558 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



practical intelligence. In so far as tlie 

 studies to which we refer make for in- 

 telligence in the true sense, they are to 

 be commended and valued ; but, in so 

 far as they stand in the way of the ac- 

 quisition of knowledge or of practical 

 arts better adapted to develop the judg- 

 ment, and in a general way to produce 

 a robust intellectual constitution, the}^ 

 are to be deprecated. We are rather of 

 opinion that the training which the ma- 

 jority of people chiefly require, is one 

 that will enable them to pronounce 

 sure judgments on questions of limited 

 range, leading them on gradually to ef- 

 forts of wider scope just as their knowl- 

 edge and experience are enlarged, A 

 lack of common sense goes very ill with 

 pretensions to superior culture ; yet the 

 two are not unfrequently associated. 

 A fine appreciation of Dante's poetry 

 seems like misplaced intellectual lux- 

 ury, when we find that the person pos- 

 sessing it is unable to say yes or no to 

 some comparatively simple question, or 

 unable to help himself or herself in 

 some very slight intellectual difficulty, 

 or to throw ofi" the thralldora of silly 

 and misleading phrases. " Cest ma- 

 gnifique^'' one is tempted to exclaim, 

 '■'•mais ce n'est pas la vie ! " Splendid, 

 no doubt, but not real life ! We should, 

 therefore, propose that those who en- 

 gage in these fine studies — capable, un- 

 der suitable conditions, of yielding most 

 valuable results — should check their 

 progress from week to week and month 

 to month by asking, and trying to ascer- 

 tain, whether their judgment is being 

 developed, whether in the common 

 things of life they are moving with a 

 firmer step, whether they more readily 

 put aside flimsy pretenses and specious 

 seemings, and pierce more truly to the 

 heai't of tlie matters with which they 

 have to deal. What we all want is bet- 

 ter order in our daily thoughts, a clearer 

 vision, a firmer courage. True culture 

 of course implies progress in these di- 

 rections ; but much that passes for cult- 

 ure does little or nothing either for the 



mind or for the character. Much de- 

 pends on the end we keep in view. If 

 we study great authors for the sake of 

 having, as it were, an elaborately fur- 

 nished drawing-room in our minds, we 

 shall get about the same amount of 

 benefit as people commonly get from 

 elaborate drawing-room furniture ; but 

 if we study them so as to gain a wider 

 outlook on the world through under- 

 standing their thought and duly esti- 

 mating the conditions under which tliey 

 wrote — if, moreover, we prove ourselves 

 from time to time, to see whether we 

 are really gaining in mental power — the 

 benefit to us may be very great. We 

 rejoice at every sign of increasing intel- 

 lectual activity throughout the country, 

 and only ask that it may all be domi- 

 nated by practical ends and made sub- 

 servient, not to individual vanity, but 

 to the best interests of American civili- 

 zation. 



EDUCATION NOT A FUNCTION OF THE 

 STATE. 



We noticed quite a ripple of discon- 

 tent some time ago in educational quar- 

 ters, particularly over certain remarks of 

 ours tending to show that education was 

 a matter for the family and for private 

 co-operation, rather than for the state. 

 One respected correspondent asked if we 

 wished to deliver education over to the 

 haphazard of private competition, and 

 we replied by suggesting that there was 

 rather more of haphazard in the politics 

 that necessarily entered into state educa- 

 tion than in the methods of the business 

 world. Well, it so happens that public 

 attention and criticism have lately been 

 directed to the public-school system of 

 our own highly-favored metropolis. And 

 with what result? Why, that the sys- 

 tem in question, which had often been 

 lauded to the skies as a model of effi- 

 ciency, as a shining example of what 

 state authority, coupled with the taxing 

 power, could effect in the field of educa- 

 tion, has been found wanting at almost 

 every point, vitiated through and 



