admitted into union. Yet it is said that this bill is to provide education, and religious education, to those who cannot now get it. I wish to know how any Roman Catholic or Protestant Dissenter, sending his child to a Church of England school in union, can procure there religious instruction for that child? Do you think that any one living in a parish where a school under this bill is set up, wishing, as most persons do, a religious education for their children, and being taxed for an establishment from which their children derived no benefit of that sort, will pay the tax with pleasure? I repeat that, in my opinion, this will be just as great a source of heartburning as the Church-rate now is. Take the above case of a Roman Catholic school being set up, supported by this common rate; in such a contingency, is the feeling of the country such as to lead us to suppose that the rate will be pleasantly paid under such circumstances? I think not; and therefore, while the bill must fail to give religious instruction, it will at the same time create a cause of great irritation and heartburning in this country. Every one will admit, that many of the towns in the kingdom, having 4,000 or 5,000 or more inhabitants, enjoy the benefit at present of two schools, one being a national school for children belonging to the Church of England, the other a school of the British and Foreign Society for the children not belonging to the Church of England. How would the bill work in such a case? The British school has no distinctive religious teaching, and the Church of England school has, and cannot depart from it, in most cases, without a breach of faith. The bill proposes, if the Church of England school desire to take the benefit of the rate, to give power to the school-committee to send into that school any child, at the wish of the parents; and to compel the authorities of the school to receive the child, and at the same time give to him no religious education. Such a provision would most unjustly place the managers of the school in a painful dilemma. They must either violate their consciences, by giving up the principle of the teaching in the Church of England schools, or they must consent to be taxed without deriving any benefit from the impost. That is essentially unjust, and I conceive it to be a principle of this bill, and I do not see how it can possibly be amended. Moreover, I believe that it is utterly impossible for rate-supported schools and voluntary schools to co-exist. On this point I will read the opinion of Sir J. Kay Shuttleworth, a man most capable of forming a judgment with respect to it. It would be difficult to conceive that any man of Parliamentary experience could gravely propose that local municipal boards should be invested with power to establish rate-supported schools in every parish, with whatever constitution, to the inevitable destruction of the schools of religious communions.' I do not mean to say what that statement is worth: but Sir J. Kay Shuttleworth is considered a great authority on this matter; and as that gentleman has made statements with respect to the expenditure required for a certain object, and with respect to the destruction of the schools of religious communions, it is right and fair to make use of them. In America also I have understood that the rate-supported schools have nearly extinguished the private schools. Therefore I conceive that one of the first effects of the bill will be to knock down all existing schools, by drying up the sources of their income. Let the House consider how this will bear upon the small schools in the rural districts, where from twenty to thirty or forty boys and girls receive instruction. Under a great national system, such as the one proposed, these small schools would be swept away; and the new district schools will probably be so inconveniently situated, that the children cannot go to them on account of the distance from their homes. Thus a much larger number of children will be left uneducated than at the present moment. My right hon. friend has assumed that the Church schools, a great number of which are in connection * The number of schools in union with the National Society alone, as stated in their report, 1853, is 10,200. The whole number of Church Schools is stated in the appendix to be 23,600, accommodating 1,500,000 children. The money advanced by the Society since its foundation is 355,000. The records of the Society show that the expenditure of individuals in conjunction with the grants of the Society, from 1840 to 1854, has been 1,022,1127. The average rate of annual expenditure by individuals appears, between 1840 and 1850, to have been 71,000. The average annual grants of the Society, from 1811 to 1850, has been 8,000. The Society have no record of the amount expended by individuals before 1840. If it may be assumed to have been at the same proportion to the Society's grants as that between 1840 and 1850, the amount expended by individuals would be no less than 2,130,000l. in that period, as shown below. Total subscribed by Society from 1811 to 1854. Total recorded expenditure by individuals between 1840 and 1854. The same rate assumed from 1811 to 1840 355,0007. 