AMERICAN

ANNALS OF EDUCATION

AND INSTRUCTION.

JUNE, 1834.

THE BLUE COAT SCHOOL OF LONDON.

THERE is a splendor in the endowments for the education of the poor in England, which strikes an American very powerfully. It indicates a value for the object, an interest in the children of the poor, to form and to devote such noble establishments and extensive funds to their use, which surprises and gratifies us, in a land of aristocracy, whether we trace it to the benevolence of some individual, or the providence of the government. Nor is this beneficence confined to the Universities and higher institutions, which in our country we think excite too exclusively, the interest of those who have the means and the disposition to do good. Many of these funds also provide for the early and elementary education of the destitute and neglected, in the best manner which the knowledge or taste of the age could point out; and though generally less necessary in our country, yet similar beneficence, devoted to the same object, in a manner suited to elevate instead of sustaining our schools, might do incalculable good.

Among the charitable endowments for education in London, none is more likely to be known to a stranger than Christ Church Hospital, or the Blue Coat School,' as it is familiarly calledfor he meets its pupils daily in a dress that shows their connection with some by-gone age. It is said to be the nearest approach to the monkish costume which is now worn in England. An outside coat or close robe, with long skirts of dark blue cloth, is the ancient tunic. It is fastened with a girdle round the waist. With this, is singularly contrasted the under tunic of yellow, and the

248

A Visit to Hofwyl.

[June, yellow worsted stockings; and the peculiarity of the dress is rendered still more conspicuous, by the small, round, flat cap of black worsted, which forms the only covering for the head of the Blue Coat Boy,' whatever may be the weather; for the dress is rigidly required as a condition of their education. It is not a little amusing, to see one of these shadows of another generation moving through the modern crowd of a London street.

The school was established by Edward VI. at the instance of the eminent Ridley, in the surrendered monastery of the Grey Friars, and endowed with its revenues. These, with subsequent donations, now amount to about $200,000 a year. The whole number of pupils maintained is about a thousand, one hundred and fifty being received annually. A part of them are kept in their earlier years, at a country establishment connected with this. The greater number leave the institution at fifteen years of age, after acquiring the usual elementary branches of instruction. Those who are designed for classical or mathematical students remain longer, to prepare for the University, or the Navy; but are still 'Blue Coat Boys.' Several are constantly maintained by the institution at the Universities, until they complete their education.

The buildings are chiefly modern. The engraving represents one front of the building for the Mathematical and Grammar Schools recently erected, and will give some idea of the extent and splendor of the establishment. A new and noble hall for a chapel and dining-room, has also been built of granite, to receive eight hundred pupils, one hundred and fiftyseven feet in length, by fiftytwo in breadth; and the whole space beneath it is formed into open arcades, with unusual providence and kindness, to afford a play ground for the boys in bad weather.

The internal regulations of the school are in many points not less singular than the costume of the pupils, and its plan would not serve as a model for us. But we should rejoice to see the spirit, which founded this noble institution, pervading the possessors of wealth and the officers of government in our own country, - the spirit which deems a princely revenue well bestowed, for the common education of the children of the poor.

A VISIT TO HOFWYL.

WE have believed that no service we could render to the cause of education in our country, would be so great as to present the epitome of the modern improvements which we found at Hofwyl. It was with this view that we published the letters on this subject

1834.]

Situation of Hofwyl.

249

in the first and second volumes of the 'Annals,' and time has not changed our opinion. We have been astonished, however, to find intelligent men, who would give it no attention would scarcely read it because it was foreign!' and to be told that some of the American advocates of education were jealous, because their plans were not more talked of! -and that the Annals would be rendered unpopular! We should be ashamed to believe this. We rejoice to learn that by those who read them, these articles are regarded as among the most valuable in the work to hear from a common school teacher, that they were of more practical value to her than any others—and to find parents who discover the rich mine of instruction, which is found in the system of Fellenberg. We ask others to read them. We cheerfully leave to time the decision on this point; and present as a confirmation of our views of Hofwyl, the following account of a recent visit, in a letter published by the able editors of the London Penny Magazine.

We have received the following interesting communication from a correspondent upon whose accounts we can place a full reliance. The establishments for education, which have been founded and matured in Switzerland, by the public spirit and laborious perseverance of M. Fellenberg, have now existed about thirtytwo years. Their high merits have been long familiar to the English public. At the present time, we understand that certain political dissensions, which have produced much ill-will and unhappiness in the canton of Berne, have had the common effect of all violent contests of opinion, they have made men indifferent or opposed to those institutions for the amelioration of the human character, whose great object is to elevate our species above intolerance and narrowness of party-feeling. We trust that the open or concealed hostility which, it is said, now threatens the excellent establishments of M. Fellenberg, will speedily be put to shame by the good sense of the people of Switzerland; who will perceive in such institu tions the surest preservation against the outbreaks of a mistaken zeal for freedom, on the one hand, and the tyranny of exclusive pretensions, on the other.

