school: he stated that, since the introduction of the industrial and mechanical operations, the health of the children had been greatly improved. There were now considerably fewer under medical treatment than formerly; in fact, the indulgence in manual labour in the workshops had wrought like a charm, and sufficiently proved that it had increased instead of diminishing the mental pleasures and resources of the pupils. Possibly the wide dissemination of this very interesting fact may be serviceable in stimulating guardians of the poor to annex Schools of Industry to the already established seminaries of juvenile paupers.

With respect to the moral and religious training of the Norwood children, it is impossible of course for any one after a single visit to say anything, as from his own observation. Here I shall content myself with quoting the language of Dr Kay (now Mr Kay Shuttleworth), in his account of the establishment contained in the Fifth Annual Report of the Poor-Law Commissioners, to which the reader may be referred for much valuable matter on the training of pauper children. "The moral training," says he, "pervades every hour of the day, from the period when the children are marched from their bedrooms to the wash-house in the morning, to that when they march back to their bedrooms at night. By the constant presence of some teacher as a companion during the hours of recreation, they are taught to amuse themselves without mutual encroachment; they are trained in the practice of mutual forbearance and kindness; they are taught to respect property not their own, to avoid faults of language and manner, to treat their superiors with respectful confidence; they are trained in the practice of their religious duties, in a reverential observance of the Sunday, and in deference to the instructions of their religious teachers. Propriety of demeanour in their bedrooms, and at meals, is a matter of special anxiety." The schools are provided with a library, the books of which are anxiously perused by the more advanced pupils; and there is a gymnastic apparatus in the play-ground, for developing their physical strength and activity. The industrial training of the children has already had the effect of reducing the age at which they are received into service, and of rendering premiums for apprenticeship unnecessary; not, however, in consequence of their skill in a particular handicraft, but because the children have acquired industrious habits." A better testimony of the truth of all this could not be found, than in the simple fact that both boys and girls are now eagerly sought for by masters and mistresses, so that no difficulty whatever exists in the way of their getting into an honest and regular means of employment.

Twelve months afterwards, in July 1840, I again visited this interesting establishment at Norwood, and was glad to find that it continued to flourish. An infant-school had been added to the 73

other arrangements, and outline elementary drawing, principally with reference to industrial objects, now formed a branch of ordinary study for a number of the more advanced pupils. I was informed by Mr Aubin, the superintendent, that the introduction of simple drawing lessons on slates, besides amusing the children, had very greatly facilitated their progress in writing-a circumstance not at all remarkable, for skill in drawing and writing depends on the cultivation of the same imitative faculty. This was the first time I had seen drawing taught familiarly to poor children since my visit to the Dutch and Belgian schools in

1838.

The school, I now learn (1846), continues in the same state of activity; and many children who have left it are reported to conduct themselves with propriety, and to be in the way of attaining a respectable position in life.

This institution, however, greatly as it is to be admired, has always failed in absorbing all the destitute children of the metropolis. Like every other Poor-Law establishment, whether in England or Scotland, it has left to private societies of benevolent individuals the duty of succouring and educating a miscellaneous class of helpless juvenile paupers, whose claims to public compassion are as great as those who become the objects of regular parochial bounty. In consequence of this neglect -for which, possibly, statutory reasons could be advanced-the streets of the metropolis have never been altogether rid of infant beggars and thieves. With the view of checking the growth of juvenile vagrancy in London, an association of benevolent individuals, called the Children's Friend Society, was formed about 1830, and liberally supported by voluntary contributions. It carried on its operations for a number of years in an establishment at Hackney-Wick, for boys, and in another at Chiswick, for girls. The former I went to see in July 1840, and the following is a short notice of what came under my observation:

VISIT TO INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL AT HACKNEY-WICK.

The establishment, which was situated near the suburb of Hackney, among green fields and gardens, consisted of a cluster of humble edifices enclosed from the public thoroughfare, with a large play-ground in the centre, and ten acres of garden and field behind. The buildings included a house for the family of the superintendent, a school-room, a sleeping apartment, in which was a long row of beds in the form of hammocks, a mess-room, and several workshops and tool-houses. The children, ninety in number, were dressed in a plain manner with blue linen blouses, and, to appearance, seemed a happy healthful collection of boys, mostly under twelve years of age. In answer to inquiries respecting the cause of their being inmates of the asylum, I learned that some were orphans, or utterly destitute children, picked up from the streets; others were boarded at the expense of parishes;

while several were of that class of juveniles usually denominated "bad boys," and whose parents sent them to this place, with the hope of removing them from the society of vicious companions, and of having them methodically trained under the moral discipline of the asylum. The fee charged for board and education was 4s. 6d. per week. The system of instruction appeared to embrace much useful, healthy, and profitable industry, with correct moral nurture, as well as a fair share of ordinary school instruction.

One of the most remarkable features in the arrangements of the school, like that at Norwood, was the variety of industrial occupation, suitable to different capacities and tastes. There were a small printing-office with a press and types, a carpenter's shop with a bench and tools, a blacksmith's shed with an anvil, hammer, and bellows, and also shoemaking and tailoring departments, in which all the shoes and clothes were made and mended. Each workshop was under the charge of an aged artisan, who acted as instructor in his craft. The printing-office was a neat little room, under the management of an old compositor; and here the boys printed all the reports for the institution, school tracts, and other papers. The out-of-door labour in the garden and field was conducted daily at fixed hours, except when the weather rendered it unsuitable. Along the margin of a rivulet, which wound its way through the premises, the young cultivators were taught to rear and manage a stock of water-cresses.

