When Viola and Midith returned from the post office on their bicycles
the following evening, Mr. Midith’s countenance seemed to be unusually
bright and happy. After putting up their bicycles, they walked into the
parlor where the other members of the family and a number of visitors,
curious to see Mr. Midith, were assembled.
After the formal introduction Mr. Midith said:
“I have received some very favorable correspondence from a number of
scientists at San Francisco, who seem to favor an extensive search for
my lost projectile which lodged in the Pacific ocean at my arrival
here on earth. I have already had some dredging done without success,
but my income is not sufficient to get much of that kind of work done.
To dredge in a deep ocean requires skill and tools. The men at San
Francisco who put the project of dredging on foot will notify me of
their financial success.
“If we shall succeed in finding my lost projectile, I shall be able to
show you many curious relics of Mars, which I took along to show to the
mundane inhabitants and compare them with what you have here. I took
along quite a large collection of things that would be curiosities to
you. I recollect putting in a little printed book, a knife, a watch, a
little pocket microscope, a tiny phonograph, a pen and pencil, a very
powerful little telescope, a photograph of a big-house, a bird’s-eye
view of our neighborhood, a lady’s and a gentleman’s suit of clothes,
some Marsian fruit, grain, nuts, flowers and many other things that
will be of interest to you.
“If our search for my projectile proves successful, I can perhaps
get sufficient mechanical assistance to return to my native home
or establish communication between the earth and Mars. I think the
projectile is not much out of repair. It worked splendidly until it
entered the dense atmosphere near the earth’s surface. I wish that
I would be able, in the future, to show you some of the social and
industrial grandeur and harmony of my native world. I shall make every
healthful effort that lies within my reach to return to my native home,
and establish intercommunication between the earth and Mars. But if I
do not succeed in that, I must be content with my lot on earth; perhaps
I may be of some use to the earthly inhabitants, so that my journey may
be of some value in that direction.
“All we can do is to wait for further development. The Marsites have
learned ages ago that we can not transcend the phenomena of nature. The
burdens which our highest intelligence and our best healthful efforts
can not throw off must be borne. I am sure that I appreciate your
kind hospitality as much as this world can furnish at this age. Your
kindness and the smiling faces with which I have been surrounded while
I have been with you shall always be prominent in my mind, whether I
shall have to end my days on earth, or, whether I shall be able, in the
future, to return to my native world.”
“I wish you nothing bad, Mr. Midith, but unless you are able to
take all of us with you to Mars, I hope that you will not be able
to return,” said Viola with a mischievous smile. “By your brilliant
narrative of Mars, you have made our earth appear so cruel, rude and
superstitious, and then you are going to leave us. No, we will never
stand it!”
“I am sure the prospect of my returning is not any too bright yet,”
responded Mr. Midith.
“Now, Mr. Midith, you have told us nothing about your schools. It seems
to me that in order to produce such perfect men, women and children,
you must have a faultless system of education,” observed Mrs. Uwins.
“All your other institutions seem so much superior to ours, and your
school system must certainly be more so than any other, for education,
in its widest sense, constitutes the only difference between the savage
and the cultivated person.”
“We have no school system, neither public nor parochial, as you have,
nor do we have a school-house, as you know a school-house. We believe
that a school system like yours is unjust and despotic to those who
are compelled to support it by compulsory taxation; and we further
believe that it is very cruel and harmful to the pupils to compel them
to attend any institution that they do not wish to. We believe that a
system of education like yours does little or no good, but causes an
immense amount of evil, which we will consider further on.
“Our children, like our adults, are perfectly free, are not _compelled_
to do anything they do not wish to do. We do not try to _compel_ them
to be _good_, nor to _work_, nor to _attend school_ against their
wishes. We think that any act which is so repugnant to human nature,
_under right conditions_, that exhortation and the reward of its
agreeable consequences cannot induce a man or a woman or a child to
perform that act without the application of physical force, is not
worth doing; it must be unnatural.
“The only object of education is to discover truth, so that we may
be able to live in accord with the facts of the universe, the only
possible condition under which we can enjoy the greatest happiness;
for every violation of a natural function is a violation of a natural
law, and every violation of a natural law is attended with suffering;
therefore we should be educated. To enjoy the greatest happiness and to
avoid all misery should be the end and aim of all education. And that
system of education which accomplishes this end most completely is the
best system. Therefore, one who possesses information which enables him
to live most completely in harmony with the laws of nature is in the
true sense most highly educated.