1,022,1127. 2,130,000%. 3,507,1127. Total expended on schools in connection more or less direct with the Society. No inconsiderable sum to be dealt with as proposed by this bill. The average annual grants of the Society from 1850 to 1854 have been 9,0001. more or less with religious societies, will accept the terms the bill offers to go into union. In that respect my right hon. friend is, no doubt, wholly in error;* and so strongly does my right hon. friend appear to feel this difficulty, that he has thought it necessary to introduce a most extraordinary clause into this bill, which professes to have for its object to increase religion, and consequently morality among the people. The clause to which I allude, is one providing that persons committing breaches of trust shall not be amenable to the Court of Chancery for such conduct. That shows that the persons who framed the bill found an obstacle in the way of their plan as to Church schools, which they thus desired to remove. They tempt the managers of schools to join them by the offer of a large sum of money, and they say to them that, if their consciences were at all tender and shocked at committing a breach of the solemn engagements under which their schools were founded, they should at all events be relieved from all legal consequences by the effect of the clause I have referred to. I confess that it appears to me a very odd mode of increasing the morality of the people, to propose a provision to enable persons to commit with impunity an immoral act." Correspondence. [The Committee of the National Society are thankful for any communication likely to assist SchoolManagers and Teachers, or otherwise promote the work of Church Education; but they do not necessarily hold themselves responsible for the opinions of the Editor's correspondents.] To the Editor of the National Society's Monthly Paper. NOTES ON OUR LORD'S MIRACLES. VII. The Demoniacs in the country of the Gadarenes. viii. 26-39; Matt. viii. 28-34. Mark v. 1-20; see also Luke As they land after the storm, a demoniac, who has watched the approaching vessel from the cliffs that overhang the lake, runs down to meet them, intent on mischief. But his purpose is checked by the word of Christ before he reaches them (" afar off"). On hearing His voice, the wretched man runs to Him and falls at His feet. But the unclean spirits by which he is possessed recognise in Christ, as others have done (Mark i. 24 and 34), the destroyer of their kingdom. Seeing that their time is come, they pray that, if they must be cast out of the man, they may be allowed to enter a herd of swine which is feeding at some distance on the side of the mountain. This is permitted; and the herd, seized by a sudden frenzy, rush over the cliffs into the sea. The miracle has an exactly opposite effect on the restored demoniac and on the people of Gadara, to whom news of what has happened is carried by the frightened herdsmen. He cannot bear to be parted from his deliverer. They fear to have Jesus Christ among them, and beg Him to depart. He takes them at their word and leaves them. 1. "The country of the Gadarenes" stretched along the southern end of the lake of Gennesareth, east of Jordan. The city of Gadara itself was some miles distant from the shore, situate on the river Hieromax, a tributary of the Jordan. It was the capital of Peræa. Its extensive ruins now bear the name of Om-keis. Numerous sepulchral excavations have been observed by travellers in the neighbouring hills. 2. "Out of the tombs." The tombs of the Jews were either natural caverns, or chambers hewn by art out of the rock, such as the cave of Macpelah, the grave of Lazarus, &c. They were generally at some distance from their cities, and are frequently used as residences by the modern inhabitants of Palestine. In the neighbourhood of Om-keis Messrs. Irby and Mangles passed the night in one which was occupied by a family and their cattle, large enough to contain twenty or thirty persons. But under the Mosaic law a man must have lost every sense of propriety to have adopted such a residence. Even to touch a dead body (Numb. xix. 11) or to walk over a grave by accident (Luke xi. 44) involved pollution. This insensibility shows the moral degradation of the man. Doubtless in these dark and lonely caverns his gloomy temper found a