The Express.
London, England, 1861-08-13 00:00:00

LADY LONDOBDIBBY AND 888 SCHOOL

CBILDREP

On Saturday was held the fifteenth great annual
gathering of children attending the schools at the various
collieries owned b) the Marchsoeses of Loadoaderry. The
little ones numbered 1,211 in ell, and arrived at &alma
Colliery, the place at which the festival was held, in covered
wawa', with 61 teachers, pupil-teachers, and attendants.
The number of children from each place was as follows :
Nadler, 100 ; Rainton, 180 ; Pittington, 84; Oad Durham,
811; Houghtonle-Mpring, 06; fleaham and Beaton Colliseise,
2:15; and Seethe= Harbour, 440; total, 1,211. As the little
processions arrived during the forenoon, they were deposited
for mbar Ana! sidjoining hayfield, and afterwards Fathered
round on each sole of the school door. The procession from
each school bad its appropriate banuers, and the children bad
ornamented themselves with ribbons and rosettes. Her lady-
ship and party arrived a few minutes before two o'clock,
and were received by the children with loud cheers.
entered the school-room, and paired through to the soot
door, which opened into the large marquee of the Darlington
Horticultural Society, erected for the occasion. The centre
supporting poles of the marquee were decorated with ferns,
evergreens, and artificial roses, and on the wall were mot-
toes— • Nothing is difficult to the bravo and faithful," and
" Sacco 's to tho coal trade, England's wealth." As so large
a number of children had to be accommodated, deal tables

were conntructal in rows, as close together as possible, each
table being covered with white calico, with a breadth of pink
to hang down. The school door, which was about the
centre of tbs marquee, opened on to a platform,
covered with red cloth, erected for the accommodation
of lady Londonderry and her party. After the noble ladies
had taken their seats, the whole of the children passed
before them in single file, entering by one end and paving
out by the other, and the marchioness distributed the prises
which had been awarded. Among those on the platform
were Lady Portarliogton, lady Susan Vane Tempest, Bev.
Mr. Gooch, Mrs. Gooch, and Miss Gooch, ke. The girls
carried needlework, useful and ornamental, and comprising
nearly everything, from a pair of stockings to a framed pic-
ture wrought with Berlin wools. There were several very ex-
collect specimens of this description of work u well u bead-
work, which few persons would expect to and from a school
of pit children. Several of the girls also exhibited we'l-
-1 drawn maps and specimens of unexceptionable penmanship,
The sketches, mechanical drawings, and copy-boob) of the
boys reflected credit both upon themselves and their teachers,
and the fact that scarcely a scholar appeared without his or
her copy-book spoke volumes for the progress of education
amongst those now favoured children of the poor miners.
The prizes given consisted of small boxes of tools, writing
desks, writing cases, books, pocket knives, reticules, work-
boxes, and needlework cams. When all bad passed, her
ladyship and party retired, and the children were then plen-
tifully regaled with tea and cake, dinner being provided in
an ante-room for the teachers. The marchioness returned
&beet 4 o'clock, sad delivered an appropriate and affectionate
address to the children. The happiness of the day's pro-
seeding was somewhat marred) by one of the children, a
boy falling from one of the waggons, .and dying from the
effects of the injuries he received.

