The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1882-12-07
A Common PerpIexity,


Thirty odd years ago, says the Chris.
England village wrote to Jacob Abbott;
then living in New York City, for c0uh.
sci. her case was very common one.
She had son, 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
paniens upon the street. In this per-
plexity she wrote to MIR. Jacob Abbott,
then perhaps as widely known rs nov.
for lie was in The midst of his useful
work IS d writer and q teacher. an, re-
ceiv$a the following reply. This rcply
has some into the hands of the CITsstidfs
Untjs recently, and with this public ac-
knowledgement to the friend of the
Christian Union, and of the mothers,
who has sent it to us, we print it here;
with such notifications onl1 as are neces-
sary to avoid all purely personal allu-
sions. We are glad thus to sid to our
editorial utterance this voice from the
sacred past
"NEw YORK, -, 1851.
AMY Dear Mrs. -:
1t was not until yesterday thai | re-
ceived your letter of the 11th July /
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 I should
have far more perfect acquaintance
with the facts in the case than it is pcs
sible to communicate in writing in order
to be qualified to form an opinion in
regard to what is best to be done.
81 have son who is about the same
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 oil
nature not agreeable, to accustom him
to patient, Independent effort in the full
fillment of task. The remainder oil
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 in1ex
| IDLY enforced. The plan seems tc
answer well. 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 1 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. should at nine o'clock every
morning give my boy some plain, simple
and straightforward work, of reading
aloud, writing, or ''doing sums enough
to last him two hours, and gently
but firmly insist on his doing it ever
day. The remainder of the day SHOULD
let him have for play, being with him a
much as possible. and taking an interes
! in all, his plans and -pvfstsife.--f shout,
keep him out OF the streets and shoult
make him obey me and submit his will
implicitly to mine. have great conf
dence that such course as this steadil,
and firmly pursued will end in making
good boy of any subject whatever.
IF my health were such that plal
like this were out OF the question shoul'
consider the school the next best plan
unless the '.street" influences of -
are very different from those of mos
other places.
1 do not consider your boys love G
play and dislike to study anything un
favorable. His taste in these respects
an evidence of health, and his ope
avowal of them a sign of his franknes
and honesty. tell my boy that he nee
not trouble himself about trying TO lik
study; if he will only like play that
all ask of him. l will see that he doe
all the necessary study without liking il
but if he should show any symptoms c
not liking play l should at once b
alarmed ard send for the doctor.
Your boys not liking to read, Will
still he likes to hear reading, is OWN
obviously to the fact that he has not rea
enough to read with ease and pleasure
Require him to read two half hours
day aloud to you and you will soon fin
that he will like to read any book that h
would like to hear.
Yours sincerely,
JACOB ABBOTT"