232 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



certain standard of scliolarship be required in each, grade as a 

 condition of entering tlie next higher, and let all who do not 

 come up to this standard pass out to the factory, the workshop, 

 the plow, the wheel, the lathe — to whatever, in fact, is to be their 

 life's work. The requirements in the lower grades should not be 

 too high, and every one should have an opportunity of learning 

 to spell, read, and write, with something of the four cardinal 

 rules of arithmetic ; but after that the standard should be rap- 

 idly raised, so as to weed out all but the best material before 

 reaching the high-school, and thus avoid the great economic 

 mistake of turning into poor scholars material that might have 

 made good artisans and mechanics. 



Under such a system, the weary mass of juvenile mediocrity 

 that cumbers our high-schools and keeps down their standard of 

 scholarship would be switched off early on the right track ; for, 

 since the vast majority of the human race must live by the work 

 of their hands, it is quite as important that the hands should 

 be educated as the head. Schools of technology are needed for 

 such of this class as may be destined to callings requiring special 

 skill, such as architecture, joinery, engraving, and the like ; but, 

 for the rank and file of hand-workers, I question whether the 

 mill and the workshoj^ are not the best schools. To many they 

 are the only available ones, for the families of the very poor can 

 ill afford to sustain non-producers, and to them it is essential 

 that the labor of every member should be directly remunerative. 



If we take this broader view of education, there is no reason 

 why its claims should conflict with the humane employment of 

 children in work suited to their strength, at a comparatively 

 early age, and there are cases where the enactment of laws 

 against it would be a positive cruelty to the children themselves. 

 Especially is this true where keeping them at home would neces- 

 sitate the mother's going out to labor. Unmarried females can 

 work as bread-winners without detriment to themselves or to 

 society ; and the ever-increasing band of " superfluous " women, 

 which is so significant a feature of our advancing civilization, is 

 quite sufficient to supply all demands for female labor without 

 calling mothers away from their natural post of duty. 



It is not a matter of mere sentiment to reserve the mother's 

 time and labor for her children, but of sound political economy. 

 There is no question of greater importance to the state than the 

 training of its future citizens ; and a home where thrift, clean- 

 liness, and good government prevail, with that moderate amount 

 of domestic comfort which the hand of a tidy woman can impart 

 to even the most meager surroundings, is a more powerful factor 

 in the production of a good education than all the schools in 

 Christendom. I have often been struck, in the school-room, with 



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