Of course, St. Patrick's School, Stamford Street, is not under
the care of the National Society. This is the school at which John William Green, aged 14, was educated, who stated to the Coroner in a Blackfriars inquest on a boy found drowned the other day, that he did not understand the nature of an oath, and then proceeded to give the following answers to the Coroner's questions :—" If you tell a lie, where will you go Answer : To church.—Do you know where people go when they die ? Answer : To church.—If you tell a lie, whom do you offend ? Answer : My master (meaning his employer).— Can you repeat the Lord's Prayer P Answer : Only the first part of it.—Who is our Father which art in heaven ? Answer : The devil." Probably the boy's answers are not to be trusted as to the standard he had passed,—he said that he had passed the fifth standard,—and he may not be a fair specimen of the boys generally. But the National Society might do something for National schools by publishing this instance of ignorance in a boy who stated that he had passed any decent standard at the school we have named.
Previous page
