IN MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS.

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her to do such a thing-that her business began and ended within the walls of the school; and she was utterly horrified that the window of the superintendent's office overlooked the play-ground. Nothing in her mind could be more immodest. Yet this same individual had made no complaint, when upwards of fifty men, between the ages of seventeen and thirty, had been regularly brought through the girl's play-ground to the very room in question, to be trained as school-masters; nor when work-people, and workmen of various degrees, used the places of convenience which were used by females from seven years old up to seventeen. In these things the lady in question could see no indelicacy, but that the father of a family who happened to have daughters nearly as old as herself, should pry into these things, and try to improve them, was such a shock to her modesty as to be worthy of a complaint to the principal persons of the institution. I regret to say that in my travels I have found too many school-mistresses of this description, who "strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.” The consequences of this want of attention, without the walls of the school, were, that the girls run over the dressed borders, injured the flowers, broke the wall-fruit trees, and frequently might be seen at the summit of large hawthorn trees, which were planted in their play-ground, in a most indelicate and improper situation. These are the fruits of want of knowledge on the subject, and they are difficulties not easily overcome, and, I fear, not likely to be so, until we have a new race of female teachers, brought up under different circumstances, and impressed with different views.

In the infant play-ground, which was the next to the girls, the direct opposite conduct might be witnessed; there the fruit might be seen hanging in clusters without being taken by the pupils; there might the flowers be seen in all their luxuriance, highly respected by the infants; and, on the dressed borders, not a single foot-mark was discernible. These facts speak plainly enough-the infants

had good moral education, the fruits of which appeared in their conduct; the girls had a portion of intellectual culture with an entire neglect of moral and physical. In this same school might be sccn girls with platted hair, carrings, and other external finery, at the same time their stockings might be sccn in holes, and their under garments any thing but clean and decent, with a tolerable portion of self-conceit; and who are exceedingly proud of shewing their ornamental nccdlc work, but who have never been taught that the brightest gems in the female character are delicate deportment, cleanly habits, respect to property, and a modest demeanour. It is a fatal and fundamental error to suppose, that the sum total of female education consists in reading, writing, sewing, and knitting; they are necessary parts of it, certainly; but in this age something more must be added, ignorance must be combatted with, and removed. I would ask, what is the use of ornamental nccdle-work to the wife of a labourer, or an industrious mechanic? The time wasted in such nonsense may be much better employed in mending their own garments and those of their little brothers and sisters. The want of management in those respects amongst the poor is clearly to be sccn, and unless they are pointed out at school, we nccd not expect a remedy. It is no disgrace to be poor, but it is a great disgrace for a female to be untidy in what she has. It may be very pleasing to a mistress to bring out a pattern-book to shew to visitors, but persons who know the subject, will look to the state of the children, and not to books of patterns But alas! it is not the teachers alone who are to blame, but also men who are placed in power, and who must be obeyed; they, too, must be enlightened upon this subject before we can expect any great and final results. The Government may appoint boards of education, and commissioners of education; but unless they possess practical knowledge, it will be of little avail. It is practical knowledge that is wanted, and practical men should be sought for, as such, and such

only, are able to carry out a comprehensive system of national education.

Recently, a board of education has been formed in London, composed of no less personages than some of her Majesty's ministers: this looks well, and the country is deeply indebted to them for taking up the subject; whether they will develop and act upon sounder views remains to be seen. The reader is referred to the appendix for Lord John Russell's speech on the subject, with my animadversions thereon.

The idea of teaching girls the elements of geometry will, I know very well, be laughed at and opposed by those who have not thought sufficiently on the subject, or given it the deep consideration which it deserves; but this ought not to deter us from following out a plan founded in nature ;—and that it is founded in nature, we hope the following remarks will prove. The first lesson an infant seeks to learn of itself, is a knowledge of form, and the properties of bodies. Watch it crawling on the carpet or floor, at a period when many would deny that it was possessed of any faculty of reason, but you will see it seize hold of the first object with which it comes in contact, squat itself down, turn it round and round before its eyes, to ascertain some of its properties, as well as its form. It now seeks to operate upon another sense: its sense of feeling and seeing have been gratified, it knocks it on the floor, and by this ascertains if it is hard or soft; if the former, its ears are delighted with the sound, and it will knock away in good earnest, until it is perfectly satisfied with the sensation produced: it may perchance happen it has tried the sense of taste first; if not, it will be sure to do so before it puts the object away. If there are other objects in view, it will seek to obtain them, probably retaining the first; and should they both be hard, they will be knocked together for the purpose of experiment: if the fingers are nipt between, it has taught itself another lesson, with the advantage of experience; if

it has bought it at the price of pain, crying will be the con-
sequence. A little soothing on the part of the mother may
set all to rights again, unless she foolishly says, "Naughty
thing, to hurt the child's fingers!" If she does, the child
will associate pain with the sight of the object, and an in-
jury is done In following the path of nature, therefore,
we cannot err; a knowledge of form, it is evident, is nc
cessary for a girl to know; in the first place, it is the very
essence of cutting out garments. I have known a man
sncer at his wife because she could not cut out, as well as
make, like Dick So-and-So's wife. The children's things
have been put out to make, because the mother could not
cut out and the wise in those matters would not cut out,
unless they made the garments also. If a poor woman un-
derstands a little of geometry, her house and garden, if she
have one, will give evidence of the fact; if she is a house-
maid, the order in which she places the furniture will be
slovenly or otherwise, according to her knowledge of form
and symmetry. If she is a nurse, it will be perceived by
the state of the nursery, the order in which the children
are kept, and how they are taught to put away their play-
things, &c., &c. If, as a cook, she has been taught the
elements of geometry, she will have a correct eye; and I
am sure I could tell by the state in which I found the
kitchen, and also the way the vegetables were placed in
the vessels that contained them; even the joints and other
things brought to the table will give evidence on the point.
Nothing has been snccred at more by those who have not
sufficiently studied the nature of the young mind, than the
idea of teaching poor children, and especially infants and
girls, the elements of geometry; yet I can truly say, that
not one thing (if we except music) has been more success-
ful in all parts of the three kingdoms, or more pleasing to
the young than I have found a knowledge of the elements
of geometry to be. As it respects music and singing, which
I contend should be taught in schools: when this is adopted,