Brown realize all his possibilities to the utmost, for only so will he win
integrity. Better a complete Sam Brown, though only half the size of Harry
Smith, than an incomplete Sam Brown of any size. If the native tendencies
of Sam Brown lead toward nature, certain it is that by denying him the
stimulus of nature study, we shall restrict his growth and render him less
than complete. If we would produce a complete Sam Brown, if we would have
him attain integrity, we must see to it that the process of teaching
engages all his powers and does not permit some of these powers to lie
fallow.

If Sam Brown is a nature boy, no amount of coercion can transform him into
a mathematics boy. True he may, in time, gain proficiency in mathematics,
but only if he is led into the field of mathematics through the gateway of
nature. He may ultimately achieve distinction as a writer, but not unless
his pen becomes facile in depicting nature. Unless his native interests
are taken fully into account and all his powers are enlisted in the
enterprise of education toward integrity, he will never become the Sam
Brown he might have been and the teacher cannot win special comfort in the
reflection that she has helped to produce a cripple. We can better afford
to depart from the beaten path, and even do violence to the sanctity of
the course of study, than to lose or deform Sam Brown. If his soul yearns
for green fields and budding trees, it is cruel if not criminal to fail to
cater to this yearning. And only by cultivating and ministering to this
native disposition can we hope to be of service in aiding him to achieve
integrity.

It needs to be emphasized that integrity signifies one hundred per cent,
nothing less, and that such a goal is quite worth working toward. On the
physical side, the problem looms large before us. Since we can produce
thoroughbred live stock that scores one hundred per cent, we ought to