CHAPTER II 



THE EDUCATION 



THE education of a child is commonly supposed to 

 begin and end at school. It neither begins there nor 

 ends there. Reading, writing, and arithmetic may, 

 and should, be taught in every school, as the indis- 

 pensable equipment of a boy or girl for the battle 

 of life. But the real school is the world of life, 

 however wide or however narrow its boundaries may 

 be. Surroundings of one kind or another encompass 

 child and man alike, forming the outer and larger 

 school, in which all are entered as pupils for self- 

 control, for truthfulness, for honour, and other often 

 neglected but necessary virtues. In the elementary 

 school for reading, writing, and arithmetic, Caroline 

 Herschel can scarcely be said ever to have been entered. 

 She was a neglected child in these respects. To a 

 woman of her quickness of parts and calculating 

 power the multiplication table continued to be a 

 puzzle throughout life. Elementary learning was con- 

 sidered to be of little or no use to a girl who was to 

 attend her brother's whims, cook his dinner, and brush 

 his clothes. The mother, proud of her sons, took no 

 thought of her little daughter, except to reckon up 

 that the girl might save her a servant's wages. Other 



mothers have committed the same blunder since her 



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