and conquering vicious habits, true heroism is
displayed, and a marvellous power of overcoming
difficulties must be called forth? A striking proof of the
hold the system had obtained over the minds of the
boys was given at the time of the revolution of 1848.
France was then from one end of the country to the
other in a state of anarchy, and all the Government
schools were in rebellion. At Mettray, without walls,
without coercion, there was not a sign of insubordination;
not a single child attempted to run away. It
was in allusion to the absence of walls M. le Baron
de la Crosse, Secretaire du Sénat, observed, 'Here is
a wonderful prison, where there is no key, but the
clef des champs! If your children remain captive it is
proved you have discovered the key of their hearts.'
During the revolution a band of workmen came to
Mettray with flags flying and trumpets sounding, and,
meeting the youths returning tired from field-labour, their
pickaxes on their shoulders, thus addressed them:—
' My boys, be not such fools as to work any longer.
Bread is plentiful; it is ready for you without labour.'
The chef who was conducting the lads, and who
behaved with the greatest calmness and tact, immediately
cried, 'Halt! form in line.' The lads, being accustomed
to march like soldiers, immediately formed. The
chef then stepped forward and said to the men, ' My
friends, you have learned to labour; you have a right
to rest; but leave these lads; let them learn now, and
when their turn comes they may rest as you do.' The
men gave way, the youths marched home, and Mettray
was saved—saved, as I believe, by our habit of military
discipline. Had those lads been walking homewards
without rule like a flock of sheep, the men would have
got among them, carried away one or two, and the rest
would have followed; but, drawn up in line, they met
the attack in one body, and thus it was repelled.
M. Demetz proceeded to give other interesting details
of the system pursued in Mettray, and concluded his
address amid general applause.

On the 9th M. Demetz visited the Reformatory
School at Bedhill. He was received by the Rev.
Sydney Turner and a large party; and the boys, who
had made the place gay with flowers, were assembled in
the schoolroom. Here eleven boys who have passed
through their period of probation in the school, and will
in a few days emigrate to the Colonies, advanced and
read a simple address of welcome and thanks; to which
M. Demetz listened and replied with great earnestness
and emotion. "Some of us," said the boys, "have
brothers in the army of England, who are now with the
sons of France fighting the battle of freedom for the
world. Will you say to our comrades at Mettray, that
we hope both they and we will always be found side by
side fighting against the world's greatest enemies—
fraud, and falsehood, and wrong." These, it must be
observed, were not mere words of course; the boys at
Redhill subscribed to the Widows' and Orphans' Fund
on the occasion of the recent thanksgiving for the
successes before Sebastopol very nearly £5 out of their own
personal savings. They did the same on a similar
occasion last year. M. Demetz expressed himself highly
gratified with his visit. He left a subscription for the
society, constituting himself a Governor. He solicited
release for any boys under punishment; but, happily,
there were none; and in lieu he asked that they might
have a holiday at an early day, and gave them eighty
francs for a treat on the occasion.

The Berks Reformatory School, established at
Shinfield, is now ready for the reception of juvenile offenders.
A meeting to further this and the extension of similar
institutions was held at Reading on the 9th instant.

A Reformatory Institution has been formed in
Yorkshire. At the first public meeting lately held at
York,—the Earl of Zetland in the Chair,—a report was
adopted recommending immediate action, and proposing
a plan. The object of the society is to establish a single
school-farm. The Earl of Carlisle has offered a site of
forty-three acres near to Castle Howard on reasonable
terms, and that offer the society has determined to
accept. They also agreed upon the rules for the
regulation of the society's affairs, and appointed a committee
to conduct them.

The meeting of the Docking Agricultural Society,
at South Creake in Norfolk, derived peculiar importance
from the address delivered by the President, the
Earl of Leicester. His principal topic was the means
of Improving the Condition of the Rural Population.
"We are met together," he observed, "for the purpose
of rewarding and encouraging the agricultural labourer.
This association can do a great deal; but a great deal
rests with the owner of the cottage in which the
labourer resides, and next with the occupier of the land
on which he is employed. First, as to the owner of the
cottage. I have the misfortune—at least the misfortune
as far as I am concerned—to be a very considerable
owner of cottage property. I have endeavoured, as far
as I can, to improve the cottage of the labourer; and in
doing so I trust I have both physically and morally
improved his condition. In the the first place, I have
endeavoured in building my cottages to provide such
accommodation as will allow a human being to live in
the way in which a man should live. In the next place,
I have endeavoured to build those cottages at as little
possible loss to myself as I can. To expect a profit from
cottage property without screwing the tenant, is impossible.
By not allowing lodgers to be taken in, by
enforcing a few other simple rules which it is necessary
to make with the labouring classes, and by having my
tenants in nearly every case directly under me as their
landlord, I firmly believe that I have improved their
condition both physically and morally. Now, gentlemen,
as to the master who employs the labourer.
When I, as an owner of cottage property, have done as
much as I possibly can to improve the condition of the
labourer, much still rests with the master who employs
him. I believe, gentlemen, a good master makes a
good man. I believe, if a little more attention is paid
in looking after the labourers we employ, we may make
them, in many cases, much more efficient, and give
them a much greater interest in the soil on which they
work and the prosperity of the master who employs
them. I believe that when we take labourers from
another farm, by making a few inquiries into their
characters at the place which they have left—by paying
the same kind attention that we pay to our domestic
servants—by taking, in short, an interest in them which
we have hitherto not displayed—we might induce
among labourers a regard for character which at
present does not exist sufficiently in our district."
Referring to the recent tea-festival at Banham, given
by Lord Albemarle, and that happy innovation on
the practice of giving largess to the labourers, he said
— "I believe that the giving of largess has a most
injurious effect upon our labourers; in many cases I think
it is the first introduction to the beer-shop. In saying
this, I don't wish for a moment to lessen the number of
holidays and indulgences which our labouring classes
possess; for they are few enough now, and I should be
rather inclined to increase than to diminish them. It
may be said that this custom of largess is an old custom;
but if the custom, though old, is a bad one,
there is no reason why we should not abandon it. Our
forefathers lived on acorns and mast; but that is no
reason why we should return to that food. If an old
custom is a bad one, let us get rid of it. I believe that
the plan carried out at Banham by Lord Albemarle
and the clergy and gentry of that district would prove
of inestimable benefit to the county if it were adopted
throughout Norfolk. One of the great evils we have
to contend against is the vice of drunkenness. As an
employer, I find I can deal with men, let their vices be
what they will, if they are not given to drunkenness.
With the drunkard I can do nothing. On the Friday,
when he is paid, he goes to his beer-shop, and he won't
appear again till Tuesday; and then he will come back
in such a state that it is useless to employ him." He
hoped the society would endeavour to eradicate that
great evil of the county—drunkenness; and in aid
thereof, he would give all that he had been accustomed
to give in the way of largess, and double the sum, in
furtherance of that object. Touching on the question
of education, he proposed the establishment of a library
for the poor, and schools for adults. "The great difficulty
we have to contend with is this: it is all very
well to talk about schools and education, but we hold
out such inducements to boys six or seven years old,