Corrected proof of 'A Graduated Syllabus of Moral Instruction for Elementary Schools. Revised.'

4to (leaf dimensions 30 x 22.5 cm): 4 pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. On aged paper with slight wear to extremities and rust staining from paper clips at head and tail. The League's object is given as 'To introduce systematic non-theological Moral Instruction into all schools, and to make the formation of character the chief aim of school life.' The first page contains a brief discussion of 'one or two important matters' relating to the subject. '[...] There is no single moral instruction method. [...] The aim of moral instruction is to form the character of the child. [...] The child should be led to feel that the moral ideal applies to feelings and thoughts as much as to outward conduct, and that the time to be good and to form good habits is now, although present goodness should also pave the way for the goodness required of the adult.' The middle two pages present a Gradgrindian series of 63 topics, beginning with seven to be taught to infants, followed by six 'standards' of eight topics each, and a ninth of nine topics. The first topic is 'INFANTS. | 1. Cleanliness. | (a) Clean hands, faces, and clothes. | (b) Clean habits - e.g., the proper use of the lavatory.' The last ('STANDARD VII.') is '9. Ideals. | The value and beauty of an ideal for life.' Several of the topics have been altered in pencil, presumably by Coit himself, with topics altered and items added. Standard VII, 5 has the following added in pencil: 'c. The evil of betting & gambling - meanness of the desire to get without rendering service'. The final page contains lists of 'Moral Instruction Books' and of 'Publications of the Moral Instruction League'. The chairman, Stanford Coit (1857-1944) was the American-born leader of what was called the 'Ethical Culture Movement'. He stood as a Labour Party Candidate in Wakefield in the election of 1910. Scarce: no copy in the British Library, on Copac or WorldCat.