give him on his own account, as necessary to his
enjoyment of himself; second, the right of his fellow-citizens to have
him educated, as necessary to their enjoyment of his society; third,
the right of the unborn to be guaranteed an intelligent and refined
parentage."

I shall not describe in detail what I saw in the schools that day.
Having taken but slight interest in educational matters in my former
life, I could offer few comparisons of interest. Next to the fact of
the universality of the higher as well as the lower education, I was
most struck with the prominence given to physical culture, and the fact
that proficiency in athletic feats and games as well as in scholarship
had a place in the rating of the youth.

"The faculty of education," Dr. Leete explained, "is held to the same
responsibility for the bodies as for the minds of its charges. The
highest possible physical, as well as mental, development of every one
is the double object of a curriculum which lasts from the age of six to
that of twenty-one."

The magnificent health of the young people in the schools impressed me
strongly. My previous observations, not only of the notable personal
endowments of the family of my host, but of the people I had seen in my
walks abroad, had already suggested the idea that there must have been
something like a general improvement in the physical standard of the
race since my day, and now, as I compared these stalwart young men and
fresh, vigorous maidens with the young people I had seen in the schools
of the nineteenth century, I was moved to impart my thought to Dr.
Leete. He listened with great interest to what I said.

"Your testimony on this point," he declared, "is invaluable. We believe
that there has been such an improvement as you speak of, but of course
it could only be a matter of theory with us. It is an incident of your
unique position that you alone in the world of to-day can speak with
authority on this point. Your opinion, when you state it publicly,
will, I assure you, make a profound sensation. For the rest it would be
strange, certainly, if the race did not show an improvement. In your
day, riches debauched one class with idleness of mind and body, while
poverty sapped the vitality of the masses by overwork, bad food, and
pestilent homes. The labor required of children, and the burdens laid
on women, enfeebled the very springs of life. Instead of these
maleficent circumstances, all now enjoy the most