"A Miss Or Mrs. Agnes Galbraith Not Only Taught School, But Also
Carried On The Millinery Business, To Which She Informs The Public
That She Had Served A Regular Apprenticeship, Besides Having Been 'a
Governess For Several Years To A Genteel Boarding-School.'
"The principal of a boys' school who resided at Three Rivers
'respectfully begs leave to remark that he means
To presume no further
than he is perfectly able to perform, and build his hope of
encouragement on no other foundation than his assiduity to merit it.'
His 'course' is nevertheless a pretty full one, including English,
French, Latin, Greek, writing in a natural and easy style after the
best precedents; arithmetic, vulgar and decimal; geography, with use
of the globes; geometry, navigation with all the late modern
improvements; algebra, and every other useful and ornamental branch of
mathematical learning. Some of the other male teachers write in a
similar strain of their qualifications."
"It may be inferred, then, that the wealthier classes of Canada in
those days had much the same advantages of culture as their friends in
England. Intercourse with the mother country was much more general and
frequent than might be imagined, and, no doubt, many young gentlemen,
after a preliminary training at a colonial academy, were sent home to
enter some of the English public schools or universities. From the
higher ranks downwards education varied till it reached the 'masses,'
with whom its index was a cipher. There is no reason to suppose,
however, that the population of Canada, taken as a whole, was less
cultivated during the last forty years of the eighteenth century than
that of any European nation during the same period.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 61 of 864
Words from 16319 to 16602
of 236821
