The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1882-12-28
A Common Perplexit7.

Thirty odd years ago. saws the cu,,s
va" onao1a, mother living in a New
england village wrote to Jacob Abbott
lheh llA lg in New York CITY. for conn.
sci. Her case was very common one
She had son, bright. active how who
"a1 loiiu OF play, and was not fond of
s.uoy' She did not like to send him. at
his tender age, to the village school
"hlch was probably neither better nor
worse than the average New England
scnool' IN which some good can always
oe learned and considerable evil a,ways
pioheo up. She was afraid to undertake.
,ne apparently onerous task of teacbino
nlm herself. She was afraid to let him
spend his time in play with chance com
panlons upon the street. In this per-
pieSlly she wrote to Mr.. Jacob Abbott
shen perhaps as widely known as now
ior ne was in the midst of his useful
work as writer and teacher. and re.
teiVea the following reply. This reply
nts come INTO the hands of the C4ristiaa
on'on recently, and with this public ac-
encouragement to the friend of the
Chfastidn Union, and of the mothers.
who has sent it to us, we print it here.
with such notifications only as are neces,
sary to avoid all purely personal allu-
sions' we are glad thus to add to our
eoitorial utterance this voice from the
sacred past
..uu noo ,, NEW YORK, -, 1851.
1t was not until yesterday that re.
ceived your letter of the 11th JULY. I
was very glad to hear from you. and |
wish very much that could see and talk
with you for an nour or two upon tbe
subject upon which you wrote. In fact
IL Is absolutely necessary that l should
nave far more perfect acquaintance
with the facts in the case than it is nos
sible to communicate in writing in order
10 be qualified to form an opinion in
regard to what is best to be done.
II have son who is about the same
age as yours. He is under the cbaroc,
OF his aunt. My Instructions to her are
and have been for some vears-tbat
she should confine her pnpil for two
hours each day to some solitary study of
nature not agreeable, to accustom him
to patient, Independent effort in the full
hllment of task. The remainder of
the day he has for play, but is to be kept
out OF the streets. These rules are plain
and simple, and they are not onerous.
ana they are to be uniformly and infiex-
ibiy enforced. The plan seems to
answer WELL The studies of the boy are
reading, writing and simple arithmetic;
and IN all of them he seems to me TO ba
IN advance Of other boys of his age. who
spend Six hours in school daily.
"Were | in your case, should. unless
there were in my physical health some
absolute and inexorable difficulty inca
pacitating me from it. pursue the same
course. L should at nine clock every
morning give my boy some plain. simpie |
and straight, orward work, of reading
aloud, writing, or ''doing sums'' enough |
to last him two hours, and gently
but firmly insist on his doing it every
day. The ren 'ainder of.the day l should
let him have for play. being with him as
much as possil lie. and taking an interest
in all his plan' and pursuits. | should
keep him out If the streets and should |
make him obe me and submit his will
to mine. l have great conf
dence that sur b course as this steadily
and firmly pu sued will end in making a
good boy of any subject whatever.
''lf my health were such that plan
like this were out of the question Ishould
consider the school the next best plan.
unless the "street' influences of =
are very different from those of most
other places.
do not consider your boys love OF
play and dislike to study anything un-
favorable. His taste in these respects is
IN evidence of health, and his open
avowal of them sign of his frankness
md honesty. Istell my boy that he need
not trouble himself about trying to like
study; if he will only like play that is
Ill | ask of him.. l will see that he does
Ill the necessary study without liking it.
out if he should show any symptoms of
lot liking play | should at once be
Harmed and send for the doctor.
Your boys not liking to read, while
till he likes to hear reading, is owing
obviously to the fact that he has not read
nough to read with ease and pleasure.
require him to read two half hours a
lay aloud to you and you will soon find
hat he viii like to read any book that he
vould like to hear
Yours sincerely,