It is strange that a man of Mr. Spencer's insight should consider the sciences of greatest educational value, as appealing most strongly to the physical, intellectual, and even to the æsthetic and religious interests of mankind. It may be that he became intentionally guilty of this distortion, in the hope of bringing about a reaction at Cambridge and Oxford and in his nation at large in favor of scientific investigation as opposed to the literatures of the classic languages and the pure mathematics-in his day and country the alpha and omega of a liberal education, the ultima thule of the world of intellect. Or, may

it not be that because of his own preference and natural aptitude for the observation and deduction required for scientific pursuits, he inferred that for all, as for himself, the sciences are of greater worth educationally than are the more humanizing branches of history and language? Again, a reason of Spencer's choice may be sought in the personal chagrin arising from his being debarred from a Cambridge career on account of his insurmountable aversion to linguistic study, and of his being forced by limitation, as well as by special aptitude, into the calling of railway engineer.

Whatever may have been the reason of Spencer's judgment as to the respective values of branches of knowledge, public opinion is not with him, but rather with the author of Educational Aims and Educational Values who argues that, as man is primarily a social being, the highest incentives and the greatest variety of incentives to exertion are found in the group of subjects dealing with human conduct and achievement, as history, literature-particularly that of the mother tongue-which, when studied aright, is the means of exploring and interpreting both the world of external nature and the world of man.

In his essay Intellectual Education Herbert Spencer adopts the theories worked out by Comenius and Pestalozzi. With Montaigne, he considers learning by heart not learning at all, and with Pestalozzi he would have the student proceed from the simple to the complex, from the concrete to the abstract, from the empirical to the rational, from the easy to the difficult. Exception may be taken to M. Comte's doctrine, endorsed in this essay, that the education of the child must accord both in

mode and arrangement with the education of mankind as considered historically; but there can be no gainsaying the argument set forth in favor of making the child his own teacher by obliging him to make his own observations and to draw his own conclusions. With Comenius, Spencer would have all knowledge taught in its elements to young children. Long before the rigorous geometrical demonstration can be grasped by the child, constructive geometry may be pursued with interest and corresponding profit. And that education may not end with a feeling of long-looked-for relief as soon as school days are over; he would have it a process of pleasurable instruction.

The essay on Moral Education opens with the subject that is hinted at in the first essay as of basal importance in the work of education; viz., parental care of offspring. The writer dwells at length on the necessity of future parents preparing, in a special and definite way, for the care and bringing up of their young. Here Mr. Spencer would certainly have rendered his teaching and exhortation vastly more effective had he himself married and shown the world how easy of practice are the duties he requires of his wedded neighbor. But Spencer does not marry. Like a sign-post he unerringly points in the direction men should go, but he does not lead the way. In this he is like Rousseau, who recommends that children should be secluded and isolated from intercourse with society, and he himself sends his children to an orphan asylum-like his own. Pestalozzi, right in his fundamental ideas, but nearly always wrong in his application of them.

Discipline by natural consequence instead of by artificial penalties, Spencer has borrowed in its conception from Emile. He has foreseen and pointed out the folly of setting up too high a standard of juvenile conduct, and of urging strong incentives to such good conduct, on the ground that moral precocity is as detrimental in its results as is intellectual precocity.

Physical Education is prefaced by another lamentation, that the care of human offspring is sadly neglected in comparison with the attention given to the breeding and rearing of irrational animals. The author advises, and judiciously so, that

food of children, for a stronger reason than for that of these lower animals, should be sufficient in quantity, wholesome in quality, and in kind presenting a variety that will induce appetite and preclude satiety. Clothing, too, should receive the attention it merits, being at all times suitable to the season, and so regulated as to prevent as much as possible the sensation of

cold.

