The Child Part 3

But, be this as it may, to give the training insisted on by the Bishop of Orleans is possible only to the rich.  It is utterly beyond the reach of the great body of the people, of the poor and untrained.  No matter how competent and excellent are the educators employed, they can effect little if the children receive a bad or no home-education; and few parents can give their children such a home-education as the excellent bishop requires.  The mass of them, obliged to labor constantly to obtain the means of subsistence for themselves and little ones, have neither the time nor the qualifications necessary.  Yet, although we regard it as impossible to carry out the bishop's views to any great extent in practice, we thank him for presenting them to the public.  They give us a noble ideal, and tell us what is the true end of education, and what should be the aim of all Christian educators.  His book deserves to be studied by all parents and all persons intrusted with the charge of childhood and youth; and though few can carry out his theory, the endeavor to do it will render education more Christian and more effective.