Essays 31 to 35

Essay No. 31.
Discipline and Development

Presidential Address delivered at the Annual Conference of the National Union of Women Workers at Lincoln, October II, 1910.
BY
The Lady Laura Ridding

I REJOICE that this year a departure from our usual custom will be made in consequence of the fact that the subjects of our Conference will take our thoughts. beyond the region of practical experiences into that of ideals and aims. Of late years I have felt that there has been too strong a tendency to confine out attention to the problems of life, to the exclusion ol the consideration of its ideals.
Not that our programme does not envelope packetful of problems ! Happily, however, ideals are intermixed with them. It is their presence that suggests to me the lines which I now ask to be allowed to follow for a few minutes in this my presidential address.
From the cradle of the human race to this moment of its earthly career, its parental and pedagogic guardians have doubtless always cherished certain 327

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ideals as to the way in which it should be educated. As generation has succeeded generation in the never ending procession of life, these ideals have changed and disappeared to be replaced by others ; and we, who are members of the generation now occupying the centre of the earth's stage, may not find it un¬edifying to compare our present ideals with those of the past, to try to discover some of the losses and gains that have accrued to us from these shifting standards, and to observe how, in certain curious instances, the trend of modern requirements is curv¬ing back towards some of the long abandoned ideals of the ancient world.
I suppose that no one would challenge the asser¬tion that the keynote, up to which all the educational ideals of the ancient and medival world were pitched, was Discipline; discipline intended to bend body and mind into complete obedience, so that every child should grow to maturity as a plastic member of the community. The rulers of the State aspired to train each of its human units to drop irresistingly, like interwoven links in a coat of mail, into the place allotted to him or her in the tribe, fraternity, army, or city.
he present day, so with the ancient warrior races, such as the Persians and Spartans, the science of education was practically confined to the training of the body. Their children

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were exercised in wrestling, shooting with the bow or throwing the javelin, riding, and hunting; and they were deliberately subjected to trials of long marches in hunger, thirst, cold and nakedness, in order to harden them and to develop the qualities of endur¬ance, self-restraint and courage.
With the ancient intellectual races, such as the Athenians and Romans, a severe bodily training was combined with a mental training. Socrates described this education as "Gymnastic for the body and music for the soul," the term "music " being used to include all mental studies which produce order and harmony in the soul, i.e., literature, the history of heroes and gods, memory exercises, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, dialectic, philosophy, besides the actual study of music and song.
Josephus maintained that the system of Jewish education combined these two lines of training to a degree attained by no other national system. The body was tamed, the mind disciplined and the soul uplifted under the teaching of the law, inasmuch that, for the Jew, religion was not made to be a part of virtue, but virtues were ordained to be parts of re¬ligion : justice, fortitude, temperance, brotherly kind¬ness, peace and piety towards God.
This complete system of education was lost in the fog of intellectual darkness that shrouded Europe during the migration of nations and the Middle Ages, when the Jews found themselves excluded from almost

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every possibility of bodily discipline in war-like exer¬cises and manly adventures, and the Christians, from those of mental discipline in intellectual and literary study and research.
The medieval rival schools of education were the Castle and the Cloister. In the Castle, discipline, obedience and endurance were taught by instruction in riding, swimming, shooting with the bow, boxing and hawking, while the scanty mental exercises con¬sisted of chess-playing and versifying.
In the Cloister, harsh discipline and mental sub-mission were enforced by instruction in Latin, gram-
mar, writing, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, dialectics, rhetoric, the art of illumination, music, and the duties of the various religious ceremonials.
The foundation on which the education of these various periods of history was based was Discipline—
discipline which forced the individual to conform to
the universal pattern ; while discipline also formed the coping-stone of the fabric of Society, under which that
individual, when equipped for his part in life, took his place in whatever niche his governors had destined him to occupy.
This stern figure of Discipline held aloft the torch of learning during thirty centuries. It is interesting
for us to look back and observe the moving shapes taken by the flames as they burned upwards, if we may so symbolise the ideals of education of those days.

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The Jewish ideal expressed in the words of Simon, Son of Gamaliel, as : "Not learning, but doing, is the chief thing," is to be found, not only in that oldest handbook of education, the Book of Proverbs, but in the Books of Ecclesiastes, the Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus. The whole theory of the prepara¬tion of life there put forth is, that God educates men and men educate each other. The motto prefixed to the Book of Proverbs : "The fear of the Lord is the principal part of knowledge ; but fools despise wisdom and instruction," is repeated in the final statement of the Book of the Preacher : "Of making many books there is no end ; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. The end of the matter, even all that hath been heard, is, Fear God and keep His commandments ; for this is the whole duty of man." The Wisdom of Solomon gives the ascending steps through wisdom to eternity in the following words : "The very true beginning of wisdom is the desire of discipline ; and the care of discipline is love; and love is the keeping of her laws; and the giving heed unto her laws is the assurance of incorruption ; and incorruption maketh us near unto God. Therefore the desire of wisdom bringeth to a Kingdom," and " the multitude of the wise is the welfare of the world." *
These great ideals of the servants of Jehovah find an echo in the ideals of Socrates, as given to us by Plato. He says : "The idea of Good is the highest

*Wisdom vi. 17-20, 24.

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knowledge . . . without which any other knowledge will profit us nothing."*
The business of us who are the founders of the State will be to compel the best minds to attain that knowledge . . . they must continue to ascend until they arrive at the good."
He states that the direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life," and teaches that it should be such knowledge as "would draw the soul from becoming to being."
Plato in his Dialogue on Laws gives us these definitions of a good education, as that "which tends most to the improvement of mind and body," and, "education in virtue which makes a man eagerly pursue the ideal perfection of citizenship and teaches him how rightly to rule and how to obey. This is the only education which deserves the name."
The group of educational ideals of the ancients must, of course, include that of the Romans. Quin¬tilian, in his description of his own aims as a teacher, draws it for us. He says : "We are educating that perfect orator, who cannot exist unless he be a good man as well, and therefore we not only demand an extraordinary capacity for speaking in him, but all the virtues of the mind. I am not inclined to allow that those are right who relegate a systematic life of virtue to philosophy. The true citizen, if he is to

*The quotations from Plato are taken from Jowett's Plato, "The Republic" and "Laws."

