this, it determines to a great extent the direction or channels of cognition. The intellect would be dull without it, and its energies would practically sleep the sleep of death. But if the word thought is taken in the technical sense as employed by psychologists, standing for the discursive movements of the intellect, feeling apparently does not perform so important a part. In this sense thought is the product of the understanding, which is the logical faculty. Logic is said to be cold; it deals with relations in a dispassionate way; it must not be swayed by feeling; it must judge with the utmost impartiality. It must allow of no preferences, it must coolly scan relations and render its verdict accordingly. It is the judge on the bench and it must be wholly uninfluenced by fear or favor. And it certainly is true that the logical faculty must act with much less dependence on the sensibility than most of the other intellectual powers.

I have sometimes thought of General Grant standing with seeming stolidity on the battle field, with that inevitable cigar in his mouth, watching the progress of the conflict, uninfluenced by the presence of suffering which must not be allowed to direct his attention from the complex movements of the armies engaged in the strife. This is the time and place for a cool brain. Decisions must be made, if possible, with absolute accuracy, as the result of a clear perception of many and complex relations. Nothing must be allowed to impair the judgment. What is needed is clear intellectual discernment and the power to take in all the relations which enter into the battle just as they are, without giving undue importance to any one or more factors which enter into the strife. And yet I apprehend not only that General Grant was not devoid of feeling, not only that the interest he felt in the progress and issue of the strife was profound and absorbing, but that his feelings made him more vigilant, that changes of relations were more readily discerned, that the energies of the intellect acted more sharply and broadly, and with more precision, because the sensibilities of his nature were aroused. Into the conditions necessary for the most perfect generalship there comes the seeming paradox of a brain that is steady and feelings stirred to a fullness commensurate with the interests at stake. Feelings there must be, but they should not be allowed to take the helm. The understanding must rule, while the feelings stimulate it to perform its whole duty. The judge who loves the truth and desires the triumph of right will render his decisions with greater clearness and force than if back of the intellect there was no heart.

ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF MICHI

GAN UNIVERSITY.

BY PRINCIPAL J. M. B. SILL, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.

The Michigan State Teachers' Association has named its representative on this platform, but has given no hint as to what it desires him to say. It is then only fair to declare, in advance, the absolution of its membership from all responsibility for the direction which this address shall take and for its probable omissions and shortcomings.

Their choice of a representative was probably a concession to seniority, for I had the honor of being a minor officer of the Association, duly elected, at its preliminary meeting held at the normal school building nearly thirty-five years ago. At all events it is pleasant to take this view of the reason of the choice, since it affords a withering rebuke to those censorious critics who delight in insisting that the present depraved generation is lacking in that respect for age that ought to characterize all right-minded people.

Being, therefore, without instructions and lacking sealed orders indorsed to be opened at some particular point in these proceedings, I am compelled to guess at the wishes of my constituency and to utter such thoughts as it comes into my heart to express.

And first of all, as the representative of a great and influential body of teachers, earnest men and women not prone to flattery or adulation, I desire to express our appreciation of the honorable position assigned to us in this celebration which so fitly rounds out and finishes the first fifty years in the grand career of the University.

It is reasonable that we should regard an invitation to be heard at this time and in this notable presence, as a recognition that we are indeed an efficient factor in the educational progress of this great commonwealth to which our love is pledged and our utmost loyalty due and gladly rendered. The value of such a recognition depends upon the source from which it comes, and we are not unmindful that in this instance it comes from a source whose dignity and authority few will deny or question, for the University of Michigan may be fairly said to stand among the very foremost of American institutions of learning. Indeed it is doubtful whether there is upon the whole continent another that greatly exceeds it in the power and extent of its influ

ence upon present educational progress. The unparalleled rapidity of its marvelous growth; the learning and ability of its faculties; its bold but prudent leadership in whatever is wisely progressive, the numerical greatness and the cosmopolitan character of its constituency, representing every state and territory of the union, the islands of the sea and every continent the sun shines upon in its daily course, have challenged the admiration and wonder of the civilized world.

The material advantages of Michigan have made her name widely known. Within the limits of a great circle she is famed for her unrivaled commercial facilities, for the magnificence of the great lakes that almost encircle her, and the majestic straits, capable of floating the commerce of the world, by which these are linked together; for the generous fertility of her soil and the incalculable wealth of her mineral resources; but beyond the circle which I have described she is known and honored through

THE FAME OF HER GREAT UNIVERSITY,

an institution which, within the memory of men and women still in the prime of their usefulness and activity, has struggled through the weakness of infancy, has survived the dangers of adolescence, and has come at last to the beginning of a maturity glorious in present fact and still more glorious in the promise of its future; an institution which has already adorned the name of Michigan with a radiance which shines afar, like the "glory of the golden mist" which Pallas Athena put round about the head of Achilles, beloved of heaven. Recognition from such a source is honorable, and we of the association do not, I am sure, fail in our appreciation of the respect thus shown. I take it for granted also that in the cordial invitation extended to us there is implied another kindly and important recognition, namely, of the common schools, graded and ungraded, of which, more than any other existing body, our association is the recognized exponent and representative. Taking into account the intimate relation existing between these and the University, such recognition is eminently fit and proper. These are, in a sense, from the lowest to the highest grade, from the primary class wrestling with the alphabet and the primer to the most advanced form in the high school, preparatory schools for the University. The University is the very keystone of the arch, but these are its foundations and its supporting pillars. The relation existing between this institution, the acknowledged head of our system, and the common schools which furnish its constituency, are organic and vital. They are relations arising from mutual indebtedness and nicely balanced interdependence. They are parts of one whole, and each is necessary to the prosperity and progress of the other.

