forest and abounding with birds, squirrels, rabbits, etc. Soon after the opening of this school ^ the boys gathered nuts in parties. When a tree was reached which others had shaken, an unwritten law soon required those who wished to shake it further first to pile up all nuts under the tree, while those who failed to do so were universally regarded as dishonest and every boy's hand was against them. To pile them involved much labor, so that the second party usually sought fresh trees, and partial shak- ing practically gave possession of all the fruits on a tree. They took birds' eggs freely, and whenever a bird was found in building, or a squirrel's hole was discovered, the finder tacked his name on the tree and thereby con- firmed his ownership, as he did if he placed a box in which a nest was built. The ticket must not blow off, and the right at first lasted only one season. In the rabbit- land every trap that was set preempted ground for a fixed number of yards about it. Some grasping boys soon made many traps and set them all over a valuable district, so that the common land fell into a few hands. Traps were left out all winter and simply set the next spring. All these rights finally came into the ownership of two or three boys, who slowly acquired the right and be- queathed their claims to others for a consideration, when they left school. The monopolists often had a large sur- plus of rabbits which they bartered for '' butters," the unit being the ounce of daily alloAvance. These could be represented by tickets transferred, so that debts were paid with " butters " that had never been seen. An agrarian party arose and demanded a redistribution of land from the monopolists, as Sir Henry Maine shows 1 Rudimentary Society among Boys, by John H. Johnson, McDonogh, Md. McDonogh School, 1893, reprinted from Johns Hopkins University Studies Series 2 (Historical and Political Studies, vol. 2, No. 11).
YOUTH: ITS EDUCATION, REGIMEN, AND HYGIENE often happened in the old village community. Legisla- tion and judicial procedure were developed and quarrels settled by arbitration, ordeal, and wager, and punishment by bumping often followed the decision of the boy folk- mote. Scales of prices for commodities in ' ' butters ' ' or in pie-currency were evolved, so that we here have an almost entirely spontaneous but amazinglj^ rapid recapit- ulation of the social development of the race by these boys.
From a study of 1,166 children's organizations de- scribed as a language lesson in school composition, Mr. Sheldon ^ arrives at some interesting results. American children tend strongly to institutional activities, only about thirty per cent of all not having belonged to some such organization. Imitation plays a very important role, and girls take far more kindly than boys to societies organized by adults for their benefit. They are also more governed by adult and altruistic motives in forming their organizations, while boys are nearer to primitive man. Before ten comes the period of free spontaneous imitation of every form of adult institution. The child reproduces sympathetically miniature copies of the life around him. On a farm, his play is raking, threshing, building barns, or on the seashore he makes ships and harbors. In general, he plays family, store, church, and chooses officers simply because adults do. The feeling of caste, almost absent in the young, culminates about ten and declines thereafter. From ten to fourteen, however, associations assume a new character; boys especially cease to imitate adult organizations and tend to form social units characteristic of lower stages of human evolution — pirates, robbers, soldiers, lodges, and other 1 The InstiUitional Activities of American Children. American Journal of Psychology, July, 1898, vol. 9, pp. 425-448.
THE GROWTH OF SOCIAL IDEALS savage reversionary combinations, where the strongest and boldest is the leader. They build huts, wear feathers and tomahawks as badges, carry knives and toy-pistols, make raids and sell the loot. Cowards alone, together they fear nothing. Their imagination is perhaps in- flamed by flash literature and " penny-dreadfuls." Such associations often break out in decadent country com- munities where, with fewer and feebler ofl'spring, lax notions of family discipline prevail and hoodlumism is the direct result of the passing of the rod. These bar- baric societies have their place and give vigor; but if un- reduced later, as in many unsettled portions of this country, a semisavage state of society results. At twelve the predatory function is normally subordinated, and if it is not it becomes dangerous, because the members are no longer satisfied with mere play, but are stronger and abler to do harm, and the spice of danger and its fascina- tion may issue in crime. Athleticism is now the form into which these wilder instincts can be best transmuted, and where they find harmless and even wholesome vent. Another change early in adolescence is the increased num- ber of social, literary, and even philanthropic organiza- tions and institutions for mutual help — perhaps against vice, for having a good time, or for holding picnics and parties. Altruism now begins to make itself felt as a motive.
