128 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
strive to cultivate a right appreciation of real excellence a correct judgment.
A rare condensation of the total pedagogic science is the second method principle laid down by the author : " Ideas of right disposi- tion and conduct which are clearly, vividly, persistently, and agree- ably, with great variety, kept before the mind tend to take possession of the thought and pass on into emotion and action." The prac- ticability of greatly changing improving the habitual mental attitudes and moral estimates of a company of prisoners by means of persistent operation of what is usually understood by " moral influ- ences " cannot be denied ; but it should be remembered that such changes are by their very nature unconsciously developed more tho product of the total environment than of any single item of individual effort ; and that the good influence of preacher or teacher depends more upon virtuous outgo from individual character than upon the choicest selection of sentiments and words expressed. That there may .be such completeness of organization and harmony of adjust- ment between all functions and functionaries of a reformatory prison (the true character school) as shall effectually obsess the mass of prisoners with right ideas of disposition and behavior, may unhesitatingly be affirmed ; for I have known of at least one instance and institution where that attainment was quite accomplished, or very nearly approximated. Most certainly such should be the aim. The character school in prison should insist on right doing for the benefit of good habit, for the influence of tone of the whole establish- ment, and for the unexplained but actual psychical and moral taste to which such good conduct does unquestionably contribute. To this end strict disciplinary control is absolutely required : if it is wise to assume a virtue if you have it not, it is surely wisdom to practice virtuous conduct under compulsion, if one is not himself voluntarily, virtuously inclined.
It is possible that the third principle stated in the address is a fundamental pedagogical principle which, as Professor Henderson says, may be duly appreciated by the best of trained teachers, but is not properly regarded by all preachers and prison chaplains. The principle is that self -activity helps to make ideas one's own and more effective than when ideas are poured from pulpit or platform upon merely passive listeners. The sincere man who has something to say will get a hearing from his prisoner audience, but the persuasive power of public discourse and the prisoner's attitude of sincerity are ordinarily much overestimated. After an exceptionally impres-
