170 THE FAMILY AND THE NATION 



schools are assigned by qualified observers to the 

 same cause. The numbers of boys at the few schools 

 acknowledged by all to stand first in public estimation 

 have increased much and rapidly. But many of the 

 smaller schools, which used to depend largely on local 

 families for their support, are suffering severely from 

 diminished entries. Some with good records have had 

 to close their doors. 



Now these two apparently different effects are 

 probably due to the same cause. In old days, the 

 smaller gentry of the neighbourhood, from motives of 

 economy no less than local patriotism, sent their many 

 sons to the well-known school, not expensive and near 

 at hand, which they themselves had attended. Now 

 the same local families have but one or two sons each, 

 and, less affected in consequence by questions of cost, 

 endeavour to send them to one of the most fashionable 

 schools, perhaps in a distant part of the country. 



We must now turn to the consideration of the 

 effects of the selective birth-rate on other classes of the 

 community. 



The recent Old Age Pension Act affords material 

 for reflection in connection with this part of our 

 subject. In accordance with the impulsive habits of 

 the British nation, to whom a reasoned train of 

 investigation and inquiry, followed by slow and 

 tentative remedial measures, appears to be difficult, 

 something was felt to be wrong, and, without 

 going to the root of the question, something was 

 done to put matters right. The forlorn condition 

 of the respectable poor was indeed a grievous 



