The idea of size is necessary to a correct apprehension
of objects.
To talk of yards, feet, or inches, to a child, unless they are shown,
is just as intelligible as miles, leagues, or degrees. Let there then
be two five-feet rods, a black foot and a white foot alternately, the
bottom foot marked in inches, and let there be a horizontal piece to
slide up and down to make various heights. Thus, when the height of
a
lion, or elephant, &c. &c., is mentioned, it may be shown by
the rod;
while the girth may be exhibited by a piece of cord, which should
always be ready. Long measure is taught as follows:
Take barley-corns of mod'rate length,
And three you'll find will make an inch;
Twelve inches make a foot;--if strength
Permit; I'll leap it and not flinch.
Three feet's a yard, as understood
By those possess'd with sense and soul;
Five feet and half will make a rood,
And also make a perch or pole.
Oh how pretty, wond'rously pretty,
Every rule
We learn at school
Is wondrously pretty.
Forty such poles a furlong make,
And eight such furlongs make a mile,
O'er hedge, or ditch, or seas, or lake;
O'er railing, fence, or gate, or stile.
Three miles a league, by sea or land,
And twenty leagues are one degree;
Just four times ninety degrees a band
Will make to girt the earth and sea.
Oh how pretty, &c.
But what's the girth of hell or heaven?
(No natural thought or eye can see,)
To neither girth or length is given;
'Tis without space--Immensity.
Still shall the good and truly wise,
The seat of heaven with safety find;
Because 'tis seen with inward eyes,
The first resides within their mind.
Oh how pretty, &c.
Whatever can be shewn by the rod should be, and I entreat teachers
not
to neglect this part of their duty. If the tables be merely learnt,
the children will be no wiser than before.
Another anecdote may be added here, to shew that children even under
punishment may think of their position with advantage. Doctor J., of
Manchester, sent two of his children to an infant school, for the
upper classes, and one of his little daughters had broken some rule
in
conjunction with two other little ladies in the same school; two of
the little folks were placed, one in each corner of the room, and Miss
J. was placed in the centre, when the child came home in the evening,
Doctor J. enquired, "Well, Mary, how have you got on at school
to
day?" the reply was "Oh, papa, little Miss ---- and Fanny
----, and I,
were put out, they were put in the corners and I in the middle of the
room, and there we all stood, papa, a complete triangle of dunces."
The worthy doctor took great pleasure in mentioning this anecdote
in company, as shewing the effect of a judicious cultivation of the
thinking faculties.
In my peregrinations by sea and land, with infants, we have had some
odd and amusing scenes. I sometimes have had infants at sea for
several days and nights to the great amusement of the sailors: I have
seen some of these fine fellows at times in fits of laughter at the
odd words, as they called them, which the children used; at other
times I have seen some of them in tears, at the want of knowledge,
they saw in themselves; and when they heard the infants sing on deck,
and explain the odd words by things in the ship, the sailors were
delighted to have the youngsters in their berths, and no nurse could
take better care of them than these noble fellows did.
I could relate anecdote after anecdote to prove the utility of this
part of our system, but as it is now more generally in the training
juvenile schools, and becoming better known, it may not be necessary,
especially as the prejudice against it is giving way, and the public
mind is better informed than it was on the subject, and moreover it
must be given more in detail in the larger work on Juvenile Training
or National Education.
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