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manage public and private affairs well, to rule cities with his policy, found them with his laws, reform them with his proposals, must certainly be an orator. The precepts which the books of the philosophers contain are really and truly without a doubt part of my work."
In a previous sentence I coupled the medieval views of education with those of the ancient world, because the real cleavage between ancient and modern ideals appeared to me to begin in the fifteenth century. Therefore I will now give an instance of the ideal of the educator of the Middle Ages in a quotation from the words of its greatest English educator, and the creator of the first Public School, William of Wykeham. In the foundation deed of Winchester College he stated his belief that "Gram¬mar is the foundation gate and source of all other liberal arts," and that "by knowledge of letters justice is cultivated and the prosperity of human life increased." And in the first clause of his Statutes for his College at Oxford he stated that he had founded it for the study of Holy Scripture, Civil and Canon Law, Philosophy, divers faculties, but especially the faculty of Theology, to the end that "the praise of God may be spread, the Church ruled, the strength and fervour of the Christian religion grow hotter and all knowledge and virtue be increased in strength."
Can anyone, however modern, assert that ideals such as these, Jewish, Pagan and Christian, which put before us as their high aim the attainment of wisdom and the fear of God, the pursuit of the Good, the devotion of service in citizenship, the love of
virtue, the spread of the Christian religion with knowledge, virtue, justice, and the prosperity of the
race, can be surpassed in sublimity of aim by any newer theories of education, or can even be super-seded without disastrous results to the human race ? Tennyson tells us that "The old order changeth, yielding place to new," and so, despite the sufficiency of these old theories, they have been succeeded by other modern theories of education, the original con¬ception of which may, be traced back to the dawn of the Renaissance.
With its advent, the attitude of the civilised Euro¬pean nations changed gradually towards the prime meaning of education. In the place of the paramount idea of discipline for the benefit of the corporate life, the development of the Individual and of all his latent forces began to be recognised as the great aim of the teacher. As time went on, it unconsciously re¬duced his obligation to qualify each scholar for his place in the community, to a negligible consideration, which might be shifted on to the shoulders of circum¬stance, accident or, temperament. As the scholar stepped forth from the lecture hall into the busy world, these untried attendants were allowed to decide for him what duties he should undertake, what posi¬tion he should occupy. The teacher was bidden to

remember that the scholar's individual development was the matter of greatest importance; and thus Development took the place formerly held by Dis¬cipline as the keynote to which all educational theories must now be tuned.
This change of attitude was a natural result of the Renaissance, a movement which found immediate expression in a revolutionised system of education. The new education offered a vivid contrast to the barren stagnation of the Schoolmen's teaching, for it represented to the fifteenth century the most living, inspiring teaching that could be given. It embodied progress, energy, self-emancipation and indi-vidualism, as opposed to a passive submission of body, mind, and spirit to the ecclesiastical rule. Not that individualism had been entirely ignored in past ages. Quintilian, for instance, laid stress on the im¬portance of the study of individual dispositions as well as on treating them with humanity in training and discipline; but the idea needed to be stirred into life by the later forces of the Renaissance.
Two movements went on side by side : the revival of the ancient learning and the evolution of a new ideal of life and civilisation. The old wine, equally with the new, was put into new bottles.
The Educational Reformation found its apostles in the Humanists, who endeavoured to inspire their followers with "a just perception of the dignity of man as a rational, volitional, and sentient being born

upon the earth with a right to use it and enjoy it." As a result of this teaching the brutality of primitive
discipline disappeared, and the assertion of indi-vidualism with its "Rights of Man" waxed louder and more and more persistent.
The Humanists were the ancestors of our modern educational theorists. They venerated the old ideals, while they prescribed new methods of attaining to them. The change is startling when we compare the tortures to which the Spartan youths were compelled to submit at the scourging matches before the altar of Artemis with the discipline inculcated by Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini in his educational treatise written in 145o. Boys, he said, should be taught self-restraint and temperance : "A boy whose lot it may be to face life in the camp or in the forest should be so disciplined that he may eat even beef."
Of course the new veneration for the individual took many generations to establish itself. Erasmus believed in it, while his friend, Sir Thomas More, held it apparently of small account. Erasmus pleaded that the teacher "should take account of individual peculiarities, because the best results would be ob¬tained by following nature." Sir Thomas More com¬pelled his Utopians to submit to one universal curriculum, in which the only subject open to choice was the curious exception of the "studie of good literature." Of this, he said, that " every sort of people, both men and women, go to hear lectures,

some one, some another, as every man's nature is inclined," and if anyone chooses to shirk these lectures "he is not Jetted nor prohibited." Outside this solitary exception, all Utopians were made to learn the compulsory subjects of husbandry, music, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, natural science, moral philosophy and weather study.
From the time of Erasmus until now, educational reformers have followed one another in swift suc¬cession. They have differed from each other in nationality, religion, character, influence, and a hundred other distinctions, but they have all agreed in each believing himself to be the real discoverer of the true method of education. Profound thinkers like Comenius, Milton and Locke were succeeded by fantastic dreamers like Rousseau, Pestalozzi and Jacotot. But as the procession moved on, it might have been observed that certain decisions were handed down to the succeeding generations and were accepted by them, as men abide by the opinions of bygone judges. The abolition of severe corporal punishment, the study of modern languages, of nature and of science, once revolutionary ideas, gradually became accepted articles of belief. Schools of pedagogy were formed and elaborate systems of education were evolved. Through the jangle of these clamorous system builders, we catch certain phrases repeated constantly which show that the rival systems are all now built upon the same ground plan,

traced five hundred years ago by the Humanists, i.e., the Development of the Individual.
The ideals of education of the earlier modern teachers exemplify this. We see it underlying Comenius' statement that God's plan is that man should know all things, should be master of all things, including himself, and should refer everything to God. Therefore Nature has implanted within us the seeds of learning, virtue and piety. To bring these to maturity is the object of education.
Milton, in his noble letter, Of Education," says that "The end of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright and out of that knowledge to love Him, to imitate Him, to be like Him." . . . "I call that a complete and generous education which fits a man to perform justly, skilfully and magnanimously all the offices both private and public of peace and war."
Pestalozzi, fired with the "enthusiasm of humanity," defined his ideal of the aim of education to be that every man may attain to a consciousness of his own dignity through his feeling of the universal powers and endowments which he possesses awakened within him."
The views of two leaders of thought among the pioneers of the French Revolution must not be omitted. They flash discordant rays upon the picture drawn by their sober educational forerunners, but, nevertheless, many have chosen to guide their foot-

steps by their erratic light. Rousseau scorns all re¬ceived views and methods : he directs the parent or teacher to "Take the road directly opposite to that which is in use, and you will almost always do right." He enlarges in Emile on the necessity of the young child's education consisting in his learning the art of being ignorant, of losing time, of a return to Nature, and of self-teaching, and that all this should be learned in perfect freedom from restraint. Thus alone, he averred, would the scholar learn to discover his own innate goodness and the sanctity of his primary impulses.
Jacotot taught that the aim of education was to lead every individual to self-development and self-in¬struction. He laid down in his famous trinity, of paradoxes his dictum that :
A11 men have an equal intelligence.
2. Everyone can teach ; and can teach that which he does not know himself.
3. Everything is in everything.
Fantastic as these Frenchmen's theories seem, they have, in varying shapes, survived to this day ; and, with the other soberer theories of the Humanists and their descendants, have exercised an overwhelm¬ing influence on mankind. Their victorious assertion of the duty of educationalists to develop the individual is now unquestioned. They have relegated discipline by corporal austerities to the limbo of dead tyrants, and have substituted a system of stimulating a desire

