Charlotte Marie Mason

“ Arbitrary Rule not always a Failure.—It cannot be said that this arbitrary rule was entirely a failure. It turned out steadfast, capable, able, self-governed, gentle-mannered men and women. In our less hopeful moments, we wonder as we watch the children of our day whether they will prove as good stuff as their grandfathers and their fathers. But we need not fear. The evolution of educational thought is like the incoming of the tide. ”

“ Upon one thing, anyway, we may congratulate ourselves with unmixed satisfaction : the relations between children and parents, and indeed between children and their grown-up friends generally, are far more intimate, frank and friendly than such relations used to be. There does not seem to be any longer that great gulf fixed between child thought and grown-up thought, which the older among us once tried to cross with frantic but vain efforts. ”

“ Better Relations between Children and their Elders.—All of us who have accepted education as our métier are keenly alive to the signs of the times as they are to be read in the conduct and manner of children. ”