Rowland Hill's Youth

Bowland tiill's fatfier was m liirnlngham man, and, being a chainpion t Priestley's máiiáged to get his arm njured in the diagraceftil ChUrch and Ling riots, in whicli Priestley's hotibe was Imint'd down. He manicd and removed to Kiddt-niim.stfr, wlit-ic liowland Hill (tlie tliird son) was bprn, rhe family then moved to Wfoïvérhampton; tticv rn exceedihgtj DOOT, Hul wen: glád to takt' an old t'annïouse, whicli tlipy got chcap as it liad the reputation of being hauntwl. How'vei. thcv do not seem to beii listurbed by gliosts, aml littU Rowland was happy enoügh playing with a little hl who, twcnty-tivB yeais att.-rward, wiw to be hi wifc, and m&kftig modeis il waU'i-wlieels and otht-r niechanical contrivaiK-es. He was a clelicaUi boy, but f uil of ingenioiw plans, and always most trustwoitbv and most anxious to be of use. The ftrat Ijook lie ever Jwugbt was Miss Kdgcworth's "l'arfiit's Assistant," and he used in etfter life U tty that notliing helped to forin lus cbaractes so tuncb as bar storics. "He said, and the tears camo into hi.s eyea a.s he njoke, that lie had resol veil in those early daysto be like the characters in her stories, and t 1i soiiielhiug (or the world." Another reminiscence is interest ing mi different gipunda: "I early s;iw," said liowland, "the terril)le inconvenience of beiug poor. Mv móther used to talk to me mort' than to all the others together of our difficulties, and they were very grievoua She used to brast tnts tem as she talked about thein. One dag she told me that she had not a shilling In the house, and she was afraid lest the postman ruight hring a letter wTiileshe had mi money to paythe postage." A few years passed, and Rowhind Ilill waa at work with his broiher Matthew, teaching boys at a neighlxjring school, and soon afterward the two brothera took tlieir father's school into their own hands. Elowland's powers were now rapidly developing, and he had attafned remarkaWe proflclency in ïnathematics, and ewpeoially in mental arithmetic. He was also anibitioiis as regareis the school, and had many achemee, sume sensible enough and somevery fancifiil, in réferenee to the management of boys. The btothers publisliwi a book on "Public Education" which inadt' Mme little sensation, and their school, which was now ftstablishd at HazelwoiHi, near JJirininghain, became fainous. Educationalists and philanthropists were frequent visitors, and with this new fame grew up new dtities and responslbilities, ander which Kowland Hill's health began to suffer. The 8ite of his school wa.s agtiin removed to Bruce castle, Tottenham, and bftre liowland Ilill (inarried to the little girl who hiul been his playfellow years beíore) remalnéd till he finally gave up sehool-keeping, and undertook the task which was to eani him a lasting rej)utation. The most diarartonstir ttring about Kowland Hill's early life was the way in which lie and his brothers alwaya workel together. The fainily affection was sirigularly strong, and no strain was greot enongli to break it. For many yeara they hnd all their property in cominon, nnd livel, as the editor tells us, like "the early Ohristians." Aftcr the división of property, which came later on, the brothers established a soit of mutual insurance, which they called "The Family Fund," and which wad to asist any one of them "if in circumstaiices much depressed as compared with the otheiu, though not in absolute )iiv(rty."