friend worth having, an educator worth following and a citizen worthy of all the praise and gratitude shown.

"Believe me always thankful that his influence came into my life when I was young and struggling and his hand was always held out when I needed it. You are blest in his memory."

"No "Greeting' brought me the remembrance of a friendship more valued than that sent by Mr. Stetson.

"As I read his message 'The Joy of Serving' I think how like himself it is; always thinking of others and working for his friends without thought of personal gain or reward gave him that happiness which counts for much. I thank you for the 'Message' and rejoice with you in the memory of such a life."

"As I read "The Joy of Serving' I seem to hear his voice again. It is so like him."

"It is like a message from the spirit world. It is sunshine, song, and moral optimism. His memory is a benediction to all who knew him."

"Thanks for the message from my dear friend who being 'dead yet speaketh,' but this dear friend is not dead, he has simply gone on a little ahead, and I have no doubt his hope has been realized, and he 'did see his Pilot face to face when he crost the bar.'

"It breathes the spirit of the man and is as full as he was of optimism, enthusiastic devotion to duty and love for

all mankind. I count myself highly favored to receive the 'Last Message' of William Wallace Stetson to the world."

"Will you accept the thanks I fain would extend Dr. Stetson for the soul inspiring 'Greeting.' It is an evidence of the dominance of his marvelous altruism even in the last days of his sojourn here.

“To multitudes his life, his words and works have been a sermon and a song. To these same multitudes this final 'Greeting' comes as a benediction and we are grateful that the world was blessed with his life."

This book contains some of the best things he wrote. It is hoped that its publication may inspire, encourage and help the helpers of youth.

Some Things The Common School Should

Do For The Child.

It would be better for our children, and hence best for all institutions with which they are, or may be associated, if the school gave them better ideas of the relative value of facts. These stubborn things have always been with us and will remain to the end. We should, however, see clearly that isolated details are difficult to master, and when mastered, become burdens, increasing in weight as they increase in number and we add to the length of time they are to be retained. When related and we see this relation, they are of service, because they give us an understanding of the principles underlying them, and a conception of the teachings they embody. If stored away in the mind by a conscious effort, they tend to stupefy and paralyze. One's information becomes a means of grace only when he knows a thing so well that he is unconscious of his knowledge. We are learning the unwisdom of trying to become wise by making ourselves

walking encyclopedias. We are beginning to discover that these labors not only sap the vitality out of life, but communicate to it a certain wooden quality which takes from living its warmth, richness, power. The man who is satisfied with details grows narrower with the years and leaner as his horde increases. The miserly spirit is as surely developed by this process as it is in the poor wretch who gloats over his shining accumulations. Such a one has reached his limit of usefulness when he has told the few things he thinks he knows.

The work of the public school develops keenness of observation and skill in handling material and hence the child comes to have an unusual facility in doing things; but the development of these powers without the safeguard of a high moral sense tends to produce rebels instead of safe citizens.

Pedagogical vagaries have taken on many forms, but perhaps the least excusable is found in the so-called enrichment of our courses of study. These additions have given us many new subjects and an almost unending list of new topics to be strained through the sieve in the top of the child's head. The result has been that the child has come to place a higher estimate on the form than on the life it shelters. He has developed great capacity for devouring, but has not the power of digesting the facts devoured; hence, he has become the least interesting and

the most hopeless of intellectual and moral dyspeptics. He suffers from all the evils incident to an excessive and intoxicating diet. He has but little of that staying quality, love for work, which results from wholesome conditions. Even the physical food of the child is stimulating and irritating rather than satisfying and nourishing, while his clothing is designed to attract the attention of others and cultivate the vanity of the wearer.

Our teachers are coming to see that all questions are in their ultimate analysis moral questions. The age at which the child should enter school, the length of time he should remain therein, the studies he should pursue, the way in which he should do his work, the spirit which should control him, the purpose he should have in life, his willingness to serve, are among the things which should receive the first consideration but which are too often left to the decision of accident. The child can never be well taught until those having the direction of his training come to see that they are responsible for fitting a human being to become a worthy citizen of the state. Physical surroundings, mental drill, moral nurture are useful only so far as they contribute to this end.

The schools have gone much too far in directing physical action and in limiting the moral judgment of the child. His first and greatest right is the right to grow, physically and morally. The former depends upon proper and