possible, except in comparatively a few cases, that sponsors should give their constant supervision, so it is, to a very great extent, impossible also that it should be done by parents.

The very best of mothers, in our own station of life (with very few exceptions), cannot be always in the nursery. There are other duties, positive and many too, which must of necessity be attended to. Much, very much, of the education of the infant (whether we like it or not) is left, and must be left, to the nurse. And so also it is in the lower stations of life. A nurse, and not only the parent, is, of necessity, to a very great degree the educator of the child.

Talk as we like, theorise as we will, legislate as we may, thousands of mothers of the poorer classes, do and must (at any rate for many years to come), go out to work; and even when they do not go out, there are active home duties to be attended to,—the washing, the baking, and many other such things, with "only one pair of hands to do them"- -so that the infant children are of necessity, for a very large portion of the day, committed to the care of a nurse—an elder brother or an elder sister (not old enough to work, but kept from school for this purpose), or else some neighbour, so compassed by infirmity that she is not able to gain her living by any other method.

It is, then, of the highest importance, to provide in every parish, where it may be done, a good nurse and a good nursery for such little children; not a kind of show-room for pretty faces and precocious intellects, where young christians are to be taught vanity and folly, by unconcealed admiration and open flattery, and trained to sing of the sublimest mysteries to a jingle in words they cannot understand, and called out in pairs to act pretty scripture plays for the entertainment of subscribing visitors; but a christian refuge from neglect and ill-usage, bad management and bad example-where, under a person of disciplined character and affections, they may not only "be taken care of," but their characters and affections may be disciplined—and a real and valuable assistance be afforded to the parents in the true education of their children; and where the tender, young affections may be moulded into that healthy form which but so few parents in the present day have any idea of giving to them, and the absence of which renders the after instruction in our national schools in so many cases ineffectual.

It will be seen, therefore, that when I would advocate the use of infant schools, I mean not such establishments of infantile intellectualism as have been too often held out to us as models. We should never think of turning our own baby-nurseries into London-university-like schoolrooms; nor, when in possession of our senses, should we choose a nurse for our offspring, because she was clever and well informed. Good character, good disposition, good temper, good common sense, would, with ourselves, be the requisites; and if she also had good intellect and a good fund of information, why so much the better: but the other qualities are so much beyond all comparison more valuable for the purposes required, that, these latter we should scarcely care about. We should naturally say (and I think very wisely), "It will be time enough for the children to learn this, that, and the rest, when they go

from the nursery to the schoolroom; but we do not want them to turn out little dirty, untidy, tiresome, disagreeable creatures, ill-tem→ pered, selfish, and self-willed, cunning and deceitful." In a word, we have an instinctive christian perception with respect to children of our own class, that the affections are to be cultivated before the intellect, and that from the very beginning. Let us act upon the same principle with respect to the children of the poor, and there will be no cause for any further complaint against infant schools.

In connection with this subject, I am almost tempted to add a few remarks concerning the providing of nurses for the rich, as well as infant school mistresses for the poor. I am inclined to regard it as a very essential part of an educational system, which has not yet sufficiently been attended to. Should my ideas assume any very definite form, I may, at a future time, trouble you with a letter on the subject. I now allude to it with the hope of thus awakening the thoughts of some able mind to the subject,

July, 1845.

I am, dear Sir, yours very sincerely,

WALTER BLUNT.

SECRETS OF SUCCESS IN SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

SIR,-Should the following common-places seem to you of sufficient importance to deserve constant remembrance, you will perhaps give them a place in your Journal, even though in substance they should have often appeared there before.

J. B. S.

"Sabbath" means rest." The sunday school lessons should therefore be as far as possible removed from drudgery.

Young children are both more easily and more properly governed by the affections than the understanding.

Any love gained from children by their teachers at the expense of their God, their parents, and their clergy, is love worse than lost, because abused.

"Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware; and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge.' To suppose judicious corporal punishment good for the six days, but bad for the seventh, is utter infatuation. Double severity on the seventh would work far better, and is more agreeable to scripture.

No one ought to be a teacher, at least of younger classes, unless he have a decided fondness for children.

The penitent christian delights to dwell more upon the history of Jesus than upon the character of the Father; because he took our infirmities. So the teacher who would gain the regard of his scholars, must oftentimes acknowledge his own ignorance, as well as infirmities; and must come down on to the same level of frailty with them, or they will be disheartened.

The office of sunday school teacher is that of an assistant catechist, or instructor in simple truths; rendered necessary, in these evil days,

by ungodliness of parents and godparents, and lamentable scarcity of clergymen.

Let no man go beyond his office, and in place of teaching get to preaching.

Never treat a personal affront as if you were offended.

Avoid the temptation of exalting attendance at school to an equality with attendance at church; and always strive to make the human institution a high road to profit from the divine ordinance.

Remember that you are not teaching heathens (though you may have cause to wish it were so). Let the baptism of your scholars be ever in your mind.

To "educate" means to "draw out." Bend your best energies to draw out spiritual life. Act in the belief that it is in them. With this belief, giving a solemn under-tone to all you say, whether of praise, or blame, or more direct instruction, there will be evident harmony in your system, and you will have a fact to work upon. (See for a model, Romans, ch. vi. 3-14.)

Twine all your teaching round the catechism; there is nothing revealed but has a reference, more or less plain, in that summary.

Point the unconfirmed to confirmation, as a blessing in store; and treat the confirmed who are communicants, "not now as servants, but as brothers beloved."

every Ash

Discipline is invaluable; the church mourns her loss of it Wednesday. But it is discipline not written in stern countenances, or Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep

cast-iron manners."

with them that weep."

Examine sulkiness with the probe of kindness; but never permit it to fester.

