elephant which had escaped during the night; he was
wondering how to proceed when two keepers appeared and the
strange beast was led quietly back to the town.

As chairman of our School Board I early recognized among the members
discoverers of mare's-nests, who lost no opportunity of exhibiting
their own importance by intruding such matters into the already
overflowing _agenda_, and my method of dealing with them was so
successful, though I believe not original, that it may be found useful
by those called upon to preside over any of the multitudinous councils
now in existence. Whenever the member produced his cherished
discovery--generally very shadowy as to detail--I proposed the
appointment of a subcommittee, consisting of him and his sympathizers,
to inquire into the matter, and report at the next Board meeting. In
this way I shunted the bother of the investigation of usually some
trifle or unsubstantiated opinion on to his own shoulders, so that,
when he realized the time and trouble involved, he became much less
interested, and we heard very little more of the subject.

I suppose that everybody living in a country parish, who can look back
over the period of fifty years of compulsory education, would agree
that the results are insignificant in comparison with the effort, and
one cannot help wondering whether, after all, they justify the
gigantic cost. We appear to have tried to build too quickly on an
insecure foundation. Nature produces no permanent work in a hurry, and
Art is a blind leader unless she submits to Nature's laws. The pace
has been too great, and the fabric which we have reared is already
showing the defects in its construction.

How otherwise can we account for the littleness of the men
representing "the people," who have been rushed into the big
positions, and for the vulgarity of the present age? Vulgarity in
public worship; vulgarity in the manners, the speeches, and the ideals
of the House of Commons; vulgarity in "literature," on the stage, in
music, in the studio, and in a section of the Press; vulgarity in
building and the desecration of beautiful places; vulgarity in form
and colour of dress and decoration. We are far behind the design and
construction of the domestic furniture of 150 years ago, and we have
never equalled the architecture of the earliest periods, for stability
and stateliness.

The skim milk seems to have come to the top and the cream has gone to
the botto