The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-12-09
A Common PeIplexity.

Thirty odd years ago, says the Chris
tim LHj0H, mother living in a New
England village wrote to Jacob Abbott,
then living in New York City, for coun-
sci. Her case was a very common one.
She had a son, q bright, active boy, who
was fond of play, and was not fond of
study. She did not like to send him, at
his tender age, to the village school,
which was probably neither better nor
worse than the average New England
school, in which some good can always
be learned and considerable evil always
picked up. She was afraid to undertake
the apparently Onerous task of teaching
him herself. She was afraid to let him
spend his time in play with chance COM
paniOns upon the street. In this per-
pleXity she wrote to Mr.. Jacob Abbott,
then perhaps as widely known as now,
for he was in the midst of his useful
work as writer and teacher and re-
ceived the following reply. This reply
has come into the hands of the Christian
Union recently, and with this public &C
acknowledgement to the friend of the
Christian 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
editorial utterance this voice from the
sacred past:
''NEw YORK, -, 1851.
"My Dear Mrs. ---:
1t was not until yesterday that re-
ceived your letter of the 18th July. l
was very glad to hear from you, and l
wish very much that could see and talk
with you for an hour or two upon the
subject upon which you wrote. In fact
it is absolutely necessary that | should
have far more perfect acquaintance
with the facts in the case than it is pos
sible to communicate in writing in order
to be qualified to form an opinion in
regard to what is best to be done.
Il have son who is about the same
age as yours. He is under the charge
of his aunt. My instructions to her are
and have been for some years-that
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
iillment 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,
and they are to be uniformly and inAex-
IDLY enforced. The plan seems to
answer we'll The studies of the boy are
reading, writing and simple arithmetic;
and in all of them he seems to me to be
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 memorable difficulty inca
pacitatng me from it, pursue the same
course. | should at nine o'clock every
morning give my boy some plain, simple
and straightforward work, of reading
aloud, writing, or ''doiug sums enough
to last him two hours, and gently
but firmly insist on his doing it every
day. The remainder of the day should
let him have for play, being with him as
much as possible, and taking an interest
in all his plans and pursuits. should
keep him out of the streets and | should
make him obey me and submit his will
implicitly to mine. have great conf
dence that such course as this steadily
and firmly pursued will end in making a
good boy of any subject whatever.
eff my health were such that a plan
like this were out of the question should
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 UNI
favorable. His taste in these respects is
an evidence of health, and his open
avOwal of them a sign of his frankness
and honesty. | tell my boy that he need
not trouble himself about trying to like
study; if he will only like play that is
all ask of him. | will see that he does
all the necessary study without liking it,
but if he should show any symptoms of
not liking play l should at once be
alarmed and send for the doctor
"Your boys not liking to read, while
still he likes to hear reading, is owing
obviously to the fact that he has not read
enough to read with ease and pleasure.
Require him to read two half hours a
day aloud to you and YOU will soon find
that he will like to read any book that he
would like to hear.
Yours sincerely,
JACOB AHROTT1