The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-16

uprightness. These are indeed cardLs l nal virtues but parents and teachers who hold that such is the end of edu- | cation and government. have consid. these virtues are of little avail to save the child from shipwreck when the storms of temptation blow. To start the child on the journey of life clothed in a coat of many virtues is like gty- ing him garment beautiful to behold but powerfess to resist the winds of wickedness and the heat of passion. The distinguished president of Yale has wisely said that next to the hoy who comes to college with bad habits, the one who Is in most danger Is he superiativeiy good habits are the end entertained by many fond fathers and mothers, by many wel-meaning teach CTS in the education and government when the boy of superlatively good habits, from a good home. goes wrong. The fact is too common and melan- of young life. 4sfd 1t Is but the fruit of false view ofithe end of education and government in the life of the
 If, then. virtue. if then. superlatlve: ly good habits, is not to be the end of your training. what shall wo labor fST1 , w'1i not virtue rsGtdr repeat waqt an
 destiny. Man doth not yield himself to the angels. nor unto death utterly, save only through the weakness of his feeble will" The historian of Euro pean morals has voiced the verdict of experience as well as philosophy when he said that nothing can permanently of a restraining will baslng itself upol a strong sense of the difference be- tween right and wrong. upon the firm, groundwork of principle and honor . An ounce of will is worth a~pound Of virtue. The will to say NO wins the victory when all the hosts of virtue have been routed bv the onslaughts or evil Therefore the education and gov ernnient of the child should aim to develop, not virtue but "a strong sense of the difference between right ana and evil, and the will to chose the right when wrong offers, t1 do good when evil Is ever present. ,,,
 If. then. this power or the the VII VII D 9s ucatton of the child, how can it De attained? Not by fear nor by force nor by authority. However enicp ious lS these agencies are to train up the phild
 In the way he should go. they do nos
 develop in him the power to walk In
 the way when fear and &l, force an ana ,.ali, an1
 has President Eliot put the case iD
 5Thla doctrine Is not consistent with many of the theories which in the past. and particularly before the nineteenth century. controlled education; but if I am right in believing that the train tnG or the VIII IS IHe pInCpAb Ahllb in education, then the implicit obedL- ence theory Is strong; then the earlier but still Surviving theory of break
 ing the will is wrong; then the military system in education Is wrong, for the essense of the military system is the automatic subjeotion of the will of the individual to the command of his su- perlor: then every system ia wrong which impresses opinions. practices, or habits without enlisting the will of tho individual by convinced cooperation"
 Such exercise of the will is self-gov- ernment: and this function of the soul, as every human faculty, is developed only through use. Therefore it Is that from the earliest years the child should be taught to govern himself. He should be led to use his will in ''cou- vfnced cooperation" He may not per haps acquire superlRtively good hab- it's; but he will develop a keen sense of right and wrong. a knowledge of good and evil; and he will form a will to follow the voice of reason and of conscience. These things are brought to pass, not by the power of author ity or the force of fear. They are the fruit of patient teaching, the work of days and years, and they must spring from other mntiyaA These natives