from the window of her chamber, bribed a courier-who was being sent from M. de Nidemerle to my husband-to give him his livery and passport, and despatches, and to keep out of sight, and thus passed successfully through Paris, and had, through a course of adventures which he narrated with great spirit, safely reached us. Even if the rogue of a courier, as he justly called his accomplice, had betrayed him, there was no fear but that he would have time to put himself on the roll of the army, whence a promising young noble volunteer was not likely to be rejected.

My husband insisted that he should write to ask the pardon of his grandfather, and on that condition engaged to introduce him to the Duke, and to the Lieutenant-Colonel of his regiment. M. de. Bellaise then inquired anxiously after the health of our uncle, who, on the death of his wife, had retired to his own estate at Nidemerle, close to the Chateau d'Aubépine. Of this the young gentleman could tell little or nothing.

'Bah!' he said, adding what he thought was a brilliant new military affirmation, unaware that it was as old as the days of the League. 'What know I? He is as all old men men are, full of complaints.'

Handsome, graceful, courteous, spirited as was this young chevalier, I could not like him, and I afterwards told my husband that I wondered at his assisting him.

'My love,' he said, 'the Castle d'Aubépine is dull enough to die of. The poor fellow was eating out his own heart. He has followed his instinct, and it is the only thing that can save him from worse corruption.'

'His instinct of selfishness,' I said. 'His talk was all of glory, but it was of his own glory, not his duty, nor the good of his country. He seems to me to have absolutely no heart!'

'Do not be hard on him; remember how he has been brought up.' 'You were brought up in like manner by two old people.'

Ah! but they loved me. Besides, my governor and his were as different as light and darkness.'

'And your poor little sister,' I said.

'She must have won his gratitude by her assistance. He will have learnt to love her when he returns. Come, ma mie, you must forgive him. If you knew what his captivity was, you could not help it. He was the playfellow of my boyhood, and if I can help him to the more noble path, my aid must not be wanting, either for his sake or that of my sister.'

How wise and how noble these two years had made my dear husband; how unlike the raw lad I had met at Whitehall. It was the training in self-discipline that he had given himself, for my sakeyes, and for that of his country and his God.

(To be continued.)

THREE YEARS' TEACHING IN AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.

THREE years ago, at Christmas, 1876, I had just passed through my examination for certificate as teacher in an elementary school. At that time the thought of teaching my unruly class of infants for eighteen months longer, till two Government inspections of our schools should pass and my 'parchment' be gained, was far from a cheerful prospect. Now I can look back on this time as certainly the happiest part of my life. Go on with your work, is the best rule. Contentment and happiness are sure to come if one perseveres.

Before the certificate examination I had been serving, as is required by Government, six months in our infant school. Some of my early difficulties in teaching I have already written about in the Monthly Packet,* and I confess they were very real. When, however, we began school again, after holidays, in January, 1877, one of the little boys met me at the school-room door with a serious face, saying, 'Mrs. Wallace, we have got a new governess;' and I found this alteration made the work more pleasant. In this paper I altogether pass from 'the study and work for the teacher's certificate' to the working and life in which the teacher is engaged.

And let me state at once in what order I will detail the various points I think important for a right understanding of the work and life of an elementary school. Such a place is an unknown land to many; and yet these schools must exist everywhere, and will be a chief model of life and manners to a great part of our population. If I can persuade any to share in the action of this little world, I may do a benefit to the ladies who enter it and the schools which receive them; and at any rate the ways of the place where almost every one of our servants, and very many of those who help in the business of the shops, are trained, ought to be understood by us all.

Our school-S. Luke's, Stepney-is in three departments. I have spent my three years of teaching (two of probation for parchment and one since) first among the infants and then among the boys; and in either case it will be enough to give my experience under the following heads :-I. Where the work was carried on. II. Who formed the teaching staff of the school; and, with this, III. The method and organisation adopted. IV. What subjects were taught; and V. The discipline pursued. It will, it is plain, not be possible to keep all these subjects distinct.

* Monthly Packet, September, 1877.

THE INFANT SCHOOL.

I. The infants' room, which is built at right angles to the street, is twenty feet wide and eighty-three feet long, and has an approach, by a covered passage along the right side, to its door. This door stands about twenty feet in from the road, thus leaving room at that end for a gallery, used by the fourth class' of forty children. A similar gallery for the 'fifth class,' of fifty children, occupies the other end. Space is left on the floor for three classes, the 'first' and 'second,' of twenty, the 'third,' of thirty scholars. A recess of twenty feet square projects between the farther gallery and the door, and this was generally reserved for reading-lessons, as infants' reading cannot help being sometimes noisy. Although a width of eighteen feet would have satisfied the Education Department, all the rooms at S. Luke's are twenty feet wide, giving additional space, and allowing classes to be drafted out from the seats for special lessons. The first class' occupy low desks facing the door and head-teacher's table; and their work is as nearly as possible Standard I., for when any child reaches seven years of age, it must be inspected in that standard. The first class is the least noisy, and, if drafted out at all, stands in the space before its own desks. The 'second' and 'third' classes sit on low forms, four deep from the wall, and, when brought out, go into the recess for reading.

From this I hope the array of our infants can be realised, their position, and the number in their five classes. To this I only need to add that for Scripture and object lessons the arrangement is in two 'divisions' the upper division, consisting of three classes, on one gallery; the lower, of the fourth and fifth classes, on the other.

