And, finally, that the means of producing this defensive force, instead of being an expense, will be a gain to the productive powers and value of the labors of the country.”
Lieutenant-General Shaw Kennedy, in a letter expressing his high approval of the plan, states, “that the inferences drawn can not be controverted.” He is of opinion that if the measure is carried out it will be the means of bringing two million of men actually under arms in Great Britain alone, that is, excluding Ireland. He conceives that the effects of military drill and exercises, and the use of fire-arms taught at schools, would never be forgotten; that a youth so trained would, at any future period, with a slight degree of practice, renew his knowledge of what he had been taught.
Nor has the training of a better class of seamen been neglected. This is of vital importance to the well-being of a commercial people, and it is well for us to see what steps England is taking in the matter.
For the purpose of giving instruction in the naval drill, old masts and tackle have been obtained for some of the training schools in England, and Mr. Taffnell has received expressions of satisfaction from naval men of the way in which some of the boys have by these means been tutored as seamen in pauper schools. In order to form sailors, it is necessary to have masts and sails rigged in the playground, and a regular seaman must be engaged to drill the boys.
Mr. Baker has observed that the naval drill as given at Greenwich, is highly effective. “He states that he was on board the Ganges and the Conway at a time when many boys came on board who had been taught the naval drill at Greenwich naval schools; and that they proved to be as ready and well trained as man-of-war’s men; they were clean and orderly, and as a class were first-rate seamen, becoming petty and warrant officers in greater proportion than others.”
Of its consequence upon the national health and industry, Professor Owen has stated that even in the best-warmed and ventilated schools, five or six hours’ enforced stillness of growing children is a violation of the primary laws of physiology; whilst Miss Nightingale and others agree that, under the present system, children are placed under conditions which impair good bodily health and generate epidemic disease. Mr. Rahnson, a school commissioner at Amsterdam, states that the physical evils attendant upon the present amount of sedentary confinement in schools, required from young children, is beginning to attract attention in Holland, and that they have under trial a system of exercises for schools advocated by Dr. Schrieber, of Leipsic. ‘The chief question,’ says the latter gentleman, ‘is, How are our children to be brought up? Is it according to the laws of nature? The answer is, No; or we should not see so many children who were rosy and healthy before going to school, become pale and bloodless after school has begun;’ and he prescribes the limitation of the hours of school confinement.
Mr. Robert Rawlinson, civil engineer, gives the following as his opinion of the advantages of school drill in connexion with manual labor:
“In my opinion, based on experience and observation, I think school drilling and training would prove of the utmost consequence to the boys in after life. I may give a few instances. In all engineering and building, tradesmen are frequently required to use their strength in concert, lifting, carrying and drawing; men, to use their joint strength not only effectively but safely, must have confidence in each other. Two trained men will lift and carry more easily and safely than four untrained men. I have frequently seen trained men weed out unskilled men where heavy lifting has been required, because they dare not risk the danger arising from unskilled strength, and few have performed with more safety work which would have been lighter and easier if all had been equally skilled. Men frequently reject the assistance of unskilled men, as there is absolutely danger in having them near. Frequent accidents arise from using men unskilled in lifting, in hoisting, and at capstan work. *** Boys should not only learn to march, but to lift, carry and pull in concert. There are many necessary feats of strength in all trades, which are more matters of knack and tact than of brute strength. Brute strength frequently fails to do that which comparative weakness can accomplish easily with skill and confident concert. There is no regular system of training in concert to use human strength in the best manner in any trade, so far as I know; acting in concert is a matter of necessity, and practice gives facility and confidence. Drill and training would probably double the effective human power of any establishment, especially if numbers are instructed in joint feats of strength. That which is taught to youth is never forgotten in after life.”
“As regards its fitness as an appendage to the highest branches of education, we have the testimony of experienced examiners at the University of Oxford, England, who state that six hours mental work, instead of ten or twelve, for adults, was the time of the great majority of the prizemen; and it was always found that those who were the foremost in mental labor were commonly the foremost in boat-rowing and physical exercise. The Vice-Chancellor of Oxford testifies that the institution of the systematized exercise of the volunteer drill in that college had been attended by an improvement of the mental labors, and of the whole of the order and discipline, as well as of the health of the University; and that, encouraged by these results, he was considering of making provision for cavalry exercises.”