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soft impeachment. It was then proposed, as likely to be amusing, that each in turn should relate his experience on the occasion of his first departure from strict sobriety. As no one was willing to begin, it was decided to draw lots as to who should take the lead. This was done, and the lot fell to an English clergyman, who thus began:

“I had just been a year married after getting a nice country living, when I was asked to marry a couple of my parishioners. At a supper-party on the evening of the marriage, as I had performed the ceremony, and knew the relations of both bride and bridegroom, I was courteously challenged a good many times in the course of the evening by one or another of the guests holding up his glass to give him the pleasure of drinking a glass of wine with me. To refuse was, of course, impossible, but I had not the slightest intention of going beyond the strictest limits of moderation. Now, whether it was that I had unconsciously taken more than I intended, or had foolishly mixed my wines, I almost suddenly had a strange sensation in my head, and said to myself, 'Good heavens! this is intoxication. I shall take no more,' and I didn't. I thought I should be all right when I got to the open air,

but, on the contrary, I got very much worseso much worse that I could not venture to face my young wife. I accordingly walked about for an hour or perhaps two, till I felt so much better that I thought I might go home. I was unsuccessful in several attempts to get the key into the keyhole. Succeeding at last, I turned the bolt and closed the door as noiselessly as possible, and hung up my greatcoat in the lobby. And now to get upstairs. Steadying myself for the effort, I began the ascent carefully and quietly, hoping to get into bed without awaking my wife, for though I was better I was not quite well. I had only got half-way up when, to my horror, I saw light shining below the bedroom door. My wife was evidently reading in bed, awaiting my return. There was nothing for it now but facing the difficulty boldly. On opening the bedroom door I found, to my delight, that she was sound asleep. She had been reading, and had not blown out the candle. I began to undress as quickly and quietly as I could, and was just about to blow out the candle when a voice reached my ears that I shall never forget as long as I live, 'John! John! surely you are not going to bed with your hat on.""

A good many years afterwards I met Lord

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Inverclyde at a dinner-party, and reminding him of the story, asked him to repeat it. He declined, saying that he had made up his mind never to tell it again. The reason he gave was that on one occasion when he was telling it at a dinner-party, and had got to the point where the clergyman was undressing before blowing out the candle, the hostess, evidently fearing that he was getting on to dangerous ground, made a signal to the lady at the other end of the table and said, "Now, ladies, shall we go to the drawing-room?"

CHAPTER XXII.

INFANT-TEACHING MUCH IMPROVED-WHEN SHOULD IT BEGIN"D-N THE CAT!"- GREAT IMPROVEMENT IN READINGBOOKS READING THE MOST VALUABLE SCHOOL PRODUCT— CORPORAL PUNISHMENT-DR MELVIN-LEATHER-THOMAS FRASER OF GOLSPIE-AN EQUESTRIAN INCIDENT.

In my pretty long retrospect of school work and school appliances I know no respect in which there are greater changes and improvements than in infant-class teaching. Till within comparatively recent years the school-life of infants was absolutely unrelieved by anything in the shape of amusement or healthy admixture of work and play. The alphabet, and nothing but the alphabet, was their daily food for a month or six weeks, or even longer. When the lesson was over, they had to go to their seats, and either sit quiet or make a disturbance, according to the teacher's idea of discipline. Drill or the various manual exercises that now brighten the child's life were not thought of, and, if they had been thought of, would have

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been considered a sheer and silly waste of valuable time. In this respect there has been a marvellous and beneficent change, especially in large town schools, and also, though to a smaller extent, in country schools, where the teachers for fertility of resource in devising plans combining amusement and instruction deserve the highest praise.

On my visit in 1884, at the request of the Department, to schools in London, Cambridge, and Manchester, I was much struck by the superiority of the infant schools as compared with those in Scotland. In the management there was more repose of manner and gentleness on the part of the teacher, and greater refinement and politeness on that of the pupil, than with us. This was due partly to a pretty general prejudice in Scotland at that time against children being sent to school before six or seven years of age, and partly to the infant grants in England being graded according to merit, while in Scotland there was one uniform grant on the simple condition that the infants were taught "suitably to their age." There was therefore no encouragement for the development of new and superior methods. The prejudice against infant-training has to a large extent broken down since the introduction, more