Student life and organizations. Student life is per- haps the best of all fields, unworked though it is, for studying the natural history of adolescence. Its modern record is over eight hundred years old and it is marked with the signatures of every age, yet has essential features that do not vary. Cloister and garrison rules have never been enforced even in the hospice, bursa, inn, '' house," YOUTH: ITS EDUCATION, REGIMEN, AND HYGIENE ' ' hall, ' ' or dormitory, and m loco parentis ^ practises are impossible, especially with large numbers. The very word ' ' school ' ' means leisure^ and in a world of toil and moil suggests paradise. Some have urged that elite youth, exempt from the struggle to live and left to the freedom of their own inclinations, might serve as a bio- logical and ethnic compass to point out the goal of hu- man destiny. But the spontaneous expressions of this best age and condition of life, with no other occupation than their own development, have shown reversions as often as progress. The rupture of home ties stimulates every wider vicarious expression of the social instinct. Each taste and trait can find congenial companionship in others and thus be stimulated to more intensity and self- consciousness. Very much that has been hitherto re- pressed in the adolescent soul is now reenforced by asso- ciation and may become excessive and even aggressive. While many of the race-correlates of childhood are lost, those of this stage are more accessible in savage and sub- savage life. Freedom is the native air and vital breath of student life. The sense of personal liberty is absolutely indispensable for moral maturity; and just as truth can not be found without the possibility of error, so the posse nonpeccare^ precedes the '?^o?^ posse peccare,^ and profes- sors must make a broad application of the rule ahiisus non tollit usum.^ The student must have much freedom to be lazy, make his own minor morals, vent his disrespect for what he can see no use in, be among strangers to act him- self out and form a personality of his own, be baptized with the revolutionary and skeptical spirit, and go to extremes at the age when excesses teach wisdom with In place of a parent. ^ Ability not to sin.
Inability to sin. « Abuse does not do away with use.
THE GROWTH OF SOCIAL IDEALS amazing rapidity, if he is to become a true loaight of the spirit and his own master. Ziegler ^ frankly told Ger- man students that about one-tenth of them would be morally lost in this process, but insisted that on the whole more good was done than by restraint; for, he said, " youth is now in the stage of Schiller's bell when it w^as molten metaL" Of all safeguards I believe a rightly cultivated sense of honor is the most effective at this age. Sadly as the unwritten code of student honor in all lands needs re- vision, and partial, freaky, and utterly perverted, tainted and cowardly as it often is, it really means what Kant expressed in the sublime precept, " Thou canst because thou oughtest. ' ' Fichte said that Faiilkeit, Feiglieit, and Falschheit - were the three dishonorable things for stu- dents. If they would study the history and enter into the spirit of their own fraternities, they would often have keener and broader ideas of honor to which they are happily so sensitive. If professors made it always a point of honor to confess and never to conceal the limita- tion of their knowledge, would scorn all pretense of it, place credit for originality frankly where it belongs, teach no creeds they do not profoundly believe, or topics in which they are not interested, and withhold nothing from those who want the truth, they could from this vantage with more effect bring students to feel that the laziness that, w^hile outwardly conforming, does no real inner work; that getting a diploma, as a professor lately said, an average student could do, on one hour's study a day; living beyond one's means, and thus imposing a hardship on parents greater than the talent of the son 1 Der deutsche Student am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts. 6th Ed. Goschen, Leipzig, 1896.
