XV THE SCHOOL BOARDS 389 



aid of the deliberations of such a body, or fail to 

 pay careful attention to its recommendations. 



What, then, ought to be the nature and scope of 

 the education which a School Board should endeav- 

 our to give to every child under its influence, and 

 for which it should try to obtain the aid of the 

 Parliamentary grants ? In my judgment it should 

 include at least the following kinds of instruction 

 and of discipline : 



1. Physical training and drill, as part of the 

 regular business of the school. 



It is impossible to insist too much on the import- 

 ance of this part of education for the children of 

 the poor of great towns. All the conditions of 

 their lives are unfavourable to their physical well- 

 being. They are badly lodged, badly housed, badly 

 fed, and live from one year's end to another in bad 

 air, without chance of a change. They have no 

 play-grounds; they amuse themselves with marbles 

 and chuck-farthing, instead of cricket or hare- 

 and-hounds ; and if it were not for the wonderful 

 instinct which leads all poor children of tender 

 years to run under the feet of cab-horses whenever 

 they can, I know not how they would learn to use 

 their limbs with agility. 



Now there is no real difficulty about teaching 

 drill and the simpler kinds of gymnastics. It is 

 done admirably well, for example, in the North 

 Surrey Union schools ; and a year or two ago 

 when I had an opportunity of inspecting these 



