Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-04-16
INFORMATION FOB CHILDREN.
How Parents Can Cultivate the RnOwledS
OF Inquisitive Little Ones.


yelop a natural passion for knowledge.
This is q much more important stage
in his career than most people seem to
think Once stife this early spirit OF
inquiry and you may do the child an IL
reparable injury. The parent has now
the opportunity of laying the founda-
ton of a wise man or fool, for al
though the elementary knowledge ac-
quired by one so young may appear tri-
vial and premature, it is really the
basis on which all his later education
is built up. More than this, it is the
habit Of seeking information that it is
so necessary TO encOurag and sumu-
late.
Forced studies at too early an age are
greatly to be deprecated, but it is al
ways safelto let the child learn what 1t
has a strong desire to know. And this
desire or curiosity is the best guarantee
that our instruction will receive close
attention and be impressed on the
memory. Shakespeare's rule is a gold
en- one:-"No profit grows where is no
pleasure ta'en; in brief, sir, study what
you most affect
The questions which these young
sters are perpetually springing on us
are often very extraordinary. One lit
tie fellow, a short time ago, said to his
father. las God can do everything, can
He make q stone so heavy that He
can't lift IT, Many parents would
have been puzzled to give satisfac-
tory answer.
The worst thing that can be done in
difficult cases is to say, impatienuy,
Don't bother me, childw If you are
ignorant on the point submitted to you,
it is much better 10 say frankly THAT
is one Of the things | do not know. Ask
me something else, my child
But the great difficulty with most
people is to find a way Of answering
these questions that shall be intelligi-
BILE TO the yOUng mind with its scanty
knowledge and very limited vocabu-
larry. But with patience and peTse-
verance it can generally be managed.
Let MS take a case in illustration. Lit
tie Freddy hes been looking out of the
window, and suddenly asks his father,
What is snow, daddy The father
replies. Don't bother me now I'm
reading" The big brother, home from
school, comes to the rescue Snow IS
moisture in the air that has been frozen
into crystals in temperature Of 81 de-
grees or lower
The mother then breaks in:-"What
is the use OF telling the child that
stuff? Come here, Freddy, dear.
Mother Carey is picking her geese, and
the snow is the feathers. Later on,
when the youngster finds that snow IS
certainly not feathers, he says TO him
self. Mother is a story teller like the
rest Of us and the moral influence is
lost. If the system continues the child
finds that he is being humbugged and
stops asking QuSetions-a"c convenient
but deplorablc state Of affairs.
That father would have done better
by simply trying to tell the child what
snow is. He would then be asked.
what is 'irozon?' and would reply,
When anything gets hard and white
with cold" Ii the question is then put
why does it fall down? q suitable re-
ply would be, Because when it is
frozen il gets too haavy to stand up
Such answers as these would be in
telligible to very young minds, and al
though they are far from scientific,
they really leave nothing to be I'M
learned. And this is the great point
to be always kept in vieW-do not
teach a child anything that Will have
to be nlearned in after years. 1t is
just as easy to tell him that stars are
suns ever and ever so far off as to say
that they are holes in the Sky for an
gels 10 peep through.
But on no account should child's
Imagination beCrushed;O ION the contrary
it should be stimulated in every rea-
sOnable way. This may at first seem
in contradiction to what has already
been written, but it is not so. All thar
the writer intends is, that In matters
of physical science and every day fact
we should not wilfully mislead our
children Let them by all means re-
main loyal 10 their fairies and other
pretty childish fancies, for these are
on quite a different plane. They form
the poetry in their young lives, and it
is a common fallacy that poetry and
scientific knowledge are opposed. The
vault of heaven has more poetry for
the astronomer than for the ignorant
stargaZer.
Finally, you can learn much from
these clear headed youngsters! "Out
Of the mouths of babes and sucklings'
problems are propounded that may
well puzzle men of learning. If q
chance question sends you to a text
book that has not been opened for
twenty years, do not be impatient, but
thankful for the opportunity of recoy-
erine what has slipped your memory.
If it leads to seek and acquire addi-
tional knowledge it will be a gain TO
us as we'll as to the child.
The late Professor Tyndall always
encouraged schoOlboys TO ask him
questions. One of them wanted to
know why the part of towel that haS
been dipped in water was darker than
the dry portion, and the man Of science
remarked Jnat no man had ever asked
him this question, and very few would
have been able to give the correct an
swer.
Theodore Thomas, the orchestra di-
rector. will celebrate his golden jubilee
in July. He was born in Hanover sixty
years ago and came to America a lad Of