LB UC-NRLF , Kva M . Airierican literattire as a means of civic education in the secondary schools Term paper in Education 200 - 200B, May 1922. o KDUCATION DEPT. LANGE LIBRARY OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY. CALIFORNIA / AMERICAN LITERATURE AS A MEANS OF OIVIG EDUCATION IN THE SECONDA .Y SCHOOLS TERM PAPER by EVA M. bTONE in EDUCATION 200-200B Aug. 21, 1921 May 1, 1922 DR. L Alias's SEMINAR in CIVIC EDUCATION y'''^^iot-<>fi^fyj Y- 375 AMERICAN LITERATURE AS A MEANS OF CIVIC EDUCATION I. Relation of language and literature to Civi^/Education. A. Every American child should be given a knowledge of English literature, together with training in the use of the English Language . 1, In the interest of the individual. 2. In the interest of national unity. a. Mistakes in the English Educational system. b. Danger of Vocational Education in this country. B. Every American child should be given an adequate knowledge of American Literature. 1. In the interest of the individual. 2. In the interest of national unity. 3. In the interest of national literature. II. More emphasis should be placed on American literature in the high school. A. One semester should be required. B. Time - the eleventh year. G, Content. a. History of American Literature, with illustrative masterpieces. b. Essays and addresses of American statesman. III. An suialysis of the content of Lowell's "Democracy" in the light of the objectives of Civic Education. A. Biography of Lowell. B. Essay on "Democracy." 1. Intellectual objectives. 2. Feeling and conduct objectives. 677646 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/americanliteratuOOstonrich I AMERICAN LITERATURE AS A MEANS OF CIVIC EDUCATION It has been said that the most conspicuous character is tie of "the human animal is his imperviousness to ideas. Those who are in- clined to accept this view will find an excellent example in point in the fact that until the recent war the English people never awak- ened to the necessity of training all English children in a know- ledge of the English language aind literature. Until recently the education of the upper classes in England has been almost entirely confined to mathematics and the classics. A knowledge of the Eng- lish langua^je and literature came as a by-product of classical study. In the English universities English had no position and formed no part of the recognized sttidies. On the other hand, the lower class- es of English children were given a purely industrial education that fitted them to be skilled mechanics, engineers, or what not. The natural result of this has been that the working people came to feel that "literature, for the most part, expressed the point of view of the middle and upper classes and that any attempt to teach them lit- erature or art was an attempt to impose upon them the culture of an- other class." This state of affairs has been all the more disastrous in view of the fact that folk literature has been crushed out by modern industrial conditions. In this way the people have been cut off from the whole world of aesthetic enjoyment of music and verse that vitalized the common life in the time of Elizabeth. Life has become barren, and the starved aesthetic nature has consoled it- self with the moving pictxare, of which the man is a mere spectator and in which he has no creative part . It may well be that in this state of affairs many a potential poet, for want of a nobler outlook, has joined the ranks of the soap-box orator in the socialistic meet- ing. In the January number of the current "Atlantic", Caroline F. E. Spurgeon, of London, in a discussion of the revolutionary report of the recent Committee on British Education, sets forth the evil re- sults of this dual system of education thus: "Much of our social discord, sxispicion, and bitterness, of our industrial warfare and unrest, is owing to this gulf between classes, between industry and culture, emphasized by the gulf between educated and \ineducated speech; and nothing would do more to bridge this chasm than a com- mon education, fundamentally English, resulting in a common pride and joy in the national langxiage and literature". "Literature is the most direct and lasting communication of the ejq^erience of man to men. Literature is not only close to life, but it is a means of life". "For English children no form of knowledge can take precedence of a knowledge of English, no form of literatvire can take precedence of English literature, and the two axe so in- extricably connected as to form tiie only possible basis for a national education". "The delusion that the people as a whole should have only manual or vocational training, such as fits them to be miners or engineers or cooks, is the educational lie in the soul." "The lesson in English is not merely the occasion for KOlTAODaS OIVID -^O 2S«A3i' A 6A afr^^AH^TIJ JlAOIHt^MA ,'<; <■..•.