eriod, so often neglected in the study
of the pupil.

#36. General Survey.#--(1) _Keyword, "Service."_ As childhood's task
is absorption, and the task of youth adjustment, so the task of
maturity is service. That which has been taken in must be given out
again, enriched and enlarged by its stay in the soul. This is "the
last of life for which the first was made," and to fail here means to
miss the meaning of living.

All the factors necessary for service are now ready. Experience and
study have supplied something to give, mental discipline and
unimpaired physical strength supply the power for service, the broad
outlook reveals the need and place of service, and the soul's
awakening toward God and the neighbor have supplied the motives for
service.

(2) _Physical and mental power at the height._ Waste and repair in
bodily tissues are balanced during the prime of life. If development
has been normal, the will is resolute, and judgment and reason are
dominating and wise, for experience has given large data from which to
draw conclusions. While the "Golden Age of Memory" is far in the past,
the power of retaining new knowledge through the old is strong. To
enter upon unfamiliar lines of thought, however, at this time and
achieve any mastery is a mark of genius at least for hard work. The
soul has capacity now for the highest feelings that can stir the heart
of man, yet the character of those it really experiences is determined
by what life has been feeding upon. The love, joy, and peace which
give glory to maturity and old age grow alone out of thought upon true
and pure and lovely things and those of good report.

(3) _Development specialized, not general._ Out of the many calls and
lines of interest, each life has made choice of one or more, according
to taste and circumstances. Along these lines growth and development
proceed. It is not that life could not continue the many-sided
expansion of adolescence, but growth demands nourishment, development
demands activity. The need for the expert, the multiplicity of cares
and the force of habit make it difficult to "keep up" along many
avenues.

(4) _Time of achievement._ Achievement may or may not be that service
which manhood owes. The purpose in the task determines that. To souls
especially endowed and favorably environed come the riches of
intellectual research, of creation in the arts, of successes in the
business world. To the many, achievement means only struggle