another; it is something which father, mother, and friends give to
the child; it is the result of the spirit in which they impart
instruction and of the reverence and consecration which shine from their
lives.

The best and only enduring nurture is that of a sweet, serene,
optimistic, and thoroughly Christian environment. With that, inherited
tendencies toward weakness and evil will go of themselves,--indeed will
seem never to have had existence.

But all too soon the time comes in which the soul faces its own
responsibility, and realizes that it must choose for itself what its
course shall be. It has learned, if it has observed, that there is ever
with it an unseen leadership, and it has heard, faint and far, the call
of a noble destiny. What shall it now do for itself? Shall it choose
simply to exist? Shall it yield to the limitations and solicitations of
the body? or, shall it seek to prepare itself by discipline, and the
cultivation of right choices, for the goal whose intimations it has
heard? Nurture, if it has been wise, has been the forerunner of culture.
Atmosphere and example have inspired lofty ideals, but those ideals, if
they are to be realized, will require training. Matthew Arnold, quoting
Bishop Wilson, has said that culture "is a study of perfection." In
other words, it is the means which are used for the perfection of the
soul. Shall we choose to leave ourselves to grow like trees in a forest,
however they may, or shall we seek those conditions which will make
progress sure and swift? Culture is always a matter of choice; and it is
vastly more than anything which can be taught in the college or
university. The cultured man is he who has learned so to use the forces
and conditions of life as to make them minister to his perfection. The
one most cultured may come out of a factory, and the man of least
culture may be found in a university. Indeed colleges and universities,
not infrequently, are haunts of provincialism and of dread of
enthusiasm. The object of culture is the perfection of the spirit to the
end that all that hinders, or limits, may disappear and only pure power,
clear vision, and full self-realization remain. Those whose growth is
most evident are ever eager to use all experiences as means of progress.
They study books in order that they may better understand what others
have thought concerning the mystery of existence; they discipline their
minds in order that they may the better serve th