Frank Hardy's choice, and what came of it

by Charlotte Grace O'Brien

"I have heard say," said Walter, "that our master was himself only a poor boy not many years ago; but that he was a good scholar, and so gradually rose to be first foreman, and afterwards master. Very likely we can either of us plane a deal, or drive in a nail as well as he can; but I'm sure we could not have told how much glass would be required for Squire Forbes's new greenhouse, nor have been able to reckon exactly how much it would all cost, as master did when the Squire came into the yard yesterday morning.

"And did you see, Frank, the pretty drawing he made of a greenhouse, so that Squire Forbes could see that he understood what he wanted? They are going to teach drawing, amongst other things, at the evening school, and I mean to learn, if I possibly can manage it."

"I see it is of no use talking to you, Walter, but you'll not convince me; so I shall go my own way."

"And I shall go mine," said Walter, with a smile, "and we shall see whose way turns out the best in the end. I hadn't much schooling when I was a little boy, for I had to leave off going to school when poor father died; so I know I am very backward in a great many things; but now I hope I shall be able to make up for lost time."

"I believe you know far more than I do," replied Frank honestly; "for although I was at school long after you left, I don't think I did much good there. I was always a sad dunce, Walter; and, between ourselves, the chief reason why I told father I should like to be a carpenter was because I thought there wasn't much learning wanted to hammer in nails and plane wood. And as to being master, I'll leave that for you, and shall content myself with being one of your workmen, should you ever arrive at the high position to which you aspire."

The lads separated—Frank to keep his appointment, whatever it might be, with Tom Haines, and Walter to go to the Rectory, to enter down his name as one who would wish to attend the evening school, then about to be formed, for the first time, in Springcliffe.

And here let us say a few words about the benefit of evening classes. It is a fact that there are very, very many men and women, even at the present day, who scarcely know how to read and write. There are, indeed, few who do not, as children, go to school for some portion of time; but it is also a fact that, as a rule, the working-classes withdraw their children from school as soon as their labour can be turned to any account, so that, with very few exceptions, all education may be said to have ceased before the age of twelve, and, more commonly at nine or ten years of age. When to this is added the irregular attendance, even during the few years they are nominally at school, the result is that the working-classes remain almost without education, very few having so far mastered the difficulties of reading and writing as to keep up the habit in after-life, and thus they soon lose the little knowledge they acquired.

It was to meet this evil that evening schools were first established. It is not enough to have made a beginning in reading, writing, or counting, unless such a degree of facility is gained as to render the exercise a pleasure, the little that was learned is very soon forgotten. Evening schools, then, are meant to make up to the young working man or woman for the short period of their early school life, by giving them opportunities of learning thoroughly what in most cases was only learned imperfectly.

Reading and writing are, in themselves not so much knowledge, as the means whereby we gain knowledge; and those who can read and write well will be always able to acquire information. The attendance at evening schools being for the most part entirely voluntary, resulting from a wish to improve themselves on the part of those who attend, the progress made is generally very much more rapid on that account; and a lad will frequently be found to have learned more during a few months' regular attendance at an evening school than he did in two or three years of his earlier school life.

A lad who is worth anything is generally able, at sixteen or seventeen to defray the expenses of the evening school out of his own pocket; and this works well in two ways: it relieves the parents from the outlay, and serves to maintain a spirit of self-respect in the young scholar, who is thus wisely laying out his hardly earned sixpences in buying a stock of useful knowledge. Walter and Frank were both apprentices, and any little money they earned was for working overtime. It was a pleasure to Walter to feel that his mother would not have to put her hand in her pocket to pay for his attendance at the evening school, and he knew that he could not spend his pocket-money in a better way.