Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1860-11-28
Instrnction in the Schools.


Children should not only be preserved
from the cfamping forms of school houses
and the terrible discipline ofthe school,
master, during those tender years in ghich
nature is developing tho little bones, and
giving fibrous consistency to the muscles,
but when they are put under Instruction,
the system OF tuition should be indactiye
and natural. Treooeity of education, is
never pleasar Ito cont emplate. iBhe nur-
seryman knows that the ambitious pear
tree, which brings forth fruit its branches
can scarcely hold, will have perished al
most befc eits slow and sturdy neighbor
has begun to yield, But the slow growth
is sure one, and years of productive life
will compensate for early delays. SO the
child Of unnaturally brilliant intelligence
may astouish by the ftful spasms that
mark his pathway 10 an early graye-but
iit is better 10 await the surer develop
ments which come when nature has fitted
! the mind and body TO struggle and achieve
together The great fault Of our educa>
tion is that II begins oohigh and progress
ses too fast. Children are driven into
fourth readers and arithmetic. who should
be kept down tolthe simplicity of the al
Iu9bSb, vi lItbioCHNCs WITH
the NURSERY sturies OF Mothor Goose and
the House that Jack Built. AS q general
proposition, il is safe, 10 say that no child
should be forced to study much faster or
farther than It's inclination prompts
Nature generally arrargss in ail depait-
ments OF animated life. the amount each
organism is able TO accomplish. Ayouth
may seem to be Ounce, because he man
ifests am indisposition To-, mental effort
when the fact is that he is only accumu-.
htiny the vital juices, the bone and the.
muscle, that will qualify him al some fu-
ture time to become q thinker, without
being a liking skeleton. it is peculi-
arity OF our day, that we are anxious to
get through the world too fast A centu-
w ago, IL was about time for q man to 20
out and gtapple with society, when he
had touched his thirtieth year < now,
one who has reached tha. period mas pas
sed through the whole round of senss,
tions, trials and triunphs. and IN six ca
ses out Of ten, is foreibly reminded by the.
decay Of his natural powers, that "it is ap-
pointed unto all men once to die. The
round shouldered, snnken eyed, thin>yis-
aged, hollow-chested crowds of you Ig
ilittl NslA wiz IhSS uo Ull tit SlIttlS
in what almost seams d funeral procession
are the victims CT the prevalent modes Of
early education, the examining and drill
ling proce ses TO which youthful minds
are subjected. Inquiry will determine
the fact, that the largest p' oportion of
nervous, jaundiced, dyspe otio people met
with, are intelligent and -
They are the people who think ;uch glo.
rious thoughts and produce such glorious
evidences of genius,-and dis. 1t is the
bullet -headed, q beef eating numbskulls
and ignoramuses. who have to sign their
names with crosses, and are Cun,b in 70.
spect to the plainest matters Of current
infnrinaiion, who have broad chests and
full checks; who live heartily AID die
old, , OF course. this is not an argument
for Ignorance; but it is demonstration
of the fact that the absence of hsEassing
men tai effort is beneficial to The body, and
that the inexorable demands of nature
can Eever with safety be sacrificed to i'm,
prudent haste or -insaue ambition Nor
ally ~, ,paren who sends a chhdilnder
eight years ofage to school, or the teach,
er who nndertnkes tpforce into, the mind
of one OF such tender years. abstract infor.
mason, is guilty Of neutrality-suspicious.
thentlebas of young manhood or woman.
hoed i6s6ch cases may BE directly traced
to the misuse OF childhood; Ifthere were
fewer smart babies there would be more
great men,, s !
A BIRDS ey e yiew ,of oIri schools IL ses.
sion will satisfy the visitor that great cub
city is borne by the children, who, instead
Of being at school, should Elm the nur-
sery. Little wee bits al children, google
headed, pale faced, tirodl babes, the Yer>
Zebra too young to support the bead, are
packed of school by erriagy mothers,
merely TO get rid OF them athome9 There
the poor creatures are closely seated in
rows, in foul air, doubled up, and sutier@
ing pains which they cannot 1iescribeA
The rooms. some oftheIn not larger than
a hower-bed in city garden, are packed
iull, coughing and swelteripg in young
humanity, bsbhiing the alphabet mecban-
lSally, and passing the long hours of the
day an these eharnsl houses OF the living.
There are rooms filled with infants, which
the O Directors would be ashamed to
show TO the public The remedy i
entirely in the hands of the parents. and
We are sure q mere hiat TO them will he
sufficient to abate what we consider iphu.,
man. Berks' Press. ar