Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/754

 7-30 coTTAcr:, faum, and villa architecture. One object for inducing children to play together is to give them a knowledge of one another, and to elicit their individual character, so as to enable the master and mistress to apply instruction accordingly. For this purpose, in the case of very young infants, concentration must be more avourable than dispersion; and, consequently, the size of the play-ground must be regulated by the size of the infants. 1525. The House for the Master and Mistress should be connected with, or contiguous to, the school ; and should, at all events, command a complete view of the play-ground, in order to enable them to look over the children during their dinner-time. The places of convenience should not only be near the school, with a covered way leading to them, but there should be small windows looking into them, from the class-room, or some other convenient situation, through which the master or mistress may, when a child has been long absent, ascertain in the easiest manner that no accident has befallen it. 1526. The Accommodation, of the House for the Master and Mistress should consist of at least two sitting-rooms, one for constant use, and the other, in which there ought to be a school library, for receiving visiters. The kitchen and other conveniences ought to be in proportion ; and in the country there ought always to be a garden, not only for the supply of vegetables to the master and mistress, but for their recreation and enjoy- ment during the hours of leisure. 1527. The Infant School, near St. VincenVs Square, Westminster, may be considered a very good model for a country infant school. It is placed in an irregidar piece of ground serving as a yard, and consists of one large room, fig. 1376, a, forty-two feet by twenty- 1376 two feet, with seats on each side ; one fire at each end ; two large ventilators in the ceiling ; and with sliding doors opening into a gallery, b. There are about one hundred feet of seats, so that the school may be considered as adapted for that number of chil- dren. At one end is a class-room, c, and at the other is the house of the master and mistress, d. There are yards and lean-tos at each end ; one at e, for the children ; and another at f, for the master and mistress. From the class-room, c, there are small holes filled in with panes of glass looking into the yards, through which, when any child has stayed out longer than ordinary, the master or mistress can ascertain, without trouble, whether or not an accident has happened in that part of the premises. The whole of the front yard can be inspected in a moment from the entrance-door, ^r. This school was established through the influence of Mr. Owen ; and the present excellent teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan, were brought to superintend it from Mr. Owen's establishment at New Lanark. Every child brings twopence with him on the Monday morning, which is understood to pay for his week's instruction, or, in other words, the salary of the master ; the rent, taxes, and expenses of heating and lighting, being paid by the patrons and sub- scribers to the school. SuBSECT. 2. Fundamental Principles, and Rules deduced from them, for designing Sehools for Mutual Instruction. 1528. Schools for Mutual Instruction are of two kinds : those on the Madras or Bell's system, or on the improved system founded on it by Stoat, the characteristic of both of which is, that the school is at all times taught in separate classes ; and those on the Lancasterian plan, by which the greater part of the teaching is carried on while the