Show THE OF BOOKS Whenever any tyranny is overthrown its place is taken by something just a littIe little little lit lit- tle tIe less tyrannous and whenever any tyranny tyranny tyranny ty ty- ranny is established it owes its usurped power to the fact that it is partly based on principles of right and justice and has been ab able e to benefit n 11 some degree those over whom its powes is wielded All of the great systems of religion government and philosophy that have held extended sway over the thoughts and actions of mankind have owed their power to the fact that fact that they had contained a great deal of truth and to that tendency of the vulgar mind to believe that which contains contains contains con con- a great deal of truth must contain all there is of truth and nothing else In this way the early Catholic church gained its immense sway over the minds and morals of the European nations of the middle ages and according to the same law much of its power was transferred transferred transferred trans trans- to the scarcely less tyrannical protestant hierarchies of succeeding times We can show that this holds good for all systems that wield influence over the human min mind Before printing was invented the only class having a reputation for great learning learning learning learn learn- ing were the priests and monks of the church for they alone were able to decipher decipher decipher de de- cipher and md interpret the mysterious manuscripts manuscripts manuscripts manu manu- scripts which contained the wisdom of gone by-gone ag ages s. s Is it any wonder that they were looked upon as oracles and venerated as men inspired of heaven Is Isit Isit it t a any y wonder onder that after the decline of their authority when others became able to o interpret those mysterious manuscripts and when by the aid of the art ait of printing printing print print- ing ng these interpretations became accessible accessible accessible sible to the people that undue respect should have been paid to the restored Greek learning Is Is it any wonder that in later times when books became 1 cheap and information long inaccessible inaccessible- to the masses became common property and when many of the great truths long jealously guarded by the teachers and savants became familiar with every laborer and peasant is it any wonder that there should have arisen the tyranny of books Such a tyranny has arisen and taken the place of the old scholastic learning and now its authority is almost unquestioned unquestioned unquestioned especially among those possessing just a little learning I read it in a book is a phrase we hear almost every day and it is often offered and accepted as p positive proof on questions of the most grave im- im It is often used in students students' debating societies Less than a month ago in this very institution debaters debaters- gravely read proofs in support of their statements from suspicious looking yellow-backed yellow pamphlets without taking the trouble to mention the authors author's name The undue authority of printed symbols symbols symbols sym sym- bols has had a vitiating effect upon our educational systems especially in the public public public pub pub- lic schools In vain have reformers de declaimed declaimed declaimed de- de claimed against the insane devotion to the- the I study of the three Rs Almost in vain have scientific educational principles been deduced and taught in normal schools schools- Most of our common schools run lun on inthe in the same old groove recite daily the the- same meaningless rigmarole while teachers teach teach- ers reserve their advanced ideas for fIr the annual examinations We Ve will admit that in many localities localities- it is very difficult to introduce advanced educational ideas into common schools because be because be- be cause of the extreme prejudice of school boards and the dislike of parents for new notions But still till the idea that nearly all the truth extant can be found between covers book has a deep- deep rooted existence among teachers and what is worse many teachers find them them- s selves unable to proceed without the textbook textbook textbook text text- book always open before them It is true that most books book and especially textbooks textbooks textbooks text text- books contain thought in a condensed form and hence more easily accessible than tha in any other form But is it not true that they are written by men very much like ourselves and in a measure liable to err as we are Text books are designed as aids to the teacher but they they- are more often his masters nn and he their object slave We believe that much of the fatal r lack of confidence V which is characteristic t of so many teachers is due to this servility r to printed forms Is there some in inherent inherent inherent in- in herent virtue in the printing press itself that thought should be so enhanced from having being placed between its iron jaws Shall not the present ever-present soul-influence soul of the teacher count for more than these lifeless forms Shall we overlook the wonderful les lessons ons that N Nature th the universal sal teacher presents to us every day in a million ever varying ever changing forms Shall we be deaf to the beating of Natures Nature's mighty heart because someone someone someone some some- one a ago had a thought and that thought in a book Rather let us remember that his thought and every thought of worth has been formed by untold complex influences of which that of thought upon thought is only a simple factor and that thoughts of beauty and worth may have their birth in our minds also if we do not become unduly subject to one influence to the exclusion of all others |