'In the month of August, 1832, I travelled into Switzerland for the purpose of making myself acquainted with the schools and institutions at Hofwyl. Situated about three leagues from the picturesque capital of Berne, amidst a beautiful scenery, composed of a cultivated vale, the Jura ridge of mountains, a pine forest, a small lake, and the glaciers of the Bernese Alps, stand the extensive buildings of the establishment, surrounded by about two acres of farm land. Upon my first arrival, before I could obtain an opportunity of pre

VOL. IV. NO. VI.

21*

250

Object of Fellenberg.

[June, senting my letters to the benevolent founder, I wandered about in various directions. All was business and activity. Here was a troop of lads cutting the ripened corn, while another troop was engaged in conducting it to the barns. Here was the forge in activity; and there some little gardeners performing various operations in small plots of ground that were portioned out. Here was a group of little girls gleaning; there others carrying water, most of them singing, while thus employed. But my attention was peculiarly arrested by about one hundred men, who in a large, open building, erected in a recess of the garden, appeared to be engaged like boys in a school-room; over the entrance was inscribed this motto, "The Hope of their Country."

'I was at last fortunate enough to be admitted into the study of M. de Fellenberg, a man somewhat advanced in years, with a countenance beaming with intelligence and kindness. De Fellenberg was, by birth, one of the ancient aristocracy of the country, and in possession of the hereditary property of his family. He determined upon devoting his fortune, and the labor of a life, in the endeavor to effect the regeneration of his native land, by the means of education. "I will infuse good habits and principles into the children." For thirtytwo years has he pursued his steady course, increasing in influence, and extending his establishment as his scheme grew upon him, until it has become what he described to me.. "This," said he, pointing to a large building, "is the institute for the boys of the higher classes. Here are their diningrooms; arranged on each side of yonder galleries, are their dormitories. Here you see their gardens, their museum, their work-shops, their school-rooms; here their gymnasium where they exercise themselves in wet weather, here their stream of running water where they bathe every day; study is their employment, bodily labor their recreation, but bodily exertion I insist upon. There is no health, no vigor of mind, no virtue without it. Those persons grown to manhood, who are mixing with the boys, are placed by me to observe every action, and catch every expression. My grand object is to comprehend thoroughly the character of my pupils, in order that I may work more efficaciously upon them. These persons are by no means considered as spies by the boys,they are their companions. At Hofwyl, all that is not in itself wrong is permitted. I never like to forbid a thing when I am unable to assign a reason for doing so; it creates a confusion in young minds with regard to principle, a thing most dangerous to their future happiness. We have no boundary-mark, yet my boys stay at home: we interfere not with their pleasures, yet they cling to their duty.

"Within this enclosure is my eldest daughter's poor school for

1834.]

Agricultural and Practical Schools.

251

girls. She has about a hundred under her direction, who are fed and clothed by the establishment. To these she devotes her entire time. They learn all that in after-life will be of service to them to clean the house, to cultivate the garden, to sew, to make all those little necessaries which are of so much importance in the cottage; to read, and sing, to be cheerful, and to be happy. Unless our women be brought up in modesty, and with industrious and religious habits, it is in vain that we educate the men. It is they who keep the character of men in its proper ele

vation.

"Here is my school for the middling classes, - here all instruction has reference to practical purposes. Man was born to have dominion over the earth, and to subdue it, but it is by the intellect alone that he can do so. His unassisted strength, what is it? To conquer Nature he must understand her. Look in here, and you will see the laboratory of the chemist, and the lever and the pulley of the mechanic.

"In these two buildings are my poor school for boys, who are boarded and clothed by the establishment. And well they earn their maintenance, for the little fellows work ten hours a day in the summer; and the expense that I incur in their behalf is nearly repaid by their exertions. They study for two hours each day, and this I consider sufficient. The case here is the reverse of the Institute, for bodily exertion is the labor and study the recreation. The habits I bring them up with are those which I desire should continue with them through life; they consequently have reference to their probable position in society. The habit of continued study would ill-become a person destined to gain his livelihood by his hands. Although there are now one hundred boys assembled here, mine were but small beginnings. I had but one pupil at first. It was long before I could find a master in whom I could confide. Do you observe those little patches of garden-ground? Each poor lad has one to himself; and the produce belongs exclusively to him. They usually dispose of it to the establishment, which either pays them the money at the time, or lodges it for them in a little bank I have founded. Many of them have very considerable sums there. It is here that they obtain a habit of passing the greater portion of their time in continued labor;-they become acquainted with the value of labor, by the produce of their little gardens. The instruction that I give them, although somewhat more elevated than what is generally obtained by persons of their rank in life, is directed to the rendering perfect the senses and reflection, to make them better practical men; drawing, the sciences of arithmetic and geometry, a useful selection from the other sciences, all taught in the most unostentatious manner; the his