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Show THE SCHOOLMASTER. il'fl A series of papers from the pen of Herbert !f George Wells on "The Man-making Forces of the IUIiIH Modern State" are running through the Cosmo- UJ H politan. A strange make-up must be Mr. Wells. LV There is nothing In. the schools that suits him. ;H He declares that "the interpretation of art "and l !rjH literature by schoolmasters is stupid imperil- I'f nence;" Indeed, he Is not suited with anything. I 'tjjfjM Neither with the schools, the churches, nor with f'B the public opinion which, after all, Is the chief ITlil controlling power of a free nation. SlMH His remedies for everything will probably be 1PHHI given later, unless after he has them all prepared, fl&'lH he may himself fall upon them and rend them. ' I Tlfj H It is a little cheeky for the average schoolmas- filial ter to point out what, in his judgment, are defects fi II either In great paintings, rare sculpture or music; OillM such teachers would not dare undertake to criti- W j ' H else a speech written in a language that they flfliH could not read but they never think that the I Ell I painting, the sculpture or th music may each ifJH have a language as well as a spoken oration, a JM language which they can no more understand ' or If b comprehend than Ihey could an oration spoken j$ jH in Chinese. All such a teacher can do Is to (P SHJ judge by comparison with something he has seen I.4H or heard and what he says is liable to be a 'bur- f filfl lesque. IfflKliH But then there is redemption, nevertheless. BHB A physician Is called to see a person that is Mi wSIBh He prescribes his remedies, the 'person Tecoverl sSfflBfH H ' $ and tells his friends that Doctor Smith or Jones Bf i Ij cured him, forgetting that the very best that rem- $ ' j L edies can do is to remove obstructions or reduce fljl inflammation or neutralize some poison in the II I system; that the healing comes from the life H : I $ within the man himself. f" I It is the same way with the schools, the 1 i I churches, the school teacher and clergyman. They g , a ; remove obstructions, they neutralize a poison H j I here and there, but the real creation of enlight- M 1 1 ' ened manhood and womanhood comes from the H i gj ir man or woman. If the pupil learns to think and H f 1 1 i! apply himself in school that is about all that can H ijj be expected; then he is prepared to make of H ri ' himself what he pleases to be. So a crude and H 1 ' monstrous criticism of a great painting, or of a H ; chapter of literature really does no harm, for to I I II those whose eyes are closed to divine colors, f 1 J whose minds are closed to divine thoughts the ' 1 1 t listening to the criticism is simply one of the H I stupid duties of the day, and is quickly forgotten, H 1 1 & but down the class here and there will be an in- H 1S j spired soul, that will in secret rebel at the words H if he .hears, will recoil from the teachers conclu- H lifm sions and will never rest until he grasps the H It 1 1 thought that was in the painter's or the scholar's H flf mind. Of course it would be better if only great H I artists could .discuss art, but that cannot be. It Bit would be better, too, if students could be con- H If fined to such branches as they have an aptitude if' for, but this cannot be; that is not yet, it will H 'i t come, by and by. It would be better if diplomas H j !i f were only given on merit. That could thin, out H M K J the schools very much and then it would be a H fi If real honor to be of a class that graduated in any I l j g particular year. But the real point is, whatever Ejm 1 a man amounts to, as a rule, must be by his own I It i work. B L jl m When the flaming sword was suspended above H jl jji f the gate and the decree went forth that man H If m must, by the sweat of his face, earn his bread, there were no conditions attached. It was not that he should work someone else, not that with a smattering of learning he should pose as a scholar, not that he should gain a solid reputation reputa-tion for learning and taste by pronouncing some opinions on subjects which he is not only ignorant ignor-ant of, but which, no matter how faithful might be his duty, the subjects would remain beyond his understanding. Our thought is that the schoolmaster does his best work when he is explaining to hiB classes, that they can never achieve real merit through proxies, that what they obtain from the higher halls of learning they must climb up and pluck the prizes themselves, that if any of them have genius, even that will not minister to their name or fame unless they discipline that genius and place it unaer the subjection of hard work. |