the importance of morality for 
 the individual and society. For the individual, 
 the virtues are a means of self-preservation and of the 
 highest possible self-development. For society, the 
 same thing is true. Society could not exist with- 
 out justice, truth, honesty, and industry. They are 
 necessary conditions, not only of the well-being of 
 society, but of its being at all. Morality lies at 
 the foundations of the social structure, and it is the 
 essential condition of its perpetuity. So that in the 
 ethical sphere we are in the sphere of supreme values, 
 and the paramount business of the individual is to 
 moralize his life, and the supreme business of society 
 is to moralize itself. 
 
 And yet, notwithstanding the supremacy of mo-
 
 2 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 ralit}', hardly anywhere in this country is provision 
 made for careful, systematic, graded moral training 
 in the schools — either public or private — and much 
 less in the home. We get along with what at best 
 can be called incidental instruction. And in the 
 average home moral training, as a rule, consists of a 
 set of "don'ts" and "dos" — chiefly "don'ts" — 
 as occasion requires, with the parents' moral judg- 
 ment, which is often uncritical, as the measure of 
 the child's obligation. 
 
 This is wrong, and flagrantly wrong. How wrong 
 it is can be estimated only from the standpoint of the 
 fact that, as we have seen, morality is the reality of 
 supreme worth. But it is of little consequence to 
 point out a wrong if one cannot provide a remedy for 
 it. Some may say that the remedy lies in creating a 
 public sentiment that will demand systematic train- 
 ing in morals in the schools. As citizens, we have no 
 jurisdiction over the home in these matters ; but we 
 have over the schools. They are our schools, created 
 and maintained by us, and as morality is the essen- 
 tial condition of public welfare, and the fact of su- 
 preme importance to the state, we ought to demand 
 of them that our children be systematically trained in 
 the virtues. 
 
 But is it really necessary to create such a senti- 
 ment, or to make such a demand ? Does the senti- 
 ment not exist already, and are not the schools in
 
 MORAL TRAINING — ITS AIM AND METHOD 3 
 
 sympathy with it? In a questionnaire circulated 
 among the grade teachers of ten cities several years 
 ago, a large majority of the teachers responded in 
 favor of such moral training. As a matter of fact, 
 in virtually all of our schools, moral lessons are im- 
 parted, indicating, of course, an interest in this phase 
 of human culture. But there is no careful, graded 
 system of moral training to be found there. This 
 is true in both pubUc and private schools. It is one 
 of the marvels of education, that, notwithstanding 
 the recognition of the vital importance of morality, 
 and the constant affirmation by educators of the 
 ethical end of all education, very little attempt has 
 been made in this country to work out such a graded 
 system. France and Japan have introduced a sys- 
 tem of moral instruction into the government schools. 
 In England, such a system has been organized, and 
 already it has been introduced into more than thirty- 
 five hundred schools. But in this country, barring 
 recent incomplete attempts in several states, nothing 
 has been done in this direction. That we have failed 
 to provide a graded system of moral training proves 
 us as educators to be woefully recreant to the most 
 vital and sacred interests of those committed to our 
 care. Taking for granted, then, that the sentiment 
 in favor of systematic moral culture in our schools 
 exists, the careful organization of such a system is a 
 great desideratum, and it should be introduced into
 
 4 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 all schools, both public and private. In organizing 
 it the following essentials should be observed : — 
 
 First, we should not try to teach ethics. The time 
 when the pupil is in the grades is not the time when 
 he should be introduced to a science of morals ; such 
 a procedure would prove worse than useless. What 
 the teacher should aim to do is, to establish the pupil 
 in the virtues — in the habits of will and forms of 
 conduct — that are so essential to the development 
 of the individual and of society. 
 
 In the second place, we should recognize the neces- 
 sity of beginning with the kindergarten. Systematic 
 observation, and a careful study of psychology in its 
 relation to the child's moral nature, reveal the fact 
 that he is sufficiently developed at this time to begin 
 a kind of systematic training along moral lines. Such 
 training ought to be continued all through the grades, 
 as well as through secondary education. 
 
 In the third place, it is exceedingly important to 
 determine the virtues and vices that belong to each 
 stage of the individual's unfolding. We must de- 
 termine in a scheme of moral culture the virtues 
 and vices to be dealt with in the respective grades. 
 This should be done by employing the methods of 
 psychology in a careful study of the moral unfolding 
 of the child. The so-called recapitulatory theory — 
 that the history of the race is more or less epitomized 
 in the child, — true, at least, in its more general
 
 MORAL TRAINING — ITS AIM AND METHOD 5 
 
 aspects, will be of service here. The results of such 
 an inquiry should be supplemented by a questionnaire 
 circulated among thousands of grade teachers, secur- 
 ing the results of their observation, based on wide 
 experience. In these ways we may determine, ap- 
 proximately at least, what virtues and vices ought to 
 be dealt with in elementary education. 
 
 In the fourth place, due regard must be paid to the 
 determination of the right method to be used in moral 
 training in the elementary grades. Admitting the 
 necessity, especially in the home, of more or less 
 direct instruction, the chief method of teaching the 
 child morality should nevertheless be the indirect 
 method. That is, we must avoid the formal, didactic 
 method. We should introduce children to the vir- 
 tues and vices, with their corresponding rewards and 
 punishments, through fairy tale, myth, fable, allegory, 
 parable, legend, stories of heroes and heroines, biog- 
 raphy and history. The child is easily brought into 
 sympathy with the story, and grasps in this concrete 
 and interesting way its moral import ; and the lesson, 
 because of the child's intense sympathies, soon sinks 
 into his sensitive mind and receptive heart. 
 
 The history of story-telhng shows the hold it has 
 upon the human mind. This history is "full of vivid 
 and dramatic scenes ; and everywhere belief gives a 
 touch of sincerity and seriousness. It tells of groups 
 of young American Indians, who sit by the night fire,
 
 6 MORAL TR.\INING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 nestling close to earth, listening to old tales of giants 
 who live in the north, and of the great wind-bird 
 who makes the storms. One will hear of story- 
 tellers in villages of the African forest, who tell tales 
 of the wonderful doings of animals : of the antelope, 
 the leopard, the turtle, and even Br'er Rabbit. One 
 will come upon groups of Eskimo children listening 
 to stories of the ancient time, some of them like 
 many of our own stories that have come to us from 
 the Icelandic Norse. In the East there will be charm- 
 ing scenes in which yellow-robed priests, with palm- 
 leaf books in their laps, are telling or reading the 
 birth stories of Buddha. In China and Japan will 
 be found the professional story-teller, entertaining 
 or teaching in the pubHc hall, or in the market-place ; 
 scenes in so many ways like those in ancient Greece, 
 that one will wonder whether there was once contact 
 between the two civihzations. In Northern Africa 
 the professional story-teller will be seen entertaining 
 crowds of wild-eyed Arabs in the public market- 
 place. If one lingers among historic places in Europe 
 he will still imagine the presence of the strolhng 
 singers and bards, who did more than any other class 
 to keep culture alive through the Dark Ages, and 
 who laid the foundations of our literature. Among 
 northern castles one will seem to hear still the echoes 
 of the voices of the ancient skalds, telling of the great 
 deeds of old kings^ and of the mighty gods, Odin
 
 MORAL TRAINING — ITS AIM AND METHOD 7 
 
 and Thor. In rural Germany, in Normandy, in the 
 Highlands, and the country districts of Ireland, 
 and wherever there is still a trace of unwritten litera- 
 ture, and the folk-tale survives, one will find remains 
 of story-telling customs which have outlived the cen- 
 turies. There will be the warm fireside, the music, 
 the home-brewed beer or cider, the eager peasants 
 listening to the strange stories of the traveUng story- 
 teller, who perhaps combines with his art the more 
 practical trade of shoemaker or tailor. Wherever, 
 in a word, there has been religion to teach, tradition 
 and custom to perpetuate, history to record ; where- 
 ever there is folk thought and local legend, country 
 gossip and news, there will be found the story-teller 
 — more or less serious and skilled, more or less a 
 creative artist ; but usually with a sense of a serious 
 mission to carry abroad what he has learned as the 
 truthr 1 
 
 This is really no exaggeration. In the story we 
 have a kind of universal language. It has an interest 
 for every one at some period of his career. Its em- 
 pire extends to the confines of the race. Its throne 
 is established especially in the imagination and heart 
 of childhood — whether in the childhood of the in- 
 dividual or the childhood of the race. Anything so 
 intensely human — so essentially the possession of 
 
 1 Partridge, " Story-telling in School and Homfc," New York- 1912, 
 pp. 8-10.
 
 8 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 the race — must find its raison d'etre deep seated in 
 the human soul. Its psychology reveals something 
 more than a mere play of fancy or a desire to be en- 
 tertained. Stories, in their fundamental aspects, are 
 the products of intense human desires, fears, hopes, 
 and beliefs. In the earlier history of man they were 
 undoubtedly the outgrowth of man's struggle with 
 nature and with supposed unseen powers. Stories 
 represent the fears, desires, and hopes of this struggle. 
 Giants, fairies, etc., are the personification of these 
 fears, desires, and hopes. These beings, revealed by 
 fancy and the imagination, conquer or are to conquer 
 others, who represent opposing forces. Stories are 
 born of religious and ethical moods, and this is why 
 they are so intensely human in their character. 
 
 The story has for ages proven itself a most effec- 
 tive educational means. Indeed, it constituted one 
 of the earliest means of education. Priests, prophets, 
 poets, singers, historians, made use of it. The Hindoo 
 Jatakas, the Hebrew tales, the Greek myths and 
 fables, the Christian parables, the medieval ballads 
 and legends, all testify to the fact that the story in 
 some form has been a favorite method of commu- 
 nicating knowledge and behef. This is doubtless 
 due to the fact that it is such a very human thing. 
 By virtue of its content it appeals to the humanity 
 in us. Our imagination and sympathies are awak- 
 ened, iuid together they envisage the story content
 
 MORAL TRAINING ITS AIM AND METHOD 9 
 
 with reality — they clothe the characters with flesh 
 and blood. In most instances the reader or hearer 
 of the story identifies himself with the hero or 
 heroine of the tale. In short, the story secures our 
 interest, and what we are interested in we attend to, 
 and what we attend to, as a rule, we remember, and 
 what we remember we think about, and all this, 
 when it involves a moral content, affects character 
 and conduct. 
 
 Now, because, as a rule, the story is a spiritual crea- 
 tion, involving a moral content, as is manifest in so 
 many fairy tales, myths, fables, parables, allegories, 
 legends, etc., its use becomes a peculiarly efifective 
 method in moral culture, and this is why the great 
 moral teachers have resorted to it. As Froebel once 
 said: "It is not the gay forms that he meets in the 
 fairy tale which charm the child, but a spiritual, in- 
 visible truth lying far deeper." It is not merely 
 because the story entertains, and ministers often to 
 the child's self-forgetfulness, but because of its moral 
 and spiritual content that the child becomes vitally 
 interested in it. This is what makes it such a potent 
 instrument in character building. A book of well- 
 selected stories, or a series of such tales well told by 
 the teacher, is far more effective than any text-book. 
 This is doubtless what President Hall meant when he 
 said: "Let me tell the stories and I care not who 
 writes the text-books." A good story is a sure and
 
 lO MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 swift method of approach to a child's mind and 
 heart. 
 
 Furthermore, in certain respects the moral story 
 is a more powerful influence with the child than an 
 actual Uving example. The sanctions of morality — 
 the rewards and penalties — must be apparent and 
 more or less immediate to the child if the moral 
 lesson is to be effective. In actual life these are not 
 always obvious, and often seem far removed in point 
 of time. Whereas, in the story, punishment is swift 
 and reward immediate, so that the child soon per- 
 ceives what the results of bad and good conduct are. 
 
 Objection is sometimes urged against the use of 
 stories — especially of fairy tales — by sophisticated 
 persons who would reduce all life to the terms of a 
 scientific prose translation, and are afraid of the pres- 
 entation of truth in any other manner than in the 
 language of fact. Some parents fear that children 
 may draw from these fanciful tales inferences about 
 the world which must be unlearned, and that the pro- 
 cess of unlearning may lead to a skeptical attitude 
 toward all instruction. The child finds out that the 
 fairy stories are not true, and infers that other teach- 
 ing is untrue also. The fact is, however, that the 
 normal child passes easily out of the reading of im- 
 aginative fiction into the reading of veritable history 
 without any process of disillusion. He perceives the 
 difference. We do not need to explain it to him.
 
 MORAL TRAINING ITS AIM AND METHOD II 
 
 He is no more likely to reproach us for telling him 
 about giants and dragons than for dressing him in 
 the proper frocks of childhood. He instinctively 
 puts all these things where they belong. Meanwhile, 
 the fairies are as appropriate to his youth as the 
 frocks. He comes on with widened interest, having 
 taken into his possession that sense of the mystery of .; 
 the world which right education does but increase. 
 He gets out of his reading an assurance of the eventual 
 triumph of the good, which he may verify afterward 
 in history, and which he needs for the development 
 of his character. 
 
 Again, there is a psychology governing the order 
 of the selection of stories. The psychological order 
 is practically the historical one. A regard for it 
 would begin with the myth and fairy tale, because 
 their people are most nearly Hke children themselves. 
 Especially is this true of the fairy tale. And the fact 
 that the child is greatly interested in animals makes 
 the fable effective, although here we find the moral 
 stated, which is not so effective as when the child is 
 permitted to infer it himself. As the child grows 
 older and deals more and more with the real than 
 with the fictitious, the legend, which has an element 
 of both, paves the way for a transition from the 
 myth, fairy tale, and fable to stories of real life. In 
 the stories of King Arthur and his Knights, in the 
 adventures of Robin Hood, in the splendid legends
 
 y 
 
 12 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 of the heroes, the fairy tales merge into actual life. 
 The child learns the fineness of courtesy, the com- 
 bination of tenderness with strength, the protection 
 of the weak, the scorn of all things base and mean, 
 which are exemplified in the exploits of men in armor. 
 In all this he is living the long past over again, and 
 is coming on over the road of progress along which 
 the race has gone before him. He is filhng in the 
 historic background of human Hfe. After the legend 
 comes a vital interest in heroes and heroines, as life 
 actually presents them, and moral education will 
 meet this interest with biographical and historical 
 literature. 
 
 Furthermore, the indirect method demands that 
 the child be allowed to do his own moralizing. To 
 tell the story, and then to apply it in the form of 
 preaching or exhortation, is not to be commended. 
 The child is capable of doing his own m.oralizing, and 
 this is much more effective than if the parent or 
 teacher does it for him. It is, of course, vitally im- 
 portant that the child should grasp the moral import 
 of the story. If he fails to do so at first, tactful 
 questioning will bring the moral lesson out ; but, by 
 all means, avoid "preaching." As Professor St. John 
 says: "If a good story is well told moralizing is not 
 necessary; but that is not all. It has been clearly 
 demonstrated that it weakens the moral influence. 
 Psychologists have formulated the law that the power
 
 MORAL TRAINING — ITS AIM AND METHOD 13 
 
 of normal suggestion varies inversely with the extent 
 to which its purpose is definitely revealed. The 
 mother who says to a child, 'Why don't you go out 
 on the lawn and see how many dandehons you can 
 pick ? ' is likely to secure a period of privacy, but if 
 she adds, 'so that I can be alone for a little while,' 
 the result will not be the same. Children resent the\ 
 old-fashioned Sunday-school stories with their too 
 obvious moral purpose, but are strongly influenced 
 by transcripts of hfe in which the same duties are ■ 
 clearly implied, but not explicitly stated. So adults 
 are often more strongly influenced by a play hke 
 The Servant in the House than by many sermons." ^ 
 
 In the fifth place, if morals are to be taught in 
 this manner, it necessitates a body of good literature, 
 carefully graded in vocabulary, interest, and ethical 
 content. This literature, so far as possible, should be 
 selected from the best ancient and modern lore of all 
 nations. We are thus Ukely to secure, not only the best 
 literature, but also to strike the fundamentally moral 
 and human. In making a collection of such literature 
 for the schools the utmost care must be taken not 
 to use anything that has not been made the subject 
 of actual test in the classroom. It is in this way 
 alone that the best results can be secured. This 
 literature should be compiled in the form of ethical 
 readers that may take their place side by side with 
 
 ^ St. John, " Stories and Story-telling," Boston, 1910, p. 33.
 
 14 MOIL^L TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 literary, historical, nature, and other readers. Thus, 
 for nine years, in the kindergarten, and in the eight 
 grades of the elementary schools, we could train the 
 pupil in the virtues by means of good literature 
 adapted in every way to the pupil's stage of develop- 
 ment. 
 
 It should be stated again that we are not to teach a 
 science of ethics. We are to establish the pupil in 
 the virtues. We are to build character, and the best 
 way in which to do this is by systematically placing 
 before the pupil moral situations as embodied in 
 story. Such situations, thus presented, deahng with 
 the virtues and vices peculiar to each period of the 
 child's unfolding, result in wholesome moral reactions 
 which, through frequent repetition, lead the pupil 
 to develop habits of will and forms of conduct that 
 are morally worthy. In other words, they tend to 
 estabhsh him in those virtues which constitute the 
 foundations of good character. 
 
 Finally, the teacher herself should be a good story- 
 teller. The story of the reader should often be sup- 
 plemented by a similar story related by the teacher. 
 In order that this may be effectively done, the teacher 
 should cultivate the art of story-telling, and should 
 have a fund of stories at her command. She must 
 famiharize herself with the fundamentals of story- 
 telling, and she will find that practice will grad- 
 ually tend to perfect her art. It may be diflScult
 
 MORAL TRAINING ITS AIM AND METHOD 1 5 
 
 at first, but perseverance will conquer the difficulties, 
 and victory means much for the teacher. It adds to 
 her power over the child. The child is eager to hear, 
 and he reacts with a receptive mind and heart. Such 
 an audience should be an inspiration to the teacher, 
 and it should furnish an incentive to make herself 
 proficient in this interesting and potent art. To 
 have the story of the reader supplemented by the 
 well- told story of the teacher will make the moral 
 lesson doubly effective. 
 
 The teacher will find it to her advantage to consult 
 the following works on stories, and how to tell them : — • 
 
 "The Science of Fairy Tales," E. Sidney Hartland; 
 "Fairy Tales: Their Meaning and Origin," J. T. Bunce; 
 "Comparative Mythology," Max Mueller ; "The Mythol- 
 ogy of the Aryan Nations," Sir G. W. Cox ; "How to Tell 
 Stories to Children," Sara Cone Bryant; " Some Great 
 Stories and How to Tell Them," R. T. Wyche; "Story- 
 telling : What to Tell and How to Tell It," Edna Lyman ; 
 "Stories and Story- telling in Moral and Religious Edu- 
 cation," E. P. St. John; "Story-telling in School and 
 Home," E. N. and G. E. Partridge. 
 
 Consult "Stories and Story-Telling," pp. 95-99, E. P. 
 St. John, on "Where to find Stories." 
 
 An elaborate bibliography on Moral Education is con- 
 tained in "Moral Instruction and Training in Schools," 
 edited by M. E. Sadler, London, 1908, Vol. II, pp. 351- 
 369, and in " Moral Education " by Edward Howard Griggs, 
 New York, 1904, pp. 297-341.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 
 
 All human efficiency is conditioned on bodily 
 efficiency. This is a dictum of modern science. Now 
 since the bodily life is subject to moral law, our prime 
 duty in this field of human functioning is so to de- 
 velop the body as to secure the highest possible 
 efficiency, and to avoid everything that makes against 
 its well-being. In other words, we ought to preserve 
 and promote the health and strength of the body, 
 and to guard it against everything that tends to 
 weaken and destroy it. This obligates us to ac- 
 quaint ourselves with the essential conditions of 
 bodily welfare, and to conform to them. According 
 to hygiene, the welfare of the bodily organism is 
 dependent on cleanliness of person, clothes, and sur- 
 roundings; on the quantity, quality, and digestion 
 of our food, and on the regularity of our eating ; 
 on the purity of the water we drink, as well as on the 
 manner of our drinking; on the air we breathe, its 
 temperature, moisture, freedom from bacteria, as 
 well as on our methods of breathing ; on the sufficiency 
 and soundness of our sleep ; on the amount and kind 
 
 i6
 
 THE BODILY LITE 1 7 
 
 of exercise we take ; and on either abstinence or 
 temperance with reference to indulgence in alcoholic 
 stimulants, narcotics, sexual passions, etc. This 
 being so, it is important that the pupil should ap- 
 prehend these essentials, not only as natural conditions 
 of bodily welfare, but also as involving duties im- 
 posed on him by his moral nature. To remain in 
 willful ignorance concerning the conditions of bodily 
 well-being, and to fail willfully to conform to them, 
 is to be guilty of gross moral neglect, and of positive 
 evil. 
 
 It is evident that many of the duties pertaining 
 to the bodily life come early in the individual's career. 
 Indeed, they antedate the period when the child 
 first enters upon his school Hfe. It is, therefore, 
 obligatory upon the parent, or upon those who have 
 the supervision of the child in these early years, to 
 make him acquainted with these duties, and to teach 
 him to perform them. In these early years the direct 
 method may not only be necessary, but in all prob- 
 abihty it will prove the more efficient. However, 
 after the sixth year the indirect method is without 
 doubt primarily the method to be used. 
 
 In moral instruction in this sphere of human 
 nature we seek to acquaint the pupil with virtues 
 and vices that pertain to the Hfe of the body, and also 
 to establish him in those habits of will and forms 
 of conduct that make for its highest well-being. One
 
 1 8 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 of the natural conditions of a healthy body is bodily 
 cleanliness. In view of the germ theory of disease 
 the importance of this condition needs to be fully 
 emphasized. Dangerous microbes exist in dirt which 
 constantly menace the health of the body. They 
 infest the dust that accumulates under the finger 
 nails, or on the surface of the body, especially on the 
 hands and face, and are thus often introduced into 
 the system by being conveyed to the mouth, or to 
 cuts and scratches on the body. This often results 
 in disease, or in painful and dangerous inflammations. 
 Hence the necessity of keeping the body clean by 
 frequent bathing. Dangerous microbes exist also 
 in unclean clothing and are transferred to the body. 
 Hence it is not a matter of indifference whether our 
 clothes be clean or not. Here cleanliness becomes a 
 necessity also. 
 
 Again, harmful microbes lurk in the food which 
 accumulates between and in the cavities of our teeth. 
 When it is allowed to remain there, it soon turns into 
 a workhouse for microbes — a breeding place of 
 disease. It is really surprising how many serious 
 diseases are the result of neglect or improper care 
 of the teeth. Hence the necessity of keeping them 
 in a healthy condition by frequent cleansing and 
 proper dentistry. 
 
 Furthermore, the function of the skin is to eliminate 
 waste products, and particularly to control the heat
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 1 9 
 
 losses of the system. In order to function normally 
 it must be kept in a healthy condition. The pores 
 must be kept open by frequent removal from the sur- 
 face of the body of the products they emit. This, of 
 course, is to be accomplished by frequent bathing, 
 and by rubbing the body thoroughly with a rough 
 towel. Bodily cleanliness becomes an essential if 
 the body is to maintain efficiently its functions and 
 promote its own well-being. 
 
 Now, since personal cleanhness in all of these forms 
 is an essential natural condition of bodily health and 
 strength, and since we are under moral obligation 
 to preserve and to promote the efficiency of the body, 
 such cleanliness is a matter of moral obligation also. 
 We are morally bound to practice it as a virtue. No- 
 where can this virtue be taught with greater success 
 than in the school. In many instances home condi- 
 tions are such that a systematic observance of this 
 obligation on the part of the children can hardly be 
 expected. So that the school has a special duty to 
 perform here. Personal cleanliness ought to be made 
 a requirement on the part of every pupil. Here 
 compulsion becomes a virtue. The hygienic, aes- 
 thetic, and moral sanctions of personal cleanliness 
 ought to be brought to bear on the pupil. The 
 hygienic sanctions will, of course, be dealt with in the 
 course on hygiene. The aesthetic and moral sanc- 
 tions can be brought forward in a course in elemen-
 
 20 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 tary moral training. Here the duty of maintaining 
 the efficiency of the body by observing the natural 
 conditions of its well-being can be presented as a 
 matter of ethical obligation, and as a matter of de- 
 cency and self-respect, and a serious effort to estab- 
 lish the pupil in habits of personal cleanliness can 
 be made. And here, as in the case of other virtues, 
 systematic training is necessary. 
 
 Prudence and self-control in relation to the bodily 
 life are also virtues which need to be dealt with in 
 elementary moral training. They relate chiefly to 
 regulation of the bodily appetites — the appetites 
 of food, drink, sleep, and sex. The appetite for food 
 is, of course, fundamental. By it the body is sus- 
 tained. But how it is to be sustained, whether at 
 a high point of efficiency or not, depends largely upon 
 what we eat, how much we eat, and how we eat. 
 Modern science shows this to be true in a very im- 
 portant sense. Our bodily and mental efficiency 
 depends in a large measure upon the quaHty, quan- 
 tity, and digestion of our food. Physiological 
 chemistry shows us that there are food values. Cer- 
 tain foods are better adapted to promote the well- 
 being of the body than others. So that it is not a 
 matter of hygienic indifference, and therefore not a 
 matter of moral indifference, what we eat. In 
 a very important sense the German maxim is true : 
 Mann ist was Mann isst, — ''Man is what he eats.''
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 21 
 
 The same thing is true in regard to quantity of food. 
 According to recent scientific investigations the 
 average person eats too much. The result is that 
 waste products accumulate in the system. They 
 are in a state of fermentation, and thus poison the 
 body — impairing and weakening it. The organs of 
 nutrition are overtaxed, and the organs whose func- 
 tion it is to eliminate by-products are also unequal 
 to the burden imposed upon them. Thus the body 
 suffers and, with it, the mind also. So that to eat 
 too much is not only an hygienic evil, but a moral 
 evil as well. It is a sin against our total life, for 
 our entire mental efficiency is conditioned upon our 
 bodily well-being. 
 
 Neither is the mastication of our food a matter of 
 hygienic and moral indifference. To fail to have the 
 digestive work properly initiated in the mouth is to 
 throw upon the stomach a burden that does not prop- 
 erly belong to it. The result is that the work of 
 digestion is not thoroughly done, and our bodily 
 strength is weakened, and with the weakening of 
 the bodily organism there is a corresponding impair- 
 ment of mental and moral strength. 
 
 It is evident, then, that dietetics is an important 
 branch of hygiene, and it ought to figure conspicuously 
 in the school curriculum. Since we are under ob- 
 ligations to moraUze the bodily life, and since the 
 supreme obligation here is to raise the bodily or-
 
 2 2 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 ganism to its highest point of efficiency, it becomes 
 our duty to acquaint ourselves with the laws of hy- 
 giene as they relate to the food of the body, and to 
 conform to them. Thus this subject becomes a part 
 of morals also. It belongs to moral education as well 
 as to intellectual culture. Prudence and self-control 
 in regard to our appetite for food are virtues which 
 must be cultivated, and the time to cultivate them 
 is in early childhood and youth. 
 
 But these virtues ought also to be practiced in 
 relation to our drinking. Water, too, is a funda- 
 mental necessity of our bodily Hfe. As in the case of 
 food, so in the case of drink, our bodily efficiency is 
 dependent on the quahty of the water we drink, and 
 on the mode of drinking it. In regard to the quality, 
 it is exceedingly important that the water introduced 
 into the system be pure. As in the food we eat, 
 and in the air we breathe, so in the water we 
 drink, disease microbes are often present. For ex- 
 ample, water is probably the most proHfic source of 
 typhoid fever germs. So that it is a matter of vital 
 importance for us to protect the body from such 
 sources of danger. From a hygienic point of view 
 hardly anything is more important to a city than 
 its water supply. Citizens should guard it against 
 all sources of pollution, especially from sewage. 
 Hence prudence here is not only a hygienic obliga- 
 tion, but a moral obligation as well. Every individ-
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 23 
 
 ual is under moral obligation to guard the interests 
 of his own bodily life as well as the interests of the 
 bodily Hfe of the community from such dangers. 
 Not only the teacher of hygiene, but also the teacher 
 of morals in our schools, must aim to cultivate in the 
 pupil the virtue of prudence in this respect. In this 
 relation it is both a personal and a social virtue. 
 
 A moral obHgation extends also to our mode of 
 drinking water. It is a matter both of hygienic and 
 moral concern as to how we drink. We should not 
 drink while chewing our food. To do so interferes 
 with the digestive process, by replacing the saUva 
 whose oflEice is to moisten and soften the food. It 
 thus interferes with the proper preparation of the 
 food for the stomach. This means that it interferes 
 with digestion, and good digestion is absolutely es- 
 sential to our highest physical well-being. So here 
 again the virtue of prudence becomes important, and 
 a course in elementary morals should emphasize the 
 virtue in this relation. Indeed, it needs special em- 
 phasis, for there is hardly any law of hygiene more 
 frequently and flagrantly violated by children than 
 this one. 
 
 Sleep is sometimes spoken of as an appetite. It 
 is an absolutely necessary condition of the body's 
 maintenance and well-being. Indeed, every one's 
 bodily and mental efficiency is largely dependent 
 upon it. During our waking moments the brain is
 
 24 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 constantly active. It is at work even in our most 
 trivial employments. It is constantly expending its 
 energy. Hence it becomes fatigued and needs rest. 
 Sleep brings the rest necessary for saving and re- 
 newing its energy. And so it is with the other organs 
 of the body. Although more or less active during 
 sleep, they are relatively at rest when their activity 
 is compared with that of our waking moments. 
 This results in a saving and a renewing of our bodily 
 energy. When we sleep, we cease to spend and de- 
 stroy ; we save and construct. 
 
 Sleep is an important factor in the growth and de- 
 velopment of childhood. This being so, the amount, 
 soundness, and regularity of sleep are essential con- 
 ditions of the body's welfare, and prudence and self- 
 control in this respect become matters of hygienic 
 value and of ethical obligation. In other words, 
 from the moral standpoint they are virtues, and call 
 not only for recognition, but for more than ordinary 
 emphasis in every scheme of moral education ; for, 
 in view of the vital importance of sleep in its relation 
 to the child's physical and mental welfare, our care- 
 lessness in regard to his interests in this respect is 
 not only a serious hygienic evil, but a moral evil as 
 well. 
 
 The school has its duty to perform here. Many 
 parents are ignorant of the vital importance of sleep 
 for the total well-being of the child, and, therefore,
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 25 
 
 flagrantly violate the laws of hygiene in the treatment 
 of their children in this respect. We must raise up a 
 generation possessed of knowledge, prudence, and self- 
 control in these matters, so that not only they, but 
 subsequent generations also, may profit by their 
 knowledge and virtue : — 
 
 "We cannot say what the mental and physical average 
 of our race is really capable of being until we devote far 
 more attention than any hitherto to the question of sleep 
 in childhood. It is not only growth of limb but also 
 growth and development of brain that occurs during the 
 constructive period of sleep. To eat is only to take in, 
 but to sleep is to build." ^ 
 
 Another essential condition of bodily welfare 
 which calls for the exercise of prudence is proper 
 breathing. We breathe from birth till death, and 
 our physical well-being is conditioned upon the air 
 we breathe, and upon our mode of breathing. The 
 results of fresh and pure air in the schoolroom, com- 
 pared with those of a poorly ventilated room, will be 
 very apparent. Dr. Gulick, in his simple hygienic 
 lesson to children, does not exaggerate the case : — 
 
 "I can think," he says, "of two schoolrooms. In the 
 first the children look unhappy ; their eyes are dull and 
 their cheeks are flushed, though some of them have pale 
 faces instead. Only a few sit up straight, whfle none of 
 
 • Saleeby, " Health, Strength, and Happiness," New York, 1908, 
 p. 108.
 
 26 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 them look as if they enjoyed studying. One class is 
 reciting a spelling lesson, and I notice that several of the 
 children miss the easiest words. In this room the air is 
 wretched. I look around and cannot see any place for 
 fresh air to enter. 
 
 "The second room is of the same size, and although it 
 holds the same number of children, still everything here is 
 different. Both the girls and the boys look as if they en- 
 joyed studying, most of them are sitting up straight, their 
 eyes are bright, they do not often miss the easy words, 
 and nobody looks cross. As might be expected, enough 
 fresh air is coming into the room all the time to keep it 
 fresh and pure." ^ 
 
 Until recently the explanation of the bad effects 
 of this "wretched air" on the bodily life was that 
 they were due to the introduction of carbon dioxid 
 into the system. Beside inert nitrogen air contains 
 oxygen and carbon dioxid, one of which is beneficial 
 to the body, the other is not. In inhaling pure 
 air, we inhale oxygen ; when it is exhaled, it has been 
 changed by the lungs into carbon dioxid. When 
 we are in a room not properly ventilated, there is a 
 gradual decrease of oxygen and an increase of carbon 
 dioxid, which may be harmful. It was formerly, and 
 still is, supposed by many that we are poisoned by in- 
 haling it. Lately, however, this explanation has been 
 called into question ; indeed, it has been rejected as 
 false. Dr. Leonard Hill and others affirm, on the 
 
 ^ Gulick, " Good Health," Boston, 1906, pp. 6-7.
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 27 
 
 basis of experiment, that the evil results of living 
 in stuffy or ill-ventilated rooms are due to the 
 temperature, dryness, and stagnation of the air rather 
 than to its chemical impurity, — to a deficiency of 
 oxygen, and the inhalation of carbon dioxid, and that 
 our American school buildings, many of which are 
 heated by hot-air systems, are often responsible for 
 the throat and respiratory troubles of children.^ 
 
 Whichever of these two explanations is correct, 
 the fact remains the same, that poorly ventilated 
 rooms are responsible for serious bodily ills, and there- 
 fore the child should be made acquainted with the 
 fact, and be taught the importance of proper ventila- 
 tion. 
 
 And what is true on a large scale with respect to 
 the schoolroom is equally true on a smaller scale 
 concerning the home. So that children ought to 
 be made to reahze the importance of good ventila- 
 tion in the home, and thus we shall raise up a genera- 
 tion that will observe hygienic measures on which the 
 physical, mental, and moral welfare of a people largely 
 depend. When we remember how many children of 
 the poor live in badly ventilated tenements, and how 
 bodily disease is often the result ; when we remember 
 how seriously such conditions affect the mental and 
 moral life of the children of the poor who attend our 
 schools, the teacher will see at once what an op- 
 ^ Hill, Popular Science Monthly, October, 191 2.
 
 28 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 portunity presents itself to the school for the improve- 
 ment of the bodily life of a large element in the 
 community. She will then not only insist upon 
 knowledge, but will endeavor to develop wisdom also 
 in the matter of breathing fresh air. Prudence as a 
 moral obligation will be cultivated. An effort to 
 establish the child in this important virtue will be 
 made. 
 
 But there is another aspect of this subject. Modern 
 science has made us acquainted with the existence of 
 innumerable microbes in the air, some of which are 
 the enemies of man, and which, when introduced 
 into the body through breathing, threaten its wel- 
 fare, and often, indeed, its life. Dangerous microbes 
 frequently infest poorly ventilated rooms. So that 
 here again the virtue of prudence becomes a necessity 
 if we would preserve our bodily efficiency. Fur- 
 thermore, whether in the home or out of it, we are 
 constantly enveloped in an atmosphere of dust, vary- 
 ing in degrees of density. In this atmosphere harm- 
 ful microbes are often present. So that the dust 
 cf streets should be avoided as much as possible, 
 and great care should be exercised not only in keep- 
 ing the house as clean as possible, but also in sweep- 
 ing carpets, shaking rugs, dusting furniture, and 
 brushing clothes. Carelessness here becomes an evil 
 because of the danger involved, and prudence becomes 
 a virtue. The teacher should train children to
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 29 
 
 be on guard against the vice, and to practice the 
 virtue, the opportunity for exercising which comes 
 to every one. 
 
