Another World Part 3

My scientific men discovered a means by which the causes that produced the darkness are now used to remedy its inconveniences.

The City is made gloriously radiant. Forms of trees, birds, vases of flowers and fruit, fountains, and other designs of many tints and great beauty are transparent with light, rendered more beautiful by combination with a peculiar electricity emitted by the earth--an electricity which, be it observed, is the cause of the darkness.

The very birds by their warbling seem to greet the change, and the trees and flowers emit a more delicious perfume.

There is music and rejoicing everywhere in the City. Many of the electrical amus.e.m.e.nts provided appear grander from the contrast with the darkness they are made to displace--a contrast scarcely greater than that depicted by our "Nature Delineators" when, in allegory, they paint the present contrasted with past times; the later years of my reign contrasted with the beginning.

V.

CHARACTER-DIVERS.

EDUCATION.

"Let none but skilful workmen elaborate precious material."

Think not that the truly great Vyora was but little honoured by being appointed to an office connected with little children.[1]

[Footnote 1: _Ante_, p. 8.]

The character-divers were entrusted by me with grave duties, on the proper discharge of which depended the enduring success of my polity.

The education of the young of both s.e.xes engaged from the first my deepest study, for I had early convinced myself that the many evils to be eradicated had their stronghold in the mode in which education had been conducted, and soon after the commencement of my reign I put into execution a portion of my laws for making education a powerful lever in the regeneration of my world.

Men of genius had been compelled by ignorance or driven by necessity to follow occupations for which they were not fitted, and which they, indeed, often loathed; the really valuable tendencies of these men, bent in an opposite direction, were allowed to run to waste, or perhaps be used to the injury and destruction of others.

I felt that to do justice to all and effect good incalculable, evil tendencies must be destroyed in their birth, the germs of the imperfections and crimes of the man, detected and eradicated in the child; whilst valuable qualities and good tendencies must be searched out, and effective means devised for their healthful development.

The most ordinary men, those even who would otherwise be swayed by gross pa.s.sions, would become contented workmen in the cause of good when occupied with pursuits for which nature and education had fitted them; whilst the power and works of men of genius would be many times increased and multiplied if their education were adapted to strengthen and develop their talents, eradicate their faults, and generate auxiliary excellencies.

But how could all this be effected if the first step to so desirable an end were wanting?

In my visits to the schools I had been struck with the fact that little account was taken of the characters of children,--their qualifications and natural tendencies physical or mental: the attempt was to force the boy to the system, not to adapt the system to the boy.

One routine existed for all pupils, whether for the inculcation of the love of study or for the correction of faults. The earnest and pa.s.sionate nature was treated in the same way as the cold and phlegmatic; the boy of genius or talent, as the dullard; the one who loved, as he who disliked, or had a tendency to dislike, study; the weakly, as the strong. They were all driven together like a flock of sheep, with scarcely any regard to individual capabilities, bent of genius, or physical const.i.tution, which indeed little effort, and that ill-directed, had been made to discover.

I had observed, also, boys with the germs of great genius, who, for want of some minor quality, were rejected and perhaps placed in some lower division, humiliated and discouraged, although with care the deficient quality could have been supplied. The want of this perhaps would make the boy a recruit to the ranks of evil, or at least unfit him, when a man, for the real business of life. It was the small bolt wanting to enable the machine to do its work properly.

I saw the sad consequences of all this mismanagement.

Many precepts, beautiful indeed in intention, were crammed into the pupil, the process being repeated until they often became irksome, and he was expected to become moral and religious. I saw that precepts were of little use unless those whom they were meant to benefit were educated, fortified, and disciplined in the practical means of observing them.

It was at that time painful to see children, with many good natural tendencies, leave school with bad habits, and vices so marked and developed, that even the exertions of the most skilful physicians, the discourses of the most learned of our clergy, failed to effect a cure.

The first thing necessary was to devise effective--it may be said unerring--means to search out the characters and dispositions of children.

