ter development_
in the moral sense. Not that the two ideas are at all antagonistic,
but one is more important than the other. The selection of reading
matter, of studies, and of employments, was adapted to each boy with a
view to influencing conduct and moral action.

The Herbart school adheres to this view of education, and has
_transferred its spirit and method to the schools_. The Herbartians
have the hardihood, in this age of moral skeptics, to believe not only
in moral example but also in moral teaching. (By moral skeptics we
mean those who believe in morals but not in moral instruction.) They
seek first of all historical materials of the richest moral content, in
vivid personification, upon which to nourish the moral spirit of
children. If properly treated, this subject matter will soon win the
children by its power over feeling and judgment. With Crusoe the child
goes through every hardship and success; with Abraham he lives in
tents, seeks pastures for his flocks, and generously marches out to the
rescue of his kinsmen. He should not read Caesar with a slow and
toilsome drag (parsing and construing) that would render a bright boy
stupid. If he goes with Caesar at all, he must build an _agger_, fight
battles, construct bridges, and approve or condemn Caesar's acts. But
we doubt the moral value of Caesar's Gallic wars. By reading Plutarch
we may see that the Latins and Greeks, before the days of their
degeneracy, nourished their rising youth upon the traditions of their
ancestry. The education produced a tough and sinewy brood of moral
qualities. Their great men were great characters, largely because of
the mother-milk of national tradition and family training. In Scotch,
English, and German history we are familiar with Alfred, Bruce,
Siegfried, and many other heroes of similar value in the training of
youth.

It will be well for us to look into our own history and see what sort
of a moral heritage of educative materials it has left us. What noble
examples does it furnish of right thought and action? Have we any
home-bred food like this for the nourishment of our growing youth? Our
native American history is indeed nobler in tone and more abundant.
For moral educative purposes in the training of the young the history
of America, from the early explorations and settlements along the
Atlantic coast to the present, has scarcely a parallel in history. It
was a race of moral heroes that led the fir