tacles on her nose, that the education of Annie, Janet, and Margaret is nearly complete. Let us turn hence towards a spot, now much changed from its pristine desolate appearance, and known by the name of Coolie Bazar. The pretty church, and the little white mansions, which now adorn the spot, were not then to be seen. Small bungalows, like so many mounds of straw, broke the level prospect of the situation, and were the habitations of invalid soldiers, who had fought at Seringapatam, or helped to drive Sujah from the plains of Plassey. Living upon a rupee a day, these old pensioners smoked and walked, and smoked and slept, their time away. One, more learned perchance than the rest, opened a school: and, while the modest widow taught but the elements of knowledge, the more ambitious Pensioner proposed to take them higher up the hill of learning. Let us contemplate him seated in an old-fashioned chair, with his legs resting on a cane morah. A long pipe, his most constant companion, projects from his mouth. A pair of loose pyjamahs and a charkanah banian keep him within the pale of society, and preserve him cool in the trying hot season of this climate. A rattan-his sceptre-is in his hand; and the boys are seated on stools, or little morahs, before his pedagogic majesty. They have already read three chapters of the Bible, and have got over the proper names without much spelling; they have written their copies--small, round, text, and large, hands; they have repeated a column of Entick's Dictionary with only two mistakes; and are now employed in working Compound Division, and soon expect to arrive at the Rule of Three. Some of the lad's eyes are red with weeping, and others expect to have a taste of the ferula. The partner of the Pensioner's days is seated on a low Dinapore matronly chair, picking vegetables, and preparing the ingredients for the coming dinner. It strikes twelve o'clock; and the school-master shakes himself. Presently the boys bestir themselves: and, for the day, the school is broken up! These pictures are not the figments of the imagination: they are the photographs of other years and distant scenes: and, if there be any, who still have even a faint recollection of the times of which we are treating, they will acknowledge the verisimilitude of the picture, and give the writer credit for fidelity. Such were the schools, which, soon after the establishment of British supremacy in the East, were formed for the instruction of youth of both sexes. They were really make-shiftsmere plans, like other domestic plans, which men contrive for augmenting their means of subsistence. They were looked upon simply as sources of revenue; and hence every individual, in straitened circumstances, set up a day-school, which might serve as a kind of corps de reserve, until fortune smiled propitious, and a more congenial employment was obtained. Things have not much altered in this respect. office of school-master, one of the most responsible and important under the sun, is still recklessly adopted by all kinds and classes of men, who cannot find any other employment for themselves. The "broken down soldier," the bankrupt merchant, and The ruin'd spendthrift, now no longer proud, The generally fill the office of the pedagogue, and perpetrate an amount of moral mischief, which it is not easy to calculate, and very difficult to remove. It is a truism that there is not a business in life, which does not require a particular mental, moral, and physical discipline. Even the cutting of corks requires an apprenticeship of seven years. The honourable professions in life demand the devotion of the entire season of youth, to attain a complete qualification in all their requirements and dependencies. The only excep tion, it would appear, from this wholesome rule is the office of the school-master. Those, who are fully alive to its importance and its magnitude, enter upon their duties with misgivings, and never fail to study the great improvements, which are being made in Science, Philosophy, Literature, and Art, in order that they may qualify themselves for their duties. Such conscientious teachers are however rare. For one of this stamp, we have a hundred reckless, careless, and bold-spirited adventurers, without experience, thought, study, training, or any preparation, who offer themselves as teachers-and are accepted! It is a remarkable fact that, in the ordinary transactions of life, men display more caution than in the moral and intellectual training of their own offspring. Generally, they will seek the assistance of those people, who are regularly brought up, that is, really educated, in the particular business, for which such aid is required. A man, who wants a farrier, will not trust his horse to be shod by a barber, nor, if he be in need of a khidmutghar, will he employ the services of a professional dhoby. Only in the great business of education do we see a blind and unreasonable departure from this rule. Children are entrusted to the care, not only of empirics, quacks, and men of base or worthless character, but to those, who are well known to have been brought up to other employments, and have therefore never bestowed so much as a passing thought on the great ends of education. But surely a child is of greater value than a horse, and the pabulum mentis far more important than mutton and beef for the nourishment of the body. The season of infancy is the seed time of the mind. The faculties of observation and memory are then beginning to be developed. The former catches every thing, and the latter stores it up. How necessary then is it, that the observation should be directed to those objects and those scenes, which may be useful in after life, which ennoble man's nature, enlist his feelingson the side of virtue, and attach them to Truth! At this season, too, curiosity is most powerful, and imitation, most active. It is obvious, then, that this curiosity should be directed to those objects, which strengthen the intellect, and develop the moral nature; and that the principle of Imitation should have held up to it, as it were in a mirror, those actions, that course of conduct, and those characters, which add to the dignity of human nature, and adorn it with those graces, which shed a lustre around names, that will not easily be unlearned by mankind! And