ADDRESS BY THEODORE REUNERT. XV. 



described as one of the greatest drawbacks to life in India finds its 

 counterpart in this country, though from a different cause. The 

 climate of South Africa leaves little to be desired ; yet owing to the 

 natural desire of parents to give their children the best advantages, 

 many homes are broken up here as soon as the children are old 

 enough to enter an English public school, or in some cases much 

 earlier than this, in order that they may first go to a preparatory 

 school in England. The disintegrating effect of this stern course of 

 action on family and social life has long been recognised as a serious 

 obstacle to the natural steady progress of our towns and villages. It 

 is also liable to permanently estrange many of the more prominent 

 youth of both sexes from the country of their birth. On the other 

 hand, there is much to be said in favour of children being educated 

 in the country where their future career is likely to make them per- 

 manent residents. To escape from this dilemma, a middle way has 

 been sought by establishing institutions of the English public school 

 type in this country. The success so far achieved in this direction 

 has encouraged a number of thoughtful and cautious people to recom- 

 mend the adoption of the system on a more complete and extensive 

 scale. This has naturally evoked the criticism : ' ' Even if you could 

 bring Eton or Harrow or Winchester to South Africa, it would not 

 be the same thing. ' Of course it would not be the same thing, and 

 perhaps it would not be desirable, even if it were possible. For any 

 institution that has its roots far back in the past is partly nourished 

 by the soil from which it sprung, and cannot be transplanted without 

 losing some of its pristine vigour and grace. The claims of 

 secondary education, however, are so pressing that they must con- 

 tinue to engage the earnest attention of all who are concerned about 

 the future of our children. 



Perhaps it is not sufficiently recognised that the English public 

 school has several different types. In addition to the very old 

 schools, there are many of quite recent creation. ' ' King's College of 

 Our Lady of Eton" was established in 1440 by Henry VI., the same 

 monarch who, in the following year, founded King's College, Cam- 

 bridge, famous for its glorious chapel, probably the most perfectly 

 beautiful interior in the world, of which Wordsworth finely says : 



"Tax not the royal Saint with vain expense, 

 * * * * 



They dreamt not of a perishable home 

 Who thus could build." 



Winchester is half a century older than Eton, having been founded 

 in 1387 ; whilst Harrow, as it is well known, dates from the spacious 

 times of Queen Elizabeth — those times of which the educational zeal 

 has been unjustly obscured by their more brilliant achievements in 

 science, art, literature, and discovery. Indeed, the whole of the 

 sixteenth century was remarkable for its enlightened generosity to 

 education. No less than five hundred out of the seven hundred 

 endowed schools that existed in England forty years ago date from 



