Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-05-22
Written for the Rutland IIe~a,d.l
Discipline Mental Culture.
NO XVII.

Let parents open to their children the
Book of Nature, and trace with them
its ample pages. What fruitful field
for mental culture and refinement is here
sDread ont before thn,,, Tho haavans
above, with their rolling planets and
shining stars; the varying winds and
floating clouds; the dew that collects
upon the grass; the gently falling rain
that diStis from the clouds the frost.
ice and snow which appear in their sea
son; the storm which gathers among the
mountains, roaring and flashing with ter
rife thunder and forked lightnings aud
pours itself in drluging torrents upon
the valleys below; the eyer-changing
seasons, which " give seed-time and har-
vest" and come freighted each with its
own pleasures and blessings. What oh
jects and themes for youthful contem-
plation. What sources of instruction,
if the inquiring mind Of childhood is
properly directed.
The child in the flower garden may
take nu nberless lessons in discriminating
colors and odqrs, and in learning the
names and characteristics of the differ
ent flowers that adorn the landscape and
delight the senses. lie may cultivate
taste. for the beautiful in nature, and
fondness for that rich science which
opens at this point, into the wide world
of vegetable creation.
The child in the cultivated field should
learn to distinguish between the different
grasses and grains. Each kind has its
own peculiar stalk and leaf and bios
som and seed. The field of herds grass
differs from the clover; the wheat from
the barley, oat and rye field and the
kernels all differ from each other, after
the harvest. Now, how many in the
schools are put upon the study of the
higher English, classics and ornamental
branches, who are profoundly ignorant
of the most common and useful
facts by which their childhood was sur
rounded. And yet all these facts might
have been known perfectly, and
much profitable discipline secured, had
their parents done their duty, and early
called their attention to the object
lessons of nature in the garden and the
field
The child in the orchard, and in the
woods, should be taught early to name
at sight the apple, pear, peach and plum
trees the beach, birch and maple, with
their various species; and the evergreens
which defy the chilling blast and icy
crapple of winter. He should know
them by the color of their bark, the
slope Of their leaves, and the taste of
their fruit and he should understand
their comparative utility for the pur-
poses of food, fuel and lumber. A
knowledge of such facts would lead the
Young people to enquire into the phil
osophy of the vegetable world to study
the relations of the plant and tree to the
elements which surround them, and
finally, to investigate the process by
which plants grow under the influence
of heat, light and moisture.
Still further; the child among the
minerals of nature, may be profitably
employed In learning the nature of the
soil, and the names of the different
rocks and metals with which he is so
familiar. The different soils and their
adaptation to the different crops which
the farmer expects them to yield; the
manner of enriching and cultivating
them the time and seasons for casting the
seed, nursing the plants and gathering
the harvest, are facts which every boy
should Understandable the girl the cor
responding facts in her own domestic
department. The difference between
the common metals, iron, lead, copper,
silver and gold, their uses and compare
tive values, and the localities from
which they are obtained why gold is
more valuable than silver, and silver
than copper, and copper than lead when
used IS coin; and why iron is the most
valuable of all metals when used IN the
arts, are facts which every cniid can
and should understand, even While ~ tne
homessehool of nature, A knowledge