ese should be awarded for such points as punctuality, progress
in music, reverential demeanour, and general excellence.

According to Mr. Sergison, organist of St. Peter's, Eaton Square,
London, the choirmaster will have power if he make himself beloved. He
should enter into the boys' way of looking at things, and remember that
they have deep feelings. The boys should be arranged in classes, each
higher class having higher pay, with sundry little privileges. Mr.
Sergison says that by putting the boys upon their honour, and treating
them well, he has always maintained strict discipline, and has never
yet had to resort to corporal punishment. The Rev. E. Husband, of
Folkestone, who is an enthusiastic choir-trainer, is strongly of opinion
that for vocal purposes working-class boys are better than the sons of
gentlemen. He finds that boys of a lower class have richer and fuller
voices than those above them in the social scale. I was myself present,
not long since, at a concert at Eton College, and although I was greatly
struck with the purity of the tone, its volume was thin and somewhat
shallow. One reason why working-class boys excel, probably, is that
plain food and outdoor life keep the body in the best condition, so that
the children of the poor, so long as they are well-nourished, are
healthier than the children of the rich. But the working-class boys have
also this advantage, that they begin life at four years of age in an
Infant School, where they sing every day, and receive systematic Tonic
Sol-fa teaching which is continued when they pass into the boys'
department. Boys who are trained under governesses and at private
preparatory schools often learn no singing at all. It is to be hoped
that the diffusion of musical knowledge will make these
class-comparisons, from a musical point of view, unnecessary. The
choir-boys of Christ Church, Oxford, are all the sons of professional
men, but then the choice is a wide one, as they come from all parts of
the country.

The precentor of a cathedral writes to me on an important branch of our
subject. I sincerely hope that his picture is not one that is generally
true:--

"My own experience would suggest that in connection with the training of
cathedral choristers the attention of cathedral organists might be very
advantageously drawn to the very great importance of efficiency in the
art of teaching--of imparting knowledge. The instruction given may be as
good as could well b