Year: 1862

right, and how far he was manifestly wrong.
was attended by ono Of the directors o.
guardians OF the schools, and the teacher,
Thought was Q little embarrassed by hel
position. But tho girls themselves were a'
easy in their demeaBor, as though they
were stitching h hsndkerchiefs at home.


ut is impossible to refrain from telling
all this, and from making little Innocent
fun out Of the superexcellepci Of these
schools but the total result on my mind
was very greatly In their favor And, in
deed, the testimony came in both wsys.--
Not only vas called on to form an opinion
of what the men and women would become
from the education which was given TO the
boys and girls but also to say what must
have been the education OF the boys and
girls from what saw Of the msn and wo-
men. OF course il will be understood that
lam not here speaking of thoss X ppet in
society, or of their children, but of the
working people,--of that class who find that
gratuitous education Of their children is
needful, If any considerable amount Of edu-
cation is to be given. The result is to be
seen daily in the whole intercourse Of life.
The coachman who drives you the man who
mends your window, the boy who brings
home your purchases, the girl who stitches
your wife's dress, s,--they all carry with them
sure signs Of education and show it 10 every
word they utter. d. ""


RESULTS OF THE SCHOOLS.


$50 much for the schools, and now FOL
the results. l do not know that anything
impresses visitor more strongly with the
amount of books sold in the States, than the
practice of selling them as it has been
adopted in the railway cars. Personally,
the traveller will find the system very dis
agreeable,-as is everything connected with
these cars. But we need not copy des-
cription Of what is 80 familiar to US all. l.
But the numbers of the popular
books Of the day, printed and sold, afford
the most conclusive proof Of the extent to
which education is carried in the States
The readers of Tennyson, Thackeray, Dick


ems, Bulwer, Collins, Hughes, and Martin
Upper, are to be counted by tens of thous.
ands in the States, to the thousands BY
which they. may be counted in our own
islands. | do not doubt that | had fully
fifteen copies of the Silver Cord thrown at
my head in different railway cars on the
continent of America. Nor is the taste by
any means confined to the literature Of Eng.
land. L)ngfellow, Curtis, Holmes, Haw-
thorne, Lowell, Emerson, and Mrs. Stowe,
are almost as popular as their English rivals.
do not say whether or no the literature is
well chosen, but there it is 1t is printed,
sold, and read. The disposal of ten thou.
sand copies of o work is no large sale in
America Of book published at dollar
but in England it is large sale Of book
brought out at five shillings.


Il do not remember that I ever examin.
aI the wanna ne orionu uifhn,f fin H.
ing books or maga zines in them. l do not
speak here Of the houses Of my friends, as
of course the same remark would apply as
strongly in England, but of the houses OF
persons presumed to earn their bread by the
labor Of their hands A porter
or farmers servant in the States is not
proud of reading and writing. 1t is to him
quite matter Of course. The coachmen
on their boxes and the boots as they sit in
the halls Of the hotels have newspapers
constantly in their hands. The young wo-
men have them also, and the children. The
fact comes home to one at every turn, and
at every hour, that the people are an edu-
Gated people. The whole of this question
between North and South is as well under
stood by the servants as by their masters,
is discussed as vehemently by the private
soldiers as by the officers. The politics Of
the country and the nature of its constitu-
tion are familiar to every laborer The very
wording Of the Declaration of Iudepen-
dence is in the memory Of every lad of six
teen. Boys and girls OF younger age than
that know why Slidell and Mason were ar
rested, and will tell you why they should
have been given up, or why they should
have been held in durance. The question
of the war with England is debated by
every native pavior and holman of New
York. = ...t ..' trs.IH


II know what Englishmsn will say in an
swsr to this. They will declare that they
do not want their paviors and hodmen to
talk politics that they are as well pleased
that their coachmen and cooks should not
always have a newspaper in their hands
that private soldiers will fight rs well, and
obey better, if they are not trained to dis.
cuss the causes which have brought them
into the field. An English gentleman will
think his gardener will be better gardener
without than with any excessive political
ardor; and the English lady will prefer
that her housemaid shall not have very
pronounced opinion of her own as to the
capabilities of the cabinet ministers But
would submit to all Englishmen and EA-
glishwomep who may look at these pages.
whether such an opinion or feeling on their
part bears much, or even at all. upon the
subject. am not saying that the man who
is driven in the coach is better off because
his coachman reads the paper, but that the
coachman hlmself who reads the paper is
! better off than the coach nan who does not
| aud cannot. | think that we are too apt,
in considering the ways and habits of any
people, to Judge of them by the effect Of
those ways and habits on us, rather than by
their effects on the owners of them.
Whom we express dislike to tho shoeboy
reading his newspaper, | fear we do so be.
cause we fear that the shoeboy is coming
near our own heels. know there is among
us strong feeling that the lower classes are
better without politics, as there is also that
they are better without crinoline and ar
tifcial flowers; but, if politics and erin
oline and artificial flowers arc good at
all, they are good for all who can honestly
come by them and honestly use them. The
political coachman is perhaps less valuable
to his muster as coachman than he would
be without his politics, but he with hispol-
itics is more valuable to himself 4 For my
self, do not like the Americans of the
lower orders. am not comfortable among
them They tread on my corns and offend
me. They make my daily life unpleasant.
But [ do respect them. | acknowledge