I have seen several lads that have been
educated in the Scotch schools, and I find
them very well taught; they can reason like
men.

"I don't think I ever saw Adam Smith's
works in more than one or two English pit-
men's houses. They are backward to attempt
anything that requires steady thinking, such
as that book, or any work on logic or
mathematics. The Scotch often study both.
This makes one of the great differences
between the best working-men of the two
people. The English seldom attempt even
English grammar or geometry; they always
tell me they are obliged to give way when they
have made a trial.* They had rather read any
popular work, such as the 'Christian
Philosopher,' the 'Pilgrim's Progress,' or Walter
Scott's novels. They love to read their
country's history, and they like to talk of its
renown in the ancient French wars of Edward
the Third and Henry the Fifth. They are
also great readers of Napoleon's and the Duke
of Wellington's wars, and their soul seems to
take fire when they talk of their country's
victories. They are fond of biography, and
especially that of men who rose from being
poor men to be great characters. They are
very generous in their dispositions, and will
share their loaf with the poor, as all the
beggars and trampers from Newcastle and all
the country know. They are greatly improved
in my time as to drinking habits; there is
much less of it, and their money is chiefly
spent in living well and making a great show
in furniture and dress. The women, too, are
improving, and manage their families much
better than they used to do. The English
pit-boys are exceedingly quick at school—
much more so than the Scotch, I think. What
I most want to see is better descriptions of
schools—schools under masters of ability, who
can teach their boys to think and reason.
You will find boys who have been at such
schools as most of those we have now, that
can write a good hand and do some cyphering;
but when you come to ask them questions
that exercise the mind, they have no idea
what to answer. If there were such schools
for the boys, the men would soon be a different
race; for what the men want is to be
taught to exercise their reason fairly, which
would prevent their being led away as they
are now."

*We doubt the general applicability of this description,
without questioning its correctness in this cause.

With a little modification, this description
of the pitman applies, in its more favourable
characteristics, to the English operative
generally. No one can read it without being
convinced that there is sound and hopeful
material, in the generous English character
to work upon. The natural ability, the deep
feeling, the quickness of perception, the
susceptibility to religious and moral impressions,
the sound common sense where the rudest
cultivation has been attained, and the heart-
felt patriotism, of the humble orders of this
country, are unequalled in the world. Surely
this is a rich mine to work; surely it should
not be left to unskilled workers, or to chance;
but should be faithfully confided to the heads
and hearts of men, trained up to its improvement,
as to a noble calling, and a solemn
duty! In all parts of this land, the people
are willing and desirous to be taught. Open
schools anywhere, and they will come—even,
as the Ragged Schools have proved, out of the
worst dens of vice and infamy, in the worst
hiding-places, in the worst towns and cities.
But, unless the art of teaching is pursued
upon a system, as an art, thoroughly understood,
and proceeding on sound principles, the
best intentions and the most sincere devotion
can do next to nothing. For want of
competent teachers, there are opportunities being
lost at this moment, we do not hesitate to
say, in the Ragged Schools of London alone,
the waste of which, is of more true importance
to the community, than all the theological
controversies that ever deafened its ears, and
distracted its wits. Meanwhile, the sands of
Time are running out remorselessly, and, with
every grain, immortal souls are perishing.
We want teachers, competent to educate the
mind, to rouse the reason, to undo the beastly
transformation that has been—to our
guilt and shame—upon humanity, and to bring
GOD'S image out of the condition of the lower
animals. What we have suffered to be beaten
out of shape, we must remould, with pains,
and care, and skill, and cannot hope to put
into its rightful form hap-hazard. And such
would be the glorious office and main
usefulness of a comprehensive, unsectarian—in
short, Christian—Brotherhood in England.

AN EVERY-DAY HERO.

"TELL us," the children to their grandsire said,
"Some wondrous story! tell us of the wars,
Or one of those old ballads that you know
About the seven famous champions,
St. George, St. Denis, and the rest of them.
We have delight in those heroic stories,
And often tell them over to ourselves
And wish that there were heroes now-a-days."

The old man smoked his pipe; the children urged
More eagerly their wish, athirst to know
Something about the great men of old times,
Deploring still that these degenerate days
Produced no heroes, and that now no poets
Made ballads that were worth the listening to.

The old man smiled and laid aside his pipe;
Then, gazing tenderly into their faces,
Said he would tell them of as great a hero
As any which the ballads chronicled—
The good old ballads which they loved so well.
"Once on a time," said he, there was a lad,
Whose name was John; his father was a gardener.
He had great skill in flowers even when a child;
And when his father died, he carried on
The gardener's trade. One autumn night he found
A young man hiding in his garden-shed,
Haggard and foot-sore, wanting bread to eat;