SELF-IMPROVEMENT AND ADULT INSTRUCTION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 275, 21 November 1871, Page 4

SELF-IMPROVEMENT AND ADULT INSTRUCTION.

(From the Ross News). The- advantages- of education have not ' received that consideration on goldfields which should mark the desire of those men for improving themselves whose mental faculties were not aided durins their childhood, and it is a matter of surprise that' when brought in contact with their more intelligent companions, they . are not led to feel their deficiencies to such an extent as would induce them to seek instruction. But no ; hundreds— aye, thousands — of illiterate men on our goldfields thoughtlessly allow time to . fly by without making an to improve their minds, and, as a consequence, become, in a few years, totally unfit companions for any rational beiDg. To improve the mental condition of such men should be the aim of every individual whose profession entitles him to be considered a moral director of those who are not capable of fully recognising the responsibility which attaches to them as | members of a civilised community. But, how few professors of morality and religion do we find who take an intcrent in" the cultivation of the minds of the laboring man — how few do we find who feel a pleasure in visiting a miner, in his hut, for the purpose of imparting useful instruction to him during his leisure hours, ; and it is a. rare occurrence indeed to find • an*educated man reading aloud for the amusement or instruction of his less fortunate " mates." The consequence is, .that in very many huts — even in tbe . immediate neighborhood of large mining townships— men possessed of good natural abilities, are to be found idling their time 'away in some trifling amusement. To improve this sad state of things some action must be taken by the men themselves, and this has been felt by a few of our lead;ing miners, who have advertised in our columns a meeting to be held for'the purpose of formingan evening class, for rudimentary instruction in the English language. It is the intention of these men, if a sufficient number of members can be procured, to engage a competent teacher, whose duty if will be to instruct his pupils inreadiDgj writing, and arithmetic, which, we are sorry to say, many a smart and industrious miner is sadly deficient of. The idea of . an evening school will, no doubt, seem strange to many men ; but.we trust that any delicacy of '• feeling they in ay .' possess on that point will be thrown aside', i '^andthat'they will come boldly forward j '' and l unitedly act in/ a cause, which must bear fruit of a goodly character. Let 'them consider thaCtho hours wasted in idleness every evening — if spent, in strict !1 attention to, proper instruction for a few , m*6nthß ; — w'6uld enable a man who can - neither read nor write to acquire a sufficient .knowledge > ; to correspond- ;*. with;! his j friends, — let them picture the very i ; different position it would be possible, for ;1 them to, occupy /were they to ,deyqte their spare hours,' for a few months, to a little study, and we feel cony inced they will be f 'i inciined' ito ftry the { experiment. The fekpenfle-'o^ sought to be, prop%tfeed by the few men vV:'^hW'hoysV^ in" this i - -i matter? 'ffi9s^sW<^si> # **>??$ 1

What Girls Should Learn. — After the death of his wife, that gallant soldier, Sir Charles Napier, removed to Caen in Normandy, and' did his best; to perform the part of a mother to his girls. His aim was to make. them religious, as tbe foundation of all excellence ; to teach them accounts, that they might learn the value of money; worh, that they, might not waste their time if they were rich, nor be helpless if they were poor ; cooking, that they might guard against tbe waste of servants, and be able to do for themselves iu the event of a revolution. A Wild Father.— The rising generation " age " rapidly. Amateur specimen, eight years old, was hunting round the police station for a stray father the other night. "You see," he remarked, with filial exultation, " the gov'ner's a little wild yet, but he'll grow out of it." — American JPaper. Adulteration op Beer. — Forty-two tons of the noxious drug coculus indicus is imported into England anuually, aud is employed almost exclusively by brewers and publicaus ,in adulterating beer. Further, two barrels of beer are converted into three* by the aid of the brewers' druggists, who supply the liquorice and coculus indicus for the purpose. A "Message from the Sea" was picked up at New Bedford, Mas?., recently written from the City of Boston, and preserved in a bottle. The bottle whs without date or name, aud written by a German, the translation running on as follows; — " Dear persons, — He who finds this bottle if it possibly makes its way to laud, will please send it to the Admiralty in an English harkj-*-»._l have thrown similar ones which 1 contain the tidings in different languages. They come from the sinking ship City of Boston. We got unfortunately, iu or among ,the- (ice probably) from which no one cati, be extricated." ''