Farewell, ever affectionately yours,
W. WORDSWORTH.
Quere.—Is the education in the parish schools of Scotland gratuitous, or if not, in what degree is it so?[35]
(d) EDUCATION OF DUTY.
Letter to the Rev. Dr. Wordsworth.
Rydal Mount, April 27. 1830.
MY DEAR BROTHER,
Was Mr. Rose's course of sermons upon education? The more I reflect upon the subject, the more I am convinced that positive instruction, even of a religious character, is much over-rated. The education of man, and above all of a Christian, is the education of duty, which is most forcibly taught by the business and concerns of life, of which, even for children, especially the children of the poor, book-learning is but a small part. There is an officious disposition on the part of the upper and middle classes to precipitate the tendency of the people towards intellectual culture in a manner subversive of their own happiness, and dangerous to the peace of society. It is mournful to observe of how little avail are lessons of piety taught at school, if household attentions and obligations be neglected in consequence of the time taken up in school tuition, and if the head be stuffed with vanity from the gentlemanliness of the employment of reading. Farewell.
W. W.[36]