The Dominion. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1909. A "BOOM" IN CULTURE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 657, 6 November 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1909. A "BOOM" IN CULTURE.

_ With "booms" on the Stock Exchange all:are, m'ore or lces, familiar. A "bpbni" in culture scorns a departure - from: the normal,, though welcome, as everything ton'ding' to.elevate'the. people, must be. The truth is manifest that; at the present time unusual ; interest is. displayed : towards roading and education. Philosophy, , science, literature' are to-day. sub; jects of- thought ; and , of discussioti ta an oxtont probably greater than at : >ahy previbus., period in: our history,' this represents advancement of the true kind: Upon the steady intellectual progress' oi the people depends the futuip peace and prosperity of. the world.', General, widely: diffused knowledge is something different from- the specific 'discoveries of scientists, the elaboration of theories, the inventions, whether for the promotion of poace or for : the destruction of life.; In time* scientific discoveries ind most new inventions benefit the mass of tho people, directly or .indirectly. The.laborious investigations, the; acute deductions, the grand generalisations, of Charles Daiuvix have broadened immensely man's conceptions of life and of the Universe. But they cannot be said to have yet affected the material wellbeing of the people in any:, appreciable degree. Bibeiot's skimming . over the English 'Channel in his monoplane was an event of scientiflc 'ihterest and. of historic importance. How the monoplane is to alter, or our conditions" has; still to be' decided;., Discoveries and. inventions such as these are the work of the pioneers of progress: they make advancement possible: and guide it within limits wliioh'are safe and wise. A-considerable section; of the, people js rapidly, gaining knowledge and experience: and. learning of the higher things of this life. No sane man speaks to-day of withholding'<educaition'from any portion of the world's community, so long as; it> is education adapted to the intellectual conditions and to the social environment.: . Education and progress have proceeded far from the times and the opinions, for. example, of 'Mandevit.le, who, in his book pn : morality,- entitled; "The Fable ?of the Bees," wrote: "Beading, writing, and > arithmetic are necessary to these whose business requires such qualifications; but where people's livelihood has no depen 1 dence on these , arts, they are: very pernicious, to the poor, who aye forced to get their daily bread by their daily labour." The genial doctor adds: "Every hour thoso sort of poor people spend at their book is so much time lost to' tho society.",' , "• That this selfish and callous view was formerly held by numerous members of the educated classes is to-day easy ,of demonstration. The' author quoted adorned the ■ eighteenth ' century, but a' \ recent .writer in the Contemporary Review reminds his readers that a century ago Me. Giddy,, who was destined to become President of ihe Koyal Society,; opposed, in language of extreme violence, Mn. Whitbread's Bill 'for the Education ■ of • tho Poor. To other objections he added that it would -enable them to read seditious pamphlets, vicious books, and publica- | tions against Christianity. .The writer of tho article thus comments on Mr. Giddy's contention : "The argument was indeed a sad one. It assumed'the absolute incapacity of the bulk of the population for improvement. It condemned the •sorf to be a serf through successive, generations. It assumed definite moral and social limitations as part of a necessary and natural order of things. It exhibited an attitude of mind in • the superior ranks of this natural order that shows how absolutely out of touch with modern thought England was in tho opening years of the nineteenth' century." A, change akin to a revolution has taken -placo in the minds of the people, educated and uneducated, since those unfortunate, far-off days, 'No''one now-.decries enlightenment. No man or woman today need be without not merely the rudiments of' learning, but of an education which) fifty years -ago, lev '.save- the'

wealthy could' have obtained. The times when knowledge /was gathered by, the poor, and often by means which' wore truly heroic, seem to have passed away for ever. The famous. Scottish clorgyman, De. John Bmwn, of Haddington, his newly-published biography - informs us, taught himself 'Greek while he herded his sheep oil the braes 'of' Abernetby. ■•; To procure his first Greek, Testament he'had to set'off for the nearest university town at midnight, so that ho might be back at his post by daylight. We hear little nowadays ;of' strenuous effort such as this. Nor will education suffer if the ways to it are made more smooth and agreeable. John Knox's parish schools undoubtedly placed Scotland, for a time at least, ih the van of popular education. The Reformer's' system was not that of Mande,viue or Giddy. . The: laird's son, '. the farmerls son, the cottar's son sat at the same desks and received the samo education. -Education was spread throughout the country and absolute illiteracy be- , came practically unknown. The form and substance of erudition in these days have been, in.the main, transformed. Science has ousted many of the old philosophies and crippled the : once powerful metaphysics. We are all becoming specialists. Knowledge, we find, must be gleaned with care and'stored, with precision. In perusing tho : discursive narratives of fifty or a hundred years ago, the reader is not infrequently reminded of characetrs like Baeon Bradwaedinb, with his jingle of French and Latin, and his knowledge which, asVicroE remarked, was "more diffuse than accurate." Learning half a century ago, and less, judged by present-day standards, was, too often, but meagre and restricted.. Familiarity with the classics was then usually deemed an ample, and a sufficient, education. Boviews, magazines, newspapers were almost non-existent, and the world of current thought and speculation, to the majority of the people, was unknown, and undreamed of. Now, the facilities for acquiring knowledge' an 4 for the : interchange of ideas are almost bewildering in their "profusion. ; The extraordinary de-. veltipmeijt, within quite, recent years,: in the trade of publishing houses is evidence that) there" has t been , a stirring: : of dry bpnes. ; A demand, never before equalled, has recently arisen,; and : is still active, for the printed media of education and of culture.' There are, more scholars at school, morb studonts at college,: than formerly; the general public is reading more and the quality of theVw'oikV prc» ferred is steadily improving. One London 1 , publisher of low-priced editions of the. ; classics, : interviewed .the other: ,day, estimated' that'of those works he'had; sold about five, million volumes. The.elevating effects of diffusing ' works ' such as these amongst the must be next to incalculable. Thoy should give civilisation a perceptible lift; forward. ,: The days of Giddy,' of Mandevm,e; and of all who' thought as they did; belong ■ to,;the 'irrevocable:past.- All who.wish well to' their- kin will hail with keenest satisfaction that growing, love of; knowledgo and of literature which is now'so manifest, "The world,'' , to .quote Haeeiet ;;Mae'tineau,;"grows.brighfer'everyday." The ; Contemporary writer holds: that'.tho end '. tobo aimed,at in education is:the crca- .' .jtionj of ii nation "of "adults tb~.~ whom -the ;, best, literature; would be a .necessity ,of - life. "As soon as it becomes a necessity," he observes, "half bursqcial problems will solve themselvos." ;i ;. ■■■\.-' '\v ~''i