the most effective mode of destroying that little distinction which yet remains. No necessity can be a sufficient plea for sentences like the following; "The man would be doing right to feague you, if you were such a prig as to call him teague to his phiz." "Dick was a great rogue to seduce the poor nymph into the paths of vice." Neither can we approve of the incongruous admixture of things trivial with things sacred. We find such passages as the following in juxtaposi tion. "Shove these things aside, and wipe up the wet with the sponge. My soul is worth more than the world." "The man lost his limb by a bomb. We came from the womb in sin." Were the series free from the defects we have alluded to, and others we have not noticed, the number of Scotticisms found throughout, would effectually prevent its being used in South Britain.

INCE'S OUTLINES OF GENERAL KNOWLEDGE.-Gilbert, London.-The fact that these "Outlines" have reached the thirteenth thousand, shows a growing appetite for variety—a little of everything, and not much of anything. It may be hoped, that as education progresses, there will be a large increase of those whose motto will be, "Little, but well." These "Outlines" are a curiosity in their way-the whole circle of the sciences in sixty-eight pages; the remaining forty pages containing important facts, from the amount of the National Debt, to the cost per day of a soldier's washing; and from the number of calves consumed in London, to an explanation of the Q. E. F. in Euclid. Decidedly the best thing in the book is an alphabetical arrangement of the productions of the globe, with the names of the producing countries.

Eorrespondence.

SIR,-Permit me to recommend the following suggestions on teaching the Church Catechism to young Children., to the attention of your correspondent W. E. P." (page 224). They are from a little tract-"The Teacher's Friend," by Bishop Short-published by the S. P. C. K. He there proposes that children should first be taught the Lord's Prayer "When they can say, and in some degree understand this, they may be led on to the Ten Commandments, which will probably be more intelligible. Very little infants have learnt that it is wrong to steal and to swear and having begun with the notion that words convey some sense, they soon attach an idea to what is taught them. The Creed should follow,"

&c.

I imagine that the plan proposed above, of breaking up the Catechism and teaching the easiest part first is the most simple method of dealing with a difficult subject, and that when judiciously combined with instruction in the Parables and other simple narratives of Holy Scripture, it will lay a good foundation of religious knowledge.

W. J. L.

SIR,-Will some of your readers oblige me by stating their method of teaching the Gospels to their first or second class.

W. W.

SIB, I should feel very grateful if any of your correspondents would be so kind as to give me through the medium of your valuable paper the Notes of a Lesson on "The different ways in which our Lord answered questions proposed by inquirers, and by cavillers,"

E. S.

LONG HOLIDAYS:-INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF, AND POSSIBILITY OF DISPENSING WITH.

SIR, I need not attempt to prove that long holidays have a dissipating effect on Teachers and Scholars, and an unpleasant one on Parents. Now, can they be done without? Is it desirable that Masters content themselves with the usual Saturday's and other daily vacations, and relinquish the month at Christmas and the six weeks at Midsummer, which

often lead Teachers to squander a part of their too-small stipends on "visits to remarkable battle-fields," or, as in the case of a scholastic acquaintance, "pleasure trips up the Rhine!" I confess myself one of those, who, admitting the need of recreation before and after school-hours and on the allotted Saturdays, and allowing that a school without a playground is only a prison with a false name, nevertheless contend that more valuable training is lost during the five or six weeks' holiday than is acquired in the five or six weeks next ensuing. So few are the years of our school-life, that periods of that length can hardly be spared. Those teachers whose health absolutely requires the extent of vacation, should be allowed to retain it: but those, if any, who could safely forego it, should be also at liberty to do so. Then comes the question of additional stipen! to such masters from the managers of schools, which would thus be kept in continual working condition. I do not take into consideration the loss of health to the pupils by tne relinquishment of long holidays, because their attendance is now quite sufficiently irregular, and also a great majority of our scholars do not remain a year in any of our schools. I should be glad to have the opinions of my brethren on this subject.

J. B. R.

SIR,-Will you permit me to ask you, or some of your numerous correspondents, through the medium of your valuable "Papers," which would be the best way to treat a boy, who having been appointed with the rest of his class, to get up a few verses of Scripture, or some portion of the Catechism over night, appears the next morning without having done so. I am reluctant to punish him, lest it should give him a distaste for that which I should wish him to love most, neither can one look over it, or else, it will produce carelessness in the other boys.

SIR,-Will you, or one of your correspondents, inform me (through your Papers for the Schoolmaster) how to find the Time in Compound Interest, when the Principal, Rate per Cent., and Amount are given; take, for instance the following example:

In what time will 5s. become £5 at 5 per cent. per annum, Compound Interest.

SIR,-1 shall feel greatly obliged if the following questions could be answered by some of your readers.

