The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-28

now when school administration is re
celYing the most thorough investigation
| and discussion because here in Oklahoma
| we are not bound down by additions MOI
4 hampered by cumbrons educational ma,
] chinery- Here where the people invite
and encourage everything of real value
| IN education we can adopt the advances
/ made in older states and on the other
| hand we need make none of their mis-
takes. Already in possession of a SPLEEN
| did school system we can make it better
and more. effective every year and the
| experiments Of other states are so num-
erous that we can accept their successes
and avoid their failures.
Education is a debt which the present
generation owes TO the next and it is
necessary and possible that the boy of to-
day be master of a high school course
as early in life as his father completed
the work of the grammar school.
The boy Of today needs every equip
ment possible. He must come to the
work of life early and be possessed of
the habit of thoroughness.
During the past summer managers of
great business concerns. presidents of
railroads and other employees have been
testifying in one of our great weekly
papers in answer to the question why
do young men fail?" all have agreed
that one reason for failure is a lack of
thoroughness. Now all good schools Of
whatever grade can incuIcate the habit
of thoroughness. This training can begin
in the first primary grade and need never
end, and this quality of thorOughness
should be the test of every school as it
is the test of every man in business.
This throws the responsibility squarely
back on the shoulders of thorough and
capable teachers which it is the business
of school administration to find, retain
and promote so as to make the most of
their efforts for the boy or girl.
Concerning failures in lifes work am
persuaded that they are the direct de-
scendants and successors of failures in
school work. The habit of failure begins
in school And in the exacting and well
regulated school system the per cent of
school failures is almost as great as the
per cent of business failures.
Let a school system be courageous in
exacting even as low minimum SIS 20
per cent and the TRUTH will appear that
rank in class is almost guarantee to the
same rank in ability to do the worlds
work
The oft repeated example Of the doll in
school who is a genius in life is as rare
as the visit of the Leonids 10 the planet ,
Earth. Let the same observation be
given to the statement and the same
tests applied to it which are necessary
TO establish any social or economic truth !
and it will be found as false as the |
heresy Of witchcraft.
We must then believe the truth that II
there were a better preparation for Ire |
than school training humanity would |
have discovered some trace of Il IN less
than twenty-six centuries.
Not long ago I visited the art insd-
tute Of one of our great cities. A man
dozen halls penned into the rotunda ana
n the copies Of the sculptor alone one
could see much of the march Of history
There was the sculpture of barbaric and
If modern times. Just little time spent
n the. halls containg Grecian and Ital-
an. sculpture and one realizes why those
I'D artists are called the great masters.
The very massiveness Of Angeles group
# lions and his Hercules larger than life
-ppan the observer with the very mag
lftude OF the task of bringing the mar
lie into form and expression. And yet
ven the mos. splendid of those massive
-roups shadows forth the civilization of
hose times and shows much of the
oarseness, grotesqueness and even the
ruelty of Roman ideals.
In the north hall, however, was a mod
m marble, one of the very times In
which we live. The. stature Of woman
With face like the Madonna's and hand
utstretohed It was not large nor mas
i've. 1t was not coarse or grotesque.
I showed none of the crudenees of me-
ieval sculpture. Spectators stood about
he statue in groups. Turned away then
urned to look once more. The work
eemed perfect in ideal and in execution.
he features seemed more beautiful than
uman features, the hand and wrist
1ore graceful than the human hand and
7rist. On the fingers of the outstretched
and and on the face the sunlight fell
nd seemed to diffuse itself until the
eatures seemed to have the flesh tint
: blood and life. The poise and balance .
{ the statue were perfect. No beautiful
lyth behind this piece of work; no he
pine of Homer's or Of VergiIs; no demi- >
cd like the Hercules; no brutal ancient
istorv like the lions in the arena; no ,
additions Of taat past; not even the
anne of some great master" at the foot
ut instead a modest pasteboard card
18th the simple inscription loaned by 6
he artist" In short, just an ideal hui s
An being perfectly copied into stone in 7
he closing days Of the nineteenth cen ,
Try and done with such accuracy, deli T
acy and beauty as TO make the image 9
Gem almost sacred. orth more it seems I
, me, than all the WORKS of the great 6
Iasters It. too, it seemed to me 2
ladowed froth the civilization Of our r
mes. None oft he coarseness, grotes- a
leness or cruelty Of the past; just the a
cart Of an artist in a free land and IN r
sr a glorious civilization trying to pic t
ire forth the beauty and the freedom of 8
s times and bound by no traditions OF Y
ie past.
We, TOO teachers Of Oklahoma, are T
,und by no traditions Of the past. The s
.ulptor may only show forth the civili- &
.ciou as it is We can make the civili- Y
.tlon Of our territory what we viii, We s
IN give It praise and balance. We can s
We it expression and beauty Of truth. c
or energy. dinused through it will give il
the flesh tint Of its moral life and our s
res penned into {, VIII make It what y
shall be. The image we are moulding Fl
-ows Ike Us and our conditions. II We 5
e hampered by pernicious influences "
ON without or faIsi.y TO duty from