El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-11-10

At the age Of two, the child's mind Is
eager and acquisitiVe, but the play instinct
Is dominant
A year later it has been taught something
Of how to think and has learned to read and
to 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
WeII-grown young mani
At six years Old, the play instinct Is hope
lessly dead The child live oEly through
its brain It 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 few years the effect will not appear.
The child will be a "prodlgy," so eaIIed-ths
pride Of its parents and the admiration Of
its parents friends
Then the body viii begin TO dwarf Itself
automatically. Physical effects will appear.
The abnormal brain will shine out through
the eyes, and In most cases the head viii
be unusually developed.
Through the tNenties, the child will
do wonderful things intellectually.
Then come the thirties, and an in
eyitabIe and practically universal decay
and aging Of mind and body.
Death, insanity or q loss of the 5TGiH'S
BOzUers surely fOll01gSi
The life is CIT from The allotted three
score years and ten TO q bare tzyo-Sr0re.
The effect OF child labor Is familiar to every
one. It may be seen most frequently IN Euro
pean cities. The streets are full Of queer lit
lie figures with pretsrnaturally 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, 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 il all right, just as the
child laborer 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 its best, the
dollhouse" child is a mental wreck
and good for nothing.
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 who
have accomplished great things il their
youth and have continued their accomplish
ments through a 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 desunies Of this republic in its
early days were usually within the fftfes
- few years ago DR.. Osler declared that
nan Of sixty had arrived at the limit OF use
-ulness. But now We see a man OF sixty-fvs
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 Dr.. Osler
had been passed.
The longer the period o. infancy IS pro
-racteds the more efficient your man VIII be-