LIII. THE LADIES' ASSOCIATIONS.

THE Church, as we have seen, was at the outset confronted with the difficulty of providing supply for 150 vacant congregations in the Highlands, while only thirty-one of her licensed próbationers could use the Gaelic language. At her call eighty young men from those districts offered themselves for the ministry, but it was no easy task to provide for the long course of education required. Though some aid was given by the Highland Committee, the matter obviously required to be taken up in a more systematic and effective way.

To Dr. Mackintosh Mackay, then of Dunoon, the Church was indebted for the suggestion that the training of such students might be carried on in connection with a scheme for the education and religious improvement of the remote Highlands and Islands. At the General Assembly of 1850 he stated that there were "hundreds and thousands of children in the outer Hebrides and along the coasts of the mainland growing up in ignorance of the very elements of knowledge." His idea was that aidschools should be established in the more destitute localities, to be taught by students; and along with this a scheme might be devised enabling the young men to pass through the usual course of college training. The proposal thus made was not allowed to fall out of sight. Most fortunately, as the event proved, Dr. Mackay resolved to appeal for help to the ladies of Scotland, and more especially to those of Edinburgh and Glasgow. It happened to the writer to be present at one of the interviews in which he explained his views to the lady who, in future years, acted as secretary at Edinburgh, and has all along done so much for the cause. The clamant nature of the demand and the best methods of meeting it were dwelt on with great earnestness. In various

quarters the subject was in this way fully considered in private; plans were matured, and the work was entered on with characteristic energy.

At Edinburgh the first steps were taken. A list was made of twelve of the principal Free Church congregations; one lady in each was asked to invite ten or twelve others belonging to the congregation; and the result was that a large attendance was present to meet with Dr. Mackay in the old Bible Society's Rooms, York Place, on the 20th of November, 1850, when the Edinburgh Ladies' Association was formed. In the following April the work was begun with the opening of five schools in the island of Harris. Similar steps were taken at Glasgow, where an association was also formed, and down to the present day the work goes on with unabated zeal. Never did Christian ladies meet with a more congenial sphere of work, never were their efforts conducted with more devoted zeal or with more practical wisdom, and never were they crowned with more signal success. In all this, it is right to say, they received from Dr. M'Lauchlan, of Edinburgh, most valuable counsel and aid.

Certainly the educational destitution of many of those outlying districts in the Highlands and Islands was very great. Even so late as 1872-before the passing of the Education Act-it was reported by a Royal Commission that in the whole range of the Hebrides only twenty-four out of the 1000 of the population could sign their names. Twenty years previously—at the time when these Associations began the state of the people was much worse. "When the island of Eriskay, in the Southern Hebrides, was visited by an agent of the Glasgow Ladies' Association, he took a careful census of the whole island, and found that out of a population of over 300 only three persons could read, and there was only one copy of the Scriptures on the island, with the fragment of another copy. . . . In the island of Rum, with a considerable population, there had been no school within the memory of man until the Association (Glasgow) planted a school there."*

It was to meet such a state of things that these Ladies' Associations began their work. The plan proposed by Dr. Mackay was that schools should be set up in neglected localities, *Statement by Rev. A. C. Fullarton, Glasgow.

to be taught from April on through summer and autumn by students from the Highlands who, during winter, should attend college, passing through the regular course of education for the ministry. Their absence from these schools for five months in the year was no doubt a disadvantage, but usually they devoted special attention to some promising pupil, whom they trained to act as a paid substitute, interchanging between the different schools, and carrying on the work in their absence. This was the more easily done because in many localities, owing to the great distances and the state of the roads, the attendance of the younger children in the winter months was much diminished. The substitutes, of course, were coming forward ultimately to take the place of the teachers when their course of study was finished, and so a continuous supply of students was kept up.