for knowledge by all kinds of moral suasion, in hope that some future discovery of the "learning bacillus" (with which infants of the twentieth century may be inoculated) may altogether render education an effortless, enjoyable process.
During this week we shall hear much of the really good work accomplished by modern methods. No one doubts the fact. Nevertheless, I want to point out, in regard to my two keynotes of Discipline and Development, that we are at the Present time threat¬ened with a real danger, which it behoves us to resist with all our strength; namely, the widespread dis¬position to resent all mental discipline.
No formation of character can be carried on in opposition to this temper; which, if not subdued in time, must undoubtedly result in a general national degeneracy from the loss of the moral fibre of the rising generation.
Educationalists may argue over the controversies of the day ; the uses to which the faculty of memory should be put, the relative value of ancient and modern languages, the rival claims of literature and science; but these are side issues compared with the struggle to maintain the rule of mental discipline.
The most thoughtful among them have given us grave warnings of the menacing danger.
"Why is it," asks one of them, "that so large a part of the English people does not effectually believe in education ? Partly because Education means dis-

cipline, and the mass of a nation does not take kindly to discipline, unless some great change in its fortunes has made it see in discipline its chief hope of deliverance." •
Mr. Meyrick Booth in his introduction to the works of Dr. F. W. Forster, Lecturer on Education in Zurich University, writes :f
"The modern spirit of individualism, with its contempt for all obedience, was first brought into the educational world by Rousseau. His influence has been immense. More than anyone else he is the originator of all the current ideas about obedience being derogatory to personal dignity or incompatible with self-development, about discipline crushing in¬dividuality, and so on." And he continues, quoting Dr. Forster : "The disciples of the ' New Education ' begin with quite a correct idea—namely, that the compulsory forcing of children into a mould leaves their personality undeveloped, and even injuriously affects it. They do not perceive that the laxity of their own methods is even more dangerous. The true centre of personality of a human being is in his spiritual life, and can only be developed in so far as the spirit is trained to mastery over the whole lower nature. This enthronement of the spirit . . . is not to be obtained without severe struggle; a true
* "What is a Secondary Education?" p. 25. Edited by R. P. Scott.
t From "Duty and Discipline Series," No. 3o.

personality develops precisely by the control of mere individual desires. The more the lower self is granted freedom the more hopeless does the development of personality become. . . . It is pitifully superficial to suppose that the elimination of obedience and restraint sets the individual free for higher development. . .
"There are schools in America where there is simply no discipline at all. The children do prac-tically what they like. To indulge a child's every mood, whim and weakness is called the development of the individual. Many American teachers are so terribly afraid of demanding any, serious effort of self-conquest from their pupils that their only en¬deavour is to make everything easy and interesting. Such schools become kindergartens in which the only motive power is the spirit of play. . .
"The exaggerated modern belief in individual freedom for the young puts children into the way of allowing themselves to be directed by wayward im¬pulses, moods and fancies, and in this manner de¬velops a type of character that cannot resist outward influences. No one has less independence than he who has never learnt obedience."
After these words there is no need for me to emphasise further the national danger involved in this deterioration of the character of the people. I should, however, like to point out two strangely contradic¬tory results directly traceable to the exaggerated doctrine of the development of the individual.

First: The absence of the hardening quality of discipline, with the mental coddling treatment, pro¬duce the evaporation, not the evolution, of the in¬dividual. They blight with atrophy the power of initiation, forethought, self-control, and mental dis¬cipline, all the qualities which build up character.
Second: An exaggerated value of individualism implants in the scholars "a ludicrously dispropor-tionate sense of their own importance, accompanied by a loss of modest independence." The inspiring hero-worship so sedulously taught under the old system is contemptuously abandoned by, these vain
self-centred minds. Such self-worshippers, when
they arrive at manhood, show a venomous jealousy of superiority in others; they, abhor mental culture and knowledge ; they desire to level all men down to one dull mediocrity of capability ; and for that pur¬pose, they would establish the rule of an impersonal State which should reduce all the people to the same condition of monotonous equality.
Thus does an excessive, and therefore noxious, in-dividualism complete the circle and bring us back—though, with a difference—to the ancient ideal of the submerging of the individual in the State
This is no unique instance of present-day rever¬sion to ancient outworn beliefs. Father Time, grop¬ing about in his vast treasure house, where moulder dim memories of antique educational experiments, must laugh to himself as he now and again flings

some of these dusty relics out into the light of the sun, and men alight upon them and proclaim them everywhere as wonderful brand-new discoveries.
For instance, Froebel discovered The Kinder-. garten; but Father Time would remind us that the method dates back to the pyramids ; and that, as a little child, the great lawgiver Moses probably learnt arithmetical games with garlands and apples in the Kindergarten of an Egyptian temple on the banks of the Nile.
American teachers vaunt their plan of Co-educa¬tion, but it was originally systematically developed in Sparta. The boys and girls of Sparta shared the same course of education ; and Plato, in his Dialogues on "Laws," makes his Athenian stranger say : "My law would apply to female pupils as well as to males." . . . "They shall both go through the same exer¬cises." On this system of education Grote remarks that "in this universal system of schooling imposed on men and women alike, the national characteristics are to be sought."
The unrealised ideal of many statesmen of our Empire, of America and of Europe, that a complete education should include a Universal Military Train¬ing in the home service army of all the boys, was carried out in stern completeness by the Persians and Spartans ; while Plato's vision soared still further, and in his " Laws" he decreed that "women ought not to neglect military matters, but that all citizens,

male and female alike, shall attend to them." And he explains why he wishes women to have a military
training " While they are yet girls they should
have practised the whole art of fighting—if for no other reason, yet in case the whole people should have to leave the city and carry on operations of war outside, that the young who are left to guard and the rest of the city may be equal to the task."
Lest you should hastily condemn Plato for the extreme primitiveness of his conceptions, I would remind you that Mr. Mundella, in his Compulsory Education provisions of the Education Act of 188o, was a mere plagiarist from Plato's "Laws," which state that : "The children shall come [to the schools] not only if their parents please, but if they do not please ; and if their education is neglected there shall be compulsory education, as the saying is, of all and sundry, as far as this is possible ; and the pupils shall be regarded as belonging to the State rather than to their parents."
The most advanced Socialist is not more modern than Plato here !
Technical Education, in the farmyard, the garden and the workshop, that latest panacea for the defects in our educational system, ought, by rights, to come on to the stage clad, not in coat and trousers, but in the doublet and buskins of Tudor days. Does not Sir Thomas More inform us how in Utopia "All men and women were instructed in husbandry even from

their youth, partly in their schools with traditions and precepts, and partly in the country, nigh the city, brought up as it were in playing, not only beholding the use of it, but practising it also. Besides hus¬bandry, everyone of them learneth one or other several and particular science as his own proper craft " ?
The five strata of ancient cities below the Homeric Troy were as nothing to the remote depths of the old foundations upon which our twentieth century fabric of education is built ! And, as the instances just given show us, some of the old ideas, once buried as anachronisms, have been excavated, brought again to light and once more placed in positions of honour. Let this fact give us courage. Let it inspire us to pray to God that He may guide the parents and teachers of our nation to rediscover virtues, which in former days were made the very foundation stones of education, but which now seem too often to be hidden out of sight: Duty, Loyalty, Courage, Obedience, Humility, Faith, Love, Truth, Self-sacrifice. The Christian ideal of education needs these qualities to complete its perfect work of discipline and develop¬ment upon our sons and daughters, the work of forming in them character and thought ; of filling their hearts and minds with a knowledge of true re¬ligion and useful learning ; and of training them to live for the honour of God and the service of Christ, of their country and of their fellow men.

