NATURAL HISTORY.
When teachers are conversing with their children, they should always
take care to watch their countenances, and the moment they appear
tired, to stop. An hour's instruction when the children's minds and
hearts are engaged, is better than many hours effort, when they are
thinking of something else. In addition to thirty-four pictures of
Scripture history, we have sixty of natural history, each picture
having a variety of quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and flowers. The first
thing we do is to teach the children the names of the different
things; then to distinguish them by their forms; and, lastly, they are
questioned on them as follows: If the animal is a horse, we put the
pointer to it, and say--
Q.What is this?
A. A picture of a horse.
Q. What is the use of the horse?
A. To draw carts, coaches, waggons, drays, fire-engines, caravans, the
plough and harrow, boats on the canal, and any thing that their masters
want them.
Q. Will they carry as well as draw?
A. Yes, they will carry a lady or gentleman on their backs, a sack of
corn, or paniers, or even little children, but they must not hit them
hard, if they do, they will fall off their backs; besides, it is very
cruel to beat them.
Q. What is the difference between carrying and drawing?
A. To carry is when they have the whole weight on their backs, but to
draw is when they pull any thing along.
Q. Is there any difference between those horses that carry, and those
horses that draw?
A. Yes; the horses that draw carts, drays, coal-waggons, stage
waggons, and other heavy things, are stouter and much larger, and
stronger than those that carry on the saddle, and are called draught
horses.
Q. Where do the draught horses come from?
A. The largest comes from Leicestershire, and some come from Suffolk,
which are very strong, and are called Suffolk punches.
Q. Where do the best saddle-horses come from?
A. They came at first from Arabia, the place in which the camel is so
useful; but now it is considered that those are as good which are bred
in England?
Q. What do they call a horse when he is young?
A. A foal, or a young colt.
Q. Will he carry or draw while he is young?
A. Not until he is taught, which is called breaking of him in.
Q. And when he is broke in, is he very, useful?
A. Yes; and please, sir, we hope to be more useful when we are properly
taught.
Q. What do you mean by being properly taught?
A. When we have as much trouble taken with us as the horses and dogs
have taken with them.
Q. Why, you give me a great deal of trouble, and yet I endeavour to
teach you.
A. Yes, sir, but before Infant Schools were established, little children,
like us, were running the streets.[A]
Q. But you ought to be good children if you do run the streets.
A. Please, sir, there is nobody to tell us how[B], and if the man did
not teach the horse, he would not know how to do his work.
[Footnote A: This answer was given by a child five years of age.]
[Footnote B: This answer was given by a child six years of age.]
Here we observe to the children, that as this animal is so useful to
mankind, it should be treated with kindness. And having questioned
them as to the difference between a cart and a coach, and satisfied
ourselves that they understand the things that are mentioned, we
close, by asking them what is the use of the horse after he is dead,
to which the children reply, that its flesh is eaten by other animals
(naming them), and that its skin is put into pits with oak bark, which
is called tanning; and that when it is tanned it is called leather;
and leather is made into shoes to keep the feet warm and dry, and that
we are indebted to the animals for many things that we both eat and
wear, and above all to the great God for every thing that we possess.
I cannot help thinking that if this plan were more generally adopted,
in all schools, we should not have so many persons ascribing
everything to blind chance, when all nature exhibits a God, who
guides, protects, and continually preserves the whole.
We also examine the children concerning that ill-treated animal, the
ass, and contrast it with the beautiful external appearance of the
zebra; taking care to warn the children not to judge of things by
their outward appearance, which the world in general are too apt to
do, but to judge of things by their uses, and of men by their general
character and conduct. After having examined the children concerning
the animals that are most familiar to us, such as the sheep, the cow,
the dog, and others of a similar kind, we proceed to foreign animals,
such as the camel, the elephant, the tiger, the lion, &c. &c.
In
describing the use of the camel and the elephant, there is a fine
field to open the understandings of the children, by stating how
useful the camel is in the deserts of Arabia; how much it can carry;
how long it can go without water; and the reason it can go without
water longer than most other animals; how much the elephant can carry;
what use it makes of its trunk, &c. All these things will assist
the
thinking powers of children, and enlarge their understandings, if
managed carefully. We also contrast the beautiful appearance of the
tiger with its cruel and blood-thirsty disposition, and endeavour to
shew these men and women in miniature, that it is a dangerous plan
to judge of things by outward appearances, but that there is a
more correct way of judging, which forms a part of the business of
education to explain.
The children are highly delighted with these pictures, and, of their
own accord, require an explanation of the subjects. Nay, they will
even ask questions that will puzzle the teacher to answer; and
although there is in some minds such a natural barrenness, that, like
the sands of Arabia, they are never to be cultivated or improved,
yet I can safely say, that I never knew a child who did not like the
pictures; and as soon as I had done explaining one, it was always,
"Please, sir, may we learn this?" "Please, teacher, may
we learn
that?" In short, I find that I am generally tired before the children;
instead of having to apply any magisterial severity, they are
petitioning to learn; and this mode of teaching possesses an advantage
over every other, because it does not interfere with any religious
opinion, there being no body of Christians that I know, or ever heard
of, who would object to the facts recorded in the Bible, being thus
elucidated by pictures. Thus a ground-work may be laid, not only of
natural history, but of sacred history also; for the objects being
before the children's eyes, they can, in some degree, comprehend them,
and store them in their memories. Indeed, there is such attraction in
pictures, that you can scarcely pass a picture-shop in London, without
seeing a number of grown persons around the windows gazing at them.
When pictures were first introduced into the school, the children told
their parents; many of whom came and asked permission to see them; and
although the plates are very common, I observed a degree of attention
and reverence in the parents, scarcely to be expected, and especially
from those who could not read.
It is generally the case, that what we have always with us, becomes
so
familiar, that we set little store by it; but on being deprived of it
for a time, we then set a greater value on it: and I have found this
to be the case with the children. If the pictures we make use of in
the schools be exposed all at once, and at all times, then there would
be such a multiplicity of objects before the eyes of the children,
that their attention would not be fixed by any of them; they would
look at them all, at first, with wonder and surprise, but in a short
time the pictures would cease to attract notice, and, consequently,
the children would think no more of them than they would of the paper
that covers the room. To prevent this, and to excite a desire for
information, it is always necessary to keep some behind, and to let
very few objects appear at one time. When the children understand,
in some measure, the subjects before them, these may be replaced by
others, and so on successively, until the whole have been seen.
Some persons have objected to the picture of Christ being represented
in the human form, alleging that it is calculated to make the children
think he was a mere man only, and have thought it better that be
should not be represented at all; the man that undertakes to please
all will soon find out his mistake, and, therefore, be must do the
best he can, and leave the objectors to please themselves; yet it is
a great pity little children should suffer from the ill-grounded
objections of those who cannot do better. On visiting a school, take
notice of the pictures hanging about, if they are dusty, and have not
the appearance of being well-used, be sure that the committee have
never seen a good infant school, or that the teacher has never been
properly trained, and, therefore, does not know how to use them.
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