No one as yet had
perceived the great truth which has so enormously increased the
happiness of our time that all labour is honourable and respectable,
though to some kinds of labour we assign greater, and some lesser,
honour. The one thought was to leave the ranks of the working man.
It is not to be supposed that this great class would suffer and starve
in silence. On the contrary, they were continually proclaiming their
woes; the papers were filled with letters and articles. 'What shall we
do with our boys?' was the heading that one saw every day, somewhere
or other. What, indeed! No one ventured to say that they had better go
back to their trade; no one ventured to point out that a man might be
a good cabinet-maker although he knew the Integral Calculus. If one
timidly asked what good purpose was gained by making so many scholars,
that man was called Philistine, first; obstructive, next; and other
stronger names afterward. And yet no one ventured to point out that
all the Professions--and not science only, through the
Universities--might be thrown open.
Sooner or later this suggestion was certain to be made. It appeared,
first of all, in an unsigned letter addressed to one of the evening
papers. The writer of the letter was almost certainly one of the
suffering class.
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