£-4 1 Yv\ \ S S> i \ 1 C «&• pm *■ THE EXPERIMENT j OF v NATIVE EDUCATION. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY JAMES STEWART, TO THE LOVEDALE LITERARY SOCIETY. LOVEDALE: PRINTED AT THE MISSION PRESS. 1884 . THE EXPERIMENT OF NATIVE EDUCATION. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BT JAMES STEWART, TO THE LOVEDALE LITERARY SOCIETY. LOVED ALE: PRINTED AT THE MISSION PRESS. 1884 . V-- i - V . t - •' .. ‘1 i h v ! ’ . ■ . , ■ f. ■ ' ■ i : . ■ . : • : ■ INTRODUCTORY NOTE. The following pages were written as an Address to the Lovedale Literary Society, and intended for the use only of those within Lovedale itself. It has been thought, how¬ ever, that the paper might serve a wider purpose, if sub¬ mitted to those who are interested in what must still bo called The Experiment of Native Education. There is much as to the method and a suitable course of training yet to be discovered. The Statement now given in these pages may be taken as fairly indicating the objects aimed at in the education of Natives, and also as representing generally the views of the educational staff at Lovedale. As that aim is capacity for worh and practical usefulness, it will be found that the end sought here, as well as at similar places, is not different from that demanded by the Colony generally. Lovedale. June, 1884. J. S. THE EXPERIMENT OP NATIVE EDUCATION. An important Experiment is going on at present, in this and several similar places; and to some of its results and objects, and to some views and opinions connected therewith, I mean to ask your attention to-night. The important Experiment to which I refer is that of Native Education. When I speak of this subject as an Experiment, I wish you to understand that I refer only to method and to the subjects which shall form the body of Education, or the means by which it is to be effected. No question is raised as to the duty of trying to give the native people the benefit which naturally follows from a fairly good and properly ap¬ plied education. Missionary effort and the Government of this country are both endeavouring to fulfil that duty, and even though the extent of State Aid to supplement mission¬ ary effort does not exceed for the Native people within and without the colony <£40,000 a year—it is a beginning and a recognition of the duty. In India also the British Admi¬ nistration and Mission Societies are engaged in the same work, but on a very much larger scale. What the effect of this gift of education may be, in the latter country or in 6 both,it is not easy to foretell. Whether the result will be especially in India to bind those vast masses of people in firmer loyalty to British rule or to make them less contented and more difficult to control no one can say. At any rate, and whatever may be the consequences, the duty is recognised and so far performed, even though the means or scale is as yet in both countries inadequate to the end proposed. The subject which has occupied more time than any other during the present session in this Society, and caused the warmest debates and excited by far the largest amount of interest is that of Native Education. This is not to be regretted for such discussion is often the initial step towards improvement. My own view and theory about this place is, that whenever things settle down to a certain degree of quietude all progress is arrested, and we are dropping into the rut, which so far as usefulness is concern¬ ed, is the next thing to dropping into the grave. We can¬ not avoid the one, but we can if we choose, avoid the other. Hence it always has happened here that as soon as we have secured any forward movement we have next set about asking how it can be improved. This view I hold should be a settled principle with all who work at Love- dale. But despite of all this discussion it appears as if there was still room for some further statement from a somewhat different point of view. The great variety of opinion that exists amongst yourselves renders it necessary to go over the ground again, and in order to reach a sound conclusion I should like, without going fully into each sec¬ tion to touch on the following points ; I shall ask and try to answer briefly the following questions. I. What is Education ? II. What is the End of Education? III. When is a Man Educated ? IV. What are the Causes obstructing the pro¬ gress of Native Education ? Y. What is the reward of the Educators ? 7 1. What is Education? Many definitions and various theories might be quoted in reply but we only need look steadily at the word—and ask its meaning. It means drawing out, here of course, the faculties of the mind,— drawing out for the purpose of training the powers and capabilities of the mind. Here then arises the necessity in a good educator for some knowledge what these facul¬ ties are, and their relative value and importance. The teacher who erects into the first place of importance the humble but useful faculty of memory, would shew that he was like a workman who did not know the nature of the machine with which he was intrusted, nor the relative value of its different parts. It may well make us pause at the very outset as we think of what the education of thousands of children must become in the hands more especially though not exclusively of native teachers in this country, who have never once tried to set down on paper what the powers of the human mind