The low type of character prevailing in all classes in England at present needs to be fully recognised. No doubt there has been in past centuries more external coarseness, and this detail strikes the attention of many people because it differs from their own present convention. But mere directness and plainness of speech is quite immaterial compared with the essentials of working power of mind and body, and the capacity for intelligent interests. Some centuries ago, when men thought more about the quality of their actions, sloth was ranked as one of the seven deadly sins. But now, in place of regarding it as anything wrong, there is an elaborate system of compulsory sloth; it is enforced by heavy penalties, and drilled into the character by example and self-interest. One man is forbidden to lay more than three hundred bricks a day, another forbidden to make more than so many glass dishes, another forbidden to attend to more than one machine. In every trade where a selfish short-sighted policy has gained its way, there is this system, which is doing inconceivable harm to character. The compulsory glorification of sloth is the most deleterious misfortune that can happen to a nation. The wreck of wars, pestilence and famine, will leave a more hopeful prospect than that of a people sunk in organised sloth. Connected with this is the strange lack of thought and adaptability in common matters of everyday life. The daily loss of time, and cost in trivial matters, which affects thousands of persons, makes a heavy tax on the whole. For instance, such a simple matter as putting the offices of a terminal station at the ends of the platforms is still ignored at many termini; the name of a station is often hard to find, and is never once put up in most termini; the price of a ticket is often not to be discovered; the right types of carriages are only now being tried, after persevering in a wrong form for two generations. In the streets the same lack of sense is seen in the immense omnibus system, which is difficult to use, especially for strangers, owing to the lack of numbered routes and conveyances. It has been officially decided that the numbering of routes and omnibuses is beyond the powers of the London County Council; and we must be compensated by the pleasing reflection that something at least is too hard for that body. The thoughtless edict however was enforced that every vehicle must carry a white light in front, and all the distinctive colours of the tram-car lights were abolished, causing great inconvenience at night. Even in the most recent appliances the same dulness is shown; electric fans are commonly placed where they only stir foul air, and not where they draw in fresh or expel used air. The whole lighting system still throws away two thirds of all its cost by lighting sky and walls as much as streets. In every direction it seems hard to believe that five minutes' thought has been given to matters costing thousands of pounds. If we