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THE EDUCATION FIASCO.
BELATED OPINIONS ON THE DEAD BILL.

As might be expected, most of the magazines went to press before Mr. Balfour withdrew the Education Bill, but many of them publish articles on the subject, from which I take the following extracts:—

MAKING THE BEST OF IT.

The National Review in its editorials, which, however, were written before the final catastrophe took place, thus endeavours to make the best excuse which it can for the loss of the Bill:

Sir John Gorst's Bill is a praiseworthy conception, and we should like to see the bulk of it embodied in an Act of Parliament, but it undoubtedly deals with too many subjects, and there is force in the criticism that the assistance allotted to the Voluntary Schools is by no means generous. In this respect it is a great disappointment to the Conservative Party, who have found themselves called upon to risk a great Parliamentary position in order to support a Bill teeming with ingenious schemes they did not particularly want, and deficient in what is to them a paramount question-aid to the Voluntary Schools. Sir John Gorst, as an ardent educationalist, approached the matter from a slightly different standpoint. He is zealous to preserve definite religious teaching, but he is at least as anxious to continually raise the standard of secular instruction, and to introduce some elasticity into what has become too rigid a machine, hence the proposed establishment of the new educational authority, the raising of the age of compulsory attendance, the Poor Law school provisions, the treatment of Secondary Education, etc. It is perfectly easy to understand how the muddle has arisen, more especially when it is remembered that although the Cabinet is of unprecedented dimensions, Sir John Gorst is outside it. This makes it more difficult than ever to protect a Bill against the handiwork of ignorant colleagues. There is no need to become bysterical over the situation.

WHAT GOVERNMENT SHOULD HAVE DONE.

In the Fortnightly Review the Rev. Dr. Horton, writing confidently before any suspicion of the Government defeat had dawned upon the Nonconformist mind, contributes a vigorous denunciation of the Bill under the title of "The Doomed School Boards." As the Bill is dead, it is not worth while following him into the discussion of its demerits; it is more important to note what Dr. Horton thinks ought to have been done. He

says:

Our Educational System is far from perfect. Compared with the best systems on the Continent, or with the systems in the best States of the American Union, we are still lagging behind. What was wanted was a strong and broad-minded measure which should remove the objectionable features of the Board Schools, the pressure of the Examination System, the niggardliness of unenlightened Boards, the mischievous intrusion of religious controversy into Boards which have all they can do to attend to their educational duties; a measure which should make the Board School system at its best universal throughout the country; a measure which should reward and encourage the efficient schools; a measure which should secure better teachers and remove the religious tests of the Training Colleges; a measure which should create a system of Secondary Schools on the model of those which have been formed in the best American States.

MR. DIGGLE'S LAST WORD.

Mr. Diggle, Chairman of the London School Board, replies in the Contemporary Review for July to Principal Fairbairn. He devotes himself chiefly to a defence of Clause 27. His article was written before the throat of the Bill had been cut, and this is his description of the defunct measure:

The Education Bill is throughout designed, as its provisions prove, to preserve the function of neutrality, whilst it abolishes,

to some extent, those of inconsistency and inequity. The more the Bill is subjected to discussion the more fully it will appear that this policy is a step in the right direction. The agitation of which the composite and non-party parliamentary majority is the present outcome is not likely to be ended until two principles have been fully acknowledged in our Statute law: (1) That every public elementary school is entitled to public assistance upon the basis of the amount and excellence of the educational work carried on in it; and (2) that every deserving parent shall have at the hands of the State the same rights, and the same assistance, in the religious education of his child that the undeserving parent now enjoys. It is foreign to the purpose and aim of this article to say anything of the machinery of educational administration proposed in the Bill. I have said elsewhere that it is susceptible of improvement, and in its passage through the Houses of Parliament it will undoubtedly be amended.

