The record-union., 1897-02-14
SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS
COpyrighted by Memo.

Once upon a time a certain silver
smith (Acts xix, Paid gathered
around him a mob, and for several
hours all cried out, Great is Diana OF
the Ephesians." The silversmith had
most excellent reason for the agitation,
since by belief in Diana he made his
living. AS for the rest, most OF them
knew not wherefore they were come
together" but they shouted just the
same. That mob not Demetrius him
self has always stood forth as an ex-
ample of blind devotion.
Have we in our day any experience
with such a gathering? l must answer
very carefully, or possibly later De-
metrius may be affronted. For fifty
years or more we have heard a swelt-
ing cry that has echoed and re-echoed
through the land, Great is education
in the public schools" And by sort
of mental infection the cry has been
taken up by all who heard until ed
ucation, education,. education!!!"
greets the ear on every side. Now
reckon there were some Ephesians who
worshiped Diana in sincerity and in
from the wholesome myths that had
gathered around her, and their shout
therefore, meant something far more
spiritual than did the rest of the clamor
much of it was for business" SO l
believe that education on the tongue
of growing numbers who look deep
down into the conditions of life, means
all that is helpful and hopeful in the
race. But with the great swaying,
shouting multitude, it begins and ends
with parrot-like book knowledge; it is
against this very common view Of the
subject that these lines are directed.
AS there are myriads of homes, each,
more or less wisely or mistakenly So
licitous regarding the welfare and the
career of one or more children, per-
haps in this column we may profitably
dwell for a while on some phases of
education that are much overlooked.
Furthermore, as these children will be
the young people of the next century,
a right idea of education will be just
as profitable a preparation for the op-
rortNnities of the new age, as will be
the massing and unification of reform
forces that have dwelt on for the past
weeks.
The question to answer to
yourself at the outset is, What
is the child mind?'' Some things
it is certainly not, and by dis
posing of the negatives the positive
purpose Of education becomes clearer.
1t, the child mind, is not alone a sheet
Of paper to be written on at will, nor a
gaping cistern to be filled to repletion,
nor a plastic substance to be nodded
just as you choose, nor an animal to be
taught to act without reflection, nor a
mere machine to be set going and kept
going for the purpose of earning a liv-
ing until death puts an end to need.
In some ways it partakes of the nature
of all of these figures of speech. But
more than all, it is like an uncultivated
territory to which man, the savior,
comes. Absolutely beyond his control
is the original outline of that land. It's
rivers, its hills and it's valleys were
there before ever it came into his pos
session. If the owner has wisdom, how
ever, he carefully studies every portion
and decides on the treatment needed
to get the greatest possible good from
the land at his disposal. He drains the
low lands and makes them produce He
removes the great powders left by gla-
ciers of former ages. He divertS a
stream and makes even dry, poor soil
surrender things that are good. Fur
therlnore, bear in mind, that whatever
he puts into his fields by way of fer
tilizer or of seed is of no profit at all if
it retains the condition or the form in
which he distributed it. The soil it is
in must act upon it, taking frcm the
fertilizer or giving up to the seed, and
therein is the wisdom of the husband
man shown in suiting his efforts to the
character of the ground and then leav-
ing light and air, soil and moisture
things he never made and never can
make-to do their unobserved work by
day and by night. One other point,
and we will turn to the application of
this somewhat lengthy similitude:
Each of all the tracts of land in your
town calls for different attention. Ev-
cry farmer reader of these lines will
say Amen to that.
z Thus it is with the child mind. Fond
mother bending over wour dull-eyed
babe for the first look of recognition,
though that child is yours in a Won
derful sense, bone of your bone and
flesh of your flesh, yet after all, physic-
ally and mentally it is nothing but a
gathering into living form of inherit
ances of body and of mind that have
come down through generations. It's
1o+ 60
some instances these gifts from earlier
ages reach back to the days of savage
ry. 1t is for you and the teacher to
operate upon conditions as you find
them. Each child in a family has pecu-
liarities of it's own. Each little crea-
ture calls for individual consideration,
just as with each of all the farms in
your town. If the attempt is made to
treat all alike in training and in con-
troll, the result is disastrous and cruel.
This one needs to be urged to self-as-
surance: that one to be held in check
here perfect frankness must be used to
counteract a lying tendency; there a
little effort made to set a too confiding
nature on it's guard. Your failure to
recognize all this means danger to the
child and demonstrates your unfitnesS
for training.
/ know 1t will be said that it is fear
fully difficult to give this close personal
attention to each one. Certainly it is.
So is 1t much more difficult to clear a
piece of land than to leave it alone,
but the farmer goes to work with a
hope of gain, and the teacher and par
ent should be actuated by the same mo-
tive. But the gain in the latter case is
infinitely above merely material profit.
1t represents the removal of bad tend
eIcies and the planting of grand pur-
poses that after being absorbed into the