“We believe that in the widest sense and in the only true sense,
the whole world should be the school-house, mankind the pupils, our
environment the teacher, the entire life of man the school age, and the
phenomenal universe the curriculum.
“With these few preliminary remarks, I think I shall be able to give
you a clear idea of our schools and our methods of teaching.
“The child’s education with us begins long anterior to its pre-natal
existence. The parents’ smiles, virtues and temper reappear in the
child after its birth. After birth the child’s _direct_ education
begins; but during the period of lactation it is both _direct_ and
_indirect_. The first nursery and school of the child, then, is
the internal mother’s bosom, then the mother’s arms, then the house
nurseries, then the outdoor nurseries, and then in the whole community
and in the whole world. In this manner its sphere of action is
constantly enlarged. It continually acquires more independence, and
hence a stronger self-reliance. During all its life it is surrounded
by adults and by children of various ages, who teach it by pleasant
precepts and examples.
“Our children are taught as early as possible and nearly altogether by
the _examples_ of the youths and adults, how to treat their fellowmen;
how to be kind; how to give equal rights to all; how to respect the
opinions of others; how to lay aside all jealousy and prejudice; how to
welcome peace and harmony, and how to avoid discord; how to extinguish
all feeling of aggressiveness; how to control their temper; how to keep
themselves clean and pure; how to develop their organs by healthful
exercise; how to be honest and truthful; how to preserve their health;
how to exercise in the open air and sunshine; how to eat and drink
properly; how to be orderly and form regular habits; how to dress in
accordance with comfort and health; how to honor productive labor and
how to make it agreeable; how to despise idleness, and how to value
life and health above all other things necessary for the acquisition of
the greatest happiness.
“The rudiments of all these facts are taught by the older members of
the family and are learned by the child when quite young. In these
pleasant schools or play-houses, the teachers and children talk and
play, laugh and sing, eat and drink, observe and investigate, promote
happiness and avoid pain. One moment the child is in the house,
the next moment it is perhaps in the yard, then in the nurseries,
from there in the parks, then in the motor-car, then in the garden,
field, and orchard; then in the parlors, then in its mother’s private
apartment, then in its own private apartment, etc. Everywhere it
finds a number of willing and competent teachers. Teachers, too, who
do not govern with the rod, but by arousing an agreeable desire for
inquiry. All of us, young and old, are always teachers and pupils at
the same time. The older ones are studying the nature of infancy and
childhood, and daily add to their store of knowledge by observation and
experience. The younger ones are kindly advised and then left to follow
the conduct of the more mature companions. Knowledge is held in such
high esteem with us that we endeavor to acquire all we can at any age,
and we also find great pleasure in agreeably imparting our knowledge to
others and especially to the young. Our principal aim in education is
always to educate _ourselves_; to practice a course of conduct that we
wish our children to imitate. Our children will be all right without
any trouble, if _we_ are only all right. The adults make the young
what they are. Let us not forget this important fact, this fundamental
principle.
“As the Marsites need work only a few hours a day for the acquisition
of our material subsistence, we can devote a great deal of our
leisure time for mental culture. The child, after its infancy, moves
voluntarily about from place to place. It finds advice and practical
instruction in the house, on the walks, in the parks, garden,
greenhouse, orchard and field. After it grows older it takes lessons in
the workshop, in the factory, on the railroad, in the mine, or wherever
else it may direct its course. All the adults are its parents, so to
speak, its teachers, advisers and protectors when young; but all teach
that freedom, independence and self-reliance should be attained as
early as possible.”
“When do you begin to teach the alphabet?” asked Rev. Dudley.
“At the age of about three years. (Remember that a Marsian year counts
for no more in the age of a child than an earthly year does with you.)
We begin to teach the elementary sounds, the forms and the names of
the letters of the alphabet by attractive games of object lessons. We
have a perfect alphabet, because it contains as many, and no more,
letters as we have elementary sounds. We can spell every word correctly
when it is pronounced to us, for we have neither silent letters nor
substitutes. During all these exercises the child is simply playing,
and quits whenever it likes.
