Part 3

The institution was originated in 1680, by Dr. J. Baptiste de la Lulli, Canon of Rheims, lingered on till 1804, but was revived and brought to its present condition of efficacy in 1830. It consists of a parent or training establishment in Paris (Rue Plumet, 33) from which teachers are provided for any locality, in any part of France, or even Italy, for which an evening school may be petitioned by the residents. There are connected with it at present no fewer than five thousand teachers, who call themselves “Brothers of the Christian Schools” (_Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes_). Four thousand are employed in France, and one thousand in Italy. They are not a Church, but a Lay Community (_Religieux laïques_). A certain number remain ready at the central establishment to obey any call that may be made for their services.

Before such a requisition is made, the municipal authorities, or any number of benevolent individuals who may choose to subscribe, must have provided a house and school-room, with all proper accommodations, and must certify that a certain number of pupils are willing to enrol themselves. On application to the central establishment three qualified Christian Brothers are sent down, at salaries not exceeding six hundred francs, or twenty-four pounds per annum in the provinces, or thirty pounds a year in Paris. Fewer than three Frères are not allowed to superintend each school; two for the classes, and a probationer to perform the household duties; but, when the schools outgrow the management of that number a fourth is added, to take the management of the whole, and is called a _Frère-directeur_. The classes are limited to sixty for writing, and one hundred for other branches of education. This limitation is necessary, because the monitorial system is not followed, and the whole weight of the duties falls on the masters.

The schools thus established in the various quarters of Paris are very numerous; six thousand apprentices and artisans attend them after their hours of work—young boys, youths, and adults—the numbers having declined since the revolution of 1848. “I have,” says Mr. Seymour Tremenheere, in a note to his Report on the state of the mining population, “at different times visited some of those evening schools in the Fauxbourgs St. Antoine and St. Martin, containing from four hundred to six hundred, in separate class-rooms of sixty to a hundred each, all well lighted, warmed, and ventilated. The gentle and affectionate manner of the Frères, and their skill in teaching, were very conspicuous, and sufficiently explained their success. The instruction consists, in addition to the doctrines of Christianity, which are the basis of the whole, of reading, writing, arithmetic, a little history, drawing (linear and perspective), and vocal music. In all the classes, many adults who had been at work all day were to be seen mixed with young men and boys, patiently learning to read, or to write and cypher. In the drawing-classes, some were copying ornamental designs, or heads, for their own amusement; others, to improve themselves as cabinetmakers, or workers in bronze, or in other trades for which some cultivation of taste is requisite.”

The superiority of the system of teaching adopted by the Christian Brothers has been proved by a severe test. In Paris, as in London, it is the custom, once a year, to assemble all the parochial schools; not, however, as a mere show for the purpose of uniting in ill-executed psalmody, but with the better and more useful view of testing the improvement of the scholars, and of ascertaining the degrees of diligence and proficiency attained by the masters. The parochial scholars compete for prizes, given by the corporation of the city; not only among themselves, but with the other elementary schools—those of the Christian Brothers among the rest. At these competitions, it has happened, of late years, that the pupils of the latter have been the victors. In one year, they gained seventeen prizes out of twenty; in another, twenty-three out of thirty-one; and, last year, they carried off the highest forty-two prizes: the fortunate candidates of all the other schools only claiming the inferior rewards. In addition to these evening schools for adults and young men who are already gaining their livelihood, the Frères Chrétiens have set on foot Sunday evening sermons at different churches, and also meetings for lectures on religious and moral subjects adapted to the wants of, and calculated to influence, the same class. “I recently was present at one of these meetings in the Faubourg St. Antoine” (we quote our former authority), “where a series of eloquent and forcible addresses was delivered—one, by a Professor of History, on some of the leading points of Christian morals; another, by a gentleman of literary attainments, on Death and a future state; a third, by a gentleman of independent position, on the religious condition of some of the forçats at Toulon; a fourth, by a member of the university, on the displacement of labour by machinery, and its ultimate advantage to the labourer; all of whom had come forward to aid in the task of combating irreligion, and the various forms of error pervading the minds of so many of the working classes of Paris. These were followed by hymns, and by prayers. A deep sense of religion is, indeed, the animating spirit of all the endeavours of the Frères Chrétiens for the benefit of the lower classes, and the principle which sustains them in their self-denying and arduous career.”

