DINBURGA CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF "CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE," "CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE," &c. NUMBER 423. SELF-HELPFULNESS. SOME people, in all but the most familiar circumstances, are remarkably helpless. They can do nothing for themselves, if it lies the least out of their ordinary track. If the driving of a nail, or the tying or untying of a knot, were to save them from some great disaster, they could not do it. Though a stitch in time were to save not nine only, but nine thousand, or the whole garment, they could not execute it. They are, in short, handless or helpless people. To be thus helpless is surely a great misfortune, for it must expose the bulk of those who are so characterised, to a great number of casualties of a distressing kind in the course of life, must often subject them to expense and loss which might be spared, and, besides all that, have perhaps a worse effect in producing languid, unprompt, and indolent habits. It is a very different thing to be self-helpful. One who has the happiness to be so, gets readily and agreeably through hundreds of difficulties which embarrass others. In extraordinary circumstances, such as shipwreck may bring to the door of any one, he may even be enabled by this readiness of hand to save his own life or the lives of his companions. But, probably, the best effect is that sprightliness in act and thought, which the custom of applying one's self to all sorts of useful purposes almost necessarily engenders. From the very consciousness of being able to do many things, and to serve one's self on a great variety of possible occasions, a confidence arises which may serve to carry a man on vigorously through life, even though his numerous little talents may not be at any time much called into exercise. It appears to us that most persons might be made much more self-helpful than they are, if, in education, advantage were taken of an obvious feature in the juvenile character. It must have been observed by all how invariably children, when left to themselves, engage in some kind of work, either in imitation of some craft which they have seen practised by their seniors, or, quite as possibly, some labour such as it never entered into the heads of their elders to conceive. It cannot be for nothing that so broad a natural feature exists; it must be for some important end; and may we not reasonably suppose that that end is, that human beings may become, in the first place, acquainted with all the ways and needs of this world, and in the second, able to help themselves with respect to all those ways and needs? If this be a true inference, it follows that, in the bringing up of children, we ought to train them to a great variety of employments, and to act in a great variety of circumstances, as well as to con their lessons, and practise moral rules. Such training becomes more particularly necessary as a part of systematic education, in certain situations. It is more necessary in a city than in the country, and in an orphan hospital or workhouse than in a common school. In the country, children have opportunities of learning many things unknown in towns; and the children attending common schools are not so cut off from the world as those of a charity establishment generally are. In the case of the latter, it is particularly necessary. The ordinary life of such children, immured in the walls of a workhouse where they see nothing but a house and a courtyard, is absolutely deadening to the faculties, unless something be learned besides reading. It has been partly with these views that a number of the patrons of improved education have of late years advocated the introduction of common arts and trades into schools. The introduction of common arts and trades is not all that is necessary to bring us into harmony with nature on this point; but it is an important and readily practicable part of what is necessary; and we propose, on the present occasion, to give it some consideration. Perhaps the best thing we can do in the first place, is to present some account of a few of the institutions SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1840. into which industrial education, as it may be termed, has been introduced. One notable example of a village school of industry exists at Lindfield, on the road from Brighton to London-a place where, a few years ago, the peasantry were in a very marked state of ignorance, and which was indeed selected on that very account by a benevolent gentleman as a proper field for an experiment in this kind of education. Mr William Allen, in building this school, and putting it into operation, had to overcome much opposition even from those he designed to benefit. The poor people, unaccustomed to see persons act from other than selfish motives, conceived it to be intended as a great kidnapping establishment, and beheld it of course with horror. When it was finished, a very few children were with great difficulty induced to attend it. By dint of perseverance this number was gradually increased. To pursue a very interesting account of the establishment given by Mr Frederick Hill in his work on Education: "The few who did come began in a short time to take home with them sundry pence which they had earned in plaiting straw, making baskets, &c.-arts they were learning at school. The boys began to patch their clothes and mend their shoes, without their parents having to pay a penny for the work. Little by little the poor ignorant creatures became assured that there was nothing to fear, but, on the contrary, much practical good to be derived from sending their children to the school; and that, strange and incredible as it might seem, the London 'gemman' was really come among them as a friend and benefactor. A breach being thus fairly made in the mud-bank of prejudice, it was not long before the whole mass gave way. In short, the scheme proved so completely successful, that at the time we visited the school, almost every child whose parents lived within a distance of three miles was entered as a pupil, the total number on the list being no less than 300; though, from the frequent calls made upon the children for assistance in the fields, and from the bad state of the roads in certain seasons, the number in actual attendance did not exceed 150. About 100 of the children form an infant-school, their ages varying from a year and a half to seven years. For these a distinct part of the building and a separate playground are provided. The remaining 200 are divided according to sex, the boys' rooms and play-ground being apart from those of the girls. The children are at school eight hours each day, three being employed in manual labour, and five in the ordinary school