Theory and Practice of Dr. Arnold^ of Rugby. 79 



Mrs. Byers — I came expecting a great treat, and T have 

 received it. On behalf of school mistresses, I beg to thank Dr. 

 Sheldon very heartily. I was particularly gratified to find Dr. 

 Sheldon taking up so boldly Dr. Arnold's moral and spiritual 

 nature. I have always thought that he, above all school- 

 masters, understood the character of the Great Master, and that 

 he unconsciously revealed that character to his pupils, perhaps 

 not so much in words as in his upright life. I am very much 

 obliged to Dr. Sheldon for the way in which he brought before 

 us Dr. Arnold's love for the Scriptures. I shall go back and 

 read the life of Dr. Arnold again, and try to get a greater 

 inspiration from it than before for my work, after listening to 

 Dr. Sheldon's able paper. 



Dr. Sheldon — What I objected to under the name of "useful 

 knowledge " was such awful abominations as that put before us 

 last year by the Intermediate — the commercial education. The 

 schoolmasters ignored it ; the parents were too sensible ; and it 

 died a natural death. As one instance — instead of history we 

 had the history of commerce, which may be educational when 

 tacked on to general history, but standing alone is a mere 

 crammer's grind. Useful knowledge, as Arnold says, is that 

 which will fit the learners to think when they are grown up. 

 As regards the training of observation, it may be done at all 

 times and in all ways, and parents can do it as well as masters. 

 With regard to the number of subjects, the only question is, as 

 some one has said, whether you will have soup or sandwiches. 

 The "soup" system is to give them all at once ; the "sand- 

 wich " to give two or three years at one and two or three at 

 another. In this connection, I prefer sandwiches to soup. 

 About the religious question, I do not think that, from the 

 teacher's point of view, there is really much difficulty in giving 

 Biblical teaching to the children of parents holding various 

 views. In Manchester I had a Bible class in my day school. 

 I did not trouble to write to any parents except to a few Jews 

 and Unitarians. To the Unitarians I said, "I cannot teach the 

 Bible with my views without teaching the divinity of Christ. 



