The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-08-10

modern poetry and then be given the
dry and llfeless verses of an eighteenth
century songster, how can he be
expected to love the music Of their
verse? But if, on the other hand, he
learn the men and then their writings,
ne Will soon cultivate desire to know
their work, and ere long he will have
That Well-developed taste for reading
which is the sine qua non of culture.
Test the school to which you would
send your boy by its teaching of
English, and you can Judge how we'll
you may trust it to inculcate your boy
with love Of our magic tongue.
Again, the curriculum of school
for boys may likewise be tested by the
manner in which it teaches history.
Its probable influence on the ambition
of the lad may be gagged in the same
way. History, above every other
subject taught in our schools, fires the
imagination and kindles the ambition.
From the lips Of the wise and able
teacher it is a sermon whose moral
needs no preaching Rightly taught,
history will inspire every boy in the
school with a desire to emulate the
great men of whom he reads; wrongly
taught, it actually breeds a contempt
for the past. Take, for instance, the
great field Of classical history. If
boy be kept an hour each day in class
to learn that in such and such a year
Rome was founded, and that the
Emperors were Augustus, Tiberius,
Caligula and the rest, he will soon lose
interest. But if for him is painted the
picture of brave people struggling
for self government, battling against
the world, raising high altar to learn
ing, and then through the centuries
lighting Incidence, degeneracy and vice,
the boy will not only learn history, but
will appreciate it's moral. To cite
another case, if the boy be taught that
in 1920 was adopted the Missouri
Compromise, with provisions thus and
so; that in 1850 came new compro-
mise, and that in the succeeding ten
years the free-soil controversy, the
Kansas Nebraska act, the rise of the
Republican party and the John Brown
raid precipitated the war, that boy will
not only have no appreciation of
American history, but will have no
respect for the cause for which his
grandsire fought But how his enthu-
slasm may be inspired if the story be
told aright-of conflicting civilizations,
of a people proud of their rights of
self-government and their traditions,
of the manner in which this pride was
trampled upon, Of the efforts made to
avert the war, and then Of the splendid
heroism Of sacrifice and battle! The
boy who learns this will be at once
educated and patriotic Examples
without number might be cited to the
same end, but the moral of the whole
is the same. Choose a school which
teaches history as living inspiration,
rather than as dead fact, and YOU
have chosen a school which will make
of your lad good citizen, a worthy
patriot.
There are other considerations to
be taken into account in choosing a
school for a boy-its location, the
standing of its pupils, the healthful-
ness of the site, the presence or
absence of military discipline, the
rating of the school in the eyes of the
community and of the colleges, the
athletic sports and the rest. But these
are largely matters Of common sense in
the determination of which any father
is perfectly competent to act.
But the all-important thing is to
choose school which meets the
requirements, and to send the boy to it,
to remain until he is prepared for
college. Many parents hesitate to do
this: they reflect that if the boy is to
have higher education, it will prove
expensive, and that during his early
years any school will do for him. They
fin1lra too that tho cnhnnlc 1uhncn