Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1869-04-30
a Plea for intellectual
.. Moderation.

Thousands of juveniles are unques-
tionably physically and mentally in
jured for life by being crowded for
ward too rapidly I'm their studies.
Ii were better that child should
know knothing before eight years of
age, than to know too much. Pa
rents commit great error in sup
posing that they are furthering the
welfare of their children by putting
them to their books at a tender age.
Early intellectual growth must sl-
most invariably be at the expense of
physical growth. Let parents there
fore be in no haste to have their chill
dren enter upon school duties. We
have now in mind one of the most
distinguished graduates of New
England university, who did not
learn his letters until he was nine
years of age. He was allowed to
spend his time in youthful sports
and recreations, and thus TO grow
into healthy, robust boy. .....
The forcing system now prevailing
in most Of our schools is, If possible,
more pernicious than the practice Of
sending children to school too early.
We find many lads stimulated by
teachers and ambitious parents,
studying harder and more hours q
day than should full-grown person.
As they grow older, prizes are held
ou. to them as incentives, and in
various other ways they are impelIed
to push forward In the path OF
knowledge. Their faculties are con-
sequently over-strained nervous ex =
haustion follows, accompanied with
irritability of both mind and body,
sleepless nights, poor appetite, etc.
This matter is now receiving serious
attention In English schools, and a
vigorous effort is being made to Sc
cure the abolishment of the prize
system altogether. mental work !"
observes an eminent medical writer,
who has been directing considerable
attention to the management of the
English school system, "beyond the
strength which the nervous system
Is able to bear, will affect the devel-
opment of the whole body, and dis
pose it to wrong actions which would
not otherwise show themselves. The
prize system does no good whatever
to the mass of youth. They leave
school repelled from ell knowledge,
chiefly because they have been 'noz.
zled in heathen learning The few
who will work often include those
who are quite unfit for premature
brainwork. The trainer knows little
and thinks less of this; he urges the
competition, the race IL run, and If Q
breakdown occurs, he continues tc
train others for similar competition
These observations, which apply
equally we'll the world over, are
worthy the attention and considera
tion of those among us interested In
educational matters.
| The forcing system, as 1t now pre-
walls In most of our schools, Is bot.
unnatural and perniclous. The xrea
mass of those who have distinguish
ed themselves In life were, whe,
boys, more fond of athletic sport
than OF books. If they We're intel
lectnally precocious, they were at th
same time endowed with large brail
and great vitality, else they woul'
not have survived the drain OH thei
intellectual system. IL has truI.
been remarked, that every effort O
thought causes small but dcfinit
consumption of cellular tissue an
nervous force. And yet, as genera
thing, these very precocious children
In whom parents and teachers talk
so much pride and delight, and VIII
are stimulated and pushed forward
do not make their mark i'm the worlt
The ambitious talented boy, who's
head Is crammed with knowledge h
cannot digest, or whose nervous ferc
isexhaustedand whose mental power
are overdriven and overtasked by :,
we're competition. Is q prematurcl
!. old and worn out man at twoor thre
and twenty, and life of ill-healt
and dull mediocrity Ii tho fate whic
to often awaits him. The little gil
who reads at three years Old and
prematurely clever at thirteen. b,
comes generally very commonpIat
woman.--N Ncw York Commercial III
rertiscr.
Among the many pleasant teaching
, ofmodern science, few comparativel
triffling things confer purer plea
ure than the act Of preserving flower
which remind us Of departed friend
The bouquet that tells the story
our earliest love, the wreath that WI
u worn at the first entrance into the II
of the world, or the cross that tend
!, and gentle hands laid upon the coif
of our dear ones, may be preserve
till Kind friends in turn decorate Vi
4 q.