••;••••'• • • -iii: &ia ouw i^a^ o;r ae&nex/oxvtsqr.l airf ei x .'i-ioo at ^. ja^iXiiOxss na ^ii:il iit'K w.^iv ein^ rqyoo« oj it .. -.i^...*-: T;,>voi3 ;,^.,^,w.i ilelX;)-"' v-i 1^ T^^ ifnso&r: adi?- H^cl' i^cif *0£l i^ii.' ..* ©dtf :-9l ii:. . . i.i bwb ... x . -■:^r.7. brli ^o & .•.•:3i A .i .c eri* r.f;«» so. - oJ hSirrTc:-: ''"-T i: -„..--.. . cjjB £roJ:;tiaoq oxi be:.. >..^^. -.■... ., ...'xj'a&'/x. . . -x.^. , .... . leel ot 9mB0 sXqofccr ,>,nii'lo>.- &dJ tsAf r.eo'.f e;in aid;f 'lo iiL'e&r L^iuzbii Ic T.' :■ ' ■ --nSioq .. ' :' zot ^t : .i ~*i.^ . '■* o*r , ,. . _ -.- -.. ._._.„ic. taqjiL- _ ^t -cii «sxiJ coaw ^feocraTX oi i-qsuaziB as ubw s-zj: to §>Tx..-y&x© '{C! i-x/v -~c -:•. ;. - . .: ilo'i jttiiJ- i'ojil juJ xc v .•i-v .li .JO ii&scf yvfiri : , .iiibaoo i-^iij&isbat .e • ' "' XO tlTOf.' '. - ,A XiO -er Xivs sa^- £{3-10!. ?,i9e ^;r.oi7 . .:o se-.- .-, r " .":? Xisioos ix/o lo rioxrti" : BtfXiit c: - v .:- ..,*.'^v-. i t ■■■■.. ' ..• ii -Mob £ £teas .naedo airli' a.sii'xa oit tutoai j:as ? _-:" .''. . tdS' ... . i. ix :t jijcf ,9lXX ui- :J . r.;,«t ..; nx-o a^'sX^orcf 10 4»Tp^ on ... ."--tlX.i© t si . ■ iSOXf.. lol itoxejBOcc on ex ' ii2 aX -^^ce*. the inculcation of knowledge — it is, a^ initiation into the corporate life of man". If this narrow, one-dimensional education has worked havoc in England by eliminating a common language, and a common intellectual heritage of ideas and ideals, it would be still more disastrous in our own country, not only because of the geographical extent of our country and the varied races among our citizens, but because in a democracy such as ours where viniversal suffrage prevails, it is es- sential that each citizen have as broad and unified an education as possible since the success of o\ir experiment must ultimately depend upon the "collective wisdom of the people as a whole". Although American Education long ago recognized the importance of teaching the English langiiage and literature both as a means of personal cult\ire for the individxial and as a means of unifying omx heterogeneous population, the "educational lie" referred to by Prof. Spurgeon has been gaining a considerable following among the ad- herents of vocational and industrial education in this country. Courses in so-called "business English" look upon the language chief- ly, if not exclusively, as a tool by which financial success may be achieved, and not at all as an instrument for the expression of the aesthetic nature of man. Drill in language is made as arid and mechani ioal as the multiplication table. Language as "fossil poetry" never comes within their ken, but language as the stock-in trade of fossil teachers is made the pabulum of class instruction. Verily "the hungry sheep look up and are not fed" .' On the other hand, the instruction in literature in the intermediate and upper high school, takes on a technical and formal quality, equally remote from life. Literary criticism and matters of interest only to the literary specialist are expounded, largely to the exclusion of the significance of the masterpiece in terms of hvunan life, past, present, and fut- ure. Considered from the point of view of the ob3 8Ctives of Civic Education as developed in this seminar, both our theory and o\ar practice in teaching the English language and literature will have to be radically changed if these important factors in shaping national life are to function at full value. In the teaching of English literature in American secondary schools, the major attention has always been directed to the English masterpieces. In fact, collections of poems for use in high schools have excluded American authors entirely. Such a procedure may be fully justified on the universal groxind of art, but it cannot be justified on national grounds. Every American child is entitled to its American inheritance — the vital experiences of our forefathers as embodied in our literature, for even in literature a man without a country is a starved being. Dr. Lange has called attention to the fact that every child born in this country must be Americanized. The child comes from a foreign shore; he must learn a new language, he must adapt himself to new conditions, he must acquire the ideas and ideals of his newly- adopted country. Education is the process by which the child is gikided in the acquiring of all this experiense. Language be- comes of fundamental importance, since not only does comm\inication depend upon it but the power of thinking itself. Hence every American * ' . *' . .,i o • - ■ - . . • . , , ^ II ux aijo'-. : xxira sd i.^xi/On ifx 4«xA»ei>x i;xi£ a&arx xo . ^ luo lo ':, ' ■ -^T- shiJ- lo <^ .'^~ ■•.:: -ino J-Q/i ^xnniSCL .% .e nx f- .0 Twc yA -r setxav &*;'.♦ i'li--: ».t -tO 8i 7x t^-^ - B* ricxfu \ ©oaf-JToamt 6dw tsK tfl-^oosT v'>,^fi gxtOl ffOt*©f>iix»a nAOif.t©fooi "lie:. ' t>ifxJ.