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

ii n---~~~r>~S~Ss~ e. b.
Children should not only be preserved
from the cramping forms Of school houses
and the terrible discipline of the school,
master, during those tentle, years in 1hich
nature is developing the little bones, and
giving 6brous consistency to the muscles,
but when they are put Under instruction,
the system OF, tuition should be indactive
and natural T:ecocIty of education is
never pleasai Ito contemplate. The nur-
seryman knows that the ambitious pear
tree. which brings forth fruit its branches
can scarcely hold, will have tperished al
most beft 10 It's slow and sturdy neighbor
has begun to yield. But the slow growth
is sure one, and years OF productive life
will compensate far early delays. SO the
child Of unnaturally brilliant diligence
may astouish by the fitful spasms that
mark his pathway TO All early grave-but
it is bctterto await the .surer develops
ments which come when nature has fitted
the mind and body To struggle and achieve
together. The great fault of our educa-
ton is that 1t begins too high and progres.
SOS too fast Children are driven into
fourth reatlers and arithmetic, who should
be kept down to the simplicity of the al
.phabet, or familiarizlng themselves with
the nursery stories Of Mother Goose and
tho House that Jack Built. As a general
proposition, il is safe to say that no child
should be forced to study much faster or
farther than It's inclination prompts.
Nature genorally arrarges in ali dcpait-
ments OF animated life, the amount each
organisms able TO accomplish. A youth
may seem to be a Ounce. because he man.
ifests an indisposition to mental effort,
when the fact is that he is only aceumu-
latins the vital juices The bone and the
muscle, that will qualify him at some fu.
-ture time 10 become thinker, without
being waking skeleton, 1t is a peculi-
arity OF our day, that we are anxious to
get through the world too fast A centu-
ny ago, it was about time for man to 20
out and grapple with society, when he
had touched his thrtieth year ;-now,
one Who'll has reached tha. period, has pas
sed through the whole round Of sensa.
tions, trials and triumphs, and IN six ca
res out Of ten, is foroibly reminded by the
decay Of his natural powers, that 'itis ap-
pointed unto all men once to die" The
round, slIoullcred, sunken. eyed, thin.yis-
aged, hollow-chested crowds of you Ig
men and Women who PASS us on the streets
in what, almost seems u funeral procession
are tbe victims Of the prevalent modes Of
early education, 1.-The examining and drill.
ling proee ses to which youthful minds
are subjected. Inquiry will determine
the fact, that the largest proportion Of
nervous, jaundiced, dyspeotie people met
with, are intelligent and well3nformed.- -
They are the people who, .thinkl:-uch glo,
rious thoughts and produce such glorious
evidences of genius, --Iand dis. 0. It is the
bullel -headed, beef eating numbskulls
and ignoramuses. who have to sign their
names with crosses, and are tun.b in re-
spect 10 the plainest matters Of, current
information, who have broad chests and
full cheeks yawho live heartily aad die
old. OF course this is not an argument
for ignorance; but il is demonstration
of the fact that the absence of Iarassing
that the inexorable denP nds OF nature
can Lever with safety be sacrificed to i'm.
prudent haste or insane ambition Mor--
ally, the paren who sends a child under.
efght Years ofege TO school, or the teach,
e,swho undeFakesNto force into the mind
of one of sucli~tender years, abstract infor-
nation, is guilty Of mans)aughter-for
the decay OF young manhood or woman
hood in such cases may be directly traced
to the misuse Of childhood. II there were
fewer smart babies there would be more
it,1rqralt hoeSh lI'Laa'o 'E'hHA DAA ''lI'a
,bA bF9sgssyieS qseur solpols' in ses.
sion will satisfy the visitor that great cru.
city is. borne by the children, who, instead
of hahn, nj school shoiild q in tho nurL