Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1879-11-22
Saturday, November 22, 1870.
TFron The Meu York 0bsereG.l ]
Taxing q Cnild's Brain.
An Extraordinary .Instanee!of Impru-
dc1ce.

dcnce.
A case of remarkable memory, Of great
folly and a,rocious cruelty, is brought 10 my
knowledge. There is no doubt that the Facts
are as YOU will now read them, aud you VIII
be prepared. when you have read them, to be-
lieve with me that the party 10. fault deserves
severe censurc, and perhaps punishment
But the case ought to be made public rs .
warning to teachers and parents aud children.
In a class of one Of our Sabbath scheols
was a girl of fine promise, bright. stuLiOus,
serious. and ioud OF the school and the Bible,
which she read with attention. She was 10
the habit Of committing large portions OF ii
to memory. aud reciting them with iluency
and correctness. Tnis ed her teacher to CO.
courage the child. exciting her pride aud am-
bi,ion as well Ms tjs,cring the Idea iha, uoshng
was TOO hard for her TO accomplish. a fcu
weeks agc thc teacher proposed to the girl TO
commit to memory the Proper names In the
Bible so as to repeat them at one rscitsiion j.
Anything more alssri, mofe foolish. ssd
mere crae, II tho vay Of Sunday sshoe! les
son ID would bs hard 10 iuvcot No possible
bene6, could b. derived from Tho hrovledsc
we're |, obtained. Whist good would !, do for
a m ,tsr or abybofy else 10 DO able 70 'epeat
all tho osucs Of nes, women, sisss. eoun-
,riss. ,ivess ard peoples mentioned IN sas Bl'
BILE n the child Bad cone raancs Of she
Scriptures. ID whloh all sh's. words sets
arranged as In a dictionary. aio could vofh at
,hom moro readily .han BY taking them a'
thov stand In the Bible itsalf Bu, 10 Is qoilo
Ebelr that Il would aid the memory 50 use
The text Of the Bible. apd have The ASSOCIATIONS
with chapters and verse;. afn ne, Informed
as 20 the mode In which she Undertook 10 serk
ont the useless task. But sue came 10 her
class as usual and the pions teacher, taking
the Bible 10 hand, listened aud watched, while
the little martyr stood up bravely 20 the tor
ture aud went through II from beginning 10
end! AID swoosEp AWAY. On recovery
she was led home 10 her mother. a pitiablc.
perhaps ruined child.
Now have no words of Indignation ode-
1uate to express the ce0snre which this In
indicious teacher deserves for inilcting such a
task upon child. or permitting her TO under
take il, or even allowing her to repeat ihe
result If it. 1t may be that the teacher will
say the child proposed it, or performed II Of
her own choice without being told 10 do it,
Bot it is of little moment whether tbiS par
rcular task was sef-imposc1 or not the girl
was made a martyr 10 her memory, b.iog en-
couraqed in these feats until she taxed her
brain to q degree that will probably result in
lifelong weakness, If not early death. IL
would have been quite as wise, Christian aud
kind, to have put the Child III walking
match, to see if she could walk six days run
uing. The physical strain would soon show
fer itself the injury done, ind the victim would
be r sc1ed. The mental strain coes not ap-
lelr 10 the suffering until the task Is accom-
nlisbed. and then comes the react on, revealing
the fat | effects Of folly and tt %.
la Sabbath schools, as a general rule, the
child's memory is not employed as much as 1t
should be. Instead o., or IN connection viii,
answers TO que tions in book, every child
ouaht to repeat at least six verses Of Holy
Scripture every Sabbath day. This may be
easily attained by the admirable habit OF learn
ing one verse every day iu the week, reviewing
aud repeating them all on Sabbath morning,
and then going with them To the school, these
10 he recited TO the teachers. These verses
thus treasured viii be more precious than
rubes as long as life lasts, IN this way
learned 10 childhood some Of the Palms that
are now like pearls. " Behold how good and
how pleasant it is toF brethren 20 dwell to-
rether 10 uhity," was one Of them tie 23rd
Psalm. and the lSolh, were also learned IN the
same way. and-mark this-what portions Of
Scripture did not learn then, ! have neUer
learned. The study Of the Bible since has
doubtless made me acquainted more aud more
with its meaning, is breadth and depth and
power but when | WOO repose, or seek com
munion with the Author, or would soar into
REGIONS If divine contemplation, the portions
If Gods word that were ingrafled before /
was twelve years old, refresh me rs I'D the
olI oaken bucket that hung IN The well, when,
a heated and weeriei boy, took It's waters on
my parcbed lips Sweet as, yes, swecter
than the honey y-comb are words that have
liyed in memory half q century, while they
who taught me are with David aud Mary IN
the kingdom Of glory. Ii would be blessed
reaction aud reform il our Sabbath schools
would encourage aud require every scholar to
commit to memory six verses of the BIOle
every week.
But that does not mitigate The folly OF the
teacher who puts upon a child the absurd task
Of learning to repeat by rote the Proper names
Of the Bible II may be that hes memory
was OF that abnormal type which easily retains
vast sums and sounds without assoelatiog with
them thoushts. Persons have been known to
repeat. whole columns Of newspaper after
once hearing them read. CyrPs knew the
name Of each soldier in his mighty arnny.-T
Shepherds have had name for each sheep 10
a eres, flock. Pastors have been able 10 call
each Of their maty lambs By nsfne. a lady
near ne repeated every word Of tie Shorter
Catecbism on the day she was fTe years old.
I Gao now repeat the exceptions TO the rule
under the 81 decleDsipn Of Latin nouns end
;noin p Of the Ablatiye case, though ! have
moi seen them since early childhood, and We
used 10 say there we're more exceptions than
examples. Bot all these are as noush' com-
pared with the silly task Of pressing on the
brain Of a poor child more than 1000 Proper
nours. that cannot be used when learned, and
whic., no sensible person ever tried TO learn.
Just take a little slice out Of The lesson.-
i.