Education. 
315 
proved efficacy, for solving that diflicult problem in the ele- 
mentary (nlucation of the labouring poor, viz. how to combine 
instruction with the demand for juvenile labour. No other 
plan — such as half-day or alternate day schools — has yet been 
devised which is not open to grave objections. A half-day system 
will not answer, because the boy has a whole day's work set him, 
and that very possibly at a distance from home ; alternate days 
will not answer, because every workman's usefulness depends on 
his acquaintance with his work, and if he be away half his time 
he is just twice as long learning his business ; neither will 
master, bailiff, or head man be bothered with teaching two sets 
of boys ; they say one is trouble enough. Besides, where are the 
relays to come from ? At pressing times every boy and girl is 
wanted ; and even for constant places, in parishes of ordinary 
density of population, the supply of boys is not beyond the 
demand. There is no juvenile reserve. The application of 
these schemes to an agricultural district is an impracticable 
theory. They proceed on a mistaken analogy between manufac- 
turing and agricultural operations. In the one, there is concen- 
tration of uniform work, under cover, in one spot, independent 
of season and weather ; in the other, the work is spread over 
some square miles, is exposed to wet above and mud below, 
varies with every season, and is dependent on every atmospheric 
change. From circumstances so different, the same practical 
conclusion cannot be deduced. 
The great majority of schools in the agricultural districts are 
what are called mixed scJwols, where boys and girls are taught 
together. There are certain advantages in this social mixture of 
the sexes in youth, as in all other ages ; but, in a sparsely popu- 
lated district, it is a necessity. There are neither the numbers 
to supply, nor the funds to support, separate schools for boys and 
girls. 
I have failed, after some endeavour, in obtaining any reliable 
county statistics as to the number of children at school belonging 
to that class which " depends on the cultivation of the soil for its 
support." The figures published by the recent " Royal Commis- 
sion of Inquiry into the State of Education " give no help. 
They refer to public schools only (omitting private adventure 
schools) ; they include the Channel Islands in Hampshire ; and 
there are no satisfactory means of separating rustic from urban 
children. The figures for night schools in the Report of the 
Commissioners are manifestly incorrect. Only 47 night schools, 
with 1659 scholars, are returned for all religious denominations 
in Hants, the Isle of Wight, and the Channel Islands ; whereas 
it appears from returns, procured by Archdeacon Jacob, from 
only 240 parishes, out of 408 in Hants, and the Isle of Wight, at 
VOL. XXII, z 
