' Even in Europe education, till lately, exercised the
judgment too little, the memory too much; consequently there were more
learned men than wise men. The system is now changing, and due attention
is paid to the _corpus sanum_, the first requisite for the _mens sana_.
The boys at Sa Leone are kept nine hours in school, learning verse by
heart, practising a vocalisation which cannot be heard without pain, and
toiling at the English language, which some missionaries seem to hold a
second revelation. Far better two or three hours of the 'three Rs' and
six of the shop or workyard. Briefly, the system should be that of the
Basle Missionary Society, [Footnote: I deeply regret that _Wanderings in
West Africa_ spoke far less fairly of this establishment than it
deserves. My better judgment had been warped by the prejudiced accounts
of a fellow-traveller.] which combines abstract teaching with practical
instruction in useful handicraft, and which thus suggests the belief
that work is dignified as it is profitable.
The Sa Leonites from their earliest days were greedy to gain knowledge as
the modern Greeks and Bulgarians; but the motive was not exalted. Their
proverb said, 'Read book, and learn to be rogue as well as white man.
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