Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1897-01-07

1t occurred 10 me that nursery rhymes
might possibly appeal, and | tried
some OF them. When l had finished,
WtlnlaN came up to the piano and
said, DO YOU know this?" She hummed
scrap q the nnnhauSer march. She
hummed in tune,
Yes. said
"WCa)d you please play it,"
well | said, "on piano you can't
but no matter. I'll do my best"
If she had asked me to give her some
idea Of 4 MendelsSohn organ sonata
on penny whistle, Philip would nave
expected me to comply without muir
muir
When | had finished, she put both
arms round my neck, kissed me i'm.
pulsiycly, said Goodnight" and ran
out OF the room.
"WeN@" said Philip, when she had
gone.
Yes, said, "Wilmay is the other
kind"
by the way" added when we had
soI" lack to the library and lit our
c'GalS, II am not 4 father end harr
no experience OF children At the
same time, il let things pass without
comment | may be made an accessory
after the tact or something equally UNI
pleasant DO YOU allow child OF ten
to get ont OF bed and catch her death
of cold by wandering about the house
with only her night gown onf DO YOU
allow her to execute that wandering
hare-foo;Cd, when she may tread on y
tin tack, get MISUNDERSTANDING and die
of it" DO YOU allow her t. ruin her
health by sitting up until long after
eleven or to shatter what seems ut
present n quite useful digestion by
unrestricted and excessive indulgence
in chocolates? Forgive these questions
but | still have some rudimcnts of a
conscience"
Philip laughed and told me | was an
old woman. The night was very warm
and she knew she would not catch
cold. The floor OF the house was not
and she knew ii was not-composed
of inverted tin lacks. Also Philip him
self regarded II aS foolish to stop in
bed when YOU could not sleep. He
pointed out that the Excessive indul-
gence' was not proved and that II was
| who put the temptation In her way,
but after all, !" he said, 81 never allow
or forbid. In Wilmay's case II Is not
n no pf al
all children 1t is nothing like so nee
essary MS Is supposed"
What? You have theories of the
education of breaking children ne well
as OF horse-breaking"
II have pretty much the same theory
in both cases tho least possible inter
ference with the ordinary development
of nature. ! have studied wild men
and wild horses | have found in b tn
something valuable that the common
methods Of education and civilization
kill"
From what I've read of primitive
people, | should say that generally
they wore chiefly remarkable for dirt
ness, ignorance and brutality"
We'll, if YOU yourself lived among
the EsquimauX, or II YOU were at the
mines in Il time Of bad drought you
would not wash The struggle for
life brings out MS much brutality here
as you'll find among the Apaches but
in different forms. But don't mis-
/ understand me / did not say no in
. reference with nature al all said
| the least possible. In the case of the
horse, the least possible means quite
a good deal, though less than is gen
/ orally supposed In the case Of the
child in general, the least possible in
/ reference"
but that question OF ignorance.
children are ignorant and they don t
want to learn.
Il answer you in your own words
there are children and children. I'm
not trying to push my point to an ex-
/ IRENE. ! have no illusions about It.
There are many children boys es-
pecially--who won't learn anything II
they can help 1t. But it's our own
. lduIL DttiuSe we DfHln ny OTutTlDK
them and saying; Obey me and learn
this when II we would show to them
that The particular knowledge was TO
their pleasure and advantage. Nature
herself would urge them to acquire It."
I II knew you've broken horses Have
4 you educated children? Or is this
merely your habit OF theorizlng?"
II have more or less educated VIII
may She could ride long before she
could read. She did not begin 10 learn
10 read until two years ago ] used
to read Hans Andersen to her. One
day it struck her that II she knew
how to read she would be able 10
read Hans Andersen when Twas not
there. SO she wanted TO learn and
Gid learn with unusual rapidlty. Sly
months ago she decided that she would
learn TO write"
Do you do the actual teachlng?"
NO Wflmay's woman, Mrs BIayd,
does that don't teach only stop
other people from teaching until the
right time comes There are no rcgu-
lar lesson hours for Wilmay she be-
gins work when she likes and stops