272 EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 



such a plan as that just marked out, setting aside the prejudices of 

 those who should be the first to engage in the good work, is the 

 scanty supply of good and cheap class-books, which, however, have 

 been very lately well provided by the Irish Board of Education, and 

 at a reasonable rate. Geography should be taught solely by maps, 

 and arithmetic should be explained on the black board, without any 

 other aid except the arithmetical tables. Books on such subjects are 

 made for masters, not for the children. 



It may be said that, in the plan thus rather circumstantially laid 

 down, the interests of large communities only are consulted, and that 

 these improvements cannot reach the retired hamlets of the rural dis- 

 tricts, where the want is most deplorable. On this head it is only 

 necessary to say that in every parish where a hundred poor children 

 could be found, each able to pay two-pence a week, such a school 

 might be established; and it cannot be doubted that, when the preju- 

 dices of the country-clergy and gentry have sunk under the conviction 

 of the superiority of large and good day-schools to the wretched vil- 

 lage-schools at present too frequently seen, they will meet with that 

 additional support which wealth and local influence can afford. Let 

 then, the men of influence in different parts of the country those 

 of the manufacturing as well as the agricultural interest apply them- 

 selves seriously and conscientiously to the enquiry, Is all right? Are 

 the poor happy in their homes and among their families? Are they 

 efficient in their condition as moral beings, as social beings, ag beings 

 responsible to God, and having imperishable souls ? Is their condition 

 sufficiently elevated? Are their minds sufficiently cultivated for their 

 situation ? Perhaps an affirmative may be the reply of some persons. 

 To such, of course, these observations are not addressed. With re- 

 gard to those who do acknowledge the imperfections, or rather the 

 utter inefficiency of the day-schools, including national schools, scat- 

 tered over the country for effecting any mental improvement, it be- 

 comes a duty no longer to indulge in passive lamentations. The 

 active zeal of a few can kindle into warmth the indifference of hun- 

 dreds, and their personal exertion can win the pecuniary support of 

 those whose benevolence is less energetic and practical. 



And the reward of the philanthropist amid his labour of love will 

 not be small if general success shall be deemed a sufficient one. The 

 little that has been already done little we say, not as ungratefully 

 disparaging the work, but in comparison with what may and we hope 

 will be done has had the effect, as may be seen from the prison re- 

 turns, of diminishing crime in our country a fact which proves the 

 humanizing effects of education ; and from the evidence before the 

 Commons' Select Committee on Education there is just ground for sup- 

 posing that a very favourable change in the condition of the artizans 

 in large towns has been produced by the establishment of schools and 

 mechanics' societies. There is every promise of success. Perseverance 

 in the good work and an improved management, grounded on a 

 scientific view of education, will not fail of being accompanied by be- 

 neficial results in an increased ratio ; and it is not too much to hope 

 that not only will there be a gradual decrease of crime, but that in a 

 few years the use of spiritous liquors will be confined to a much 



