ally vicious. You can “make” animals tame,
.dogs do tricks; but a man you must grow.
So that the maxim of Rosseau, “follow nature,”
must be supplanted by the psychological maxim,
“Grow a nature which follows you.” We have
had the gospel of molded, shaped, and fashioned
minds preached long enough. We need some Pe
ter the Hermit to herald the active side of educa
tion : minds molding, shaping, and fashioning
themselves ; of life itself conforming to purposes
and plans which the self, in its educating progress,
decrees. Evolution has played havoc in educa
tional lines, and we shall not see the return of bet
ter days until we bow out our chests, set our teeth
and clinch our fists in assertion of the self-reg
nancy of every individual consciousness.
‘•Nature retains lior veil despite our clamors,
That which she doth not willingly roveal,
Cannot be wrenched from her by levers, screws and
hammers.”
The fact is, education is not a mechanical prob
lem. Given a man’s parents, himself, and his en
vironment, you cannot predict his character.
Each individual approaches life with the personal
equation “on board,” but not in sight. It con
stitutes a sort of unknown cargo, marked for some
unknown port, but whose contents and destina
tion it is the very task of life and education to de
cipher. Thus viewed, education is life’s adjust
ment of itself ; and life, the growing.discovery of
self-education. To a full realization of this unity,
of education in life, and of life in education, were
the words, “All things are yours,” spoken.
MORE PHIL OSOPHICAL NO TES.
“Now all this excitement and regret about a
man like Oliver Wendell Holmes, or any other
poet, seems very odd in this fin de siecle era of in
dustrial development,” said the Technical Stu
dent. “What did he ever do for the good of
mankind? I don’t-suppose he could have cali
brated an generator to save his soul.”
At this juncture somebody requested the Tech
nical Student to pass the cake, and he gracefully
THE FREE LANCE.
E. AV. Runkle,
complied, absent-mindedly selecting the corner
piece, with all the chocolate upon it, for himself.
The Technical student felt'occasional twinges of
the megalo-cephalus from boarding at a table
where there were two or three professors and a
couple of unmarried ladies.
“You' made a bad break there, mildly ob
served the Instructor in Ancient Babylonish Lan
guages, looking over his spectacles,” Dr. Holmes
was an authority on the subject, and wrote a book-,
on the ‘History and Development of Calibration
from the Peace of Westphalia to the death of
Charlemagne.”
The Technical Student looked surprised. He
had made his remark as a joke, trusting to the
ignorance of his audience, and the grotesqueness
of this reply made him feel seasick in his stomach.
So he arose, lighted a cigarette, and remarked
that he must hurry down to the post-office, or
that Dutchman Grimm would sell his Press to one
of the “Short Ags” for a nickel.
“Rather a bright young man, that," said the
oldest Professor, after his departure. “But needs
to have his head reduced. I imagine that after
he has graduated and spent a year or two washing
type, or shoveling coal in the boiler-room of an
electric light plant at four dollars a week, he may
develop into a useful member of society.”
“Oh professor,” exclaimed one of the maiden
ladies, “how horrid of you to say that, and
he has such pretty slender hands and plays the
guitar so lovely.”
“And walks so straight," ejaculated the other
maiden lady,” and has such smooth, rosy
cheeks.”
“Humph," growled the oldest Professor, “in
ustry and determination will be better recom
meridations for him in after life. A few years,
my dear madam, make a vast difference, after you
are twenty.”
The maiden ladies did not appear pleased at
this sentiment and hastily departed upstairs.
But the Philosopher smiled inwardly, and bor-