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Show !GO AI' I'I~N DI X. the idolizing parent, and strike with amazement the astoni:.;hed spectator. 'fhey behold in th~ child a living prodigy; but they consider not that his acquirements arc unnatural, and have been obtai nell in violation of the organic laws whieh have been in ~ tituted for the health and preservation of his body nnU the formation and developeme nt of his mind . His brain has been stimulated beyond what it was capable of sustaini ng, and a reaction must sooner or later e nsue ;-for the laws of nature are immutable and cannot be violated with impunity. These remarks, it will be remembered, arc designed parti cularly for the early periods of existence, when the organization of the brain is in a de- 1icate and imperft'ctly developed condition, and when it is consequently inca pable of sustaining any great intellectual efforts. ln this sentiment 1 am suppon ed hy some of the ablest writers upon the education of young c hildren. The distinguished Ilufeland, physician to the King of Prn!:lsia, in his valuable work on the art of prolonging life, observes, "Intellectu al efrort, in the first years of life, is very injnrious. All labor of the mind which is required of children before their seventh year, is in opposition to the laws of nature, and wi!l prove injurious to the organiza· tion ami prevent its proper developement." Ti8sot, a very ahle physician, s peaks thus: ''Long continued application in infancy, destroys tile ; I have seen young c hildren of g reat me ntal activity, who manifested a passion for learning far above their age, and I foresaw, with grief, the fate that awaited them. They commenced their career as prodigies, and finished by becoming persons of very weak minds. The age of infancy is consecrated by nature to those exerc ises which fonify and strengthen the body, and not to stutly, which enfeebles and preve nts its proper increase artd developement." And again he says, " of ten infants de~· tinec.l for different vocations, I should prefer that the one who is to study through life should be the least learned at the age of twelve." Having thus endeavored in a hasty manner to point out some of the injurious effects res ulting from early intellectual e fforts of a c haracte r unsuited to the years of infancy, [will next brielly advert to the cou rse that should be pursued in the education of children in order to avoid the evils refered to. ln the first place, particular pains should be taken with their physical education from the earliest period of their existence. The g rowth and strength of the body should comllitute our first concern; and after this is fully attained, we shall have less cause to apprehend danger from any mental application. Instead, therefore, of sending children to school for the purpose of acquiring a knowledge of the alphabet, or of any abstract or metaphysical science; or to be initiated into the principles of the classifica· tion of any of the natural sciences, howevrr simply they may be arranged, or however clearly they may be illustrate tl; or to acquire a knowletlg:e of any subject requiring any considerable mental application, we should let these be of secondary consideration, and devote our whole attention to the consolidation of that structure upon whose healthy condition depends all their future prospects of happiness to themselves, and of usefulness to their fellow beings. Upon this subject, Dr. Spurzheim, in his essay upon the elementary principles of etlucation, very aptly remarks: "Many parents anxiously strive to cultivate the intellect of their children, and neglect to for· tify their constitution. They belive that children cannot too soon learn to reatl and write, and they therefore oblige them to remain many hours in school, breathing an impure air, while they ought to be developing the organs of the body by exercise. The more delicate the children are, and the more their affections and minds are precocious, the more important is it that 161 this error should be avoided :-if it is not, premature death is oflen the con· sequence of this infraction of the laws of nature. The mind ourrht never to be cultivated at ~he expense of the body, and physical education ought to precede that of mtellect, and then proceed simultaneously with it, without cultivating one faculty to the neglect of others; foL' health is the base, and imilruction the ornament of etluc.ation." Up01.1 this same subject Pa~lding remarks: "Knowledge should only keP-p pac.e with the natural grow th of the human faculties. When I see a little urchi~1, \~ho ought to be enjoyin.g nature's hol~day, and strengthening his constitution by wholesome exercise, to enable hun to bear the vicissitudes of the world in after times, kidnapped and sent to school to sit on a bench !Or four or five hours together, employed in learning by rote what he is unable to comprehentl, I cannot help contemplating him as the slave and the victim of the vanity of the parent, and of the folly of the teacher. Such a sys. tem is only calculated to lay a foundation for disease and decrepitude, to stint the physical and intellectual growth, and to produce a premature old age of boc.ly and of mind." . llut we may be .aske·d· whe ther we would permit ch ildren to grow up in ~~~1orance a~1d hab1ts ?J tdleness until they shall have a rrived at a p eriod of ~de wh~n mth~r phys1cal or mental application would be at least irksome, 1f not Impracticable. I answer, by no means. The g reat book of nature is always open before them, and from it they can acquire more useful and practical information than from all the 8chools in the universe as they are generally conducted. Ignorant of what? I would ask. Of a knowledge of letters and of words, which, in nine cases out of ten, convey to their minds no definite ideas. They spend two, three, or four years to acquire by hard toil, and very frequently with a feeling of disgust, what, in more ad· vanced years, may be acquired in six months, withou t the risk of that dis. taste for schools and scie11ce which effectually prevents many of them for ever from making any considerable progress in their studies. But instead of requiring of them to learn from books, let them acquire knowledge from the works of nature and of art, which are every where th ickly spread around them. In this manner their mental faculties can be most profitably culti. vated without any particular intellectual eflOrt, while, at the same time, their physical powers will be strengthened, and they will be gradually pre· pared to entlure the future hardships of life. In this manner, (to adopt the language of a French writer,) they will arrive at the seventh year without suspecting that they have been made to learn any thing ; they will not have disting uished between study and recreation; all they know they will have learned freely, voluntarily, and always in play ;- and the advantages obtained by this course will be good health, grace, agility, gaiety, and happiness ; a character frank :md generous ; a memory properly exercised; a sound judgment and a cultivated mind. But we have often been asked how we would dispose of the children of that hard-working industrious portion of the commnnity, residing in our cities and thickly populated villages, who have to earn a subsistence for their families away from their own homes, and who can extend no care over their ofl'.spring from morning to night-whether we would suffer them to be running wild throughout the whole day, engaged in the various scenes of danger, vice, and crime, with which our cities abound? \Ve would reply, mos t certai1tly not. Places of resort should be provided for such children, where they could be suitably taken care of, with every means requisite for their amusement andrecreation, but de \•oid of the evils attendant upon our schools as usually con. dueled. Our infant schools may be referred to by some, as answering the 21 |