really are : who have never asked whether there are two or ten such faculties, or any other different number. On this, Mr. Landon, Lecturer on School Management in one of the English Training Colleges, says,—“ Without some knowledge of this kind the teacher is endeavouring to train faculties of which he knows little or nothing, by methods the laws of which he knows even less ; and he can only hope that things will somehow come right in the end.” Erom this appears the value of even the barest outline of a course of Mental Science to all who have to teach ; and a justification of the method which is pursued at Lovedale, to give that bare outline even to those who do not intend to be more than teachers. For the laws which regulate the growth of the human mind are just as fixed as those which regulate the mechanical forces, or natural growth in the vegetable world. There are two ways in which education may be explained. (1) in its broadest sense; (2) in its narrower and more exact sense as applied to school life and training. A common definition is this: A man is educated by every- 8 thing he experiences from the cradle to the grave. Or, it is that process by which every power of the soul is to be unfolded, and every principle of life to be stirred up and nourished, and the impulses or principles on which the strength and worth of the man rest, carefully attended to and strengthened. Our education thus includes all the information which is brought to bear upon us which may in any way affect our mental and moral growth. I have quoted these wide definitions of Education for the consideration of some whose views of what Education is, differ considerably from the definition now given; and who confound the results Examinations with Education; who while seeking the means lose sight of the end: and who unfortunately think their education completed when in reality it is only beginning. From this broad necessity, arising from the existence of various and quite different faculties, it would appear that Education is something different from filling the mind with knowledge, whether it be the knowledge of languages or of sciences ; that there are many faculties to be brought into use and exercised and strengthened before a man can say of himself, or before others can say of him, that he is educated. And here comes the true view of Education as the cultivation not of Memory only, but of the Intellect, of the Conscience, of the Will, and even of another faculty that of Taste—or the sense of what is beautiful in all its forms. It is when all these are brought together and got to act together in just relation, that we have the completest result, and the most successful Education. The Intellect proper with its power of reasoning and judging, comparing and distinguishing, must utilize what Memory has collect¬ ed, It is like the builder who puts together into a fabric what would otherwise be comparatively useless material if left unassorted and unbuilt. The Conscience or Moral sense must be equally developed, as without this, the education of the intellect and the stores which fill the 9 Memory, may become rather a curse than a blessing to the individual and the community. The Will in the same manner has to be traind, for a man without a will, is a man without a backbone; and a man with nothing but will, no moral or intellect¬ ual training, and no knowledge of men, and things, and books is scarcely distinguishable from a mule. The will and the conscience require training, as much as intellect and memory. Here comes in the discipline of the school, and the control of the master, and the putting forth of effort on the part of the scholar. This faculty of Will stands to all the others as the motive power or ruler in the soul. Of what use are all the stores of knowledge a man or a boy may accumulate, if he has not the power to use them. He may know much, he may judge accurately, he may have clear moral convictions about what his duty is, but all this is without life, and without force till the will acts. We might here pause to ask of what faculty is laziness the disease. Probably we may put it down to the debility of two faculties, either feebleness of will, from want of training and want of habit, or inherently from original temperament; or to feebleness of conviction as to duty, that is to an untrained conscience; or most probably to both. I am not speaking now of inability which is a different thing, but of that flaccid condition of will and conscience by which a man or a boy can only be got to exercise the powers God has given him by pressure from without—sometimes by considerable and disagreeable pressure. It is probable that the most of you who sit in these benches or fill these class rooms have very little idea, some of you- none at all, of this being the work of those who have the toil of teaching you. You do not see this extensive programme set before you, and you think it does not exist. But let me remind you of this, when you lose marks or are subjected to any other penalty for unfair conduct, that is the training of your conscience ; when you are compelled to put forth efforts to do your work, that is the training 10 of your will; when you are not allowed to take your own inexperienced way and do as you like, that is still the training of your will; when you are obliged to attend to rules, even to marching to your work in companies and marching from