In Order Not To Wound The Pride Of Parents Who Are Not
Too Proud To Receive A Gratuitous Education For
Their offspring, these
establishments are not called Ragged Schools, but "Boys' Meetings," and
"Girls' Meetings." I visited two of these,
The first in Tompkin Square.
There were about 100 children in the school, and nearly all of them were
Irish Roman Catholics. They receive a good elementary education, and
answered the questions addressed to them with correctness and alacrity.
The Bible, of course, is not read, but the pupils learn a Scripture
catechism, and paraphrased versions of Scripture incidents. One day,
during the absence of the teacher, one of the pupils was looking into an
English Bible, and another addressed her with the words, "You wicked girl,
you know the priest says that you are never to open that bad book; I will
never walk with you again." The child, on going home, told her mother, and
she said that she did not think it could be such a bad book, as the ladies
who were so kind to them read it. The child said that it was a beautiful
book, and persuaded her mother to borrow a Bible from a neighbour; she
read it, and became a Protestant. These children earn their clothing by a
certain number of good marks, but most of them were shoeless. Each child
is obliged to take a bath on the establishment once a-week. Their answers
in geography and history were extremely good. In the afternoon the elder
girls are employed in tailoring and dressmaking, and receive so much work
that this branch of the school is self-supporting.
I visited another industrial school, in a very bad part of the town,
adjoining the Bowery, where the parents are of the very worst description,
and their offspring are vicious and unmanageable. I think that I never saw
vice and crime so legibly stamped upon the countenances of children as
upon those in this school. The teachers find it extremely difficult to
preserve discipline at all; and the pilfering habits of the pupils are
almost incorrigible. They each receive a pint of excellent soup and an
unlimited quantity of bread for dinner; but they are discontented and
unthankful.
The common school system will be enlarged upon in a succeeding chapter;
but I cannot forbear noticing one school which I visited, It was a lofty,
four-storied building of red brick, with considerable architectural
pretensions. It was faced with brown stone, and had a very handsome
entrance-hall and staircase. The people of New York vie with each other in
their hospitality to strangers, and in showing them the objects of
interest within their city in the very best manner; and it was under the
auspices of Dr. Wells, one of the commissioners of education, that I saw
this admirable school, or rather educational institution. On inquiring the
reason of the extraordinary height of the balustrades, I was told that
some weeks previously, as the boys were hurriedly leaving school, forty of
them had been pushed over the staircase, out of which number nearly the
whole were killed!
In the girls' room about 900 girls between the ages of eight and eighteen
were assembled. They were the children of persons in every class in the
city except the very wealthiest and the poorest. All these girls were well
dressed, some of them tasteful, others fantastic, in their appearance.
There was a great deal of beauty among the elder pupils; I only regretted
that the bright bloom which many possessed should be so evanescent. The
rich luxuriant hair, often of a beautiful auburn hue, was a peculiarity
which could not be overlooked. There were about ten female teachers, the
principal of whom played some lively airs upon the piano, during which
time the pupils marched steadily in from various class-rooms, and took
their seats at handsome mahogany desks, which accommodated two each. No
expense had been spared in the fittings of the apartment; the
commissioners of education are evidently of opinion that the young do not
acquire knowledge the more speedily from being placed on comfortless
benches, without any means of resting their weak and tired frames.
Each desk contained a drawer or cupboard; and to encourage those habits of
order and self-reliance to which so much weight is attached in the States,
each pupil is made responsible for the preservation and security of her
books and all implements of education. The business of the day commenced
by the whole number of girls reverently repeating the Lord's Prayer,
which, in addressing God as "Our Father," proclaims the common bond of
brotherhood which unites the whole human race. The sound of 900 youthful
voices solemnly addressing their Creator was very beautiful and
impressive. A chapter from the Bible, read aloud by the teacher, followed,
and a hymn beautifully sung, when the pupils filed off as before to the
sound of music. We next went to the elementary room, appropriated to
infants, who are not sent to the higher school till their proficiency
reaches the standard required.
The infant system does not appear to differ materially from ours, except
that it is of a more intellectual nature. In this room 1300 children
joined in singing a hymn. In the boys' rooms about 1000 boys were
receiving instruction under about 12 specimens of "Young America." The
restless, the almost fearful energy of the teachers surprised me, and the
alacrity of the boys in answering questions. In the algebra-room questions
involving the most difficult calculation on the part of the pupils were
answered sometimes even before the teacher had worked them out himself.
Altogether, I was delighted with this school and with the earnestness
displayed by both teachers and pupils. I was not so well pleased with the
manners of the instructors, particularly in the boys' school. There was a
boastfulness, an exaggeration, and a pedantry, which are by no means
necessary accompaniments of superior attainments. The pupils have a
disrespectful, familiar, and independent air, though I understood that the
punishments are more severe than are generally approved of in English
schools.
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