CHAPTER II.

A MEDIUM PUBLIC SCHOOL, OR SECOND-GRADE BOARDING-SCHOOL.

IF I were asked to pick out the midmost man in England I should be disposed to point my finger at a farmer occupying between 200 acres and 300 acres. There is a man whose place is about equidistant from the two extremes of English society. His relations and dealings, domestic and public, connect him in a very direct manner with every other class, implying much mutual obligation and respect. The Education which that man has received, or can procure for his son, would seem to me the true measure of general English Education. If an improved Education above, and an extended Education below, are the only movements of his time, they are to him not so much ineffective as injurious influences. He becomes isolated. He is embarrassed in his necessary dealings with those above, below, and around him. He feels or fancies that the gentleman treads scornfully on his toes, while the labourer kicks

insolently at his heels. What wonder if he should become servile or tyrannical from annoyance, though he may be manly and generous by nature? What he wants is not to be drawn upwards or downwards out of his station, but to have an Education suitable to that station, one therefore that will be in harmonious relation with that of other classes. The average income of such a farmer would be about 2007., and we may assume that a boarding-school, in which the cost would range much above thirty guineas, or a day school, where the fees should exceed 8., would be out of his reach. If, then, we can arrive at a fair estimate of the kind of school that, within these limits, would best suit the wants of a genuine middle-class family, and can sketch a system by which such schools may be well established and sufficiently distributed, and placed in due relationship to other schools, ranging up towards the highest and down to the most elementary, we shall perhaps have done something to help the solution of the complicated problem of National Education. In taking a farmer's family, instead of a trading or professional family, as the outset of my system, I am recognising the fact established

by the census that the farming class does largely exceed any other when once you rise above the labourer. And, besides, the farmer, as a village resident, cannot, as a rule, expect to find a suitable day-school within his reach, but must depend upon boarding-schools. And though, in the lower grades, day-schools must preponderate, yet the value of a good boardingschool is educationally so great, implying all that a day-school gives and much besides, that I must think the true corner stone of a national system of Education ought to be laid in a model middle-class boarding-school.

Can such a school be established so as to deserve to be called a thoroughly good public school, and to be self-supporting, without exceeding a charge to parents of thirty or thirtyone guineas? I have been working at this problem ten or twelve years, and, believing that it has been satisfactorily solved, will beg serious attention to the following statement:A school cannot be considered to be selfsupporting unless the payments of a parent (including any reduction by endowments) cover the whole cost of (a) board, of (b) tuition, and (c) of interest on the capital expended. The follow

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ing, therefore, are the all-important questions in this matter. What is to be the scale of living? What the standard of tuition? What the style and extent of the buildings, furniture, and grounds? As by assumption we are aiming at a medium school, the scale, standard, and style must all be of that moderate type which is rather to be described as good and sufficient than as handsome and abundant. There should be no justification for complaint or for contempt, though any extravagant outlay would be out of place. For the purpose of true economy in living, in teaching, and in building, a somewhat large school is desirable; and I believe that a school of 200 boarders will give the necessary scope for such economy in all departments, and that one of less than 100 will be always working under some disadvantage. Still the following figures will, I think, satisfy any one that an allowance of eighteen guineas per boy for board, six guineas for tuition, and seven guineas for gross interest on capital, are reasonable estimates of what a charge of thirty-one guineas will allow. The Devon County School was started without any definite estimate of cost, but has been conducted throughout with a great desire

to keep the charges down, and yet to pay to the shareholders a dividend after defraying every necessary and incidental cost. the average cost of board did

During ten years not exceed 167.

per boy. The higher prices of the last two years have increased that cost to 187., but there is no pressure on the part of the master or the parents for any alteration in the scale of living. An enlargement of the school, from 120 to 200 boarders, has been recommended to the Directors by the Bishop of Exeter, on account of the value of the work it is doing. An addition of two-thirds to the present numbers would relieve the cost per head of such charges as service, lighting, and heating, and generally improve the scale of living; but the accounts of the past ten years are enough to prove that eighteen guineas is a sufficient allowance for board in any such school of 100 boarders and upwards.

The charge for tuition at the Devon County School is 57., with an optional charge for certain subjects, as Latin and drawing, that are only taught to those who wish. These optional charges have averaged between 37. and 47. per boy on the whole school, making the total payments from parents equal to about 81. 8s. per