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plication of mind as well as body . The rooting out this prejudice is the point I ftim at as rny favouine object . Our Sa viour takes particular , pains to manifest that whatever tended to promote the Jieakh and happiness of our fellowcreatures , were sacrifices peculiarly acceptable on that day .
** I do not think * I have written so long a letter for some years . But you "will excuse me ¦ my heart is warm in the cause .. T think this is the kind of reformation mo > t requisite in thi : kingdom . Let our patriots employ themselves in rescuing iheir countrymen from that despotism , which tyrannical passions and vicious inclinations exercise
over them , and they will find that true liberty and national welfare are more cssentia ; ly promoted , than by any reform in parliament . " As often as I have attempted to conclude , soilc new idea has arisen . This
i * strange , as I am writing to a per on whom I nrver have , and perhaps never may see but I have felt that we think alike 1 -hall therefore only add my ardent wishes , that your views of
promoting the happiness of society may be attended with every possible success , conscious that your own internal enjoyment will thereby be ^ considerably advanced , ** 1 have the honour to be , Sir , ii Yours , &cc . " R , Raix . es . "
Mr . Raikes " had very soon occasion to answer another enquiry ¦* ' from Bradford in . Yorkshire . " His letter , which is dated " Gloucester , June 5 , J 7 S 4 / ' nil ) be found in the New Annual Register
lor i 785 ( 2 i 2 . ) and agrees , in substance with the foregoing . Yet the following passages may serve to complete the interesting information , upon the subject of the Sunday School , the last which we can receive , from the * Inventor
himself , * ' I we at round to the parents to remonstrate with them on the melancholy ^ consequences that must ensue fro m so fatal a neglect of their children ' s morals . They alleged , that their poverty rendered them incapable of cleaning and clothing their children fit to appear eiijticx at * chcol pit at rimrpfc : but this
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objection was obviated by a remark that if they were clad in a garb fit to appear in the streets , I should not think it improper for a school calculated to admi the poorest and n , ost neglected , Many ch ldren began tc * shew talents for lea ning , and a desire to be taneht .
Little rewards were distributed among the mest diligent ; ths excited an emulation . Certain boys who are distinguished by their decent behaviour , are appo . nted to super ntend the conduct of the iest _ , and make report of those that swear , call names , or interrupt ihe
comfort of the other boys in their neighbourhood . When quarrels have arisen , the aggressor is compelled to ask pardon , and the offended is enjoined to forgive . The happiness that must arise to aij from a kind , good natured beha \ iour , is often inculcated .
46 This mode of treatment has produced a wonderful change in the manners of these little savuges . I cannot gi \ e a more striking instance than I recei ed the other day from Mr . Church , a considerable manufacturer of hemp and flx , who employs great numbers erf these children . I asked him whether
he perceived any alteration in the poor children he e ^ ployed . * - — ' Sir / sayshe , * the change could not have been more extraordinary in my opinion , had they been transformed from the shape of wol es and tygers to that of men . In temper , disposition and manners , they could hardly be said to differ from the brute creation . But since the
establishment of the Sunday Schools , they nave see i ed anxious to shew that they are not the ignorant , illiterate ere tures they were before . In short , I never conceived that a reformation so singular could have been effected among the set of untutored beings I employed . '"
It appears , from the first letter of Mr . * ftaikes , that the Sunday School originated in 1780 . For throe years , the schools gradually extended in his neig hbourhood , to which thvy appear then to h ^ ve been confined , uiul where several clergymen , besides the Curate mentioned by Mr . It , very laudably contributed to the success of the scheme , by their personal attentions . The report of that success , in and about Glouce ^ erf
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58 tf Memoir of Mr . Robert Raikes .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1811, page 580, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2421/page/4/
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