St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1897-03-05

Shall we search around for an illustra-
ton that portrays too common idea OF
the child-mind
To produce the famous Strasburg pates
de foie gras, luckless geese are smut up in
coops so small that the birds can neither
turn, MOI flap their wings, nor even preen
the feathers. Several times day each
unhappy goose is forced full OF food by a
feeding machine. The result OF this con-
centration of effort upon one organ is
very quickly seen. In two weeks large,
sturdy bird is reduced to a foul and living
skeleton; but the desired effect has been
produced upon the liver, which now
weighs two to three pounds.
Is there not something akin to this in
the methods applied to children by ma
cbine-teachers and tacitly approved OF
by Indifferent parents? Without thought
of child being possessed OF any other
organ beside brain, and any other tunc-
ton beyond the requirement OF facts and
any other responsibility apart from earn
ing living, the little creature is stuffed
with instruction-not education in it's
best sense-until it's limbs jerk from over
strained nerves. sure proof OF the ac-
tual damage of such training both to the
child and to the community is found in the
fact stated by Forbes Winslow, the IA
nous authority on the brain, that infant
prodiges seldom do well in after life, be-
cause of acknowledgement in one dlrec-
ton and neglect OF training in another,
the result being that they are easily led
away by temptation and often go to
the bad' when thrown on their own re-
sources. All thinkers most fully ac-
knowledge the need of brain-culture as
means of broadening the life and enabling
the individual to acquire consciousness
of other things beyond those that he can
touch and taste and handle in his own
neighborhood. For instance: Without
the power to read, our lives are apt to
remain as narrow as those of savages
But it is a mere dream to suppose that
knowledge of all the rivers of all the con
tinents. with length, breadth. and char
acteristics, will deter little pilfering fin
gers from taking another scholar'slunch
You may drag child through miles o
arithmetic and over mountains OF spell
ing; you may whir it through the uni
verse till its knowledge is marvellous tt
relate. but all such brain development
will not save your sweet little girl from
the corruption of the boy with unre
strained passions. Where is the uplifting
power Of vulgar fractions or the heart
training in repeating the bounds OF tn
Mediterranean sea? Though we speal
with the tongues of savants, and treas
IRE facts like the miser treasureth gold
, though we compass all knowledge S
{ that we can name the stars in thel
courses and the strata in their order, We
without judgment we are nothing. An
Judgment cometh not by knowledg
forced into the brain and appealing onl
to memory. Judgment and conscier
: tious conduct are part OF the herltag
of the race, inherent and capable OF d.
, velopment in each normal child. The
, are strengthened by the playground an
: the home, by the personal influence
the teacher and the parent; so that an
, who think duty to the child complete
by books alone are cruel to the child an
traitors to the race. Far be it from n
to belittle the brain, for by its power
the material progress Of the world he
reached it's present height; and far be
} from anyone else to belittle the heal
with it's social instincts, and the chara
! ter with it's fateful powers. Ment'
giants are capable of being moral dwarf
and possibly 6ends. The very forcing
which they have been subjected hide
! binders, even destroys their better cap
bilties of usefulness of brain and hone
] of conduct.
Be not deceived; nature is not mocket
: The different elements of our being-bod.
mind, and spirit-have to be trained u
S together. Each child has the tendenc
E within it to slip back to wild, untrau
meled defiance of the things that are RICH
unless all sorts of influences are brougf
to bear upon it. With it and with us {
= with the universe there is no such thin
{ as standing still. We are either movin
r forward physically mentally, and mo
e ally or we are slipping backward. Sob
neglect Of proper means of education
, and proper interest in your educator
you are possibly helping to thrust Il
child back to the starting point of yo'
: family ages ago. Scientists will tell yo
there is ALWAYS at work among dOmeSt