School Education _‘Home Education’ Series_ By CHARLOTTE M. MASON _Each Volume 3s. 6d. net_ I. HOME EDUCATION. II. PARENTS AND CHILDREN. III. SCHOOL EDUCATION. IV. ESSAYS IN PRACTICAL EDUCATION. V. OURSELVES, OUR SOULS AND BODIES. KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER, & CO., LTD. DRYDEN HOUSE 43 GERRARD STREET, LONDON, W. _‘Home Education’ Series_ VOLUME III. School Education By Charlotte M. Mason _SECOND EDITION_ LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER, & CO., LTD. DRYDEN HOUSE, GERRARD STREET, W. 1907 _The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved_ _TO_ Henrietta Franklin THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, IN VERY GRATEFUL RECOGNITION, NOT ONLY OF HER GENEROUS LIFE’S LABOUR GIVEN TO THE SPREAD OF CERTAIN EDUCATIONAL IDEAS, BUT ALSO OF HER SINGULAR APPREHENSION OF THOSE IDEAS [Illustration: FOR THE CHILDRENS SAKE] “O maraviglia! che come altrui piacque l’umile pianta, cotal si rinacque Subitamente là onde la svelse.” We read in the _Purgatorio_, Canto I., how Virgil was directed to prepare Dante for his difficult ascent: “Va dunque, e fa che tu costui ricinghe d’un giunco schietto, e che gli lavi il viso si che ogni sucidume quindi stinghe: ... Questa isoletta intorno ad imo ad imo, laggiu, cola dove la batte l’onda, porta de’ giunchi sopra il molle limo. Null’ altra pianta, che facesse fronda o indurasse, vi puote aver vita, pero che alle percosse non seconda. ... Venimmo poi in sul litro diserto, ... Quivi mi cinse si come altrui piacque: o maraviglia! che qual egli scelse l’umile pianta, cotal si rinacque Subitamente là onde la svelse.” “Go, then, and see thou gird this one about With a smooth rush, and that thou wash his face, So that thou cleanse away all stain therefrom. ... This little island round about its base, Below there, yonder where the billow beats it, Doth rushes bear upon its washy ooze; No other plant that putteth forth the leaf, Or that doth indurate, can there have life, Because it yieldeth not unto the shocks. ... Then came we down upon the desert shore. ... There he begirt me as the other pleased; O marvellous! for even as he culled The humble plant, such it sprang up again Suddenly there where he uprooted it.”