I created the office of "character-divers," and selected for the discharge of its duties eminent men of great sagacity and gentleness, skilled in the knowledge of the mind and heart, their sole occupation being to discover the qualities, tendencies, and incipient faults of children, and act accordingly; to dive, as it were, into the secret imaginings of the child; to detect the early germ of evil, and note the presence of good; to indicate measures for eradicating the one and developing the other.

These character--divers, called in our language "Djarke," are distinct from the masters, called "Zicche," or fathers of knowledge, able men, who have charge of the boys' studies.

The qualities which enable a preceptor to impart literary and scientific knowledge differ widely from those fitted for searching out, discriminating and correcting faults of character, interpreting the real qualities that nature has implanted in the youthful aspirant, and devising the measures to be taken for correction or development.

Even if the necessary qualities for both duties were united in one master, there would be many objections to the duties being entrusted to the same person.

The character-divers are as it were moral physicians, skilled in the detection and cure of the hidden germs of mental maladies; for, as you will see hereafter, I was not content to wait till a disease, whether of the mind or body, had developed itself, spreading contagious poison through the veins and arteries of society, and propagating evil without end; the germ was destroyed before it had acquired force to injure.

In our planet neither the faults nor the good qualities of children show themselves in the same way; the indications vary in each child according to his temperament and the circ.u.mstances in which he may be placed.

Faults and qualities are often of a kind seemingly opposed to what they actually demonstrate to the character-diver--particularly in children endowed with genius.

Fair and even beautiful outcroppings are sometimes indications of noxious weeds hidden below the surface. Weeds are not unfrequently born from the very richness and exuberance of the soil, whilst many a dark and seemingly sterile stem conceals the embryo of fruit and flowers which a genial suns.h.i.+ne will call into life and beauty.

These and other considerations demand great--almost constant--attention on the part of the Djarke.

Another reason for separating the two offices of fathers of knowledge and character-divers is that the child's peculiarities are generally shown out of school-hours. Hence, for the purpose of detecting or tracing their real cause, and suggesting the remedy, the character-diver is often obliged to enter into terms of intimacy with the children, particularly those of tender age, to obtain their confidence, perhaps to be their playmate and friend, that the little ones may be at their ease, conceal nothing, and almost look upon him as they would upon some tame animal.

The younger children with us require more watchfulness and skill in their treatment than those of maturer age. The defects of the young, like incipient disease, are less obvious, and their intelligence is less developed.

VI.

CORRECTION OF FAULTS.

CHARACTER-DIVERS--_continued_.

"Let the remedies employed be adapted to the complaint and to the const.i.tution of the patient, and be careful that in curing one disease you do not sow the seeds of another more dangerous."

One of the duties of the character-divers is to suggest, and often to carry out, the measures for curing the child, for in our planet the mode of correcting faults is a matter of great solicitude, lest the means adopted, instead of checking and eradicating, tend to confirm and develop the evil tendency, or, it may be, implant other evils more fatal than those eradicated.

The remedies employed for curing the boy's faults vary with his temperament and general characteristics. The same fault would be treated very differently in the stupid and in the intelligent boy. Where there was difficulty of impression, the labour would be like working on stone, whilst the lightest touch and mildest measures will often suffice with the intelligent.

The remedies vary again with the kind, degree, and cause of the fault: take for instance the ordinary fault of laziness. This would be treated very differently when it arose from mental defects--from a tendency to love other things, great or grovelling, or from a sluggish or overactive digestion.

I may here mention that a general feature in the correction of faults is the absence of violent punishment. We wish to raise and not degrade our children, and perhaps implant the seeds of cruelty. We do not correct even our animals by blows. Horses, for instance, are never struck.

Whips, with a small thong at the ends, are used only to flourish and to make sounds which the horse knows, but they are not used to strike the animal. Other modes are employed for curing viciousness, each according to the nature of the vice. In the case of a kicking horse, he is placed in a machine which is closed on him, the machine being so constructed that when shut it effectually prevents the animal moving, and he is kept there in the same position for hours. If, when taken out, he again kicks he is placed back again immediately. The process is repeated when necessary over and over again, until the very sight of the machine will completely cow the animal, and he is effectually cured.