—But to leave that which is not Me, let us look now at the Me—at what will remain to us all when the material has accomplished its work, and passed out of our possession. It will be sufficient for all practical purposes to speak of education under the broad discrimination of the intellectual and the spiritual. Here again, as our guiding clue, we must keep uppermost the definition with which we started—that education is making the most of ourselves. The education of the intellect is the making thought do its highest and best. We are all thinkers—born thinkers—we come into the world with wondering eyes. The infant's pointing finger is an interrogation point in flesh and blood. He is from the first an unconscious logician. He asks three questions—only three, and and always in logical order. What is it? —Why is it?—and What then? And these are the inquiries which he applies to all things, and which he pursues to life's end. They are the clues that lead him to all discovery—the keys that unlock for him all mystery—all mystery, that is, that is ever unlocked at all. Just these three questions, persistently and fearlessly put, make him the strong thinker, the right reasoner, the wise man.
The education of the intellect has been abundantly provided for. The humblest' man that lives passes his life within the walls of a splendid university; and the only reason why any one of us fails of grand intellectual development is, that we get too lazy to pursue the three questions.
You have all read the story about Kepler, the great astronomer: how, when he had discovered the law of planetary distances, he was overpowered with the feeling of awe and reverence; and exclaimed, "O God, I think thy thoughts after thee!"
