And his mind will grow humble as well as inquiring; when he cannot find a reason he will infer not that there is none to find, but that his knowledge is insufficient. Geography will thus become to him an interesting and profitable study, not the dull and useless task it too often is.1 'Accuse geography of being dry! You might as well accuse the ocean of being dry.'-Herder. HISTORY THE detached facts which are sometimes called History deserve no more to be so called than detached wheels deserve to be Historical called a steam engine. Before facts can become facts must be History they must be selected according to some organised consistent idea, and arranged so as to show their mutual relations,-in short, they must be organised. Till organised they are not worth learning or teaching; when organised they constitute an exceedingly profitable study. There is no subject more likely to interest. Terence makes Chremes say that being a man he deems nothing human indifferent to him. Every child is in Reasons for this respect a Chremes. His boundless curiosity teaching embraces the past as well as the present,— History.--I. Interest embraces the past with as much ardour as the present if it is made as real. When little ones have been told a story they generally ask, 'Is it true?' and if the narrator can answer 'Yes,' their interest is greatly increased. History is a succession of stories all true. There is no subject more likely to rouse the imagination. It concerns itself not with words, like Grammar, not with abstract ideas, like Mathematics, but with the doings of actual men and women. It therefore furnishes material which, with the aid of a skilful teacher, children can work up into vivid pictures. 2. Imagination History is a fine mental discipline. The Greeks distinguished between the knowledge of phenomena and the knowledge of causes,-between the knowledge that and the know 3. Mental discipline ledge why. However taught, History is, more or less, an illustration of the first; well taught, it is an excellent illustration of both. At its lowest it is a series of facts, at its highest a series of organised facts. The study of these, being pre-eminently a study of the relations between cause and effect, is a valuable training. Furthermore, it is, in its advanced stage, when authorities have to be compared and weighed, a preparation for life. Separating what is relevant from what is incidental, and what is probable from what is impossible; judging what opportunities the witness had for knowing the truth, and what motives he might have for misrepresenting it; and, generally, estimating the credibility of conflicting testimony, are essential in the domain of History, but they are no less essential in the affairs of every day. Exactly the same powers of the mind are called into operation in deciding whether Richard killed his nephews in the Tower as in deciding whether Mr. Jones killed his neighbour's cat in the garden. 4. Prepara tion for life 5. Patriot 1sm History fosters patriotism. It fills the student with admiration for his forefathers' wisdom, heroism, and devotion to duty, which have made the nation what it is; with longings for a chance of emulating their glorious deeds; and, failing that, with a firm resolve to do nothing that shall tarnish the fair fame of their common country, and to pay the debt which he owes his ancestors, By transmitting down entire Those sacred rights to which himself was born. It is no mere coincidence that with the Jews, the most intensely patriotic people that the world has ever known, their historical books should be sacred, and the regular reading of them a religious duty. The study of History should be a necessary preliminary to the performance of civic obligations. Ours is a land Where freedom slowly broadens down From precedent to precedent. Our constitution is, not the symmetrical creation of an Abbé Siéyès, but a gradual growth, intelligible only by a reference. to its past. History is past politics,' and present politics become clear in the light which it throws upon them.2 6. Morals Finally, History has a powerful ethical influence. Conduct springs from feelings rather than from intellect, and the effect of History upon them can hardly be overestimated. We insensibly pass moral judgments on the actions of persons of whom we read; we have our favourites among them, and we wish to emulate those whom we admire. A complete course A complete course of study should extend over about eight years, and include a detailed history of our own country, viewed from several standpoints; a more summary history of the modern nations with which we have had dealings; an intelligent and (on the 'classical side' of a school) a full account of Greece and Rome; and some acquaintance with the ancient Eastern Empires. In planning a series of lessons for such a course one has to think of more than the logical and chronological sequence of the facts,-one has to think of the mental growth of the 1 E. A. Freer an. 2 Mr. Herbert Spencer ridicules the idea that History can 'illustrate the right principles of political action.' He says 'the biographies of monarchs (and our children learn little else) throw scarcely any light upon the science of society. . . . Supposing that you diligently read not only "the Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World," but accounts of all other battles that history mentions, how much more judicious would your vote be at the next election?' Mr. Spencer's argument is utterly irrelevant, for no teacher would attempt to base his teaching of Civics on either the biographies of monarchs or the details of battles. He is equally wide of the mark when he contends that history should be read for amusement only, the facts which it presents being facts from which no conclusion can be drawn,—unorganisable facts.' Unorganised by bad teachers, if you like, but unorganisable ! no! Arrangement pupil. What would be impossible to a child of ten would be easy to a boy of fifteen and puerile to a youth of eighteen. The teacher must, therefore, give only elementary instruction on the history of the countries taken first, and only advanced instruction on the history of the countries taken last, or he must go over the whole course more than once, varying his treatment according to the gradual development of the pupils' minds. The latter is the method followed in Germany. There are three surveys. The German method The first occupies from the age of ten to the age of twelve. The lessons are confined to interesting stories and biographies of great men. The second survey occupies the next three years, and attention is devoted more to national movements than to personal incidents, more, for instance, to the Second Punic War than to Hannibal, more to the struggle between the popular and senatorial parties than to Cæsar and Pompey, more to the Crusades than to Peter the Hermit, Godfrey of Bouillon, Richard Cœur de Lion or Saladin. Attention is also paid to dates and to the relation between cause and effect. During the third survey still more stress is laid on the connection between cause and effect; there is a thorough revision of the history of Greece and Rome; the epoch-making events of medieval times are studied in outline; the military, political, and social history of the fatherland in modern times is studied fully; and a year may be given to an 'intensive' or minute examination of some particular period, such as the era of the Renaissance, of the Reformation, or of the French Revolution. Primary school In primary schools, where the course must be limited to three or at the most four years, nothing can be included beyond the history of our own country, and only the simple concrete aspects of that can be exhibited. Political and social questions cannot be made clear to a child to whom an election means only an occasion when people wear parti-coloured favours, and shout course |