I should recommend the adoption of the following resolutions of an intelligent and zealous committee, and that a copy of them be sent to each master and mistress.

"That as this infant school is established for the express purpose of carrying into the fullest effect the system of Mr. Wilderspin, which the committee are convinced is practicable and excellent, the master be desired to make himself perfectly acquainted with it, in its physical, mental, and moral bearings, by a study of Mr. Wilderspin's works on the subject, and particularly of the last and most complete edition.

"That the rules as printed be strictly adhered to by the master. That children who are ill, having hooping-cough, ringworm, or other contagious disease, be refused admission until perfectly restored. That the business of the school begin precisely at the time appointed, and that during the shortest days the signals for leaving school be not given till four o'clock precisely.

"That except during the time given, according to the system, to play, the whole be occupied by the mistress as well as the master in the instruction of the children, and that the plan laid down in Mr. Wilderspin's book, be followed as nearly as possible, so that the apparatus already provided may be gradually brought into action, and the children have all the advantages of the system; the master and mistress so dividing their labour that all the children may be occupied.

"That the master and mistress pay the utmost attention to the children learning to read.

"That when a child is absent a week, the master state the cause to the treasurer, to prevent mistakes as to the payments, and that when a child declines attending or is excluded, immediate notice be given to the secretary of the ladies' committee.

"That the master be desired to go on with the business of the school when visitors who are members of the committee are present, and only to pay particular attention to those who may be strangers, and who require information.

"That all applications from the master be made to the committee through the secretary.

"That all orders from the committee to the teachers be conveyed through the same channel."

CHAPTER IX.

GALLERY TEACHING-MORAL AND RELIGIOUS

INSTRUCTION.

Original intention of the gallery-What lessons are adapted for itIts misapplication-Selection of teachers-Observations-Gallery lessons on a feather—A spider—A piece of bog-turf-A piece of coal-Observations on the preceding lessons-Scripture lessons in the gallery-The finding of Moses-Christ with the doctors-Moral training-Its neglect in most schools-Should be commenced in infancy-Beneficial effects of real moral culture-Ignorance of teachers -The gallery most useful in moral training-Specimen of a moral lesson-Illustrations of moral culture - Anecdotes-Simpson on moral education-Observations-Hints to teachers.

THERE is no part of the infant system which has been more misunderstood, than the system of giving lessons in the gallery; and hence I have thought it necessary to devote a larger space to the subject, than I did in the former editions of this work. The gallery was originally intended by me, to give the children such lessons as appealed directly to the senses, either orally or by representative objects: thus the teaching arithmetic by the frame and balls, inasmuch as it appealed to the eye as well as to the understanding, was suitable for a gallery lesson. The same observations hold good with respect to a Scripture picture, or the representation of an animal, a tree, or any object that can be presented to the eye. We have also found it very useful in teaching the catechism, or anything that is to be committed to memory, and this part of our plan has proved so useful and successful, that it has been adopted in schools for older children of both many sexes, I mean in the Normal schools of Glasgow and Edinburgh, the Corporation Schools of Liverpool, and the government Model Schools at Dublin. In the two latter the arrangements, both in the fittings up of the play-grounds, galleries, and school-rooms, were made under my especial inspection, and I have no doubt that the use of the

gallery, when it becomes more generally known in large schools, will become universal.

The taught should see the face of the teacher in these lessons, and the teacher should see the face of the taught: it establishes a sympathy between both to the advantage of each. The face is the index to the mind, and at times shews the intention, even without words. Some animals can read this index: the horse, the dog, the elephant, and many of the higher order of animals. Children can always read the countenance of the sincere, the wise, and the good. Yea! mere infants can. Reader! Don't smile! were this the time and place, I could demonstrate these opinions by fucts. This is not a book for controversy and metaphysical disquisition; but for use to teachers. When the children and teachers see each other, as in the gallery, the effect is highly beneficial. This may be proved by any teacher. As to the cause for this effect, it would be out of place to argue it here. I therefore simply state it is true. Sympathy is a power destined to be of use in teaching, and hereafter will be better understood.

Many friends to infant education, and casual visitors, having found these erections in infant schools, have concluded that the children should always be sitting on them, which is a fatal error, and deprives the children of that part of the system which legislates for the exercise of their locomotive powers, such as the spelling and reading lessons, and the method of teaching object lessons, as described in another part of this work: the consequence has been, that the schools have become mere parrot-schools, and the children are restless and inattentive. And this has not been the only evil that has attended a misapplication of the gallery; for the teachers, for want of knowing the system properly, have been at a loss how to occupy the time of the children, and scores of teachers have ruined their own constitutions, and also the constitutions of some of the children, by the perpetual talking and singing, which, I am sorry to say, too many consider to be the sum total of the system: and I may state here, that the

children should never be more than one hour at a time, or, at most two hours, during the day, in the gallery. All beyond this is injurious to the teacher, and doubly so to the little pupils. The forenoon is always the best time for gallery lessons; the teacher's mind is more clear, and the minds of the children are more receptive. After the children have taken their dinner they should be entertained with the object lessons, a small portion of spelling and reading, and the rest of the afternoon should be devoted to moral and physical teaching in the play-ground, if the weather will at all permit it. The more you rob your children of their physical education to shew off their intellectual acquirements, the more injury you do their health and your own; and in the effort to do too much, you violate the laws of nature, defeat your own object, and make the school a hot-bed of precocity, instead of a rational infants' school for the training and educating infants. I have been blamed, by writers on the infant system, for that which I never did, and never recommended; I have been made answerable for the errors and mis-conceptions of others, who have not troubled themselves to read my writings; and, in their anxiety to produce something new and original, have strayed from the very essential parts of the plan, and on this account I am charged by several writers with being unacquainted with the philosophy of my own system. I thought three-and-thirty years ago that if I could arrest public attention to the subject, it was as much as could be expected. I knew very well at that time that a dry philosophical detail would neither be received or read. My object was to appeal to the senses of the public by doing the thing in every town where practicable. By this method I succeeded, where the other would have failed, but it by no means followed that I was unacquainted with the philosophy of my own plans, merely because I preferred the doing of the thing to the writing about it. Believing, however, that the time has now arrived, and that the public mind is better prepared than it was then, I have thought I might venture to go a little more into detail,