The influence on national life of military training in schools / by T.C. Horsfall.

  • Horsfall, T. C. (Thomas Coglan), 1841-1932.
Date:
[1906]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The influence on national life of military training in schools / by T.C. Horsfall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    liiisatisfactorv as are tliost* under whicli the great majority live, those conditions would he far worse, and that for hun- dreds of tliousands of ])ersons who now have some health and comfort, physical, mental, and moral ruin would }>e inevita!)le. hut for the work done to help them hy persons whose sole motive is a sense of duty. Hut though very much work of this kind is clone by many ])crsons. we all of us know that there are a vast numhei- of persons, including many who, if they cliose, could do most to helj) the community, who do nothing to help it. The commonness of the non-e.\istence of even the l)eginning of public sj)irit is shown by the large number of persons who on getting out of a railway carriage in cold weather will not cake the trouble to shut the door after them. and. in the country. l)y the large number of carters who leave the big'stones which they have used to scotch the wheels of their wagons lying in the middle of the road, where they will very likely trij) up the next horse which comes that way. Moreover there is a remarkal)le })erversity on the part of many of those who do some work, in their choice of work. A man who could raise the level of life of a large town, if he would serve on its town council, often satisfies his conscience by accepting the ])osition of a churchwarden. One who could fight for his councry in a South .African war is contented to l)lay cricket for it in Australia. As it is certain that the future of our peoj)le cannot be saved unless far more work is done for both our urban and iiiral ])0])ulations, it is very desirable that, if this be in any way possible, every boy and girl shall he made to feel the desire to do the be.st ])ossible service for the country and shall ))ossess the power to do good service for it. We ought, therefore, to find out why it is that the desire or the ])ower is so often non-existent, and so often badly directed. I am sure that the chief cause is that far too little effort is made to create and guide desire to serve t.he community in children. 1 havt‘ met a considerahle numhei- of jiersons who, so far as I could learn, have never done any gooil work for th.e community nor had the least desire to do any: hut I have met hai-dly any whose lives did not s(‘em to show that they could have been easily trained in childhood into willingness and jiower to be useful. Probably we have all of us met with cases of lives which have long been useless in whi(‘h a change has taken jilace that apparently might have l)t‘en (‘asily brought about much earlier. 1 will mention only <me typical ca.se. 1 knew a rich man who. when I met him. was doing much good work in Hast London by which his