New Britain herald., 1915-03-31
lDoris F. Fleischman in New York

Tribune.) The crim e7of m dernity is that be- lief which forcibly detains the child For six < or seven years the child is told, Thou shalt not learn At the end of that time he is sent to school and forced. The child sss a thinking animal who should be trained from the first day of it's life, but never forced to learn"
 This is the basic belief of woman who is responsible for the education of prodigies. She is the mother of a child who. at the age or twelve. is the author of ten published books in rhyme and prose, is a teacher. plays five or six musical instruments, and ,eithal is big, strapping girl. uncon- scious of her envied achievements and desirous of becoming an editor of a magazine and cowboy when she grows up.
 Mover Treated Child Like a Baby.
 TT have never treated her like q haby,' explained the mother Mrs. Win- fired Saclville Stoner. T have always talked to her as if she could under stand me, from the time that she was Q day old. I have never talked baby talk, and I have always borne in mind the fact that she is a human being who would have to" live in the world, and that since learning is far easier and pleasanter than not learning she might better start at once to ]earn.'
 Mrs. Stoner is a large, cXuberantiy healthy woman, abounding m energy, in ideas and in a quick grasp of situa- : tions and issues, which gave her the courage and ingenuity to learn from the cat and it's kitten and to carry over the advantages of the Indian method of education into our methods, which she believes are found and distorted by superstition and restrict ed by mandates of unknowing physi-' clans
 Tt has generally been considered dangerous for child to learn. It has been thought that to use it's mind would upset the child's nervous sys- tenn and impair it's physical being. This is false. Every child is trinity mental, physical and moral. None should be neglected
 Stimulating Child Not Harmful.
 'fIt is true that the physical is the most important but that IS no reason for refusing to the child the other es- sentials. To stimulate q child's mind is not harmful. TO force child's att tention is the only dangerous thing. Physicians would put child in a dark room and let it sleep. They would not allow the child to be amused they would utterly prevent the training of its senses. and all in the name of the c;1i1d's health. But a child need not sleep more than it wants. It may pass it's waking moments in a state of healthful interest, and at the same time learn those things which will help him in his after lfe.'
 Mrs. Stoner than told of the manner in which Winifred, Jr., of whom Dr. M. ". O'Shea, famous educator, said "The typical college graduate knows less and can do less than rnis girl can do,' acquired rudiments of her re- markable education in the languages. Used Virgil as Soothing Syrup.
 Instead of singing her to sleep, which method usually sends the child to sleep in a mild stage of nervous prostration, chanted Virgil, scanning 1 the first book of the Iliad over and ! over again.
 "1 taught her nanny to chant it 70 1 her. and in this way she was able to l scan NlISll DelOTG SHe WdS one eur 1 old. Virgil is the best and most harm I less soothing syrup I know. And in 1 addition to acquainting her with this 1 language upon which most of the 1 others are founded it trained her l sense of rhythm. That is why she 1 wrote jingles almost as soon, as sl6p l could talk When she was hves-J ars 1 of age she knew by heart, andsunutr- l stood, the first book Of Virgii!F, ., : No Child Is Merely Averagc: 1 it's talent Find the talent in your
 child and cultivate it"'. Her system is l one which aims at the development of ! the supernormal We have schools ! for the abnormal, and schools for the ] average. I am thinking or the super 1 normal. No child is an average child. 1 If they are trained correctly they may 1 all be prodigies, in the present sense 1 of the word. That will give us our l higher race.
 "Just think of the infant prodgies 1 that history mentions. Julius Caesar, 1 who was startling at the age of three. l Also Confucius--anG children who ac- l complished wonders at four years are 1 numerous. Milton wrote Latin verse, 1 and Pope Greek stanzas. John Stuart 1 Mill tells us how his father set him
 to tasks requiring prodigious concen-
 tration and critical judgment at the l age of five and six. Emanuel Kant
 had a large class of pupils al the age
 o1 seven. These people are all eNcep- tions, but they should not be. They ! have merely taken advantage of the l sponge-like quality of the mind, which 1 as William James says, lasts up to the 1 age of twelve.
 All Memorizing Before Twelve Years 1 Old.