trade, and great numbers of the boys of the town are early sent into it. These boys will often be at home on the Sunday, and their chief employment is play and mischief. When the cold of winter set in, the Ragged School-room, with its blazing fire, formed a powerful attraction for them; they flocked in, many of them almost as ragged as the vagrants; and thus an opportunity was afforded for sowing the seed of the kingdom upon soil which would otherwise, in all probability, have been left uncultivated. Many were disposed for fun, but a vigilant lookout by the teachers, and the strict enforcement of discipline, held them in check. Very often, it has been evident that a plan was laid for a 'lark' in the school, and the remarks made in answer to any questions that may have been asked, have frequently shown that they were ready for an uproar whenever opportunity might offer. Often does it require great effort, on the part of the teacher, to suppress a struggling smile; whilst, on the other hand, the heart aches to witness the deep, dark depravity that lurks within. "We have had several parcels of cast-off clothing sent in for the children, and many of them have been made comfortable and decent, through this kindness of friends; so much so, that the change in individual appearance became visible in the general aspect of the school." YORK RAGGED SCHOOL. THE Annual Tea Meeting of this institution was recently held in the Merchants' Hall, Fossgate, which was attended by about 160 friends. James Meek, jun., Esq., presided. The Chairman said, that the constitution of the Ragged School was founded on a broad Christian principle; and not in any way attempting to proselytise; but to teach those juvenile outcasts of society the great fundamental truths of their common Christianity. He was of opinion that Sunday Schools did not reach low enough, there being a class beyond to which their operations did not extend, and therefore it was that Ragged Schools had been established to supply that desideratum. At the same time he did not speak disparagingly of the noble institution of Sunday Schools, for a friend of his had witnessed on Whit-Tuesday, at Halifax, a magnificent spectacle-which in his (Mr. Monkhouse's) opinion was more glorious than any review in Hyde Park, or even Napoleon's late fête in the Champ de Mars-namely, the assemblage of 21,000 Sabbath School children. He believed if it had not been for these schools, that long ere this the framework of our constitution would have been broken, and the fountains of the great depths of society would have opened, and over all would have spread the lava of a Socialist vol cano. After the Report was read, several friends addressed the Meeting, among whom was the Rev. T. Myers, vicar of Sheriff Hutton, who said he had much pleasure in attending another social meeting of the friends of the York Ragged School. His attention, he stated, had been drawn to the subject through the speeches of Lord Shaftesbury, and from that time he had paid much regard to institutions of this nature. He quite agreed with their Chairman, that Sunday Schools did not go low enough, and that they practically excluded those children who most required the aid of such invaluable institutions, and that being the case they were left to be schooled by others in all kinds of vice. He referred at great length to the temporal and spiritual advantages derived from Ragged Schools, by which industrial habits. were engrafted into the children, and a moral and religious tone was imparted to their natures thus rendering them worthy of a respectable place in society. Mr. T. Monkhouse, after a few observations, introduced to the meeting a youth who had been taught in the school, who is now in a respectable situation maintaining himself, a member of a Christian church, and a teacher. in the school where he himself was taught. STIRLING RAGGED INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. THIS school has been in operation three years. It began with 8 or 9 scholars, which number has gradually increased to 53. The average attendance is about 50, but in summer and especially harvest-time, it is somewhat less. This number consists of both boys and girls of the lowest and destitute class, all without shoes and stockings. Some parentless or homeless, some of Irish parentage and Roman Catholics. To all the Bible is read every day, and all the instruction given is based upon its principles. The master is a member of the Free Church of Scotland, but the children on Sunday go to the Established Church, having the convenience of sittings there. The children come in the morning to breakfast, which consists of porridge. They all wash hands and face ere beginning school, and put on a school dress or smock frock. They frequently have a bath, and look very clean and healthy. The dinner consists of broth or soup, and the supper of porridge. Thus the children have three meals a day, but are dismissed every evening, having about five hours' instruction, and three or four hours of industrial employment. The latter consists of making bags for the grocers, nets for fishermen, teasing hair, etc. There is an active Committee of Ladies and Gentlemen, and the school may be said to be in a flourishing condition. Already some twenty-five boys and girls can read the Bible fluently, eight or ten of whom knew not a letter when they entered the school; and the Committee can point to several boys who, through the instrumentality of this unpretending institution, are filling situations with advantage to themselves and credit to their benefactors. It was stated to the writer of this notice, (who visited the school, August 16,) that the children were all such as could not from poverty go to another school where even a trifling fee was required, and who but for this school would be left in a state of ignorance and neglect. Papers, Original and Selected. EMIGRATION IN CONNECTION WITH RAGGED AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS. BY GEORGE BELL, M.D., Secretary to the Edinburgh Original Ragged and Industrial School Association. WE take it for granted that the Ragged Industrial School is both a necessary and an approved institute. If this double proposition be admitted, (and who will venture to deny it?) then we think it is demonstrable that it is the duty of the country to give a suitable outlet to the industry created by its instrumentality. No one can have a real practical