Such being some of the objects aimed at in a good education, the means by which those objects are to be secured may be arranged under the two heads of instruction and training. It is the business of the elementary teacher, not only to furnish his scholars with as much secular and religious instruction as they are able to receive, but also to train them up in the habits of religion and morality.

Under the head of secular instruction must be included the following particulars:

1. The children should be taught to read with fluency and precision, to write in a fair running hand without lines, and to work with rapidity and ease any sum in the first and most necessary rules of arithmetic.

2. They should be made in some degree acquainted with their own language, with the pronunciation, composition, and meaning of words, with the elements of grammar, with the simplest rules of composition; and they should be accustomed to express themselves well, by reciting the substance of the lessons which they have read.

3. They should learn something of the objects which surround them, beginning with the nearest and the most familiar. All objects which can be presented to the sight or touch may be usefully employed as the means of instruction. Their own clothes may lead them to inquire into the different kinds of clothing, with all the processes by which wool, silk, and cotton, &c. &c., are brought into use. The little payments which they witness at home and at school may lead the master to teach them the use of money, the value of various coins, and the simplest principles of trade. The school-hours and the days of the week may lead them to notice whatever is most useful to them respecting the division of time, from moments to centuries. They may be made to learn the indications of the hands on the face of a clock, or of the shadow on a sun-dial, the chief phenomena of the four seasons, the names of months, the length of some historical periods, and especially the time which has elapsed since the birth of our Saviour and since the creation of the world. Their school-room and the houses around them may suggest the uses of clay and stone, of wood and glass, with the various ways in which houses are constructed in this and in other countries. They may be made to measure their school-room, their desks, their play-ground, learn something of distances, from the inch to the diameter of the earth, and to the distances of the sun and fixed stars; and then they may proceed to measure planes and solids.

Further, they may be taught to notice the different flowers, seeds, trees, woods, birds, fishes, and quadrupeds of their neighbourhood or county, with the uses of each. If a hill rises near the town in which they live, it may give occasion of inquiry into the character of the various rocks, quarries, mines, and metals in their county, and in the different countries in the world. If a river flows through the neighbourhood, they may be made to trace it on the map to its source, learn how it is formed, into what sea it empties its waters, how farit is navigable, and what is the actual amount of navigation upon it; and thence be led to inquire what other rivers there are in England, Europe, and the world, with their comparative magnitudes, their courses, the mountains from which they flow, and the cities which are built upon their banks. The bread and other vegetables which they eat may lead to an enumeration of the vegetable products of the county, the processes of husbandry, the difference of soils, the use of sunshine and shower, and the effect of various latitudes; whence they may further learn from what countries they obtain tea, sugar, raisins, figs, oranges, and other spices, fruits, and vegetables, with which they are familiar. A thousand objects round them, chairs, tables, beds, clothes, and carpets, may induce them to examine the principal manufactures of the neighbourhood, the countries from which the raw materials are derived, the processes by which they are worked into articles of such use and beauty, the numbers maintained by that trade, the various other trades of their country, and the use of capital, of machinery, and of labour, The question how their town is supplied with food and furniture, may lead them to examine the various modes of conveyance, the use of roads, canals and railroads, with the numbers of each in England and elsewhere; and this subject may further lead them to investigate the commerce of the nearest sea-port town, its exports and imports, its ships, the difference between wind and steam navigation, the use of the

compass, the situations of various foreign countries with which the English trade, and the positions of the great maritime cities of Europe and of the world.

Having thus become familiar with the maps of England, Scotland, and Ireland, of Europe, and of the world, they may next learn the form and magnitude of the earth, its place in the planetary system, and something of the size of the universe of which that system forms a part.

4. Another subject to which their attention may be turned, is cottage economy; especially how they may economise-first, in the purchase of fuel, food and dress, and secondly, in their use. By purchasing in small quantities, and by being compelled, through debt, to go to one shop only for any article which they purchase, the poor are said frequently to lose much both in the quantity, quality, and price of what they buy, so as often to pay thirty per cent. more than would be paid by prudent purchasers. Some also on the verge of pauperism pay immense interest to the pawnbroker for the use of a little money; and numbers consume in beer or spirits, to the injury of their health, large sums which would materially increase their comforts at home.

