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having done his duty, and finished with his school work. This joy in one's own productions is greatly to be regarded as a force in the formation of character. And is the self-reliance thus engendered, and the happy consciousness of having created something, not to be considered a gain ? It is the man himself that is made by it. This is the great thing to be considered; one will find its use quickly enough in school life. Will a boy who has learned independence be contented to live on others, and enrich himself at the expense of strangers ? Every teacher knows how difficult it is to battle against the scholars prompting one another, against exercises being copied, or their being compared together. Now, the effects of this self-reliance will be traced here. The gain to the character which results from work executed by the boy himself is seen in every phase of the boy's school-life. The reports of those schools in which work-instruction is incorporated into the general system proves this. It is particularly wished that one point should be brought under notice, and that is that, since the pupils have rejoiced in their ability to achieve independent work, their behaviour is decidedly better; they are more responsible, more in earnest. On all these grounds work-instruction is worthy of our best consideration. We have spoken so much the more fully because we have to combat the opinion entertained by some, that the notion of the scholars' workshop was a mere whim which had no real bearing on the system of education. After what we have heard we are justified in saying that work-instruction is a necessary adjunct to the schools, inasmuch as it trains the eye and the hand, and renders impossible the one-sided cultivation hitherto adopted. There will be a greater harmony, more just relations between the scholars' capacities and the performances which are expected from them. That this will have the most beneficial influence upon the bodily and mental well-being of the rising generation is already clearly proved by the gymnastic instruction. Compare for a moment a class which has been enjoying an hour's gymnastic exercises with one which has gone already through four hours of lessons in the morning, and is just setting about to prepare for a fifth. It is an acknowledged fact that after a prolonged effort in one direction it is a refreshment if one is allowed to employ one's capacities in another. It is not absolute rest that is required, but change. It is on this account that the change of subjects is set down in the hours for study. But how much more refreshing must be the change from bodily to mental exertions ; between mere passive receptivity of learning and free self-reliant work; between the rest of the body and having it in active motion. A beginning has already been made through gymnastics. But what are the two hours spent every week in the gymnasium to the other six-and-thirty working hours to a third-class boy who receives private lessons in addition to school, and has to prepare his school tasks besides ? Surely the favourable results which have been arrived at through the gymnasium will serve as helps on our road. We may here be permitted to give an authenticated instance of the value of the refreshing change of occupation of the scholars from a quarter from which we^hardly ventured to expect it: from a school in Paris. Ernest Legouve made a speech a short time ago at the distribution of prizes at the " Monge " school on the various educational systems, in which he made the following statement respecting the " Tournefort " school: " I discovered the Tournefort Street behind the Pantheon, and approached a house, the exterior of which attracted my attention. Let us enter. It is an elementary school. At the first glance there was nothing remarkable to be seen: children at their desks : maps on the walls. That is what one sees everywhere. It strikes 12 o'clock. All the children stand up. Where are they going? To play? No; this is not the time for that. They hurry into two or three workshops for joiners' work, locksmiths' work, modelling, wood-carving. What does this mean? The scholars are become workmen. In place of a pen in their hands they now hold the saw, the foot-rule, the plane, and the hammer. Instead of dictation they make tables, forms, little cupboards: only what can be of use to them comes out of their hands. Then we hear another bell sound, and back they hurry to geography, to history, to arithmetic. What do you say to this union of intellectual and manual instruction? Is there nothing to be learned here ? Do not imagine that I follow in Jean Jacques's footsteps, that I wish to make joiners of you, so that in case of a revolution you may be able to earn your own living. The rough life of a workman needs a far different, a rough training. But is it not necessary to combine instruction of the eyes with that of the hands ? and further, the training of the fingers in the Tournefort school does not stop at hand work, it goes straight on to art. Children model in clay and carve in wood all sorts of ornaments for architecture and cabinet work." Finally, work-instruction would afford a means of discovering latent and unsuspected talents, and so far encouraging them by fitting games as to develop, first, a serious inclination, and then the decided liking which a man feels for the calling he chooses. How often has the teacher to listen to complaints from the parents that their son does not know what he should like to become ! Yes, but generally speaking the school is only in a position to give information respecting the mental capability, the industry and attention and behaviour of the scholar. It is not supposed to exercise any kind of supervision over the general disposition of the boy. The instruction dees not give a scholar any chance of developing his whole individuality; so that it is impossible for him to learn to know himself in school. By means of the school-workshop these possibilities are greatly increased. It would be easy to bring forward examples of great artists who have been made artists by practical employments given to them in their boyhood. But it is not only a love of art that the scholars are likely to get from the scholars' workshops ; they will most likely acquire a much deeper affection for hand-work, and a glance at the condition of our handicrafts will show whether this is needed or not. One set of men think too much of themselves to become artisans, and wish to be merchants or clerks; others want to earn money at once and to work in a manufactory. Skilled hand-work, formerly a subject of such pride in Germany, has fallen into disesteem and is neglected. False prejudice on the one side, greediness of gain and self-indulgence on the other, have brought honourable hand-work into thorough contempt. If many boys are won over by the school-work-shops to love work; if sensible parents are taught to see that their sons will do better as free and able artisans, who take a pleasure in their productions, than as dependent, ill-paid sub-officials, that during the years of school-life, when of course nothing can be earned, it is better to acquire something