Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1902-03-08
CHILDREN'S EYES.
How We 7njure the sight OF Our Lit
tie Ones.


"A chlld's eyes are farsighted, and II
is only for n few moments that 1t
should look at anything nearer than
seventy-one yards" says Harvey Suth-
erland In Ainslee's. And yet from
the time 1t begins to take notice we
are forever trying to get It to see things
close to II, playthings, our own foolish
faces and don't know what not. The
day after 1t Is weaned we start In to
teach II to read. AS soon as ever we
can we pack 1t off to kindergarten,
there to be instructed In the health CIV
ing arts Of bralding colOred paper and
working at such tasks as would make
grown PERSONS eyes ache. Then we
send it to public school.
l have seen public school buildings in
New York city that the builder ought
TO 20 to state prison for-dark, insan-
itary holes. We put the child in the
public school and tell 1t to sit right
still with its nose in book and be nice
and not make n noise. when we know
that its nature clamOrs to run and play
and jump and hallOo so as to grow up
to be made of meat and not Of putty.
In some public schools the great truth
that play Is Il wicked waste Of time has
been recognized to the extent of abol-
fishing even the stingy fifteen minutes
recess doled out in most instances.
When there are Fairgrounds, they are
neatly paved with artificial stone and
almost big enough to swing n cat In.
Sometimes the playroom IS In nice
dark cellar, where the toilet room IS
"But the child may play after school
hours. oh, bless your heart, we have
fixed that all right-hOme work. We
give them home work to addle their
brains over by artificial light And II
the child Is girl we plan how we can
make her suffer the most prolonged
agony possible in her adult life. We
choose the critical time and set her at
the plano. Paper can be cut to play
better than she ever will, but that isn't
it We want to come as near as pos
sible to killing her without actually
doing so. No, your hour isn't up yet,
Dorothy. You march right back and
don't you come out of that parlor
again till you have practiced a full
hour. Do you hear me?
1--WE keep the poor little things up
till all hours, excite them with novels
and theaters, feed them on stimulat-
ing and relatively innutritiOus foods
and encourage them to poison them
selves with candy, crunched and gulp-
ed down before the cane sugar has
been digested in the mouth. We give
them coffee and tea to set their nerves
on a twitter. Good Lord, what don't
we do to kill them? We act like a
pack Of fools, we parents, and II any
Of our young ones live to be twenty,
are tOlerably sound of mind, aren't
sick more than half the time and have
at least seven teeth that cont ache 1t
Is more by good luck than good judg-
ment. Is It any wonder that the eyes
suffer along with the rest of the bOdy2
But most or all 1t is the crazy no
ton that the childs mind is developed !
by reading that is to blame for what !
we call the degeneracy of the eye.
Observing and comparing are what de-
velop the mind. but you can't beat that |
into q teachers head. One of them |
told me the other day how much bet
ter the schools were in Germany than |
IN this country. Little children there, |
she said, do sums in long division
much faster than American children. |
wanted to shake her. They keep the |
German children In school almost all J
the waking day, and the barbarous
type they print books In increases the
shortsightedness from 20 per cent in
the lower grades to GO and even 20 per
cent in the upper grades. No wonder
Germans are so prone to suicidel"