*Jo-oe ni csaiifoD oe^i fcjHS ill* - -ei ai litzQ .oaa lo ♦>*« ..Alii moat!: 9J0i, 03 lY"^^' --'- trr^ laoXnrfoc? & xro eeiicf XT^^Sv c ■ . - ^ . Y ' •tni :. :.-■..■- : ^xio ' " " ^ " ioa^olllix^.ti, t . acte. ,-..,. ^ c-7 \ _• . ^.. ■ . , los J*. .. -.5i/^ tifijs (Vi-isy^'^rq t^'^Aiq ,t*ti£ inKflxra lo eariftc zt bO^iqto^BMa ertJ io civiO lo istv: ■•- • ^T'- ' ■•- V- ■ - ?•- ': r- ^ ■-v tdi- ao'i'l ' ■ " ' ^t " . --.■ kihl .iir 03 ... .... . . . ^ . .. . , &rf.t ,nlc>Qncfe c;''..:;it»i d^ld ax &fci/ ici c;rdO-oq xo eaoiac«?i.iOO «ja«i x:I .e? 03" -. ei biicLo fi4ci?«i:''.A yi:^ ■ ■no i'-. &.-...,... "'^ •^■.'•' '"•'- fieoxs^.i'fATXt; ^-.j.^. .......,,.■,. CiAci ;fLrorf?i7. ::&.^i:X xii rrevft to "I . . il ^'C ul hei a* .^Xoa l'«?'x«3'e £ ei blirLc vxbvs v . «1 &::, .>? joislico efixl 6-afl&I .aG child should be taught to speak and write good English and to ac- quire as large a vocabulary as possible, as both understanding and expression axe limited by the child's knowledge of words. Through experience the child will learn to understand his physical en- vironment in practical work and in the natural sciences; but the experience most valuable to him pertains to the social world of human beings in which he finds himself. These he cannot understand unless he is permitted to enter into and possess his part in the in- heritance of America as this has been handed down in historical and literary form. Since the literature of a nation is an interpretation© of the national life of a people, it gives permanance and contin- uity to ideals. History may record facts but literature interprets their meaning in terms of human life. "Our literature is the ex- pression of Americanism; it is the embodiment of the soul of Amer- ica. From our own books we get the brave adventures of pioneers and the splendid deeds of the makers of the nation; we learn how our compatriots live, what they think and do; we catch the beauty of our streams 8Uid hills, the sweep of the prairie, the majesty of mountains and canyons; and at last we come to know America and the democratic ideals for which she stands". This does not mean that we should set American literatiire in apposition to English literature, but an appreciation of English lit- erature should not prevent our taking a natural pride in our own authors. It is said when Matthew Arnold said to Sainte Beuve that Lamaxtine was not a great poet, the French critic wisely replied, "He is important to us". So we as Americans may reply to critics who depreciate certain American authors: "They are important for us", for they have recorded our struggles, shared our hopes, and embodied our ideals. In his History of French Literature, Brunetiere de- clares that every race must be the judge and the only judge of its own poets. Although our American authors when measured by universal and permanent standards may not reach a high place in the scale of literary performance, they are immensely significant for us in that through them we are made conscious of ourselves as a nation. Even if our people had remained homogeneous, this would still have been true, but it is vastly more important when we consider the mixture of races in this country. The lesson in American literature may well be made an "initiation into the cororate life of America". How else can we hope to recreate in each successive generation the experience of the founders of our nation and the struggles attending its de- velopment? How else can we hope to build up a national literary consciousness? How else can we hope to prepare the way for a really national American literature? How else can we hope to co\interact the influence of the so-called intellectuals of our great cities, men "who have brains and ability but who know not Israel" axid who would rush us into literary internationalism before our national literat\xre has had time to come into its own? \ \ to sit'.:!* .yio^u ,; - . ■i% ylehlni otSltc doii.yi'i. * - - -■ , - V ftx»vXt>«^jiO ^ aw» ■Lfii^C'X^fjekit ijAr i>'Xui.u. II If it ia the inalienable right of every child to discover Amer- ica in the works of American authors, it is certainly obvious that all that ia implied here cannot be accomplished in the elementary grades, but that the study of American literature must receive more emphasis in the high school. In the lower grades the reading matter ia mainly selected from our own authors. This is the natural pro- cedure, and ia baaed on the same principle which the elementary teacher follows in the teaching of history and geography from the local center outward. This excellent foundation should be crowned by a superstructure of American literature in the high school. But what actually happens ia that the atudy of American literature is practically abandoned in the high school for that of English lit- erat\are. Moreover, English literatiore is taught almost purely from the aesthetic point of view, and not from the more significant point of view of its civic content. It