THE CATHOLIC EDUCATION POLICY. WHAT THE NEW BILL MUST SECURE. CARDINAL VAUGHAN indicates in the New Review the policy which he commends as the objective of the forthcoming autumn campaign on the Education question. The withdrawal of this year's Bill, and the promise of a new Bill seem to give him pleasure. "The gain will be all on the side of civil equalities and religious liberty." Six months are needed to convert the country completely to rate-aid for Voluntary Schools without impairing their right to appoint their own teachers. The Cardinal compares the Bills of 1870 and 1896, and finds that while the Bill of 1870 was inimical to Christian liberty and offered the people a choice between a New Religion and No Religion, the Bill of 1896 represented a popular reaction from the anti-Christian features of the Bill of 1870, and pointed to a recognition of the rights and necessity of Voluntary Schools as well as of parental rights. It failed because it did not go far enough. It satisfied nobody. The principle of Rate-Aid does not, the Cardinal argues against Bishop Temple, place Voluntary Schools on any "slippery slope"; any danger being swept away by the suggestion of Boards of Federated Schools.

THE FEDERATED BOARD.

His Eminence goes on to state "how this might work":

(a) The Voluntary Schools in a district or county would federate according to denominations; (b) To the Federated Board, elected by the managers of the schools, would be added a number of nominees of the public Education Authority; (e) To this Board would be assigned powers, sanitary, financial, and educational over all the Federated Schools. It would dispense and follow the special Treasury grant and the rate aid; (d) Superior to this Board would be the Local Education Authority, whatever that may be, and finally the Education Department as a court of appeal, with supreme jurisdiction: (e) The right to appoint the school teachers and to regulate the religious instruction should be guaranteed to the trustees or managers of the individual school by statute.

RELIGIOUS STABILITY AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS.

There would thus be secured in the Cardinal's judgment:

(1) The religious character of the schools guaranteed to the trustees or local managers; (2) An improved educational character secured to all the Federated Schools by the supervisory powers invested in the Federated Board; (3) The financial and all the other interests of the districts watched over by ratepayers' representatives on this Board, and still further by the public local authority, which would see that all the schools in the district are up to date; (4) Finally, justice and fair play may be counted upon, by a right of appeal to the strong central authority of the Education Department.

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His Eminence would have supported Clause 27, in spite of its manifold imperfections, and was encouraged in this resolution by the united opposition the clause encountered from atheists, agnostics, and secularists:

But what of the Nonconformists? Having given up denominational education the Nonconformists are like the foxes who had lost their tails. Their opposition will die out when they find that we are not to be persuaded to cut off our denominational tails, and that, for the rest, we mean no harm either to Nonconformist or School Boards.

These are some of the principles which Catholics must fight for next autumn to secure their adoption in legislation next spring.

THE FAITHS OF GERMANY.

In the second June number of the Revue des Deux Mondes M. Goyan has an important article on what he calls "The Religious Map of the Germany of To-day "that is to say, the distribution of the different creeds over that Empire. He begins by describing the wonderful Cathedral of Cologne, in the completion of which modern united Germany seemed to stretch out her hand to the old Germany and the old religion. But we must pass over Mr. Goyan's historic retrospect and come to the actual facts and the situation as it is to-day.

THE CATHOLIC PROVINCES.

Rhenish Prussia and Westphalia, Bavaria and Poland are the four eminently Catholic portions of the Empire. Bavari is particularly the home of pious Catholic traditions, and the regular clergy are more numerous there than in any other part of Germany. At the Bavarian Court curious old ceremonies survive which have been abolished elsewhere. Once a year in the Royal Chapel the Prince Regent arms the Knights. It is the festival of St. George. Standing before the altar simply clad in tanics of white silk, the neophytes listen to a sermon which explains t› them their future obligations. These are two: to throw down the glove in defence of Christ and the Immaculate Conception, and to devote themselves to the poor and to the sick. Holding the hands of the Prince Regent, who is the intermediary between them and God, they take the oath, the Prince then gives them the "Accolade,” enrols them in the Order of St. George, and superintends the change of their dress to the helm, the sword, the blue cloak and ermine collar of the Order, while Mass is being celebrated at the altar. The populace are not admitted to this curious survival, but after it is over they are allowed to see the Knights and the princes feasting and merrymaking in a manner little consonant with the solemn oath of the Order.

It is curious that in Bavaria the Catholics do not as a body support the Catholic or Centre Party in the Reichstag to anything like the extent warranted by their numbers. Westphalia is, if possible, even more Catholic than Bavaria. Charles de Montalembert wrote in 1834: " Westphalia is the home of the Catholicism of Northern Germany, it is the German Brittany." Those words are true to this day. M. Goyan describes the old Catholicism of Poland, a legacy of the past, severe in its insistence on religions observances, and intermingled and identified with the sentiment of Polish nationality. This is so strong that your Polish peasant simply does not regard a Prussian priest as a real priest at all.

