. | Grey Coat School at York. 
my pen, to iftate as concifely as I can, 
what the alterations were, and what the 
effets which have been found to refult 
from them. ’ 
Inftead of boarding the children at fo 
much per head, the provifions are now 
‘paid for from the funds of the charity, 
and the earnings of the children go to- 
wards them. ‘Ihe butcher, milkman, 
flour-dealer, &c. are bargained with to 
deliver the feveral articles in which they 
deal, good in their kind, at an average 
price, and their bills are regularly fent 
in to the committee of gentlemen once a 
week, figned by one of the ladies, who 
particularly fuperintends what may pro- 
perly be called, the houfe-keeping depart- 
ment. . 
A matron is engaged, who has a falary 
allowed, and as the number of girls were 
increafed to 40, on their removal to the 
new building, there are two affiftant mif- 
treffes, who each have wages; one to 
teach fewing, knitting, line-{pinning, and 
reading; the other, wool-{pinning, to 
affift in reeling, and to keep the account 
ef the number of hanks {pum every day 
by each girl. ‘ 
Inftead of its being optional to employ 
the children at what time and in what 
manner the miftrefs may pleafe, their em- 
‘ployments are fubject to general laws, 
trom which no deviation whatever is al- 
lowed, without the permiffion of the lady 
who is vifitor for the time being, of which 
there are feveral who :fuperintend the 
fchool, and who regularly take their turn 
ef giving attendance for the {pace of fix 
weeks. The outline of thefe laws is as 
follows, viz. ; 
The whole fchool is divided into two 
elafles; 1. Ten, who in their turn -fill 
the office of fervants, and who, as five 
leave the fchool every year, are of courfe 
in that clafs the laft two years of their re- 
maining in it, and are diftinguifhed from 
the others in their drefs by a green, in- 
flead of a grey, ftuff gown; and, 2dly, 
Thirty, who, for diftinétions fake,. may 
be denominated fcholars. The laws re- 
{peétine thofe in the clafs of fervants, are 
as follow: 
Two.are houfe-maids, two kitchen- 
maids, two afliftants in wafhing. and 
getting up the linen (which takes up two 
days in every week), two houfe-afliitants 
en thofe days, and two larders and {pin- 
ners. of wafte wool, whichis manufactured 
for the ufe of the {chool, and who alfo 
twit the worited for the ftockings. ‘The 
four, who are washing and houfe-aflift- 
ants, {pin wool on thy four days when 
7 
ee 
‘ 
they are not wanted for this purpofe, hay- 
ing regular tafks fet. The tour /ervants 
are employed by the matron, when they 
have done their houfe-work, in mending 
for the family, bleaching the cloth fpun 
in the family for houfe ufe, (for every 
article worn by the girls, except fhoes and 
ftays, and ftraw hats, is manufactured 
by themfelves,) and in making children’s | 
cloaths, of materials fent by the ladies, 
for poor people, &c. &c. They all change 
alternately every fix weeks, according to 
a regular plan, fo that in the courfe of 
thirty weeks, every one e the ten has 
filled thefe feveral places for the {pace of 
fix weeks; and the whole ten have a maf- 
ter three days a week, two hours in the 
evening, to teach writing and arithmetic, 
and to improve them in reading. ~ 
The rules refpecting the thirty /cholars 
are as follow: twenty are always em- 
ployed in {pinning wool for the manufac. 
turer, by which they earn, upon an ave- 
rage, about 1051. per ann. This may, 
not improperly, be called their trade, not 
only as the money gained by it to the in- 
ftitution is. fo -confiderable, but, more- 
over, as by means of it, every girl may 
afterwards gain a livelihood; as there is 
not any one who cannot {pin fixteen hanks 
per day, when fhe leaves the {chool, which 
produces eightpencé, at the average price” 
paid for wool-{pinning. The remaining 
ten are employed in {pinning linen, and 
in fewing and knitting. Thefe employ- 
ments are changed every three months, 
in the following order :—when ‘ten‘leave 
the wool-room, ‘five are employed the firft 
fix weeks in {pinning line, and the fecond 
fix weeks, in fewing and knitting, and 
when this time is expired, they all return 
to the wool-rcom, and the like number of 
wool-fpinners take. their place; fo that 
two-thirds of the time of every girl is 
occupied in {pinning worfted, and one- 
third divided between {pinning line and 
fewing and knitting. About 16]. per 
ann. is earned. by, line-fpinning. . Every 
. 7 
girl makes her own cloaths, and, knits 
9 * . QO tba 
her own ftockings, ready againit the fol-. 
1 
lowing year; aud, to prevent confufion, 
a clofet is appropriated with fhelves, 
upon which .'the name of every girl is 
written, and upon which her new cloaths 
are depofited.. This department, as well 
as that of clafling the girls, has been 
fuperintended for fome years, by one par- 
ticular lady, who likewife meafures and 
affiftg in cutting out all the cloaths, and 
it is managed in a manner as complete as 
offible. 
it has been already mentioned, that 
every 
