Education at Home

In the words of Baden-Powell, from "Lessons on the 'Varsity of Life."

       My education came from several sources — home, school, travel, sport, etc.
       Now, some of you will think — “Yes, that’s all very well, but you (meaning me) probably had a good start with lots of money and tons of luck.” I certainly had tons of luck. But luck is a thing like pluck, you may have some of it come to you, but you can make it to a very large extent for yourself.
       But I certainly had no money.  When your father is a clergyman with fourteen children, and you are the last but two, there is not much money flying around for you.
       From my father I derived but little in the way of education for he died when I was but three years old.
       This was a great loss to me for he was a man of many parts.
       Fortunately for me my father’s character was attacked some nine years after his death, by Dr. Pusey, who wrote such imputations against his Christianity which drew a chorus of indignation and refutation from those who had known him and admired his broad-minded views. If these were in advance of their time (for he was a scientist as well as a preacher) they were views which are freely discussed and generally accepted to-day. Had it not been for this defense of him I might never have known his qualities.
       The whole secret of my getting on lay with my mother, born Henrietta Grace Smyth. How that wonderful woman managed to bring us all up, so that none of us did badly; and how she did not kill herself with the anxiety and strain I do not know and cannot understand.
       Not only did she, though a poor widow, feed, clothe and educate us, but she found time to do other work in the world. It was her influence that guided me through life more than any precepts or discipline that I may have learned at school.