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 : MJM^ 
 

 
 L I B R.AR.Y 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N 1 VLRS ITY 
 
 or ILLI NOIS
 
 ■^
 
 HINTS 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 IMPROVEMENT OF VILLAGE SCHOOLS 
 
 AND THE 
 
 Jntrotmctiou of XntiusJtnal Work, 
 
 SUGGESTED BY 
 
 AN EXPERIMENT MADE IN THE PARISH OF SHIPBOURNE, 
 
 KENT. 
 
 REV. JOHN FITZWYGRAM, M.A., 
 
 INCUMBENT OP SHIPBOURNE. 
 
 Saonlf lEbition, Hebisrt arftt eEnlargeU. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 JOSEPH MASTERS, ALDERSGATE STREET, 
 
 AlfD NEW BOND STREET, 
 
 THE NATIONAL SOCIETY'S DEPOT, SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTEB, S.W. 
 BRIDGEE AND SON, TUNBRIDGE. 
 
 MDCCCLIX. 
 
 Price 6d.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 There appears to be a growing conviction among the promoters of 
 education, that our National School-system requires some modification in 
 order to adapt it to the practical wants of the community. The speedy 
 sale of the First Edition of my " Hints for the Improvement of Village 
 Schools," has probably been owing to the existence of some such feeling 
 — many persons being anxious to hear the result of an experiment, the 
 avowed object of which was to give such a practical education as would 
 ensure an attendance unusually large in proportion to the size of the 
 parish. 
 
 In this Second Edition I am enabled to give the result of another year's 
 trial, and have taken the opportunity to re-write and enlarge the latter 
 portion of the pamphlet.
 
 HINTS 
 
 IMPROVEMENT OF VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 
 
 Whether industrial occupations can be successfully combined 
 with book-learning in our National Schools, is a subject which 
 has of late years attracted the attention of the friends of educa- 
 tion. It has been warmly discussed, and declared to be impos- 
 sible by some ; while by others it is thought that such a com- 
 bination of hand-^oxk and Aea</-work would make our National 
 Schools to be more valued by the parents — would retain the 
 children longer at school — and would be the means of introduc- 
 ing those habits of cleanliness and order, and that knowledge of 
 domestic economy, in which the labouring classes in this couatry 
 are now for the most part very deficient. It is a subject on 
 which we may theorize for ever without coming to any satisfac- 
 tory conclusion. Practical experience can alone decide both 
 whether the plan be feasible, and whether the anticipated re- 
 sults can be obtained. It seems therefore to be the duty of any 
 school managers, who have actually made the trial, to state the 
 result, whether it be favourable or the contrary, that others 
 may profit by their experience. 
 
 The remarks I am about to offer, have no plea for appearing 
 in print, except upon this ground, viz., as being the result of 
 an experiment made on a small scale in an ordinary agri- 
 cultural village of four hundred and forty inhabitants, and of 
 several years^ close observation of the habits and wants of the 
 labouring classes. 
 
 The plans and estimates appended, with the information re- 
 specting government grants, may perhaps be of service to any 
 school managers who are desirous to make a similar trial.
 
 The unthrifty habits of the poor, and their ignorance of plain 
 household economy, had often painfully attracted my attention. 
 The sick, I frequently found suffered severely from their food not 
 being suitably pi'epared. How to feed as well as clothe a family 
 of children off 12s. a week is indeed a problem of no easy solu- 
 tion, even with the best of domestic management ; and where 
 the housewife is ignorant of her duties, I find by actual obser- 
 vation, that the family meals very quickly settle down into an 
 endless repetition of bread and cheese and tea. I am not, by any 
 means, one of those who believe, that with proper economy the 
 poor can live off air, nor do I put much faith in the comestible 
 properties of nettles and young thistles lately recommended as 
 food in some of the public newspapers ; but with 12s. a week 
 regular pay, and some £3 or j64 earned by the wife and children 
 in harvest, or by hop picking, I conceive it practicable for the 
 families of labourers (in this part of Kent at least) to fare far 
 better than many of them are now in the habit of doing. How 
 to impart to them the necessary instruction, and to improve 
 their social condition, is a question more easily asked than an- 
 swered ; but it would clearly be a step in the right direction, to 
 train the children of the present generation to a practical know- 
 ledge of domestic economy in its various branches. 
 
 The principle of introducing industrial work into girls' schools, 
 is almost universally conceded, for there is scarcely a girls' 
 school in the countiy where needlework does not form part of 
 the ordinary instruction. 
 
 Now, on what ground, I would ask, is needlework alone of the 
 various branches of industry to be admitted into our schools ? 
 Will the girls, when they grow up to be women, be required to 
 do nothing but to make clothes ; will not washing and cooking 
 be as necessary as needlework ? Nay ! if clothing be not ivashed, 
 perhaps the less of it the better ; and if the food for the family 
 be not wisely provided and tolerably cooked, not only the com- 
 fort of the home, but the health of the inmates will be seriously 
 affected. The reason why all branches of industry, except needle- 
 work, are excluded from our schools, is, I believe, simply the 
 imagined expense and difficulty of introducing them. Few per- 
 sons, I believe, would deny that it is desirable to add some 
 knowledge of domestic economy to the usual routine of reading, 
 writing, and arithmetic ; and in my opinion, the introduction 
 of this class of instruction will be found the only effective 
 remedy for the serious defects, — I might almost say, the la- 
 mentable failure, — of the present system of education. 
 
 Why is it, I would ask, that in spite of the millions of money 
 that have been voted by parliament, — in spite of the increased 
 number of schools, — in spite of the laudable exertions of both 
 
 uiuc ^,
 
 clergy and laity, — the government statistics prove that scarce 
 any progress is being made in educating the masses of the 
 people. Nay, I believe I am correct in stating, that year by 
 year, the number of scholars over ten years old actually decreases, 
 and that as a rule, children stay longer at old-fashioned dame 
 schools, than at schools under first-rate teachers. ^ The main 
 reason, I believe to be this, — that whereas in a dame school the 
 children can scarcely read and write by the time they are twelve 
 or thirteen, in a good National School the children, owing to 
 the improved appliances for teaching, have usually acquired 
 those arts by the time they are ten years old; and the parents, 
 having obtained for their children all they care for, instantly re- 
 move them from school. We must remember that the labourer 
 has to exercise great self-denial to keep his children at school 
 beyond ten years old ; he knows and feels each Saturday night, 
 that what his children could have earned, would be a most ac- 
 ceptable addition to his weekly wages. By sending his children 
 to work, he gains an immediate and tangible advantage which 
 he can perfectly understand, whereas it is no easy matter to 
 convince him that his children are any the better for being able 
 to tell the height of the Himalaya mountains, or to repeat, with 
 the utmost volubility, the names and the products of every de- 
 pendency of the British empire. 
 