is highly desirable that the sec- ondary pupil should gain as wide an acquaintance with the world's best literature, but it is far more necessary that he gain an ap- preciation of our national life in all its varied phases aa mirrored in literature. In many of our high achools no courae in American literature is offered; in a few it appeara as an elective or altern- ative course, but it is seldom found in the compulsory English co\irses . So the continuity of instruction in civic ideals through A- merican literature, is broken when the pupil comes to the high school. In the grades the reading of American atories and poems served to ajouse patriotic emotions, but deep and abiding loyalty must be based on intelligence. The American citizen must needs find a reason for the faith that is in him. He must intellectually group the meaning of America. His feelings must be widened and deepened by xinderstanding , This understanding can come only by the study of American literature in the high school. To know the spirit of the living whole of our national life, he must become acquainted with the genius of the varioua parte, that is, he must know America geograph- ically. Such a study might well begin with the literature of the pupil's own state, especially so if he happens to live in a so- called "literary state". It is very seldom that a California boy or girl is acquainted with the works or even with the names of present-day California writera, such as Edwin Uarkham, George Stir- ling, Gertrude Atherton etc. They have never heard of the Overland Monthly. They do not know that gold mines richer and more permanent than any of those discovered in the fifties were opened up in the West by Mark Twain and Bret Harte. They have never been inspired with the faith that if we follow the trail we may yet rediscover the lode. Such writers as Bryant, Whittier, Hawthorne, Sarah Orne Jewett, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Margaret Deland, William Dean Howe lis, and many others, have revealed the character of New England aa influenced by heredity and environment; the intensely concen- trated life of our great cities ia mirrored in the worka of 0. Henry and Herrick; Joel Chandler Harria, F. Hopkinson Smith, Thomas Nelson Page lead us into the heart of the Old South; with Miss Murfree we penetrate the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee; we feel the pulse of the great Middle West in the pages of Riley, Eggleeton, and Mark Twain: we croaa the Rockiea to live with the cow-boy and the miner in the tales of Owen Wiater and Bret Harte. The great industrial life of America speaks to us in the novels of Frank Norris, Robert yxa:! JV «J. 3B ai i&'ii :J ii^C Herriok, and Margaret Deland; while the great social political prob- lems are stated, if not solved, by Churchill, Phillips, Whitlock, London, and Poole. Essayists from Emerson to Repplier interpret auid crystallize ideals. Historians from John Smith to McMaster create the past epochs of American life. Statesmen from Washington to Wilson voice the great ideals and purposes of Americanism. In the popular forms of the short story and the one-act play, American life is presented in kaleidoscopic fashion — stories of the frontier, of social heritage, of American landscape, of American community life. Surely in view of the riches of the material at hand and the purpose in view — to interpret America for Americans — it would be a very modest beginning to ask that at least one semester of the pre- scribed course in English in the high school should be devoted to the study of American literature; ana that in addition to this the sup- plementary reading and book reports in the other High School grades be made in the field of American literature. It would seem advisable to adopt the best available text in the History of American litera- ture, to be used advisedly, not as a strait- jacket, but as an in- telligent guide. A second text with illustrative masterpieces should be used with the history. As to the grade into which such a coxirse could be most advan- tageously introduced, it would seem that, all things considered, the eleventh year would be the most suitable time. The pupil is then sufficiently mature to enter into the literary inheritance of America with intelligent enthusiasm. Moreover, such a course would form an admirable preparation for the study of United States History in the twelfth year. Ill It is an interesting commentary on American education that while we prominently exhibit the portraits of Washington, Jefferson, Alex- ander j/Hami It on, Webster, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Wilson in our school rooms, the living words of these statesmen, for the most part, are conspicuous by their absence even in the high school. Aside from the Gettysburg Address and a few sporadic quotations, our young Americans are entirely igr^orant of the great