 Again, it is not a matter of indifference as to how 
 we breathe. The child should not breathe through 
 his mouth. As a rule, the presence of adenoids will 
 probably be found responsible for improper breathing 
 of this nature. Where there is medical inspection 
 in the schools, this will doubtless be attended to. 
 Where there is not such inspection, the teacher 
 should report the matter to the child's parents. 
 There are other forms of improper breathing which 
 will probably be corrected by the teacher of hygiene 
 or the physical director. But when the teacher of 
 hygiene or the physical director is not to be found 
 in the school, then the teacher herself should take 
 the matter in hand. She should be informed on the 
 subject of proper methods of breathing, and the 
 child has a right to the benefit of her informa- 
 tion. Montessori speaks of "the art of breathing," 
 and she has adopted Professor Sala's system of 
 respiratory gymnastics for the purpose of devel- 
 oping this "art." ^ This matter is one of vital 
 importance from a hygienic point of view, and, there- 
 fore, the teacher of elementary morals must treat the 
 subject as a matter of moral concern also. 
 
 'Montessori, "The Montessori Method," translated by Anne E. 
 George, New York, 191 2, p. 147.
 
 30 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 Exercise is another essential of bodily welfare, and, 
 as such, it becomes a moral obligation. There are 
 two forms of exercise : play and physical labor. 
 Both, properly indulged in, make for the welfare of 
 the body. The teacher is primarily concerned with 
 play. It preeminently belongs to childhood and 
 youth. To-day the playground comes into the cur- 
 riculum of the school out of the experience of the 
 street. It has been found so potent an influence 
 in the hves of unprivileged children that the provid- 
 ing of open spaces for the purpose of supervised play 
 is becoming more and more a part of the business of 
 every progressive city. Many experiments have thus 
 been tried already, and the results are available for 
 use in the schools. The idea of using schoolyards 
 for real playgrounds is largely the outcome of these 
 successful experiments. 
 
 Of course, the schoolyard has always been a place 
 for play, but it has seldom been an attractive place ; 
 hardly has it been well adapted to purposes of rec- 
 reation ; and still less frequently has any serious 
 effort been made to render by expert direction the 
 games of the children profitable as well as pleasant. 
 The private school has had a great advantage in this 
 respect over the public school. Indeed, the play- 
 ground has thus far been one of the chief reasons for 
 the existence of the private school. Parents per- 
 ceive that out-of-door play is a part of the normal
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 3 1 
 
 life of the child, and that without it not only the 
 physical but the moral Hfe is endangered. They per- 
 ceive also that the crowded town affords little oppor- 
 tunity for such recreation. Hence they send their 
 children to schools which are built in the country, in 
 the midst of broad fields for exercise. The teaching 
 in the classrooms of these schools may be no better 
 than in the public schools, or not so good, but the 
 boys and girls get the needed development which is 
 gained from normal play. 
 
 The transformation of schoolyards into playgrounds 
 gives to the poor one of the privileges of the rich. 
 This matter is intimately related to morals. It is a 
 help to good health, and is thus an aid to all good 
 living. It improves the quaUty of the moral stock ; 
 it gives the city better citizens. 
 
 The first necessity is an enlargement of most school- 
 yards to make them big enough for actual use. Then 
 the materials of amusement must be supphed in the 
 form of swings and games, and other opportunities 
 for exercise, and, in charge of the whole, must be a 
 director. The moral value of the playground de- 
 pends on his wise supervision. For the games of 
 children are to be used not only to amuse them, and 
 not only to enlarge their lungs, and straighten their 
 backs, and toughen their muscles, but to minister 
 to the betterment of character. They are to carry 
 from their recreations not only a knowledge of games,
 
 32 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 ;which must presently, in the business of life, be of 
 little use, but a knowledge of life itself, learned in the 
 learning and playing of the games. 
 1 According to Groos, animal play is a preparation 
 for the Hfe the young animal must lead later in the 
 struggle for existence. This is true also of the child, 
 however true may be the so-called recapitulatory 
 theory of play. It is nature's method of preparing 
 the child for the things he must later work at instead 
 of play at. It prepares him also for the larger moral 
 Ufe which will be his in the future. Aside from the 
 benefits to the bodily life gained through play, the 
 playground is the classroom of the social virtues. 
 Children are taught, without knowing that they are 
 learning lessons, how to get on with their neighbors. 
 They learn patience, and forbearance, and self-re- 
 straint, and to await their turn, and to be fair and 
 honest, to lose with good humor, and to care for the 
 game more than for the prize. They perceive that 
 results are best attained by combined effort, by 
 ''team play" ; they learn to obey, to follow a leader, 
 to subordinate themselves. They prepare for the 
 serious responsibilities of life. 
 
 Gymnastics, too, are a wholesome form of physical 
 exercise. They partake both of the nature of play, 
 and, as prescribed school exercises, of the nature of 
 work. They should be encouraged in every school, 
 for they make for the vitality and efficiency of the
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 33 
 
 body. School authorities should provide opportuni- 
 ties and apparatus for systematic exercise of this kind. 
 Such a regimen not only has a wholesome physical 
 effect, but the order and discipline involved exert a 
 , moralizing influence as well. "As boys become in- 
 terested in their biceps they grow trusty and are more 
 likely to be temperate, to accept discipline, to be more 
 interested in wholesome regime. As muscles develop, 
 the gap between knowing and doing narrows, and 
 motor mindedness increases. There also arises a sal- 
 utary sense of the difference between tolerable well- 
 ness, or mere absence of sickness, and an exuberant 
 buoyant feeling of abounding vitality, health, and 
 vigor, which brings courage, hope, and right ambition 
 in its train, power to undergo hardship, do difficult 
 things, bear trials, and resist temptation, while flabby 
 muscles and deficiency of exercise give a sense of weak- 
 ness, lust for indulgence, easy discouragement, and 
 feelings of inefficiency." ^ 
 
 It is fortunate, also, from a moral point of view 
 that manual training has been introduced so largely 
 into our schools. It, too, is a kind of physical exer- 
 cise which makes for the development of the body, and 
 for this reason alone it might be commended on moral 
 grounds, to say nothing here of its value for the 
 development of the will, and its great moral value in 
 developing certain virtues and in preparing, to a cer- 
 
 1 Hall, " Educational Problems," New York, 191 1, Vol. I, p. 273,
 
 34 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 tain extent, the pupils for the vocational or eco- 
 nomic life. Here it is sufficient to heartily commend 
 manual training on the ground of its value for morals 
 because of its salutary- effect upon the bodily life. 
 It makes for vitality and better physical develop- 
 ment, and, therefore, for greater physical efficiency, 
 thus rendering the body a more capable instrument 
 in the service of the mind. 
 
 In dealing with the moralization of the bodily life 
 another virtue to be dealt with is physical courage. 
 Courage is often necessary for the preser\-ation of the 
 body, not only from injury, but also from possible 
 death, and therefore it becomes a moral obligation. 
 The Greeks greatly emphasized this \'irtue. Aris- 
 totle regarded courage as the mean between coward- 
 ice and foolhardiness. Physical courage moralized is 
 really rational self-defense. Such courage is always 
 prudent. It guards the body against surprises and 
 sudden or prolonged attacks. 
 
 "That man is brave," says Paulsen, "who, when at- 
 tacked and in peril, neither blindly runs away nor rushes 
 into danger, but retaining his composure, carefully and 
 calmly studies the situation, quietly deliberates and de- 
 cides, and then carries out his resolution firmly and 
 energetically, whether it be resistance and attack, or de- 
 fense and retreat. Prudence, therefore, constitutes an 
 essential part of valor." ^ 
 
 • Paiilsen, " A System of Ethics," translated by Thilly, New York, 
 
 1900, p. 496.
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 35 
 
 It is well for the teacher to develop this virtue in 
 children. They ought to be taught to endure pain 
 patiently and courageously ; to meet danger fear- 
 lessly, but cautiously. In this way they not only 
 render a valuable service to the body, but also to the 
 soul. Its value for social service is often seen in the 
 golden deeds of heroism on the part of children, which 
 constitute a glorious page in the annals of the race, 
 and in that martial courage which is the expression of 
 patriotic loyalty to the state, and which, later in life, 
 they may be called upon to exercise, and for which 
 the early cultivation of courage prepares the way.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE BODILY LIFE (continued) 
 
 In relation to alcoholic stimulants, temperance 
 is a form of self-control and prudence with reference 
 to the bodily hfe that should receive special con- 
 sideration at the hands of the school because of its 
 vital relation to the interests of the individual, and of 
 society. So callous do we seem to be to the awful 
 social, economic, and moral effects of its opposite — 
 the vice of intemperance — that it really seems 
 as though it might be better to approach the moral 
 aspects of the subject through hygiene. For children, 
 at least, acquaintance with the evil effects of alcohol, 
 and of an intemperate use of it, on the bodily organ- 
 ism may prove to be the most effective means of 
 introducing them to the higher moral considerations 
 involved. To this end it is well for the teacher of 
 elementary morals to cooperate with the teacher of 
 hygiene, — the one dealing primarily with the scien- 
 tific aspects of the subject, and the other more es- 
 pecially with the moral aspects as involved in the 
 facts disclosed by science. 
 
 The effects of alcohol on the bodily organism are 
 36
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 37 
 
 SO deleterious that it is not difficult to develop in the 
 large majority of pupils a moral attitude against its 
 use as a beverage by man. Metchnikoff has shown 
 how its effect upon the white cells of the blood — 
 the so-called leucocytes or, as he calls them, the 
 phagocytes or eating cells, the natural protectors 
 of the body — is to diminish their power of resistance 
 against the attacks of the unfriendly microbes of in- 
 fectious diseases. The function of the white cells is 
 to weaken and destroy these disease germs. Like 
 soldiers, they rush to the front in cases of inflamma- 
 tion and fight the enemies of the body. They eat 
 them up. Thus they are our friends, and alcohol is 
 our enemy, for it weakens their fighting powers ; it 
 lessens the power of resistance of these minute friends 
 that live in the blood. 
 
 Science also calls attention to the deleterious effects 
 of alcohol on the brain. It affects for the time being 
 the higher brain centers which have to do with self- 
 control ; also to its bad effects on the nervous system, 
 as well as to its ill effects in weakening our powers of 
 endurance of heat and cold. It is, also, either directly 
 or indirectly, responsible for nearly one half of the 
 cases of insanity that burden the race. 
 
 It is evident from all this that a most serious indict- 
 ment can be brought against alcohol in its relation to 
 the bodily organism. It makes against its vitality, 
 health, and efficiency ; it is an enemy of our bodily
 
 38 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 life. It would seem from a hygienic, and therefore 
 from a moral, point of view, that not only temperance, 
 but abstinence also is a moral obligation. And when 
 wc add to all this the terrible indictment against 
 intemperance that comes from criminology, — an in- 
 dictment that makes alcohol responsible for more 
 than half of the crimes against society, — it is evident 
 that temperance is a virtue that should be taught in 
 the schools. There should be no compromise here 
 or lack of moral courage on the part of the school. 
 Intemperance is a most serious sin against body and 
 mind, and a terrible sin against society. Indeed, it 
 is an evil of such magnitude against society that to 
 bring up a child in the way he should go with refer- 
 ence to the virtue of temperance alone would almost 
 justify a course in elementary hygiene and morals. 
 
 In regard to the deleterious effects of the use of 
 tobacco on the bodily organism, there is such a differ- 
 ence of opinion that it is hard to treat the matter with 
 accuracy. But while this is true with reference to its 
 effects on adults, there seems to be a pretty general 
 consensus of opinion on the part of students of hygiene 
 in regard to the effect of cigarette smoking on children. 
 It is afi&rmed that the poison of the nicotine in cigar- 
 ettes weakens the action of the heart, irritates the 
 nerves, and retards physical growth and develop- 
 ment. Many school principals m^ake it responsible 
 for mental inefficiency, which in many cases leads to
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 39 
 
 truancy, and truancy often leads to crime, all of which 
 is doubtless due originally to the ill effects of nicotine 
 on the body. If this be true, then abstinence with 
 reference to cigarette smoking on the part of boys is 
 to be taught as a virtue, and the schools have a great 
 responsibility here. School principals affirm this to 
 be an evil of no small proportion among pupils, — 
 to be found in many instances even among children 
 of the fourth grade of our schools, and, indeed, some- 
 times among those of the third grade. Because of 
 its baneful effects upon the bodily Ufe, and its 
 general demorahzing influence, it should be seriously 
 dealt with in elementary courses in hygiene and 
 morals. 
 
 Self-control in the regulation of sexual appetite 
 is another essential condition of bodily welfare, which, 
 because of its vital relation to morality, calls for 
 special consideration in the moral training of children 
 and youth. 
 
 A difficult problem confronts us when we deal with 
 moral training in its relation to sex. We have only 
 recently waked up to the tremendous importance of 
 this aspect of moral education. The merging of 
 childhood into youth, and of youth into young man- 
 hood and womanhood, are in many respects the most 
 important periods in the history of a human being, 
 and the mental, moral, and spiritual interests involved 
 are simply momentous. Psychological and educa-
 
 40 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 tional science is now devoting earnest effort to the 
 study of the phenomena of adolescence. Profound 
 physical and mental changes, fraught with moral 
 significance, occur in the life of the individual, and 
 their nature and meaning ought to be understood, not 
 only by the scientist, but by the teacher, parent, and 
 children as well. Appalling ignorance on this sub- 
 ject has heretofore reigned supreme ; and a fatal 
 modesty has, as a rule, kept parents and teachers 
 from imparting what knowledge they have to children 
 who have a right to know. As a result, many children 
 have been seriously injured, and many have been 
 lost bodily, mentally, and morally because of their 
 ignorance. What rational excuse can be given for 
 withholding from children that which they have a 
 right to know because of its vital relation to their 
 total welfare ? A modesty that will keep children 
 ignorant on such a vital subject is not only false, but 
 it partakes of moral recreancy. Any one truly and 
 intelligently interested in the moral welfare of society 
 should not oppose a judicious, but frank dealing 
 with this problem. 
 
 From the standpoint of elementary moral education 
 the problem is, How should this important matter of 
 sex be dealt with ? Nothing is to be gained, but much 
 is to be lost, by allowing the boy or girl to remain 
 in ignorance concerning the facts of sex consciousness, 
 and their vital significance. It is a prerequisite of the
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 4I 
 
 best moral results that they should be enlightened 
 on this subject. And the first question that arises 
 is, When? Instruction along these lines must be 
 carefully adapted to each period of the child's devel- 
 opment. In the light of recent investigations these 
 periods may be more or less definitely determined, 
 and our instruction may be regulated accordingly. 
 In regard to the years from one to six, the child is, 
 as a rule, under the parents' care — being especially 
 under the guidance of the mother. Every mother 
 should be informed on the subject of the proper care 
 of her child's body. In the large majority of cases 
 such information must be brought to the mother. 
 Much might be done to secure this result by organizing 
 mothers' meetings in school districts, to be addressed 
 by the teacher of biology in the schools, if such there 
 be, or by a careful, tactful, and sympathetic physician, 
 who might be invited to give a series of simple talks 
 to parents. Such meetings should be held under the 
 direction of the schools, or of mothers' clubs, many 
 of which have been organized in our cities, or of par- 
 enthood clubs, which might be organized by social 
 settlements or by churches. Sex instruction, as it 
 bears on the first six years of childhood, should be 
 part of a general course given to mothers on the sub- 
 ject of the bodily care of children. It would consist 
 largely of explaining to the mother the dangers that 
 may arise from placing her child under the care of an
 
 42 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 ignorant or perverted nurse, and in giving information 
 as to how to deal with the child's questions in regard 
 to his own origin. Such questions are not infrequently 
 asked by children at this time of Hfe. Expert opin- 
 ion regards it wise not to ignore the questions, or to 
 give false rephes.^ 
 
 The years from six to twelve are, of course, a much 
 more important period in the child's Ufe. During 
 these years we have the immediately preadolescent 
 period, as well as the dawn of adolescence. The vi- 
 tal importance of these years cannot be exaggerated, 
 and they bring a very solemn obligation to those who 
 are responsible for children during this period. Sex 
 instruction in the immediately preadolescent period 
 should not impart knowledge of relations between 
 the sexes. It should concern itself merely with the 
 child's relations to himself, protecting him against 
 e\al habits that involve a violation of the laws of his 
 sexual nature. The ravages of such habits are so 
 serious ^ that this duty cannot conscientiously be 
 shirked by those responsible for the child's welfare. 
 Warning ought to be given to the child against an 
 evil that threatens his bodily, mental, and moral 
 welfare. Such instruction and warning should not be 
 confined to the preadolescent period, but should be 
 
 1 Cf. Report of the Special Committee on the Matter and Methods 
 of Sex Education, New York, 191 2, p. 5. 
 
 * Cf. Hall, "Adolescence," New York, 1904, Vols. I and II.
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 43 
 
 repeated in the first years of adolescence, and the 
 moral as well as the hygienic restraints should be 
 made use of. 
 
 But the important question arises here, By whom 
 should such instruction be given ? Naturally the 
 parent is the person upon whom this obligation rests. 
 But we are here confronted by the fact that a large 
 majority of parents are not qualified to deal intelli- 
 gently with the subject ; also by the fact that many, 
 whether qualified or not, fail to meet their obligations 
 in this respect. Because of this situation, the duty 
 falls upon the schools, and they should not fail to 
 measure up to their responsibiHty. 
 
 But how should the schools deal with the problem ? 
 Here again they might deal with it through district 
 mothers' meetings, in which mothers might be in- 
 structed by competent and sympathetic physicians. 
 But such instruction of mothers would not prove 
 sufficient. Only a limited number would attend the 
 meetings, and many of those who did attend would 
 fail to act in accordance with their knowledge. This 
 necessitates deahng directly with the boy and girl. 
 Either the medical inspector of schools, where there 
 is one, or the teacher of biology in schools that em- 
 ploy one, should perform this delicate task. In 
 schools where neither medical inspector nor teacher 
 of biology are to be found, it would be advisable to 
 invite physicians of standing to undertake such in-
 
 44 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 struction. If this be impossible, then the obhgation 
 devolves upon the teacher herself. 
 
 But how should such instruction be given? Co- 
 education exists in schools. Furthermore, even if 
 this were not the case, the question arises whether 
 such instruction should be given in pubHc. On the 
 whole, private instruction seems to be the best method 
 of handling this important and delicate subject. 
 
 But there should be more formal sex instruction 
 during the later years of this period from six to twelve. 
 This should be given in connection with the course in 
 biology. The subject of plant life lends itself ad- 
 mirably to this purpose. The recommendations on 
 this point, included in the Report previously referred 
 to, are wise, and may be quoted here to advantage : — 
 
 "There should be given, during the years of later child- 
 hood, including the remaining years of the ordinary 
 elementary school course, a carefully planned series of 
 lessons on reproduction in plants as a part of the course 
 in nature study. The child should be made to understand 
 the function of root, leaf, flower, and seed ; the different 
 modes of scattering seeds ; the various methods of fertili- 
 zation and the necessity of fertilization, and he should be 
 led up to the generalization that plant life always springs 
 from plant life. 
 
 "In like manner a series of lessons on reproduction 
 in animal life below mammals should be given, making 
 use of familiar animals. The origin of the chick, the 
 fish, and the frog from the egg, and the metamorphosis
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 45 
 
 of the frog ; the origin of insects and their metamorphoses ; 
 and, finally, the necessity for fertilization ; — these might 
 form the chief, general topics of such a series of lessons. 
 
 "The aim should be, so far as specific sex instruction is 
 concerned, to impress deeply the mind of the child with 
 the beautiful and marvelous processes of nature by which 
 life is reproduced from life, both in the plant world and 
 in the animal world. It is not necessary, and in most 
 cases not desirable, that children should make applica- 
 tion of this knowledge to reproduction in man before the 
 beginning of adolescence further than the human infant 
 is developed within the mother. But such instruction on 
 reproduction in nature will create the background of knowl- 
 edge which will afterward invest reproduction in the 
 higher animals and in man with a significance and a 
 dignity not otherwise attainable; and what is equally 
 important, it will create the right emotional attitude to- 
 ward human reproduction and prepare the child's mind 
 to appreciate its sacredness." ^ 
 
 In addition to all this, however, children of this 
 period should be put through a kind of regimen. 
 They should have opportunities and faciHties for 
 physical exercise. Supervised play is helpful. It 
 not only directly contributes to the bodily efficiency 
 of boys and girls, but it acts also as a preventive 
 in regard to sex evils. It also shields them from per- 
 
 ' Report of the Special Committee on the Matter and Methods 
 of Sex Education, New York, 191 2, pp. 6-7. Although this Report 
 contains very little that is new it tends to confirm much of the best that 
 has been said on the subject. We have in the main followed their 
 program with reference to sex education.
 
 46 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 verting influences of social surroundings. Prophy- 
 laxis in sex hygiene is as desirable as it is in medicine. 
 The last two years of elementary education are 
 exceedingly important in their bearing on the problem 
 of sex education. A large majority of the children 
 of our pubhc schools fail to pursue school life beyond 
 the eighth grade. Many go into hfe after their four- 
 teenth year as breadwinners. If they are to receive 
 systematic instruction in regard to the relation of the 
 sexes, it must be given in most instances before they 
 leave the schools. And such instruction should be 
 given. It is therefore necessary for the schools to 
 make provision for it. For here, as in the other aspects 
 of sex education, and for the same reasons as stated 
 above, we must depend on the schools rather than on 
 the home for adequate instruction. Here, again, the 
 instruction should be given, if possible, by the teacher 
 in biology. Of course, reproduction would constitute 
 the chief subject for consideration. The following 
 program is suggested by the Special Committee on 
 the Matter and Methods of Sex Education : — 
 
 "During the early adolescent period, approximately from 
 the age of twelve to sixteen, reproduction in plants and 
 in animals below the mammal should be more extensively 
 studied, and the wonderful variety of modes of fertiliza- 
 tion, especially in plants, be emphasized. It is important 
 to make the pupil acquainted with a wide range of facts, 
 in order to impress his mind with the wondrous beauty
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 47 
 
 of nature's provision for the perpetuation of life, the aim 
 being always ethical as well as scientific and hygienic. 
 
 "With this background of knowledge, reproduction in 
 mammals may be taken up. The teaching ought now to 
 impress, with many illustrative facts, the generalization 
 that animal life comes from the ovum. (The more accurate 
 formulation may be left until later.) Fertilization in 
 mammals should now be taught, and this should by natu- 
 ral steps lead up to reproduction in man. The simplest 
 facts in regard to heredity should now be taught, and their 
 applications be made to human life. The pupil will then 
 be in a position to understand the significance of sexual 
 morality, and to be impressed with the dangers to health 
 and morals of abnormal sexual habits. Specific instruc- 
 tion in regard to sexual morality will now be especially 
 effective. 
 
 "As girls mature from a year to a year and a half 
 earlier than boys, they should receive such instruction 
 somewhat earlier, and emphasis should be laid upon in- 
 struction in regard to the special care of their health 
 at the change of life called puberty." ^ 
 
 A difficulty, however, presents itself here that the 
 Report of the Committee referred to above does not 
 explicitly deal with, so far as it relates to the last years 
 of elementary education. Attention has been called 
 to the fact that a large majority of boys and girls 
 leave our public schools after they have finished their 
 work in the grammar grades. These adolescents should 
 
 * Report of the Special Committee on the Matter and Methods of 
 Sex Education, pp. 7-8.
 
 48 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 receive adequate instruction in regard to the nature 
 and dangers of venereal diseases. This matter is so 
 important that instruction cannot be postponed to later 
 years. Who will furnish instruction to the majority 
 of our pupils who leave the schools between the ages 
 of fourteen and sixteen? Were the large majority 
 of pubhc school children to continue their education 
 through the high schools instead of dropping out 
 after completing their elementary course, considera- 
 tion of this aspect of sexual relations might be safely 
 and profitably postponed as belonging more properly 
 to secondary education. But the situation being 
 what it is, we must reckon with the majority who 
 leave the schools at the close of the elementary period. 
 Hence, just as in the preadolescent years we prepare 
 the child for the adolescent period, so here, though it 
 may seem rather early to some, we are under obhga- 
 tion to prepare the pupils of the grades for the im- 
 portant years that follow. And the instruction should 
 be most impressive. It should serve as a powerful, 
 restraining influence in the future life of the pupil. 
 
 In many instances the instruction in the class in 
 biology might be supplemented by several talks by 
 a conscientious and tactful physician. His voice 
 on the pathology of sex would probably carry with 
 it the weight of professional authority. This would 
 be more Kkely to impress boys and girls than the 
 authority of the teacher of biology, because the
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 49 
 
 physician is constantly dealing in a practical way with 
 disease. Of course, a female physician should be 
 invited to give such instruction and warning to girls, 
 and a male physician to boys. 
 
 The foregoing views are not in accord with those 
 advocated by a recent writer on the sex problem. 
 Dr. Foerster, of the University of Zurich, still advo- 
 cates the old plan of reticence on this subject. He 
 would trust to the development of a kind of spiritual 
 mastery in the boy and girl that will enable them to 
 " keep the body under " when adolescence dawns, 
 and as it progresses. This spiritual mastery is to be 
 attained through a " species of will-gymnastics." 
 He says : — 
 
 " The outstanding feature of sexual education should 
 not be an explanation of the sex functions, but an intro- 
 duction to the inexhaustible power of the human spirit 
 and its capacity for dominating the animal nature and 
 controlling its demands. 
 
 " When young people have learned to appreciate the 
 joy of such spiritual mastery, they have attained the 
 highest possible immunity from sexual temptations. I 
 have often found pleasure in telling boys entering their 
 teens the story of Achilles — how his mother brought him 
 up among girls, dressed as a girl, so that he might not 
 have to go to Troy with the other Greek youths; but 
 Ulysses had the war trumpet blown before the palace 
 gates, when the maidens all fled terrified at the noise, 
 while the young Achilles immediately felt for his sword. 
 In the same manner, a boy of character will not show
 
 50 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 himself a coward when the animal impulses first make 
 themselves felt, but will at once take to arms and realize 
 that an opportunity has been given him to prove and 
 perfect his courage. 
 
 " Young people are practically never deaf to such an 
 appeal. They are more than ready to receive Nietzsche's 
 words: * Do not cast aside the heroic in thy soul! ' 
 
 " In addition, I should like to say that this species of 
 will-gymnastics seems to me to be quite as essential in 
 the education of girls as in that of boys, and for the 
 special reason that in the woman's case it is necessary to 
 work against the tendency towards a life of one-sided 
 emotionalism. It is only by a training of the will that a 
 real education of the emotional life can be accomplished. 
 Regular practice in the controUing of bodily conditions 
 and outward distractions prepares the way for a mastery 
 of the emotions and for their noblest development; it 
 enables them to become independent of external circum- 
 stances, of whims and moods, and to acquire concentra- 
 tion, force, and endurance. Such will-training protects a 
 woman from the dangers which arise from her impul- 
 siveness and suggestibihty." ^ 
 
 Much of this is true. But an essential part of the 
 
 development of such spiritual mastery in the child 
 
 is knowledge of himself. If he be informed on the 
 
 nature of the sex functions, and of the consequences 
 
 of their abuse, he will be more able to develop, and 
 
 better prepared to exercise, that spiritual control 
 
 which is so desirable and so necessary. 
 
 ^ Foerster, " Marriage and the Sex Problem," trans, by M. 
 Booth, N. Y., 1912, pp. 177-178,
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 5 1 
 
 To all this biological and hygienic instruction must 
 be added the moral restraints as well. The scientific 
 instruction prepares the way for an impressive moral 
 lesson. It is well to call attention to the duty of 
 raising the bodily organism to the highest point of 
 efficiency as it conditions all other efficiency, — men- 
 tal, social, aesthetic, moral, and religious. He who 
 violates the laws of his bodily organism sins not 
 only against his bodily nature, but against his whole 
 being, as, by so doing, he reduces its total efficiency. 
 Again, the individual must be made to reahze that 
 he does not live unto himself alone — that he is re- 
 sponsible to others for the use of his energies. Weak- 
 ness on his part entails weakness on the part of others 
 who may be his offspring. The moral aspects of the 
 case ought to be especially brought out with pupils 
 of the eighth grade. They are then old enough to 
 profit by it. In all this the direct method must, on 
 the whole, be used. It may be greatly supplemented 
 by the use of the indirect method when we reach 
 secondary moral education. 
 
 In concluding these chapters on the bodily life, 
 let us recall that cleanliness, self-control and pru- 
 dence in the regulation of all the bodily appetites, 
 and in our breathing and sleeping ; also exercise, phys- 
 ical courage, and temperance — these are the virtues 
 relating to the bodily life that we should teach children 
 both in the home and in the school. And we should
 
 52 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 guard them against their opposites, — the corre- 
 sponding vices. This should be done, not merely 
 incidentally, as occasion arises, but systematically. 
 A careful study of their relation to different periods 
 of the child's growth and unfolding should be made, 
 and then, by systematic culture, we should seek to 
 estabhsh children in these important virtues and to 
 teach them to shun the bodily vices. Systematic 
 training by the indirect method (except in the in- 
 stances mentioned above) is best adapted to meet 
 the ends sought by the parent and teacher in this 
 respect, and a graded scheme of virtues and vices to 
 be dealt with is here suggested (p. 53). 
 
 As a final word let it be said that few parents and 
 teachers fully appreciate the vital relationship be- 
 tween a wholesome bodily condition and sound morals, 
 and, as a consequence, moral culture sufi'ers. As a 
 well-known student of education has recently said : 
 "We do not begin to utihze the culture of health 
 as the basis of morals as we should do, because 
 we do not realize that their relation is so intimate as 
 at many points to be entirely identical. Body-keep- 
 ing with the young can and should be made almost 
 a religion ; and most of the worst sins and errors of 
 youth are in no way more effectively forefended 
 than by high ideals and a vigorous cult of personal 
 and social hygiene. Indeed, Plato thought he could 
 not teach an invahd morals because if he had not
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 55 
 
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 54 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 learned the art of body-keeping, still less could he 
 discipline his soul." ^ 
 
 It is imperative that we should impress the child 
 not only with the importance, but also with the 
 dignity and sacredness of the body. In a hcentious 
 age Paul called the attention of the early Christians 
 to the fact that their bodies were the temples of the 
 Holy Ghost. This was a superb appeal for a proper 
 treatment of the body. But it should not require a 
 religious appeal to excite in our minds a conception 
 of the dignity and sacredness of the bodily organism. 
 Our bodies are the temples of our own ghosts, — 
 our own spirits, — and they ought to reflect or sym- 
 bolize the highest hfe of the soul. Beauty and grace 
 of spirit are to find expression in beauty and grace 
 of body. This doubtless was the thought of Socrates 
 when he uttered that wonderful prayer recorded in 
 the " Pheedrus," — "Beloved Pan, and all ye other 
 gods who haunt this place, give me beauty in the in- 
 ward soul, and may the outward and inward man be 
 at one." 
 
 Li her efforts to establish pupils in the virtues of 
 the bodily life the teacher will find the following stories 
 helpful : — 
 
 "Billy, Betty, and Ben as Soldiers," "When Betty 
 Closed the Windows," "A Brave Boy," "The Prince and 
 
 1 Hall, "Educational Problems," New York, 191 1, Vol.1, pp 
 273-274.
 
 THE BODILY LIFE 55 
 
 the Lions," and "Foolish Fear," from The Golden Ladder 
 Book, Golden Rule Series (The Macmillan Company, New 
 York, 19 13). 
 
 "The Invaded City," "Feigned Courage," "The Wolf 
 and the Fox," "Tending the Furnace," "The Camel's 
 Nose," "A Brave Scot," "Red Stars and Black," "The 
 School Picnic," and "The Greedy Antelope," from The 
 Golden Path Book, Golden Rule Series. 
 
 "The Choice of Hercules," from The Golden Door Book, 
 Golden Rule Series. 
 
 "The Apostle of the Lepers" and "Billy's Football 
 Team," from The Golden Key Book, Golden Rule Series. 
 
 "Father William," "Billy's Prize Essay," "The Disen- 
 thralled," and "The Priest and the Mulberry Tree," from 
 The Golden Word Book, Golden Rule Series. 
 
 "The Loss of the Ocean's Pride,'' "A Bard's Epitaph," 
 and "The Boy and the Cigarette," from The Golden Deed 
 Book, Golden Rule Series. 
 
 "Three Ways to Build a House," from Tales of Laughter;' 
 by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith. 
 "Cleanliness," by Charles and Mary Lamb. "The Little 
 Coward," by Ann and Jane Taylor. "The Leak in the 
 Dike," by Phoebe Cary. 
 
 Charles Kingsley's " Water Babies," Chapter I. "The 
 Influence of a Clean Face," by Thomas DeWitt Talmage, in 
 Prose Every Child Should Know, edited by Mary E. Burt. 
 "The Little Bat who wouldn't go to Bed," from Among 
 the Forest People, by Clara D. Pierson. "The Rat and 
 the Oyster," from The Talking Beasts, by Kate Douglas 
 Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith. The Story of King 
 Arthur, from Bulfinch's Age of Chivalry. 
 
 " Friends and Foes," from Down to the Sea, by Wilfred T.
 
 56 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 Grenfell. "Looking out for the Men Ashore," from The 
 Harvest of the Sea, by Wilfred T. Grenfell. "Circe's 
 Palace," from Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales. "Why he 
 Failed," from Stepping Stones to Manhood, by William P, 
 Pearce.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE 
 
 Of all institutions that have to do with child life 
 the school is the one primarily in charge of his intel- 
 lectual training. We are intellectual beings, with 
 capacities to know, and the school exists chiefly to 
 develop them. It is the child's duty to acquire knowl- 
 edge. It is a duty that he owes to himself as well as 
 to others. According to Professor Adler, the teacher 
 can best lead him to a recognition of this duty by 
 showing him that knowledge is a means to nearly 
 all the ends which men aim at. This, he says, might 
 be illustrated first by calling attention to the mere 
 material ends of life — how in the effort to provide 
 for our most immediate wants, such as those of the 
 body, the man of knowledge has the advantage over 
 the man of ignorance. He who knows how to do 
 things succeeds where he who is ignorant fails. The 
 child in the upper grades at least is sufficiently self- 
 centered to appreciate that which will prove an ad- 
 vantage to himself in the struggle for existence await- 
 ing him, hence it is well to emphasize the advantages 
 of knowledge and the handicaps of ignorance. 
 
