he sit down now;" and when asked the reason why they have wished the little delinquent to be forgiven, they have answered, "May be, sir, he will be a good boy." Well, their request has been complied with, and the culprit forgiven; and what have I seen follow? Why, that which has taught me many an important lesson, and has convinced me that children can operate on each other's mind, and be the means of producing, very often, better effects than adult persons can. I have seen them clasp the child round the neck, take him by the hand, lead him about the play-ground, comfort him in every possible way, wipe his eyes with their pinafore, ask him if he was not sorry for what he had done; the answer has been, "Yes;" and they have flown to me-" Master, he says he is sorry for it, and that he will not do so again." In short they have done that which I could not do, they have so won the child over by kindness, that it has caused the offender not only to be fond of them, but equally as fond of his master and the school. To these things I attribute the reclaiming of the children I have mentioned; and so far from its being productive of the "worst effects," I have found it productive of the best. The ill effects of expelling children as incorrigible, may be seen in the case of Hartley, who was executed some years back. He confessed before his execution that he had been concerned in several murders, and upwards of two hundred burglaries; and by the newspaper account, we learn, that he was dismissed from school at nine years of age, there being no school-master who would be troubled with him, when, finding himself at full liberty, he immediately commenced robber. "Hartley's father (the account proceeds) formerly kept the Sir John Falstaff inn, at Hull, in Yorkshire. He was put to school in that neighbourhood, but his conduct at school was so marked with depravity, and so continually did he play the truant, that he was dismissed as unmanageable. He then, although only nine years of age, began with pilfering and robbing gardens and orchards, till at length his friends were obliged to send him to sea. He soon contrived to run away from the vessel in which he had been placed, and having regained the land, pursued his old habits, and got connected with many of the principal thieves in London, with whom he commenced business regularly as a housebreaker, which was almost always his line of robbery.' Should not every means have been resorted to with this child, before proceeding to the dangerous mode of expulsion? for it is not the whole who need a physician, but those that are sick; and I strongly suspect, that if judicious punishment had been resorted to, it would have had the desired effect. I can only say, that there never was a child expelled from the Spitalfields Infant School, as incorrigible. In conclusion, I have to observe that the broom punishment is only for extraordinary occasions, and I think we are justified in having recourse to any means that are consistent with duty and humanity, rather than turn a child out into the wide world. CHAPTER X. LANGUAGE. METHOD OF TEACHING THE ALPHABET, AND IMPARTING IDEAS OF THINGS AT THE SAME TIME. Can any thing reflect light before it has received it, or any other light than that which it has received? THE first thing children wish to acquire, as to language, is a knowledge of the names of things, their senses having revealed each object in its true light, they now desire to express their perceptions in sounds or words. This desire is the first thing you have to gratify; you tell them the name of an object, and from that time such name is the representative of the thing in the mind of the child. If the object be not present, but you mention the name, the memory of the child supplies it with an ideal representation of such object, which thus becomes, as it were, present in the mind of the child. If this matter had been more frequently thought upon by educators, we should I think have found them less eager to make the child acquainted with names of things of which it has no knowledge or conception. Sounds and signs, which give rise to no idea in the mind of the child, because the child has never seen or known the things represented, are of no other use than to burden the memory. It is the object of our system to give the children a knowledge of things-and then a knowledge of the words which represent those things. These remarks do not only apply to the names of visible things; but more particularly to those which are abstract. If I would say, show a child a horse, before you tell it the name of the animal; still more would I urge it upon the teacher to let the child see what love, kindness, religion, &c. &c. are, before it is told what name to designate these qualities by. If our ignorance as to material things be the result of instructing children in names, instead of enabling them to become acquainted with things; so on the other hand, I believe, we may account in the same way for virtue being so frequently a mere word, an empty sound amongst men, instead of an active principle. Our next endeavour is to teach the children to express their thoughts upon things;-and if they are not checked by injudicious treatment, they will have some thought on every subject. We first teach them to express their own notions— we then tell them ours- and truth will prevail, even in the minds of children. Under this plan it will prevail by its own strength; not by the power of coercion, which renders even truth disagreeable and repulsive; the children will adopt it of choice in preference to error, and it will be firmly established in their minds. It will no doubt be perceived, that for the pro motion of the plan here recommended, it will be advisable to connect with our alphabetical and reading lessons, as much information as we pos sibly can. By so doing the tedium of the task to the child will be considerably lessened, as well as much knowledge attained. The means of doing this in a variety of ways will no doubt suggest themselves to the intelligent teacher; but, as an illustration of what we mean, the following conversational plan may not be useless. We have 26 cards, and each card has on it one letter of the alphabet, and some object in nature. The first for instance has the letter A on the top and an apple painted on the bottom. The children are desired to go into the gallery, which is simply seats elevated one above another at one end of the school like stairs; the master places himself before the children in a situation so that they can see him, and he them, and being thus situated, proceeds in the following manner. Q. What Q. Where am I? A. Opposite to us. is on the right side of me? A. A lady. is on the left side of me? A. A chair. is behind me? A. A desk. Q. Who are before me? A. We children. Q. What do I held up in my hand? A. Letter A for apple. Q. Which hand do I hold it up with? A. The right hand. Q. Spell apple.* A. A-p-p-l-e. Q. How is an *It is not supposed that all or many of the children will be able to spell this, or the subsequent words, or to give such answers as we have put down, but some amongst the older or more acute of them will soon be able to do so; and thus become instructors of the rest. It may be proper to mention, also, that the information on natural history, &c. &c. displayed in some of the answers, is the result of the |