Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/756

 732 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. and ventilation at h k and 1 1 : the desk round the wall is shown at m ; the box for books at n, and the forms at o. The room is heated in cold weather by stoves. The master has a movable desk and seat on castors, so that he can fix his position in any part of the room that he may choose. The forms, fig. 1379, are supported by cast-iron feet, and the desks against 1379 the walls by cast-iron brackets. Each school i£ is a square of sixty-one feet on the side, and is capable of containing three hundred scholars, that is, twenty-seven forms of eleven or twelve scholars each. The boys' school is managed by one master and nine subordinates ; the girls' school by a mistress, with a subordinate for each class ; and there is a head-master, or rector, who has the general inspection of both schools, and is himself under the guidance of a committee of manage- ment. The scholars pay a trifle weekly. 1532. The Circulatmg Si/stem of Stoat, of the Islington Parochial School, is so great an improvement on the Madras system, that it can hardly fail to be substituted for it by all who are so circumstanced as to be able to examine both systems without prejudice. As far as architectural objects are concerned, it may be sufficient to observe, that, by the Madras system, the children are arranged on three sides of squares ; while by Stoat's system, they are placed in the circumference of a circle, or in those of concentric circles. Hence, for this plan, there ought to be no forms or fixtures of any kind in the centre of the school ; and hence, also, double the number of scliolars can be taught in the same space. For example, within an outer circle of sixteen feet in diameter, boys may be placed in concentric circles, so as to include ninety-one in a single class. But the great advantage of the circulating system, according to Mr. Stoat, is, that the superior and inferior children are constantly mixing together in every part of the class ; and that the former are every where at hand, to assist the latter by their instruction and example. By the Madras system, the school is arranged into classes composed of children of the nearest degrees of proficiency ; and, as soon as any of the boys begin to evince any superiority over the others, they are placed out of the reach of their inferiors ; that is, at the head of the class. By the circulating system, on the contrary, all the children in the circle are continually changing places ; and, instead of merit being indicated by the position of a boy at the head of his class, it is marked by the number of times that he has circulated round it ; he receiving a badge marked with a fresh number evei'y time he passes a certain pole fixed in the ground for that purpose ; and at the conclusion of every week the boys possessing the highest numbers become entitled to medals. But we refer the reader to the interesting little work of Mr. Stoat before-mentioned, § 1517, which deserves to be in the hands of every teacher whose mode of conducting his school is founded on the Madras system ; indeed, in the hands of all teachers whatever. We have, in perusing this work, been delighted to find so much improvement introduced by a single individual into a system which was before considered to be nearly perfect. We have had a plan taken of Mr. Stoat's school, fig. 1 380. It occupies, including the yards, about an acre of ground, and contains a master's house, a boy's school and yard, a girls' school and yard, an extra-school for either boys or girls, and a master's garden. Here are a gravel court of entrance, « ; school for boys, b, with its yard, c ; a school for girls, d ; with its yard, e ; an extra-school for supernumeraries, or for teaching particular sub- jects, /. The master's liouse contains a kitchen lighted from a skylight, g ; a back- kitchen lighted in the same maimer, /* ; a committee-room, i ; and parloui-, k ; besides closets and other conveniences on the ground floor, and four bed-rooms over. There is an entrance porch, /, to the boys' school, and another, m, to that of the girls. There is a large garden, exclusively for the use and enjoyment of the master and mistress, w. The dimensions of the schools, d and h, are forty-eight feet by thirty-six feet ; and in each of