492 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



to undervalue the intelligence of the working classes, 

 and that he has learned but little of his duty to his coun- 

 try, who feels no interest in the moral welfare, or the 

 leisure hours, amusements, and enjoyments of his fellow- 

 men, if you value, and would receive from those in your 

 employ, a respect without restraint, and an affection 

 without blindness ; if you feel assured that there are 

 many hearts to be won, many minds to be instructed, 

 and many souls to be saved — that the time is short, that 

 early years are of incalculable value, and every day ne- 

 glected adds but to the ranks of viciousness, of misery, 

 and of crime ; if you believe and hold all this, then 

 deem it both your privilege and your duty to aid in the 

 temporal and spiritual advancement of the working 

 classes, no less than in your own. Be up and doing ; 

 gauge sorrow, and take the depths of human misery and 

 want; labour to rescue from the depths of pauperism 

 and ignorance the young and inexperienced, that by 

 means of a useful and judicious education they may be- 

 come a national blessing, instead of remaining a burden 

 on the community in the ranks of hereditary pauperism ; 

 and thus lead them by precept and example to love and 

 serve God, and to become by His blessing honest, truth- 

 ful, and industrious artizans and servants — healthy 

 because industrious, happy because virtuous, and 

 contented because religious. And thus, whilst we help 

 forward those who learn, that there may be more who 

 are qualified to teach, the public voice proclaiming 

 that better-educated our people must be, both for the 

 national welfare and our own individual benefit ; whilst 

 we instruct them how to read and write and keep ac- 

 counts, to which I would add, the legal system of 

 weights and measures, and also the measuring of land, 

 the knowledge of useful things connected with every- 

 day life, all games of skill, and occupation in those spe- 

 cial manual employments, by the use of which they are 

 afterwards to live, and by which they are brought ac- 

 quainted with the sweets of industry, let us also labour 

 to instil into their minds some plain practical truths ; 

 let us remind them that their interest and duty are the 

 same ; that cleanliness brings comfort, sobriety pro- 

 motes health, industry yields plenty, honesty makes 

 friends ; that a living faith is the best divinity, a holy 

 life the best philosophy, a tender conscience the best 

 law ; that honesty is the best policy, temperance the best 

 physic. Let us teach them, I say, that the best 

 patriotism is to free the country from vice, the best 

 freedom is the freedom of every man from his besetting 

 sin, the best liberty is the liberty of well-doing. Let 

 the tendency of our education be to show them that 

 " he is rich enough that wants not, he great enough that 

 conquers himself, he good enough that lives to die well." 

 Let our sympathy convince them of our desire that their 

 life of toil may not be followed by an old age of desti- 

 tution ; and that 



" If youth did know what age did crave, 

 Many a penny would it save." 



Let us teach them to let their will be their friend, their 

 mind their companion, and their tongue their servant ; 

 and never to forget that the house shows the owner, that 

 a handful of good life is better than a bushel of learning, 

 and that he who respects himself will ever be respected. 



And if thus you agree with me as to the meaning of edu- 

 cation — that it is the training not only of the head, but 

 of the heart and life, the teaching man's humanity, the 

 training immortal souls for usefulness and glory — if you 

 believe that these things appeal to the noblest impulses 

 of the human soul — if you desire that the peculiar glory 

 of England may henceforth be a social, an intellectual, 

 and a moral glory— the glory of laws made more equal 

 in practice as well as in theory, of institutions made more 

 enlightened both in their general and special application 

 — the glory of seeing the cottage home of our honest 

 labourer worthy of Britain's sons — the glory of descend- 

 ing into the receptacles and abodes of filth, of suffering, 

 of ignorance, and of crime, inorder that by descending you 

 may raise and cleanse and illumine and amend — the 

 glory of industry whether in agricultural or manufac- 

 turing pursuits encouraged, of commerce extended, of 

 health promoted, of education made universal — the 

 glory of drying the tears, of brightening the hopes, of 

 elevating the character, of recasting the history of man, 

 of making freedom the guarantee of order, toleration the 

 ally of religion, government the object of love, and law 

 the helpmate of virtue — if such are your opinions, as they 

 are mine, you will also agree with me that it is some- 

 thing worth living for, to gain a people's gratitude, to 

 Promote a nation's welfare, and to enhance the position 

 and prosperity of the British farmer and the British 

 labourer — 



" These arts still peace to happy Britain brings ; 

 These are imperial arts, and worthy liings." 

 (Cheers). 



Mr. Trethewv (of Silsoe) said that the subject had 

 been so fully and ably treated by Mr. James, that it seemed 

 to be almost exhausted, and he felt it a very difficult matter 

 therefore to attempt to follow him. In most of the rev. 

 gentleman's remarks he perfectly agreed, especially in his 

 estimate of what constituted true education, and his de- 

 scription of which certainly differed somewhat from that 

 which had been regarded as education in times past. 

 Other and improved ideas were, however, extending 

 over the public mind in that respect. Heretofore edu- 

 cation had been merely looked upon as book-learning ; 

 but Mr. James had described it as something practical, 

 useful, and judicious. The difficulty which bad always 

 surrounded the question, to his mind, was the time which 

 was necessarily occupied in carrying out education to 

 such an extent as to make it truly effective and valuable. 

 Everybody knew that the earnings of the children of the 

 poor, where the family happened to be large, were a 

 matter of great importance to the parents; besides 

 which, it should be remembered that the time devoted to 

 the school was so much time abstracted from labour. 

 Still, a great deal might be done in the way of education 

 at an early age, and especially when the children were 

 about 11 or 12 years old. There was one system of 

 education and training to which he very much objected. 

 Of that, having been a poor-law guardian for some 15 or 

 16 years, he had had some practical experience ; he 

 alluded to the system of education and training pursued 

 in the workhouse schools, which was not of a character to 

 enable them to get their living in after life. He thought 

 it was highly desirable that the lads educated in these 