congenial home. "A man." From St. Matthew it seems that he had a companion, another demoniac, not mentioned by St. Luke or St. Mark, perhaps from being less violent, or a person of less importance than the other, who was known as the man" that had the Legion" (v. 15). The man is evidently a maniac. He resembles one in many points: in his aversion to mankind ("always night and day in the mountains and in the tombs"); in his wild cries and shrieks (v. 5; see also "loud voice," v. 7); in his enormous muscular strength (v. 4); in his habit of tearing his clothes (" naked," St. Luke); in the violence *The Forty-second Report of the National Society, 1853, p. xix., seems to show that the terms of union, viz. "imposing Church teaching," were generally observed. with which he attacked every one who came near him ("no man could pass by that way," St. Matt.). He has lost even the instinct of self-preservation, and inflicts frightful wounds on his own body (v. 5). But his affliction is more than insanity; he is under the power of evil spirits. The conflicts he has passed through, before they gained the mastery over him, have deranged his mind. "He ran.' "" One moment he flies to Christ, the next he endeavours to escape from Him. "What have I to do with Thee ?" In every thing he says and does, two conflicting principles are seen at work; his own will, and the will of the spirits that have power over him. "And worshipped Him," i. e. prostrated himself before Him in homage; perhaps under a twofold impulse; the evil spirits in fear before their Judge, the man recognising his Deliverer and imploring His aid. "Jesus." He knows both our Lord's name and His nature: "Thou Son of the most high God" (see Mark iii. 11). "Torment me not." The evil spirits use him as their mouth-piece. Any thing that relieves the man is torment to them. 8. "What is thy name?" Our Lord would bring the man to himself. He is restored gradually, as light was restored on another occasion (Mark viii. 22). But he answers incoherently, confounding himself with the spirits which have power over him. In like manner he prays for them (v. 7), and speaks of himself sometimes in the singular, sometimes in the plural (v. 9). Like Mary Magdalen (Mark xvi. 9), he was possessed by more than one spirit. 9. "Legion," a division of the Roman army containing 5000 men. He was wont to be assaulted by a swarm of sinful thoughts. 10. "Not send them out of the country," out of their permitted residence on earth; not "into the deep" (Luke), i. e. the region where evil spirits are confined (Jude i. 6), "before the time" (Matt. viii. 29), i. e. before the day of judgment. 13. "Gave them leave." Our Lord shows He has power to destroy as well as to save. The keeping of swine was forbidden by the law (Lev. xi. 7). 15. "They see him sitting." To sit at the feet was the position of a disciple (see Luke x. 39; Acts xxii. 3). How great a change! Lately they knew him, a raving madman, naked, unclean, hating the sight of men, the terror of the neighbourhood; now gentle, social, clothed, a learner in the kingdom of heaven, at the feet of Christ. Our Saviour has power, not only to appease the strife of the elements, but to calm the worse confusion of a disordered mind. -"And they were afraid," like Simon Peter (Luke v. 8), seeing the glory of God in that miracle. But, unlike Peter, they chose rather to lose Christ than to part with their sin. 17" They began to pray Him to depart." This was "contempt of God's word," from which we pray to be delivered. 19. "Go home,"-others were bidden to leave their home (Matt. iv. 21),-" and tell them;" others were enjoined silence (Matt. viii. 4; Mark v. 43). There probably was a danger lest this man should relapse into melancholy, and fall again under the dominion of evil spirits (Matt. xii. 45). He is therefore bidden to live with his friends, and given a task to do. 20. "In Decapolis." The region of the ten cities, lying east of the Sea of Galilee. Of these cities Gadara was chief. H. W. T. NOTES OF A LESSON ON GLASS.* I. Description of appearance, &c.—Manufactured substance-transparent-white, green, or coloured-extremely brittle-impermeable-when heated flexible, tenacious, and ductile. II. Invention of manufacture.-Probably by accident: crew of a ship laden with nitre landed near Acre; when dressing their food, placed the cooking vessels on blocks of nitre; over a fire of seaweed, heat melted the nitre-this fused with the sand and produced a stream of (partly) transparent matter-the first glass. III. Antiquity of the discovery.