Essay No. 32.
British Discipline
BY
Lieut.-General Sir R. S. S. Baden-Powell, C.B., K.C.V.O., F.R.G.S.

WHY SAILORS WEAR BLACK NECKERCHIEFS.

HAVE you noticed that British men-of-war's-men all wear a black neckerchief round their necks ? And do you know why ? They wear it as a sign of mourn¬ing for Lord Nelson, the great admiral who was killed in the battle of Trafalgar over a hundred years ago. On October 2I, 1805, the British fleet attacked and, what is more, defeated the combined force of French and Spanish men-of-war.
It looked almost hopeless for a small fleet to attack so large a one ; but Nelson made that grand signal which called on every man that day to do his duty, and every man, like a true Briton, did his duty, even though in many a case it cost him his life.
Nelson himself showed the example, for he drove his ship in between two of the enemy's ships, and fought them, one against two. He never attempted to take cover, but exposed himself to danger as much as anyone, and was killed at the moment of victory ; and he died happy, because, as he said, " He had
347

tried "—and we know how successfully—"to do his duty." His duty was always present in his mind.

THE BALACLAVA CHARGE.

On October 25, 1854, the Light Cavalry Brigade got the order to charge the Russian artillery, which was supported by the infantry and cavalry_
It was a hopeless task. The order had really been given by mistake. But that did not matter to men who were accustomed to obey. They charged, and, though it cost them a great number of gallant lives, they carried out their duty with such bravery and dash as to command the highest praise even from their enemies, and they won for British soldiers the name of being ready to sacrifice their lives to carry out their orders, even though the job looked hopeless. That is why Boy Scouts to-day have as their motto the single word
"BALACLAVA "
to remind them that if they get an order which it is a bore or even a danger to perform, their duty is to do as their brave fathers did at Balaclava, and carry it out cheerily and well. That is true discipline.

THE MADNESS OF DISOBEDIENCE.

Gibraltar is a big fortified mountain, off the south coast of Spain, which belongs to Great Britain.
The British captured it over one hundred years

ago, and were then besieged there by the French and Spanish armies, working together. The Spanish army attacked it on the land side, the French attacked it by sea ; but although they fought hard and with the greatest endurance for over three years, our troops defending the place were a match for them, and held out successfully until they were relieved by the fleet from home.
General Elliott, who had been a cavalry officer in the 15th Hussars, commanded the troops at Gibraltar, and it was chiefly owing to his strict discipline that the garrison succeeded in holding out. Every man had learnt to obey orders without any hesitation or question.
One day a soldier disobeyed an order, so General Elliott had him up before him and explained that for a man to be disobedient at such a time showed that he could not be in his right mind; he must be mad.
So he ordered that he should be treated as lunatics were at that time treated, viz., that his head should be shaved, and that he should be blistered, bled, and put into a strait waistcoat, and should be put in the cells, with bread and water, and should also be prayed for in church
Well, the general was quite right. If a man cannot obey orders when there is danger to all he must be mad. But it is difficult for a man to be obedient at such a time if he has never learnt to be obedient in ordinary times ; and that is why discipline

350
is so strongly kept up both in the Army and Navy in peace time.
A man is taught to obey even the smallest order most carefully and without hesitation until it becomes such a habit with him that when an order is given him to do, a big or dangerous one, he does it at once without any question. And when everybody can be trusted to obey orders, it is an easy thing for the commander to manoeuvre his troops and carry out the battle with some chance of success. Well, it is just the 'same in business, in factories, in your school. If the master knows that whatever he orders will be carried out he doesn't worry about it ; he goes ahead, and everybody backs him up by doing his share of duty, and so the whole thing succeeds, and everybody is contented. It is only when some few fellows shirk their duty, and throw extra strain on others, that there is trouble or ill-feeling.

THE "BIRKENHEAD."

You remember the story about the ship Birken¬head, on board of which discipline and obedience were so splendidly shown by the soldiers.
The ship was carrying about 63o soldiers, with their families, and 130 seamen. Near the Cape of Good Hope one night she ran on to some rocks, and began to break up. The soldiers were at once paraded on deck, half-dressed as they, were, just out of their hammocks.

Some were told off to get out the boats and to put the women and children into them, and others were told off to get the horses up out of the hold, and to lower them overboard into the sea, in order that they might have a chance of swimming ashore. When this had all been done it was found that there were not enough boats to take everybody, and so the men were ordered to remain in their ranks on the deck, while the women and children, with a few men to row them, moved off from the sinking ship.
The boats had not gone far when the ship broke into half and began to go down. The captain shouted to the men to jump overboard and save themselves, but the colonel—Colonel Seaton—interrupting the captain, ordered the men to stand where they were and to keep their ranks, for he saw that if they swam to the boats, and tried to get in, they would probably sink them too.
So the men kept their ranks, and as the ship rolled over and sank they gave a farewell cheer, and went down with her.
Out of the whole 760 on board, only 192 were saved, but even these would probably have been lost had it not been for the discipline and self-sacrifice of the others in obeying the order to keep their ranks and not to try to get into the boats.
So you see the value of discipline in a 'difficult crisis or moment of danger.
The great Duke of Wellington, who was Com-

mander-in-Chief of the British Army, when describ¬ing this heroic act on the Birkenhead, praised very highly the discipline of the men—he did not praise their bravery. It was brave of them, but he con¬sidered that all Britons are naturally brave—he expected bravery of them. But discipline is another thing; it has to be learnt. In battle or in a big danger a brave man may be very useful, but if he does pretty much as he pleases he is not half so valuable as the man who, besides being brave, has also learnt to obey every order at once.

A DISOBEDIENT SCOUT.

I once had a brave scout in my force in the South African War. He was a brave man and an active scout, but he was not good at obeying orders, and in the end this cost him his life and did harm to our plans.
We had news of a force of the enemy which did not know of our presence in that part of the country. So we hid ourselves, meaning to surprise and capture them when they came along. The orders were that not a sound was to be made and not a man was to show himself, and these orders were faithfully carried out—except by this one scout. He thought he knew better than others, and he slipped away unseen to go and look out for the enemy's approach. Presently he spied a hostile scout, and fired at him ; the enemy's scout returned his fire, and after a short duel both

of them fell mortally wounded. But the noise of their shooting gave the alarm to the enemy's force ; more came upon the spot, and, finding a British scout there, they naturally guessed that there must be more in the neighbourhood, so they took all pre¬cautions, sent out scouts in all directions, and then, coming on our tracks, at last discovered our hiding-place, and gave warning to their own side, who were then able to make their escape.
If my scout had only learnt, when a boy, to obey orders it might have made a great difference that day to him, to us, and to the enemy.

THE FIRE BRIGADE.

