AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 117 



casual pennies. He has learned no trade ; in 

 his child-employment he can learn none. His 

 future is to be a casual worker, and then an 

 unemployed. An odd errand boy here and 

 there, with the help of brains and great strength 

 of character and some luck, finds the life sharp- 

 ening to his wits, and rises out of it to be a 

 prosperous tradesman, then perhaps an alder- 

 man, a member of Parliament, a knight, and 

 to adorn with his portrait some treatise on 

 ' Self-help," which, unintentionally, preaches 

 the pernicious doctrine that what is possible for 

 one in a million is possible for all that million, 

 and therefore makes a totally undesirable start 

 in life wise and useful. The great majority 

 of these children, cast out at fourteen years of 

 age to help the family budget with a few pence, 

 become as adults unemployables. Trade appren- 

 ticeship falls more and more out of fashion in 

 Great Britain, and when a lad is apprenticed, it 

 is not usually before sixteen years of age, and 

 that leaves a gap of two or three years between 

 school and the workshop, during which time he 

 is learning everything that can prejudice his 

 future. 



