EDUCATION THROUGH LIFE.

Timaru Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 5196, 17 July 1891, Page 4

EDUCATION THROUGH LIFE.

Above all, sava an Australian writer, it ia j necessary to combat the horrible, tbe dead y j idua that when a boy or girl bad reached the _;• age of IS or theroabouta he or sbe bus, nothing more to do with education. The ; matter ia vory easily tested. Take an average | man, who subscribes to the theory that edu- j cation should cease at 19, aod require him to apend an evening alone. He will be miierable ; he will make any sacrifice to escape the repetition of the torture. Now take a man who has continually educated himself to folio ,v up some line or line* of study, eo_e favourite inquiry... Give him an evening alone m his study, and he will bless you. Which af the two is the happiest and moat independent P And yet no man cau ever promise himself any oontinual society except his own. Of himself be is alwaya sure ; of no one else. Unhappily it is a fact that the ordinary callings of life, do not apparently, enoourago auy such line of self cultivation amongst their followers. The successful professional man and the merchant will tell you, often with regret, tb-t when what he calls his day's work U done he is m no mood to face serious study. The manual labourer, whose mind has rested during the day, ia often very ready to exercise it m tbe eveniog, but he finds the defects of hia early training against him. Tbe busy housewife feels that sbe would like to get some real ohange from the petty cares of the day, but the choice of occupation seems limited to the theatre and the concert room, and these are often a long way off, and visits to them are expensive. What these people want is a stimulus, and a guide. When you stand at tbe foot of a big mountain m Switzerland, the task of '-'-> climbing seems both hopeless and unprofitable- But a friend who has been up assures you of the delights of the summit, the pure, bracing air, the grand view of snow peaks and silent sky, the lovely Alpine flowers and mosses. And then he shows you a little path winding slowly round the boulders and through the volleys, and you follow slowly but steadily, feeling a sense of conquest ateach step, and, almost before you know it, you are on tbe top. And does not the reward pay tbe toil f