Evening star., 1925-02-15

night. "Be-l-i-e-v-e" for Instance
thus repeated two or three times.
Since then she has not yielded to her
'1-e-f' complex.
Both daughter and son are prone
to waste the time I prize so highly.
Poor dears, they see the mundane
future as eternity, and spend hours
getting ready to do work that con-
sumes a few minutes. l used TO
moralize on the preciousness of time
and read books to them showing how
men and women accomplished great
things by canny use of their allotted
span. 1t all fell on deaf ears. But
| there were listening, though sleep
ing, ears for the discourse which be-
gins with a positive command and
ends with a practical reminder: BE
great. Use your time profitably."
Now they get to their work with
greater dispatch.
X X +
THE boy likes history In fact ha
l. prefers it to other reading dur
ing his leisure. But learning i'm
portant dates for school examina tions
has no such fascination. Before these
tests he tries to cram dates and ends
with his mind in a haze of uncer-
tainty. So after he is asleep I take
a minute to charge his subconscious
mind and end his confusion. James
town. 1907; Hudson River, 1909: Ply
mouth, 1920" Assurance being thus
made doubly sure, the child is re-
warded by a high mark in his
favorite work.
These are a few of my experiences.
Friends who at first scoffed genially
at my enthusiasm later tried the
same methods with similar results.
One helped a son into Latin; another
daughter through geometry. No
general rule can be laid down. But
subjects involving memorizing or
morals seem to lend themselves best
to "slumber instruction" Poetry,
dates, troublesome spellings, bristly
frac lions, multiplication tables, rules
of grammar. vocabulary words in
foreign languages, the building OF
good habits and removal of bad
ones, are as a rule promising fields.
Only the essence of the subject
should be given in these lectures.
Any elaboration can be done later,
during the day. And in teaching such
things as ethics and morals, results
are better if the instruction is put in
positive terms. Don't say Don't to
a sleeping disciple, to violate my own
rule The negative command in
hibits action, where the positive com
structive.
One more thing. This may be an
indiscreet telling of tales out of night
school, but-children are not the only
fruitful subjects for this method of
instruction. A former neighbor of
mine had husband with one unpleas-
ant weakness. If things went wrong,
he would let fly volley of disagree
able epithets at his wife. He always
regretted it afterward, but the habit
was deeprooted. She decided to give
my method of painless instruction
test and chastise him without his
knowledge.
First making sure he was fast
asleep, she began on the helpless man
please call me only by my name"
On alternate nights she admonished
him: please call me dear" And one
morning he got up declaring that dur
ing the night he had got to thin king
over his failing, and had taken an
oath never to call his wife names
again.
Another neighbor also tried the
method on her husband. They were in
business together. To their mutual
detriment he had way of giving
wrong change whenever more than
one customer was in the store. All
her pleas that he use greater care
were vain. No day went by without a
loss caused by his errors at the cash
register So one night when he was
fast asleep she urged Please give
correct change" He, too, responded
in due time this treatment, and
one day told his wife he felt an sin
ward urge to give correct change.
1t came over him, he said. every time
he went to the cash register.