outgrow the management of that number a
fourth is added, to take the management of
the whole, and is called a Frère-directeur.
The classes are limited to sixty for writing,
and one hundred for other branches of education.
This limitation is necessary, because
the monitorial system is not followed, and
the whole weight of the duties falls on the
masters.

The schools thus established in the various
quarters of Paris are very numerous; six
thousand apprentices and artisans attend them
after their hours of work—young boys, youths,
and adults—the numbers having declined
since the revolution of 1848. "I have," says
Mr, Seymour Tremenheere, in a note to his
Report on the state of the mining population,
"at different times visited some of those evening
schools in the Fauxbourgs St. Antoine
and St. Martin, containing from four hundred
to six hundred, in separate class-rooms of
sixty to a hundred each, all well lighted,
warmed, and ventilated. The gentle and
affectionate manner of the Frères, and their
skill in teaching, were very conspicuous, and
sufficiently explained their success. The
instruction consists, in addition to the doctrines
of Christianity, which are the basis of the
whole, of reading, writing, arithmetic, a little
history, drawing (linear and perspective), and
vocal music. In all the classes, many adults
who had been at work all day were to be
seen mixed with young men and boys, patiently
learning to read, or to write and cypher. In the
drawing-classes,some were copying ornamental
designs, or heads, for their own amusement;
others, to improve themselves as cabinet-
makers, or workers in bronze, or in other
trades for which some cultivation of taste is
requisite."

The superiority of the system of teaching
adopted by the Christian Brothers has been
proved by a severe test. In Paris, as in
London, it is the custom, once a year, to
assemble all the parochial schools; not,
however, as a mere show for the purpose of
uniting in ill-executed psalmody, but with the
better and more useful view of testing the
improvement of the scholars, and of ascertaining
the degrees of diligence and proficiency
attained by the masters. The parochial scholars
compete for prizes, given by the corporation
of the city; not only among themselves, but
with the other elementary schools—those of
the Christian Brothers among the rest. At
these competitions, it has happened, of late
years, that the pupils of the latter have been
the victors. In one year, they gained seventeen
prizes out of twenty; in another, twenty-
three out of thirty-one; and, last year, they
carried off the highest forty-two prizes: the
fortunate candidates of all the other schools
only claiming the inferior rewards. In addition
to these evening schools for adults and young
men who are already gaining their livelihood,
the Frères Chrétiens have set on foot Sunday
evening sermons at different churches, and
also meetings for lectures on religious and
moral subjects adapted to the wants of, and
calculated to influence, the same class. "I
recently was present at one of these meetings
in the Faubourg St. Antoine" (we quote our
former authority), "where a series of eloquent
and forcible addresses was delivered—one, by
a Professor of History, on some of the leading
points of Christian morals; another, by a
gentleman of literary attainments, on Death
and a future state; a third, by a gentleman of
independent position, on the religious
condition of some of the forçats at Toulon; a
fourth, by a member of the university, on the
displacement of labour by machinery, and its
ultimate advantage to the labourer; all of
whom had come forward to aid in the task of
combating irreligion, and the various forms of
error pervading the minds of so many of the
working classes of Paris. These were followed
by hymns, and by prayers. A deep sense of
religion is, indeed, the animating spirit of all
the endeavours of the Frères Chrétiens  for
the benefit of the lower classes, and the
principle which sustains them in their self-denying
and arduous career."

The lovers of "great comprehensive
systems,"—to whom we adverted in a former page
—might, by copying the plan of the French
Christian Brothers, carry out a scheme which
would be of the utmost use in this country.
It would also have the advantage of encouraging
small beginnings, and combining them
into one great and efficacious whole. We can
hardly wait until the present adult generation
of ignorance shall die out to be succeeded by
another which we are, after all, only half
educating. Why not offer inducements, and form
plans, for the instruction of grown-up persons,
many of whom, having come to a sense of their
deficiencies, pine for culture and enlightenment,
which they cannot obtain? A central
establishment in London—on a general plan
somewhat similar to the Government Normal
Schools already in existence, but with less
cumbrous and costly machinery—could be
formed at a small expense; and we doubt not
that many a knot of benevolent well-wishers
would, in their various localities, be eager to
provide all the scholastic matériel for the less
favoured artisans and day-workers around
them, could they look with confidence to some
central establishment for the formation of
teachers, in which they could place implicit
confidence.

The monitorial system, in a school consisting
of all ages—in which a small boy, from his
intellectual superiority, might be placed over
the heads of pupils, greater, older than
himself—is manifestly impracticable; and a larger
number of teachers, than is usual in schools
for children only, would be necessary.

We will borrow from Mr. Tremenheere a
comparison between the intellectual acquirements
and moral conduct of French workmen
and those of English workmen, in the mining
districts of each country. We do not assume