in the schools and elimination from them, but I think sufficiently to
render it unnecessary for me to discuss the matter at length. Let me
refer to but one study which is typical as showing the seriousness of
the situation. In 1907, Mr. S. L. Heeter, at that time Superintendent of
Schools in St. Paul, Minnesota, working under instruction of his Board
of School Inspectors, made a very careful investigation as to the matter
of retardation in the schools of that city. You may be surprised to
learn some of the results. He found more than one-half, exactly 56%, of
all the children in the schools at least one year behind normal grade,
and many of them much more than one year behind. To be exact: 12,672
children were below grade. Of these, 6,328 were one year behind; 3,650
were two years behind; 1,689 were three years behind; 651 were four
years behind; 221 were five years behind, and 133 were six years behind.
Now, what is the cause of such a serious situation? Mr. Heeter, in his
report of his findings, speaks as follows:
"There are evidently many causes of this phenomenal retardation--yet it
seems likely that one of the largest factors ... is physiological, and
that more attention given in our schools to the bodily conditions of our
children will throw new light on our educational problems, and even on
the subject of backward children, and of delinquency itself." "It
appears," he goes on to say, "that the schools have been too exclusively
concerned about the minds of children and too little concerned about
their bodies. Much time and energy and money have been wasted in trying
to make all children equal in mental power, without regard to physical
inequalities, until now waste products are clogging our educational
machinery." And Mr. Heeter's conclusion is that of all who have studied
the matter with any care.
Let me now show the relationship existing between the two, that is,
between retardation and physical defects. I can do it briefly by
referring to the work of Dr. Cronin in New York City. This is but one
instance, but it is typical of conditions. A few years ago, as chief
Medical Inspector of the schools of New York City, Dr. Cronin read a
paper before the School Hygiene Association of America in which he made
the statement that an examination of all children reported as backward
by various teachers revealed 95% of them as physically defective.
Thus, in a hasty way, but I think correctly, I have thrown the chief
burden of backwardness in school, or retardation, upon physical defects.
But our special topic is eye trouble. How much of this burden must be
referred to this specific source? It is difficult to say exactly. But
knowing as we do the great prevalence of eye defects among school
children, from 20% to 71%, you remember, depending somewhat upon
locality and environment; and knowing, too, the close relationship
existing between the eyes of our children and the work of the schools
(this school work, you know, is nearly all done with the eyes. It should
not be, but it is); knowing all this, it is not beside the mark to say
that a very large percentage of the retardation must be laid at its
doors.
And what are we going to do about it? What should be done? The reform is
easily seen to be a many-sided one. It is educational--our teachers
should come to know that the book is only one, and not the chief one, of
the many sources of knowledge open to the child; it is physiological--we
should all know the eye better than we do, its normal use and its
limitations; the reform is architectural--our architects and boards of
education should realize that the seating and the lighting of school
houses should receive most careful consideration; the reform is
economic--we should come to appreciate the unwisdom of being "penny wise
and pound foolish," and recall the old saw, "a stitch in time saves
nine"; the reform is medical--we should get our people to see that thoro
and regular medical inspection of all our school children is the only
sensible method of procedure. And so I might go on naming phase after
phase of the problem. It is so many-sided that we can not hope for its
immediate and perfectly satisfactory solution. But there are certain
quite specific ends in view that should at once and all the time be kept
before us. Touching the matter of medical inspection, our state law,
instead of being merely permissive should be mandatory, and should be
made to apply to every school community in the state. Of course, the cry
of expense would be at once raised, but it could easily be shown, were
there time at my disposal, that it would be an economic mesure rather
than one increasing the cost of our schools. Because every time that a
child repeats a grade in school, that year's school work in the life of
the child has cost the city or school community twice as much as it
should. Whenever, as in the case of St. Paul, already cited, a child is
two, three, or six years behind normal grade, there is an extra heavy
burden of taxation placed on the city. Medical inspection, wherever it
has been made effective, has resulted in lowering, very materially, the
amount of retardation. And it is looked upon as saving the community
very much more than it has cost, saying nothing at all about the added
effectiveness of the child for the work of the school nor of his greater
happiness. This statement could easily be substantiated were there time.
But that is not necessary. It is so apparent that he who runs may read.
