Everybody  knows  that  the  old  cap  of  knowledge
in  fairy  tales  has  no  longer  an  existence,  and  that
absence  of  what  is  called  brains  will  not  be  compen-
sated for  by  any  covering  of  the  skull,  whatever  pre-
tence may  be  made  to  the  contrary.
Of  the  virtue  of  obedience  we  hear  a  good  deal,
and  if  we  look  around  us  we  will  see  evidences  that  it
may  be  no  virtue  at  all,  but  a  vice.  In  one  of  the  best
known  of  his  poems  Tennyson  describes  the  soldiers  :
"  Theirs  not  to  reason  why  :  Theirs  not  to  make
reply  "  ;  and  there  are  many  who  think  it  a  noble
thing  to  teach  a  man  not  to  use  the  brains  he  has,
and  to  die  rather  than  show  disrespect  to  his  superior
by  questioning  his  competence.  This  may  be  a  military
virtue,  but  it  is  a  civil  vice.  If  it  did  not  work  outside
so  badly  in  practice,  it  might  be  allowed  to  pass
unquestioned ;  but  one  has  only  to  look  around
to  see  the  result  of  its  application.  The  men  who  come
under  its  operation  are  not  rendered  more  efficient
citizens  thereby,  but  are  hmdered  by  the  training
they  have  undergone  from  obtaining  employment  in
industrial  life.