Mr. 'Blanchard Jerrold will, we understand, read
• paper "On thelnflumwo of Journalism on the Progress of
Education" at the Social Science Co to be
rerdujefllublin in the course of the prtscut week, under the
presidency of Lord Brougham.
Tna CITY AS • PLacs or REIUDINCIL—We have
here some strange ialloeseee to contend with. The density
of the population is 157 per acre, whereas in the chief town,
of England tt is but five per acre. It is lamentably true
that for the very young and the very old, the City is not
favourable to life ; but the tendency of the population is to
deal with the City mere and more as • Oboe of temporary
abode, and those who have not the cares and anxieties of
badness to perplex them—as the very young and the very
old ought not—are being more and mom removed away from
the influences of close quarters, the fumes of gee, and the
penetrating power of coal smoke, to sweeter atmospheres in
the suburbs. But for adults in the prime of there
is no better place for the combination of motive useful-
ness with high enjoyment ; and when the City turns out its
corps .1 Rifle Volunteers they make the finest figure on the
ground as men, sod iietonialithe regulars by the firmness, and
precisioa, and vitality of their movements. Between the
egos of 22 to 40 years the mortality is but • fraction over
13 per cent. ; and from 40 to 60 it is but a trifle more than
16 par cent. The number of deaths from 20 to 50 is below
the average ;_and it is certain that the strongest tan may
ease to the City, and use hie @trough in mingling with its
bedsit lessee, without wasting his energy, or impairing any
I arc of the emote of vital vigour. When his work is done
he mast remove to die elsewhere ; and, while wrestling
with Mauldin end constructing his fortune, be moat
keep his family far away, and give hie children the
@baste of attailung to like physical stamina with himself.—
CU, Press.
limariout.ruas IN Br. Qua's. An effort
has been made by the Rev. E. Bayley, for the
amourapment of horticulture la St. 0 ilea's. This by
away will be looked upon as • forlorn Or Quixotic es.
devour ; but the results, so far as the experiments have
been carriedout, have been very encouraging. The show has
brought out plants grown in windows in some of the most
miserable parts of St. Cilia's • and the arrangements reeds
placed those in the worst looditions on a comparative
equality with each other ; and although many of the
flowers showed the blackened appearanoe which might be
expected in such localities, the exhibition had en interest to
gardeners and others. It brought out the ingenuity of the
smog aspirants to hartiedfanl honours. One produced a
pines chestnut tree; swear an oak ; • third • walnut
tree ; another an orange tree—all from their several nuts,
pips, or seeds-4er prises axe offered for things not in bloom,
and therefore nothing was excluded. The collars et
flowers and plants met have • humanising effect, and may
be ie many inst,sor the MAW of producing some very de-
APIA, semita—Jealder.

A correspondence has, it appears, recently taken
Viebetween Mr. J. 0. Lever, M.P., and Sir
oltert Peel, the new Chief Secretary of Ireland,
with regard to the Galway Mail Service. Mr.
Lever, after reminding Sir Robert of the " warm
expiessiou of sympathy," in his speech at the
Tamworth election, "with Mr. Gregory's efforts to
obtain the renewal of the subsidy for the Galway
line," enters at considerable length into the merits uf
the question. The following is Sir Robert's reply :
Whitehall, August 8, 1861.
81r,—I am in the receipt of your letter of the 6th inst.
and have read the statement with which you have favoured
me of your views of the importance of an ocean line of
s ipi between Galway and America with the interest
such a subject is entitled to claim.
You are aware that long before I held the office in con-
nexion with Ireland which I have now the honour to fill
my sympathies upon public grounds were enlisted in favour
of the scheme for making iNilway a highway of commerce
between our country sad America, sod of thus giving
effect to the geographiesl advantages admitted on all hands
to be possessed by Galway. I felt, moreover, that this
scheme had been warmly espoused by the leading men and
by the public in Ireland as calculated to develop the com-
mercial resonmee and general prosperity of the island, and I
hoped for a satisfactory solution of the difficulties which
temporarily embarriuwed the concern. There are of course
no reasons why I should in any degree modify the views I
then entertained; on the contrary, from the very
position I now hold, I am bound to be even
more especially alive than heretofore to everything
*skim to Irish interest. Party feeling ought to have
nelllaisr to do with the mettle, end minima .swab
advsee with a view to promote imperial advantages is
entitled to recommend itself with equal solicitude to the
consideration of a succeeding government.
However, at the close of the session of 1861, sad
after the statement of the Prime Minister in the
House of Commons on Tuesday last, it would ill-
become me to enter into speculation as to the prob-
able result of subsequent arrangement, but you may
rest assured that I shall bear is mind the desire you exprees
that I should give the matter an earnest attention ; and this
I may say, that her Majesty's government can have no other
object in view than the pursuit of a generous policy towards
Ireland, coupled with the hope that the commercial efforts
and mercantile transactions of the Irish people may be
marked with that sums' which an union of energy and en-
turpriae, with economy and prudence, almost invariably
command.

IZn, sir, yours faithfully,
Patna/
John Orrall Lam, Log., 111. P., Ste. ROB= PUL.