Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1870-08-24
What TO Do With my Children.


Give your children all the education you
can afford. School, academy, college and pro-
fessona seminary WILL altogether, be little
enough Every dollar invested in your
chid's brain is treasure only less secure
than treasure in heaven. 1t furnishes him
with some thought or some knowledge that
will be a use and pleasure to him all his
life long, and which he will never have time
to pick up as he races along the path Of Gre
sponsiblcn life The soldier is altogether too
late with his drilling when he gets under the
enemys fire.
Dr. Bushnell, l believe, said that Every
great truth is made up Of two irreconciable
extremes" An instance of this is found in
those two sayings of Christ's; in one place,
" He that is not with me is against me" and
in another, " lie that is not against US is on
our part In like manner children differ !;
aud yet children are all alike.
The application to school matter is thus I:
There is a certain number of studies that are
indispensable to all. These are what the old
fellow called the "Three RS Readin', Ri
tin, and Rithmetic" They are Instrument
tai Studies, and might be still better stated as
Language and Number. Reading includes all
that relates to the language Of others Writ
ing is to make others understand our own
recorded language; and Grammar is the set
of rules that enable US to correct both. Those
are included in language Number may be
called the Alphabet Of Things it is as in.
dispensable for dealing with Time and its pat
rons, or Space and the objects in it, as the
Alphabet Of Language is for speech.
The instrumental studies, Language and
Number, must be known to all. But in pro
portion as the children grow up, they will be-
gin to be more and more different. Theil
peculiarities will show not all at the same
age, for children are like fruits-some ripen
early, some late.
! The first guiding consideration as to choice
Of advanced studies is this -
Most children's minds are respectable ay
erage minds.
This is not so useless a truism as might b.
fancied the difficulty about it is to get
applied When the clergyman imputes tota
deprayty, every one says Yes; that othe
person is wicked enough" but seldom con
lesses his own sinfulness When you imput
fever and ague to a Western town, you vii
find that there isn't any in this town, but tha
the next one is ratified to pieces with it,
When say most children are average younl
persons, every mother will assent for all tn
other peoples children, but her own cannc
be meant they are the most remarkabl
children in the place
When heaverage children must stop study
ing and must go to earning living, it is on
comfort that they can do it. They can d
one thing about as well as another,-that il
one ordinary thing, one average thing. The
will teach school pretty well if there is
chance or 20 to work on a farm or take
clerkship, or learn a trade.
The other sort, those who have a natura
= vocation, will in due time say SO. And the
will be uncomfortable if set at anything else
and if the vocation is strong enough, ,--voci
tion means calling, you know,-they will ri
, up. and follow the call, and nothing and NJ
e body will stop them. | remember very we
: two schoolmates Of my own. One had di
4 tinct vocation, the other, two or three ratht
, indstinct tendencies. The first was eyerlas
> ingly drawing and writing. lie was the be
writer in the school, and his pictures wei
S the object of my hopeless admiration. Il
G went on with this picture business don
D think he could have been comfortable in al
; other. He had an excellent intellect, al
n was in all things very respectable schola
t but he could not let Form and Color alon
h They called him, and he went after them, al
c got them, too, and they made him iamou
# He is Frederick Il. Church, the best liyir
B, landscape painter.-S. S. Teacher.