But the time when we can expect such a law to be put in force is, I am
afraid, considerably removed from the present. Large bodies move slowly;
we must have patience. We must keep steadily at it preaching the good
gospel of reform. But in the meantime can we not hasten the glad day of
full and complete medical inspection, and at the same time bring relief
to a very large number of little sufferers, by throwing emphasis,
whenever the opportunity offers, upon the phase of the subject that is
before us this morning? The eye trouble is the chiefest of all those of
a physical nature. It has far more to do in causing retardation of our
boys and girls than any of the other physical defects, and therefore
should receive its own prompt and vigorous attention irrespective of
everything else. Upon this one point let us have immediate relief and
keep it up as rapidly as possible. Let us adopt some program of action
which will bring relief as quickly as possible to children suffering
from visual defects. For I have no sympathy with the position taken by
that foolish mother (perhaps I should be charitable and merely say
"ignorant" mother. I think she was both ignorant and foolish), who said
to me when I was urging her to have glasses fitted for her little girl,
"Why, Mr. Ladd, I can't bear to think of Mary wearing glasses. I am
going to keep them away from her just as long as she can possibly get
along without them." I replied, "My good woman, if you have any regard
for the comfort and well-being of your little girl, or if you care for
her progress in school, instead of keeping glasses away from her as long
as possible, you should see to it that she has the best that can be
procured just as soon as they can be of the slightest assistance." I
went on to tell her that it was entirely possible that the use of the
glasses at that time for a year or two might enable her to do without
them permanently later on. But she did not get them; of course not. They
would not have added to the attractiveness of the little face. How hard
it is for the unreflecting to deny themselves a present pleasure,
whether in money or pride, for a future good!
V
THE HOME, THE CHURCH, AND THE SCHOOL
_An Extension Lecture delivered in many places in North Dakota and
Minnesota_
It goes without saying, I am sure, that these three great
institutions--the Home, the Church, and the School--fundamental as they
are in the life of each, and even of civilization itself, can not be
adequately handled in the brief time given to a single address. But yet
I think that in that time we can account for each, roughly trace its
interesting career, and locate it in our complex life of to-day with
function briefly stated. And in it all, or out of it all, directly or
indirectly, I think we shall see the relationship existing between the
three. This relationship, so strong and so vital, the appreciation of
which is so necessary for constructive action and large results in life,
I particularly desire to make appear. And it is this relationship that
gives appropriateness to the handling of the three in a single address
tho each, from a different point of view, might well be made the center
of an entire evening's consideration.
The home, the church, and the school! What troops of memories arise
around each as we turn our gaze backward! How sweet and sacred appears
the home as we recall mother and father, sister and brother, in the old
home setting in the early days of our pilgrimage! How solemn and
hallowed seems the church as we go back in thought to our first
connections with it in Sunday school, in its communion service, and to
our own entrance as members! And how fascinating and joyful, even the
sometimes tinged with regret or apprehension, the school as we retrace
our pathway over the years of its associations! The home, the church,
and the school--but the first of these is the home.
THE HOME
Let me ask you, therefore, to think with me first of the home--of that
institution which in its very inception, more than any other, was
God-inspired; that institution which from its very beginning up to the
present hour has, more than any other, reflected the spirit and purpose
of God--that institution whose center is the child and whose function
that child's development--_the home_. It is the most ancient of all the
institutions of man. Organized and set apart at the very dawn of human
life, when the morning stars were singing together, the divine Voice
gave it sanction and stated its function: "Be fruitful and multiply, and
replenish the earth." And the institution, as the ages have passed, has
never once lapsed and never repudiated its origin or its work. Still it
has advanced so far and improved so much in outward appearance, at any
rate, and developed so greatly that, as we know it to-day, we may almost
call it a modern institution, so modern indeed and so different from all
others as to merit the name of American institution.
Students of history have so laid bare the conditions of living and of
home life in the past as to reveal to us the fact that the home, as we
know it and love it, did not exist prior to our own day. In all former
periods, even tho glorious to look back upon, some of them, golden days
as they were of the world's upward struggle, we search in vain for our
kind of a home. The home of the American workman to-day is provided with
more comforts and conveniences, has in it more of the elements of
culture and refinement, is more eloquent of love and the higher life
than was the home of the ruler of a few generations ago. And the chief
factors in it all, those which bind all together and give meaning, are
the honored place given the wife and mother and, springing from that,
love, love of parent for child and child for parent. For we all know,
when we come to think of it, that our love of home and dear ones is ever
our motive for action as we explore new fields and mark out new paths,
overcome obstacles and surmount difficulties--in a word, carry the
banners of civilization to new heights!
The home of all people, in all ages of the world's history, but
especially as we know it to-day, is the one thing for which men live and
work. Stop the first man you meet on the street,--"rich man, poor man,
beggar-man, thief, doctor, lawyer, butcher, priest,"--any man, going
along with a preoccupied mind, thinking of the case he is to plead, the
trade he is to make, the book he is to write. Get into this man's mind,
down below this particular thing that is on the surface of it, and down
there there is one picture that you wilt always find, the picture of a
cozy corner somewhere, of a woman sitting by the table or before the
fire, of two or three growing girls, and a boy or two that look like
him. Meet him wherever you will, find him in whatever occupation, or in
whatever stage of spiritual or intellectual development; whenever you
get under his jacket, whether it be a blouse or a tuxedo, you'll find
this picture hanging on the wall of his heart. Ninety-nine men out of
every hundred say, with Robert Burns:
"To make a happy fire-side clime
For weans and wife,
That's the true pathos and sublime
Of human life."
