The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-04-14
CITY rNACHEns' AssoolArIoN.
Hamilton w. Mabie Addresses It on I'm
 agination In Education.

Hamilton w. Mabie Addresses It on I'm agination In Education. The meeting of the Teachers associa- tion in College street hall last evening was largely attended. Hamilton w. Mabie, editor of the Outlook, was the speaker of the evening, and was intro duced by President Harry W. Asher of the board of education.
 MT. Mabie spoke on "The Creative El- ement in Education" The address was a most scholarly and interesting one, and was keenly appreciated by the teachers and others present He said, in part:
 T sometimes think that we shall nev- CT reform anything until we learn that education is requisite for the reform of all institutions, and in order to get rid of an old institution it is necessary to get rid first of the educational deposit of those institutions.
 we have many educated, civilized and trained races, but these are all the result of education and training, and not of chance. The man of genius is l l think, least of all the result of accident. It is not always easy to see what are the circumstances which produced gen. jus, but it is nevertheless true.
 T believe the reason why Scotch gen. jus has been so prominent is because of the race imagination, stirred and in- spired by contact with the rich litera- ture of the Old and New Testaments. Inspiration depends on harmony with | the things which feed the spirit, and l | believe in great degree upon educa- | ton.
 we remember not so much what we | learn, but our contact With one or two great teachers, and the inspiration we get from them. The memory is right in thus discriminating. I sometimes think we do not allow half enough for | the atmosphere of college life. With the same material worked into | two different ages, one will be sterile and one will be productive. The educa- | tion of one has been merely worked | into the memory; in the other it has | been worked into the soul.
 Atheism pessimism and excessive
 
 and mark the decadence of society This has been witnessed in the decay | of all societies.
 | "The signs of the creative side are the very opposite of these. They are faith | joy, enthusiasm. There are two great | elements of life which I may call the | positive and the negative. There are | the institutions which we have made and which are to a certain extent fixed and stationary. The church and the state are of these, and through these flow the life of the time.
 Power of production, of being crea- tive, consists in being in contact with the vitalizing force of life. We are not creative until we become poets. A poet. according to etymology, is not simply one who rhymes and writes po- etry, but one who creates things.
 ''If I were to choose a text for what have to say I should choose the fol 1 lowing from the Old Testament. When there is no open vision the people fall. Open vision is your direct contact with Gods universe, and this is in great part | the work of education.
 'To get this creative power it is nee essary for us to study all things from the point of the school, to think of so- ciety and the family as a process in ed ucation.
 Every great poem is imbeded in the nature of the poet, and is part of it | The greater the work of art the closer | it Is linked to the life behind it. It is absolutely impossible to separate man from nature, and nature from God II is the greatest mistake in the world tc attempt to separate in education the scientific from the literary. You need to keep all education connected in its fundamental features though not nee essarily in method.
 ''I do not believe that education will
 reach it's highest form until it reaches the imagination. It is to imagination that we owe the great production of lit erature and science and invention. Ii
 Is not a question of mere decoration | but of the vital life of the race. It is
 lack of imagination that breeds dis content with hard conditions of life"