The lovers of “great comprehensive systems,”—to whom we adverted in a former page—might, by copying the plan of the French Christian Brothers, carry out a scheme which would be of the utmost use in this country. It would also have the advantage of encouraging small beginnings, and combining them into one great and efficacious whole. We can hardly wait until the present adult generation of ignorance shall die out to be succeeded by another which we are, after all, only half educating. Why not offer inducements, and form plans, for the instruction of grown-up persons, many of whom, having come to a sense of their deficiencies, pine for culture and enlightenment, which they cannot obtain? A central establishment in London—on a general plan somewhat similar to the Government Normal Schools already in existence, but with less cumbrous and costly machinery—could be formed at a small expense; and we doubt not that many a knot of benevolent well-wishers would, in their various localities, be eager to provide all the scholastic _matériel_ for the less favoured artisans and day-workers around them, could they look with confidence to some central establishment for the formation of teachers, in which they could place implicit confidence.

The monitorial system, in a school consisting of all ages—in which a small boy, from his intellectual superiority, might be placed over the heads of pupils, greater, older than himself—is manifestly impracticable; and a larger number of teachers than is usual in schools for children only, would be necessary.

We will borrow from Mr. Tremenheere a comparison between the intellectual acquirements and moral conduct of French workmen and those of English workmen, in the mining districts of each country. We do not assume that the superiority of the French workmen has been occasioned solely by the evening schools of the Christian Brothers, but, after what we have already shown, we consider it reasonable to infer that, since 1830, those establishments have had a large share in the formation of their character. In a former report,[6] Mr. Tremenheere described the habits and manners of the French colliers and miners, especially those at the iron and coal-works in the coalfield near Valenciennes. He was compelled, by the force of unexceptionable evidence, to show how superior they were in every respect, except that of mere animal power, to the generality of the mining population in this country. At the large iron-works at Denain, employing about four thousand people, there were thirty Englishmen from Staffordshire. These men were earning about one-third more wages than the French labourers; but, they spent all they earned in eating and drinking; were frequently drunk; and in their manners were coarse, quarrelsome, disrespectful, and insubordinate. The English manager—who had held for many years responsible situations under some of the leading iron-masters in Staffordshire—stated with regret, that so different and so superior were the intelligence, and the civilised habits and conduct, of the French, that, if any thirty Frenchmen from these works were to go to work in Staffordshire, “they would be so disgusted, they would not stay; they would think they had got among a savage race.”

Footnote 6:

“Report of Inspection of French and Belgian mines, 1848—Appendix.”

There have been, lately, forty Frenchmen employed at one of the large manufactories in Staffordshire, by the Messrs. Chance, at their extensive and well-known glass-works at West Bromwich, in the immediate neighbourhood of some of the great iron-works. Mr. Chance gives the Commissioner the following account of these men:—“A few years ago, we brought over forty Frenchmen to teach our men a particular process in our manufacture. They have now nearly all returned. We found them very steady, quiet, temperate men. They earned good wages, and saved while they were with us a good deal of money. We have had as much as fifteen hundred pounds at a time in our hands belonging to these men, which we transmitted to France for them. One of them, who sometimes earns as much as seven pounds a week, has saved in our service not much short of four thousand pounds. He is with us now. He is a glass-blower. We have about fourteen hundred men in our employ (in the glass-blowing and alkali works) when trade is in a good state. I am sorry to say that the contrast between them and the Frenchmen was very marked in many respects, especially in that of forethought and economy. I do not think that, while we had in our hands the large sum mentioned above as the savings of the Frenchmen at one time, we have had at the same time five pounds belonging to our own people. They generally spend their money as fast as they can get it.”

