Robertson of Brighton, with his matchless insight into spiritual things. I think there were times in those days when to him the criticism fairly applied that he seemed rather like a shepherd whose chief concern was not so much to feed the hungry sheep, as to show them how large a forkful of hay he could lift, and how high he could pitch it; and he himself is credited with the dry remark, which he may possibly have learned by experience, that it is unwise to try to fill a teaspoon with a hose wide open. Still that is neither here nor there. Those of his students who knew him best loved him most and respected him most.

His work at Hiram ended with that period which saw him in his new field in Cleveland, a field not wholly congenial or best adapted to his peculiar gifts and training. It was, however, well for him, and in my judgment, well for all. His work at Hiram had been fully accomplished. From the more limited circle of his church and student fellowship he was to emerge into that larger life which beginning here, was prolonged through happy days in his truly congenial work at Ann Arbor, whence he was called to his reward. Upon the details of these years so well known to all I need not pause. Into the larger arena of action he stepped as a full formed man. His opinions were expressed in language too clear and too forcible not to arrest attention; yet later

experience tempered very materially the pungency of his convictions as to public school problems. His utterances were listened to with respect, if not always with conviction. His name has become a household word among the members of his calling. The fruits which he offered as his contributions to life were many and rich.

I need not dwell upon those labors of his, so steady, so constant, so prolonged. He performed a triple work, any one of which would have made the fortune of common men; that of the preacher, the teacher, the writer, to say nothing of the orator. I shall not stop to make mention of the many volumes put forth by him, or of his numerous contributions to current literature.

Permit me for a few moments further to offer a brief analysis of his powers:

First, he was rarely diligent and conscientious. His capacity for work was unbounded, but unfortunately it betrayed him beyond the limits of a reasonable effort. He trifled with no man and with no theme. Grave, sincere, honest, he was of the Puritan stock. Out of this spirit, however, issued one defect whose mention would not be denied even by him. I refer to a sort of brusque exterior, an attitude of mind, a disposition which could not always see where sympathy and sometimes pity should come to supplement the weakness

of others. He hated sham, hypocrisy, cant, ignorance, but sometimes his judgments of men and of conditions were warped by his own consciousness of light and leading. Therefore many admired who did not love, yet he would say among the first that love and admiration are better. As to the quality of his mental powers, I deem it just to say that his mind was more encyclopædic in its nature than original. His books are proof of a vigorous grasp of subjects rather along the lines of weighty and interpreting authorities and wide ranges of view, than of original contribution. He was a great reader, and a reader of the best. One feels strengthened by every' volume put forth, but it remains to be seen which, if any, have that perennial vitality which keeps and will keep fresh and young such works as constitute our educational classics. He was an observer over a very wide field. His imagination was keen and vivified his acquisitions. His memory was tenacious, his perspectives were true, his industry and fidelity beyond praise.

He was somewhat heavy in public speech, arriving at conclusions in his rather stately, formal way, which his hearers sometimes anticipated, and from which they awaited his coming.

His training, in some respects imperfect, left imbedded within him certain peculiarities of speech and expression which were easily

But

recognized by those who knew him. These things are not said by way of criticism, but by way of the just performance of this duty. His "Great Northwest" is not unlikely to be his most valuable contribution to the literature of his time. in the educational world his "School and Studies," his work on "The Method of Studying and Teaching History," his "Language Arts," his "Art of Study," his "Life of Horace Mann," while not profound works, are yet of great value to the student of educational literature.

The trouble with Dr. Hinsdale was the demand upon his many sided powers, to which he yielded a too ready assent. But he did his work along all lines so well, he could so truly say with Jean Paul Richter, "I have made out of myself all that the stuff would permit," that these imperfections have no bearing upon our estimate, and with reverence we uncover before the mention of his name and say "Well done."

And now he, too, has passed into the "World of Light." In every walk and condition of life he filled full the measure of his obligation. His was an honest and sincere life. Multitudes have been helped by his life and words. What he thought, he expressed. Men and women could scarcely fail to know where he stood. And what think you of such virtues? They are too rare by far in this good, yet wicked old world of ours, so God be thanked

when such men make their advent upon earth. God be thanked for their messages of wisdom or of cheer, and also let Him be thanked as well, that some limitations were set to their life powers that, not being too perfect, they could fit themselves for common nature's daily food.

So this man who, out of toil nobly endured to the last, out of limitations realized only too well, yet patiently borne, out of weakness baffled so long, out of trials at length escaped, has passed to where he sees

"White presences upon the hills And hears the voices of the Eternal Gods."

