Education Now Compulsory 251 



about December first. And at the first sign of 

 spring, about March first, he was called away to 

 begin preparations for the new season's crop. Dur- 

 ing these sixty days, more or less, the growing lad 

 was supposed to pick up the rudiments of learning 

 and by the time maturity was reached to have worked 

 himself out of the ranks of the illiterate. So he did, 

 for he learned to read falteringly, to write a scrawling 

 hand, and to solve a few arithmetical problems. 



We observe the new order of things. In practically 

 all the states there have been recently enacted laws 

 requiring every normal child to attend school during 

 the entire term and to continue for a period of 

 seven or eight years. The splendid results of this 

 provision have only begun to be apparent, but 

 another decade will reveal them in large proportions. 

 Back of this new legislation in behalf of the boys 

 and girls is the new ideal of the possibilities and 

 the worth of the ordinary human being. We are 

 just beginning to understand this splendid truth ; 

 namely, that with very few exceptions all of our new- 

 born young have latent within them all the aptitudes 

 necessary for the development of beautiful and 

 symmetrical character. The modern ideal of public 

 education recognizes two things: first, the right of 

 the child to the fullest possible development; and 

 second, the duty of society to see that the child 

 receive such training whether the parent may wish to 

 accord it to him or not. 



