It is not with any spirit of condemnation that these things are stated, but it can be seen by all that there is a meaning which inevitably attaches to these changes. The multiplicity of subjects taught has led to a wonderful book study, and a student’s whole life is spent in an attempt to put into his own head the thoughts which others have written for him. The spirit of the universities was caught by the academies, and by the high schools, and is reflected even in the lower grades. It is the beginning of the cramming process now so forcibly denounced by a few true educators. Readers of our magazines are familiar with the ideas expressed by Mrs. Lew Wallace in “The Murder of the Modern Innocents,” by the editor of the _Ladies’ Home Journal_, and others. I deem it sufficient to quote from Mr. Edward Bok, who startled American homes by stating that “in five cities of our country alone there were, during the last school term, over sixteen thousand children between the ages of eight and fourteen taken out of the public schools because their nervous systems were wrecked, and their minds were incapable of going on any farther in the infernal cramming system which exists to-day in our schools.... It was planned by nature that between the years of seven and fifteen the child should have rest,—not rest which will stop all mental and physical growth, of course, ... but the child’s pace should be checked so as to allow him to recover from the strain which his system has just undergone. “But what really happens to the child at the age of seven? Is he given this period of rest?—Verily, no! He enters the schoolroom, and becomes a victim of long hours of confinement—the first mental application, mind you, that the child has ever known. The nervous wear and tear begins; the child is fairly launched upon his enjoyment (God save the mark!) of the great educational system of America.... Special systems of ‘marks,’ which amount to prizes, are started, serving only to stimulate the preternaturally bright child, who needs relaxation most of all, and to discourage the child who happens to be below the average of intelligence. It is cramming, cramming, cramming! A certain amount of ‘ground must be gone over,’ as it is usually called. Whether the child is physically able to work the ground, does not enter into the question. And we do not stop even there! The poor children are compelled to carry home a pile of books to study, usually after supper, and just before going to bed, and that is about the most barbarous part of the whole system.”[166] This is enough to show that the system is recognized as practicing methods not in accordance with the laws of nature, which are the laws of God. Such methods are the result of the system at the head of which stand the colleges and universities which outline the work for all below them.