e benefit of those above them,
almost as completely as the horse or the ox. This statement is so true
of the agricultural laborers as to admit of very little palliation, and
it is scarcely less true of the unskilled working classes in the towns.
In all the lower ranks of society there are great obstacles to
advancement in position, because each plane of life is crowded with its
own members; because each class is educated in schools where only
children of that class are found, and where the education is especially
adapted to that class--that is, to their industrial needs and to what is
expected in that grade of society--and does not fit them for any other
place in society. One-fifth of the nation cannot read, and the education
of the great majority of the remainder, when not limited to the "three
R's," does not go far enough to create a taste for reading books; and,
shut off as they have been from participation in political life, they
have too little interest in public concerns to read the newspapers.
That is, as compared with our life, the possibilities for advancement
are limited, the average education is of a low order, and the stimulus
that comes from an acquaintance with the habits of those above them is
absent. Nearly all the spurs to ambition are wanting, and in consequence
there is little tendency to do more work than is necessary to keep along
in the old ways. The skilled artisans have in this matter of opportunity
for advancement more in common with the circumstances of our life. This
sphere is not overcrowded, but they, too, lack the means for education
and association with those above them provided in our public schools.

The result of their better chances for improvement shows itself with
them in the same way as with us, in a tendency to overwork, though, as
we should expect, not in the same degree. Complaints are made of the
physical deterioration of this class, and laws are enacted to limit the
working hours of children; and in the last session of Parliament, Mr.
Mundella introduced a bill to fix the limit for women below that of men.
The bill did not pass, but it will be introduced again in the next
session.

The large shopkeepers and manufacturers are, again, more assimilated to
us in their possibilities for rapid changes in financial conditions; but
at best they are a small class, and efficient help is more easily
attainable. With us, as soon as a man becomes conscious that he has good
ability for work