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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10916-0.txt b/10916-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5bb90c --- /dev/null +++ b/10916-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4428 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10916 *** + +PARENT AND CHILD + +BY MOSIAH HALL + +Volume Three + +Child Study and Training + +1916 + + +FOR THE DESERET SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION, SALT LAKE CITY + + + + +A WORD OF INTRODUCTION + + +Home-making and the rearing of children is the fundamental business of this +world. To make a success of this business we must understand it. The loving +hearts of many parents are suffering for a multitude of mistakes that +loving intelligence might have prevented. We cannot save our children in +ignorance. To perform the duties of parenthood well, we must understand +them more clearly. We need light and uplift. These days demand greater +knowledge than ever before on the part of parents to meet and master the +problems that now confront fathers and mothers. + +Particularly do we need to study child nature. A clearer understanding of +the laws governing the development of children would give parents great +help in guiding their children into paths of righteousness, and in +ministering to varying child needs as they develop. + +To give definite help and new spirit to our work, this volume has been +prepared. The keynote of the book is _a more enlightened parenthood_. It +offers a series of lessons along a line most vital to parents--_Child Study +and Training_. + +These lessons have been written for us by Mosiah Hall, Associate Professor +in Education of the University of Utah, and High School Inspector for the +State of Utah. We feel that he has done for our cause most excellent +service, and we gladly acknowledge our indebtedness to him. + +This should be remembered: A book gives wisdom only in proportion to the +thought that is put into it by the reader. The suggestions of this volume +will become rich only as they are enriched by study. They will become +valuable only to the extent that they find application in our daily lives. +The lessons will be vitalized only as the teacher pours life into them. + +To supplement and enrich the course, references are given with most of the +lessons, and a list of books is offered at the close of the book. Many of +these volumes have already been purchased and distributed through the +parents' class library. Each class should endeavor to procure at least one +copy of each of these books as it is called for in the various lessons. In +this way a good library can be gradually built up. + +Our desire is to make these studies bring lasting returns for good. May God +add his blessings to make our work divinely successful, + +Your brethren in the gospel, +Parents' Class Committee of Deseret Sunday +School Union Board, +HENRY H. ROLAPP, HOWARD R. DRIGGS. +NATHAN T. PORTER, EPHRAIM G. GOWANS. + + + + +A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR + + +This treatise on child study and training has been prepared primarily for +the Parents' classes in Sunday School under the direction of the General +Board. It is well adapted also for study by Parent-Teachers' Associations +and for reading in the home. + +Its purpose is to acquaint parents with the most vital problems of child +life and character and to suggest some methods of solving these problems. +The work is not offered as a complete course in this great subject; it is +intended rather to open up the field of child study for parents. + +The welfare of the race depends upon the proper birth and the correct +rearing of children. That this little volume may add its mite towards +the solution of the problem--at once the hope and the despair of +civilization,--is the wish of its author. + +To the Parents' Class Committee and the General Superintendency of the +General Board, I desire to express my appreciation for the suggestions and +help they have extended to me in the preparation of this work. + +To my wife, who achieves in practice what I imperfectly state in theory, +these studies are affectionately dedicated. + +MOSIAH HALL. + + + + +THE BIRTHRIGHT OF CHILDHOOD + + +_It Is the Sacred Right of the Child To Be Well-Born_ + +If the child has any divine right in this world, it is the right to be +well-born, to be brought into the world sound of body and whole in mind. To +be given anything short of such a good beginning is to be handicapped +throughout life. Education and training cannot make up for the defects +imposed on the child by the sins of the fathers, which, the Good Book tells +us, are visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. + +It is a fact to challenge attention that the child is the product of the +entire past. His essential nature is comparatively fixed at birth and is +beyond the power or caprice of parent or environment to change in any +fundamental particular during the short period of a lifetime. This +assertion must not be wrongly interpreted; the possibilities of training +and education are great, but they can do little to overcome all of the +defects placed upon the child by heredity. + +Science tells us that normal children are born with the same number and +kind of instincts. By instinct is meant the tendency to do certain things +in a definite way without previous experience. In all children, for +example, we find the instinct of fear, the instinct for play, for +self-preservation. These instincts begin to manifest themselves more or +less strongly as the child develops. + +Children also have certain capacities. Capacity may be defined as the +possibility to develop skill in certain directions. One, for instance, may +have a greater capacity to develop musical ability than another; so with +art or business, or ability for any other work. Capacities, more than +instincts, seem to depend on the characteristics of parents or immediate +ancestors. Thus a child may take after father or mother, or grandparent in +this or that particular ability. Instincts, on the other hand, seem to be +his inheritance from the race. But whatever his gifts from parent or past +the child is born a distinct individual. This is true not only with regard +to his physical organism but in respect to his spiritual nature. The +relative strength of his instincts, added to the number and quality of his +capacities determine what is called individuality. This is what makes each +child differ from all others, and this distinctive nature cannot be +essentially changed, within our brief lives, though it does possess +marvelous powers of development and adaptation. For illustration: +Cultivation may develop a perfect specimen of a crabapple, but no amount +of careful training could change the crabapple into a Johnathan. Likewise, +no system of education can hope to change a numskull into a Newton, or to +produce a Solomon from a Simple Simon. + +The first vital concern of parents, therefore, should be to see that the +child is not robbed of his sacred birthright to be well-born. + +It is a matter of regret that the white race generally is such a sorry +mixture of humanity. The good and the bad, the intelligent and the +ignorant, the feeble-minded and the strong, the criminal and the righteous, +have been combined so frequently and in so many ways that the marvel +is that more of the human race are not degenerate as the result of +contamination. Since the great characteristic of heredity is to breed true +and thus perpetuate its kind, and since training and education must take +the individual as he is, with only limited power to change his intrinsic +nature or to develop any capacity not present at birth, it becomes a matter +of serious importance that parents do all in their power to guide properly +the mating of their children. The teaching of the Gospel on this point is +most significant. + +Heredity determines to a great extent the kind and the nature of the +individual, and thereby sets limits, which the environment may not +overcome. Among these limitations are the following: + +1. The relative strength of instincts. + +2. The number and kind of capacities. + +3. The form, size and quality of bodily organs. + +4. Susceptibility to, or power to resist disease. + +5. The possibilities of mental attainment. + +6. The possibilities of emotional and spiritual response. + +7. The possibility to execute undertakings, to control situations, and to +govern self as well as others. + +Heredity also endows a person with his peculiar temperament, with his good +or bad looks, and with the chief components of what is called personality. +On the other hand, training and education have almost everything to say +respecting the relative standing of the individual among the members of his +kind--whether or not he shall be a blighted or a perfect specimen. A fine, +sweet, juicy crabapple is more desirable than a scrubby, diseased Jonathan. + +It is the province of training and education to take the individual as he +is born, and endeavor to make of him a perfect specimen of his kind. "A +child left to himself bringeth his parents to shame." If left alone or +improperly trained, a child is almost certain to revert to a lower type of +individual. The same high possibilities that, properly directed, produce +the superior being, if neglected, or subjected to a vicious environment, +produce the moral degenerate. The child is born morally neither good nor +bad, and while inherited tendencies may make development in one direction +easier than in another, it is possible for a favorable environment, +assisted by education, to develop any normal child into a sweet, wholesome +product of his kind. + +Shearer in his "Management and Training of Children," says: "The child may +inherit instincts, but a kind Providence has ordained that he shall not +inherit habits. He may inherit certain tastes, but he does not inherit +temptation. He may bring into the world tendencies, but he does not bring +with him prejudices." + + + + +LESSON I + + +_Questions for Discussion_ + +1. What does the expression "being well-born" mean to you? + +2. What responsibility is laid upon parents by the fact that the child is +the product of the past? Read the second commandment here and discuss its +significance in application to this point. + +3. What are some of the instincts and capacities given to the child by +heredity? + +4. Explain the difference between an instinct and a capacity. What seems +to be the source of our instincts?