Ladies’ Edinburgh Magazine > Volume 5

A Letter from Sandivell. 279
household assemble twice a day in the chapel within the
house for morning and evening prayer, when a portion of
our English service is read, and I give a short catechetical
explanation of one of the lessons for the day.
II. The Girls' School.—This, in its large and lofty rooms,
riding school, and abundance of playground, has many
special advantages. Every effort is made for healthy learn¬
ing, no undue pressure is used, but steady, earnest work
encouraged. Excepting music, the teaching is entirely by
ladies. The whole school endeavours in its measure to reach
the standard proposed for the Oxford Local Examinations.
Before Easter there is a rehearsal examination, when every
child takes part, and from which I decide who shall be the
candidates. This distinction is greatly desired. We intend,
when the University Examination Papers are brought' back
by the candidates, to give them to those left at home, and
thus the whole school will receive the benefit. One-third of
our number are this year going in, and we hope that next
May, Sandwell will itself be a centre for the examination.
But lessons are not the only thought; there are poultry to
be fed, gardens to be tended, lawn tennis to be enjoyed, roots
to be found for the ferneries; and in the winter, such skating!
for a beautiful little lake, a mile in circumference, belongs
to the house. Once a week I invite the children to the
drawing-room, and music or games, or work for the poor or
for missions, gives a pleasant evening, when formality is
altogether thrown aside. The dining-room is a magnificent,
lofty apartment, forty feet by thirty feet, and, like the others,
has a beautiful oak floor.
The expense averages that of a good boarding-school; but
in order to help the daughters of gentlemen whose means
are limited, there are ten exhibitions of thirty-six guineas
per annum; and to encourage study, there are five open
annual scholarships of from £10 to £50 in value. Three of
the latter are to be given away this summer, and I should be
glad to hear of candidates.
III. The College.—This, it is hoped, will be eventually the
most important department of all. My wish is, that the
resident teachers should be ladies who, having themselves
known the dehght of higher education, would form tutorial
classes for the inmates. These may either be ladies who
have fortunes, who will find every accommodation for walk¬
ing, riding, boating, archery, and other pursuits calculated to
promote health in the midst of study, or they may be those
whose means, otherwise insufficient, are enabled to gain