In the ’nineties, as I have said, visits without notice took the place of the field-day inspections, and we lost sight of the country Boards. Then came the great Act of 1902, which abolished all the Boards and made the county or county borough the unit, instead of the civil parish. “These our actors are melted into air, into thin air,” and the name of School Board remains only to the School Attendance Officers, the paidagogoi,[23] who, though they now represent the Education Committees, still keep their old titles among the populace. Before I close the history, let me append a story in connection with the old triennial elections mentioned above. I read it in a Norfolk paper more than thirty years ago. There were not fewer than five members in the smallest School Board, and, as the vote was cumulative, there were often ten or twelve candidates for the five, or seven seats. As these elections were frequent, and elections to Boards of Guardians were annual, voters and onlookers were accustomed to a long list of office seekers; and when there was a Parliamentary by-election in a Norfolk division, and the result was posted on the walls, the rustic mind was a little perplexed to find so small a field. There it was in black and white: Brown 3,456 Jones 2,978 ---- Majority 478 Two yokels gazed at it and wondered. “I ’xpact thet’s about thet there elaction.” “Ya-as: there was only tew of un got in, though.” “Ya-as: only they tew a’ the top.” And the other added with an indescribable air of cunning: “Ole Majority di’nt get many, did ’a?” FOOTNOTES: [22] “Mine” and “yours” in E. Anglia stand for “my house” and “your house.” [23] Paidagogoi (see Galatians iii) were “not schoolmasters but slaves who led children to the house of the schoolmaster.” CHAPTER XVII CHILDREN “Children sweeten labours, but they make misfortune more bitter: they increase the cares of life, but they mitigate the remembrance of death.” _Bacon._ Bacon’s theory is very sound, and it is one that appeals to both inspectors and teachers. There are times when the essayist labours to be short, and becomes obscure; but here his meaning is plain, as is his cipher to the American expert: children (in school) are delightful; but if you are mentally worried, or physically in poor case, they are very trying. The work (of inspecting or teaching) takes it out of you, but it is a consolation to think that death will bring you relief. I do not speak without experience. In my first year at Chester the population of the district was about 205,000, of whom 34,000 should have been at school. In my last year at Manchester the district comprised about 880,000 people, of whom more than 150,000 were under inspection: for the Higher Grade and Higher Elementary Schools had brought in many more of the lower-middle class than used to patronise us.