UNIVERSITY CALIFORNIA CHAPTER II. REGULATIONS FOR ENTERING A BOY. The age at which a boy may enter is between fifteen and sixteen and a half years. The latter age is never exceeded. A boy older than this is regarded as too mature to readily take to such a complete change of life as seafaring in most cases demands. The regulations regarding size are as follows: The boy when passed is entered to serve for ten years from the age of eighteen. As the term of service is for so many years, great care is taken that he is properly bound, and, being once bound, there is no release without most weighty cause. The State very properly declines losing V the support of an individual whom it has educated and supported to an effective manhood. The recruiting takes place in every part of Great Britain, recruiting sergeants being allowed 10 shillings for each boy recruited. This, however, so far as I can see, is unnecessary at this time, as the supply is far in excess of the demand; it occasions, also, many boys being forwarded who are finally found unfit for the service. The care taken by the authorities, who finally decide upon the boys' qualifications, is extreme. This final examination takes place on board the ship to which they are forwarded, before a board consisting of the commander, a lieutenant, and a medical officer. In addition to the boys so recruited, a certain number of boys are obtained from the Greenwich Hospital School; band boys are chiefly entered from Feltham Industrial School or from Greenwich. Finally, there are some few entries from mercantile training ships, with which the Admiralty have entered into agreement to take all boys sufficiently trained, who reach the naval standard. In this case the government pays the merchant training ship £25 for each boy as a remuneration for the expense incurred in training him during the time (generally two years) he is on board. Very few of these boys reach the standard. The lowest mental test for passing is that the boy must be able to read and write, well, a passage of two ordinary lines of words of one syllable. The actual passage read and the specimen of the handwrit-. ing are attached to his papers, and forwarded with his other credentials from the recruiting station. Although, from the number of applications so much exceeding the demand, a higher standard might be made, it is considered undesirable to do so, as many boys of fine physique who are able to read and write a little would be thereby rejected. The theory governing the rejection of this entirely ignorant, though otherwise good material, is, that minds which have lain so long dormant are much less receptive than those which have received some training, however little. Experience has fully shown this. The necessity for having good material with which to begin will be understood when the remark of an English naval officer of high standing made to myself is considered, that "the English sailor must know now much more than the average lieutenant of thirty or forty years since." The boy, being admitted, is taken on board the Circe. He here has his his hair closely cut, is given a bath, and is well scrubbed, under the superintendence of a corporal. His clothing is furnished from the ship's stores if found on board of the proper size; if not, the materials are given to contractor to be made. After it has passed inspection, it is taken in charge by the ship's corporal, marked in large letters, and retained until the boy, at the end of the week, is transferred to the training-ship. The bedding which he uses in this interval is that supplied to the ship for the use of recruits, so that, when the transfer takes place, all his own clothing and bedding are in perfect condition. In the meantime, he receives some preliminary drilling; is taught to lash his hammock, and to stow his clothing in the regulation way; is given a daily bath, and is formed, in these seven days, into a very different person from the individual who entered. The change is certainly a most marked one, as I had means of observing. The allowance of clothing, the expense of which is covered by a grauity of twenty-five dollars for clothing and five dollars for bedding, is as follows: The clothing supplied is of excellent quality and well made. It is inspected by the regulating lieutenant, the senior gunner, and a ship's corporal. I noticed that the clothing drawn ready made was quite equal to that furnished specially. Boys, as before remarked, are ordered to stow their clothing in a given way. They are also ordered to lay it out for inspection in accordance with a diagram, which is conspicuously posted about the ship. This greatly facilitates the work of the inspecting officer, and is excellent in teaching the boy methodical habits. CHAPTER III. SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. The whole number of boys in the ship are divided into two schools, termed the upper and lower. To be placed in the upper school the following examination must be passed: First. Writing from dictation a paragraph from the highest readingbook of the lower school, with no great fault in orthography and in a readable hand. Second. Reading with intelligence and fluency from the same book. Third. Working sums in the four simple rules and in reduction (correctly). A boy takes his place in one of the two schools according to his attainments, irrespective of the time which he has passed on board ship. The schools are each further divided into two classes each, technically termed "instructions." The fourth and third instructions belong to the upper school; the second and first to the lower. The upper school is divided into four divisions, one of which only is at school at a time. The lower school is divided into two divisions. This arrangement allows to the upper school two half days' schooling per week; to the lower, four. In the entire year the school hours of the upper school amount to 180; those of the lower to 360. The upper school is divided as follows: First division.-First half of the starboard watch. } Of those belong. ing in the upper school to J these watches. Of those in this school belonging to these watches. First division.-All the starboard watch. Second division.-All the port watch. Seats and desks are arranged in the school-room to accommodate four hundred pupils, this being the maximum number at school at any one time. The school is divided into sections of twenty to twenty-five each, each section being under a schoolmaster or pupil-teacher. The less advanced sections occupy the aftermost desks, the grade rising as they go forward. The method of teaching is that which I have observed in all elementary schools which I visited in England, in which all the pupils of the sections are given the same example, piece of dictation, or words to spell at the same time. As each one finishes his slate is handed to the inThere is no individual teaching or individual structor for marking. recitation except where absolutely necessary, as in reading. That the method is good is shown by the changes produced by the limited training (as counted by hours) allotted them in the year they pass on board. I saw some very remarkable examples. The spelling and writing were especially striking. It brings a great amount of work on the instructor, but the effect on the pupil is certainly good. The following is the course of instruction: FIRST INSTRUCTION-LOWER SCHOOL. Reading and writing from dictation. Arithmetic as far as multiplication. SECOND INSTRUCTION-LOWER SCHOOL. Reading and writing from dictation. THIRD INSTRUCTION-UPPER SCHOOL. Reading and writing from dictation. FOURTH INSTRUCTION-UPPER SCHOOL. Reading and writing from dictation. Geography. The school hours in summer are from 9.15 to 11.30 a. m., and from 1 to 3.30 p.m. In winter from 9.25 to 11.30 a. m., and from 1 to 3 p. m. There is also an evening school held on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 6.30 to 7.30; a list of the backward and idle boys who are obliged to attend this school is kept hanging in a conspicuous place in the school-room. The following examination papers, copies of the papers set at the last June examination, show the degree of knowledge a boy is expected to attain: FIRST INSTRUCTION-LOWER SCHOOL. 1. Express in words 29047. 2. Express in figures fifty-eight thousand seven hundred and five. 3. Add together 9281 87369 546978 295437 88521 4. From 7932184 Take 6495837 5. Write out the multiplication table of 4 and 9 times. 6. Divide 9214672 by 7. Write out an account of our Lord's visit to Jerusalem when a boy. |