a great change in the composition of our rural districts. It is believed
that some of the islands would soon be without children but for these
incomers: it is a well-known fact that the indigenous youthful
population of certain of them is very meagre indeed. We are thus in
modern times witnessing some most instructive operations of Nature: for
generations the country has been depleted to swell the bloated
population of the towns; and now the wastage of the cities is being sent
back to the country to get a renewal of vigour at the primeval fountain
of health.

There is one further point of great moment. As a proportion, relatively
large, of these children come of morally dubious parentage, it is of
supreme interest to know their subsequent career and conduct. I have
seen reports and statistics which seem to prove that questionable
heredity can be overborne by healthy surroundings and good training; in
other words, that the offspring of criminals may, if rescued early from
a vicious environment, become respectable citizens. Such facts ought to
rejoice the hearts of all moral reformers.

[21] In that part of South Arran which lies between Dippen and
Shannochie, there is high up on the hillside, a row of cottages
and crofts collectively nicknamed "Mount Misery." The reason for
this sinister name is that in most of the houses there is some
maimed, consumptive, or imbecile child boarded out by the Parish
Council. The children are better there than selling matches at
St. Enoch's Station: they are well looked after and almost
invariably improve in health.

DWINDLING ATTENDANCES.

It is in the country school that the need for new blood is most apparent
to the eye. In schools capable of holding 120 children, you will often
find a shrunken roll of less than a dozen. A gentleman of mature years
usually does all the teaching and keeps himself from getting insane by
breeding hens and cultivating roses in his spare time. He has also, in
all likelihood, the little pickings of officialdom in the district, and
is registrar, session-clerk, and precentor. One facetious teacher, who
dwelt on a wide moor, headed his letter to me _Parish Council Chambers_,
thereby suggesting marble staircases and sumptuous furniture. It was
this same teacher who, on being asked to bring forward Standard V. for
inspection, had to admit that Standard V. was laid up with a broken leg.
For such small schools there is an incre