The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1883-03-13
EDALIA WEEKLY BAZOO TUESDAY, MARCH Is, 1888

bounding out of bed and starting to
his mill, which was about two miles
away. He had formulated 10 his sleep
a hypothesis which proved, on exam
nation, to be correct; the repair was
made in few minutes and the pumps
worked perfectly.
Now, what lesson can the home
teacher draw from a case like this ?
We answer, the most important of all
the lessons be can learn; the educa-
tional value of sleep and rest and for
getfulness. Education is not in any
sense feeding the mind of the child.
1t is q consumption, not q supply. of
tissues. 1t is a process ofdestructiou not
of creation. Its purpose, however, is
not destruction. nor yet creation, but
to turn the natural process of brain
building into the right direction. 1t
is to organize the forces of the brain,
and by organization to economic them.
1t is to cause each atom of matter Ge-
posted in the brain BY the nutrient
blood to fall int" its proper place and
relation. Education gives molecular
structure, not mass, to the brain.
There is no more mystery about
this "unconcious cerebration," as it is
called'in other words unconscious
brain work, than there !. in uncon.
scious breathing or unconscious d.
gestion. 1t is q phenomenon of vital
importance to the teacher and parent,
and ought to be kept constantly in
mind. Sleep not only "knits up the
ravelled sleeve Of care" but it weaves
the web of education.
A day of rest from study is not
day lost. 1t ia often rather q day
gained. Sometimes q whole week,
two weeks, of entire forgetfulness of
books will leave the child perceptibly
farther advanced than it finds him,
and father than an equal period of
study would have done. The heavy
lines in the cerebral picture will have
slightly faded, but the connecting
lines will have been drawn, and the
picture will have a meaning. a design.
A heterogeneous jumbles of overlap
ping lines and shades does not copsti-
tute q pictuse, and . mere multiplica-
ton of disconnected thoughts or facts
does not make an education. You
can't learn the English languase out of
a spelling book, nor yet out Of die
tionary, though both have their prop
er uses.
In one other important respect the
Drain is like aphotograph plate. 1t
must be prepared for the impressions
Or they will not be vivid, lasting, or
available for use. The mind must he
in receptive mood. "Thihk until
you are hungry, and then read until
you are fulr' is a good formula, except
that it suggests false analogy. A
boy whose mind has been excited into
receptivity on some particular subject
will 60 into 3 good library and get
more education in half an hour than . |
machine student will grind into his
in q day. So many lessons q day.
and SO many days in the week, and
90 much ut lesson. and 80 luany mis-
takes to constitutes a failure-all this
is respectable but it is nonsense. Let
your child read at your knee until he
gets tired, if you can spare the time,
and then let him rest until his eager
ness for mental exercise indicates that
he has built up the brain tissues torn
down by the last effort-until be has
got rested. But don't let him be dis
tracted by a variety of subjects at a
sitting.