in. 



history and the geography of the child's own country. 

 But I doubt if there is a primary school in England in 

 which hangs a map of the hundred in which the village 

 lies, so that the children may be practically taught by it 

 "* wha,t a map means. 



5. A certain amount of regularity, attentive obedience, 

 respect for others : obtained by fear, if the master be in- 

 competent or foolish; by love and reverence, if he be wise. 



So far as this school course embraces a training in 



the theory and practice of obedience to the moral laws 



of Nature, I gladly admit, not only that it contains a 



valuable educational element, but that, so far, it deals 



with the most valuable and important part of all educa- 



tion. Yet, contrast what is done in this direction with 



what might be done ; with the time given to matters of 



comparatively no importance ; with the absence of any 



.. attention to things of the highest moment ; and one is 



/tempted to think of Falstaff's bill and "the halfpenny 



/Worth of bread to all that quantity of sack." 



Let us consider what a child thus " educated " knows, 

 and what it does not know. Begin with the most im- 

 portant topic of all morality, as the guide of conduct. 

 The child knows well enough that some acts meet with 

 approbation and some with disapprobation. But it has 

 never heard that there lies in the nature of things a 



O 



reason for every moral law, as cogent and as well defined 

 as that which underlies every physical law ; that stealing 

 lying are just as certain to be followed by evil 

 consequences, as putting your hand in the fire, or jump- 

 ing out of a garret window. Again, though the scholar 

 may have been made acquainted, in dogmatic fashion, 

 with the broad laws of morality, h^hashad^o_training 

 in the a^licatipjq_.ojL. those, laws toThe difficult problems 

 which result from the complex conditions of modern 

 civilization. Would it not be very hard to expect any oue 



