"I suppose it never occurs to parents," says John Foster, in his
Journal, "that to throw vilely-educated young people on the world is,
independently of the injury to the young people themselves, a positive
_crime_, and of very great magnitude; as great, for instance, as
burning their neighbor's house, or poisoning the water in his well. In
pointing out to them what is wrong, even if they acknowledge the
justness of the statement, one cannot make them feel a sense of guilt,
as in other proved charges. That they love their children extenuates to
their consciences every parental folly that may at last produce in the
children every desperate vice." As to this matter of education,


OUR GREAT SCHOOLS

have taken it largely out of the parents' hands to guide the course of
instruction, and where this would be done logically, I cannot but feel
it is to the disadvantage of the child; but the system is built for
public, not for individual benefit, and will probably do the greatest
good to the greatest number. If we could have a little less Latin and a
little better spelling, a little less long Latin and a little more good
short Saxon I believe our youth would make their mark easier. Our young
people dislike interest tables and are delighted with long words. Under
the present system and popular taste, our children despise


THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE

until they are thirty years old, whereafter they gradually learn that
the very essence of artful language is contained in its pages. There is