hildren can
very soon be made to understand why they are requested to do certain
things habitually. This, of course, necessitates trouble; but it is the
only way to qualify them for contact with the world, and the active life
which must come with their maturity.

Once this rational foundation has been laid for the formation of a
child's character, more immediate attention can be given to the
development of its mental faculties and social tendencies.

The first step in solving the great problem of education--and here both
sexes are referred to--is to decide whether it should be public or
private. The objections to private education are serious. It is not good
for children to be too much in the society of men and women; for they
then "acquire that kind of premature manhood which stops the growth of
every vigorous power of mind or body." By growing accustomed to have
their questions answered by older people instead of being obliged to seek
the answers for themselves, as they are forced to do when thrown with
other children, they do not learn how to think for themselves. The very
groundwork of self-reliance is thus destroyed. "Besides, in youth the
seeds of every affection should be sown, and the respectful regard which
is felt for a parent is very different from the social affections that
are to constitute the happiness of life as it advances." "Frank
ingenuousness" can only be attained by young people being frequently in
society where they dare to speak what they think. To know how to live
with their equals when they are grown up, children must learn to
associate with them when they are young.

The evils which result from the boarding-school system are almost as
great as those of private education. The tyranny established among the
boys is demoralizing, while the acquiescence to the forms of religion
demanded of them, encourages hypocrisy. Children who live away from home
are unfitted for domestic life. "Public education of every denomination
should be directed to form citizens, but if you wish to make good
citizens, you must first exercise the affections of a son and a brother."
Home-training on the one hand, and boarding-schools on the other, being
equally vicious, the only way out of the difficulty is to combine the two
systems, retaining what is best in each, and doing away with what is
evil. This combination could be obtained by the establishment of national
day-schools.

They must be supported by government, bec