APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS 31 



CXXVI 



I remember somewhere reading of an interview 

 between the poet Southey and a good Quaker. 

 Southey was a man of marvellous powers of work. 

 He had a habit of dividing his time into little parts 

 each of which was filled up, and he told the Quaker 

 what he did in this hour and that, and so on through 

 the day until far into the night. The Quaker listened, 

 and at the close said, " Well, but, friend Southey, 

 when dost thee think ? " 



The knowledge which is absolutely requisite in 

 dealing with young children is the knowledge you 

 possess, as you would know your own business, 

 and which you can just turn about as if you were 

 explaining 1 to a boy a matter of everyday life. 



You may develop the intellectual side of people as 

 far as you like, and you may confer upon them all the 

 skill that training and instruction can give ; but, if 

 there is not, underneath all that outside form and 

 superficial polish, the firm fibre of healthy manhood 

 and earnest desire to do well, your labour is absolutely 

 in vain. 



Our sole chance of succeeding in a competition, 

 which must constantly become more and more severe, 

 is that our people shall not only have the knowledge 

 and the skill which are required, but that they shall 

 have the will and the energy and the honesty, without 

 which neither knowledge nor skill can be of any 

 permanent avail. 



