A DAY AT AN AMERICAN CONVENT SCHOOL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 29, 15 November 1873, Page 12

A DAY AT AN AMERICAN CONVENT SCHOOL.

A CORBBSPONDEST of the New York • Freeman's Journal ' writes from Philadelphia to that paper expressing his appreciation of the training his daughter was receiving at a convent school near Philadelphia, and Bays of the establishment as follows :— I cannot tell as much rs I would like to do about the nun 8 of the "Society of the Holy Ctiild Jesus," for the reason that they seem not to care to tell much about themselves. When asked, they rather, laughingly, like the fable about the mother of the Gracchi—point to those they havj reared, or are rearing, as sufficient evidence of what they are, in all respects, in regard to which the Catholic public need to be interested. Observing tbeir doings closely, from year to year, I notice that thty seem neither anxious, nor easy, in the admission of pupils ; that they desire no larger number than can, each, receive special and personal car* and fostering; aud that, if a pupil ia offered that, with their thorough experience as teachers, they see not likely to profit by their instructions, or all, of possible danger to other pupils— they will politely, but firmly, refuse to receive her. This may sometimes, offend the exigencies.of unreasonable parents, but it has gamed the unbounded confidence and satisfaction, of parent* whose children have been there for years. The method of instruction in the Academies of the nuns of the Holy Child, as I have found it, is the opposite ot that pursued in the Public Schools, and in flashy Academies that follow their plan. In place of rushing « classes " through a long array of 'ologies, and crammine them with long lessons to-day, to be forgotten to-morrow, the method of the •• Holy Child " Sisterhood is to be " thorough ' — above all. And this, especially, in regard to those things that will mark, in i jj ' the treU educated woman, and distinguish her fram the suoddy pretender. To speak, and to write, with grammatical correctness; to write neatly ; to pronounce clearly, and without provincialisms or false accents ; are more valuable then to be able to say of various less necessary branches of study: "I have studied about these, (in S^i 5 Uty bund - bo °ks f especially,) but I have forgotten!" Htill, after a thorough grounding in the most necessary branches these excellent nuns, of the Holy Child do not neglect the other, and more advanced studies. At the end of each of the two terms in the school-year, each puna ia£LT k « out " h , att . h^f«»^fcudy paper." It is a synopWof all she has learned during the V f -yea>*- r-Kme,r -Kme, and preparation, are given beforehand. But, when the •• Study paper "isto be written the pupil must go at it, without help from any source, like in a regular Concurnu. Full time is given for this practical digesting of the studies of the term—and the result, untouched, and un-emended, by the teacher, is sent to the parents. There is no humbu* about this It v » work of conscience, aad of honor. There may, or may not, be

ridiculous faults in the results, for this or for that pudU. But it ia an account rendered ! * The country convent school of the nuns of the " Holy Child Jesus, is situate at Sharon-Hill. Once an old country mansion it abounds in its orchards and shade trees, and dairy, and pleasant fields *ora time it was a Quaker boarding-School. It is now a Catholic Academy for young misses, taught by ladies, who, having always been lul 'J?? q « iefc and un » r etentious ; and have none of the mannerisms that "Mrs Shoddy" has learned at hotels and watering-places. But they have the traditions of their mothers. And, called by Gbd to itie religious life, with the special vocation of teaching and training the young, they set it as their task to educate real women— suoh as are the glory of families."