2tj Middle-Class Education. 



me to combine most of the elements of which middle class 

 education ought to consist. All this was, of course, the work of 

 time, and required a great struggle and much self-sacrifice, so 

 that, if all connected with the school had not had their heart 

 and soul in it, the plan could not have been carried out ; but 

 trustees, masters, and boys all combined heartily, and the result 

 was a successful one. 



But the very difficulties we had to encounter only tend to 

 show how practical the scheme is. The funds of the school 

 were too limited, and the endowment for the mastership too 

 small to allow the necessary outlay to proceed from either the 

 funds of the trust or the pocket of the head master. While 

 the scheme, therefore, was still only an experiment (i. e. for 

 three years) the funds necessary for the payment of the natural- 

 philosophy master were most liberally provided by contribu- 

 tions from the neighbouring nobleinen and gentlemen. At the 

 expiration of that term the experiment was pronounced, to be 

 successful. The numbers of the school had risen to above 100, 

 and, in spite of many drawbacks, the average attendance lor the 

 last six years has amounted to 94. To meet the additional 

 payments required, a small capitation-fee was charged on all 

 boys whose parents were not resident within the limits of the 

 townships which have the right of free admission to the school. 



The proficiency of the boys in all other branches of study, as 

 tested by yearly public examinations, has proved that the system 

 introduced has not interfered with the general efficiency of the 

 school with regard to those subjects which are generally made 

 the primary objects of grammar-school education. 



No better proof of the practical working of the system can be 

 given than the fact that we are constantly applied to by the 

 trustees and headmasters of other schools for information (in all 

 cases readily given) as to our systein of working, time-table, &c., 

 and for the services of our masters in testing by examination the 

 proficiency of their pupils who have been trained in a method 

 borrowed from our own. The time-table would show how very 

 slight a "bifurcation" is necessary in this scheme of instruc- 

 tion, would indicate the subject taught, and the time which is, on 

 the average, necessary to be bestowed on each subject to ensure 

 the attainment of a good practical knowledge of its rudiments as 

 an introduction to the active pursuits of after life. Enough has 

 perhaps been said to show that this scheme is not a crude theory, 

 but the result of real working and the practical experience of 

 years. 



What we have done other grammar schools might do — we 

 may almost venture to say ought to do, and most of them may do, 

 with far fewer difficulties than we have had to surmount. And if, 



