We cannot, of course, wish for the return of those
days when boys had half a day of schooling, went to work at seven and rejoiced when wages rose to 11s. a week. The present is better. Nevertheless, that is true which a country- man (who has travelled far but has now returned to his ancestral acres) said to me the other day, " The people I find most interesting are those who have had least education." We still know a few. They are wise because they have learnt from eye and ear and labout. They know the real from the sham—in people as in things. They are real, and they are happy, or at the worst content : " The God that you took from a printed book
Be with you, Tomlinson!"
is not a curse to which they will ever be chargeable. They are wise with the lore of " all that wisdom loses to be wise." How faithful are their memories ! How well they talk ! How observant are their eyes ! How deep their judgement of man ! You cannot impart such wisdom in schools or absorb such content from borrowed philosophies.
W. BEACH Thomas.
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