vives the spirit of that age. The life of Samuel Adams is an
epic that gives the youth a chance to live amid the stirring scenes of
Boston in a notable time. Children are to live in thought and interest
the lives of many men of other generations, as of Tell, Columbus,
Livingstone, Lincoln, Penn, Franklin, Fulton. They are to partake of
the experiences of the best typical men in the story of our own and of
other countries.

The use of the best historical and literary works as a means of
strengthening moral motives and principles with children whose minds
and characters are developing, is a high aim in itself. And it will
add _interest and life_ to the formal studies, such as reading,
spelling, grammar, and composition, which spring out of this valuable
subject-matter.

History, in the broad sense, should be the chief constituent of a
child's education. That subject-matter which contains the essence of
moral culture in generative form deserves to constitute the chief
mental food of young people. The conviction of the high moral value of
historic subjects and of their peculiar adaptability to children at
different ages, brings us to a positive judgment as to their relative
value among studies. The first question, preliminary to all others in
the common school course, "What is the most important study?" is
answered by putting _history_ at the head of the list.

_Natural science_ takes the second place. In many respects it is
co-ordinate with history. The object-world, which is so interesting,
so informing, and so intimately interwoven with the needs, labors, and
progress of men, furnishes the second great constituent of education
for all children. Botany, zoology, and the other natural sciences,
taken as a unit, constitute the field of nature apart from man. They
furnish us an understanding of the varied objects and complex phenomena
of nature. It is one of the imperative needs of all human minds that
have retained their childlike thoughtfulness and spirit of inquiry, to
desire to understand nature, to classify the variety of objects and
appearances, to trace the chain of causes, and to search out the simple
laws of nature's operations. The command early came to men to subdue
the earth, and we understand better than primitive man that it is
subdued through investigation and study. All the forces and bounties
of nature are to be made serviceable to us and it can only be done by
understanding her facts and la