The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-05-19


| arabic friends. The safest and sures
way to influence children is to reason
with them. The why and the how
are two of the strongest words in the vo
cabulary of the child. These are the
keys which will open for it the universe
OF matter and mind. You must helL
the child to see with its own eyes and to
grasp with its own mind.
ut is not compulsiop but persuasion
that makes for morality. The child must
not be drawn into an argument with you
that certain thing must not be done
but won over by reason to share your
Judgment. In properly conducted
home or school doing the right is not a
question of personal authority or caprice
but matter of obedience, not on the
part of the child to the parent or teach
er, but on the part of both parent and
child to the right. 1t is not the teacher
or the father, who is obeyed, but the
right The moral law will not be re-
spected by the child unless it is an inclu.
sive law, taking in all the members OF the
family and equally applicable to them as
well as to itself. If the laws dominion
terminates with the child, then the child
will look upon it as make-shift, an ar
bitrary arrangement, for the convenience
of the other members of the family. Pa
rents cannot expect their children to re-
spect law which they themselves vio-
late. The ancient saying that the child
should be led by its mouth should be re-
placed by W ser maxim, that the child
should be led by its reason. Being treated
reasonably children will become reason
able in their treatment of others, and in
their own actions. Some parents object
to this method on the ground that it
takes more time; it seems easier to say
Don't! But if you want more than mo-
mentary success it is more economical
to reason with them. A little girl was
asked by the teacher in school what her
name was. Mary, was the answer.
Mary WHAT? And promptly the little
girl replied, Mary DON'T You must take
the time to build we'll if the building is
to stand When Xeuxis was accused of
painting slowly he replied, L admit that
do, but then paint to last
1.-The object of our ethical school is to
help the child to blossom. Aristotle, in
his doctrine of Substantial Forms ar
CUES that the statue lies hid in the block
of marble, and that the artist with his
tools only clears away the superhuous
matter The face, the beautiful lines of
the figure are there in the stone; the ar
list only finds them. In the same way,
L believe the manhood and womanhood in
full bloom and beauty is hid in the child
nature; it is the province of the instrust-
or to find it. For this purpose we in
clude all branches of study in our public
schools. We use the Bible, Homer,
Dante, Plutarch, and Shakespeare. We
have place for myth and fable, allie
CORY and fiction, as well as for biogra-
ply, poetry and history. In introducing
these subjects, however, we use the
pruning knife, we separate the bones
from the tender meat; we take into con-
sideration the degree of mental grasp to
which the child has reached, reserving
the stronger food for more advanced
years.
''Sermonizing or moralizing is weari-
some to children. Mere advice runs off
their minds as water from ducks back.
The truth should be communicated to
them in pictures, illustrations, examples
and stories. Once more, we do not try
to force in any way our own conclusions
upon the children. We lay before them
the ways by which we have arrived at
those conclusions; we tell them the rea-
tain opinions. To give them ready-made
would be like pinning our
opinions on their minds, ready to drop
off at any moment. 1t would be like
painting certain figure on the min d,
which is liable to pale away, or to wash
off, leaving no trace behind. We must
help the child how to think, no. what to
think.
G.Tba +r,,o a1,,oo+or o,,oo,,,oo.o, H.,
sity of opinion when such diversity is the
fruit of freedom and sincerity The
teacher is expected to guide the discus
sion by the children, not to do the talk
ing. This is very essential. The teach
er does not impart the knowledge to
them, but helps them to find it, and
they seek tor it with the same joy
that they would display in gathering
apples from the tree OF violets from
woods, or berries red and ripe from
the bushes. The conversational method
where most of the discussion is carried on
by the children, the teacher simply guild
ing by holding up his lamp when they
come to dark place or removing the
stones from their path so they may not
and fall, yields the best results.
This is the only way to hold their atten-
ton. Attention, like loYe, cannot be
forced. You cannot compel child to
listen to you any more than you can com
pet it to love you. This conversational
method also helps the children to know
one another, to hear one another and to
see many points of view, instead of one
The highest aim of the ethical school,
however, is to spiritualize the children,
20 give them that refinement of thought,
that gentleness and delicacy of feeling,
without which all culture is false. The
liner feelings constitute the glory of edu-
,ation. To make poet of the child, to
help him to idealize the real, to see the
everywhere, to be touched to
ears by the soft skies, by the white
clouds, stars, silently burning on the
cheeks of night, by the green, growing
hings, with which nature throbs az
very point, by whatsoever is pure, and
noble and brave, and to make the child
"Oh, how beautifulr'-this is
he victoy of spirit over matter, of mind
,ver flesh. TO keep the child's heart
warm, its brain active, its conscience
live, is the purpose of the moral teach
I'm. ". Mangasarian.
N. e, WEATHER REPORT.