Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Upton Sinclair, ed. (1878–1968). rn The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915.

True Education
(From “Zadig”)

Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de

Voltaire

(French philosopher and poet, 1694–1778; a skeptic and bitter satirist, imprisoned and exiled to England. One of the great intellectual forces which prepared the French Revolution)

A WIDOW, having a young son, and being possessed of a handsome fortune, had given a promise of marriage to two magi, who were both desirous of marrying her.

“I will take for my husband,” said she, “the man who can give the best education to my beloved son.”

The two magi contended who should bring him up, and the cause was carried before Zadig. Zadig summoned the two magi to attend him.

“What will you teach your pupil?” he said to the first.

“I will teach him,” said the doctor, “the eight parts of speech, logic, astrology, pneumatics, what is meant by substance and accident, abstract and concrete, the doctrine of the monades, and the pre-established harmony.”

“For my part,” said the second, “I will endeavor to give him a sense of justice, and to make him worthy the friendship of good men.”

Zadig then cried: “Whether thou art the child’s favorite or not, thou shalt have his mother.”