And the young man of to-day, looking forth into the years that are to
come, picturing himself as and where he would like to be, who sees
himself alone, without the joys and companionship of wife and child, the
young man who doesn't plan to have a home of his own to which he can
lead the choice of his heart and in which he may multiply, thru the
development of his own offspring, his powers of usefulness,--such a
young man is a selfish monstrosity. And the young woman who isn't
longing for a home of her own--for a little kingdom in which as Queen,
she may rule jointly with a chosen King in loving ministration to their
natural subjects--such a young woman is an abnormal specimen. The desire
of every little girl for a doll, the craving of every boy for an animal
pet, is but the manifestation of the deep-seated instinct of parenthood.
Do nothing to stifle it. Minister to its growth and development. And
young man--young woman, you who have left behind the days of knee
trousers and short dresses, and with them have laid aside the doll and
the pet, think it not weakness when you find yourself irresistibly
drawn by the sweet smile of an innocent babe or by the childish prattle
of one a little farther on. Be not ashamed when, under such influence,
you picture yourself the center of a home, and in this connection think
of him or her whom you would like to have share it with you. It is the
sweetest influence that can ever come into your life. Rightly regarded
and used, it will do more for your happiness and usefulness than any or
all others that will ever come to you.
But when the crucial moment comes--when the die is to be cast and the
promise asked and given that will bind the two lives together, halt for
a moment until one asks and the other answers this "Woman's Question."
THE WOMAN'S QUESTION
"Do you know you have asked for the costliest thing
Ever made by the Hand above--
A woman's heart and a woman's life
And a woman's wonderful love?
"You have written my lesson of duty out;
Manlike you have questioned me;
Now stand at the bar of my woman's soul
Until I question thee.
"You require your mutton shall always be hot,
Your stockings and shirts shall be whole.
I require your heart to be true as God's stars
And as pure as Heaven your soul.
"You require a cook for your mutton and beef.
I require a far better thing.
A seamstress you're wanting for stockings and shirts,
I look for a man and a king.
"A king for a beautiful realm called home,
And a man that the Maker, God,
Shall look upon as He did the first
And say, 'It is very good.'
"I am fair and young, but the rose will fade
From my soft fair cheek some day;
Will you love me then 'mid the falling leaves
As you did in the bloom of May?
"Is your heart an ocean so strong and deep
I may launch my all on its tide?
A loving woman finds Heaven or hell
On the day she is made a bride.
"I require all things that are grand and true,
All things that a man should be,
If you promise me this, I would stake my life
To be all you demand of me.
"If you can not do this, a seamstress and cook
You can hire with little to pay.
But a woman's heart and a woman's life
Are not to be won that way."
Yes, Bobby Burns was right when he said,
"To make a happy fire-side clime,
For weans and wife,
That's the true pathos and sublime
Of human life."
Exactly what is God's ultimate purpose for the human race, I think no
one knows. And I am not sure that we need to know. Where clear vision is
not granted we walk by faith. But even if the ultimate end is not
clearly portrayed, even if we are kept in the dark as to the great
outcome, we do know pretty well His method of procedure. A careful study
of the past and a critical analysis of the data now at hand looking to
the future enable us to grasp with some clearness the leading outlines
of the program. From generation to generation, from century to century,
from age to age, as time has rolled on, there has been a gradual moving
onward and upward, a steady improvement both in the refining and
civilizing of man's own being and in bringing that being into
sympathetic relations with the external world, that is, a gradual
development of man's own powers, and an ever increasing control of the
forces of nature. In spite of the fact that this progress has been, at
times, painfully slow, it has never once ceased, and during the last
century it has moved on with constantly accelerating speed until to-day
the human race stands upon the highest point ever reached. I have
absolutely no sympathy with that narrow pessimism which is always
talking about "the good old times." All in all, there never was a time
in the history of the world when man knew so much as to-day; there never
was a time when his life was so ministered to by the forces of nature;
never a time when his heart was so tender, when it responded so quickly
to human suffering, never a time when all forms of evil were so quickly
condemned nor when so much good was being done. The long program seems
to have been for each age and each generation to hand on to its
successors the legacy received, but increased and strengthened and
bettered. How much longer this upward movement is to continue, how much
more the race is to know and do, how much better it is to be, no one
knows. God's ultimate purpose, His great object in view--we may not be
able to grasp, but certainly it is not difficult for us to note the
general direction of the movement. It is upward.