now, above all others, is the time to teach the dawning mind to reverence God, to write upon it His holy commandments, and to train it to look up with child-like love, trust and confidence to its Creator and Redeemer. So spoke the wisest of men: "Train up a child in the way in which he should go; and, when he is old, he will not depart from it." As the child advances to maturity, the understanding begins to exert its powers, and admonishes the teacher that now, with the various systems of Science and Philosophy, the truths of man's nature and his destiny must be taught, so that he may know who and what he is, and to what his destiny points. His mind must be fortified against the prejudices and errors, which often lead the mind from the path of truth to the cold and benumbing regions of infidelity. In short, he must be taught how to lead a useful and a happy life here, and to make this life a stepping stone to life everlasting. These, and much more than these, constitute the great business of the School-master; and yet how few consider the responsibility, which is attached to the office. A few columns of Spelling, a few pages of Grammar and Geography, a few chapters of Reading, writing copies, and working examples in Arithmetic, with many make up education. With others, a play of Shakespeare, some Essays of Bacon, a superficial know ledge of History, an equation, and a demonstration comprise the sum of teaching. Moral and religious education are altogether omitted. But what else can reasonably be expected, as things now stand? One man starts in life, as an assistant to an Indigo Planter; but, at the end of the season, which proved unfavourable, he becomes a teacher: for he thinks the work extremely simple, and concludes that the manufacture of indigo is a far more difficult task. Another has been trying to enter a Government Office; but the portals of patronage will not open: and he is thereby induced to become a teacher, as a kind of "hanger-on," until he shall succeed in the accomplishment of his wishes. A third cannot find employment for himself. He is too well known for his irregular habits. The profession, in which he has been brought up, has discarded him. society, in which he moved, has driven him out of its pale. He is in utter disgrace: when suddenly he becomes a schoolmaster -and (will it be believed?) he is supported, tolerated, praised. A fourth is a widow, left without any support by her deceased husband. Her education has been scanty. And yet she puts herself forward as a teacher; opens a school; and manages to eke out a subsistence, without any conscientious scruples, that she has undertaken a task, for which she is utterly unqualified. This wretched system is not yet defunct; but great changes have taken place. So long as parents will look out for cheap education only; so long as they do not estimate at their proper value a sound and thorough training for their childrenstrangers of blighted prospects will perpetuate this system: and, though driven from the high places' of the city, it will still haunt its purlieus, and, creeping into lanes and crowded streets, live a life of feverish anxiety for some years to come. As British supremacy began to extend, and the increasing demands of war and commerce caused an influx of Europeans into this land, greater efforts (and on a larger scale) were made to extend the benefits of education, and to elevate its tone. With the view of presenting our readers with a complete sketch of the state of education in Calcutta, past and present, we will divide our essay into four distinct heads. II. I. The educational efforts of private individuals. IV. The educational efforts of the Government. Before we enter on the first division, we feel our selves bound to notice the Free School, which is decidedly the first school that was established in Bengal, even prior to the efforts of private individuals of liberal education. The Free School may be regarded as the termination of all those little schools, of which we have already taken notice, and as the beginning of changes in education, which have not yet ceased in this country. It is the end and the beginning of two phases of society, two different moral epochs; and as such, is quite an historical monument. About the end of the year 1747, a charity fund was instituted for the purpose of giving board and education to indigent Christian children-so early was there manifested a good spirit towards the poor of this world. Besides subscriptions, either monthly or annual, it enjoyed an endowment, which, upon the authority of Mr. Charles Weston's letter to the Select Vestry of the Cathedral, dated in the year 1787, grew out of the restitution money received for pulling down the English Church by the Moors, at the capture of Calcutta, in 1756." To this amount was subsequently added a legacy of 6 or 7,000 Rs. bequeathed by Mr. Constantine; and this sum was still further increased by the public spirit of Mr. Bourchier, and the liberality of the Government. Mr. Bourchier, well known as Governor of Bombay, was originally Master Attendant of Calcutta: he was a merchant, and most successful in his pursuits. At this period there was no particular house, in which the Mayor and Aldermen could. meet for the transaction of business; for there was a time, when Calcutta was governed by a Mayor and Aldermen! To remedy the inconvenience, which these municipal officers suffered for want of special accommodation, Mr. Bourchier built the Old Court House, which was much enlarged by several additions in the year 1765. He gave it to the Company, on condition that Government should pay 4,000 Arcot Rs. per annum, to support a charity school, and for other benevolent purposes. In consideration of the many great improvements, which had been chiefly made by the munificence of private individuals, Government agreed to devote 800 Rs. per month to these charitable purposes. And, when the ruinous state of the building rendered its demolition necessary, Government with a truly generous spirit consented to pay 800 Rs. in perpetuity. Some years afterwards, when application for assistance was again made to the Government on behalf of the school, a further donation of 800 Rs. per mensem was munificently bestowed. The liberality of the Government, on this occasion, is truly deserving of praise. |