OLD PARISH SCHOOLS. 73 133 CHAPTER IX. OLD PARISH SCHOOLS -- M. CANDLEMAS CHANGED CUSTOMS COMPARED-A "STICKIT MINISTER." SOME reference to the old parish schools and to some of the methods and customs that have long passed away is germane to these scholastic jottings. The contrast in respect of buildings and equipment between them and the schools erected by school boards is very striking. The modern demands for a certain number of square and of cubic feet per child were in many cases neither thought of nor provided. The desks were often double, the pupils facing each other -an arrangement admirably adapted for making discipline difficult by offering temptation to unnecessary talking and general restlessness. These desks were in many cases flat tables, which did not contribute to good penmanship. Steel pens were not yet in general use, and the making and mending of quill pens made a considerable drain on the teacher's time. There was often even in large schools only one teacher, who, having many subjects to attend to, had recourse to various devices for saving time and securing efficiency. A boy well advanced in arithmetic would sometimes be placed beside one at a lower stage, the former being instructed to give assistance to the latter. By this plan the lower boy gained much, and the higher boy lost little if anything, inasmuch as there is no better method of getting a sound knowledge of a subject than by teaching it to others. For the maintenance of discipline it was customary to employ an agency now, so far as I know, absolutely disused. A boy chosen by the teacher, and called a censor, was ordered to stand on a high form in a position commanding a view of the whole school, and call out the name of any pupil who was seen to be playing tricks on his neighbours, making a noise, or in any way breaking rules of discipline. The pupil so named was called up by the teacher and subjected to such punishment as was considered commensurate with the offence. This was a method of discipline in favour of which nothing can be said. It was a confession of weakness on the part of the master, and aroused ill feeling among the other pupils against the unfortunate boy on whom was imposed the abominable task of "clyping" on his fellows. It furnished an ill-conditioned censor with a means of petty persecution of any schoolfellow whom he disliked, for he knew that no denial of misdemeanour by the accused would have weight against his authoritative accusation. It was in fact legalising what is universally and properly despised as one of the meanest and most sneaking characteristics whether of boy or man-that of betraying the delinquencies of comrades to those who have power to punish. The observance of Candlemas as a holiday, which was in existence in my schoolboy days, has, I think, been entirely discontinued. On this day, February 2, the teacher occupied his usual seat at his desk, but it could not on this day be said "A man severe he was and stern to view." On the contrary, an atmosphere of gaiety filled the room. It was by distinct recognition a holiday in the fullest sense. When the pupils were assembled the roll was called in the usual way, but instead of each pupil answering "Here, sir," to his name and remaining in his place, he came up to the teacher's desk and deposited a gift varying, according to the means of the parents, from sixpence or a shilling to a crown. The boy and girl who made the largest contribution were called King and Queen. Oranges and gingerbread snaps were then distributed, and all went off on holiday. This is perhaps the proper place to try to strike a fair balance between the merits and demerits of the old parochial system which up to 1872 had been in existence for over two centuries. That it had, like all things human, some demerits goes without saying. It had not been able to keep pace with the growth of the population, and its undoubted tendency was to give more than a fair share of attention to the clever pupils and to neglect the dull. That under it the majority were in many cases somewhat neglected was a serious defect, but on the other hand it is quite certain that universal perfection in the "beggarly elements" of the Revised Code, or in the demands of the earlier codes, would never have gained for Scotland the place she has always held as an educated nation, or enabled her sons to fight their way THE OLD PAROCHIAL SYSTEM. 77 to eminence in every walk of life at home and abroad. This will be thought by many a palliation, though not a complete defence, of comparative neglect of the duller pupils; but it is arguable that any excess of effort to lay hold of and utilise the best brain of the school is more worthy of imitation, and is of more patriotic tendency, than an absolutely equal distribution of attention between dull and promising pupils. Is it unreasonable to say that even the "failing leans to virtue's side"? We have the testimony of an important witness, M. Biot, the famous French physicist, who resided for some time in Scotland: "The results of education are such that they strike with astonishment those who observe them for the first time. The Scots, poor, and inhabiting a country by no means fertile, have risen by their education and civilisation to the level of, and, if the lower orders are considered, have surpassed, a nation which is regarded as one of the most enlightened on the face of the earth. Wherever a Scotsman goes, the education he has received in the parish schools gives his mind a peculiar power of observation, and enables him to extend his view far beyond the range of objects which occupy the attention of |