PROTESTANTISM ON THE DOWN-GRADE.

Protestantism is extremely active in the Catholic parts of Germany, the Evangelical Church devoting itself principally to philanthropic work with no small

success. Protestant Germany includes, broadly speaking, Prussia, Brandenburg, Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Anhalt and Saxony. But it must be remembered that in Protestant Germany the towns an their suburbs are called by the German pastors "spiritual cemeteries," and religious influences seem extremely weak. Thus, in 1880, 20 per cent. of the Protestant children of Berlin remained unbaptized, 59 per cent. of the marriages and 80 per cent. of the funerals were purely civil ceremonies, and the communicating members of the Evangelical Church numbered only 13 per cent. Since then, thanks to the efforts of the Emperor and the Empress, some improvement has taken place. Those who compose the Court are known to be sincerely religious, and in the last thirteen years a great deal has been achieved by the outside or dissenting clergy, to whose efforts Father Ciprian, a well-known Bavarian monk, has paid a fine tribute.

The most irreligious town in Germany seems to be Hamburg, and this in spite of the social and religious efforts made by the philanthropist pastor, Wychern. In the country districts the lack of religious feeling is very apparent, notably in Mecklenburg, SchleswigHolstein, Magdeburg, and Erfurt. Five German provinces-Hesse and the Palatinate, Baden; Wurtemberg and Silesia-cannot be called either Protestant or Catholic. The population is of mixed religions, and there, strangely enough, both parties honour their faiths in the observance. and 17,674,921 Catholics, and this of course does not In 1890, there were in Germany 31,026,810 Protestants

include those who would term themselves freethinkers (Freie Wissenschaft).

The Canadian Press.

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THE London or the New York type of journalismwhich? That is the alternative which Jos. T. Clark, in the Canadian Magazine for June, appears to think lies before the Canadian press. He fears the choice is already gone far towards decision. Daily intercourse between Canada and the United States, the systems of telegraphic news supply and other causes are drawing our newspapers into the wake of the great New York papers. This is to be regretted. Tae splendid newspapers of London, earnest, honest, respectable and dignified, present finer models to us." Mr. Clark gives a bad account of the Dominion press:

News is obtained every day through the perfidy of men who are trusted, through breaches of confidence, through the treason of employés, and no one, apparently, pauses to think of the effect upon morality of such an institution as the press growing ever more powerful by provoking betrayals of every kind of trust in every level of life. . . There are prominent editorial writers in Canada who have progressed from paper to paper, changing their points of view with every change of employer-championing the National Policy in one paper, tearing it to shreds in another; leading a crusade in one paper against the influence of French Catholicism in politics, rounding upon fellow-crusaders, a month later, in another paper.

The writer deplores the want of training and sense of responsibility of newspaper men, and contrasts them with the occupants of the pulpit. Yet though despondent he does not quite despair:

The managing editor who will give his paper as delicate a conscience, and rules of conduct as correct as a gentleman would have in private life, will find, I think, the strange experiment a success. A newspaper whose statements could be relied upon under all circumstances, whose persistent good taste would become a proverb-might it not almost re-make our civilisation?

THE HOMES OF MR. BALFOUR AND SIR WILLIAM

HARCOURT.

WHITTINGHAME AND MALWOOD.

MR. FREDERICK DOLMAN, writing in Cassell's Magazine for July, describes the country seats of the Leaders of the House of Commons. Mr. Balfour's house at Whittinghame, judging by the illustrations, is a very pleasant place to look at.

MR. BALFOUR'S COUNTRY SEAT.

Mr. Dolman says:

In reality, it was built in the plain, simple style which prevailed in Scotland early in this century. But shortly after coming of age and succeeding to the property, Mr. Balfour made various changes in the building, and, with Grecian pillars at the entrances, broad bay windows, and a terrace with ornamental balustrade, the house has lost all its original austerity.

Mr. Balfour's home has the charm of some of the prettiest scenery of the south of Scotland-the wooded banks of the Firth of Forth on the one side, and the picturesque features of the Lammermoor country, as Scott describes them, on the other.

