The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1898-07-15
Colonel ParkerS Powerful Address
in Progress Hall. y
LARGE AUDIENCE INTERESTED
Believes In Myths as Principles Of
Primary Education Good Advice
to Ambitious Pedagogues.
(From Wednesdays Daily)

ing with teachers ana people specially
interested in educational topics to hear
the lecture of Colonel Parker on the
subject of THE Child and Nature"
Inspector General Townsend and Pro-
fessor Edgar Wood met visitors at the
door and showed them to seats in the
hall. The speaker was introduced by
Mr.. Townsend
Colonel Parker said that the great
est mystery, the most profound prob
lem beneath the throne of the Eternal,
a problem which wise men OF all ages
had tried TO answer, and yet had not
solved, was the question What Is the
child?' What is that little lump OF
flesh, singing songs, evincing the i'm
mortal and yet 80 full of mysteres?"
Emerson called the child the ''son Of
the world" No man can answer the
question. ! have lived with the little
folk many years and tried to under
stand them. Yet my work has been
but tentative in its conclusions.
The child is born savage. That IS,
II at first has the instincts and tend
encies of the savage. There was never
q boy who did not dig cave, or want
to dig one, crawl into 1t and defy the
world. There was never boy but who
lived bows and arrows. the woods
md nature. And in the higher sense
the boy is like the savage. FIRST he
creates his little world. But II he
lived in his little cell, without power
to burst out into life beyond he would
die. The child creates-creates his
world and the beings in it. Remem-
Der the playhouse under the old oak
tree?-the broken crockery, the bust
ness of housekeeping, the neighbors
dropping in to swap the community
prattle-all day, alone, talking to your
self and living with your own crea-
tons? That is the savage life. That
is The myth life, If you please.
When the savage begins to open his
eyes everything speaks to him. IMAM
innate things live and speak. The
stone cries out TO him who am ~
and the amazed soul answers back
Thou art God" The tree then asks
Who am II" In the tree the savage
sees broader, more noble personfi-
cation and cries out in admiration.
Thou art God" From the earth his
mind then goes out into the great uni
verse, to the bright stars, the white
moon and the great luminary God, the
sun. To each of these he cries. in
turn, Thou art God" Cortez, when
ChristlaniZng Mexico, was asked If
there was not something beyond the
sun. The lncas of Peru asked the
same question. You cannot tell a saw
age there is a God and make him feel
1t; but through the Divine instinct you
may lead him up to where God is and
then show him all
SO with the child. The child loves
the fairy tale, because it is part of
IT'S life. Many people object to these
stories on the ground that they are
untrue and that nothing untrue should
be taught Are fairy tales untrue?
What is truth? The myth Is truth TO
the child because it Is a part OF him.
The Puritan's idea of truth was the
force OF his own conceptions. Peter
Farley wrote a geography. 1t started
out by saying that Tho world Is round
and like ball"-which was the only
truth in the book and part of that was
false. Ethiopia, in this book, was
placed in the center of Africa. In
spector General Townsend studied
geography which described his great,
fertile state as IA desert" Those are
the myths that do harm.
What child does not love the story
of Santa Claus? There are mothers
ana teachers nowadays who draw their
eyes up and perform the solemn duty
TO truth of telling the children that
there is no Santa Claus. There Is a
Santa Claus; and all children should
be assured OF the fact. That this
boundless universe throbs with the
love and blessings OF an Almighty Be-
ing cannot be explained to a child's
mind; but the myth can be given it, !
and 1t carries with It the great truth. |
The correct principle of primary teach
ing is through myths. Myth Is the be-
ginning Of spiritual life. When balled
up and used for selfish purposes, how !
ever, the myth is wrong. Give the
child the fairy tale, the myths. Sc |
iect them, taking such as will convey
me truth.
\ child is a born naturalist, All
children love flowers. They leave the
city In droves TO visit among the fiow-
rrs Of the country. The speaker once
saw divine smile on the dirty face Of
q child In dark street OF Boston. He
trndged up in wonder, to find that the
enid was fondling small, half-faded
clover blossom. The child is divine.
hod created it full OF instincts, ready
Tor cultivation.
At this juncture the sneaker gave
d beautiful illustration of the life Of q
New Hampshire boy, who. after study
ing, botany geography, zoology. etc.
m Natures own way On the farm die,
covered that there was more I'm the
big world beyond and ran away from
nome TO delye into its mysteries, These
gems appeared in the story:
Fishing is a relic OF sayagerv A
boy takes his lines down to the brook
10 satisfy an instinct to be alone with
nature. 1t is the instinct that brings