VIII. Needlework and vocal music.
Lower Division.
(Taught by six mistresses and four pupil teachers.)
I. Greek.—Reading, writing, modern Greek grammar, with explanations of modern Greek authors.
II. Sacred history and catechism.
III. Greek history.
IV. Arithmetic.
V. Natural history.
VI. Political geography, needlework, and calligraphy.
The infant schools contained two hundred scholars, who were seated on a gallery; four pupil teachers, two on each side, were keeping order, and the mistress was giving the lesson of the day, illustrating it by one of the many colored pictures that decorated the walls of the apartment. The lesson, explained by the teacher, is repeated by the children in chorus, who are afterwards questioned. The system followed in this school appears to me the most successful and appropriate way of teaching young children, whose minds, impressed by the object-lessons, and diverted by the variety of the exercises they are made to perform, are better able to understand and retain the knowledge imparted to them. A lady, recently arrived from Europe, who takes a great interest in schools, told me that few establishments of this kind in Europe could boast of better success.