you to bring your children this wet morning. A. Yes, sir, it is, but I do not mind that.-They are a long time away from you, and perhaps you do not love them so well as you did when they were always at home with you. A. O, sir, you are very much mistaken, for I love them better than ever. I thought it possible, (replied Mr. W.) that you might not like them so well. A. O dear, sir, like them so well, (replied the mother,) who can help liking them? and, taking one of them up in her arms, she kissed it, and said-I find, sir, that absence creates love; for, being away from me all day, I like to hear their little prattle at night; and they are so full of what they have heard and seen at school, that it becomes quite entertaining.

From this we see that the objection commonly raised is without the least foundation; but to place the matter beyond all doubt, I was informed by the same gentleman, that he had an idea of establishing a school at the other end of the town, for the convenience of those who lived so far; but the parents of the children begged him not to do it; stating that they were very well satisfied with the present school. One woman even said that she hoped if Mr. W. opened a school next door, he would permit her to take her children to the old school; adding, that she was very well satisfied with the school, and that she did not wish to remove her children on any account whatever.*

*I afterwards learnt that this same child, during some heavy floods, came up to his knees in water, to the school, and there dried his shoes and stockings; and further, that he engaged in teaching five children, after school hours, who could not come to the school. The child in question was only five years of age.

I am quite satisfied, that if the persons who make these objections would visit the institutions, and make themselves acquainted with the facts that are to be there obtained, they would soon see abundant reason to alter their opinion; and, instead of appearing in the character of objectors, they would become cordial promoters of the plan; for it must be admitted, that no persons can be in a situation to judge of the merits of a thing which they have never seen, and consequently can know nothing at all about. Many persons of the latter class have acknowledged their mistake in plain terms to me, and have confessed how much surprised they have been on witnessing the good effects of the plan.

Every thing that can be urged in behalf of other charitable educational institutions, may be brought forward in behalf of Infant Schools, with this additional recommendation, that they are likely to be more effectual than all others,-inasmuch as they begin earlier, and are therefore more particularly calculated to establish a love of virtue in the souls of the rising generation. I do hope that all who have it in their power will assist in their support and more general establishment. To the ladies of Great Britain I most earnestly and particularly would address my plea on behalf of the infant poor, and I am sure I shall not plead in vain. Ever ready to listen to the cry of the needy and afflicted; when that cry is uttered in the lisping tones of infancy,-they will not, they cannot, turn an indifferent or a deaf ear to its supplication.

CHAPTER IV.

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE

ESTABLISHMENT OF

INFANT SCHOOLS, AND OF THE INFANT SCHOOL SOCIETY.

"It is not with the experiences of yesterday we come armed to the contest; it is not a speculation that we bring forward to your notice, but an experiment."--BROUGHAM.

I SHALL now proceed to lay before my readers some account of the origin of Infant Schools, and of the society instituted to promote their establishment. The first idea of an Infant School was suggested by the asylums provided by Mr. Owen of New Lanark, for the infant children of the adult part of the population. That they might not be an hindrance to the daily labours of their parents, they were put under the charge of several women, and the whole under the superintendance of one man, Mr. Buchanan. stead of wandering about the streets unprotected, liable to accidents, or to form bad associations, these children were observed to be taken care of, and made happy; amusement and exercise for them were not forgotten, and they were frequently seen dancing and capering about to the sound of a flute. These asylums for the infant

In

poor were seen to be so beneficial, that it suggested the propriety of establishing similar institutions in this country. Accordingly, Mr. Buchanan was engaged, and came over from New Lanark, and a school was opened under his management on Brewer's Green, Westminster. The gentlemen who established the above school were the following:-Henry Brougham, Esq. M. P.; James Mill, Esq.; John Smith, Esq. M. P.; the Marquis of Lansdowne; Zacariah Macauly, Esq.; Thomas Babington, Esq.; Lord Dacre; Sir Thomas Baring; William Leake, Esq. M. P.; Henry Hase, Esq.; Benjamin Smith, Esq.; John Walker, Esq.; and Joseph Wilson, Esq. The latter gentleman was so convinced of the importance of Infant Schools, that he soon afterwards established one at his own expense, in Quaker Street, Spitalfields. He built the school-room, and supplied every thing that was necessary; and on the 24th of July, 1820, the school was opened. Twenty-six children were admitted the first day; on the next day twenty-one; on the 31st sixty-five; and on the 7th of August thirty-eight; at which last date I was engaged by Mr. Joseph Wilson to undertake the management of it.

Thus situated, I commenced, and soon found that I had a complete desert, as it were, to cultivate; for the children were mostly strangers to each other, and few of them knew their letters. The first thing that appeared necessary, was to form the children into classes; which being done, I endeavoured to select two children out of each class to act as monitors; but finding that there were not more than six children in the whole school that knew their letters, it was impossible

to derive any assistance from them, in the way of teaching the others. The consequence was, I was obliged to take the children by one class at a time, and having supplied each child with a card, on which the alphabet was printed in large letters, I formed them into a square, and commenced by calling out A, and likewise desiring each child to point with his finger to the letter, which being done, the next letter was called, and so on, till the whole alphabet was repeated. By pursuing this plan, in course of time, I was enabled to find monitors who knew their letters, and by these means adopted a regular system, an account of which will be laid before the reader in the following pages.

Mr. Owen's institution, on the plan of which the school of Brewer's Green was established, was intended merely for an asylum, as I have before said; and therefore in making it subservient to purposes of moral and intellectual cultivation, I had all the difficulty of an original and untried scheme to encounter. That I had much difficulty in so doing I well know; how much success it is not for me to determine. Suffice it to say, with regard to the school in question, that the neighbourhood was in a short time perceptibly improved; and the school became so much respected amongst the poor, that we at length had 220 children in it, the whole of whom came unsolicited on our part; the parents applying of their own free-will to have their children admitted.

Attention now was drawn to the school, as having assumed a systematized method of instructing infants, and visitors from all parts flocked to see the pleasing novelty,-upwards of