1 88 THE FAMILY AND THE NATION 



bent of mind. We have forced nearly the whole of a 

 community, particularly ill adapted to abstract thought, 

 into a purely receptive and imitative mood, and 

 debarred them from the satisfaction of original and 

 creative action. This mistake has produced a listless- 

 ness of mind, a want of confidence and of interest in 

 the occupations of daily life. It has taken away the 

 desire to attempt where there is no opportunity of 

 excelling. 



As Sir Joseph Thomson has said : " It is possible 

 to read books, to pass examinations, without the higher 

 qualities of mind being called into play. Indeed, I 

 doubt if there is any process in which the mind is 

 more quiescent than in reading without interest. I 

 might appeal to the widespread habit of reading in 

 bed as a prevention of insomnia as a proof of this. 

 But it is not possible for a boy to make a boat or 

 for a girl to cook a dinner without using their brains. 

 With practical things the difficulties have to be sur- 

 mounted, the boat must be made watertight, the dinner 

 must be cooked." 



In so far as the present type of education picks 

 out the children whose class of mind is more suited 

 to their new surroundings, it has had a good aspect. 

 But it fails to provide for and encourage those who 

 are better left in their old sphere, with the result that 

 many unfitted for the change have been moved away. 



The British nation as a whole owes a great, and for 

 the most part unpaid, debt of gratitude to Ruskin, 

 William Morris, and other teachers, who, at a period 

 when little encouragement was bestowed on their ideas, 

 consistently endeavoured to raise the value of good 



