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together, that cleanliness, order, and good manners should be rigidly enforced. When the schoolmistress is untidy and slovenly; where the room is stuffy and ill-ventilated, or cold and desolate—where all is disorder and dirt—such a school will inevitably fail in training girls successfully for the duties of after life, and the more respectable parents cannot be blamed for refusing to send their children.
Hitherto I have spoken almost entirely of girls. Let us now consider whether it is desirable and feasible to employ boys at Industrial work. Among town schools I have met with a few instances, in which the boys are instructed in printing and carpentering, as at St. Mary's, Southampton, and Painswick, in Gloucestershire, but never having tried anything of that kind, and feeling the difficulty of providing suitable instructors in a country village, I will only say, that the experiments made in the above-mentioned towns appear to have been attended with considerable success, and to confirm an opinion that I have long entertained, viz., that the standard of instruction is not lowered, but invariably raised by the introduction of Industrial work—— not only do the boys become more handy and tractable from the variety of occupation, but, from their general intelligence being quickened, I find that they made more than ordinary progress in the common book-work. The usual school-hours, if entirely devoted to head-work, I believe to be much too long, and am certain that an equal amount can be learnt in a much shorter time, especially if the hours of play are devoted to some more intellectual amusements than marbles, or "pitch and toss." The following extracts from a letter by W. H. Hyett, Esq., to the Dean of Hereford, (published by Groombridge, price 6d.) are well worthy of attention:—