it, that is still the same training; and that the meaning of the daily formation of companies is that discipline becomes at length a habit, and habit is second nature,—and nature is easy to obey when it has got this length. I fear however that this philosophy of discipline, is not understood quite' so fully as it should be, otherwise we should have more orderly work, and marching than we have. All this may be irksome to you at first. I can only assure you that after the process of training is over, the habits formed become a positive pleasure, and the infringement of them by others a pain. You have all heard of the old cavalry horse which was on the road one day near a review, and which, when the trumpet sounded to form squadrons into line, bounded and carried his rider into the .midst of a line of red among sabres drawn ready for the charge. I should like to say all that I can to encourage you; and I should be glad if there were more facts to go upon. It would be pleasant if we saw this desire for order and discipline more encouraged by the seniors, both by example and by direct assistance given to those who have the over¬ sight and maintenance of order in the place. Probably you do not see what bearing it has on your education as individuals, and as a race, but it has a very profound influence both on yourselves and on others ; by the others I mean white men, in the opinion they may form of your capacity for training as a race. From all this you may perhaps see that education is a very different thiug from what you supposed it to be. Let me go on a little further. We have spoken of the training of three faculties—Intellect, Conscience and Will as a part of what real Education is ; and any training which leaves any one of these great powers untouched is to that extent defective. 11 But there is another faculty of which mention must be made. It is that of Taste or Imagination or the Sense of what is Beautiful. Some, probably, of my European friends may possibly think as I utter these words that surely we are now getting into the region of the ridiculous, when we hear about cultivation of taste as a necessary part of the edu¬ cation of Native Africans. But stay my friend in love with common sense and with all that is practical, bear with me while I explain. Do you know that it is partly because in most natives this part of their nature has been entirely neglected, that we have 100,000 African villages scattered over this vast continent and each one of these villages like all the others,—nothing but the dead uniformity of a collection of beehives, or gigantic molehills. Do you know that it is this lack of taste which daily irritates the mistress of each of 10,000 European house¬ holds where things should be kept clean, neat and tidy, and are not. Do you know that it is the absence of this faculty or rather the absence of its education,—that irritates the master carpenter, and the master printer and the master waggon-maker beyond endurance in such institutions as this —and produces things which were meant to be round, such as wheels, but which are found not to be round, but parts of some other figures ; and makes a title page of a book like a bill poster, fit for a wall but not for a book. Do you know that straight horizontal lines, and straight vertical lines perfectly true, and true curves of varying forms are at once the elements of stability and beauty, and that without these, you can never produce what shall be at once permanent, useful and beautiful. Do you not know also that Grod has filled this world of His with such lines and curves. Do you know also that one of the most difficult things to get a native of this country to understand, is the beauty of a straight line or a true curve, each in its proper position or .relation to each other, and to produce either in actual work. Looked at thus, we can understand why Dr. Dale insists on the a b c of this part of a man’s education being at- 12 tended to, by making Free Hand Drawing a part of the qualification for a Teacher’s Certificate. The faculty is there as we can see in the women’s dresses on Sundays; in the display sometimes of good taste, sometimes of taste not very good. We see this in the fondness for bright colours, in the chains and rings not of gold but of brass ; in feathers and earings on the male sex, who wear them forgetful of that law of manly taste and generous preference, which hands over the greater part of such decorations to those who are the chief decorators of life, and who have the best right to wear and use them. But I may not spend further time on what Education is. We come now to the next important point of our enquiry What is the End of Education —that is what is its object? What is this long costly process to produce as a result? This may be answered in one brief word— Action. If a long or a short Education is not followed by that, it is difficult to see why so much pains and effort should be put forth. Why should a man waste years on building a house which is never to be inhabited ? Why should a ship be built, if it is never to sail the seas and go from port to port in useful work? It is difficult to answer these questions except in one way; and it is just as difficult to give any reason for educating any one if he does not mean to turn his education to practical use. It may be objected that this is a very utilitarian view of the subject; that knowledge