The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-12-25

play grounds, a great fort OF snow was
erected by the boys, and huge snow
mai, with tremendous whiskers was
placed in the centre to protect the whole.
This fortifcatien was taken and retaken
AGAIN. until at last even the snow man
and the fort had to yield, If not to the
snow balls-yet to the rays OF the sun:
At nine o'clock our bell gives the sig
nal for school hours. After a chapter
from the bible and short prayer, the
regular exercises of the school COM
mence. 1t is our earnest desire to make
our youth, by Gods help, in every res
pect useful members of society. The
course of studies which they pursue is
calculated to aid MS in that desire; and
is, therefore, arranged in view OF this
end. The studies are the common Eng
lsh and German Misunderstanding,
writing, arithmetic (mental and writ
ten, spelling, &c As to reading, may
remark that the method of Jacotot, com.
bined with other methods now in use,
has fully proven that it is the only nat
ural way to teach child how to read.
It consists mainly in this, that the child
learns to read sentences and even little
stories before it knows single letter in
the alphabet, just in the same way that
it learns to say pa" or ina" before it
cancomprehend that such thing as the
letter "p" or "a" exists in the world.
Music and good singing we consider
next to the word OF God one of the best
means of touching the mind of the child
We, therefore, teach our boys to sing,
and if they do not yet sing beautifully,
they do their best, and hope to improve
BY and by. English and German hymns
nd songs have already been practiced
with considerable success, They are
taken from different sources, among
which I may mention the beautiful col
lection of German songs used in the
"Rauhe Hans of Dr.. Wichern, Gale
.'Unsere Lleder." We are endeavoring
tomake some of these our own, and hope
the day is not far distant when volume
of OUR SONGS" printed by our boys,
will be in the hands of many of our
friends.
II ought to be remarked, that our
school has not yet attained that degree
of perfection which we hope will, ere
long. be the case Some instruction is
given to the more advanced scholars in
chemistry natural phi .osophy and econ
omy, but for want of apparatus, globes
and charts, it is necessarily imperfect, A
donation of the means to procure these,
or even the present of secondhand ID
struments, &c, would be a great addi-
ton to the te, ching implements of the
Institution.
LAT twelve o'clock the school is dis
missed, and shortly after the bell tells
the pleasing story that dinner is on the
table. As none of our dear children are
troubled with dyspepsia, it is seldom
that so large a company is seen with bet
ter appetites than our boys. At the ia
BILE a cheerful conversation is kept up,
and we are glad that so many partake in
it, believing that it is much better for
body and mind than those silent, cheer
less meals where the food is despatched
as by steam or with automaton move
ments, without friendly word A pas
sage from the Word of Life is also repeat
ed at the table by one of the boys This
is called our " weekly motto" and it's
powerful influence for good over all
hearts is gratefully acknowledged
ct" After dinner, the boys and their
teachers are allowed some time for re-
creation. This is generally spent by the
former on the play grounds, in gymnas
tic exercises or in their gardens. The
gymnasium is a source of unwearying
interest and amusement to the children.
The newly made lake in the grove has
also peculiar attractions, both in sum-
mer and winter Of the boys gardens,
I must not forget to remark, that large
niece of ground has been divided into
beds of from twenty-five to fifty square
feet each. These are given to our chill
dren for their private use and control,
and they cultivate them according to
their own taste and ingenuity. While
SEINE of these gardens deserve all praise
for their neat appearance, others show
that their owners have not yet enough
experience in gardening to manage their
little spot One little fellow, who re-
joices in some seven summers, made an
experiment, in which, for the benefit of
all farmers l hope he may succeed
When the time came to commence work
ing in his garden, it was soon dug with
the spade and prepared for planting, but
small as was his patch, he wanted to
taise Indian corn, potatoes, onions, salad,
radishes; peas, beans, flowers, &c, &c
Looking over his little farm, he probably
found that the crop of all these articles
would not be large enough if they occu-
pied separate pieces of ground, and
therefore he determined to plant them
on the top of each other. in the order |
have enumerated them, not forgetting
the hot bed. which found its place on the
top of the salad which had been previ-
ously sown.
1t remains yet to say few words
about the afternoon, which is generally
occupied in ON entirely different manner
During the morning, the principal part
of the time is devoted to the instructions
of the school room, and it is only when
our outdoor work is very pressing that
all hands proceed in the morning to the
fields armed with shovels and hoes, in
or der to recite lesson there. Thus, in
the spring, we might have been seen at
the potato patch" as early as four
o'clock in the morning, planting the
" poor mans apple" and listening to the
songs of the birds in the adjoining grove
Our boys learned at this early hour the
ruth of the proverb
"Morgunstund hat Gold i'm Mund,
for they all acknowledge, that a greater
amount of work can be done during a
given number of these morning hours,
than in the afternoon, when the sun
pours down upon US his intense rays
at quarter before two o'clock Zone
o'clock during the winter, our boys. and
the brothers who assist us, are called