THE TEACHER

The papers of this volume fall into three groups,two of the three being written by myself. From mywritings on education I have selected only thosewhich may have some claim to permanent interest,and all but two have been tested by previous publication.Those of the first group deal with questionsabout which we teachers, eager about our immeasurableart beyond most professional persons,never cease to wonder and debate: What is teaching?How far may it influence character? Can it be practicedon persons too busy or too poor to come to ourclass-rooms? To subjects of what scope should it beapplied? And how shall we content ourselves withits necessary limitations? Under these diverse headingsa kind of philosophy of education is outlined.The last two papers, having been given as lecturesand stenographically reported, I have left in theiroriginal colloquial form. A group of papers on Harvardfollows, preceded by an explanatory note, andthe volume closes with a few papers by Mrs. Palmer.She and I often talked of preparing together a bookon education. Now, alone, I gather up these fragments.