Even the absence of the teachers during the college session was not without compensating advantages. As a rule, they were young men of ability and of devoted Christian character; and when they came down each returning spring, fresh from the mental stimulus of university life, they were found to throw themselves into the work with all the ardour of youthful zeal. The course of instruction was adapted to each locality, Gaelic being invariably the language of the school, especially in teaching the Bible and Catechism. English was also included, and, for the most part, some of the usual branches of an English education, instruction being at the same time given, according to the use and wont of Scotland, in Latin, Greek, and mathematics, wherever there were advanced pupils prepared to profit by it.

The result was satisfactory to a high degree. Strangers from a distance-Englishmen and others-who visited these schools so humble in outward appearance, were often taken by surprise, when they found what was going on, and in some cases wrote to express their approbation in the strongest terms. It may be enough, however, to refer to two authorities whose opinion is entitled to the greatest deference.

*This was taken advantage of. In the schools of South Uist, for example, there were fifteen pupils learning Latin-four in the parish school, eleven in the schools of the Ladies' Association.-Parliamentary Report, by Alex. Nicolson, Esq., Advocate, p. 41.

The first is an elaborate Parliamentary report, prepared by Alex. Nicolson, Esq., Advocate, on the state of education in the Hebrides. After referring to certain defects the limited income of the Associations, and the absence of the teachers during winter-he goes on to speak of the schools: "I can only attribute their generally high character to the prevalence among the teachers of something of that missionary spirit which I have elsewhere spoken of as demanded in these regions. They are all young men, and though many of them have received no special training as teachers, they often make up for the want of it by a large amount of the earnestness and activity still more essential to the life of a school." *

Not less emphatic is the testimony of Dr. Duff, referring to a visit to one of the schools in Harris: "I can only say that I was at once delighted and astonished at the progress of the pupils in circumstances so unpropitious, considering the singularly rugged and uncouth materials on which the teacher had to operate. The order, the discipline, the amount of solid instruction, and especially Bible instruction, imparted within so short a time, was such as to justify the fullest expression of confidence in him, and of thankfulness to God on account of the inestimable benefits conferred by your Society. On the spot the involuntary exclamation was,-Would to God that the operations of the Society were similarly extended over all these destitute isles." +

The poverty of the people made it impossible to charge fees, and the teaching accordingly was free. Indeed it was necessary to provide clothing for many of the children, if they were to attend school. This led to much attention being given to the industrial department, and sewing mistresses were attached to many of the schools "so as to teach the young women needlework and knitting." In this part of the work many of the ladies took a special interest, and when the young studentteachers went North at the end of each college session, they usually took with them "large parcels of clothing." This

• Report on the State of Education in the Hebrides, by Alex. Nicolson, Esq., Advocate, pp. 91, 92,

Missionary Record, March, 1853, p. 207.

department has gone on increasing so that in the year 1882 upwards of fifty packages were despatched; "but that is nothing in comparison with the boon conferred on the girls who attend these schools by teaching them to sew and make clothes for themselves. A most wonderful change has been wrought, not only in the outward appearance but in the whole habits of the young people."

Invaluable as all this was, the educational work was only a means to a higher end-"the religious improvement" of these remote localities, and the bringing forward of Gaelic-speaking young men for the work of the ministry. Strictly speaking, the schools were missionary schools. The young men were preparing for license, and they in very many cases gave themselves to missionary work in the midst of a neglected population. Very generally they were young men of devoted piety, and the school became a centre of religious life. Among the outlying hamlets far from church they visited the sick, held religious meetings attended by young and old, gaining experience which fitted them for the future work of their lives. These services were highly prized, and in some cases much spiritual blessing is known to have followed.

Outside the Highlands, comparatively few are aware of the scale on which this work has been carried on.

The Edinburgh Association have had schools for longer or shorter periods at 116 stations, and given aid at 17 others133 in all. The great object was to select the most necessitous places all over the Highlands and Islands. Even in 1882, after the work has been interfered with by the Parochial School Boards, a large number of stations are still kept up, and will probably continue to be required in localities too remote for School Boards to reach.

In these pages, however, our main object is to record the help given to the Church in recruiting the ranks of the ministry.

The number of students employed down to 1882 has been in all, 307.

Of these

18 died before completing their studies.