The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-05-08 00:00:00

TIIE LIVERPOOL STANbARD.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.—WINDSOR
ASSOCIATION.—A meeting of the friends of the Windsor
branch of this Christian Association was held on Friday
evening, in the St. Clement's School-room, for the pur-
pose of receiving the treasurer's report, and meeting Mr.
Bourne, the travelling secretary of the Parent Society.
The spacious room was nearly full ; the assemblage was
agreeably diversified as to the grade of the parties com-
posing it, there being a good sprinkling of persons of the
upper class of society (including many ladies), more of
persons occupying an humbler but not less respectable
sphere, and not a few of that class to whom labour is ne-
cessarily the engrossing because the daily business of life.
The announcement in the bills of the intention of making
a collection had not deterred these humble but hearty
friends of the cause from attending. The following cler-
gymen attended :—The Revds. F. Parry, R. Davies, J.
Cordeaux, and Jones. All these gentlemen delivered
very excellent and stirring addresses. The report of this
auxiliary stated that during the past six years the local
association had distributed 477 copies of the Scriptures,
and a sum of £125 had been contributed.
RAGGED SCHOOL UNION.—On Wednesday, the second
annual meeting of the Liverpool Ragged School Union
was held in the lecture hall of the Collegiate Institution.
At half-past six o'clock, the time appointed for the meet-
ing, Charles Inman, Esq., took the chair, surrounded by
the clergy, and other gentlemen of the committee. A
large concourse, consisting of ladies and gentlemen, was
present. The Chairman, on opening t'le proceedings,
stated the object of the union, and, in the course of his
remarks, said the great object of the society was to arrest
the wretched and ignorant in their course to destruc ion,
and to place them in a fair way of obtaining character and
respectability, instead of infamy and disgrace. He there-
fore wished, not only to ask the meeting for its sympathy
and its good wishes, but also for its donations ; its ample
and voluntary offerings to the cause. He felt convinced
that they were engaged in a good work, and he hoped
that every possible assistance would be rendered them in
their endeavours to prove the efficiency and usefulness of
ragged schools. Mr. J. R. Duncan next presented him-
self, and as secretary to the committee read its report. It
stated that there were fifteen ragged shools in Liverpool,
educating 1,334 boys, and 1,153 girls. The Rev. G.
Dover rose to move the first resolution, and in doing so
spoke of the origin of Ragged Schools, which he attributed
to the observations of benevolent men, who, from inquiry
in one district, found 1,100 children running about the
streets in ignorance and wretchedness, from the fact of
their parents being too poor to send them to school. This
was the origin of the Ragged School system. When these
outcast children were first gathered together, they dis-
played a very unruly spirit, but this was overcome by
patience and perseverance, and in due time they were re-
duced to regularity and order. He next spoke of the pro-
gress of some of the Ragged School children, who made
their way through evei y class until they rose from the
lowest to the highest class in the school. One boy in the
institution, with which he was more immediately con-
nected, had risen to be monitor of the first class, and two
others were pupil teachers under the superintendent.
Some of those boys, who had been the most unruly, are
now the best friends of the master, and, if need required,
would form a body guard to protect him. He next
noticed the struggles and the poverty of the poor children,
and hoped that they would be able to enlist the sympathy
of every one present in their behalf, and that the practice
of virtue, and the holy influence of religion, might be
diffused amongst them. Mr. Heath seconded the resolu-
tion, and in the course of his remarks observed that the
bible was the foundation of the instruction to be imparted
to the Ragged School children by the union, and their
conduct was to be based on scriptural principles. No
corporal punishment was used, but all was done by kind-
ness ; a principle that had yet to he developed, and had
yet to make its way. He concluded by an earnest appeal
to parents to assist them in their undertaking. The
meeting was addressed by several other gentlemen, and a
collection made in aid of the funds of the Union. The
following is a list of the schools under the direction of
the Union :—York-street, containing 80 boys and 80 girls ;
Old Swan, 69 boys and 35 girls ; Limekiln-lane, 143 girls ;
Copperas-hill, 80 boys; Bedford-street, 75 boys; Soho-
street, 64 boys.