They are supplying exactly those things which European critics have hitherto found lacking to America, and are contributing to her political as well as to her contemplative life elements of inestimable worth.""* The What he remarked then is infinitely nearer the mark to-day, which mere statistics for 1911 cannot do more than skeletonize when they state that in the 145 colleges for men there was an undergraduate attendance of 37,144; in the 97 colleges for women, 18,985; and in the 339 co-educational institutions 116,585-74,305 men and 42,280 women. In graduate departments there were 10,858 resident students and 970 non-resident. number of colleges has more than doubled since the Civil War; the total is now 581. The standards of admission have been advanced; the course of study has been radically changed from the early prescribed, single course to the elective systems of infinite variety, and some recognized defects of electives are being remedied by the well-organized grouping of subjects, in which Yale took the initiative in 1911; entirely new fields for research work have been occupied in the universities; and efficiency of management has been greatly promoted - the selection of presidents, for instance, having passed through the clerical and scholastic stages to the present executive qualification. Probably the most notable change since 1865, when *The American Commonwealth, vol. ii., p. 553. Vassar College was founded, has been the rise of colleges for women, the admission of women to annexes, and the development of the co-educational policy.* Indirect education, or the extension of educational advantages to the home and community is of beneficent and far-reaching purpose. It is responsible for the origin of the slogan, "a wider use of the school plant," for the present time-waste of idle schoolhouses was, in 1912, about 64 per cent., which is not only a waste but a positive deterioration. But a happy change is taking place, for when the children scamper gleefully out of many a schoolhouse door, other and perhaps more appreciative classes of persons are ready to take their place to the rhythm of another slogan slogan" the wider use of the school idea." The growth of the "social centre," the "civic centre," the recreation centre " is nothing short of marvelous, and its practical applications almost numberless. Evening schools, both public and private, were multiplied with startling rapidity when once begun, the pupils in the city public evening schools alone numbering 374,364 in 1910. Evening schools were started in a crude way, in the 50's, but their famous and modern variant, the "Continuation School" began with the Twentieth century. *Marion Talbot, The Education of Women (1910). See the book bearing this title, by Clarence E. Perry of The Russell Sage Foundation (1910). Summer and vacation schools of all kinds are attended not only by teachers but by multitudes of others who can find no other leisure for study. Free public lectures, designed primarily for working men and working women, have been established in many cities the first in New York City dating back to 1888; in 1910, over a thousand different courses and subjects were attended by nearly a million people. Study clubs and reading circles at home and in schoolrooms are, again, of almost infinite variety and are directed by school authorities, the university extension system or correspondence schools- the latter, which is perhaps better adapted to individual teaching, being started or at least vitalized by the Chautauqua movement in 1879, and given special effectiveness by President Harper about the same time; teaching by correspondence is now carried on both by such schools, pure and simple, and by many colleges and universities as a subordinate department. With all these and many other opportunities for education of every description, there is no longer a reason why any individual, home, or community should go untaught or uncultured. And may there not be a third amplification of our slogan" the wider influence of American Education," which is fast extending educational benefits to Alaska, Porto Rico, the Philippines, in fact to all our * territorial or colonial possessions. And it is within the last half century that the educational forces of Christian missions have been developed an increase not unworthy of comparison with our internal, National expansion of education; so that it may now be truly said that, in the pregnant period we have been reviewing, the United States has indeed become a great world-power as an educator.† * Charles F. Thwing, Education in the Far East (1909), and Education in the United States Since the Civil War, chap. xiv., pp. 280-304. Besides the books and reports already referred to, a few among the hundreds of works of value to all interested in education may be mentioned: G. Stanley Hall, Youth: Its Education, Regimen and Hygiene (1907) and Educa tional Problems (1911); Charles W. Eliot, Educational Reform (1905); Herman H. Horne, The Philosophy of Education (1904); Charles De Garmo, Principles of Secondary Education (3 vols., 1907-1910); G. W. A. Luckey, The Professional Training of Secondary Teachers in the United States (1903); Samuel T. Dutton, School Management (1908); James R. Hughes and L. R. Klemm, Progress of Education in the Century (1907); Eugene Davenport, Education for Efficiency (1909); Paul Monroe, A Text-Book in the History of Education (1905); Charles F. Thwing, A History of Higher Education in America (1906); J. J. Findlay, The School: An Introduction to the Study of Education (1912); Lida B. Earhart, Teaching Children to Study (1909); Edwin A. Kirkpatrick, The Individual in the Making (1911); Ernest N. Henderson, A TextBook in the Principles of Education (1910); William C. Ruediger, The Principles of Education (1910); Elmer E. Brown, The Making of our Middle Schools (1907); Jeremiah W. Jenks, Citizenship and the Schools (1906); Warren R. Briggs, Modern American School Buildings (1902); Fletcher B. Dressler, American Schoolhouses (1910); Edmund M. Wheelwright, School Architecture (1901); Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. xxxiii., no. i. (1909); F. T. Carleton, Education and Industrial Evolution (1908). CHAPTER II. 1865-1912. THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS IDEALS AND THE GROWTH OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. Relative movement was the union of the leading evangelical denominations in its support, a union the like of which had not been known since the beginning of the century. One effect of this revival was that it placed the churches in an advanced position of general religious interest and enabled them better to withstand the generally subversive influences of war in the years immediately following. The exigencies of the war served also to awaken Christian sympathy and to unite the Nation in the bonds of mutual interest and activity in humanitarian measures for the care of the soldiers in the field. Remarkable work of this kind, on a scale never before known in modern warfare, was carried on by the various State soldiers' aid associations, the Christian Commission, the