Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 53.djvu/106

94 Boy of nine: "I would like to be like Captain Jack Crawford. I like him because he is so brave and because he fought the Indians. I heard him speak at the Market Hall. He said, 'Once there was a man in front of me and one in the back and I killed them both at one time.'"

Boy of ten: "Captain John Smith because he made adventures all over america where he was captured many times by the Indians."

Boy of twelve: "Wicarta the New York detective Becuse he had so many adventures."

Boy of twelve: "Robison Crusoe. Becuse he had no expenses to pay and I would like to be near the Indians and a person would be more appt to discover something."

Perhaps to us the most important result of historical instruction in the lower grades is the making of patriots. At fifteen it is true that only ten per cent of the papers consciously emphasize the love of country. But Washington and Lincoln are the chosen ideals of forty per cent of the children above ten years of age, and the curves shown in Chart III are made up almost entirely of American heroes. Probably no greater variety of nationalities could be represented in an equal number of papers than are found in those forming the basis of the present study; nevertheless, the public schools have done their work. Children of English, German, Italian, Irish, Spanish, Portuguese parentage have become Americans, and their loftiest ideals are embodied in our national heroes. A striking illustration of this is the case of an English boy of thirteen, who last year refused to salute the American flag in the school exercises of Decoration Day, but who, the following„ November, named, as his hero of heroes, Abraham Lincoln, "because he was trueful, honest, kind and brave" Indeed, those children who select foreign ideals often apologize, as in the case of the ten-year-old boy who explains his choice of Napoleon, "He was in a great many more wars than Washington or Lincoln." This patriotic spirit is exemplified below:

Boy of ten: "George Washington because he saved our country."

Boy of ten: "Col. Allen. I like him becuse he saved our country one clear morning."

Girl of eleven: "Washington. I wish to be good myself as Washington has been, and mostly because I wish to do good for my country (the United States) as Washington has done."

Boy of thirteen: "Abraham Lincoln. It was he who proclaimed slavery ended."

Boy of thirteen (of foreign birth): "The one whom I should like to resemble most is George Washington, because he was brave