be left out, that the residuum would be too bare and too broad to hold men together. Infinitely better, we believe, for the Church of Christ is it, that while we may all unite in fundamentals, each section should cultivate those branches of truth which seem specially committed to it, and thus we should have great unity and harmony in foundation, with great variety in superstructure.

The Annual Meetings of the Friends' Foreign Mission Association, and of the Friends' Temperance Association, and the Tract Association, were well attended, and were all of them interesting and encouraging. Concerning the first it was pleasant to find that after a very serious overdraft upon the treasurer for a long time, the tide had turned, and there was now a balance in hand. The sum required for next year's work would however be large, and we cordially echo the treasurer's appeal for an increase in annual subscribers, as well as in subscriptions, that the work may in no wise flag for lack of money. The report of the Temperance Association spoke encourageingly of the efforts and progress made, and alluded to the four Friends' Conferences held in different parts during the past year as having largely conduced to bring the subject more decidedly before Friends, and induced a heartier and livelier support of Total Abstinence principles.

The Yearly Meeting closed on Sixth-day morning, and the solemnity of the concluding sitting, and of the reading of the final Minute, will rest upon the hearts of many present;"intending to meet at the usual time next year, if the Lord permit," are words of solemn import. Although the assembly may meet, what will be its constituent parts? and how many of those who now part may never meet again in this life, who shall say? "Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not."

EDITOR.

IS IT DESIRABLE THAT BOYS AND GIRLS SHOULD BE TAUGHT TOGETHER? *

BY ALFRED W. BENNETT, M.A.

(Enlarged from a Paper read at the Educational Conference held during the recent Yearly Meeting.)

THE thought of writing a short paper on this subject was suggested by the circumstance that the Committee of one of our Public Schools has recently had under its consideration the desirability of joining together the lowest classes of boys and girls under one teacher. From the belief that this innovation, if rightly carried out, will be fraught with beneficial results, I have been desirous of bringing forward a few facts connected with the system of mixed education.

In discussing the soundness of any general rule of conduct, we may proceed on one of two plans-deductive or inductive; we may inquire whether it is in accordance with certain principles of right and wrong already fixed in our own minds; or, on the other hand, whether it is supported by the authority of practical experience. It is so universally the practice with the middle and upper classes in this country to send their boys and girls to different establishments, and almost entirely to separate them from one another's influence

*From the increasing interest manifested upon the subject of mixed schools, we do not hesitate to insert two papers on the same side of the question, the one from an Irish lady and the other from an Englishman. We should gladly receive a third essay from either side the Channel advocating the opposite view, so that the whole bearings of the subject, pro and con, may be fairly before our readers.-EDITOR.

during their school life-that is, during the greater part of those years which are most important in the formation of their character-that it probably hardly enters into the thoughts of a large number that any other arrangement is even possible. And yet I believe it will be difficult to frame a satisfactory defence for the prevalent custom on either of the two modes of reasoning.

Firstly, with regard to any general principle. It will hardly be maintained that there is, in the nature of things, any valid reason why boys and girls should not be constantly in each other's company, say from the age of eight to fourteen or fifteen, at which age a large number, at least of those who are educated at our public schools, have to go out to make their own way in the world. Nature, at all events, gives no countenance to this idea; she has not yet fallen into the practice of assembling boys into one family and girls into another. And in those families where private tuition is substituted for school life, it is usual for brothers and sisters to take their place side by side in the schoolroom as they had previously done in the nursery. But even many, who would never think of putting their boys entirely under tutors, or their girls altogether under governesses, have a vague theory that it is undesirable that boys and girls who are not nearly related should be taught together, and that harm will result from their mixing too freely. What foundation there is for this idea I will examine presently.

I do not here propose to discuss the question of the relative power of the two sexes with regard to higher education. Those who are interested in the subject I may refer to many writings on the subject, especially to Miss Jex-Blake's "American Schools and Colleges,' and to a lecture by the Rev. Dr. Fairchild, Principal of Oberlin College, entitled, "Co-education of the Sexes," My own conclusion, derived from all

that I have been able to see and hear, is that we are not justified from experience in treating any intellectual qualities or powers of the mind as feminine rather than masculine, or the reverse. But even those who differ from me in this respect will hardly maintain that up to the age of fifteen the minds of all boys require one mode of treatment, and those of all girls a different mode.

We now come to the question: Is the separation of the sexes in education justified by experience? or rather, Has the opposite practice been found to lead to evil results, physically, intellectually, or morally? Without forgetting that the practical question actually before us is a very limited one, referring only to children of a very tender age, it may nevertheless be worth while to give a slight sketch of the extent to which mixed education is at the present time adopted -probably much greater than many imagine.

To commence with our own country. Leaving Infant schools and Sunday schools altogether out of account, I find that the Wesleyan day-schools, as a rule, are carried on altogether on the mixed system. The same is the case in Scotland, and in many parts of the North of England with regard Board-schools; indeed, north of the Tweed, with the exception of a few aristocratic private boarding-schools, and the colleges attached to universities, there are scarcely any schools that are not mixed. With regard to the success of the plan there, the following are a few extracts from a letter from one of H. M. Inspectors of Schools for Scotland.* "The mixed system is the system on which Scotch national education is, and has been for hundreds of years, based. . . It will not decline among the Scotch, I am sure; it is based on nature, has excellent effects under good teachers, and will

* William Jolly, Esq.

increase in extent. Its intellectual effects are good in both sexes. It strengthens the mental faculties of girls by contact and emulation with those of boys. It refines, sweetens, and ameliorates the character, disposition, and habit of boys. It strengthens and widens the moral nature of girls, prevents littleness and narrowness, and a lesser and lower circle of moral thought too common amongst women. It produces greater sympathy between the sexes, greater knowledge of the minds, characters, and habits of both. . . . .. It gives scope for the exhibition of true and manly feelings of assistance, co-operation, and gallantry of one sex to the other. I know a clergyman in Glasgow, of high position, who, though educating his daughters at home, sends them to a large mixed common school for a certain part of the day for mental and moral effects. . . My own personal experience and observation are entirely in its favour when rightly conducted. I should be very sorry to see it discontinued in our country and separation introduced. I am sure, under good hands, its effects for good on both sexes are very great."

Turning to educational institutions of a somewhat higher character:-in one of the most successful undertakings of the kind in the country, the Birmingham and Midland Institute, which numbers an average of from 1,500 to 2,000 students, the classes in all subjects have for twenty years been open to women as well as to men, the age ranging from adults to under fourteen. There is no supervision exercised by women; and yet, says my informant,* the Secretary assures her that during the fourteen years of his experience he has known of no single instance of rudeness offered to the girl students, nor one case of harm or evil arising from

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* Address to the College for Men and Women, delivered by Mrs. F. R. Malleson, October, 1874,