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AT HOME 15

"whole crop of them, must be the prayer of all who
believe in education and race-progress.

Another of Spencer's retrospective convictions is
one that makes all human nature kin—that he was
not so black as he was painted. His father and his
uncle had been eminently " good" boys, and they
gauged boy-nature by their own standard. Had he
gone to a public school, Spencer thinks that his
** extrinsically-vfiong actions would have been many,
but the intrinsica/!y-ⁱwroiig actions would have been
few." This distinction will doubtless appeal to the
wise.

At Home.—For a year and a half after leaving
Hinton, Herbert Spencer remained at home, en-
joying another period of freedom. He made in a day,
•without previous experience, a survey of his father's
small property at Kirk Ireton—two fields and three
cottages with their gardens j he made designs for a
country house; he hit upon a remarkable property of
the circle; and he fished. Meanwhile, however, his
father who "held, and rightly held, that there are
few functions higher than that of the educator,"
induced him to engage in school-work, and this
experiment lasted for three months. It appears to
have been directly a success, Spencer's lessons were
at once " effective and pleasure^giving," and "com-
plete harmony continued throughout the entire
period " ; it was not less important eventually, for
we cannot doubt that part of the effectiveness of
Herbert Spencer's book on Education is traceable
to the fact that he had, for a term at least, personal
experience of teaching.

Even at this early age (17 years) Spencer had ideals



	AT HOME 15 "whole crop of them, must be the prayer of all who believe in education and race-progress. Another of Spencer's retrospective convictions is one that makes all human nature kin—that he was not so black as he was painted. His father and his uncle had been eminently " good" boys, and they gauged boy-nature by their own standard. Had he gone to a public school, Spencer thinks that his ** extrinsically-vfiong actions would have been many, but the intrinsica/!y-ⁱwroiig actions would have been few." This distinction will doubtless appeal to the wise. At Home.—For a year and a half after leaving Hinton, Herbert Spencer remained at home, en- joying another period of freedom. He made in a day, •without previous experience, a survey of his father's small property at Kirk Ireton—two fields and three cottages with their gardens j he made designs for a country house; he hit upon a remarkable property of the circle; and he fished. Meanwhile, however, his father who "held, and rightly held, that there are few functions higher than that of the educator," induced him to engage in school-work, and this experiment lasted for three months. It appears to have been directly a success, Spencer's lessons were at once " effective and pleasure^giving," and "com- plete harmony continued throughout the entire period " ; it was not less important eventually, for we cannot doubt that part of the effectiveness of Herbert Spencer's book on Education is traceable to the fact that he had, for a term at least, personal experience of teaching. Even at this early age (17 years) Spencer had ideals