The Success of the Public Schools 91 



Perhaps compulsory laws will help ; perhaps schools at- 

 tractive to grown-up girls and boys will help; perhaps 

 the recession of the so-called commercial spirit which to- 

 day holds ever before our young people, as the only cri- 

 terion of successful living, the mere ability to make 

 money, perhaps the disappearance of this idea pres- 

 ently will help ; perhaps will help the education of par- 

 ents, persuading them, both in season and out of season, 

 that "of the lifetime one has to live for the world, a 

 large portion say from eighteen to twenty-four years, 

 according to the individual's nature is best spent in 

 activities chosen for their value in making his whole life 

 finer and more serviceable, irrespective of their immedi- 

 ate money price. The community that bravely insists 

 on protecting the young against being used up in helping 

 the community get a living, soon finds itself getting a 

 better living, and other things of much more worth." 



But perhaps, and far above all, we need just now a 

 more continuous effort in our school administration. In 

 my opinion the schools should never close. In the war for 

 the salvation of the Republic, the war against worse than 

 barbaric ignorance and sloth and greed, the doors of the 

 school house, like the doors of the temple of Janus, shall 

 never close, from month to month, from year to year, 

 from century to century. There shall be no vacation, no 

 peace, for there is no discharge in this war. The teacher- 

 soldiers may faint and grow weary, need respite and 

 furlough, but in my judgment we shall never give our 

 schools their maximum efficiency until we reach an al- 

 most perpetual session; no vacation for the physical 

 plant; use it, use it, until everybody shall come in and 