contribution of these men to American literature. In fact, they are quite surprised to find them listed among oxir national literary lights at all. In this respect, the situation seems to be growing worse instead of better. Formerly the English curriculijm in the Berkeley High School contained Webster's Reply to Haine, Boardman's Modern American Speeches, Lowell's Essay on Lincoln, Lowell's Democracy, the Lincoln Papers, and Democracy Today, a collection of war addresses. At the present time most of these have been dropped from the covirse because the majority of English teachers consider them too difficult to hold the Interest of the average high school pupil. There was a time, they urge, when only the select few went to high school, when such work could be done profitably; but now that Tom, Dick, and Harry^,^ome to us without cultural background and fill up our English classes, the study of such works cannot be done successfully. But in spite of this fact, do we not still go on trying to teach these same pupils literary criticism, which is certainly more remote from life than definitions of democracy? Does the difficulty reside in the task itself or in T TT the lack of civic interest and the lack of resourcefulneaa on the part of the teacher? Surely the time has come when all patriotic English teachers should search their hearts to find out the real truth. Some teachers^ believe that they have taught these masterpieces with a reasonable degree of success. Are such teachers merely deceiving themselves? It would seem as though the average teacher of English literature stakes her all upon emotional appeal. The realm of the pure intellect seems cold and forbidding. Thinking in logical sequence is a process laborious and repellent, and should be banished to the department of mathematics. A political speech, though it be built like a Greek temple, does not stir the imagination. Touching as are the lines of Whitman's "My Captain", even more touching are the words of Lincoln in the Second Inaugviral. Many consider this a greater speech than the Gettysburg speech. What an injustice that young America should not read it J Portraits of Lincoln have their place, interpretations of the character of Lincoln have their place, but nothing can be a substitute for the sublime words of Lincoln himself . Again, we talk much about democracy, our young men gave their lives for democracy, most of them, alas, glimpsing only as in a glass darkly the meaning of the word. Yet we are unwilling to set our- selves to the task of defining this great ideal for otorselves by a study of Lowell's incomparable essay on Democracy, because, forsooth, it is too hard .' It would seem as though it is far easier to die for democracy than to live for it .' If our soldiers gave their lives for it on the field of battle, should not American teachers be willing to give themselves with passionate devotion to the illumination of this ideal. The art of literature has its place but the greatest art of all is the art of living together^ that art which shall lead us into the mystery and beauty of the shared life, the life of co- operative endeavor towaxds the realization of that "far-off divine event, towards which the whole creation moves" } But while it is in- spiring to catch glimpses of the ultimate goal, what we have to do now is to learn to take the next step. If the material in hand does not yield to former methods of treatment, then we shall have to adopt the truly scientific attitude of further experiment. In the scien- tific laboratory, the experimenter does not grow impatient with re- calcitrant material, such as rubber for example, but he continually resorts to new methods of attack. Through the organized will of English teachers as a body, it will surely be possible to devise ways and means of presenting to young America the best that has been known and thoiight in America by the statesmen whose portraits adorn our walls and who are in danger of becoming empty symbols. ItAtti .\3 ©V. "^BIBi. ^^ J>> ^« te rl » r^ ■ :'. tiiJC. -)0 9ri iutf , IV A The life of James Russel Lowell considered from the point of. view of the ob-iectives of. Civic Education. The study of the life of Lowell is the study of personality endowed with the highest type of social intelligence. He was first of all a citizen and incidentally a poet; but it was his poetic imagination that enabled him to glorify citizenship, to reveal the significance of a manis relation to the state. He is the citizen thinking, the citizen feeling and the citizen doing. He was vividly alive, responding beyond the ordinary man to the call of civic duty. If we attempt to measure him in terms of the objectives of civic ed\i- sation that we have set up in this seminar, we shall find that at no place was he weighed in the balance and found wanting. He understood the social life of his country and that of England. He understood