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to be tired in the afternoon, one of them said, "Now let us fight," and in an instant they were all fighting. Peace, however, was quickly restored; and each week brought increased numbers and improved order. It was literally a Ragged School: none of the boys had shoes or stockings; some had no shirt and no home, sleeping in casks on the quay, or on steps, and living, possibly, by petty depredations; but all better fed, apparently, than the children of the decent poor. The experiment proved so successful that a larger room was soon required; and one was accordingly secured in St. James's Back, to which the school was transferred early in December. It was the first of a series of Institutions which owed their origin to the zeal and far-sighted charity of Mary Jane Carpenter. Fixed in one of the lowest and most populous quarters of Bristol, it speedily taxed all the energies of its managers, and the opening of a Night School in connection with it brought in a swarm of young men and women, whose habits and character tested even the courage of the founder. Early in 1847, the attendance, one Sunday evening, rose to 200; the attempt to close the school with prayer was frustrated by disorder and shouts of mockery, and the court beneath resounded with yells and blows. The neighbours not unnaturally complained of the disturbance, and it became necessary to obtain aid from the police. Gradually, however, the master obtained a control which rendered official vigilance unnecessary; and the policeman who came to protect remained for another purpose,—he was one day reported to the magistrates by an unsympathetic inspector for "having been two hours in the Ragged School, setting copies to the boys."

The secret of the success which crowned this institution must be sought in the enthusiasm of the teachers, an enthusiasm which they caught from Miss Carpenter. "Week by week," we are told," and month by month, she was ever at hand to lighten the burden, not only by ready counsel and sympathy, but by taking a large share in the toil. The morning and evening of Sunday were consecrated to her Scripture-class in St. James's Back, -the afternoon being already pledged to the Sunday-school; two nights every week were regularly given, at no matter what social sacrifice, to the evening school; and day after day found her in the same haunt, ready to take a class, to preside over the mid day distribution of the soup to the most needy, or even bear th

sole charge of management if sickness kept the master away. By this constancy she soon acquired a complete familiarity with the ways of the scholars, and also with the habits of the neighbourhood. Strong in the power of a sacred purpose, she was perfectly devoid of fear, and would traverse alone and at night courts into which policemen only went by twos. The street quarrel was hushed at her approach, as a guilty lad slunk away to avoid her look of sorrowful reproof; and her approving word, with the gift of a flower, a picture, or a Testament, often made sad homes cheerful and renewed the courage of the wavering."

Her mode of teaching will best be understood from the following entries in her journal :

"I showed them the orrery, which greatly delighted them, and they seemed quite to understand it, and to enter into the idea of the inclination of the earth's axis producing a change of

seasons. ..

"This class had never seen a map, and had the greatest difficulty in realizing it. Twas delighted to see Bristol, Keynsham, and Bath. I always begin with the 'known,' carrying them on afterwards to the unknown.' . . .

"I had taken to my class in the preceding week some specimens of ferns neatly gummed on white paper; they were much struck with their beauty, but none knew what they were, though W- thought he had seen them growing; one thought they were palm-trees. They seemed interested in the account of their fructification I gave them. This time I took a piece of coal-shale, with impressions of ferns, to show them. I explained that this had once been in a liquid state, telling them that some things could be proved to be certain, while others were doubtful; that time did not permit me to explain the proofs to them, nor would they understand them if I did: but that I was careful to tell them nothing as certain which could not be fully proved. I then told each to examine the specimen and tell me what he thought it was. Wgave so bright a smile that I saw he knew; none of the others. could tell; he said they were ferns like those I showed them last week, but he thought they were chiselled on the stone. Their surprise and pleasure were great when I explained the matter to them...

"The history of Joseph: They all found a difficulty in realizing.

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that this had actually occurred. One asked if Egypt existed now, and if people lived in it. When I told them that buildings now stood which had been erected about the time of Joseph, one said that it was impossible, as they must have fallen down ere this. I showed them the form of a pyramid, and they were satisfied. One asked if all books were true. . . .

