rown early school days, as we pursued the various topics thmetics, at different times we made the acquaintance of tive heroes. They were strange versatile fellows, named d C. They were the original personifications of industry. ere the first real and only exponents of vocational education. carned to do by doing. And what a variety of things with they busied themselves! One day they would be sawing the next, pumping water; again, digging a trench; then, ng a race, or piling cordwood. The inexorable fate that kept at these never-ending labors saw to it also that one poor chap, was always the loser. He never could stand the pace. He er was vouchsafed the joy born of success. Poor fellow! No tter what expenditure of muscular energy he made, the odds ainst him were always too great. The ditch was never dug; e wood was never piled. One curious thing about all this was hat A, B, and C never had a day off when they were able to step out of the ditch to see what progress they were making. Indeed, in the heat of solving our problems, we, too, never stopped to see how futile all this energy really was. For four years a group of the unselfish, now assembled not far away, have followed an ideal. They have toiled ceaselessly; they ive advised and co-operated with one another; they have spent *The President's address at the fifth annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English, Chicago, Illinois, November 26, 1915. Published January, February, March, April, May, June, September, 236660 Composed and Printed By In our own early school days, as we pursued the various topics in our arithmetics, at different times we made the acquaintance of three active heroes. They were strange versatile fellows, named A, B, and C. They were the original personifications of industry. They were the first real and only exponents of vocational education. They learned to do by doing. And what a variety of things with which they busied themselves! One day they would be sawing wood; the next, pumping water; again, digging a trench; then, running a race, or piling cordwood. The inexorable fate that kept them at these never-ending labors saw to it also that one poor chap, C, was always the loser. He never could stand the pace. He never was vouchsafed the joy born of success. Poor fellow! No matter what expenditure of muscular energy he made, the odds against him were always too great. The ditch was never dug; the wood was never piled. One curious thing about all this was that A, B, and C never had a day off when they were able to step out of the ditch to see what progress they were making. Indeed, in the heat of solving our problems, we, too, never stopped to see how futile all this energy really was. For four years a group of the unselfish, now assembled not far away, have followed an ideal. They have toiled ceaselessly; they have advised and co-operated with one another; they have spent 'The President's address at the fifth annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English, Chicago, Illinois, November 26, 1915. |