exercises. There is a provision for a diversity of tastes in the classes of industry; indeed, the most unbounded liberality is manifest in all the arrangements. Some are employed as shoemakers, others as tailors, and others again at plaiting, basket-making, weaving, printing, gardening, or farming. The children work very cheerfully, and, as we expected, are found to like the classes of industry better than 'school.' We say we expected to find this the case; for until the ordinary plans of instruction in reading, arithmetic, &c., are much improved, and the exercise made more intellectual and interesting, we fear that children will take but little pleasure in their school lessons. The first employstraw. When they are au fait at this, which is genement to which the little workers are put is plaiting rally at the end of a few months, they are promoted to some other craft; the one of highest dignity being that of the printer. Before leaving the school, a child will often become tolerably expert in three or four trades. Those who work on the farm have each the sole care of a plot of land measuring one-eighth part of an acre, and each is required to do his own digging, sowing, manuring, and reaping. An intelligent husbandman, however, is always on the ground to teach those who are at fault. The plots of land were all in clean and nice order; and from the variety of produce-oats, turnips, mangel-wurzel, potatoes, PRICE THREE HALFPENCE. and cabbages-the whole had a curious and amusing appearance, reminding one of the quilted counterpanes of former years. We found the system of matayer rent in use, each boy being allowed one-half of the produce for himself, the other half being paid for the use of the land, the wear and tear of tools, &c. One lad, twelve years old, had in this way received no less a sum than twentythree shillings and sixpence as his share of the crop of the preceding year; and we were told that such earnings were by no means uncommon. Of course the practical knowledge to be acquired on a miniature farm of this kind would not be sufficient in itself to fit a boy for the cultivation of land upon that large scale on which alone it can be tilled to the greatest advantage; still he will have learned much that will be of direct use to him on a farm of any size; and, what is far more important, he will have acquired habits of industry, intelligent observation, and forethought: and thus prepared, he will learn as much in a few months, as the dull and ignorant boy, whose only training has been in the hovel or at the plough, will acquire in as many years." We here see proof of the beneficial results which may arise from a school of industry even in a rural situation. Let us now turn to an instance of industrial education in an hospital where a great number of children are kept apart from the world. We select the account given in the report of the National School Society, of the Royal Military Asylum at Chelsea, established by government for the maintenance and education of the distressed children of non-commissioned officers and soldiers :-"There are at present about 600 boys in this school, being half the number under instruction during the time of the late war. The children vary in age from five and six to fourteen years, and are not employed in works of industry until the age of eleven: little more than three years (at five hours a-day in summer, or four hours a-day in winter) can therefore be devoted to learning any trade; and in this short period the boys only work on alternate days, the rest of their time being spent in the school;-yet they make every article of clothing required for their own use. Rather less than a hundred boys work as tailors; fifty each day alternately: about the same number are employed in a similar manner, as shoemakers, capmakers, and in covering and repairing their old schoolbooks; besides which, there are two sets or companies of knitters and of shirt-makers, and others who are engaged as porters, gardeners, in kitchen-work, &c. &c. Every thing is done by those who work at the trades except the cutting-out. This branch, requiring more experience, is managed by the old regimental shoemakers, tailors, &c., who, with aged sergeants and corporals, and their wives, manage the concerns of the institution. The system of monitors and teachers to overlook the other boys at work is generally adopted; while, in addition to the various branches of industry mentioned, the school furnishes a company of drummers and fifers, and an excellent band of music; the players necessarily devoting a considerable part of their time to the practice of their instruments. The materials for the shoes, purchased by contract, amount to about 2s. 3d. a pair; the shoemaking tools, about 3s. a set to supply each boy. The stouter children are preferred for the work; and the subdivisions of their labour are of the following kind :-1st, the easiest for the youngest, closing; 2d, the next for the middle set of children, repairing and mending; 3d, the highest for the oldest, making the new shoes. But all the children learn to work at every part of the shoe, and are sufficient adepts, not merely to supply their own institution, but to make whatever shoes are wanted for the Clergy Orphan School, Saint John's Wood Road. In this manner about 25 new pairs of shoes are made, and 140 pairs mended, in the course of each week." We learn from another source that there are defects in the arrangements of this establishment-as, that the children are sometimes on particular exigencies kept away from school in order to work, and that they are allowed no share of their earnings, and thus do not obtain " that lesson of providence which might be inculcated by a savings' bank." Nevertheless, the Royal Military Asylum is allowed to be "an evidence that a greater degree of progress may be made in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and in other branches of learning, than is attained in the great majority of schools, and yet that the boys may be taught music, gymnastic exercises, and various useful trades; thus improving their health, increasing their means of enjoyment, and promoting their future interests, much more effectually than by the prevailing methods."* Industrial education is practised with marked success in various institutions for the reform of young criminals, as in the Brenton Asylum at Hackney Wick, and the Warwick County Asylum; in several for the refuge of destitute persons, as in that at Hoxton, and the Guernsey Hospital; and in various schools for orphan and pauper children under the New Poor-Law Act, of which that at Norwood is a most interesting example.