with the advanced educators of the day, with Brougham, Simpson, Combe, Stow, the Mayors, and others, and thus while he imparted to others his own enthusiasm for infant training, he at the same time received suggestions as to principles and methods of education, which he applied in his own lectures, schools, and publications, and thus contributed largely to their dissemination.

In 1824, he was active in the establishment of the London Infant School Society, and from that date, for fifteen years his services were in constant requisition to lecture, and assist in founding infant schools in the chief towns of England, Scotland, and Ireland, of which amusing narratives appear in his Early Discipline Illustrated.

Labors in Scotland.

Wilderspin visited Scotland on the invitation of David Stow, the founder of the training system, and the picturing-out method, so called by himself. He made the journey from London to Glasgow on horseback,—preaching the doctrine of infant education by the way, as opportunity presented, in the eight days which the journey consumed. He labored for several weeks in getting the Drygate School, the first infant school in this city, into order, and relates how nearly the use of the ball frame had brought both himself and the school into disrepute. A fond mother happened to ask her child on his returning home, 'Weel, Sandy, what hae ye been at?' to which Sandy as naturally replied, Eh, mither, we've been countin' the beads.' The mother's native horror of popery was aroused, the alarm spread like fire, and, but for opportune explanation, the school would have been entirely deserted.

At the end of a month, these 'little ragamuffins' were publicly examined in the Gaelic Chapel, at the west end of the city, and about a mile from the Drygate. The children, who were from eighteen months to six years of age, and were unable to walk so far, were conveyed in carts, adorned with green boughs, guarded on each side by the Glasgow police, and followed by crowds of people. Inside of the church the audience numbered about 1,000, and, in their presence, questions on 'form, size, and position' were put and answered. A gentleman asked whether the chandelier was suspended or supported, and on a correct answer being made, he asked them to tell him the difference, whereupon a little boy took from his pocket a piece of string, at the end of which was a button; placing the button on the palm of his hand, he answered, "That is supported,' and holding the end of the string, so as to let

* For a cotemporaneous account of the early movement in Infant Schools, see Christian Observer for (London.)

the button fall, he said, 'That is suspended.' (If Mr. Stow was present, he must have been delighted at the juvenile example of 'picturing out.") The interrogator, after various questions, wished the children to mention something, not previously named, which was perpendicular, when, after a brief pause, a little black-eyed boy, whose head had been resting on his hand, shouted out, 'Ye're ane yersel.' The effect of this was so ludicrous, as to disconcert the questioner for a little, but soon rallying, he said, 'Suppose I were to strike Mr. Wilderspin, and knock him down, would he be perpendicular then?—No, he'd be horizontal,' was the prompt reply.

Mr. Wilderspin assisted in organizing the first infant schools in Glasgow, Dundee, Paisley, and Edinburgh, and afterward similar schools in Belfast and Dublin.

Mr. Simpson in his Popular Education, printed in 1837, pays the following tribute to Wilderspin: 'I feel it not only a duty but a delight to devote a note to this singularly meritorious individual, whom it concerns the public to know, before they are called upon, as they must be, to approve of his receiving a national tribute for the benefits he has conferred on his fellow-men, the toils he has cheerfully endured, the pittance he has generally conditioned as bare livelihood, and last, but not least, the obstructions and persecutions with which his enlightened and benevolent labors have been met. If an infant school is to be organized in the extreme north of Scotland, Mr. Wilderspin will come from Cheltenham where he resides, for the humblest traveling expenses and means of subsistence, and devote six weeks to the training of the pupils and teachers, while by his lectures and zeal he never fails to give such an impetus to the whole region which he visits, as often gives him several schools to set a-going before he is called elsewhere; he is ready for any infant educational enterprise to the sacrifice of every selfish consideration, and once offered himself to go to the West Indies to organize schools for the children of the negroes, if he should perish in the attempt.'

Samuel Wilderspin died in 1867-outliving the memory of the generation which he had diligently served as the organizer in chief of a class of schools, in Great Britain, which after many tentative expedients, and the more philosophical treatment of later educators, is likely to become a useful and permanent link between the home and school-the principal agency of the mother in developing the senses, moral biases, and physical habits of young children, and in preparing them by apt methods and real objects, for the proper use of books in the Primary School.