2 Laziness, cowardice, falsehood.
YOUTH: ITS EDUCATION, REGIMEN, AND HYGIENE justifies; accepting stipends not needed, especially to the deprivation of those more needy; using dishonest ways of securing rank in studies or positions on teams, or social standing, are, one and all, not only ungentlemanly but cowardly and mean, and the axe would be laid at the root of the tree. Honor should impel students to go nowhere where they conceal their college, their fraternity, or even their name; to keep themselves immaculate from all contact with that class of women which, Ziegler states, brought twenty-five per cent of the students of the Uni- versity of Berlin in a single year to physicians; to re- member that other 's sisters are as cherished as their own; to avoid those sins against confiding innocence which cry for vengeance, as did Valentine against Faust, and which strengthen the hate of social classes and make mothers and sisters seem tedious because low ideas of womanhood have been implanted, and which give a taste for mucky authors that reek with suggestiveness; and to avoid the waste of nerve substance and nerve weakness in ways which Ibsen and Tolstoi have described. These things are the darkest blot on the honor of youth.
Associations for youth devised or guided hy adults. Here we enter a very different realm. Forbush ^ under- 1 The Social Pedagogy of Boyhood. Pedagogical Seminary, October^ 1900, vol. 7, pp. 307-346. See also his The Boy Problem, with an intro- duction by G. Stanley Hall, The Pilgrim Press, Boston, 1901, p. 194. Also Winifred Buck (Boys' Self-governing Clubs, Macmillan, New York, 1903), who thinks ten million dollars could be used in training club advisers who should have the use of schools and grounds after hours and evenings, conduct excursions, organize games, etc., but avoid all direct teaching and book work generally. This writer thinks such an institution would soon result in a marked increase of public morality and an augmented demand for technical instruction, and that for the advisers themselves the work would be the best training for high positions in politics and reform. Clubs of boys from eight to sixteen or eighteen must not admit age disparities of more than two years.
THE GROWTH OF SOCIAL IDEALS takes an analysis of many such clubs which he divides according to their purpose into nine chief classes: physi- cal training, handicraft, literary, social, civic and patri- otic, science-study, hero-love, ethical, religious. These he classifies as to age of the boj^s, his purview generally end- ing at seventeen; discusses and tabulates the most favor- able number, the instincts chiefly utilized, the kinds of education gained in each and its percentage of interest, and the qualities developed. He commends Riis's mode of pulling the safety-valve of a rather dangerous boy- gang by becoming an adult honorary member, and inter- preting the impulsions of this age in the direction of ad- venture instead of in that of mischief. He reminds us that nearly one-third of the inhabitants of America are adolescents, that 3,000,000 are boys between twelve and sixteen, ^' that the so-called heathen people are, what- ever their age, all in the adolescent stage of life. ' ' A few American societies of this class we may briefly characterize as follows: (a) Typical of a large class of local juvenile clubs is the ''Cap- tains of Ten," originally for boys of from eight to fourteen, and with a later graduate squad of those over fifteen. The ''Ten" are the fingers; and whitthng, scrap-book making, mat- weaving, etc., are taught. The motto is, "The hand of the diligent shall bear rule "; its watchword is "Loyalty"; and the prime objects are "to promote a spirit of loyalty to Christ among the boys of the club," and to learn about and work for Christ's kingdom. The members wear a silver badge; have an annual photograph; elect their leaders; vote their money to missions (on which topic they hold meetings); act Bible stories in costume; hear stories and see scientific experiments; enact a Chinese school; write articles for the children's department of re- ligious journals; develop comradeship, and "have a good time."
(h) The Agassiz Association, founded in 1875 "to encourage personal work in natural science," now numbers some 25,000 mem- bers, with chapters distributed all over the country, and was said by the late Professor Hyatt to include "the largest number of persons YOUTH: ITS EDUCATION, REGIMEN, AND HYGIENE ever bound together for the purpose of mutual help in the study of nature." It furnishes practical courses of study in the sciences; has local chapters in thousands of towns and cities in this and other countries; publishes a monthly organ. The Swiss Cross, to facilitate correspondence and exchange of specimens; has a small endowment, a badge, is incorporated, and is animated by a spirit akin to that of University Extension; and, although not exclusively for young people, is chiefly sustained by them.