+ It is not as an improvement, which may or may not be adopted, that industrial education is here to be advocated: it is called for as missioners there are some excellent hints thrown out. neat, and intelligent wives and mothers. If it were It is to be remarked, to the honour of the superin- The teaching of arts and trades in schools is not quaintance with the arts of the husbandman, the earpenter, the shoemaker, the blacksmith, would then be worth more to them than the highest literary honours won at Cambridge. Even for the purpose alone of preparing our citizens against this juncture, which may be the fate of any one amongst us, we would say it was worth while that all should receive some measure of industrial education. One of the most plausible objections to the schemes of modern times for extending education to all classes, and making that education of a good kind, is, that such improved education must tend to make the children of the poor too nice or fine for common labour, and inspire them with wishes for higher employments which have already a sufficient number of candidates. It has even been stated in a work by no means disposed to give ready ear to any clamour against extended education, that in England too many of the boys taught in charity schools "have aspired to be clerks or shopmaids, or nurse-maids." As far as this may be the men, and too many of the girls to be governesses, ladies'case, it is certainly an evil; but it is one, we would hope, rather characteristic of an imperfect state of education, than certain to arise from every effort to communicate knowledge to the children of the humbler classes. Were the ordinary routine of a school mixed up with light work of various kinds, such as children delight to perform when left to themselves, they would grow up, we are persuaded, with healthier notions as to labour in general, and in most cases, probably, an aptitude and liking for some art fitted to support them at the same time that their intellects were drawn forth, strengthened, and informed, and their moral feelings duly cultivated, so as to fit them for being better members of society than the ignorant and untrained, under any circumstances, can ever be expected to be. There is nothing, in reality, incompahand, and the most rigid attention to a range of tible in intelligence and pureness of mind on the one humble duties on the other. It is only necessary to make the education given to the humble have a respect to honest but humble callings, instead of more ambitious walks. At the same time, let no obstacle be thrown in the way of rising talent, where such actually exists, but on the contrary every liberal provision be made for facilitating its naturally upward progress. something absolutely necessary, to counteract an inherent tendency of all asylums for the maintenance and education of children to become monastic institutions. The children are kept apart from external nature, from human society, and from many or most of the common operations of life. They come out as helpless nearly as they went in. Industrial education presents itself as almost the only conceivable means of fitting such children for entering the world in any thing like the same condition as other children. It is not essential that any one child be made a proficient in any one art: the great end is to make them generally acquainted with the arts of life, and to prepare them by habits of industry for earning their own bread when they grow up. From the attention which the Poor Law Commissioners are giving to the subject, we have no doubt that in a short time we shall see the whole of the forty-five thousand orphan and pauper children of England educated in this wholesome manner. In the late reports of the ComDifferent arrangements are recommended for different districts. It is suggested, that in an agricultural district there ought to be a large garden which the children should be taught to cultivate, in order to become acquainted with those duties which they will probably be called to perform when they are sent out into the world. They should also be taught to erect sheds or outhouses, to make wheelbarrows and other simple utensils, and to fashion desks and forms for the school. Thus, as farm-servants, they will be able to execute a number of little jobs in carpentry which would otherwise require the interference of the proper tradesman. To enable them to contribute to their own personal comfort and that of their household, without an expenditure of their earnings, they should be taught to make and mend their own clothes and shoes, to plait straw hats, to make straw mattrasses, and whitewash walls. In a manufacturing district the employments should bear a similar relation to the trades of the neighbourhood; and in or near a seaport, the arts connected with maritime life should be taught. Such, in brief, are the views of the Commissioners respecting the boys: they recommend that the girls should be trained to the household duties of cooking, cleaning, and washing clothes, sewing and knitting, by judices of the small farming class be so easily got over, when Mr and Mrs Milstead observed with regret, that If worked out as it ought to be, not as a long-protasks, it could not fail to have a beneficial effect on tracted toil, but only as a variation of ordinary school the health of children, and even to quicken their advances in other departments of education. In a school of industry we might expect to see a lively spring of mind constantly kept up. All would be cheerfulness and alacrity. It might indeed be fairly argued that some arrangement of the kind is absolutely necessary in order to bring common school education into a conWe must now draw these remarks to a concluformity with natural institutions. Even when grown sion. If they carry any conviction with them, we up, we can neither exclusively exercise our bodies nor our minds, without detriment to the system. An hope that that conviction will not be unproductive of alternation of physical with mental exercise is indis- the only good consequence that can arise from it, the pensable to health of both body and mind. Much extension of industrial education. Should they fail to more is this the case in youth, when the animal system convince, the fault must be in the feebleness of the is generally much more developed than the mental. advocate, for the principle itself appears to us beyond It is therefore eminently necessary at that period of dispute. We would hope, however, to learn that they life that mental labour should not be pushed too far, have not only produced conviction, but promoted in and that a large measure of exercise for the body some small measure the increase of schools of industry. should be allowed. The children of the cottage and farm may have their proper share of such exercise, without regulation or system, but not so the great bulk of town children, and more particularly those who spend their whole days in