doing your duty, not only to your earthly but to your Heavenly Master, in a way pleasing to both. It will then be very pleasing to your former guardians and friends, and you will readily believe to

Your former minister,

JOSEPH BROWN,

Chaplain to the Poor-Law Schools, Norwood.

The questions to the master are easily altered in the case of a boy, and one more should be added, as to the kind of workman he will probably become, if he be an apprentice. The invitation was for eleven o'clock; for at that hour I had Divine service, my sermon being expressly to the servants, though about five hundred of the elder children of the school were with them; and this is the improvement I allude to, as compared with the meeting at Sheffield. If the meeting be to tea only, and not to dinner, Divine service could be in the afternoon at three. In the case of small parishes, and rural districts, I would recommend, that all who have been confirmed, though never in the schools, should also be invited. The delight of seeing once a year those with whom they have spent their early and happy days, and the great pleasure of seeing their former

shepherd of their souls, will bring them miles to this meeting, which to many will be one of the happiest of the year.

After dinner, which was kindly provided by Mr. Aubin at the schools, the young people came to my house, where, under a long tent in the garden, they had tea. After this, I went through the different classes of faults and excellences, as made known to me in the replies of their employers, taking care to avoid names, having privately expressed to each, where desirable, my approbation or displeasure at their conduct. They were then addressed by my clerical and other friends; several hymns were sung; and after rewarding those who had remained long in one place, and giving to each an appropriate book, the meeting concluded with prayer. About fifty or sixty ladies and gentlemen were present, and forty of the children from the schools, who during the year will probably go to service.

Though it complains a little too severely of my censures, the following note will show the effect produced by the meeting on the mind of an acute observer, and one well acquainted with the difficulties of the work. I happen to know

that all those who were present, including deputations from two Boards, were much pleased.

My dear Sir, I thank you for the treat of yesterday, with which I was most highly gratified. Notwithstanding the cat-o'-nine-tails with which you flogged your little maids, they must have appeared to all present as doing honour to the school and its officers.

In thinking over the wretched and demoralizing situation of the birth-place of those poor girls, and comparing this with the good and happy appearances of yesterday, the passage of Scripture occurs to my mind-"God is able of stones to raise up children to Abraham."

May the pleasure of the Lord prosper in your hands. Yours ever truly,-S.

It is highly gratifying to me to know that Her Majesty's Poor-Law Commissioners feel the importance of this annual assembly; to whom and to E. Chadwick, Esq., the talented and well-known Secretary to the Commission, who was present at the first meeting, I am indebted for much valuable assistance. May the Boards of Guardians of the different Unions in England, enter into this very important subject with the same zeal which the City of London Union and the Board of the East London have manifested.

If this annual meeting were general, and the young servants advised, when out of place, to lodge at the Female Servants' Home,* instead of throwing themselves upon the parish, a great saving would eventually be made in the poor-rates. They would cease to feel themselves dependent on the parish; the awful loss of female character would be greatly diminished, and the scenes so often witnessed in police offices, of young women being brought up for insubordinate behaviour in the workhouse, would vanish.

I have added a few cases,† to show the value of Female Servants' Homes in a parochial point of view, though the Christian will feel the value of the Homes rather for the sake of these young females. I venture to suggest that Unions in populous towns should have a Home of this kind. The trifling expense is not worth a thought; the advantages are incalculable.

Although it was not my intention to describe the secular and industrial training of the Institution, yet as many of my readers may like to have an outline of this, I have placed in the

* See Appendix D.

+ See Appendix E.

L

110 STATE OF THE NORWOOD SCHOOLS.

Appendix an extract from an account of a visit made to the Establishment, which appeared in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.* The Infant School, which seems to have escaped notice, is one of the most interesting features in the Establishment, and does great credit to the master of it; in truth, all the teachers show much zeal and talent in their office. Nor should I pass unnoticed the inferior officers, whose diligent attention, though unseen by the eye of the public, comes continually under my observation.

I would only further suggest, whether it be not desirable, in all appointments of masters and mistresses to pauper schools, that their testimonials to moral and religious character should be brought under the notice, and be subject to the approval, of the Chaplain; and in conclusion, request the prayers of all, that the good begun here, may be carried on to the glory and praise of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

* See Appendix F.