The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-08-03 00:00:00

INDUSTRIAL AND RAGGED SCHOOLS

The following passages, from various works, illustrative
F the effects of Ragged and Industrial Schools on the

pupils and on their connections may be read with interest.
The committee of ladies who manage the affairs of the
Aberdeen Girls' Industrial School, after a close examina-
tion into the working of that institution, stated in their
last report (for 1846) that the history of the school—
" Demonstrated the great moral fact, that the children
of the poor, sand, it may be, of the careless and the worth-
less, can, at a small amount of labour and expense, be
brought within the sphere of all that is good, and estim-
able, and praiseworthy ; and, without being altogether
separated from their parents, made instrumental in carry-
ing to their homes the saving truths of the Gospel ; and
by practising the lessons of industry, and cleanliness, and
order, altering the character of these homes, and making
them the abodes of social happiness and domestic corn-
fort ; proving that the feature of the Industrial School,
which many deemed the most objectionable, may, by the
Divine blessing, become the one which most enhances its
value. For without breaking the family tie, the child is
permitted iuring the day to receive a sound, practical,
and religious education, allowing the parents to pursue,
without interruption and without anxiety, their respective
avocations, and to carry home at night, for the solace and
improvement of the family circle, the influence of the
school training, and thus strengthening and confirming
the natural affections, without exciting any feelings of de-
pendance and degradation ; because, although the child is
fed and educated at the expense of the school, she gives in
return for these benefits, all the labour of which she is
capable."_ -

In our former article we showed how striking had been

the effect of the establishment of such schools in Aber-
deen, where they annihilated juvenile vagrancy. Take
the following passage from the evidence of the Rev. W.
Russell, before the Criminal Law Committee of the
House of Lords, as to the effect of a similar school in
Westminster :

" I have seen in the worst parts of Westminster a
Ragged School established. I had the pleasure of taking
part in establishing one of these schools ; and out of a large
number of the worst families in the district, where there
had been from eighteen to twenty of the members of
those families annually convicted, SUBSEQUENTLY NOT
ONE OF THEIR CHILDREN BECAME
JECT OF A CRIMINAL PROSECUTION

AGAIN THE SUB-

Mathematical demonstration was never more complete
than this, as to the effects of such schools as that whose
enlargement and extension we are anxious to pro-
mote. In this town they are especially needed, since the
concurrent testimony of our excellent Recorder, of Mr.
Serjeant Adams, and of Mr. Stephens, the chief superin-
tendent of our police, is to the effect that, excepting
London, there are more juvenile offenders in Birmingham
than in any other large town in the country. This fact
they trace partly to the injudicious and improper ex-
posure of goods outside shop-doors, and partly to the pe-
culiar nature of the trade of the town, articles being ne-
cessarily made partly by one person and partly by ano-
ther; and the parts carried to and from the various work-
shops by boys who are beset by tempters to steal. What-
ever be the cause, there is no doubt of the fact ; and here
lies the strength of our case. Schools like to that which
we refer, are calculated to meet this great moral and social
want of the town. Shall they not be supplied
me I