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towards the other, to gain which is surely worth the facing of difficulties that prove less formidable the more boldly they are faced. In co-education even more than in other things I am convinced that it is half-heartedness that means failure. The more completely both sexes can be brought together upon an equal and natural footing, the less the difficulties grow. We must know our girls and boys and have their confidence, and show them that they have ours. It is not by separation, by suppression of natural feeling, or by suspicious surveillance that any real and lasting good is to be attained; but by wholesome and natural conditions, by mutual confidence, and, if necessary, by the rejection of the unfit-those for whom the healthy atmosphere of such a life comes too late or works too slowly. And these in childhood, happily, are few.

J. H. BADLEY.

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NOTES ON A PREPARATORY SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.

As it may be interesting to some readers to make a comparison between the education of boys and girls of preparatory school age, the head mistress of a preparatory school for girls has kindly furnished us with particulars of which the following is an abstract. The school in question contains nearly 90 girls, more than half of them boarders, the average age of the girls on entrance being just under 11 years, and on leaving 13 years. The school is divided into 10 classes, the largest number of girls in one class being 12, and the smallest 6. The teaching staff attached exclusively to the school consists of 12 mistresses and four students. There are also two visiting teachers (a riding master and a dancing mistress).

1. CURRICULUM.

The school has nothing to do with outside examinations No girls are allowed to specialise for any scholarship examinations. The class work in the school is all done in the morning, with one interval of 15 minutes for play between 9 a.m. and 12.30, and shorter breaks between the other lessons. In the morning there are four lessons of half an hour and one lesson of three-quarters of an hour,

The hours of work are apportioned as follows:

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Each upper form is in three divisions, each division in charge of a mistress. The girls are re-classified in each form for English, French, Latin, and Mathematics. In the lower forms the girls learn all subjects together. Latin is begun at the average age of 10 years. French is taught before Latin, but not as a grammatical study until the principles of grammar have been grasped through Latin. Neither German nor Greek is taught in the school. The head mistress is in favour of post

poning Greek, in all cases, till the public school is reached. Stress is laid on teaching all the girls drawing, carpentering, and singing. Elementary science is taught in the school:-Object lessons in the lowest forms, and botany all through the rest of the school, with very elementary astronomy, which runs over into recreation, as the school has a good telescope. Under the head of English, the proportion of time devoted to spelling and dictation is 15 per cent. (more in lower forms), to original composition and reproduction 30 per cent., to language (grammar, word formation, &c.) 40 per cent. (chiefly analysis, less in lower forms). Four to six lessons a week are given to French, the amount varying according to term and form. Younger children have more as a rule. Preparation for French lessons amounts to about 40 minutes weekly. French is now taught entirely by English teachers. It is taught conversationally in class and to some extent in recreation, a few girls who speak French fluently keeping it up with a mistress, and all boarders learning French songs and plays from time to time. The head mistress thinks that very much more might be done than is usual at present in the way of giving children an interest in French by means of games and stories illustrating French life. In history, as a rule, two half-hour lessons are given in each week, with 10 or 15 minutes preparation for each. Only English history is taught, except in the case of older girls, who read a little Roman history in French. A good deal of general history is taught in geography lessons. The aim is to give an outline of English history which can be filled in at the public school which follows. The head mistress thinks that the learning of historical facts and of some dates is useful for the future memory-work of history, but is of opinion that, for girls of preparatory school age, history is not a very useful subject. It demands too much of the reason and of the judicial faculty; and girls are apt to take up opinions without sufficient grounds. History, in her opinion, should, when taught to such young girls, appeal more to the imagination than to the reason. Geography, on the other hand, the head mistress regards as of the highest educational value. She would like to see it more largely and generously taught. The minimum of geography teaching in the school is two lessons of half-an-hour each with 15 minutes of afternoon preparation for each.

Two hours a week are given in each form to religious knowledge. To arithmetic six hours a week are given in the two lowest forms; four hours a week (with one exception) in the higher ones. In all forms there is one hour of preparation, four days a week, with the assistance of a mistress.

2. HEALTH AND PHYSICAL TRAINING.

The girls get up at 7 a.m. summer and winter, and go to bed between 7 p.m. and 7.40 p.m. There is no school before breakfast. The head mistress considers the best hours for meals for girls of this age to be as follow kfast, 71 luncheon, 10.15 a.m., dinner. !

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7 p.m. Each lesson should last 30 to 45 minutes, one hour being too long for girls under fourteen. A good division of the morning work is as under :

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Any mathematical subject, especially for little children, should come first, or after a refreshing lesson such as Singing or Handwork. Latin should come when the girls are pretty fresh.

The girls are under supervision all day, but there is a good deal of latitude; eg., in the playground a girl may work at her garden or a few may start a game of their own. In the boarding houses the girls have some time every day when they can do as they please, though a mistress is present.

Slight ailments are nursed in a sick room, others in one or other of two separate buildings, reserved the one for the nursing of infectious and the other for that of non-infectious complaints.

3. ORGANISED OUTDOOR GAMES, &C.

The head mistress experiences no opposition on the part of parents to compulsory games, nor has she, in five years, known of a serious accident arising from them. Compulsoriness of games is modified in favour of individual girls who possess pronounced tastes of an open-air but non-athletic order. Outdoor exercise in wet weather is insisted on in the case of healthy girls, but there is much opposition to this on the part of parents of daypupils. The playground dress is the gymnasium dress with a warm jersey for winter and a thin woollen blouse for summer. One mistress is occupied almost exclusively with the playground and gymnasium. Other mistresses, but not nearly all, assist. The games mistress was trained by a cricket professional. In summer one hour a day, on an average, is devoted to compulsory cricket, and in winter one hour a day, on an average, to compulsory basket ball, played indoors or out, according to weather. All girls who bathe learn to swim. In 1899, 82 per cent. bathed, and of those who bathed, 90 per cent. could swim at the end of July.

4. SCHOOL LIBRARY AND GIRLS' PRIVATE READING.

There is a small school library, of which all the books are in constant use. Each house has its own library besides. Restrictions are placed upon the admission of newspapers and periodicals into th bool, and a list of what may be sent is supplied to new books are brought by the girls to the

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