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No. 3.
Ski.k-uemanck.
827
young man, of a " youug gentleman."
The Qymnasiast has none of that imlcpcn.
dent, self-asscrting, ambitious air, so pc
culiar to the American student. He docs
not trouble liis head about politics, or the
great events of the day. He has no opin.
ions. He lias no institutions of his own,
in which he is independent of the teacher
no " paper," no " literary society," no
self conducted public exercises. In a
word, he des not exercise his weapons in
mimic warfare against the more earnest
battle of life. All this is left for the Uni
versity. Even here much of it is not so
fully represented as .with us.
Herein is the chief difference between
the Gymnasium and the American uni.
vcrsity; for the method of instruction,
the aim of the two institutions is nearly
the same abstract development of the
mental faculties; scientific method, per
soual investigation is not aimed at; this is
left for the University by the Germans, by
us, it is often left out entirety. Our in
struction in common with that of the
Gymnasium is based upon second-hand
knowledge, the text-book; that of the Ger
man university, upon the Quclleti, the
Sources, a great word which plays a great
role here, and whoso significance we
ought to learn. Eluotte.
Munich, Jan., 20, 1878.
SELF-RELIANCE.
Any system of education, which does
not cultivate the habit of self-reliance in
the pupil, is faulty; for, with all the helps
and encouragements that man succeeds in
obtaining, his success depends mainly
upon himself ; and any assistance which
gdes farther than the development of the
inherent strength of the individual, be
comes a hindcrauce to true advancement.
Wc do not mean that spirit which dis
claims all brotherhood with those about
us; on the contrary, the self-reliant char
acter is often u strength to those who
come in contact with him. He would
much rather give than receive, lend than
borrow, both of substance and sympathy.
If disappointed in the hope of one enjoy
ment he readily turns to another, yielding
to the force of circumstances as cheerful,
ly as possible. He never shirks individ
ual responsibility, but rocognizes the fact
that notwithstanding the many influen
ces bearing upon the life of each, strong
in power, perplexing in natuic, and con
fusing in multiplicity, there is a point
where he must stand in the strength of
his own character, and no one can relieve
him of his accountability.
The importance of this may be im
pressed upon the mind very early in
life. Wc well remember our first les
son in this direction outside of the
home circle. When about six years
of age we were sent to the village
" store " with a bundle of " paper-rags,"
witli instructions to purchase just what
we wanted for ourselves; but, in our
bashfulness, we were unable to think
of a single thing which would contribute
just then to our enjoyment, and the good
natured merchant wrote a " due-bill " for
the nineteen cents, which wc were obliged
to carry home, sincerely hoping that that
would be the last of it. But, no! our usu
ally indulgent father was stern in that
matter, and we were obliged to present
the bill iu due form, and purchase its
amount with no help or advice from
anyone. And many times in the glid
ing years have we been glad that such
a kev-note in our life was thus early
struck, for it has never ceased to vibrate;
and with all the helps which we have
received, and they have not been few, and
all the encouragements which have come
to us, and they have been mniij', we have
always found ourselves in need of all the
self-reliance we could control.
So we end as we began, siting that any
system of education which fails to leach
self-reliance, is faulty.
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MW
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