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- CORRESPONDENCE. ......"....,..""V'-"'

TOHN BULL AND HIS BETTtR HALF.

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TOHN BULL AND HIS BETTtR HALF. Cyp a o-ood deal has been said and written of late in disparagement of John Bull and his better half._ I pro- SeKTft little on the other side. Nick Frog is set up to shame John Bull. So wasteful,' says one that he sent ox tails to the tanner till Nick Frog taught him how to make them into excellent soup." ^Vlrtitable says another, "that Mr Bull's table is And so extravagant, cries a third, that e goes into the hog's tub." At the time w en i supposed to have taught us how to dress^n jictuaU hi. own fell.,w Batrachians were half starved 1lacI hut e Jin that bad bread to eat, were in many ^egLD?h • herbs, and could scarcely get a bit of salt*d porkf ° Christmas fare (see Tame, Origins The 1 rencli de>rned their cuisine from the Italians lhey ^e best cooks in Europe, and are so still, lhey had the ait ot by dint of flavours, poverty of material, but I know of no good authority for the position that they were economical, and frugal dispensers of the money of then employers. In Moliere s L Avare, the miser J » passion, because the cook wants money, ihe cook altogether to his master's assertions that a good dinner can be had without cost. The English dressed their meat less. Soup was not a common dish at their tables. 1 they neglected those pieces which had but lutleme l them. At that time no cook could raise heat beyond that of boiling water, and, therefore, none could be accused or negligence in not extracting all the nounshmen «j fibre, and bone, that they are now found capable of yielding. The pig was the beast of the poorer cla^. this animal every part, down to the blood, was con into human food. Of the bullock the inward and outw aid parts alike were eaten, though the tail was, it is saId, un. cooked. What habits of neglect and inattention in* oh Bull are to be gathered from his dietary of time.. r, course, tea, coffee, chocolate, potatoes,anc ables were unknown in the days of the Pl^u 1 'r I jennets, porridge, oat cakes, cakes of many Li mU bicad, pa-ties, pies, puddings, and pastry weie in co ne;ther L»d the common housewife of the cottage ignorant, nor inexpert. The tastes vary, but the English housewife cooked well their plain and homely fare, always. Ihe oat cake, the colta0e bread, the porridge, and the with eggs were always well cooked. In poor houses there is no material out of which to make '"stock." A soupe maegre never was pÜat- able in England, and the wife cooked to please her hus- band, who preferred a steak to a frog. I beg to subscribe myself yours, &c., LA WHENCE PELL. I Wroxuli, isle ol Wight, May 8, 1878. P.S.- With five crowns your standing wages » You shall daintily be fed, Bacon, beans, salt beef, cabbages, JSutteruiilk and oaten bread.—MIDAS. Pat replies- Co;n3 strike hands-I take your offer, I'.uthei' 1 might fitre worse. LAMPETER SCHOOL BOARD. SIR,—From a perusal of a copy of the last issue of your panel- I find chat you had to rectify a misleading state- ment which the clerk to the Lampeter School -board made in answer to a, remark of one pf the members at the last meeting of the Board. I now wish to correct some misrepresentations in your report with regard to myself, and I ask your indulgence for a small space in order to do so. There was no question as to the date of the passing o. the by-laws. What I said was that they were in force at the time of the inspection last year. They were passed by the Board duly 10th, 1876, and sanctioned by Her Majesty by order in Council, October 23rd, 1876. The inspection took place in April 1877. In the by-laws^ 1 find the following clause—"These by-laws shall take effect from and after the day on which the same shall be sanctioned in Council." Consequently they were in force at the time of the inspection of the school last year. In the meeting there was a difference of opinion between the clerk and myself with regard to the date of passing the by-laws of a neighbouring parish. In his report he has substituted the one parish for the other. With regard to inspectors accepting children presented in the same way as half-timers in other parishes where by-laws were in force, I have to state that I said this in the course of the conversation I had with the Board, not as a reason that these names should be allowed to stand on the schedule, but to show that even inspectors are not infallible, and that some of them are not over particular in some schools with respect to scholars presented under Article 20. The clerk further states that the Board could give no reason for the non-attendance of the children, and the inspector was perfectly right in striking their names out of the schedule. One