 But gradually the higher interests of the child can 
 
 57
 
 58 MOIL\L TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 be appealed to — the social interests. Knowledge 
 is a means to social recognition and position. The 
 child soon learns that he is not to be merely a bread- 
 winner; that other possibilities are open to him by 
 virtue of his social nature. As he matures he grows 
 sensitive to social appreciation, and he finds that 
 knowledge is a means to social esteem and distinction. 
 Ignorance is usually rewarded with contempt, or at 
 best with a pity that humihates its object. Further- 
 more, at an age when the child is in the upper grades 
 of school, he begins to realize, in a more or less pro- 
 nounced manner, some at least of the joys of knowl- 
 edge — joys that constitute in themselves a sufficient 
 reward for the labor of acquiring it. And, finally, as 
 he approaches middle adolescence, when the al- 
 truism of his nature is very manifest, the service 
 that knowledge will enable him to render to others 
 can be used as an appeal to encourage him to serious 
 effort in its acquisition.' In short, the more the child 
 can be made to reahze the truth of Bacon's famous 
 maxim : Knowledge is Power — no matter from what 
 standpoint we view it — power which makes in every 
 way for the highest self-reahzation, both of the in- 
 dividual and society, the more will he take a moral 
 attitude toward its acquisition. 
 
 In the acquisition of knowledge certain habits of 
 
 1 Compare Adler, "The Moral Instruction of Children," New 
 York, 1901, pp. 182-184.
 
 THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE 59 
 
 will and forms of conduct are necessary for the best 
 results. When viewed from the moral standpoint, 
 they become virtues. It is the function of the teacher 
 of elementary morals to establish the pupil in these 
 virtues. To this end she must know what they are, 
 something about their nature, and how they can best 
 be developed in the child. 
 
 The first virtue which naturally suggests itself is 
 industry. Nothing of consequence to the intellectual 
 life can be accomphshed without this cardinal virtue. 
 Systematic application of the child's intellectual 
 powers to attain a knowledge of the subject matter 
 with which he is dealing is essential to success. It is 
 very important that the teacher should begin in the 
 beginning to develop in the child the power of sys- 
 tematic and steady application as against sporadic 
 effort. And, in doing this, a fundamental law of the 
 mind will greatly assist her in her work. This law 
 is the law of human interest. This interest must be 
 maintained and increased. It must be converted into 
 voluntary interest. If we can genuinely interest the 
 child in the subject with which we desire him to be 
 concerned, industry will follow naturally. This is a 
 psychological law which the teacher must recognize, 
 and so far as she ignores it her efforts will not prove 
 fruitful. To develop such interest it is necessary to 
 make the lesson attractive — it must be in some 
 manner pleasing. Now if the matter of industry is
 
 6o MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 to be brought before the child as a moral obligation, 
 it should be presented here also in an interesting man- 
 ner. The advantages and rewards of industry, and 
 the disadvantages and penalties of indolence, as men- 
 tioned above, should be brought to his attention in a 
 manner that will appeal to the child, and what better 
 method can we adopt than the story method ? Every 
 child dehghts in stories of achievement, and to read 
 or tell stories of rewarded labor and of punished in- 
 dolence on the part of children, will not fail to interest 
 them and to lead them to practice this prime virtue 
 of the intellectual Hfe. 
 
 A second important virtue of the intellectual life 
 is accuracy. Accurate perception, accurate memo- 
 rizing, accurate thinking, accurate reasoning, and ac- 
 curate speaking are necessary for the best intellectual 
 development. If one of the ends of such develop- 
 ment is knowledge of the truth, such accuracy, of 
 course, is an essential condition. This matter should 
 be made, as far as possible, not merely an intellectual 
 obligation with the pupil, but a moral obhgation as 
 well. It is a matter of honesty with himself and honesty 
 with others — hence it is not a matter of moral indif- 
 ference. Indeed the teacher will find that a training 
 of the child in intellectual accuracy, or an indulgence 
 of the child in intellectual inaccuracy, will have an 
 important influence on his moral nature. Intellec- 
 tual accuracy is closely related to truthfulness and
 
 THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE 6l 
 
 honesty; and intellectual inaccuracy is closely re- 
 lated to falsehood and dishonesty. 
 
 But how shall this virtue of accuracy be cultivated ? 
 The teacher should call attention to the serious con- 
 sequences of inaccuracy by having the class read some 
 story of real life, such as the wreck of a railroad train, 
 with its loss of Ufe, due to the inaccuracy of the man 
 who framed the time schedule, or to the inaccuracy 
 of a telegraph operator, or of a train dispatcher. 
 Or, a story involving serious loss in financial matters, 
 due to inaccurate calculation, may be used. Or, to 
 bring the subject a little closer home to the pupil — 
 especially the very young pupil — a story of the loss 
 of a school prize because of inaccurate work. The 
 rewards and honors of accuracy must be emphasized 
 in similar manner. In the upper grades the impor- 
 tance of accuracy should be especially dwelt upon; 
 for, since the large majority of pupils enter upon 
 their vocational life after leaving the elementary 
 schools, the significance of intellectual accuracy in all 
 industrial and commercial life can be presented at 
 this time with excellent effect. The primary aim of 
 intellectual development is the acquisition of knowl- 
 edge, and inaccurate knowledge is a paradox — it 
 is not knowledge at all — it makes against knowl- 
 edge. Error is the result of inaccuracy, and error 
 is a serious intellectual evil which is often closely re- 
 lated to moral evil.
 
 62 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 In dealing with inaccuracy the teacher will find 
 that it is often due to another evil, namely, careless- 
 ness. In some respects, indeed, it is a form of care- 
 lessness. Such carelessness easily becomes habitual 
 and should be vigorously taken in hand by the 
 teacher. It should be corrected, not merely as an 
 intellectual expediency, but as a moral obligation as 
 well. 
 
 Thoroughness, though closely related to accuracy, 
 differs from it. One may be accurate as far as he 
 pursues a subject and yet not be thorough in deahng 
 with it. Thoroughness leads to mastery of a subject, 
 and of course is a prime virtue of the intellectual life. 
 The child should be taught to master the lesson as- 
 signed him. If he be once convinced that knowledge 
 is power, as explained above, it is easy to show him 
 that thorough knowledge is still greater power; it 
 will be easier to lead him to an appreciation of the 
 moral attitude toward this intellectual quaHty, and 
 he will soon see the value and obUgation of thorough- 
 ness as a virtue, and the evil consequences of its op- 
 posite. According to the old adage: "What is 
 worth doing at all is worth doing well;" and if the 
 pupil sees the advantage of so doing, and the dis- 
 advantages of the opposite, the teacher's task in cul- 
 tivating this virtue in her pupil will be greatly Kght- 
 ened. Well-selected stories will assist her greatly 
 in accomplishing this end.
 
 THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE 63 
 
 Perseverance is another requisite in the intellectual 
 life. The child is often easily discouraged. Fre- 
 quently the task is hard, or it is more or less unpleas- 
 ant, and it requires persistent effort to accomphsh it. 
 To develop in the child a spirit of perseverance is 
 part of the work of the teacher of elementary morals. 
 To strengthen the child's resolution to conquer dif- 
 ficulties — to overcome obstacles — this is part of her 
 office. The child should be encouraged to persist by 
 calUng his attention to the deUghts of triumph, the 
 glory of victory, the rewards of success. "To the 
 persevering mortal the blessed Immortals are swift, " 
 said Zoroaster. But not only do the Immortals 
 honor him, but mortals also bestow on him their ap- 
 proval and esteem. These are among the sweetest 
 rewards of perseverance, and the child will be in- 
 fluenced by them. The moral aspects of perseverance 
 will soon be perceived by him under such circum- 
 stances. Splendid examples of men, women, and 
 children who have succeeded through perseverance — 
 not only in the intellectual, but also in other spheres 
 of human activity — are available for the develop- 
 ment of this virtue in the child. 
 
 Patience is necessary for persistence as well as for 
 the realization of other intellectual virtues. Michael 
 Angelo once said that genius is infinite capacity for 
 taking pains. Some capacity for taking pains is 
 necessary for any genuine intellectual work, and this
 
 64 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 means that we must have patience. In the child's 
 desire to reaHze immediate results he often grows 
 impatient. He doesn't like to bother with the means, 
 time, and effort necessary to accomphsh his task. 
 A short cut is his preference. But a short cut to the 
 goal is often impossible, and the child must be devel- 
 oped in patience with slow progress and in deaUng 
 with hard and sometimes not altogether agreeable 
 tasks. Here again, in endeavoring to cultivate a moral 
 attitude toward this important requisite in the in- 
 tellectual hfe, the teacher must have due regard to 
 the child's interests. If she can pleasantly relate 
 this virtue to the child's work by pointing out its 
 bearings on the interests which he highly prizes, and 
 the interests which, in his further development, he 
 will prize still more, then the child will respond 
 more readily to the demands for patience which his 
 immediate work makes upon him. 
 
 Self-reliance will be recognized at once by the 
 teacher as another virtue of paramount importance in 
 developing the intellectual hfe of the child. Child- 
 hood is a period of dependence, and from birth, for 
 many years, the child is largely dependent upon others 
 for much that concerns his fundamental interests. 
 This develops a tendency to rely upon others in mat- 
 ters in which he is capable of helping himself. It is 
 not to be wondered at, therefore, that in the difficulties 
 which he encounters in school in his efforts at self-
 
 THE INTELLECTUAL LITE 65 
 
 development, under the guidance of the teacher, when 
 he confronts a difficult task that he should resort 
 to the teacher, or to his more proficient schoolmates, 
 for help. This tendency is so marked and wide- 
 spread among children that its correction becomes a 
 serious problem. No child should be allowed to go 
 through school constantly leaning on others for sup- 
 port. If there be no other way of curing him of his 
 dependence, he should be shamed out of it if possible. 
 Self-reliance is such a necessary virtue that the teacher 
 can afford to put forth special effort to cultivate it 
 in the child. We can largely measure the individual's 
 success or failure in every walk in Life by means of 
 this virtue. "Welcome evermore to gods and men 
 is the self-helping man. For him all doors are flung 
 wide. Him all tongues greet, all honors crown, all 
 eyes follow with desire." These words of Emerson 
 are really not extravagant, and the teacher in teach- 
 ing the child to form the habit of self-reliance should 
 show to him that they are true. Especially in the 
 upper grades such a presentation of the virtue as 
 illustrated in the lives of self-rehant men and women, 
 not only in intellectual pursuits, but in others also, 
 cannot fail to have a salutary effect. Short bio- 
 graphical sketches of self-reliant men will prove very 
 effective in dealing with this virtue. 
 
 Love of truth is a virtue that ought to be developed 
 in all, but it pertains more especially to more mature
 
 66 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 years than to those with which we are dealing. How- 
 ever, even here, and especially in the upper grades, it 
 might be fittingly dealt with. Children are partisans 
 and dogmatists. Their partisanship is strong, and 
 their dogmatism instinctive and naive. Attention 
 should be called to the dangers to our intellectual 
 Kfe of prejudice and unwarranted assumption. It 
 can be shown how this frequently leads us into error, 
 which of course is opposed to one of the chief ends 
 we aim at in intellectual development, namely, the 
 knowledge of the truth. Prejudice, even in the child, 
 is often so subtle that it is not an easy vice to deal 
 with, but the fact that it exists more or less in all 
 should not be overlooked, and it is well for the teacher 
 to treat of it, not merely as an intellectual fault, but 
 also as a moral fault — a vice. 
 
 But finally, knowledge is not an end in itself, — 
 it is a means to an end, — and the ultimate end is 
 the highest well-being of the individual and society. 
 So that another virtue belongs to the intellectual Hfe, 
 and that virtue is wisdom. Wisdom is the right use 
 of knowledge — such as will make for the realization 
 of the highest good. It is not the gift of the gods, but, 
 like other virtues, it is an acquisition — a develop- 
 ment. It is the result of reflection and discipline. 
 We don't look for much wisdom in the child, for he 
 naturally acts with reference to immediate rather than 
 ultimate ends. So that wisdom is preeminently a
 
 THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE 67 
 
 virtue of maturer years, and, in its stricter meaning, 
 can hardly be dealt with except in the upper grades. 
 But we can at least teach the child that knowledge is 
 power to be used for worthy ends — for such good 
 ends as pertain to the bodily, social, moral, and spiritual 
 welfare of himself and society, and in doing this we 
 must, of course, represent these ends in the most 
 concrete manner possible, and in accordance with in- 
 terests as they bear on his life at the particular period 
 with which we are deahng. Examples of wise and 
 fooKsh action should be used in dealing with this vir- 
 tue and its opposite. 
 
 In dealing with the virtues of the intellectual life 
 the following graded scheme of virtues and vices 
 (p. 68) will be found helpful. 
 
 The following list of stories may be used in this 
 connection : — 
 
 "To Mother Fairie," "The Cat and the Fox," "Daffy- 
 do wn-dilly," "How Audubon Came to Know About 
 Birds," "The Ant and the Cricket," "Climbing Alone," 
 "Work," "The Little Spider's First Web," " Little by 
 Little," and "The Story of a Sea Gull," from The Golden 
 Ladder Book. 
 
 "The Black Prince at the Battle of Crecy," "The Village 
 Blacksmith," "The Snail and the Rose Tree," "The 
 Cadmus of the Blind," "The Builders," "Haarlem's 
 Boy Hero," "Waste Not, Want Not," "Blunder," and 
 "Sir Lark and King Sun," from The Golden Path Book. 
 
 "The School Children's Friend," "The Waste Collec-
 
 68 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
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 THE INTELLECTUAL LITE 69 
 
 tor," "Ben Franklin's Wharf," "Columbus," "The Ants 
 and the Grasshopper," " Industry of Animals," " Napoleon 
 and the Alps," "Arachne, the Boastful," "A Scottish 
 Champion," "Buckwheat," "Pietro da Cortona," "Little 
 Franz's Last Lesson," and "Miles Standish," from The 
 Golden Door Book. 
 
 " Find a Way,or Make It," "Louis Pasteur," " Little 
 Daffydowndilly," " Robert Fulton," " The Lion and the 
 Cub," and " Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz," from The 
 Golden Key Book. 
 
 "The Glove and the Lions," "Two Kings," "Lady 
 Clare," and "If I were a Voice," from The Golden Word 
 Book. 
 
 "A Bard's Epitaph," "Ozymandias," and "The Great 
 Stone Face," from The Golden Deed Book. 
 
 "The Industrious Mannikins," by Grimm. "The Two 
 Gardens," by Ann Taylor. "The Pot of Gold," from 
 Children's Classics in Dramatic Form, Book II, by Augusta 
 Stevenson. "The Magpie's Nest," from Tales of Laughter. 
 "The Nail," by Grimm. "How Benny West Learned to 
 Be a Painter," and "The India-rubber Man," from Stories 
 oj Great Americans, by Edward Eggleston. "The Hill," 
 from The Golden Windows, by Laura E. Richards. Story 
 of Bruce and the Spider. 
 
 "How the Camel Got His Hump," from Just So Stories, 
 by Rudyard Kipling. Grimm's "The Spindle, the Needle, 
 and the Shuttle." Story of Prometheus, Chapter VII 
 of The Water Babies. "Boots and his Brothers," from 
 Folk Stories and Fables, arranged by Eva March Tappan. 
 "The Water Lily," from Stories Told to a Child, by Jean 
 Ingelow. ^sop's "The Hare and the Tortoise." Story 
 of Helen Keller. "The Monkey and the Cat," from The
 
 70 MOR.\L TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 Talking Beasts. "The Boot-black from Ann Street," 
 from James Baldwin's American Book of Golden Deeds. 
 
 " Chin-Chin Kobakama," from Tales of Laughter. "The 
 King and his Three Sons," in Stories from the Classic Litera- 
 ture of M any Lands , edited by Bertha Palmer. "The Sailor 
 Man," from The Golden Witidows. "The Eagles," from 
 William J. Long's Wilderness Ways^ p. 104. "A Lincoln 
 Story," by U. S. Grant, in Prose Every Child Should Know. 
 Longfellow's "Excelsior." "Gradatim," by Oliver Wen- 
 dell Holmes. "The King and his Hawk," in Fifty Famous 
 Stories Retold, by James Baldwin. "The Brave Martinel," 
 from Charlotte M. Yonge's Book of Golden Deeds. 
 
 Story of the Doasyoulikes, Chapter VI of The Water 
 Babies. "Prince Vi\den and Princess Placida," from 
 Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book. Story of Sir Thomas 
 More. "Lady Eleanore's Mantle," by Nathaniel Haw- 
 thorne. "The Fool's Prayer," by Edward Roland Sill. 
 "Wise Work," in Selections from Ruskin, published by 
 Edwin Ginn. "The Watering of the Saplings," in Stories 
 from the Classic Literature of Many Lands.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE (tHE FAMILy) 
 
 We are by nature social beings, and, as such, 
 we sustain a variety of relations to others constituted 
 like ourselves. We are not like the famous Crusoe, 
 alone on an island, working out our destiny regardless 
 of our fellows. We are born into society, and from 
 birth till death we are hemmed in by a network of 
 social relations. All these relations come under the 
 moral ideal, and are subject to moral law. Hence, 
 duties in the social sphere are as manifold and com- 
 plex as social relations themselves. It is in this 
 sphere that we find our largest field of moral activity. 
 
 Certain institutions are the outgrowth of our social 
 nature, such as the family, the school, and the com- 
 munity organized under custom and law. We realize 
 our largest life and our best self through these institu- 
 tions. With one or more we are in constant inter- 
 action, and these interactions are governed by moral 
 law. They involve moral obligations. In other 
 words, duty is associated with all our family, school, 
 and community life. 
 
 In treating of morals in the social sphere it is well 
 71
 
 72 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 to follow the natural order. The child is born into 
 the family, and his first interactions are with father 
 and mother, with sister and brother. Certain moral 
 obhgations grow out of these relations, the observance 
 of which is absolutely necessary for the best develop- 
 ment of the family as well as for the best development 
 of the individual, such as obedience, truthfulness, 
 honesty, courtesy, love, etc. Indeed, the family 
 could not exist at all without reaHzing, to some degree 
 at least, these obligations. The corresponding vices 
 make for its destruction. 
 
 The family is a great moral institution, and its value 
 for the ideahzation or moraHzation of society cannot 
 be overestimated. It is here that the individual learns 
 his first moral lessons, and is thus prepared for the 
 larger social and moral life of the school, the commu- 
 nity, and the state. 7 Tt is here, for example, that he 
 first becomes conscious of the existence of laws that 
 govern human action, and is counseled and warned 
 to conform to them. For a time the parents' com- 
 mand is law to his will. He learns the lesson of 
 obedience, and when he emerges from the family 
 into the community, he is in a measure prepared to 
 obey the commands of the community which come to 
 him in the form of conventions and customs, and 
 also those of the state, which come to him in the form 
 of statutes or laws. And as obedience to his parents' 
 command gradually takes on more and more of a
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE 73 
 
 moral character, the way is prepared for the child's 
 recognition of obedience to social custom and to civil 
 and poUtical laws, not merely as a matter of compul- 
 sion or necessity, but as a matter of moral obKgation. 
 And what is true of the obligation of obedience is 
 practically true of all other social obhgations. The 
 child's moral relations to the family prepare him for 
 his moral relations to society. 
 
 One of the fundamental virtues belonging to the 
 first class is obedience. The parent is both the natural 
 and legal guardian of the child. As such he is re- 
 sponsible for its well-being. To this end his will be- 
 comes law to the child, and it is the child's duty to 
 obey. It is unfortunate that, in the imperfect state 
 of society, the parents' will is, in so many instances, 
 unworthy. Still, until the child reaches a certain age 
 ^nd a certain state of maturity, it is, on the whole, 
 his duty to obey. This age and state hardly occurs 
 within the age limits of the elementary school grades. 
 Hence this virtue may be categorically affirmed in 
 dealing with children. It is absolutely essential 
 to the existence of the home. There could be no 
 home without it. More or less unity and harmony 
 are necessary to constitute a home. This means that 
 law must prevail, and the law is the parents' will. 
 Disobedience to it means lawlessness, and gross and 
 constant disobedience means social chaos or anarchy 
 within the precincts of the home. Such fiUal obe-
 
 74 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 dience is an important factor in the child's moral un- 
 folding. It develops self-control, a most essential 
 virtue, as we have already seen in considering the 
 moralization of the bodily hfe, and the more worthy 
 the parents' commands, the sooner is obedience fol- 
 lowed by respect and reverence for the law and the 
 lawgiver, respect that is highly desirable, and the 
 development of which should become one of the ends 
 aimed at by parent and teacher. Furthermore, as 
 already observed, a training in family obedience pre- 
 pares the child for a larger and most vital obedience 
 in his interaction with the school, community, and 
 state. It makes for good citizenship — for the 
 practice and love of social order. So also does it pre- 
 pare the way for that period of development in youth 
 when the individual awakens to the consciousness that 
 he is a lawgiver unto himself — when, in the maturer 
 exercise of his functions as a moral personaHty, he 
 evaluates ideals of conduct, imposes them upon him- 
 self as laws to his will. In dealing with the moraUty 
 of the family in elementary moral training, then, 
 fihal obedience is a virtue that requires special con- 
 sideration. 
 
 It ought not to be such a difi&cult matter to secure 
 obedience on the part of the child as it sometimes 
 proves. By virtue of his race connection the child is 
 predisposed to obey. As far back as we can trace 
 the history of man he has existed under some form
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE 75 
 
 of organized life, which means that he has been subject 
 to command or law. The child has this background 
 of the race as a kind of inheritance, and therefore 
 he comes into being with a predisposition to obey. 
 Referring to Dr. Montessori, Dorothy Canfield 
 Fisher says : — • 
 
 "She tells us just as forcibly that the children prefer 
 right, orderly, disciplined behavior to the unregulated 
 disobedience which we slanderously insist is their natural 
 taste. As a result of her scientific and unbiased obser- 
 vation of child life she informs us that our usual lack of 
 success in handling the problems of obedience comes be- 
 cause, while we do not expect a child at two or three or 
 even four to have mastered completely even the elements 
 of any other of his activities, we do expect him to have 
 mastered all the complex muscular, nervous, mental, 
 and moral elements involved in the act of obedience to 
 a command from outside his own individuality. 
 
 " She points out that obedience is evidently a deep-rooted 
 instinct in human nature, since society is founded on 
 obedience. Indeed, on the whole, history seems to show 
 that the average human being has altogether too much 
 native instinct to obey any one who will shout out a com- 
 mand ; and that the advance from one bad form of govern- 
 ment to another only sUghtly better is so slow because 
 the mass of grown men are too much given to obeying 
 almost any positive order issued to them. Going back 
 to our surprised recognition of the child as an inheritor of 
 human nature in its entirety ,we must admit that obedience 
 is almost certainly an instinct latent in children. 
 
 "The obvious theoretic deduction from this reasoning is,
 
 76 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 that we need neither persuade nor force a child to obey, 
 but only clear-sightedly remove the various moral and 
 physical obstructions which lie in the way of his obedience 
 with the confident expectation that his latent instinct will 
 develop spontaneously in the new and favorable condi- 
 tions." 1 
 
 Another fundamental virtue of family life is truth- 
 fulness. No family could exist on the basis of a lie. 
 Truth is necessary to hold human society together 
 in any kind of relation that is worth while. Truth 
 in speech, truth in action, "truth in the inward parts," 
 — these must be developed in the child, and this is no 
 easy task. It is often diflScult to determine what is 
 really a lie in the child's conduct. Our moral train- 
 ing ought to rest upon a careful study of the psy- 
 chology of children's lies. The teacher should study 
 the psychology of fancy as it functions in the child ; 
 of illusions, of make-believe, or the tendency to 
 dramatic action so characteristic of children. This 
 will at least save her from what is too often a severe 
 and unjust judgment in regard to the child.^ She 
 should also carefully consider the pathology of lying, 
 which will increase our charitableness. But after we 
 have made all allowance for what may not really be 
 
 1 Fisher, "A Montessori Mother." New York, 1912, pp. 159, 160. 
 
 2 The teacher should read the remarks on children's lies in Sully's 
 "Studies in Childhood," New York, 1890, p. 251 f., and in Hall's 
 " Educational Problems," Vol. I, Chapter VI, a,nd the literature to 
 which they refer.
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE 77 
 
 regarded as lying, children do lie in a really ethical 
 sense, and often with amazing ease and unconcern. 
 So that the matter of truth telKng, which is so vital 
 to the peace and happiness of the family, should be 
 tactfully but vigorously dealt with. 
 
 The subject of truthfulness will be more fully dis- 
 cussed in the chapters dealing with the morals of the 
 school and the community. So far as the teacher 
 deals with this virtue as it relates to the family, she 
 cannot be too careful. The best method here is the 
 indirect method. Let the children read stories of 
 family hfe, which bring out the rewards of truthful- 
 ness and the penalties of lying, and let the teacher 
 be sure that every child thoroughly apprehends the 
 import of such stories. She should also try to 
 strengthen the impression made by narrating one or 
 more stories of a character similar to those read in 
 the class. 
 
 Honesty is a third virtue which relates to the moral 
 life of the family. It is closely related to truthful- 
 ness, and much that has been said about the one ap- 
 plies equally to the other. Of its importance as a 
 social virtue, and of dishonesty as a social vice, we 
 can speak to better advantage in deahng with them 
 in connection with the virtues and vices of the school, 
 and especially of the community, for here they as- 
 sume much larger, and, in a sense, more significant 
 proportions-. Still in a course in elementary morals
 
 78 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 they should be duly emphasized in their relation to 
 family life. 
 
 Helpfulness in the family is another virtue in which 
 children need to be established. Some one has said 
 that we are all as lazy as we dare to be. The major- 
 ity of us would hardly admit this statement to be 
 true. But it is hardly a libel on child nature to say 
 that the average child is disposed to be lazy with 
 reference to helping in home work. During his 
 earliest years so much is done for him, and so much of 
 the general housework is done by others, that, when 
 a little later he is called upon to share in it, it is more 
 or less irksome to him. Furthermore, play is so 
 instinctive and enjoyable in childhood that work, 
 which interferes with play, is usually not relished 
 very much. But a child ought to be taught to be 
 helpful in the home, to make his contribution, be it 
 ever so modest, to the household work. This is a 
 very important matter in the homes of the poor, where 
 the child can often be of great service to the mother. 
 It is well to cultivate in all children, rich and poor 
 alike, the spirit of service. Such a spirit is ethical 
 through and through. That this is possible, even 
 among very young children, has been demonstrated 
 in the Casa dei Bambini of Montessori. In these 
 "Houses of Childhood," it is really quite remarkable 
 how the spirit of real helpfulness is developed in the 
 child, and there is no reason why this spirit should not
 
 THE SOCIAL LITE 79 
 
 be active in the home. Mrs. Fisher, who made a 
 special study of the "Houses of Childhood," says : — 
 
 "The children have the responsibility not only for their 
 own persons, but for the care of their Home. They 
 arrive early in the morning and betake themselves at once 
 to the small washstands with pitchers and bowls of just 
 the size convenient for them to handle. Here they make 
 as complete a morning toilet as any one could wish, washing 
 their faces, necks, hands, and ears (and behind the ears !) , 
 brushing their teeth, making manful efforts to comb their 
 hair, cleaning their finger nails with scrupulous care, and 
 helping each other with fraternal sympathy. It is as- 
 tonishing (for any one who had the illusion that she knew 
 child nature) to note the contrast between the vivid 
 purposeful attention they bestow on all these processes 
 when they are allowed to do them for themselves, and the 
 bored, indifferent impatience we all know so well when it 
 is our adult hands which are doing all the work. The big 
 ones (of five and six) help the little ones, who, eager to 
 be "big ones" in their turn, struggled to learn as quickly 
 as possible how to do things for themselves. 
 
 "After the morning toilet of the children is finished, 
 it is the turn of the schoolroom. The fresh-faced, shin- 
 ing-eyed children scatter about the big room, with 
 tiny brushes and dustpans, and little brooms. They 
 attack the corners where dust lurks, they dust off all the 
 furniture with soft cloths, they water the plants, they 
 pick up any litter which may have accumulated, they learn 
 the habit of really examining a room to see if it is in order 
 or not. One natural result of this daily training in close 
 observation of a room is a much greater care in the use of 
 it during the day, a result the importance of which can
 
 So MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 be certified by any mother who has to pick up after a family 
 of small children." ^ 
 
 Courtesy, or good manners, is a virtue of which we 
 shall have more to say in connection with the virtues 
 of the school and of the community. But it is a 
 virtue which eminently belongs to the home. It is 
 not only an aesthetic imperative, but a moral com- 
 mand as well. In its highest form it is an expression 
 of the moral spirit — it is a manifestation of our good 
 will in what we deem to be proper or fit conduct. 
 And where should such conduct prevail more than in 
 the home ? Who is more worthy of the child's 
 courtesy than father and mother, or brother and 
 sister ? Our family relations should be cast in fitting 
 mold. The moralizing effect of good manners in 
 the home is not appreciated enough. Parents are 
 not fully alive to their ethical value, and often the 
 task of training the child in courtesy as it should pre- 
 vail in the home devolves upon the school. Boorish- 
 ness and vulgarity are closely allied to evil. Gentle 
 manners and refinement are intimately related to 
 good. Elementary moral education should reckon 
 with this fact, and should make provision for training 
 the child in courtesy and gentility in the home. This 
 can be done largely in connection with the manners 
 which he is called upon to practice in the schoolroom, 
 as well as by lessons in story hterature which tell of 
 
 ^ Fisher, " A Montessori Mother," New York, 191 2, pp. 34-35.
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE 8l 
 
 polite and impolite children. More or less direct 
 instruction is desirable here. . For example, the meal 
 is such a valuable social institution that it ought to 
 be refined and moralized as much as possible. Good 
 table manners ought to be taught in the school, for 
 in so many homes the children do not become ac- 
 quainted with prevaihng etiquette as it bears on this 
 matter. To familiarize them with such a code re- 
 quires more or less of the direct method. The meal 
 can be made a great moral factor in the life of the 
 home, and anything that tends to refine it makes for 
 the moral welfare of the family. The teacher should 
 not overlook the importance of the etiquette of the 
 home and of establishing the pupil in the virtue of 
 courtesy and in the practice of gentle manners. 
 
 Another splendid virtue that ought to be developed 
 in the child in his relation to the home is gratitude. 
 Especially in his relation to his parents is this virtue 
 to be exercised. He owes so much to them for their 
 kindness and care — for the general providence which 
 they exercise over his life — that gratitude is one of 
 the preeminent moral obligations in the child's more 
 mature life. In the earHer years of childhood the 
 child accepts all of this care and kindness as a matter 
 of course, but gradually he can be made to appreciate 
 the sacrifice and love that are involved in much of 
 it, and grateful feehngs can be awakened. There is 
 great need of cultivating filial gratitude ; for, in many
 
 82 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 cases, the heartless inappreciation of children in the 
 face of great love and sacrifice on the part of parents 
 makes the soul sick. Ingratitude is a base vice, and 
 it seems especially base in the relations of children to 
 father and mother. 
 
 Love for parents of course is natural to children, 
 but, as natural, it is nonmoral. When it represents 
 an attitude of will, it becomes moral. In develop- 
 ing the child in all the virtues of the home the teacher 
 is really developing the child in fihal love. True love 
 is the crowning grace and virtue of the soul in all 
 forms of social life, and nowhere should it abound 
 more than in the home. By virtue of the child's 
 peculiar relation to his parents he is under special 
 obhgations to love them, and the same thing is true 
 with reference to his relation to brother and sister. 
 As love is "the greatest thing in the world," so is it 
 the greatest thing in the family. It makes for all of 
 the other virtues. It leads to willing obedience ; to 
 truthfulness, for it ''rejoiceth in the truth"; to hon- 
 esty, for "it.seeketh not its own " ; to sympathy and 
 helpfulness. "It suffereth long and is kind"; it 
 bears all things and endures all things. "Love never 
 faileth." And all this is exceedingly necessary in the 
 family. When love abounds in the family, there is 
 unity, harmony, and moral progress. It recognizes 
 the mutuality of interests, and all labor toward a com- 
 mon end. Hence anything that can be done by the
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE 83 
 
 teacher to promote love in the home by establishing 
 the child in this supreme virtue represents a decided 
 moral gain, and its influence extends far beyond the 
 immediate boundaries of the home. Here again the 
 story method will be found most effective. In con- 
 nection with the helpful reading lesson in morals thdre 
 are many beautiful stories of home life of which the 
 teacher may avail herself to bring this virtue before 
 the pupil. The teacher should familiarize herself 
 with such literature. 
 
 Another virtue relating to the family is loyalty. 
 Professor Royce seems to regard loyalty as com- 
 prehending the whole hfe of morals.^ Whether this 
 be so or not, loyalty is certainly a cardinal virtue, and 
 loyalty to the best life of the family and to its highest 
 ideals is an important moral obhgation. To be true 
 to those who love us most, to be mindful of their 
 interests, and to guard their honor — to do all this is 
 to live a wholesome moral Hfe. The boys and girls 
 who possess this virtue of loyalty to the home have 
 a great safeguard against the evil of the world when 
 other safeguards give way. It often serves as a check 
 to temptation. They will often think twice before 
 doing a thing that they feel sure would bring discredit 
 or disgrace upon the family. A keen sense of family 
 honor is a good thing, and the teacher should aim to 
 estabHsh the child in this virtue. Especially should 
 
 ^ Royce, "The Philosophy of Loyalty," New York, 1909.
 
 84 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 this virtue be brought impressively to their atten- 
 tion in the upper grades of the elementary schools, 
 just before many children enter upon their voca- 
 tional course. 
 
 In teaching the morals of the home, then, obedience, 
 respect, truthfulness, honesty, courtesy, helpfulness, 
 gratitude, love, loyalty, and their corresponding vices 
 should be dealt with. These virtues make the home 
 the most blessed place on earth - — a place of peace 
 and joy — a place of sweetest and purest fellowship. 
 The school can do much to morahze the home, and the 
 teacher who labors toward this end will have as her 
 reward the consciousness that she has done something 
 to ideaHze one of the most vital and sacred institutions 
 of the race. 
 
 In our efforts to establish children in the virtues of 
 the family the following graded scheme (pp. 86-87) 
 is recommended for adoption. 
 
 For training children in the virtues of the family 
 life the following stories will be found helpful : — 
 
 "The Young Raccoons Go to a Party," "The Pond," 
 "How the Crickets Brought Good Fortune," "Which 
 Loved Best?" "The Old Grandfather's Corner," "Only 
 One," "A Four-footed Gentleman," "The Hare of 
 Inaba," "One, Two, Three," "The Water of Life," 
 "The Boy Who Never Told a Lie," "Up to the Sky and 
 Back," "Three Bugs," "The Three-inch Grin," and "A 
 German Story," from The Golden Ladder Book. 
 
 "Casablanca," " So-So," "Rebecca's Afterthought,"
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE 85 
 
 " Si-Me-Quong," " How the Sun, Moon, and Wind Went 
 Out to Dinner," "Sweet and Low," "The Brownies," 
 " A Song of Love," " The King of the Golden River," 
 " Ezekiel and Daniel," "The Pea Blossom," and "Love 
 Will Find Out the Way," from The Golden Path Book. 
 
 "A Visit to Yarmouth," "The Goat-faced Girl," 
 "The Boy Who Became a Hsao-Tsze," "Snapdragons," 
 "A Story of Long Ago," and "Sylvain and Jocosa, " 
 from The Golden Door Book. 
 
 "Prascovia" and "Samuel Johnson," from The Golden 
 Key Book. 
 
 "The Golden Goose," "Story of Cordelia," and "Tom 
 and Maggie Tulliver, " from The Golden Word Book. 
 
 "The Parrot," "The Forsaken Merman," and "Napo- 
 leon," from The Golden Deed Book. 
 