But it is not only soldiers and sailors who have to learn discipline. Obedience and "playing the game " is just as necessary in every other line of life.
Watch firemen at work. They are all brave enough ; they would all like to be at the top of the ladder fighting the flames, but their discipline makes them work at their different particular jobs, each playing in his place, obeying orders, and doing his share in order that the fire may be put out, not that he should win special glory or excitement for him¬self.
It is exactly the same when you are playing foot¬ball or hockey. If each player wanted to play his own way, and have the ball all to himself, his team

would never win a match. The whole art of playing successfully is that each player should merely do his utmost to help his side to win. So soon as he has got the ball he does his best with it, and then quickly passes it on to another of his side, who is ready at once to back up and take his turn at getting the ball along. Each man plays in the place where he is told to play by the captain, and all this means discipline ; it is the team which has the best training and the best discipline that generally wins.
It is just the same in all other paths in life, whether in games or in duty or in trade.
Even in the streets there is discipline. The policeman regulates the traffic so that all vehicles moving in one direction keep to one side of the road, and thus allow the traffic in the opposite direction to keep moving along the other side. But if one motor-'bus driver did not feel inclined to obey orders, but dashed about in his own way, not caring to which side of the road he went so long as he went ahead, there would be accidents and delay in no time and the whole traffic would be upset.

MAKING PINS.

If you are in business with a large number of others it is useful for the good of the whole that you obey the orders which you receive from those who are in authority over you. If the seniors can be sure that their assistants will, each in his own department,

carry out their orders they can carry on the business properly.
How long do you suppose it would take you to make a pin by yourself ? Well, it would take one
man about a day to make twenty. But it has been found that ten men, working together, each doing his own bit, can turn out 48,000 pins in the day.
If each worked alone, they could only make 200 altogether. So that you are able to do much greater work directly you do it with others, when each is doing his bit of the work under orders of the head man.

COMMAND YOURSELF.

The soldier does not go into a battle because he likes it. It is a dangerous place, and he feels in-clined to run away; but he commands himself, and says, "I must go, whether I like it or not, because it is my duty." When he gets his orders from his officers to attack the enemy, he would probably be more anxious still to go in the opposite direction, but he commands himself and says, "I must obey the orders of my officers." And the officers obey the orders of the general, and so the whole force moves to the attack simply from a spirit of discipline, each man making himself do his proper share, so that, although he may lose his life, yet his side may, win the battle.

You may get tired and out of breath, and you may get a hack on the shins, but that doesn't stop you playing, does it ? No. You stick to it and go on because it is "the game " to do so. You are one of a team ; you've got to peg away, passing the ball 0n to your comrades when you get the chance, not for any honour or glory to yourself, but because you want your side to win. And the whole team are working in the same way, each in his own place in the field, obeying the orders of the captain, like soldiers in a battle.
That is the way to "play the game," whatever the game may be, whether it is war or commerce ; science or sport. Remember we are each one of us trying to do our little bit towards winning the game for our country.

BE A BRICK.
You may think that where so many thousands of men are doing it, it doesn't very much matter if there is a shirker or two. But we are like so many bricks in a wall. Many thousands of bricks are used in making a big building, and each little brick has his place in keeping it up ; he may have a humble place where he is not much seen, or he may be in a showy position, but, wherever he is, he has got to do his duty and be a good strong brick, firm and trust¬worthy. If he is a rotter, and cracks or crumbles away, he throws extra strain and work on the others,

and some of them may begin to crack too, and then the walls get unsteady and the whole building may fall down.
So be a good brick in this great nation of ours, be strong and stick to your duty, obey orders cheerily and at once, and don't be a waster; play the game without thinking of your own comfort or safety, but in order that your side may win—that the great Empire to which you belong may be strong and flourish for ever.

Essay No. 33.
What Can Women Do for the Empire ?
A FEW WORDS TO GIRLS
BY
Mrs. Claude Epps, B.Sc.
(Late Head Mistress of the Stafford Girls' High School.)

" WHAT can Women do for England ?" This was the subject set a few days ago for a prize essay at a girls' school. I began to wonder what I should have written had the task been given to me; and then I thought it might be interesting to write down the train of ideas that passed through my mind.
First of all, however, the position of women may alter politically ; whether we are given the Parlia¬mentary vote or not, there are three things at least that we, the women of England, shall have to do for our country : We must be the mothers of coming generations; we must be the nurses of these child¬ren ; and we must be mainly responsible for the teaching of all the girls, and largely concerned in the teaching of the boys while they are small. I need not dwell on the importance of these duties, nor
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need I point out how carefully we should prepare ourselves to discharge our obligations faithfully if we knew exactly what part we should be called upon to play.
Now, at this juncture we come to the really vital point. Since the future is hidden from us, we must all prepare ourselves, so far as we can, to be ready to do what is required of us when the call comes, whether as mother, nurse, teacher, home daughter, or as a worker in any of the numerous callings open to women. Some of us make up our minds quite early that we want to follow a certain career, and perhaps we are able to achieve our desire ; we eagerly do all that we can to secure the proper technical training for our future work, but if we do this without also getting character training we can¬not but be failures. The converse does not entirely hold, for if we train our characters, even though we have no technical qualifications of any sort, we shall be able to some degree to lead useful, successful lives, helping and influencing others, and so we shall be a benefit to our generation.
Let us remember this : Women differ fundamen¬tally from men, and all the talk that we hear nowa¬days of the equality of the sexes rests on an untenable basis. Men and women are made to be the comple¬ments of each other, so let us see how we can best help to fulfil this relationship, and also to remove certain blemishes which spoil the work of so many

women. Here are some grave charges that I fear may justly be brought against us : We are lacking in public spirit ; many of us are somewhat shallow and superficial ; and we are frequently sentimental and allow ourselves to be carried away by emotion, and so are led to commit acts which in our thinking moments we realise to be foolish, if not actually wrong. Let us look into these accusations in order to see how we can effect a remedy and help to become the true helpmeets of men, and so a greater strength to our nation, to the whole Empire, and to our generation at large.
Although some women are realising more their lack of public spirit, much yet remains to be done ; we must not be selfish and self-centred, and be satisfied if all goes well with us and those intimately connected with us. Let us remember that outside our homes there is the nation ; beyond that our sister nations over the seas; and we must do all we can to grasp the social and economic conditions of our times, to study history, especially the history of our Empire, so that we can understand the significance of the march of events and, moreover, be able to take an intelligent part in the conversation of those around us. If we once convince men that we have a real, sane, and intelligent grasp of the problems of the day, they will be more ready to discuss things with us on an equal footing ; they will come to see that the man's point of view must, in some ways, differ

