There is one point in which the views of Agesilaus concerning
education, if not incorrect, are at least defective. He appears to
countenance an idea, still very prevalent, that children and youth are
not only in a state of preparation for the future, but a state of
preparation, _merely_.

They are to be taught what they ought to practise when they come to be
men, according to Agesilaus; but according to the views of one who was
wiser than he, they are to be trained in the way they should go. The
latter view comes nearer the truth of the case than the former. It
requires, or at least permits us, to train up the child to-day for the
enjoyments of to-day, as well as for those of to-morrow--a point which
the maxim of Agesilaus does not seem to include.

Young people are taught, almost universally--by example, if not by
precept--to consider merit, if not virtue and happiness, as belonging
exclusively to maturity. They are not enough assured that youth, though
a state of preparation and trial, is also a state of reward; and that
neither usefulness nor happiness is confined to place, age or
circumstances.

I wish to see the day arrive when the young--young women, especially--
will not look forward so much to a distant day and to distant
circumstances, for a theatre of action, and for the rewards of action,
as they are accustomed to do; for they thus deprive themselves of a
vast amount of happiness which is due them in the _present_,
without in the least enhancing the value or the pleasures of the
future.

I wish to see them so educated that they will not only be what they