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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



freedom of their country and for human 

 liberty? At the beginning of this period 

 Italy was, as Talleyrand had said, with a 

 sneer which was also truth, only " a geo- 

 graphical expression." It was divided up 

 among some dozen or twenty foreign sover- 

 eigns, some of whom were of very low de- 

 gree, and all used their power for dynastic 

 ends only, regardless of the sufferings of 

 the people. This was and had been for 

 centuries just the condition to breed laz- 

 zaroni and bandits. One sovereign away up 

 in the northwest, a man of the country, had 

 ideas beyond his family, and thought of 

 the people. With him and his son Victor 

 Emanuel as chiefs, and the great native hero 

 to urge them on and compel them when 

 they would not be persuaded, and Cavour to 

 organize, the long battle was fought of the 

 people of Italy against the world. The peo- 



ple of Italy triumphed and founded a king- 

 dom than which no modern state is more 

 enlightened or progressive. This great work 

 of persistent heroism and its crowning suc- 

 cess are the achievement of the common 

 people of the country the " dagoes " and 

 no one else, with no help except what they 

 compelled. Its champions, Victor Emanuel, 

 Garibaldi whom Mr. Morgan's "dagoes" 

 in person resident in America have honored 

 with a creditable bronze statue Cavour, 

 and their associates, are counted to-day 

 among the world's noblest men. We might 

 speak of Italian music and of Italy's con- 

 temporary literature and science, which 

 occupy no mean position, but we have said 

 enough. What shall we do with the dago ? 

 Give him a chance. 



W. H. Larrabee. 

 Plainfield, N. J., December 10, 1890. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



BELIGIOUS TEACHING IN TEE PUBLIC 

 SCHOOLS. 



FOR good or for evil, education is 

 now very generally regarded as a 

 function of the state, and has, in point 

 of fact, been assumed by the state to 

 such an extent that private enterprise 

 in the matter of education is reduced to 

 an altogether secondary role. One draw- 

 back to this is that questions of school 

 management have now become, in the 

 main, questions of politics. When we 

 ask, " What should the schools teach ? " 

 we mean, as a general thing, "What, as 

 parties and votes are balanced, is it 

 practically possible and desirable for the 

 schools to teach ? " We are strongly of 

 the opinion, for our own part, that this 

 is not a satisfactory position of the ques- 

 tion. Had education been left untram- 

 meled by state interference, we should 

 have had many different types of schools, 

 and many different experiments made 

 by different teachers. Instead of dis- 

 cussing the question as to what the 

 schools should teach in a good deal the 

 same way as a political convention would 

 canvass the merits of rival candidates, 

 we should content ourselves with noting 

 what the schools were teaching, and 

 "with laboring individually to bring this 



or that special conviction of our own on 

 the subject of education into practical 

 recognition. Under the present system 

 we do not inquire what makes or would 

 make for full intellectual and moral de- 

 velopment, but merely what courses of 

 study will be free from objection on the 

 part of this, that, or the other section of 

 the electorate. This is part of the price 

 we pay for state education. 



Well, there is nothing to do but to 

 make the best of things as they are, and 

 it was perhaps a wise thing on the part 

 of the Presbyterian Synod of New 

 York to summon a conference of rep- 

 resentatives of the different Protestant 

 churches to discuss the question as to 

 the extent to which religious instruction 

 might and should be imparted in the 

 public schools, regard being had to all 

 the circumstances of the case. Now 

 that the conference is over, it is suffi- 

 ciently evident that the views of those 

 who would introduce more or less of 

 theological doctrine into the schools 

 can not prevail. They can not prevail, 

 simply because the conditions necessary 

 to their success are absent. " The 

 stars in their courses fought against 

 Sisera," and the stars in their courses, 

 or at least the influences of the time, 



