good deal to do with the falling away of the school." "Well," he replied frankly (now that a signed resignation removed all danger), "I wud not jist like to deny altogether that it may have probably done some injury to the attendance." "But," I rejoined, "many say that it was entirely owing to the fishing." "Oh, that wud be saying jist too mich, but I did like the fushin' better than the teachin'." "You fished a good deal, of course, in the morning and evening and during the holidays?" "Oh yes," with a sly twinkle; "and sometimes when I should have been teachin'." "Not surely during school hours?" "Yes, it's the God's truth I did," with increasing frankness; "I did fush too mich. When the river wud be in good trum I wud often be giving the boys a holiday or two. Oh yes, I did fush too mich, that's the God's truth." THE REVISED CODE. 55 CHAPTER VII. THE REVISED CODE AN INJURY TO SCOTTISH EDUCATION-THE CATION LEVELLED "DOWN," NOT "UP"-MANY TEACHERS For any but educationists a disquisition on the Revised Code as injurious to Scottish education has probably little interest, but in a book of educational reminiscences some reference to it is necessary. I give this as a warning to the layreader who may wish to escape being bored. In 1872 Lord Young's Act was passed, a separate Scottish Department was instituted, and Scotland got for herself a code of greater elasticity and generally higher educational aims. We got rid of the Revised Code, which even in its merely formal application to Scotland did great harm, and retarded, if it did not in some important respects actually throw back, Scottish education for ten or twelve years. It said, "Thus far shalt thou go"; but too many teachers completed Canute's command by practically adding, “and no farther," which is not, and should not be, found in any code. They said it too with a sincerity which Canute only pretended to have, and with a power which Canute knew he had not, and they consequently succeeded where he failed. It is now ancient history, and no shred of it will ever be restored. Its introduction into Scotland, however, deserves a few remarks, though in making them I depart somewhat from the intention I have expressed of avoiding technical topics. Let us give it any little credit it deserves. In England, and in some parts of Scotland also, educational reform was needed. It increased regularity of attendance, and it must be granted that if, under it, the majority of English children mastered the "beggarly elements" solidly and well even in a mechanical way, it did more than ever had been done before. But the remedy was violent and educationally barbarous. Its plan was inherently mechanical and therefore bad. England had little of a proud past in elementary education that could serve as a foundation for a solid superstructure, but even that little was absolutely ignored. In the Revised Code reading, writing, and THE "BEGGARLY ELEMENTS.” 57 arithmetic for a considerable time stood severely alone. It is difficult to believe that for five long years the only educational pabulum provided for English elementary schools was the three R's in their barest form, with bills of parcels as the loftiest aim in arithmetic. There was no suggestion about intelligence, composition, grammar, geography, or history. Teachers were not only tempted, but being like other people merely human practically forced by the pecuniary conditions of the Code to aim at, and be satisfied with reaching, a sordid minimum of attainment in the "beggarly elements," in which there was not necessarily a ray of intelligence. The clever child was allowed to dawdle and mark time because he was sure to pass, and so his energy was deadened because deprived of the healthy stimulus which a consciousness of making progress gives, while the dullard was drilled beyond his power of reception and to his injury. Inspectors were no doubt told that every school was to be judged as hitherto by its religious, moral, and intellectual merits, but this judgment unfortunately had not the effective sanction of possible increase or reduction of grant except in extreme cases. In other words, the highest grant might be, and often was, earned in the most unintelligent and mechanical way, the intellectual life and tone of the school being wholly unmeasured. While this indictment is severe as to the treatment England received, it is infinitely more severe in regard to Scotland, whose past was the envy not only of England but of most other civilised nations, and which had such a splendid basis as the old parish schools afforded for an educational reform, suitable alike for the dull and the clever. This was entirely ignored, and there was substituted for it a measure which, even in skilful hands, could with difficulty be rescued from a dreary, wooden dead-level. The second indictment against the Revised Code is that it was imposed on Scotland entirely on the result of inquiry into the condition of elementary English schools. It was apparently assumed either (1) that Scottish and English ordinary schools were similar in respect of the character and extent of the education given, or (2) that Scotland was so unimportant, such a mere pendicle to England, that her claim to a separate hearing could not be allowed, and that she ought not to make a wry face at the educational pabulum which was thought suitable for her bigger sister. Both assumptions were excessively irritating. The first implied absolute ignorance of our educational |