has a value to the possessor .apart from the uses to which it may be turned for the benefit of others. That is granted, but whatever exception¬ al cases or side views of this truth may exist, I think we must all agree that the ^ real end aimed at, intended and expected, as regards the majority of men, is what has been stated. • Men may study certain subjects for their own pleasure or amusement, and if a man can afford himself such leisure 13 he is to be congratulated; his tastes and his choice admired and imitated, and still the truth remains—the ultimate end of Education is Action. When is a Man Educated? Seeing that Education has already been defined in a general way as a process that goes on from the cradle to the grave—this may seem a difficult question to answer; and that perhaps the only answer is Never. To clear this difficulty let me remind you that there are two sections of a man’s education; the one general, and received from every influence that plays upon his mind through the whole of his life; and the other special, which is intended to fit him for his special work. Both views mean Education, but both are not equally wide. If we take the latter view the question is easy, and the answer is this—A man is educated when he is fitted for the position he is intended by the providence of God to fill. This relieves us of the difficulty that a man may find an excuse for going on to the end of life studying and never acting. This also makes clear the degree or limit which is to be placed to school, or college, or book work. It also makes clear how one or two years may be enough for one man, and how fifteen or twenty years may be little enough for another. The education of the waggoner or ploughman, and that of the statesman who may become prime minister of the British Empire are two very different things, and yet there is no other reply to the question,—When is a man educated ? than this— When he is fitted for the position he occupies. When the powers and faculties of each have been so developed so as to render each man efficient and fit for his post he is, educated to that extent. We do not mean that he may not be further educated. We apply the words also in a different though unexpressed sense to the one, as compared with the other. The vast knowledge and experience of the one by which he sustains the burdens, and directs the interests of a great empire—numbering it may be 30 or 300 millions 14 of people are all needed, are all daily brought into use, nstantaneously adjusted to a new focus many times a day, more quickly than the focus of an instrument is got by the adjustment of a screw; and by this wide education be¬ stowed on an originally good mind, the business of the empire is safely carried on. The education of a waggoner or ordinary workman does the same thing for him, but on a totally different level, and is applied to fewer things much easier of comprehen¬ sion, to which he is equal, and for which his education has fitted him, whereas in the other position, he would be completely confounded in the first forenoon, and perhaps go mad if he did not bring ruin to the state. A Lawyer is educated when his faculties are so trained and his information is so extensive and sound as to be trustworthy, and to enable him to conduct cases fairly well; a Doctor when he can treat his patients with fair success; a Minister when he is able to preach with accept¬ ance and benefit to the congregation over which he may be placed; a Teacher when he knows his work. This is the limited or professional education. Now for the wider one, which I shall express partly in a quotation from a well known work, condensed for brevity’s sake. “We say a man is educated when he has stored his mind with serviceable materials to such an extent that he is able to make vigorous use of the knowledge he possesses. That you observe, corresponds to the Intellect proper, to understanding, memory, and judgment. . We say a man is educated when his moral powers have become so developed and experienced, that he has both a high and a delicate sense of duty, and when his conscience also gives its sanction to what his understanding approves. That you observe, corresponds to the cultivation of the moral faculty or Conscience. We say that a man is educated when his will has been strengthened by discipline, the effect of which is such that he can act with decision; and bear the strain of difficulty and disappointment, and yet continue or hold on 15 under this strain, in the belief that perseverance and forti¬ tude will bring final success: and when Will and Con¬ science have been both so developed as that he recognises the importance of all action—its durable quality which may be for eternity—and when his will and conscience re¬ cognize his relation to God. And lastly, as of less consequence but still important, we say a man is educated when in addition, his mind has been so awakened that he can look on all that is beautiful and orderlv in Nature, which is God’s handiwork, or on Art, which is man’s imitation of God’s beautiful work, and feel that his so doing adds to his pleasures, and so far lightens and softens his labours and his cares that his mind feels relief by the new faculty brought into use while the others rest.” When a man has been so far taught that even the beginnings of this process have been secured, his true or real education is begun. The beginning may be of