Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-04-22
WONDER CHILDREN
PrecociOus Youth and Prodigies No,
Usually I.Ong.Lived

A few years ago there appeared an ac-
count Of the doings of Samuel Reschev-
ski, a wonderful chess player. eight years
old, who is confounding Berlin with his
uncanny knowledge and skill
These wonder children" always arouse
especial interest, and, as many explain
atoms are put forward to account for
their apparent genius. there are gloomy
forebodings as to their meeting with an
early death.
There have been many wonder chill
dren" In the past. and it is strange. though
true, that quite large proportion have
lived to the average age.
In recent years there have been a num-
Der OF child evangelists who have startled
the world by their eloquence and theol-
ogy. In the United States few years
ago a boy nine years old attempted to
convert the whole country, and when
10 years old he was actually appointed
minister of a church in North Carolina.
In Great Britain>we have had a child
IL years old who preached In a Baptist
Church at Porthcawl. and a small boy
who. at the tender age Of three. began
preaching to crowded audiences and con-
tinued to do so until we'll after 10 years
old.
talents consist chiefly in an abnormal,
retentive memory. and. provided that
their temperaments are not emotional.
| they stand the mental strain exceedingly
we'll. though there Ia, Of course, the dan
ger attached to the excessive physical
strain which they frequently undergo
To this type belong those children who
learn rapidly by heart such things as
the tunes. words. and numbers Of all
hymns In the ancient and modern hymn
book II is such children, with a high
development OF one faculty. who most
| often meet with early death. and maybe
II Is In such cases that the old saying
THE wise die young had it's origin.
But the child chess player In Berlin
belongs rather to the type Of intellectual
precocities, such as the learned child of
Lubbock Of the early part Of the 18th CEN
tury. The child could recite the whole
| OF the OLD and New Testaments before
he was two years old. and a little later
he was an authority on religious history
| and dogma. He mastered also ancient
| and modern geography and history and
several languages before his death at the
| age Of four years
| A contemporary of this wonderful child
was fluent in five languages before he
, was nNo' aiiu tTunoidteu ule hebrew
Bible into Latin and French at the age
Of eight. He survived until he was 10.
| Historical and clinical evidence are both
definite In showing that 'wonder-chil-
dren" are no more liable than other chill
drAn to die young. nor is It found that
children who assimilate knowledge read
lily and retain 1t show any undue signs
OF fatigue.
The great point in the case of children
marked by special brilliance is to avoid
any attempt at making the brilliance APP
ply to everything. for In so doing the ex-
listing. brilliance In the one special direc.
ton may tend to disappear. In the same
way those who are intellectually briilian,
must not be forced to become industrious
In a practical way. for such interference
invariably brings on overstrain and break
down. Daily Mail.