CHAPTER V. REQUISITES FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN INFANT SCHOOL. I SHALL now lay before my readers an account of the things necessary for the establishment of an Infant School; previously to presenting them with the detail of the plan to be pursued in it. In the first place it is necessary to provide an airy and spacious apartment, with a dry, and, if possible, a large play-ground attached to it. The plot of ground, 1 conceive, should not be less than fifty feet wide, and one hundred feet long; but if the ground were one hundred and fifty, or two hundred feet long, it would be so much the better, as this would allow one hundred or one hundred and fifty feet for a play-ground; which is of such importance, that I consider the system would be very defective without it, for reasons which will be spoken of hereafter. There should likewise be a room about fifteen feet square, for the purpose of teaching the children in classes, which may be formed at one end of the large room: this is absolutely necessary. As the master and mistress should live on the premises; a small house, containing three or four rooms, should be provided for them. The reason for their living on the premises is, that the children should be allowed to bring their dinners with them, as this will keep them out of the streets; and, indeed, of those who do go home to dinner, many will return in a very short time, and if there be no persons on the premises to take care of them, they will be lost; and not only so, but strange boys will come in from the streets, and do a great deal of mischief, if no one be there to prevent it. The portion of sitting-room that I have allowed for each child is twelve inches. The scholars should sit all round the school-room, with their backs against the wall. A school according to the plan in the frontispiece, will be found large enough for all the purposes of an infant school; but if wished to be more commodious, it may be of the same length as the plan, and instead of twenty-two feet wide, may be made thirty feet wide; this will hold as many children as ought to be collected together in one place, and as many as any man and woman can possibly teach, to do justice to; if it be any longer, it will be difficult for all the children to hear the master. An oblong building is the cheapest, on account of the roof. Economy has been studied in the plan given, without any thing being added that is unnecessary. This, of course, is a matter of opinion, and may be acted upon or not, just as it suits those who may choose to build. The master's house in the plan, it will be seen, projects a little into the play-ground, to afford him an opportunity of seeing the children at play while he is at dinner, that he may notice any improper conduct on the part of the children, and mention it when the accounts of the day are made up. As children are very apt to get into danger, even when at school, it becomes expedient to exercise the utmost vigilance, in order to prevent the possibility of an accident; for where two hundred children are assembled together, the eldest not seven years of age, it is most certain that if there be danger some will get into it. For this reason, all the doors on the premises should be so secured, that the children cannot swing them backwards and forwards; if they are not, the children will get their fingers pinched, or worse accidents may occur. The forms also should be so placed that the children may not be likely to fall over them. Every thing in short should be - put out of the way, that will be likely to occasion danger to children. The master's desk should be placed at the end of the school, where the class-room is. By this means he will be able to see the faces of all the children, and they can see him, which is extremely necessary, as they may then be governed by a motion of his hand. and The furniture necessary for the school consists of a desk for the master; a rostrum, firmly built; seats for the children; lesson-stand; stools for the monitors; slates and pencils; pictures of scriptural subjects; pictures of natural history; alphabets and spelling lessons; brass letters figures, with boards for them; cubes, geometrical figures, &c.; and the transposition-frame or arithmeticon, as it has been called to these may be added, little books, &c. The particular use of these will be respectively treated of in the succeeding pages. The following is a representation of a lesson post. a b is a slip of wood with a groove in it, fixed to the post by means of the screws and d, on which slip are two blocks e and f; the bottom one, f, is fixed, with a groove in the upper side, for the lower edge of the board g h to rest in; the upper block, e, has a groove in the lower side, for the upper edge of the board g h to rest in, and rises and falls according to the width of the board, on the slip a b.-Instead of being made with feet, the lesson-post is generally, and perhaps better, fixed into the floor of the school-room. The lessons, pasted either on wood or millboard to render them sufficiently stiff, are placed in the grooves of the lesson-post; when they can be stationed in any position which is most convenient, and adjusted to any height, as the master may see proper. The arithmeticon, of which a representation will be given in a subsequent Chapter, is simple in its construction; but, as will be seen hereafter, a very useful invention. It is indeed indispens able in an infant school, as it is useful for teaching the first principles of grammar, arithmetic, and geometry. The following is a list of the articles mentioned, with the prices that have been paid for each; these, however, vary in different parts of the kingdom. 100 Engraved Slates, at 7d. each 1000 Slate Pencils, at 10d. per Hundred Pictures of Natural and Scriptural History, on Boards Alphabets and Spelling Lessons Brass Letters, Figures, and Board for them Cubes, Geometrical Figures, &c. 0 0 5.0 19 11 8 2 18 4 084 2 36 0 10 0 200 0 10 0 0 10 0 0 10 0 Total. . £29 1 10 Little Books, &c. The Play-ground. Since several schools have been established without this necessary appendage, I purpose saying a few words on the subject. It appears to me, that without a playground, Infant Schools would be little superior to what are termed Dames' Schools, where the children of mechanics are usually sent; at any |