THE UNCHANGED ENGLISHMAN.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13995, 2 September 1909, Page 7

THE UNCHANGED ENGLISHMAN.

?? ft* ''i Pierre' has had sortie interesting tilings, to say about the- Englishman in tue :• Kcvuc pour k» : >rancais," which- the " Evcniug Nen" ••"Since Arnold reorganised the Piib- !; lie Schools with t hair genius liclicvc tiieru is uo-'iuSuti/uun H'uiwi 1 mure , completely summarises Euglisli life' and -where t|iu - tiiiglaiul oi me future is- more', fully prepared. > 'Mknow that |Jii|r-is not.* generally ad mittcii .}\ M o^ifore liners" arc inure ■iupruw&l .oiy versities of Ox-; fonl and Cambridge thaiibv the Public Spools; yei;t|K»e . JTniverities sire in no . way ■ representative of.-' the nation; their -influence is only working on .aL smalt -number-of persons. They., aru'veneratcd as .a./glorious legacy, of -tile put; they arc admired like n wonderful and elaborate 'porch of a Gothic cathedral, but if they were suddenly to disappear people would beamazec* to ifind the rerr mediocre . part they had played m<vthe preparation of the collectivemind, of the nation.,. > . Should, on the other the Public Scliools>-be ; clo«ed . to-morrow, then tliere woukt really changed :in .England. , 4 3Vjtb;., ;tliem irbald ! crumbl«'one of ". the esMiitiil bas«*-of i the national edifice.

"'Every English family praises its own public school, and despises the others, and the English themselves do not always» fully/realise what ■ thieir schodls mean to tlieni and the colossal influence- which' they exercise. *.' lii, all-jother countries schools are meant-to teach, and. this idea dominates those who direct them to such an extent that* ever^tJiing.else, almost,. drMppMnTfnim his ; view, hut iu the. English school jn»truption■.-.as,. l^v^am^^^Caits^of^lk>th T iiiu|bcr'.. 'pupil. ~ , .... •'We all know that the English child does not learn much in.. -' liis public school; although ? one must; not exaggeritesin this" matter ; but when he -HiVes -»liis' iHilflie' ' lie does know how to behave, and the question remains to be settled r -whether the first thing" for a-boy is; riot rather to know lion- to behave, aiid the next to possess a certain Jt must not be forgotten that . knowledge can be acquired later on. far more easily than the right spirit of . conduct. ""What 1 wish to make clear is that the fundamental principles of conduct of the young- Englishman arc in 1909' what they were in 1888 or 1868. • ' -' , t , , • V Ifc is in the pqblic schnols that the ' gcutleinaii ' is formed. There are two impossible things in .life: <« Mjuare the ar.'le ami to give a definition of a gentleman.. 1 know 110 other definition this, that'a ia>i'Meni:in is an 'Englishman formed hv thr public schools.'. And now . gote this: Tlie public school of to-day forms' a ' jrenileman '■ ;ib«">liitelv am' entirely fimiInr to that formed hv tlle public scliool rf/40 years apo. ;. The Frenchman, the German, tlie Aii»erican. tlie Italian, the Ithisia l ! have changed. The En.«lishman shows no sign of alteration."