Genre:

Short Fiction, Serial

Subjects:

Exploration, Education, Physical Geography, Lecturing, Theology of Nature, Piety

    The narrator describes taking his pupils on a winter walk in London. Observes: 'the houses were all dripping with the melted snow, and old Frost was gone back to his caves in the North, or to some of his icebergs in the Polar Sea'. The pupils were pleased to be outdoors, having been 'so long confined in the house' and having in their winter studies 'dissected all the counties in England, and all the continents on earth'. (148) Their destination, near the Strand, was a 'great Nursery' for children aged up to five or six years. In the centre of the large room was a 'large planisphere, similar to those used for demonstration by public lecturers' (151). After the master taught the infants several moral and religious lessons, they sang 'a few verses in praise of the works of God in creation', the words being held up by a monitor (154). The narrator reflects on the importance of elementary religious education, and relates it to millennial hopes.