Part 1 (1/2)

The True Citizen, How To Become One.

by W. F. Markwick, D. D. and W. A. Smith, A. B.

PREFACE.

This book, intended as a supplementary reader for pupils in the seventh and eighth grades of school, has been prepared with a view to meeting a real need of the times. While there are a large number of text-books, and several readers, dealing with citizens.h.i.+p from the political point of view, the higher aspects of citizens.h.i.+p--the moral and ethical--have been seriously overlooked.

The authors of this work have searched in vain for something which would serve as an aid to the joint development of the natural faculties and the moral instincts, so as to produce a well-rounded manhood, upon which a higher type of citizens.h.i.+p might be built. The development of character appears, to us, to be of far greater importance, in the preparation of the youth for the discharge of the duties of public life, than is mere political instruction; for only by introducing loftier ethical standards can the grade and quality of our citizens.h.i.+p be raised.

It is universally conceded that ethics and civics should go hand in hand; and yet pupils pa.s.s through our schools by the thousand, without having their attention definitely called to this important subject; and only an honest desire to aid in improving this state of affairs, has led to the preparation of these pages.

The plan of the book is simple in the extreme. It consists of thirty-nine chapters,--one for each week of the school year;--to eachof which has been prefixed five memory gems; one for each school day.

Especial care has been taken to use only such language as will be perfectly intelligible to the pupils for whom it is intended.

The largest possible use has been made of anecdote and incident, so as to quicken the interest and hold the attention to the end. These anecdotes have been selected from every available quarter, and no claim of originality is made concerning them or their use.

Into each of those chapters which have to do directly with the development of the natural faculties, or the moral powers, a ”special ill.u.s.tration” has been introduced; this being clearly marked off by the insertion of its t.i.tle in bold-faced type. To these special ill.u.s.trations a brief bibliography has been added, in order that a fuller study of the character presented may be readily pursued where deemed desirable. It is hoped that these special ill.u.s.trations will not only serve to increase the general interest; but that, by thus bringing the pupil into direct contact with these greater minds, ambitions and aspirations may be aroused which shall prove helpful in the later life.

A careful presentation of each separate theme by the teacher, will not only increase the interest in the work of the schoolroom; but, by developing a higher type of citizens.h.i.+p, will be a real service to our nation.

THE AUTHORS.

I.

EDUCATION OF THE NATURAL FACULTIES.

MEMORY GEMS.

Every man stamps his value on himself.--Schiller

No capital earns such interest as personal culture.--President Eliot

The end and aim of all education is the development of character.

--Francis W. Parker

One of the best effects of thorough intellectual training is a knowledge of our own capacities.--Alexander Bain

Education is a growth toward intellectual and moral perfection.

--Nicholas Murray Butler

Education begins in the home, is continued through the public school and college, and finds inviting and ever-widening opportunities and possibilities throughout the entire course of life. The mere acquisition of knowledge, or the simple development of the intellect alone, may be of little value. Many who have received such imperfect or one-sided education, have proved to be but ciphers in the world; while, again, intellectual giants have sometimes been found to be but intellectual demons. Indeed, some of the worst characters in history have been men of scholarly ability and of rare academic attainments.

The true education embraces the symmetrical development of mind, body and heart. An old and wise writer has said, ”Cultivate the physical exclusively, and you have an athlete or a savage; the moral only, and you have an enthusiast or a maniac; the intellectual only, and you have a diseased oddity,--it may be a monster. It is only by wisely training all of them together that the complete man may be found.”

To cultivate anything--be it a plant, an animal, or a mind--is to make it grow. Nothing admits of culture but that which has a principle of life capable of being expanded. He, therefore, who does what he can to unfold all his powers and capacities, especially his n.o.bler ones, so as to become a well-proportioned, vigorous, excellent, happy being, practices self-culture, and secures a true education.