 " Story of Raggylug," from Ernest Thompson-Seton's 
 Wild Animals I Have Known. "Education of Dear Jim," 
 "Resolutions," and "The New Leaf," from More Five 
 Minute Stories, by Laura E. Richards. "The Chicken 
 Who Wouldn't Eat Gravel" and "The Twin Lambs," 
 from Among the Farmyard People, by Clara D. Pierson. 
 "The Broken Flower Pot," from The Caxtons, by Maria 
 Edgeworth. "A Robin's Double Brood," from Dooryard 
 Stories, by Clara D. Pierson. " The Legend of the Dipper, " 
 from For the Children's Hour, by Carolyn S. Bailey. "About 
 Angels," "The Wheat Field," and "The Great Feast," 
 from The Golden Windows. Grimm's "One Eye, Two 
 Eyes, Three Eyes." "The Blue Jackal," from The Talking 
 Beasts. " Hugh John Smith Becomes a Soldier," from S. R. 
 Crockett's Sir Toady Lion. "The Eve of St. Nicholas," 
 from Story Land, by Clara Murray. 
 
 The Story of Phaeton. "Amelia and the Dwarfs"
 
 86 
 
 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
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 THE SOCIAL LIFE 87 
 
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 88 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 and " Mary's Meadow," by Juliana Horatia Ewing. Story 
 of George Washington. "The Wouldbegoods," p. 86, by 
 E. Nesbit. The William Henry Letters, p. 132, by Abby 
 Morton Diaz. "How Cedric Became a Knight" and "The 
 Line of Golden Light," from In Story- Land, by Elizabeth 
 Harrison. "Somebody's Mother," from Child's Calendar 
 Beautiful, arranged by R. Katharine Beeson. Story of 
 Elidure, from Bulfinch's Age of Chivalry. "The Rainbow 
 Pilgrimage" and "The Immortal Fountain," from Stories 
 of Child Life, edited by John Greenleaf Whittier. "The 
 Wonderful Mallet" and "The Months," from Tales of 
 Laughter. "A Triumph," by Celia Thaxter. "The Ugly 
 Duckling," by Hans Christian Andersen, ^sop's "The 
 Three Vases." "A Child's Dream of a Star," by Charles 
 Dickens. 
 
 "Fathers and Sons" and "The Monthyon Prizes," 
 from A Book of Golden Deeds, by Charlotte M. Yonge. 
 "The Bull," from Collection of Eastern Stories and Legends, 
 by Marie L. Shedlock. "Home Song," by Longfellow. 
 "The Loveof Home," by Daniel Webster, iromProse Every 
 Child Should Know. "Jassima, Xima, and Josu," from 
 Famous Children, by H. Twitchell. "The Threefold 
 Destiny," by Nathaniel Hawthorne. "The Union of the 
 Trees," from Stories from the Classic Literature of Many 
 Lands. "A Falling Out," from Kenneth Grahame's 
 Golden Age. "The Brothers," by William Wordsworth.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE (tHE SCHOOl) 
 
 The child soon emerges from the family into another 
 social circle — the school. Here, as in the family, he 
 interacts with beings constituted like himself, and 
 sustains relations similar to those of the family. 
 Hence, many of his moral obhgations here are essen- 
 tially the same as there, and most of the virtues and 
 vices which he exemplifies are also the same. The 
 principal difference between the family and the school, 
 so far as the moral obhgations are concerned, is largely 
 a difference of emphasis. Certain duties are em- 
 phasized more in the family than in the school, and 
 vice versa. There are some duties growing out of the 
 natural relations of the child to the parents, and to his 
 brothers and sisters, which belong pecuHarly to the 
 family ; and the same may be said of the child in his 
 relations to the school. But, on the whole, the same 
 fundamental moral obligations obtain in both social 
 institutions — the teacher, in a sense, taking the place 
 of the parent, and his schoolmates taking the place of 
 brothers and sisters. The intellectual virtues, of 
 course, must receive special attention in the school, 
 
 89
 
 90 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 as it is specially engaged with intellectual function- 
 ing. These have already been considered. But the 
 school is a social institution, also. It is composed of 
 persons constantly interacting in a social way — 
 hence the virtues relating to the social Ufe of the 
 school must also be considered. The pupil sustains 
 special relations to the teacher, as well as the ordinary 
 social relations to his fellow pupils. These must be 
 moralized. In other words the pupil must not only 
 be trained in the virtues and guarded against the 
 vices that pertain to his intellectual Hfe, but also in 
 those which pertain to his social hfe in the school. 
 
 As in the family, so in the school, obedience is one 
 of the fundamental virtues to receive consideration. 
 It is absolutely essential to the life of the school. 
 Certain rules and laws are necessary for its existence. 
 These rules and laws are the expression of the teacher's 
 will, and of the will of the Board of Education. They 
 are made in the interest of all of the pupils, and they 
 must be obeyed if these interests are to be properly 
 conserved. Social chaos would result if they were 
 not enforced. Indeed ! one of the marks of an effi- 
 cient teacher is the success with which she secures 
 obedience to them. But it is better to secure a 
 willing than a compulsory or slavish obedience. It^ 
 is better to lead the pupil into a rational appreciation 
 of their worth, and to secure conformity to them from 
 such motives, rather than through an assertion of mere
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE 9I 
 
 arbitrary authority. The pupil's obedience then takes 
 on a real moral character, and the moral atmosphere 
 of the school becomes more wholesome. This is 
 really a very important matter. The attitude of 
 many children toward the teacher is similar to the 
 attitude of many people toward the law, and toward 
 those who enforce it. It is an attitude of inward 
 hostility. The law is the friend of every right-minded 
 citizen, and so are they who properly execute it. Laws 
 are made, as a rule, in the interests of the common- 
 weal, and the more we can lead citizens to realize 
 and appreciate this fact, the more willingly and gra- 
 ciously do they conform to them, and the result is a 
 higher type of citizenship. So it is in the school. 
 The more we can lead the pupil to reahze that the 
 rules and laws of the school are made for his benefit, 
 and that the teacher enforces them simply because 
 they are for his interests, the more readily and gra- 
 ciously will he submit to them. We develop in this 
 way a higher kind of school citizenship. Then the 
 tieacher's task becomes easier, and the pupil's obe- 
 dience becomes truly moral. 
 
 Probably the next in importance of the virtues re- 
 lating to school Hfe is that oi justice. The sense of 
 justice is instinctive with man. It is rooted in his 
 sense of what belongs to him as a personal being. Any 
 violation of this instinct gives rise to a feeling of re- 
 sentment or retaliation. Justice calls for ''fair play"
 
 92 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 in the interaction of man with man. Hence it hes 
 at the foundations of society as organized under govern- 
 ment ; and since the school is a governing body, its 
 rules and laws should duly respect the rights of all its 
 members. Every pupil should stand on an equality 
 before the school law. There must be no partiality 
 either in school legislation or in the apphcation or 
 enforcement of school laws. Special privileges to 
 particular pupils should not be granted unless it be 
 for the purpose of stimulating good work and good 
 conduct, and then they are not really special, for such 
 privileges are open to all. Impartiahty of law and 
 its enforcement creates an atmosphere of justice in 
 the school which is very potent in the moralization of 
 its pupils. 
 
 As has been already observed, the playground 
 affords an excellent opportunity to teach justice to 
 children in their relations one with another. Fair 
 play in sport must be insisted upon. Cheating, 
 trickery of all sorts, must be prohibited and punished 
 whenever discovered. This makes it eminently de- 
 sirable, indeed necessary, that the teacher, or the 
 supervisor of sports, if there be one in the school, 
 should supervise all sports. Clean, wholesome, fair 
 play helps to establish the pupil in a virtue that is 
 fundamental to all social life. 
 
 But this virtue should receive attention in the class 
 also. In a course in moral training justice as a vir-
 
 ./ THE SOCIAL LIFE 93 
 
 tue to be exemplified in the social life of the school 
 should be brought to the pupil's attention as an 
 exceedingly important virtue. This may be done 
 by reading and telUng stories embodying justice as 
 it relates to school life. There is sufficient literature 
 of this kind, especially as it relates to fair play in 
 sport, available, and the teacher will do well to make 
 herself familiar with it so that she may be able to 
 supplement the lesson of the ethical reader by narrat- 
 ing one or more stories of her own selection. The 
 rewards and punishments of justice and injustice, as 
 these are brought out in stories of fair play and stories 
 of injustice and cheating, will surely find a most 
 sympathetic response in the minds and hearts of 
 children. These rewards and punishments take on 
 the form of social approbation and disapprobation 
 to which the child is very susceptible. More will be 
 said as to the significance of this social virtue when 
 we come to the chapters on the community and the 
 state; but it is necessary to deal with justice in its 
 relation to the smaller community — the smaller 
 state — which is the school — both for its own good 
 and for the sake of the larger social relations which 
 the pupils will sustain later in life. 
 
 Honesty is a virtue that calls for special considera- 
 tion as it relates to school life. And it calls for recog- 
 nition very early in the pupil's career, as early indeed 
 as the kindergarten period. The distinctions between
 
 94 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 meum and tuum are not well known to the very young 
 child. Gradually he acquires a knowledge of them 
 — often through painful experience. But knowledge 
 does not necessarily establish him in virtue, and the 
 tendency to appropriate the property of others mani- 
 fests itself from time to time. In school he finds him- 
 self surrounded with the property of others — much 
 of which belongs to the public, and some of it to his 
 fellow pupils. For his own good, as well as for the 
 good of the school, it is important that he should 
 develop an honest regard for the possessions of others. 
 He must not dishonestly appropriate either the prop- 
 erty of the school or the property of his schoolmates. 
 How strong a temptation the latter may prove will 
 depend somewhat on the abundance of others' pos- 
 sessions as compared with his own. The child often 
 smarts under a sense of injustice in this respect. He 
 can't understand why another child should have so 
 much more than himself when the other child seems 
 no more deserving, — not having earned it for him- 
 self, — and the temptation to equalize matters comes 
 to him. Again, if the favored schoolmate be selfish 
 or ungenerous in the use of his own possessions, fail- 
 ing to share them, to some extent at least, with his 
 fellow pupils, such a lack of generosity may con- 
 stitute a temptation to theft on the part of the less 
 favored. 
 
 In dealing with the virtue of honesty and the vice
 
 THE SOCIAL LITE 95 
 
 of dishonesty, a good mode of procedure is to develop 
 the sense of ownership in each pupil. Teach him to 
 collect things and to add to them by service. That 
 which he earns he will prize, and it will, at the same 
 time, develop in him an appreciation of ownership 
 on the part of others. He will then know that 
 another's possessions cost the owner something and 
 will hesitate to steal from him. ''To own^lso teaches_ 
 respect for others' possessions ; and even the greed fpr 
 gain by those who have much rarely prompts theft. 
 Stealing is the vice of the ownerless. To have what 
 has cost pain, effort, and denial to get, gives a just 
 sense of worth and best teaches what real ownership, 
 which should always and everywhere represent serv- 
 ice, means. Those who have felt the joy of pos- 
 sessing the well-earned fruits of toil are least liable 
 to rob others of them." ^ Parents should cooperate 
 with teachers here. Children's possessions are orig- 
 inally acquired in the home, and were the parents to 
 condition their ownership largely upon service, it 
 would undoubtedly make for honesty in the child. 
 This sense of ownership manifests itself very early 
 in the child's history, and therefore the parent is 
 primarily responsible for its moralization. 
 
 But honesty and dishonesty may be dealt with 
 also by means of the story method. The rewards 
 of the former and the penalties of the latter should be 
 
 ^ Hall, " Educational Problems," Vol. I, pp. 255-256.
 
 96 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 presented to the pupil in stories relating to school 
 life. The sense of ownership is so strong in children 
 that it is easy, through sympathy, for a school boy or 
 girl to put himself or herself in the position of one who 
 has suffered from theft, and they are in sympathy 
 with the punishment meted out to the thief. The 
 same thing is true concerning their sympathy with 
 honesty and its rewards — especially when they read 
 or are told of an honest act performed by a school boy 
 or girl. This is particularly true of children in the 
 elementary grades, because the school is their largest 
 social circle during these important years. 
 
 The next virtue to be dealt with in its relation to 
 school life is the virtue of truth. As the school, in 
 its social life, is, in many respects, a larger family, 
 all that has been said of this virtue in its relation to 
 the family applies equally to the school. Truth in 
 speech, conduct, and spirit is one of the foundation 
 stones of the school viewed as a social institution. 
 Here let it be stated again that the teacher should ac- 
 quaint herself with the psychology of falsehood as it 
 manifests itself in children, so that she may be capable 
 of forming a correct judgment concerning their ve- 
 racity. She will soon discover that all so-called 
 "children's Hes" are not really lies. Hall, Compayre, 
 Perez, Sully, Stern, and others have given careful 
 attention to this matter, and it is evident from their 
 work that in dealing with children's lies we must take
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE 97 
 
 into consideration the child's instinct to secrete things, 
 the dramatic instinct or the desire to play a part, 
 which leads to deception, the vivid fancy and im- 
 agination of children which leads to illusions and to 
 exaggeration, the desire to please, which is so charac- 
 teristic of childhood, and which leads to insincerity, 
 the apprehension of giving offense, which often re- 
 sults in misrepresentation of the facts, etc.,^ — these 
 are things that must be taken into consideration in 
 determining our judgments in regard to children's lies. 
 When this is done, our judgments will probably be 
 softened. Nevertheless children do lie, and there 
 are many opportunities associated with school life 
 which afford sufficient temptation. Such tempta- 
 tion usually arises in connection with school discipline. 
 The school is a governing body, and, as such, it must, 
 have rules and laws, and penalties for their violation. \ \ 
 Fear of these penalties impels the disobedient pupil 
 to falsify. For example, there is a rule relating to< 
 punctuality, and a penalty for being late. The pupil 
 may have loitered along the way and reported late. 
 To avoid punishment he is tempted to frame an excuse 
 not in accordance with the facts. So with reference 
 to absence from school or unprepared lessons, or there 
 may be a violation of rules relative to school property, 
 as cutting desks or defacing walls. These things 
 usually bring punishment upon the offender, and there 
 ^ Cf. Sully, " Studies of Childhood," pp. 252-266.
 
 98 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 is a temptation to lie to escape it. It is a means of 
 self-defense. All lying of this kind should be pun- 
 ished, and the pupil should be made an object les- 
 son to his schoolmates. Locke, in his celebrated 
 " Thoughts Concerning Education," has made some 
 wise remarks on this subject which the teacher might 
 ponder over to advantage. They are as applicable 
 to her as to the parent in dealing with this evil : — 
 
 "Lying is so ready and cheap a Cover for any Mis- 
 carriage, and so much in Fashion among all Sorts of 
 People, that a Child can hardly avoid observing the use 
 made of it on all Occasions, and so can scarce be kept 
 without great Care from getting into it. But it is so ill a 
 Quality, and the Mother of so many ill ones that spawn 
 from it, and take shelter imder it, that a Child should 
 be brought up in the greatest Abhorrence of it imaginable. 
 It should be always (when occasionally it comes to be 
 mention'd) spoke of before him with the utmost Detesta- 
 tion, as a Quality so wholly inconsistent with the Name 
 and Character of a Gentleman, that no body of any Credit 
 can bear the Imputation of a Lie ; a Mark that is judg'd the 
 utmost Disgrace, which debases a Man to the lowest 
 Degree of a shameful Meanness, and ranks him with the 
 most contemptible Part of Mankind and the abhorred 
 Rascality ; and is not to be endured in any one who would 
 converse with. People of Condition, or have any Esteem 
 or Reputation in the World. The first Time he is found 
 in a Lie, it should rather be wondered at as a monstrous 
 Thing in him, than reproved as an ordinary Fault. If 
 that keeps him not from relapsing, the next Time he must
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE 99 
 
 be sharply rebuked, and fall into the State of great Dis- 
 pleasure of his Father and Mother and all about him who 
 take Notice of it. And if this Way work not the Cure, 
 you must come to Blows; for after he has been thus 
 warned, a premeditated Lie must always be looked upon 
 as Obstinacy, and never be permitted to escape un- 
 punished. 
 
 "Children, afraid to have their Faults seen in their 
 naked Colours, will, like the rest of the Sons of Adam, 
 be apt to make Excuses. This is a Fault usually bordering 
 upon, and leading to Untruth, and is not to be indulged 
 in them ; but yet it ought to be cured rather with Shame 
 than Roughness. If therefore, when a Child is questioned 
 for any Thing, his first Answer be an Excw^e, warn him 
 soberly to tell the Truth ; and then if he persists to shufBe 
 it off with a Falsehood, he must be chastised ; but if he 
 directly confess, you must commend his Ingenuity, and 
 pardon the Fault, be it what it will ; and pardon it so, that 
 you never so much as reproach him with it, or mention 
 it to him again : For if you would have him in love with 
 Ingenuity, and by a constant Practice make it habitual to 
 him, you must take care that it never procure him the 
 least Inconvenience; but on the contrary, his own Con- 
 fession bringing always with it perfect Impunity, should 
 be besides encouraged by some Marks of Approbation. 
 If his Excuse be such at any time that you cannot 
 prove it to have any Falsehood in it, let it pass for 
 true, and be sure not to shew any Suspicion of it. 
 Let him keep up his Reputation with you as high as 
 is possible; for when once he finds he has lost that, 
 you have lost a great, and your best Hold upon him. 
 Therefore let him not think he has the Character of a
 
 lOO MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 Liar with you, as long as you can avoid it without flat- 
 tering him in it." ^ 
 
 But there is a brighter side to all this. The 
 child is more disposed to truth than to false- 
 hood, and the teacher should reckon with this 
 fact. A high regard for the truth should be cul- 
 tivated in the child by pointing out its value and 
 its rewards as these relate to school life, as well as 
 to life in general. 
 
 Another point should be noticed here. The 
 teacher should be especially on her guard with refer- 
 ence to her own conduct in relation to this virtue. 
 The child is a realist. He is a literalist. He does 
 not make fine distinctions between motiveless actions 
 and actions prompted by motives. If the teacher be 
 careless in her statement of fact, it sometimes means 
 falsehood to the pupil. Beware of inexact and of 
 exaggerated statements. They not only react on 
 your own mental life, but often lead to misinter- 
 pretation on the part of the pupil. 
 
 Finally, beware of casuistry. It is exceedingly 
 unwise to raise questions of this kind as they relate 
 to the virtue under consideration. To discuss with 
 pupils of the elementary grades the question whether 
 a lie is ever justifiable, and if so, under what circum- 
 stances, is to weaken the pupil's regard for the truth. 
 
 1 Locke, " Some Thoughts concerning Education," edited by 
 R. M. Quick, Cambridge and London, 1889, pp. 113-115.
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE lOI 
 
 Such questions, if they have a place in moral training 
 at all, belong to a later period in the life of the in- 
 dividual. The discussion of such questions with 
 children of the age represented in the grades is not 
 only profitless, but may prove positively harmful. 
 Many writers believe that, under some circumstances, 
 a lie is justifiable. If the teacher so believes, nothing 
 is to be gained by raising the question with children 
 and presenting the teacher's views. The child is not 
 mature enough to make the distinctions which are in- 
 volved in such a position. One is dealing here with 
 a part of the general question of the relativity of 
 right and wrong, the consideration of which belongs 
 to a much later period in life. 
 
 Another virtue belonging to school life is courtesy. 
 In their interactions with the teacher and their 
 schoolmates the children ought to be courteous. In 
 its highest form courtesy is the expression of good will, 
 and, as such, it is preeminently a moral thing. Gentle 
 manners are indicative not only of refinement, but 
 they represent often a moral attitude. The impor- 
 tance of this virtue is not yet sufficiently appreciated, 
 and therefore not sufficiently emphasized in our schools. 
 In the family, school, or community our social feelings 
 manifest themselves in conduct. It is well therefore 
 that the child should be taught to give them a fitting 
 expression in action, for on such expression depends a 
 large proportion of his own happiness and general
 
 I02 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 well-being, as well as the happiness and general well- 
 being of others. 
 
 The school affords excellent opportunities to train 
 children in good manners. It is a small community 
 in itself, and relations to superiors, equals, and infe- 
 riors are to be found here. The teacher has thus an 
 opportunity to cultivate good manners on the part of 
 children which presents itself to comparatively few, 
 and it is especially incumbent upon her since she 
 deals with so many children who, because of their 
 home surroundings, have not the opportunity for 
 much culture of this kind. 
 
 The teacher should herself be acquainted with, and 
 practiced in, the code of etiquette that prevails in cul- 
 tured society — at least so far as this has to do with 
 the more fundamental modes of social interaction, 
 so that she will not only be an example to her pupils, 
 but will be able to acquaint them with the code and 
 practice them in it. Much of this, of course, calls 
 for direct instruction and immediate practice in the 
 schools. There should be certain requirements in 
 the way of greeting, in question and answer, and in 
 showing deference and respect. There ought to be 
 "Good morning, Miss Adams," instead of merely 
 "Good morning," or instead of no greeting at all. 
 There ought to be "Yes, Miss Adams," instead of 
 merely "Yes" in answer to a question; or "No, 
 Miss Adams," instead of merely "No." If the pupil
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE IO3 
 
 must pass in front of the teacher, he should be taught 
 to ask to be excused for so doing. In other words, 
 there ought to be a well-defined body of social eti- 
 quette governing the school, and inasmuch as the 
 social relations of pupils to teacher and fellow pupils 
 are primarily the same as those which obtain in the 
 community at large, the body of etiquette should 
 therefore be that which prevails in what is commonly 
 called "good society." A school that expresses its so- 
 cial life in this manner is a morally wholesome school, 
 for conduct not only reflects the inner Hfe, but also 
 reacts upon it, and good manners cannot help but 
 have a moralizing influence upon the spirit of the child. 
 To courtesy Sidd kindness. No one will be disposed 
 to question such counsel, if for no other reason than 
 that school children are often very unkind. This 
 may be due at times to lack of imagination, or to 
 thoughtlessness, or to a lack of sympathy, or to down- 
 right meanness and brutahty. But whatever it may 
 be due to, it works injury to' its object, as well as de- 
 moralization in some measure to its author. There 
 is a heartlessness manifest sometimes in school 
 children that to older people seems almost inhuman. 
 At times some at least seem to enjoy teasing others in 
 a manner which often approaches torture. Bullying 
 is an example of unkindness which borders on bru- 
 tality. A big boy taking advantage of his superior 
 strength to enforce his will on a smaller boy is not an
 
 I04 MOEAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 edifying, although a common, sight. "Making fun 
 of" physical defects and of personal peculiarities of 
 other children is by no means uncommon among 
 children. A kind of snobbishness that excludes cer- 
 tain children from certain social f^voups, and from cer- 
 tain sports, or other pleasures, also causes needless 
 pain. In these, and in many other ways, unkindness 
 is manifest among school children. It mars the social 
 life of the school, and, in many instances, causes 
 children who are the sufferers not only to lose interest 
 in it, but also to regard the school as a place of fear 
 and dread, thus handicapping the teacher in her work. 
 The teacher should aim to supplant all this by cul- 
 tivating in the children under her care a spirit of 
 mutual kindness. With the self-centeredness and self- 
 assertion so characteristic of childhood this is not an 
 easy task. But there is a constitutional altruism in 
 the child as well as egoism, and this is capable of 
 development at a very early age. The teacher should 
 take advantage of this fact in her attempts to develop 
 the virtue of kindness. 
 
 Kindness often leads to generosity, and both to 
 friendship, although friendship with children is also 
 determined by other considerations, such as afi&nities, 
 social position, geographical location, etc. Some of 
 these friendships formed at school are among the most 
 lasting and most dehghtful, and all that makes for 
 true friendship should be encouraged by the teacher.
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE IO5 
 
 All the social virtues and vices of school life should 
 be dealt with according to the story method, even 
 though in some instances the more formal method 
 may be desirable. It is greatly to be regretted that 
 among the innumerable children's stories that flood 
 the market so few of them deal with school Hfe.. 
 Wholesome stories, embodying important moral 
 lessons relating to school life, are a desideratum, and 
 some successful writer of children's stories would 
 serve not only his or her generation, but future 
 generations as well, by providing literature of this 
 kind. 
 
 In dealing with the social virtues of the school there 
 are certain special lessons that ought, by all means, 
 to be emphasized — particularly by the teacher in 
 the public schools. They are : respect for school 
 property, school loyalty, gratitude for school privi- 
 leges, and an active apjpreciation of the value of the 
 school ior\ the individual and for society. The first 
 of these ought to be taught as soon as the pupil enters 
 the school, and systematically continued through at 
 least the first five grades. The pupil must be made 
 to understand that the building he is occupying, the 
 books and desks, etc., he is using are not his own. 
 They are the property of others who are generously 
 allowing him the use of them, and that he is not only 
 grossly disrespectful, unjust, and in a sense dishonest, 
 but also basely ungrateful when he defaces the school
 
 Io6 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 building, cuts or scratches a desk, and mutilates a 
 book. This lesson should be taught him both by the 
 direct and indirect methods. It is exceedingly de- 
 sirable to develop in the body of pupils a fine spirit 
 of school loyalty, which not only takes pride in the 
 high grade of its scholarship, and its high standards of 
 honor, but which takes pride also in its school build- 
 ing and its equipment. If this spirit of loyalty be 
 too much to expect from children of the lower 
 grades, it is certainly not too much to expect from 
 children of the higher grades. And the teachers of 
 these grades ought to bend their energies toward 
 developing a spirit which not only contributes to 
 the moral wholesomeness of the school atmosphere, 
 but which serves also as a protection to school 
 property. 
 
 The lesson of gratitude for school privileges is a 
 lesson that certainly should not be overlooked in the 
 moral education of the child. The pupil is a bene- 
 ficiary of the community, and he ought to be made to 
 understand what that means. So far as his education 
 is concerned he is supported by the public, and to the 
 pubhc he owes an immense debt — a debt that he 
 can never adequately repay. Certainly gratitude is 
 small enough recompense for what he receives. Not 
 until he becomes a taxpayer does he in any material 
 manner make a return for the privileges accorded him. 
 So it is weU for the teacher to lead him into a grateful
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE IO7 
 
 appreciation of the invaluable favors conferred upon 
 him by the community. Especially in the upper 
 grades — just before many pupils permanently leave 
 the school — ought these lessons to be imparted. 
 Here, in addition to the moral lesson taught in story 
 or biography, the direct method may be used. It 
 might be well for the teacher in a more formal and 
 direct manner to call the pupil's attention to the nature 
 of this moral obligation, and try to beget in him an 
 abiding appreciation of the generosity of the com- 
 munity. To learn this lesson will not only make him 
 a better individual, but also a better citizen. 
 
 Another lesson that the pupil should learn in this 
 connection is the value of the school for the individ- 
 ual and for the community. This, indeed, will un- 
 doubtedly help in establishing him in the other vir- 
 tues relating to the social life of the school. Once 
 he is really made to see how the school fits him, not 
 only for his life as a breadwinner, but also, in a large 
 measure, for exercising in a much better manner the 
 functions of his entire complex nature, he will see that 
 the school more than anything else, with the possible 
 exception of the home, ministers to his personal wel- 
 fare. It is one of his best friends. In a similar man- 
 ner he can be made to see how the school ministers to 
 the welfare of the community. If this be done, when 
 he becomes a citizen, the interests of the school are 
 likely to be guarded more jealously by him, and this
 
 Io8 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 great institution will become more efficient as a moral 
 force in the community life. 
 
 In our endeavor to establish the pupil in the virtues 
 of the social life of the school the following graded 
 scheme (pp. iio-iii) will prove serviceable. 
 
 In conclusion, it should be said, that play affords a 
 splendid opportunity to put into practice many of 
 the social virtues, and to guard against many of the 
 social vices. A wise teacher will take advantage of 
 this splendid opportunity to make vital — to clothe 
 with flesh and blood — the important moral lessons 
 that she is dealing with in the schoolroom. In the 
 class she makes the virtuous or vicious characters live 
 in the imagination of tlie child ; but on the playground 
 she gives the children an object lesson in actual life. 
 Lessons in the virtues of fairness, kindness, generosity, 
 cooperation, and the corresponding vices especially 
 may be learned from play. A wise teacher will not 
 absent herself from the playground, even where a 
 supervisor of play is employed. Rather will she 
 participate in the play of the children, and make her 
 participation a means of inculcating important moral 
 lessons, and a means of establishing the children in the 
 important virtues that ought to obtain on the play- 
 ground, and which constitute so large a part of the 
 well-being of the individual and of society. 
 
 The following is a list of stories which may be used 
 in connection with the school virtues : —
 
 THE SOCIAL LITE lOQ 
 
 "Wellington and the Plowboy," "Billy, Betty, and 
 Ben and the Circus," "The Seven Ways of the Woods," 
 "To a Child," "A Persian Lad," "The Unseen Playmate," 
 "Partners," and "The Fox and the Stork," from The 
 Golden Ladder Book. 
 
 "The Jackal and the Spring," "Red Stars and Black," 
 "The School Picnic," "Forgive and Forget," and "A 
 Quarrel among Quails," from The Golden Path Book. 
 
 "Little Franz's Last Lesson" and "Tarlton," from 
 The Golden Door Book. 
 
 "Billy's Football Team," and "Little Dafifydowndilly, " 
 from The Golden Key Book. 
 
 "One Good Turn Deserves Another" and "Billy's 
 Prize Essay," from The Golden Word Book. 
 
 "The Teacher's Vocation" and "Ingratitude," from 
 The Golden Deed Book. 
 
 " The Bay Colt Learns to Mind, " from Among the Farm- 
 yard People. "The Naughty Comet," from Totals Merry 
 Winter, by Laura E. Richards. The William Henry Letters, 
 pp. 29, 2>2>, 36, 46-54, 59, 66-68, 126, 152. "The Christ- 
 mas Monks," from Story Land. "The New Teacher," 
 by Edward Eggleston, in Howe's Fourth Reader. "Mrs. 
 Walker's Betsy," from Whittier's Child Life in Prose. 
 "Arthur's First Night at Rugby," from Tom Brown's 
 School Days, by Thomas Hughes. "In School Days," 
 by J. G. Whittier. "The Loyal Elephant, " from Marie L. 
 Shedlock's Collection of Eastern Stories and Legends. 
 
 " My Brother's Schoolmistress, " by Edmondo de Amicis, 
 from Prose Every Child Should Know. "Exit Tyrannus, " 
 from Kenneth Grahame's Golden Age. "The Youth of 
 the Emperor Marcus Aurelius," by F. W. Farrar. "The 
 Schoolmaster is Abroad," by Lord Brougham, from Prose 
 Every Child Should Know.
 
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 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE (tHE COMMUNITY) 
 
 The child is also a member of a larger social circle 
 than is represented by the family and the school. He 
 is a member of the community. As he grows older 
 he becomes more and more related to this larger 
 society, and his sphere of duty is enlarged. In an 
 important sense the relations that he sustains to its 
 members are essentially the same as those he sustains 
 to the members of the family, and to the members of 
 the school, and the moral obligations that grow out of 
 these relations are also practically the same. Hence 
 the virtues and vices involved in his moral develop- 
 ment in his relations to the family and school are those 
 which call for consideration in his relation to the com- 
 munity. This being the case, we need not dwell long 
 upon them, as they have already been considered 
 somewhat at length in both of the chapters relating 
 to the family and the school. 
 
 It will doubtless be recalled that the social virtues 
 treated of there were justice, truthfulness, honesty, 
 kindness, courtesy, generosity, loyalty, etc. It 
 will be seen on a little reflection that these are the
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE II3 
 
 virtues that obtain also in the larger society called 
 the community, and that the reasons for their practice 
 are the same. If, for example, justice is obligatory 
 upon the child in the family, and in the school, it is 
 likewise obligatory for him to regard the rights of 
 others in his relations to the community. Indeed, 
 the practice of this virtue becomes all the more im- 
 perative because of the larger interests at stake, and 
 the child will doubtless find an infringement on the 
 rights of others in the community will not be treated 
 with the same consideration or leniency that it re- 
 ceives sometimes in the family and the school. The 
 same may be said of honesty. Its importance for 
 society is apparent at once. The community could 
 not exist without it, and the child will soon find that 
 here, too, the community is more exacting than the 
 family and the school. Men and women jealously 
 guard their own interests, and dishonesty is treated 
 with severity. Truthfulness, too, is just as necessary 
 in the community as in the family and the school, and 
 it is "enforced" by the same sanctions. Society 
 can no more exist on the basis of a lie than the family 
 or the school can. Justice, honesty, and truthfulness 
 make for the highest well-being of society, and, there- 
 fore, for the individual ; for, in the final analysis, the 
 real good of the individual is coincident with the good 
 of society. 
 
 While the same remarks apply to kindness, the
 
 114 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 teacher may find it necessary to emphasize this virtue 
 in the pupil's relation to society a little more than in 
 his relation to the family and to the school. Mem- 
 bers of the community are not as close to the child 
 as are members of the school. Hence, the child does 
 not feel the force of the moral obligation as it relates 
 to kindness quite as imperatively as he does in its re- 
 lation to those with whom he is more immediately 
 associated. This is true, indeed, with reference to all 
 of the social virtues whose opposites are not punished 
 with severe rebuke or legal punishment, as is, for ex- 
 ample, dishonesty. Hence, it would be well for the 
 teacher to emphasize the moral obligation of kindness 
 a little more when deahng with the child's relation to 
 the community. He ought to be taught to show 
 kindness to, and sympathy for, those in pain or ill- 
 ness, in sorrow or misfortune. There is so much 
 in every community that calls for sympathy and 
 kindness that the lesson can be very forcibly brought 
 home to every pupil. 
 
 So far as courtesy is concerned, it may be said that 
 it is easier to develop the spirit of courtesy and good 
 manners in the child in his relations to the family and 
 the school than in his relations to society, for reasons 
 similar to those mentioned when speaking of kindness. 
 The moral imperative seems less binding, because of 
 the apparent remoteness of the community relation, 
 and this community relation seems still more remote,
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE II5 
 
 and the moral obligation less urgent, when it concerns 
 those whom the child, for some reason or other, re- 
 gards as his inferiors — as servants, the poor, strangers, 
 and foreigners. The child should be taught the les- 
 son that courtesy, as a moral obligation, is universally 
 binding ; that it is a duty we owe to all persons — 
 to the poor, the aged, the infirm, servants, guests, 
 strangers, citizens of other lands, etc. It is for the 
 child's own interests, as well as for the interests of 
 society, that he should develop the spirit of courtesy 
 and that he should manifest this spirit in becoming 
 manners. Now the child may have the spirit of 
 courtesy, and yet not know how to express it. There- 
 fore, he should be taught those forms of conduct 
 which obtain among cultivated people. Society is 
 bound together by convention and custom, and the 
 child should know what these are. In his interactions 
 with society he should know what is the proper thing 
 to do. This should be a part of his school training, — 
 all the more, as was previously stated, because in 
 so many instances he does not receive such training 
 at home. He will learn, of course, by practice in the 
 schools, what many of these formahties are. But it 
 is desirable also that to the actual practice in the 
 social code of the schoolroom should be added that 
 indirect training which is given in the class in ele- 
 mentary morals. 
 
 In thus training the pupil the teacher has to con-
 
 Il6 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 tend with certain faults and vices, and the faults, if 
 not corrected, often develop into vices. They are : 
 bashfulness, which is often sheepish in its character ; 
 and boorishness, which manifests itself in either ig- 
 norant or willful indifference to the social conventions 
 or rules. When such boorishness is willful, it, of course, 
 amounts to disrespect and contempt. 
 