By becoming acquainted with these and similar facts, children may early learn the folly of drinking ardent spirits, and of running into debt; may be led to exchange the gin shop for the savings'-bank or the provident society; and may study the various contrivances by which the cost of their maintenance may be lessened and their physical comforts be therefore multiplied.

5. Children should also be taught to take care of their health. Many of the poor lose their strength by a meagre and insufficient diet, while they yet find money for intoxicating liquors. Many become sickly by inhabiting cellars which are close, obscure, and placed near offensive drains, when they might obtain at the same cost light and airy garrets. Some, whose occupations are sedentary, injure themselves by never taking sufficient exercise, and others, who work in hot rooms have their health destroyed by breathing an exhausted atmosphere, which is unfit for respiration; while multitudes increase the malignity of every malady which attacks them, by the neglect of cleanliness and the disregard of ventilation. From these mischiefs the working classes may in a great measure be protected, if, while they are yet children, they are made fully sensible how costly sickness is; how it destroys the enjoyment of life; that health is an invaluable blessing, and that cleanliness, temperance, good food, good air, and adequate exercise, are necessary for its preservation.

6. In the next place the children of the manufacturing districts should know something of the history of their country; by what means it has reached its present opulence and prosperity, the growth of our liberties, the progress of popular education, the principal institutions of the country, the form of government under which we live, the reason and necessity of obedience to the laws, the rights of property, which are indeed the rights of industry, and the mutual interests of masters and workmen.

7. To these different branches of knowledge some schools have added drawing, singing, and music; all which studies, besides other advantages, tend to make children love the school and pursue their studies with greater alacrity.

8. In addition to all the other knowledge which they may acquire, girls should especially be taught to knit and sew well, to cut out their own clothes and to make them; and when any number of children in a school are likely to become domestic servants, they should be taught the duties of that employment in detail.

While thus instructed in secular knowledge, the children should have such direct religious instruction as theycan comprehend. They should be made by their teachers to know the proofs that the Bible contains a revelation of the will of God, the books of which it is composed, their authors, with the times and places where they lived. They should learn the chief facts recorded in its narratives, the situations of the places where they occurred, and their dates. They should be able to state in their own words the plainest and most important doctrines of the Bible, with proofs from Scripture, and the chief precepts by which their conduct is to be governed; they should be made to remark the chief recorded interpositions of the Almighty, both in judgment and in mercy, as marking the character of His government, or illustrating His Divine attributes; and they should be familiar with the various

VOL. XIII.

2 P

instances in Scripture in which sin led to punishment, and in which piety secured happiness.

There is also much instruction of a mixed character, involving equally their duty and their present happiness, which a good teacher would not fail to offer them.

Those things which I have elsewhere noticed that it is the business of education to lead children to do; the teacher must communicate to them repeatedly and in detail. He should detail to them in a thousand particulars their duty to their parents, to their master, to each other, and to their fellow-creatures generally. He should teach them that they must controul their angry passions, be kind to little children, attentive to the aged, respectful to females, obliging to one another, and merciful to animals. He should teach them that it is the will of God that they should be temperate in eating and drinking, avoid indecent language, and be modest in all their conduct. He should teach them that it is the will of God that they should be industrious, to maintain themselves, and to aid their parents; that while giving to benevolent objects they should yet endeavour to lay up money while they are young. He should show them, that if God has ordained that they should labour, it may make them vigorous both in body and mind; that if He sends them sickness, it is to make them more patient and pious; if He allows them to wrestle with difficulties, it is to form them into finer characters; and that in all emergencies they should depend for their happiness, first, on God, and next, on their own industry, intelligence, good character, resolution and fortitude.

