The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-11-06
SPARE THE CHILDREN.
m NOT STUFF THEIR HEADS ss-
eosa THEIR BODIES ARE STRONG.

,.,.S-Thsy shssid Ne 0ivss Tiss
..,.s rhe4< nAnts-A warning IA
Nsthsrs.
..nu, shs is five years old. and dor't
know her letters.
"Wsn, good womsa," replied our fam
iiv doctor, "your little s-yesr-old y ~
blooming a. a rsss. Why not keep her
- for lifstimS
Nv wife was sure she would only W
too clad to do -. But howF Inc VIZ
old man replied: by keeping her Gus OF
the hot. closs school room just a. long
a. possible ,,,
The child never entered a school houss
ill she was . years old sis could rsao
Al 7 but how she learned no enc knows
10 effort whatever was made to fese"
m. child ANYTHING from books Yet
within one year she swiftly trsversed
all thai many children are compelled 10
drar Themselves over in drudgery from
ave to ten years Nor is she any more
than ordinarily intellectually endowed
sh. IA. however, Of robust health, OF iron
nerve. OF great vitality. The physician
wa. riaht Thanks 10 him, the little glrl
is we'll launched.
Nothing can exceed the unspoken mis-.
- OF childhood sent into the prison OF
school before it's time. Mute, ingloriou'
suffering. A little fellow Of my acquaint-
arc. recently caught eight Of weeping
willow" a. we stopped al railway sta
ton on the Boston and Maine railroad.
7, stood nesr bacl~nith'sshop. why
do they call them weeping willows
asked lady Of our party. Cause they
gently grow near school houses was
the lad. instant reply.
The useless grind, as it seems to the
child. before any sort Of interest is taken
in the studies, must appear to him moth
ing else but pure cruelty. A tyranny
that he is poweress to resist fastens him
into n seat-for what? He Is a reason
able little creature and he can see no res
son whatever for this imprisonment.
There is no motive whatever. Men toll
FOR a motive. The child Of five or six
years can have no motive for tho school
toll, except to crafty the unreasonable
parent
To make child love school Is impossi-
bic. To enticc his interest forth with
skillfuI effort is possible with almost any
child. By eight years old, say, he can be
made aware Of the great world into
which learning IS the window. lie loves
a story by that time. lie wants you 10
read to him as often as you can find
time these three or four years past. Now
tell him to read to himself. He wants
nothing so much as to "be man like
father" Well. what does his father, all
dav at the Office? He practices this hate
ful arithmetic" adding and subtracting,
multiplying and dividing. You can't be
man, my boy, unless you have whiskers
and know the multiplication table.
you are as tall as | am says his
mother; "but am woman, who can
add and substract. Will you allow mo
thcr 10 distance you? You are head and
shoulders above little Tom. Equal him
in knowledge: he can speak piece like
an orator" I'm short, you must and now
can easily touch his sell esteem. Be
sides. you will not succeed. And II you
should succeed, your child would be a
.ort Of unnatural creature. neither in
fantile nor manly. Everybody can be
saticed, charmed, led into a good course
far better than driven.
why are not the good things all as
lovely as the bad things child once
asked me. They are-far more so. Is-
porance is hateful. knowledge is love
". But we are just beginning to pro-
eeed on this line in schooling. All, that
old red school house at the cross roads,
where many Of w beguul Contrast its
hard bcach, its small Windows, its box
Stove. rosy hot on one side and emitting
snoke through crack on the other
eostrsst it with the new elegance Of the
modern kindergarten. Think Of the
mean books, the learning ~ rote with
Oh a particle Of undersianding-ths com
mingling OF big boys and little, girls and
bows indeed; the culture Of rHdeEess by
streugth toward wea lne,s: and remera-
Der that even the pretty farmers girls
took on bsarish manners In the struggle
Of the promiscuous playground Tho
world moves. No one thing in this great
century deserves more notice than the
emancipation Of the school child from
many Of his woes which we fathers re-
ziembcr.
Yet the forcing process remains. Too
Young, they are sent to school. Hear
me. all you ambitious parents. | plead
for little more time to expand the
chest, to stretch the limbs, to preserve
and strengthen the young eyes, to attune
the young spirit wiki a sure belief that
there IS such a thing as having a good
Jolly time in this toilsome world.
By every sigh that escapes a weary
mans lips: II wish were child
again." BY every golden sky that glows
on woman's vision as she takes the back
ward look. BY the memory Of sleep
that came ~ soon as wo touched the pill
low, and a waking az fresh rs new
birth. BY the echo OF JOY that comes
oven now as you hear far off the cry of
Hi spy!" and the shout Of the victor in
the happy games Of the past that will
never come to you again. BY the hope
Of saturday, and no school, which
thrilled you once as no hope OF fortune
ever did in later, stcrner years. BY
sweet little friendship fit for the gods
alas, how many are broken never to be
restored BY all that childhood even
was to the most favored reader Of these
lines, pray you see that your child has
a happy childhood. And since school is
necessary. see TO it that the school con
forms to this purpose ~ yours. let not
tie teacher be bandit TO rob your child,
nor the room prison. In no one way
can you do more to these godly ends
than by insisting that your little ones
shall not begin premanrely Give them
time. Remember that timo 10 theirs.
IL is you who are hurried. for your time
il shortening. A chld's time is yet
lon, H.,Ei.v TIarE.r in New York