Writingisaformofdrawing;thereforeifyougivethesameattentionandtroubletodrawingasyoudotowriting，dependuponit，thereisnobodywhocannotbemadetodraw，moreorlesswell.
Donotmisapprehendme.Idonotsayforonemomentyouwouldmakeanartisticdraughtsman.Artistsarenotmade;theygrow.Youmayimprovethenaturalfacultyinthatdirection，butyoucannotmakeit;butyoucanteachsimpledrawing，andyouwillfinditanimplementoflearningofextremevalue.Idonotthinkitsvaluecanbeexaggerated，becauseitgivesyouthemeansoftrainingtheyounginattentionandaccuracy，whicharethetwothingsinwhichallmankindaremoredeficientthaninanyothermentalqualitywhatever.Thewholeofmylifehasbeenspentintryingtogivemyproperattentiontothingsandtobeaccurate，andIhavenotsucceededaswellasIcouldwish;andotherpeople，Iamafraid，arenotmuchmorefortunate.Youcannotbeginthishabittooearly，andIconsiderthereisnothingofsogreatavalueasthehabitofdrawing，tosecurethosetwodesirableends.
Thenwecometothesubject—matter，whetherscientificoraesthetic，ofeducation，andIshouldnaturallyhavenoquestionatallaboutteachingtheelementsofphysicalscienceofthekindI
havesketched，inapracticalmanner;butamongscientifictopics，usingthewordscientificinthebroadestsense，Iwouldalsoincludetheelementsofthetheoryofmoralsandofthatofpoliticalandsociallife，which，strangelyenough，itneverseemstooccurtoanybodytoteachachild.Iwouldhavethehistoryofourowncountry，andofalltheinfluenceswhichhavebeenbroughttobearuponit，withincidentalgeography，notasamerechronicleofreignsandbattles，butasachapterinthedevelopmentoftherace，andthehistoryofcivilisation.
Thenwithrespecttoaestheticknowledgeanddiscipline，wehavehappilyintheEnglishlanguageoneofthemostmagnificentstorehousesofartisticbeautyandofmodelsofliteraryexcellencewhichexistsintheworldatthepresenttime.Ihavesaidbefore，andIrepeatithere，thatifamancannotgetliterarycultureofthehighestkindoutofhisBible，andChaucer，andShakespeare，andMilton，andHobbes，[81]andBishopBerkeley，[82]tomentiononlyafewofourillustriouswriters——Isay，ifhecannotgetitoutofthosewritershecannotgetitoutofanything;andIwouldassuredlydevoteaverylargeportionofthetimeofeveryEnglishchildtothecarefulstudyofthemodelsofEnglishwritingofsuchvariedandwonderfulkindaswepossess，and，whatisstillmoreimportantandstillmoreneglected，thehabitofusingthatlanguagewithprecision，withforce，andwithart.Ifancywearealmosttheonlynationintheworldwhoseemtothinkthatcompositioncomesbynature.TheFrenchattendtotheirownlanguage，theGermansstudytheirs;butEnglishmendonotseemtothinkitisworththeirwhile.NorwouldIfailtoinclude，inthecourseofstudyIamsketching，translationsofallthebestworksofantiquity，orofthemodernworld.ItisaverydesirablethingtoreadHomerinGreek;butifyoudon’thappentoknowGreek，thenextbestthingwecandoistoreadasgoodatranslationofitaswehaverecentlybeenfurnishedwithinprose.[83]Youwon’tgetallyouwouldgetfromtheoriginal，butyoumaygetagreatdeal;andtorefusetoknowthisgreatdealbecauseyoucannotgetall，seemstobeassensibleasforahungrymantorefusebreadbecausehecannotgetpartridge.Finally，Iwouldaddinstructionineithermusicorpainting，or，ifthechildshouldbesounhappy，assometimeshappens，astohavenofacultyforeitherofthose，andnopossibilityofdoinganythinginanyartisticsensewiththem，thenIwouldseewhatcouldbedonewithliteraturealone;butIwouldprovide，inthefullestsense，forthedevelopmentoftheaestheticsideofthemind.Inmyjudgment，thosearealltheessentialsofeducationforanEnglishchild.Withthatoutfit，suchasitmightbemadeinthetimegiventoeducationwhichiswithinthereachofnine—tenthsofthepopulation——withthatoutfit，anEnglishman，withinthelimitsofEnglishlife，isfittedtogoanywhere，tooccupythehighestpositions，tofillthehighestofficesoftheState，andtobecomedistinguishedinpracticalpursuits，inscience，orinart.For，ifhehavetheopportunitytolearnallthosethings，andhavehisminddisciplinedinthevariousdirectionstheteachingofthosetopicswouldhavenecessitated，then，assuredly，hewillbeabletopickup，onhisroadthroughlife，alltherestoftheintellectualbaggagehewants.