The Winchester appeal. [volume] (Winchester, Tenn.) 1856-1856, 1856-04-19
Early Mental Activity.


demonstrated that of any number OF
children of equal intellectual power,
those who receive no particular care
in childhood, and who do not learn to
read and write until the constitution
begins to be consolidated, but who en-
joy the benefit ofa good physical edu-
cation, very soon surpass in their stud
les those who commence earlier, and
read numerous books when very young.
The mind ought never to be cultivated
at the expense ofthe body; and phys
ical education ought to precede that Of
the intellect, and then proceed simu"
taneousIy with it, without cultivating
one faculty 10 the neglect Of others;
for health is the base, and instruction
the ornament of education."
Let parents, then. check, rather than
excite, in their children, this early dis
position in them to mental activity, or,
rather, let them counterbalence it by
a due proportion Of physical and gym
nastic exercises; for it is not so much
the intensity as the continuity Of the
mental action, which is injurious to the
constitution Let them not cause the
age of chcerfulness to be spent in the
midst of tears and slavery; let them
not change the sunny days Of childhood
into melancholy gloom, which can,
at best, only be source of misery and
bitter recollection in maturer years.
Physical exercises and the cultiva-
ton ofthe perceptive faculties should,
with the reading of moral and instruc-
tive books, form the principal occupa-
tions of children. Their expanding
frame requires the invigorating stimu-
lus of fresh air; their awakening or
gans seek for external objects of sense;
their dawning intellect necessarily
calls for the action of their observant
powers. This is the great law of Ma
ture. She has given to the child that
restless activity, that buoyancy of an
imal spirits, that praying inquisitive-
ness, which makes him delight in con-
stant motion and in the observation Of
new objects. If these intentions of
Providence be not frustrated; if he be
allowed to give himself up to the
sportiye feelings Of his age, he will
acquire q healthy constitution, and q
physical and perceptiye development,
which are the best preparation for
mental labor. ......
Of the men who have conferred
benefit on society, and have been the
admiration of the world. the greater
number are those who, from various
causes, have in early life been kept
from school or from serious study
They have, by energetic and we'll di-
rected efforts, at q period when the
brain was ready for the task, acquired
knowledge, and displayed abilities
which have raised them to the highest
eminencc in the different walks in
life, in literature, the arts and sciences,
in the army, the senate, the church, and
even on the throne. The history OF
the most distinguished among those
who have received an early classical
education, sufficiently proves that it is
not to their scholastic instruction, but
to self-education after the period OF
school, that they chiefly owed their su,
periority.
David, the sublime author of the
Psalms, followed in his early occupa,
tions the dictates ofnature; he had, in
youth, muscular power to tear asundel
the mouth of a lion, to resist the grasp
of a bear, and to impart to a pebble
velocity sufficient to slay giant. Ma.
poleon, when in the school of Brienne
was noted in the quarterly reports o
that institution as enjoying goot
health; no mention was ever made o
his possessing any mental superiority
but, in physical exercises, he was al
ways foremost. Sir Isaac Newton, ac
cording to his own statement. was in
attentive, and ranked very low in thr
school. which he had not entered unit
alter the nge OF twelve. The mothe
: Of Sheridan long regarded him as on,
of the dullest of her children. Adam
Clarke was called a "gricvous Ounce
by his first teacher; and young Licbi!
F; a "booby" by his employer. Shakes
+. peare, Moliere, Gibbon, Nicbuhr, By
ron, Humphrey Davy. Porson, ant
many others, were in like manner un
: distinguished for early application T.
study, and for the most part, indulge
in those wholesome bodily exercise
: and that of freedom of mind, wbic
contributed so much to their future ex
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