Thus instructed, the children of a good school are prepared for the moral and religious training which it affords. It is the business of a good master to exercise them as much as possible in all those tempers and habits which he instructs them to cultivate; to lead them to act according to the truths which they receive, and to obey the precepts which they have learned. The violation of any Christian temper, the neglect of any duty, the breach of any Divine commandment, an instance of disrespect to a parent, an act of gluttony, a lie, a quarrel, a petty theft, an injustice towards a companion, or any form of malevolence or cruelty may be the subject of animadversion, and of such mild and considerate punishment as may make the offender ashamed and penitent. On the other hand, all acts of duty, and all instances of Christian principle, generosity, and kindness, may be commended and held up to imitation. When the children read the Scriptures, the master may see that they do it seriously; when they kneel down for prayer, that they at least abstain from levity; and from time to time he may enforce upon the conscience of each child separately the need of secret prayer, and of devout examination of the Scriptures. A master may further show the children a pattern of all the tempers and habits which he commends. He may call in the aid of parental authority, by. visiting them at their houses, not only in sickness but in health, to beg their parents to assist him in the cultivation of their mind and habits; while all these efforts of the master may be materially aided by the patrons and visitors of schools, showing that they take an interest in the intellectual and moral advancement of the children, sometimes by hearing them their lessons, sometimes by addressing them on their duties, and sometimes by visiting them at their houses.

I have now to report to your Lordships how far these objects are effected, not for nearly one-sixth of the whole population of the cotton district in Lancashire, which would be educated if they were in New England or Prussia, but for the one thirty-fourth who are educated in fact; not for the 108,000 of the five great towns before-mentioned, who ought to be in the elementary day-schools, but for the 20,000 who are in them. And for this purpose I will examine first, the instruction given in these schools, and then the moral and religious training.

The great majority of the patrons and conductors of the National and Lancasterian schools which I visited, only profess to teach the children reading, writing, and arithmetic. The knowledge of the English language, natural history, geography, physiology, and the history of their country, are all excluded subjects. Upon none of those could I examine the children generally, because their teachers professed the total ignorance of the children respecting them. If occasionally I heard that Liverpool was an island, that Lancashire was one of the great towns of England, and that Asia and America were chief countries of Europe, I was led to expect this.

In

If I heard such grammatical inaccuracies as those contained in the following answers to questions put by me-" Them as is good goes to heaven"-"The men as was gazing up into heaven”—“ He drownded the whole world,”—these were mistakes which the teacher did not undertake to correct. But unhappily, many of the schools were very unsuccessful in teaching what they profess to teach, several of those which I examined, many children of the highest classes were unable to read fluently even in the New Testament; words were often mistaken, stops were misplaced, small words were omitted so as to destroy the sense, and many of the children were unable to spell even short and common words occurring in the lesson.

In some of the girls' schools very few of the children could write, and the writing was very bad; while even in the boys' schools, where more attention is paid to this important art, there were very few boys, and in very few schools, who had attained to a good running-hand without the aid of lines. In several of the girls' schools, the children do not learn arithmetic at all. The masters of the boys' schools always profess to teach it, but I found the boys sometimes exceedingly defective in their knowledge of even the earliest and simplest rules. In one National school in a large town and a populous neighbourhood, I found only six boys capable of working a short sum in simple multiplication, and five out of the six brought a wrong answer. In another, where 167 were present, I found only twelve who professed to understand compound addition; and when I set these a sum in simple multiplication to work separately, one of the twelve brought a right answer, seven brought wrong answers, two worked it so slowly that they could not finish it, and two could not even begin to work it.

But it was in their understanding of the Scriptures, daily read, that I regretted to find the most advanced children of the National-schools so extremely defective, Not only were they often ignorant of the principal facts recorded in the Bible, but they could not answer even the simplest questions upon the chapters which they had most recently read. Nor was their religious ignorance lessened by their knowledge of the catechism. I several times examined the first classes upon a portion of the catechism, and I never once found them to comprehend it. Indeed, to those who consider how they generally read the Scriptures and repeat the catechism, their ignorance appears to be a very natural result. Usually the first class reads one or two chapters of the Bible daily to the master or monitor. In the first case they would probably have such short questions on what they read as the general superintendence of the school would allow; in the other, none.

It is to the monitors also that the catechism is daily repeated, the class repeating it again and again till the prescribed half hour is completed.

