New-York tribune., 1908-01-13
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
EDUCATION IN ENGLAND.
Dir. Reds Address-HuItey and
the Bible.
To the Editor of The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Ambassador Reid has given to us an ad-
mirabIe account Of popular education in England
No has ever done it better-and It may fairly
be doubted whether any has ever done IL as
we'll May not hope that he viii supplement
this lecture with some account or the uliVels"S
extension movement in that country. the purpose
and working of such schools Christs HospitaA
and the hundreds IL not thousands. OF SUBSTANTIALLY
helpful scholarships in the English. scotch ana
Irish universities? Such account wonlu HeNee
sariiy emphasize the relative poverty OF TINS coun
try in what Professor Huxley happily cai'eo
nacity catchers" Incidentally, too. it would cum
vey a much needed hint may say IL u al,
nearly all. the greater, collegiate oouleS AZ -
country. And who shall estimate the lias
results, direct and indirect. which might Wei ~
of such a hint from Mr. Reid?
In connection with what he said about tlie Us
of the Bible the English schools II VIII p'0D0'y
surprise most of your readers, ana h'ete7'
OF them to learn that from the days OF nus ealiS
manhood TO the time of his death Professor HuA
lev never ceased to advocate the daily use u
the Old and New Testaments in every hhsii'i
school. Professor Huxleys views are Wen hho""'
and whenever he deliberately undertook to ex-
Mound his meaning it was impossible TO mistake IL
He was the most trenchant. the most cons'SIeh' ~
and the most un1inching of agnostics. ne was,
perhaps, little too trenchant TO be Always "dio
of the susceptibilities not indeed or his
opponents who seldom spared and were never
spared when they broke lance with hlni' pu' u
those who without being professional conroFel-
slalists. found themselves ranged by temperance
sympathy and conviction in the opposite camp u
his. At the same time he was no mere MUS
eliminating iconoclast. He pleaded earnestly anu
even eloouentlv-fer In spite of his avowed dislike
of rhetoric he was in truth as consummate
rhetorlcian he was an uncompronslhe cIaAT
ticfan-for the continued study of the bloie. ne
saws for example III the conclusion of his prologue
to his Essays on Some Controverted Questions
Many seem to think that when it is sdrnIffeo 5b1o
that the ancient literature contained IA our
has no more claim TO intalolity saH 1b s4 fsraees
and their Christian successors accepted eb gTeest
have no better oqndaion taan @ th1se mos 70 throw the
Bible aside as so much waste paper - ,,-s
I have always opposed this opinion II appeabTTss - 3
70 t6an me the orthodox BiblioateT it is the heterodox
Philistne who can discover in hte6abbGe b hut a
subject for scofng and occasion OF his coIlceleu
ignorance of the debt he owes 10 ioriilel sei''N
peffdsa ef b6pdar f2r tef gsd
and yenurs to repeat wha ae ffed tht for
ali that is best and nobest in English hstory' ds H
as nz amiIisP GgaP gentle simple from sn5 5Oh9 asso 90
Toat onSe Us the ne ITALIANS that it is written in the
nobiest and purest English. and abounds IN f.fIT
fbaf # ferbids the Veiest hind who left his
village to be igPoTan IF the and Of great
past stretching back to the furthest UNITS oI III
BOOK could children be much humaniz;e'dd and
made 10 feel that each figure in that vast
rroressfou fills like themselves, but moinehtaLg :
Space in the intervals between the efernes, ti anu
aarns the blessings or the curses OF all tlr1@ a.
or5iy IN IFS efforts to do good and hate evli even
% Thay also are earning their payment lot lHelr
work."
Elsewhere that Is to say in letter which was
r,,b1isbed in the London Times" of April -
1892 he told US that he supported his contentloh'
VIZ that the Bible should be used In the punhc OF
common schools by the following citation from q
speech delivered by Mr.. Forster at the 6lrAoeoh-
Institution in 1870:
..r have the fullest confidence that in the reading
and explaning of the Bible what the children VIII
he taught will be the great truths OF the Chr7s-
+ian's life and conduct. which all Of US desire they
should know, and that no efforts VIII De mace 10
cram into their poor little minds theological dog
r,os which their tender age prevents them from
understanding" W. IL DIA0h1'
Union Springs n. Y. Jan. II. 1908.