Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1839-02-21
From DR.. Humphry's TAo'gAts on Ed"catis".
, - -. INRANcE. -.

and what will you do with ir9 Parental
| affection Graves no time 10 Snswcr-" II
shall find a home in nix bosom, and he
cherished rs the apple of any eye. ! will
| nurse it with all the tenderness whirh It's
extreme delicacy and llelplessness require.
lfit is sick, ] will watch over il day and
night. aud do every thing in my pn"e' to
slleviste its suffsrings: and If il dies. !
will eMlmlnl all its loneliness in my heart"
But il its life is spared, what will f"n do 10
train il up for happiness, for usefulness,
and for heaven
Here, IS this little unconscious stranger,
not only to be fed aud clothed and shelter
ed, but to be educated for high earthly drs-
TIMES and for and for an Immortal crown.
God has created il for noble purposes, and
endowed II with various faculties. IT ia
just waking into nm endless life. Its des-
tiny is onward. 1t is committed to you,
and mot to your ncighbor. The question
is not whether you will accept the charge,
or decline it-whetheF you will educate
| the child, or leave it 10 grow up in igno-
rance and vice. No such option is prof
fered. The most important duties Of life
are not thus to- be got rid Of Yos have
nothing to do in giving it new faculties. or
supplying any which may be wsntipg. Your
business is 10 watch for the development
Of those with which God has endowed il.
| and to cultivate them with uptiring assidu-
ity. / say, to so0tch for their developer
lnent, and not TO force it-noi even TO h0s-
ten il. Nature does these things infinitely
safer end bc,,er than we can. Gnd could
no doubt bring human beings ia, she world,
from generation To genera,ioD, ~ the Iuh
maturity Of their powers. But this 10 not
his economy. in the world which we in
habit. Every thing that is endowed with
life, must have time tn expand and grow.
In the vegetable kingdom, there 10" FIRST
the blade, then the ear, end after :hai, the
full corn in the ear" Give the germ,
which has now but single leaf, rain and
sunshine, and your great grand children
may see it tossing its giant arms in defiance
Of the tempest; but you cannot force it OPP
to this sublime conflict in half dozen
years. Drop single seed upon tho side
Of mountain, and century hence il will
have become Norwegian pine, fit for
some tall admiral bot how vain would ev-
cry attempt be TO hasten its native growth
on i,s native soil and who would be 50
foolish rs TO transplant il 20 a tropical cli-
mate, with the design of making mast OF
il few years soonevI
So in the animal kiugdoui. we every
whore sec the footsteps Of progression
The young Alligator is as defenceiess snd
harmless as minnow. There 10 nothing
in the little tiger at first, TO rcpci the ca
resses Of child and even tlIe African IL
on IS no lion AZ all. exeep. in tho elements
of its nature, ill considerable time %
elapsed for the developemens of its strength
and ferocity.
These anslogies are highly ipstruc.ive,
when brought 20 bear upon the slow and
gradual unfolding Of the infant mind /; al
though it would be extremely obvious 70
every careful obs " without them, that
but little can be safely done in the way Of
direct intellectual culture, within the first
four or five years. Such 10 she common
anxiety Of parents, especially OF young pa
rents, 20 catch the 6rst dawn OF inieIii-
gcnce in their offspring. and 10 reflect IL
upon their admiring friends. that there 70
vastly more danger from premature devel-
opemcnt than from went Of early stimulus.
If YOU divide the life Of your child into
three periods, as some writers have done.
calling the first infancy, till the fifth, or
sixth year--the second, childhood, till the
eleventh oriwelf,h-and the third youth,
till the eighteenth or twentieth, ihs less
you attempt in hlc way of direct instr1c-
ton during the first period. the better. Let
thu infant, ] mean the child, under Eve or
six years, sleep just rs much as nature re-
quires. Let il play ill nature calls for re-
pose. Stand bv, as a watchfol guardian,
to protect it from all huriful exiraneous in
1uences but within its own little sphere,
let il move with perfect freedom, under the
sweet attractions Of your eye and your
voice. Think how extremely tender the
brain is, aud neither task it yourselves. nor
allow any body else 10 excite Il 10 undue
action. Make tho infant as happy, IL you
can, as the day is long; or rather, J should
say, give it air, give it room and liberty TO
try its limbs and oreans-give it playthings
enough, (ihe ruder tIIe better. perhaps,)
and from two 10 Gve years old, il will be
happy as matter Of course. Enjoyment
is The very element in which, little children,
in subordinate sense, I" live and move aud
have their being" They will sometimes
cry for moment, 10 be sure NJ when kit
~ asserts its inaIenabIe right to its cwH
ears, or puss resents too n,uci, .nieddling
with her tail bot il is only like the fitting
-of cloud across the SIMS disc. II is
gone. before we have tine 10 notice
It. Who ever saw group of small chill
dren unhappy, for the space Of 6ye min
utes, whether in town or countT!y---whciti-
or 10 the park or the guttcr--whciher rich!
or psor. clad or Unclsdl Fam sure, that
although, have noiicrd ttrnr . Thousand
times, and at alrnost all possible situations.
a, home and abroad upon The lawn Of the
80, ana In The l1fIe CLAW r,its