from the woman's, but their respect for us will increase, and so our influence must grow.
It is useless to deny that women often let their hearts rule their heads, and in an impulsive way they allow themselves to do things solely on the ground of sentiment ; it is often so much easier to act on the suggestion of our emotions rather than to stop and consider the true merits and significance of a situa¬tion. We should train ourselves to look at life as it really is, not as we imagine it to be, or as we should like it to be. Shall we be consulted and referred to in difficulties if it is known that our opinions and actions are based on insecure founda¬tions ? Let us remember the words of that great man, Theodore Roosevelt : "Of all broken reeds, senti¬mentality is the most broken on which righteousness can lean."
Much philanthropic work is being done in our country to-day through the agency of Civic Guilds and Guilds of Help. These societies all aim at help¬ing those in need, primarily by personal service, and the help required necessarily involves a thorough investigation of all the facts and circumstances of the case, a knowledge of economic conditions, and a quick and clear-sighted decision as to the best and truest way in which help can be given ; and though throughout one may be actuated by love for one's fellow-creatures, one sees immediately how little room there is for sentimentality to run riot in such

rk, and how far off the world is still from the time when it may become a Paradise from which all force or punishment for wrongdoing can be safely eliminated.
These are days in which sensible, solid, hard work is expected from our women, and our women must see to it that they can give what is required of them. Let us train ourselves to be thorough and systematic; and while we are engaged in any work or play, let us throw ourselves into it with our whole soul, heart, and body. It is a trite saying, but none the less a true one, that "if a thing is worth doing it is worth doing well." I feel that the author of these words was probably a man. Women are usually quicker than men in seeing a point ; but this is often their undoing, for instead of going deeply into a matter, they are satisfied with an inadequate and superficial grasp of it ; and this lack of thoroughness is the bane of many women.
It is good for us occasionally to pause in out daily occupations and think of the responsibilities that our lot in life brings to us ; the greater our privileges, the greater must be our responsibility; it always has been so, and, happily, it always must be so. Of one's duty to the members of one's family it is unnecessary to speak, it is too obvious to need emphasis ; but, passing on to wider claims beyond those of relations and neighbours, we are all proud to call ourselves subjects of King George, and as

such we owe him and our country united loyalty and reverence. Let us ask ourselves what right we have to shelter behind the advantages and safeguards afforded us by British power and civilisation, and by the wisely-thought-out laws of our land, without attempting to give back some small service to our country. We cannot accept with folded hands all the benefits that thus come to us; let us rather rouse up and say :
"Here and here did England help me.
How can I help England? Say ! "
Even beyond this, we are fellow-members, joined with millions living overseas, of the great British Empire, and as such we are bound together by certain sacred mutual bonds, whose obligations are expressed so tersely and comprehensively in the watchwords of the great "Empire Movement " : "Responsibility, Duty, Sympathy, Self-sacrifice."
Whether we realise our obligations or not, we none of us can pass through this world unheeded, however humble our situation in life may be. If our influence is not good, then it is bad; and it is wonder¬ful how great an influence for good even the most apparently insignificant girl may have. I need not dwell on the undoubted influence women possess over men, but, confining ourselves to our own sex, have you ever noticed, when a group of friends is talking in a way that is hardly wise or sensible, how the

entrance of another girl may change the whole tone of the conversation ? She says nothing, but the others realise that she would disapprove of what they are saying, and so, for the time being, she raises them up nearer to her own level.
You see that I have rambled far away from the great question of careers and all the splendid achieve¬ments that may be wrought by women, but the last paragraph deals with something of far greater im¬portance, and its inner meaning is that it is Being, rather than Doing, that chiefly matters.
So long as we live we have to "be," and if you will think you will see that whether we do this well or ill depends upon ourselves, what we demand of ourselves, what, in short, we have trained ourselves to be. This training will be no easy and trivial matter. It would be well to form the habit of think¬ing at the beginning of each day, how that day is to be spent, and of considering what we are going, with God's help, to try to do for the good of our fellow-creatures; and service to our fellow-creatures is service to God. At the end of the day let us not be afraid to look back and see how little we have probably achieved of what we set out to do; but let us begin again, prayerfully and hopefully, the next day, remembering that "there is no failure but ceasing to try, and perseverance is a series of fresh beginnings."
We must, to a great extent, train ourselves. The

personal element enters very largely into the making of each individual ; if not, all the brothers and sisters brought up in one family would be exactly alike, and yet we know how much they usually differ ; and so we must, to some degree, develop ourselves, and that along the lines of our own individuality.
As a girl grows up she is given, and quite rightly, more freedom and independence; and with each gift of added freedom comes the added responsibility of making the right use of it. Let me say at once that freedom and responsibility do not do away, with the older order of duty and reverence to those to whom they are due. Emancipation comes first in the form of free time, to be used as we please, and our choice in this matter probably influences the whole of our future lives. What occupations are we going to take up; what books are we going to read; and what friends are we going to make when we are left to ourselves ?
There is so great a craving for pleasure in these days, in all classes of society, that girls tend to go with the stream and choose the easy and pleasant
path of inclination rather than the harder and more rugged path of duty and wisdom. We are much t mpted while we are young to think that we must have "all the fun we can get," and nothing that is not fun, if we can so arrange it. While we are thus idly playing, Time is passing, and Opportunities are allowed to go by unseen, and perchance they,

may never return. What we have to do is to remem¬ber that "Life is Now," and not some years hence; and we must, as early as may be, take hold of our¬selves and decide how we are going to discipline ourselves and what is to be our attitude towards life.
For fear that you may bring against me the charge of being vague, let me indicate a few of the paths along which our thoughts should travel. I am not going to tell you just what I think you ought to do, because I want you to think it out for your¬selves. So much is done for us nowadays that we can usually find people even to think for us; and one of the things that the girls of today should learn to do is to think out things for themselves, logically, and sensibly. Here are a few things for you to think about, all of which tend to the training of character your reading ; whole volumes might be written on this one subject, and it is such an important one. Learn while you are yet young to read well, and make what you read your own ; and if you are going to do this you will not want to read anything but sound and good books. A certain library had as its motto, "Multum quam multa lege," and much is contained in this advice.
Along whatever lines your education may take you, see that it is not all brain-work to the exclusion of hand-work. Learn to use your hands; it gives one such a feeling of security and independence to

know that, if necessary, one can "turn to " and do cooking, sewing, carpentry, gardening or house-work. I knew one young married woman who had a good staff of servants, but who proudly said she had once, at least, even blackleaded the kitchen grate and scrubbed the kitchen floor, so that she might feel that she could do everything necessary in her own house. Even if one is called upon to fill a high place in the social order, one becomes a better mistress and helper to one's subordinates if one has a practical knowledge of the work that has to be done.
Then comes the question of our friends. Friend¬ship should be a solemn and holy and happy tie in which the partners mutually benefit each other.
Next, our leisure. Here, I believe, lies the greatest difficulty of all. There are, alas ! many girls who give up their whole leisure and thoughts and con¬versation to games. Modern athletics have done so much for us in teaching us to "play up, play up, and play the game," in improving our physique, and in making us morally and physically sturdier, and withal they provide such genuine and healthy enjoyment, that it is very sad to think of the abso¬lutely undue prominence that is now often given to them. I travelled not long ago for nearly a hundred miles with some young women who were taking part in a hockey match, and their conversation was of little but games the whole time, except when some

of them became animated over a "missing author" competition ; but it appeared that even this bore on games, for the proceeds from the entrance fees were for the funds of a needy hockey club. Here games had come to occupy quite a wrong place in the minds of these girls, and for the time being, at all events, their lives had lost all sense of proportion.
We all know the power of association. If we find ourselves inclined to place too great an import¬ance on the comparatively trivial interests of life, would it not be wise to join some of the numerous organisations of women with higher aims ? Religious and philanthropic associations for women are numer¬ous and well known, and membership of, say, the Girls' Patriotic League,* or of some similar organi¬sation, might assist towards the development of the spirit of self-sacrifice for the public good.
There is a legend that King Alfred used eight-hour candles, and that he burnt three each day—one for work, one for play, and one for sleep. It would be well for us to make some such scheme for our lives, that we may keep a right sense of proportion. We should none of us cut up a good piece of silk for a dress without having thought out a definite plan ; and surely the web of life is worthy of still more delicate and careful handling.
Remember that to fit ourselves for the big issues of life we must first build up our characters slowly,

