The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-09-30

9. Al INFANT PRODIGY.
Newspaper articles nave appeared from
time to time within the last year or two
reciting the marvellous educational attain
ments of Viola Rosalia Olerichs. a little
miss who was born in February, 1897, and
is, therefore. at this time, less than four
years of age. She is the adopted child of
Mr.. and Mrs. Olerichs, the former of whom
was. at the time, superintendent of public
schools of Council Bluffs. la. Their pur-
pose in taking her was to try an expert
ment in education. and. as a result of their
work, they now point with pride to the as
tonishing mental development of baby Vio-
la. The newspaper articles have been sup
plemented by a small volume. in which Mr..
Olerichs describes the process of training
the infant mind. and sets forth the acquire
ments of the child at the various stages of
her progress. Briefly put, the method of
teaching has been that of allowing the baby
perfect freedom of action. but surrounding
her with toys of an instructive sort and
making the parental conversation of the
Gill SUI. " oCth ooSd oPOi
her, the writer declares, no repetition or
urging of any sort. but what she has
learned has been in the way of play and as
a natural development. That she is further
advanced than other children of her age he
holds to be because this development has
been under especially favorable conditions
that is, under his tenn thai it is
not due to any unusual qualities in the
child, whom he does not consider to be
above the average in natural intelligence.
Viola was adopted when she was eight
months old, and her education began i'm
mediately, by surrounding her with the
first of the series of educational apparatus
designed by Mr.. Olerichs for the purposes
Of this experiment. Without going here
into the details of the plan. it is enough to
tent that, at the age of seventeen months.
according to her biographer and teacher,
she had learned to read short sentences
readily. Her library was gradually in
creased from one book to it's present size
of one hundred. 1t contains readers, SPELL
erS, arltnneucS, pnySlOlOSleS, DOtanleS,
zoologies, an astronomy, speakers, histo-
ries, etc. When she was two years and
eleven months old she could read at sight,
with force and expression, almost any read
ing matter in the English language. in
Guiding Buckles History of Civilization in
England Diapers Intellectual Develop
ment OF Europe" Herbert Spencer's Syn
thetic Philosophy" etc. She could read
German nicely" before she was three
years old. and at three years and one
month read French also. In English, at
this time, she reads script almost as well
as print. 1t is not commended that she un-
derstands Buckle. or Draper. or Spencer
such an assertion would be much toe much
but only that she can read from their
pages.
But reading is only one of this infant
phenomenon's remarkable accomplish
ments. At twenty-five months she could
read numbers up to one hundred; on June
/. 1900, she read numbers as large as oc-
tillions. When che was one year and eleven
months old she could name the twenty-five
kinds of lines and angles used in geometry.
When she was one year and nine months
she knew the flags of twenty-five nations.
and when they were set up in line could
select any one called for. AT this age. too.
she could poin. OUT on the map any State
or Territory ana it's capital, the map hav-
ing no names printed on it. She can now
find almost any prominent geographical
name and place in a few seconds. IL the
closed book is given her for that purpose.
AT the age of one year and eleven months
Viola could point out almost all the visible
bones OF the human skeleton when they
were mentioned to her BY name. ~ '.fs-