New-York tribune., 1902-05-24
EDUCAT TION.
A PLEA FOR THE BEAUTIFUL IN DAILY
LIFE.

EDUCATION AND THE LARGER LIFE. BY c,
Hanford Henderson. Octave, PIP. 1885, Houghton'
Mif1in & Co
Hughes. Octave, PIP. viii, 34i. E. T. Dutton
& Co.
Mr.. Henderson urges upon us the duty Of sur
rounding ourselves with wholesomeness and
beauty An ugly room, badly lighted. poorly
ventilated. inadequately heated, he regards AS
morally reprehensible at is the projection of
evil thought" he says. He acknowledges
that may wish for beauty and wholesome
without knowing how to attain them. 1t
is the business of education. he adds. 10 tell us
how. The best is good enough for me- is rec
commended as a motto Resignation. renuncia-
ton. contentment- all these are condemned as
parts Of a cowardly doctrine
Mr.. Henderson rightly bemoans the abandon
ment of so much of our work to machines and
automa tons involving tremendous aesthetic
loss, and we believe him when he says that we
are coming to realize the poverty Of our cheap
machine made household furnishings-chairs,
tables, carpets wall papers and so on. But we
fear that his desires along this line vision
airy. He would like to withdraw machinery
from the vulgar service OF profit. and enter it
once for all in the distinguished service Of
human aesthetics" an obviously futile PROPOSE
ilOI our duinOE goes on 10 express, however
his hope that the time will come when the
materialstc manufacturer will be brought by
educational processes to realize the social pur-
pose" He goes into details to the method
by which he hopes his social purpose" will in
time be worked out. For thing. he wishes
10 see the universities essentially democratic.
We must provide he says. not only the open
door for our universities, but the partial leisure
which is 10 make that open door available for
working and women. We can only do
this through smaller institutions by scattering
the universities and taking them in very fact
to the people"
All this and much more. Mr. Henderson con-
siders TO be thoroughly practical. continuing: II
believe that shall have no difficulty in car
rying it out Just become a genu-
inely social people. Just we desire
the complete human life for the neighbor as
we'll for the self" There is nothing In this
belief to quarrel with II amounts to saying
that when everybody lives by the Golden Rule
the millennium will be at hand But until that
day comes. IT will principally as an ideal
for the stimulation of those who believe in
shooting at higher mark than they can posi-
bly, hit.
1t is interesting to observe the growing en-
phasis which writer's and speakers upon educa-
tonal topics place upon the Importance of
lnetlCS In MS dennltlOn or education Mr..
Hughes declares that it should be its aim to
teach children to see the beautiful as an ex-
preston of the eternal and to recognize the true
the beautiful and the good. This, it appears to us
is something of a contrast to the old curriculum
which included little else than the three Rs But
Mr. Hughes's book is not exclusively composed Of
glittering generalties. though most Of the prac-
tcal recommendations are based upon the one
general proposition. The three Rs are insisted
upon, not account of their intrinsic value. but
because they the means for the acquisition
of knowledge. The mental attitudes which
primary schools shall develop wisely de-
scribed taste for good literature a liking
for the society and communion Of the great
world spirits, and the nourishing of high ideals
amid humble surroundings. All these observa-
tions. although made by Englishman for the
benefit of Englishmen, equally applicable
TO our own case, but the chapters devoted to sec
ondary schools interesting simply because
of the light they shed upon the English system.
Mr. Hughes laments the fact that England has
no organized system of commercial instruction.
expressing the opinion that small part OF
the decline of British trade to the profit of Ger
many, France and Austria, is due to this fact
The educational panoply Of England. he de-
clares. will remain very incomplete until this
defect is remedied.
The volume closes with charming essay on
the characteristics Of childhood and the best
ways OF treating the eccentricities of the child
Mr.. Hughes regrets the tendency among parents
TO discourage the curiosity of children. 1t
should. on the contrary. be encouraged
opportunity for further education. According
to some amazing statistics given, the average
town child has need enough of his curiosity
number of Boston children were catechised on
entering school, and 1t found that 80 per cent
of them had never a live chicken, II per
cent had never a robin, 10 per cent had
never seen a growing strawberry. Many Of them
had idea whatever to the size of a cow
One little girl thought a big as her
cats tail and another guessed it as big as
her thumbnail. Here questions pro
pounded to five year-ods. with their answers:
What is a brook? Water that has flies on. A
little thing that water in.
What is a pond? Where there frogs
Round, and water stays in it. To set on and
fish.
Where do beans grow? Under the ground. On
trees. At the store.
What is right? Not to be naughty. When he
don't lie or steal To mind mamma. To work
and be nice and kind. To behave.
PROFESSOR ROWLAND.
d. c. Gilman, in Scribner's Magazine