The Kansas herald of freedom., 1858-08-14
Education

| far above those who were by nature vast
ly superior. Within the child lies the
man, as within the acorn lies the oak.
Folded up within It's tiny cup lie the stall
wart trunk, the giant branches, the thou
sand twigs and myriad leaves, and acorns
of the future tree; so within the cradled
child lie the thoughts, the words, the
deeds of the poet, the patriot, or philos-
ipher; far reaching thought that shall
sound the depths of hell, and scale the
heights of heaven words that shall call
the dead to life and light; and deeds
that shall shine on the worlds unwritten
page, when wars red light shall pale to
glow no more.
As the acorn needs moisture, the
shower and the dew, warmth and light,
and room to expand into the monarch of
the woods, SO the child needs favorable
conditions to surround it, that it may de-
velop the glorious nature that lies within.
First, let it be surrounded with good phys.
ieal conditions. The soul sees by means
of the bodily eye, it hears through the
medium of the external ear, and it re-
veals itself to others by the organ of
speech. To do justice then to the soul,
We must first do justice to the body. This
the Greeks and Romans, the barbarians
and pagans that they were, understood.
They had gymnasiums in which the mus
cular system could be thoroughly trained
and developed baths. hot and cold, for
cleanliness, and all the appliances that art
could devise to develop the body; and
the consequences were, as might be expect
ed, a physical development, which, for
strength and beauty, the world has not
yet surpassed.
Let the infant, at all times, breath pure
air. The pernicious custom of muffiing
up babies. as dead people are wrapped up
in their winding sheets, till they gasp for
the air that the lungs require, lays the
foundation of weakness, disease and pre-
mature decay. Whenever the weather
permits, carry out the child and let its
lungs receive the heinvigorating breath that
blows over our free hills. In warm wealth
er, open the windows and doors wide, and
let the wind have free access to every part
of your dwelling; and in cold weather, it
is better, by far, that your child should be
moderately exposed to the cold blast,
that bears health on its wings, than that
it should be shut up in tight room heat
ed by large stove which robs the air of
its vitality, and renders it unfit for the
purposes of life. So should the child be
exposed to light; human beings need it
as much as cabbage and corn. As no per-
feet plant can be produced in a cellar, SO,
no perfect human being can be developed
who is not exposed to the full influence of
light. A tadpole kept in darkness, never
can become frog; it may grow large, but
remaina tadpole still and how many hu-
man tadpoles live in darkened fashionable
parlors To ladies whom the sun never
kissed-pale, etiolated things, who never
can be women for the lack ofpure air and
sunlight, the best cosmeticsin the world.
exercise is as needful as air and light
Children should be encouraged to employ
their muscles by active sports and light,
and appropriate labor. Theidea that the
necessity for labor is a curse, is one of
those old fogy notions as well as foggy
notions, that the sun of this nineteenth
century is gradually dispelling. The body
needs exercise-needs to labor in order
to perfect its strength and beauty. Early
should children be taught this useful les
son. If you have garden and every
family on earth should have one-you
can make your child useful in it before it
is two years old. You can teach it to pull
up weeds, pick off dead leaves, and as it
becomes older, plant flowers and bushes,
and beautify your home and expand its
frame at the same time. Girls should be
trained in this manner as well as boys, and
how much better it would be for them,
grown up to womanhood, to grow and sell
fruit, than to be huddled into dark rooms
in dusty cities, and exc out a miserable
existence by making shirts for five cents
apiece. For want of physical education,
the mothers of America are weak, pale
and sickly, and their offspring, as a natural
consequence, puny and deformed. Were
it not for the reinforcements of vitality
that we receive from the sun-browned
German, the ruddy Irish, the sturdy
Welsh, &C., we should be in danger of
dying out from this cause alone. In
France the women spend half their time
in summer out of doors. The same is
true in Germany, and in England. Despite
the continual rains, the population, especi-
ally the female portion, spend a large
portion of their time in the open air, and
diseases which are so common here, such
as dyspepsia, liver complaints. &C., are al
most entirely unknown. Educate the
body and you have then made the best
preparation for the education of the soul.
No, In.