'The School Board -of London had mrinteresting , discuesion on -- Wednesday - on-the needlework
requirements- Of the new Code, -concerning which they -were unanimously- of -opinion that the -standards - suggested are far too bigh, -with apparently one -exeeption,that of a clergyman, who probably- did not know the difference between -hemming--and basting. The new Code ttpected -"infants" to be able to-make a pinafore, 'which it is AtIte certain that infants in general ought not to be 'able' to do. 13,ten" the report of the Committee of "the School
Board, abating very much the requirements of the Privy Council, —requirements which must, as Mrs. Westlake says, have been drawn up by "a fanatic for needlework,"—seemed too high to three out of the four ladies on the Board. And certainly they are quite high enough. It is not desirable that too much of little girls' time should be devoted to needlework, unless, as Mrs. Westlake suggested, you want to make them squint ; and we may add, to hate needlework, and wet it with their tears into the bargain. If an " infant " can both hem and thread a needle, it is quite as forward an infant as it ought to be. We do not want the " sow- ing and reaping " of the agricultural labourer to suggest a con- trast with the sewing and weeping of his little girls.
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