II. Our teaching staff for the infants consisted of five persons— of governess, myself as assistant, a pupil teacher in the fourth year her apprenticeship and another in the second year, and a monitor. So there was a teacher for each class, and they were distributed in this way-governess took the first class, the elder pupil teacher the second, I took the third, the other pupil teacher the fourth, and the monitor the lowest, including any 'babies' below the age of three years. I continued teaching this third class till inspection, June, 1877. After inspection a lady, who wished to sit for certificate, had one of the classes, the fourth, assigned to her, thus leaving the gover

ness free to superintend the whole school. It is not easy to do this while taking constantly a class yourself; to keep school' well requires many qualifications beyond being a good teacher, and the head teacher's influence ought to extend to every child. For myself, as I hoped to be allowed to take at some future day the lowest class in the boys' school, I was glad that in the re-arrangement which ensues on inspection the highest class of the infants was given to my charge, because thus I was preparing to teach Standard I. With the first class of

infants I continued till February, 1878, when I undertook teaching in the boys' school. It was in this latter school I passed my second inspection and received my parchment (June, 1878), and there I have since remained.

III. The organisation of the infant school evidently turns on the yearly drafting of the children to the other departments. On the Monday after the inspection of June, 1877, all the boys and girls who would be more than seven before the end of the next school year, which with us was May 31st, 1878, were sent to the boys' and girls' departments respectively. It happened that the class I had up to this time, the third, were nearly all above six years of age, though not advanced in learning in proportion to their years, and so they were sent up. It is very hard to part with the children just when they are getting most intelligent, but it is better for them at that age to be among the older ones. It stimulates them to work, and, besides, those who pass Standard I. at seven years of age on their next birthday are in a fair way to pass Standard IV. before they are eleven, and be entitled to an 'honour certificate,' which means that their school fees will be paid by Government for the remaining three years of their school life. So, though I felt inclined to cry when my favourite little boys (I always fancied them more affectionate than the little girls) were marshalled in a row and conducted by a pupil teacher to the boys' school, I had to submit, and try to like my new class.

IV. The subjects to which most time must be devoted in all elementary schools are Scripture, reading, writing, and arithmetic. Singing is also an essential requirement, and, for the girls, needlework; but both of these are generally regarded by teachers and scholars as half recreation.

Scripture.-Scripture begins the day. We taught the children to say the Creed every morning at prayers, turning to the east with folded hands, and sometimes they repeated the Commandments, singing after each, 'Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.' They learned the Psalms, 'I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,' and 'The Lord is my Shepherd,' and sang them to Gregorian chants, so that our opening and closing prayers were like an office of the Church. As grace before and after dinner, the children sang most reverently, 'The eyes of all wait upon Thee, O Lord: and Thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest Thine hand and fillest all things living with plenteousness'; with the Doxology.

At first I used to teach my class, the third, by themselves at the Scripture lesson; but after the inspection I had the first, second, and third classes together on the larger gallery. We have the series of twelve pictures from the Life of our Lord, published by the S.P.C.K. The picture of the Charge to S. Peter was a special favourite, and the children anxiously waited for its turn to come, one of them murmuring,

'I wants to see my little ba-lambs'; then they liked to repeat, 'Feed My lambs,' and 'Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee.' One day I taught them about the Holy Catholic Church, showing them photographs of our own parish church, and trying to explain that we are the living stones built into the Holy Catholic Church at our baptism, and while part of the Church is on earth, part is in Heaven, and that it will not be finished till our Lord comes again. For three years we have had a special service in church for the infants, at 9 A.M., on Ascension Day. They sing, 'Hail the day that sees Him rise!' and, after saying 'Our Father,' sing Psalms xxiv. and xlvii., 'Lift up your heads, O ye gates!' 'God is gone up with a merry noise,' using the angel's words, 'Ye men of Galilee,' as an antiphon. The Epistle is read for a lesson The Creed, and the Collects, O God the King of Glory!' and 'For Grace,' are repeated by all. They listen to a short address, with a few questions, on the Ascension of our Lord, receive the blessing, and return to school in time to begin the secular work of the morning. After the Scripture lesson the registers have to be marked, and then reading, writing, and arithmetic begin.

Reading. It is not easy to give a reading lesson to young children; they must find it drudgery, and are sure to show this by weariness and inattention. The only way to interest them is to vary the plan of teaching every few minutes; let each child spell or say a word in turn while the teacher points to the reading-card'; then, when they begin to get idle, all might read simultaneously after 'teacher' each word or each sentence. Of course the higher classes read from books, and should point to each word. When the inspector first came, June, 1877, I had a large class of more than thirty boys and girls reading simultaneously out of the S.P.C.K. primers, Samuel Pike (my first boy now, June, 1879, preparing for Standard II.) leading all the rest, and Willie Sheekey, nearly a year older, keeping the place with his finger, but I fear making very little sense of the words (he has with difficulty passed his standard along with Pike). This simultaneous reading interests the children, and gives them confidence, and I think the inspector was pleased with the order of my class; but I do not think it is good as a rule, because lazy and backward children are likely to get neglected. It is useful, and perhaps necessary, for large classes. When young children read singly, the class should not much exceed twelve in number.

Writing.-Writing is the easiest and least trying lesson in the infant school. The children like to use their hands and eyes, and will soon learn to write well if the teacher be careful to make them rub out badly formed letters before they get accustomed to the sight of them, and patiently guide their hands when they need it. I had only one child who sat idle at every writing lesson; at last I tried scolding, and found that he really could not copy the letters, then I let him alone,