-Articles of glass have been found in the ancient ruined cities of Egypt-was known to the Tyrians-to the Chinese, an antique glass vase (from China) in the British Museum-used by the Romans-found in the remains of Herculaneum. The Venetians obtained great riches from its production. Manufactured in England in the sixteenth century—of high value and great rarity-glazed windows were removed from the casements and packed in boxes when a family removed * Illustrated by Griffin's large diagram of 'Glass Works,' price 2s., at the National Society's Depôt, from town to country. Although a very ancient art, its numerous and beautiful adaptations of recent origin. IV. Materials employed.-Chiefly three articles-(a) sand, (b) an alkali, and (c) lime; the last used as a flux to unite the others. (a) Sand a substitute for flint-hence silicious sand only suitable-supplied only from certain districts. Brought occasionally from Australia and America-principally procured from Alum Bay (I. W.), King's Lynn, and its vicinity. (b) The alkali may be soda, potash, or pearlash. Soda procured from vegetableashes-plants grown near the sea. Potash-sediment deposited by water in which ashes of plants have been soaked. Pearlash-similar to potash, more refined by washing, evaporation, and roasting. V. Process of manufacture.-These materials compounded in proper proportionput into crucibles or furnaces—intense heat applied-fused-purified-in two days and nights becomes transparent-cooled down to consistency of paste-ready for the work man. Principal varieties produced, five-plate, crown, flint, broad, and bottle. Flint.-Formerly flints were used-now sand or nitrate and siliciate of leadwith pearlash; great weight-superior density, hence best for telescopes; very brilliant, often called crystal. Plate-Manufactured in large plates. From sand, soda, lime, nitre, and old plate-glass. When fused and purified, poured upon tables-rolled into sheets by iron rollers. Placed in annealing oven for fourteen days-very gradually cooled to overcome its brittleness. (This is done to all glass.) Next cut, ground with powdered flint to remove roughness-polished with cloth rollers and oxide of iron. Crown, or German sheet-glass-best sort of common window-glass. Harder and lighter than others. From sand, kelp, lime, crown-glass; sometimes pearlash or soda substituted for kelp. Formed into circular plates by blowing and whirling -the knot in the centre the point joined to the rod. Broad, or common window-glass-of cheaper and coarser material-blown in cylindrical form-cut open-spread into flat plate. Bottle.-Cheapest materials-often from sea-sand and lime only-salt supplies the place of the alkali. VI. Localities of manufactories in England.-Newcastle-on-Tyne, Shields, Stourbridge (Worcestershire), Ravenhead (Liverpool), Bristol, Warrington, Birmingham, Leeds, and Lambeth. VII. Applications.-Most useful and beautiful material for glazing windows—excluding cold, rain, snow, and storm, while admitting light and sunshine. Compare a home of the olden time and one of our own day-the superior comfort of the cottage now in this respect to the lordly castle of that time. Draw out the uses to which it is applied in science-in optical instruments-in domestic purposes, supplying elegant, wholesome, and clean vessels of various kinds-in ornament-stained windows of cathedrals, abbeys, and churches: "The windows richly dight, Casting a dim, religious light" over these sacred edifices, and greatly enhancing their beauty. Artificial gems-of paste-a composition of glass containing much oxide. In looking-glasses, &c. ON TEACHING WRITING. W. J. L. SIR,-In reply to J. L. in your last Number, who asks for a little instruction as to the best method of teaching writing; whether from a line written on the black-board, or from a line written in each copy; and how much should be written by each child in a week, I beg to make the following remarks, if you think them worthy a place in your paper. I believe the best method with copy-books is, for the teacher to write a line across every page for the children to imitate. This plan, however, in the case of large schools, becomes burdensome-takes up too much of the teacher's time, consequently has to give way to some other. The black-board plan perhaps is tried next; a line or two is written across it, for each and all the class to copy from. This plan, it is soon found, brings a host of difficulties; all the children do not require the same hand at the same time-some want small-hand, some text, and perhaps some only combinations of simple letters; thus two or three copies will be wanted. It is also difficult to manage for every child to begin at the top of the page every time it begins to write; without this, however, the book will not look nice, that is, if fresh copies are begun any where on the page. But the worst difficulty I believe to be, that children feel it a great trouble to notice properly copies written on the black-board. As soon as they get