And the conclusion of this whole matter is not that he passed away too early, not that he left any portion of his life work undone, but it is the conclusion which has come down out of the hoary days of old, a conclusion which our friend and brother illustrated all the days of his life,

"Fear God and keep his Commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."

Some weeks since, there gathered in a western city a company of earnest and successful school men who discussed the question, ever old and perennially new, what is the greatest evil in the American Public School. Naturally, there were differences of opinion; in fact, as I now recall the report of the proceedings, I do not think any two were agreed as to the specific ailment which most afflicts the American boy and girl. Of course the anti-cigarette enthusiast was there, the no-examination reformer made loud declamation on the slaughter of the innocents, the linguistic doctor, too, diagnosed the case, but when all was over, I presume the

unthinking in the audience would have said, Well, what is the weakest weak place anyhow?

It is this wide and wholesome divergence of opinion which to me gives promise of great things in the future of American education, which even now in our national youth is rearing up strong men and strong women to do what we are now accomplishing in the world of thought and trade. The least thoughtful of observers no longer questions that the "man behind the gun" is a product and the true fruit of free public education.

I was surprised on reading the article to find that not a man who took part touched upon the thing

which paralyzes the activities of every school I have ever seen, and that is the unwilling mind. I am not now trying to place the blame for the condition, which is universal, I think, but shall content myself merely with a statement of what seems to me to be the greatest weakness of our public school system. I am sure of this, however, that the children are not altogether culpable, nor are teachers, nor yet parents, yet the stubborn fact remains that we spend literally oceans of time in teaching things that without tuition children and other folks pick up out of school in no time at all.

I think the American followers of the Herbart cult have done the cause of American education a distinct service in throwing stress, perhaps too strongly, upon the doctrine of many-sided interest. It is possible to have so great a degree of genuine interest in a thing one is doing that its apparently insuperable difficulties disappear as by the magic touch of an enchanter's wand and is it indeed such? What need to multiply instances which spring into the mind of every reader when he stops to contemplate the failures of his teaching and contrasts with it the out of school success of some wrong-headed fellow who at last through the hard discipline of the world, gets awake. The distinct failure of schools is that we do not keep the fine enthusiasm and eager spirit of

Our

the first year of the child's school experience alive and operative throughout his course. I do not think that the dominance of the will of the teacher in the early time is the sole explanation of our failure, in fact I do not so much care to think of the cause of failure as to get a clear acknowledgment of the fact that we have failed. child soon gets his mind encrusted with an impervious integument, or one well nigh so, of indifference and non-willingness to do and to think.

The

Take a crude illustration. I can find hundreds of American school boys who have no clear grip upon the multiplication table at the age of fourteen: I think it would be difficult to find a healthy boy of the same age in our schools who does not know all the ins and outs of base-ball which is a far harder thing to rightly understand in the abstract than the mathematical proposition named. I once knew a lad whose mother had tried in vain to teach him to tie his shoe-strings in a double knot. One morning while laboring in the arduous instruction, the fire bell rang. The mother sternly refused to let the pupil of shoe-tying go to the fire until the double-bow was mastered. half a minute both shoes were properly fastened and the eager child was flying up the street to the incipient conflagration.

In

I think that there is no sufficient explanation of the tremendous

success of the Correspondence Schools which does not take into account the newly aroused minds of the formerly unwilling and the enormous progress made by thousands who undertake the work, is the finest possible proof of the value of an awakened and willing mind.

An ancient Greek in describing an Athenian school said of the lads there that they seemed like gods so eager, so acute, so intelligent were they. They seemed at least, said

he, like inhabitants of some celestial region, sent to the earth to show men how to be like the gods.

With his marvellous adaptability, his intellectual acuteness and his power of sustained interest, the American lad and his sister, could rival successfully the Athenian youth of even the palmy Periclean Age, if the willing mind in them. could be made potential and consistently operative.

In the manual training movement, as in all great educational movements, there have been two extremes.

On the one hand, the purely practical school represented in the extreme case by the trade school.

The work being principally for the practical, the informational value, and and not the educational value. On the other hand, in some schools the work ran largely to the fanciful and grotesque. While giving shop instruction, still it savored little of the actual shop.

In wood work, for example, fanciful turned shapes were made, and grotesque carving; in mechanical drawing, much attention was given. to shading, tinting, etc. Everything had to be tinted.

Now the ideal manual training school, to my notion, should be midway between these two extremes, and should also include much which both omit. The work should begin where the kindergarten leaves off, and not wait until the pupil reaches high school.

The ward, or primary, school work is of much more recent date than the high, or secondary, school work. Manual training is now being introduced in the ward schools. in many places where high school manual training work has been given for a considerable time.

It is said that nearly every great educational movement begins at the top, and such seems to be the case with manual training.

The work began in the high