16. In what ways is one who has had private instruction likely to be a
poorer citizen than one who has attended school?

17. What conditions might cause some of those who go through school to
be polluted instead of rectified? Whose fault would it be?

18. What questions should we ask ourselves about the things that are
being done in our schools?

CHAPTER XVIII

POETRY AND LIFE

=Poetry defined.=--Poetry has been defined as "a message from the heart
of the artist to the heart of the man"; and, seeing that the heart is
the center and source of life, it follows that poetry is a means of
effecting a transfusion of life. The poet ponders life long and deeply
and then gives forth an interpretation in artistic form that is
surcharged with the very quintessence of life. The poet absorbs life
from a thousand sources--the sky, the forest, the mountain, the sunrise,
the ocean, the storm, the child in the mother's arms, and the man at his
work, and then transmits it that the recipient may have a new influx of
life. The poet's quest is life, his theme is life, and his gift to man
is life. His mission is to gain a larger access of life and to give life
in greater abundance. He gains the meaning of life from the snowflake
and the avalanche; from the grain of sand and the fertile valley; from
the raindrop and the sea; from the chirp of the cricket and the crashing
of the thunder; from the firefly and the lightning's flash; and from
Vesuvius and Sinai. To know life he listens to the baby's prattle, the
mother's lullaby, and the father's prayer; he looks upon faces that show
joy and sorrow, hope and despair, defeat and triumph; and he feels the
pulsations of the tides, the hurricane, and the human heart.

=How the poet learns life.=--He sits beside the bed of sickness and
hears the feeble and broken words that tell of the past, the present,
and the future; he visits the field of battle and sees the wreckage of
the passions of men; he goes into the dungeon and hears the ravings and
revilings of a distorted soul; he visits pastoral scenes where peace and
plenty unite in a song of praise; he rides the mighty ship and knows the
heartbeats of the ocean; he sits within the church and opens the doors
of his soul to its holy influences; he enters the hovel whose squalor
proclaims it the abode of ignorance and vice; he visits the home of
happiness where industry and frugality pour forth their bounteous gifts
and love sways its gentl