and enthusiastically supported the creed of American democracy. He voiced on all acoasions in pi?ose and verse the doctrine of human brotherhood with all the related ideas of equality, freedom, and social justice. He was thor- oughly familiar with various embodiments of the democratic theory in institutional life, especially with the institutions as established in our own country. His judgments were never narrow and provincial but were made in the light of history and based upon a highly developed national consciousness. His faith in the creed of American democracy was never shaken. Both with tongue and pen he strove to interpret life for the common good. In irhe whole gamut of his feelings he was thoroughly American and his conduct squared every inch of the way with his pleaching. But with all, his civie welfare was not forbidding and austere. In the light of his genial humor, egotism and invective had no place. He never lost sight of "that thread of all -sustaining beauty that doth run through all and doth all unite." In spite of the fact that Lowell furnishes such an admirable example of the American citizen, the presentation of his life in the •lass-room may eadily become conventional and academic. Unless the teacher has a sincere enthusiastic admiration for him herself, she eannot hope to kindle that admiration in others. There must be the "Understanding Heart." B, How can a study of Lowell's "Democracy" contribute to the intellectual objectives of dvio Education? It has been said that after a child has learned to open his eyes and see he should learn to shut them and think. For this purpose there is eertainly no masterpiece better fitted for an American youth to try his wits on then Lowell's Democracy. In seeking to gain a clearer conception of this much used and much abused term, a deeper understanding of human brotherhood, equality, freedom, justice and - J- O^ V ^^ J. c* .. u Ij i. aol^Bni ^.j'x/di". vt.Tor. "rrpi tfi nol be^*J17 le^ip i; 1 io ,b popular sovereignity will certainly result. The essay as a whole may bo eonsidered a refutation of the oharge that America is responsible for infecting the old world with a new and dangerous desease known as democracy. Lowell first shows that democracy as a spirit is nothing new but tha t it began with the advent of man ofPtnis ;^anet and, has always been in evidence whenever circumstances have been proplttius. He audaciously asserts that the basic ideas of American democracy were inherited from the British Constitution. Having shown that democracy is nothing new, he proceeds to point out that it is not dangerous, being due to inevitable growth against which it is uneless to contend. Every age is an age of transition and this transition becomes dangerous only when it is too abrupt. Every change for th© better in human history feaa been opposed by great and good men, examples in point being the suppression of the slave trade, the abolition of slavery, trade unions, recogniton of the rights of Jews, Unitarianism. (Here the pupil should be asked to bring in additional examples, and to forecast that judgment of the future upon our reactionary Senate and its attitude towards the League of Nations. Is our present attitude towards Japan unenlightened? This portion of the essay is excellent for developing the need of historical perspective as a basis for judgment.) Lowell declares that fear of democracy is due either to a guilty conscience on the part of the ruling classes or to a lack of understanding of what democracy really is. It is not really democracy that the better class of people really fear but what they erroneotxsly eoneeive to be its necessary adjuncts and consequences, such as the following: 1, The reduction of all mankind to a dead level of mediocrity in character and culture, 2, A vulgarization of men's conception of life and their ood© of morals, manners and conduct, 31 The endangering of the rights of private property and possessions! (The essay up to this point may very well be presented in class under the fomn of a mock trial, the old world being the plaintiff and the America the defendant. The class assemble as a court with judge, lawyers, witnesses^ etc. The lawyers will prepare briefs upon which they will base their arguments. Additional charges may be presented from a later discussion of this topic in the essay and from those discussed in Bryce's American Commonwealth (abridged edition).) The second main division of the essay is given over to a discussion of various definitions of democracy: (l) the political definition of Lincoln, "Democracy is government fif the people, by the iBcan erf^ people, for the people; (2) the social and ethical definition of Theo- dore Parker, "Democracy is summed up not in the expression 'I'm as good as you are'." Christ is pointed out as the first true democrat. Democracy is co-entensive with Christianity. (In dealing with this