A drive of six miles from Dunbar brings you to the gates of Whittinghame-or rather to the fine stone pillars on which the gates should swing, for Mr. Balfour's park is now quite unenclosed.

Entering the house, Mr. Dolman describes the bicycles, for both Mr. Balfour and his sister are devoted to the wheel, in the hall, and then proceeds to the library, which, however, is hardly one of the living

rooms.

HIS PENCHANT FOR BILLIARDS.

Indoors Mr. Balfour works in the study, and amuses himself in the billiard-room, for, says Mr. Dolman :

As an indoor recreation, by the way, billiards has the same place in Mr. Balfour's affection as golf for open-air exercise; and in this room he usually spends an hour or so after dinner whenever he has visitors in the house. It is so large that a full table occupies not a quarter of its space, and when Mr. Balfour has a family gathering at Whittinghame, it is usually used in the daytime as a schoolroom for his little nephews and nieces.

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Mr. Balfour spends most of his time when he is indoors at Whittinghame, probably finding in its smaller size greater comfort than would be possible in the library. In it was written the greater part of his book, "The Foundations of Belief."

It is a room with two large windows, and with plenty of light, but what with windows and book-shelves, there is no space left for pictures on the walls, and neither photographs nor sketches are to be found on mantelpiece or table.

But close to the large writing desk (which is of the American pattern and of mahogany wood) there is an iron grand pianoforte with a music stand by its side for performance on some other instrument, and the presence of these somewhat unusual articles in a study strikingly confirms the great love Mr. Balfour is supposed to have for music. From this room, I believe, the strains of piano and violin are often heard far into the night.

Mr. Balfour may often be tempted to defer sleep by the fact that his bedroom adjoins his study; he has but to take three or four steps to seek repose. This sleeping apartment on the ground floor is in its small size and great simplicity in striking contrast to some of the bed-chambers on the upper story, and that Mr. Balfour should have chosen it in order that he might

more conveniently burn "the midnight oil" when the desire for study or for music seized him, is a circumstance of some significance.

HIS SISTER AND HIS GARDENS.

Miss Balfour looks after everything, and specially charges herself with

the management of the gardens at Whittinghame, which are not now maintained, however, on the scale which formerly made them so well known in East Lothian. There are still eighteen glass-houses and extensive beds for flowers, fruit, and vegetables, but only ten gardeners are employed-about half the number whose services were at one time required. Mr. Balfour has no favourite flower, cares nothing for horticulture, and seldom crosses the "burn" to visit the gardens. Nor does Mr. Balfour ever trouble the extensive game preserves which usually afford admirable sport for such of his guests as enjoy a day's shooting. When he comes into the grounds it is usually to play a game over the small links of nine "holes," which, chiefly with a view to the enjoyment of the ladies of the house, were made in the park a year or so ago.

TWO NOTABLE TREES.

In the grounds, which are extensive and well wooded, there are two notable trees, one an Australian gum tree, which is said to be the earliest specimen of the eucalyptus in Scotland:

It was taken to Whittinghame from Australia by the late Lord Salisbury, father of the present Premier, sixty years ago, and, notwithstanding the rigours of the climate, has attained to a wonderful size. The other is a yew, near Stonypath Tower, one of the largest in the kingdom, under whose outspread branches the conspiracy which led to the assassination of Darnley is believed to have been concocted. The branches of the tree, which embrace the grounds at all points, with the exception of one tiny opening, have a circumference of one hundred and twenty feet, and, in the arched space thus formed, some three hundred school children have been seated at the same time. In forty years the circumference of the tree has grown by thirty feet.

THE SQUIRE OF MALWOOD.

From Whittinghame Mr. Dolman turns southward to the New Forest, and describes Sir William Harcourt in his favourite house at Malwood. Besides the flower gardens, which surround his handsome and commodious country house

Sir William has about twenty acres in addition, however, which are used for farming-for the production chiefly of the poultry, eggs, butter, milk, and vegetables consumed by his household. In this farm the ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer takes an active interest, and, small as it is, it has enabled him to keep in close, practical touch with agricultural questions and their difficulties. The live stock include a herd of Jersey and Guernsey cows, and about four hundred chickens. In the stables are to be seen the pair of black Russian ponies presented to Sir William Harcourt by Mr. Armitstead, and the chaise in which the statesman is accustomed to be driven about the Forest by his son "Lulu.”