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION ACT-1876.

ANALYSIS BY REV. HENRY ROE.

THE following analysis of the English Education Act of 1870-composed of 53 sections and four schedules, presents in one comprehensive view simple summaries of the duties imposed and the rights conferred by the new Act on each of these ten several classes of persons or corporate bodies-namely, 1, Parents; 2, Employers; 3, School Managers generally; 4, School Boards; 5, Town Councils and Boards of Guardians; 6, Other Local or Corporate Authorities; 7, the newly constituted 'School Attendance' and 'Local' Committees; 8, Parishes and their Overseers; 9, Managers of Industrial Schools; and 10, Courts of Summary Jurisdiction.

I.-Parents.

1. It is now declared the law of the land that parents are in duty bound to educate their children, and that failing to do so, they make themselves liable to certain legal orders and penalties (sec. 4).

2. A parent is to see (1) that each of his children, between five and ten years of age, makes at least 250 attendances a year (sec. 5) in not more than two 'certified efficient schools' each year (sched. 1), and (2) that each such child at ten years old shall pass the examination of the fourth standard (sched. 1); the forfeit for failing in BOTH of these duties, with respect to any individual child, being that that child will be prohibited from full employment till he is fourteen years of age (sec. 5). To make the change somewhat gradual from the past to the future state of things, (1) the examination to be passed in 1877 and in 1878 will be that of the second standard, and in 1879 and 1880 that of the third standard instead of the fourth standard; (2) the previous due attendance at school in 1877 and 1878 is to be 250 attandances in each of two years, in 1879 the same for three years, and in 1880 the same for four years (sched. 1); and (3) the lowest age for going to work in 1877 is to be nine instead of ten (sec. 51). 3. Where a parent habitually neglects to send his child to school, or the child is found habitually wandering about, the parent will (1) first be warned of his duty, (2) then, if he is still negligent, a court of summary jurisdiction will order him to send his child to school (he himself, if he so pleases, making choice of the school), and (3) if he disobeys this 'order,' and can not plead any valid excuse, such as (a) the sickness of his child, (b) no school within two miles, or (c) other 'unavoidable cause' (sec. 11), then upon a second complaint (i.) he may be fined five shillings if he is himself at fault, or (ii.) if the child is at fault, it may be sent under an 'attendance order' by the Court to an industrial school, and the parent be made to contribute toward the expense there of its maintenance and training (sec. 12).

4. The amount to be paid by the parent to the managers of an industrial school (1) is determined by the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, when his child is sent there by an 'attendance order' (sec. 12), and (2) is fixed at not less than 1s. a week when sent voluntarily by the parent, (3) and at not more than 2s. a week when sent under any other summary order (sec. 16).

5. A parent, not being a pauper, but yet too poor to pay the school fees for his child (1) may have the fees (not exceeding 3d. a week) paid for him by the guardians, (2) may himself choose the school for his child, and (3) will not in consequence lose any franchise which he possesses (sec. 10). An out door pauper may claim additional parish relief whilst his child (from not having passed the third standard examination, or from any other cause under this act) is compulsorily attending school, and he has the further right to make choice of the school (sec. 40).

6. When a child under eleven gains certain specified certificates, then for the next three years, the school fees (up to 6d. a week) will be paid for him by the Education Department (sec. 18 and sched. 1). The certificates must show that the child (1) has passed the fourth or a higher standard, and (2) has made 350 or more attendances (in not more than two schools a year) for each of the previous five years (sched. 1). This privilege will be forfeited if, in either of the following three years, the child (a) fails to make 350 attendances, or (b) does not pass the prescribed examinations (sched. 1); and the scheme will expire on 31st December, 1881, unless otherwise determined by an Order in Council (sec. 18). In 1877 and 1878 the attendance certificate will be demanded only for two previous years, in 1879 for three, and in 1880 for four previous years (sched. 1). These conditions may at any time be altered or revoked by the Education Department, and it is provided that at any annual examination of a school not more than 10 per cent. of the scholars examined may obtain the required cer tificates the preference, where more are found duly qualified, being given to those children who have made the greatest number of school attendances in the previous years (sched. 1).

