Omaha daily bee., 1911-10-29

At the age Of two. the childs mind is
eager and acqulstive, but the play instinct
Is dominant.
A year later It has been taught something
OF how TO think and has learned to read and
20 write The play instinct Is suppressed by
the influence of the parent or teacher.
Another year sees the play instinct dor
mant and the child the intellectual equal OF
a well-grown young man!
At six years old, the play instinct is hope
lessly dead. The child live only through
its brain 1t Is a serious minded thing, whose
sense OF humor responds only to the stilted
jokes of the classic authors. or the pom
derous epigrams of DR.. Johnson and his
school.
The body may be developed properly. The
child may be physically healthy. But the
brain Is overworked steadily"
For a few years the effect will not appear.
The child will be prodigy" so oaled-the
pride Of Its parents and the admiration Of
lts parents friends.
Then the body will begin to dwarf Itself
automatically, Physical effeots will appear
The abnormal brain will shine out through
the eyes, and In most cases the head will
be unusually developed.
Through the tWenties, the child will
do wonderful things intellectually.
Then come the thlrtles, and an in
eVtable and practically universal decay
and aging Of mind and body.
Death, insanity, or a loss of the brains
PosOcrS surely foHo9cS!
The life is cut from the allotted three
score years and ten TO bare tsCo-Seore.
The effect Of child labor Is familiar to every
one. II may be seen most frequently In Euro.
pean cities. The streets are full Of queer ~.
tie figures with preternaturally grave faces,
old before their time, They are men when
they should be playing around In someone's
back yard. When they should be men, a few
years later, they are most often mental and
physical wrecks.
1t is the same way with too early
and too strenuous brain work. The
child can do II all right, just as the
child Iaborer can tend the machine or
pick the slate from the coal, or drive
the mule team In the coal mine.
But the effect is sure to make itself
felt. The mind of the child becomes,
all too soon, the mind of a grown man.
And ten or twenty years later, when
the mind should be at it's best, the
"hothouse" child is a mental wreck
and good for nothing.
l have said that to-day is the age of the
prepared man. The value Of preparation is
seen every day. The slow and sure process
OF education Is the one that wins out in the
long run, every time The list Of men, YhaB
have accomplished great things In their
youth and have continued their accomplish
ments through long and worthy life is a
short one.
The age limit of efficiency has advanced
In this century, The men who controlled and
directed the destinies OF this republic in Its
early days were usually within the tifties,
=. few years ago DIR: osler declared that a
man of sixty had arrived al the limit of use.
fulness But now we see a man OF sixty-fve
appointed to the Supreme Court of the United
States, and many instances might be enum-
Grated OF perfect accomplishment reached
only after the age limit fixed by Or. Osler
had been passed
The longer the period of infancy Is pro-
tracted, the more efficient your man will be,