 Much of the boy's or girl's bashfulness is due to ig- 
 norance of what is required in good manners. Knowl- 
 edge of, and practice in, the social courtesies will 
 therefore help largely to cure such bashfulness. Boor- 
 ishness is often due to an excess of animalism. Wasn't 
 it Plato who said the boy is the worst of all wild ani- 
 mals? Such animahsm can be gradually softened 
 by daily practice in good manners in the school. 
 Where boorishness is willful it should be dealt with 
 uncompromisingly, as it is immoral in character, 
 showing, as it does, disrespect and contempt for others, 
 and for that which society regards as essential to its 
 highest well-being, and which is certainly essential to 
 the well-being of the school. 
 
 One word more may be added. Although there is 
 little danger of excessive ceremonialism on the part 
 of children, there is, at least, some danger of excessive 
 formalism in the sense that these courtesies may be 
 viewed too much from the standpoint of external- 
 ism, and thus their real spirit may be lost. The pupil 
 should be gradually led to apprehend them, not from
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE II7 
 
 a mere social and assthetic, but also from a moral 
 standpoint. He should be taught to apprehend them 
 as expressions of good will — of respect, of deference, 
 of proper regard. 
 
 Generosity to those outside of the family and school 
 circles does not appeal to the child quite as strongly 
 as when related to those inside. Children, of course, 
 often take a delight in participating in charity when 
 the sacrifice involved is really borne by the parent or 
 by others. But when it calls for an actual sacrifice 
 on their part, the generous or charitable spirit is not 
 so ardent. Still their natural altruism is present to 
 work upon, and it furnishes a basis for the teacher to 
 develop the virtue of generosity. This is an age of 
 charitable giving, and the "atmosphere" constitutes 
 a favorable environment for the cultivation of this 
 virtue. There is such a variety of needs on the part 
 of many that the child's sympathies can be enlisted, 
 and this will often result in action. Generosity to 
 the poor, to the unfortunate, and to the erring is a 
 virtue that calls strongly for cultivation in a world 
 of inequalities, and it will be worth all of the effort 
 the teacher puts forth to establish the child in this 
 splendid virtue. Literature and history abound in 
 noble examples of generosity, and the teacher will 
 often find that the child will sympathetically respond 
 to them. He will soon be led to see that generosity 
 is better than selfishness ; that it not only aids the
 
 Il8 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 helpless and the needy, but also proves a blessing to 
 society and to the beneficent person himself. The 
 aesthetic side of the virtue will appeal to him also. 
 There is a beauty in acts of charity that arrests our 
 attention and calls forth our admiration for the 
 charitable person. There is also an ugliness in the 
 penuriousness — the stingy selfishness — of him who 
 withholds a helping hand. 
 
 All these virtues meet in that quality of the good 
 citizen which is called public spirit. This implies a 
 consideration on his part, not only for his own family 
 and neighborhood, but for the whole community. 
 Indeed, public spirit at its best makes one a citizen 
 of the world. It is a cosmopolitan interest, which 
 concerns itself with international relationships, with 
 the commerce of states, and the products of countries, 
 with governments, and movements tending to make 
 them more free and more beneficial to the people, with 
 wars and rumors of wars, with all questions of the day. 
 
 Children may be given this spirit in their studies 
 of geography and of history. The wise teacher con- 
 nects these studies, so far as possible, with the news 
 which is contained in the daily paper, and conducts a 
 current events class in which the geography and his- 
 tory of the books are vitally associated with the con- 
 cerns of the present moment. If there is war in the 
 Balkan States, the lay of the land is a matter of 
 interest to all alert minds. If Constantinople is in
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE II9 
 
 peril, the teacher will read to the class in history that 
 famous passage in Gibbon which describes its capture 
 by the Turks, in 1453: *'At daybreak, without the 
 customary signal of the moving gun, the Turks as- 
 saulted the city by land and sea ; and the similitude 
 of a twined or twisted thread has been apphed to the 
 closeness and continuity of their line of attack." 
 The words take on a new and dramatic interest from 
 the conditions of the immediate present. 
 
 The moral value of such association of the old time 
 with the new, and of events with maps, is found in 
 the development of a habit of inteUigent and sym- 
 pathetic interest in the world. This, of itself, elevates 
 character. It is of especial importance in some- 
 what isolated places, in country schools, where char- 
 acter is attacked by monotony. In such places evil 
 is often done because there is nothing of interest to 
 occupy the mind. In such schools a map of the 
 eastern world, on which every morning the teacher 
 indicates by the moving of bits of colored paper the 
 advance and retreat of contending powers, will have 
 the fascination of a moving picture. 
 
 These large interests will find local application. 
 The good school is a Good Government Club, or a 
 Village Improvement Society, within the limits of its 
 own proper abilities. When a child understands his 
 relation to the cleanness of the public streets, he has 
 learaed the alphabet of good citizenship. The un-
 
 I20 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 taught child who throws paper about the schoolyard 
 is taking daily lessons in that civic indifference which 
 is at the heart of most of our political distresses. 
 The legend Who Will Pick It Up? may usefully be 
 exhibited prominently in the hall of every school. 
 The answer to it is one of the first principles of social 
 responsibility. If we tear a piece of paper into bits, 
 and scatter the bits along the way, one of two results 
 must follow : either the torn papers lie there, disfig- 
 uring the place, or else somebody must pick them up. 
 
 It is in the direction of good morals that children 
 be set to do their part in the work of keeping the town 
 clean. The streets in the neighborhood of the school 
 may be made an exercise-ground for clubs of boys and 
 girls, who have been instructed in the virtue of public 
 spirit and are ready to practice it. This is what 
 Ruskin did at Oxford when he sent his pupils out to 
 mend a road. The fact that one of these amateur 
 road menders was Arnold Toynbee, out of whose 
 impulse came the whole mission of social settlements, 
 shows that such lessons may have consequences which 
 exceed all expectation. 
 
 The school may profitably be made acquainted 
 with the city. This will be for the sake of apprecia- 
 tion rather than of criticism. The teacher will find 
 an immediate opposition among citizens to any at- 
 tack upon things as they are. It may be well that 
 such an attack ought to be made, but not by children.
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE 121 
 
 Even if they are enlisted in the cleaning of the streets, 
 it need not be suggested to them that the city council 
 ought to see to that. The right beginnings of civic 
 betterment, so far at least as the school is concerned, 
 are positive rather than negative. The teacher will 
 endeavor to acquaint the school with all the good 
 things in the town. The children will be informed 
 regarding various public institutions, what they are 
 and how they work, and the information will then be 
 illustrated by visits to such places. They will be 
 taken in little groups to fire-engine houses, hospitals, 
 public libraries, art galleries, playgrounds, open-air 
 schools, homes for aged people. They will see the 
 Poor Commissioners and the Associated Charities 
 in operation. They will visit notable factories in 
 which the characteristic products of the town are 
 made. They will see the inside of the town hall, meet 
 the mayor, and be shown the various departments 
 of administration. 
 
 Such instruction and experience as this creates 
 and directs public spirit. The children begin to think 
 of the city as a beneficent institution, carried on by 
 men chosen and employed by the citizens to per- 
 form social duties, to maintain order, clean the streets, 
 carry out improvements, and provide generally for 
 the well-being of the place. They will acquire the 
 habit of regarding public officers somewhat as a cor- 
 poration regards its paid officials, in the light of the
 
 122 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 services which they render to the community. They 
 will perceive that pubhc positions are not prizes to 
 be awarded to men for diligent political work, but are 
 to be given, as other responsible positions are given, 
 to the men who are best equipped to do the work. 
 They will grow up into citizens who will demand ex- 
 pert efficiency in ofl5.ce, and will consider it absurd 
 to choose an undertaker for commissioner of streets 
 because he was active at the polls. 
 
 The elemental need is a true and substantial in- 
 terest in the town, the state, and the nation. Out of 
 that all good things may be expected. For the initial 
 necessity, if we are to make our city answer to our 
 ideals, is to take care that it is inhabited by good 
 citizens, beginning with ourselves. 
 
 Here, too, in addition to the methods already 
 mentioned, the story method may prove helpful in 
 training the child for good citizenship. There are 
 so many fine examples of genuine public spirit which 
 history and our present times afford that the story 
 of those who have labored for civic betterment can- 
 not fail to be morally helpful to the pupil. To pre- 
 sent such history and biography to the child will not 
 fail to result in a wholesome mental and moral re- 
 action. 
 
 The following graded scheme (pp. 124-125) will as- 
 sist in training pupils in the virtues relating to the 
 community.
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE 1 23 
 
 In teaching the virtues of the community life the 
 following list of stories may be used : — 
 
 "The Horseand the Laden Ass," "The Basket Woman," 
 "The Shower of Gold," "Little Ted," "The World's 
 Music," "The Boy Who Recommended Himself," "The 
 Two Friends," "Deeds of Kindness," "Dr. Goldsmith's 
 Medicine," "Hans, the Shepherd Boy," "A Thanksgiving 
 Fable," and "The Bell of Justice," from The Golden Ladder 
 Book. 
 
 "The Arrow and the Song," "How the King Visited 
 Robin Hood," "The Cub's Triumph," "Mercury and the 
 Woodman," "The Old Woman and the Doctor," "The 
 Discontented Pendulum," "The Blind Man and the 
 Lame Man," "The Talkative Tortoise," "The Magic 
 Mask," "Sara Crewe," "The Half-chick," " Jean Valjean 
 and the Good Bishop," "Why Violets Have Golden 
 Hearts," "St. George and the Dragon," "Companions of 
 Differing Humors," and "The Partners," from The Golden 
 Path Book. 
 
 "An Oriental Story," "Nobility," "How Morgan Le 
 Fay Tried to Kill King Arthur," "Tray and Tiger," 
 "The Red Thread of Honor," "The Ladle That Fell from 
 the Moon," "The Lucky Coin," "The Two Dealers," 
 "Little at First but Great at Last," "The Snappy Snapping 
 Turtle," "The Friends," "The Loving Cup Which Was 
 Made of Iron," "The Tongue and How to Use It," "It 
 is Quite True," "The Fairy Who Judged Her Neighbors," 
 "Neighbor Mine," "Can and Could," "The Planting of 
 the Apple Tree," "Mignon," "How the Stag Was Saved," 
 "Fidelity," "Orpheus and Eurydice," "The Story of 
 Peter Cooper," and "Casal Novo," from The Golden Door 
 Book.
 
 124 
 
 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SaiOOL AND HOME 
 
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 126 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 "The Apostle of the Lepers," "Prince Magha," 
 "The Sparrow," "King Robert of Sicily," "Jaffar," 
 "The Emperor's New Clothes," "The Pied Piper of 
 Hamelin," "The Pigeon and the Crow," "For A' That," 
 "Of the Slaying of the Dragon," "Santa Filomena," 
 "Queen Louise," "Abou Ben Adhem," "The Great Horse- 
 man," "A Man Who Loved His Fellow-men," "The 
 House by the Side of the Road," "The Ambulance Call 
 of the Sea," "The True Siory- of an 01:i Hawthorn Tree," 
 "The Daughter of the Custodian," " Geirald the Coward," 
 "Say Not, the Struggle Naught Availeth," "The Blind 
 Man and the Talking Dog," "The Three Bells," "The 
 Story of the Chameleon," "Whatever the Weather May 
 Be," "Echo and Narcissus," and "A Great Repentance," 
 from The Golden Key Book. 
 
 "The Tournament," "The Inchcape Rock," "A Modest 
 Wit," "A Noble Woman," "Florence Nightingale," 
 "Forbearance," "He Who Has a Thousand Friends," 
 " The Risks of a Fireman's Life," " A Hero of the Fishing 
 Fleet," "One of the Busiest Women of New York," "The 
 Master-Player," "The Miraculous Pitcher," "Incident 
 of the French Camp," and "Content," from The Golden 
 Word Book. 
 
 "Prospice," "Silas Marner's Eppie," "Aspecta 
 Medusa," "Sir Artegall and the Knight Sanglier," 
 "Mercy," "The Hog Family," "Friendship," "A Battle of 
 Peace," "The Man with the Hoe," "Herve Riel," "The 
 Battle of Waterloo," and "Captain Scott," from The Gol- 
 den Deed Book. 
 
 "The Stolen Com," from For the Children's Hour. 
 The William Henry Letters, p. 38. "The Tiger Gets His 
 Deserts," "The Sunling," and "The Wolf and the Cat,"
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE 1 27 
 
 from The Talking Beasts. "Charley, the Story-teller," 
 from Whittier's Child Life in Poetry. "The Country 
 Where the Mice Eat Iron" and "The Rogue and the 
 Simpleton," from Eva March Tappan's Folk Stories 
 and Fables. "The Nose Tree" and "The Story of Zirac," 
 from Tales of Laughter. "Father Bruin in the Corner," 
 from Tales from the Fjeld. "The Poplar Tree," from 
 Nature Myths and Stories, by Flora J. Cooke. "What 
 the Toys Do," by Fred E. Weatherly, from A Book of 
 Children's Verse. "How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin," 
 from Just So Stories. "Story that the Swallow Didn't 
 Tell," from Among the Farmyard People. "The Swiss 
 Clock's Story," "The Samovar's Story," and "The 
 Austrian Paper Knife's Story," from Mrs. Burton Harri- 
 son's Bric-a-Brac Stories. Story of Sir Walter Raleigh 
 and Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 " Bishop Hatto," by Robert Sou they. " Singh Rajah and 
 the Cunning Little Jackals," from Old Deccan Days. " The 
 Little Thief," from Horace E. Scudder's Book of Legends. 
 "The Old Man's Dog Shiro," from Fairy Tales from Far 
 Japan, by Susan Ballard, ^^^sop's "The Wolf in Disguise," 
 "The Ape and the Dolphin," and "The Mouse and 
 the Frog." "The Magic Kettle," from Lang's Crimson 
 Fairy Book. "Green Jacket," from Totals Merry Winter. 
 "The Queen's Wand," from Mopsa the Fairy, by Jean 
 Ingelow. "The Wild Duck Shooter," "The Moorish 
 Gold," "The Ouphe of the Wood," and "The Lonely 
 Rock," from Stories Told to a Child, by Jean Ingelow. "A 
 Fortune" and "The Coming of the King," from The 
 Golden Windows. "The Silver Penny" and "The Slippers 
 of Abou Karem," from The Golden Fairy Book. "The 
 Story of Findelkind," from Bimbi, by "Ouida."
 
 I 28 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 "Lady Jane Grey," from Twitchell's Famous Children. 
 "The Merchant of Seri," from Collection of Eastern Stories 
 and Legends. "Turning the Grindstone,", by Benjamin 
 FrankHn, from Prose Every Child Should Know. "Father 
 Grumbler," from Lang's Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp. 
 "The Horse and the Olive," from Baldwin's Old Greek 
 Stories. "Prince Cherry," from The Little Lame Prince, 
 by Miss Mulock. "The Little Hunchback," from Fairy 
 Legejids of the French Provinces, translated by Mrs. M. 
 Gary. "The Quarrelsome Mole," from Among the Forest 
 People, by Clara D. Pierson. "The Proud Chicken," 
 from Chinese Fables and Folk Stories, by Mary Hayes Davis 
 and Chow-Leung. "The Kind Hermit," from Stories from 
 the Classic Literature of Many Lands. "The Fair White 
 City," from In Story-Land. "Gunpowder Perils," "The 
 Cup of Water," and "The Last Fight in the Coliseum," 
 from A Book of Golden Deeds. 
 
 "The Death of King Arthur," by Sir Thomas Malory. 
 " Guinevere," from Tennyson's Idylls of the King. " Meeko 
 the Mischief Maker," from William J. Long's Secrets of 
 the Woods. "Kindly Hearts on Unkindly Shores," 
 from Down to the Sea. Hans Andersen's "Mermaid" 
 and "The Daisy." Dickens's Christmas Carol. "The 
 Punishment of the Stingy," by George Bird Grinell. 
 "Ladders to Heaven," from Dandelion Clocks, by Juliana 
 Horatia Ewing. "Prisoners and Captives " and " Gordon," 
 from Mrs. Lang's Red Book of Heroes. " Life Savers of 
 Lone Hill," from American Book of Golden Deeds. "A 
 Deed of Dering-Do" from Brave Deeds, Young Folks Li- 
 brary. "David Livingstone," from Servants of the King, 
 by Robert E. Speer.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE (RELATIONS TO ANIMALS) 
 
 In the economy of Nature man sustains a close 
 relation to the animal kingdom. In the later stages of 
 his development animals were domesticated by man, 
 and some of them, as the horse, the ox, and the dog, 
 now render him valuable service. So intimate has 
 this relation become that a kind of "friendship" or 
 companionship exists between them. So marked is 
 this at times that examples of notable devotion on the 
 part of animals to their masters and mistresses are 
 on record. Wordsworth's excellent poem "Fidelity," 
 which memorializes the faithfulness of a dog to his 
 master, is a poem based on fact, and the fact itself 
 is by no means an isolated one. On the other hand, 
 so strong is the regard, if not, indeed, affection of the 
 master or mistress for the dog or horse, due to this 
 sense of camaraderie, that when the animal dies, they 
 experience a genuine grief or sorrow. 
 
 Some ethical writers, recognizing animals as not 
 only sentient, but social beings, and noting the inti- 
 mate relationship between man and animals, have, 
 in their classification of duties, spoken of "Duties to 
 E 129
 
 130 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 Animals." Whether we can properly speak of 
 ''duties" to beings that are not persons is question- 
 able. If duties are based on moral claims, and moral 
 claims belong only to personal beings, then moral 
 claims and duties are correlative, and, unless the ani- 
 mal is a person, we can hardly say that it has a moral 
 claim upon us, or that we owe a duty to it. But, 
 whether this can be strictly said or not, it is at least 
 evident that we owe it to ourselves, as well as to the 
 Author of Nature, to be kind and humane to every 
 being that is capable of experiencing pleasure and pain ; 
 and, therefore, it practically amounts to the same thing 
 as if we said we owe duties to animals. So that kind- 
 ness and humaneness in our relation to animals are 
 really measures of our moral worth. As Coleridge 
 says : — 
 
 "He prayeth well who loveth well 
 Both man and bird and beast, 
 
 He prayeth best who loveth best 
 All things both great and small ; 
 
 For the dear God who loveth us 
 He made and loveth all." 
 
 Now, in our effort to moralize the child in this re- 
 spect, there are a number of things that, in a sense, 
 constitute obstacles in the way. In the first place, 
 all along the line of man's development he has had to 
 contend more or less with beasts and birds of prey. 
 In the struggle for existence he has been compelled
 
 THE SOCIAL LITE I31 
 
 to take a hostile attitude toward a large number of 
 such, and, even at this late day, the struggle must 
 be kept up, as in the case of poisonous serpents and, 
 in certain portions of the earth, in the case of fero- 
 cious animals. According to biological evolution the 
 struggle has really worked an advantage to man — 
 having proved to be an important factor in his de- 
 velopment. But, with the extinction of some of the 
 more ferocious species, there still survives in man 
 some of the earlier ferocious instincts which manifest 
 themselves in a useless slaughter of wild animals — 
 a kind of wild delight in hunting "big game." 
 
 Again, man being a flesh-eating animal, in all ages 
 animals have been slaughtered to minister to his bod- 
 ily needs. Such slaughter continues to-day on a tre- 
 mendous scale, and will continue unless the race 
 should be convinced of the sufficiency of a vegetable 
 diet. This wholesale slaughter, even though it seems 
 necessary, and is carried on in the most humane fash- 
 ion, has a more or less demoralizing tendency, which 
 we must reckon with. 
 
 Again, in the light of modern science, we have found 
 that certain animals and insects are bearers of dis- 
 ease germs, and these are a menace to the human or- 
 ganism. So we find it necessary to destroy them. 
 Indeed, we find it expedient often to visit wholesale 
 destruction upon them. We teach our children in 
 the home and school to "swat the fly," to kill the
 
 132 MOR.A.L TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 mosquito, to destroy cockroaches, mice, and other 
 vermin. All this must be done, and it seems right 
 that it should be done. But it has a tendency more 
 or less to dull our humaneness, and renders it more 
 difficult to teach the child to exercise this virtue in 
 relations, and under conditions, where the destruction 
 of life is not profitable. 
 
 Again, animals are our inferiors, and are utilized 
 for our service and pleasure. We take away the 
 freedom of many. We harness the horse and ox, we 
 stable the cow, we chain the dog, we cage the bird. 
 This attitude of dominion over the animal world con- 
 stitutes often a temptation to indulge in cruelty to 
 animals. So strong is this temptation that organiza- 
 tions have sprung up to guard their "rights," and 
 these "rights" are in some instances made the sub- 
 ject of state legislation. 
 
 It will thus be seen that in trying to teach the child 
 kindness to animals, the teacher is by no means con- 
 fronted with an easy task. She has to deal with in- 
 herited tendencies, and with certain unfavorable in- 
 fluences due to environment. But, on the other hand, 
 there are some things that help her in her work. 
 It is a very noticeable fact that young children are 
 fond of animals. Household pets, like cats and dogs 
 and rabbits, figure largely in the social life of the child. 
 Indeed, he is often more fond of them than of persons. 
 This is doubtless due to the fact that at this time of
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE 1 33 
 
 life he has, in a sense, more in common with these 
 animals than he has with man. This fondness does 
 not cease as he grows older. The dog is still the com- 
 panion of the boy and girl, and the cat continues to 
 be the pet of the girl. 
 
 Still, despite all this, there is both a thoughtlessness 
 and cruelty which children manifest in their relation 
 to animals and insects which make it imperative 
 for the teacher of elementary morals to deal with 
 these vices, and, because of the prevalence of them, 
 it will probably be best at first to put the emphasis 
 on the vice of cruelty more than on the virtue of kind- 
 ness. In the very young child this cruelty is the re- 
 sult of ignorance or thoughtlessness. He will maul 
 the cat and dog as though they were inanimate ob- 
 jects. He will pull off the legs and wings of the fly 
 as though the fly had no feeling whatsoever, and could 
 maintain its being without these necessary members. 
 A little later in life the child's ignorance and thought- 
 lessness develop into a thoughtlessness of a more 
 serious character, which is sometimes attended by 
 a conscious cruelty. He seems to dehght in ston- 
 ing frogs, birds, squirrels, and other animals. In 
 many instances, through a misdirected generosity of 
 parents or friends, he is made the owner of an air gun 
 by which he maims or kills birds or small animals. 
 In later life such cruelty is often manifest in brutality 
 when dealing with domestic animals, such as the
 
 134 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 horse, ox, and dog. Now all that makes for brutality 
 in the child ought to be curbed. It makes for im- 
 morality, and the teacher of morals in the schools 
 will prove recreant to her trust if she fails to treat this 
 vice seriously. 
 
 It may be that cruelty of this kind is to be ac- 
 counted for as merely the manifestation of ''frag- 
 mentary rudiments of past combat, capture, and 
 kiUing of prey and enemies," ^ and that therefore we 
 ought not to be too harsh in our judgments of the 
 boy's conduct. But whether it is to be thus ex- 
 plained or not, it is nevertheless an evil, and it is the 
 teacher's duty to do what she can to restrain such 
 ''atavistic tendencies." ^ 
 
 Furthermore, there is a moral obligation here as 
 this matter relates itself to society. A large ma- 
 jority of the community finds delight in song birds 
 and in birds of beautiful plumage. What moral 
 right have we to interfere with such delight simply to 
 gratify selfish cruelty ? Much will be taken out of 
 hfe if our song birds, and our birds of gay plumage, 
 eventually disappear. Furthermore, birds are of use 
 to man. They eat insects and worms that destroy 
 our trees. Why should man be deprived of this 
 
 ^ Burk, "Teasing and Bullying," Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. IV. 
 1897. 
 
 ^ See W. B. Drummond, " An Introduction, to Child Study," New 
 York and London, 1910, p. 286.
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE I35 
 
 service to gratify the savage instincts of the boy with 
 the shotgun, or the boy after he grows up and makes 
 use of the more deadly rifle ? Society is awaking 
 to the danger, and is beginning a propaganda in the 
 interests of protecting our birds. Such a propaganda 
 can be best carried on in the school. Here wanton 
 destruction of birds should be condemned as a vice, 
 to refrain from which is a moral obligation that the 
 pupil owes to himself and to society. 
 
 But thus far we have been dwelling largely on the 
 negative side of the subject — ■ on the vices of unkind- 
 ness and cruelty. Let us now turn to the positive side 
 — the virtues of kindness and humaneness. Just how 
 much this includes is not an easy matter to determine. 
 Whether it means more than merely supplying the phy- 
 sical wants of the animals depending upon us might be 
 questioned by some. It at least means this much, 
 and this alone is productive of moral results. Dr. 
 Montessori calls attention to the effects of taking 
 care of plants and animals on both the intellectual 
 and moral life of young children. What is true of 
 very young children is true of older children as well. 
 She says : — 
 
 "First. The child is initiated into observation of the 
 phenomena of life. He stands with respect to the plants 
 and animals in relations analogous to those in which the 
 observing teacher stands towards him. Little by little, 
 as interest and observation grow, his zealous care for the
 
 136 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 living creatures grows also, and in this way the child 
 can logically be brought to appreciate the care which 
 the mother and the teacher take of him. 
 
 "Second. The child is initiated into foresight by way 
 of auto-education; when he knows that the life of the 
 plants that have been sown depends upon his care in 
 watering them, and that of the animals, upon his diligence 
 in feeding them, without which the little plant dries up 
 and the animals suffer hunger, the child becomes vigilant, 
 as one who is beginning to feel a mission in life. More- 
 over, a voice quite different from that of his mother and his 
 teacher calling him to his duties is speaking here, exhorting 
 him never to forget the task he has undertaken. It is 
 the plaintive voice of the needy life which lives by his 
 care. Between the child and the living creatures which 
 he cultivates there is born a mysterious correspondence 
 which induces the child to fulfill certain determinate acts 
 without the intervention of the teacher, that is, leads 
 him to an auto-education. 
 
 "The rewards which the child reaps also remain between 
 him and nature : one fine day after long, patient care in 
 carrying food and straw to the brooding pigeons, behold 
 the little ones ! behold a number of chickens peeping about 
 the setting hen which yesterday sat motionless in her 
 brooding place ! behold one day the tender little rabbits 
 in the hutch where formerly dwelt in solitude the pair of 
 big rabbits to which he had not a few times lovingly 
 carried the green vegetables left over in his mother's 
 kitchen!" ^ 
 
 Observation, foresight, patience, sense of responsi- 
 bility, kindness, industry — all result from such a prov- 
 
 1 "The Montessori Method," New York, 191 2, pp. 156-157.
 
 THE SOCIAL LIFE 137 
 
 idence which children exercise over animals, and it 
 is well to encourage them in it wherever practicable. 
 
 Furthermore, the nature of animals is such, that 
 our relation to them involves a further obligation of 
 kindness — an obligation to train them for higher 
 enjoyment — an enjoyment of companionship with 
 human beings. To thus train animals will prove not 
 only a kindness to them, but it will enhance our own 
 pleasure, also, and the exercise of such kindness 
 reacts upon ourselves. It has an excellent moral 
 effect. Therefore such kindly treatment really be- 
 comes a duty. 
 
 In dealing with the virtue and vice growing out of 
 our relations to animals the teacher will find that 
 fables and allegories especially lend themselves to 
 this purpose. They often deal with animal life, and 
 in their personification of animals the moral lesson 
 may be impressively brought before the pupil. It is 
 rather surprising that modern writers of fables and 
 allegories have not made more use of this method to 
 teach morality as it bears on this subject. Here, 
 again, is a field for cultivation by some clever writer. 
 There are, however, a sufficient number of fables 
 available so that the teacher will not be handicapped 
 in the use of the indirect method here. General story 
 literature also will furnish material that relates to this 
 virtue and its opposite vice, so that the teacher need 
 not be embarrassed because of a lack of material.
 
 138 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 In dealing with the virtue and vice growing out of 
 our relations to animals the following graded scheme 
 is recommended : 
 
 Virtue Grade 
 
 1. Kindness to animals I II III IV V 
 
 Vice Grade 
 
 2. Cruelty to animals I II III IV V 
 
 In considering the child's relation to animals the 
 following list of stories may be used : 
 
 "The Children and the Dog," "The Queen Bee," 
 and "The Slave and the Lion," from The Golden Ladder 
 Book. 
 
 "Poor Old Horse," "The Banyan Deer," and "Who 
 Stole the Bird's Nest?" from The Golden Path Book. 
 
 "Sir Isaac Newton" and "Walter von der Vogelweid," 
 from The Golden Door Book. 
 
 "Stanley and the Squirrels," from Half a Hundred 
 Stories, ^sop's "The Man and the Foxes." "Little 
 Gustava" by Celia Thaxter. 
 
 "The Water-Babies," Chapters III and V. "The WUd 
 Doves of St. Francis," by William E. A. Axon. "Dying 
 in Harness," by John Boyle O'Reilly. 
 
 "Rajeb's Reward" and "The Lost Spear," from 
 M§,gic Casements, by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora 
 Archibald Smith. "The Emperor's Bird's Nest," by H. W. 
 Longfellow. "The Wounded Curlew," by Cclia Thaxter.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE ECONOMIC LIFE 
 
 Ethical writers emphasize the vital significance 
 of the vocational life in the moral development of 
 the individual and of society. A vocation tends to 
 unify a man's life, and this unity is itself a moral 
 gain. It also identifies him with the community 
 in a manner that makes both for his own as well as 
 for the community's welfare. Through it, in a sys- 
 tematic way, he makes his contribution to the world's 
 work. He is not only saved from many of the sins 
 of idleness, but he also develops many of the per- 
 sonal, social, and industrial virtues. He thus adds 
 to his own enjoyment and enrichment of character 
 as well as to the enjoyment and enrichment of the 
 life of society. The more the teacher realizes this, 
 the more she will exert herself to impress upon her 
 pupils in the upper grades the importance of the 
 vocational fife, and to establish them in its virtues 
 and guard them against its vices. 
 
 By the economic hfe we mean whatever concerns 
 the earning of one's living. Many children of the 
 seventh and eighth grades are already regarding this 
 matter as of immediate interest. Even if they have 
 
 139
 
 I40 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 the desire to pursue their studies further, their 
 circumstances are such as to make an extended course 
 out of the question. They must go to work next 
 year or the year after. 
 
 The fact is an unfortunate one from the point of 
 view of education in general, but it offers a certain 
 educational opportunity. It brings into the last 
 two years of school some of the elements which enter 
 into the preparation for a profession. It is well- 
 known that young men who have been indifferent 
 students in their college years become interested and 
 industrious when they come to study the subjects 
 which are evidently necessary for their success in life. 
 They do not need to be compelled to work hard. 
 If in a like manner the boys and girls who are presently 
 to go out of the school into the shop or the mill per- 
 ceive that what they are being taught in school bears 
 directly upon what they are to do for a hving, and 
 may determine whether they shall succeed or not, the 
 problem of getting their interest is solved. 
 
 This is easy when the work of the school is a direct 
 training for the practical life, as is the case in manual 
 instruction, and in such subjects as bookkeeping, 
 penmanship, and arithmetic. But the wise teacher 
 will show that the most important part of the prep- 
 aration is that which affects character. The initial 
 demand in the world of business is that which is 
 supplied not by mere dexterity or knowledge of
 
 THE ECONOMIC LIFE 141 
 
 methods, but by those personal qualities which make 
 the work of hands and brains effective. 
 
 One of these qualities is industry. This is the virtue 
 which is contradicted by the vice of indolence. It 
 is the soHd foundation of all achievement. Young 
 people are sometimes misled by the dramatic examples 
 of adventurers and men of genius who seem to have 
 accomplished great things easily, by good luck, 
 without trying. They remember that Aladdin was a 
 lazy lad in whose hands was placed a magic lamp 
 which made him master of the unseen powers. All 
 that he had to do was to rub the lamp ; that was the 
 most serious exertion of energy required. And he 
 became rich, and married the sultan's daughter. 
 The honest truth, however, is that in actual life the 
 story of the lazy lad is parallel with the story of Aladdin 
 only to the end of the first chapter. Down he goes 
 along the magic stairs in search of gold and gems, and 
 the cover is clapped down upon him, and there he is in 
 the dark for good : he never gets out. All things come 
 to the industrious. Nothing comes to the indolent 
 but shame and failure, and the loss of all the things 
 which are to be attained by industry. Indolence 
 is the counterfeit coin which is offered in purchase of 
 the good things of life, and is refused at all counters. 
 The hours of the day are like the blank leaves of a 
 check book, being worth only what we make them 
 worth. All young people desire to live lives of self-
 
 142 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 respect and economic independence. They look for- 
 ward to the owning of their own homes, and to the 
 successful conduct of their own business. One of the 
 most important lessons which they can learn in school 
 is that the key to all this pleasant hfe is industry. 
 
 But in order to make the importance of industry 
 plain, young people must have an ambition to be and 
 to do that which requires industry for its accomplish- 
 ment. Often the indolent pupil lacks aspiration. He 
 comes out of an environment of plodding and care- 
 less life in which there are low standards of living. 
 His parents and his neighbors are contented with 
 food and lodging of a poor kind, and are satisfied 
 to live from hand to mouth. The school must appeal 
 to ambition. It must set forth the possibilities which 
 are within the reach of industrious youth. It must 
 show how both health and happiness await those who 
 really desire them, while those who lack ambition 
 get only so much as they actively desire. 
 
 It is indeed true that industrial conditions are diffi- 
 cult. There is a feeling in the minds of manual labor- 
 ers that they are imprisoned in the midst of discourag- 
 ing conditions out of which they cannot escape. All 
 their industry, they think, will but contribute to 
 the gains of their masters, leaving them as poor as 
 ever. On the other hand, there are many examples 
 of men of conspicuous success who began their 
 career with nothing. They are prosperous because
 
 THE ECONOMIC LITE I43 
 
 they worked hard and intelligently, while the other 
 boys who went to school with them are poor. They 
 laid hold of every opportunity. One might have 
 said that they had no chance. The future, it seemed, 
 belonged to the sons of the rich, who had every ad- 
 vantage to start with. But it did not work out that 
 way. They were determined to succeed. Their 
 constant ambition opened a way for them over all 
 obstacles. They made effective weapons out of the 
 opportunities which others threw away. 
 
 " There spread a cloud of dust along the plain ; 
 And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged 
 A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords 
 Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince's banner 
 Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes. 
 A craven hung along the battle's edge. 
 And thought, ' Had I a sword of keener steel — 
 That blue blade that the king's son bears, — but this 
 Blunt thing — ! ' he snapt and flung it from his hand, 
 And lowering crept away and left the field. 
 Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bestead, 
 And weaponless, and saw the broken sword, 
 Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand, 
 And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout 
 Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down. 
 And saved a great cause that heroic day." 
 
 These are noble lines for the memory of youth, 
 worth being printed in great letters and hung on 
 schoolroom walls, for the incitement of high ambition,
 
 144 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 and for the assurance that success is won not by favor, 
 nor by excellence of tools or weapons, so much as 
 by constant determination, and the resolve to do 
 difficult things in an heroic spirit. 
 
