Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1865-10-24


Object Lessons.
One would almost think that eyes were an ar
rangement to prevent people from seeing. Th
same thought passed in the mind OF the olC
prophet thousands Of years ago Eyes hare thei
but they see not. IL Is astonishing to observe
both wnat people DO bee and what they do not
One pair Of eyes, ior instance, will return
from crowded church, and will nave seen, (by
an almost supernatural faculty, as it seems /,
us,) every bonnet, every ribbon, every dress
every significant look, every posture or action
OF thousand people. Our own eyes lookln-
upon the same scene, would have seen not on,
OF all these things
One par Of eyes will see through the length
Of Broadway, and see only those who seem t.
look UPON the owner Ot said eyes. Another
pair will not have eeen one person IN that long
walk, not have missed One horse that walked
trotted, capered, or steadily ullsd.
One man will see all the children, the sweet
rosy-laced, clean ones, gladly; the ragged and
keen faced ones, sadly.
One man will see all that Ar. can exhibit
and another nothing Of it all. One man eees
machines and al mechanical c0ntriyances an.
other secs only dresses and shOwy things. Now
and then there Is rare head, whose eyes seem
to take IN eyerythng,-ifOn mouse that sGudr
into hole, up through all varieties of still OF
active life 10 the very top. And some there be
who seem to see nothing. For all the effect pro-
ouced upon them, Broadway Is as empty as d
street IN Iadmor. Their eyes seem to has { been
made up with unprepared nerve, so that like
daguerrean plale without chemical coating,
nothing acts upon it, and no picture is burnt Ia
1t is great pity that We ore not taught, IN
our early days, hO0 10 see 1t Is more Impor-
tant than reading and writing, than arithmetic
or geography la world OF boundless treas.
ures, above, beneath, on every side, We walk as
if there were but lew things worth seeing And
even these, when we have looked upon them
once or twice, We exhaust, and suppose we have
seen them
man shall pass and repass burdOek grow
ing near the path which he daily treads going
to and returning from his work. lie would
laugh il be were told that be did not know that
familiar plant. And yet in making it, God put
upon it and within it huudred things that are
worth observation, bat which this man never
sees or suspects. Ide least things that come
from Gods hands are 50 iull, 60 impact OF quail
ites, that they will bear close scrutiny ana long
study. And we think that the chief advantage
to be derived from teaenlng children 10 draw Is
not to be found IN the pictures made, but IN the
new eyesight gained. TINS, however, implies
that they are taught to draw directly from ma
ture, and not from copy-bOoks LIST child
study plant, in order to draw 1t, and he will
ind out more about it 10 one day than other
wise he would in lifetime We only glance
at things.
We overlook more than We see in the thiogs
which we see most thoroughly Ii would be
good exercise for winter evenings tor children,
to have placed before Ihem rosebush In u flow
er-pot, and then let each tell what he sees, and
keep the list and then, lot older eyes do the
same and then, from all together, make out
more complete one and laying it aside, every
day whenever things occur afterwards, let them
be put down. Thus the bark, Its color, tex ,ure,
changes from youth to age the branches, their
relative positions, the subdivisions, the angles
at which they put of the leaves, their form;
the edges, their texture, color, size, number
health, thickness the difference between The
upper and lower surface, etc. etc. These and
such like things will soon let one know how
little the unframed eye sees and how much
there is to be seen
The eye is susceptible Of moro training han
perhaps any other of the senses. Flnensss OF
sight, length Of vision, comprehensiveness, OF
the number Of things taken in at once, and
rapdy,-these may be so nr developed, that
the educated eye is as far above the uneduca ted
as u refined and cultivated mind is beyond a
savage one. Houdln, the great French NEGRO.
mancer related the practice Of himself and son,
IN preparing for one part of their jugglery.
They trained their eyes to take in at a glance,
from shop-window, from a store OF varieties,
from the tace OF books in a library, the greatest
number oi things. They come tO such periec
ton, that IN simply walking past a brary.case
they could, afterward, tell you nearly every book
on Its shelves, and its relative position Their
eyes seemed to be acted upon in manner not
unlike the Photographic process. A picture
was instantly formed, And, aiterward, 1t rose
up before their memories, as If the origna
thing stood before them. Such incidents show
how little use is yet made OF eyes, how little we
suspect their capabilities of education, ami how
lttle we know OF the world We live IN, even in
Its most familiar aspects, s,-"Eyes and Ears,
BY n, w. Beeehr.