--our capacities? + +5. What are the chief limitations placed by heredity upon the child? + +6. What may education and environment hope to accomplish? + +_References_: "The Right of the Child to be Well Born," will be found a +helpful book to study here. It may be well, if the book is available, to +have someone appointed to report on it or to read a few choice paragraphs +from it. Also read "Being Well Born," by Guyer. + + + +IMPORTANT LAWS OF HEREDITY + + +_A Wise Application of the Laws of Inheritance Is the Most Certain Means of +Developing a Superior Race_ + +In the preface of Dr. Guyer's remarkable book, "Being Well Born," we read +the following: "It is no exaggeration to say that during the last fifteen +years, we have made more progress in measuring the extent of inheritance +and in determining its elemental factors than in all previous time." If +this is true, it would seem to be almost criminal for teachers and parents +to neglect to acquaint themselves with the fundamental laws of heredity. +This author says further: "Since what a child becomes is determined so +largely by its inborn capacities, it is of the utmost importance that +teachers and parents realize something of the nature of such aptitudes +before they begin to awaken them. For education consists in large measure +in supplying the stimuli necessary to set going these potentialities and of +affording opportunity for their expression." + +_Mendel's_ law is probably the most important known principle of +inheritance. Through its application practically all of the improvements in +plants and animals have been brought about. This law may be explained as +follows: A certain kind of pure bred fowl is found which is either pure +white or black. If either color is mated with its own color the resulting +progeny will be true to the color of the parents, but if a white and a +black are crossed the result will be blue fowls possessing one-half the +characteristics of each parent, but strange to say, if two blue fowls are +mated the progeny will not be all blue, one-fourth will be white like one +grandparent, another one-fourth black like the other grandparent, and +one-half will be blue like the parents. If this experiment is repeated with +plants and animals having opposite characteristics, the same ratios as +above always result. This indicates that truly heritable traits or +characters are separate units and are inherited independently. The breeder +is thus enabled through selecting the traits or characters that are wanted +and crossing them with a well-known stock, to produce almost any trait or +quality that he desires. This law makes it possible to estimate the results +of cross breeding with almost mathematical exactness. Improved varieties of +fruits, grains and vegetables have been produced in this manner, and with +animals marvelous results have been achieved. + +Luther Burbank, in his little book, "The Training of the Human Plant," +says: "There is not a single desirable attribute which, lacking in a +plant, may not be bred into it. Choose what improvement you wish in a +flower, a fruit, or a tree, and by crossing, selection, cultivation and +persistence, you can fix this desirable trait irrevocably." And further: +"If then we could have twelve families under ideal conditions where these +principles could be carried out unswervingly, we could accomplish more for +the race in ten generations than can now be accomplished in a hundred +thousand years. Ten generations of human life should be ample to fix any +desired attribute. This is absolutely clear, there is neither theory nor +speculation." + +_Acquirements of parents_ during their lifetime, according to the best +authorities, are not transmitted to any noticeable extent to their +children. This appears to be due to the fact that the cells concerned in +reproduction are set aside during embryonic life and from then on are +practically unmodified by the succeeding development and experiences of the +parent. In fact, during the lifetime of the individual, the germ cells are +so completely isolated from the growing organism that nothing but +nourishment in the shape of blood can possibly reach them, hence they can +be affected only by a vitiated or poisonous blood supply. It seems to be +true, therefore, that only the old, deeply-impressed traits, capacities, +or racial characters can be inherited. This is, no doubt, the chief secret +of the power of heredity to breed true. + +It has been a popular belief that if parents acquired skill in music, +mathematics, or special ability in any other particular that such ability +could be imparted to their children, but in the light of the above facts, +this appears to be impossible. Of course, if such ability is a slumbering, +inborn trait of either parent, or of some immediate ancestor, the ability +might be transmitted. + +It is reasonable to suppose, however, that any acquired trait or ability +of the parent, if practised and continued steadily by his children and +their descendants for many generations, will come to be an inborn trait +or character capable of being transmitted. Otherwise, it is extremely +difficult to understand how the human family can progress and become +permanently improved. + +_Galton's_ law is believed to be approximately correct. It may be stated +as follows: Children inherit on the average one-half their characteristics +from parents, one-fourth from grandparents, one-eighth from +great-grandparents, and so on in ever diminishing ratio to remote +ancestors. But owing to the fact that some inheritable traits or +characters are likely to be dominant and others recessive, Galton's law +must be modified, so that only under the most favorable conditions can it +be regarded as reliable. + +Owing