The Globe-republican., 1895-02-15

that they are forgotten inversely as
they are removed from the beginning
of the series. The mental condition
should be sounded as regards re-
|ligious ideae, and while these ideas
in their crude sense do not measure
their moral inclination, yet they have
a formative influence in that direc
ton. The sky seems to be the chief
field for religious ideas that God,
angels, heaven are very distinctly
imagined connected with stars,
clouds ana thunder in the most
material way. For example, God is
a big, blue man who pours rain out
of big buckets, thumps clouds to
make thunder, puts the sun and
moon to bed when it gets dark, takes
dead people, birds, and even broken
dolls up there; distributes babies and
is closely related to Santa Claus.
The Imagination is here brought into
action as well as what we might call
philosophy. This infant philosophy,
although inundated and broken
through at every point and on the
ebb at the beginning of school life, is
very persistent but exceedingly hard
for an adult to get at.
Barnes found that from Z to 10
years of age there began to be &C.
casional vague questionings and
doubts about early conceptions which
had hitherto been accepted without
question or comment, that doubt grew
with age and eliminated at the age of
ID or IA when criticism was more
severe than later.
These studies show how easily
school work may miscarry; how sup
remedy important the imagination
is for this stage of child life, how
large part imitation and struggle
to be and do like older people play,
and how wise or unwise religious in
struction may make or mar their
spiritual life. Direct. the imagination
of their slittle ones toward truth and
fact and associate them with the
beautiful and the good, that when
the age of doubts and questionings
arrive they may not be started by the
revelation that contrary condition
must of necessity bring about. Don't
arouse their fears and anger with
bugaboos and blackmen, but teach
them of the love of al
Heavenly Father, which will
constrain them to obedience. The
idea that genius reveals itself early
in life does not at once recommend
itself to common sense. Observation
of Nature as whole suggests first of
all perhaps, that her choicer and
more costly gifts are the result of
long process of preparation. In
tellectual distinction cannot be
reached by the STRIPPING, at a bound
through the sheer force of native
talent. There is an old saying some
where which reads thus: ''The early
blossom Of talent is rarely followed
by the fruit of great achievement.
Where superior intellectual ability
shows itself at an early date, it is of
the sort that reaches it's full stature
early, and 80 never attains to the
greatest height, on the other hand
genius of the finer order declares it.
self more slowly. w. E. Porter has |
shown from measurements of 10000 |
children that precocious children are
heavier and dull children are lighter
than the average child of the same
age, thus establishing a physical
basis of precocity and dullness. See
for yourself if this is true, and keep
your eyes on the plodder.
Now if we find these to be the |
natural mental conditions of children |
we must conclude that training to
harmonic with these natural con-
ditions must be the correct methods. |
BY the employment of what We might |
call the natural method, the happi- |
ness of childhood may be preserved |
in spite of the many hours Of toll i'm
posed upon the little ones, while by |