hospitals, workhouses, and asylums. There the introduction of industrial education is loudly called for, as almost the only readily available means of keeping the pupils in a natural and consequently sound condition. In teaching field and garden work in schools of industry, an excellent opportunity would be afforded of diffusing among the peasantry and the class of small farmers improved ideas as to their own common labours. The great bulk of these classes in England know nothing more of their arts than was known in the days of Henry VII., and the productive powers of the country are consequently far from being fully drawn forth. At a village school which had a garden or little farm attached to it, the rising generation might be brought to see and understand the value of improved modes of tillage, including all the mysteries of draining, fencing, the proper use of lime, the economising and right application of manure, and the rotation of crops. It might even be possible to explain the chemical characters of soils and the principles of vegetable physiology. By no other means could the pre or their minds be stimulated to realise the full value A TALE OF COUNTRY-TOWN LIFE. [From "Pencil Sketches, or Outlines of Character and Manners," by Miss Leslie.]† MR MILSTEAD, a clergyman, who to the most sincere piety united a cultivated mind, a benevolent heart, and a cheerful and liberal disposition, had been recently appointed to a church in one of the small towns of a certain Atlantic section of the Union, that shall be nameless. His wife was a young and beautiful woman, whose character harmonised in every respect with his own. They had no children; they were good managers, and Mr Milstead soon found that his salary would not only afford them all they wanted, but that it would leave them something to give away. They became very popular with the congregation, for Mr Milstead, though indefatigable in administering to the spiritual wants of his flock, was never unmindful of their temporal happiness, and his judicious and amiable wife went hand in hand with him in every thing. They had not been long established in Tamerton, though the inhabitants showed the best possible disposition to be on intimate terms with the minister and among themselves. The society of Tamerton had grahis lady, there was little sociability or familiarity dually divided into numerous circles, some of these circles being so small as to comprise but one or two families. For instance, Mrs Gutheridge, the most wealthy woman of the place, revolved entirely in her having to perform those duties as far as required in It is also a consideration not unworthy of being attended to, that the British are now eminently a colonising people. Annually not fewer than a hundred thousand persons leave our soil to settle in distant waste lands, where each requires to know something in early life never thought they should deem it prudent to emigrate, find at length that it is so; and they pass accordingly into the wilderness, with habits and feelings perhaps fitted only for refined life. For such persons, what a safeguard from extreme personal hardship there would be in that general self-helpfulness, which a course of training in a school of industry would have given them! The slightest possible ac * Quarterly Journal of Education, i. p. 285-6. own orbit. She was the childless widow of Zephaniah Pelatiah Gutheridge, who had for several successive sessions filled the office of speaker in the senate of the state legislature, an office that suited him exactly, as he had never been known to speak in the house, and Mr Gutheridge had long been the chief man of Tamerton, and his widow now reigned in his stead : alone in her glory, and occupant of the broadest, the longest, and the tallest white frame domicile in the * Quarterly Journal of Education, i. 280. † Philadelphia, 1835. Miss Leslie is a clever and popular American authoress, of whose writings we feel pleasure in presenting the above specimen. CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL. village. She was originally from the city, and of a very genteel family, her grandfather having made his fortune, quitted bricklaying, and turned gentleman long before he was superannuated. Her father had not contaminated his hands by putting them to any trade whatever, having, after he left college, attended to no other business than the care of preserving his life, by studying to guard himself from all possible maladies and accidents. Therefore he died of no particular disease, at the age of thirty-four. Mrs Gutheridge was a large woman, with a majestic figure. She had an aquiline nose, immense black eyes, and a prominent mouth, with very good teeth. After she became a widow, she preferred remaining at Tamerton to removing to the city, for, like Cæsar, she thought it better to be first in a village than second at Rome. She had, however, a sovereign contempt for every man, woman, and child in the neighbourhood, with the exception of the clergyman and his wife, whom she tolerated, because she had heard that in England the aristocracy make a point of upholding the church, and she professed to be aristocratic in all her ways. With the assistance of her maid, she spent an hour every day in attiring herself for her solitary dinner, and she sat down alone to her sumptuous table, "all drest up in rich array." This she called self-respect. Her abigail reported that Mrs Gutheridge had a set of night curls for sleeping in, and that her night-caps were far superior to any day-caps that had ever appeared in Tamerton. She rarely walked beyond her own grounds, but she rode out in her carriage every afternoon. She was seldom seen at full length, except on Sunday morning, when she proceeded up the middle aisle of the church, swinging a magnificent reticule, and followed by her black man, carrying two magnificent books. Her pew was richly lined and carpeted, and it was surrounded by curtains through which she could peep, without being exposed to the gaze of the vulgar, for of that class she considered the whole congregation. She reminded Mr Milstead of the sovereign of one of the Asiatic Islands, who always kept his own name a profound secret, lest it should be profaned by the utterance of his subjects. Mrs Gutheridge being unquestionably at the head (or rather over the head) of Tamerton society, the next position was occupied by the families of two lawyers, and the third circle consisted of three physicians: for, except in Philadelphia, lawyers are generally supposed to rank as doctors, but in the city of brotherly love, that point is still contested. With regard to the medical fraternity of Tamerton, it might be said in the words of Shelty, that "every man shook his own hand," for they never met in amity, and were seldom on speaking terms. Dr