part of the essay, I have found the follow- ing procedure effective: Before reading Lowell's discussion of the definitions, ask the members of the class to write down off-hand the best definition of democracy that they can make. These are signed and left with the teacher. Then they are aSked to look the word up in the dictionary, noting its derivation, and to bring in definitions given by members of the family or friends. The result of this invariably reveals that the pupils conceive of democracy as a form of government, and not as a state of mind or spirit; a mechanical contrivajice, and not a living relation between the members of a group. After completing the study of the essay, the members are asked to make another definition of democracy and compare it with the first one given to the teacher.) The thl]?d main division of the essay treats of Democracy in Ameriea: (1) The conception of democracy of the founders of the reputlic. (2) The unequalled advantages and apportunities of the framers of the Constitution. (3) The success of the American experiment In democt^acy. Here perhaps the most striking idea presented is that the framers of the American Constitution did not attempt to found a democracy in the strict sense of the term. Their practical problem was to adt^t English principles and preclaents to the new conditions of America. They were not mere theorists, seduced by the French fallacy that a system of government can be made to order like a suit of clothes. Conservative by natrire, they recognized the value of tradition and habit as the basis of permanence and stability. The nature of their creed made them profoundly distrust human nature and so they safe- guarded the government against the weakness of politicians and the whims of the people by introducing a system of checks and balances. The fourth main division of the essay is a defense of democrati© government in general, with a discussion of the advantages of universal suffrage, and a refutation of current oojectlons to democratic forms of government. Such statements as the following pi»ovoke discussion that cannot fall to deepen the pupil's understanding of the workings of democracy: ^ 'i > J- (i ^ _t f boM b9{i H eats . 1 aA» «n* >iOoX Of foe ^ J.^ ^ - k J. •IXdi io Biafcfrffo'i to \;«jb^c votiqr ri Tf^r-fiT** srfj- d-flrfj al be^rtoaertq £©foi snlailn-- ^T jb fxu/ol oi Jqxii6i'lX i^b^o o.t sbgrn ©cf n«© c bxxB rroiJ-1 £;..."; i lo ©i'l£V ©rlJ- f- i2?f!J lo —•*'■- -'•^' .^JilldBJfc bnfl enBloiiiloq lo jiow ©' iilBCf baj8 83{0©fiO lo filbjav oliB'!' O^ 8ftOf. ib esovonq 1, The right to vote makes a safety valve of every voter. 2. The best way to teach a man how to vote Is to give him the right to practice. 3. It is less dangerous to give all men the vote than to withhold it, for the ballot in their hands is less dangerous to society than a sense of wrong in their heads, 4, The assertion that Vn9 right to vote is not valued when it is bestowed indiscriminately is only partially true. 5, Those who have the divine right to govern will govern in the end, while the highest privilege to which the majority of men can aspire is that of being govenned by those wiser than they. 6. ( Refutation) The statement is not true that the inevitable i»esults of democracy are: a. To sap the foundations of personal independence. b. To wealcen the principle of authority. e. To lessen the respect due to eminence, whether in station, virtue, or genius. .7, (Refutation) Democracies do not make any more mistakes in the selection of their popular heroes than do monarchies. (The above propositions may be assigned to individuals for discussion, illustration, and proof, briefs being made in each case.) In the fifth main division, Lowell arrives at his own definition of democracy, namely, "Democracy is that form of government, no matter what its political classification, in which every man has a change and knows that ho has it." (Here there is a fine opportunity for discussion and illustration of what Lov/ell means by "a chance", and why it is necessary to "know that one has it." Blindness to opportunity is the cause of most failures.) Following the definition, Lowell discusses public opinion, upon which he declares free government depends. He shows that public opinion must be safeguarded by the education of the people so that they may be protected from the illogical demands of false socialism. Here several striking statements challenge attention: 1, False socialism is the greatest menace ^ a democracy. 2. Conditions and fortunes can never be equalized, for we can never equalize brains. .tOvtov yrt' etAB A BigUm eJov o^ i1 llJS e.t Bi-..„.. ...- .S inefi!dJis.Je ©riT (nol .©saebneqefinJ: lAnosieq lo anclJAfcauo^ ejrfi qbb o'J tSorienime oJ ST ofiJ naeeal o'i o ni t. 3 3B e^ .. inol ".SI e tI <; J Jacra :oelt • ■. r.l SI V : drii Bl ; otid.' •'iBllBltcQ eai. re if) Ilev/oJ »: .