CHARACTER LESSONS IN AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

ADAPTED FOR THE USE OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

BY JAMES T. WHITE.

Example is a living law whose sway

Men more than all the written laws obey.

Sir Charles Sedley.

COPYRIGHT BY JAMES T. WHITE & Co., 1906.

The crown and glory of life is character. It dignifies every station, exalts every position in society, and commands the confidence and respect of mankind. Character constitutes real aristocracy, for it is the only true heraldry of man. It is the throne and crown and scepter of a nation. Character is human nature in its best form, and its possession should be the highest object of life. It commands a far greater power and influence than even education or wealth. The examples of men of character never die, but, like their memories, are immortal.

But the welfare and safety of the State is entirely dependent upon character. More than law and legislation the crying need is for greater private virtue and more individual integrity. Never until recently has been so conclusively demonstrated the close connection between the welfare of the State and the conduct of the individual, and the inevitable destruction that awaits a nation made up of selfseekers, graft-grabbers and justice-jugglers.

Throughout Christendom there is a general demand for improved moral teaching. England demands it, as she claims, "to maintain commercial supremacy. France demands it for the maintenance of the family, and the safe preservation of the State." The German Emperor is making an appeal for the glorification of the Fatherland, half religious and half patriotic; and our own President is urging the necessity of a "square deal" and an improved quality of private character "for the Welfare of the State."

In Japan exactly our present problem arose long ago through the same cause,the multiplicity of jealous religious beliefs. Japan realized that its very life would be threatened if public education and moral training were allowed to be completely divorced. A national commission accordingly arranged to utilize Patriotism as a moral agent, with the result that to-day Japanese primers and readers give biographical sketches with inspiring knowledge of the greatest personalities, not only of Japan, but of the world—their splendid private characters, their heroism in war, their public services in peace. And it is said that the average Japanese boy to-day knows more definitely and concretely of George Washington than do our American youth.

But all agree that the only remedy is by having moral instruction taught to the children in the public schools. Marshall Field and other prominent business men of Chicago, employing thousands of boys and girls, have recently petitioned for improved instruction in the public schools along moral lines, affirming their belief that the school-boy of to-day is less reliable and morally inferior to the children. taught under the old regime, when moral and religious teaching held greater place.

In a recent address at Cornell University Dr. Andrew D. White, one of the foremost educators of the world, stated, "The great thing needed to be taught in this country is truth, simple ethics, the distinction between right and wrong. Stress should be laid upon what is best in biography, upon noble deeds and sacrifices, especially those which show that the greatest man is not the greatest orator, or the tricky politician. They are a curse; what we need is noble men. There is

need for religious instruction. Religious thoughts of all ages should be impressed upon the minds of the children-readings from the sacred books, the story of Joseph, the Sermon on the Mount, the wonderful writings of St. Paul. An edueated man who has not these in his memory is to be pitied."

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But it is not religious instruction alone that is needed, as is proved by the condition in countries where the Church has had complete charge of education. is moral instruction, combined with a convincement of the duties and obligations owed to the State, that is needed for the realization of the Republic's ideals.

Religion is not the exclusive possession of the Church. Religious life is simply the life of right living and right relationship, and these bases of religion may be brought to bear upon human life through the State, as well as the Church. The State, like the Church, endeavors to express the inexpressible, and has its symbols in the Seal of State, the Scales of Justice, the Sword of Truth. Men have always been seeking after the Holy Grail; but when it is found, it will always be the "holy Communal" life, which finds its highest expression in the State. The objectives of religion are the enlargement of the soul to the appreciation of God, and the enlargement of the heart to embrace the Brotherhood of man. While the Church substitutes for these great natural religious forces, a doctrine, a creed, the State energizes them in the heart and genius of the soul-as Endeavor, and in the work and life of the man among men, as Citizenship.

Citizenship may not be a large enough word; but all the inter-human relationships are included in this Civic Religion. Religion is relationship; and of all relations the Civic is the highest, and holiest, for out of this are developed the noblest qualities of Character.

