There is, of course, a great difference in mental power between pupils during the time devoted to Greek history and during that in which they are studying American history and civics; there are, too, great disparities in the children of the same grades and in different schools, and yet I think it is a safe generalization to declare that broadly speaking, our pupils are surprisingly immature and undeveloped mentally, even when, as “sweet girl graduates,” or their brothers, they leave us for the struggle of life, or for college. The public high school, supported as it is by the money of the people, must necessarily adapt itself to the needs of the children sent to it; the vast majority of our pupils receive from us the “finishing touches” of their formal education, as they do not go to college, but plunge at once into “the world.” Such being the fact, what then should be the aim of the history teacher? Should it be to inculcate “the methodical search for truth,” using the phrase in the sense evidently intended by both M. Lanson and Professor Fling? Remembering the specific task set before us, viz.: insofar as we are able, to fit our charges to grapple with the practical problems of life, I am compelled to say that such a training in the study of history as Professor Fling thinks desirable for high school pupils would be woefully one-sided and inadequate. We are not expected to train historians nor historical specialists; we leave to the colleges to discover unusual natural aptitudes for investigation and research, and we consider that in the universities the post-graduate school finds its sphere in the training of the historical expert; on the other hand, to the high school is given the privilege of _introducing_ these younger minds into the domain of history. And while enforcing the importance of accuracy and exactness in thinking and in forming judgments of men and of events, it is not only our task to inculcate “the methodical search for truth,” but to throw open to the pupils the literature of the subject, to show them how to use books to arouse their interest in scenes and countries removed by time and space from themselves, to create, too, an interest in the social life of times present and past, and to inspire a sane spirit of pride in our country and loyalty to it.