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as working a young man continuously 12 hours a day, the result of 

 which is tersely expressed in an old university saying — four hours 

 a day study are four hours, and four more are eight, and four more 

 are four. Four hours a day are .is much as ever a child under 12 

 can give to study with advantage. And this the more, because I 

 am speaking now of schools intended for the operative classes alone, 

 where if the children learn to read, write, and spell well, with the 

 rudiments of geography, and a knowledge of arithmetic up to com- 

 pound division, they take with them all that they are ever likely to 

 retain in after life. The large amount of spare time which thus 

 becomes disposable should be given to out-door industrial employ- 

 ment. It is all right and proper to give boys and girls an hour or 

 more of play in a day, but it is quite a mistake to suppose that 

 children like only what may be called purposeless play. A boy likes 

 nothing so well as a couple of hours or more of driving cattle, herd- 

 ing cows, tending sheep, cutting wood ; he likes the sense of dignity 

 which his employment gives him, and looks on it as a promotion. 

 Girls like tending rabbits or feeding poultry quite as well as they do 

 a mere game at romps. Now when industrial employment is given, 

 as it often nominally is, it is almost always indoors. The children, 

 wearied with lessons, are condemned to be wearied still more with 

 tailoring, cobbling, and stitching, and the result is, that the money 

 value of their work is next to nothing. A few sharp boys occa- 

 sionally, but rarely, pick up a little artizan knowledge, and thereby 

 go to swell the overgrown city populations, which only make the 

 Australian colonies, like tadpoles, all head, while the farmers are 

 crying out for labour and cannot get it. I beg, therefore, to suggest 

 that wherever new industrial establishments, reformatory schools, 

 and the like shall be henceforward established, it shall be made a 

 sine qud non to have in contiguity to them a tract of land suffi- 

 ciently large to answer not only as a model farm, but to neutralize a 

 very large proportion of the costs of the establishment. The manner 

 in which the children can be employed may be as follows : — After 

 three hours' schooling, from 8 to 11, they can have an hour's play, 

 and then dine. After dinner they can have an hour's indoor 

 employment or amusement, and then should work from two to three 

 hours in the field. The boys are perfectly able to dig the drains for 

 thorough drainage. There should be a large dairy attached, for milk 

 forms a chief part of the consumption, and while the boys can milk 

 the cows the girls should make the butter and cheese. Both boys 

 and girls should work in the gardens, which should be large enough 

 to supply abundance of vegetables. Such a system would supply the 

 establishment with milk, butter, cheese, and vegetables, and where 

 there is an ample supply of these a great deal of the meat can be 

 dispensed with ; at least ninth-tenths of the people of Europe never 

 touch meat, and are just as healthy as the Australians. In conclu- 

 sion, I come to the siibject of the applicability of such a plan to the 

 introduction of new agricultural industries. There are very many 



