Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-02-17

third, n with very lutte IOou uur-
ing the three days. Spencer is an
other man who injured his health
by lack of care of himself. but If he
had not been naturally strong he
would not have lived to be SO.
even Shakespeare, who died at
the age of So. might be said to have
lived a good life considering the
amoun of work he did as play
wright, actor and manager. Goethe,
an exceedingly busy man. was In
good health almost to the time of his
death at the age of SO.
"Of the four probably most ia
nous Italians, Dante lived to be only
5S, but his life was one of arduous
labor; Leonardo da Vinci. an athlete
who outstripped far younger men in
feats of strength, was nearly 81;
Michael Angelo worked f~uriously
most of his so years; AMI Calico en-
joyed good health until his death at
49,"
Leaping abruptly back to the
twentieth century, we have the dis
tinctly robust example of Joseph
Hoffman, famous pianist, who clear
ly demonstrated his remarkable
musical talent when he was but two
and a half years old and was on the
concert stage at the age of clever
SUPERB Children in Two Glasses
There are and always have been
certain wonder children" Professor
Edward l.. Thorndike of Teachers
College, Columbia University tells
us" and they have turned out to be
! great men and women later. 1t is
| evident that child geniuses may be
! I..rtIAI srtA %uyD n1a oene--fhnCn u-h n
are creative and inventive and those
who have exceptional memories and
absorbing powers.
1.-The child or creative ability is
the zeal wonder child. There are
many children who have exceptional
memories, and while 1t is true that
some of the children have greater
capacity than others, the faculty is
not indicative of as high develop
ment as the creative or inventive
gift"
Professor Monroe, also of the
teachers College. declares that our
/ present system of public school ed
ucation Is greatly to be censured
because it makes no special priyi-
sion for children of superior ability.
I'VE in this country are so demo-
cratic that we look out for the mass
he says. Our entire educational
system is gagged to ~mediocrity. We
reed some new way of scaling our
classes, so that persons of eXcep-
tional ability will not be held back to
the level of their mediocre compan-
ions. Sometimes this lack of occu.
patton in school while they are wait.
Ing for their slower brothers and
sisters to catch up is harmful to the
children of superior talent. They
become FESTIVE or indifferent.
Wider recognition should be
given to the child prodigy. The
hope of education is to bring out all
the native talent and ability each
child has. Naturally sonre children
will have more to show than others
but each child should have a chance
to develop to it's highest point.
II do not believe in toe much free
dom or too much superintendent OF
the child's education. There is 9
medium which offers encouragement
to the child to use his own initia.
tive and at the same time furnishes
guidance without which he might
become one-sided."
United States is Stage For Prodigies
The United States has provided
the exhibition stage for a large
ioiiiDNi VI ~ OoiSit II Nv past wv
years. In fact. almost every Euro
pean nation and several South Amer.
lean Republics seemed to have two
or three ready for us as soon as
the war was over. We have mar
veled at the ability of the little chess
wizard. Samuel Rzeshewski: of the
little girl Pamela Bianco: of the
young girl diaryist introduced by
Herr Freud. and of a long list oil
youthful musical artists. And re.
Gently We have been asked to admire
our w American prodigies il
groups-so fast are they developing
Last year little Miss Bianco held al
art exhibition of her own which wa.
well praised by astonished art crit.
les. but. 10! this year a whole grour
of New York children are exhibitins
work just as good.
AS the prejudice against permit.
ting children to assert themselve:
dies out, wo seem to be developing
greater and greater numbers O
super-normal children. II the in
crease continues and If the day evel
comes when the public schools adopt
special measures for developing In
dividual talent. genius ma possibl,
become common among our popula'
tian