Written from Prebendal House, Rochester. Manuscript
He is honoured to receive a letter from Robinson whose writings he has enjoyed for years; he is something of a gardener himself; in his letter to ‘The Times’ he referred to the army but holds the same opinion with respect to all professions, that boys are kept too long at school; at the age of 16 a boy should devote himself to the practical business of life, and for those who have to make their living it is disastrous to wait so long before beginning their career; they stay at school until they are 19, go to university for four years, and at aged 23 find they have no opening in life and nobody has any use for them; the University Appointments Board will bear witness to the many young men who are thus stranded with nothing to do; they are too old for a stool in an office, they have no trade or profession, and their only opening is teaching, whether or not they have an aptitude for it; so the public schools are filled with young masters because they had no other option; his advice to parents of limited means is to launch their boys into practical life at 16