knowledge that it is the case here--no system by
which any one girl is known through her whole school career to any one
mistress; nothing corresponding to the tutor system of our public
schools. It follows that a girl passes from form to form, and the
relation between her and her mistress is so constantly broken that it is
morally less powerful than it might be. The friendly and permanent
relation of old days is converted into an official and temporary
relation. It will be obvious to any one who reflects that the loss is
great. The cure for it is twofold. The parents may do much by
establishing a friendly relation with the form mistresses of their
girls. I have known parents who had never taken the trouble to inquire
even the names of their girls' mistress. If parents wish to get really
the best out of a school, I would say to them (and I am speaking
specially to mothers), you are delegating to the form mistress a very
large share of the responsibility for the formation of your daughter's
character; the least you can do is to be in the most friendly and
confidential communication with her that circumstances permit. And I
would say to the mistresses that, as far as is possible, you should be
to the girls what form masters are in a good school to their
boys--friends in school and out of school, acquainted with their
tastes, companions sometimes in their games or their walks, and in all
ways breaking down the merely formal relation of teacher and pupil. The
ideally bad master, as I have often said to my young masters on a first
appointment, is one who as soon as his boys clear out of the class-room,
puts his hands in his pockets and whistles, and thanks Heaven that he
will see no more of the boys for so many hours. I do not know what the
corresponding action on the part of a mistress may be, as I believe they
have no pockets and can't whistle, but there is probably a corresponding
state of mind. I venture, therefore, to suggest that in our High Schools
there should be a greater _rapprochement_ than is usual between parents
and mistresses and girls in order to make the system more truly
educational in the best sense.

I am now going to turn to a wholly different subject; and I am going to
talk to the girls. In the crusade against the lower type of education
that prevailed twenty years ago, and still exists, who are the most
important agents? It is the girls who are still in the High Schools, or
who are passing out of them,