“The walls of the nursery near the floor are composed of slate. On
these the children first begin to make marks and figures, sometimes
before they can stand alone. Children are nearly always very fond of
drawing when left to themselves, and practice it a great deal. Large
slates for printing, writing, ciphering and drawing are also put up
in different parts of the parks and along the walks. By these means
our children, by playful practice, learn to print and write at an
early age. We always keep plenty of such things as children can use
before them, letting them use those things whenever they feel like
it, but never compelling a child to use a thing or do an act it finds
no pleasure in doing. We endeavor to create the pleasurable desire,
and then let the child follow its inclination. All sound-minded
children possess a faculty of inquiry which they love to exercise if
_conditions_ are _right_ and _natural_, and if things are presented in
a pleasant manner. As long as we cannot do things naturally and present
them in an attractive way, the fault lies with the teachers, and not in
the child.
“The next thing we teach the child is, how to labor. We believe
that labor can become pleasurable only if the habit of laboring is
acquired while we are young. One who spends the first half of his
life without manual labor must forever, more or less, remain a slave
to it in after years. Therefore, as soon as the child is old enough,
generally beginning at the age of two and three, it is taught to
wash, bathe, dress and undress itself; to keep its hat, mittens and
shoes in their respective places; to change clothes and put away its
own soiled garments; to brush and put away its own clothes which are
not in use, and to be careful and tidy with those that are in use. A
parent should never do any work for the child that the child can easily
do for itself. After the child grows a little older, we encourage it
to do all such easy work in keeping its own apartment clean and tidy
as it can easily do. Our aim is to create a pleasurable desire for
manual labor in the child while it is young; to inculcate a desire for
early self-support, self-reliance, and independence; to develop a keen
appreciation for order and regularity. Thus, you see, our children
are taught at an early age to do all their work in their own private
apartment. This strongly develops the faculties of order, promptness,
taste and regularity, which they take with them into life; both public
and private. This, we believe, produces the strongest, healthiest and
most complete persons physically and mentally. Therefore it is the most
useful and practical lesson the child can learn. This lesson, if well
learned, rewards every person, during his natural life, with an immense
amount of happiness.
“Now we will turn to the financial incentive to labor. I have already
remarked that a child, as soon as born, receives a book number and is
thereby represented in the commercial department of the family and
community. Before birth, as I have already stated elsewhere, the child
receives from the community a quantity of _green_ money, with which
the mother, father or nurse pays all the child’s bills. At the age
of about five or six our children are generally able to write quite
well. At this age they also begin to do little, easy chores--such as
picking strawberries, currants, weeding small patches of vegetables in
the garden and greenhouse, etc.; also performing little jobs of work
in the house and elsewhere. All this easy work which children can do
is so divided off and paid for by the piece, quart, etc., that a child
can do it and receive the same pay for it as a grown person would. This
encourages the children to work, because they are paid for it as soon
as the money is issued. Children, the same as adults, always like to
receive and own money which they can handle to suit themselves. It also
encourages them to write, because, under the supervision of the mother,
parent, the commercial librarian, or some one else, they keep a record
of labor performed in their time-book. It further encourages them to
labor, because, at the end of each month, they receive _additional_
money for labor performed. Of course, the money children receive for
labor performed is not of a green color, like that which was given
them at birth. Children always feel proud of the idea that they are
big, that they can support themselves, and that they need not live on
_green_ money any longer. To handle a pocket-book and money seems a big
thing for a child, and money can be obtained only by productive labor;
if the child wants money for itself it has to earn it, for we, as
_individuals_, all make a practice of not giving any money to children,
because it tends to make beggars, idlers and dependent beings of them.
All we do is to give them plenty of fine opportunity and then let them
earn all they want.”
“Do you let young children spend the money they earn just as they
wish?” asked Viola.
“Certainly we do,” replied Mr. Midith. “We give them our best advice,
our best financial conduct, and then let them do as they see fit.
You must not forget that the appetites, and hence the conduct of
your children, as a whole, are vastly different from the appetites
and conduct of our children. Very likely your children, if they all
at once had plenty of money, would at first spend large sums for
nicknacks, and many of them get sick from overeating, because their
nicknack-appetite has not been properly adjusted. Our children have no
particular appetite for nicknacks; they have all they want during their
whole life. Further, the conditions for spending money are altogether
different with us. They can not buy intoxicating liquor, because we,
like thousands of your most thoughtful men, have learned that we are
better off without intoxicating liquor as a beverage, and hence have no
appetite for it, and do not manufacture it. They can not spend their
money in sinful houses, because when money is so plentiful and so
easily obtained, nobody will sell the use of her person for dissolute
purposes. They can not lose it in option deals, because we have no
board of trade, nor speculators of any kind. They do not wish to use it
to buy houses and land with, because they have all of them they want,
etc.”