to the fact that the primary elements or traits of character +contributed by each parent may combine in many ways in the embryo, +considerable variation in the children of the same parents is +inevitable--one child may resemble the father, another the mother, and +yet another some near ancestor. Variability is, therefore, the rule among +offspring in the same family, and in some instances it is decidedly +pronounced, but in all cases, the variation must be confined to the +possible combinations of characters transmitted from parents and ancestors. + +_The law of regression_ represents the tendency of the extreme elements of +the race constantly to seek the middle or mediocre level. For example, the +children of superior parents are not likely to be so brilliant as their +parents, and the offspring of inferior people are somewhat better than +their parents. This "drag of the race" or "pull of ancestors" is no doubt +due to the fact that selection has never been practiced, hence the +two-thousand nearby ancestors were most likely an average lot of people, +and the "pull" is from the higher towards the lower level. The "pull" is a +help to the children of inferior parents but is a handicap to the superior. + +If long-continued selection of parents were practiced, the regression +would disappear and the "pull" would be upward. Selection of parents +possessing superior elements of character and the prevention of the unfit +and the criminal from propagating their kind, seem the surest hope we have +of producing a permanently higher type. + +It is well known that the extremes of the race are less fertile than the +means; and since fertility is the chief factor in fixing the type, in the +absence of selection and repression, the race appears doomed to remain at +the dead level of mediocrity. The tremendous significance of this fact is +that the welfare of the race--the gradual substitution of a superior for +the present mediocre type--rests absolutely upon the willingness and +ability of the superior class to do their full share in propagating the +race. + + + + +LESSON II + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What is the principle of heredity as discovered by Mendel? Explain by +illustrating how it works out in plants and animals. + +2. What practical application is made of this law in producing better seed +and better breeds? + +3. Illustrate Galton's law. + +4. What significance has these laws in the improvement of the human race? + +5. Account for the variability of children in the same family. + +6. Why are some children inferior, some superior to their parents? + +7. Illustrate the "pull of ancestors." + +8. How might this "pull" be made upward instead of downwards, as it now +seems to be? + +9. What sacred responsibility rests upon superior people to propagate the +race? + +10. What are the gospel teachings regarding mixed marriages and the rearing +of families? + +11. What practical steps can and should be taken to prevent feeble-minded +and vicious people from propagating their kind? + +_Reference_: The Jukes-Edwards family by Dr. A.E. Winship. If this book be +available, have some member of the class make a report on it. "Training the +Human Plant," and "Being Well Born," will also be found helpful here. + + + +THE MOTHER AND THE EMBRYO + + +_The Care of the Mother During the Embryonic Period Determines Largely the +Future Welfare of the Child_ + +In common with every organism the infant develops from a single germ cell +of almost microscopic size. Wrapped in this tiny cell are all the +possibilities of structure and character that combine to form the +complicated bodily organism and the particular mental endowment of the +coming child. + +It was once believed that almost any kind of physical or mental change +could be brought about in the cell through appropriate control of the +environment, but the results of careful observation and experiment are +opposed to this view; all evidence points to the fact that no new character +or element can enter the embryo from without. The cell itself holds the +secret of what the future individual shall be. + +The sole connection between the embryo and the mother is the narrow, +umbilical cord which contains no nerves and whose only function is to carry +blood to the growing organism; it may be seen, therefore, how impossible it +is for mental impressions and disturbances on the part of the mother to in +any way reach and affect the embryo. Once started on the road to +development, the embryo is so thoroughly subject to inner laws that nothing +from without can modify or change the direction of its growth except some +physical cause which interferes with the blood supply. An adequate supply +of pure blood is the principal requirement of the growing organism. +Whatever interferes with the blood supply or in any way affects its purity, +has an injurious affect upon the embryo. There is not the least doubt that +lack of nutrition and serious ill-health on the part of the mother have an +extremely bad effect upon the unborn offspring. Severe shock or grief, +worry, nervous exhaustion, disease, and poisons in the blood of the mother +are the most serious sources of injury; they render nutrition defective and +if poison enters directly the blood of the mother or is generated by toxins +through disease, the embryo will be poisoned and may be destroyed. Among +these poisons are alcohol, lead, and the toxins from