etting
their friends know why. We realize his faults, we know his imperfections
and limitations, yet, through his influence, life throughout the world
became safer, liberty dearer, freedom a more sacred thing. His words
were a battery that eventually razed the walls of the Bastile, and best
of all, freed countless millions from theological superstition, that
Bastile of the brain.

HERBERT SPENCER

What knowledge is of most worth? The uniform reply is: Science.
This is the verdict on all counts. For direct self-preservation, or
the maintenance of life and health, the all-important knowledge
is--science. For that indirect self-preservation which we call
gaining a livelihood, the knowledge of greatest value is--science.
For the discharge of parental functions, the proper guidance is to
be found only in science. For the interpretation of national life,
past and present, without which the citizen can not rightly
regulate his conduct, the indispensable key is--science. Alike for
the most perfect production and present enjoyment of art in all its
forms, the needful preparation is still--science. And for purposes
of discipline--intellectual, moral, religious--the most efficient
study is, once more--science.

--_Essay on Education_

[Illustration: HERBERT SPENCER]

In Derby, England, April Twenty-seventh, Eighteen Hundred Twenty,
Herbert Spencer, the only child of his parents, was born. His mother
died in his childhood, so he really never had any vivid recollection of
her, but hearsay, fused with memory and ideality, vitalized all. And
thus to him, to the day of his death, his mother stood for gentleness,
patience, tenderness, intuitive insight, and a love that never grew
faint. Man makes his mother in his own image.

Herbert Spencer's father was a school-teacher, and in very moderate
circumstances. Little Herbert could not remember when he did not go to
school, and yet as a real scholar, he never went to school at all. The
family lived over the schoolroom, and while the youngster yet wore
dresses his father would hold him in his arms, and carry him around the
room as he instructed his classes. William George Spencer was both
father and mother to Herbert, and used to sing to him lullabies as the
sun went down.

After school there were always walks afield, and in the evening the
brother of the school