The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1868-10-15

A BOX OF BLoCKs.

Is worthy of her serious considefa-
ton. A child's plaything are exceed
ingly important objects in his eyes
and they must, therefore, be gradually |
exefting a powerful influence over
him. Very slight observations will |
prove this. Is not turbulent boy rem
q rs dered ten times more turbulent and
noisy by the inconsiderate present of
drum, gun, or a whip? May not
an idle little, girl be won to the love of
the needle by the timely gift of doll,
whose clothes she is herself to make
and repair2 a----- rrgr.
idU III AS soon as child is able to amuse
himself with toy, the mother should
consider what kind of playthings are
most suitable for him. Perhaps few
hints on this subject may prove not
unwelcome to the young mother, who
f'4< is watching with delight the dawn of
intelligence in her first-born.
Your little son has passed the first
anniversary of his birth his rattle and
his coral are thrown aside ;he is tired
of5them. You enter the toy-shop to
select some plaything that may cause
49,, bright, merry eyes to sparkle with
;-.. new joys on your return home. Yon-
der shelf of painted toys attracts your
'''- attention, with its birds and beasts in
gay colors, and dolls with black heads
and rosy cheeks; but. do not select
from these Tempted by the gaudy
ycolors, the little fellow will soon trans
fer such a toyas this from his hand to
his mouth; and, as he sucks off the
green and red, and blue from his
painted parrot, he is imbibing per-
haps, deadly poison.
But, without enumerating the toys
u from mwhich you should turn away, let
me direct your attention to this box
of blocks. "He is too young for this,
you exclaim. "Why, these blocks
have little pictures and the letters of
the alphabet on them you cannot mean
that I should teach the letters to a
child of twelve or fourteen months"
No, do not mean that you should;
that would, indeed, be forcing the
young intellect rather too much. But
buy that box of blocks, take it home
to your little boy, and, trust me, you
,d2ozWilf repent of your selection. You
cannot lay outs small sum in man.
ner that will contribute more to his
amusement and instruction. Do not
laugh at the idea of instructing baby
only year old such little folks will
learn, and do learn every day and ev
cry hour they are receiving instruc-
ton; and they are delighted with
each fresh acquisition they make to
their very slender stock of knowledge.
Try the experiment, young mother.
Spend an hour or two each day in
playing with your baby and his blocks
and you will be surprised and delight
ed at the quickness with which he
will learn to distinguish the little pic
lures that cover them; and you will
= feel in your own heart somewhat of
the glee and pride with which the lit
tie fellow points to the COW, the horse,
:q.,a4o the dog, &C., and attempts to articu-
late their names.
The little pictures, too, on the side
of each block have become quite fa-
miliar to him. It is a great amuse-
ment to him to be told to bring the
dog, the cat the man, the bird !; and he
runs to select from the number the
OHo H0 Is ucS1EcU W DI1uS. Is llOG GQlS,
in fact, little lesson, exercising at
2({ {once his memory and his powers OF
discrimination And, when his dawn
ing intelligence becomes more devel-
Oped, will not the transition from the
pictures to the letters under which
they stand be very easy? Instead OF
Charley, bring mamma the cow" il
,2dii will then be, sBring mamma CT and
the little fellow will run with equal
delight to fetch the block thus desig-
mated. Thus learning the letters, which
is too often,a tedious task, will be con-
verted into pleasant pastime.
ia s''' You will find it necessary to take a
little pains at first to teach your baby
the use and amusement to be derived
from his blocks; but you will find
yourself amply repaid for the trouble
Indeed, we pity that mother who
would consider it trouble to spend
a,i,n an hour a day in thus developing the
20 intelligence of her child.
We are no advocates for the preco.
9SNA ciOus forcing of the powers of the
s,an mind, ,,, We see, and hear of infant
prodigies with compassion rather thar
Will UuG we uO nOI Cnlnk
that such simple instructions as con.
tribute evidently to the amusement Of
"a child, without causing the Least
WEAKNESS, ought to be withheld. And
when we see one of year and hall
9or two years old gnawing the edges
of every book he can lay hold of, OF
tearing out the leaves, we cannot helI
thinking that it isa pity he has not
been taught to understand and love
pictures. The little Charley, whose
love for his picture blocks has been al.
luded to, may be safely trusted with q
handsome volume of natural history
The pictures of the birds and beasts
od' represent familiar ideas to his mind
he attempts to call out the name OF
each one as he looks at it; and the
thought of tearing or defacing the
book never seems to occur to him.
Teach your children early to love
pictures; and, perhaps, the simplest
and cheapest means is to begin with
1.-THE pictured blocks. -
o,tC -arup,aI