 The poor have indeed a general idea that learning is a " fine 
 thing,^^ and usually wish their children to be scholars, but the 
 term " scholarship " wdth them is used to signify merely the 
 power to read and write. To other branches of instruction, 
 such as history, grammar, geography, they are for the most 
 part quite indifferent — ignorant of such things themselves, and 
 conscious that they have done very well without such knowledge, 
 they do not desire it for their children, nor are they disposed to 
 make any great sacrifices to obtain it. When therefore their 
 children come to be about ten years old, and are tolerably pro- 
 ficient in reading and writing, (as they of course would be at a 
 good school, though at a bad school they would have to stay 
 till eleven or twelve before they would be equally advanced) the 
 parents naturally ask themselves, what is the use of Johnny and 
 Polly staying at school any longer ? they are now good enough 
 scholars for labourers' children, and the five or six shillings a 
 week which they could earn at work, would be a great help to 
 us. On this ground it is quickly decided that Johnny and Polly 
 shall make, themselves useful. 
 
 • The real argument for keeping children at school till thirteen 
 or fourteen, viz., the formation of their moral character, the 
 eliciting of intelligence, and the training them to habits of obe- 
 ' See Rev.F. Watkins' General Report for 1858, p. 55.
 
 dience and truth, order and cleanliness, is one that occurs to 
 very few parents in this class of life. 
 
 Now, let us mark the result of children being withdrawn from 
 school at this early age. I shall hardly express myself too 
 strongly, if I say that it in a great measure stultifies all our 
 efforts to ameliorate the social condition of the poor. It is ac- 
 knowledged, I believe, by every one acquainted with the sub- 
 ject, that the great majority of the lower classes, if examined at 
 the age of twenty-five, are found grossly ignorant of the most 
 elementary knowledge. 
 
 The clergy who examine for Confirmation, and those who 
 teach in adult evening schools, are often struck with surprise at 
 the small amount of instruction which is possessed by the young 
 persons who come under their notice. Many of these young 
 people, when children of nine or ten years old, were intelligent 
 and well instructed for their age ; but children of such tender 
 years on leaving school very quickly forget all they have learnt, 
 and in a few years their minds relapse into the state of an un- 
 cultivated waste. It is indeed sad and disheartening to see so 
 little abiding fruit of our labours, and to find that our instruc- 
 tion is of so transient a nature, that before it is available for the 
 business of life, it is in many cases altogether blotted out. And 
 all this arises, I firmly believe, not from any fault in the teachers, 
 who are far better educated than formerly, and have a deeper 
 sense of their responsibility ; nor does it arise from any erro- 
 neous method in imparting instruction, but simply and entirely 
 from the children having been removed from school before the 
 plants of knowledge had time to get firmly rooted. A child of 
 ten years old, though able to read, will seldom do so with suf- 
 ficient ease to make reading a pleasure, especially after a hard 
 day's work. Hence, on leaving school, their books (if they pos- 
 sess any) are usually thrown aside : the power to read diminishes 
 daily, and that it ever could read, becomes to the child a dream 
 and a myth. So long as children are removed from school at 
 ten years old, education can be little more than a name, for it 
 is morally impossible that a child can be trained for the duties 
 and responsibilities of a Christian life at so early an age. We 
 find also from the government reports, that in many parishes 
 where handsome and suitable school buildings have been erected, 
 these buildings are not half filled. From some cause or other 
 the children are not at school, and this is another strong argu- 
 ment that there is something faulty and unattractive in the ordi- 
 nary system of education. The great problem of the present day 
 is not so much how to build schools as how to fill them, and to 
 retain the children, the boys till at least thirteen years of age, the 
 girls until fit for service at fourteen or fifteen years of age.
 
 It is the object of this pamphlet to show, that a combination 
 of industrial work with book learning, of a practical character, 
 will, in great measure, solve the aforesaid problem, provided 
 always that the managers are careful to adapt the education to 
 the wants of their parish. At the risk of appearing egotistical, 
 I will briefly state what has been done in the parish of Ship- 
 bourne, and what results have ensued. 
 
 In September, 1855, I was appointed to the incumbency. 
 Up to that date the school, containing some thirty scholars, had 
 been in charge of a young and uncertificated master, and the 
 one room of which it consisted was cold, damp, and badly pro- 
 vided with materials. My first care was to consider what class 
 and character of school would be best suited to the wants of 
 the parish, and could be supported by the subscriptions which 
 amounted to about £4:0 a year. It was very evident that two 
 schools could not be maintained, and objecting strongly to a 
 mixed school under a master', (for which indeed the funds were 
 inadequate,) I determined on having a mixed school under a 
 first-rate mistress, who could give such an education as the 
 farmers and tradesmen in the village would be thankful to ob- 
 tain for their children ; while I purposed, by means of an indus- 
 trial establishment, to attract scholars, and to retain them longer 
 than is found practicable in schools of the ordinary description. 
 The following table shows the progress of the school, and I 
 think proves satisfactorily that parents appreciate a sound prac- 
 tical education more readily than is commonly supposed : — 
 
 No. on In average Children's 
 
 books. attendance. pay. 
 
 25th Sept. 1855 37 • 25 . . ^'4 10 
 
 1856 .. 60 .. 42 .. ^25 12 
 
 1857 86 56 . . ^34 6 10 
 
 1858 .. 110 97 .. ^42 13 10 
 
 1859 .115 .. 90 .. ^44 17 6 
 
 The reports of Her Majesty's Inspectors run thus : — 
 
 May, 1855. "This school (mixed, under a young master) suffers not 
 so much from want of finances, as of some one to exercise over it a due 
 superintendence. The master receives no support, and there seems no 
 prospect of any improvement. The writing was the best subject." 
 
 June,\SbG. "This is a very promising little institution, lately placed 
 under a certificated mistress, who seems likely to do justice to the favour- 
 able parochial auspices under which it has been set on foot." 
 
 July, 1857. " School premises very good, and well found in books and 
 apparatus. Four classes, under a certificated mistress, an assistant mis- 
 tress, and one candidate. The instruction is carefully given, and the tone 
 of the school is exceed'mijly good." 
 
 July, 1858. "This school (mixed) is conducted with great care and 
 judgment, and nothing is wanted to render it thoroughly efiicient. The 
 children are well instructed, and the industrial department is well managed."
 
 8 
 
 Industrial Report. — " Every effort is made by the managers to give a 
 practical character to the instruction, and with a very satisfactory result. 
 The industrial department of the girls is under a fully competent person, 
 and the work therein is well done. In the boys' department, the ground, 
 a stiflP clay, is well worked, and the crops flourishing. I recommend that 
 the usual grants shall be made." • 
 
 July, 1859. " This school (mixed) continues to be conducted with great 
 care and assiduity. The standard of attainment has been raised, the boys 
 in the first class having a good knowledge of Mensuration. Throughout 
 the school the instruction is evenly graduated, all classes receiving a due 
 share of attention. 
 
 " The Industrial Departments for boys and girls are carefully worked, 
 and are valuable additions to the school." 
 
 Report of Diocesan Inspector for 1859. 
 
 " A certificated mistress, aided by a large staflF of subordinates, carries 
 on very efficiently the instruction of the children, and the daily supervision 
 of the clergymen gives a finish to the moral tone as well as to the acquire- 
 ments, which is rarely to be met with. In consequence the school is 
 resorted to by the classes above the labourer, constituting almost the 
 entire first class ; and as they pay according to their means they lighten 
 the otherwise heavy expense of the establishment. The penmanship alone 
 seemed to me open to criticism. 
 