We have a long list of political Saints: One left luxury and assumed the responsibilities of a desperate cause, for the sake of his fellowmen, not expecting to be called the Father of his Country; one dared death, and found it in an effort to enfranchise an inferior race; one gave his magnificent mental gifts to the establishment of a better civic service; another undertook the work of prison reform; another, now called the Ideal of an American Citizen, opened the light upon the slums of New York; one is doing more for righteousness, purity, holiness and truth than all the churches in Denver combined.

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In this new Republic the State is working out the recreation of humanity, and is taking the place of the Church in the hearts of the people, who find their religious revelations by looking into the faces of other men and women. State, in its essential nature, is the most sacred institution possible to human life. It is the only organized relationship that is universal in its nature, and it must become the organized expression of religious truth.

The religion to-day should be a deathless love for the State, a Civic enthusiasm, which would enthrone the State in the highest and holiest place. Its alters are the work-bench, the forge, the desk, the machine, and its shrines are beauty, truth, love, honesty, strength, purity, generosity, and integrity—the qualities of a Perfect Character.

The Commonwealth is thus made the representative of morality and righteousness, and becomes the inspiration for moral responsibility, fraternal obligation and personal consecration. This is a moral instruction, which can be taught in the public schools without infringement of freedom of thought, and is, in reality, what is meant by Dr. White, for it is a moral inspiration which must ever be subservient to conscience, that voice of God within the soul.

This country has recognized the duty and importance of compulsory education: but we cannot recreate the vicious adults, and the only possible hope for any improvement in moral instruction is through the children; and the only place to begin such regeneration is in the public schools. But the public schools are adjusted to teach only practical learning for every-day life. It is, of course,

necessary that the three R's should be taught; but it is necessary to teach something more. We need to reform habits, to teach new ways of thinking, new ways of living; in other words, to improve character. It is not only book-learning that must be taught, it is honesty, industry, unselfishness, self-respect, ambition, patience, justice, responsibility-the various traits which make up persona! character.

The period of a child's life, which is most susceptible to being moulded, is from five to twelve years. During this time the child is receptive to all impressions; it treasures them up; gathers them all into itself, and retains them forever. While all animal life is sensitive to environment, of all living things the child is the most susceptible. The child absorbs environment. It is the most sensitive and receptive living thing in creation. Every influence, however trivial, will leave an imprint upon the child's mind. It responds to a thousand subtle influences, which leave no impression upon the grown man; and if the environmental influences are rightly and persistently applied, the effect will be immediate and permanent. The child is the purest, truest thing in the world. It begins life stainless, and is open to receive all impressions. It is absolute truth, and that is why we all love children. The new-born child, whether brought forth in the lowest degradation or in the highest affluence and refinement, starts always the purest thing in creation, and if surrounded by right influences and nurtured by high principles it will inevitably grow to perfect manhood. The child is not impure, it learns impurity and untruth. What we need is more complete nurture, and a better environment of good influences. Upon a child before the age of twelve one has an unparalleled opportu nity to work, for nowhere else in the entire creation is the material so plastic.

The great educators of the world have come to believe that this is the time, during which character is most easily cultivated, and they insist that the welfare of the State demands that the public schools shall undertake this task. All acknowledge, that in the education of a child, character is of paramount importance; but the question is, how is character to be taught? There is a woeful lack of capacity for teaching character at home, and the schools at present seem to accomplish nothing toward cultivating it, during these most precious years of impressionable youth.

There are textbooks to teach arithmetic, grammar, etc., but there is no textbook in the public schools to teach character. And yet there is such a textbook, and that is, Biography — which is example; and the supreme importance and value of this particular textbook is acknowledged by all educators. Dr. Jowett, the head master of Balliol College, Oxford, has stated that "in future morals will be taught only through biography." And the reason is, that biography is example,― with the quality of reality. If one will reflect, the injunction to a child, "Be good," has no practical force or helpfulness; but an example of resistance to temptation, an example of a good deed or self-sacrifice, takes hold of the mind of the child with invincible power, and compels imitation, because the mind responds to suggestion.