 Along with industry and ambition as good qualities 
 of the economic Hfe goes the virtue of order. There 
 is a plodding and unintelHgent industry which de- 
 feats all the dreams of ambition because it does not 
 use the time aright. Order begins with promptness. 
 The orderly worker is on hand punctually, at the 
 moment. This is plainly one of the virtues for 
 which the discipline of the school provides continual 
 exercise. The wise teacher shows the pupils how 
 promptness, and regularity, and system, and the 
 details of order are necessary, not only that the life 
 of the school may proceed well, but that the lives of 
 the scholars may be affected by it. They are to be 
 reminded that this virtue is as essential to all economic 
 progress as a knowledge of tools is essential to a 
 mechanic. Prosperity is impossible without it. 
 
 Thus the failure of a farm is proclaimed by the im- 
 plements which lie neglected in the field. That 
 spectacle of improvidence and neglect and disorder 
 is not only an evidence that the farm does not pay, 
 but an explanation of its poor returns. The trouble 
 with the farm is that it is managed by a farmer 
 who sees no harm in leaving his hoes and shovels, 
 his plows and rakes under the wet sky. That shows
 
 THE ECONOMIC LIFE I45 
 
 what sort of man he is. The failure is first in the 
 character of the farmer ; then, as a consequence, in 
 the farm. 
 
 Order is required, then, in the schoolroom. Desks 
 must be kept neat, bells must be obeyed with im- 
 mediate response, hours must be observed to the 
 minute, quiet must be maintained, the school must 
 proceed with the carefulness of a business office, in 
 order that boys and girls may be taught this very 
 necessary virtue of order. Employers are looking for 
 young people, who, together with industry and am- 
 bition, have a sense of order. To such the rewards 
 of the economic life are given. They get the pro- 
 motions. When places of responsibility are open, 
 and young men are to be advanced to masterships, 
 account is taken of their orderly habits. They 
 who would be intrusted with the keeping of order, 
 with the conduct of a system, must first be systematic 
 and orderly themselves. 
 
 There are two allied virtues which take these quali- 
 ties of industry and ambition and order out of the 
 enthusiasm of new resolutions, and make them a 
 settled part of the working day. One of them is 
 patience, the other is perseverance. These make 
 youth willing to wait. For the rewards of virtue 
 are often slow in coming. One says hastily to himself, 
 "I have lived according to the principles which ought 
 to bring advancement, and I am not advanced. My
 
 146 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 wages are no more than they were two years ago. 
 I will give up the fruitless effort." In such cases it is 
 sometimes well for the discouraged worker to ask him- 
 self : "Am I really worth more than I was two years 
 ago ? Am I contributing more to the success of the 
 business than I was ? " For the unchanged wage may 
 mean that the worker is unchanged. But if the ques- 
 tion may be answered in the worker's favor, and still 
 his virtues seem to have no recognition nor reward, 
 then the needed qualities are those of patience and of 
 perseverance. All the virtues are tested by them. 
 
 Men must have virtues which can stand strains. 
 They must be enduring. Sometimes the master is 
 watching to see if the good quaHties of the man are 
 real; they may be only the products of a passing 
 enthusiasm. The man may work well under pleasant 
 conditions, but may have no staying qualities. The 
 successful man is he who has met discouragement a 
 thousand times. Often he failed when he hoped to 
 succeed, and had no recognition, was not appreciated, 
 seemed to make no progress. Under these circum- 
 stances most of his companions on the way to success 
 became discouraged and gave up, and that was the 
 end of them. He kept on. 
 
 But patience and perseverance imply discourage- 
 ment and difficulty. These conditions are essential 
 to their existence. Patience is a virtue only when 
 we have good reason to be impatient, and persever-
 
 THE ECONOMIC LIFE I47 
 
 ance means nothing unless it is hard for us to per- 
 severe. Thus all the difi&culties of school life are 
 as much a part of the economic life which follows as 
 the rigors of practice are a part of the game. The 
 purpose of practice is to accustom players to hard 
 usage in order that they may take it cheerfully and 
 without surprise when they get it from the other team. 
 Soft practice makes soft players, as soft studies make 
 soft people, unable to meet the difficulties of life. 
 The lesson is hard because life is hard, and the school 
 is meant to train youth to encounter hardship. 
 
 The virtues of economy and prudence, important 
 as they are in the work of the world, are somewhat 
 remote from the work of the school. Life stretches 
 out so immeasurably before the feet of youth that it is 
 hard for the young to realize that they must take care 
 of their hours. Why be careful, when there are so 
 many hours? And the saving of money is remote 
 from most pupils, since few of them are earning it. 
 The value of money is hardly more than an academic 
 proposition until one discovers by experience how hard 
 it is to get and keep. That extravagance is a vice 
 must be taught as a dogma, the lesson being confirmed 
 later by reason and experience. 
 
 The teacher may show that time and money are 
 the materials of our continual bargains. We are 
 forever spending them, and getting what we pay for. 
 The instinct to make a good bargain, the reluctance
 
 148 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 to be cheated, is universal, and makes a basis of 
 appeal. Evidently, the permanent is better than 
 the temporary, gold is better than brass ; to buy 
 something to keep is better than to buy something 
 to throw away. And if we buy this, we cannot buy 
 that. Thus wastefulness may be impressed upon 
 the mind as a form of folly. The youth who throws 
 away time which might be used for his advancement in 
 life might as well pitch his dimes over the bridge. 
 Wasted money, for foolish purchases, is a reason for 
 derision, like the folly of one who because of ignorance 
 or of carelessness is continually cheated. Improvi- 
 dence is a thing to be ashamed of as a mark of lack 
 of knowledge of life. In the curious color scheme of 
 popular morals the youth who is undertaking, as the 
 phrase is, to paint the world red is succeeding only 
 in painting himself green. 
 
 The list of the more outstanding economic virtues 
 closes with the personal qualities of honesty and 
 courage. They are closely allied. For honesty, in 
 any large definition of the word, means not only 
 the keeping of one's hands from picking and steal- 
 ing, but a certain allegiance to one's convictions. 
 He is honest who is true, sincere, and genuine, 
 and who does what he believes to be right, 
 and declines to do what he believes to be wrong. 
 And this calls for courage. It implies self-rehance. 
 It demands a measure of initiative and independ-
 
 THE ECONOMIC LIFE I49 
 
 ence. He who has honesty and courage possesses 
 the qualities of leadership. At the least, he will 
 not be found ignobly following a crowd to do evil. 
 He can be depended upon. He orders his conduct, 
 not by the prohibitions of the law, but by the guid- 
 ance of his own conscience, and will do well whether 
 he is commanded or not, and whether he is observed 
 or not. 
 
 These five personal qualities should be developed 
 in the school, not by regulation, nor by direct instruc- 
 tion, but by the attraction of noble examples. A 
 series of ethical school readers that holds up to the 
 admiration and emulation of youth honest and 
 courageous heroes will be of great service here. The 
 stories of their lives help to make a public opinion 
 which praises moral bravery. It assists a condition 
 out of which boys and girls go into the world with 
 certain fine ideals, rejoicing in the strength of the body, 
 but rejoicing even more in that strength of the will 
 and of the soul which keeps men true to the distinc- 
 tion between right and wrong, and makes them in- 
 stinctive champions of right. 
 
 The following graded scheme (pp. 150-15 1) will be 
 found helpful as a basis for training children in the 
 virtues of the economic life.
 
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 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
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 152 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 The following list of stories may be used in con- 
 nection with the virtues of the vocational life : — 
 
 "The Goblin and the Huckster," "A Song," "Adver- 
 sity," "Of Sir Beaumains and his Quest," "The Story of Ali 
 Cogia," "The Light of Stars," "Lochinvar," "Palissy 
 the Potter," "Three Questions," "The Boyhood of Abra- 
 ham Lincoln," and "How Marbot Crossed the Danube," 
 from The Golden Word Book. 
 
 "Polonius to Laertes," "A Brave Rescue and a Rough 
 Ride," "A Master of Fate," "Thomas Alva Edison," 
 "Quiet Work," "Habit," "The Chambered NautUus," 
 "Days," "Order in the House," "Ulysses," "A Glance 
 Backward," "Salutation of the Dawn," " Joyfulness," 
 " Sonnet on his Blindness," "The Singers," " Ode to Duty," 
 "The Mystery of Life," "The Choir Invisible," "The War 
 Horse and the Seven Kings," "George Washington," 
 and "The Carronade, " from The Golden Deed Book. 
 
 "An Oriole's Nest" and "The Builders," from Ways 
 of Wood Folk, by WiUiam J. Long. "Robert Owen," 
 " Chauncey Jerome," "Michael Reynolds," " Peter Faneuil 
 and the Great Hall he Built," and "George Flower," 
 from Captains of Industry, by James Parton. "Mary 
 Lyon," from An American Book of Golden Deeds. "The 
 One-eyed Servant, " from Stories Told to a Child. " Life " 
 and ' ' Opportunity, ' ' by Edward Roland Sill. ' ' The Rescue 
 Party," from A Book of Golden Deeds. Story of George 
 Stephenson. Story of Sir Humphrey Davy. "Sir Hum- 
 phrey Gilbert," from Short Studies on Great Subjects, by 
 J. A. Froude. "The Story of Whang," from The Citizen 
 of the World, by Oliver Goldsmith. "History of Cogia 
 Hassam Alhabbal," in Stories from the Arabian Nights, 
 published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE POLITICAL LIFE 
 
 Long ago Aristotle defined man as a political animal. 
 By this, the great Greek philosopher meant that man 
 is by nature a political being — that he has natural 
 or constitutional capacities that fit him not only for 
 society, but for society as organized under govern- 
 ment. This is undoubtedly true, for both the history 
 of the race, as well as a psychological analysis of 
 man, bear testimony to the fact. Almost as far back 
 as we can trace human history we find man existing not 
 only in groups but under some form of political 
 organization which, in its higher forms, we call the 
 State or Commonwealth. 
 
 The state is an ethical institution. It exists for the 
 welfare of the people. This is its supreme end. 
 However inferior may be the conception of "welfare" 
 which the people may form, still it is an ideal that they 
 impose upon themselves, and the realization of which, 
 in a measure at least, they apprehend as a moral 
 obligation. By its aims, its laws, — prohibitory and 
 mandatory, — its aspirations and its inspirations, the 
 state proves to be a tremendous moralizing force, and 
 
 IS3
 
 154 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 anything that can be done to promote its highest 
 interests should be done. 
 
 The pubHc schools are in a large measure training 
 schools for citizenship. Supported as they are by 
 the people, this should be their primary aim, and 
 they ought to be training schools for good citizenship. 
 Here that knowledge and sentiment which makes 
 for such ends should be fostered. It is here that the 
 individual should be instructed and established in 
 those virtues which make for the public weal — in 
 that "righteousness which exalteth a nation." A 
 school that fails to realize its duty in this respect 
 fails in one of its most fundamental moral obligations. 
 What, then, are these virtues, and how can we effec- 
 tively introduce the pupil to them ? 
 
 The foundation virtue of the poHtical life is one which 
 has a hke place both in the school and in the home. 
 All discipline, whether domestic, academic, or pohtical, 
 begins with it. The lack of it imperils or destroys 
 all organization. This is the virtue of obedience. 
 
 The first ground of obedience is authority. In 
 early childhood, and in such classes of society as have 
 hardly developed beyond the unreasoning stage, 
 this is the only basis of obedience. The mind and 
 the will must be directed by a superior wisdom and 
 strength. The command must be heeded because 
 it is a command, whether it is agreeable or not, 
 and whether it is understood or not. Prompt
 
 THE POLITICAL LIFE 1 55 
 
 and unquestioning obedience is necessary at this 
 period for its own sake, in order to develop habit, as 
 various exercises are necessary as an initiation into 
 art, or music, or letters, in order to develop dexterity. 
 The encouragement of this virtue is in the approval 
 of those in authority when it appears, and their 
 disapproval when it is lacking. It is assisted by 
 examples, such as appear in a series of ethical 
 readers, of boys and girls who obeyed splendidly 
 under difficult conditions. All the singing, marching, 
 and drilling of the schoolroom, and whatever else 
 goes to the sound of a bell, are in the direction of 
 obedience. 
 
 As years increase, and it becomes possible to make 
 more appeal to reason or imagination, the almost 
 instinctive interest which children have in soldiers 
 and sailors may be made to contribute to this virtue. 
 These men obey instantly, and all their strength 
 proceeds from that fact. Thus the teacher passes 
 from authority as a ground of obedience to lay a 
 second foundation in the fact of efficiency. It is 
 plain that a good regiment obeys, and it may be made 
 plain that a school, in order to be a good school, must 
 obey. All the energies of the captain must be set 
 free for use in leading the regiment into action. He 
 must not be delayed and distracted by having to urge 
 laggards into line. And all the energies of the teacher 
 must be set free for teaching. On goes this regiment
 
 156 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 into the battle of life ; every inattentive or disobedient 
 soldier weakens it. The universal interest of children 
 in athletic games affords another opportunity for con- 
 necting obedience with efficiency. For the phrase 
 "team play" is equivalent to obedience in action. 
 Instant response must be made to the word of the 
 leader. 
 
 As children grow still older they may be made 
 to understand that school laws are the expression of 
 careful wisdom. This understanding is impeded 
 in some cases by a conviction based on experience 
 that home laws often represent impulse or impatience 
 or a failure to appreciate the conditions of child Hfe. 
 But even here the reasonableness of the academic 
 regulation may be made clear. Much may be done 
 by explanation of the reasons for the regulations 
 made sometimes to the whole school, and sometimes 
 to a chosen group of natural leaders. The wise teacher 
 will invite discussion, and be ready to listen atten- 
 tively to all counter-arguments. In this way the 
 energies of the scholars themselves may be enhsted 
 on the side of the constituted authorities. 
 
 The importance of the whole matter is evidenced 
 by the continual complaints of the ineffectiveness 
 of the public school in teaching respect for law. 
 Often a part of the failure arises from the presenta- 
 tion of school law on the basis of authority alone to 
 boys and girls who ought to be appealed to on the
 
 THE POLITICAL LIFE I57 
 
 basis of efficiency and reason. The law is a coercive 
 fact by which youth is kept in bondage. The children 
 are conscious only of the restraint of it. They con- 
 sequently hate it, and on every convenient occasion 
 react from it. They are at war with the teacher in 
 the school, and they continue to be at war with the 
 policeman when they get out of school. Much may 
 be learned from the methods of such organizations 
 as the George Junior Republic, and from the conduct 
 of successful boys' camps. 
 
 The essence of sound political life is in regard for 
 law as a common possession. It is our law, made for 
 us by men whom we have chosen for that purpose, 
 and enforced by men in uniform whose salaries are 
 paid by us in the form of taxes. It is a regulation 
 agreed upon by us all as the best method for securing 
 ordjer and efficiency in the Hving of our life. It may, 
 indeed, be questioned how far it is possible to introduce 
 into secondary schools, and especially into elementary 
 schools, the self-government which works so admira- 
 bly in some colleges. But some measure of it may 
 probably be used to a much greater extent than has 
 as yet been attempted. The simplest form is a choice 
 by the teachers, or still better by the pupils, of certain 
 representatives, with whom the makers and adminis- 
 trators of school law may profitably confer. The 
 result ought to be a company of youth who shall go 
 out of the school accustomed to regard law as a rule
 
 158 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 to be not only obeyed but enforced. The pupils 
 themselves are enlisted on the side of law. 
 
 Political duty is changed to enthusiasm by the 
 fostering of love of country. Children may very 
 early be taught to be proud of the land, the nation, 
 the city, the locality in which they live. Thus geog- 
 raphy becomes instruction in patriotism. The 
 children learn in how great and wonderful and beau- 
 tiful a place they have their residence. They become 
 aware of the large fact of nationality, and are made 
 acquainted with the resources, the growth, the possi- 
 bihties of the country. They are taught in their 
 study of history what has been done for them by the 
 pioneers, adventurers, settlers, statesmen, and heroes. 
 They perceive that they are entering into a precious 
 heritage. They are prepared to take their places in 
 this march of progress. They come to understand 
 how the government, national and local, is adminis- 
 tered, and what is actually being done under the 
 leadership of legislators in the national and state 
 councils, and in city halls and town meetings, for the 
 general good. When they learn this, they will be 
 wiser than many of their parents. 
 
 In the course of such teaching instruction will be 
 given in the history and nature of our political in- 
 stitutions. Such teaching is made especially neces- 
 sary by the presence in our public schools of great 
 numbers of children whose parents were born under
 
 THE POLITICAL LIFE 1 59 
 
 very different political conditions. The children de- 
 rive from their parents the attitude and opinions which 
 these conditions cause. Often the elders have left 
 their homes because of political corruption, injustice, 
 and oppression, and though they may have sought 
 these shores as a place of refuge and a haven of hap- 
 piness, they cannot quite divest themselves of their 
 inherited prejudices. If in the land of their birth 
 political authority meant tyranny and oppression, 
 and the courts of law meant only extortion from the 
 poor, some measure of that feeling will continue, even 
 under changed conditions. It must be met in the 
 school by teachers who understand that it exists. 
 The teacher is dealing directly, indeed, with children, 
 but indirectly with full-grown citizens whose preju- 
 dices may at any moment give rise to serious violence. 
 The instruction which enlightens children to the na- 
 ture and meaning of our free institutions, and shows 
 them how they intend the best welfare of all citizens, 
 is one of the most important pieces of work which 
 anybody can do in this country. Under such teach- 
 ing the American flag takes on a new significance. 
 
 The fact that our institutions depend upon our- 
 selves brings the pubUc school into vital relations with 
 the political situation. Indeed, it is primarily for this 
 purpose that the school exists and is maintained by 
 taxes levied on the citizens. These taxes are collected 
 from all taxpayers, whether they have children or not,
 
 l6o MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 because the output of the schools is of universal in- 
 terest. All social order depends upon it. Rightly un- 
 derstood, nothing in the course of study in the public 
 school is so important as that which has hardly any 
 recognized place in it, the systematic teaching of 
 morals. For that which concerns us all, and makes 
 the maintenance of schools worth while, is not merely 
 the imparting of a knowledge of letters or figures, 
 but the impressing of such moral ideas as shall make 
 good citizens. The best product of a school is char- 
 acter. 
 
 Thus the love of justice, the love of honesty, the love 
 of liberty, the love of peace, are to be nourished in 
 the lives of children. A series of ethical readers is 
 one attempt to assist the school in fulfilling its su- 
 premely important function, but this needs to be sup- 
 plemented and enforced in the whole management of 
 the school. A most important factor is the treatment 
 of the daily problems in such a manner as to uphold 
 the value of these virtues and to illustrate them in the 
 conduct of the school affairs. The just teacher, who 
 makes decisions not in haste, nor in temper, but after 
 consultation and consideration, with no purpose but 
 to be fair, is teaching morality most effectively. And 
 the distinction between liberty and license; the whole- 
 some advantages of peace, and the essential quality 
 of honest dealing, may be taught from texts daily 
 supplied in the experiences of the school. The hero-
 
 THE POLITICAL LIFE i6t 
 
 ism of peace, in the lives of firemen and policemen, 
 in the face of accident, are illustrated in the daily 
 papers. Courage is to be praised as a moral rather 
 than a physical bravery, the test of which is afforded 
 by the temptations of the school yard and of the street. 
 As for respect for rulers, it begins with respect for 
 teachers, a respect earned by fairness, earnestness, 
 competence, and sympathy. 
 
 The pupils are to be taught that the highest virtues 
 are social and aggressive. To live one's individual 
 life is excellent so far as it goes, but to make one's 
 life count in the furtherance of all that is good, to be 
 not only right but a champion of right, to be not only 
 a good citizen but a defender and maintainer of good 
 citizenship, this is the goal of all the instruction which 
 bears ultimately on the political life. This is the 
 meaning of the virtues of political interest and politi- 
 cal honor. All the emotions of love of country are 
 to be focused upon the endeavor to contribute to the 
 welfare of the country, and to fight against all agencies 
 and influences which degrade its life. The immediate 
 aim may be the development of loyalty to the school, 
 the endeavor to enlist all children in the making 
 of the cleanest, the most orderly, the most attractive, 
 the most efficient school in the community. The 
 natural zeal which is manifested in the rivalries of 
 intercollegiate sports, and in the games between rival 
 teams at baseball, may be ultilized in the finer
 
 l62 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 competitions for the attainment of higher standards 
 of life. Then it will be easy for the boys and girls, 
 grown into men and women, to conduct themselves 
 with like enthusiasm in the great work of making the 
 cleanest, the most orderly, the most attractive, the 
 most efficient city. Out of such a spirit we may 
 expect the emergence of better politics. 
 
 Here instruction should be graded also, dealing 
 with such poHtical virtues and vices as may be most 
 profitably dealt with in the respective grades. The 
 following graded scheme (p. 163) is commended to 
 the teacher. 
 
 The following stories bring out the virtues of the 
 political Hfe : — 
 
 "Prince Hal Goes to Prison," "My Own Land For- 
 ever," and "Three Hundred Heroes," from The Golden 
 Ladder Book. 
 
 "Arnold Winkelried," "The Traitor Girl," and "Sir 
 Thomas More," from The Golden Path Book. 
 
 "Paul Revere's Ride," "Gathering Song of Donald 
 Dhu," "Joan of Arc," "The Overland Mail," "The 
 Shahs and the Demons," "How Sleep the Brave," "The 
 Flag Goes By," "The Centennial Celebration of Concord 
 Fight," "The Sword of Damocles," "My Native Land," 
 and "An Old Swiss Story," from The Golden Door Book. 
 
 "Griselda," "Hannibal," "The King and the Sea," 
 "The Blue and the Gray," "The King of the Monkeys," 
 "Song of Marion's Men," "Zenobia of Palmyra," "Old 
 Ironsides," "The Pilgrim Fathers," "Lexington," "The 
 Keys of Calais," "Soldier, Rest!" "^geus and his
 
 THE POLITICAL LIFE 163 
 
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 164 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 Queen," "Sonnet on Chillon," "The Gray Champion," 
 "The Man Who Could Not Be Bought," "The Minstrel 
 Boy," "Of the Queen's Maying, and how Sir Lancelot 
 Rode in a Cart," "Of Old Sat Freedom," "Gettysburg 
 Address," "Abraham Lincoln," "The Death of Nelson," 
 ''The Arsenal at Springfield," and "Concord Hymn," 
 from The Golden Key Book. 
 
 "The Law of Authority and Obedience," "Horatius 
 at the Bridge," "Liberty or Death," "The Ballad of the 
 Clampherdown," "Roland," "Hail to the Chief," "The 
 Morning of the Battle of Agincourt," "The Battle of 
 Agincourt," "Antony's Speech over Caesar's Body," 
 "Marco Bozzaris," "Fight between the Bonhomme 
 Richard and Serapis,'' "Ring out Wild Bells," and "The 
 Story of a Roman General," from The Golden Word Book. 
 
 "Voluntaries," "The Man without a Country," "The 
 Charge of the Light Brigade," "The Strenuous Life," 
 "Joan of Arc," "Oration of Mark Antony," "Washing- 
 ton's Farewell Address," "The Ship of State," "The 
 Bivouac of the Dead," "Scots Wha Hae," "The Four 
 Wreaths," "Say What Is Honor," "The Carronade," 
 and "On Laying the Cornerstone of the Bunker Hill 
 Monument," from The Golden Deed Book. 
 
 "The Star-spangled Banner," by Francis Scott Key. 
 "National Hymn," by Samuel F. Smith. Whittier's 
 "Barbara Frietchie." "Of! for the War" and "The First 
 Fourth of July," from Boys and Girls of Seventy-seven, 
 by Mary P. Wells Smith. "He Gave His Life for His 
 Country" and "I Did not Do the Job for Money," from 
 Brave Deeds, Young Folks Library. "Helena of Britain" 
 and "Edith of Scotland," from Historic Girls, by E, S. 
 Brooks.
 
 THE POLITICAL LIFE 165 
 
 ''Abraham Davenport "by J. G. Whittier. "ThePerfect 
 Tribute, "by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews. "Warren's 
 Address," by John Pierpont, in Poems Every Child Should 
 Know. "What Makes a Nation?" by W. D. Nesbit. 
 "The Princess Wins," from Deeds of Daring Done by Girls, 
 by N. Hudson Moore. "The Passing of Arthur," from 
 Tennyson's Idylls of the King. "The Rise of Robert 
 the Bruce" and "The Exploits of Douglas and Randolph," 
 from Scott's Tales of a Grandfather. "Nisus and Scylla," 
 from Bulfinch's Age of Chivalry. 
 
 "The Cavaher," by Walter Scott. "God Save the 
 Flag," by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Tennyson's "Charge 
 of the Heavy Brigade." "Dear Land of All My Love," 
 by Sidney Lanier. "The Bixby Letter," by Abraham 
 Lincoln, "To the American Troops before the Battle 
 of Long Island," by George Washington, "The Fourth 
 of July" and "On Sudden PoHtical Conversions," by 
 Daniel Webster, and "The Revolutionary Alarm," by 
 George Bancroft, in Prose Every Child Should Know. 
 " Israel Putnam," from Boys' Heroes, by Edward Everett 
 Hale. "Henrietta the Siege Baby," from The Book of 
 Princes and Princesses, by Mrs. Lang. " Eulogy on James 
 A. Garfield," by James G. Blaine. "Our Colors," from 
 More Five Minute Stories. "Edward Randolph's Por- 
 trait," by Nathaniel Hawthorne. "Langton" and 
 "Becket," from Saints and Heroes, by George Hodges. 
 "The Reveille," by Bret Harte. "Nathan Hale," from 
 The Book of Patriotism, Young Folks Library. "A Hero of 
 Valley Forge," from An American Book of Golden Deeds. 
 "Tubal Cain," by Charles Mackay. 
 
 "The Hare," from Collection of Eastern Stories and 
 Legends. "The Commonwealth of Bees," from Shake-
 
 1 66 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 speare's Henry V. "A Comparison of Two Events," 
 by W. M. Thackeray, and "The Siege of Leyden," by 
 J. L. Motley, in Patriotism in Prose and Verse, edited by 
 Jane Gordon. "The Might of the Cowheaded Club," 
 from Stories of Persian Heroes, by E. M. Wilmot-Buxton. 
 "Life without Freedom," by Thomas Moore. "The 
 Declaration of Independence. ' ' ' ' The Battle of Blenheim, ' ' 
 by Robert Southey. " The Troubadour's Last Song," from 
 God's Troubadour, by Sophie Jewett. "For Wallace or 
 King Edward," from Historic Scenes in Fiction, Young 
 Folks Library. " Character of Washington, " from Leaders 
 of Men, Young Folks Library,
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE ESTHETIC LIFE 
 
 The child by nature is an aesthetic being. Consti- 
 tutionally, he functions aesthetically just as really as 
 he does socially, although not to the same extent. 
 Very early in his history he manifests delight in 
 beauty. The nature of these reactions will be ex- 
 plained as we proceed with the chapter. Because of 
 them, education calls for the development of this 
 aspect of the child's nature, and ethical culture de- 
 mands its moralization. Morality is especially con- 
 cerned with aesthetic development, since there is an 
 intimate relation existing between the beautiful and 
 the good. So intimately related are they that thinkers 
 like Plato, Shaftesbury, and Schiller really identify 
 them. Whether this be justifiable or not, it is un- 
 doubtedly true that the aesthetic factor is an exceed- 
 ingly important factor in our moral life, and it should 
 receive proper recognition at the hands of our school 
 authorities — both for its own sake and for the sake 
 of morals. 
 
 It is part of the office of the teacher of morals to try 
 to establish the child in the virtues of the aesthetic 
 
 167
 
 1 68 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 life. In doing this, however, she sometimes en- 
 counters difficulties which are not easily overcome. 
 Public sentiment is often hostile to efforts on the part 
 of the schools to give the aesthetic nature proper recog- 
 nition in child culture. It is a utilitarian age, when 
 "bread and butter studies" are demanded — studies 
 that bear directly on the child's future vocational hfe. 
 The cry of "fads and fancies " is raised in opposition 
 to aesthetic development, and school principals and 
 superintendents often find it discouraging work 
 to attempt to introduce a little more idealism into 
 the curriculum. The fine arts are regarded as luxuries, 
 and training in appreciation of them is supposed to 
 be unnecessary. Music and poetry receive some rec- 
 ognition, but the remainder of the arts are, to a large 
 extent, passed by with indifference, if not, indeed, 
 with contempt. 
 
 Now, of course, in carrying out our educational 
 ideals, we must reckon with the conditions under which 
 we labor. It is wise for us to remember, in trying to 
 realize ideals, that we are not in an ideal environment. 
 We must labor with constant regard for the real 
 — the actual. Public sentiment must be considered. 
 But it is possible often, by tactful procedure, to 
 change public sentiment, — especially when it is in the 
 wrong, — and the teachers and superintendents should 
 use their influence to this end. Such sentiment is 
 often based upon a failure to appreciate how large
 
 THE ESTHETIC LIFE 1 69 
 
 and valuable a part the aesthetic nature plays in our 
 complex life, and it would be well for our educators, 
 who are interested in the promotion of aesthetic 
 culture in our schools, to enlighten the pubhc on this 
 point. If it be not specially susceptible to an appeal 
 in behalf of the aesthetic nature on the higher grounds 
 of its relations to the social, moral, and religious 
 life, it might be influenced by pointing out the im- 
 portance of the aesthetic in its relation to the economic 
 life, for undoubtedly, estimated from a purely utili- 
 tarian point of view, the aesthetic nature demands 
 consideration. In a section of a chapter of his 
 "Practical Sociology," relating to "Art and Social 
 Well-being," such a practical thinker as Carroll D. 
 Wright says : — 
 
 "People engaged in artistic manufactures are em- 
 ployed in occupations of a higher grade ; their wages are 
 increased ; their standard of living is raised proportionately, 
 and their social well-being is enhanced. 
 
 "If industry to-day had nothing more to do than the 
 furnishing of the simple necessaries of human life, it 
 would have little field for expansion, and would offer 
 meager opportimities for employment. Life would be a 
 burden, so dull and monotonous would it be. Trade, 
 as we understand it, would cease, and commerce become 
 a thing practically unknown. But industry flourishes 
 because it is not limited to the production of things that 
 are needed for food, raiment, and shelter. It is because 
 art has come in to increase the wants of the race that
 
 170 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 trade and commerce flourish. Art carries industry be- 
 yond our actual wants, and calls upon it to supply those 
 things which make for social progress. The future expan- 
 sion of industry and of commerce, the future elevation in 
 the character of the employment of all classes, the increase 
 of their earning capacity, the opportunity of increasing the 
 standard of their environment, — all these depend upon 
 the cultivation of the industrial arts." ^ 
 
 And, in the section following, which relates to 
 " Art as a Source of Wealth," the same writer 
 says : — 
 
 "Looking beyond this, industrial art is a source of 
 wealth. Fine art itself is a wealth producer. The payment 
 of ten or fifty thousand dollars for a painting enriches 
 the community in which the artist lives. There has been 
 something added in the way of treasure to a country's 
 assets by the productions of its artistic genius. The 
 very presence of great pictures is a local benefit. Take 
 the Sistine Madonna from Dresden, rob Paris of the 
 Louvre, despoil London of its National Gallery or Antwerp 
 of its Rubens collection, take the Art Museum out of 
 Boston, destroy the galleries which are growing up so 
 richly in our western cities, and we have depreciated the 
 commercial value of all these places far beyond the selling 
 price of the pictures. 
 
 "Industrial art and a thorough appreciation of the 
 fine arts enable the community that cultivates them to 
 compete successfully with the community that neglects 
 them. All these things — the expansion of industry, the 
 
 I " Outline of Practical Sociology," New York, 1902, pp. 338-339. 
 
 I
 
 THE ESTHETIC LIFE 171 
 
 commercial importance of art, the knowledge of its real 
 value — certainly contribute, and largely, too, to the well- 
 being of the individual. The rich, by their generous 
 contributions in establishing art galleries, are doing 
 something more than building monuments to themselves ; 
 they are offering to the poor man the means of improving 
 the leisure earned by his hard labor, and giving him an 
 opportunity to find cultured occupation." ^ 
 
 Before dealing with the method of developing 
 the aesthetic nature in the classroom, it might be 
 well to call the attention of our school authorities to 
 some obvious facts with reference to the potent in- 
 fluence of the child's school environment as bearing 
 on his aesthetic culture. There can be no reasonable 
 doubt concerning the refining and moralizing effect 
 of beauty on the children of the upper grades, as 
 manifest in school architecture and school landscape 
 gardening. At least as early as the tenth year they 
 are susceptible to such influences. In many instances, 
 however, school buildings and school grounds are 
 conspicuous examples of the ugly, and the effect 
 of ugliness is demoralizing. Conditions are improving 
 in this respect, but they are far from what they should 
 be. All school buildings should be models of archi- 
 tecture. They should be designed not by "political 
 architects," but by architects of genuine ability. 
 Expense cannot be put forward here as a legitimate 
 
 1 "Outline of Practical Sociology," New York, 1902, p. 339.
 
 172 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 excuse for failure in this respect. It really costs no 
 more to design a beautiful school building than to 
 design an ugly one. Simphcity is a fundamental 
 mark of beauty, and simplicity makes for economy. 
 The school building should be one of the notable 
 buildings in every community, and it ought to be 
 a beautiful structure. 
 
 The same may be said of school grounds. As a 
 rule, the grounds about our jails, penitentiaries, and 
 insane asylums are far more beautiful and attractive 
 than our school grounds, as if criminals and lunatics 
 deserved more consideration at our hands than 
 school children and school teachers, who so often 
 are compelled to live a good share of their time sur- 
 rounded by plain dirt or ash courts, with compara- 
 tively Uttle shrubbery to relieve the trying monotony 
 of ugliness. The lima tic can hardly appreciate the 
 beauty of his surroundings, and the criminal, even 
 if he could, has very little opportunity to do so, and 
 the dear public doesn't feel inclined to go to either 
 place to drink in the "charm" of the surroundings, 
 or even to loiter long about the groimds for aesthetic 
 edification ! If an expenditure for such surroundings 
 in our pubHc institutions is to be made, why not make 
 it in the interests of the rational and law abiding? 
 It makes for a higher culture and for a better citizen- 
 ship. 
 
 The interior of the school building ought to receive
 
 THE ESTHETIC LIFE 1 73 
 
 proper aesthetic consideration also. The interior 
 decorations, be they ever so simple, should be in good 
 taste. Much of this lies in the teacher's power, and 
 should not escape her serious effort. Pictures and 
 flowers can be utilized to advantage. If the teacher 
 does not feel herself a competent judge of pictures, 
 it is often possible for her to avail herself of the judg- 
 ment of persons in the community who are capable of 
 performing this office. By all means let the school 
 room minister to the aesthetic nature of the child. 
 It costs little, and it is worth much. 
 
 If we pass now to the consideration of the subject 
 from the standpoint of the curriculum, it would be 
 well, in the moral education of children, to encourage, 
 as much as is consistent with the child's other interests, 
 the development of his aesthetic nature, by means of 
 instruction in at least some of the fine arts. Music, 
 poetry, the dance, color work, and drawing may be 
 introduced into the curriculum in the early grades. 
 Investigations along this line have been made, and 
 they indicate that the child is prepared at this time of 
 life to undertake such work. With reference to music 
 and poetry, it may be said that the feehng for rhythm 
 is instinctive, and this furnishes a natural basis for 
 our educational effort to develop in children a knowl- 
 edge and love of these arts. 
 