Bodily exercise is dwelt upon and highly recommended, play is preferred to gymnastics, and over-application to study is considered in the light of its action on the physique and of its reaction on the brain itself. Mental over-exertion consumes that animal energy which after all makes for success and happiness in life more than does information. Mr. Spencer ends this, the last of his four ponderous but trenchant and forcible essays, by stigmatizing as physical sinners such as, through carelessness or through an imaginary sense of personal disinterestedness, maltreat or neglect their bodies, forgetful that the physical underlies the mental. He would have all realize that there is such a thing as physical morality and that the preservation of health is a duty.

The four educational essays of Herbert Spencer impress one with an exalted idea of the power of their author at generalization, of his acquaintance with the minutiae of many departments of science, and of his unsurpassed wealth of illustration. Their practical effect on the reader is the conviction that education is a thing not easy and simple, but complex and difficult, offering pabulum to the most fertile brain, and affording profitable vent to the greatest possible store of human energy.

Economy in Teaching Composition

ALFRED M. HITCHCOCK, HIGH SCHOOL, HARTFORD, CONN.

NE way to economize is to do without. It is sometimes possible to sail languidly through the pleasant seas of literature, rarely calling for written work, rarely correcting the little that is called for, and still receive the reward of a faithful teacher. Youth is the proper time for superficiality. Drill in composition deadens spontaneity, destroys individuality; does not belong particularly to the English department, anyway, but to all departments alike. The correct speller is born, not made. There is no such thing as English grammar. How many pillowy doctrines there are nowadays. Really, if shrewdly managed, English teaching becomes a restful diversion which need not interfere with one's more important activities, a healthful exercise calculated to put one in trim to endure the strain of the more arduous summer months.

A better kind of economy consists in carefully studying the situation, and then so planning the work that every ounce of expended energy counts. It consists in distinguishing between the possible and the impossible, between the profitable and the unprofitable; in knowing precisely what one wants to accomplish and, the goal once determined, holding to the course. It means keeping one's sense of proportion true at all times, and being ever alert to discover new and better ways of doing things.

Perhaps my article should end at this point, for I am unable to say, "All these have I followed from my youth." I have no royal road to reveal, no new method to advertise. Yet it may be that a number of years spent in a large high school, where the burden of handling composition is sufficiently heavy to make one alive to labor-saving devices, may have taught me a few things-ways of looking at the problem, ways of accomplishing certain results-which may be of interest to those of less experience.

Faulty English, it may be asserted without much fear of contradiction, is due to three causes-ignorance, lack of practice in careful expression, and indifference. Perhaps all will not agree with me in thinking that if the first two causes are removed, indifference as a rule disappears. It is but natural that a boy takes little interest in a game in which, because he does not understand the rules, or because he has played but little, he cannot excel. Perhaps, too, the average teacher does not realize how very ignorant boys and girls really are. He expects too much, and misplaces his emphasis, putting stress on written work when the class really needs instruction in regard to what is right and what is wrong. The statement that the only way to learn how to write is to write needs to be qualified somewhat. I wonder if it is not true that the teacher of composition has won half the battle when he has fully determined the relative importance of these three causes, and their relationship one to another.

I use the blackboard a great deal, being convinced that faulty English is largely due to ignorance, and that blackboard exposition is most economical. For example, in looking over many exercises I find that fifty or even one hundred words are commonly misspelled. Simply to mimeograph these and set them before the class to be learned would not produce permanent results, though it would take considerable time. But upon examination the words are found to belong to five or six groups or families. There are the words with silent letters, others in which the final consonant is sometimes doubled, sometimes not, before a suffix. Still others have a final e which is sometimes dropped before a suffix, etc. The boy's eye has not been trained to notice word structure, it may be; perhaps his attention has never been called to certain simple rules for spelling. By placing five or six words on the board now and then and focusing the attention of the class on them for a few minutes at the beginning of a recitation period, by making the offenders study the peculiarities in spelling, occasionally discovering a rule, common errors may be gradually eliminated. It takes but little time, and may save hours of correction.

Blackboard exposition is equally valuable in teaching punctu