io8 HEREDITY AND SOCIETY 



has been lost and nothing gained by the change in 

 attitude and opportunity. It is to these genuine 

 exponents of the simple life that our musicians and 

 folklorists now eagerly go to collect the last echoes of 

 our countryside dances and songs, of our legendary 

 heroes and magical rites. We believe that the young 

 people of the present generation have lost much by lack 

 of contact and want of respect for the proverbial 

 philosophy of their forefathers. It is a general rule 

 in the upbringing of the young that the personality 

 of the teacher, and the manner in which a subject is 

 presented, are of far greater importance than the actual 

 substance of the information imparted. 



The second class of persons to whom we would 

 readily entrust the functions of education are those 

 who have grown wise in the experience of human affairs, 

 men of penetration, intellect and wide outlook, whose 

 judgment has matured with observation and mellowed 

 with age. This is the class of mind best fitted to 

 influence youth in its adolescent stage, best able to 

 appreciate the doubts and turmoil which beset a man 

 or woman on entering upon the stage of adult life. 

 But since it is rare that we can have the personal 

 services of this highest type of educationalist, it is 

 to books that we must turn to acquire a knowledge 

 of their ways of thought, and to possess ourselves 

 of their solutions of the difficulties that beset us. 

 Herein is the true justification of the literary training 

 in vogue amongst us ; and herein, moreover, lies the 

 original though forgotten motive which led to its 

 adoption. But, admitting, as we do, the rarity of 

 this type of mind, it is satisfactory to know how often 



