The million-peopled city
Garwood, John
1853
The Report of this School, as printed by Order of the House of Commons.
".- This school for the destitute was opened in . It is designed for the children of persons inhabiting the most wretched parts of , many of whom are professionally beggars; | |
31 | others get their bread by selling various articles about the streets, and it may be stated, that three-fourths of them are probably deeply engaged in crime.[1] It was opened origin- ally as a Sunday-school, but it was found 'that the good effects of the Sunday's teaching were done away by the mischievous influence of domestic habits and example during the week. With a view to remedy this, a day-school was formed in addition to the Sunday-school. A few persons hired a stable, by way of experiment, for three months; this was rudely fitted up as a school-room, when, to their surprise, no less than to their gratification, they had in a few weeks 120 children. For some time past there have been 170 in constant attendance, and at the present time the names of 200 and upwards are upon the books.' The accommodation afforded in this building is of the humblest kind. The tiled roof remains without a ceiling; the floor is only partially boarded; no ventilation could carry off the exhalations inseparable from such a spot. Nevertheless, it has satisfactorily served the purpose of the experiment that has been tried in it, and the attendance being steady and increasing, the influential persons who have interested them- selves about the formation of this school, and contributed to its support, now contemplate an attempt to provide funds for a proper building. |
" The appearance of the children sufficiently denoted the class to which they belonged. Many were without shoes or stockings; almost all were of English parents; some were so ill-clad, that their naked skin appeared through many parts of their tattered clothing; all were equally dirty, the effect of extreme poverty or domestic depravity, and therefore its correction was very properly left to time. They were ranged on forms for want of desks, of which the confined space does not admit of a sufficient number. The master stated, that | |
32 | 'by talking kindly to the new-comers, they became after a little time willing to learn.' Eighteen out of seventy boys present could read fairly; thirty could write a word on their slates; six wrote on paper. They were classed in three divisions, by which the master was able to give his personal attention to each for nearly an hour during every school time, in addition to the scriptural lesson addressed to them all. They expressed pleasure when they found themselves learning something, and in some instances, when they were able to read, they were glad to be allowed to take home a book to read to their parents. Some good results are said to have been traced to occasions of this kind. It caused evident and very natural satisfaction to them to perceive that the darkness and confusion of ignorance was giving place in their minds to new ideas, and that instead of the neglect, perhaps aversion, to which their poverty had made them familiar elsewhere in the school, they met with nothing but kind treatment, and consideration for their deficiencies. No prizes or rewards, no gifts of clothing, or bribes in any shape for attendance, were allowed, neither were punish- ments, except of the slightest kind, and those seldom found necessary. The apparatus is scanty, consisting only of twelve Bibles, six copy-books, a few lesson-boards, and three slates.. They had learnt to sing by ear a few songs and hymns. The school is dismissed daily with a short, impressive, and appropriate prayer. On passing out of the school many seemed pleased to exchange salutations with the master, and some advanced to him for a friendly shake of the hand. ' Christian instruction and Christian benevo- lence' had awakened their sympathies, and led them to feel that 'the world and the world's law' was not altogether against them. Some were the children of known thieves; some had themselves been habituated to thieving; others were orphans; and all belong to the poorest and most destitute |
33 | grade of life. The instruction was of course gratuitous, and care was said to be taken not to abstract any from schools where payment was enforced, and also not to admit those whose parents could afford to send them elsewhere. It was found, indeed, that very few of the latter would, under any circumstances, allow their children to mix with the class of which this school is composed. It is stated, that before it was opened, no fewer than eighteen children had been transported from families now sending children to it, but that since it has been in operation there has not been one. 'The same benevolent persons [2] who have induced the children to attend the school, endeavour to secure that they do so regularly; they use every argument to persuade the parents to send them, and they call almost daily to satisfy themselves that the children are present; they also go to the residences of the absentees to ascertain the reason of their non-attendance.' A part of the stable was fitted up as an infant-school, and contains 100. They are taught in the method of the Infant-school Society, by a mistress who has received instruction at that establishment, and who had succeeded in making some progress with the different materials with which she had to deal. Twenty-four had learnt to read the lesson-boards; 8 could read in the Testa- ment, and could repeat texts with accuracy and intelligence; 16 could work with the needle; a few were taught to scour and clean the school-room. They were furnished only with a few slates, on which some had learnt to write, and also a little ciphering. While the eldest class is at needlework, one of the number reads a story to the rest from a book. They were able to repeat hymns and other simple pieces of poetry, and took an interest in the scriptural and other subjects to which their attention was directed. |
