The following hymn has been communicated by a Schoolmaster in Wiltshire, with the remark that "great improvement is wanted in School Music, for that though much is published it is generally of an inferior character, either descending to unmeaning puerilities in the words, or to affected simplicity in the music.” hide O. eyes. your stipends are paid,-the Mistress to whom you are ap and all interested in the pr the School,-look to you to r instruction of the children m perfect than it was, or could you were engaged as Pupil Take care that their reasonab tations are not disappointed any fault of yours. The when he visits those schoo have the advantage of Pupil hopes to see the children not intelligent and better taught t in other Schools, but giving deeper religious feeling, and tone of moral principle. R how much depends upon your and let it be your daily end use every means in your p bringing about so happy a res conducted by Masters and Mistresses, I. Your duty towards the School is II. But you have not only duty towards the School in w are employed, you are lookin to be placed in very importa tions when you are old eno Masters or Mistresses yoursel are now in training for those s them, but he must acquire the art of working them up, and become skilful in every operation which his business involves; but still it is comparatively easy to do all this, the materials with which he has to work are all simply and readily discerned. But your task is infinitely more difficult; you have to do, not with matter, but with mind, you have to work upon the thoughts, and feelings, and affections of children, no two of whom are alike. The mere routine of teaching, the visible machinery of a School,-may indeed be soon learned; but to become a really efficient trainer is a very different thing. For the power of commanding attention and keeping order, or even of communicating the greatest amount of knowledge in a given time to a given number of children, there is required a degree of tact, and judgment, and skill, which are very difficult to be obtained. If you hope then to be useful, and to excel in the calling you have chosen, you have no time to lose, but must set My dear young friends, J. G. ART-EDUCATION. It has been proposed to connect such Schools of Design as are established in the manufacturing districts with common Elementary School around them. The mutual advantages which, it is hoped, would accrue from this arrangement, would be the supply of pupils practised in the rudiments of drawing to the former Schools, and the encouragement of primary art-education in the latter. A correspondence has lately passed between the Committee of Council for Trade and the Education Committee, on this subject. The features of the scheme are these. The Schools of Design will offer gratuitous instruction to elementary Teach The ers, and assist them in organizing classes in their own Schools. Education Committee of Council, on the other hand, will make a free grant of copies of Mr. B. Williams's "Treatises on Drawing" to Schools where the Master has attended a course of instruction in the Schools of Design, and is certified as able to conduct elementary drawing classes. We hope masters will avail themselves, wherever it is possible, of this arrangement. Skill in drawing is an invaluable aid to the Master in the School-room, where much instruction may be best passed through the eye into the mind. An accurate, quick draughtsman has an instrument in teaching Geography, Physical Science, and other subjects, which enters into every-day use. And it is one which will interest his children, and gain their respect and confidence, as well as give them clear vivid impressions. The Educator should aim at a complete technical education for himself: ability in drawing is essential to this, and will greatly improve his work and make it easier. We trust also that this scheme may help to promote the diffusion of art education in elementary Schools. This purpose, of course, is its prominent feature. Until now no appreciable progress has been made in this direction. But if Education is to prepare the children of our English Schools for practical life and influence their future occupations, any instruction which would bear upon the practice of the fine arts, and the production of our native manufactures, is of the utmost importance. English workmen connot compete in design with those of the Continent; for this reason, there is a marked inferiority in our textile, fictile, and other art manufactures, to those of France or Germany. and formal beauty into his workmanship. You must arouse and develope within his mind the inner sense of propriety and beauty, and teach him how to embody it in form, if you would make him a more effective workman and place him on a level field with the foreigner. These remarks, of course, have special reference to Schools placed in the districts of manufacture; and it is to these districts that the arrangements we have noticed apply. But we think that more might be done at a slight expense of time and with little difficulty, to introduce the rudiments of drawing into general elementary Education. Such instruction would be useful in many industrial pursuits which are not included within the category of artmanufactures. And would it not be practicable thus to awaken within the child's mind a taste for drawing, which would serve to relieve the monotony of the man's daily toil, and fill up his leisure hours? We want to open out more sources of enjoyment and innocent recreation to the labour-class. Let us do what we can to give them purer tastes and more rational amusements. It is with deep regret we regard the selfish exclusiveness which decries such endeavours. Those who would forbid us to place more intellectual gratifications within the reach of the multitude, have much to discover about human nature, — larger, kindlier views to learn towards their fellow-men. And they know little of the positive evil which mental inaction entails upon the working classes. Why should we only confine their thoughts and interests within the bounds of their mechanical employments, and leave them no resources on which to fall back in that large margin of life which is not absorbed by labour? Why not seek to spread amongst them such harmless tastes and pursuits as The main reason of this is that art- may make their home-life more cheereducation is not accessible to the Eng-ful, and beguile their vacant evenings lish artizan. He has no skill in design, and his taste has not been educated; hence he is unable to infuse elegance "Let any mercer place the silk that comes from Spitalfields beside that which comes from Lyons, and tell us if the one in point of elegance of design will bear any comparison with the other. Let the English watchmaker place his watch beside the delicate fabric of Geneva, or his clock beside that which comes from Paris, and tell us whether it be not rude and clumsy in the comparison. Let the English china-maker place the manufactures of Worcestershire and Yorkshire on the same table with those of Sevres or of Dresden, and the superior beauty of the foreign article is visible at once. We are beaten out of the market whenever it comes to a question of taste." and the hours in which they are dis- |