who restrains his child from the commission of a wrongful act, or approves its conduct when praiseworthy, does so in recognition of the importance of moral education. Every individual who uses his influence to keep others from evil associations, or who commends a noble or kindly act, thus manifests his appreciation of the necessity of moral or ethical culture. However undefined may be the limits, however imperfectly understood may be the sources of the laws of duty, it is continually forced upon the attention of every thoughtful person that a proper observance of these laws is of vast importance to mankind. The happiness of man—the great legitimate end of human effort—depends so largely upon the recognition and adoption of high standards of duty, that nothing can exceed in importance the cultivation of the science of duty and the spirit of right action.
The human race is still far from a condition of ideal perfection; man has not as yet reached his highest estate. In the words of Tennyson:
"A monstrous eft was of old the Lord and Master of Earth;
For him did his high sun shine, and his river billowing ran,
And he felt himself in his force to be Nature's crowning race.
As nine months go to the shaping an infant ripe for its birth,
So many a million of ages have gone to the making of man;
He now is first, but is he the last? is he not too base?"
The world is full of want and misery; the strong trample upon the rights of the weak, the cunning take advantage of the unwary, the impulsive and the irresolute are lured on to lives of vice and crime. From every quarter there arise appeals for help, for strength to overcome temptation, for power to resist oppression, for succor in distress. Beyond all these things, as we ascend in the scale of ethical development, there exists a demand for that recognition of the rights of others, that spirit of fellowship and true manhood which shall abridge and overcome the passion of grasping selfishness. How prevalent is the desire for that ostentatious splendor and luxurious ease which too often represent the fruits of many a hard and narrow life of penury and ill-requited toil!
We live in an age of observation, of investigation, of a study of Nature's laws and methods. Nor is the advance of the physical sciences more marked than that of the useful arts. Do not the problems of life also demand attention? Is a knowledge of the laws of the physical universe so all-important that no time shall be spared, no thought devoted to acquiring further knowledge of the laws of duty? Every thoughtful observer must admit that the great governing factor in the problem of the advancement of human happiness is the conduct of man toward his fellow-man. Immeasurable in importance is the fostering of a spirit of true devotion to duty. There is no loftier ambition, no nobler work, no higher ideal of life, than the promotion of the virtue, goodness, and happiness of mankind.
