TREBELL. Hullo! Comte I knew about. Have I stolen from Robespierre too?

WEDGECROFT. [_Giving out the epigram with an air._] Property to him who can
make the best use of it.

TREBELL. And then what we must do is to give the children power over their
teachers?

_Now he is comically enigmatic._ WEDGECROFT _echoes him._

WEDGECROFT. And what exactly do you mean by that?

TREBELL. [_Serious again._] How positive a pedagogue would you be if you had
to prove your cases and justify your creed every century or so to the pupils
who had learnt just a little more than you could teach them? Give power to
the future, my friend ... not to the past. Give responsibility ... even if
you give it for your own discredit. What's beneath trust deeds and last
wills and testaments, and even acts of Parliament and official creeds? Fear
of the verdict of the next generation ... fear of looking foolish in their
eyes. Ah, we ... doing our best now ... must be ready for every sort of
death. And to provide the means of change and disregard of the past is a
secret of statesmanship. Presume that the world will come to an end every
thirty years if it's not reconstructed. Therefore give responsibility ...
give responsibility ... give the children power.

WEDGECROFT. [_Disposed to whistle._] Those statutes will want some framing.

TREBELL. [_Relapsing to a chuckle._] There's an incidental change to
foresee. Disappearance of the parson into the schoolmaster ... and the