Be his friend in the street, whose teacher you are or have been in the school; and count none of the lad's little ones beneath your notice.

"edu

Every child has a character-often a deep and mysterious onestudy it. One is over-modest, another over-forward. You may cate" in both cases.

Always be glad to take a place with the children, when the clergyman has leisure to take yours.

Dress with simplicity.

Accompany your class to church.

All children should be furnished with a private prayer suitable to their proficiency, and including, even for the youngest, an especial petition for parents, clergymen, and teachers.

All teachers should pray for their scholars, according to their several deficiences and characters.

The psalms should be much read, to give a sober devotional tone, whereby will be obtained a power of rightly valuing the church services, as utterly distinct from all dissenting systems.

God's holy name should never be read or spoken hastily.

“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow.”

No one truth should be taught to the exclusion or disparagement of another; e. g., "the holy catholic church" and the " I communion of

saints," must not be sacrificed to "the forgiveness of sins," or vice versá, for all are equally of God.

Senior classes should be prepared to answer the common objections of dissenters; and should be so built up in the most holy faith, that they may not fear to challenge investigation.

The clergyman should know much of every teacher, and something of every scholar, and should never miss an occasion of binding and endearing all.

He only is the ordained pastor—let him beware how he gives his office to another.

SUGGESTIONS REGARDING EDUCATION IN INDIA,
(Concluded from page 200.)

8th.-ANOTHER radical vice of our system is, the ambitious aiming at effect and display. The masters, knowing that their efficiency and the state of their schools, will be judged by the distant authorities in a great measure from the programme of number and quantity of books read, are naturally tempted to put their pupils into works above their capacity, and to push them through them as fast as possible. Thus, mere beginners are put at once into Shakespeare, Pope's Homer, and the Paradise Lost; carried through Euclid before they are grounded in simple arithmetic, and raced through the histories of Greece, Rome, England and India, Universal History, Dryden, Addison, Johnson, and Bacon, in order to reach as fast as possible the scholarship standard! This is ruinous to the real improvement of the boys. Even the council acknowledge, page 114, "Too much has been undertaken in science, before the classes were duly prepared for it ;" and again, page 115, "We have not been satisfied as to the 1st class—they have undertaken too many things, and endeavouring to push on too far in science, have failed;" and in page 245, government state, that "it was found that the Calcutta institutions were too much inclined to indulge a taste for ornamental, rather than useful knowledge, and that government preferred that the attention should be steadily directed to those more solid acquirements, which in every path of life were calculated to be practically useful."

This vice of display runs through the whole system, even to the size of the books, which must be bulky expensive volumes, too large for one out of 100 of the pupils ever to get through. Much money is wasted in huge volumes, such as Richardson's Poets, Hume, Russell's Europe, &c., &c., of which, whilst but an insignificant portion is read, the rest is thumbed and destroyed. For such mere beginners the class books ought to be small, light volumes, or stitched parts of larger books, with which a whole class might be supplied at the cost of one of these bulky tomes, which not one boy in a 100 gets half through. As is stated in a memorandum of Bombay Board of Education, Appendix, page 66, "works should be compiled in parts, with a view to economy in the printing, adaptation to the pecuniary means of the people, and the prevention of waste."

The same of the libraries, regarding one of which, page 147, the following naive remark occurs: 151 volumes in the library, all in good condition, but not much read."

Much of this would be prevented by a superintendent who examined the schools himself. There would be less show, but far more real improvement.

Some of the books used appear unsuitable; such as Pope's Homer, the History of Greece, &c., &c. If we do not inculcate christian morality, we may at least abstain from teaching the absurdities and false principles of heathen mythology.

9th. Another evil springing from the same root of display, is the retention on the registers of a number of boys whose attendance is most irregular, in order to present a greater number on the list. The attention of the council was strongly drawn to this point, and they have ordered that, where reward or reprimand had no effect, expulsion was the proper measure to be adopted.'

At the central schools of the National and British and Foreign School Societies, small pieces of printed paper are used, informing the parent that the absent boy has been suspended, pending the parent's appearing and affording a good reason for his son's absences. These papers are

delivered by the monitor of the absent boy's class. So well does this strict system work, that out of 300 or 400 boys, seldom more than one, or two at most, are absent without leave. As the Rev. G. Moody, president of the Schoolmasters' Improvement Society well remarks The responsibility of causing the child to attend, should be thrown on the parent (not on the teacher), as one of the conditions upon which the child may have the benefit of the school. It is one of the worst things which can befall a school, to allow the parents for a moment to suppose that they confer a favour by sending the child: and every movement after an absentee only confirms them in the false supposition."

10th. Corporal punishment is only required by an inefficient master, destitute of moral and intellectual influence, who is obliged to have recourse to such a method of supporting his authority. It may sometimes be advisable in cases of moral delinquency, such as lying, theft, indecent language, &c., &c., to inflict corporal punishment; but this should always be done deliberately by the head master in person.

Rewards generally have an injurious effect, in over-stimulating boys who require no stimulus, in disheartening those who have no hope of winning the prize, and in exciting evil feelings of envy and jealousy. They inculcate the feeling of acting only for reward, instead of from duty and the habit of simple obedience.

11th. Our schools are generally dirty and untidy, without mats or floorcloths; and the boys are seldom clean, or neatly dressed. They should be carefully taught and practised in the rules of genuine good breeding; for the impudent and forward manners of most of the boys brought up at our schools, have prejudiced very many against education itself, and present a most disagreeable contrast to the perfect good breeding of really respectable natives.

12th. It would be advisable to bind the teachers to the service by liberal pensions, on the scale of the uncovenanted judicial service, and by