and geography, all of which will be totally obliterated from their
memories within a space of twelve months.

Shorthand is not a very promising preparation for the plough; and French
and mathematics are equally valueless accomplishments for the carting of
manure. Dairymaids need neither history nor geography; they can even do
without grammar. Consequently these unhappy school-children have been
rendered useless for all the practical purposes of the life they ought
to lead. The result is inevitable. There is a constant, never-ceasing
exodus from the country into the towns. The rural school victims are
incited to look for employment in an altogether different sphere from
that for which nature originally intended them.

Philosophers and politicians crack their heads over this mysterious
problem of town immigration; but it is really a very simple affair. We
are pretending to educate the rural population by conferring upon them
the blessings of French and shorthand. The natural consequence of our
excellent foresight in spreading this type of culture throughout the
land is that there is a scarcely remarkable dearth of rural labour. Farm
hands are not quite as plentiful as they used to be, and there is some
difficulty in getting damsels to churn butter. But, on the other hand,
we are driving this mob of cultured yokels into the towns to crowd out
local labour, to starve, and to fill the gaols and workhouses.

London has at the present moment mainly to thank this process of
'education' for the overcrowding problem which is becoming every day
more dangerous and pressing. It is useless to talk of pulling down slums
and building up model blocks, or of inventing fresh means of
communication to convey artisans to suburban dwellings, whilst the real
cause of the evil is left untouched. Young men and women will continue
to pour in from the country districts as long as a smattering of
geography and arithmetic flatters them into the delusion that they are
educated, and that knowledge of the useless kind that has been drummed
into them is the high-road to fortune.

It is, however, of little use to urge overcrowding as a ground for
reforming educational methods. Few people are stirred by what to them is
a purely abstract question. They see nothing to indicate its existence,
and they know nothing of its evils. They seldom walk down the dreary
avenues of bricks and mortar which contain the houses of the working
classes; and if they do,