The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-02-20
r NOT BIRTH,
An Aim Of neutrality-suspicious. Bir-
rell on the End Of Education.

TelI OH tllt Luu O1 EuuCltlOu.
AS president of the Salt Schools.
Saltaire, Mr.. Birrell the other Satur-
day night, gave the annual address.
He was much delighted, he said,
to find himself in the constituency Of
his friend and parliamentary secre-
tary, Mr.. Percy Illingworth. A bet
ter friend and a better parliamentary
secretary no man ever had. Apollo
giving for not having had time to
prepare an address Of some literary
kind, Mr.. Birrell said that since he
entered Whitehall he had not had
time to read anything worth reading
or write anything worth writing, and
he had considerable doubt whether
he had said anything worth hearing.
He had been astonished to find the
great number of people who seemed
honestly to believe that the money
spent on education was wasted. There
were ag~riculturists who preferred
that 1t should be spent on manure.
He once ventured to say In Parlia-
ment that they preferred muck to
mind. But he was also astonished at
the great number Of people who
showed keen interest in the develop
ment of education on sound princi-
pies. The rate-payers should not
yrudge that part of the rates which
went to the sacred duty of training
teachers. A great work was going
on in that direction. Training col
leges were not what they ought to be,
put they were improving steadily.
Then the devotion of teachers to
their work had affected him very
much. They worked not only for
wages, but for love. He would be-
seech all teachers to recognize the
fact that they were all one great cor
poration engaged in the same work.
although on different sides Of 1t. Not
one Of them was entitled to look down
upon another. All part Of education
work should be looked upon as one
and indivisible.
Speaking to the pupils, Mr.. Birrell
advised them to remember that the
acquisition of knowledge is not every
thing. In the House of Commons, he
said, we have all sorts Of people
some Of the learned, but not many.
Some have had great educational ad-
vantages, others have been educated
in the wine or the workshop. I am
not going to praise any class at the
expense of the other. There are un-
educated labor members, capitalists
and country gentlemen. 1t Is not a
question of what school you went to,
but what you are. You may train
your mind working down a mine so
as to make your mind the envy OF
those who have had an excellent
scholastic education.
On the floor of the House Of Com
mons 1t does not matter one straw
whether you are the son Of duke or
of a costermonger, you will be list
ened to for a short time, and If the
House comes to the conclusion you
are worth hearing it is gl~oriously In
different to everything else about
you. I am quite sure that every one
who comes to the House Of Commons
recognizes at once that the reputation
a man gains or loses there is wholly
independent Of what he has done in
the past or to what class he belongs,
He is judged wholly on what he is.
If you can get a we'll trained and dis
ciplined mind, then you need fear no
one. 1t is upon the success Of the eff
forts Of all these bodies who are en-
deavoring to train the minds Of the
nation that the success of the country
must ultimately depend. - Manches-
ter Guardian.