"The story of Macbeth impressed them much. They knew the name of Shakespeare, having seen his head over a public-house." While Miss Carpenter anxiously strove to minister to the mental improvement of her ragged scholars, she was even more solicitous for the development of their religious faculties. To teach them the great truths of Christ's religion, to accustom them to selfcontrol and self-sacrifice, to nurture in them a love of purity and truth,--these were her great, her dominant aims. She knew that by an absolutely secular education she could not make them useful or trustworthy members of society; that only by inspiring them with the love and fear of God could she bring them to respect and observe our social laws. Every Sunday morning and evening, and often on the week nights besides, she drew around her a Bible-class, and told them that old, old story-which is ever new of the sacrifice of Calvary. Her religious teaching was wonderfully effective, because it was so earnest. Speaking from her heart, she went straight to the hearts of her listeners. And, indeed, I think the wonderful narrative of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ will never fail in its influence so long as it is told by one who believes in it. Only when it drops from the frigid lips of men who have never realized it in their own natures does it cease to fertilise and brighten and bless. In 1849 she published an interesting little volume entitled "Ragged Schools, their Principles and Modes of Operation By a Worker," which may be accepted as the standard text-book or manual on the subject. It contains a vigorous and well-reasoned argument for Government aid, and some valuable particulars of the condition of the destitute children whom she sought to befriend. It is written by a worker who feels the value and responsibility of her work, is not ignorant of its anxieties, but loves it profoundly-loves it because she believes in it and in the good it does, and the warmth of human affection which it stimulates. "How I prize the love I receive in the school!" she exclaims

in one of her letters; "I must confess that it is not so attractive to me from a mere sense of duty, for I might find duties elsewhere; but it is so delightful to me to gain so much love as I feel I have from these young beings, and to help to kindle their souls by mine." Thus it is that the work of the Good Samaritan is twiceblessed; blessing the worker, and those for whom he works.

It was not the nature of Mary Carpenter, however, to rest content with a certain measure of accomplishment; from the stage of one success she was always ready to mount up to another, -always, however, with a clear perception of what she wanted and how it might best be attained, -showing neither undue haste nor unwise hesitancy-ohne hast, ohne rast. Her experience of Ragged Schools convinced her that something additional, something complementary, was wanted, by which the juvenile offender might be separated from deteriorating influences and trained up in a wholesome atmosphere. She saw that to thrust him into prison, where he was exposed to the society of veteran criminals, was to seal and consummate his ruin, and effectually prevent him from retracing his misguided steps. We should not place a person, showing symptoms of illness, in a plague-smitten hospital, if we desired his recovery! Such being her convictions, she published, in 1851, a book entitled "Reformatory Schools for the Children of the Perishing and Dangerous Classes, and for Juvenile Offenders." In this she indicated three kinds of schools as necessary for the different grades of destitution, vagrancy, and criminality;-good Free Day Schools; Feeding Industrial Schools, aided by the rates, at which attendance should be compulsory; and, thirdly, Reformatory Schools,* in lieu of the existing prison system. She brought together a great number of facts to illustrate the total failure of the gaols to reform juvenile criminals, and she put before the public four general propositions:

First, That, as a general rule, all children, however apparently vicious and degraded, are capable of being made useful members of society, and beings acting on a religious principle, if placed under right influences and subjected to judicious control and training.

Second, That the existing system adopted towards offending children renders them almost certainly members for life of the

These were originally tried at Mettrai.

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criminal class, for it neither deters nor reforms them; while, by checking the development of their powers and branding them with ignominy, it prevents them from gaining an honest livelihood.

Third, That good Penal Reformatory Schools, conducted on Christian principles, with a wise union of kindness and restraint, have been successful in converting the most corrupt and degraded into useful members of society; but that to secure their permanency and efficiency it was essential they should be under the authority and supported by the State.

And fourth, That the parents being in reality the guilty parties, rather than the children, inasmuch as parental neglect is usually the source of juvenile delinquency, every parent should be chargeable for the maintenance of a child thrown by crime on the care of the State, as much as if the child were under his own roof; and should be held responsible for the maintenance of his child in a Reformatory School, or in some other way made to suffer for the non-discharge of his duty.

Miss Carpenter went on to say that if these four propositions were accepted-as, indeed, they had been, by a Committee of the Lords in 1847, and a Committee of the Commons in 1850-legislative enactments would be needed to carry them out. A sufficient number of Reformatory Schools, under Government inspection and supported by Government aid, must be established; and magistrates and judges empowered to send all convicted children to such schools, instead of committing them to prison.

The next step, while these propositions were slowly sinking into the public mind, always slow to receive any idea which conflicts with old traditions and prejudices, was to bring together a conference of workers, so that some means might be adopted of carrying them into action. The arrangements were laboriously completed in the course of 1851; and on the 9th of December the Conference held its first meeting, under the presidency of Lord Lyttelton. Mr. M. D. Hill took a foremost part in its organisation, and delivered a very important and solid address. Committee was appointed to "agitate" in the cause, and a memorial submitted to the Government. But Governments are in no hurry to move in new paths; and Mary Carpenter determined to show the practicability of her scheme, in the meantime, by establishing a Reformatory School at Bristol. There is nothing the English