RANDOM SHOTS

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 30, 4 February 1905, Page 12

RANDOM SHOTS

. samboT

Some write a neighbour's name to lash; Bone write — vain thought — for needfn! cash. Eome -write to please the country clash, And raise a din. Tor mc, nn aim I never fash— 1 xrrite for fun. Once more the question of the classics and education. The eubject is one of which wp are not likely to see the end in one lifetime, if, indeed, within that period we are even likely to see the lighter achievement, of mutual tolerance end sympathy in the discussion of the merits of the case. To mc the net result appears to be simple. It is this —that the classically educated man is undoubtedly a gain to the -world, but ho is equally undoubtedly a sad loss to himself; he sacrifices his interests on the altar of culture., and society asks him why in tho name of goodness be sacrificed his interests for that, or for anything else. That's taking the subject on the higher ground. There are people who argue that the chief use of Greek is to teach you ■vrhat "'cinematograph" means, and of liatin to be able to translate into English the contents of a cough mixture. If this sort of thing were the sole argument for the classics, I would pelt them out of existence with the same good will as any nne of you. But isn't this feeble concession of oar salvationists-by-electricity merely a. device to strengthen what they consider is the formidable array of other arguments on the contra side of the question? Do -fliey know, or do they find it convenient to forget, that the -whole of jnodera progress began xrith the ißenaissance, which happens to be merely a high-sounding name for the rediscovery of Greek literature! do they know that the laws of every civilized nation are based upon those of Rome: that all modern ideals of social reconstruction have, some indirect reference to Plato's '■Republic: If thpy don't know these things, -why do they pretend to be able to discuss the subject? ********** The fact is, that this is just- one of i&ose themes for class prejudice that people will only think broadly of when class prejudice is no more. Half the world regards the classics as a. sort of β-ppanage of wonderful collars and tan boots and eyeglasses; a working man "srould no more think of occupying his leisure time in learning Greek (unless he happened to be "Jude the Obscure") than he would of starting off in a balloon without an outlet for the gas. Yet, as a. fact, the whole of literature and art are so purely democratic in their tendency that this attitude shows a great deal more prejudice than common sense. Xot a single great man in Art or Literature •was ever even a thorough-paced dandy: and Socrates -wont in rags. Then, while \ve shriek about the classics being "unpractical,"' why do we cjK-ourage the cultivation of fslusic? If one is "useless" in this idiotic, penny-wise, modern sense of the word, then so is the other. And, lastly, if it is democratic to take up this attitude of freezing utility (and I hold that it is plutocratic, which is worst of all), why do -we make out attack just at a point where the individual sacrifices his interest to the general. Let us be acrimonious, and even rude; but let us at least be logical ******5-l-** In vhe course of my existence I have suffered an average amount of annoyance from the changing conditions of the atmosphere. That is why 1 always feel inclined to help people who are troubled by the freaks of the elements in the present. And that is why 1 warn them not to buy, nor let their friends buy. nor borrow, nor steal, nor accept b stolen—barometer! Frankly, it is an instrument of evil: it will bring you no happiness, and you will be lucky indeed if it does not bring you misery. I have a friend who has one. Once he vas cheerful and happy and thoughtless; because he always had hope. But on an unlucky day he went out and bought a beautiful, ''mathematically accurate,'' barometer; the sort of thing you must not breathe on—(but I am forgetting that is a '•mathematically accurate"' thermometer) —welL, that you ran hardly think about without destroy--sng \be balance of its delicate mechanism. Since then my friend is a changed man. I meet him on a lovely, smiling morning, and hint that we ought to congraitulate one another on the weather. His visage is dour and discouraging. "You -wait a bit," he says; and he tells you that the mercury has dropped point something or other in so many hours, and that things are going to happen. He depresses you, and you change your straw hat for a cloth cap and umbrella. It either rains or doesn't, but anyhow the happy irresponsibility is gone; you say nasty things about the weather and fcnock two miles out of your daw's itinerary. And all for the sake of that merciless little machine. For nearly a fortnight up to a day or two ago it kept poing down. We were therefore to have xain every day, according to my friend, and though we generally didn't! we endured all the mental discomfort that we should have done if it had rained cats and dogs. So, if you value your own happiness, if you have any real"conKideration for the happiness of your 'riends. let roc unre you to avoid this baneful instrument as you would any thing of evil. ***-t****** I was delighted to read Professor J. 1L Brown's views upon the sad case of the school teacher, and Ms prophetic remark that "the salaries were such that none but the blind, the lame, and the hart would enter, and soon it would be thai only the degenerai-e and imbecile would be moTed to enter the profession." Indeed, I don't know why that is not the state of affairs at present. For healthy people with ambitions the prospects are about as teanpting as those of any other calling -where tae wildest hope is a three-roomed hut ana a wife and £3 a week. But £3 ,*9 £ "-the fc that wb«r yoa do grt *h<,

i yonrself, I am toH. t2iat tie sinn will never vary thereafter; ■which most be a great comfort to the rigid economist But, frankly, isn't it utterly wrong that men who not only are supposed to possess special qualifications for the mental side of their work, but have also responsibilities equalled only and in another way by tha.t of a doctor, should have to subsist on tke merest pittance? If the salaries were placed on a decent basis the public -would indirectly get every penny of the extra outlay hack again. At present I suppose a. poor dominie could hardly pay a moderate book-bill; and to a seiioolmouster who did not read widely and well. I would as soon send a child to il he educated as I would to a Chocta-w chief. The food aspect of the question needs no comment Altogether I would suggest that either the Government I should allcvw these people to live at j least a≤ well as an undercook, or else thai it should painlessly deprive them iof a most uncomfortable existence. 4