410 TECHNICAL EDUCATION xvi 



negative development of the faculty of drawing in 

 some people is almost miraculous. Still every- 

 body, or almost everybody, can learn to write ; 

 and, as writing is a kind of drawing, I suppose 

 that the majority of the people who say they can- 

 not draw, and give copious evidence of the accu- 

 racy of their assertion, could draw, after a fashion, 

 if they tried. And that " after a fashion " would 

 be better than nothing for my purposes. 



Above all things, let my imaginary pupil have 

 preserved the freshness and vigour of youth in his 

 mind as well as his body. The educational 

 abomination of desolation of the present day is the 

 stimulation of young people to work at high 

 pressure by incessant competitive examinations. 

 Some wise man (who probably was not an early 

 riser) has said of early risers in general, that they 

 are conceited all the forenoon and stupid all the 

 afternoon. Now whether this is true of early 

 risers in the common acceptation of the word or 

 not, I will not pretend to say ; but it is too often 

 true of the unhappy children who are forced to 

 rise too early in their classes. They are conceited 

 all the forenoon of life, and stupid all its afternoon. 

 The vigour and freshness, which should have been 

 stored up for the purposes of the hard struggle 

 for existence in practical life, have been washed 

 out of them by precocious mental debauchery 

 by book gluttony and lesson bibbing. Their 

 faculties are worn out by the strain put upon their 



