ON THE ABERDEEN INDUSTRIAL FEEDING SCHOOLS. 47 



rose to 60, the limit previously determined. During the first six months 109 

 were enrolled, but, as might have been anticipated on a first experiment, some 

 were admitted who were unsuitable, and others whose parents interfered and 

 removed them, and a few whose wandering habits would not allow them 

 to remain more than a few days — not long enough to ascertain whether they 

 would like the school or not ; still, with 60 names on the roll, the average daily 

 attendance for the first 6 months was 36 and for the last two 53*50. 



The amount realized for work during the first six months was £25 19s., i. e. 

 20s. a week, or about 14s. 6c?. for each pupil. 



The total cost for each was £4 8s. 10c?., or, deducting earnings, £8 13s. 4c?., 

 being at the rate of £7 6s. 8c?. per annum, — a cost which experience soon 

 enabled the directors greatly to reduce. 



From 1st April 1842, to 1st April 1843, the average daily attendance 

 was 52, the total cost of each £6 8s., and the earnings £1 2s. 8c?., leaving the 

 expense of teaching and feeding each boy £5 5s. 4c?. The earnings per head 

 were less than during the first six experimental months, because there was 

 then a larger proportion of stout working boys than have since been admitted, 

 and who were above the age to which the schools have since been exclusively 

 applied. 



The close of the year 1843 and commencement of 1844 proved to be the 

 critical period in the history of these schools, and all but fatal to their 

 continuance. 



The public interest at first felt in the new scheme had subsided ; the 

 experiment was novel, the results uncertain ; the subscriptions fell off, and 

 but for the liberal aid given by the magistrates of the city, and the Trustees 

 of the Murtle Charitable Fund, the school must have been closed and the 

 experiment abruptly terminated. 



Even with these aids, the directors were obliged to dismiss all but the most 

 necessitous, and reduce the number on the roll from 59 to 35. 



The tide was now at its lowest ebb, but it soon began to rise. 



No one could occasionally visit the school without remarking the change 

 in the outward appearance of the children, and no one could walk the streets 

 of Aberdeen without noticing a perceptible diminution in the number of 

 troublesome little beggar-urchins. The public came to the conclusion that 

 there was good doing by the experiment, and that, at all events, it should be 

 continued until more certain results were attained, and from that day to this 

 funds have never been wanting ; often low enough to require extreme caution 

 in the expenditure, but gradually growing and prospering till the little school 

 on the point of abandonment is now represented in Aberdeen by four schools : 

 a boys' in the House of Refuge, a boys' and girls' at Sugar House Lane, and 

 two separate female schools, having all their valuable and commodious build- 

 ings (except those in the House of Refuge), the unencumbered property of 

 the Institutions, and a regular attendance of from 350 to 400 children. 



On looking back to the history of the schools, it is found that the circum- 

 stances which led the managers to reduce the number of scholars produced 

 more than one very instructive result. 



Let us look for a moment at certain statistics from the year 1841 to the 

 year 1851 inclusive. 



From the Aberdeen Prison returns it appeared that remarkable variations 

 occurred ill the number of juveniles committed. In 1841, when no school 

 existed, the number imprisoned was 61, of whom 26 were natives of the town 

 of Aberdeen, 12 of the county, and 23 were strangers. 



For the next ten years, with the schools in operation, the numbers for each 

 year were as follows : — 