The chief thing that impressed Mr. Dolman in Sir William Harcourt's study was the entire absence of anything bearing upon his public career:

The house proclaims its owner to be a man of culture, for there are shelves of books along one side of the broad corridors -the overflow of an extensive, if not very remarkable, library. Of Sir William's many years' service to the State, there is in any part of the house, however, scarcely a hint or suggestion.

LANDSEER'S PORTRAIT OF THE QUEEN.

He has more pictures to speak about than Mr. Balfour:

The most remarkable canvas at Malwood hangs by the side of the dining-room fireplace, which has for mantelpiece an

Indian wood gate that was exhibited at South Kensington some years ago. This is the portrait of the Queen on a horse, which was undertaken by Landseer shortly after her Majesty's accession. The picture was never finished, there being little more than the pencilled outline of the horse. The Queen once told Sir William Harcourt that she well remembered even now how painfully fatiguing she found sitting the saddle while the great artist painted her. Apart from its subject, the picture is extremely interesting in an artistic sense, because of the revelation that it makes of Landscer's method.

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Like the Countess of Warwick, Sir William Harcourt has a "Friendship Garden," but while Lady Warwick allows her friends to plant flowers and shrubs, Sir William Harcourt asks them to plant trees, Mr. Dolman says:—

The most interesting feature of the grounds is the "Friendship Garden "a little space set apart for the planting of trees by Sir William Harcourt's best and oldest friends. It was begun by Mr. Gladstone, who planted an oak, and Mrs. Gladstone, who planted an elm, on the occasion of their tour of the West Country about six years ago. During this visit to Malwood, too, the ex-Premier signed an engraved portrait of himself which hangs in one of its rooms. Another corner of the grounds, close to the tennis court, is devoted to the cultivation of a number of fine Italian plants, which Sir William and Lady Harcourt collected on the occasion of a recent visit to Italy. An Italian verandah, consisting of various climbing plants growing over a light wooden trellis, is reminiscent of "the great Budget" of 1894. Its making was the then Chancellor of the Exchequer's recreation in the midst of the heavy labour which the preparation of that measure entailed. Wandering about the grounds are a goodly number of tame birds, including peacocks-some of which were the gifts of friends. You may perchance come across an infant kangaroo, too.

AMUSING STORIES FROM THE MAGAZINES. EVERY month the periodicals contain many good stories which escape attention. I think it may be well to collect them together in a page each month. Here, for instance, are a few in the periodicals for July :

ONE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S STORIES.

During the late Civil War an officer who enjoyed close personal relations with President Lincoln called at the White House, and in the course of a private interview complained bitterly of certain criticisms passed on his conduct in a campaign by the Secretary of War. And while repeating such criticism gave way to great passion. Lincoln patiently heard him to the end, then said, "You seem very angry. Did you ever hear what made Finnigan mad? I'll tell you. Finnigan came home late from the club one night sober, but in such a temper that he knocked over a lot of furniture. M. Finnigan was aroused, and sitting up in bed asked, 'What's the matter, Finnigan?' 'I'm mad, mad as a hornet.' 'What's made you so?' 'Flaherty down yonder; he called me a liar.' 'But, man, why didn't you make him prove it?' That's why I'm so mad: he did!'"-Francis H. Hardy's "Public Sentiments on the Silver Question," Fortnightly Review. IF NOT GOD, THEN DEVIL.

There is a school in a northern town. It is a Church School, and the clergyman has the little children into the chancel of the church to instruct them in religion. "What is this?" he will say, pointing to the communion-table. A child will answer that it is the communion-table. He administers a shocked rebuke. "No, it is the altar." Then the children are taught the names of the ecclesiastical furniture and vestments. "And who am I?" said he, on a recent occasion. Please, sir, God," said one little fellow, who had been well, but insufficiently, indoctrinated. "No, my boy, not Almighty God. Now, who am I?” "Please, sir, the Devil,"

