OPERATION OF VIRILE SENTIMENT 155 



entertainment. But I am not now concerned with 

 the defects of this rate-endowed and tax-endowed 

 system of education, in which certain people may- 

 play loose with the money of other citizens. It is 

 sufficient to show that comparatively insignificant 

 as the attendance at these classes is, that even then 

 " all is not grist which comes to the mill." 



It will suffice to notice that many students attend 

 evening and other classes, provided for them out of 

 public money, for other reasons than a burning desire 

 for knowledge or culture. But there remains what 

 is for us the cardinal fact, that the " educational " 

 classes are sparsely attended and the music-halls are 

 full. Why ? The " educational environment " is 

 open to all. Indeed, under the aegis of County 

 Councils and such' like bodies, it pleads with open 

 coffers in the form of so-called " Scholarships," to 

 whomsoever will to come. Many are called, but 

 few respond. And of that few more are moved by 

 aspiration than by inspiration, and will later vent 

 the consequences of their incapacity and the disap- 

 pointments of their chequered aspirations upon a 

 community which foolishly encouraged them in the 

 attempt to traverse the plains of Cirrha and the 

 hills of Cithseron. 



They will eventually turn upon the community 

 which fed and educated them and become the dema- 

 gogues of street corners or even of more eminent 

 positions. That is the inevitable result of attempting 

 to force a higher type of environment upon a lower 

 type of mind. I do not of course deny that a few of 