 " The Industrial Department for girls consists of a kitchen and wash- 
 house, in which a separate mistress teaches daily five or six girls at a time 
 cooking, baking, washing, and household work, about twenty girls being 
 thus employed eight hours each per week. The good things operated on 
 in the kitchen find a ready sale in the parish : so that this branch is nearly 
 self-supporting. 
 
 " A small cost is incurred in teaching the elder boys gardening on two 
 days in the week in a piece of ground adjoining the school, which has lately 
 received a valuable addition by the enclosure of waste." 
 
 INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL ACCOUNT, (GIRLS' DEPARTMENT,) 
 
 FVom the commencement on 13th July, 1857, up to the 25th September, 1858. 
 
 EXPENDITURE. 
 
 RECEIPTS. 
 
 £. s. d. 
 
 By washing 34 13 G~ 
 
 By sale of bread 14 16 10^ 
 
 By sale of pies and pud- 
 dings 2 11 9^ 
 
 From Offertory for pud- 
 dings and soup for the 
 poor 4 6 
 
 Government grant 4 
 
 From the funds of the Na- 
 tional School 4 6 lOf 
 
 George Banks, Esq., dona- 
 tion 1 
 
 Miss Jane Taylor, ditto . . 10 6 
 
 Mrs. Brown, Hampton 
 
 Mill 10 6 
 
 By deficit 1 17 7i 
 
 £68 13 2i 
 
 £. s. d. 
 Salary of industrial mis- 
 tress 30 2 2i 
 
 Purchase of flour 15 12 2 
 
 ,, meat 4 9 7 
 
 ,, stores 6 17 8 
 
 Sundries 6 8 7 
 
 Rent of cottage for indus- 
 trial mistress 3 3 
 
 Miss Hubbard, half go- 
 vernment grant 2 
 
 ^£68 13 2^
 
 INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL ACCOUNT, (GIRLS' DEPARTMENT,) 
 
 From 25th September, 1858, to 25tk September, 1859. 
 
 RECEIPTS. 
 
 £. s. d. 
 
 By washing 26 6 1 ^ 
 
 By sale of bread 17 9 9 
 
 Bysale of pies and puddings 6 3 
 From Offertory for pud- 
 dings and soup for the 
 
 poor 2 9 6 
 
 Government grant on 24 
 
 girls 6 
 
 Balance of National School 9 4^- 
 
 By donations 5 6 6 
 
 By church fees 2 6 
 
 ^66 4 8| 
 
 Deficit 6 5 10^ 
 
 £n 10 7 
 
 EXPENDITURE. 
 
 £. s. d. 
 Salary of industrial mis- 
 tress 30 5 8 
 
 Purchase of flour 17 7 
 
 ,, meat 4 Oil 
 
 ,, stores 7 9 1 
 
 Sundries 8 15 11^ 
 
 Rent of cottage for indus- 
 trial mistress 3 9 
 
 Deficit from last year .... 117 7^ 
 
 ^672 10 7 
 
 From these statements it appears, 1st, that out of a popula- 
 tion of 440, 115 children are on the books of the school, or, 
 in other words, that more than one-fourth of the whole popula- 
 tion are under instruction. 2udly. That high payments do not 
 diminish the number of scholars. 3rdly. That the loss on the 
 industrial department after a fair trial of more than two years 
 has not been such as need alarm any school managers who may 
 be inclined to try the experiment in other parishes. On each of 
 these points I may be permitted to say a few words. 
 
 1st. As to the number of the scholars. It is fair to mention that 
 there are twelve children who come to my school from the adjoin- 
 ing parishes, but, on the other hand, there are five or six children 
 who belong to my parish, but go to some of the neighbouring 
 schools, so that it cannot be said that we encroach to any great 
 extent on the surrounding parishes. The usual proportion of 
 children at school throughout England is one in ten of the 
 population. In the Government Reports one in seven is con- 
 sidered a very good attendance. One-fourth is very unusual, 
 and I doubt if any parish in Kent can show as large a propor- 
 tion. 2ndly. That high payments do not necessarily diminish 
 the attendance appears from the fact, that the attendance has 
 steadily increased from thirty-seven children in 1855 to 115 
 children in 1859, though the rates of payment have been raised 
 from time to time, so that, with the increase of scholars, the 
 schooling money has risen from .€4. 10s. in 1855 to £44. 17^. 6d. 
 in 1859. 
 
 3rdly. As to the probable loss on an industrial establishment
 
 10 
 
 foi" girls, when made an appendage of the National Schools. It 
 is, of course, difficult to calculate exactly, as so much must de- 
 pend on details of management. Assuming, however, as I have 
 proved by experience, that the baking and cooking need involve 
 hardly amj loss ; assuming also, that on the average 15s. worth 
 of washing is taken in per week, of which 10s. per week remain 
 over, after paying for soap, starch, and coals ; and reckoning 
 that the industrial mistress, who of course must be a good 
 laundress, receives a salary of 15s. a week, there will be a loss of 
 5s. a week or .£13 a year. But against this we may place the 
 Government allowance of 5s. per head for each girl under indus- 
 trial instruction, which, if twenty girls are instructed, would 
 amount to £0. So that the loss on an industrial department 
 need not, I am persuaded, be any very serious charge on the 
 funds of the National School to which it is appended. In no 
 case do 1 think the loss need exceed about £1% a year. It 
 is to be regretted that the Committee of Council, under their 
 present regulations, give so little aid towards maintaining a 
 school of this sort. If, instead of their present grant of 5s. 
 a head for each girl under instruction, the Committee of Council 
 would pay one-third of the salary of the industrial mistress, 
 provided that at least twenty girls over ten years of age were 
 under instruction, the cost to the public would be less than the 
 cost of a single pupil-teacher ; while the prospect of such assis- 
 tance would lead to an immediate increase of the number of 
 industrial schools, which could then be maintained without any 
 great expense to the managers. Many of the clergy are already 
 so hard pressed to maintain their schools, that it seems at first 
 sight unreasonable to suggest the building and maintaining of 
 an industrial school as an appendage to the existing establish- 
 ments ; but personally, I am persuaded, that the reason ivhy our 
 village schools are so costly to support, and oftentimes but half 
 filled, is this, viz., that the education given is not such as the pa- 
 rents much value, nor such as the farmers will contribute to, or take 
 any interest in. The plan I would suggest, and which is carried 
 out successfully at Shipbourne, is to educate together in one 
 school the children of all the farmers, tradesmen, artizans, and 
 labourers in the parish, making each class pay as much as they 
 can really afford, and adapting the education to the practical 
 wants of each class ; and I feel convinced, that a well-managed 
 establishment of this kind will reqmre for its support fewer 
 subscriptions than an ordinary village school. 
 
