My Little Farm 



still greater institution of the same sort, where 

 they would be " finished " off, then to become 

 Government officials and be happy ever after, 

 teaching everybody how to do everything, -at the 

 expense of everybody else. The scheme has now 

 been at work more than twelve years, but not one 

 pupil has yet been put through to the alleged 

 purpose. They all came out " qualified," but the 

 bulk are now in America, while the rest are here 

 and there, at anything but the purpose for which 

 the public money has been spent. The institution 

 continues to flourish. The subsidy is increased. 

 The young folk continue to go in hopeful and to 

 come out useless. The parents continue to con- 

 tribute, and they still provide the human 

 machinery to " qualify " for capturing the public 

 purse. The pupils are still carefully selected, and 

 the number is always exactly the number required 

 permanently to provide the ecclesiastics with a full 

 staff of domestic servants and farm labourers, fed, 

 housed and remunerated at the expense of the 

 taxpayer. The remuneration is in the training 

 which is not given and in the Government posts 

 which are never secured. The parents appear 

 to be quite satisfied, industrial public opinion 

 quite dumb, and not one man of the " fighting 

 race " dares say a word, though I think the bulk of 

 them will be glad of one to say it for them and 

 to take the risks which they so bravely dread. I 

 am not going to blame the religious institutions, 

 but rather to congratulate them on their financial 

 genius. It is most curious how those good people, 