In all this, wherein does the home come, and what is its function? Is it
not, has it not been from the very beginning the Divine agency used for
doing this great work? Was not the home instituted, endowed with the
divine power of love, and consecrated for the perpetuation of the race?
"Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth." True, as many times
pointed out, our toils and our struggles, our earnings and our
productions, incidentally give us pleasure and satisfaction and power,
but yet even these are but a means to an end,--that parents may beget,
rear, and educate their children in such a way that they can carry the
banner of civilization a little higher--lift society to a higher level
and draw mankind nearer to God.
So it is that the center and circumference of the home is the child. In
the child the home finds its meaning, its excuse, and its justification.
It exists, then, that the child may be adequately prepared for doing its
great work in the world. Whatever else it may do, on the side, it has
one great problem. The child! The child! The best crop the farmer
raises, the best article the manufacturer puts on the market, the best
ware the merchant handles, the best case the lawyer pleads, the best
sermon the minister preaches--or at least that which gives meaning to
all of these--the child! "The fruit of all the past and the seed of all
the future." God bless the home and God bless its best fruitage--the
child!
THE CHURCH
Thus the home--God's simple yet mighty agent in His great work of
developing the human race. Its work was accepted and for a time all went
well. Such preparation, mostly physical, as the child needed for its
future work the home gave without difficulty. But this simple life could
not continue indefinitely. One of the fundamental principles of life
absolutely forbade man's standing still. The laws of growth and
development pushed him on. Whether he would or not, he was compelled to
move forward, just as the acorn, obeying the law of its being, changes
its form, its size, and adds to its complexity. Little by little man,
obeying these inexorable laws, began to develop. His mental, his moral,
and his physical natures gradually assumed new forms--new needs and
desires were born. More and more his vision became expanded until he
could see into and mesurably appreciate the forces of nature. His life
was becoming more complex. Now, this larger life, this greater
complexity of life, in addition to its own complexity, added materially
to the work of preparing the child for playing its part in this great
onward movement.
Such preparation as was needed by the child of the primitive home to
equip it for playing its part as an adult would no longer suffice. The
home must now do something more than satisfy the needs of the
body--provide food, clothing, and shelter, and incidentally give
opportunity to learn, mostly by imitation, how to do this for another
generation of children. The spiritual life needed attention and, as
well, the intellectual. Competition was growing keen, and each felt the
need of a better equipment that he might play his part well in the
larger life that was surely before him. And this larger outlook upon
life was itself growing by what it was feeding upon and making its own
demands for better things.
But the home was handicapped. It felt the need, but with all other
things that it had to do, had no time to take up these new duties. And
again, the most of the homes, even if time had been abundant, did not
know how to do the new work. So it set about finding a solution to its
problem. This was found in the principle of the division of labor. It
was seen that time would be saved and results much more satisfactorily
reached by delegating to persons definitely prepared and set aside for
that purpose certain phases of this work. So the church was instituted
and, a little later, the school. To the church was delegated, speaking
broadly, the religious and moral development of the child and to the
school, the intellectual development.
It was exactly the same principle that, later on, took from the home the
weaving of cloth and the making of shoes and other industrial pursuits.
With this added complexity of life, the homes could not profitably carry
on all these varied activities--be, in addition to a home, also a tailor
shop and a shoe factory, a church and a school. And so the homes of a
community combined, selecting one man particularly adapted to that work
to make all the shoes for the community, another the cloth, etc. And, in
like manner, earlier in history, one was set aside to minister to the
spiritual life, and one to teach the children. Both were offshoots of
the home, delegated by the home to do a certain very definite portion of
its work. Each took directions from the collective home and looked to it
as the source of its authority. And such it was. The point is this: the
home was the original educational institution and, as well, the original
religious institution. At first it alone performed the work of all
three: it was our home, our church, and school all in one. It finally
established the others and merely delegated work to these supplemental
agencies, so, at any time, it may withdraw that work from them. It is
master of the situation. This withdrawal may be done either by the
collective home or by any individual home. If any home represented here
this evening, for any reason whatever, wishes to resume the religious
function and alone direct the religious development of the children, no
one can say it nay. And it is the same in regard to the school. If any
parent here wishes to withdraw his children from the school and himself,
either directly or indirectly, provide for their intellectual
development, he has a perfect right to do so. Our compulsory attendance
laws are satisfied when evidence is furnished of the child's
advancement. Of course the church and the school, in this primitive
stage, were both exceedingly crude--corresponding to the crude notions
of religious and intellectual development then held by man, yet playing
the same great part as now in the drama of life. I suppose it is true
that these differentiations were at first only semi-conscious, but
nevertheless they were real differentiations and had large influence
upon the development of man.