APPLICABILITY OF OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM. 427 



report him to the village committee, which has power to punish him by a fine, of 

 from one halfpenny to sixpence a day for neglecting the first and greatest duty of 

 every parent. * * In order, however, to ensure regular attendance, and as an 

 assistant to the parents themselves, each teacher is furnished by the local 

 magistrate, every year, with a list of all the children of his district, who have 

 attained the age at which they ought to attend his classes. The list is called over 

 every morning and eveiy afternoon, and all absentees are marked down, so that 

 the school committees, magistrates, and inspectors may instantly discover if the 

 attendance of any child has been irregular. 



" In Baden t he parish clergy, who keep registers, have to furnish the school 

 authorities with a list of all children whose schooling begins at the nest following 

 Easter. To this is added a list of all the children in the place not born there, 

 drawn up by the school authorities. These lists are handed to the school masters, 

 and one fortnight after the school opens the schoolmaster has to return to the 

 authorities the names of such children as attend the school, as well as those of the 

 absent children. * * Children who have private instruction, or who attend 

 higher institutions, require a certificate from the school authorities. * * « 

 Every week the schoolmaster is required to give to the school authorities a list of 

 such children as have been absent without leave, or who, having absented them- 

 selves, did not satisfactorily account for their so doing, together with the number 

 of days' absence. * * * All masters of factories, who employ children under 

 the age of fifteen, must render periodical lists of the children employed by them ; 

 giving the names, ages, places of residence, and names of the parents of such 

 children. * * * Perhaps of all countries Switzerland offers the most instruc- 

 tive lesson to any one investigating educational systems and institutions. Throughout 

 all the cantons, with the exception of Geneva, Vallais, and three small mountain 

 cantons on the lake of Lucerne, where the population is too scanty and too 

 scattered to allow of the erection of many schools, education is compulsory ; that 

 is, all parents are required by law to send their children to school from the ages of 

 sis to the age of fourteen. The schoolmasters in the several communes are 

 furnished with lists of all the children in their districts, which are called over every 

 morning on the assembling of school ; the absentees are noted, and also the reasons 

 if any, for their absence ; these lists are regularly examined by the inspectors, 

 who fine the parents of the absentees for each day of absence. * * * 



"It ought to be remembered that these laws are enforced under the most 

 democratic forms of government. The people themselves require attendance at the 

 schools, so conscious are they of the necessity of education to the encouragement of 

 temperance, prudence and order." 



Contrasting the result of these stringent rules upon the state of 

 society with that existing in EngUsh towns, Dr. Kay adds : 



" One is astonished and delighted, in Walking through the towns of the cantons 

 I mentioned, to miss the heart-rending scenes to be met with in every English 

 town ; I mean the crowds of filthy, half-clothed children, who may be seen in the 

 back streets of any of our towns, grovelling in the disgusting filth of the undrained 

 pavements, listening to the lascivious songs of the tramping singers, witnessing 