of the members had authorized the clerk to draw up a statement with me for the inspector, and to submit it to the Board. I went to him three or four times for this purpose, but he had some excuse each time and never did it. At first we had nineteen names on the schedule under Art. 20. Of these, fifteen were struck out by the inspector, but as the result of two interviews which I had with him afterwards, six of these were allowed to stand. In- specting one of these latter when I said that I was unable to see from the code that he was justified in striking that name out, he made the following remark:—"If your mental vision is so dark I cannot help it. When the duplicate schedule was returned, this name was allowed to stand, consequently my mental vision," as he styled it, was, at least on that point, clearer than his. I may state that this scholar brought seventeen shillings to the grant. Of the nine names struck out one of them ought not to have been cancelled. This was the name of a, scholar outside the jurisdiction of the by-laws, and who resided three miles from the school. Apologizing for encroaching on your valuable space.— I am, &c., St. Peter's Board School. A. HUGHES. THE LATE CONFIRMATION AT BARMOUTH. SIR 'Allow me to correct a few remarks made by your correspondent in last week's paper. I was very sorry to read in his report of the confirmation that some of the congregation, and amongst them some of the Board School children, behaved themselves in an unseemly manner -Lv during the service; but I was rather surprised that he attributed it to the education which they receive at the school. I can assure your correspondent that I and my assistants pay particular attention to the order and good behaviour of those placed under our charge. But it is ridiculous to hold teachers responsible for the conduct of their scholars after school hours. He stated further that my presence amongst them failed to have any restraining effect upon them. I beg to tell him and others who have been circulating the same stories about the town that I was not uresent at all in church on that day. I hope that when next he writes to a newspaper to condemn Board Schools and their education, he will take a little more trouble to ascertain the truth of his assertions.—I am, &c., THE MASTER OF THE BOARD SCHOOL. [Our correspondent writes to say that in his communi- cation last weak the word master" should have been ''teachers."] LLANBADARN PETTY SESSIONS. SIR '-It is well known long ago that the house where the sessions are held has been condemned by the Sanitary Board and it is quite clear to all that the sessions must be removed Why not hold them in the centre of the dis- trict instead of at the very extremity as at present. Say Ty'nllidiart, for instance, which would be very convenient for the magistrates, viz., Mr Bonsall, Fronfraith Mr. Morgan, Nantceiro, Mr. T. W. Bonsall, Glanrheidol. Not onlv is Ty'nllidiart in the centre of five-sixths of the population, but how much more convenient would it be for persons from Ponterwyd, Eisteddfa, Gwmrheidol, Salem, Penrhyneoch, Penybont, and Goginan, to come to Ty'nllidiart, instead of going down to the lower part of the district. It may be asked whether there is a room to hold the sessions in there ? Well at Llanilar they are held in the schoolroom, and I am certain if the worthy Vicar of Bangor were asked, he would consent to the sessions being held in the National Schoolroom, which is very commodious and suitable to the purpose. If the sessions were to commence at twelve a.m. instead of eleven a.m. the children could get the morning school over, and for once a month they could hold them on Saturday. If this little alteration could be made it would be a great boon to the public.—I am, &c., HEN FFARMWR. THE ABERDOVEY SCHOOL. SIR '-This school is now advertised as the Aberdovey National" School. Although the Dissenters first broached the idea. of a school for the place, and by their activity and subscriptions mainly contributed to the erec- tion of the present schoolhouse, yet somehow or other the school has passed completely into the possession of the Church. But how ? that is the question. Has everything in connection with this change been open and above board? Must we believe that the Jesuitical maxim that the end justifies the means" is looked upon with favour in the Church of England, as well as in the Church of Koine ? If a little light is not thrown on the way by which a school belonging to the place altogether has become a Church school, we .nay presume it will be because there is no light to be had on the subject.-I am, &c., DALKTH.

" THE ARK OF THE COVENANT."

PORTMADOC.

ABERDOVEY.

BORTH.

HARLECH.

CARNARVON.

LLANGWM, NEAR CORWEN.

LLANERFYL.

CAERSWS.

NEWTOWN.

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