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One day, an ultra-Radical journal which is dead, buried, and forgotten by now, called the writer "le cocu de la troisième République." "That's a dangerous word to use in writing nowadays," said Jules Simon, during the evening of that day, when his attention had been drawn to the article. "But I tell you what I will do; I will tell you a tale which you are at liberty to repeat, even to the writer of the article. Years ago I knew a Frenchwoman of more than flighty character, who was married to an Englishman, a very worthy but stolid fellow, whose religious opinions forbade him to seek a divorce, even if he had been able to obtain it in France. As the woman grew older, her flightiness ceased-for very good reasons, the admirers fell off. I do not say that this is the case with the Republic, but it may be. On one occasion, the lady, quarrelling with her spouse, spat the word 'cocu' at him. Va, salle cocu!' she screamed. He stood perfectly composed. 'Pas maintenant!' he sneered quietly."-Vandam's Jules Simon," Fortnightly Review. A RETORT DISCOURTEOUS.

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I remember these lines coming back to me years ago in the Nilgiris, when a clever young aide-de-camp told me a story of an officer, long since dead, who had risen from the ranks, but who could employ his tongue as effectively as his sword. Meeting a lady who much disliked him, he said: "Good evening, Miss , you are looking very handsome to-night." "I wish I could say the same, Major." "Oh! but you could, if you were to tell a lie, as I did."-Sir M. E. Grant Duff, 'Menagiana," in Cornhill.

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ALL THE Difference.

When I asked Miss Barlow if she had much difficulty in getting her early poems and sketches accepted, she replied, "I did not have many disappointments. The first serious thing I did was a little poem printed in Hibernia. I afterwards sent one to the Cornhill, and I received a postcard from the editor, Mr. Payn, which I deciphered as, "I have no use for silly verses." I felt dreadfully disgusted, and grieved too, but after the whole family had puzzled over it, they came to the conclusion that the words were, "I hope to use your pretty verses, ," which was a great relief to me. The next thing I sent was a prose sketch of village life, and to my great surprise Mr. Payn accepted it.-Sarah A. Tooley in "Ladies of Dublin," Woman at Home.

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Can nothing be done to make it brighter and happier? Why should not poor-law guardians provide decent accommodation, at a charge of fourpence per head, for such travellers as choose to avail themselves of it? We have municipal doss" houses all over the country, and a Westmoreland Union even takes in nightly lodgers of the artisan class who can afford fourpence for a bed. There are precedents enough, and to spare. Why, therefore, should not a portion of our workhouses-at least those in districts where the private accommodation is notoriously disgraceful-be set apart for the reception of wayfarers willing to pay for a night's shelter?

It should also be possible to hold in every large wayside "padding ken a religious service such as is provided in some of the common lodging-houses of London, Liverpool, Manchester, and other cities.

"THUS SAITH THE LORD," IN SOUTH AFRICA.

A NEW COMMANDMENT. BY OLIVE SCHREINER. LONG ago, when first I had the pleasure of meeting the authoress of "A South African Farm," she impressed me beyond everything else as "The Categorical Imperative in Petticoats." That was many years ago, and Olive Schreiner has become matron and politician, but that has in no way lessened the degree of imperious absolutism with which she lays down the law upon the subjects with which she has to deal. This characteristic has seldom been more strikingly illustrated than in the article, "Stray Thoughts on South Africa," which she contributes to the Fortnightly Review for July. I notice elsewhere that section of the article which deals solely with the native races of South Africa and confine this article to what she has to say on that infinitely painful subject, the half-caste. Olive Schreiner could hardly fail to be immensely attracted by the sympathy of her nature to the half-breed-that most forlorn and tragic of all results of the impact of race on race. We have long been familiar with the painful and perplexing problem that is presented by the existence of a large Eurasian population in India, and now we learn from this article that the same problem presents itself quite as conspicuously in South Africa.

"KEEP YOUR BREEDS PURE!"

Her study of the half-castes leads her to proclaim aloud a new commandment for South Africa:

For South Africa there are certain commandments unheard of in Europe, because the conditions of life raise no occasion for them, but which loom large in the list of social duties in this land. The first of these, which we would have printed in letters of gold and set up on high, if by so doing there were any chance of its eating more deeply into the heart of the generation that rises, is the great South African racial commandment:-KEEP YOUR BREEDS PURE!

