1871 OFFERED A SEAT IN PARLIAMENT 47 



He was born to be a leader of men, and he has debased 

 himself to be a follower of the masses. If working men 

 were to-day to vote by a majority that two and fwo made 

 five, to-morrow Gladstone would believe it, and find them 

 reasons for it which they had never dreamed of." He 

 said it slowly and with sorrow. 



Two more incidents are connected with his service 

 on the School Board. A wealthy friend wrote to 

 him in the most honourable and delicate terms, 

 begging him, on public grounds, to accept 400 a 

 year to enable him to continue his work on the 

 Board. He refused the offer as simply and straight- 

 forwardly as it was made ; his means, though not 

 large, were sufficient for his present needs. 



Further, a good many people seemed to think that 

 he meant to use the School Board as a stalking horse 

 for a political career. To one of those who urged 

 him to stand for Parliament, he replied thus : 



Nov. 18, 1871. 



DEAR SIR It has often been suggested to me that I 

 should seek for a seat in the House of Commons ; indeed 

 I have reason to think that many persons suppose that I 

 entered the London School Board simply as a road to 

 Parliament. 



But I assure you that this supposition is entirely 

 without foundation, and that I have never seriously 

 entertained any notion of the kind. 



The work of the School Board involves me in no 

 small sacrifices of various kinds, but I went into it with 

 my eyes open, and with the clear conviction that it was 

 worth while to make those sacrifices for the sake of help- 

 ing the Education Act into practical operation. A year's 

 experience has not altered that conviction ; but now that 



