public-body man, our 'Rector,' but his friends appreciate his keen, just
judgment. They may disagree with him on some points, but a discussion with
him is always interesting on account of his original, fresh method of
thought, and instructive by reason of his very superior and universal
knowledge.

His best friend is Mr. Jacobs, a civil engineer. Dutch civil engineers are
educated at Delft, at the Polytechnic School, after having passed their
final examination at a 'Higher Burgher School.' Boys of sixteen or
seventeen are not fit to digest sciences by the dozen, and, however
pleasant and convenient it may be to become a walking cyclopedia, a
cyclopedia is not a living book, but a dead accumulation of dead
knowledge, which may inform though it does not educate. Happily, the
majority of Dutch engineers are saved by the Polytechnic School, where
they have about the same liberty as undergraduates at the Universities to
go their own way. Educationally they are not so well equipped, attention
only being paid to mental instruction, for the Director of a 'Higher
Burgher School' is a different man from the Rector of a Gymnasium, while
the System over which he presides is more or less incoherent so far as
educational considerations go.

But if a civil engineer is a success he is generally a big one. So is Mr.
Jacobs. He is thoroughly well read, though his reading may be somewhat
desultory. His splendid memory, assisted by a remarkably quick wit, allows
him to feel interested in nearly everything--sociology, literature, art,
music, theatre, sport, charity, municipal enterprise. If he is
superficial, nobody notices it, for he is much too smart to show it. His
general level-headedness makes him an inexhaustible source of admiration
to Dr. Ariens, whose peer he is in kindness of heart. His manner is
irreproachable; he never loses his temper in discussion, and treats his