The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1873-07-16
THE PHILOSOPHY OF WAITING.

In the education of the young nothing i
more important than judicious waiting
Nature moves slowly in the development
mind, and any attempt to hurry her work
attended with disaster. "Patient waiter, nj
loser" is proverb which has special claim
on the attention of the educators of our day
The man who, realizing the folly of work
ing colt before maturity, allows him tt
pass his early days in unbroken and expen
sive leisure, ought to acknowledge similal
necessity in the minds of his children, ant
be content to let them pass untrammellet
and unburdened through the same period.
We dwelt, in recent article, on the over
working of our factory children and the eViI'
resulting from it; but we believe that from
the mistaken devotion or ambition of parents
almost as much injury is done the little ones
by like pressure in our schools.
No sooner does the first CLEAN of intel
ligence dawn, than tue Child is pu5 upon Z
painful course of all-absorbing, and neces
sarily, undigested study. His little brain ii
thus crammed with mass of information
which at later period, and in ample time
for practical use, could be acquired and ap
pretended with perfect ease. The embar
RAISING problems which now perplex instruc
tors would mainly vanish, if they would bu
wait for the help of ripening time. Bu
now they are like ScholasticuS in the ole
Greek fable, who paced rapidly up and dowr
the ferry-bost to hasten its arrival at the
other shore
The waste Of time and labor involved il
our present system is enormous. The ex
penditure of ten years in teaching simple
studies, which, with advanced maturity, the
child could master in two or three, is hardly
in keeping with the reputation of New Eng
land for foresight and prudence. The far
mer who should spend January and Febru-
ary in breaking up, over and over again
frozen fields, which under the softeningSn
fuence of the coming season would yield al
once to his plow, would be guilty of nc
greater folly than are they who strive with
hammer and tongs" to force an entrance
for science into the as yet sealed brain Of
the little child. But even this is not the
chief evil of our present advanced educa-
tional system"
The tender years which are now doomed
to Syriphean toll are all needed for playing
and romping, and for light work in the open
air and the sunlight. They are the years
for storing up capital of mental and bodily
vigor; and much of the physical inactivity,
and alas also of the mental disease among
US, is the direct result of changing them
from Gods purpose to our own. 1t is to be
feared that as much mental and social evi
has come in the best educated districts from
over-study in youth, as in illiterate districts
from ignorance. And this is beginning tc
be realized by many of the otherwise wise
and excellent men who have helped to ma
ture and to carry out our present high'preS
sure system.
If the thirty hours of school for little
children were reduced to twelve, the minC
could not in the other hours lie fallow. The
little brain is always busy in play or simple
labors; and the mental exercise children en-
10y in intercourse with each other, in tht
fashion in Dame Natures school, is of nj
trihing value. 1t is "education" in tht
highest sense of the word. 1t is the spoon
food which is to them more natural and alst
more nutritious than the solid meat which
they cannot digest.
And such part of their hours of freedom
as would be spent in the company of genia
older people would be passed in good school
more stimulating than any study of books
to the youthful mind.
One of these years We shall learn that i
is in vain to enforce into practical use time
which God never meant for it. We shall SCI
that his system of gradual unfolding canno
be improved upon, nor yet dispensed with
We shall learn that nature can neither b.
coaxed nor bullied into an unnatural blossom
ing, merely to suit our whims or to CRAFTY
our ambition. Heaven grant that we may
return to our sober senses on the educationa
question before we have to build more insan,
aSylums or hospitals, for the shelter or treat
ment of the brains we have destroyed.
Let us learn wisdom from cur failures, ant
pity from the tired baby-faces we see rush
ing out from their six hours Imprisonment
in the school house, into the glad sunligh
which God has meant for them to grow ant
be happy in.
Who of US, and vigorous though we be
would like to breathe for six hours day tn
air our little darlings breathe, and whicl
they must breathe with our present system
of ventilation?
If we persist in educating our little one
to their death-or worse, to the death o
their mental faculties-let US never mocl
God by weeping over their wreck and say
ing, "This is mysterious Providence p!'
Watchman and Reflector.
How MUCH truth is spoken that is sool
forgotten. A great many good things ar