wed, was
soon dissolved. Every effort was made by the enemies of true training
and education, to crush the thing in the bud, and not only the thing,
but also the man who developed it and worked it out. Thank God, these
inimical aims did not succeed. Though worldly patrons failed, I had
one Patron who never deserted me, but Who upheld and encouraged me
from first to last, until the end was gained. Not, however, all that
was aimed at, but much of it, and the rest will follow or I am greatly
mistaken. I have in various places seen things that I earnestly
contended for, but which were rejected at the time, at length
established and their value seen. Look at the schools in existence
now, bad as some of them are, and compare them with those which
existed a third of a century ago, and it will be found that they have
progressed, and it may safely be anticipated that they will still
further progress, for there is much need of it. The system pourtrayed
in this book is intended to act on all the faculties of a child,
especially the highest, and to strengthen them at the time the mere
animal part of his nature is weak. The existing schools were not found
fit to take our children when they left us. The dull, monotonous,
sleepy, heavy system pursued, was quite unadapted to advance such
pupils. At this point of the history much damage was done to our
plans. The essence or kernel was omitted and the mere shell retained,
to make infant schools harmonise with the existing ones, instead of
the contrary. There were and are however two great exceptions to
this rule. The Model Schools at Dublin under the Government Board of
Education, and the Glasgow Training Schools for Scotland. At Dublin
all is progression. The infant department is the best in Europe,--I
believe the best in the world. The other departments are equally good
in most things, and are well managed, as far as regards a good secular
education being given, and better I think than any similar institution
in England. At Glasgow the same master whom I taught still exists. I
have not seen the schools for many years, but I hear from those who
have been trained there, that nothing can work better. The Glasgow
Committee, with Mr. Stow at their head, deserve the thanks of the
whole community for having applied the principles on which the Infant
School System is based, to juveniles, and carried out and proved the
practicability of it for the public good. I told them this in lectures
at Gl