\:cBnro~ a^.enen'. JasuBe^g ^OB asiB'' .ilHispa 90 iQvoa njBo aari. 3. Unless something is done to correct enormous unequalities in wealth trouble must come. 4, True sociiilism is only applied Christianity and Applied Christianity is democracy. (In this connection there is a fine opportunity to discuss the meaning of equality, industrial democracy, etc., with illustrations from present day conditons.) The conclusion is characteristically optimistic. The hope of the future lies not in violent cha'^es, nor in the public charity of wealth, for this is only a palliative, but in developing «£ a more sensitive social conscience which will lead us to the discovery of ways and means of extirpating social injustice. We should not be fearful of the future, for 1. Violent changes are not necessary. 2. The misfortunes hardest to bear are those that never come, 3. The world has lived througli many changes. 4. Brawn will never weigh as much as brain. 5. The voice of conscience will always be a sa£e guide. C. How can a study of Lowell's Democracy contribute to the "feeling objectives" of Civic Education? The widening and deepening of the understanding of the meaning of democracy with its implied terms, human brotherhood, equality, freedom, and justice, cannot help but react favorably on the emotional attitudes of the pupil. He has more repsect for his feelings when he discovers that they are grounded in reason. "Loyalty, to be deep and abiding, must be intelligent." Lowell's enthusiasm for his subject is contagious, Back of his abstract reasoning lies, a great fund of suppress- ed emotion, which makes its presence felt both An sudden sallies of wit and humor, and in effective imagery.^ and allusion. The literary quality of the essay is due chiefly to this' suffusing of intellect with emotion. An example in point is the reference to the profound parable of the Persian poet, Jellaladeen: "One knocked at the Beloved's door, and a voice asked from within, 'Who is there?' and he asnswered 'It is I'. Then the voice said, 'This house will not hold me and thee'; and the door was not opened. Then went the lover into the desert and fasted and pRayed in solitude, and after a year he returned and knocked again at the door; and again the voice asked 'Who is the re "^ ' and he jO ^fli said "It is thyself;' and the door was opened to him." The prxjfound meaning of this parable merits considerable emphasis, for hert^democracy is presented as the miracle of the sharped life, A review of the story of "The Vison of Sir Launfal", with special refer- ence to the transfiguration of the leper at the close, will fit in very well at this point. Other passages full offing emotional quality are the following: 1. "To the door of every generation there comes a knocking, and unless the household like the Thane of Cawdor and hiS wife, have been doing some deed without a name, they need not shudder. It turns out at worst to be a poor relation who wishes to come in out of the cold. The porter always grumbles and is slow to open. "V/ho's ther?, in the name of Beelzebub"? he mutters. There has never been a change for the better in human housekeeping that was not opposed by wise and good men." 2. "The beggar is in the saddle at last", cries proverbial Wisdom. "V/hy in the name of all former experience, doesn't he ride to the Devil?" because in the very act of mounting he ceased to be a beggar and became part owner in the piece of property he bestrides." This is a very subtle passage and one that repays discussion, involving, as it does, such democratic arrangements as profit sharing. Perhaps in the light of this illiistration, we might explain why Jack London practically ceased to be a socialist after he became the owner of a Californian ranch. 3. "It should not be overlooked that the acorn from which our democracy sprang was ripened on the British Oak. Every successive swarm from this afficln a gentium has, when left to its own instincts - may I not call them hereditary instincts - assumed a more or less thoroughlydemocratic form. This v/ould seem to show, what I believe to be a fact, that the British Constitution, under whatever disguises of prudence or decorum, is essentially democractic," The latter is a very good example of the truth of Lowell's statement that " a metaphor is no ajggument, though it be sometimes the gunpowder to drive one home and imbed it in the memory." The essay as a whole is calculated to develop a deep and abiding faith in the creed of American Democracy, especially with reference to the future. Lowell pK himself as an example ought to inspire the pupil to nobler living. Lowell was not only a representative of his country abroad but a representative citizen at home. In the same sense every American Gitlzen/is a representative of his country and should be ever conscious oX^is civic responsibility. YE 06937 677646 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UBRARY