OF EDUCATION 25 



war, was done at last by the fires of the inquisition 

 — the most cruel device to stifle liberty ever organized 

 by barbarians, or by half civilized fanatics. Thus 

 perished millions of Arabs, Moors and Jews, after 

 having been a model for European progress from the 

 earliest efforts of Europe to rise out of the darkness 

 of the middle ages. 



Four hundred years ago there was not a newspaper 

 nor a common school in all Europe. In the best parts 

 of Europe only one person in a thousand could read 

 and write. In other parts, including England and all 

 northern Europe, not one in ten thousand could either 

 read or write. Very few people cared to know these 

 useful arts which all civilized nations now consider so 

 essential. The first permanent newspaper in Europe 

 was published in Italy soon after the middle of the 

 sixteenth century. Seventy years later the " Gazette 

 de France " was published in Paris. The newspaper 

 followed close upon the common school. Our English 

 ancestors had neither of them till the middle of the 

 seventeenth century. The art of printing, the common 

 school, and the newspaper, in a general way mark the 

 end of the dark ages which ruled over Europe more 

 than a thousand years. 



We can hardly realize the condition of our ancestors 

 three hundred years ago. Their houses were built 

 of sticks and reeds covered over with mud. There 

 was no chimney to carry out the smoke, and no glass 



