152 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 84. 



and impulses to motion, which have their 

 origin in survivals from ancestral experi- 

 ence. Exact knowledge by which his own 

 actions can be made exact must come 

 through his own experience. The experi- 

 ence of others must be expressed in terms 

 of his own before it becomes wisdom. 

 Wisdom is knowing what it is best to do 

 next. Virtue is doing it. Doing right be- 

 comes habit if it is pursued long enough. 

 It becomes a ' second nature ' or a higher 

 heredity. The formation of a higher hered- 

 ity of wisdom and virtue of knowing right 

 and doing right is the essence of character 

 building. The moral character is based on 

 knowing the best, choosing the best and 

 doing the best. It cannot be built up on 

 imitation. By imitation, suggestion and 

 conventionality the masses are formed and 

 controlled. To build up a man is a noble 

 process, demanding materials and methods 

 of a higher order. The function of individ- 

 ual education is to break up the masses. 

 Only the robust man can make history. 

 Others may adorn it, disfigure it or vulgarize 

 it. The growth of man is the assertion of 

 individuality. 



The first relation of the child to external 

 things is expressed in this : What can I do 

 with it ? What is its relation to me ? The 

 sensation goes over into thought, the 

 thought into action. Thus the impression 

 of the object is built into the little universe 

 of his mind. The object and the action it 

 implies are closely associated. As more 

 objects are apprehended, more complex re- 

 lations arise, but the primal condition re- 

 mains. What can I do with it ? Sensation, 

 thought, action — this is the natural sequence 

 of each completed mental process. As vo- 

 lition passes over into action, so does science 

 into art, knowledge into power, wisdom 

 into virtue. 



By the study of realities wisdom is built 

 up. In the relation of objects he can touch 

 and move, the child comes to find the limita- 



tions of his power, the laws that goverm 

 phenomena and to which his actions must 

 be in obedience. So long as he deals with 

 realities these laws stand in their proper 

 relation. '' So simple, so natural, so true," 

 says Agassiz. ''This is the charm of deal- 

 ing with nature herself. She brings us 

 back to absolute truth so often as we wan- 

 der." 



So long as a child is led from one reality 

 to another, never lost in words or in ab- 

 stractions, so long this natural relation re- 

 mains . ' ' What can I do with it ? " is the be- 

 ginning of wisdom. " What is it to me ?" is 

 the basis of personal virtue. 



So long as a child remains about the 

 home of his boyhood he knows which way 

 is north and which is east. He does not 

 need to orient himself, because in his short 

 trips he never loses his sense of space di- 

 rection. But let him take a rapid journey 

 in the cars or in the night and he may find 

 himself in strange relations. The sun no 

 longer rises in the east, the sense of reality 

 in direction is gone, and it is a painful ef- 

 fort for him to join the new impressions to 

 the old. The process of orientation is a 

 difficult one, and if facing the sunrise in the 

 morning were a deed of necessity in his re- 

 ligion this deed would not be accurately 

 performed. 



This homely illustration applies to the 

 child. He is taken from his little world of 

 realities, a world in which the sun rises in 

 the east, the dogs bark, the grasshopper 

 leaps, and the water falls, and the relations 

 of cause and efi'ect appear simple and 

 natural. In these simple relations moral 

 laws become evident. '' The burnt child 

 dreads the fire," and this dread shows itself 

 in action. The child learns what to do 

 next, and to some extent does it. By prac- 

 tice in personal responsibility in little 

 things, he can be led to wisdom in large 

 ones. For the power to do great things in 

 the moral world comes from doing the right 



