ions, and what not, to stuff into every head he
can get hold of for a few terms. Lastly appears the Government, which
declares that nobody shall enter the army, or navy, or civil service,
without devoting his best years to being crammed in such a scandalous
fashion, that it is a toss-up whether he breaks down altogether under
the ordeal, or simply forgets, a few months after the consummation of
the process, all that has been pitchforked into his brain.

When a baby is brought into the world the parents spend the first year
of its life in wondering and speculating about its future. Will it be a
great author, or a Bishop, or a Lord Chancellor? If its mouth twitches
when anyone slams a door, or it gurgles happily when a note is struck on
the piano, they declare it has genius for music; and if it amuses itself
later on by crude efforts to draw distorted figures with distorted faces
and distorted arms and legs, they jump to the conclusion that they have
produced an infant Correggio.

Why does all this anxiety about the child's individuality disappear the
moment its intelligence begins to dawn? One must suppose, at any rate,
that it does, because the parent immediately sets about getting all the
originality knocked out of his offspring, and does not grudge the
payment of heavy fees to secure this object.

The dreams about the Lord Chancellorship, or the gold medal at the
musical academy, vanish as if by magic. There is no more talk about
bishoprics or artistic fame. The parents settle down to the conventional
task of having the child fitted for something it has no desire to be;
and the notion that the particular faculties they observed--or thought
they observed--during its early infancy should or could be developed
never appears to enter their heads for a moment.

Some children develop later than others; but with proper care and
encouragement it would be possible not to lead, but to follow, each
child to its own bent. The child must show the way--that is the essence
of real education, and it involves a complete upheaval of the principles
upon which systems of instruction are at present founded.

There is only one way in which people are now able to obtain a genuine
education, and it goes by the name--applied with more or less
contempt--of self-culture. The process consists simply in the individual
choosing his own subjects and studying them as best he can. No doubt the
method could be immensely extended and improved, for