 Under the present system the farmers, in many instances, 
 send their children to private schools ; or, if they send them to 
 the National Schools, they do it with a sort of internal protest, 
 as if they were demeaning themselves by only having to pay some
 
 11 
 
 trivial sum like 4td. or 6^. a week. It seems to me, that well- 
 to-do farmers have no moral right to avail themselves of the Na- 
 tional School, without contributing much more largely than they 
 at present do towards its support. I see nothing unreasonable, 
 or impracticable after a time, in charging a farmer from \s. to 
 1^. 6^. a week for each of his children. They would not pro- 
 bably pay less at a good private day school, and their children 
 would cost them still more, if sent to a boarding school. In the 
 parish of Shipbourne we have raised the school payments in pi'o- 
 portion as the school becomes more valued, making those parents 
 pay the higher charges who can afford to do so ; while for chil- 
 dren of actual labourers we have not raised the payment above 
 2d. a week. 
 
 But in order to make the farmers and tradesmen willing to 
 pay \s. or \s. 6d. a week, I conceive that we must be prepared 
 to give their children an education suitable for their social posi- 
 tion. For farmers^ and tradesmen's daughters music, drawing, 
 and dressmaking are subjects, which might, without much diffi- 
 culty, be added to the usual routine ; while the farmers' sons 
 ought certainly to be instructed in land measuring, the keeping 
 of farm-accounts, the theory of deep draining, the elements of 
 agricultural chemistry, and iu mechanical drawing. I am no 
 advocate of any " high-pressure" system of education. It seems 
 to me to be of the utmost importance to keep each class of so- 
 ciety in its proper place ; and with this view, to give to each 
 child such a measure of instruction as its station iu life is 
 likely to require, and no more. For is it not 7'ight that the 
 farmer should be better educated than the labourer, and the 
 gentleman than the farmer ? Are we not in danger of doing 
 much mischief, if we educate highly the class of labourers, while 
 we neglect the classes immediately above them ?^ It does seem 
 to me to be wrong, that the whole country should be straining 
 its energies, and the Pai4iamentary grants entirely applied to 
 instruct the children of the poor, without any corresponding 
 effort being made to enable the farmers and tradesmen to keep 
 pace, with regard to the education of their children. 
 
 The result is, that the poor do not value, and commonly re- 
 ject for their children the overdose of book learning, which we 
 vainly endeavour to administer; while the farmers have no sym- 
 pathy with our National Schools, which (they not unreasonably 
 
 1 I would earnestly plead for the children of the middle classes, and would 
 urge my clerical brethren in all towns and large villages to superintend and foster 
 schools of a higher class with the same assiduity and watchful care, which they 
 now usually bestow on schools for the poor ; such middle-class schools, would, I 
 am convinced, be most efficient hand-maids to the Church of England, where- 
 as at present, they are but too often conducted by those who are either ignorant 
 of her doctrines or opposed to her system.
 
 12 
 
 complain) provide for the children of their servants a better edu- 
 cation than they have the means of obtaining for their own 
 children. 
 
 We have endeavoured at Shipbourne, though under great dis- 
 advantages arising from the small size of the parish, to make 
 the National School suitable for farmers' and tradesmen's chil- 
 dren — labourers' children being allowed to attend it and sharing 
 in many advantages, but attaining to a lower standard of intel- 
 lectual knowledge, partly from their leaving school at an earlier 
 age, and partly from a larger portion of their time being devoted 
 to industrial work, which is of far more consequence to them, 
 than to excel in history or geography, since it is by manual la- 
 bour that their living will have to be earned, and only by do- 
 mestic economy that their homes can be made comfortable. 
 
 In the school classes it would not, I think, be practicable or 
 desirable to make any distinction between the children of farmers 
 and labourers, but there is no difficulty in arranging that the 
 farmers' and tradesmen's children should be kept almost entirely 
 to their books, while the labourers' children, when they come to 
 be of a suitable age, are engaged for a portion of the day in a 
 separate room under a separate teacher, in learning those various 
 branches of industry, which will be of such use to them in after 
 life. 
 
 Wherever this plan is adopted, the farmers and tradesmen will 
 have a direct interest in supporting the parochial school, and 
 would seldom, I believe, object to paying for their children at a 
 higher rate, and such payments would go a long way towards 
 supporting the school, and would enable it to be kept up in the 
 highest state of efficiency. With the parents of the labouring 
 classes, an industrial school, when the first prejudice against it 
 wears ofi", will be sure to be popular. 1st. Because the parents are 
 fully able to enter into and appreciate the kind of knowledge 
 which is taught at an industrial scho(?l. When their girls come 
 home more handy and useful, — when Sally can make good soup 
 out of a few vegetables with an infinitesimal small fraction of 
 meat — when Betsy can convince the most sceptical, that rice and 
 oatmeal are not to be despised if properly dressed — when the 
 potatoe pie is voted at the family board to be uncommonly good 
 — when Polly, with a little composition yeast, costing a mere no- 
 thing, can bake better bread than her mother — in short, when 
 the mothers find that their girls can save many a sixpence by 
 their knowledge of domestic economy, no wonder if the industrial 
 school becomes popular and the children are allowed to remain 
 a year or two longer to reap the advantages afforded by such in- 
 struction. 2dly. The industrial school will be popular with the 
 parents because the girls employed in it either receive some
 
 
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 13 
 
 small money-payment, as at Fincliley, ov, as with us, are pro- 
 vided with dinner at the school on certain days of the week. 
 These inducements, coupled with the prospect of obtaining 
 eventually better situations for their children, will naturally have 
 great weight with the pai'ents. One of the chief hindrances in 
 establishing a school such as I have described (a school adapted 
 for farmers^ and tradesmen's children, but at the same time pro- 
 viding industrial training for the children of labourers) arises 
 from the difficulty of obtaining suitable teachers, for few of the 
 mistresses who come from the training schools have a sufficient 
 practical knowledge of industrial work, to be able properly to 
 superintend it. I am aware that at some of the institutions, 
 especially at Whitelands, considerable attention has of late been 
 bestowed on the subject of industrial training. 
 
 Miss Coutts, with her usual well-considered benevolence, has 
 offered prizes to those students who show the best acquaintance 
 with domestic economy in a written examination, and good re- 
 sults will, no doubt, ensue. Yet 1 think that the students 
 should be more accustomed actually to work in the laundry, 
 kitchen, and bake-house, so that they may be practically ac- 
 quainted with every detail connected with those branches of in- 
 dustry. 
 
 It is quite a false feeling which would lead a national school 
 mistress to think herself above putting her hands in the wash 
 tub. In most cases superintendence only would be required, 
 since she could not be spared from the school-room, yet as I 
 contemplate the industrial branch being under the general man- 
 agement of the schoolmistress, it is necessary she should know 
 how things ought to be done. As far as head-knowledge is 
 concerned, a really well-trained certificated mistress of the pre- 
 sent day would be quite competent to give such an education as 
 farmers and tradesmen require for their children ; indeed the mis- 
 tresses of private boarding schools are usually very inferior both 
 in ability and in the art of imparting knowledge. But besides 
 the difficulty of obtaining teachers for a school such as I have 
 described, the farmers and tradesmen frequently object to send- 
 ing their children to mix with the dirty, ragged, children of the 
 poor. This objection is not unreasonable; but there is an easy 
 remedy for it in the hands of the managers and teachers of the 
 school. Let them resolutely set their faces against rags and dirt 
 — let the parents be remonstrated with for the former, and the 
 children punished for the latter — let frocks and pinafores be 
 kept at the school and sold to the parents a- little under cost 
 price, and in a few months I will undertake to say that both 
 rags and dirt will disappear. It is essential for the success of a 
 school where farmers' and labourers' children are to be educated
 
 14 
 
 together, that cleanliness, order, and good mannet's should be 
 rigidly enforced. When the schoolmistress is untidy and slo- 
 venly ; where the room is stuffy and ill-ventilated, or cold and 
 desolate — where all is disorder and dirt — such a school will in- 
 evitably fail in training girls successfully for the duties of after 
 life, and the more respectable parents cannot be blamed for re- 
 fusing to send their children. 
 
