Catherine T. Bryce

“ Men have called me Experience, Tradition, Discipline, Invention, Culture, Ambition, Knowledge, Training, Learning, Teaching, Instruction, Development, Information, and many other names, and I answer to all. But I am more commonly called Education.
Any City starts up, snatches up the tax budget, and holds it behind his back. ”

“ Thinkst thou that thou art better or wiser than they? I have no patience with thy dreams, born of thine own laziness! Get to work, maiden, and let me hear no more of thy better ways! Better ways, forsooth!
While the Old Woman speaks, the light burns dimmer. The other maidens stop their work to listen, all showing their approval of her words, and their condemnation of her who dared to dream of better things. As the Old Woman finishes, they resume their task and their monotonous tune.
Curtain
Education and Any City appear before the curtain. ”

“ As the curtain goes up, the Dame is speaking to the girl who brought her puppet to school.
[30]
Dame. Thou hast stood on the stool now for thirty minutes—time enough for thee to repent. Sit thou now on the stool for another thirty minutes as an example to others.
Child obeys, crying. She lifts her apron to wipe her eyes.
Dame. Put down thine apron at once. (Sarcastically.) Wouldst cover thy beautiful placard? Let us all see thy shamed face and thy repentant tears. They are a sign of grace.
While she is talking, a little girl whispers behind her book to another. Dame spies her. ”

“ Unless measures are promptly taken to secure for every child in America a seat in a healthful schoolroom, and books and materials for his education, the public schools of the land will surely sink to the level of the classroom I have just shown you. Are you willing to trust the government of this country to citizens so trained?
Any City. But the children you showed me are the children of the poor, the ignorant. Surely the children of the rich, the cultured, will have better training. ”

“ Any City. Good for the Old Woman! I believe in sticking to old well-tried things. So many people believe that just because a thing is new, it is the only good thing in the world.
Education. But a greater number believe that just because a thing is old, it is sacredly all sufficient. If everybody had thought with you and the Old Woman, how would the world be fed to-day? ”

“ It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. ”

“ I tell you, “the end of American education is the knowledge and the practice of Democracy.” The education of the children in a democracy is the concern of all the public. It must be an education of all the people, paid for by all the people. You sent millions of Americans across the sea to make the world safe for Democracy. You must educate every child in the land to make democracy safe for America. “Education is the most sacred concern, and the only hope of a nation.”
Any City. ”

“ Education. An exact picture of Dame Weary’s school in Colonial days. And you have not seen half the tortures inflicted on her hapless pupils as recorded in authentic records. When force rules, a despot reigns, and a despot can beget naught but despotism. The strong bullies; the sly escapes; the unscrupulous gathers the spoils. There is no foundation laid for a true brotherhood of man. In short, there is nothing in the teaching or in the discipline in a school of force that fitly trains pupils as present and future citizens of a democracy.
Any City. No, not in the school you have just shown me. ”

“ Any City (as if thinking aloud) . Yes, such children—children with a thorough education; children trained to think and act for themselves; children who learn to stick to a thing until it is finished; children who are healthy, courteous, and patriotic—will be a power for good when they become men and women.
Education. Yes, it is to the school-children of to-day that you must look for the controllers of the future destinies [44] of America. Upon the training you give them now depends the fate of the Nation in the years to come. We are at the dividing of the ways. ”

“ How many Abraham Lincolns, think you, are in this land to-day—boys who will travel miles of rough road in stormy weather and work at hard labor for weeks, for the privilege of reading a book? The few such give us no care. They mould their own future. But can we allow the millions of less ambitious young citizens, the lawmakers of the future, to go without the education they so sorely need, but never would secure through their [28] own efforts? ”

“ She means easier way—an easier way for her own idle self! Shame upon thee, thou lazy maiden! Shame upon thee, thou presumptuous maiden! Thinkst thou that in thy foolish mind lies the wisdom of the earth? Had there been a better way, would not our fathers, the wise men of the land, have discovered that way and handed it down to us? Have not the women of our country from generation to generation ground their corn in this way? ”

