The papers of this volume fall into three groups, two of the three being written by myself.
From my writings on education I have selected only those which may have some claim to
permanent interest, and all but two have been tested by previous publication. Those of the first
group deal with questions about which we teachers, eager about our immeasurable art beyond
most professional persons, never cease to wonder and debate: What is teaching? How far may
it influence character? Can it be practiced on persons too busy or too poor to come to our
class-rooms? To subjects of what scope should it be applied? And how shall we content
ourselves with its necessary limitations? Under these diverse headings a kind of philosophy of
education is outlined. The last two papers, having been given as lectures and stenographically
reported, I have left in their original colloquial form. A group of papers on Harvard follows,
preceded by an explanatory note, and the volume closes with a few papers by Mrs. Palmer.
She and I often talked of preparing together a book on education. Now, alone, I gather up
these fragments.