1. When the first and second classes have frequently to be thrown together, which lesson is to be preferred, reading or writing? The number in each class is about sixteen, seated at parallel desks.

2. Is the practice of allowing all the classes to attend to the same lesson at the same time recommended by Inspectors and experienced teachers?

3. Is there any objection, in the absence of a class room, to the junior classes being taught in the play-ground, while the senior classes are receiving instruction in singing, &c., in the school room?

4. Is there any serious objection to allowing the first and second classes to proceed with their writing immediately after prayers, instead of their Scripture lesson, when it has been found that by this plan only, can they be induced to attend early in the morning?

M. S.

SIR,-I have been much grieved at the inconsiderate manner in which pupils have been chosen for apprenticeship, without the remotest reference to their personal character. If they be but sharp boys and up to the passing mark, no inquiry, in many instances, appears to be made as to whether they seem to be impressed with the holy character of their undertaking; and it seems to form not any part of their Teacher's business to set before them what should ever be the motive power of all our actions, "The Love of Christ." Perhaps you may think it worth while to devote an article to the consideration of a subject, which I believe to be of momentous interest. T. C. [We cannot but hope that our correspondent has come to his conclusions upon imperfect data. It may be true, that so extensive as the pupil teachership system has become, there may be some cases, in which young people have been inconsiderately chosen. Wherever this has happened, there has been either gross inattentlon on the part of the pations of schools, by which the pupils have been certified, or what is worse-imposition. We have the best means of knowing, that H. M. Inspectors are especially anxious on this subject; and that wherever doubtful characters have been apprenticed, their good faith has been imposed on, and we cannot believe such cases to be numerous.]

ANSWERS TO EXAMINATION PAPER ON SCHOOL

MANAGEMENT.

(CONTINUED FROM NO. XXI.)

The arrangement of the matter in → Notes of Lessons is of great importance, as much so as the disposition of the parts of the machinery by which some valuable purpose is to be achieved. Notes are of two kinds, Full and Outline, the former to preserve the matter and method of the lesson so as to be available at any future time, the latter as Teaching Notes to refresh the mem-eye may readily take in the whole. In ory, not with the matter, but with the order in which it is to be presented, and the methods to be employed.

THE GALLERY.

The rules for the conducting of a gallery lesson flow from the conditions which render it efficient, and they will be suggested by a mere enunciation of these, without any necessity for a formal explanation. We commence our statement of these conditions by insisting on the necessity of the Trainer preparing his lesson carefully, before he meet his class. The precise amount and manner of this preparation, must greatly vary with the general acquirements of the teacher. If it should happen that he is familiarly acquainted with the facts to be communicated, then of course no special preparation of these is needed. But in almost every case a revisal of previous knowledge proves very useful; for when a subject is treated in the style of a gallery lesson, it may often happen, that considerable embarrassment will result from want of confidence, relative to many points which the trainer imagined himself to know very well. We need hardly say, that where knowledge of the facts bearing on any given subject is defective, very great attention should be given to acquire correct and useful information. But in every case much advantage will result from the preparation and arrangement of opposite illustrations, tending to simplify and impress the subject of the lesson. But while we insist on the necessity of a suitable preparation for the giving of every lesson, we have no desire to encourage that manner of making it, which consists in the pre-arrangement of every question, and even in anticipating the answers of the children. A reference to the principles which guide conversation in its ordinary forms, will show us the absurdity of any such mode of getting up a lesson. Think of a father seeking to give information to his child upon any subject of interest, and imagine how free and pleasing the dialogue would be where the instructor had fixed in his mind every question that he would ask, and every answer which he would receive, or acknowledge from the child. The most essential characteristic of conversation is disregarded in such a case, namely, that every question asked shall be suggested by the previous answer; and the uniform result is just what might be expected. The consequences of every such mistaken procedure are, that the interest of the subject evaporates, restlessness and disorder prevail among the children, and no improvement follows. The true mode of the preparation is for the trainer so to master the subject, on which he is about to speak, that it may become, in a manner, a constituent part of his own mind, that so it may be re-delivered, tinged with a peculiar colouring of his own mind. Where the trainer has made this thorough preparation, and has previously provided himself with one or two familiar illustrations of his subject, he may altogether dismiss any fear of a want of appropriate language, in which to embody the information that he seeks to

convey.

A second most important rule to be observed, is, that an artificial style of speaking, or questioning, is most carefully to be avoided on the part of the trainer, and the children should always be encouraged to express themselves in their own words. The analogy of conversation, to which we have so often referred, bears us out here again. The style of speaking to which we here allude, is one which, under certain circumstances, is sufficiently pleasing, but as it endeavours to crowd much meaning into comparatively few words, by employing condensed allusions and metaphors, and various other figures of speech, it is very ill-adapted for instructing children. Perhaps we may venture to derive an example of this position from the ordinary style of catechetical instruction. We have heard