The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-13 00:00:00

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from their intrinsic good sense and truth, and it
would be well if parents and teachers would study
them carefully. Leaving all the animated discus-
sions as to the mental training of adults, the writer
goes to the foundation, and finds grave fault with
many points in the education of our children. He
sets forward the truth now generally known and
recognised, that the brain of a child is capable of
receiving impressions at a very early age before
either parents or servants suppose it can be hurt by
what it hears or sees. It cannot assuredly under-
stand all that strikes its attention, but a vague im.
pression is often made which it is very difficult to
eradicate. Hence the great mischief which results
from leaving young children much in the company
of vulgar and ignorant servants, from whose con•
versation they often derive much injury. S. G. 0.
refers as proof of this to those singular cases
in which children and young persons most
carefully trained and guarded from their in.
fancy have, in times of their delirium, used coarse
and vulgar language which their parents supposed
it was impossible they could ever have heard.
S. G. 0. very justly says it would be wiser if
parents who lavish money on teachers and spend
much time and care in securing efficient instruction
for their children in later years, would be more care-
ful to get a better class of servants in the nursery,
since they leave their children so often almost ex-
clusively to their care. The evils of frightening
children are so widely recognised that most per-
sons are on their guard against them, but there is
no doubt that they are still frequently existing in well
ordered nurseries. Fits, convulsions, idiotcy, and even
death have been known to result from this cause,
but in hundreds of cases where the effects are less
terrible, and consequently less perceptible, they are
equally real, and show themselves all lire long in
morbid nerves and weakened brain. Even when
servants do not mean to frighten children, they
often do so unintentionally by their own foolish
terrors and ignorant fears, while the threats which
the worse disposed use to induce quicksighted chil-
dren not to tell tales lay the foundation of deceit
and want of principle for all subsequent years.
Human nature is prone enough to cunning and
craftiness and lying, without having such qualities
assiduously fostered at the most susceptible age.
When the child leaves the nursery, and
sometimes, indeed, before it, new mischief
begins. Its tender brain is overworked by
an accumulation of lessons, while its growing
limbs are sacrificed to fashionable attire ; and free
exercise, open air and childish merriment are
strictly forbidden by the requirements of social
etiquette. The consequences are plainly enough
shown in the increasing prevalence of complaints
and affections of the head and nerves, while our
standard of physical health and strength is visibly
deteriorating. It cannot be too often reiterated that
in our wonderfully complex frame all the parts are
harmoniously balanced, and that an injury to one
disarranges the whole. A healthy body is the beat
guarantee for a healthy mind, and there can be
no greater mistake in those who wish to
cultivate sound mental faculties than to ne-
glect physical requirements. If such is the
case when the frame is fully formed and the
task of growing over, what must be its importance
with young tender frames yet undeveloped ? Fresh
air, active exercise, and all that free childish play
which Nature herself prescribes, are the positive
wants of childhood; and if for these we substitute
long hours of close application in a hot schoolroom,
dress which cramps the limbs, and a stiff orderly
walk, with continual injunctions not to spoil the
good clothes, we need not wonder that we find a
result, not only of an enfeebled physique, but of
morbid nerves and weakened intellect. In the good
old days before fashion was heard of we had less gene-
ral intelligence, but wo had more original thinkers,
more vigorous characters, more individual men and
women. Yet our advantages in the way not only
of book knowledge, but in physiology, in medicine,
and other practical sciences, aro very great. The
secret is that we do not apply them. We should
certainly not expect a kitten or a puppy to thrive
if cramped and confined and forbidden to play or
run ; yet the superior mental nature of the child,
instead of dispensing with such necessities, makes
them more imperative. This is hardly a case in
which if ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise;
but it is a very great pity that, knowing so much,
we do not apply our acquisitions a little more
profitably.