various degrees. The educating process may be slight and only just begun. It may be extensive and pretty complete, as far as the powers of the man go. And lastly, in some directions it may be overdone. There are over educated people in the world. This generally takes place in one direction, and with minds not of great capacity or power, which will only hold a certain quantity or amount. The educator not noticing that the vessel was full and running over, continued to pour in more, and an overflow was the result. All who have followed this outline must feel that it sets before us a very different answer to the question,— When is a man educated F from that which we get by a mere reference to Examinations and to passing certain School Standards, or University entrances, or exits which come under the name of Degrees. Towering high above all such estimates as the Alps or the Andes do above the plains beneath them, does such a view of education stand above mere examinations of all sorts, whether for the higher or lower degrees for University or School Honours. 16 The latter idea confounds the mere acquisition of know¬ ledge no matter of what kind it be, with true education which includes all that acquisition, but a great deal more— the training and developing harmoniously of all the chief faculties and powers of the man, and that with one end in view, namely Action—in the remainder of his life when the period of training is over. My object in making these statements on the nature of real education is to meet that tendency among so many of our Native friends to limit their view of the subject and to judge of it solely by a reference to a mere column of Results of Examinations. These give information so far as to what a young man has been doing ; but to encourage some who may be honestly and conscientiously doing work and yet not standing very high in that column I would say—do not be disheartened. There are other standards, and other results which will appear by and bye. Another conclusion we here reach is this : that an edu¬ cation which does not fit a man for the position he is in¬ tended to occupy is a false education. This, however, must be taken to apply more to range of subjects and the extent of the education, than to the faculties which are to be developed, for no education which leaves the important faculties and the practical powers of the man undeveloped is worthy of the name. At this point would come in for consideration what ought to form the . material or subject matter for the education of Natives of South Africa, whether they are to be preach¬ ers, teachers, or mechanics, or farmers, or waggondrivers. I am not very anxious to press my views merely because they are mine ; but I am anxious to state them for the good of all whom they may •concern, and these are the native young men of this country of the present and of a coming genera¬ tion. This statement involves the vexed question of Latin and G-reek as a wise or necessary element of Native Education, except in a few rare cases. On this subject there are so many wrong views and so much excited feeling, that I wish it had been possible to have avoided the question. 17 But there are some subjects which if we do not settle them or try do so, soon settle themselves and in a wrong direction. If your waggon has got off the road and is sinking into a slough, it is pretty certain if the slough is deep that your waggon will sink deeper still, and this it seems is the po¬ sition into which this general question has got by taking two or three wrong turns. But as this subject involves so many other and even broader questions ; and as I am un¬ willing to say anything that would irritate or discourage I think I shall before going on to section four, ask the Chair¬ man to put this question to the meeting, whether I shall proceed or not. If you ask me to read on, you must be con¬ tent to hear me. I shall not willingly say anything to of¬ fend or irritate any one, but I shall speak the truth as it appears to me after seventeen years consideration, of this subject in this country; and after I may almost say as many years consideration of it before I came to this country. Well then let us go on with Section four. What are the causes obstructing-Native Education? All I say may not be pleasant to hear. That is not the question. Lies are sometimes very pleasant, and truth is sometimes very unpleasant. But with the power of choice and the knowledge of consequences which we possess, it is true wisdom to hear Truth; in the end it is safest and best in every way. Then as to the causes which have obstructed Native Education. 