7. No child under fourteen is allowed to work full time unless furnished with a properly authorized 'labor certificate' (sec. 5, &c.). These certificates will be granted free of cost (sec. 24); but a parent who makes a false representation, or who forges or aids in forging a false certificate, may be fined 40s. (sec. 39).

8. A parent who himself makes use of his child's labor in his own trade, or for the purposes of gain, is considered to be an employer within the meaning of the act (sec. 47).

II.-Employers.

1. No person may take into his employ (1) a child under ten years old, or (2) a child between ten and fourteen, without the proper certificate, either of previous due attendance at school, or of prescribed proficiency in reading, writing, and arithmetic (sec. 5). The penalty for neglecting this rule is 40s. (sec. 6).

2. The exemptions to the rule just stated are—(1) in 1877, a child nine years old will count as if he were ten (sec. 51); (2), a child eleven years old in 1876, or (3) one in lawful employ on 1st January, 1877 (sec. 51), or (4) a child living two or more miles by the nearest road from a school (sec. 9) will not come under the act; (5) during school holidays, or out of school hours (when not interfering with efficient instruction), a child may be employed in work; (6) for not more than six weeks in any one year any child above eight (if permitted by the local

authority) may assist in the 'necessary operations of husbandry and the ingathering of the crops' (sec. 9); and (7) a child between ten and fourteen, without a 'labor certificate,' may be employed as a half-timer (sec. 5).

3. A properly authorized officer, armed with a justice's order, may enter any premises where it is suspected that children are illegally employed (sec. 29), the penalty for obstruction being 204. (sec. 29).

4. Any agent of an employer who contravenes this act will be proceeded against as if he were the employer, and if it be proved that the real employer is ignorant of his agent's proceedings, or that in all good faith he believed any false representations, and received any forged certificates as being true and genuine, no action will lie against him under this act (sec. 39).

III.-School Managers Generally.

1. The Government grant, if earned (1), may amount to 17s. 6d. a head in average attendance, subject to no conditions as to the amount of the expenditure, or as to other sources of income; and (2) it may exceed that sum per head without specified limit, provided that the whole Government graut is met by an equal income derived from rates or subscriptions, school fees, endowments, &c. (sec. 19).

2. School fees, paid by the Education Department on behalf of duly certificated children over ten years old, are to count as ordinary school fees and not as part of the Government grant (sec. 18); but no school can claim such payments where the ordinary school fee exceeds 6d. a week (sched. 1).

3. In any authorized school district, with a population less than 300, an extra Government grant may be claimed of 10%. a year, if the population is above 200, and of 15. if it be below 200. The same rule will apply for any scattered population of the like numbers within a circular area bounded by a circumfer ence no where less than two miles by the nearest road from the school. This extra grant is to count among the school fees and subscriptions, &c., and not as part of the regular Government grant; but it is to be a condition of any school claiming it, that there is 'no other public elementary school recognized by the Education Department available for the children' in the district of such school (sec. 19).

4. In all cases it is made a condition of receiving Government grants that the school income is applied only for the purpose of public elementary schools' (sec. 20).

5. Any elementary school (1) which is not conducted for private profit, (2) which is open at all reasonable times for Government inspection, (3) which is certified as efficient by the Education Department (and is therefore under a duly certificated teacher), and (4) in which the same attendance is required from the scholars, and the same registers of that attendance are kept as, for the time being, may be required in the case of any ordinary public elementary school, is to count as a 'certified efficient school,' satisfying the act, although it does not claim and enjoy any Parliamentary grant (sec. 48).

6. The provisions enumerated above, as applying to school managers in gen. eral, apply with equal force to all school boards.

IV.-School Boards.

1. Every school board, 'as soon as may be,' must publish the provisions of the act, and enforce the same in its own district; and it is invested with all the