It is a common thing to hear sensible men say, as it is also fre quently said in newspapers, that for the duties of real life the chil dren in the public schools are not so well prepared now as they were twenty years ago, or even fifty years ago, though they know more, and it costs more to teach them, — whilst a silver-tongued orator in Massachusetts has stated that under the old district school system, when a boy spent a few weeks in the school in winter, and worked the rest of the year on the farm, he -got a better because a more practical education than he can get in the country to-day. The trouble about such remarks as these is that they are true; and that it is possible for them to be true re?ects great glory on the advancement of this country in civilization, and much discredit upon public educators and public education, thus lagging behind the progress and failing to supply the educational needs of the country.