SEPTEMBER 17 



anxious mother of an only daughter : ' Needless to say 

 that the chapter of your book which chiefly interested me 

 is " Daughters," the education of my own being the burn- 

 ing question with me just now. You are certainly very 

 comforting in what you say of " casual and superficial 

 education," but I fear that would not satisfy the professed 

 and professing educationalist. In our case, want of 

 robustness on M.'s part has obliged us to put up with home 

 education, and of course it is then a mere chance whether 

 you happen to get a governess who can really teach ; for 

 the teacher is born, not made. When, however, I read 

 the " Parents' Eeview " or the educational literature it re- 

 commends, I suffer agonies of remorse from the conscious- 

 ness of not having made enough of these early years. 

 My ambition is humble. I only wish my child to be 

 average, but not to be at a disadvantage if, later on, she 

 is prompted to take some part in the real work of the 

 world. And yet how can I with my own old-fashioned 

 defective education train her in the right way ? This 

 fiend of education sits like a nightmare on me almost day 

 and night " Almost thou persuadest me it is impossible 

 to be a parent." When I get up from the perusal of these 

 books, I feel castigated to such an extent that my mind 

 feels sore all over, and into those wounds you pour the 

 oil and wine of consolation. My husband, highly educated 

 as he is himself, is very much inclined to take your view, 

 and has, if anything, kept me back rather than urged me 

 on, always fearing that, instead of arousing an interest in 

 a subject, one should simply cause a lasting distaste, if it 

 is offered too early to the immature mind. We cannot, 

 however, put off this " training of faculty " indefinitely, 

 and I am becoming more and more awake to the fact that 

 my child in her cosy, comfortable home does not know as 

 much as I, immured in a boarding-school, knew at her age. 

 The most tantalising part of the matter is that when I 



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