history of pauperism in this country. Before
the time of the benevolent Jonas Hanway, no
regard was paid to the destitute children of
the poor, and those young children, whose
ill-fate it was to be bom of pauper parents, in
town, were condemned to a life that began in
the gutters of back lanes, and usually ended
in the gaol, by fever, or more suddenly, on
the gallows. Hanway secured the passing of
a law empowering the parishes to collect the
juvenile paupers and send them into the
country for nurture and maintenance. It was
a step in advance to get the children away
from the dens in which they had previously
been confined, but the nurture was of a very
unsatisfactory kind. When an old woman
applied for parish relief, she had two or three
children given to her to keep, and out of their
allowance she was to help to keep herself. She
usually set them to collect firewood for her;
or to watch sheep, or to scare crows; and, in
their search for fuel, they were often taught
to rob hedges, or fences, or trespass on
plantations. At seven years' old they were sent
back to finish their education in the
workhouses, and frequently remained there for
six or seven years without even learning
their letters. Indeed, to teach them at all
was regarded as a kind of small treason.
"Teach paupers to read! What next?"
was a common exclamation. Reading was,
by a great many people, considered to be
a mere premium for laziness—whilst writing
was thought to be a temptation to forgery,
and its then certain result—the gallows. To
collect the pauper children, and "farm them
out" to persons who would teach as well as
feed them, was the next step in advance. The
fruit of this plan was the growth of various
places where large numbers of the pauper
rising generation were gathered together in
houses, the proprietors of which often realised
large profits upon the moneys allowed for
maintaining this class of the population.

Taking advantage of the generally and
loudly expressed public opinion, that
"something must be done," the Poor-Law Board
succeeded in establishing some school districts
near the metropolis. The first step taken
was to purchase Mr. Aubin's place at
Norwood, and thus take it into their own hands.
This school had long been regarded as the
best of its class, and as one where many steps
of great practical value had been taken for
the improved treatment of youthful paupers.
The purchase-money of this school is said to
have been about eleven thousand pounds, and
the authorities wisely retained the aid of the
man who had originated it, to carry out still
further into effect their improved plans. This
step was soon followed by others. In the
publication of the Poor-Law Board, just issued
—the promoters of our present poor-law
system long ago saw the mischiefs of this plan,
and after some years' consideration, and many
difficulties, succeeded in procuring an Act of
Parliament for the establishment of district
pauper Industrial Schools. But though the
law was made, it was found impossible to
overcome the objections raised by parish
authorities, and it was not carried out to any
extent, until the terrible calamity of Tooting
startled all England with the spectacle of
hundreds of deaths by cholera, in an establishment
where the little unfortunates were
"farmed out."

In the Second Annual Report of the Poor-
Law Board, Mr. Baines, its President, says,
that three very important school districts
have, within the year, been formed in and
near the metropolis. These are:—

"1st. The Central London School District,
comprising the City of London Union, the East
London Union, and the St. Saviour's Union. The
Board of Management of this district have
completed all their arrangements and hold their
regular meetings. They have purchased of Mr.
Aubin his premises at Norwood for the district
school, retaining him in the capacity of steward
or superintendant of the establishment, and have
appointed an efficient staff of teachers in every
department. The school is now in full activity,
upon an improved footing, and nearly eight
hundred children (nine hundred) are maintained
and educated in it.

"2nd. The South Metropolitan School District
comprised, as originally formed, the Union of St.
Olave's, and the large parishes, not in Union, of
Bermondsey, Camberwell, and Rotherhithe.

"3rd. The North Surrey School District
includes the Unions of Wandsworth and Clapham,
Kingston, Croydon, Richmond, and Lewisham.
The managers have purchased fifty acres of land
near Norwood, and have commenced the erection
of a building capable of accommodating six
hundred children.

"It will thus be seen that provision has been
made in and around London for the proper education
and training of more than two thousand poor
children. We have, moreover, sanctioned arrangements
whereby, when completed, the state of the
children of other metropolitan parishes will be
very materially improved."

About nine hundred children are congregated
at Norwood, and out of the whole number there
is not perhaps a dozen the offspring of decent
parents. Many are foundlings, picked up at
the corners of streets, or at the doors of parish
officers. The names of some of them suggest
an idea of how they began life. Thus, one
owned the name of Olive Jewry, whilst
another was called Alfred City. Others have
lost both parents by death, and been left
puling living legacies to the parish, but the
majority are the children of parents living in
workhouses. When able-bodied paupers
claim relief, they are "offered the house."
They are received into the Union, and their
children are sent up to this out-of-town school,
that fresh air, cleanliness, good food and the
schoolmaster, may try what can be done to lift
them up from the slough of pauperism. Let us
examine the process through which they go.

The children, on their first appearance at
this Norwood School, are usually in the most