The Elbert County tribune., 1902-12-18
THOUGHTS.
By Il. x ID.
fCopyrightcdl
THE CnILDREN's PARADISE.

A happy land with no beyond unknown,
Clore eincin.ed with kind walls by mortAls made.
Here dwel- the child contendet, yet alone,
And illadvifed l. he who dArc- invade
The kingdom called The Cbildren's Pnradiss.
Not many human beings would willing
ly destroy the paradise OF children-that
/ little world which a child makes for it
self, and in which it is so innocently hap
Ply; but the ignorance which makes it, is
also responsible for its destruction.
Most Of us were children once upon
time-we understood as a child, we
thought as child; but when we became
men and put away childish things, we
forgot childhood SO completely that ever
since we have been surprised and grieved
because old heads refuse to grow on
young shoulders.
How many parents and teachers for
get that play is not only an instinct of
childhood, but is actually essential to its
NATURAL and highest development. Small
wonder the Jesuits succeeded where
the Jansenists failed, and the Rous-
/ seau and Pestalozzi made more impress
sion with their visionary or simple de
vices than the ready rod of Busby.
Everywhere nature seeks to teach us
wisdom. The young of all animals gam
bol uad play the live long day. "What
a waste Of time" says the moralist. The
philosopher looks more closely, and finds
that these apparently objectless sports
form the ideal curriculum of perfect
school of preparation for after life, of
which the Principal is the fond mother.
The pupils are perfectly happy. Their
school is their playground Can this be
said of any human teaching machine?
Do you remember, reader, your old
Schoolroom, the hard seats, the long
tasks, the irritable pedagogue, the pun
ishments, the nagging, the deadening
discipline? Do you remember that love
ly antumn afternoon when the woods
were stored with treasure, and the sun
room, and the country sounds stole in
through the open door, and your very
soul revolted against yonr long coniine-
mentY Do you remember how, when
you thought freedom was yours, the
strident voice from the platform bade
you stay to atone for some fault that you
knew not to be fault till your autocrat
told you so? If we treated our young
dogs and horses as some Of us were
treated, we should expect them to die.
Sometimes our children die die because
they are denied their right to play; die
mental and moral death which is far
worse than mere physical dissolution.
Children must not only play; but they
must be taught to play. There is
whole character training in well regu-
seltishness and that splendid health
which alone permits perfect mental and
moral balance, are all learned on the
wise managed playground. And in school
where the mental training necessary for
a complete education must be carried
on, still children must play. Informa-
ton may be driven into the brain with
rod; but culture comes only through
the open window OF .he mind A mind
antagonized through harshness, injustice
VI an hnhitiatlift fOhhiht 10 iiNhPhOit VI
true development. Therefore work
should be play In other words, the
schoolmaster must take advantage of a
childs instincts and, as it were, let the
child teach itself. The inquisitiveness
OF the young is part OF the play instinct.
The skillful pedagogue gives it free
scope, and information is impaired. The
child loves to do things. The clever
teacher makes his selfsought tasks
harder and harder to keep pace with
this craving, and mental capacity grows.
Thus even work is play and the school
master is the boys best friend intead of
his natural enemy.
Another univcral trick OF memory is
the failure to recall the old adagc that
practice is better than precept. "My
son. avoid this habit-it is bad. wish
had never learned it," The son says
'sYes, father" and at once thinks it is
worth trying. The boy is a natural To-
gician, and unconsciously argues that a
mans true beliefs are those on which he
H. prepared to act, and that his father
does not really think the habit evil, or he
would drop it. The work of him who
says, ''Do as ! say and not as | do is in
vain. If the teacher have bad habit,
let him at least keep silence thereon, for,
by condemning that which he still prac-
tices, he will but draw to it his pupils
attention, and cause him TO doubt for
evermore the sincerity of him whom he
was prepared to think the embodiment
of truth.
The faultfnding attitude Of mind also
is impossible to the true educator. "Go
ahead and see what Tom is doing and
tell him not to do it" is the typical say
, ing of the bad teacher or parent. Every
hoy l. a lineal des.cendent Of Adam md