(c) The Catholic Total Abstinence Union is a strong, well- organized, and widely extended society, mostly composed of young men. The pledge required of all members explains its object: "I promise, with the Divine assistance and in honor of the Sacred Thirst and the Agony of our Saviour, to abstain from all intoxicating drinks and to prevent as much as possible by advice and example the sin of intemperance in others and to discountenance the drinking cus- toms of society." A general convention of the Union has been held annually since 1877.
(d) The Princely Knights of Character Castle is an organiza- tion founded in 1895 for boys from twelve to eighteen to ''inculcate, disseminate, and practise the principles of heroism — endurance — love, purity, and patriotism." The central incorporated castle grants charters to local castles, directs the ritual and secret work. Its officers are supreme prince, patriarch, scribe, treasurer, director, with captain of the guard, watchman, porter, keeper of the dungeon, musician, herald, and favorite son. The degrees of the secret work are shepherd lad, captive, viceroy, brother, son, prince, knight, and royal knight. There are jewels, regalia, paraphernalia, and initia- tions. The pledge for the first degree is, ''I hereby promise and pledge that I will abstain from the use of intoxicating liquor in any form as a beverage; that I will not use profane or improper language; that I will discourage the use of tobacco in any form; that I will strive to live pure in body and mind; that I will obey all rules and regulations of the order, and not reveal any of the secrets in any way." There are benefits, reliefs, passwords, a list of offenses and penalties.
(e) Some 35,000 Bands of Mercy are now organized under the direction of the American Humane Education Society. The object of the organization is to cultivate kindness to animals and sympathy with the poor and oppressed. The prevention of cruelty in driving, cattle transportation, humane methods of killing, care for the sick and abandoned or overworked animals, are the themes of most of its voluminous literature. It has badges, hymn-books, cards, and certificates of membership, and a motto, "Kindness, Justice, and THE GROWTH OF SOCIAL IDEALS Mercy to All." Its pledge is, "I will try to be kind to all harmless living creatures, and try to protect them from cruel usage," and is intended to include human as well as dumb creatures. The founder and secretary, with great and commendable energy, has instituted prize contests for speaking on humane subjects in schools, and has printed and circulated prize stories; since the incorporation of the society in 1868, he has been indefatigable in collecting funds, speak- ing before schools and colleges, and prints fifty to sixty thousand copies of the monthly organ. In addition to its mission of sentiment, and to make it more effective, this organization clearly needs to make more provision for the intellectual element by well-selected or constructed courses, or at least references on the life, history, habits, and instincts of animals, and it also needs more recognition that modern charity is a science as well as a virtue.
(/) The Coming Men of America, although organized only in 1894, now claims to be the greatest chartered secret society for boys and young men in the country. It began two years earlier in a lodge started by a nineteen-year-old boy in Chicago in imitation of such ideas of Masons, Odd-Fellows, etc., as its founder could get from his older brother, and its meetings were first held in a base- ment. On this basis older heads aided in its development, so that it is a good example of the boy-imitative helped out by parents. The organization is now represented in every State and Territory, and boys travel on its badge. There is an official organ. The Star, a badge, sign, and a secret sign language called " bestography." Its secret ritual work is highly praised. Its membership is limited to white boys under twenty-one.
(gr) The first Harry Wadsworth Club was established in 1871 as a result of E. E. Hale's Ten Times One, published the year before. Its motto is, "Look up, and not down; look forward, and not back; look out, and not in; lend a hand," or "Faith, Hope, and Charity." Its organ is the Ten Times One Ptecord; its badge is a silver Maltese cross. Each club may organize as it will, and choose its own name, provided it accepts the above motto. Its watchword is, "In His Name." It distributes charities, conducts a Noonday Rest, outings in the country, and devotes itself to doing good. ^ 1 See Young People's Societies, by L. W. Bacon. D. Appleton and Co., New York, 1900, p. 265. Also, F. G. Cressey: The Church and Young Men. Fleming H. Revell Co., New York, 1903, p. 233.
CHAPTER X INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION AND SCHOOL WORK The general change and plasticity at puberty — English teaching — Causes of its failure: (1) too much time to other languages, (2) subordination of literary content to form, (3) too early stress on eye and hand in- stead of ear and mouth, (4) excessive use of concrete words — Chil- dren's interest in words — Their favorites — Slang — Story telling — Age of reading crazes — What to read — The historic sense — Growth of memory span.