 Hitherto I have spoken almost entirely of girls. Let us now 
 consider whether it is desirable and feasible to employ boys at 
 Industrial work. Among toivn schools I have met with a few 
 instances, in which the boys are instructed in printing and car- 
 pentering, as at St. Mary^s, Southampton, and Painswick, in 
 Gloucestershire, but never having tried anything of that kind, 
 and feeling the difficulty of providing suitable instructors in a 
 country village, I will only say, that the experiments made in 
 the abovementioned towns appear to have been attended with 
 considerable success, and to confirm an opinion that I have long 
 entertained, viz., that the standard of instruction is not lowered, 
 but invariably raised by the introduction of Industrial work — 
 — not only do the boys become more handy and tractable from 
 the variety of occupation, but, from their general intelligence 
 being quickened, I find that they made more than ordinary pro- 
 gress in the common book-work. The usual school-hours, if 
 entirely devoted to head-work, I believe to be much too long, and 
 am certain that an equal amount can be learnt in a much shorter 
 time, especially if the hours of play are devoted to some more 
 intellectual amusements than marbles, or "pitch and toss.'^ 
 The following extracts from a letter by W. H. Hyett, Esq., to 
 the Dean of Hereford, (published by Groombridge, price Qd.) 
 are well worthy of attention : — 
 
 " To interest a boy," says Mr. Hyett, " give him something to handle, 
 not at school only, but at home. To interest parents, let them also see 
 something done — something that they cannot do themselves — something 
 which brings it home to their com|)rehension that we are teaching the 
 bread-winning arts of life. The complaint is frequent that the poor do not 
 value education. It may be true that they do not value the education 
 which too often has been the only education within their reach ; but let us 
 enlist their sympathies by more tangible objects of industry, and try the 
 truth of the complaint by that test. Doubtless in our ordinary schools, 
 where little but imperfect reading, writing, and arithmetic, is taught, the 
 parents soon thiidi, and no wonder, that their children have gained all that 
 they are likely to gain, and remove them ; while, naturally enough, not 
 having realized the use of music, geography, or political economy, they are 
 not tempted to continue their children at our better schools to learn things 
 of which they do not see the value; but the efforts they make to retain 
 them at school, when skill in any kind of handicraft is to be picked up, 
 are extraordinary. That we are earnestly striving to train up better 
 Christians, is gradually breaking in upon them, but in their hard and an- 
 xious struggle for a livelihood they want to feel that we are making better
 
 15 
 
 workmen. ... In a village school under my eye, where there happened to 
 be a carpenter's bench, and a few tools, and where most of the elder boys had 
 bought their half-a-crown case of mathematical instruments, some of them 
 soon after bought the materials, and, with the aid of a zealous and ingenious 
 master, made for themselves small but useful square drawing boards, and neat 
 and true T squares. No particular stimulus was used to induce the attempt. 
 The compass and ruler asked for their companions, and the plane and the 
 saw made them. So that these boys, as far as all the necessary instru- 
 ments are concerned, have placed themselves in a position to copy or make 
 any ordinary working plan that may be wanted ; and in fact there are 
 eight or ten boys in the upper class, who have made neat working draw- 
 ings of the furniture and buildings of the school, quite as good as could be 
 produced by master builders or carpenters in our small towns." 
 
 The principles here enunciated appear to me to be sound and 
 good, but until our masters receive a style of education very dif- 
 ferent from the present, I fear that there will be many practical 
 difficulties in carrying out such views. For small country vil- 
 lages the cultivation of a garden seems the most natural form of 
 Industrial work for boys, and it is certainly the easiest to carry 
 into effect. There is indeed no practical difficulty abijut it, nor 
 need there be any expense to speak of involved in making the 
 experiment, whenever the managers can obtain a piece of land 
 in the immediate vicinity of the school. In almost every village 
 there is some jobbing gardener, or other suitable person, who, 
 for a small payment, would give practical instruction to the 
 boys two or three afternoons in the week. In such cases the 
 duty of the schoolmaster would be to exercise a general superin- 
 tendence, and to give home lessons occasionally out of the 
 '■ Finchley Manual,^' "Glennie's Handbook,^' or some other 
 suitable treatise. The elder boys would of course work under 
 the gardener in rotation, seven or eight at a time, and should 
 be carefully taught to keep the accounts on a regular and syste- 
 matic plan ; in short, the school garden accounts should he farm 
 accounts on a diminutive scale. The Committee of Council, 
 besides paying one-half of the rent of the land, and one-third of 
 the cost of the tools, allow the Managers 5^. a head for each boy 
 under instruction, which in most cases would be nearly sufficient 
 to pay the wages of the gardener. We have now about an acre 
 and a quarter of land attached to the school at Shipbourne. At 
 the end of the first year the loss was considerable (being nearly 
 d£l2,) but much of it arose from the necessity of draining and 
 otherwise improving the land, which is a cold, stiff clay. This 
 year, when the produce comes to be sold, I hope that both ends 
 will nearly meet, as we have in hand a considerable quantity of 
 potatoes, besides other vegetables, to be disposed of in due time. 
 But even if no profit could ever be derived from the garden, 
 (which I see no reason to suppose) I should still consider it a 
 most valuable adjunct to the school, partly because it supplies
 
 16 
 
 the Industrial kitchen with an abundance of vegetables, which it 
 is excellent practice for the girls to learn how to cook, and 
 partly because it is a source of constant pleasure and recreation 
 to the children during their playtime. Moreover, among other 
 minor advantages, a garden serves to keep boys out of mischief. 
 It is an old saying, but a very true one, that " Satan always 
 finds some work for idle hands to do," and in a moral point of 
 view it is really of no small importance to keep children employed 
 both in school and out of school. But perhaps the chief benefit 
 of a garden arises from the hard work required in cultivating it. 
 
 It is certainly desirable with all children, but more especially 
 with labourers^ children, to strengthen the body as well as the 
 mind, and to discipline them to habits of steady persevering 
 labour. 
 
 Our aim must be to rear up a community of modest, laborious, 
 trustworthy citizens, serviceable to each other, and creditable to 
 then- country ; to send children forth from our schools deeply 
 impressed with the idea, that the active and intelligent discharge 
 of their duty, in obedience to the will of God, is the great busi- 
 ness and purport of their lives. Nothing is too great, nothing 
 too small, to engage the attention of managers and teachers, if it 
 can be made to minister with advantage either to the bodily or 
 spiritual training oi the children. A garden attached to a school 
 may be considered an uncovered schoolroom, where many things 
 are taught which are really far more important than any book- 
 learning. An intelligent master will see more of a boy's dispo- 
 sition in one day by watching him at work among his com- 
 panions than he could ascertain in a month in the schoolroom. 
 A boy feels naturally more unrestrained when at work, and little 
 faults of temper or selfishness are discovered, which otherwise 
 might have escaped the master's notice, and would never have 
 been cured. Such opportunities for ascertaining the different 
 dispositions of the children should be counted among the ad- 
 vantages to be derived from a school garden, and from industrial 
 work generally. 
 