National Sanitary Association in behalf of the Union army, and by similar organizations for the soldiers of the Confederacy. Our third religious revival and its effects - The religious revival of 1875-1880- Materialism, rationalism, and scepticism as modifiers of religious thought-The consequent change in church activity denominational growth-Religious statistics. Religion had entered so thoroughly into our National life during the first half of the Nineteenth century that it was not disturbed by the Civil War as it had been by the Revolution of '76. There were, to be sure, sharp cleavages North and South in most of the denominations, owing to the slavery question, and, when the final appeal to arms came, the dissevered branches were found standing in political alignment with the section in which they existed; but both were still in unison in their religious faiths and doctrines. A little before the outbreaking of the war (in 1858) occurred what is considered as the third great religious revival in the history of this country. It was marked by all the intensity of purpose that characterized the two preceding revivals (in 1740 and 1792), but it differed from them as the people of the Nineteenth century differed from those of the Eighteenth. With no less earnestness and devotion on the part of its promoters, it was more self-restrained and less demonstraA particular feature of this tive. Another effect of this revival was the increased fraternity of the great religious bodies, and this, too, was made stronger and more healthful by the close association of the humanitarian activities of the Civil War. The spirit of religious freedom, already fully established, grew strong in this period. It manifested itself in many church divisions and, at the same time, in increased religious toleration. Thus the Congregationalists of New England could calmly discuss the new teachings of Horace Bushnell, while other schisms were regarded with more leniency than was possible a century earlier. The organization of the Free Religious Association in Boston in 1867, the advance in Unitarian and Universalist doctrines, the withdrawal of Henry Ward Beecher and the Plymouth Church from the local Congregational Association in 1882; these and similar movements in the two decades following the Civil War did not put their leaders outside the pale of Christianity. A fourth great National revival, led by the famous evangelists Moody and Sankey (1875-1880), again stirred the National conscience and stimulated religious life. In general character, this was not unlike the revival of 20 years before, but it was probably more effective in winning converts and in quickening the churches of all leading denominations. The powerful evangelistic oratory of Moody and the singularly winning pathos of Sankey's singing exercised a powerful influence upon the people. Church membership largely increased and interest in VOL. X-29 things divine became more widespread and more intense. But there was another influence at work in this period which for a time. seemed to threaten the foundation of religious faith and ultimately made a deep and abiding impress on religious life and thought. A wave of scepticism swept over the country, especially among the educated classes. Paine's Age of Reason was resurrected and Voltaire and Rousseau were re-read, and all three exercised a strong influence upon the thought of the period. The authenticity of the Bible as a historical document and its infallibility as a divine revelation were called in question. Renan and Strauss, then the leaders in the new school of Biblical-historical criticism, had thousands of readers. The pure materialism of science, as set forth by Darwin, Tyndall, Huxley and others, planted in the minds of students doubts concerning the accuracy of the Bible in its historical annals and its divine authority in matters of theology. Agnosticism and atheism flourished. Free thought societies sprang up and free thought-that is, antiChristian books and periodicals were extensively read. Men like Ingersoll, who denounced Christianity by written and spoken word, had many followers and exercised much influence. Materialistic views of life were adopted by a very considerable portion of the people. To what extent this intellectual movement has permanently affected the cause of religion is still problematical. It led, however, to a period of controversy and schism. Free thinking writers put out books attacking the validity of the Scriptures, and Christian apologists energetically defended the faith. A new school of historical criticism of the Bible sprang up, first in Germany and then in England and the United States. Purely speculative atheism and agnosticism did not succeed in establishing themselves, but the examination of the foundations of religious belief in the light of modern science, archæological discoveries, and historical investigations did not cease. On the contrary, it extended from without to within the church, and in the latter part of the century some of the most radical exponents of latter-day criticism of the theological tenets of the old-time Christianity were found in the professors' chairs of theological seminaries and the pulpits of the church. Heresy trials were not infrequent and the higher criticism was a burning question in nearly all the leading evangelical denominations. The trials of David Swing by the Presbyterians of Chicago in 1874; of H. W. Thomas by the Methodists of Chicago in 1881; and, in subsequent years, of Professor Charles W. Briggs, of the Presbyterian Union Theological Seminary, New York City, and Professor Hinckley J. Mitchell, of the Methodist Boston Theological Seminary-these and others of like character indicate to what an extent modern criticism has invaded the fold of theology, compelling the conservative element of the church strenuously to combat views deemed destructive of the faith. To what extent the church generally in its entire membership was affected. by this modern thought is difficult perhaps impossible to determine accurately. That it has helped to bring about some change in religious thought and faith cannot be doubted. Many Christian writers have expressed views on this point similar to those of Leonard W. Bacon, who (in his History of American Christianity) commented upon the fact that religion is now "less pietistic and contemplative than it once was." In the past the individual Christian was bound to his theology, was much concerned about his own salvation, contemplated the mysteries of the cross and of divine nature, and engaged in pietistic speculation concerning the human will, the love and power of God, and God, and the future life. Now, though religious faith may be as strong as ever with him, he lays less stress upon theology pure and simple, and, as Dr. Bacon has said, upon pietistic contemplation, and dwells more upon good works. This changed and still changing religious ideal has been evidenced to a marked degree in the increasing activity of the church in the great modern humanitarian movements, in which it has never engaged to such an extent as in the closing years of the Nine |