several instances been found so very beneficial, that it cannot be too frequently or too strongly recommended. At an annual meeting of this kind, held in the Fitzroy school-rooms, London, on the 1st of November, 1836, fifty persons, (old pupils,) from twenty to thirty-five years of age, assembled, and presented a pair of handsome globes to their beloved schoolmaster, as a memorial of their gratitude for his past instructions, and of the very high esteem which they cherish for his valuable and continued exertions on their behalf." Another of our teachers, writing to me in relation to this class of lads, says, “I have endeavoured to carry out a plan for meeting them periodically in a Bible class, and have to some extent succeeded. It would do you good to see about thirty of these youths assembled, some of them nearly twenty years of age. These join in the opening of our Sabbath school. Since the formation of this class, they have raised a library, by their own contributions, to the number of about 130 volumes; and in addition to this they have a sick fund, and a fund which gives them some relief when out of employ. We have also a class of girls, of a similar kind."

252. Nor is this state of things rare. The amount of good feeling in a school, is oftentimes much greater than we are led to anticipate by a superficial glance. Circumstances occasionally develop valuable traits of character in a very gratifying and unexpected way. When the master of the British school at Derby left that town, in February last (1836), to promote edu

cation in the Bahamas, the monitors of his school, and a few others, raised a subscription among the boys, and purchased a very handsome day and night. thermometer, and a magnet, which they publicly presented to their teacher, as a memorial of their gratitude and respect; while the committee of the school, in like manner, showed their sense of his services, by placing at his disposal, scientific instruments to the value of fifty pounds. Many other such instances might be mentioned. In the month of January of the same year, a teacher from the Borough road being removed from a small hamlet in Staffordshire to a school in London, a general subscription was raised in the village, and a tea-service was purchased and presented to him, at a parting meeting held in the school-room. These are triumphs compared with which the achievements of conquerors are not worthy to be named; and, in the contemplation of this ever-extending result of educational labour, a good man will be willing, in the language of an eminent living orator, "to dig his small allotment in the great field of usefulness, to contribute his little item to the cause of truth and righteousness, and to look for the sum total, as the product of innumerable contributions, each of them as meritorious, and many of them, perhaps, far more important and splendid than his own."

APPENDIX.

A.

ON INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENTS IN

SCHOOLS.

THE School Colony, a view of which is prefixed to the present volume, is situated at Meykirch, near Hofwyl in Switzerland. It was founded in 1827, by De Fellenberg, and opened with six pupils. When visited by Mr. Woodbridge in 1829, the house, erected in great measure by the boys, was completed, and the colony was in a prosperous state. The boys who formed it, "were detached from the school of Hofwyl, and established like Robinson Crusoe on his island, on the side of a mountain favourably exposed, but poorly cultivated. Hofwyl serves in place of the ship of Robinson, in furnishing them supplies, until they are able to provide for their own wants." The tillage of their ground, with their washing, cooking, sewing, and weaving, occupied their labouring hours, and four hours daily, on the average, were devoted to instruction. Their food consisted of potatoes, carrots, clotted or curdled milk, and soup made of butter or pork. They

attended public worship in a village at the foot of the mountain, and occasionally at Hofwyl. About fifteen acres of land were appropriated to the colony, and this was deemed sufficient, with various branches of industry, for the support of thirty pupils. Mr. Woodbridge (to whom we are indebted for this account,) adds, "it was delightful to see, in the midst of their solitude and comparative privation, the cheerfulness and activity which pervaded the whole mass of the pupils, as well as the spirit of fraternal kindness which seemed to reign towards each other, and towards their leader."

It may not be generally known, that similar experiments have from time to time been made in England, with a view to promote habits of industry among the agricultural peasantry. As early as the year 1825, Mr. William Allen, the treasurer to the British and Foreign School Society, founded an institution of this character at Lindfield near Brighton, by the purchase of an estate, and the erection of commodious schools for boys, girls, and infants, together with workshops and other out-buildings. In 1835, he proceeded to make provision for boarding and clothing twelve boys, on the manual labour system. The great object being to bring the boys up in habits of industry, they are employed about five hours daily upon land, and when the weather forbids employment out of doors, in weaving linen, printing, or shoemaking, Each boy has a separate apartment, and is expected as much as possible, to do every thing for himself. The utmost

care is taken to promote their moral and religious, as well as intellectual improvement, and it is confidently hoped by the benevolent founder, that under the Divine blessing, these youths will be found available for carrying out the system in other parts of the country.

In 1828, the committee of the Royal British schools at Brighton, determined to incorporate with literary instruction, the practice of various kinds of useful industry, "trusting," (to use their own words,) "that it would give to the scholars an early taste for productive, as well as merely amusing recreation, and add a new source of revenue to the schools." These expectations have certainly not been realised; unexpected difficulties have from time to time embarrassed the working of the industrial department, and prevented its attaining that degree of efficiency which had been anticipated. Nor is this the only case in which disappointment has been experienced. The difficulty of obtaining suitable agents is so great; the necessity for constant supervision is so urgent; and the expense incurred frequently so heavy, that ordinary zeal flags and faints beneath the pressure of the burden. Under these circumstances, we are not justified in regarding these attempts at present in any other light than that of experiments. Still they are experiments of a most important and deeply interesting character, and worthy the careful attention of all who are desirous of improving the condition of the great mass of the people. Every thoughtful and philanthropic man must feel indebted to those who, under many difficulties and