Fair Play to Children.

315

believe it. But still it is pleasing to see the same truths written in the book of nature, as we find recorded in the word of God.

I am, Sir,

Your's, &c.

N. S.

FAIR PLAY TO CHILDREN.

BESIDES the regular lessons to children, parents and teachers are sometimes in the habit of asking them questions to see whether they remember what they have read, or sometimes even questions on subjects which they have never read. This is a good practice. But it is not to be expected that any children will be able to answer such questions perfectly. All children have not equally good memories, and many of these things may have escaped them, without any fault of theirs; and what they have never read about, they cannot be supposed to know. Ought it not, then, to be a rule never to scold or punish children for not properly answering questions thus suddenly put to them? Indeed, to scold and punish them is perhaps never the way to make them fond of their studies; though there may be some children who would do nothing unless they feel obliged to do it. There surely is, however, a great distinction to be made between mere forgetfulness, or mere ignorance, and that idleness or disobedience which leads a child to neglect a lesson which it is required to learn. Dr. Johnson seems never to have forgotten the injustice of his early schoolmaster, who put sudden questions to the boys, and then punished them if they could not give the right answers,

V.

QUESTIONS FROM THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

(For the Answers, see p. 154. Vol. 2.)

IN what year

throne?

did William the Second come to the

What was this William called?

Why was he so called?

Was William the eldest son of the Conqueror? What was the name of the eldest Son?

Why was not this eldest son King?

What do you mean by the Crusades?
Who was Peter the Hermit?

Did the King's elder brother join the Crusades? What particular badge did the Warriors in the Crusades wear on their dress?

What particular amusement was William Rufus fond of?

What was the cause of his death?

Who shot him?

Was he buried with due marks of respect?

Where was he buried?

In what year did he die?

Was he a good or a bad King?

ON PROPERLY JOINING IN THE SERVICE OF THE CHURCH.

I HAVE often endeavoured to point out to my readers, some of the beauties and excellencies of our Church Service; but, I fear, that we sometimes lose the advantages which our Church offers, by our own negligence. The Public Worship of our Church, is a social worship; it is, I mean, a worship in which we are all to join. We must not

On Properly joining in the Church Service. 317

make that mistake which some people seem to make, in supposing that the Church Service is something that the minister has to perform, and that the people are merely to sit still and listen. On this account, I am not fond of such expressions as we find in the public newspapers, where we often read that " His Majesty heard prayers read by the Rev. Mr. &c." We do not come to hear prayers, but to join in them, to offer them up to the Almighty: and our Church is constantly reminding us of this, by directing the minister to call upon the people in these words, "Let us pray.

But our Church Service is not confined to prayers; there also is the hearing and reading the Word of God. The Psalms, the Lessons of the day, the Commandments, the Epistle and Gospel, are all from the Scriptures. To these parts we should give great attention. The Psalms of David contain in them much of the spirit of prayer; and they are appointed to be read by the minister and the people in alternate verses. These Psalms make a beautiful devotional exercise; our hearts and our voices ought to be engaged in this part of the service.

Whilst the Lessons are reading, it will be a great advantage to have our Bibles with us, that we may not be in danger of losing any part of the chapter.

The late Mr. Rennell, in one of his discourses lately published, reminds us, that we should join in the Psalms with our heart and our voice; and follow the Lessons of the day with our Bibles. "This is at all times," he says "an excellent custom, it brings both the eye and the ear into the service of God; and, if the one should be treacherous, the other may fix our attention." When the word of God is read, the least we can do, is to attend, and to say with the infant Samuel, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth."

V.

ADVICE TO THOSE EMPLOYED IN ROAD

MAKING.

It is wonderful to see the great improvement that has been made within these few years, on our public roads, by the method introduced by Mr. Mac Adam. We shall soon probably see the jolting pavement removed from every street in London. This is already done in several of the principal streets; and, if we may judge from the number of men which we see employed in breaking the stones, the work appears to be going on rapidly. In the country, too, there seems to be the same improve. ment; and, in a few years, there will probably be no such thing to be seen, as one of those alarming roads, with deep ruts, so distressing to horses, and so destructive to carts, waggons, and all sorts of carriages.

I confess, however, I never can see the men employed in breaking stones, without feeling some apprehension of the danger they are in of receiving injury from the broken fragments of the stones, which fly from their hammers. On many roads I have seen the men standing at their work, breaking the stones with large hammers, having hay-bands round their legs, evidently intended to secure them from the flying stones. The most approved method, however, now seems to be, for the men to sit down at their work on a sort of thick straw mat, and to break the stones with short hammers. The part in danger then seems to be principally the Eye; and, to prevent accident, some of the work; men wear a piece of crape over their face. This may be of use in preventing small dusty frag ments from getting into the eye, but will do little good in checking the force of a larger piece of stone. Others wear a sort of mask, made of very

Hints to National School Children.

319

thin wire, somewhat like that which gentlemen use when fencing. But this may not be always to be had, and, moreover, a large piece of stone may beat in the wire, and thus give a severe wound. Perhaps the most simple contrivance, and one which is within the reach of almost every body, is a Mask of Parchment, with several holes made with a pin near the eyes. These will afford quite sufficient light for a person sitting down to do this sort of work.

HINT TO NATIONAL SCHOOL CHILDREN. You have observed that the plan of National Schools is different from the old method of teaching. We formerly had canes, and rods, and sticks, and straps, and ferules; and in many schools it is so now. And these things may perhaps very often be necessary. But we wish to try a different method with you. Instead of beating you, and forcing you to learn, we want to shew you that it is for your own improvement and advantage that we are taking pains to instruct you; and we therefore wish to see you sensible enough to understand this, and to do your best without the fear of pain and punishment. Sometimes indeed a boy is so unruly, that we hardly know what to do without correcting him with the stick; but we had much rather do without it. In your classes, you take places one of another; he who does best goes upwards, and the others go downwards, and we generally find that this trial of skill is enough to make you exert yourselves without any bodily punishment, and we generally do find that children, upon this plan, improve faster than they did according to the old method; and we find that hardly any child is so dull as not to wish to take places, and therefore to exert himself. But we have sometimes had oc