THE ALLEGED " JARGON " IN THE ADULT SCHOOL.
[TO THR EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
SIR,—I must thank you for inserting the letter entitled " ' Jargon ' in the Adult School," by "Antisepsis," in last week's number of the Spectator. It advertises a movement and method of teaching things of the highest value which every lover of social and spiritual betterment should be acquainted with. After thirty years' experience I think I am in a position to meet your correspondent's strictures. It has been the faithful adherence to the purpose your correspondent quotes—" To study the Bible frankly, freely, reverently, and without prejudice "— that has won my enthusiasm and devotion. That I might understand the exact attitude of your correspondent, I sought the help of the Century Dictionary for a definition of "jargon." I find three are given : (1) Confused, unintelligible talk ; (2) A barbarous, mixed speech ; (3) Any phraseology practised by a sect ; while I am helped further by the nom de plume he has selected, "Antisepsis," against putrefaction. It is the literature he suspects. As a Congregationalist, I love the broad sympathies of the movement, and find the Lesson Handbook he criticizes just excellent. Another Congregationalist in Australia, who, like myself, is an advocate of National Service, writes me on receipt of a copy of this book " Antisepsis " asperses : "What a superb thing your Adult School Lesson Handbook is. I know of nothing in the way of Lesson Handbooks to touch it, and I think I have seen most of them. The suggestions under the heading Literature are specially fine. I must not continue or I shall explode in superlatives. However, I am going to make use of it shamelessly." The Chairman of the Lesson Sheet Committee and the writer of the preface to this year's Handbook is a member of the Baptist Church ; in fact, the whole Committee are as varied in denomination as were the Revisers of the New Testament, The Lesson Handbook is not an authoritative text-book but a book of suggestions for the use of teachers, and the authors whom students are advised to consult are as varied as the best literature can be. In the Handbook for this year are seven articles. I know personally four of the writers, and only one of these four is a member of the Society of Friends. The writer of the preface states : "The articles in this Hand- book are signed by the authors, who take all responsibility for the statements they make and for the opinions they express."
In the leading article in last week's Spectator entitled "Fatigue and Efficiency" you give prominence to the good work of the Committee formed to examine the health of munition workers. All Adult School workers are proud of the years of devotion and contributions made to their literature by the eminent Chairman of that Committee whom you name, Sir George Newman. If the Society of Friends has been recruiting its members from the men and women drawn into the Adult Schools, I rejoice to know every other Church has been doing the same. As far as my thirty years' experience goes, the Church of England has benefited more than any. When a man or woman discovers the Light they usually revert to the Church where as a child they received their first impressions. The editor of One and All, the organ of the movement your correspondent thinks is contaminated by the "diluted flavour" he imagines so per- nicious, is not a Quaker. I am glad "Antisepsis," before he closes, is able to refer to the proportionately large numbers from the Adult School who have enlisted in various capacities since the commencement of the war. That I am proud to confirm, and further, I rejoice in the great sacrifice and risk of life made by so many members of the Society of Friends in every department of service, from mine-sweeping to the drudgery of camp and hospital work. I notice, in the case of one large industry owned by one family amongst the Society of Friends, that the firm are paying two-thirds of the wages of the married men and one- third of the single of the workmen who have enlisted. Already the cost has reached £9,000, while £10,000 has been laid aside as nucleus for a fund for disabled men. If all served the nation as well as the people called Quakers, what a virile nation we should be !—I am, Sir, &c.,
EDWARD SMITH',
President for the last alxteen years of the Midland Adult School union, the largest of the thirty-three Unions comprising the National Union.
The Heath, Betedley, Worcestershire.
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