Drainblood referred every disease to the head; Dr Famishem deduced "all the ills that flesh is heir to" from the state of the stomach; and Dr Juste Milieu (who was a Frenchman) maintained a strict neutrality; keeping half way between the two theories, doing neither good nor harm to his patients, and incurring the contempt and reprobation of both his fellow-practitioners. In the fourth circle were the store-keepers: and they found it convenient to be tolerably friendly. Next came the tavern-keepers, who were rivals and foemen. The mechanics all took precedence of each other; there being no reason why a carpenter should vail his bonnet to a wheelwright, why a shoemaker should do reverence to a tailor, or why a butcher should succumb to a baker. As to the clerks, milliners, and mantuamakers, they got in where they could. Such was the state of society in the village of Tamerton, when Mr and Mrs Milstead first removed thither. They soon discovered the position of affairs by visiting round among the congregation; and when the pastor and his lady invited company to their own house, they always perceived that they had given some dissatisfaction by not assorting the guests according to rank. Mrs Gutheridge kept herself entirely hors de combat, and showed no other civility to Mr and Mrs Milstead, than that of coming in her carriage to leave at their door two cards printed in gold. Mr Milstead took occasion in one of his sermons to deprecate the sin of pride and arrogance, which he justly represented as being specially absurd and inconvenient in a small community, every member of which was a citizen of a republic. His discourse was eloquent and impressive, and it was heard with due attention. Yet the only effect it produced was, that none of the congregation took his admonitions to themselves, but all hoped that their neighbours would. However, Mr Milstead gained in popularity, and he came to the conclusion that it was best to spare any further exhortation, and to endeavour by some indirect means to win the people of Tamerton into habits of more sociability. Though a few individuals made some pretensions to literary taste, Mr Milstead had observed in the majority of his congregation a lamentable want of interest in every thing connected with that subject. He now thought of attempting the establishment of periodical reading-parties, with the double view of alluring the members into a relish for book knowledge and book amusement, and of bringing the families together at least once a-week, so that the points on which they founded their foolish notions of expense Mrs Milstead heartily concurred in the plan, and her When Mr Milstead was ushered into the presence, She received Mr Milstead as graciously as her natural haughtiness would allow, and surprised him by promising to attend the first reading party, as it was to be at his house. Mr Milstead then went round to the members of the congregation whom he knew to have "the appliances and means" of receiving company. He explained the purport of his project with so much good sense and good humour, that he found no great difficulty in enlisting as many as he wished. It is true that there was considerable curiosity to know to whom he had already applied, and who were the persons that had agreed to join the reading society, but Mr Milstead had tact enough and influence enough to overrule all objections. On the following Wednesday evening, Mrs Milstead's largest room was ready for the accommodation of her guests. A table with a reading-lamp was placed in the centre of the floor. On it lay several books by the best modern authors, and a few numbers of the latest periodicals. The company assembled within a quarter past seven. Dr Drainblood and Dr Famishem had both excused themselves, it being impossible for them to sit down together in the same room. Dr Juste Milieu had promised to attend "with all proper felicity," and he kept his word. black eyes full upon her, and gave the little woman a "Don't you find your front parlour very cold ?" con- ing to me, madam ?" replied Mrs Gutheridge, fixing on the room. With the exception of Mrs Milstead, none of the on Mrs Gutheridge. She was too rude and too repelling There was one person, however, who came to the read- Mr Milstead now prepared to open the session, and for that purpose placed himself at the reading-table, and took up a book, when Mr Timmings stopped him hastily by saying, "Mr Milstead-sir-perhaps, sir-in all probability there is something that Mrs Gutheridge would particularly prefer. Pray, madam, may I presume, would you have the goodness to mention what piece you would Mr Milstead half closed the volume, for after this apespecially recommend? Mr Milstead, of course you will peal he could do no less than wait for the mandate of the be guided by Mrs Gutheridge's taste." Mrs Gutheridge paused a moment, but as she lady. It is of course a matter of perfect indifference to me. I really knew nothing of books, she prudently and haughtily replied, addressing herself to Mr Milstead, "Go on, sir. should be wanting to myself if I took any interest in these things." Mr Milstead coloured, and the cheeks of his wife were As soon as the female part of the guests were disern Souvenir; a little work highly creditable to the taste engaged from their cloaks, hoods, and India-rubber suffused in sympathy; however, he recovered in a moshoes, and had taken their seats, it was proposed that ment, and again opened the book, which was the Westthe business of the evening should commence, but Mrs and genius of our brethren beyond the mountains. He Milstead suggested the propriety of waiting for the selected Judge Hall's simple and thrilling tale of the arrival of Mrs Gutheridge. Upon this the ladies with Indian Hater, and read it with so much effect as comone accord broke out into loud invectives against Mrs pletely to enchain the attention of most of his auditors; Gutheridge" and all her airs." Preposterous and in-only, that in the fine passage where the backwoodsman credible anecdotes were related of her pride and her describes with such agonised feeling the destruction of insolence, and a general conspiracy was organised for his whole family, Mrs Neckgusset in a loud whisper asked the present scarcity of three-threaded sewing-cotton. the purpose of treating her" as if she were no better Mrs Hemmings across the work-table for the loan of a Mrs Milstead read next, and she chose Irving's beauthan themselves," and letting her know" that they spool, No. 42, and Mrs Scratchgather lamented audibly considered her company no honour." tiful and affecting story of the Widow and her Son, which drew tears from the eyes of many of the audience. To be sure, Mrs Milstead had to stop short in the heartrending description of the burial of the poor young sailor, and to wait till