Sundays, a handsome shawl.  They marry
these girls; find that the shawl is at the
pawnbroker's all the week, and redeemed every
Saturday night; that the gown is made by the
dress-maker; that the head-dress is bought;
that all the other clothes are mean and
slatternly; that the wife cannot make bread;
that the broth she attempts to make is bits of
hard meat and vegetables floating in warm
water, probably smoked; and that her idea
of comfort is warm new bread, and an
expensive dish of ham from the huckster's;
and that she cannot keep accounts.

These are terrible discoveries; and, as
children come into the world, the chances of
family peace are not improved. It is surely
worth some trouble, and some exercise of
courage, to improve these chances; and this is
why a few ladies—some of them governesses,
who toil all day and every day with other
pupils—brave dark nights, and pelting rain,
and frost and thaw, to make some hundred
women and girls somewhat more fit to be wives
and mothers than they have hitherto been.

It has required no little courage. Prepared
as they were for rude manners, the ladies did
not know what accidents might happen; and
certainly they did not dream of being left in
the dark, with a set of noisy women. This
happened, however, one evening, early in the
experiment. The men outside put out the
gas, leaving only the glimmer of the fire
within; and the scholars responded to the
joke with loud and coarse mirth. The teachers
kept their nerve. One went out to keep off
the police; candles were procured; and soon,
by firmness, good-humour, and patience,
quietness was restored. On one occasion, the
young minister's wife who chiefly originated
this school, climbed the counter, as the only
way of making herself seen; clapped her
hands to make herself heard, and gave a
lesson on order and quietness. No such
appeals are necessary now. It was found that
the workmen left their work half an hour
earlier, that they might fall in with the
women as they left school. By arrangement,
the men were kept to their work till the
proper time, that the women might get home.
These things are remembered as difficulties
long past; but, for the sake of future
enterprises, they should not be forgotten. It is
difficult now to believe that such things could
have been; so earnestly as the scholars knit
their brows over their sums, and gaze at their
teacher, as she expounds their Bible lesson.
For the most part, the individuals are not
the same; but some are. For the first two
months there were many changes. Those
who were too proud to spell o, x, ox, went
away; and so did some who disliked the
order and quietness. The husband of one of
the ladies feared that the change was greater
than it was. On one occasion (not the regular
school evening, when none but ladies attend)
he told his wife that what he feared was
happening; that the class most in need of
help were falling away, and a higher one
coming in. She asked him to point out some
of this higher order. The first he indicated
had been one of the attendants on the
opening night, and ever since. It was the
improved respectability that had misled him.

In half-a-year, there was more convenience,
and a saving of time, by the kindness of the
Messrs. Osler, who lent a room, furnished
with benches and desks; and here the work
went on till the room was wanted for the
Crystal Fountain. The school-rooms belonging
to a neighbouring Chapel are now the
place of meeting for the original school, three
evenings in the week; while another is
opened elsewhere. More are to follow. There
is a paid superintendent, and one paid teacher
besides; and it would be well if there were
more. As the experienced observe, "voluntary
teaching is a broken staff to lean upon."
The paid teachers will, of course, be persons
who can undertake to be always present,—
which is more than most ladies, however
well-disposed, can answer for. It is of the
utmost consequence to the scholars to know
that at least one person in authority will be
regularly at her post. The irregularity of
the voluntary visitors (from circumstances of
domestic engagements, health, weather, &c.,
if there were no unsteadiness of purpose,) is
a serious evil at best; and it would be fatal
if the attendance of one, two, or more teachers
were not absolutely secured. It has happened
that the superintendent, when prepared to
meet her own class, has found herself charged
with the management of thirty, or even forty,
women, whose teachers have not appeared.
Considering that the most irregular of the
visitors are those who come, at times, the
most smartly dressed,—thus doing mischief
by their mere appearance when they do come,
it is much to be wished that, in all such
schools, there may be funds to afford the
engagement of educated ladies,—governesses,
whose hearts are in their work,—who
understand the peculiarities of the case, and
can make the best use of them.

As to the matter of dress. There can be
nothing but good in telling the plain fact,
that the most earnest and devoted of the
ladies have found it their duty to wear no
stays, in order to add the force of example to
their efforts to save the young women who
are killing themselves with tight-lacing. One
poor scholar died, almost suddenly, from tight-
lacing alone. Another was, presently after,
so ill, from the same abuse, that she could do
nothing. A third could not stoop to her
desk, and had to sit at a higher one, which
suited the requirements of her self-imposed
pillory. In overlooking those who were
writing, we were struck by the short-breathing
of several of them. We asked what their
employments were, supposing them to be of
some pernicious nature. It was not so: all
were cases of evident tight-lacing. The ugly
walling-up of the figure is a painful contrast