I have been delighted to hand so many prizes to lady pupil teachers,
and I recall the philosopher who once said, "All that is necessary is
that a girl should have the morals of an angel, the manners of a
kitten, and the mind of a flea." But after this distribution one
cannot go away with the impression that the female mind is only the
mind of a flea.
_Pupil Teachers' Prize Distribution,
January 16th, 1903._
We have been informed, to-night of different foreign educational
systems, the German, the French, and the American, which we are
generally told in this country we ought to copy. In the French system
there is too much centralization. Every teacher, whether at a
university or at a small elementary school, is simply a Government
Official. The German system is a splendid one, but it is all
subsidized by Government. The English Government is not generous
enough to do that for English Schools, so we can hardly hope to copy
the German system. Then there is the American system. That is also
certainly splendid, but unfortunately we have no great millionaires in
England who will help us to copy the American system. It has been
said that when an Englishman becomes a millionaire, and he feels that
he is nearing his end, he thinks--to use a sporting expression--that
it is time to "hedge for a future state." Then he builds a Church. The
American millionaire founds a university, or leaves large sums of
money for a training college, and I think he is right.
_Technical School Prize Distribution, Newport,
December 3rd, 1902._
Sir William Preece has said that there were five new elements
discovered within the last century. There were others undiscovered,
and it only remained for some student to discover one of them to make
himself famous, and, like Xenophon, return to find his name writ large
on the walls of his native town. A celebrated poet once declared--
"You can live without stars;
You can live without books,
But civilized man
Cannot live without cooks."
Some people may be able to live without books and only with cooks. But
without science and books we should not have had our Empire. Books
and science help us to keep up the Empire. It is for these reasons
that I do what I can to encourage technical and scientific education.
_School of Science and Art Prize Distribution,
December 4th, 1901._
You can be quite certain that no hooligan ever attended an art school.
The intelligence and refinement of manners brought about by the study
of sculpture, painting, and architecture have more to do with the
stopping of drunkenness than any other teaching you could think of....
The charm of these art schools for me lies in the fact that we are
always expecting something great, just as a fisherman at a little
brook, where he has never caught anything much larger than his little
finger, is always expecting to hook some big monster. In these art
schools I am always expecting some great artist or sculptor turned
out--somebody from Newport Schools--not only a credit to himself but
to any town, somebody who will become a second Millais or a great
sculptor.
Newport has improved a good deal of late years, and I am sure the
study of painting and architecture has had much to do with it. In
looking over some old papers in the Tredegar archives the other day,
I came across a description by two people who passed from Cardiff
through Newport about 100 years ago. They said: "We went over a nasty,
muddy river, on an old rotten wooden bridge, shocking to look at and
dangerous to pass over. On the whole this is a nasty old town."
_School of Science and Art Prize Distribution,
December 5th, 1900._
Sir John Gorst has made reference to the indisposition of the
territorial aristocracy to encourage high intellectual attainment. I
think "territorial aristocracy" is rather an undefinable term, and
perhaps school children will be asked what it is. I do not think that
those who own land are as a class opposed to high intellectual
attainment. The County Councils to some extent are representative of
territorial aristocracy, and 41 of the 49 County Councils of England
and Wales have agreed to spend the whole of the Government grant in
education. That is a sign that the territorial aristocracy are not
averse to intellectual attainment.
Perhaps Colonel Wallis will ask some of the children in the school
what the meaning of "territorial aristocracy" is. I read that when a
child was asked what the meaning of the word Yankee was, the reply
was that it was an animal bred in Yorkshire.
_Opening of the School Board Offices, Newport,
March 11th, 1898._
Victor Hugo once said that the opening of a school means the closing
of a prison. That is very true, regarded as an aphorism, and I wish it
were true in reality, because there would not be any prisons left in
England.
_Opening of Intermediate Schools,
October 29th, 1896._
I am pleased that technical schools are taking such a firm hold in the
town. I feel more and more that the teaching of art is doing a great
deal of good. There is a great improvement in the tastes of the
people, shown by the architectural beauty of their residences and in
decorations generally.
I was very much surprised a short time ago at reading a strong article
by "Ouida"--whose novels I have read with a great deal of interest--on
the ugliness of our modern life. She certainly took a very pessimistic
view of the matter and seemed to look only at the workaday part of the
world--at the making of railways, the knocking down of old houses, and
the riding of bicycles. I do not see that those things come under the
title of art. One of the objects of instruction at the art schools is
to induce students to create ideas of their own. At the same time I do
not think you could do much better than study the old masters, than
whose works I do not see anything better amongst modern productions.
The great silver racing cups given away now, worth from L300 to L500,
do not compare with the handiwork of Italian and Venetian silver
workers. I have some pieces of plate in the great cellar under
Tredegar House which I do not think it possible to improve upon.
_School of Science and Art Prize Distribution, Newport,
January 24th, 1896._
One or two little incidents in my own experience lately shew the value
of studying some particular trade or science or some form of art. Only
the other day I met a young lady at a country house. Before I had seen
her a few minutes she remarked: "I suppose you don't remember me, Lord
Tredegar?" If I had been young and gallant, it would have been natural
for me to have replied: "Such a face as yours I am not in the least
likely to forget." But I thought I was too old for that, and merely
said that I did not remember at the moment having met her previously.
The young lady then informed me that she had received a prize at my
hands at a great school, and that in handing her the prize I had
remarked, "You have well earned the prize, and it is a branch of art
that, if continued, will prove very useful in after life." That branch
of art had enabled her to take the position she then occupied.
The other incident was that of a young man who had been left by his
parents very poor. He had the greatest difficulty in getting anything
at all to do, because he had never made himself proficient in any
particular trade or science. I agree with the man who said one should
know something about everything and everything about something.
_School of Science and Art Prize Distribution, Newport,
December 17th, 1894._
It has been well said, I forget by whom, but I think it was Dr.
Johnson, that you can do anything with a Scotsman, if you catch him
young. I think you can say just the same of the Welshman or the
Monmouthshire man.
_Newport Intermediate Boys' School,
November 4th, 1910._
One day I accompanied a young lady to her carriage on leaving a public
function at which I had officiated. The band struck up a martial air,
and I stepped actively to the time of the music. Remarking to the
young lady that the martial air appealed to an old soldier, she said,
"Why, Lord Tredegar, were you ever in the Army?" That is the reason
why I think we should have memorials and why I shall be very glad to
have this picture in my house.
_On the occasion of the presentation of a Portrait of his
Lordship's Statue in Cathays Park, Cardiff,
September 19th, 1909._
The commander of the French Army said of the Balaclava Charge that it
was magnificent, but that it was not war. I do not know what the
French general called war, but my recollection of the charge is that
it was something very nearly like it. I have to thank the Power above
for being here now, fifty-five years after the charge took place.
Whether this statue will commemorate me for a long time or not is of
little moment, but I know it will commemorate for ever the sculptor,
Mr. Goscombe John.
_Unveiling of equestrian statue of Viscount Tredegar in Cathays Park,
Cardiff, on 55th Anniversary of the Balaclava Charge,
October 25th, 1909_