第10章 THE SCHOOL.Friday,28th.
Yes,study comes hard to you,my dear Enrico,as your mother says:I do not yet see you set out for school with that resolute mind and that smiling face which I should like.You are still intractable.But listen;reflect a little!What a miserable,despicable thing your day would be if you did not go to school!At the end of a week you would beg with clasped hands that you might return there,for you would be eaten up with weariness and shame;disgusted with your sports and with your existence.Everybody,everybody studies now,my child.Think of the workmen who go to school in the evening after having toiled all the day;think of the women,of the girls of the people,who go to school on Sunday,after having worked all the week;of the soldiers who turn to their books and copy-books when they return exhausted from their drill!Think of the dumb and of the boys who are blind,but who study,nevertheless;and last of all,think of the prisoners,who also learn to read and write.Reflect in the morning,when you set out,that at that very moment,in your own city,thirty thousand other boys are going like yourself,to shut themselves up in a room for three hours and study.Think of the innumerable boys who,at nearly this precise hour,are going to school in all countries.Behold them with your imagination,going,going,through the lanes of quiet villages;through the streets of the noisy towns,along the shores of rivers and lakes;here beneath a burning sun;there amid fogs,in boats,in countries which are intersected with canals;on horseback on the far-reaching plains;in sledges over the snow;through valleys and over hills;across forests and torrents,over the solitary paths of mountains;alone,in couples,in groups,in long files,all with their books under their arms,clad in a thousand ways,speaking a thousand tongues,from the most remote schools in Russia.Almost lost in the ice to the furthermost schools of Arabia,shaded by palm-trees,millions and millions,all going to learn the same things,in a hundred varied forms.Imagine this vast,vast throng of boys of a hundred races,this immense movement of which you form a part,and think,if this movement were to cease,humanity would fall back into barbarism;this movement is the progress,the hope,the glory of the world.Courage,then,little soldier of the immense army.Your books are your arms,your class is your squadron,the field of battle is the whole earth,and the victory is human civilization.Be not a cowardly soldier,my Enrico.
Thy Father
学校 二十八日
爱儿安利柯啊！你用功怕难起来了，像你母亲所说的样子。我还未曾看到你有高高兴兴勇敢地到学校里去的样子过。但是我告诉你：如果你不到学校里去，你每日要怎样地乏味，怎样地疲倦啊！只要这样过了一星期，你必定要合了手来恳求把你再送入学校里去吧！因为游戏虽好，每日游戏就要厌倦的。
现在的世界上，无论何人，没有一个不学习的。你想！职工们劳动了一日，夜里不是还要到学校里去吗？街上店里的妇人们、姑娘们劳动了一星期，星期日不是还要到学校里去吗？兵士们在白天做了一天的勤务，回到营里不是还要读书吗？就是瞎子和哑子，也在那里学习种种的事情。监狱里的囚犯，不是也同样地在那里学习读书写字等的功课吗？
每天早晨上学去的时候，你要这样想想：此刻，这个市内，有和我同样的三万个小孩都正在上学去。又，同在这时候，世界各国有几千万的小孩也正在上学去。有的正三五成群地经过着清静的田野，有的正行走在热闹的街道，也有的沿了河或湖边在那里走着的吧。在猛烈的太阳下走着的也有，在寒雾蓬勃的河上驶着短艇的也有吧。从雪上乘了橇走的，渡溪的，爬山的，穿过了森林的，渡过了急流的，踯躅行着冷静的山路的，骑了马在莽莽的原野跑着的也有吧。也有一个人走着的，也有两个人并肩走的，也有成了群排了队走着的。穿着各种的服装，说着各样的语言，从被冰锁住的俄罗斯以至椰子树深深的阿拉伯，不是有几千万数都数不清楚的小孩，都夹了书，学着同样的事情，同样地在学校里上学吗？你想想这无数小孩所组成的团体！又想想这大团体怎样在那里做怎样的大运动！你再试想：如果这运动一终止，人类就会退回到野蛮的状态了吧。这运动才是世界的进步，才是希望，才是光荣。要奋发啊！你就是这大军队的兵士，你的书本是武器，你的一级是一分队，全世界是战场，胜利就是人类的文明。安利柯啊！不要做卑怯的兵士啊！
——父亲