In Scotland, evening schools abound, and come in effectually to aid the universal system of primary instruction existing over that part of our island. A Wesleyan local preacher told Mr. Tremenheere of the Scotchmen employed on the Northumberland and Durham collieries, “when you go into some of the Scotchmen’s houses, you would be surprised to see the books they have—not many, but all choice books. Some of their favourite authors in divinity are very common among them. Many of them read such books as Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, and are fond of discussing the subjects he treats of. They also read the lives of statesmen, and books of history; also works on logic; and, sometimes, mathematics. Such men can be reasoned with about anything appertaining to their calling, and they know very well why wages cannot be at particular times higher than a certain standard. They see at once, by the price current in the market, what is the fair portion to go to the workman as wages, according to the circumstances of the pit and the general state of the trade. Such men will have nothing to do with the union. They scorn to read such penny and twopenny publications as we have been talking about. They are fonder of sitting down after their work and reading a chapter of the Wealth of Nations. They will also talk with great zest of many of their great men—their own countrymen, who have raised themselves by their own industry. There are, undoubtedly, some men that come out of Scotland bad men, but these are not informed men. I am speaking of all this neighbourhood, where I have lived all my life. There are a great many Scotch at all the collieries here, and most of them very respectable men, exceedingly so. You may ask me why the union is so strong in parts of Scotland—as in Lanarkshire? It is because in Lanarkshire the pitmen are one-third Irish, and many of the worst Scotch from other counties. Those who come here are among the best in their own country, I should think, from the accounts they give me. When a Scotchman comes here he earns English wages; but he does not spend them as an Englishman does. A Scotchman often, rather than lose buying a good book, will lose his dinner. The Scotchwomen begin to keep their houses cleaner after they get into England, and by degrees they come to keep them as clean as the Englishwomen; and the first generation after their fathers come are equal to the English in their wish to keep everything clean about them. They are generally very saving, and lay out the over-plus of their earnings in books and furniture or lay it by. They have a great disposition to have their children well taught. Indeed, I have seen several lads that have been educated in the Scotch schools, and I find them very well taught; they can reason like men.

“I don’t think I ever saw Adam Smith’s works in more than one or two English pit-men’s houses. They are backward to attempt anything that requires steady thinking, such as that book, or any work on logic or mathematics. The Scotch often study both. This makes one of the great differences between the best working-men of the two people. The English seldom attempt even English grammar or geometry; they always tell me they are obliged to give way when they have made a trial.[7] They had rather read any popular work, such as the ‘Christian Philosopher,’ the ‘Pilgrim’s Progress,’ or Walter Scott’s novels. They love to read their country’s history, and they like to talk of its renown in the ancient French wars of Edward the Third and Henry the Fifth. They are also great readers of Napoleon’s and the Duke of Wellington’s wars, and their soul seems to take fire when they talk of their country’s victories. They are fond of biography, and especially that of men who rose from being poor men to be great characters. They are very generous in their dispositions, and will share their loaf with the poor, as all the beggars and trampers from Newcastle and all the country know. They are greatly improved in my time as to drinking habits; there is much less of it, and their money is chiefly spent in living well and making a great show in furniture and dress. The women, too, are improving, and manage their families much better than they used to do. The English pit-boys are exceedingly quick at school—much more so than the Scotch, I think. What I most want to see is better descriptions of schools—schools under masters of ability, who can teach their boys to think and reason. You will find boys who have been at such schools as most of those we have now, that can write a good hand and do some cyphering; but when you come to ask them questions that exercise the mind, they have no idea what to answer. If there were such schools for the boys, the men would soon be a different race; for what the men want is to be taught to exercise their reason fairly, which would prevent their being led away as they are now.”

Footnote 7:

We doubt the _general_ applicability of this description, without questioning its correctness in this case.

With a little modification, this description of the pitman applies, in its more favourable characteristics, to the English operative generally. No one can read it without being convinced that there is sound and hopeful material, in the generous English character to work upon. The natural ability, the deep feeling, the quickness of perception, the susceptibility to religious and moral impressions, the sound common sense where the rudest cultivation has been attained, and the heartfelt patriotism, of the humble orders of this country, are unequalled in the world. Surely this is a rich mine to work; surely it should not be left to unskilled workers, or to chance; but should be faithfully confided to the heads and hearts of men, trained up to its improvement, as to a noble calling, and a solemn duty! In all parts of this land, the people are willing and desirous to be taught. Open schools anywhere, and they will come—even, as the Ragged Schools have proved, out of the worst dens of vice and infamy, in the worst hiding-places, in the worst towns and cities. But, unless the art of teaching is pursued upon a system, as an art, thoroughly understood, and proceeding on sound principles, the best intentions and the most sincere devotion can do next to nothing. For want of competent teachers, there are opportunities being lost at this moment, we do not hesitate to say, in the Ragged Schools of London alone, the waste of which, is of more true importance to the community, than all the theological controversies that ever deafened its ears, and distracted its wits. Meanwhile, the sands of Time are running out remorselessly, and, with every grain, immortal souls are perishing. We want teachers, competent to educate the mind, to rouse the reason, to undo the beastly transformation that has been effected—to our guilt and shame—upon humanity, and to bring God’s image out of the condition of the lower animals. What we have suffered to be beaten out of shape, we must remould, with pains, and care, and skill, and cannot hope to put into its rightful form hap-hazard. And such would be the glorious office and main usefulness of a comprehensive, unsectarian—in short, Christian—Brotherhood in England.

AN EVERY DAY HERO.