The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1893-11-08

muscle or of brain or is hidden in the money
bag. In former ages Che young member Of
society was trained to handle the club, the
spear, and the sword, now he must be
sohooled in the art OF using the strongest of
all weapons, money, to suppress others and
CRAFTY his own selfish desires. This art must
notbe taught theoretically, but by means Of
object lessons. In a world whose residents
live in constant fight with one another, in
spite Of their bombastio and hypocritiOal
assurances Of brotherly love; in a world
in which the success of hum An life is
measured only by the accumulation Of
wealth; in a world in which the individual
feels himself the center around which all
creation turns-in such world there is Of
course NO room for him whose egotism has
been kept in bounds, or who has not rO-
Oeived the training needed to keep his place
in such battlefield Of human passions. So
long as there is left TO one only the choice
of becoming either hammer or anvil, the
position Of the anvil will remain for the one
who cannot crush another without feeling
pain.
This very observation also throws q sharp
light upon the conventional lies Of our CIV
ilizstion. In theory, on paper, in the pull
pit, on the platform, mankind is portrayed
as one family, the members Of which should
enjoy equal rights; in practical life we 6ght
tooth and nail against one another, and
acknowledge the right Of che strong, the
right Of the pOssessor. In theory we speak
of human dignity, Of the gulf that sepa-
rates man from the brute; in practical life,
when obliged 70 fight for Che crust CT bread
chat we need, We show greater greed than
animals. In the education Of the young, as
far as theory goes, we endeavor to Undue
them with the ideas of Justice and truth; in
practical life, however, we are satisfied with
the appearance Of virtue, since real virtues
are but impediments to individual success.
The asylum, therefore, which gives an ideal
training, does not At the pupil for practical
hfe. The asylum teaches the individual to
suppress selAshness and work for th COM
munity, seeking his own happiness in the
welfare Of the social body. The world Rp-
plRuds only him who is able to suppress
others and to make them do his will. The
ayslum teaches the equality of all hum an
beings; the world bows 10 him who pos
sesses more than others do, The asylum
is haven Of peace in which even passions
are silenced; the world is q battlefield in
which no sympathy is shown TO the de-
feated, In the asylum money is Of no
value; in the world it is worShipped as q
king, yea, even as a god.
We have the choice between two methods
to remove these drawbacks Of the asylum
of education. Either the asylum must fit
itself 10 the world, or the world must fit
itself to the asylum. Either the paradise
of the asylum must be transformed into an
realm of strife, deoelt and intrigue, or the
world must be transformed into an abode
of peace. It Is easier and recommends
itself as more practicable to do the first; il,
however, as in course Of time will and must
happen, the state becomes charged with the
support and education Of all children, would
il not be better and more humane that the
world should aim at universal happiness,
and seek it not in warfare but in pesoeP
Would ID not be preferable that all should
unite their activities and sec 10 il that ell
can live in happiness, than that by the VIC
tory Of one individual over another the well
fare Of the victor involves the misery Of the
defeatedp
Coming generations will know a. fact
that which appears TO US as theory. Will