SCHOLASTIC.

I was remarking to Mrs. Green—my
wife—only a few evenings ago, how very
greatly schools seem to have altered since
I was myself a boy. It is quite pleasing
to observe, at this season of the year, the
affectionate disposition which peeps through
the advertisements, and shines out of the
prospectuses of a large class of schoolmasters,
who used not to be at all affectionate in my
young days. This is the March of Mind,
Mrs. G., I said; mark my words, this is
the march of mind. Boys are no longer
pinched and bruised between hard dumpling
in the belly and hard cane upon the back, at
cheap schools in the provinces. School life is
now so happy—as I see by the advertisements
—that we shall be unkind if we send our dear
George and our Caroline Amelia to any place
where they give holidays. It would be harsh
in us to call them away from parental care,
with acres of grounds, gardens, and trout
streams; from sixty-roomed mansions and
the choicest of good living, to parental care
in our little villa, with its perch or two of
garden ground, our leg of mutton dinner, and
our bread-and-butter tea. My dear, it would
be positively cruel, and I do think that those
gentlemen are highly considerate who advertise
"No Vacations."

Here, my dear, I continued, is a gentleman
whose school, I dare say, is a good one in
the teaching way, who "Respectfully invites
parents and guardians who have youths to
put to school, to inspect his mansion of
sixty rooms, with grounds of thirty-three
acres, comprising bowling-green, cricket-
grounds, fish-pond, rookery, chesnut grove,
extensive gardens, and trout-stream, affording
excellent and safe bathing for the pupils."
Now I call that ducal.

Enormously expensive, you say, Mrs.
Green. No, I think not. The terms are not
advertised; but, here is another with a priced
catalogue of advantages, "The highest
references given;" mark, Mrs. Green, the
highest. "The house and grounds are extensive."
So is the education. It "comprises
Greek, Latin, French and German by Natives,
Mathematics, Drawing, Mapping, Globes," and
so on. There are no extras, the cost is only
twenty pounds a year, and as for diet, only
fancy it, Matilda, "Diet unlimited, and of the
best description."

I consider that I may take this for about
the best description of diet: Breakfast:—tea,
coffee, or chocolate, rolls and cold toast, ham,
devilled turkey, eggs, and so forth, with a
plain joint or two on the sideboard. A delicate
hot lunch:—veal cutlet, perhaps, with
biscuits, and a glass or two of genuine Madeira.
Dinner:—turtle soup and sherbet, turbot,
champagne, butchers' meat, game, and pastry,
with good hothouse pineapple, grapes, and
nuts, to keep the boys engaged over their
claret. Afterwards, a cup of strong tea with
a bit of muffin. If any doubt can be
entertained whether the free run of a diet of this
kind—diet unlimited, and of the best description
—can be provided for the money (twenty
pounds a year) we have only to apply to
"the highest references." We post letters of
reference to Her Most Gracious Majesty, His
Royal Highness Prince Albert, or the Prime
Minister, Lord Aberdeen—and wait their
answer. Nothing can be fairer.

Indeed, I do not find that twenty pounds a
year is to be considered as the cheapest rate
at which a man can undertake to feed and
teach a boy during a year. What am I to
think of this advertisement?

ECONOMY.—Mr. Lean's Boarding School, Short
Common, Hungerford. Terms per Quarter £4 4s.
Will be re-opened on Jan. 17. Note this.

I thought it was worth noting, and did note
it: nevertheless, as I see no promise advertised,
I shall not send our George to Mr. Lean.
But I am very strongly disposed to think that
the following advertisement describes a school
that will work wonders with our Caroline
Amelia. That girl, Mrs. Green, is a good, free-
hearted girl; but she is a romp. I saw her
last week scrambling up the pear-tree; she
wants a proper sense of her own dignity,
which she might pick up from the lady who
describes herself in the announcement
following.

EDUCATION of a superior order, in a first class
establishment, conducted by a lady pre-
eminently qualified by her experience, attainments
and sphere in which she has moved to convey by
example, as well as by precept, a high-toned education,
accomplishments and bearing, so necessary for