Both in reading the Scriptures to the monitors, and in repeating the catechism, the children showed a marked inattention and weariness, occasionally varied, when the master's eye was not upon them, by tokens of a roguish merriment. With the very best intentions, those who have adopted the system of the National School Society have, in many cases, admitted into their schools, nothing for the elder children except the Bible, small volumes of extracts from it, and the catechism; and the effects seem to me most unfortunate. All the books on subjects with which children are most familiar being excluded from the school, that thirst for variety which for the wisest purposes has been implanted by the Creator in the minds of children, finding no gratification, their faculties are stunted in their growth, and they sink into an inert listlessness. Nothing can exceed the contrast between the eagerness of the children in a well-taught school and the apathy manifested in most of these National-schools. But this is not the worst effect of making the Bible the only class book. Being thus made the medium through which reading and spelling are taught, it becomes associated in their minds with all the rebukes and punishments to which bad reading, or false spelling, or inattention in class exposes them; and it is well, if being thus used for purposes never designed, it do not become permanently the symbol of all that is irksome and repulsive.

On the moral and religious training in these schools I can say very little. In almost all the schools which I examined on this point there was scarcely any such thing.

The children would be punished for breaking the school rules, or if a breach of morality was formally complained of to the master, he would probably punish the child for it; but any direct endeavours to bring the children to be moral and religious I could scarcely find. When I asked masters what means they employed for these ends, I could find nothing except the reading of the Scriptures and the repetition of the catechism, in the manner which I have before described. But in scarcely any of these schools do the masters address the scholars on the subject of religion, or even read the Scriptures to them. Very few masters instruct any of the children on religious subjects in the class room, and scarcely one is in the habit of speaking to the children individually on the necessity of personal religion. Few visit the parents of the children, or know the children's character, or take any interest in them after leaving the school. Indeed that would be nearly impossible. The masters are so frequently changed, either from incapacity, from the lowness of their salary, from their restlessness, or from some other cause, that in most cases it is impossible that any lasting friendship should be formed between them and

their scholars.

On the whole, I am obliged to report that most of the day schools which I examined seemed to me exceedingly inefficient. The system on which they teach, confining the children to one class of subjects, would render the ablest master inefficient, and reduce the most intelligent children to listlessness. The masters, who seem generally respectable men, are without assistants, and overwhelmed by the multitude of children whom they have to teach. The monitors, generally boys of ten or eleven years of age, who have only been two or three years in the school, and have little separate instruction, are almost as ignorant as the classes whom they instruct; scarcely know how to read well themselves, and are utterly incapable of exercising the intellect of the children on the lessons which they read. Instead of having a plentiful supply of books on all the subjects most likely to interest them, the elder scholars are generally confined to the Bible for their common school exercise in reading, and are ill supplied even with Bibles. To masters so ill qualified, the school committees afford but small salaries, and the low salaries hinder able men from entering on the profession of schoolmaster, or starve them out of it when they make it their choice.

The parochial and district ministers of the large towns which I visited, although the most active promoters of the education of the poor, are still so necessarily occupied with the duties of their large parishes and districts, that they can seldom inspect their schools; and few laymen enter them.

The children are not visited at their homes, are not known to their ministers; and often before the age of ten, almost always before twelve, are removed from school to labour, when they have only been two years, or a year, or only six months at school. Under these circumstances it is obvious that the schools must be inefficient. Owing to the energy of the patrons, or the advantage of better systems, some schools have arisen to an honourable superiority to the rest. King Edward's branch-schools and St. Thomas's schools at Birmingham, Christ Church schools at Salford, St. John's schools in Manchester, the Caledonian schools, the Jordan-street schools for boys, and the Christ Church school for girls at Liverpool, and the National schools at Warrington, although considerably differing from each other, have all some features of excellence highly creditable to those gentlemen who have rendered them so efficient.

But these are exceptions to the general rule. There are very few of the National schools, in which the children do not appear weary and reluctant. Large and airy rooms well lighted are not half filled, though the school-fees are small, and crowds of children are idling in the neighbourhood. This may indeed be partly attributed to another cause. Very few Protestant Dissenters, and scarcely any Roman Catholics, send their children to these schools; which is little to be wondered at, since they conscientiously object to the repetition of the Church catechism, which is usually enforced upon all the scholars. Multitudes of Roman Catholic children, for whom some provision should be made, are consequently left in almost complete neglect, a prey to all the evils which follow profound ignorance and the want of early discipline.