a commotion at the work-table had subsided; Mrs Puckerseam having dropped her thimble, and her companions all rising at her request and moving back their chairs to give her an immediate opportunity of seeking it on the carpet. However, the thimble was rewere somewhat annoyed at the pert voice of Mr Timcovered, and order restored; the tale was concluded, and those who were capable of feeling it as they ought, mings, saying, "Quite pathetic!" and at Mrs Parley Utley foolishly observing, "I declare we shall all be The confusion of tongues was suddenly interrupted Mr and Mrs Milstead advanced to meet her, but Mrs Parley Utley, having rallied from the confusion Mr Milstead having conducted Mrs Gutheridge to a solemnised." "that we now have "I vote," said Mr Timmings, something lively, something to brighten the eyes and bring out the smiles of the ladies, unless, indeed, Mrs Gutheridge prefers pieces of a serious cast." Mr Chetwin, the schoolmaster, a sensible man and an excellent reader, said gaily, "I will give you something that I think you will find diverting." And with much spirit and humour he read Paulding's admirable account A moment before Mr Chetwin began, Dr Juste Milieu. of the night in a steam-boat, when he was so much inmade his appearance, having been detained during the commoded by the presence of an inveterate snorer. Gutheridge, and was much struck by the immoveable At the first laugh, he could early part of the evening by visiting a far-off patient. gravity of her countenance. He took his seat between the reading-table and Mrs not forbear saying to her in his imperfect English," You keep your serious!" regarding her with a look of unfeigned surprise. Mr Chetwin read on, and another peal "You keep your serious of laughter again directed the French doctor's attention towards Mrs Gutheridge, and still he saw the same determined rigidity of muscle. 50 there are defects in the arrangements of this establishment-as, that the children are sometimes on particular exigencies kept away from school in order to work, and that they are allowed no share of their earnings, and thus do not obtain "that lesson of providence which might be inculcated by a savings' bank." Nevertheless, the Royal Military Asylum is allowed to be "an evidence that a greater degree of progress may be made in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and in other branches of learning, than is attained in the great majority of schools, and yet that the boys may be taught music, gymnastic exercises, and various useful trades; thus improving their health, increasing their means of enjoyment, and promoting their future interests, much more effectually than by the prevailing methods."* Industrial education is practised with marked success in various institutions for the reform of young criminals, as in the Brenton Asylum at Hackney Wick, and the Warwick County Asylum; in several for the refuge of destitute persons, as in that at Hoxton, and the Guernsey Hospital; and in various schools for orphan and pauper children under the New Poor-Law Act, of which that at Norwood is a most interesting example.+ It is not as an improvement, which may or may not be adopted, that industrial education is here to be advocated: it is called for as something absolutely necessary, to counteract an inhe- neat, and intelligent wives and mothers. If it were It is to be remarked, to the honour of the superin- The teaching of arts and trades in schools is not quaintance with the arts of the husbandman, the carpenter, the shoemaker, the blacksmith, would then be worth more to them than the highest literary honours won at Cambridge. Even for the purpose alone of preparing our citizens against this juncture, which may be the fate of any one amongst us, we would say it was worth while that all should receive some measure of industrial education. One of the most plausible objections to the schemes of modern times for extending education to all classes, and making that education of a good kind, is, that such improved education must tend to make the children of the poor too nice or fine for common labour, and inspire them with wishes for higher employments which have already a sufficient number of candidates. It has even been stated in a work by no means disposed to give ready ear to any clamour against extended education, that in England too many of the boys taught in charity schools have aspired to be clerks or shopmen, and too many of the girls to be governesses, ladiesmaids, or nurse-maids." As far as this may be the case, it is certainly an evil; but it is one, we would hope, rather characteristic of an imperfect state of education, than certain to arise from every effort to communicate knowledge to the children of the humbler classes. Were the ordinary routine of a school mixed up with light work of various kinds, such as children delight to perform when left to themselves, they would grow up, we are persuaded, with healthier notions as to labour in general, and in most cases, probably, an aptitude and liking for some art fitted to support them at the same time that their intellects were drawn forth, strengthened, and informed, and their moral feelings duly cultivated, so as to fit them for being better members of society than the ignorant and untrained, under any circumstances, can ever be expected to be. There is nothing, in reality, incompatible in intelligence and pureness of mind on the one hand, and the most rigid attention to a range of humble duties on the other. It is only necessary to make the education given to the humble have a respect to honest but humble callings, instead of more ambitious walks. At the same time, let no obstacle be thrown in the way of rising talent, where such actually exists, but on the contrary every liberal provision be made for facilitating its naturally upward progress. If worked out as it ought to be, not as a long-protracted toil, but only as a variation of ordinary school tasks, it could not fail to have a beneficial effect on the health of children, and even to quicken their advances in other departments of education. In a school of industry we might expect to see a lively spring of mind constantly kept up. All would be cheerfulness and alacrity. It might indeed be fairly argued that some arrangement of the kind is absolutely necessary in order to bring common school education into a conWe must now draw these remarks to a concluformity with natural institutions. Even when grown sion. If they carry any conviction with them, we up, we can neither exclusively exercise our bodies nor our minds, without detriment to the system. An hope that that conviction will not be unproductive of alternation of physical with mental exercise is indis- the only good consequence that can arise from it, the pensable to health of both