THE PHYSICAL DETERIORATION OF THE NATION.
[TO Tag EDITOR OF TEM "SPECTATOR"] SIR,—Major Collie's letter in the Spectator of October 4th ia well worth attention. As rector of a rural parish I can con-
firm much of what he says. It is uncommon to find fresh milk on the breakfast or tea table of the ordinary peasant. Milk is largely drunk with tea, but it is usually tinned or con- densed. Meat is more frequently eaten than it was twenty or thirty years ago; a smaller proportion of it than you would expect, though, is butcher's meat. Too often it is American tinned meat, or even, when a special dish is wanted, tinned salmon. Bread, of course, is eaten, but bread made by the baker who delivers loaves two or three times a week at the cottage door, which lack the brown tinge that, as a boy, I used to see in the labourer's bread. All the offal of the wheat has gone to give hone to the pig, and so poor man is left wanting. Now what is the cause of this ? For one thing, more persons employ servants than formerly, so most of the girls, when quite young, go into service. There they find labour so highly organised that they never learn the whole duty of the house- wife. Thus when married they cannot, with the cares of the home and a young family, call up sufficient energy to walk to the farm for milk or bake and cook for the home, as their grandparents did. The chief cause, however, of this grievous state of things is, I am convinced, faulty education in the village school. Laundry, cooking, and sewing lessons are given, and the method of instruction in these subjects is very fairly good, but the whole atmosphere of the school teaching and the school life is foreign to practical work and daily duties. This not only acts on the child's view of home life and his future calling, but reacts on the parent's view of school. Hope for the future seems to lie in elementary education being entrusted to a local authority (of course under supervision by the Board of Education)—the County Council for choice, as provided by the Government Bill—in the selection of teachers somewhat different in type from those who now enter the pro- fession, and, above all, in the appointment of inspectors who have a real knowledge of the facts, the needs, and the diffi- culties of rural life.—I am, Sir, &c., [The milk question is for the poor.one of the most vital problems of the country, as of the town. Its solution is, we believe, to be found in the keeping of goats. Goat's milk is the purest and most healthy milk in the world, and a goat is very easily kept and fed. Mr. Hook in his excellent book, "Mitch Goats and their Management" (Vinton and Co.), shows how large an amount of milk a goat will yield if fed with a little care.—ED. Spectator.]
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