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they have earned each of them a bible, and a number of small tracts. The mother begins to find time to dress them on Sundays; and the father, if he is drunk on Sundays, or any day, when the visiter calls to see the family, sneaks away until he is gone. That is a good symptom: if you cause them to feel ashamed of their conduct, you may indulge the hope that repentance is at hand.

"The well-deserved praises the boys have received from the visiters and from their teachers, have been repeated at home; it has excited the pride of the parents as much on account of the attention paid to their children, as it has caused shame for their own neglect; and the children richly deserve the reward they will this day receive." The sounding of the church bells now reminded us that the hour of school had arrived.

(To be continued.)

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

[For the S. School Teachers' Magazine.]

NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS IN RECEIVING SUNDAY SCHOLARS.

THE irregular attendance, and the loss of many of our scholars, originate in the carelessness evinced by those who admit them into the schools. The impressions a child receives on the first day of his attendance at a Sunday School, will have much influence on his subsequent conduct. The respect we pay to people in the world, is generally proportioned to the respect we receive from them. This, if true, is equally applicable to children. The attention they will pay to the duties of a Sunday School, will be in proportion to the attention paid to them by its conductors. If but little notice be taken of them the first day of their attendance, and they be allowed to sit in any part of the school, in any class, and be at liberty to go and come the first Sunday or two as they please, you will never obtain much command over them afterwards. In the school to which I belong, our very regular attendance, and our having retained all our scholars for the last two years, is owing (among other good

Necessary Precautions in receiving Sunday Scholars. 307

practices) to the manner we have admitted them. Formerly when a boy came into the school, he sat down wherever he pleased; sometimes finding some of his playmates in the school, he would have a long conversation with him, to the confusion of a whole class. Perhaps he would remain there a Sunday before any notice was taken of him; and then some one of the teachers would tell the superintendent there's a new scholar in the school, he would send the secretary to put down the boy's name, and see what class he was in; then the secretary would come up to the boy, and the following conversation generally took place : "What is your name?" "John ""Where do you live?"

street." "You are in this class, are you not?"

"I

"In don't know sir." The teacher of the class would then take his share of the interrogations. "Did you sit here last Sunday?" Yes, sir?" Then he belongs to my class. "Can you read ?" "Yes, sir." "There," said the teacher, throwing him a book— In this way was a boy received into our Sunday School.

66

The parents of this child would scarcely ever be visited, unless he absented himself; and this boy would come to school when he pleased, and go away when he pleased: the school had paid little or no attention to him; and he in turn would pay little or no attention to its duties. We now receive them in quite a different manner. Last Sunday, a boy attended the first time. When the superintendent went round the school, as it is his custom, to call the roll, the teacher of the class in which the boy had seated himself, pointed him out to the superintendent, who, taking the boy by the hand, led him to a seat by the superintendent's desk, and told him to sit there and look at the school, and when it was dismissed, he would come and talk to him about joining the school. After the exercises were over, and the scholars had left the school, the superintendent remained, and the following is as much as I can recollect of the conversation or dialogue between him and the new scholar : "Do you wish to come to our Sunday School?" "Yes sir." Can you come every Sunday?" "I don't know sir." "Have you any thing to do on

Sunday?" "No, sir; only sometimes; we don't get breakfast early enough on Sunday morning." "Do you go to school in the week?" Yes, sir, I go to the free school; so does my

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brother John?" "Have you any more brothers besides John ?" "Yes, sir, two more, and they go to a madam's school next door; they are not big enough yet to go to free school, it is so far." "Where do you live?" "In street." "What is your name?" "James sir." "Well James, would you not like to get a bible?” Yes, sir, my mother wants a bible." "Well James, you must study your book, and come regularly to school, and you will soon get one. Come again James, and I will give you a seat in a class this afternoon; and then I will call on your parents next week, and after that, perhaps, we will let you join our school;-you can go now. The boy went, and no doubt related all that had been said to him; and should he join the school, there is certainly more hopes of him than of the other. I only give this, Mr. Editor, for your consideration; and if you think it worth the attention of Sunday School Teachers, you may insert it.

[For the S. S. T. Magazine.]
(No. 1.)

Y.

