The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-09 00:00:00

Girls of Christ's Hospital.

In the report just issued relating to Christ's Hos-
pital, Mr. Hare states that all the early and chief
gifts of the property held by the hospital are ex-
pressed to be for the benefit of poor children, with-
out distinction of sex ; nor does the hospital during
the early period of its institution appear to have been
appropriated more to boys than to girls. For many
years past, however, up to a recent period, only six
girls were admitted (at Hertford) every year, be-
sides those received under specific trusts. The
education of a boy so as to advance him in life was
thought to be of so much greater material advan-
tage to a family than the education of a girl, that it
was a common expression that a governor " threw
away" his presentation on nominating a girl. But
the purpose of the foundation was the public good,
and Mr. Hare considers that the general good would
have been better promoted if at least an equal share
of the funds of the hospital had been expended in
the education of girls. As one of the governors has
remarked, if but one of the two parents of a family
be sensible, well-informed, and well-educated, it is
better for the character and welfare of the children,
and therefore better for the public, that this advan-
tage should be on the side of the mother of the
family. In 1858, when there were 61 girls in the
establishment at Hertford, it was, at the request of
the governors, examined by the Rev. F. C. Cook,
one of her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools. He
had to present a sorry account of the condition of
the girs' school. He found it below the level of a
good parish school. He made a series of sugges-
tions for its management, regarding it merely as a
place where girls should be thoroughly educated for
domestic service, for apprenticeship to milliners, to
be nurserymaids, or the wives of respectable arti-
sans ; and he presented another series of recommen-
dations applicable, if the governors, considering the
resources at their disposal, should deem it proper to
educate girls for the position of nursery governesses,
assistants in middle schools, dressmakers of a supe-
rior order, Queen's scholars in training colleges, or
other employment which a respectable tradesman,
or a professional man with a small income, might
look forward to without humiliation as a fair pros-
pect for his daughters. But in the following
year, 1859, a sub-committee of ahnoners reported
to the General Court that the alterations neces-
sary in the girls' school in order to place their
education on an equality with that of the boys','
would involve the complete remodelling of the sys-
tem of instruction and the entire reconstruction of
the girls' buildings, and that it might be doubted
whether an education of such a character would be
a suitable one for girls of that station of life of which
the establishment at Hertford chiefly consisted. The
sub-committee recommended that, as far as possible,
the girls' school should be discontinued, and the
number of boys increased. The General Court,
though not abolishing the presentation of girls, re-
scinded the rule which required that six girls be ad-
mitted every year ; and the consequent has been that
the number in the school has been reduced to 26,
who are retained, it would seem, in obedience to
specific trusts. Mr. Hare considers that it might have
been hoped that an observance of the terms of the
foundation, which make no distinction of sex, a re-
gard to the sacred name of the hospital, and a grate-
ful recollection of the bounty of many female donors
would have guarded the governors against a disre-
gard of the claims of female children for education ;
but that they should not be blamed for the neglect
of a duty which it was not in the spirit of their time
very clearly to perceive, and which, if they had more
clearly seen, they probably would have been unequal
to perform. But he submits to the Charity Com-
mission that it is of great importance that this error
be not continued now that the public mind is awak-
ened to more enlarged views of social duty. No dif-
ficulty would be found in obtaining the aid of some
of those persons who have so honourably distinguished
themselves by their endeavours to improve the edu-
cation and condition of women in establishing a
scheme for a system of education, perhaps in several
homes rather than in any large concentration of num-
bers. Mr. Cook included in his higher scheme
French, Latin, and the elements of geometry, with
great attention to English composition ; and even in
his lower scheme he included music and drawing, the
first as conducing to good and cheerful order, and
having an undoubted effect upon the character and
tone of girls, and the second as of real practical use
to them as needlewomen. Both schemes comprised
instruction in needlework, washing, cooking, and
every kind of household work. It might be desir-
able, he thinks, to receive the girls at and maintain
them to a later age than heretofore. The change
might be made gradually and experimentally by
adapting or renting houses in the metropolis, with-
out any 'preliminary expenditure on buildings.

SERIOUS AFFRAY AT BONN. A few evenings
since a serious disturbance occurred at a place of
public entertainment, at Bonn, and assumed such propor
tions that the inspector of police called in the aid of the
military, who ha,: to use their sabres. Two persons were
killed, one of them being the prime mover of the fray, who
had stabbed several persons with a long poniard ; six
others, two of whom. were watchmen, received dangerous
wounds, and were conveyed to the hospital in a hopeless
state.