Wichita eagle., 1888-05-17
MIND IN CHILDHOOD.
A MYSTERY WHICH IS BEYOND
ORDINARY PHILOSOPHY.

~
ORDINARY PHILOSOPHY.
tiveness to Impressions-A Period of
Great Mental Activity = Father and
Observation-Disclosures Questions.
The late Bronson A1cott had many un-
wholesome ideas that made him extensively
eccentric, but his reverence for children did
great deal to redeem his character in
shaping the character of his daughter, to
whom he impaired it. Her best work-and
her best is probably the best of its kinds
the result of reverent study Of child charac-
ter. The subject demands reverence, for it
is true saying of the Romans that the
greatest reverence is the due Of children.
The mind in childhood is riddle-a mystery
beyond oil our philosophy. We can no more
tell when or where it begins than when or
where it will end The new born, sentient
being stares with wide open eyes on an IN
known world 1t is an utter stranger, in a
strange country, among multitude Of
strange things and strange people. 1t is
scarcely doubtful that it begins to learn;
that it's education begins; that the mind in it
begins to develop when the first ray Of light
strikes its newly opened eyes, The develop
u1ent then is rapid. Every object around it;
every word spoken; every gesture becomes a
part of its education. The very tones of the
voice, high or low, gentle or harsh, make
impressions on the childish mind that are
never to be effaced.
OF all the childish characteristics the most
impressive is wonder-wonder at everything;
at the trees and flowers, at the clouds, the
sun, the moon and the stars; and at the liv-
ing creatures under them. Children, sup
posed to be too young to reason, will spend
hours in wondering at the enigmas of nature;
in forming theories and attempting to &C
count for things They ask innumerable
questions, or rather they will, if they are en-
couraged by right answers. A light answer
will not satisfy child, but it may and it
nearly always does discourage further ques-
tons Young children cannot understand
f1ippancy; they have no IDEA of humor or of
doubles meaning Everything is truth for
them until they have learned that lies exist,
and even then they are very slow in learning
that what seems to be untrue may be all the
truth we have on any subject. If any ques-
ton they may ask on subject which is of
the deepest significance to them is treated as
a commonplace and answered lightly or flip
PANTY, they drew back as from blow.
The mind in childhood is sensitive to all
impressions peculiarly sensitive to lack Of
application or to ridicule 1t demands svIn-
pathy as we'll as knowledge. There is no
commonplace for it. Its world is new,
e,,l
Everyth is sublime to it. The religious
sense of awe and wonder is keen and active
A child will wonder why the sun rises, why
the trees put on their leaves in spring, why
the birds build nests, why night comes after
day. 1t does not discriminate between sub
jects where all seem of equal Importance
Its mind is growing as the mind of the race
grew Its mental infancy has many points
OF resemblance to the mental infancy of the
race. 1t is deeply religious, full of the faith
that is the complement of wonder. This
faith, this awe, are part of its reason, and
during its waking hours its reason is inces-
sanity active. 1t is constantly called into
play by the new impressions it constantly
receives and so it nearly always happens
that child is given its final direction in life
during its period of greatest mental activity
before it is years old.
Fathers generally know almost nothing Of
their children because of lack of sympathy
with them. The masculine mind in the full
grown man is nearly always commonplace.
1t cannot reach the level of the mind Of
childhood, to which there are no common
places. The mothers mind is nearest to that
of the child and on the mother its education
most depends. She succeeds in the measure
OF her sympathy with it. II she shares its
wondering awe of the many mysteries of the
world and feels the sublime as inherently
and unconsciously as the child does; if the
world and life have not ceased to be awful
to her, she succeeds in the largest measure.
II she has reduced everything to common
place she will drive the reason Of childhood
into commonplaceness, from which there
will be no after escape for it. The
questions which children ask
questions which not infrequently go
right to the bottom of the whole mystery of
not mese accidents They are
the result Of the keen insight of the reason of
childhood that goes straight for the truth.
They may have cost hours, days, weeks Of
bordering and thought. 1t is mistake to
answer them lightly; it is crime to answer
them fippantly; for the keenness of the
childish reason is easily blunted, its capacity
for truth easily lost.
To retain the mind of childhood through
life is happiness that falls to few-the few
great genuises. In one way or another the
childish reason is lost; the childish faculty of
faith, Of awe, of appreciation of truth, is
blunted IN most who live beyond 10 years
We even lose the memory of what we were
and so despise the reason of childhood.
Women retain it most frequently, and they
can, therefore, better understand and SYM
pathize with their children. "sAs