The State Teachers' Association, speaking in behalf of the Michigan public schools of elementary and secondary instruction, offers to the University today the greetings of a vast constituency. Through it a half million of pupils, officered by fifteen thousand teachers, voice their kind wishes and their congratulations. Had they come in person instead of by representative, they would, I fear, have overtaxed the generous hospitality even of the University City. Imagine the head of a single-file procession, whose rear guard would be somewhere in the Upper Peninsula, wending its way through the streets of this astonished town.

I recognize this as preeminently and conspicuously, University day. It is

a time for showering well-earned benedictions upon her head, for crowning her with wreaths and garlands, and for laying offerings of love and honor at

her feet.

Our association is not here to glorify itself or to magnify the records of its own attainments, but rather to present its tribute of kind wishes. sincere respect and abiding good-will. And yet my brethren of the association will, I suppose, expect me to justify the wisdom of the invitation extended to us, by referring modestly to the circumstances of its birth and the details of its honorable career, and by setting forth some of the directions in which it has, with varying success, wrought to

CORRECT THE DEFECTS AND ENHANCE THE EFFICIENCY

of the school system at the head of which stands our noble University. I have planned so to do; but 1852, the birth year of our association, is the central point of a brief period, including not more than a twelve month on either side, which marks the beginning of a great and fruitful school revival in Michigan, a revival which profoundly affected the interests of all our schools and the University not less than the rest. I have chosen this renaissance in education, with a few of the more conspicuous events that ushered it in, as the subject of my address to-day. As I proceed, I shall have occasion to refer to the birth and organization of our association.

The date to which I have referred marks a period of unparalleled activity in the educational history of Michigan. The labors of the fathers, notably the wise and intelligently directed efforts of the first superintendent of public instruction and of his immediate successors began, at this time, to show promise of bearing fruit, long desired and anxiously waited for. Since the adoption of the first constitution there had been skillful and laborious planning for the future, but actual results had been meager and unsatisfactory. Not yet had the people become aroused and awakened. The common schools, in general meanly housed and inadequately equipped and supervised, suffering from the administration of untrained and often incompetent teachers and burdened by the heavy weight of the rate-bill system of support, had made little progress. The University, now fifteen years old, counting from the date of its organization, and eleven years, counting from the time of the reception of its first class, had as yet accomplished little to justify the hopes of its founders and had given no sign of the brilliancy of its future. But now, after a period of deep depression and discouragement, there was hope of better things. The framers of the new constitution had learned wisdom from the past, and its provisions in reference to public instruction gave new hope and courage to the friends of education. Among other excellent provisions contained in it was one of transcendent value and importance, namely, a mandatory clause requiring the legislature to provide for a system of free primary schools, with doors open alike to all, within five years from the date of its adoption. Up to this time the schools had not been free. From the beginning their support had come largely from the collection of rate bills. This is

A WRETCHED AND RUINOUS SYSTEM

of support. No schools can prosper under it. It is a premium paid for irregularity and absenteeism, and it had been for years the chronic and

crowning discouragement of the friends of education. At the opening of a term there would be, perhaps, a fair attendance, which continued until the primary school fund and money raised by taxation for school expenses were exhausted, and then the stampede began. There was no certainty as to the amount for which the rate bill would call. The poor were obliged by necessity to withdraw their children, and the mean and avaricious were sure to do 80. Every withdrawal increased the cost of tuition to the pupils who remained. Then came the final panic and the school house was deserted. Under such a system progress was impossible, studies were interrupted, heart burnings and district quarrels were engendered, and frequently the schools were broken up long before the proper date for closing them. From the beginning intelligent friends of the schools had protested against such a system and had earnestly sought a remedy for its evils. State superintendents in their yearly reports had a standing chapter in which they bewailed and deplored the mischiefs of the rate bill and pointed out to the people and legislature that no real progress or improvement could reasonably be hoped for until there should be a radical reform in the method of meeting the expense of instruction. But protests were unavailing and for a time it seemed as if this ruinous policy had come to stay forever.

But the new constitution recognized the pestilent evils of such a method, and had provided a cure for them. It is not easy at this time, and for persons whose memory does not cover the date of which I am speaking, to understand the delight and approval with which the school men of those days hailed this new and most promising departure and how heartily the convention was applauded for placing Michigan side by side with those who take the safe ground that education is one of the rights of man in civilized communities, that the highest safety of a State lies in the intelligence of her citizens, that the child does not belong exclusively to the parent but to the State as well, and that it is right, as a measure of self defense, if for no higher reason, to tax property in order to add to the value of man.

This was a case in which, as it turned out, the familiar debating school question, "Resolved, that

THE PLEASURES OF ANTICIPATION

are greater than those of participation," had to be decided in the affirmative, for these rejoicing friends of the school did not know that it would take nineteen years of steady, judicious and well-merited prodding to convince the legislature that it was best to obey the constitution, for not until 1869 did the representatives of the people take measures to execute through appropriate legislation, the plain mandate of the supreme law of the State.

One among the many events that made the epoch of the revival notable was the organization of the Michigan State Teachers' Association, which began its career on the 12th day of October, 1852. Immediately after the formal dedication of the State Normal School, of which I shall speak hereafter, a state teachers' institute of three weeks' duration was held in its main hall. More than 250 teachers were in attendance, and the whole session was characterized by great and well-sustained interest. The organization of our association was an incident of this institute, brought about by some of its members who builded better than they knew. Its chief projector and first president was A. S. Welch, a graduate of this University of the class of '46, and