; and, if a series of concentric courses adapted to the
various phases of development of the human being were generally accepted
in education, the first series in all sciences, save sociology, could be
taught before the age of ten or twelve, so as to give a general idea of
the universe, the earth and its inhabitants, the chief physical,
chemical, zoological, and botanical phenomena, leaving the discovery of
the _laws_ of those phenomena to the next series of deeper and more
specialised studies. On the other side, we all know how children like to
make toys themselves, how they gladly imitate the work of full-grown
people if they see them at work in the workshop or the building-yard.
But the parents either stupidly paralyze that passion, or do not know
how to utilize it. Most of them despise manual work and prefer sending
their children to the study of Roman history, or of Franklin's teachings
about saving money, to seeing them at a work which is good for the
"lower classes only." They thus do their best to render subsequent
learning the more difficult.

* * * * * * * * *

The so-called division of labor has grown under a system which condemned
the masses to toil all the day long, and all the life long, at the same
wearisome kind of labor. But if we take into account how few are the
real producers of wealth in our present society, and how squandered is
their labor, we must recognize that Franklin was right in saying that to
work five hours a day would generally do for supplying each member of a
civilized nation with the comfort now accessible for the few only,
provided everybody took his due share in production. But we have made
some progress since Franklin's times. More than one-half of the working
day would thus remain to every one for the pursuit of art, science, or
any hobby he might prefer; and his work in those fields would be the
more profitable if he spent the other half of the day in productive
work--if art and science were followed from mere inclination, not for
mercantile purposes. Moreover, a community organized on the principles
of all being workers would be rich enough to conclude that every man and
woman, after having reached a certain age--say of forty or more--ought
to be relieved from the moral obligation of taking a direct part in the
performance of the necessary manual work, so as to be able entirely to
devote himself or herself to whatever he or she