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ars she has forgotten which is the hypotenuse of a right…angled triangle； and she doesn't care。 She has much better things to think of。
At this point some one will shriek： 〃But surely； even for marriage； isn't it right that a girl should have a college education？〃 To which I hasten to answer： most assuredly。 I freely admit that a girl who knows algebra； or once knew it； is a far more charming companion and a nobler wife and mother than a girl who doesn't know x from y。 But the point is this： Does the higher education that fits a man to be a lawyer also fit a person to be a wife and mother？ Or； in other words； is a lawyer a wife and mother？ I say he is not。 Granted that a girl is to spend four years in time and four thousand dollars in money in going to college； why train her for a career that she is never going to adopt？ Why not give her an education that will have a meaning and a harmony with the real life that she is to follow？
For example； suppose that during her four years every girl lucky enough to get a higher education spent at least six months of it in the training and discipline of a hospital as a nurse。 There is more education and character making in that than in a whole bucketful of algebra。
But no； the woman insists on snatching her share of an education designed by Erasmus or William of Wykeham or William of Occam for the creation of scholars and lawyers； and when later on in her home there is a sudden sickness or accident； and the life or death of those nearest to her hangs upon skill and knowledge and a trained fortitude in emergency； she must needs send in all haste for a hired woman to fill the place that she herself has never learned to occupy。
But I am not here trying to elaborate a whole curriculum。 I am only trying to indicate that higher education for the man is one thing； for the woman another。 Nor do I deny the fact that women have got to earn their living。 Their higher education must enable them to do that。 They cannot all marry on their graduation day。 But that is no great matter。 No scheme of education that any one is likely to devise will fail in this respect。
The positions that they hold as teachers or civil servants they would fill all the better if their education were fitted to their wants。
Some few； a small minority； really and truly 〃have a career；〃husbandless and childless；in which the sacrifice is great and the honour to them； perhaps； all the higher。 And others no doubt dream of a career in which a husband and a group of blossoming children are carried as an appendage to a busy life at the bar or on the platform。 But all such are the mere minority； so small as to make no difference to the general argument。
But thereI have written quite enough to make plenty of trouble except perhaps at Cambridge University。 So I return with relief to my general study of Oxford。 Viewing the situation as a whole； I am led then to the conclusion that there must be something in the life of Oxford itself that makes for higher learning。 Smoked at by his tutor； fed in Henry VIII's kitchen； and sleeping in a tangle of ivy； the student evidently gets something not easily obtained in America。 And the more I reflect on the matter the more I am convinced that it is the sleeping in the ivy that does it。 How different it is from student life as I remember it！
When I was a student at the University of Toronto thirty years ago； I lived；from start to finish；in seventeen different boarding houses。 As far as I am aware these houses have not； or not yet； been marked with tablets。 But they are still to be found in the vicinity of McCaul and Darcy； and St。 Patrick Streets。 Any one who doubts the truth of what I have to say may go and look at them。
I was not alone in the nomadic life that I led。 There were hundreds of us drifting about in this fashion from one melancholy habitation to another。 We lived as a rule two or three in a house； sometimes alone。 We dined in the basement。 We always had beef； done up in some way after it was dead； and there were always soda biscuits on the table。 They used to have a brand of soda biscuits in those days in the Toronto boarding houses that I have not seen since。 They were better than dog biscuits but with not so much snap。 My contemporaries will all remember them。 A great many of the leading barristers and professional men of Toronto were fed on them。
In the life we led we had practically no opportunities for association on a large scale； no common rooms； no reading rooms； nothing。 We never saw the magazines；personally I didn't even know the names of them。 The only interchange of ideas we ever got was by going over to the Caer Howell Hotel on University Avenue and interchanging them there。
I mention these melancholy details not for their own sake but merely to emphasise the point that when I speak of students' dormitories； and the larger life which they offer； I speak of what I know。
If we had had at Toronto； when I was a student； the kind of dormitories and dormitory life that they have at Oxford； I don't think I would ever have graduated。 I'd have been there still。 The trouble is that the universities on our Continent are only just waking up to the idea of what a university should mean。 They were； very largely； instituted and organised with the idea that a university was a place where young men were sent to absorb the contents of books and to listen to lectures in the class rooms。 The student was pictured as a pallid creature； burning what was called the 〃midnight oil；〃 his wan face bent over his desk。 If you wanted to do something for him you gave him a book： if you wanted to do something really large on his behalf you gave him a whole basketful of them。 If you wanted to go still further and be a benefactor to the college at large； you endowed a competitive scholarship and set two or more pallid students working themselves to death to get it。
The real thing for the student is the life and environment that surrounds him。 All that he really learns he learns； in a sense； by the active operation of his own intellect and not as the passive recipient of lectures。 And for this active operation what he really needs most is the continued and intimate contact with his fellows。 Students must live together and eat together； talk and smoke together。 Experience shows that that is how their minds really grow。 And they must live together in a rational and comfortable way。 They must eat in a big dining room or hall； with oak beams across the ceiling； and the stained glass in the windows； and with a shield or tablet here or there upon the wall； to remind them between times of the men who went before them and left a name worthy of the memory of the college。 If a student is to get from his college what it ought to give him； a college dormitory； with the life in common that it brings； is his absolute right。 A university that fails to give it to him is cheating him。
If I were founding a universityand I say it with all the seriousness of which I am capableI would found first a smoking room； then when I had a little more money in hand I would found a dormitory； then after that； or more probably with it； a decent reading room and a library。 After that； if I still had money over that I couldn't use； I would hire a professor and get some text books。
This chapter has sounded in the most part like a continuous eulogy of Oxford with but little in favour of our American colleges。 I turn therefore with pleasure to the more congenial task of showing what is wrong with Oxford and with the English university system generally； and the aspect in which our American universities far excell the British。
The point is that Henry VIII is dead。 The English are so proud of what Henry VIII and the benefactors of earlier centuries did for the universities that they forget the present。 There is little or nothing in England to compare with the magnificent generosity of individuals； provinces and states； which is building up the colleges of the United States and Canada。 There used to be。 But by some strange confusion of thought the English people admire the noble gifts of Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII and Queen Margaret； and do not realise that the Carnegies and Rockefellers and the William Macdonalds are the Cardinal Wolseys of to…day。 The University of Chicago was founded upon oil。 McGill University rests largely on a basis of tobacco。 In America the world of commerce and business levies on itself a noble tribute in favour of the higher learning。 In England； with a few conspicuous exceptions； such as that at Bristol； there is little of the sort。 The feudal families are content with what their remote ancestors have done： they do not try to emulate it in any great degree。
In the long run this must count。 Of all the various reforms that are talked of at Oxford； and of all the imitations of American methods that are suggested； the only one worth while； to my thinking； is to capture a few millionaires； give them honorary degrees at a million pounds sterling apiece； and tell them to imagine that they are Henry the Eighth。 I give Oxford warning that if this is not done the place will not last another two centuries。
VI。The British and the American Press
THE only paper from which a man can real