circumstances, they contribute a small sum monthly towards the
expenses of the establishment. Those who are unable to pay the full
sum, pay the half or a part; others, again, such as a great portion of
day-labourers with large families, and who cannot even supply their
children with necessary food and clothing, pay _nothing_: it is merely
necessary for these to be furnished with a certificate of their
incapacity to pay for the education of their children, and the state
takes the whole charge of their instruction on itself.

We have already spoken of the deep interest we have taken in the
progress of the infant schools. We visit them frequently, and attend
all the examinations. On entering, it is scarcely possible to
recognise in clean, orderly inmates, the dirty, ragged, quarrelling,
scratching, screaming children of the back-streets, which, however,
they were only a short time ago. All is changed: the miserable hut,
the narrow street, and muddy lane, for a pretty room full of pleasant
objects; the timid look and distrustful scowl, for sunny cheerfulness
and open confidence. There is no unkind distinction among the lower
classes in this country, and by this I mean the whole of the Austrian
states. There being only two classes--the nobles and the commons--none
of the commons despise each other, however poor or humble their
situation may be. The barefooted orphan, kept and educated by charity
or the state, is not an object of contempt or ridicule to the child of
the prosperous artisan, who stands clothed in its little snow-white
frock and pink ribbons beside its less fortunate companion. Neither is
any distinction made on account of religion. The infant schools of the
empire are for the children of all the poor--Catholic, Lutheran,
evangelical, &c.; and the two belonging to Presburg, to which we here
particularly allude, contain from sixty to seventy of the latter in
every two hundred.