92 A LIBERAL EDUCATION; IV 



the other woes of mankind, is wisdom. Teach a 

 man to read and write, and you have put into his 

 hands the great keys of the wisdom box. But it 

 is quite another matter whether he ever opens the 

 box or not. And he is as likely to poison as to 

 cure himself, if, without guidance, he swallows the 

 first drug that comes to hand. In these times a 

 man may as well be purblind, as unable to read 

 lame, as unable to write. But I protest that, if I 

 thought the alternative were a necessary one, I 

 would rather that the children of the poor should 

 grow up ignorant of both these mighty arts, than 

 that they should remain ignorant of that know- 

 ledge to which these arts are means. 



It may be said that all these animadversions 

 may apply to primary schools, but that the higher 

 schools, at any rate, must be allowed to give a 

 liberal education. In fact they professedly sacrifice 

 everything else to this object. 



Let us inquire into this matter. What do the 

 higher schools, those to which the great middle 

 class of the country sends its children, teach, over 

 and above the instruction given in the primary 

 schools ? There is a little more reading and writing 

 of English. But, for all that, every one knows that 

 it is a rare thing to find a boy of the middle or 

 upper classes who can read aloud decently, or who 

 can put his thoughts on paper in clear and gram- 

 matical (to say nothing of good or elegant) language, 



