EDUCATION: A SOCIAL DUTY. "It is unquestionably the right and duty of every man to educate himself, and on similar grounds it is the right and duty of every parent to educate his children; it may however be the duty of others to assist us in discharging duties which are exclusively our own. This is, in fact, the foundation of all our relative duties; every man is sponsor for his fellow-man, each is his brother's keeper; we are bound to place among our personal obligations that of stimulating others to a sense of theirs. This obligation is universal, Christianity recognises it, and enlists it in the promotion of the highest spiritual ends; but it is as old as society, and springs from the primitive and necessary relation which man sustains to man. Mankind are not intended to remain so isolated from each other, that none needs concern himself about the course pursued by those around him; it is the inalienable duty of each to do everything in his power to stimulate and help the rest in the discharge of duty. This duty is presented to society in another form. So mutually dependent are the interests of its members, that it is impossible for a large section to leave their personal obligations undischarged without injury accruing to all. Thus the sense of self-preservation is properly affected, and expediency, in the absence of a higher principle, obliges them to provide that such obligations shall be discharged. The neglect of personal duty by one section of society may tend to produce actions which society as a whole is bound to punish; in such a case consistency requires that all its energies be exerted in correcting the neglect from which they spring."-Essay on the Condition of the Working Classes. Annual Examination of Pupil Teachers. On Monday, the 3rd inst., the annual collective examination of Pupil Teachers belonging to the Church Schools in Cheltenham, Tewkesbury, Evesham, Upton St. Leonard's, Red Marley, Haffield, &c., &c., was held in the Model Schools of the Cheltenham Normal Training College, by her Majesty's Inspector, the Rev. H. W. Bellairs. There were present thirteen uncertificated masters and mistresses, fifty-eight male, and thirty-nine female pupil teachers, including candidates. Proceedings commenced by an address from the Inspector, explanatory of the method in which the examination was to be conducted. Every question was to be answered in writing; no one was allowed to speak to or borrow any idea from his neighbour; each one was impressively advised to pass the exami- | nation, or fail with untainted honour and integrity. Considering the important interest every pupil had in the results of the examination, and the unavoidable facility given, by want of room, to dishonest practice, if any should yield to the temptation of adopting it, this caution was rendered as necessary as one would fancy it was hard for them to follow. Yet, such had been the training these pupil teachers had received in their respective schools, that through this most trying examination not one case of delinquency was observable. We mention this as a fact exceedingly instructive and encouraging. The prominence given to religious subjects formed a striking feature of the examination. We who are strong in the hope that the day will never come when the Schoolmaster may not be a teacher of religion, are glad to find it occupy so large a portion of the system of inspection adopted by the Committee of Council. Those who have visited the Model Schools will not doubt that much weight is attached to the secular and scientific instruction; but we feel deeply that the Educators of our youth should seek to impress high moral and religious principles, and to train the child in honest and virtuous habits, and instruct him in those truths which have been revealed in Holy Scripture. We think these collective examinations every year will secure many incidental advantages. They will produce, we anticipate, important effects upon the schools; the masters assembled by them from all neighbouring places will have an opportunity of imparting mutual advice and encouragement; a bond of union will be established among men. who, a very short time since, were mere isolated labourers, scattered here and there, with no recognition of themselves as members of an useful and honourable profession, and with scarcely a thought or care about their brethren. Bright days, we feel confident, are dawning upon the education of the poor of this country. The sight of a hundred intelligent and active young men and women forming a moral lever, whose power under God's blessing to raise that dense mass of ignorance which rests upon the land, no arithmetic can calculate, is surely a sight to cheer the heart of a Christian and a philanthropist. And considering that this is only one of the first results of a system yet in its infancy, we cannot understand the objections which are raised against it by our Lancashire friends and others. For our part we know something of its merits, and wish the entire system great success. We subjoin a few specimens of the questions proposed by the Inspector. SCRIPTURE. Section I.-1. What were the three divisions or the Old Testament among the Jews, and what does our blessed Lord say respecting these divisions? 2.-Mention Churches to which Apostles wrote letters; the Apostles by whom such letters were written respectively; and the countries in which such churches were situated ? 3.-Give St. Paul's definition of faith: and state what he means by "the evidence of things not seen?" Section II. Relate the parable which teaches us our duty towards our neighbour? Section III.-1. What is meant by the Christian covenant, and why is it so-called? 2.-What rite in the Jewish Church answers to Baptism? What practical advantages rise from the custom of giving a name in Baptism? Section IV.-1. What is a Creed? name the Creeds sanctioned by the Church in chronological order, and account for the name of each ? 2. Of what advantage are Creeds? why does the Church use a second and third Creed in addition to the first? GEOGRAPHY. Section I-1. Name the principal sea-ports of England, the counties in which they are situated, and their chief exports? 2.-Trace the course of three large rivers of England, the towns on their banks, and their tributaries ? Section II.-1. Give the counties and principal rivers in Leinster, or Ulster, or Munster, or Connaught. Section III.-1. Describe a voyage from Glasgow to Dumfries, naming the counties on your left hand. 2.-Describe a voyage from Glasgow to Cape Wrath, naming the counties on your right hand. Section IV.-1. Name three principal towns in Palestine, mentioned in the New Testament, and state for what they are remarkable. Section V.-1. Write out the heads of a lesson on "Behaviour in Church," or on "The duty and privilege of Prayer." Section VI.- Describe a voyage from Venice to the mouth of the Danube, with the countries on your left hand; or a voyage from Marseilles to Hamburg, naming the rivers and principal seaport towns on your right. No. 2. Education versus Pauperism. APRIL 1, 1851. The spread of pauperism is most natural, and its history to those who will connect cause with effect, most intelligible. The poor of the land, under the influence of the Poor Law, possess no earthly inducement to provide for a coming evil day. So situated, it would be contrary to the law of our fallen nature to expect that a poor man, who can live upon the public bread when his own shall fail, and inhabit a public domicile when ejected from his own, should resist the temptation to spend upon indulgence what is not demanded for immediate existence. Besides this it is a law of our nature that we require a certain amount of recreation, relaxation, enjoyment, or by whatever name it may be called, distinct from the ordinary employment with which we associate the ideas of business. There is something that accumulates within us during the hours of labor which must find its vent, when those hours are consumed. It is well that this accumulated energy (for energy it is of some kind) is expended upon legitimate objects,-in the committee-room, in the family circle, or in the useful cultivation of the social charities. The tradesman and the professional man will spend his energies in the promotion of religious or municipal interests; he will spend one evening of the week in the committee-room, another at a friend's tea party, and the rest in reading some profitable and interesting little work. But the poor man has no such resources. His means of amusement and relaxation are miserably limited. The mistaken jealousy of his betters has denied him that education which would enable him to feel interest in books of travels or of history. His house is uncomfortable, because his children are noisy; for, unless they are employed in preparing some useful lesson for the morrow's School, noisy they must be; and yet has the labourer from 6 (or 4 in winter) to 10 o'clock to employ. Tired in body, his nature craves an employment which shall be a contrast to his daily work. He cannot find it in his uncomfortable home, but he does find it in "The Chequers" not far off. There the joyous companions welcome him, and the aromatic pipe and exhiliarating bowl offer an irresistible stimulus to his physically exhausted__frame. The landlord fattens, but the wife and children starve. The gay tavern re-acts upon the uncomfortable home. The more ignorant the labourer is, the more inevitable is this result, simply because you limit his opportunity of seeking excitement the more exclusively to the beer-house. Man is thus little better than a brute. He spends |