one line written across their books, they feel themselves relieved; for then they can comfortably dispense with the black-board, and write from their own perhaps very imperfectly-written copy, with additional imperfections in every line until they reach the bottom of the page. Another plan is to buy books with copies engraven across each page ready for use. This plan also brings its difficulties; but I must confess, I have yet to learn any better method where large numbers have to be considered. The quantity I think children should write in a week in those books is about 30 lines, that is, three lessons of about 10 lines each; in addition to which, each child, as soon as possible, should have a dictation-book, quite plain, in which about two lessons may be written of 10 or 12 lines each. Then the slate should be used in three ways at least: 1stly, for dictation, say two or three lessons a week: 2dly, for transcribing from books occasionally: 3dly, by the teacher making first a single letter on the black-board, the children making as many copies of it as will take up one line across the slate: then the teacher may make another, perhaps an easy combination of two or more-then more difficult ones-then whole words, &c.; giving what explanation concerning the formation of the various letters he may see necessary. This last method J. L. will find a very efficient one if he tries it in earnest. It also has this advantage, that a good number can be exercised at once if there be a sufficient supply of parallel desks.—I am, &c. JOHN WILSON. PROVISION FOR OLD AGE. SIR,-Permit me, as briefly as possible, to correct the error contained in my letter of last month, which was written under a wrong impression,-and to prevent any ill result likely to be produced. Since the publication of the letter referred to, I have ascertained that in the Government Annuity Table No. 2 (from which I extracted the example given in my former letter), the whole of the money paid by the Annuitant is returned at any time it may be desired, or at death, if in either case that should be previous to the commencement of such annuity. It seems inexplicable how the Secretary of the Savings' Bank and myself could have fallen into such an error as to suppose that nothing was returned by Government in case of premature death. It proves, however, that some of those parties (whom it would be supposed ought to know) are but little acquainted with the provisions made by Government. As my only motive in writing to you last month was a desire to do good, I gladly correct my former mistake; and I now recommend, I hope without any fear of again committing an error, the Government Annuities to the consideration of the members of our profession. I remain, &c. PUPIL-TEACHERS' PERIOD OF TRAINING. Αλφα. SIR,-Amongst many other evils, resulting from the working of the Committee of Council, complained of by Sir J. Pakington, when moving for leave to bring in a Bill for the better encouragement and promotion of education, is that of Pupil-teachers, at the expiration of their apprenticeship, relinquishing their profession for more lucrative employments. In reference to this, it is justly observed by the Rev. the Principal of St. Mark's College, in his letter to Sir J. Pakington, that "these have done the work for which they were engaged, and for which they have been by no means overpaid." It must be acknowledged that the Committee of Council, in fulfilling the high responsibilities imposed upon them, have no very easy duty to perform; and that, whilst they are equally anxious to promote the education of the people, to encourage the industrious teacher by duly remunerating him for his labour, and at the same time to avoid prodigality in the expenditure of the public money, they may, like any other men, occasionally fall into an error of judgment, and defeat the principal object they have in view. Several reasons have by different individuals been assigned for pupil-teachers' betaking themselves to other employments as soon as they were at liberty to do so; but in all probability nothing has contributed more to the evil in question than the Minute of the Committee of Council of August 1853, by which they were compelled, after toiling for five years in their respective schools, to reside in a training institution two years, instead of one, as formerly named (no matter what their skill as teachers, or their personal attainments may be), on pain of being deprived of the possibility of obtaining a higher certificate than that of a 1st division, 3d class, during seven years after their departure from the training college; so that they must either consent to remain two years in the institution, subject, even in the case of those holding a Queen's Scholarship, to a serious |