houses of refuge for those youths of at least one crime, prisons for the more hardened and abandoned, and night asylums for the wanderer, may be unnecessary. The results of the training system in the model schools of our seminary, fully bear us out in these anticipations. Were the Legislature only convinced of this fact, the moral machine might soon be in operation. The will has been repeatedly exhibited of late years-Government unquestionably has the means.

Nothing short, indeed, of a public grant for the establishment of training schools, fully equal in extent to that given for the emancipation of the West India slaves, (we have made the calm and arithmetical calculation) will ever emancipate the mass of the town population of Great Britain from the operative causes of their present and progressive moral degradation. Jails, bride wells, penitentiaries, and houses of refuge are all very useful in their way, and absolutely necessary in present circumstances; but they go not to the root of the evil-they are at best restoratives, not preventatives. Training schools alone, on Christian principles, and commencing early, by the blessing of God, can accomplish the work. Taking the lowest estimate of the advantages to be gained, twenty millions sterling advanced by the State would be amply repaid by the reduction of crime, and the additional peace and security of the whole community.

This amount would certainly be required for the mere purchase of school training grounds in suitable situations for the mass of the people the erection of buildings and a partial endowment, so as to bring

the fees within the reach of the poor and working classes.

This sum may startle those who are unaccustomed to view education in its real character and bearings, and the opposing principles of apathy and vice it has to contend with, in the wide-spread rural districts of our country, but especially in large towns, which are at present the hot-beds of crime, ignorance, and insubordination. And to those who have formed their notions from the aspect of calm seclusion in the parlour or in the nursery, the necessity for so mighty an expenditure, in providing moral machinery, may appear strange. But to those who have been accustomed for twenty or thirty years to visit the abodes of wretchedness, and crime, and ungodliness, so fearfully general in our city lanes, and even in our rural districts, such a sum, and such a sacrifice, on the part of the country for its moral renovation, will appear small indeed. Did we say sacrifice? We ought not. Twenty millions sterling, thus expended, would prove an incalculable blessing to the working classes, and would be thrice repaid to Government in their superior industry, sobriety, and good order.

We will venture to predict, that not many years will elapse ere the present calculation will be considered quite too low. Our legislators propose thousands, when millions are needed, as if a city on fire could be extinguished by a few buckets of water.

CHAP. V.

SYMPATHY OF NUMBERS-TEACHING IS NOT TRAINING-THE

FORCE OF HABIT.

SYMPATHY OF NUMBERS.

Ir must strike the most cursory observer, that there is a mighty influence at work in large towns, which, comparatively, is not to be found in the rural districts. In the country, moral training by the parents is in a great measure practicable, where the child, nearly free from companionship, follows his father at the plough, or his mother in the dairy; but it is widely different in towns, with the father in the workshop or the factory. The mother, also, is so occupied with work and household duties during the day, as scarcely to be able to pay any attention to the moral training of her children, even were it practicable to keep them confined within the compass of a small dwelling, perhaps a garret or a cellar. The sympathy of numbers is an influence, mighty either for good or for evil. At present, with the young, it is all on the side of evil. To lay hold of this principle and turn it to good, is the great desideratum. It is not enough to say to parents, train your children. How can they train them if they are not with them, but leave them of necessity to the training of the

streets? Our object, therefore, has been to render the schoolmaster a moral trainer, when parents cannot be with their children, and thus to direct the sympathy of numbers, out of doors as well as at the fireside, into a right and Christian channel.

But it is stated-Why propose such a change in education as implies that the old school-house is no longer fitted for the purpose? Our answer is, the old school, at the best, only taught or trained the intellect of the child, and made no provision for improving his moral and physical habits. This important object, as we have already shown, requires a gallery in school, and a contiguous play-ground or uncovered school-room, for the moral development and training of the children under the superintendence of the master.

Why, it may be asked, at this late stage of the world, introduce moral training in school, when moral instruction and intellectual instruction have hitherto done so well? We answer-Education hitherto has not done well; upon the whole, it has made but a slight moral impression on society. It has done little for its moral elevation. Take away family training and self-training in a few instances, and what have we left that school education has accomplished in this respect? Marvellously little indeed. Reading, writing, and arithmetic, are imagined to be sovereign remedies for the evils of the youth of large towns. Will any one acquainted with the moral condition of this novel, and to some a fearful, state of society, for a moment conclude, that the knowledge

of these arts, with mind and habits totally untrained o the proper use of them, ever can morally elevate the sunken masses in such cities as Manchester, Glasgow, London, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Paisley, Birmingham, and Dundee, sunken in mind and manners as thousands in these places are, without any means that can reach or are calculated to impress them? As well might we hope that by sowing hay-seed, we should reap corn. The old system may do, so far, for rural districts, but the training system is requisite for the moral elevation of society in towns and manufacturing villages.

In the training school, children, of whatever age, when from under the eye of parents, who are engaged in various occupations during the day, are kept from the evil companionship of the streets, and not merely taught but trained in a moral atmosphere.

Example, indeed, is more powerful than precept; but sympathy is more powerful than either, or both combined. And when example, precept, and sympathy combine, as in boys of the same age, an influence is in operation, compared with which, the example and precept of parents and guardians are rendered comparatively powerless.

The power of the sympathy of numbers is felt every day in politics, in religion, and in vice.* Our towns are the centres of political power, religion is apt to

* We are all aware what a powerful influence the sympathy of numbers has in a crowded meeting, both on speakers and hearers, and the chilling effect of the opposite condition, even when truth, not numbers, is intended to sway the audience.