e must be fortified against them. While we
should not intentionally expose the youth to temptation in order to
prove his strength of resistance, neither should we, on the other hand,
endeavor to seclude him from all chance of dangerous temptation. To do
the former would be satanic; while to do the latter would be ridiculous,
useless, and in fact dangerous in the highest degree, for temptation
comes more from within than from without, and any secret inclination
will in some way seek, or even create, its own opportunity for
gratification. The real safety from sin lies, not in seclusion of one's
self from the world[10]--for all the elements of worldliness are innate
in each individual--but in an occupying of the restless activity in
other ways, in learning and discipline; these being varied as time goes
on, according to the age and degree of proficiency. Not to crush out,
but to direct, the child's activity, whether physical or mental, is the
key to all real success in education. The sentimentalism which has,
during the last few years, in this country (the United States), tended
to diminish to so great an extent the actual work to be performed by our
boys and girls, has set free a dangerous amount of energy whose new
direction gives cause for grave alarm. To endeavor to prevent the youth
from all free and individual relations with the real world, implies a
never-ending watch kept over him. The consciousness of being thus
"shadowed" destroys in the youth all elasticity of spirit, all
confidence, and all originality. A constant feeling of, as it were, a
detective police at his side obscures all sense of independent action,
systematically accustoming him to dependence. Though, as the
tragic-comic story of Peter Schlemihl shows, the loss of a man's own
shadow may involve him in a series of fatalities,[11] yet to be
"shadowed" constantly by a companion, us in the pedagogical system of
the Jesuits, undermines all naturalness. And, if we endeavor to guard
too strictly against what is evil and wrong, the pupil reacts, bringing
all his intelligence into the service of his craft and cunning, till the
would-be educator stands aghast at the discovery of such evil-doing as
he had supposed impossible under his strict supervision. Within the
circle of whatever rules it may be found necessary to draw around the
young there must always be left space for freedom. Pupils should always
be led to see that all rules against which they fret are on