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subordinate, of course, to the central government
at Berlin. The Consistorium has a President,
who is the chief provincial authority, and it
is divided into three committees. One, directs
ecclesiastical affairs; one, cares for public
bodily health; and one, for public education.
The last, with which we are concerned, is
called School Collegium. The School Collegium
has the control of the superior schools
and normal colleges; it superintends the
training of the teachers. Before a committee
of the School Collegium, all teachers are
examined for certificates. The members of
this committee are selected by the Government
at Berlin, from the most learned men
residing in the province.

Each province of Prussia is divided into
two or three counties, and each county again
has its governing council or Regierung. This
is divided into four committees, and has a
president, whose authority extends over each.
The four committees have entrusted to them
1st. Police; 2nd. Collection of Taxes; 3rd.
Justice; 4th. Education. The men employed
upon this council, which acts as the local
government, receive fit salaries, and are elected
from among the residents within the county. Of
this Regierung the educational committee has
charge, not of the training schools, but of the
primary schools, the schools for children.
It is composed of a president, called Schulrath,
who is catholic or prqtestant according to the
creed prevailing in the county over which he
presides; with him are joined the presidents
of the two other committees, Justice and
Taxation, and two members who represent the
two religious interests, one catholic, one
protestant. These are men living in the county,
well acquainted with its wants, and known
for the high interest they take in education.

The subdivision of each county is into
Unions, and each union, or Kreis, has an
inspector, or Landrath, who acts as an
intermediate functionary between the Regierung,
and the petty local officers.

Each Kreis is broken into parishes, and
over each parish there is a magistrate, or
Schulze, appointed by the Regierung, who
attends to the police, taxes, and other matters
in his own department.

That's the machine. Now, note how it is
brought to bear on the unhappy children, so
that they shall infallibly be torn from their
mud-pies, and brought from the remotest alley
of the remotest little village to a seat in the
great German school.

Every parish is compelled to provide for its
children's proper school accommodation. If that
provision be, in any parish, not forthcoming,
notice is given to the Schulze that it must be
made. This magistrate communicates the
notice to the people of his district, and requests the
householders to elect, from among themselves,
three or four men to form part of a committee
for devising ways and means. The other
members of this committee are, ex officio, the
magistrate himself, and the religious ministers
of each denomination in the parish. The
question before them, is, not whether schools
ought to be provided; government takes that
topic out of debateable ground, and settles
imperatively that school accommodation there
shall be. The first question discussed in this
committee, is, whether there shall be one
school for Catholics and Protestants, or
whether they shall teach in separate establishments.
The latter alternative is chosen when
the population will admit of the arrangement.
Where that is impossible, a mixed school is
amicably adopted, directed by ministers of
each persuasion, with religious teaching
according to the views of the majority from
which the children of Dissenters are
permitted to absent themselves; but, they are
absent on condition of receiving religious
education, at the same hour, according to the
views of their own ministers, elsewhere. Out
of this arrangement, no disputes arise; each
parish exercises its own discretion. The local
committee then selects a site for the new
school, ascertains how much can be spent in
the building, and selects a plan for its
construction. The decisions are sent up for the
approval of the Regierung, which follows, of
course, unless an unhealthy site or a defective
plan have been selected, in which case the
Regierung requests reconsideration of the
question, and points out such objections as
occur.

The local committee then pleases itself in
the election of a teacher out of the body of
trained teachers, who have passed their
examination, and obtained the right diploma.
The teacher is presented to the parish by the
minister in church, with earnest ceremony.
He acts, thereafter, in church, as organist, and
leader of the choir. Great pains are taken by
the law to secure for him due respect. His
diploma stamps him a well educated man. He
has been taught field-botany, and lore of
household medicine, which makes him a useful
oracle to the surrounding peasantry. His
salary is, in no case, allowed to fall below a
certain fixed amount; and no parish after
having raised the salary it pays, will be
permitted ever again to reduce it. It is collected
for him by local officers, and placed in his
hands without trouble to himself. And no
teacher, once chosen, can be dismissed by any
freak of local spite or jealousy. His neighbours
must state their complaints, if they
have any, to the Regierung; and, even from
the Regierung, he may appeal against
dismissal to the Minister of Public Instruction,
at Berlin, or, if it so please him, to the king.

The local School Committee is a body
permanently constituted. It meets periodically,
provides school apparatus, attends to repairs,
and protects the teacher. Its members also,
from time to time, visit the school as
inspectors, and make reports to the Regierung.
The lay members of the local committee do
not inspect often, but each religious minister is
obliged, by law, to do so, several times a-year.