The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1891-08-02
A FORTUNATE CHILD.
How James Freeman CIark's wise Father
Educated Him.


Queries Magazine.
We find in James Freeman Clarkcs newly
issued autobiography some very suggestive
hints in regard to early education. The
idea that education must, perforce, be some
thing disagreeable and difficult is so rooted
in most minds that opinions and experiences
like those found in the "Life" referred to
strike us with the force of originality. And
yet they are the very ideas and experiences
of the great mother and teacher, Nature
whom we pretend to respect, but whose ex-
ample and preeepts we aout at every turn.
After all what is originality but going back
to Nature? There is inherent in Nature,
that is in the universal, a certain fund of
ideas. lie who avails himself of these, or
one of these, or even a hint of one, is to
that degree original
1t appears that DR.. Clarke's maternal
grandfather, DIR. Freeman, had what would
be called 'original'' ideas of education,
that is, he had eyes to see the natural and
true method. This was immense good for
tune to the boy, James Freeman, fnasmuch
as he was his grandfather's pupil, and learned
q great deal before he was ten years old
without suspecting that be was having any
thing but "a jolly good time.'
One of DIR. Freemans ideas he expressed
as follows: "Real discipline comes to the
mind when it acts, not ]anguidly, but with
its full energy, and IL acts aDiM energy only
achen 10 is interested IN aohat 1t does. There
fore as soon as | am unable to keep up their
interest in what they do, / turn their at
tention to something else or send them out
to play.n
The grandson's testimony is: ''He remov-
ed all unnecessary difficulties, and required
us to learn only what was essential. 81 -
The more important Latin words we
learned by heart from vocabulary, and the
more important Greek words from small
book called Greek Primitives. Thus provided
we began Immediately to translate some
interesting storyin Nepos or Ovid. When we
came to word we did not understand, he
would tell us the word, but required us to re-
peat it again and again till he was sure we re-
memberedit it. To those who thought that this
method made study too easy and that it did
not discipline the mind, he answered. The
study of foreign language can never be
made too easy. There are always difficulties
enough in the way. But what mental dis
cipline is there in turning over the pages of q
dictionary The pupil goes on to say: Be-
fore was ten years old had read good deal
Of Ovid, some Odes of Horace, little Of
Virgil, the Gospel of Matthew in Greek, and
had gone as far as cubic equations in
algebra. | had also read through
history of the United States, Hume's
sons and Gibbons Rome. Nor was
L aware that | was doing q great deal, for
the study was almost as entertaining as play.
Problems in arithmetic and algebra were
Would that DR.. Freeman's tribe might in
crease! The rare sense that shows us the
natural and successful method is called .scom-
mon sense,'' the ''rarest thing in the world"
Henry Ward Beecher used to say. This COM
mon sense applied in the household with our
girls, and boys, too, would result blessedly.
All sorts of work might be done Sin play"
and the children not be 'sawaren that they
were 'doing great deal" The first express
sion of healthy human being is activity AS
the child grows the activity becomes more
complex. All the parent and teacher has to
do is to direct this force, Nature does the rest.