The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1848-03-18

iorms. Dr. daWuey, neao master oil Et0n
has himself set up another there. VIVA
a touching contrast he must feel between
the two extremes, as often as he passe
from his Eton boys to his ragged scholars
A new nope for the poor, new prospect o
doing good could not be lost on DIR. Chal
mers. The nature and object Of his schoo
are told by its locality. 1t is in the West
port Of Edinburgh, within few doors o
the house Of Burke-the wretch, whose
name, from his transcendent inlamy is in
corporaied into the language. These school,
were great beginning. They broke Tho
ground. They have familiarized us with
the necessity and with the means. Blu
something still was wanting; and it is thi:
further something which MIR. Guthrie has
now come forward to proclaim. The only
precedents which he menticns, are the in.
dustrial schools of Dundee and Aberdeen.
There may be others. We are not aware
Of them.
Magnificent endowments, such as Christ s
Hospital, Heriot's Hospital, and the like,
are converted into the patrimony Of the mid
die ranks. Private schools, maintained by
benevolent individuals, act, at their very
best, as aids and rewards to the decent poor.
But, in all our towns Of any magnitude,
there is. a lower class Of children; one made
up for the most part Of illegitimate children;
of children who have lost their parents;
and Of children whose parents have been
infinitely worse to them than none al all.
There are supposed to be thousand such in
Edinburgh alone. To them, the world, on
which they have been cast, is indeed father
less for, what can they think of man!
And what, if they should chance to hear Of
Him, what, in their agony, must they think
even of God? Visitors Of destitute sick soci.
eiies-humble and hard working city mis-
Observation-Disclosures governors Of pris-
ons--superintendents of night asylums and
houses Of refuge-men who, like himself,
are called on to explore, amid fever and
famine, the depths Of human misery 1--WE
are using Mr.. Guthrie's words,) come across
them often. You may find them sleeping
in stair, or on the floor of the police Of,
flee, or pulling your coat at midnight to buy
a tract OF them, lest they should go home
only to be beaten. Beyond this, their fell
low.crsatures seem to have agreed, by habit
and common consent, TO refuse to recog-
mise their existence. Ragged Schools are
but Of yesterday; before which, to have got
a chance Of school, they must have gone TO
prison first. Even at present, Ragged
Schools have heen opened in few favored
places only. But, supposing them to be
opened everywhere, what is the most that
We can expect from them, in case Of their
being opened only to teach? Even misery
has It's degrees and shades. Below the
depths which they can sound and master,
there is still lower depth, which can only
be reached and brought into subsection by
more potent spell.
Ii is here, at this crisis Of the problem,
that the Industrial Schools of Aberdeen and
Dundee have taken the next step. They
feed as we'll as teach. There is not only
the alphate., but the cup of porridge.
What a providental step, if it should but
answer As far as it has gone, it has an
swered marvellously. Mr. Guthrie had long
looked wistlully to some such system as the
only remedy; but until the experience Of
Aberdeen and Dundee had turned what was
but presumption into fact, he had not
the courage to venture on the proposal 1t
is the main characteristic of the system,
that it combines instruction in useful en-
ployment with education, and, above all,
with food.
The children are not taken from their
homes on the contrary, they go back every
night, with the new influences which they
NAV have acquired. In this, Of course,
there is great peril. The new influences
and the old will meet in daily conflict. 1t
may END, as the labor Of Hercules, in the
old story Of Anteus where, as often as the
monster, though almost exhausted, came in
contact with his mother earth, he recovered
MS former strength. We must be prepared
for failures directly traceable to this cause.
On the other hand, there are possible ad-
vantages in the children returning home,
which Justify certain degree OF hazard. 1t
need not be made a condition OF the ex-
pertinent, though, if the experiment is to be
made on any considerable scale, it must be
made at present in this form. or not at all.
There is, however, one condition indispen-
sable to this great experiment, and only
one, that is--the daily bread which we all
are taught to pray for. To catch wild colts,
they must see the corn. Without food,
the children will not come, nor be lei
come without food, they cannot afford to
stay; without it, it is impossible that they
should have the spirits or the strength to
learn-or anybody have the heart to try to
make them. What man of common
sense tasks MI. Guthre) would mock with
books a boy who is starving for bread
Let Christian men answer our Lords ques
ton; let every one who is parent think o
it. What father, if his child ask for bread
would give him stone?' And, let me
ask, what is English Grammar, or the rule
Of Three, or the A B c, to poor hungry
chld-what is il but a stone J?
Here is some valuable Irish experiences:
al tremble, writes Lieutenant Colone
Douglas, for the fate Of the rising genera
ton in this country. Misery has so worket
upon this people, that, consumed by on
only thought-that OF food. they abstain
from their old church-g going habits. Sham
Of appearing in bad clothes operates great,
in this but, alas the children no longer al
tend the schools in many places, and de
moralization is, fear, advancing at tn
| sa,,a r..to ne dsstitutinn | have spnken L