It is a psychological fact that what the mind admires, it unconsciously emulates and imitates. A trait of character which enlists our approbation, inevitably compels imitation; and when we read or hear of a noble deed or act of devotion, we are unconsciously impelled to repeat it. The boy who reads a dime novel, buys a toy pistol, and runs away to fight Indians, obeys this law of imitation; only the example is pointed the wrong way. This imitative impulse is due to the power of suggestion, which is that tremendous force behind hypnotism, and it is invincible in its power.

Character in its primary principle and groundwork is self-control and selfgiving, and the only practical method of enforcing this upon the habit of children is to keep before them examples of self-control and self-sacrifice. Childhood is selfcentered and selfish; but to every child there comes a time of awakening, when he realizes there is in the world somebody else besides himself, and something to do for others, and he feels a stir and a desire to do some good thing. The first great object

in teaching character is to awaken this realization, and then to foster and strengthen this sense of obligation. The practical means of doing this is through illustrations of self-devotion, self-sacrifice, etc., exemplified in others; and woe to that child who does not have such examples for his uplifting, at the moment of this awakening. Ideals, and examples representing them, are the supreme moulders of youth. Because character depends chiefly upon a man's own will and choice, it is the supreme teaching of biography. In the past "Plutarch's Lives" has proved an inspiration; but the ideals of Greek and Roman days are now changed, and the moral force which is the peculiar advantage of the study of biography, is lost in such examples. What is needed is a "Plutarch's Lives" in terms of the present. In the National Cyclopedia of American Biography will be found the summary of all the biographies of the United States, which Dean Stanley says, more than any other country of the world, furnishes examples of the finest men and women that have ever lived.

The following pages present a few notable examples of the various phases of character, taken from this work. In almost all cases each individual exhibits several characteristic virtues, besides the one under consideration, for character is interdependent, and those who have achieved some one grace of character are usually well rounded, and possess many. In this American Biography, containing over 25,000 names, there are thousands of other examples of fine characters in addition to the three hundred here presented, and the reading of them will furnish different illustrations to emphasize the qualities of character.

Another great assistance to character teaching is the face-to-face acquaintance with the examples presented, which quadruples the force and efficacy of the example. Educators of the present time are advocating the placing before children portraits of great men and women, who are examples for the world, to be looked at daily for the inspiration that such an atmosphere brings. The greatest study of the world is human nature, and a collection of portraits, above all other things, develops observation and throws a wondrous light on character. The face has a perpetual fascination. It tells the story of human thought, feeling, and experience. Every detail of every feature tells its own part of the story. Thoughts are mighty, positive things, and every thought, however fleeting, is registered in the delicate network of nerves that convey their message to the facial muscles.

To hold up eminent examples to youth along these lines is the greatest stimulus that can be given to any child; and it is an assistance that cannot be given at any other time of life with so much benefit. Dr. Trumbull says, "The world's interests, under God, are in the hands of the young."

"The purpose of the elementary school is to form and strengthen character, and to develop the intelligence of the children entrusted to it. With this purpose in view, it should be the aim of the school to train the children carefully in the habits of observation and clear reasoning; to arouse in them living interest in the ideals and achievements of mankind. It should be the aim of the school through the examples of noble men and women, to implant in the children habits of industry, self-control and courageous perseverance in the face of difficulties; to teach them to reverence what is noble, to be ready for self-sacrifice, to strive their utmost after purity and truth; to foster a strong respect for duty, and that respect for others, which is the foundation of unselfishness and the true basis of good manners. Such instruction will enable the children to become upright and useful members. of the community, and worthy of the country in which they live." From Introduction to Educational Code, London.

Emerson says, "I cannot even hear of personal vigor of any kind, great power of performance, without fresh resolution. This is the moral of

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biography; yet it is hard for departed men to touch the quick, like our own companions, whose names may not last so long."