tuberculosis and the +venereal diseases, gonorrhea and syphilis. To gonorrhea is attributed 80 +per cent. of the blindness of children born blind; it is declared to be the +cause of 75 per cent. of all the surgical operations for female disorders +and of 45 per cent. of involuntary sterility in childless women. Syphilis +is the chief cause of feeble-mindedness, paresis, or softening of the +brain, and of most other mental defects in children. + +From the foregoing, it is evident that the proper care of the mother so as +to insure a pure blood supply for the offspring ought to be one of the +chief concerns of society. This should not be left to the haphazard efforts +of individuals but ought to be provided for by the state. According to the +statements of life insurance companies, "expectant mothers are the most +neglected members of our population." Dr. Van Ingen, of New York City, +estimates that 90 per cent, of women in this country are wholly without +prenatal care. + +Luther Burbank shows that in order even for a plant to grow properly it +must have abundance of sunshine, good air, and nourishing food; but not +many mothers at this time may have even these poor luxuries. Instead, too +many mothers are slaves to an insanitary kitchen where sunshine is scarcely +known and where overwork and worry destroy all appetite for food. + +The welfare of the race demands that the mother shall be properly nurtured +and protected during this critical period. Abundance of sunshine, pure air, +light exercise and a variety of wholesome food are absolutely essential, +and the utmost pains should be taken to prevent worry, excitement, sickness +and above all contact with or exposure to poisons or disease. + +It was once thought that whatever causes a mental disturbance in the mother +leaves its impress on the child. It is fortunate that this old notion is +false, as we have shown nothing but a physical change affecting the blood +supply can possibly influence the developing organism. Now and then a red +"flame" spot or so-called birthmark is found on the new-born child, but +this is due always to some physical cause which may be easily explained, +never is it a result of fear of some red object on the part of the mother. + + + + +LESSON III + + +DISCUSSION + +1. How does embryonic life begin? + +2. What is characteristic of the cell? + +3. What secret does it hold? + +4. What is the principal need of the embryo? + +5. State fully how the blood supply may be vitiated and what terrible +consequences may follow. + +6. How should the mother be cared for during this critical period? + +7. How may mother drudgery in the home be reduced to a minimum? + +8. What directions does Mrs. West give for the care of the mother? (See +bulletin, "Parental Care," by Mrs. West, which may be had free for the +asking. Address Children's Bureau, Department of Labor, Washington, D.C.) + +9. _References_: The following books will be found helpful: "The Training +of the Human Plant," by Burbank; "The Right of the Child to be well born," +by Dawson; "Being Well Born," by Guyer. + +If these are available, they may be circulated through the parents' +library. + + + +THE PLASTIC AGE OF CHILDHOOD + + +_Prolonged Infancy and the Long Period of Plasticity in the Infant Make +Training and Education Possible_ + +The child is born the weakest and most helpless of creatures. Unlike the +young of most animals, which within a few hours after birth move about and +perform most of the movements necessary to their existence, the infant is +so helpless that all its needs must be supplied by parents, otherwise it +would perish. Immediately after birth a colt or calf can walk or run almost +as fast as its mother; the chick just out of its shell can run about and +peck at its food. The child at one year of age can barely totter around and +all of its needs must be looked after by others. Moreover, the infant at +birth is practically blind and deaf and the senses of taste and smell and +touch just sufficiently developed to enable it to take nourishment. + +This slowness of development, or prolonged infancy as it is called, is of +vast significance to the child. It marks at once the chief distinction +between the human infant and the young of all other animals. It makes +possible a long period of adjustment and training which otherwise would be +impossible. Most animals are born with a nervous system highly developed +and with most of the adjustment to the environment ready made, so that +after a short time all the activities of life are perfected and thereafter +automatic action and instinct rule their lives. Because of this lack of +infancy and absence of plasticity of the nervous system, animals are little +more than machines that perform their task with unvarying regularity in +response to outside stimulations. Animals, therefore, are unable to adjust +themselves to a change in environment, and as a result their lives are in +constant danger. In fact, countless millions of the lower forms of life are +perishing every hour because of the lack of possibility of adjustment. + +The child, on the other hand, has an extremely long period of infancy, and +as a result, the nervous system is so plastic that it may be moulded, +fashioned and developed in almost any manner or direction, according to the +will of parents and the nature of the environment. The child, consequently, +may be educated. By education we mean the training