Essays on Life 



that they have taken hitherto as paper money 

 on the credit of the bank of public opinion, 

 is there money enough behind it all to stand 

 so great a drain even on so great a reserve ? 

 Probably there is not, but happily there can 

 be no such panic, for even though the cultured 

 classes may do so, the uncultured are too dull 

 to have brains enough to commit such stupen- 

 dous folly. It takes a long course of academic 

 training to educate a man up to the standard 

 which he must reach before he can entertain 

 such questions seriously, and by a merciful 

 dispensation of Providence, university training 

 is almost as costly as it is unprofitable. The 

 majority will thus be always unable to afford 

 it, and will base their opinions on mother 

 wit and current opinion rather than on de- 

 monstration. 



So I turned my steps homewards ; I saw a 

 good many more things on my way home, but 

 I was told that I was not to see more this time 

 than I could get into twelve pages of the 

 Universal Review; I must therefore reserve 

 any remark which I think might perhaps 

 entertain the reader for another occasion. 



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