“ Any City. Of course, I don’t mean that I want things as they were long ago. But there are some people who are never satisfied. They are continually wanting things different.
[10]
Education. No, you don’t want things to remain as they were. You want them to stay as they are. That is all the Old Woman wanted in her time. She didn’t want to go back to the earliest days when the grain was ground only by the teeth of the consumer. Had everyone followed blindly the tradition of his own time, we should still be at the very beginning. ”

“ Lady Edyth and the Maiden, still on her knees, and the Man, who has raised himself until he reclines on an elbow, look to the Minstrel with various expressions on their faces: Lady Edyth’s look is one of wonder, and fear for the consequence of his words; the servants’ faces express fear and a glimmer of hope. ”

“ Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. ”

“ She is the type of teacher to be expected if teachers’ salaries are not materially advanced. Teacher’s desk is cluttered with books, papers, etc. As the curtain goes up the Teacher is talking to, or rather screaming at, a foreign-appearing woman—a woman with a black handkerchief on her head, who has brought two children to school. ”

“ Education leads the reluctant Any City behind the curtain.
[29]
Eighth Glimmer: Force A DAME SCHOOL
The Dame (teacher) is a sour-looking old woman. She wears side curls and a high comb, a kerchief and hoop-skirt. Her voice is loud and rasping.
The pupils in old-fashioned costume—boys in long trousers and short jackets, girls in full long skirts and plain bodices and aprons—are seated on benches made by placing boards on two wooden horses or other supports. There is no rest for the pupils’ backs; the feet of the shorter children swing above the floor. ”

“ The public must either provide the means for the democratic training of all boys and girls, or permit class-distinctions in citizens of a republic. That you may know the danger that thus threatens, come with me and behold a possible school of the future. ”

“ Any City shows signs of embarrassment and discomfiture, but does not answer.
Education. Come with me. We will visit a sixth-year grade of to-day.
Education leads Any City behind curtain.
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Ninth Glimmer: Training for Democracy
The light bums brightly over a modern schoolroom. The pupils are seated in chairs or at movable desks, well grouped. Miss White, the teacher, is seated near her desk, or table, which is neatly arranged and is brightened by some flowers. She is dressed in a pretty, serviceable frock, with white collar and cuffs. ”

“ But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. ”

“ Suppose half of you say Argentina isn’t a progressive country, and the other half say it is, and the geography says nothing—who is going to decide?
Mary. Oh, we must all prove our statements, show our authority. (Taking up a book and looking around.) [38] See, we all have reference books. (Other pupils produce books which they hold up.) They are all different.
Visitor (walking over and peering at titles through glasses) . Different! So they are—as different as our way of studying geography from one book in the past. Well! Well! What are you doing in arithmetic?
Again several pupils stand. ”

“ It is owing to the self-denial and patriotism of the best teachers of America that the average standard of her schools is as high as it is to-day; it is because of their untiring efforts that America has to-day schools beyond the price the public is paying for them. ”

“ Teacher. No, I can’t take them. Look at this room! For the land’s sake, where do you think I could put two more? Hang them on the wall, or plaster them to the [46] ceilin’? Gee! I’d like to quit this job! (Raps on desk.) Stop yer talkin’! You’d think you had never been learned any manners. ”

“ Glimmer IX. Patriotic music as curtain falls.
Glimmer XI. As indicated in the text.
Final—Star-Spangled Banner.
[1]
PROLOGUE THE VISION Characters
Any City: a boy.
Education: a girl, taller than the boy.
Any City is dressed like a modern business man. Education is dressed in classic robes, hair in loose Grecian knot with gold fillet. She carries a lamp shaped like the old-fashioned one so frequently used to illustrate Education.
Any City is studying the proposed tax levy for the year. He is seated in an easy chair. ”