Just as about the only duty of young children is implicit obedience, so the chief mental training from about eight to twelve is arbitrary memorization, drill, habituation, with only limited appeal to the understand- ing. After the critical transition age of six or seven, when the brain has achieved its adult size and weight, and teething has reduced the chewing surface to its least extent, begins a unique stage of life marked by reduced growth and increased activity and power to resist both disease and fatigue, which suggests what was, in some just post-simian age of our race, its period of maturity. Here belong discipline in writing, read- ing, spelling, verbal memory, manual training, practise of instrumental technic, proper names, drawing, drill in arithmetic, foreign languages by oral methods, the correct pronunciation of which is far harder if acquired later, etc. The hand is never so near the brain. Most of the content of the mind has entered it through the senses, and the eye- and ear-gates should be open at their widest. Authority should now take precedence of rea- INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION AND SCHOOL WORK son. Children comprehend much and very rapidly iJ: we can only refrain from explaining, but this slows down intuition, tends to make casuists and prigs and to en- feeble the ultimate vigor of reason. It is the age of little method and much matter. The good teacher is now a pedotrieh, or boy-driver. Boys of this age are now not very affectionate. They take pleasure in obliging and imitating those they like and perhaps in disobliging those they dislike. They have much sel- fishness and little sentiment. As this period draws to a close and the teens begin, the average normal child will not be bookish but should read and write well, know a few dozen well-chosen books, play several dozen games, be well started in one or more ancient and modern lan- guages— if these must be studied at all, should know something of several industries and how to make many things he is interested in, belong to a few teams and societies, know much about nature in his environment, be able to sing and draw, should have memorized much more than he now does, and be acquainted, at least in story form, with the outlines of many of the best works in literature and the epochs and persons in his- tory.^ Morally he should have been through many if not most forms of what parents and teachers commonly call " badness," and Professor Yoder even calls ' ' meanness. ' ' He should have fought, whipped and been whipped, used language offensive to the prude and to the prim precisian, been in some scrapes, had something to do with bad, if more with good, associates, and been exposed to and already recovering from as many forms of ethical mumps and measles as, by having in mild form now he can be rendered immune to later when 1 See my Ideal School as Based on Child Study. Proceedings of the National Educational Association, 1901, pp. 475-490.
YOUTH: ITS EDUCATION, REGIMEN, AND HYGIENE they become far more dangerous, because his moral and religious as well as his rational nature is normally rudimentary. He is not depraved, but only in a savage or half -animal stage, although to a large-brained, large- hearted and truly parental soul that does not call what causes it inconvenience by opprobrious names, an al- together lovable and even fascinating stage. The more we know of boyhood the more narroAv and often selfish do adult ideals of it appear. Something is amiss with the lad of ten who is very good, studious, industrious, thoughtful, altruistic, quiet, polite, respectful, obedient, gentlemanly, orderly, always in good toilet, docile to reason, who turns away from stories that reek with gore, prefers adult companionship to that of his mates, re- fuses all low associates, speaks standard English, or is as pious and deeply in love with religious services as the typical maiden teacher or the a la mode parent wishes. Such a boy is either under-vitalized and anemic and precocious by nature, a repressed, overtrained, conven- tionalized manikin, a hypocrite, as some can become under pressure thus early in life, or else a genius of some kind with a little of all these.
But with the teens all this begins to be changed and many of these precepts must be gradually reversed. There is an outburst of growth that needs a large part of the total kinetic energy of the body. There is a new interest in adults, a passion to be treated like one's elders, to make plans for the future, a new sensitive- ness to adult praise or blame. The large muscles have their innings and there is a new clumsiness of body and mind. The blood-vessels expand and blushing is in- creased, new sensations and feelings arise, the imagina- tion blossoms, love of nature is born, music is felt in a new, more inward way, fatigue comes easier and INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION AND SCHOOL WORK