* Hon. Sec.: Mrs. Douglas Owen, 9, Wilbraham Place, London, S.W.

stage by stage; the superstructure can never be satisfactory unless the foundations are sound, and it is during our youth that we are laying these founda¬tions; so let us make it our business to do this work slowly and surely. If we think seriously how we are going to use our talents—that is, our brains, our bodies, our possessions, our friendships, and our opportunities—we shall have begun to lay our foundations well : the self-discipline and training will be started, and we shall have gone some way in working out a practical answer to the question with which I started—"What can Women do for England ? " and, we might add, for God, for their Empire, and for their fellow-creatures.


Essay No. 34.
Responsibility for the Moral
Education of Youth
BY
The Hon. George H. Martin, Litt.D,
Treasurer of the Massachusetts Board of Education, Boston,
United States.

THE education of youth is a very complex process, and it is brought about by the combined effort of many forces. If all these forces acted in the same direction, and that in a right direction, the result would be their sum, and their cumulative effect would produce the highest type of moral character. If, however, as is usually the case, some of the forces act in opposition to others, the resultant is the difference, and the outcome is determined by the relative strength of the two. If the stronger forces act in the direction of right living, the character will be upright and the general tenor of the life correct. If the forces which tend to degrade are stronger, the resultant will be low moral standards and an unworthy life.
The forces which act upon all young lives are the borne, the school, and the social environment. The
371

school purposes, nor one couched in more felicitous language, than the one contained in the famous law of Massachusetts, enacted in 1789":*
"The president, professors and tutors of the University at Cambridge and of the several colleges, all preceptors and teachers of academies and all other instructors of youth shall exert their best endeavours t0 impress on the minds of children and youth committed to their care and instruction the principles of piety and justice and a sacred regard for truth, love of their country, humanity and universal benevolence, sobriety, industry and frugality, chastity, moderation and temperance, and those other virtues which are the ornament of human society and the basis upon which a republican constitution is founded ; and they shall endeavour to lead their pupils, as their ages and capacities will admit, into a clear understanding of the tendency of the above-mentioned virtues to preserve and perfect a republican constitution and secure the blessings of liberty as well as to promote their future happiness, and also to point out to them the evil tendency of the opposite vices."
This law is marvellously comprehensive in its application—all instructors of youth—and its twelve virtues include all human relations.
But it should be noticed that it limits the obliga-tion of teachers. They are to use their best en-deavours to impress on the minds the principles—that

Section i8, Chapter 42, Revised Laws.

is, they are to instruct. The persistent practice of these virtues which constitutes training and results in habits must be secured largely outside of school. The school and the college enable the children and youth to frame standards, to create ideals of charac¬ter. As to most of these virtues, this is as far as they go.
The school may secure respect and obedience to the authority of the teacher, but it cannot compel children to reverence and obey their parents. It may secure justice and fair play among the pupils in their dealings with each other during the school hours, but it cannot enforce it in the home and on the street, where the child spends seven-eighths of his time. The school is an admirable field for the exercise of humanity and neighbourly love, and within its limits of time and persons may do much to strengthen them as permanent motives of conduct ; but when the most is done, wide fields are necessarily left untouched. The school work tends directly toward sobriety and industry, but the schools cannot keep the children from social excesses nor impose on them domestic tasks. Frugal habits must be formed at home, if anywhere, and temperance is a virtue of the home rather than of the school.
From this two-fold effort of the schools, through discipline and through instruction, it is probable that the standards of morals of pupils in the public schools are higher than are the standards of the business or social circles which they enter.

But what confronts a child on looking away from the school and its teaching ? He finds in the home laxity of discipline and little insistence on even the outward marks of respect. He does not find in the world that practice of justice and fair-dealing that he has been led to expect. He cannot help seeing that fraud and chicanery and dishonesty are preva¬lent, and their practice by people in good society is winked at or condoned. In business and politics, and often in social affairs, he learns that a sacred regard for the truth is not considered consistent with a workable policy. He finds that "Man's inhumanity to man " still "makes countless thousands mourn." When he has formed in school a standard of temper¬ate and frugal living, he is confronted in his own home by domestic waste and expenditure for un¬necessary luxury and on every street corner by a drinking-saloon licensed by public authority. He has been taught industry, and he sees the idle rich faring sumptuously every day and the idle poor supported at public expense. And, as for chastity, he finds that society insists on it only for women. He sees every form of vice made heroic in the yellow journal and on the yellow stage.
Is it any wonder that some youth, many youth, confused by the contradiction between school and life, between what they have been taught is right and what they see is done, their character yet in the gristle, yield to the temptation set before them and

follow the multitude to do evil ? Is it not rather a matter of surprise and thankfulness that so many maintain correct standards and strengthen themselves in habits of right living ?
It seems to me clear that, if any substantial improvement of society is hoped for, this play of con¬flicting forces in the teaching and training of child¬ren and youth must cease. All social forces must become mutually co-operative and sustaining. They must act in the same direction and cumulatively, and not, as now, athwart and opposite each other.
The Church needs to reorganise and modernise its methods of instruction. Its Bible schools need to embody the best methods of modern pedagogy in their appeal to children. Formulas of doctrine need to give way to concrete principles of living. The Bible needs to be presented not as a dead book, telling about dead people and dead races ; but its men and women should be made luminous with human qualities, shown to be types of men and women of to-day, and their experiences made helpful in shaping conduct now.
Out of the heart are the issues of life. The home is the heart of human society, and out of it are the issues of character. This is the basic law of human nature, universal and everlasting. No change of social customs can abrogate it. It is not subject to the caprice of fashion. To violate it or ignore it means disaster. No other human being can stand

in loco parentis. The phrase is only a legal fiction.
If in the home are not exemplified piety and justice and a sacred regard for truth, industry, frugality, chastity and temperance, it is an uphill task for teachers or preachers to make these virtues so alluring as to influence conduct.
If the mottoes "The teacher makes the school " and "Like priest, like people" are true, much more true is the saying of Euripides, "The errors of parents the gods turn to the undoing of their children."
If the parents neglect their children, it matters little whether they are absorbed in cares of State, or business, or pleasure, or sin, the children suffer the penalty. And it matters little whether the home be one of poverty or riches, so far as its moral influence goes.
The most needed social reform is to make good homes universal. Parenthood should be a throne and obedience should be the "bond of rule." There should be dignity without austerity, firmness and, if necessary, severity without cruelty, affection and sympathy without silliness, morality without hypoc¬risy, and religion without cant.
Such homes would give efficacy to the teaching of the school and the Church.
The community has much to answer for when children go astray. It has put temptation in their

