THE WORKING MEWS COLLEGE.
THE opening of the Working Men's College is an event in the his- tory of .the Working Classes, as full of hope for the cpuntry as for-them.-* The want of such an institution is lotully proe.Taimed -in the history of another class of institutions which- haWttimbd it a somewhat similar purpose, with very imecpial ineedediatitlistki certain extent with no success at all—Mechanics' Inatitttfinand Literary Associations. The 'Object of those inatitutiottsialtb laee libraries and the conveniences of a study at the disposal Oftiairking men : - an admirable purpose not without practical use even in ,the present day. AcLord Jelin Russell said at Bedford, last week, one great corrective on which we may found a hope against the sources of national decay, is the freedom- to tho*Wtnid expression. The best corrective of a wrongopinion is, not *b. ben- fire or the policeman, but a better, more convincing, mitiehene- licial and more powerful opinion. To secure' the best, ,thoughts must be compared, exchanged, and combined. On that iMairderee fetters must as little be placed as' on ordinary trade. Eferied; LOrd John would set no limit to the studies of working nand 4ty that some things are above them. The humanizing infinendes of these studies, and their self-enlarging tendency, are aiitted as commonly as proverbs. But the working men thetinieltieS feel a narrowing limit : it is their own want' of training and guidance.
To supply that want, schools have been opened—top 'late for many still young ; and perhaps work may for years to eo3334
them away from school too early and too much. Yet it *bad be folly to pretend that because any man does not go through 'boM- plate course of regular school, he cannot develop his perceptiods -and reasoning enough to study even the highest subjects. Grand cases prove the reverse. Still, most of them Will want guidaned. Lectures were added to Mechanics' Institutions; but in too many eases the lecturer was not enough above the level of his audience to guide, except as an intelligent leader guessing his way ahead in an unknown land.
The Working Men's College would supply the want of a place of study, besides materials—lectures to point out the objects and methods. Here then is the desideratum. ' In the lectures at Willis's Rooms, some months since, Mr. Maurice explained many of the difficulties which hese% the working man's study ; and the programme of the first term of the College shows that those obstacles had been taken into account in arranging the course ef studies. It will be interesting : the lecturers will in many cases lead the mind of the student by paths the least 'Wearisome for minds in a state of intellectual youthfulness, when youthful leisure exists no more. The historically instructive reign of
* The-Working Men's College is instituted at No. 31 Red Lion Square; the first term commences on Tuesday next the 31st or October, and w1I last for seven weeks. The courses comprise Biblical History, Secular History, Geography, Literature, Grammar, Geometry; Arithmetic, Drawing, Music, Machinery, Partnership, and Public Health. The feels-wean moderate as to be within the reach of the least affluent. The Maw:twat tee e is to he delivered by the Principal, the Reverend F. D. Maurice, atSt.
on Monday evening next.
King 'Tan; be illtirstlate'iptitikakspere's play the geographfi' Vtigland by .its liistary _li,Asiianity by the Gospel' Of.SLIY ."1.The working classes knoWtheir want; they. havtheifitika fitremains to be seen how far topographical dis-. persion Mat linide their perseverance in meeting. We believe it Will nbtf=1 AlreadY'they iiiidergo true labour that way; but the verytilielitionliehefwgitow the most intellectual culture depends, Upon a better'brdeilneof our towns, as the physical powers for exertion depend upon the same improvement in a sanitary senSe.,
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