WAGES, EDUCATION, AND THE JINGO 187 



assigned to one rural school-ma'am to dis- 

 cipline and instruct ; above all, the delusion 

 that 'anyone can teach school.' 'All the 

 reform this country needs,' exclaimed a 

 public speaker lately, ' is a retrenchment in 

 education and an advancement in agriculture.' 

 Even in cultured Boston, the delusion that to 

 train the young idea is a work for which 

 the most ignorant are fitted is one that 

 occasionally finds place, judging by the 

 following anecdote printed in a religious 

 weekly, and purporting to set forth only 

 the fastidiousness of applicants in search of 

 employment : 



The head of an industrial bureau asked a 

 woman what she would like to do, to which, 

 as always, she said, 'Anything.' 



' I asked her how she would like a cashier's 

 place in a store. 



' " Oh dear no ! I know nothing about 

 figures, and I can hardly write." 



Now follows the moral of the tale : 



' Had you thought of teaching in a school?' 



' Oh dear no ! I thought I said I hated 

 children.' And so forth. 



The head of the industrial bureau did not 



