98 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

consideration. The Dutch in Europe were a highly
cultivated people, devoted to learning and rever-
encing the printed book. Why then were their
countrymen in the New World willing to leave the
education of their children in the hands of inferior
teachers and to delay so long the building of suit-
able schoolhouses?

We must remember that the colonists in the
early days were drawn from a very simple class.
Their church was important to them as a social
center as well as a spiritual guide. For this church
they were willing to make any sacrifice; but that
done, they must pause and consider the needs of
their daily life. Children old enough to attend
school were old enough to lend a helping hand on
the bouwerie, in the dairy, or by the side of the
cradle. Money if plentiful might well be spent on
salaries and schoolhouses; but if scarce, it must be
saved for bread and butter, clothing, warmth, and
shelter. In short, reading, writing, and figuring
could wait; but souls must be saved first; and after
that eating and drinking were matters of pressing
urgency. Fortunately, however, not all education
is bound up in books, and, in the making of
sturdy and efficient colonists, the rude training of
hardships and privation when combined with a