 Teachers, however, find more or less difficulty in 
 trying to interest pupils in poetry. Most children
 
 174 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 love to sing, but children, even of the third, fourth, 
 and fifth grades, often express a dislike for poetry. 
 May this not be due in a large measure to the fact 
 that we overlook the necessity of simple rhythm 
 in the verse to which we introduce them, in order 
 to acquaint them with the content of the poem? 
 More simple lyrical poetry in our schoolbooks might 
 produce different results. Poetry of action interests 
 the child more than mere descriptive poetry, and if 
 the action of the poem be presented objectively, it 
 often interests the child intensely. 
 
 The dance, also, is regarded by writers on aesthetics 
 as a fine art. It, too, has its roots in the feeling for 
 rhythm that is native to the child. This instinctive 
 feeling manifests itself in this form very early, so 
 that children are often taught to dance when four 
 years old. Dancing makes for beauty and grace of 
 body, and for beauty and grace of manner. These 
 things have social and moral value as well. That is 
 an interesting as well as true observation of the sage 
 Locke on the value of dancing to the child from this 
 point of view : — 
 
 "... And since nothing appears to me to give 
 Children so much becoming Confidence and Behaviour, and 
 so to raise them to the Conversation of those above their 
 Age, as Dancing, I think they should be taught to dance 
 as soon as they are capable of learning it. For tho' this 
 consist only in outward Gracefulness of Motion, yet, I
 
 THE ESTHETIC LIFE 1 75 
 
 know not how, it gives Children manly Thoughts and 
 Carriage, more than any thing." ^ 
 
 Much of the religious prejudice against dancing 
 which prevailed in former times has passed away. 
 And the objections which are sometimes urged against 
 it from the standpoint of sex considerations, if valid 
 at all, do not apply to children — except possibly to 
 those of the three upper grades of our elementary 
 schools. So, because of its hygienic, social, aesthetic, 
 as well as its moral value, the teacher of morals should 
 encourage dancing. It contributes to the well-being 
 of the individual from many points of view, and thus 
 it becomes necessary for us to look at it from the 
 standpoint of moral obligation when dealing with the 
 education of the child. 
 
 Another gesthetic discipline or study that should 
 be introduced into the curriculum is color work. 
 Here again investigations in child psychology reveal 
 the fact that the child of the early school grades is 
 prepared in capacity to undertake such work. Before 
 the kindergarten period the child has learned to 
 appreciate color contrasts and color values, so that 
 when he arrives at the age of the children of the grades, 
 he is ready to undertake color work as it is taught in 
 the schools. Such work awakens aesthetic delight, 
 and prepares the way for a larger and finer apprecia- 
 
 ^ Locke, " Some Thoughts Concerning Education," Cambridge, 
 1889, pp. 42-43.
 
 176 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 tion of the beauty of nature and art. This appre- 
 ciation ministers to his moral nature as well. 
 
 Drawing also should be taught, not merely for utili- 
 tarian reasons, as Locke urged, but for aesthetic and 
 moral reasons as well. The child's appreciation of 
 form develops very early, even though, at first, 
 it is doubtless influenced by association. It is mixed 
 with other feelings. By the time he reaches the first 
 grade of school life he has developed some apprecia- 
 tion of outhne, symmetry, and proportion. Other 
 than purely aesthetic factors may have assisted in 
 this development, but by the time he becomes a 
 candidate for the grades, he is ready to undertake 
 drawing as a means of aesthetic culture. 
 
 The same thing may be said with reference to 
 modeling. In both of these exercises it is easy to 
 secure aesthetic reactions. And this is said with a full 
 appreciation of the difference between the direct 
 aesthetic reactions to real objects and the aesthetic ap- 
 preciation that involves an understanding of repre- 
 sentation, or the imaging of objects. This kind of 
 aesthetic appreciation is later in its development, 
 depending, as it does, on a further development of the 
 child's intelligence. But even such an appreciation of 
 representation as art involves, as compared v/ith an im- 
 mediate presentation of real objects, is understood by 
 the child very early in life. As Sully says, with reference 
 to pictorial representation: "Children show very
 
 THE ESTHETIC LIFE 177 
 
 early that picture semblances are understood in the 
 sense that they call forth reactions similar to those called 
 forth by reahties." ^ Tracy and Stimpfl place the 
 dawn of the idea of representation in the child as 
 early as the third or fourth year.- So teachers of the 
 early grades need have no misgivings as to whether 
 the child is mature enough to undertake such work 
 as a means of aesthetic culture. It must be kept in 
 mind, however, that the child's power, as a rule, 
 up to the tenth year, is limited to the expression of 
 space in two dimensions. The expression of the 
 third dimension is a later development.^ It ought 
 not to be overlooked that culture along these Knes 
 in early years prepares for a refined appreciation 
 of art later ; and this appreciation cannot fail to 
 prove, not merely a source of aesthetic delight, but 
 also a means of moral development, because of the 
 intimate relation between the beautiful and the 
 good. 
 
 All this training in music, poetry, color work, 
 drawing, modeling, and dancing has a tendency to 
 cultivate in the child a love of the beautiful, which 
 makes for his moral unfolding. In the upper grades, 
 this might be supplemented by the introduction of an 
 
 1 Sully, "Studies of Childhood," p. 309. 
 
 2 Tracy and Stimpfl, "The Psychology of Childhood," Boston, 
 1909, p. 167. 
 
 ' Cf. Tracy and Stimpfl, op. cil., p. 174. 
 
 N
 
 178 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 art reader that will introduce the child, in an interest- 
 ing, concrete, and pictorial manner, to the great 
 paintings, architectural structures, statues, etc., of 
 the world. Indeed, pictures of some of these should 
 adorn the walls of the schoolroom and halls. Stories 
 of the lives of the artists also serve to develop an 
 interest in their work. Such biographical sketches 
 might be introduced among the biographical material 
 which a series of ethical readers naturally includes, 
 for many of these artists were heroes in the sacrifices 
 which they made in loyal devotion to their art. 
 
 There are other methods by which the teacher can 
 supplement the more immediate work done in the 
 class for the development of the child's love for the 
 beautiful in art. Every school should be supplied 
 with a stereopticon and slides that could be used for 
 the purpose of appeaHng to and educating the aes- 
 thetic nature of the child. The child, as well as the 
 grown-up, delights in looking at pictures. The pres- 
 ent interest in moving pictures demonstrates this, 
 and much can be done for the higher unfolding of the 
 child if an intelligent advantage be taken of this 
 pictorial "instinct." Gradually the child can be 
 taught to appreciate classic beauty in art under 
 the skillful direction of the teacher. The parapher- 
 nalia for such purposes are now so available at a 
 comparatively small expense that there does not 
 seem to be any reasonable excuse for a school not to
 
 THE ESTHETIC LIFE 1 79 
 
 have it as part of its general equipment. It can hardly 
 be questioned that the lantern slides and canvas, and 
 probably the moving-picture apparatus, are to fig- 
 ure conspicuously in the education of the near future, 
 and they ought to be used for purposes of aesthetic 
 and moral culture. Of course, this applies more par- 
 ticularly to teaching in the middle and upper elemen- 
 tary grades, as it is questionable whether children 
 of the lower grades possess the power to appreciate 
 the effects of a picture, structure, or landscape as a 
 total or whole, as will be remarked on later. 
 
 Occasional excursions to art galleries, wherever 
 this is possible, constitute another method which may 
 be used to advantage by the teacher in cultivating 
 the child's love of the beautiful in art. In most of 
 our larger cities such galleries may be found, 
 and here the teacher will miss a good opportunity 
 for developing the aesthetic nature if she fails to 
 bring the children to view the collections of paintings 
 and statuary which such galleries contain. Again, 
 many cities have beautiful public buildings, churches, 
 and private residences, and it is well to call attention 
 to their beauty, not merely as a matter of civic pride, 
 but as a matter of aesthetic culture. Children of our 
 cities are in the presence of such buildings almost 
 daily, and in a subtle but sure manner do they minis- 
 ter to the aesthetic nature of many who are suscep- 
 tible to the aesthetic influences of environment. The
 
 l8o MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 more the teacher herself is a person of refined and 
 developed taste in this respect, the more will she 
 appreciate the value of the ministry of such structures 
 to the aesthetic hfe, and the more will she feel it a 
 matter of ethical obligation to make use of them as 
 an educational force in the mental and moral life of 
 the child. 
 
 But beauty is not confined to the arts. Nature is 
 clothed with beauty as with a garment, and, so far 
 as possible, we should introduce the child to this 
 beauty with the educational aim of developing in him 
 a love of the beautiful. The child's first aesthetic 
 reactions to the beauty of nature occur at an early 
 period in his history. At first, of course, it is confined 
 to single objects, and gradually extends to a number 
 of objects, which are regarded as constituting a 
 whole. The child's aesthetic delight in flowers is man- 
 ifest as early, at least, as the fourth year. Usually 
 it is the beauty or grace of the movement of individual 
 things that he first appreciates. This tendency to deal 
 with single objects as moving objects, which manifests 
 itself in his early appreciation of beauty, largely 
 accounts for his failure to appreciate the beauty of 
 the landscape. He cannot grasp the unity in the 
 variety. He does not see the many as one. This 
 power develops later. This, indeed, is true, also with 
 reference to his aesthetic appreciation of paintings 
 and beautiful buildings. Hence, we must reckon
 
 THE ESTHETIC LIFE l8l 
 
 with this inability of early years, and await a ma- 
 turer development. 
 
 The city school suffers a disadvantage compared 
 with the country school in this respect; and yet, in 
 many cities, beautiful parks are maintained, which af- 
 ford the teacher an excellent opportunity to cultivate 
 in the pupil a love of beauty in nature. Among young 
 children interest is dominantly focused on individual 
 objects of beauty, or small patches of landscapes, 
 rather than on the larger aspects of nature. Hence, 
 in deahng with the child's aesthetic nature, the teacher 
 will act accordingly. But, later, interest in the larger 
 aspects of nature — the field, the river, the forest, the 
 sea, the mountains, the landscape, the starry heavens — 
 arrests his attention, and calls forth aesthetic deUght. 
 He learns to love them for the pleasure which they 
 afford, and there is as much truth as poetry in Words- 
 worth's claim that nature is a moral teacher. Because 
 of the subtle relation that exists between the beautiful 
 and the good, nature, through her beauty, ministers 
 to the child's moral being. So that the wise teacher 
 of elementary morals will take advantage of this 
 fact in her efforts to moralize the life of the child. 
 To this end, she will find it advisable to make fre- 
 quent excursions into nature with the children. 
 Visits to such abodes of beauty as the fields and 
 meadows, the seashore and mountains, when such 
 visits are practicable, or into the gardens and parks of
 
 1 82 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 our cities, will appeal to the child, and the subtle and 
 often potent influences of such contact with nature 
 will have a refining and morahzing effect. Such 
 excursions, when physically possible, recommend 
 themselves on more grounds than one. Their hy- 
 gienic and social advantages are apparent at once, 
 so that occasional excursions of this kind easily 
 win the approval of parents who may not appreciate 
 their aesthetic value, and who, on such ground alone, 
 might be inclined to oppose them, but most of whom 
 welcome an opportunity to have their children enjoy 
 a good outing. 
 
 In the beginning of the chapter we referred to the 
 aesthetic as manifesting itself very early in the child's 
 life. Of course, much of his mental reaction, in his 
 earliest years, to external stimuli in the form of 
 beautiful objects is doubtless chiefly a matter of the 
 sensory. But gradually he reacts to beautiful ob- 
 jects in the higher forms of aesthetic feeling. Even 
 though we were compelled to fix the time for such 
 a reaction as late as the tenth year, — as Professor 
 Tracy and Dr. Stimpfl do, — there would still remain 
 four years of the child's elementary school experience 
 in which to develop the really aesthetic feelings. 
 During these years he "is able to enter fully into 
 those feelings which actuate most adults on beholding 
 a beautiful landscape, a splendid painting, or a mag- 
 nificent product of architectural skill." The earlier
 
 THE .ESTHETIC LIFE 183 
 
 aesthetic training prepares the way for the later 
 culture, and, viewed both from the aesthetic and the 
 moral standpoints, is certainly worth while. The 
 teacher of elementary morals should aim to develop 
 in the child a moral attitude toward the beauty with 
 which he is surrounded. She should lead him to an 
 intelhgent appreciation and love of the beautiful as 
 a moral obligation, — as something that he owes to 
 himself in the interests of his higher development. 
 This sanction will add to the potency of the purely 
 educational sanctions. 
 
 Another potent means of aesthetic education that 
 should be encouraged whenever practicable is the 
 home and school garden. The hygienic and utilitarian 
 advantages that accrue from cultivating such gardens 
 add to their value. But, in addition, the aesthetic 
 and moral benefits derived are great, and make their 
 cultivation worth while. In England Mrs. Luther has 
 gone so far as to estabhsh a basis for a general 
 scheme of education through gardening and horti- 
 culture. This is doubtless overestimating the possi- 
 bihties of such training, but certainly the cultivation 
 of home and school gardens makes for utiHtarian, 
 hygienic, intellectual, aesthetic, and moral results. 
 In Europe such gardens are utilized as a means of 
 education.^ In America they have been introduced 
 
 ' Georgens, J. D. : Der Volksschulgarten und das Volksschulhaus. 
 Berlin. F. Henschel, 1873, pp. 6-190.
 
 184 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 in many places, and the value has been demonstrated.* 
 Such gardens can easily be established by country 
 schools, and by schools in villages and small cities. 
 The moral results alone would justify the effort and 
 expense involved. 
 
 But beauty is not confined merely to art and 
 nature. It is also manifest in conduct and character. 
 Indeed much of the language that we use in describing 
 conduct and character is composed of terms descrip- 
 tive of aesthetic qualities and relations. We speak 
 of fair deeds and beautiful acts, also of foul deeds 
 and repulsive acts. We speak of fit and unfit con- 
 duct. We characterize a boy's conduct as clean or 
 
 Georgil, Axel : School Gardens in Sweden. U. S. Bureau of Educa- 
 tion. Report of Commissioner, 1899-1900, Vol. 2, pp. 144 7-1448. 
 
 Karal, John : School Gardens in Russia. U. S. Bureau of Edu- 
 cation. Report of Commissioner, 1897-1898, Vol. 2, pp. 1632-1639. 
 
 Le Bert, Richard : School Gardens in Europe. U. S. Dept. 
 of State. Special Consular Reports, Vol. 20, Part 2, pp. 159-221. 
 
 Niessen, Jos. : Der Schulgarten im Dienste der Erziehung u. des 
 Unterrichtes. Diisseldorf. Schwann, 1896, pp. 9-176. 
 
 Rooper, T. G. : The School Gardens at the Boscombe British 
 School. London, British Board of Education, Special Reports, 
 V^ol. 2, pp. 224-231. Reprinted by U. S. Bureau of Education. 
 Report of Commissioner, 1897-1898, Vol. i, pp. 224-227. 
 
 School Gardens in Germany. London, British Board of Edu- 
 cation, Special Reports, 1902, Vol. 9, pp. 357-404. 
 
 Van Dom, Charles : School Gardens in Europe. U. S. Bureau 
 of Education. Report of Commissioner, 1897-1898, Vol. i, pp. 
 224-230. 
 
 ^ Cf. First Annual Report of the School Garden Associations of 
 America, 191 2. See also M. Louise Greene, " .\mong School Gar- 
 dens," Bibliography, New York, 1910, pp. 343-375.
 
 THE ESTHETIC LIFE 1 85 
 
 unclean. Such terms are aesthetic terms, but we 
 apply them to moral qualities and relations as well. 
 It reveals how closely related are the beautiful and 
 the good. But not only are they closely related, — 
 the good is often the beautiful, and the bad is often 
 the ugly. There is an actual beauty of hoKness and a 
 positive ugliness of vice. And these aesthetic aspects 
 of good and evil prove to be powerful motives in in- 
 fluencing us to choose the one and to reject the other. 
 So true is this that often our response to good is more 
 of an aesthetic than an ethical one. The teacher will 
 doubtless recall "the glorious devil" of Tennyson's 
 poem, "The Palace of Art," who was so decidedly 
 aesthetic as to love good only for its beauty. But 
 this aesthetic aspect of goodness is so pronounced 
 that it has much to do in winning us over to righteous- 
 ness. The beauty of a kindly act ; the loveUness of a 
 saintly character — these appeal to us. "Many 
 enter into the kingdom of God through the Gate 
 Beautiful," said a distinguished scholar, and it is true. 
 Were virtue clad in homely garb, she would not have 
 such a large nor such a loyal following. And so 
 it is with vice. It is the foulness, the downright 
 ugliness of vice, that proves often to be a powerful 
 repellent, and helps us in the hour of temptation. 
 ^Esthetic disgust helps to develop a really mora' 
 disgust. As educators, then, we must take cogr| „ 
 zance of the beauty of conduct and the beauty g^^.
 
 1 86 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 character, as well as of their opposites, in our 
 attempts to develop the moral nature of the 
 individual. 
 
 Just how early in his moral unfolding the child 
 responds to the beauty of goodness and reacts against 
 the ugliness of evil it is difficult to say. This does 
 not seem to have attracted the serious attention of 
 experimental students of child psychology. But it is 
 worth their earnest consideration, and a systematic 
 course of investigation along these lines would prove 
 fruitful and should be instituted. Certainly children 
 in the upper grades are susceptible to the aesthetic 
 influence of good conduct and good character, and 
 it will be well for the teacher of elementary morals 
 to avail herself of the advantages of this fact in her 
 work. It is an interesting thing to note that the 
 beauty in which children are primarily interested 
 in the early years is the beauty of movements, and 
 that most of their attempts at drawing concern hu- 
 man beings as subjects. So, with this early interest 
 in motion or action, and with this great interest in 
 personality, it would seem that we might early work 
 through the child's aesthetic nature in behalf of 
 morality. There is beauty in human life, and its 
 highest expression is to be found in the good conduct 
 aand good character of the individual. Here, too, 
 'ories of beautiful lives, of beautiful deeds, and of 
 (jgQgautiful characters should be used as an effective
 
 THE ESTHETIC LIFE 187 
 
 method in our attempts to moralize the life of the 
 child from this point of view. 
 
 Keeping in mind, then, what has been said on the 
 various aspects of the aesthetic unfolding of children, 
 the following graded scheme for developing a love 
 of the beautiful may be adopted : — 
 
 I. Love of beauty 
 
 Virtues Grade 
 
 a. In nature 
 
 b. In art 
 
 I. Indifference to beauty 
 
 J , ^ I II III IV V VI VII VIII 
 
 c. In conduct 
 
 d. In character 
 
 Vices Grade 
 
 a. In nature 
 
 b. In art 
 
 T . .IIIIIIIVV VIVII VIII 
 
 c. in conduct 
 
 d. In character 
 
 Virtues pertaining to the aesthetic life are illus- 
 trated in the following stories : — 
 
 "The Wonder^^^orld, " from The Golden Ladder Book. 
 
 "A Boy's Son^P'The Barefoot Boy," "The Gladness 
 of Nature," "RoberU)f Lincoln," "March," "How the 
 Moon Became Beavmful," and "The Sea," from The 
 Golden Path Book. 
 
 "Daffodils," from The Golden Door Book. 
 
 "The Pearl," "Who is Silvia?" "The Butter Lion," 
 "Night Coach to London," and "Peter Bell," from The 
 Golden Key Book. 
 
 " Thanatopsis, " from The Golden Word Book. 
 
 "Sir Galahad," "Our Mother Tongue," "The Fiftieth 
 Birthday of Agassiz," "Character," "Each and All," 
 "Good-by, Proud World," "A Song," "Altars of Re-
 
 1 88 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 membrance," "The World is Too Much with Us," "The 
 Tulip Garden," and "On First Looking Into Chapman's 
 Homer," from The Golden Deed Book. 
 
 " May, " by R. M. Alden. " The Wind, " by Christina 
 G. Rossetti. "Pebbles," by Frank Dempster Sherman. 
 "The Voice of Spring," by Mary Howitt. "The Succes- 
 sion of Four Sweet Months," by Robert Herrick. "June 
 Weather," from The Vision of Sir Launfal, and "The 
 Shepherd of King Admetus, " by James Russell Lowell. 
 
 "Lord of Himself," by Henry Wotton. "My Heart 
 Leaps Up," and "Milton ! thou should'st be living at this 
 hour," by William Wordsworth. "Like Crusoe Walking 
 by the Lonely Strand," by T. B. Aldrich. Fisherman's 
 Ltick, pp. 81-89, and "White Heather," from Little 
 Rivers, by Henry van Dyke. 
 
 %
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE MORAL ATMOSPHERE OF THE SCHOOL 
 
 Modern biological science has made us familiar 
 with the powerful influence of environment in mold- 
 ing the individual. The old problem as to the result 
 of transporting twenty Boston babies to Timbuctoo 
 has no uncertain answer. They would grow up like 
 natives. Some advantages of their heredity might, 
 indeed, appear, but in their manners and customs, 
 and in their standards of life, they would resemble 
 their black neighbors. They would be shaped by their 
 surroundings. This shaping process is very manifest 
 and effective in the power of school environment. 
 When a great English schoolmaster spoke of the 
 "almighty wall," he meant that architecture is a 
 moral influence in education. The money which 
 the community spends in the erection of good school 
 buildings is profitably spent, and bears fruit in better 
 citizenship. It is important for the spirit of the school 
 that the pupils should be proud of it. The great 
 schools of England bring to bear upon youth the im- 
 pression of their strength, dignity, and charm. The 
 lines of their noble walls, the ivy overgrowing them,
 
 IQO MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 the trees and lawns about them, encourage self- 
 respect and courtesy. On the other hand, the 
 traditional brutality of life in our country schools 
 a few generations ago was intimately connected 
 with the bare ugliness of the ordinary country 
 schoolhouse. The place offered no suggestion of 
 gentle manners. 
 
 The master of a school who found that the boys 
 misused the halls, scribbling on the walls, throwing 
 things around carelessly, breaking the glass globes 
 of the gas jets, and playing rough games, changed the 
 situation, not by making new rules or devising new 
 punishments, but by improving the halls. He re- 
 formed the manners of the boys by repainting the 
 dingy corridors, hanging them with attractive pic- 
 tures, and improving the general order. For order 
 invites order, and the perception that the school 
 authorities care for the comfort and the pleasure 
 of the children calls out a quick response. 
 
 In like manner a moral lesson is taught by the ap- 
 pearance of the schoolyard. Its carefully kept and 
 well-painted fence, its inviting gateway, the neatness 
 of the playground, the tended trees with seats under 
 them, the shrubs which soften the sharp corners, are 
 lessons in the possibilities of plots of ground. They 
 show how a proper yard should look. They are a 
 constant criticism upon the Htter, disorder, and bare- 
 ness of the yard at home. When it is perceived that
 
 THE MORAL ATMOSPHERE OF THE SCHOOL 191 
 
 all papers which are thrown down are regularly picked 
 up, especially when the children themselves are dele- 
 gated to pick them up, an instruction is given in one 
 of the elements of good citizenship. The children are 
 taught not only the satisfaction of neatness and order, 
 but the obligation of social responsibility. They 
 learn that they are individually responsible for the 
 general appearance of the school, and they readily 
 proceed to a recognition of their similar relation to 
 the town. 
 
 In such ways the school surrounds the life of youth 
 with aesthetic ideals which affect the moral life of its 
 pupils. The yard outside, and the halls and rooms 
 inside, are clean and neat and in order. There are 
 not only maps, but pictures on the walls, and flowers 
 in the windows. The physical aspect of the place 
 assists the discipline of the school. For disorder 
 without invites disorder within, and there is a 
 vital connection between clean surroundings and a 
 clean spirit, just as there is between clean hands 
 and a pure heart. The child who goes home from 
 the public school and begins to pick things up 
 and put them in their places, and sets the room 
 to rights, and puts upon the wall a picture from an 
 illustrated paper (for even poor art is better than 
 no art), is not only helping a tired mother, but is 
 assisting to make a new home in which peace and 
 happiness may appropriately dwell. It is true that
 
 192 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 in the old story the swept and garnished chamber 
 was immediately occupied by seven devils more than 
 had resided there before. Order and neatness will 
 not insure good morals; but disorder and dirt en- 
 courage bad morals. A well-designed and well- 
 built schoolhouse, with a well-kept yard about it, is 
 an assistance to all good discipline. The least that 
 can be said in its favor is that it is an important step 
 to remove those conditions which make bad morals 
 easy. 
 
 How far this example of cleanHness, neatness, and 
 order may profitably be carried into direct precept 
 is a disputed question. A daily inspection of the 
 hands and faces of the pupils is an excellent appKca- 
 tion of the principle to the individual, and corre- 
 sponds — as the children may be told — to the 
 similar inspection of soldiers in the camp, and of 
 students in the military schools. But the setting of 
 good advice in framed mottoes on the walls, and the 
 writing and rewriting of moral maxims in copy books, 
 is less effective. If it seems well to teach morals by 
 means of such printed counsels, it is necessary to 
 keep in mind the need of novelty as an aid to in- 
 fluence. The motto which says the same thing day 
 after day becomes a part of the conventional environ- 
 ment, Uke the walls and windows, and ceases to at- 
 tract attention. But the arranging of a series of 
 good sentences to fit the same frames, and the chang-
 
 THE MORAL ATMOSPHERE OF THE SCHOOL 1 93 
 
 ing of them week by week, takes Into account the 
 psychological conditions under which actual impres- 
 sions are made. 
 
 The same arrangement holds good in regard to 
 school pictures. After the same picture has hung in 
 the same place on the same wall for several months 
 the children cease to see it. Put in another, and call 
 attention to it, with some interpretation of its mean- 
 ing, and there is a new effect. The present condi- 
 tions of public education in many places forbid the 
 use of many pictures which have been found by ex- 
 perience to be most uplifting. The only reUgion 
 which the school officially teaches by its books, its 
 pictures, and its statues is that of Greece and Rome. 
 Even so, the field of selection is still large. The pur- 
 pose is to make the walls speak, and whatever pic- 
 ture tells an instructive story is in the line of our 
 intention. It is now possible to take almost any pic- 
 ture in any book and have it so enlarged by photog- 
 raphy as to adapt it to the schoolroom, and many 
 famous pictures are to be purchased in enlarged sizes 
 for such use, at reasonable prices. 
 
 Kindness to animals is easily taught in pictures. 
 The happiness of domestic affection ; the contrasting 
 consequences of idleness, selfishness, and intemper- 
 ance ; the splendor of courage in the face of peril on 
 land and sea ; these and other moral lessons may be 
 brought to the assistance of youth by means of the
 
 194 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 illustrations which enliven the walls of the school- 
 room, like pictures in a book. 
 
 The morals of good citizenship are naturally en- 
 forced by such pictorial teaching. The pictures will 
 show the faces of the leaders and heroes of the nation, 
 and of the events in which they enacted their great 
 parts. The explorers, the colonists, the soldiers of 
 the determining wars will appear in illustration, and 
 the children will learn the fact that the nation was 
 established by self-sacrifice, and that the blessings of 
 our present life became possible by the pain and hard- 
 ship of those who suffered for our sake. Other pic- 
 tures will show the wonders and beauties of our 
 country, its cities, plains, mountains, harvests. 
 
 The morals of international relationships may be 
 shown in pictures. The depicting of the actual horrors 
 of wars in contrast with the peaceful and just settle- 
 ments of the Hague Tribunal may assist a citizenship 
 in which patience and intelligence may take the place 
 of passion. Other lands may be made to yield their 
 interest in pictures of their scenery and people. The 
 horizon of human relationship may thus be widened. 
 
 The daily discipline of a good school is a constant 
 instruction in morals. The idea of order that is sug- 
 gested in the appearance of the school is here perceived 
 in action. There is a regulated system into which 
 the individual must enter. He must subordinate his 
 own desires and impulses to the general social wel-
 
 THE MORAL ATMOSPHERE OF THE SCHOOL 195 
 
 fare. Thus he learns the elementary virtue of obe- 
 dience. He takes orders and obeys them. He be- 
 comes accustomed to an authority which he must 
 respect. The conditions of home life in crowded 
 places often make the enforcement of parental aur 
 thority diflficult. There is frequently a confusion 
 and an irritation accompanying it which naturally 
 invite resistance rather than submission. Life often 
 is a struggle between the will of a weary or incom- 
 petent parent and the will of an active child. In 
 the nature of the case authority is discredited. It 
 does not command the child's respect. It lacks the 
 elements of calmness, justice, and consistency. Thus 
 home is often a hindrance to that citizenship which 
 rests on the basis of strong authority. The boys and 
 girls come out of it into the street without regard for 
 law. They lack the fundamental quality of obe- 
 dience. This must be supplied, if it is to be had at 
 all, by the influence of the school. The conditions 
 make the task of the teacher difficult, but they magnify 
 its importance. Upon the virtue of obedience depend 
 both the happiness and goodness of the child and 
 the peace of the community. The daily discipline 
 which demands this virtue is essential to our moral 
 welfare. It is a kind of preventive treatment, deal- 
 ing with the early symptoms of the disease of lawless- 
 ness which menaces our cities like a plague. 
 
 The discipline that is founded on the virtue of
 
 196 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 obedience teaches self-restraint, patience, steadfast- 
 ness, mastery of difl&cult tasks, consideration for the 
 rights of others, and many other social quaHties. 
 The quiet room, the enforced attention, the required 
 courtesy of speech and conduct, the necessity of 
 accompHshment, the obligation of order, are all parts 
 of a moral atmosphere in which children Uve under the 
 school roof half a dozen hours a day. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is plain that this influence is by no 
 means universally effective. Boys and girls go out 
 from the discipline of the school, some of them greatly 
 helped, others apparently unaffected. This is in part 
 by reason of the differences in temperament, and of 
 the differences in the conditions of the out-of-school 
 life, which make improvement difficult or easy. 
 Thus the parable of the sower shows the same seed 
 growing into very different harvests according to the 
 differences in the soil. But a part of the reason why 
 some children are unhelped by the moral discipHne 
 of the school is to be found in the fact that the dis- 
 ciphne repels rather than attracts them. They hate 
 it, and react from it. They regard the school, as in 
 many instances children of a previous generation re- 
 garded the severity of their homes, as a bondage 
 from which to escape. The fact that the school is 
 intended for their good prejudices them against it; 
 it is associated with medicine, restriction, and punish- 
 ment which are also intended for their good. Like
 
 THE MORAL ATMOSPHERE OF THE SCHOOL 197 
 
 the man in the psalm, they hate to be reformed. They 
 are of the mind of Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah 
 the Ammonite who, when they heard that there was 
 come a man to seek the welfare of the children of 
 Israel, were "grieved exceedingly." 
 
 On the other hand, children commonly begin to 
 go to school with great expectations. They are de- 
 lighted with the new experience. One of the problems 
 of education is to discover how to maintain this 
 initial interest. It is plain that something is the 
 matter. Some misreading of the nature of youth 
 changes this palace into a prison. The most serious 
 aspect of this common failure of the school is that it 
 vitiates the moral atmosphere. It dulls or destroys 
 that receptivity on which the moral value of the 
 school depends. The lessons of the books are learned, 
 because this learning can be made a matter of inevi- 
 table obligation, but the lesson of the school itself is 
 lost in the child's resentment at the school's existence. 
 
 There is a possible solution of at least a part of this 
 difficulty in the new Uberty which the Montessori 
 method would introduce into education. The periods 
 of enforced quiet may be shortened, and more op- 
 portunity presented for that activity of body which is 
 instinctive in the growing child. Then, too, the pro- 
 cesses of instruction may be made more interesting 
 by relating them more evidently to the conditions of 
 actual life. Thus geography may begin with the
 
 198 MOIL\L TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 facts which are in plain sight, the local river, or hill, 
 or plain, and extend gradually into the distance. 
 History may be at first concerned with the annals of 
 the towTi, the district, the state, and so on back to 
 Greece and Rome, to the Euphrates and . the Nile. 
 Local geology, local botany, the biology of the fields, 
 the chemistry of the kitchen appeal to the natural 
 curiosity of youth. In these directions the school is 
 making education interesting, and is at the same time 
 developing children into intelligent citizens. One 
 reason why many children quickly lose interest in the 
 school is because they do not understand what it is 
 all about. They do not see the good of it. There is 
 no plain relation in their minds between their lessons 
 and their hves. The school misses that point of con- 
 tact which is the initial necessity in all effective in- 
 struction. This contact is effected by the more 
 definite moralizing of education ; that is, by keeping 
 the connection clear between the school's work and 
 the desired result : an intelhgent, competent, depend- 
 able, and useful citizen. For example, a report on the 
 methods of moral instruction in Germany finds "the 
 love of home, city, and country earnestly inculcated" 
 in the lessons in geography. "A sense of natural 
 beauty, of admiration for great and good citizens, of 
 civic duty and respect for law is cultivated. The 
 duty of the city to provide schools, water and hght, 
 good roads, police, etc., is explained. Small social
 
 THE MORAL ATMOSPHERE OF THE SCHOOL 1 99 
 
 duties are pointed out : ' If you pick up something 
 in the street, what must you do with it ? ' 'If you see 
 an accident, to whom must you tell it ? ' 'To whom 
 do the public buildings and gardens belong?' and 
 the duty following on ownership is made clear. The 
 names and services of great statesmen, writers, and 
 philanthropists, born in their city, are familiar to 
 children of eight and ten." 
 
 Such instruction, however, is difiEicult because it is 
 not provided for to any great extent in text-books. 
 The materials are for the most part accessible enough, 
 but they are not arranged for the teacher's use in 
 lessons. The moralizing of education by making use 
 of local facts and conditions for the training of chil- 
 dren to live their immediate lives depends accordingly 
 upon the teacher. The moral atmosphere of the 
 school, like its physical atmosphere, is determined 
 by the teacher. It is the teacher who opens the win- 
 dows, or keeps them closed. And this applies to all 
 kinds of windows through which children look out 
 upon the world in which they live. It is in the per- 
 sonality of the teacher, as much, indeed, as in the 
 method, that the problems of the interest and value of 
 education are to be worked out. 
 
 The teacher whose ideals consist in a quiet school- 
 room and a successful examination at the end of the 
 term may achieve certain results, but at the same time 
 may make school children hate the school, and thus
 
 200 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 may bring to naught all the moral opportunities. 
 Boys and girls may go out from such a school know- 
 ing how to read and write and cipher, but ignorant 
 of the value of the virtues, and resenting authority. 
 They may be sent out into the community equipped 
 to do evil intelligently, and inclined to do it. The 
 very excellence of the intellectualized instruction may 
 make the school a menace to the state. 
 
 It is only by moralizing instruction that it is 
 made either interesting or effective. It commands 
 the attention and the respect of youth by being evi- 
 dently practical, worth while, and applicable to Ufe. 
 The teacher's true ideal is a good citizen. The 
 teacher's moral problem is to make the school life 
 yield that fine result. Everything is to be made to 
 bend that way. The conduct of the school, the care 
 of the fabric, the pictures on the walls, the songs which 
 are sung and learned by heart, the lessons which are 
 taught, are all to be in harmony with the flag which 
 floats over the school roof. But the first essential to 
 that harmony is the spirit of the teacher. 
 