1. Wrong or defective ideas on the subject itself, and un¬ suitable methods and material; this is not due to the natives but to the Europeans. It may be thought in this I am reflecting on the past, or blaming others and arrogat¬ ing to myself a knowledge of the subject not possessed by them. Not at all, I am only making confession of mis¬ taken views and late discoveries on my own part. I con¬ fess I am only groping my way along a difficult path and desiring more light. Seventeen years ago I held views on 18 the education of natives, which I do not hold now ; I am not ashamed to say I was mistaken. I am anxious in what remains of life or work not to perpetuate these. In saying this I may qualify the amount of self-blame by saying that I assented to things as they were, so far, at least, as to agree to a Theological curriculum for native preachers, shaped exactly on the home model. On the other hand I never agreed for a day to the teaching of Latin to promiscu¬ ous classes of native lads, some of whom have never risen higher than day-labourers and grooms, even with Horace to hoist them higher up. The plain truth is, that Horace was only one element and an entirely foreign one in their educa¬ tion, and condition of life and capacity ; and the natural conditions being stronger and more numerous than the single foreign element, Horace and Homer great men as they were, went to the wall, and only remained a curious fragment in the memory and life of an African day-labourer; and a curious proof of the power of cus¬ tomary opinion to vanquish common sense. According to the then received theory the dead languages were and ought to be part of the training of every school¬ boy, whether white, or black,—for without a knowledge of these priceless works how could he be educated. Would it not elevate his soul as he wrought at this New Building to think of the walls of Ilium? Looking at this subject with calm eyes and sad reflections, over efforts wasted and educa¬ tion travestied, hopes disappointed and expectations un¬ fulfilled, it is indeed a strange object of contemplation— Greek and grout of Portland cement, Horace and the hod¬ man’s load of mortar combined in the same life. I have no wish to be unfair in reviewing these mistakes, whether made by others or myself, and I will state the one ground on which any justification could be offered for a course so absurd ; and in such palpable defiance of common sense. It was undertaken and carried on, on the assump¬ tion, and in the expectation that those natives who received such opportunities would rise, would follow out these studies, and reach positions where such knowledge would 19 be of real service. Looking back now at tbe facts as they are, and were, we can only say that the assumption how¬ ever benevolent and kind to the native, and creditable to the good feehngs of those who entertained such views, has not been fulfilled. Whether it was the fault of the native scholar or of the classic he studied, or of both, we may each determine for ourselves. At any rate it has failed to raise him—in any considerable numbers at least. 2. Wrong or defective ideas on the part of the natives them¬ selves, as to what constitutes a really useful education to them. The hankering after higher subjects as they are called, while the lower are but very imperfectly studied, is a weakness of native students. With little or no accurate knowledge of either English or Kaffir Grammar,, many are anxious to go on to the study of Latin or Greek; and he who opposes them is regarded with unfriendly feeling, as defrauding the native of his rights and unduly relega¬ ting him to an inferior education. Now, whence comes all this P Plainly out of the cause I shall mention—an inordi¬ nate self-esteem, and. the exaggerated importance that is attached to the passing of very ordinary examinations, of which the Matriculation Examination is the highest yet reached by any native in this country. We do all that we can to encourage you, and to assist you to pass these exam¬ inations, But should you come back with an ordinary place on the list, with perhaps a mere pass in the higher, or even honours in the lower examinations, which are simply creditable places for schoolboys, we do not intend to receive you as a new Apollo, a second god of wisdom and of know¬ ledge descended to this earth. When I was at college, all these results of examinations and such honours were regarded as nothing more than the furbishing of the weapons for the fight, or the preli¬ minary trial for the race yet to be run. In native educa¬ tion they seem to take the place of the race, and to be the end of all further progress or effort, for the amount of reading or study that goes on afterwards, except perhaps the reading of the local newspaper, is very slight indeed. 20 In home colleges we give such honours a certain modi¬ fied value, but we have another standard—what a man does outside of examinations in the real work of life, in such work as would tell on the world beyond the college walls. I well remember the buzz in the quadrangle one morning as the members of a certain class gathered in groups when the news became known, that Mr.--—had written a good book that was favourably received. The conclusion was “ He has done something,” the meaning being that all previous work was regarded as nothing more than preparatory, and not to be reckoned in the results of his education. The mouse which lived all its days in a box was much surprised when it looked over the edge and saw a portion of the great world beyond, and probably if some could look outside the small world of mere examinations and their re¬ sults, they would see much to surprise them also. 3. Another cause which obstructs native education is, the unwillingness of many native young men to turn the know¬ ledge and training they have already received to practical use, either while their education is going on, or partially interrupted,; or to undertake engagements at reasonable remuneration, and for a given length of time. We don’t need to go out of Lovedale for instances of this. It would have sweetened the work in a well known office—just the office down the hill,—had there been one able