90 A LIBERAL EDUCATION; iv 



wliilc ago; and tliat the Queen and the gentlefolks 

 govern the country niiu-h after the fashion of 

 King David and the elders and nobles of Israel — 

 his sole models. Will you give a man with this 

 mnch information a vote? In easv times he sells 

 it for a pot of beer. Why should he not? It is 

 of about as much use to him as a chignon, and he 

 knows as much what to do with it, for any other 

 puri)ose. In bad times, on the contrary, he ap- 

 plies his simple theory of government, and believes 

 that his rulers are the cause of his sufferings — a 

 belief which sometimes bears remarkable practical 

 fruits. 



Least of all, does the child gather from this 

 primary " education " of ours a conception of the 

 laws of the physical world, or of the relations of 

 cause and elfect therein. And this is the more to 

 be lamented, as the poor are especially exposed to 

 physical evils, and are more interested in removing 

 them than any other class of the community. If 

 any one is concerned in knowing the ordinary laws 

 of mechanics one would think it is the hand- 

 labourer, whose dailv toil lies amon^ levers and 

 pulleys; or among the other implements of artisan 

 work. And if any one is interested in the laws of 

 health, it is the poor workman, whose strength is 

 wasted by ill-prepared food, whose health is sapped 

 by bad ventilation and bad drainage, and half 

 whose children are massacred by disorders which 

 might be prevented. Not only does our present 