The regular duties of the day commenced as early as six o'clock; and after a certain period for school and breakfast, the boys formed divisions under monitors, received their tools from the tool-house, with instructions from the master, and proceeded in an orderly manner to their different appointments; the printers to their office; the carpenters, blacksmiths, shoemakers, and tailors to their shops; and the agriculturists to the field or gardens. At noon the various divisions assembled, formed a line, and proceeded to the tool-house, where each boy deposited his spade, &c. in its place; a general monitor being responsible for all the instruments of labour being kept clean, and in their proper places. The boys then washed themselves, were inspected by the master, instructed for a short time in gymnastic exercises, and afterwards went to dinner. For about an hour after dinner, they amused themselves in the play-ground, or in reading books from a small library kept for their use. At two o'clock, all again proceeded to labour in the gardens, or at their other employments, and afterwards received lessons in school. Such is something like the routine of daily occupation. On Saturdays there was a general examination, and every child was washed in a tepid bath. During fine weather in summer all were taught to swim in a neighbouring canal, under the eye of the master.

From this general outline of the scope and management of the institution, it will appear that the main object of its projectors

and supporters was the substitution of useful and profitable habits of industry for those of utter idleness and crime. That this important end was gained has been universally allowed. The only serious obstacle which the manager and patrons of the institution had to encounter, was the proper disposal of the children after they had been fitted for an honest course of life. Not being able to find situations readily for them in England-at least without apprentice fees, which could not be afforded—and not wishing to turn them adrift in the streets, which would have been inhuman, the society commenced the practice of sending the children, with their own consent and the consent of their parents, if these could be found, to the Cape of Good Hope, where, under the friendly care of a local committee, they were placed as apprentices to farmers or others requiring their services, and who became responsible for their correct and humane treatment. I regret to add, what is doubtless well known, that a public clamour was raised against this to all appearance unavoidable practice, the school funds fell off, and the institution was broken up.

Latterly, the want of this valuable establishment, supplementary to other charities in the metropolis, has been much felt; and the deficiency has given rise to various schemes for suppressing juvenile vagrancy, none of which, as far as I have heard, has fulfilled the desired purpose. General means for elementary education, as well as for succouring destitute children, alike failing in comprehensiveness, and ever leaving private benevolence to charge itself with duties belonging to the public at large, there have lately sprung up in London a class of schools for juvenile paupers, entitled "Ragged Schools." Without quarrelling with a name which is somewhat unfortunate, these ragged schools are allowed to be doing no little good, as indeed almost any kind of institution must do which keeps children out of mischief in the streets. Their usefulness is much marred by their being open only on Sundays, and at most three times through the week, and also from their routine of instruction embracing no industrial exercises. In comparison with the schools next to be described, they fall considerably short of what is desirable.

Having occasionally heard of the existence of a useful and well-conducted class of Industrial Schools for poor children in Aberdeen, I visited that town in October 1845, with the view of personally satisfying myself of their suitability for suppressing juvenile mendicancy and crime, and training to industrious and honest habits.

VISIT TO INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS AT ABERDEEN.

Towards the end of the year 1841, it became a matter of painful remark in Aberdeen, that, notwithstanding all that was done by the ordinary means for suppressing mendicancy, there were still two hundred and eighty children, under fourteen years of age,

known to maintain themselves by begging, having no other visible means of subsistence; and that seventy-seven children, of whom only about one-half could either read or write, were, within the preceding twelve months, inmates of the prisons. In other words, there were, out of the mass, seventy-seven children already advanced to the criminal stage, the others making a daily progress towards it. The announcement of these startling facts roused inquiry, and led to a subscription for the purpose of establishing a School of Industry, in which pauper boys, from eight to fourteen years of age, might receive daily shelter, food, work, and education. The school was opened on the 1st of October 1841, the pupils consisting partly of homeless boys from the house of refuge, and partly of boys who were gathered from the lowest haunts in the town. From the amount of funds subscribed at the time not exceeding £100, the committee felt it necessary to limit the number of admissions to sixty. The primary claim to admission was destitution, and that claim, once established, entitled the boy to attend the school, and to receive food and education in return for the profits of his labour. During the first six months 106 boys were admitted, and the average daily attendance was 37. Afterwards, the average increased to from 40 to 50. The removal of so many boys from the streets not only occasioned a perceptible diminution in the swarms of street beggars, but the superintendent of police reported that, subsequent to the opening of the school, a considerable decrease in juvenile delinquencies had taken place. This was corroborated by the Inspector of Prisons, who, in his seventh report to parliament, observes that, “during the half year ending 20th May 1841, 30 boys, under fourteen years of age, were committed to prison in Aberdeen; but that, during the half year ending 20th May 1842, the number was only 6." This marked success led to the establishment, in 1843, of a similar school for girls; which proved equally efficacious. The apparatus for extirpating juvenile mendicancy and crime, however, was not yet complete. Children who, from bad character, or some other cause, could not be received into either of the schools, remained unprovided for; while many parents, who made profits by their children begging, withdrew them, and the streets continued to be infested by the worst description of juvenile mendicants, almost all of them being known to the police as common thieves. It was evident that an additional institution was desirable, and that it should be conducted on the broadest principle of admission. A School of Industry on a new plan, supplementary to the others, was accordingly resolved on.

This school, quite novel, I believe, in Britain, was opened on the 19th of May 1845. On that day the authorities, taking advantage of powers in the local police act, issued instructions to seize and bring to this new School of Industry every boy and girl found begging. Upwards of seventy children were brought

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