250 Education as a Factor in Civilization, 



education to wait until the world's material interests were 

 in large measure provided for. But physical force has 

 successfully done its work while the world has gradually 

 been growing into a realization of the fact that for its 

 mental and moral upbuilding the power of only one-half 

 of the human race is only one-half sufficient. How can I 

 refrain from referring to the fact, although so well known 

 to you, that the discoverer of Spencer and his regenerat- 

 ing philosophy, not merely the Isabella but the Colum- 

 bus of this new world of thought and influence, was a 

 woman ? Against the darkness and degradation of hundreds 

 of centuries is to be measured woman's progress during the 

 last fifty years, proving that this late and reluctant recog- 

 nition of her brain and soul is the most advanced step 

 yet taken by civilization and will become significant in 

 proportion as the fogs of custom and tradition give place 

 to the clear sunshine of logical and progressive thought. 

 Woman stands to-day the crowning though uncompleted 

 work of sociological evolution. 



Many of the world's brilliant men and women have 

 won their greatest distinction by their labors in the cause 

 of education ; but, singularly enough, it is only tlie theo- 

 rists who have done this. For their disciples, wlio have 

 tried to work out these theories, society has generally felt, 

 until within a very few years, a negative contempt. One of 

 the most imperative demands of the day is an adequate 

 estimate of the teacher's office, and the need of prepara- 

 tion for those who fill it. The man who cuts the hair on 

 the outside of the child's head is supposed to have had 

 sufficient training before undertaking the business; but 

 how about the teaclier to whom the child's mental and 

 moral nature is unquestionably confided ? A car})enter 

 who has learned his trade can earn three dollars a day 

 while working at it. Many teachers labor for one-third 

 that sum. Logically, the man who builds your house is 

 worth three times the teacher who trains your child. 

 Your house may be blown down, or burned down, and you 

 may build another even better tlian the first. Your child 

 may break your heart and be an immense powpr for evil in 

 the lives of countless of his fellow-men. What can you 

 do about it ? Xothing is more surprising among the many 

 anomalies of education, tlian that, while the])roi)er training 

 of youth has been considered of paramount importance, the 