 Let us now proceed to examine the expense under ordinary 
 circumstances of building and fitting up an industrial school in 
 a country parish, and what grants in aid can be obtained from 
 the Committee of Council, or public societies. Having so re- 
 cently built and fitted up the industrial school at Shipbourne, I 
 am able to speak on these points with considerable accuracy, 
 though the price of building will, of course, vary somewhat in 
 difi'erent localities. And first let us endeavour to agree what 
 buildings are necessary : I should certainly recommend that 
 there should be two rooms, one about 25 ft. by 14 ft. in the 
 clear, which we will call " the industrial class room," a well-
 
 17 
 
 built boarded room with a high-pitched roof, fitted with wash- 
 ing troughs, kitchen range, boiler, brick oven, dresser, and 
 dinner table ; the other, a rough cheap building about 18 ft. 
 by 11 ft. with brick floor, intended only to be used as a laundry, 
 fitted with mangle, ironing stove, and ironing board. The cost 
 of two rooms, such as I have described, inclusive of the requisite 
 fittings and the architect's commission, would be about ^^235 ; 
 but it is right to mention that my industrial class-room is panelled 
 round with the old pews from the church, the best use perhaps 
 to which such unseemly erections can be applied. 
 
 The Committee of Council will usually contribute a sum 
 equal to whatever sum is raised by local contributions. The 
 National Society would probably contribute from .€10 to £15. 
 And in this diocese from j615 to j€20 might be expected from 
 the Canterbury Diocesan Board of Education ; so that the sum 
 necessary to be raised by the promoters of an industrial school 
 through private subscription would he just about c€lOO. 
 
 Surely, many parishes, if once convinced of the benefit of an 
 industrial school, might manage to raise this sum, especially as 
 a considerable portion of it may be given in the shape of mate- 
 rials, such as stone, wood, tiles, sand, or lime — things which 
 many landowners have on their estates, and would willingly give 
 for building an industrial school, when they might not be con- 
 veniently able to give actual money. 
 
 The following list of things which were required for fitting 
 up our industrial school, with the prices we paid for them, may 
 perhaps be a guide to those about to embark on a similar un- 
 
 dertaking : — 
 
 Baker's patent mangle (large size) 
 second hand, £9. 10s. 
 
 Dinner table, 12 ft. by 2 ft. 6 in., £2. 
 
 Dresser, £3. 10s. 
 
 Iron cistern, bottle jack, sind kitchen 
 utensils, £6. 
 
 Under-ground tank for soft water, 
 £6. 18s. 
 
 Ironing board, £1. 5s. 
 Ironing flannels, 10s. 
 Large deal box for stores, £l. 10s. 
 Wooden baking trough, 8s. 
 Clothes baskets, l.'3s. 6d. 
 Plates, jugs, tins, &c., £1. 10s. 
 Set of irons, £1. 10s. 
 Total cost, say £35. 
 
 We find in practice, that the working of the industrial school 
 interferes but very slightly with the regular school work, and I 
 believe that our standard of education is considerably higher 
 than in any of the neighbouring schools. We arrange that the 
 twenty-four industrial girls shall take turn (four or five at a 
 time as they are wanted) in the industrial school under the in- 
 dustrial mistress. Each girl receives about six hours' industrial 
 instruction in the course of the week. The cooking consists in 
 preparing dinner twice a week for six of the industrial girls and 
 the mistress, (I allow Is. worth of meat for each dinner, which
 
 18 
 
 with the vegetables and fruit from the garden, with a little rice, 
 is quite sufficient,) in making soup and puddings of various 
 kinds, which are sent out to the sick in tin dishes, and are paid 
 for out of the offertory, and in making twice a week, a number 
 of meat and apple pies, which have a ready sale among the 
 parents of the children. 
 
 The baking gives us no trouble. Twice in the week, about 
 twenty-four loaves of 21b each, are baked, and as we sell them a 
 farthing per loaf cheaper than the baker, there is no difficulty 
 in disposing of them. The quantity is not sufficient to inter- 
 fere with the profits of the baker, but is enough for the pui'pose 
 of instructing the children in the art of making good bread. 
 As for the washing, we take in all we can get. The supply is 
 somewhat uncertain, but we have sometimes earned upwards of 
 30s. a week. My own washing, and that of the school-teachers, 
 is always done at the school, and paid for at the usual rate. 
 
 By the kindness of the architect who was employed for the 
 schools at Shipbourne, (R. G. Suter, Esq., 50, Lansdown Place, 
 Brighton,) I am enabled to append two ground plans for a 
 National and Industrial School, either of which I should con- 
 sider suitable for an agricultural village of 500 or 600 people. 
 
 We will suppose that the school is divided into five classes, 
 each class containing twenty-five children, and that in the main 
 schoolroom there are three groups of three parallel desks, each 
 group accommodating a class. These desks, about 9 ft. 6 in. 
 long, and varying in height from 2 ft. 6 in. to 2 ft., should be 
 moveable, the tops should be flat or slightly sloped, and if made 
 of deal, stained and varnished, ought not to cost more than 155. 
 each. We will also suppose that each class is divided from the 
 one next to it by a curtain of green moreen sliding on an iron 
 rod 5 ft. from the floor, and extending half-way across the room, 
 and that in the owe class-room there are three parallel desks, 
 while in the other there is a square class (intended for infants) 
 consisting of three low benches with backs to them, and a moni- 
 toi-'s stool. All these arrangements I have tested, and have 
 found to be very satisfactory. 
 
 And now, for the convenience of managers who are not prac- 
 tically acquainted with the details of a schoolroom, and who 
 often expect teachers to woi'k without tools, I will add a list of 
 such books and apparatus as would be suitable and sufficient for 
 a school of 125 children : — 
 
 School Apparatus. 
 
 3 swing slates, 18s. 6d. each. j 6 boxes of slate pencils, G</. each. 
 
 2 swing black boards, I5s. each. I 4 boxes of Gillott's pens, No. 351 
 
 12 doz. unframed slates, 2s. per doz. ! and 352, Is. Gel. per box.
 
 19 
 
 6 boxes of prepared chalk, 2^d. per 
 
 box. 
 Rulers and pen-wipers, 50 of each. 
 Martin's Registers, 9s. Sd. 
 
 1st Class. 
 
 25 Bibles, \0d. each. 
 
 25 Prayer Books, 6c?. each. 
 
 25 Neale's or Simpson's History of 
 
 England. 
 25 Robinson Crusoe, 9c?. each. 
 
 Milner and Sotherby, Halifax. 
 12 The Horse Book, 9d. each. 
 
 Hamilton and Co., London. 
 12 Rudimentary Chemistry, by G. 
 
