Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1907-02-01
The FIRST TEN YEARS.
Vital Importance Of Sunshine and Nour-
lshlne Food In Childhood.

lshlne Food In Childhood.
TO develop indoors under glass, race
Of men and women of the type that ne
lieve is coming out Of all this marvellous
mingling Of races in the United states is
UNNECESSARILY absurd There must be
sunlight but even more is needed fresh,
pure air. The injury wrought today TO
the race by keeping too young children
indoors at school Is beyond the power Of
any one to estimate. The air they
breathe even under the best sanitary reg
ulations is far too impure for their lungs
often it, is positively poisonous-a slow
poison that never makes itself fully man
ifest until the child Is wreck. Keep
the child outdoors and away from books
and study. Much you can teach him
much he will teach himself all gently
without knowing it, Of nature and ma
lures God, just as the child is taught to
walk or run or play; but education in
the academic sense shun as you would
the plague. And the atmosphere must be
pure around Il i'm the other sense. 1t
must be free from every kind Of indeli-
CaCy or CoarSpncss The most dangerous
man i'm the community is the one who
would pollute the stream Of a child's life
Whoever was responsible for the saying
that boys will be boys ana q young
man must SOW his wild oats" was per
haps guilty Of a crime.
the principles Of cultivation and selection
Of plants to human life II the human life
does not like the plant life. have proper
nouriShmcnt First Of ALL the chid's
digestion must be made sound bv sufii-
Client simple. well balanced food. But.
YOU say. any one should know this True.
and most people do realize IL In a certain
sense: hut how many realize that upon
the food the child is fed in these first
ten years largely depends its moral
future? ! once lived near a class Of
people who, from religious belief, cX-
cludcd all meat. eggs and milk from the
dietary of their children. They fed them
vegetables and the products Of cereals.
What results followed? The children
were anemic. unable to withstand dis
ease. quickly succumbed TO illness.
There were no signs OF vigor; they were
always low in vitality But that was not
all. They were frightfully depraved.
They were not properly fed; their ration
was unbalanced. Nature rcbelled; for
she had not sufficient material to per-
feet her higher development
What we want In developing n new
plant, making it better in all ways than
any Of its kind that have preceded &C. Is
a splendid norm not anything abnormal
So we feed 1T from the soil. and IT feeds
from the air. and thus we make 1t n
powerful aid to man. It is dependent upon
good food. Upon good food for the child
well balanced food, depends good dlges-
ton; upon good dig, stion. with pure air
to keep the blood pure. depends the ner-
vous system. II you have the first ten
years Of boys or a girls life in which
to make them strong and sturdy with
normal nerves, splendid digestion. and UNI
impaired lungs you have n healthy ami
NAL ready for the heavier burdens Of
study. Preserve beyond all else as the
priceless portion Of a child the integrity
Of the nervous system. Upon this de-
ponds their success in life. with the ner-
vous system shattered what IS life worth =?
Suppose you begin the education So
called, OF your child at say. three or four
II he be unusually bright in the kinder
garten. Keep adding slowly and sys-
tematically, with what l think the devil
must enjoy as a refined means Of torment
to the burden day by day. Keep on
educating" him until he enters the pri-
mary school at five, and push him to the
uttermost until he is ten. You have now
laid broad and deep the foundation: out
ragged nature may be left to take care OF
the rest.
The integrity OF your chlld's nervous
system. no matter what any so-called
educators may say. is thus impaired: he
can never again be what he would have
been had you taken him as the plant cul-
tivator takes a plant. and for these first
ten precious years Of his life had fitted
him for the future Nothing else Is doing
so much to break down the nervous sys-
TENS Of Americans. not even the insane
rushing OF mature years as this over
crowding and examining OF child life be
fore the age OF ten. And the mad haste
OF maturer years is the legitimate result
Of the earlier strain.-tFrom Luther Bur-
banks THE Training OF the Human
Plant" in the Century