I have seen not a few young men and women hopelessly stranded in life, whose early education had been one of extreme indulgence. They had never been controlled in home-life, and when projected against the rough experiences of actual life, were brought up with a round turn, or with no turn at all. The shocks were too much for them; they could not bend, nor yield, and were, therefore, broken. The lesson of obedience, which is often one of the most difficult to learn, must be learned, like most other lessons, when young, if it is to be effectually learned. Again, the acquisition of self-control and obedience to law is essential to mental discipline and training. The operations of the brain are more or less under the control of the will, and the more thoroughly the habit of obedience and self-control is gained, the more fully are all mental operations under individual or will-control. The will is the highest and grandest manifestation of the _Ego_ possible. This it is which lifts man so immeasurably high above all other creatures, and so largely helps him to control his own destiny on earth. By the judicious use of this, he guides his mental operations into channels which lead to happiness and health, or to those tending in the opposite direction; he brings into subjection and control the vast army of his lower passions and desires, making them minister to his own and the higher welfare of society, or he leaves them to run riot, and ultimately to become his master. If, therefore, he would have a brain capable of healthy mental action, he must learn to have its operations early under the control of his will-power. He must learn to guide it toward its higher and better impulses, and to strengthen it with the best nourishment. He must learn how to use not only his brain but his whole nervous system, and by this means acquire skill in the accomplishment of various kinds of labor. In no other way can he become self-supporting and independent, in the midst of the conflicting and competing tendencies of modern life. Without such self-control and independence he is constantly in danger of drifting down and backward in the grand race in which the society of the present is competing. I must repeat that obedience to law, whether it be parental, social, or civil, is one of the corner-stones, in fact, the fundamental element, in any efficient and worthy system of education. While I would not go back to the strict system of a hundred years ago, wherein all individuality was lost, and nearly every thing was made to yield to the law element in society, yet I fear that, in the recoil from that system, we have been, and still are, in great danger of going too far in the opposite direction. Freedom of individual thought and action, especially for the young, is in danger of degenerating into mere license, so that, in too many quarters, respect for parental, school, and civil authority is considered an indication of weakness and indecision.