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    298 SCHOOLS IN PALERMO.

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    For Several Days After^Tir^ 'First^Sit-;...

    and Upper the Sch elder ool , child for each lias , child all the has bad perhap habits s had of idleness 2 years and training want " ,

    and of app unspoiled lication , ta and overcome learns , far iii whilst more the qui littl ckly e . one But is to taken return fresh to

    the the door court of of the the first convent class , the in which Mot 7 ier some Superior thirty " g now irls between knocked 11 at and 15 were taking , a lesson in dictation . And here we

    must especiall years y note , that Sicilian children appear to have a remarkable aptitude for writing ; in every class we visited ( and

    wonderfully so with the younger children ) the writing was always the the children thing in which throug they h various excelled subjects . The for mistress usand very also kindl _allowed y put

    us to question them ourselves . And ( as was , the case with the elder girls in the Training School ) we found that most rarely

    words could they of their answer lesson any books question . To that the was mistress not put they in invariabl the very y

    replied in the words they had learned by rote . The girls also did We some sum ired s in whether simple addition hy upon were the not slate taug very htseeing fairly . that

    there were enqu no maps on the geograp wallsand found that it , was not yet thought advisable to begin . And , here again we must call to

    mind that these children are and must be for some time to come , will as ignorant take some as babies when to mak they e them enter what these their schools nam , and e signifies that it .

    years At present they can be no more than Elementary Schools— -in factInfant Schools for bichildren ; and looking at them from

    , g attempt this point to of view ar , e they them are with extremel schools y for satisfactory irls of the ; but sam if e age we

    in England comp , we find nothing but disappoin g tment and dismay at the ishewn . The mistress of the first class is a

    middle-age gnorance d woman , with a pleasant gentle manner , but not quite energetic h to keep the attention of these most

    lazy and inattentive enoug girls . Passing into the second classwe see standing on a raised

    platform , a tall , lithe , graceful young , nun , clothed in black from from head the to foot back , with of her two black narrow head stri dress ps of and white looped linen h on ang each _ing

    side of her girdle . She is giving the children , a lesson up in mental her arithmetic , with so much fire , with such life and expression in

    telling burning off the black numbers eyes that , with she her calls long to the arms children and thin that hands 1 can think of nothing but of a curious old print of , Savanarola

    preaching , which I remember seeing- long ago . The young nun greets us with a pleasant smile , and is charmed to show off her

    pupils . Here certainly there is more spirit and life , for such energy cannot fail to infuse itself into the dullest of children ;

    but still there is the same plan of teaching too much from the

    298 Schools In Palermo.

    298 SCHOOLS IN PALERMO .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1864, page 298, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011864/page/10/