AN INQUIRY INTO THE SUBJECT OF CHALMER'S " CIVIC ECONOMY," AS APPLIED TO THE EXISTING STATE OF SOCIETY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

The excellent papers of Dr. Chalmers on the system of "Localities* in large towns or cities," as a means of ameliorating the condition of the poor, are replete both with good sense and feeling, and the practical use that has been made of them at home; and the many efforts to render them subservient to the benign purposes of benevolence on this side the Atlantic, speak an encomium in their behalf, highly recommending the system they advance to the observation and experience of the wise and good; and to attempt to throw any obstacle in the way of the progress of the supposed usefulness of a plan so well defined, and so highly approved, might be deemed an invidious, as well as an ineffectual effort. Yet it may be remarked, that the animated zeal of the christian philanthropist too often urges him, with an indiscreet avidity to embrace such plans of benevolence

The term localities as used by Dr. Chalmers, implies assuming a small district of a populous city, for the purpose of a benevolent intercourse, after he manner of pastoral visits.

An Inquiry into the Subject of Chalmers' Civic Economy. 309

as present the specious promises of doing an abundance of good; at the same time neglecting the homely maxim of "slow and sure." It is true that the bold and philanthropic experiments that have been made here and elsewhere to oppose the current of infidelity and irreligion, and for the suppression of pauperism, are to be applauded; and it would be delightful, indeed, to be hold a consequent measure of success, proportioned to the desire to do good, that has prompted to such disinterested efforts in behalf of suffering humanity. Such experiments, however, as have been here made, have and will continue to prove, that Dr. Chalmers' civic and christian economy of large towns. cannot be successfully adapted to the peculiar circumstances of American society without some material modification. In the course of these essays, I shall endeavour to point out such measures as offer the best promise of giving success to the operation of such a system among us. Much reflection on, and a partial experiment of these excellent plans, will enable me to render some little justice to so difficult a topic, and upon which much has been well said. But after all, the best answer to inquiries on such important subjects is experimental knowledge and practical results.

Since the first appearance of Dr. Chalmers' sensible remarks, the friends of the poor in our city have afforded an abundance of information and facts growing out of their faithful and persevering exertions in introducing his system. Authentic details of these are to be found in the Christian Herald, and Tracts, No. 1 and 2, published by the association of Sunday School Teachers. By the little success that has attended the application of the plan here, it would seem that the only successful experiments have been those made in conjunction with Sunday School committees; and there is good reason to believe that little can be effectually done except in that way, and on no other plan may success be so well hoped for. Several of our benevolent societies have in turn emulated the admirable example of their more successful competitors in the city of Glasgow, in such essays to do good, though forgetting the widely differing characteristics of the population they would thus controul. More than once our vast metropolis has been apportioned to select committees for these ends, embracing even those distant points that lay far beyond the compact and populous sections of the city, the only pro

per field for such exertions; and this has been done without judicious selection of visiters of a suitable order and character; but the plan was publicly announced, and the citizens were invited to choose such districts as were personally convenient to them, or to enter on such as had not previously been occupied. Anexperiment on so broad and general a scale, as bad been predicted never was carried into effect. It is true, a few of the committees made some transient efforts, but with only partial success. A similar plan was organized by the "Society for the Suppression of Pauperism ;" and their committees composed of respectable, intelligent and benevolent individuals, were instructed to explore the whole field within their limits. The precise subjects of their inquiry were directed to be, the population of the families, the ages of individuals, their need of vaccination, their condition and circumstances, the want of bibles and tracts among them, and their ability to support institutions established for such purposes.

Only two of the apportioned districts were visited, or thoroughly examined, and doubtless owing to the form in which the committee presented itself, the fruits of such experiments were not sufficient to invite a second attempt; and thus the failure of these two extensive schemes to do good by practising on Dr. Chalmers System of Localities in large Towns," seems to present a silent testimony that every design of good, for the blessing of the human family, should be like the "grain of mustard seed, growing up to afford shelter to the birds of the air;" or as the "leaven that was hid in three measures of wheat, till the whole was leavened." S.

[For the Am. S. S T. Magazine.]

FEMALE EDUCATION.

It is no less extraordinary than it is a striking proof of the weakness and imperfection of human reason, that so long as the education of themind has been a subject of anxious inquiry, there should yet exist so many different modes of instruction as the present era presents; and that there should not yet be unfolded

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