The greater part of the essay, _Bill's School and Mine,_ was written
in 1903, but the title and some of the material were borrowed from my
friend and college mate William Allen White in 1912, when the essay
was printed in the South Bethlehem _Globe_ to stimulate interest in a
local Playground Movement.
The second essay, _The Study of Science,_ is taken from Franklin and
MacNutt's _Elements of Mechanics,_ The Macmillan Company, New York,
1908. I have no illusions concerning the mathematical sciences, for it
is to such that the essay chiefly relates. Unquestionably the most
important function of education is to develop personality and
character; but science is impersonal, and an essay which attempts to
set forth the meaning of science study must make an unusual demand
upon the reader. Some things in this world are to be understood by
sympathy, and some things are to be understood by serious and painful
effort.
The third essay, _Part of an Education,_ was privately printed in 1903
under the title _A Tramp Trip in the Rockies,_ and it is introduced
here to illustrate a phase of real education which is in danger of
becoming obsolete. The school of hardship is not for those who love
luxury, and to the poverty stricken it is not a school--it is a
Juggernaut.
The five minor essays are mere splashes, as it were; but in each I
have said everything that need be said, except perhaps in the matter
of exhortation.
For the illustrations I am under obligations to my cousin Mr. Daniel
Garber of Philadelphia.