slapping each other over the head with books, and various other
expressions of exuberant spirits. One group stopped in front of my
alcove, and showed commendable curiosity about the visitor in their
midst. After exhausting his static possibilities, they tempted him to
dynamic reaction by making faces; but this proving to be of no avail,
they went on their way,--in the hope, doubtless, of realizing themselves
elsewhere.

I left that school with a fairly firm conviction that I had seen the
most advanced notions of educational theory worked out to a logical
conclusion. There was nothing halfway about it. There was no apology
offered for anything that happened. It was all fair and square and open
and aboveboard. To be sure, the pupils were, to my prejudiced mind, in a
condition approaching anarchy, but I could not deny the spontaneity, nor
could I deny self-activity, nor could I deny self-realization. These
principles were evidently operating without let or hindrance.

Before leaving the school, I took occasion to inquire concerning the
effect of such a system upon the teachers. I led up to it by asking the
principal if there were any nervous or anaemic children in his school.
"Not one," he replied enthusiastically; "our system eliminates them."
"But how about the teachers?" I ventured to remark, having in mind the
image of a distracted young woman whom I had seen attempting to reduce
forty little ruffians to some semblance of law and order through moral
suasion. If I judged conditions correctly, that woman was on the verge
of a nervous breakdown. My guide became confidential when I made this
inquiry. "To tell the truth," he whispered, "the system is mighty hard
on the women."

A few years ago I had the privilege of visiting a high school which was
operated upon this same principle. I visited in that school some classes
that were taught by men and women, whom I should number among the most
expert teachers that I have ever seen. The instruction that these men
and women were giving was as clear and lucid as one could desire. And
yet, in spite of that excellent instruction, pupils read newspapers,
prepared other lessons, or read books during the recitations, and did
all this openly and unreproved. They responded to their instructors with
shameless insolence. Young ladies of sixteen and seventeen coming from
cultured homes were permitted in this school to pull each other's hair,
pinch the arms of schoolmates who were recitin