knowledge of the subject of Ragged Industrial Schools, and not be puzzled concerning the future of the little creatures that are educated and trained in them. This question puzzles every one that considers it, but it oppresses the man who is engaged in the great work of rescuing children from the wreck of society. While occupied in the performance of this high duty his mind is harassed with thoughts about the future; and the truth is, that if he is a man deficient in invention and resource, or wanting in energy, he may shut up his school and retire, for, under existing circumstances, the labour bestowed on the primary education and training of the children of the city will soon be neutralized, unless he who bestows this labour also provides for them after they leave school. A boy or a girl, fourteen years of age, is both physically and intellectually incapable of fighting the battle of life single-handed. The most that he or she can do is to learn the art of this difficult and dangerous warfare. What is to become of the boys and girls who are educated and trained in the Ragged Industrial Schools is indeed a very grave question. It is a perplexing question, and it disturbs the mind. He who has a strong will can do; and therefore that which disturbs is not a sense of difficulty connected with the searching for employment for this and that boy and girl when they leave school, but the perplexing question isWhere can we safely and confidently place all these children when they have sprung up to youth? To deal with a detail and to manage for a mass are two very different things. If the duty of the country towards the ragged children is performed-if all these children are educated and trained then the country will be forced to provide an outlet for the industry thus created when it may not be convenient to do so. That it is time at least to begin to study the economy of this question is quite manifest, for already so much has been done, and is doing, by private enterprise in the way of gathering in the waifs of society, cleansing, dressing and preparing them for manufacture into a strong and useful fabric, that the prepared material is beginning to accumulate. No one surely will say, that because this is the case the action of the Ragged Industrial School should be suspended. It would be folly to say so it would betoken a pusillanimous weakness-it would prove the existence of something worse than an unwillingness to face a difficulty. We take the case as we find it. The Ragged Industrial School has commended itself to the mind and heart of the country, and is rapidly extending and deepening its roots. Ere long we will be called on to consider a gigantic subject, unless we take it up now, when it is comparatively small and manageable. But although it is comparatively small, it affords a sufficient basis for practical legislation. The question before us is-Where should the children educated and trained in Ragged Industrial Schools go to on leaving school? This is a practical and not an abstract question. Is London willing, and if willing is she able to provide for the thousands of youths of both sexes whom, were she adequately equipped with Ragged Industrial Schools, would be thrown into the labour market? Is London not fully supplied with artizans already? Is she not flooded with them? If not, whence the "sweating" system? Why do hordes of men, women, and children, submit to have their faces ground? The fact is, that the labour market in London and every other great town is over-stocked, and it requires no logic to prove that these towns are not suitable markets for the thousands of hands which the Ragged Industrial Schools can add to the industrial force of the country. But suppose London and the other cities in the kingdom were not fully supplied with workmen, an important question remains, to wit-Are London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Paisley, Dundee, Hull, Newcastle, Leeds, etc.,-the places into which we should cast the youths who were alumni of the Ragged Industrial School? Certainly not; and the reason of this is obvious, when one considers from what and from among whom these creatures were emancipated. The natural tendency of mankind is to gravitate, and good men rejoice when their sons and daughters reach maturity unscathed. If these men have reason to rejoice in the well-doing of their children, how much reason have we to fear lest the children we have adopted should be dragged down again by the degraded and corrupting classes that are below society. It is the interest of these children, and of society likewise, that they should not be subjected to this danger. We should not test their virtue in a manner in which no right-minded father in the world would allow that of his son or daughter to be tested-if he could sibly prevent it. pos The breath of this country cannot be sweetened unless we remove that which taints it. Ragged Industrial Schools can materially aid in effecting this. But they can only do one thing well, and if they are called on to do more it will weaken them. They can get hold of and prepare human beings for honest labour-and at present they are charged with the additional and very difficult task of procuring employment. This is a bad economy. When the boy and girl are done with school they should cease to be charges either upon the mind or purse of the Ragged School manager. They should immediately pass from his hand into that of the accredited labour agent, and, ne sutor ultra crepidam, the Ragged School manager should be allowed to do his important work, while the other proceeds to do his. There ought to be division of labour in this as in all other great human affairs. We would not be parties to the disturbing of government with aught that it is in our power, by any other legitimate means, to settle and arrange. It is distasteful, and it is the reverse of wise, to ask others to any RAGGED AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS. 183 do for us what it is possible for ourselves to do unaided. Dependence of kind is detestable to the men both north and south of the Tweed, and they never ask help when they can avoid it. In the present instance we have no alternative; we need help, we ask it, and we anticipate that we will get it. We have a great national work on hand, and we wish the government to take it up where we of necessity must lay it down. If any other party competent to the task