The Philistine Vol. 18 JANUARY, 1904 No. 2 Breathe deeply of God's great Outo'-Doors. It is all free, and Providence has ordered things in such a way that, so far, no monopoly has ever clutched the Ozone. Heart to Heart Talks with Philistines by the Pastor of His Flock OT long ago a Clergyman paid a visit to the Fifth Grade of a School, and was called upon to make a few Remarks. This he did, enlarging on the beauty and excellence of being an Educated Person, and wound up by asking the Scholars this question: "What is the difference between an educated and an uneducated man?" This is a proposition too hard for grown-ups, but since children are always asking us questions we cannot answer, we give it back to them in kind, and thus get even. THE PHI "What is the difference between an educated LISTINE and an uneducated man?" Up went the hands. "Well, you tell us, Mary," said the speaker to a nine-year-old girl with freckled face and a little mole on her chin. "An educated man is one who never does any work!" was the prompt and proud reply. The Clergyman himself told me the story. He was big enough to realize that this little child had unconsciously embodied in her answer a ringing, stinging truth—a reply worthy of Dean Swift, who never did a stroke of useful work in his life. "She hit me hard," said the man, "I am an educated person-at least I have degrees from two universities, and I do no useful thing. The sober truth is, the world could get along very well without me. I quit useful work to secure an education, and I have done nothing useful since. To be sure, I marry people; I christen children; I say things when they bury the dead; I make pastoral calls; I preach; I plan schemes for raising my salary. Now, children really do not require christening; people may marry without me, and the best friend of the deceased at a funeral could do the task of saying the last words much more fittingly. The Clergyman is a sociological appendenda, and the world of THE PHIprogress does not need us, nor does it need the LISTINE seminaries, colleges and universities that unfit us for useful effort. But all this is for you, privately-promise me not to print it." And I promised. At Yale there are three thousand students, and Send your boy to college and the Remittance In England and on the Continent it is worse. The typical Educated Person is full of the same thought-the world must feed and clothe him. If he is on half-rations, as he often is, he has a sad tale to tell of inappreciation and ingratitude. If the remittances continue thru life, he is all right or fairly so. If the remittances are withdrawn, he becomes a public charge,— THE PHI- respectable possibly, but a public charge, just LISTINE the same, for a tax is no less a tax because it is indirect. The custom of schools and colleges supplying everything for the pupil, is a form of altruism that has its serious drawbacks. The biggest and best part of life lies in supplying yourself the things you need; and education, which is development, comes from doing without things, making things, and talking about things you do not have, a deal more than using things that rich men supply gratis. If everything is done for us, we will not do much for ourselves. If you knew of a school where your boy and girl, of sixteen to twenty, could go and earn a living while getting an education, would you not send them there? I think you would-or you would n't, as the case may be. To be able to earn a living is quite as necessary as to parse the Greek verb, a proposition which I trust needs no proof. The reason the Industrial College has never been evolved, is because we have not, so far, evolved men big enough to captain both education and industry. We have plenty of men big enough for college presidents-thousands of them. But we haven't THE PHImen who can direct the energies of young men LISTINE and women into useful channels, and at the same time feed their expanding minds. This is where we reach our limit, and reveal ourselves a race of pigmies. There is room for the man who can set in motion a curriculum that will embrace Earning a Living and Mental Growth, and have them move together hand in hand. The task of the college president is not greathe does n't have to show results. He is both judge and jury in trying his own case. He passes on the fitness of his output, and like Deity, he looks upon his work-and calls it good, and we take his word for it. And the great world of doers does n't care whether it is good or not. Note this: the grade teacher fits his pupils for the High School, and the High School teacher passes on the fitness of the grade teacher's product; the High School prepares the pupil for College, and the College teacher passes on the quality of the High School product; the College professor fits a pupil for life, and passes judgment on his own work. For him there is no censorship, and beyond him there is no appeal. But Life, which is greater than College, reviews the findings, and quietly ignores them |