 Fowles, 9d. Weale. 
 25 agricultural class books, ^ ^ 
 
 6id. /-gt 
 
 25 third book, 6fc?. \'St 
 
 25 first arithmetic book, 3hd. J ^ 
 25 grammars. Brown's or Best's 4d. 
 
 each. 
 
 Text Books for the Teacher. 
 
 Grammar, Sullivan's, 9d. 
 
 Arithmetic, Colenso and Hind. 
 
 Geography, Cornwall or Hughes. 
 
 Land measuring, Quested's, 25, 
 Relfe and Fletcher. 
 
 Elements of Perspective. By A. 
 Penley, Is. Windsor and New- 
 ton. 
 
 2nd Class. 
 
 25 Prayer Books. 
 
 25 New Testaments. 
 
 25 Old Testament History. By a 
 
 Country Clergyman. Parts I. 
 
 and II. Price Is. 
 25 ditto. Part III. Price Is. 
 
 25 Bishop Davy's History of Eng- 
 land. Price Is. lid. 
 
 White's arithmetic cards, simple 
 and compound rules, 9d. per 
 packet. 
 
 3rd Class. 
 
 25 Baker's Circle of Knowledge, 
 Gradation I. Price 9d. 
 
 25 second book of lessons, 3c?. 
 (Irish society.) 
 
 White's arithmetic cards, simple 
 rules. 
 
 ith Class. 
 
 25 Bishop Short's Old and New 
 
 Testament History. 
 25 first book for the use of schools, 
 
 Ud- each. S. P. C. K. 
 25 first book of lessons (Irish,) 9d. 
 
 per doz. 
 25 stories for infant schools. 
 An arithmetical frame, 4s. 6c?. 
 
 5th Class. 
 
 Box of letters, 10s. 6d. 
 
 Box of form and colour, lis. 6d. 
 
 Reading disentangled, 9s. mounted. 
 
 Set of Scripture history, coloured, 
 5s. 2f^. 
 
 Set of Scripture manners and cus- 
 toms, 6s. 9c?. 
 
 Tin frames for ditto, 3s. 
 
 45 prints of animals, coloured, 5s. 6d. 
 
 Text books. 
 
 "Line upon Line," and "Peep of 
 Day." 
 
 Besides these articles and books, which, I conceive, should 
 be the property of the managers, the following books should be 
 kept at the school, and purchased by the children at cost price : 
 
 Colenso's arithmetic. Parts I. and 
 
 II., 4d. each. 
 Treatise on mensuration (Irish Soc.) 
 
 5hd. 
 Elements of geometry (Irish Soc.) 
 
 3^d. 
 Spellmg book, Id. 
 Scholar's atlas. Id. 
 
 Geography of England, Ic?. 
 Geography of the Colonies, Ic?. 
 Summary of English History, Ic^. 
 Darnell's copy-books, 2c?. each. 
 Exercise books, 2d. each. 
 Newton's box of drawing instru- 
 ments, 2s. 6d. 
 Paintboxes (Society of Arts,)ls. each.
 
 20 
 
 All the books and articles above-mentioned, may be procured 
 from the National Society's Depository, Sanctuary, Westmins- 
 ter. In making the list, I have looked to economy as well as 
 utility, knowing that many school managers are very hard 
 pressed for funds. This will account for my recommending so 
 many books of the Lnsh Society. I have reckoned, of course, 
 that many of the books will be used by more than one class, e.g. 
 the Bibles, New Testaments, and Old Testament History, will 
 serve for the first three classes in common. There are several 
 books which appear to me to be greatly wanted for farmers' 
 boys in the first class of a good country school, at least I have 
 not been able to meet with any on the following subjects, 
 which are satisfactory in price as well as matter : — agricultural 
 chemistry, as applied to manures ; draining ; modern farm- 
 instruments ; farm building ; and the management and feeding 
 of stock. On each of these subjects, a well-written little trea- 
 tise, costing about 6d., would be a great acquisition ; such books 
 as these should be purchased by the boys, that they may have 
 them to refer to in after years, or to make use of in the evening 
 school. 
 
 The school being duly provided with books, sufficient in 
 quantity and good in quality, the next point to be looked to is 
 good organization, a point in which many teachers lamentably 
 fail — as a rule the children should be divided into classes ac- 
 cording to their proficiency in reading, but no rule is without 
 exceptions, and to make these exceptions judiciously requires a 
 skilful teacher. Another point to which I attach great import- 
 ance, is a system of monthly examinations, followed by a distri- 
 bution of small prizes. It is not the value of a prize that a 
 child cares for, but the satisfaction of obtaining it. Pictures or 
 books, worth from Id. to Id., make good prizes. I have used 
 largely Scripture prints. Old and New Testament series, pub- 
 lished by Parker. They cost about 'Zd. each, and are highly 
 valued by the children, who often frame them and hang them 
 up in their cottages, to the exclusion of some villainous daub. 
 In order to assist us in doing strict justice in these examina- 
 tions, the teacher of each class keeps a daily record of the home 
 lessons — this record is examined, and has great weight in ad- 
 judging the prizes. We also give a small prize for a whole 
 month's perfectly regular attendance. Prizes of the most trivial 
 value, if given on the understanding that they are intended as 
 marks of approbation, will be eagerly sought after, and will have 
 considerable effect in inducing many children to exert them- 
 selves more than they would otherwise do. God governs man- 
 kind by a system of rewards and punishments, and by a com- 
 bination of mercy and justice. The school is a small world, and
 
 21 
 
 the teacher cannot do better than try and govern the children 
 committed to his charge, on principles as far as possible analo- 
 gous with those of God's moral government of the world — the 
 teacher will thus reward or punish without partiality and with- 
 out anger — with justice but with mercy, yea ever inclining, if 
 possible, to the side of mercy, after the example of Him Whose 
 chosen Name is Love. 
 
 Before parting with my I'eaders, I would ask to be allowed 
 to say a few words on Government inspection and Government 
 grants. There exists, I am aware, a strong feeling among some 
 of my clerical brethren against any system of inspection or any 
 interference in any way with local management ; they fear that 
 some day the State may step in and interfere with the teaching 
 of those sacred truths, which they hold to be essential to sal- 
 vation ; they do not, I believe, generally apprehend any im- 
 mediate danger, but they dread the idea of a centralized power 
 which may eventually be exercised to the prejudice of the Church. 
 Now, attached as I am to the Church of England and her doc- 
 trines, I cannot share in this feeling. I see no fear for the 
 Church, if only she rises to her work. She must educate, if she 
 would not have the State step in. Only let her educate in the 
 true sense of the word the masses of the people, and then I have 
 no fear but that she will hold her own either against State in- 
 terference or sectarian hostility. The Church of England's 
 power lies in the affections of the people, and so long as the 
 rising generations are trained in her schools, and owe the know- 
 ledge of Christ to her teaching, I have no fear for her. Why 
 is it, I would ask, that the middle classes in our large towns 
 have so wandered from the Church of their fathers ? Is it not 
 in a great measure, because we have neglected to direct the 
 education of their children ? Once bring a child's mind into 
 contact with a pious and able minister, so as to impress it with 
 the truths of the Gospel and gain its affections, and in ninety- 
 nine cases out of a hundred, that child will continue a member 
 of the Church until the day of its death. If there is some pro- 
 spective danger in accepting State assistance, there seems to me 
 to be a far more real and pressing danger in leaving large masses 
 of people in a state of ignorance, for it is nothing but ignorance 
 that makes them so easy a prey to the Dissenter, the Mormon, 
 the Chartist, or the Infidel. The funds of the Committee of 
 Council are administered I will not say on the best principle, but 
 on the only principle which I believe is possible in a country like 
 ours, which is so divided into religious sects. No one can deny 
 that an immense impulse has been given to voluntary efforts by 
 these Parliamentary grants. The principal objection to my mind 
 against the present systetu is, that the poorest and most ignorant
 