will take it up, of course we will not object, but the work is national and the nation should do it. In the meantime we are encouraged by the memorial which was the subject of comment in the August number of this magazine, and likewise (the writer of this article speaks for himself) from the spirit of the reply given by the Right Hon. the Secretary for the Colonies. The The argument used by the 42 memorialists is of a character and embodies a truth which it is impossible permanently to resist. It consists in an expression of a species of suffering which we cannot permit them to experience, and be free from guilt. They say, and we believe them, "We are suffering mentally, because our consciences will not let us do evil; and physically, because we can get no lawful employment." Who can endure hunger? Are there many examples of starving men resisting temptation? No doubt men ought rather to die than to steal, but we have no reason to expect that men will do so; we have to deal with human nature as it is, and not as it ought to be, and we assert, that we are bound to permit these young men, and all others similarly circumstanced, to do well if it is in our power practically to give them this permission. Necessity is a tyrant, and temptation is a successful victimizer of youth. To say a person may do what we know it is impossible for him to do, is at variance with the idea of permission. We may say to a inan, "You may go to the moon," but the words are idle words, because it is impossible for him to go thither, and we know it to be so. logic of the matter is, "You may go to the moon if you can, but you cannot, and nobody can enable you, therefore you shall not go to the Apply this form to the case in hand, "You may go to Australia if you can, but you can't unless I help you, therefore you shall not go to Australia." The reason why he does not go to Australia is, that the party who can, does not help him, and this party is clearly responsible for all that happens because of his not having gone thither. The party who ought to send these forty-two young men to Australia is responsible for all that may result if they are not sent. But these youths, or rather the great class which they represent, must be sent to Australia some time, and the question is, shall they go now in the capacity of honest men and willing labourers, or shall they wait until they have each cost England hundreds of pounds sterling, and vexed and tormented her until she can suffer their presence no longer? The question is one of police and of finance, as well as of Christian economics and of social policy. moon." We value the memorial of the old Ragged scholars, because it emphasises the demonstration of the preventive and reformatory power of Ragged Industrial Schools, and because it is the most tangible way in which the emigration question in connection with these schools can be brought before the country. The writer of this article has said that he feels encouraged rather than the reverse by the tone of the reply sent to the memorialists by Sir John Pakington. No doubt that reply is a negative, but it is a gentle one; it amounts to nothing more than this, that, according to their perception of the nature of their trust, the Commissioners do not feel it to be their duty to grant what is petitioned for. Sir John Pakington is the sincere friend of the wretched children of the City, and there is good reason to expect that he will give this subject his most favourable consideration. It is difficult to understand the allusion made to the "present state of the labour market in Australia;" but whatever the meaning of it may be it cannot have a reference to the question in hand. If the state of the labour market is to determine the question "Where should the class educated and trained in Ragged Industrial Schools go to labour?" then, of course, we begin by saying that London is not the place. Neither is any city in the kingdom the place. Labour is wealth, and wherever there is a field for labour wealth can be produced. If Australia is not a field for industry-if on the one hand that immense continent is fully occupied, or if on the other hand it is silent when interrogated by the agriculturist and stock farmer, then it must be ranked with London, etc., and pronounced not to be the place. But what are we to say of the Canadas? They can absorb all the industrious hands that England can send. The fact is that both Australia and the Canadas invite labourers, and if the soil in these countries could speak, it would say "come" to every one that already knows or will learn how to converse with her. It does not admit of doubt that if the Ragged Industrial School system were universal throughout Great Britain, and if the entire product were sent to Australia, good would be done both to the colony and to the mother country. The colony would gain, for, the product of Ragged Industrial Schools consists of youths who have received a sound education, and have gone through a process of moral training-youths who have been taught the elements of different kinds of handicraft, and who will soon learn how to plough, harrow, sow, reap, tend sheep, etc. Such servants are precisely the servants that the colony requires, and while it is the interest of the colony that they should get them, it is demonstrably both our duty and interest to send them. En résumé, and in conclusion. Outlet for the product of Ragged Industrial Schools is as necessary as Ragged Industrial Schools themselves. Admit the necessity of the latter, and the necessity for the former is proved. We have failed to discover any other adequate and available outlet than the colonies, and in the absence of any other, the colonies should be taken advantage of. The foregoing propositions are distinct enough, and the question that remains is, Who should do the work? Who should bear the expense of it? We, the promoters of Ragged Industrial Schools, have made an experiment on a large scale, and demonstrated the proposition (pregnant with value to England) that through the instrumentality of these schools the reclamation of delinquent youth can be effected, and the children of the dangerous classes prevented from becoming what their parents are. We have likewise demonstrated that by emigration the product of these Preventive and Reformatory Schools can be saved from relapse, and we confidently submit that to save them from relapse is to secure them in |