"I made a subsequent visit to this school, with the view | |
34 | of endeavouring to satisfy myself by personal inquiries to what class of society the children attending it belonged; and whether it was probable that they were withdrawn to any extent from other schools, where payments were required and regularity of attendance enforced, and attracted to this by the circumstance of its being gratuitous, and by the absence of any attempt to make neatness and cleanliness of dress and person a rule and a characteristic. Sixty boys were present; and of these, taken seriatim, I obtained from the master the following particulars:- |
" Seven had been at other schools, 4 of them at National, 3 at British; 2 of the former had been dismissed for irre- gularity of attendance: the parents of the remaining 5 were said to be too poor to dress them decently, and to provide the weekly payments. | |
"Twenty-five were the children of parents in various grades, of very humble employment, having from 2 to 5 young children each, and subject to be frequently without work altogether. A few of these had 1 child at a school where payments are made, but were unable to afford to pay for more, or to procure proper and decent clothing for them. | |
"Eleven had lost their fathers, and were supported by their mothers, having also from 2 to 4 children each to provide for: the mothers of three sold fruit in the streets; 2 more sold herrings and fire-wood; 3 were women. It was stated that the mother of one was often obliged to earn a trifling sum by her morning's occupation before she could provide a breakfast for her child, which she brought to him to the school; the child of another remained frequently at the school all day without food, the mother bringing some when she was able. | |
"Five had been deserted by their parents, and were dependent on the sympathy of neighbours. | |
"Five were the children of men of notoriously bad | |
35 | characters, one of them a known thief: one of the former had come to the school to hear his child read, which he was unable to do himself, and expressed much surprise. |
"One was an orphan, supported by relatives. | |
" One the son of a blind beggar. | |
"Four were engaged in employments that kept them up a great part of the night, or occupied them from an early hour in the morning; they consequently came to school only in the afternoon: one of these was employed to sell bread and cold meat to the waggoners, drovers, &c., coming into London to the markets, or in some similar occupation; another sold ginger-beer in the streets to a late hour; a third sold lucifer-matches; a fourth, water-cresses, &c., early in the morning. | |
" Six only were the children of parents whose general condition might enable them to pay for the instruction of their children, and 2 of these were at the time out of work. | |
" There can, I apprehend, be little doubt that this school is a source of usefulness: there can, I should think, be as little, that in this and other parishes in which the poorer parts of the population are congregated, there must be many children still in want of places of refuge and instruction such as this, to which they can have recourse without payment, where the sorriest garb and exterior will not find itself in a position of painful contrast; where the treatment will be kind and considerate, and the instruction, though humble, yet sensibly conducted, in a manner to draw forth the faculties hitherto lying dormant through neglect, and to call into action right feelings and affections which mismanage- ment or harshness may have repressed. The success of the experiment, in this instance, has shown itself in the improved habits of some of these children; in the pleasure signified by others at finding total ignorance superseded by some gleams of knowledge; in gratitude to their benefactors; | |
36 | in growing self-respect, which manifests itself in attention to the precepts and suggestions of the master, on behalf of cleanliness and propriety even of the poorest dress. The school was formed, not without much personal exertion, by a paid agent and others representing to parents, too ignorant, perhaps, or too regardless to make a voluntary effort, the duty and the benefit of giving their children the opportunity of obtaining some religious and useful instruction. Having so far secured their confidence, and formed, as it were, this nucleus, the influential persons who commenced the work on behalf of their poorer fellow-parishioners, are now desirous of extending it by providing a proper building; and as at the period of my visit they made known to me their intention of applying to the Committee of Council for aid, I have given these details as material for their Lordships' con- sideration." |
Footnotes: [1] Printed prospectus of the school. [2] Missionaries of the London City Mission |
