The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1885-08-08
NUMBER Al.
Keeping Children Busy.

have SO little resource in retrospect.
The busy child is generally tine happy
child, and the happy child Is generally
the least troublesome of tho species.
Indeed, we have often thought that the
maxim, "Be virtuous and you'll be
happy might in the case of children,
ifnot always in that of grown persons
be reversed and made to read, ., Be
happy and you'u DO virtuous." Ger
tain ia it that the unoccupied child is
tho unhappy and often indocile and
mischicvous.
Ia nothing do children differ more
than in thoir ability to amuso them
salvos. a child with an active imag-.,
hatien can play v,tp'dager delight
with a thousand trihes that children
unblessed with that faculty have no
conception of utilizing. And we are
mistaken ifthose iuvelines are not tho
happiest who are compelled by scar
city Of material to invent new and fer
tile uses for what 'hey do have. Ger
tain it ia that so much may be done for
n child that he will be dwarfed for lite
by an oyer-supply of toys and atten-
ton, whilo if he is thrown in part on
his own resources he will have tho joy
ofinyenting and creating amusements
for himself
The Kindergarten occupation furnish
eAhausiless material for the instruc-
tion and Amusement combiaed for the
little folk. Through regular course
of instruction as to the uses of these
"giftsn is certain desirable, those who
cannot take this course may utilize
the kindergarten "gift' in their nurse
RIGS with great advantage. There are
books given specific instructions as to
the employment of each "gift,r and
any mother or nurse who will read
them carefully may have the means at
hand of keeping the little brains and
fingers happily employed.
Plato in "The Laws,n says: "Now n
boy is of all the wilds beasts tho most
difficult to manage. For by how much
the more he has the fountain of pru-
dence not yet fitted up, he becomes
crafty and keen and the most insolent
of all wild beasts. On this account it
ia necessary to bind him, as it were !,
with many chaius.n The habit Of II
dustry is one of the best chains wf,S'
which to bind boy, and this habit
may be formed from the cradle and
strengthened through all the growing
care. Little chores about the house
aud garden not above the boy strength
to do lie is all tho better for doing.
The stimulus of wages may be used to
further him in his willingness to work,
and these wages may be applied to tho
purchase Of little indulgeneies, which
the parent would gladly give, but
which are more highly priced when
earned than when accepted as a gifs.
The reading of suitable books 10 nm
other very strong chain to bind a boy
to the practice of virtue, and girls "a
we'll. The long days of childhood can
not be better spent than, when grow
ing vigorously in body, in storing up
the seeds Of knowledge and in FORM
ing nuclei about which accumulations
of various information may grow. The
rndiments Of all the sciences may be
learned before the child enters his
teens. But this depends on the wis
dom and care of the parents very largo
~, and upon tho facilities afforded tho
child.
lfinstoad of being shut up in the
school room i've hours every day, he
is made the companion of an active,
intelligent parent and his mental ac,iv-
ties directed Toward Interesting topic,
the may advance far more rapidly in
intellectual growth aud attainment
than his fellow moping through the
dull routine OF the primary school az it
is generally conducted. Horace Gree
ley's mother told him stories, recited
poetry to him and fed his mind with
all the treasures of hor own, thus cni-
uvating In him taste for vast and va
rlous reading, taste which he retaiu-
cd to tile last.
A printing pross. n tool chest. seyoii