The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-01-27
XVI. THE CARE AND EDUCATION
OF CHILDREN.
BY LUCY WHEELOCK.
The Care Of Infancy.

We have been slow to learn the les
son Of the Great Teacher, who set a
child in the midst Of his disciples as
an object OF reverence and study. Man
has taken all knowledge as his prov
ince and left as that last TO be con-
quered a knowledge Of the human be-
{ ing destined to make the world that is
to be.
Classical learning has absorbed the
attention of scholars to the exclusion of
the study which really concerns the
welfare of the human race. Spencer
lamented in his time the inadequacy of
the school curriculum, which made
elaborate preparation for everything
but the highest Of all functions, that
Of parenthOOd. He pictures the amaze
ment Of some antiquary of the future
who should unearth text books and
school papers, and finding no reference
to training for such duties should con-
clude them to be relics of a race of
celibates. " tbs true tbs pity" and
alas! it is still true. An examination
of the cuTricula Of most of our colleges
and seminaries would reveal the same
inadequacy TO meet the real needs Of
life. The higher education of women
does not ordinarily include any refer
?
But there are signs of promise. A few
courses of study are offered here and
there based on an enlightened cOncep-
ton of the high calling of woman, as
the first priestess of the human race"
Mothers clubs and classes for mothers
in our kindergarten training schools
are springing up all over the land. in
! evidence of an awakening public SEN
/ timent as regards the responsibility of
the care of childhood.
The overwhelming attendance and
the great enthusiasm shown at the first
mothers congress held three years ago
in Washington was a surprise, even to
its promoters. It was convincing testi-
mOny of a growing sense of need on the
part Of many women. Another prOmis-
ing sign of the times is the wealth Of
child study literature. In the second
edition of Tracy's Psychology Of
Childhood published in 1894. he refers
to no less than los published sources of
information. The list would now be
largely increased. Since Prayers not
able record of his observations of an
individual child there have been many
studies of this sort. the larger portion
of which concern themselves with the
study Of infancy. The interest in child
study. largely promoted by DIT. Hall
leaven throughout the country. The
divine Plato" has never been alone in
recognizing the Importance of begin
ningS, especially when a thing is
young and tender" But practice must
always Turk far behind theory. and
there is still need Of some APOSTLES of
childhood TO convince mothers every
where that the foundations Of all future
I physical and moral well being must be
laid deep in the soil Of infancy.
Food
AS d man eateth so is he" is a phil
osopher's statement Of a truth which
mothers and nurses need often to re-
/ hearse to themselves. Whether the
child is to be well or i'll. strong or weak,
sluggish CT active, seif-cOutrOlled OF the
unhappy victim of a morbid appetite.
depends largely on kind and amount
Of food and regularity Of feeding. These
matters are not to be decided by the
advice Of fond gTandmOthers or the
traditions Of nurses, but by the scien-
tific knowledge OF the smother trained
to understand the physical needs Of an
infant One Of the most he pful of re-
cent books. Louise Z. Hogans Study
Of a Child" gives a faithful and i'm
partial record Of the life of a normal
child. The points most insisted upon
In the management of the young child
were regularity in matters pertaining
to physical care and nop-interference
with the developing mind, that there
might be free play of the individuality
and self-activity
The care taken to insure right habits
of body and mind on the part of all who
came into any relations with the child
might well serve as a model in other
homes. In his Christian Nurture. -
/ which has become a classic. DR.. Bush
nell lays emphasis on the fact that in
( judicious feeding in babyhood and
I highly seasoned and rich foods are the
prolific sources Of perverted appetite
and gross excess. Intemperance is eX-
cess or lack of moderation. and its
seeds are sown whenever and wherever
The. senses of the young child are al
lowed to become masters rather than
servants. FrOebel has devoted two of
his songs in the ''Mutter und Kose-Lie-
der to consideration Of the senses of
taste and smell, showing the impor-
lance of cultivation of these ministers
Of the mind through the medium of
the baby plays. He advises that the
Child's attention be diverted during the
eating by a moving bird in a cage
/ which can be fed, or by the suggestion
/ of sharing the food with some other
pet This prevents the food and its
enjoyment from becoming an end in
itself
~