=Our Aim in Education.=—Our aim in education is to give children vital interests in as many directions as possible—to set their feet in a large room—because the crying evil of the day is, it seems to me, intellectual inanition. Believing that he is in the world to lay hold of all that he can of those possessions which endure; that full, happy living, expansion, expression, resourcefulness, power of initiative, serviceableness—in a word, character, for him, depends upon how far he apprehends the relationships proper to him and how many of them he seizes, we should be gravely uneasy when his education leaves a young person with prejudices and caring for ‘events’ (in the sporting sense) rather than with interests and pursuits. Principles, we believe, the best of our young people have and bring away from their schools fully as much as from their homes. Our educational shortcomings seem to be intellectual rather than moral. =Education by Things.=—Education should be by _Things_ and by _Books_. Ten years ago education by _Things_ was little thought of except in the games of public schools. To-day, a great reform has taken place, and the worth of education by _Things_ is recognised everywhere. Disciplinary exercises, artistic handicrafts, are seen to make for education as truly as do geography and Latin. ‘Nature study’ has come in later, but has come with a rush. If that Sikh quoted by Cornelia Sorabji[21] should visit us again ten years hence, it is to be hoped he would not then say of us, “The very thoughts of the people are merchandise; they have not learned the common language of Nature.” The teaching of Science is receiving enormous attention; and the importance of education in this kind need not be enforced here. Works of art are, here and there, allowed their chance with boys and girls, and we shall look more and more to this means of education. What everyone knows it is unnecessary to repeat; and such general attention is given to education by Things, and this is carried on so far on right lines, that I have nothing to add to the general knowledge of this subject. =Education by Books.=—The great educational failure we have still to deal with is in the matter of _Books_. We know that _Books_ store the knowledge and thought of the world; but the mass of knowledge, the multitude of books, overpower us, and we think we may select here and there, from this book and that, fragments and facts of knowledge, to be dealt out, whether in the little cram book or the oral lesson.