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Show fOTED LONDON LADY rs, Ashton Dilke Tells of Her Life As ' t Member of London's School Board. jj ENJOYS IT THOEOUGHLY. uDnties Are Very Exacting and Leave Very Little Time for Social or Other Eolations. ONDOX, June 23.We school hoard liieinbers tiro elected for a term of three yours, and as wo have just arrived midway mid-way in our present tenure of ulli'ee 1 thought it a favoroble U opportunity a few weeks ago to review the work of the last eighteen months in a speech ,mV constituents, anil generally sift t " in tnv own mind the r(SSioiis " I have found. It .jjes a new member a full year to aster the ordinary routine of hl3 work, ,reali9 what he may and what he may at do, imJ to make himself acquainted rid the whole "personnel" of the board Sees. 1 enjoy my work fully as much 5 1 anticipated, and that I look forward j the pleasure of standing again at the tllu.tmn. nauca by siailin"' f-ier.s. t ""ini0 laces, luen. too irio S3 t?C0Ur f the teach that their enorts to help on the children o really appreciated, and if aclas" of h-9ClanewBong?othof Swedish dnll, teachers and pupil, alike are only too delighted to be "uttoough a performance for mvlienetit. r JlJr,7- to00"'' that we are rather prowl ln London of onr school W It u always a swat pleasure to ! me to come across one of our bis. hand-' soma red brick building with itag.ul j roofs and many windows and ample I Play grounds, rising from the midst of i some squalid neighborhood. And once ' inside, when I go over the separate class ! rooms for every standard, the big central cen-tral hall for drill and exercises, and the cheerful, airy passages, it is a comfort to know that however stuffy and unsanitary unsani-tary many of the children's homos mav : be, the best part of their day is neverihe- less spent in healthy and happy snr- i roundings. It is wonderful the 'moral ' effect that a well built, well lit school has on both teachers and scholars alike. The attendance is always better, and there is a briskness and smartness about tho proceedings which is very encouraging encourag-ing after the listlessness and depression which is so often to be observed in an ill ventilated, overcrowded school room, j We devote naturally a largo amount 1 of trouble to the selection of our teachers, and apart from the actual teaching qualifications qual-ifications they may possess I always feel it to be a poiiu of great importance to seeuro masters and mistresses who will take an interest in their pupils outside school hours in their games and their swimming classes and their country holidays, holi-days, etc. Often at the yearly distribution distribu-tion of prizes, a function at which I very willingly preside, the teachers get up quito a little entertainment. All the preparatory work done in committee com-mittee has to receive the assent of the board at its weekly public meeting before be-fore being finally adopted. But the recommendations rec-ommendations of a committee, unless they raise some contentious point, are most frequently passed "en bloc-' without with-out debate. The most interesting discussions dis-cussions usually arise over noticos of motions, which may be put down by any member, and are then taken in turn. It wits in this manner that a motion in favor of free education was carried last winter by a large majority, thus greatly strengthening the hands of the advocates advo-cates of this most necessary reform. It was also by a notice of motion the other day that Mrs. Besant and Mr. Stewart Headlam tried to re-raise the whole question of religions instruction by moving mov-ing that Bible reading should be discontinued discon-tinued in all our schools, a motion which, being considered at the present moment inopportune, did not find a single supporter sup-porter on the board. Parties are very fairly divided on the present school board, whieh adds a great zest to the divisions. There are about twenty Clericals or Diggleites, as they are frequently termed,, and an equal number of Progressives or Radicals, Radi-cals, but between the two there stand about a dozen so called Moderates, who, on the whole, more frequently vote with tho former than with the latter party. Mr. Diggle combines in his person functions func-tions analogous to those of speaker of tho house of commons, a leader of the government. He acts both as chairman of the board and as leader of the Clericals, Cleri-cals, a combination which inevitably from time to time produces unfortnnate results. As a chairman "pur et simple," Mr. Diggle is admirable, with an immense im-mense knowledge of business and a considerable con-siderable sense of equity, but when par-ty par-ty considerations happen to intervene his judicial impartiality is apt to fail him. m our side for I fancy I need hardly inform my American friends that I mv nlaeeiB among the Progressists the MRS. ASHTON D1LKE. .u m !XU!?!e2 Kates'the school inmittees do not exactly correspond to 1 popularly elected school boards, it ay be of interest to give a little sketch I what the duties of a school board rmber really are. Even in England flple are often amusingly vague on the :hject. und seem ' to imagine that at-.idaiice at-.idaiice at the public