body and mind. Much extension of industrial education. Should they fail to more is this the case in youth, when the animal system convince, the fault must be in the feebleness of the is generally much more developed than the mental. advocate, for the principle itself appears to us beyond It is therefore eminently necessary at that period of dispute. We would hope, however, to learn that they life that mental labour should not be pushed too far, have not only produced conviction, but promoted in and that a large measure of exercise for the body some small measure the increase of schools of industry. should be allowed. The children of the cottage and farm may have their proper share of such exercise, without regulation or system, but not so the great bulk of town children, and more particularly those who spend their whole days in hospitals, workhouses, and asylums. There the introduction of industrial education is loudly called for, as almost the only readily available means of keeping the pupils in a natural and consequently sound condition. Different arrangements are recommended for diffe- cleaning, and washing clothes, sewing and knitting, by the washing-rooms, the tables, forms, and stairs, as well as to prepare and remove the meals of the rest of the scholars, and to wait upon the domestic superintendant and officers." The reporter of these circumstances adds, and we fully concur in his sentiments"The value of charities of this description is too obvious to require particular comment. By esta blishing good habits, they doubtless accomplish more than can ever be effected by mere precept; and they not only tend to make useful servants, but provident, *"Some Account of the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea." Becond Publication of the Central Society of Education. P. 190. See "A Day at Norwood," Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 398. Quarterly Journal of Education, i. 287. A TALE OF COUNTRY-TOWN LIFE. [From "Pencil Sketches, or Outlines of Character and Manners," by Miss Leslie.]t MR MILSTEAD, a clergyman, who to the most sincere piety united a cultivated mind, a benevolent heart, and a cheerful and liberal disposition, had been recently appointed to a church in one of the small towns of a certain Atlantic section of the Union, that shall be nameless. His wife was a young and beautiful woman, whose character harmonised in every respect with his own. They had no children; they were good managers, and Mr Milstead soon found that his salary would not only afford them all they wanted, but that it would leave them something to give away. They became very popular with the congregation, for Mr Milstead, though indefatigable in administering to the spiritual wants of his flock, was never unmindful of their temporal happiness, and his judicious and amiable wife went hand in hand with him in every thing. tion of crops. It might even be possible to explain the soil. It is also a consideration not unworthy of being attended to, that the British are now eminently a colonising people. Annually not fewer than a hundred thousand persons leave our soil to settle in distant waste lands, where each requires to know something of almost every art under the sun. Many men, who in early life never thought they should deem it prudent to emigrate, find at length that it is so; and they pass accordingly into the wilderness, with habits and feelings perhaps fitted only for refined life. For such persons, what a safeguard from extreme personal hardship there would be in that general self-helpfulness, which a course of training in a school of industry would have given them! The slightest possible ac * Quarterly Journal of Education, i. p. 285-6. They had not been long established in Tamerton, though the inhabitants showed the best possible disposition to be on intimate terms with the minister and his lady, there was little sociability or familiarity among themselves. The society of Tamerton had gradually divided into numerous circles, some of these circles being so small as to comprise but one or two families. For instance, Mrs Gutheridge, the most wealthy woman of the place, revolved entirely in her own orbit. She was the childless widow of Zephaniah Pelatiah Gutheridge, who had for several successive sessions filled the office of speaker in the senate of the state legislature, an office that suited him exactly, as he had never been known to speak in the house, and very rarely out of it. Mr Gutheridge had long been the chief man of Tamerton, and his widow now reigned in his stead: alone in her glory, and occupant of the broadest, the longest, and the tallest white frame domicile in the * Quarterly Journal of Education, 1. 280. + Philadelphia, 1835. Miss Leslie is a clever and popular American authoress, of whose writings we feel pleasure in presenting the above specimen. CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL. village. She was originally from the city, and of a very genteel family, her grandfather having made his fortune, quitted bricklaying, and turned gentleman long before he was superannuated. Her father had not contaminated his hands by putting them to any trade whatever, having, after he left college, attended to no other business than the care of preserving his life, by studying to guard himself from all possible maladies and accidents. Therefore he died of no particular disease, at the age of thirty-four. Mrs Gutheridge was a large woman, with a majestic figure. She had an aquiline nose, immense black eyes, and a prominent mouth, with very good teeth. After she became a widow, she preferred remaining at Tamerton to removing to the city, for, like Cæsar, she thought it better to be first in a village than second at Rome. She had, however, a sovereign contempt for every man, woman, and child in the neighbourhood, with the exception of the clergyman and his wife, whom she tolerated, because she had heard that in England the aristocracy make a point of upholding the church, and she professed to be aristocratic in all her ways. With the assistance of her maid, she spent an hour every day in attiring herself for her solitary dinner, and she sat down alone to her sumptuous table, "all drest up in rich array." This she called self-respect. Her abigail reported that Mrs Gutheridge had a set of night curls for sleeping in, and that her night-caps were far superior to any day-caps that had ever appeared in Tamerton. She rarely walked beyond her own grounds, but she rode out in her carriage every afternoon. She was seldom seen at full length, except on Sunday morning, when she proceeded up the middle aisle of the church, swinging a magnificent reticule, and followed by her black man, carrying two magnificent books. Her pew was richly lined and carpeted, and it was surrounded by curtains