or willing to undertake the work of the Lovedale Telegraph office during this year. It has been a source of annoyance and daily interruption to other work to keep that office open by assistance from the Lovedale general office. Ho doubt we could get many to offer. They would come for one year, perhaps for two years, and had their qualifications been such that in a few weeks they could have taken entire charge of the office, we should have been glad to have given it over at once ; but we rather grudged to give one year’s teaching for another year’s service, and to pay for both. The statement made before this Society during this session, that there were not sufficient openings for educa- 21 ted native young men, is as ridiculous as it is untrue. There is not a month in the year in which we have not applications for young men, and even men not young, which we cannot supply, such as constables, telegraph messengers, teachers, evangelists, printers and black¬ smiths. The statement is so ridiculous that it has been a matter of surprise to me ever since it was made. But I will tell you what is not open,—and this may be the real explanation of the statement and the real truth in this con¬ nection. Situations which require accuracy, fore-thought, a correct knowledge of written English, and a general and ready grasp of business details, such situations with good pay in return, are not open to emptiness and blundering self-esteem, and a childish performance of a man’s work. These are not open, and never will be, to applicants with such qualifications, because they are not really educated, or trained though they think themselves to be, and though they may get a few of their own colour as ill qualified to judge, to assure them that they are. They have received a little book education i.e., a little knowledge gathered from a few school books chiefly, but education, meaning by that trained capacity for useful action, that is non-existent. Our native friends must lay these things to heart, for the rectification of this evil lies with themselves. We mission¬ aries cannot make it, and we cannot be responsible for the disappointment it causes. Public opinion judges of Native Education solely by one standard —The capacity it bestows for work of some hind. But the whole question of work in its most varied sense, as judged of by the white man and the black man, is a daily irritating puzzle. The white man thinks the average native’s work small in quantity and poor in quality unless it be simply a mere mechanical movement, the end of which is secured by steady repetition. The black man thinks it is sufficient in quantity and the quality unimproveable. The only explanation is, that a different standard of excellence, and a different idea of responsibility 22 find place in the white man’s brain from that which obtains in the black, with the few notable exceptions above refer¬ red to. Or the explanation may be this, that we are expecting far too much as the results of education in little more than a single generation. We expect those just emerging from barbarism to shew the steadiness, industry, and trained power of hand and brain which have become the possession of other races by oile or two thousand years of training. There are other schools than those set up by the New Education Act. 5. I shall now mention a fifth and last and very great cause of obstruction, and one that will by and by tell with deadly effect on its support as given by public opinion, and even on the energies of missionaries. It is the great and serious want of trustworthiness and even of common honesty, frequently of ordinary industry, among those who have got as good an education as is given to natives and even to Europeans not intended for profession¬ al life. Some here may think I have been drawing together imaginary objections in an irritable mood. Not so. Would to God there were fewer proofs of the deplorable truth of what I am now stating about the class of native (so called) educated young men. There are exceptions, but there is a very much longer list which confirm the rule. I sometimes leave this place Lovedale, though not often on my own business. I was in King William’s Town lately and I came home from that journey, as I have come from a dozen other journeys with the same experience of depression ; with the same questionings, with the same half expressed doubts. Here is what I learned in King William’s Town last week when I was there. I shall- give no names, but the histories are true histories. They are also each of them about members of this very Society, who often spoke in it. No. 1 whom I shall call A. B. was in a large store, and in a good position. All who have been in King William’s Town have often passed the door. This A. B. was not a common storeman, 23 but in a responsible position, and had the handling of money. This, it struck his employers was singularly variable in its amount. A sovereign was marked, and a watch was kept, and the marked sovereign was found in the possession of A. B., and he was punished for his offence by a year’s imprisonment; there is no doubt about the truth of a single syllable of this sad history. In so far as it is not public, I had it from the lawyer who defended him and did his best to get his imprisonment lightened to one year. From the merchants’ store we shall now pass on to the lawyers’ office, and take two other cases and • \ •* r * ~ .