meeting of the ivtl held every Thursday afternoon, !h an occasional participation in the riatc, represents the main portion of it's functions. As a matter of fact, the st part of both one's time and one's fjy is daily absorbed by the board, d 1 luve found. myself obliged to re-"inish re-"inish by degrees not. only a large num- of my political and lecturing engagers, engage-rs, but also a considerable propor-n propor-n of tny social duties as well. The really arduous part of one's lool board duties undoubtedly consists attendance at committees. The whole ork of tho board ia divided up wnong committees, which meat either j t or fortnightly in tha numerous as provided for tho purpose in the 1 and haudsotna sahool board otHces , loWdng the Thames Embankment, j wy member ia supposed to sit on three S ' tea comniitteos, and he is given his ce as to which thrae he may prefer, j 4ected for my share the works coin-Met', coin-Met', which has charge of all the titling plans and contracts, and which has suffered so much abuse for the y f its predecessors in office, tbe race and the school management aaittee. This latter, however, to :h is entrusted all strictly oduca-al oduca-al questions, as well as the appoint-" appoint-" of teachers, i3 divided up into serous subcommittees, such as the :-'ing and pupil teachers, the promo-4 promo-4 und the physical exercise sub-com-:;tws. 011 all of which I sit, and tho : Jlework sub-committee, of which I :l chairwoman. So 1 do not think 1 -1 be guilty of exaggeration if I say II on an average fif teeti hours a week, fee hours a day, exclusive of Satur-v's Satur-v's and Sundays, are devoted to coin--teework alone. Sometimes, when ; fe is a sudden rush of work, 1 may 'id the wholo day from 10 o'clock till ''dock at the board offices, passing 'None committee room to another, -lulling up odd moments by signing -Mof the innumerable checks which - clerk of the finaoce committee al-!'s al-!'s has ou hand for any member whom jiay chance to find at liberty. r'ieu there are the school inspections, a T important and a specially iuterest-?Frtof iuterest-?Frtof one's board duties. In my own oa of West Lambeth I am responsi-fl responsi-fl the personal supervision of nine JJ0'-s, aud as they are scattered over a jsiderabla area, and are all very far "'yfrom my own home in Kensing-"it Kensing-"it is uot easy to manage the thorough i 'tion of more than one school in e coui-se of a morning. So one or two rings a week are none too much to to this department and to the -avation of friendly relations with the I's and mistresses. Very often, if 7 are in want of advice or informa- the head teachers ask me to call. ' &it times I drop in unexpectedly in er to see for myself that everything on smoothly, "le head master eagerly explains that a positively entitled to an extra as-t, as-t, while the head mistress may be y anxious to get rid of one she has got, and when I arrive at the in-: in-: department I am told a long story mJ the drainage of the playground is l' order, and the small infanta wet "J- hoots by persistently playing in the 'f water whieh -are left by every ; of rain. Many of these little wwces, which, if they had to psfj -s?h the various channels of orncial itaiw might take eeveral weeks to can be settled at once by an or-'.frora or-'.frora the divisional member, and so '"trance at a'school ia usually I Hon. Lvulpli Stanley, a clever member I of an exceptionally clever family, is one : of the ablest educationalists and a very leading spirit, although he finds himself pretty frequently in antagonism to those i members possessed of Socialistic lean- I '"we four hidv members of the school j board form a "very harmonious little nuartet in suite of tho various dirler-' dirler-' ences of opinion that naturally exist between be-tween us. Our senior member, Miss i Davenport Hill, has for many years extended ex-tended her special protection over tne i distinctively feminine branches of edu-i edu-i ration, such as sewing, cooking and ! laundry work. Her influence has certainly cer-tainly been most beneficial in these departments, de-partments, our methods of teaching sew-ng sew-ng to large classes being so successful hat we have been frequently apphed to or advice ou the subject from be ,th ; America and Australia. Mrs. Maitland, who has had much local expenence rf schools in her own division of Maryle-bone. Maryle-bone. devotes her energies mainly to Si management and the selection of cS rs "vhile Mrs. Annie Besautdih-pushes Besautdih-pushes forward all the aborques-tions aborques-tions and does her best to infuse the S WtagH of the board with a Sociahst rn rit It is nuiiuly owing to her exer- that the board now dec-lines to give contr: t'ts for schools to any employer who tos ot pay the trades union rate j J wages, a change which was not effect; ' ed without a fierce struggle. She is also j 2 ardent supporter of free schools and i for myself, I have so far abstained, v.. nf action as a woman, it semis w Lf-r more important that women me far mw 1 f j uai and pW ,ffects my very ' S'lieHn Ue immense advantages to ! he gamed by the rontine of the board In the orai oM busineSSJr,, rifherthe instruction to deade. to r- interest: ,ki,tm.I"''' Jf?-u, beet |