Then, in the gray of the morning, it seemed she stood by me— and smiled.

And the doctor came at his hour, and we went to see to the

child.

"He had brought his ghastly tools; we believed her asleep

again,

Her dear, long lean, little arms lying out on the counterpane. Say that His day is done. Ah, why should we care what they

say?

The Lord of the children had heard her, and Emmie had passed away."

The idea? Plain as day. The inculcation and the exaltation of a faith in a God who for every one of us may be moved to a loving, merciful, a most provident care.

And now we will consider Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" as an exemplification of the theories of the second school.

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure dome decree;
Where Alph, the sacred river ran

Through caverns measureless to man,

Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers were girdled round:

And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And there were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh, that deep, romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover.

A savage place, as holy and enchaunted

As ever beneath a waning moon was haunted

By woman wailing for her demon-lover.

And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if the earth in fast, thick pants was breathing,

A mighty fountain momentarily was forced;
Amid whose swift, half intermittent burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail,
And mid those dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sunk in tumult in a lifeless ocean;
And midst this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war.

The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;

Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.

It was a miracle of fair device,

A sunny pleasure dome with caves of ice.
A damsel with a dulcimer,

In a vision once I saw:

It was an Abyssinian maid,

And on her dulcimer she played,

Singing of Mount Abora.

Could I revive within me

Her music and her song,

To such deep delight 'twould win me,
That with music loud and long,

I would build that dome in air,

That sunny dome, those caves of ice,

And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry: 'Beware, beware,
His flashing eye, his floating hair;
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.'"

Here the idea is not so immediately apparent. We will not search for it. For our purpose, suffice it to say that in this poem beauty is truth and goodness.

It

And now for our example of the art product which manifests a combination of theories. We all know "Macbeth." I believe I am right when I say that the consensus of opinion grants to "Macbeth" a place amongst the supreme art products of the ages. What is the idea here? It does not announce itself as the text of a sermon announces itself. does not obtrude itself, as the idea of an Ibsen play obtrudes itself, or as the idea of a Shaw play obtrudes itself. The idea of Macbeth may be stated in these words: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." In "Macbeth" the idea and the form are so much a part of each other that neither predominates. This perfect union of material with the idea may be said to result in a product of pure art-of proper art.

Dare-Devil

I would not be the ship
Creeping into port,
However proud and graceful
She may be;

I would rather
Be the ship with
Bow to the ocean
Eager

For perilous seas,

For new adventure.

ELINOR C. WOOLSON,
Naugatuck, Conn.

Ideas, Ideals and Vision in American History

S

Curriculum Construction

ELLA S. JOHNSTON, CLEVELAND, OHIO.

OME one has said, "Ideas are ladders on the ground; ideals are ladders placed upright." We might add, "Visions are ladders peopled."

I. The Ladder on the Ground-"Serial Aggregation."

Abstractions.

Ideas.

Facts.

II. The Ladder Placed Upright-"Intrinsic Continuity."

Principles.
Ideals.
Meanings.

III. The Ladder Peopled-"The Melting Pot."

Conceptions.
Vision.

Interpretations.

I. By Ideas.

Much of our American history in the lower grades is now being taught by means of biography. The old abstractions— discovery, exploration, settlement-are personified and vitalized by typical human beings. The most notable of these who are concerned with our history are selected for emphasis, on the basis of these abstractions, and there is a "serial aggregation" of individuals who become history's rounds in the ladder.

Justly and naturally, the person must be lost in the idea for which he stands, and while the Who is at the beginning, the What emerges at the end. Now the rounds become Ideas.

And so a "serial aggregation" of ideas is lined up for our survey, leading forward to the great consistent goal of ab

stractions ranging from discovery to the highest complexities of government-which were their source.

But the ladder is still on the ground.

II. By Ideals.

The moral principles of service, truth, brotherhood, honor, etc., are vague, indefinable terms. These are clarified when they are personified and vitalized by typical human beings. Suppose the most notable of these, who are concerned with our history, are selected for emphasis in the curriculum, on the basis of these moral principles. There is then an 'intrinsic continuity" in individuals who become history's rounds of the ladder.

Justly and naturally the person must be lost in the ideal for which he stands, and while the Who is at the beginning, the Why emerges at the end. Now the rounds become Ideals.

Thus an "intrinsic continuity" of ideals rises for our survey, leading upward to the great consistent goal of moral principles which were their source.

The ladder is placed upright.

III. By Vision.

He saw

In the account given in Genesis, Jacob dreamed. a ladder, and, "Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending upon it." Jacob, the man, could have seen a ladder; it took Jacob, the dreamer, to see the ladder peopled from above.

The spiritual conceptions of truth are realized by means of symbols. They are brought within range by the seers of the world. Suppose these symbols-great poems, great stories, great pictures, great architecture—which are concerned with our history, are selected for emphasis in the curriculum on the basis of these spiritual conceptions which were their source. The rounds are no longer seen.

The ladder is peopled.