42 



HUXLEY 



elementary education on the part of the orthodox 

 sects, in spite of the clear pledges given by Forster, 

 and the understanding arrived at by the first School 

 Board. Unfortunately, I am entangled in several un- 

 dertakings, which I did not bargain for, and could not 

 refuse, and which will occupy all my scanty working 

 powers for some months to come. So I must really 

 keep out of the melee. Indeed, I am not sure but that 

 the best policy is to let these Christian pagans have 

 their way. The axe is laid to the root of the tree, 

 and when it falls they will be crushed the more 

 effectually for their short success. 1 



While " ecclesiastically-minded persons," not content 

 with absorbing one entire day in the week, and some 

 portion of other days, clamoured for more, Huxley 

 retorted by asking them to surrender a portion of the 

 Sunday 



for the purpose of instructing those who have no 

 other leisure in a knowledge of the phenomena of 

 Nature, and of man's relation to Nature. I should 

 like to see a scientific Sunday-school in every parish, 

 not for the purpose of superseding any existing means 

 of teaching the people the things that are for their 

 good, but side by side with them. I cannot but think 

 that there is room for all of us to work in helping to 

 bridge over the great abyss of ignorance which lies at 

 our feet. 2 



1 Westminster Gazette, 1st July, 1895 '■> an( ^ see *■ 343 ( n °te). 

 In his Bible in School, p. 12, Mr. Allanson Picton says that shortly 

 before his death Huxley expressed regret that he had not voted 

 with Mr. Picton for the exclusion of the Bible from elementary 

 schools. 



2 Lay Sermons, p. 61. 



