All rights reserved
Copyright, 1903,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up, electrotyped, and published June, 1903. Reprinted
January, June, August, 1904: July, 1905; January, 1906;
August, December, 1907; September, 1909; August, 1910;
August, 1911; June, 1912.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U. S. A.
PREFACE
In the ordinary course of events, most individuals take some part in the manifold industries which engage the mind and the hand of man, by which alone our present-day civilization can be maintained. These great world activities touch the daily life of every member of society, whether child or adult, worker or idler.
A chain of mutual dependence, too often unrecognized, binds together the members of the human family, whether they belong to the same community or dwell on opposite sides of the earth. The links of this chain are made up of the articles which constitute our daily food, our clothing, homes, fuel, light, our means of communication and transportation, and only by continuous coöperation are they kept together.
The highest motive in education is to present the conditions which will lead to the most complete living; to build up the best possible members of society; to develop character. An individual who does not understand the life of which he finds himself a part, cannot be in full sympathy with its conditions and hence cannot be of the most service to himself or to others. Only to the extent that education and life follow the same general course, can each be truly successful. Far too little is done in our schools to acquaint children with their relations to the great industrial and social organization of which they are members. Even grown persons have, as a rule, a very indefinite knowledge of these relations.