In proportion as this commandment is accepted, and its injunction carried out by our black and white races in South Africa during the next fifty years, so will, to a large extent, be our healthy growth and development.

THE ORIGIN OF THE HALF CASTE.

Comparatively few of the South African half-breeds are of English parentage; the most of them are the descendants of the early Boer settlers, and the slaves whom they imported from Madagascar and elsewhere:

Slavery bequeathed to the Boer, and to South Africa through him mainly, its large half-caste population: a population which constitutes at once the most painful, the most complex, and-if any social problem were insoluble in the presence of human energy and sympathy, we might add-the most insoluble portion of our South African National Problem. The bulk of that half-caste population which to-day fills our Western towns and throngs upon our Western farms, and which is found scattered over the whole of South Africa, arose originally and mainly as the result of sexual intercourse between the Boer and his imported slaves; and also with such aboriginal Hottentots or Bushmen as he obtained posses

sion of.

In the early records of the Colony we find that out of every four children born to slave mothers three were at one time the children of white men and masters. Only nineteen years ago there died in the Colony an old man who left behind him forty half-caste descendants-grandchildren and others-and whose standard saying in his early days is reported to have been: "When I want a smart slave, then I beget him!"

So the first half-caste arose: a creature without a family, without a nationality, without a stable kind, with which it might feel itself allied, and whose ideas it might accept.

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THE VICES OF THE HALF-CASTE.

The Boer patriarch may have found that his children made smart slaves, but they certainly made bad citizens. The half-caste in South Africa seems to have as bad a name as the Eurasian in India:

The universality and unanimity of the popular verdict on the half-caste is remarkable. The half-caste, it is asserted in every country where he is known, whether it be in America, Asia, or Africa, and whether his ancestors be English and Negroid, Spanish and Indian, or Boer and Hottentot-the half-caste is by nature anti-social! It is always asserted that he possesses the vices of both parent races and the virtues of neither; that he is born especially with a tendency to be a liar, cowardly, licentious, and without self-respect. Olive Schreiner does not like to admit that this lamentable result is due solely to the mixture of races.

THE RESULT OF ENVIRONMENT.

She is much more disposed to attribute the worthlessness of the half-caste to the circumstances in which he was placed, than the fact that European and African blood are mingled in his veins. The following passage is one of the most vigorous even Olive Schreiner has ever pennel:

Had he been begotten by Cherubim upon Seraphim and born before the throne of God; and then transported to a slave compound, to grow up raceless, traditionless, and believing himself contraband, we should in all probability have had the same anti-social creature we have to-day. That amongst the most despised class of our labouring half-castes we have all met individuals, not only of the highest integrity, but of rare moral beauty and of heroic and fully developed social feeling-does not impugn the theory of his unfortunate position. If you should sow human seed inside the door of hell, some of it would yet come up white lilies.

BEGINNING WITH HIS BEGETTING.

Unfortunately the half-caste may claim no such celestial origin, and the curse which weighs upon him descended upon him before his birth :—

He has originated in almost all cases, not from the union of average individuals of the two races uniting under average conditions; but as the result of a sexual union between the most helpless and enslaved females of the dark race and the most recklessly dominant males of the white.

That union was in no case the result of love, neither was there any intellectual sympathy between his parents, but the abject fear of prostrate animal on one side, and on the other the passion of the stronger brute:

He entered a world in which there was no place prepared for him. To his father he was the broken wineglass left from last night's feast; or as the remembrance of last year's sin-a thing one would rather forget-or, at best he was a useful tool. To his master's wife, if there were one, he was an object of loathing, of that curious loathing known perhaps only to the Arian woman.

AT WAR WITH HIMSELF.

No pains were taken with his education, he grew up as the young beasts do, and as soon as he began to reflect he found within himself two natures warring against each other:

Often without a family, always without a nation or a race, a more or less solitary nomad; his moral training has been only in that pseudo-school, where repression and fear but ill supply the place of the affections. The very breast he had sucked was not of the same colour as himself. But it was not even the fact that he was born into a society in which there was no appointed station for him, and no class with which he was wholly at one, that constituted the forefront of his wrong and suffering. The true key to the half-caste's position lay in the past, as it still lies to-day, in the fact that he is not at harmony within himself. He alone of all living creatures

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