way. It has tolerated practices in business and in politics which tend to break down character. It has allowed vice to flaunt itself in a hundred ways attractive to the young. In its dealing with children it has often been severe when it should have been lenient and lenient when it should have been severe.
It has so handled the making, the interpretation, and the execution of law as to produce moral con¬fusion and obliquity. While punishing the poor and friendless criminal to the limit, it has allowed the rich and the influential to go free. It has rarely anywhere reached the guilty ones "higher up." Its penalties have been retributive rather than reforma¬tory. It has so dealt with juvenile delinquency as to implant the seeds of suspicion and hostility toward society itself.
The streets of every large city in the world are filled with young persons who have been confirmed in evil habits by the sins of society—sins of omission and of commission. The lack of suitable play¬grounds, of proper places for evening recreation, and of adequate instruction in industry has left the young of both sexes a prey to their own natural but per¬verted instincts.
So the work of moral disintegration which the unfaithful home has begun the equally unfaithful society has completed.
We have no occasion for surprise, therefore, that children and youth show as many lapses from virtue

as they do. The wonder is that there are so few.
The remedy for it all is not a simple one. To make the instruction in the schools more systematic or to introduce into them religious exercises where now there are none might be useful, but it would not be adequate.
Higher standards of conduct in social life, fewer legalised temptations in the path of youth, more intelligent dealing with juvenile delinquency, more adequate provision for recreation and vocational education, more appropriate methods of moral and religious nurture by the Church, and, above all, a keener sense of parental responsibility, more judicious restraint, and more sympathetic aid in trying to be good—all of these are needed.
The subject of the moral education of youth is suffering to-day for the lack of comprehensive grasp. Efforts at reform are too narrow and one-sided. When the discussion assumes this broader phase, and not till then, the real magnitude of the work will be seen and the necessity for co-operative effort of all social forces will appear.

Essay No. 35.
Esprit de Corps
BY
The Right Rev. Edgar Jacob, D.D.
Bishop of St. Albans.

EARLY in the nineteenth century individualism was not only too little balanced in religion, but it affected political economy, of which enlightened selfishness was boldly proclaimed to be the leading principle. We are recovering from this want of balance now, but the lessons of history will have been learnt in vain if we do not remember that the swing of the pendulum often leads into reactions just as dangerous as the half-truths which have caused them ; and if I try now to show some of the lessons of the corporate life as they help duty and discipline, it is with the proviso that they are truths which themselves need to be balanced if they are to help us to the life which, as Christians and citizens, it is our duty to lead.
With this proviso, however, I wish to submit the general principle that membership of a body entails obligations which esprit de corps can turn into a

delight and an honour. I wish to apply, this both in the religious and the civil sphere.

IN THE SPHERE OF RELIGION

Do we work the principle of esprit de corps for all that it may mean ? If it be difficult to realise its meaning for the entire Church, do we work it for the Church of England or, if members of other Christian bodies, for the communion to which we may belong ? Would it not be a help to a young man going abroad to realise that his manner of life in the new country affects the honour of his Church and not himself alone, that he cannot go wrong without others suffer¬ing, and that he cannot do right without others gaining ? Or, if this be a difficult conception to grasp at once, may not the associations of an English diocese or an English parish be often a restraint or a stimulus ? When Vicar of Portsca, I used to encourage young men who might go from the parish into the Royal Navy or into various lines of business to remember that the honour of the parish was com-mitted to their keeping, and photographs of the church and of home scenes and home letters often reminded them of these lessons and helped to drive the truth home. My belief is that many a young man away from home is helped to do his duty and to keep from moral evil by the associations of his home and parish and by the esprit de corps which, when once grasped, makes him ashamed to bring

dishonour on the body to which he belongs and really anxious to bring honour to it by living a pure and true life. I have found elementary and secondary schools, guilds and societies—by whatever name they may be called—helpful in sustaining this esprit de corps, and so in maintaining a high standard of life. It is not the highest motive, but it is a very true subsidiary motive, and we cannot afford to do without these helps in the perils which our young folk have to face. It is largely a bad environment which drags them down ; and this esprit de corps helps to encompass them, at least in thought, with a good environment by enabling them to realise that they are members of a body which cares for them and to which they owe obligations. Self-control, good honest work, a regard for duty for duty's sake, a love of honesty, not because it is the best policy, but because it is morally right, are at least easier of achievement and at least characteristic of the true nature of a young man who lives not as though his religion and his life were matters between God and himself alone, but with the sense that, being the child of God, he is a member of a Divine society, and that what he thinks and says and does affects the whole society and not himself alone. The principle of esprit de corps may be carried into every, department of life, business and pleasure alike, and it gives a young man or young woman an unseen but felt environment which restrains from vice and

inclines to virtue. The principle cannot be taught too early in life. It is far more difficult to teach it when habits are fixed and when the very idea of a corporate life may seem like a fanciful dream.

IN THE CIVIL SPHERE

And yet I cannot help thinking that many men have come to realise something of the principle in civil life who have failed to apply it to religion. There is many a club or trade union or friendly society which has a very real esprit de corps that is of great value in maintaining the efficiency of the society and keeping its members loyal. If this be so, then the doctrine of analogy might make a man reflect that what he realises to be true in the secular sphere is likely to be true in the sphere of religion as well ; and, when once he has come to acknowledge this, he will find that it is what Christianity has especially taught the world and what all experience confirms.
But let me give it a wider application in the civil sphere than in reference to a club or a trade union or a friendly society. We are subjects of a King whose Empire takes in 400,000,000 of the human race. Have we adequately realised what esprit de corps means to us as Englishmen ? Surely we are bound to guard such principles as that our Empire stands for justice between man and man and for civil and religious freedom. Further, that the character of our moral lives affects the Empire. If a soldier or

sailor, colonist or tourist, acts in other lands un-worthily of the country to which he belongs, are we not all affected ? Does it not tarnish the British honour ?
Speaking as a Christian, who is bound by Christ's teaching and example, I hold that the Christian society is bound to present the Gospel to every nation, and that those in our Empire have the first claim on us for such presentation ; but what hindrance to the work can equal that of moral lives which are a disgrace to Christianity ? Therefore, both from the civil and from the religious standpoint, I hold that the "white man's burden " must include the personal example, and that the esprit de corps of an Englishman coincides with the esprit de corps of a Christian in leading to virtue and restraining from vice.
I have given some illustrations of the way in which this principle of esprit de corps may work in the religious and in the civil spheres, but I have given illustrations only which may be copiously increased. I contend that it is a principle which may be far more widely and thoroughly worked in the Church and in the State, and that the earlier the principle is grasped and applied the more chivalrous and unselfish will our people become and the more will they be linked together by ties of love and duty.