THE KINDLY IMPULSE 287 



capital and labour, and heal the social wounds 

 that are caused by their conflict. In countries 

 where this kindly feeling prevails, strikes leave 

 no great aftermath of bitterness : masters and 

 men can shake hands when their disputes are 

 settled, and bear no malice for the sternness oi 

 the fight. 



Its effect may be seen in the desire to spread 

 culture amongst th$ masses. This is a distinctive 

 note of modern times. In ancient days culture 

 was the monopoly of the wealthy : the poor were 

 left in unenlightened ignorance, and the advance 

 of civilization can be measured by nothing more 

 significantly than by the increasing proportion of 

 the population who enjoy its amenities. In 

 England, for many centuries past, religious and 

 charitable foundations have afforded free education 

 to some children of the poor : during the last forty 

 years the State has undertaken to extend this 

 privilege to all of them. The fruits, it must be 

 confessed, hardly satisfy our hopes. So dispas- 

 sionate an observer as Mr. Charles Booth writes 

 of the " palpable failure to secure the results 

 anticipated," and recently several experts in 

 education have publicly criticized in a tone of 

 keen disappointment the effect of our schools in 

 raising popular intelligence. It is, nevertheless, 

 impossible to deny that their influence is plainly 

 to be discerned in the dress, manners and ideals of 

 the new generation. Intellectually the harvest 

 may fall short of anticipation ; but this may be 

 due to imperfections of method. Education is 

 still under the influence of mediaeval authorities 

 who believed that it was concerned with little 

 more than the acquisition of knowledge, and did 

 not perceive that it should be really the intro- 

 duction to a life of self -improvement. The sons 

 of the richer classes still spend much of their 