 22 
 
 parts of the country, especially where the parishes are small, 
 receive little or no assistance, not being able to meet the Govern- 
 ment requirements, while richer and well-to-do parishes benefit 
 largely. In large town schools the Capitation money amounts 
 to a considerable sum, but in small agricultural parishes it seldom 
 amounts to more than £3 or £4. The required attendance of 
 one hundred and seventy-six days is very high for a country 
 parish, when we take into account the great and increasing de- 
 mand for juvenile labour, and the many contingences by which 
 a regular attendance is prevented. I might mention, as an in- 
 stance to show the uncertainty of obtaining a Capitation grant, 
 that two following years at Shipbourne, we have been forced to 
 close the school, owing to the prevalence of some epidemic dis- 
 ease, and as no allowance is ever made for such emergencies, we 
 of course forfeited the greater part of the Capitation grant for 
 each of those years. I would venture to suggest that some de- 
 duction from the required attendance should be made, where a 
 school is closed by the order of the medical ojBBcer of the district. 
 If a few modifications were made in the existing minutes 
 principally with a view of giving assistance to poor parishes, 
 I do not see how Parliamentary grants can be administered 
 in a more just, or less objectionable form ; our wisdom, I 
 believe, speaking as a minister of the Church of England, is to 
 take all that we can get in the way of State assistance, and, 
 while we keep in our own hands the superintendence of the 
 religious instruction, to adapt the secular teaching to the prac- 
 tical wants and requirements of our respective parishes. Since 
 the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet, the Com- 
 mittee of Council, while on the one hand they have (very un- 
 wisely in my opinion) rigidly restricted the number of pupil- 
 teachers to the proportion of one to every forty scholars, have 
 on the other hand made a valuable concession in allowing young 
 persons of sixteen years old and upwards to be apprenticed as 
 pupil-teachers for two years (on condition of passing the third 
 )'ear examination) at a salary of £17. 10s. for the first year, and 
 £20 for the second. The efiect of this minute will be to draw 
 into the teacher^s office many young persons of a higher grade, 
 who have been educated in private schools, but who, out of real 
 love for the work, are anxious to be engaged in teaching and to 
 receive that systematic instruction in the art, which can only be 
 obtained in the training schools. Persons of this class are, to 
 my mind, far better suited for the office of elementary teachers 
 than the children of labourers, who are usually apprenticed 
 at thirteen years old, an age at which it is scarcely possible for 
 them to know their own minds, or to have manifested any pecu- 
 liar fitness for their future vocation. Owing to the early age
 
 23 
 
 of apprenticeship, and to insufficient care in the selection of can- 
 didates, we frequently meet with ex-pupil-teachers and Queen 
 scholars, who have no natural turn for their profession, and who, 
 whatever their mental attainments may be, will never make effi- 
 cient teachers. When such young persons take to some other 
 employment I consider it a great public gain. We want as 
 teachers none but those who love teaching, and in my humble 
 opinion the combined influence of earnest, hard-working clergy, 
 and of well-educated teachers of a cheerful and loving disposition 
 will always fill a school, provided that the education offered is 
 of such a character, that the parents can see the benefit, which 
 their children derive from it. It was a saying of the great Dr. 
 Chalmers, that " a house-going parson will make a church-going 
 people.^' It is equally true, that a house-going parson will 
 make school-going children. 
 
 When we plead with the parents for their children's good we 
 have a strong hold on them. In the midst of much ignorance 
 and apathy natural affection still exists, and if carefully worked 
 upon, will arouse the parents to an amount of self-denial, of 
 which we should not have thought them capable. In the matter 
 of education, as in all other matters, let us deal with the poor 
 gently yet firmly ; gently, because we, to whom God from our 
 youth up has given every luxury, can never fully enter into the 
 privation and self-denial, which is necessarily involved when a 
 labourer keeps his children at school instead of sending them to 
 work ; firmly, because we feel, that a child, left to itself, will not 
 only bring its parents to shame, but will probably prove the pest 
 of the village. 
 
 The only lever which can move the "vis inertise" of the 
 parents is love, love to them and to their children for Christ's 
 sake. Let us go forth in a loving spirit to win souls, and then 
 as by a side wind we shall fill our schools. As time goes on, I 
 am the more and more convinced, that the whole tone and 
 " animus" of a parish may be altered in a very few years by 
 vigilant attention to the school, but I confess that I am not alto- 
 gether sure, whether we are quite right in relieving the parents 
 of so large a share of that responsibility which naturally devolve 
 on them, or that Scripture gives us any express sanction for 
 doing so. It is a grave responsibility to take the parent's place 
 even for a time and with their consent. We ought to feel it an 
 unnatural position, and to endeavour to remedy the evil of it as 
 far as possible by continually referring the child back to the 
 wishes and authority of its father or mother. 
 
 If teachers would inculcate a deeper reverence for parental 
 authority, studiously placing the authority of the parents above 
 their own, (from which it is in truth derived) the parents would
 
 24 
 
 in return, I believe, support the teacher's authority more care- 
 fully than they are apt to do. It is a great point in any school 
 to enlist the sympathy and support of the parents. I strongly 
 object to the practice of many schools in fining the parents for 
 the non-attendance of the children, for surely the parents have 
 a perfect right to their children's services whenever they require 
 them ; such a practice I believe to be wrong in principle, and if 
 so, in the long run it will never pay. The eleemosynary cha- 
 racter of our National schools should, I think, as far as possible 
 be kept out of sight ; indeed I should prefer to drop the title of 
 "National" school, and to adopt that of "Parochial" school. 
 Our object is not to pauperize the poor, or to lower them in their 
 own estimation by offering their children a free education, but 
 to raise their social condition and to give them a proper feeling 
 of independence by teaching them, that there is nothing mean 
 or debasing in manual toil — that hard work and the sweat of 
 the brow is of God's appointment, and that the honest Christian 
 labourer is worthy of our highest esteem. Bo we not read, that 
 " many that are first shall be last, and the last first ?" Let us 
 bear this in mind, and remember in all our dealings with the 
 poor, that many of them will one day fill a higher position than 
 ourselves. Viewed in this Christian light the children of the poor 
 will occupy a higher place in our estimation as fellow-members 
 in the same mystical body of Christ. For the love of Christ, 
 for the love of souls, let us be zealous and patient in feeding the 
 lambs of the fold, ever mindful of those touching words, which 
 doubtless sank deep into the Apostle's heart — " Lovest thou Me ? 
 feed My Iambs." 
 
 JOSEPH MASTERS XST) CO., PRINTERS, ALDERSGATE STREET.
 
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