years.  Already, all the dynamic instincts are present, at least in germ; asking for an outlet.  The will and the emotions, ductile as they will never be again, are ready to make full and ungraduated response to any genuine appeal to enthusiasm.  The imagination will accept the food we give, if we give it in the right way.  What an opportunity!  Nowhere else do we come into such direct contact with the plastic stuff of life; never again shall we have at our disposal such a fund of emotional energy.

In the child’s dreams and fantasies, in its eager hero-worship—­later, in the adolescent’s fervid friendships or devoted loyalty to an adored leader—­we see the search of the living growing creature for more life and love, for an enduring object of devotion.  Do we always manage or even try to give it that enduring object, in a form it can accept?  Yet the responsibility of providing such a presentation of belief as shall evoke the spontaneous reactions of faith and love—­for no compulsory idealism ever succeeds—­is definitely laid on the parent and the teacher.  It is in the enthusiastic imitation of a beloved leader that the child or adolescent learns best.  Were the spiritual life the most real of facts to us, did we believe in it as we variously believe in athletics, physical science or the arts, surely we should spare no effort to turn to its purposes these priceless qualities of youth?  Were the mind’s communion with the Spirit of God generally regarded as its natural privilege and therefore the first condition of its happiness and health, the general method and tone of modern education would inevitably differ considerably from that which we usually see:  and if the life of the Spirit is to come to fruition, here is one of the points at which reformation must begin.  When we look at the ordinary practice of modern “civilized” Europe, we cannot claim that any noticeable proportion of our young people are taught during their docile and impressionable years the nature and discipline of their spiritual faculties, in the open and common-sense way in which they are taught languages, science, music or gymnastics.  Yet it is surely a central duty of the educator to deepen and enrich to the fullest extent possible his pupil’s apprehension of the universe; and must not all such apprehension move towards the discovery of that universe as a spiritual fact?

Again, in how many schools is the period of religious and idealistic enthusiasm which so commonly occurs in adolescence wisely used, skilfully trained, and made the foundation of an enduring spiritual life?  Here is the period in which the relation of master and pupil is or may be most intimate and most fruitful; and can be made to serve the highest interests of life.  Yet, no great proportion of those set apart to teach young people seem to realize and use this privilege.