air, which, among the northern hills, is
sometimes far from genial. The word "parochial"
is suggestive to the English mind of pauperism,
of poor's-rates, a board of guardians, and the
workhouse. As designating the character of
Scotch schools, it has no such meaning. The
parochial school is simply the public school of
the parish, and in Scotland every parish has its
public school, as in England every parish has its
church. As in England, the rich and poor meet
together in church on the common ground of
religion, so in Scotland the rich and poor meet
together in the parish school on the common
ground of education. Education is so sacred a
thing in the eyes of Scotchmen, that the son of
a laird will not disdain to receive it sitting on
the same form with the son of a labourer.
Elsewhere in the world the "Republic of
Letters" is but a phrase; here it is a reality.

The parochial school system of Scotland is
founded upon true philosophy and a wise
economy. It charges the property of the country
with a share of the duty of educating the
people. The charge falls directly upon the
landed proprietors, but indirectly every inhabitant
of the parish is a contributor to the same
object. It is an indirect tax, included in the
aggregate amount of the rent, which no one
feels, because it is not set down as a separate
item. Possibly in the lapse of time rents have
come to be assessed without any regard to the
school tax, and their amount would be neither
more nor less if the system did not exist. The
owners of the soil in each parish (the "heritors,"
as they are called) are bound by law to
provide a school-house, and to pay a properly
qualified schoolmaster a certain annual salary.
This law was enacted in the reign of James the
Sixth, and was one of the first fruits of the Scottish
Reformation. The institution to which it
gave effect was intimately bound up with the
scheme of the Presbyterian Church, and to the
clergy of the presbytery was assigned the duty
of appointing the schoolmaster.

The emoluments of a Scotch parochial
school-master are not large; but they are in most
cases sufficient to enable him to live in comfort,
and to maintain the position of a gentleman.
His salary in money, derived from the heritors,
at one time varied with the price of corn. This
custom had its origin when man in Scotland
lived, or was supposed to live, on oatmeal bread
alone; but it is out of date now. When corn
was high, the schoolmaster, like the minister,
got more money to buy it with, and when it was
low, he got less. The salaries of parochial
schoolmasters range from thirty-five to sixty
pounds a year, with the school fees, which, in
some instances, bring them up to a hundred
pounds; the amount in many cases being
increased by the interest of sums of money
bequeathed by benevolent persons for the special
purpose of encouraging the work of education,
either generally, or in particular localities.
The bequests and "mortifications" (or mort-main
devisements of property) which have been
made at various times fur the purposes of
education, are without number. There is scarcely
a school that does not benefit by one; there is
not a college that does not possess scores. In
England, posthumous philanthropy is apt to
manifest itself in an almshouse; in Scotland
it takes the more fruitful form of a bursary, a
scholarship, or a schoolmaster's fund.

With forty or fifty pounds a year and the
school fees, a free house, a garden to grow
his fruit and vegetables, and possibly the liberty
of pasturage for a cow, the parochial school-master
is passing rich. As a gentleman and a
scholar, he moves in the best society, and is
looked up to as one of the magnates of the
parish.

His scholars are of every degree, of all ages,
of both sexes, and they come from far and near.
The minister's sons go down from the manse to
learn Latin and Greek; the sons of farmers,
large and small, of cottars, and even servants,
gather together from the distant hills to learn
side by side with them in the same classes.
As some of them come from a distance of three
or four miles, it is necessary that they should
bring their dinners with them. Those dinners
generally consist of oatmeal cakes and milk.
A Scotch schoolboy, making a pilgrimage to the
Temple of Learning, is somewhat oddly
furnished for his journey. In the summer he
prefers to go barefoot, with his shoes and
stockings slung over his shoulders; besides
this encumbrance, he carries two bags and a
tin can. One bag contains his mental pabulum,
in the shape of Lennie's Grammar, Rudiman's
Rudiments of the Latin Tongue, and Cæsar's
Commentaries; the other bag contains his
physical pabulum, which is simply oat cake; the
can contains milk.

The course of study comprises reading, writing,
arithmetic, English grammar, Latin, Greek, and
mathematics. The fee for the whole course
averages five shillings a quarter, or one pound a
year! Excluding Latin, Greek, and mathematics,
it is sometimes less than that amount. Thus, the
education of a boy, supposing him to remain at
school for eight years, is, at the utmost, eight
pounds, and for this amount he may be qualified to
pass the matriculation examination at the university.
The examination of the schoolmaster by the
ministers of the presbytery is a guarantee for
his competency, and it is a rule that no one
shall be appointed to the post of parochial
schoolmaster unless he has been four years at
college. Many of the schoolmasters are Masters
of Arts, and highly accomplished scholars.

There is an extraordinary ambition among
parents of the lower class to give their sons a
classical education. In the old days, when the
honourable office of the ministry was the highest
prize within their reach, it was the dearest hope
and ambition of poor parents to see one of their
sons "wag his head in the poopit;" but now,
when so many appointments in the civil and
military service of the country are thrown open
to competition, there is a wider inducement to
qualify more than one male member of the
family for such various opportunities of