ABSTRACT
THE last Report of the Ragged School Union, referring only to the metropolis, states that there are now in existence 95 Schools ; the number of voluntary teachers being 1,392; of children on week evenings, 5,352, on Sunday, 10,439. How little we can gather from this statement the actual amount of real instruction efficiently given, the reader is now prepared to estimate. The supporters of the various Schools soon began to feel the necessity of doing something more effective to raise the class they wished to work on ; industrial training was added in many on certain evenings, attendance on which was regarded as a privilege ; yet, even now, some of the Evening Schools are open only on one evening in the week ; several only two, and but a fourth part are open every evening. The attendance of voluntary teachers having been proved to be little reliable, in almost every School there is at least one paid teacher. Another agency has now been found needful, and has been added-Free Day Schools. To the consideration of the actual position
and character of these the present chapter will be devoted.
