Leaving this financial question and coming to the problem of education, in spite of all the progress that has been made in this field, any thoughtful person will be struck by the amount of work which a little child is given to do considering its age and its strength. It seems that in the enthusiasm for making education richer and richer, a load has been heaped upon the minds of the children. And what happens? It is like a dish which was meant to be cooked for half an hour but is being made ready in five minutes. It will perhaps be burnt, or perhaps it is underdone. The child knows too much for its age; it knows what it does not require, what it does not value, what is a load to it, what is forced upon its mind.

And how few of us stop to think of this question, that childhood is a kingliness in itself. It is a gift from above that the child is growing and that during the time of its growth it is unaware of the woes and worries and anxieties of life. These are the only days for experiencing the kingliness of life, the days when the child should play, when it should be near to nature, when it should absorb what nature gradually teaches.

The whole of childhood is devoted to study, study of material knowledge; and as soon as the child has grown into a youth, the burden of life is put on its shoulders, a burden which is becoming heavier and heavier for rich and poor. The result of this is that there is strife between the political parties, that there is disagreement between labor and capital; and this life full of struggle to which the child opens its eyes never leaves it time to be one with nature, to dive deep within itself, or to think beyond this life in the crowd.