396 THE SCHOOL BOARDS xv 



But my belief is, that no human being, and no 

 society composed of human beings, ever did, or 

 ever will, come to much, unless their conduct was 

 governed and guided by the love of some ethical 

 ideal. Undoubtedly, your gutter child may be 

 converted by mere intellectual drill into " the 

 subtlest of all the beasts of the field ; " but we 

 know what has become of the original of that 

 description, and there is no need to increase the 

 number of those who imitate him successfully 

 without being aided by the rates. And if I were 

 compelled to choose for one of my own children, 

 between a school in which real religious instruction 

 is given, and one without it, I should prefer the 

 former, even though the child might have to take 

 a good deal of theology with it. Nine-tenths of a 

 dose of bark is mere half-rotten wood ; but one 

 swallows it for the sake of the particles of quinine, 

 the beneficial effect of which may be weakened, 

 but is not destroyed, by the wooden dilution, 

 unless in a few cases of exceptionally tender 

 stomachs. 



Hence, when the great mass of the English 

 people declare that they want to have the children 

 in the elementary schools taught the Bible, and 

 when it is plain from the terms of the Act, the 

 debates in and out of Parliament, and especially 

 the emphatic declarations of the Vice-President of 

 the Council, that it was intended that such Bible- 

 reading should be permitted, unless good cause 



