Page:The "Trial" of Ferrer - A Clerical Judicial Murder (IA 2916970.0001.001.umich.edu).pdf/13

 many of his old friends with whom he would have liked to remain on good terms, because he refused to put any of the money to political purposes. Let us now study the work of Ferrer, the establishment of the Modern School. Ferrer first solicited the co-opera- tion of some of the foremost scientists of Spain and France, The school was soon in possession of a series of scientific text-books without parallel in any system of ele- mentary schools in the world. The education given in the school was rationalistic, and in matters of religion, agnostic. It was a perfectly explicit program : there was rothing secret nor insidious about it, in spite of what the Jesuits said. The children who went to that school came from the families of rationalist workingmen who wanted just such an education for thcir children, whom, unless they wanted to seo them remain ignorant, they had thereto- fore been forced to send to the clerical schools, where they were taught to be slaves. There was no anarchism taught in the school, and it is interesting to note here that Ma- lato, a well known anarchist who was asked by Ferrer to compile some books for the school, said15 that Ferrer had explicitly warned him not to speak of Anarchism in those books. Ferrer's main principle in education can be gath- ered from the following extract from one of his letters: "As is well known, the child is born without any pre- conceived ideas, and during the development of his life he goes along imbibing the ideas of those who surround him, modifying them later on according to his culture and observation, and putting them into harmony with circum- 14 Such as Dr. Odon de Buen, senator and distinguisbed sclen- tist, Dr. Martinez Vargas, profes- BUr of međicine In Barcelona, Prof. Ramon y Cajal, of inter- national reputation as a neurol- oglat, Prof. Beclus, the geog- rapher, und Prof: both the laiter from Paris. 8 In a conversation with J. McCabe, the author of "The Mar- tyrdom of Ferrer," from which narratlve most of the detalls here given are taken, Letourneau,