“But do you not admonish your children to save their money--to lay up
some for old age?” asked Rev. Dudley.
“No, we admonish no one to save money. Our aim is not to grow rich on
_frugality_, but on _abundance_ of _production_. _You_ esteem frugality
as a high virtue, which may perhaps be all right under your perverted
financial, social and industrial system. _Our_ aim is to open up
natural opportunity and make production by voluntary co-operation and
mechanical appliances so abundant that frugality is unnecessary. Under
these conditions, we can produce all the material wealth we want in
a few hours of labor a day. The American Indian, with his primitive
habits, can not grow rich by frugality and his very limited production;
but, by a change of habits and by abundant production, he may be able
to produce, with an agreeable amount of productive labor, more material
wealth than he can judiciously consume. So with the Marsites.
“The principal differences of which we have thus far spoken between our
and your system of education are:
“We give the child, in the acquisition of information, complete
freedom; you compel it to do certain things which you as adults believe
to be right, but which, as a rule, are perhaps nine times out of ten
wrong. We believe that the home, field and active society is the best
school; you largely cut the child off from these natural means and
confine it to the narrow school-house, or prison, we think, where it
is not allowed to talk and exercise--the very things you desire it
to learn. We endeavor to create a desire for inquiry by pleasant and
attractive incentives only; you generally resort to compulsion. Hence,
we believe that a child should study only _when_, _where_ and _what_ it
likes; you believe that it _must_ study such a time and such branches,
and at such a place, whether it finds pleasure in doing so or not. We
believe that a teacher or parent, who must compel a child or pupil
to study, does not know how to teach; you believe that the child’s
dislike for study is grounded in the perversity of its nature. We teach
and inculcate that manual labor is honorable; that one who lives from
the labor of others is a social and industrial parasite; that a child
should be enticed to establish the habit of manual labor while young.
You believe that manual labor is disrespectful, that a washerwoman,
as such, is not as good as a senator’s wife, that one who lives from
the labor of others by means of profit, interest, rent, and taxes is a
good, clever person. You largely teach inequality; we teach complete
equality of man, woman and child.
“On the money question our system of education has a great advantage
over yours. Our child receives all it earns at the close of each month;
your child works for the parent. It receives nothing for a number of
years but board, clothing and sometimes a little pocket money. Some of
your parents give their children some property when the children become
‘of age;’ some parents give their property to their children, perhaps,
because they can not take the property with them when they die; some
parents have nothing to give when the child becomes of age nor when the
parents die. In a child, in which the ideas of time and space are yet
very imperfectly developed, a remote reward is a very feeble incentive
to labor. A child or a savage will do a great deal for a penny, if paid
immediately, but they will do very little for ten dollars, if they are
to be paid five years hence, or even a year hence.
“You say, how can you make your children work if you do not force them;
but the secret, you see, all lies in the system. Our system encourages
a child to work, while yours encourages it to be idle. We have a short
day, easy work and big _cash_ pay; you have a long day, toilsome work,
and small pay _on ten to forty years’ time_.
“You can easily see that we are all teachers and all pupils at the same
time. We study our whole lifetime and graduate only at death. We teach
each other when we labor and when we play, in the house and in the
field. The teachers, as well as the pupils, perform their manual labor
daily; for we believe: 1. That a knowledge of manual labor is the most
important education we can receive. 2. That a short, easy day’s manual
labor like ours, especially if performed in the open air, is healthful,
and promotes the development of body and mind; such labor is the most
invigorating food that can be taken. 3. That we have more leisure time
for teaching and imparting useful knowledge to our children and to each
other than we want, besides the short time we daily devote to manual
labor. 4. That labor must be made so easy, attractive and agreeable
that we do it for the pleasure that is in it; and 5. That no one
should be forced to study or learn what he finds no pleasure in. Your
school-houses and your methods of teaching are altogether unnatural,
ours are natural; that is the reason you are obliged to use force
everywhere. Your _children_ are all right, but your _school_ is nearly
all wrong. Your school-houses and your methods of teaching are an
infraction of the laws of life and health; that is why your children so
often rebel against them. That is the reason why so many of your pupils
are tardy, absent, sullen and puny. The child’s instinctive knowledge
of life and health, when it remonstrates against your school and your
methods of teaching, is a better guide than the perverted reasons of
your teachers and parents.”