nce, or in the next generation--hardest of
all to those whose work is directly upon that extremely variable
quantity, mind! And in what other human business, besides that of
education, are there not in like manner remissnesses and errors to point
out? Justice, in truth, requires the acknowledgment that probably no
other body of men and women can take precedence of the teaching class,
in devotion to their work, in self-sacrifice, or, indeed, in willingness
to adopt the new when it shall also commend itself to them as
serviceable; while, in a world of rough, material interests and
successes, like ours, the teacher's avocation still remains by far
underpaid, and by parents, and even by the very pupils on whom its
benefits are conferred, too rarely appreciated at anything like its just
deserts.

If further extenuation of present short-comings should be deemed
needful, the history of science--and let us not forget that this history
is almost wholly a very _recent_ one--presents it in abundant force.
Though practical arts have led to sciences, yet they have never advanced
far until after they have felt the reactive benefits of the sciences
springing from them. Finally, in its highest phases, the art becomes
subordinated to the science; thenceforth, the former can approach
perfection only as the latter prepares its way. Education has advanced
beyond this turning point: the art is henceforward dependent on the
sciences. But a science of education is an outgrowth from the science of
mind; and among sciences, the latter is one of the latest and most
difficult. Thus, our investigations result, not in casting blame upon
educators, but in revealing, we may say, what is still the intellectual
'situation' of the most cultivated and advanced nations. We have our
place still, not at any sort of consummation, but at a given stage in a
progress. And still, as ever in the past, the things that in reality
most closely touch our interests are farthest removed from our
starting-points of sense and reason, and by a necessity of the manner
and progress of our knowing, are longest in being found. And in this we
have at least the assurance that the perfection of our race is to occur
by no sudden bound or transformation, but by a toilsome and patient
insight and growth.

Granting, however, all that has now been said in palliation of existing
defects in education, that the whole business is a thing remote from
immediate interests, and not less so