 The most influential moral fact about the school is 
 the presence of the teacher. For the most valuable 
 contribution which a good school can make to the 
 equipment of a growing citizen is a point of view, a 
 way of looking at things, a sense of values. And this, 
 for good or ill, the teacher gives. It all depends upon 
 the teacher's personality. The details of most of the
 
 THE MORAL ATMOSPHERE OF THE SCHOOL 20I 
 
 lessons are eventually forgotten, but the impression 
 of the teacher remains. The sincerity, the fairness, 
 the sympathy, the kindness, the patience, the cour- 
 tesy of the teacher, or the lack of those qualities are 
 the ambassadors of moral influence. They prepare 
 the way, or block it, for acceptance of the teacher's 
 ideals of hfe. What is taught is learned, or not, ac- 
 cording as these virtues prevail in the teacher's life. 
 They make the school liked or disliked ; they make it 
 morally effective or ineffective. Without them, the 
 teacher may give the most admirable instruction in 
 all the aspects of the moral life, and achieve meager 
 moral results. With them, the instruction may be 
 not so admirable and yet be crowned with splendid 
 moral accomplishment. The most important part of 
 the moralizing of the school consists in the moralizing 
 of the teacher. And, in the hands of a teacher whose 
 life itself is an expression of the cardinal virtues, a 
 system of moral culture becomes a powerful instru- 
 ment in the moralization of the pupil.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 RELIGION AND MORAL TRAINING 
 
 A BOOK on the subject of moral training would not 
 be complete without some reference to the relations 
 of morahty and religion, and the significance of these 
 relations for moral education. Religion is not an 
 artificial thing grafted on human nature. It is an 
 integral part of human nature itself. It is native to 
 the soul. Man is just as essentially religious as he 
 is social, political, moral, and aesthetic in nature. 
 Anthropology and psychology bear testimony to 
 this fact. The former affirms the practical univer- 
 sality of religion, and the latter shows a man's capacity 
 for it, and the history of the race reveals that religion 
 has been intimately associated with his moral develop- 
 ment. 
 
 Religion, in its highest form, affirms our relation to 
 an unseen order — to a personal God who rules in 
 righteousness, and to an immortal Hfe in which virtue 
 is rewarded and vice punished. Opinions will differ 
 as to the nature of such reward and punishment, but 
 Christian believers at least seem to be at one con- 
 cerning the fundamental fact that "whatsoever a man
 
 RELIGION AND MORAL TRAINING 203 
 
 soweth that shall he also reap " — both in this life 
 and in the life which is to come. 
 
 Now belief in a God who approves righteousness and 
 disapproves unrighteousness — who vouchsafes aid 
 to the good and punishes the evil — has proven, and 
 continues to prove, a powerful factor in the develop- 
 ment of character and conduct, both in the individual 
 and in the race. To add these religious sanctions to 
 the ethical sanctions cannot fail to influence power- 
 fully the moral hfe. Kant conceives of reUgion as the 
 Divine sanction of morahty. Whatever else it may 
 be, it is at least this, and it can be utilized most 
 effectively in the promotion of right living. To be- 
 lieve in a God who approves and aids men in the great 
 struggle to do right, and thus to feel that ultimately 
 right will triumph over wrong ; and to believe in the 
 imperishabiUty of good character, in the immortality 
 of virtue, cannot fail to be an inspiration to him who 
 is fighting the battle for righteousness, both in his 
 own life and in the hfe of society. On the other hand, 
 to believe that God punishes evil doing, not only here 
 and now, but also hereafter — no matter in what 
 manner — undoubtedly proves a deterrent to wrong 
 conduct. The dreams that may come ''in that sleep 
 of death" "must give us pause"; and "the dread of 
 something after death . . . puzzles the will . . . thus 
 conscience does make cowards of us all." The moral- 
 ity that is determined by such motives may not be
 
 204 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 of the highest type, but it is better than the immoral- 
 ity that it restrains. So that rehgion is bound to con- 
 tinue to be a most powerful influence in the moral 
 life of man. 
 
 If we regard moral education from the standpoint 
 of religion, we must try to make the religious sanctions 
 operative as motives in the child's moral life. Most 
 people, and especially most young people, need more 
 than the ordinary moral sanctions. They need the 
 supreme assistance that religion affords. Conscious- 
 ness of the presence of God, and belief in present and 
 future reward and punishment, constitute motives 
 which, when they become part of life, carry youth out 
 of the protection and constant course of the home and 
 school into the independence of the world, prepared 
 to encounter temptation. They tend to create a 
 goodness that upholds the soul in situations where 
 moral restraint alone might not avail. 
 
 The fact that it is helpful to be under observation 
 applies not only to childhood and youth, but to the 
 whole course of human life. We are all better be- 
 cause of the fact that we live under the eyes of our 
 acquaintances. But the observation sometimes fails 
 us. Boys and girls who have been cared for wisely, 
 and watched diligently, go out beyond that kind 
 of ministration into the affairs of life. They still 
 need it, — more, perhaps, than ever. They should be 
 taught to find it in the consciousness of the presence 
 
 I
 
 RELIGION AND MORAL TRAINING 205 
 
 of God. They should be enabled to say to themselves 
 in the hour of temptation, "Thou, God, seest me." 
 
 Furthermore human nature is so constituted as to 
 need to be reminded of consequences. When the 
 apostles said to Jesus, "We have left all and followed 
 Thee, what shall we have therefore?" we perceive 
 that the question is not quite in accord with the per- 
 fection of the saints, but we perceive also that in 
 it human nature frankly speaks, and the supreme 
 Teacher took this into account when he brought the 
 future to assist the present : " Whatsoever a man 
 soweth that shall he also reap." Thus the conse- 
 quences are made to depend for their certainty, not on 
 a revelation, but on the universal laws of being. Boys 
 and girls should come from school not only with an 
 absolute conviction that the consequence of adding 
 two to two is four, but with a conviction no less ab- 
 solute that the consequence of adding sin to sin is 
 death, — the death of the soul. The phrase may 
 be taken to mean annihilation, or eternal punishment, 
 or any other kind of loss. It matters little ; the 
 main thing is the firm assurance that sin leads to loss, 
 as the eating of unwholesome food leads to disease. 
 According to the universal laws of the universe, even 
 neglect is punished ; the neglected soul suffers, like 
 the neglected body. 
 
 The principal virtues of the religious life based on 
 the child's immediate relations to God are Jaith^
 
 2o6 MOILA.L TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 obedience, gratitude, love, reverence, and prayer. By 
 faith is not meant subscription to creed or dogma, 
 but simple belief and trust in God and in His goodness. 
 Obedience is conformity to His will as the practical 
 measure of moral obligation.^ Gratitude is thankful 
 recognition of God's kindness as manifested in His 
 provision for all our wants, — physical, mental, and 
 spiritual. Love involves desire to hold fellowship 
 with, as well as desire to serve, the Heavenly Father. 
 Reverence is a fitting emotional attitude towards 
 God's greatness and goodness. Prayer is recognition 
 of our dependence on God which seeks expression in 
 asking for divine assistance, and in thankful acknowl- 
 edgment of the same. 
 
 These virtues are closely related and, of course, 
 more or less overlap. They should be developed in 
 every child, and the best method of cultivating them 
 is to give the child sane ideas or conceptions of God. 
 Children should be taught the fatherhood of God — 
 that they are children of the Heavenly Father, who 
 loves them and cares for them. His bountiful pro- 
 vision for their physical wants, as manifest in nature, 
 can be easily illustrated. The food we eat, the water 
 we drink, the clothes we wear, the air we breathe, 
 the fire that keeps us warm, etc., all lend themselves 
 to illustrate the providential care of the Divine Father. 
 
 1 It is not meant by this that God's will is the ultimate ground of 
 moral obligation in the philosophical sense.
 
 RELIGION AND MORAL TRAINING 207 
 
 Gradually, attention should be called to the higher 
 spiritual blessings of God's fatherly love. To teach 
 children in this manner that they are the children of 
 God is to secure a wholesome, natural response in 
 the form of simple trust, obedience, gratitude, love, 
 reverence, and prayer. When the child knows that 
 his Heavenly Father is loving and kind, it is much 
 easier to secure reverential obedience. And when, 
 further, the child is made acquainted with this will 
 as a righteous will that approves the good and dis- 
 approves the evil, it will be easier to obtain reverential 
 conformity to it, and the other virtues naturally 
 follow. It is better to appeal to him from this point 
 of view than from the standpoint of abject fear. 
 Too often has the child been restrained from wrong 
 doing by presenting unworthy conceptions of God as a 
 stern and cruel lawgiver and executioner, or concep- 
 tions of equal unworthiness. John Fiske, in one of his 
 interesting and suggestive books, tells us of his boyhood 
 conception of God as a great big man, sitting behind 
 a desk, with an open ledger, keeping account of his 
 sins ; and Professor Bowne, in commenting upon this 
 conception, sardonically adds, "And especially down 
 on that particular boy." Unfortunately this is 
 representative of much of the kind of teaching that 
 has been indulged in with reference to the nature of 
 God and of His relations to us. Instead of drawing 
 the child to God, such teaching really alienates him.
 
 2o8 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 God's will becomes obnoxious and irksome instead of 
 attractive. Such teaching means spiritually flogging 
 the child into obedience to a kind of arbitrary will 
 rather than winning him into a recognition of the 
 worth or goodness of a loving Father's will. Far 
 better is it to lead children to feel that God is a kind 
 and gracious Father, who loves the good, who is in- 
 terested in His children, and desires that they should 
 be good, because goodness is better than evil. 
 
 President Hall favors a different mode of procedure. 
 He declares : — 
 
 "The child's conception of God should not be personal 
 or too familiar at first, but He should appear distant and 
 vague, inspiring awe and reverence far more than love ; 
 in a word, as the God of nature rather than as devoted 
 to ser\dceable ministrations to the child's individual wants. 
 The latter should be taught to be a faithful servant rather 
 than a favorite of God. The inestimable pedagogic value 
 of the God-idea consists in that it widens the child's 
 glimpse of the whole, and gives the first presentiment of 
 the universality of laws, such as are observed in its ex- 
 periences and that of others, so that all things seem com- 
 prehended under one stable system of government. The 
 slow realization that God's laws are not like those of 
 parents and teachers, evadible, suspensible, but change- 
 less, and their penalties sure as the laws of nature, is a 
 most important factor of moral training. First, the law, 
 the schoolmaster, then the Gospel ; first, nature, then grace, 
 is the order of growth." ^ 
 
 1 Hall, " Youth, Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiwe," New York> 
 1912, p. 355.
 
 RELIGION AND MORAL TRAINING 209 
 
 We cannot accept this view. After all, what we 
 are aiming at in rehgious training is to secure a loving 
 obedience to God's will on the part of the child. We 
 aim to do this because this will is a righteous will. 
 And the question is, How can such loving obedience 
 best be secured ? The most natural method of pro- 
 cedure is to introduce the child to God, and his rela- 
 tions to Him, through the concept of Fatherhood. By- 
 experience the child understands in a measure what 
 fatherhood and motherhood mean. In the large 
 majority of cases he knows that it means loving care, 
 protection, provision for wants, etc. He knows, too, 
 that it means acceptance of the parents' will as the 
 measure of right and wrong. It means, too, on the 
 part of the child, an association of worth with the 
 parents' personality. This being so, it is a natural 
 and easy ascent from such experience with his earthly 
 parents to the conception of and belief in the Heavenly 
 Parent's will as the measure of duty, and to the 
 Heavenly Father's personahty as representing the 
 highest worth. Then obedience to God's will follows 
 quite naturally, and with it, or following closely after 
 it, will come the other religious virtues as well. 
 
 If we thus teach the child the Fatherhood of God, 
 he understands from his experience with his earthly 
 parents that parental love involves both approval and 
 disapproval of his conduct. Love involves both, 
 and such approbation and disapprobation can be
 
 2IO MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 utilized as powerful motives in the child's moral life. 
 The approval and disapproval of his father and 
 mother are at first unquestionably the most influen- 
 tial motives in his daily life. Dr. Hall does not ex- 
 aggerate the case in his admirable words : — 
 
 "The will, purpose, and even mood of small children, 
 when alone, are fickle, fluctuating, contradictory. Our 
 very presence imposes one general law on them, viz., 
 that of keeping our good will and avoiding our dis- 
 pleasure. As the plant grows towards the light, so they 
 unfold in the direction of our wishes, felt as by divination. 
 They respect all you smile at, even buffoonery; look up 
 in their play to call your notice, to study the lines of your 
 sympathy, as if their chief vocation was to learn your 
 desires. Their early lies are often saying what they think 
 will please us, knowing no higher touchstones of truth. 
 If we are careful to be wisely and without excess happy 
 and affectionate when they are good, and saddened and 
 slightly cooled in manifestations of love if they do wrong, 
 the power of association in the normal, eupeptic child 
 will early choose right as surely as pleasure increases 
 vitality. If our love is deep, obedience is an instinct if not 
 a religion. The child learns that while it cannot excite 
 our fear, resentment, or admiration, etc., it can act on our 
 love, and this should be the first sense of its own efficiency. 
 Thus, too, it first learns that the way of passion and im- 
 pvdse is not the only rule of life, and that something is 
 gained by resisting them. It imitates our acts long before 
 it can understand our words. As if it felt its insignificance, 
 and dreaded to be arrested in some lower phrase of its 
 development, its instinct for obedience becomes almost a
 
 RELIGION AND MORAL TRAINING 211 
 
 passion. As the vine must twine or grovel, so the child 
 comes unconsciously to worship idols, and imitates bad 
 patterns and examples in the absence of worthy ones. 
 He obeys as with a deep sense of being our chattel, and 
 at bottom, admires those who coerce him, if the means be 
 wisely chosen. The authority must, of course, be ascen- 
 dancy over heart and mind. The more absolute such au- 
 thority the more the will is saved from caprice and feels 
 the power of steadiness. Such authority excites the unique, 
 unfathomable sense of reverence, which measures the 
 capacity for will-culture, and is the strongest and soundest 
 of all moral motives. It is also the most comprehensive, 
 for it is first felt only towards persons, and personality 
 is a bond, enabling any number of complex elements 
 to act or be treated as a whole, as everything does and is 
 in the child's soul, instead of in isolation and detail. In 
 the feeling of respect culminating in worship almost 
 all educational motives are involved, but especially those 
 which alone can bring the will to maturity; and happy 
 the child who is bound by the mysterious and constraining 
 sympathy of dependence, by which, if unblighted by cyni- 
 cism, a worthy mentor directs and lifts the will. This un- 
 conscious reflection of our character and wishes is the 
 diviner side of childhood, by which it is quick and re- 
 sponsive to everything in its moral environment." ^ 
 
 If this be true, as undoubtedly it is true, then why 
 not take advantage of this fact in our efforts to secure 
 the child's obedience to God's will. . If his conception 
 of God is that of a loving Heavenly Father, then this 
 Father's approval and disapproval, just as his earthly 
 
 ^Op. cit., pp. 332, iT,^.
 
 212 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 father's approval, must act as a potent motive in the 
 child's life. 
 
 A difficult problem arises when we try to represent 
 the divine disapproval in the form of actual punish- 
 ment. It is well to emphasize the fact of divine dis- 
 pleasure, but just how to represent the manifestations 
 of that displeasure is not an easy task. With very 
 young children it is questionable whether it is wise to 
 refer to "future punishment" — punishment after 
 death. It is better to deal with the present life. We 
 can point out the fact that God punishes through the 
 laws of his world. This can be illustrated very simply 
 by showing the child how, if we violate the laws of our 
 physical being, which is part of God's universe, we 
 suffer — we are punished. Gradually we can teach 
 him that in a like manner we suffer, not only here, but 
 hereafter, if we violate the laws of our spiritual being. 
 In dealing with this subject, however, extreme care 
 should be taken, not to give the child unworthy 
 conceptions of God. Such representations cannot 
 develop a wholesome rehgious life in the child. The 
 " Thou shalt nots " are necessary, but the consequences 
 of failing to heed them should not be presented to the 
 child in such a manner as to lead to conceptions of God 
 that would make a development of genuine love for 
 Him impossible. 
 
 As God's will relates largely to man's duty to him- 
 self and to his neighbor we can easily see how the
 
 RELIGION AND MORAL TRAINING 213 
 
 religious sanctions can be utilized in training the child 
 in the virtues and protecting him from the vices 
 growing out of his relations to himself and to society. 
 In other words, we can bring the divine approval and 
 disapproval to bear on our efforts to establish children 
 in the bodily, intellectual, social, political, and aes- 
 thetic virtues, and to guard them against the corre- 
 sponding vices. God's will is on the side of human 
 righteousness. It approves and rewards virtue, and 
 disapproves and punishes vice. When the child is led 
 to understand this, moral training becomes much more 
 effective. 
 
 To the above religious teaching in its relation to 
 morality might be added the example of Christ. 
 This, at least, will be done by the Christian. As 
 the old adage says, "Example is more powerful than 
 precept." Such a notable example of loyalty to the 
 highest ideals will probably be more powerful in the 
 life of youth than in the life of childhood, for it is 
 especially in middle adolescence that the altruism of 
 human nature manifests itself in a pronounced man- 
 ner, and it is then that the sublime altruism of Jesus 
 will strongly appeal to young people. Nevertheless, 
 the child is by no means completely self-centered. 
 His altruistic nature manifests itself early, and the 
 example of Jesus may prove effective, especially with 
 children of the age of those in the higher elementary 
 grades. This example should figure in the moral and
 
 214 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 religious instruction of the home and the private 
 school. 
 
 Moral training, then, cannot properly be divorced 
 from religion. In such training of children we ought 
 to avail ourselves of the religious sanctions as they 
 relate to duty to self and duty to others. And the 
 virtues that grow out of the child's immediate re- 
 lation to liis Heavenly Father should also be recog- 
 nized and taught. We should also avail ourselves 
 of the example of Jesus. All this can be done in the 
 home and in the private school A\dthout opposition ; 
 but a different situation confronts us in the public 
 school. 
 
 Having a population, part Jew, part Catholic, part 
 Protestant, our public schools must take this situa- 
 tion into account. The names stand for differences 
 whose significance is not only of the past but of the 
 present. They represent mighty and continuing 
 controversies which have wrought their arguments 
 into deep prejudices. We may deplore the fact, but 
 here it is, and we must reckon with it. It means 
 that nothing anti- Jewish, anti-Catholic, or anti-Prot- 
 estant may be permitted to enter into our public in- 
 struction in the schools. 
 
 The claim of agnostic or atheist parents to be like- 
 wise considered is quite a different matter. We can- 
 not take account of individual departures from our 
 common customs and opinions. Persons thus depart-
 
 RELIGION AND MORAL TRAINING 21 5 
 
 ing must themselves pay for the luxury of dissent. 
 Otherwise, we are under the tyranny of small minori- 
 ties. It is obviously absurd to ask a God-fearing 
 community to take the name of God out of the text- 
 books of the common schools because two or three 
 citizens do not believe that God exists. Such a pro- 
 cedure would change religious liberty into a state of 
 narrow limitation such as now controls the govern- 
 ment of France. 
 
 There are French officials who do not dare to go to 
 church. A Christian man in public office is debarred 
 from the free exercise of his rehgion by the fear of 
 hurting somebody's feelings. Text-books which teach 
 the resources and splendors of France have been 
 changed so as to omit all reference to churches. No 
 mention is made of the cathedrals which are the glory 
 of such places as Rouen and Amiens. The pictures 
 of such buildings have been cut out. The only 
 people who enjoy religious liberty in France at pres- 
 ent are those who do not beUeve in religion. This, 
 of course, is a reaction from a local situation, and 
 there are many reasons for it, good and bad. We 
 refer to it as illustrating the possibility of bringing 
 people into bondage in the name of freedom. It is 
 an example of the narrowness of breadth. After all, 
 the American people are by history and in fact Chris- 
 tians ; at least, they are of the religion of the Bible. 
 Our brethren and fellow-citizens who dissent from
 
 2l6 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 that large definition of religion are at liberty to hold 
 their own negation, and so to teach their children. 
 They are not at liberty to deprive their neighbors of 
 the privilege of the presence of religion in the schools. 
 They may not strike out that great element of past 
 and present hfe. 
 
 The differences between Jews, Catholics, and Prot- 
 estants, however, are represented by such large 
 sections of our population that they must be con- 
 sidered. They cannot be disregarded on the ground 
 that they signify individual or local or temporary 
 prejudices. But the differences, while immensely 
 important, still leave great tracts of essential agree- 
 ment. It ought to be possible to present religion in 
 such a way as to attain the \dtal purpose of such 
 teaching without getting into the entanglements of 
 controversy. 
 
 This might be done by adopting one of the follow- 
 ing three methods : In the first place, the relations 
 of reHgion to morahty, as explained above, are plainly 
 taught in hundreds of pages of the Bible with no 
 reference whatever to the rehgious disputes and con- 
 troversies that divide Jew and Christian. To bring 
 these pages together in the form of a lectionary for 
 pubHc schools ought not to be a difficult task. Two 
 hundred such readings would bring before a school in 
 the course of a year such reminder and affirmation of 
 the presence of God and of our relations to Him, as
 
 RELIGION AND MORAL TRAINING 217 
 
 well as of the consequences of conduct, as should for- 
 tify children and youth against the inevitable moral 
 difficulties in a manner that mere instruction in morals 
 will not do. And Jews, Catholics, and Protestants 
 could heartily unite in the selection of appropriate 
 prayers. 
 
 Another method of training the child in the religious 
 life which should be acceptable to Jew, Catholic, and 
 Protestant is the use of literary and religious readers 
 similar to the ethical readers so frequently referred to 
 in these pages. By means of the indirect method — 
 the story method — the religious sanctions, as they re- 
 late to the child's duties to himself and to others, and 
 the duties growing out of his immediate relation to 
 God, might be systematically presented. Such story 
 material is abundant, and it could be carefully ar- 
 ranged in the form of readers. They should contain 
 nothing that would not prove acceptable to Jew, 
 Catholic, and Protestant. Such a religious reader 
 might, because of its literary quality, be used as a 
 supplementary reader in the class in reading, or it 
 could serve as a source book for the teacher in the class 
 in morals. She could supplement the moral story 
 with a religious story, dealing with the same virtue. 
 This would add to the purely ethical motives the 
 religious motives as well. 
 
 A third method, similar to the one adopted in 
 Germany, would be to have the school authorities
 
 2l8 MORAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL AND HOME 
 
 grant the churches a half day per week for purposes 
 of the religious instruction of children. Or, as in 
 Australia, an hour per week. Under such an arrange- 
 ment, Jews could teach Jewish children. Catholics 
 could teach- children of that persuasion, and Prot- 
 estants could instruct Protestant children. As in 
 Germany, so here, the school authorities might in- 
 sist upon competent instruction. Under such circum- 
 stances the work done could receive credit just as 
 work done in arithmetic or in history. On the whole, 
 either the first or second method stated above seems 
 to be the simplest and most practicable for our coun- 
 try, and it would seem as though Jew, Catholic, and 
 Protestant might unite on such a program for the 
 recognition of religion by our public schools, and for 
 the benefits that would result from religious instruc- 
 tion. If the function of the school, as we maintain, 
 is to send out, not merely persons who can read, write, 
 and cipher, but good citizens, then it is plain that the 
 highest service that the school can render to the com- 
 munity is to secure the goodness of these citizens by 
 founding it on the soundest possible basis. If what 
 has been said on the relations of religion to morality 
 be true, then we should not be content in moral train- 
 ing with presenting merely the moral sanctions of 
 conduct, but should make use of the rehgious sanc- 
 .tions as well. 
 
 In the meantime, and even in the fulfillment of
 
 RELIGION AND MORAL TRAINING 219 
 
 these ideals, the most effective reenforcement of mo- 
 rality with religion is in the person of the reverent 
 teacher. The personahty of the teacher is the con- 
 stant text-book of the school. The religious teacher, 
 conscious of God, devoted to the highest ideals, look- 
 ing toward the life unseen and immortal, will over- 
 come all limitations and temporary hindrances, and 
 make the school a rehgious influence. Morality will 
 be infused with religion as flowers are filled with 
 fragrance. 
 
 The following works on the relation of Morality and 
 Ethics to Religion may be consulted to advantage : Leuba, 
 " A Psychological Study of Religion," Part III, Chapter X, 
 New York, 191 2. Ladd, " Philosophy of Religion," Vol. I, 
 Chapter XIX, New York, 1905. Ladd, " Philosophy of 
 Conduct," Chapter XXIV, New York, 1902. Baldwin, 
 " Social and Ethical Interpretations in Mental Develop- 
 ment," Chapter VIII, Section 5, New York, 1902. Wundt, 
 " The Facts of the Moral Life," translated by Gulliver and 
 Titchener, Chapter II, London and New York, 1902. 
 Palmer, "The Field of Ethics," Chapter IV, Boston, 
 1902. Paulsen, "A System of Ethics," translated by Thilly, 
 Book II, Chapter VIII, New York, 1900. Bowne, " Prin- 
 ciples of Ethics," Chapter VII, New York, 1892. Mar- 
 tineau, "Study of Religion," Introduction, New York. 
 Janet, " The Theory of Morals," translated by Chapman, 
 Chapter XII, New York, 1883. Kant, " Critique of Practi- 
 cal Reason," translated by Abbott, Book II, Chapter II, 
 London, 1889.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Achilles, 49. 
 Adler, 57, 58 n. 
 Angelo, 63. 
 Aristotle, 34, 153. 
 
 Booth, 50 n. 
 Bowne, 207. 
 Burk, 134 n. 
 
 Compayre, 96. 
 Coleridge, 130. 
 
 Drummond, 134 n. 
 
 Emerson, 65. 
 
 Froebel, 9. 
 
 Fisher, 75, 76 n., 79, 80 n. 
 
 Fiske, 207. 
 
 Foerster, 49, 50 n. 
 
 George, 29 n. 
 Groos, 32. 
 Gulick, 25, 26 n. 
 Gibbon, 119. 
 
 Hall, 9, 33 n., 42 n., 54 n., 76 n., 95 n., 
 
 96, 208, 2 10. J 
 Hill, 26, 27 n. 
 
 Kant, 203. 
 
 Locke, 98, 100 n., 174, 175 n., 176. 
 Luther, 183. 
 
 r letchnikofif, 37. 
 
 Montessori, 29, 29 n., 75, 78, 13s, 197. 
 
 Partridge, 7 n. 
 Paul, 54. 
 Paulsen, 34, 34 n. 
 
 Perez, 96. 
 Plato, 52, 167. 
 
 Quick, 100 n. 
 
 Royce, 83, 83 n. 
 
 Sala, 29. 
 
 Saleeby, 25 n. 
 
 Schiller, 167. 
 
 Shaftesbury, 167. 
 
 Socrates, 54. 
 
 St. John, 12, 13 n. 
 
 Stern, 96. 
 
 Stimpfl, 177, 177 n., 182. 
 
 Sully, 76 n., 96, 97 n., 176, 177 n. 
 
 Tennyson, 185. 
 
 Thilly, 34 n. 
 
 Tracy, 177, 177 n., 182. 
 
 Ulysses, 49. 
 
 Virtues and Vices of, 
 
 The Bodily Life, 53. 
 
 The Social Life (The Family), 86- 
 87. 
 
 The Social Life (The School), iio- 
 III. 
 
 The Social Life (The Community), 
 124-125. 
 
 The Social Life (Relation to Ani- 
 mals), 138. 
 
 The Economic Life, 150-151. 
 
 The Political Life, 163. 
 
 The Esthetic Life, 187. 
 
 Wordsworth, 129. 
 Wright, 169. 
 
 Zoroaster, 63.
 
 'HE following pages contain advertisements of 
 books by the same author or on kindred subjects.
 
 THE GOLDEN RULE SERIES — Literary Readers 
 
 By E. HERSHEY SNEATH, Ph.D., LL.D. 
 
 Professor in Yale University 
 
 GEORGE HODGES, D.D., D.CL. 
 Dean of the Episcopal Theological Seminary, Cambridge, and 
 
 EDWARD LAWRENCE STEVENS, Ph.D., L.H.D. 
 
 Associate Superintendent of Schools, New York City 
 
 Third Grade 
 
 . $.40 
 
 Fourth Grade . 
 
 .45 
 
 Fifth Grade 
 
 .50 
 
 Sixth Grade 
 
 .55 
 
 Seventh Grade . 
 
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 Eighth Grade . 
 
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 READING WITH A MORAL PURPOSE 
 
 The aim of " The Golden Rule Series " is to establish the child in the vir- 
 tues — in the habits of will and the forms of conduct that are essential to the 
 development of the individual and the society. In order to reahze this aim 
 careful attention has been given, not only to what these virtues are but what is 
 the most effective course available for their timely establishment. 
 
 " The Golden Rule Series," a series of literary readers, is the means that has 
 been selected for this purpose. 
 
 THE GOLDEN RULE SERIES 
 
 THE GOLDEN LADDER BOOK, Third Grade 
 
 THE GOLDEN PATH BOOK, 
 
 THE GOLDEN DOOR BOOK, 
 
 THE GOLDEN KEY BOOK, 
 
 THE GOLDEN WORK BOOK, 
 
 THE GOLDEN DEED BOOK, 
 
 " The Golden Rule Series " is a library of good literature. It consists of six 
 well-selected and well-graded classic stories of spiritual content and moral sig- 
 nificance to the child. In these books the child's reading begins naturally with 
 myth and fairy tale. From these it adds to the reading of the splendid legends 
 and stories of heroism, and through these it gradually introduces the child to 
 biographical and historical literature and stories of real life in which the virtues 
 that lie at the foundation of moral character — "the fineness of courtesy, the 
 combination of tenderness with strength, the protection of the weak, and the 
 scorn of all things base and mean," are beautifully suggested and dramatically 
 portrayed in character and action. 
 
 In " The Golden Rule Series " the child is taught indirectly, that is, by the 
 indirect method, the lessons of life that children should learn at an early age. 
 The grade by grade study of the stories in " The Golden Rule Series " directs 
 the attention of the child, grade by grade, at the right time, to the forms of con- 
 duct that are morally worthy. In this course of reading he is following a thought- 
 ful and helpful outline for individual development in the virtues of 
 
 The Bodily Life of the Child 
 
 The Intellectual Life of the Child 
 
 The Social Life of the Child in All Its Phases 
 
 The Vocational Life of the Child 
 
 The Civic Life of the Child 
 
 The .Esthetic Life of the Child 
 
 " In all this he is living the long p>ast over again, and is coming on over the 
 road of prog[ress, along which the race has gone before him. He is filling in 
 the background of human life. Grade by grade these stories secure his interest, 
 and what the child is interested in he attends to, and what he attends to, as a 
 rule, he remembers, and what he remembers he thinks about, and all this, when 
 it involves a moral content, affects character and conduct."
 
 GOLDEN LADDER BOOK 
 
 The Bodily Life 
 
 Billy, Betty, and Ben as Soldiers 
 When Betty Closed the Windows 
 The Prince and the Lions 
 
 The ^Esthetic Life 
 
 The Wonderful World 
 Deeds of Kindness 
 The World's Music 
 
 The Social Life 
 
 How the Crickets Brought Good For- 
 tune 
 The Old Grandfather's Comer 
 The Hare of Inada 
 The Boy Who Never Told a Lie 
 
 Wellington and the Plowboy 
 The Seven Ways of the Woods 
 The Two Friends 
 Hans, the Shepherd Boy 
 
 The Intellectual Life 
 
 The Cat and the Fox 
 
 How Audubon Came to Know about 
 
 Birds 
 The Ant and the Cricket 
 The Little Spider's First Web 
 
 The Civic Life 
 
 Prince Hal Goes to Prison 
 My Own Land Forever 
 Three Hundred Heroes 
 
 GOLDEN PATH BOOK 
 
 The Bodily Life 
 
 Feigned Courage 
 Tending the Furnace 
 Red Stars and Black 
 The Invaded City 
 
 The Esthetic Life 
 
 The Barefoot Boy 
 
 The Gladness of Natiu-e 
 
 Robert of Lincoln 
 
 The Social Life 
 
 Rebecca's Afterthought 
 
 How the Sun, Moon, and Wind Went 
 
 Out to Dinner 
 Love Will Find Out the Way 
 
 How the King Visited Robin Hood 
 Sara Crewe 
 
 Why Violets Have Golden Hearts 
 St, George and the Dragon 
 
 The Intellectual Life 
 
 The Village Blacksmith 
 The Cadmus of the Blind 
 Sir Lark and King Sun 
 The Builders 
 
 The Civic Life 
 
 Arnold Winkelried 
 The Traitor Girl 
 Sir Thomas More 
 
 GOLDEN DOOR BOOK 
 
 The Bodily Life 
 
 The Choice of Hercules 
 The Story of Peter Cooper 
 
 The .ffisthetic Life 
 
 Daffodils 
 
 The Red Thread of Honor 
 
 Pietro da Cortona 
 
 The Lucky Coin 
 
 The Social Life 
 
 The Boy Who Became a Hsao-Tsze 
 A Story of Long Ago 
 Sylvain and Jocosa 
 
 Little Franz's Last Lesson 
 
 Tarlton 
 
 Nobility 
 
 Orpheus and Eurydice 
 
 The Intellectual Life 
 
 The School Children's Friend 
 The Waste Collector 
 Industry of Animals 
 
 The Civic Life 
 
 Paul Revere's Ride 
 The Sword of Damocles 
 My Native Land
 
 GOLDEN KEY BOOK 
 
 The Bodily Life 
 
 The Apostle of the Lepers 
 Billy's Football Team 
 
 The Esthetic Life 
 
 The Pearl 
 
 The Butter I.ion 
 
 Night Coach to London 
 
 Peter Bell 
 
 The Social Life 
 
 Samuel Johnson 
 
 Prince Magha 
 
 A Man Who Loved His Fellowmen 
 
 Say Not, the Struggle Naught Availeth 
 Echo and Narcissus 
 Geirald the Coward 
 
 The Intellectual Life 
 
 Find a Way, or Make It 
 The Lion and the Cub 
 
 The Civic Life 
 
 The Blue and the Gray 
 
 Song of Marion's Men 
 
 Old Ironsides 
 
 The Man Who Could Not Be Bought 
 
 GOLDEN WORD BOOK 
 
 The Bodily Life 
 
 Billy's Prize Essay 
 The Disenthralled 
 
 The Vocational Life 
 
 Of Sir Beaumains and His Quest 
 
 Lochinvar 
 
 How Marbot Crossed the Danube 
 
 The Boyhood of Abraham Lincoln 
 
 The Social Life 
 
 The Golden Goose 
 
 Tom and Maggie Tulliver 
 
 One Good Turn Deserves Another 
 
 The Tournament 
 
 Florence Nightingale 
 
 The Risks of a Fireman's Life 
 
 The Intellectual Life 
 
 The Glove and the Lions 
 If I Were a Voice 
 
 The Civic Life 
 
 The Man without a Country 
 
 Joan of Arc 
 
 The Bivouac of the Dead 
 
 GOLDEN DEED BOOK 
 
 The Bodily Life 
 
 The Loss ef the Ocean's Price 
 
 A Bard's Epitaph 
 
 The Boy and the Cigarette 
 
 The Esthetic Life 
 
 Sir Galahad 
 
 Altars of Remembrance 
 
 The World is Too Much with Us 
 
 Character 
 
 The Social Life 
 
 Napoleon 
 
 Ingratitude 
 
 Silas Marner's Eppie 
 
 The Battle of Waterloo 
 
 Sir Artegall and the Knight 
 
 Sanglier 
 
 The Intellectual Life 
 
 Ozymandias 
 
 The Great Stone Face 
 
 The Vocational Life 
 
 A Brave Rescue and a Rough Ride 
 Thomas Alva Exlison 
 A Glance Backward 
 George Washington 
 The Carronade 
 
 The Civic Life 
 
 The Strenuous Life 
 Say, What is Honor ? 
 The Four Wreaths
 
 ^
 
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