through which she could peep, without being exposed to the gaze of the vulgar, for of that class she considered the whole congregation. She reminded Mr Milstead of the sovereign of one of the Asiatic Islands, who always kept his own name a profound secret, lest it should be profaned by the utterance of his subjects. Mrs Gutheridge being unquestionably at the head In the fourth circle were the store-keepers: and Such was the state of society in the village of Tamer- attention. Mr Milstead took occasion in one of his sermons to deprecate the sin of pride and arrogance, which he justly represented as being specially absurd and inconvenient in a small community, every member of which was a citizen of a republic. His discourse was eloquent and impressive, and it was heard with due Yet the only effect it produced was, that none of the congregation took his admonitions to themselves, but all hoped that their neighbours would. However, Mr Milstead gained in popularity, and he came to the conclusion that it was best to spare any further exhortation, and to endeavour by some indirect means to win the people of Tamerton into habits of more sociability. Though a few individuals made some pretensions to literary taste, Mr Milstead had congregation a lamentobserved in the majority of his able want of interest in every thing connected with He now thought of attempting the that subject. establishment of periodical reading-parties, with the double view of alluring the members into a relish for book knowledge and book amusement, and of bringing the families together at least once a-week, so that the reserve and exclusiveness, might be insensibly worn Mrs Milstead heartily concurred in the plan, and her expense Mr Milstead went round to all the respectable houses sinecures. She received Mr Milstead as graciously as her natural haughtiness would allow, and surprised him by to be at his house. Mr Milstead then went round to promising to attend the first reading party, as it was the members of the congregation whom he knew to have "the appliances and means" of receiving comso much good sense and good humour, that he found pany. He explained the purport of his project with no great difficulty in enlisting as many as he wished. It is true that there was considerable curiosity to know to whom he had already applied, and who were but Mr Milstead had tact enough and influence enough the persons that had agreed to join the reading society, to overrule all objections. black eyes full upon her, and gave the little woman a 66 "Don't you find your front parlour very cold ?" con- the room. With the exception of Mrs Milstead, none of the There was one person, however, who came to the read- He had in the course of his life been in business Mr Milstead now prepared to open the session, and for that purpose placed himself at the reading-table, and by saying, "Mr Milstead-sir-perhaps, sir-in all probability there is something that Mrs Gutheridge would took up a book, when Mr Timmings stopped him hastily On the following Wednesday evening, Mrs Mil-particularly prefer. Pray, madam, may I presume, would stead's largest room was ready for the accommodation you have the goodness to mention what piece you would of her guests. A table with a reading-lamp was placed especially recommend? Mr Milstead, of course you will in the centre of the floor. On it lay several books by be guided by Mrs Gutheridge's taste." the best modern authors, and a few numbers of the latest periodicals. The company assembled within a quarter past seven. As soon as the female part of the guests were dis- Mr and Mrs Milstead advanced to meet her, but Mr Milstead having conducted Mrs Gutheridge to a Mr Milstead half closed the volume, for after this appeal he could do no less than wait for the mandate of the lady. Mrs Gutheridge paused a moment, but as she It is of course a matter of perfect indifference to me. I really knew nothing of books, she prudently and haughtily replied, addressing herself to Mr Milstead, " Go on, sir. should be wanting to myself if I took any interest in these things." Mr Milstead coloured, and the cheeks of his wife were ment, and again opened the book, which was the Western Souvenir; a little work highly creditable to the taste suffused in sympathy; however, he recovered in a moselected Judge Hall's simple and thrilling tale of the and genius of our brethren beyond the mountains. He Indian Hater, and read it with so much effect as completely to enchain the attention of most of his auditors; only, that in the fine passage where the backwoodsman describes with such agonised feeling the destruction of the present scarcity of three-threaded sewing-cotton. his whole family, Mrs Neckgusset in a loud whisper asked Mrs Milstead read next, and she chose Irving's beauMrs Hemmings across the work-table for the loan of a spool, No. 42, and Mrs Scratchgather lamented audibly tiful and affecting story of the Widow and her Son, which drew tears from the eyes of many of the audience. To rending description of the burial of the poor young sailor, be sure, Mrs Milstead had to stop short in the hearther companions all rising at her request and moving back sided; Mrs Puckerseam having dropped her thimble, and and to wait till a commotion at the work-table had subtheir chairs to give her an immediate opportunity of seeking it on the carpet. However, the thimble was recovered, and order restored; the tale was concluded, and those who were capable of feeling it as they ought, mings, saying, "Quite pathetic!" and at Mrs Parley were somewhat annoyed at the pert voice of Mr TimUtley foolishly observing, "I declare we shall all be solemnised." "I vote," said Mr Timmings, "that we now have something lively, something to brighten the eyes and Gutheridge prefers pieces of a serious cast." bring out the smiles of the ladies, unless, indeed, Mrs Mr Chetwin, the schoolmaster, a sensible man and an excellent reader, said gaily, "I will give you something spirit and humour he read Paulding's admirable account that I think you will find diverting." And with much A moment before Mr Chetwin began, Dr Juste Milieu of the night in a steam-boat, when he was so much incommoded by the presence of an inveterate snorer. made his appearance, having been detained during the early part of the evening by visiting a far-off patient. At the first laugh, he could gravity of her countenance. Gutheridge, and was much struck by the immoveable not forbear saying to her in his imperfect English," You He took his seat between the reading-table and Mrs keep your serious!" regarding her with a look of unfeigned surprise. Mr Chetwin read on, and another peal "You keep your serious of laughter again directed the French doctor's attention towards Mrs Gutheridge, and still he saw the same determined rigidity of muscle. |