and developing of +desirable instincts and capacities and the inhibiting of undesirable ones +so that the child may be able constantly to adjust himself to an +ever-changing environment. + +Fiske, in "The Meaning of Infancy," Chapter 1, says: "The bird known as the +fly-catcher no sooner breaks the egg than it will snap at and catch a fly. +This action is not very simple, but because it is something the bird is +always doing, being indeed one of the very few things that this bird ever +does, the nervous connections needful for doing it are all established +before birth, and nothing but the presence of the fly is required to set +the operation going. With such creatures as the codfish, the turtle, or the +fly-catcher, there is nothing that can properly be called infancy. With +them, the sphere of education is extremely limited. They get their +education before they are born. In other words, heredity does everything +for them, education nothing. + +"All mammals and most birds have a period of babyhood that is not very +long, but it is on the whole longer with the most intelligent creatures. +The period of helpfulness is a period of plasticity. The creature's career +is no longer exclusively determined by heredity. There is a period after +birth when its character can be slightly modified by what happens to it +after birth, that is, by its experience as an individual. It is no longer +necessary for each generation to be exactly like that which has preceded. +The door is opened through which the capacity for progress can enter. +Horses and dogs, bears and elephants, parrots and monkeys, are all +teachable to some extent, and we have even heard of a learned pig, and of +learned asses there has been no lack in the world. + +"But this educability of the higher mammals and birds is, after all, quite +limited. Conservatism still continues in fashion. One generation is much +like another. It would be easy for foxes to learn to climb trees, and many +a fox might have saved his life by so doing; yet quick-witted as he is, +this obvious device has never occurred to him." + +The vital problem with parents is how to fill this period of plasticity, +how to provide an educative environment of the right kind. + +Luther Burbank, in "The Training of the Human Plant," expresses complete +confidence in the power of the environment through appropriate training to +fashion the normal child, just as he could a plant, into a most delightful +and beautiful specimen of its kind. He says: "Pick out any trait you want +in your child, granted that he is a normal child, be it honesty, fairness, +purity, lovableness, industry, thrift, what not. By surrounding this child +with sunshine from the sky and your own heart, by giving the closest +communion with nature, by feeding this child well-balanced, nutritious +food, by giving it all that is implied in healthful environmental +influences, and by doing all in love, you can thus cultivate in the child +and fix there for all its life all of these traits, and on the other side, +give him foul air to breathe, keep him in a dusty factory or an unwholesome +school-room or a crowded tenement up under the hot roof; keep him away from +the sunshine, take away from him music and laughter and happy faces; cram +his little brains with so-called knowledge; let him have vicious associates +in his hours out of school, and at the age of ten you have fixed in him the +opposite traits. You have, perhaps, seen a prairie fire sweep through the +tall grass across a plain. Nothing can stand before it, it must burn itself +out. That is what happens when you let weeds grow up in your child's life, +and then set fire to them by wrong environment." + +Mr. Burbank is probably over-enthusiastic in his belief that natural +education can do everything for the child; but it is certain that +environment does exercise a powerful influence, during the plastic age, in +determining his character. + + + + +LESSON IV + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Compare the helplessness of the infant at birth with the ability of the +young of other animals. + +2. At one year of age, what is the comparison? + +3. What is the significance of prolonged infancy respecting (a) possibility +of adjustment to environment, (b) possibility of training and education, +(c) possibility of profiting from experience, (d) the relation to heredity? + +4. What advantage is it that man is born with the germs of many capacities +instead of with a few activities that are perfectly developed? + +5. What is the chief function of education? + +6. What does Burbank say respecting the possibilities of training? + +7. What common-sense training should every child be given during this +period? + +Good books, for further study on these points, are: "The Care and Training +of the Child," by Kerr, and "Fundamentals of Child Study," by Kirkpatrick. + +If these volumes are in the library or otherwise available, it may be well +to have some member read and give a brief report on one or the other of +them. + + + +THE NEEDS OF THE INFANT + + +_The Infant's First Needs Are Physical, and May Be Summed up in the Word +Nutrition_ + +The new-born child differs in nearly all particulars from the adult. It is +very unfortunate that the child in the past has been regarded as a +miniature adult and treated like "a little man." + +The structure of muscle and bone and the proportion of various parts of the +body differ materially; the bones of the child for some time are soft and +largely composed of cartilages which may be easily bent out of shape and +permanently injured. The ratio of some of the parts is about as follows: + + * * * * * + +Height of head of adult to that of infant--2 to 1 +Length of body of adult to that of infant--3 to 1 +Length of arm of adult to that of infant--4 to 1 +Length of leg of adult to that of infant--5 to 1 + +Besides these easily observed differences, there are others of far more +consequence not easily seen, such as differences in the size, structure and +activity of vital organs, and in the almost total lack of nervous +development in the child as compared with the adult. All of these things +make of the child an individual so different from the adult that he must be +treated in accordance with his own nature and needs and with little regard +to the way in which an adult is considered. + +Practically everything that the infant needs may be summed up in the one +word _nutrition_. A sufficient supply of pure milk from the mother is the +one supreme requirement. If this is assured, everything else is almost +certain to follow. Of course, the little one must be kept at the right +temperature, which is comparatively high during the first few months. An +abundance of pure, fresh air also must be supplied to both mother and +child. It is wise for both to spend much time in the open air and to sleep +on a screened porch. + +The child should be kept quiet and permitted to sleep as long as nature +dictates. It is a positive sin to snatch the child from its bed, toss it up +and down and screech at it for the edification of curious visitors. Kissing +the child in the mouth should also be positively prohibited. The use of +patent medicines likewise, or even many of the "old mother remedies" should +never be indulged except on the advice of a competent physician. The needs +of the child for some time are strictly physical. Inner forces are at work +which cannot be assisted except indirectly through care of the physical +organism. So far as nervous or mental development is concerned the rule +should be, "Hands off, let Nature take her course." + +Immediately after birth certain reflexive and instinctive movements, such +as sucking, crying, sneezing and clinging are manifested; and the sense of +taste and usually smell are also sufficiently active to enable the infant +to take nourishment. No other senses are active and no other movements +possible except the automatic action of vital organs and a few vague +spasmodic twitchings and movements of parts of the body known as impulsive. +Nothing, however, can be done from without to hasten the mental awakening; +Nature in her own due time will do this, and do it much better if not +hurried or interfered with. + + + + +LESSON V + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Show that the infant is not an adult in miniature. + +2. What are some important differences between the child and the adult? + +3. What is the supreme need of the infant? Why? + +4. What should be observed in caring for the child? + +5. What should be avoided in caring for the child? + +6. What should be the rule in early mental development? + +7. What is active in the child immediately after birth? + +"The Care of the Child in Health," by Oppenheim, will be helpful here. If +the book is in the parents' library, let someone prepare and make a brief +report on it for next lesson. + +The following other helps may be had for the asking by writing to the U.S. +Bureau of Education: "Parental Care," by Mrs. West, Series No. 1, +publication No. 4, U.S. Department of Labor, Children's Bureau. The +following chapter is taken from one of these bulletins prepared for parents +by our Government. + + + +CARE OF THE BABY IN SUMMER + + +_Summer Is a Critical Time for the Infant, During This Time It Should +Receive the Most Careful Attention_ + +A baby must be kept as cool as possible in summer, because over-heating is +a direct cause of summer diarrhea. Even breast-fed babies find it hard to +resist the weakening effects of excessive heat. Records show that thousands +of babies, most of whom are bottle-fed, die every year in July and August, +because of the direct or indirect effects of the heat. Next in importance +to right food in summer are measures for keeping the baby cool and +comfortable; frequent baths, light clothing and the selection of the +coolest available places for him to play and sleep. + +A baby should have a full tub bath every morning. If he is restless and the +weather is very hot, he may have in addition one or two sponge baths a day. +A cool bath at bedtime sometimes makes the baby sleep more comfortably. For +a young baby, the water should be tepid; that is, it should feel neither +hot nor cold to the mother's elbow. For an older baby it may be slightly +cooler, but should not be cold enough to chill or frighten him. + +If the water is very hard a tablespoonful of borax dissolved in a little +water may be added to three quarts of water to soften it. Very little soap +should be used and that a very bland, simple soap, like castile. Never rub +the soap directly on the baby's skin, and be sure that it is thoroughly +rinsed off, as a very troublesome skin disease may result if a harsh soap +is allowed to dry on the skin. + +Use a soft wash cloth made from a piece of old table linen, towel, knitted +underwear, or any other very soft material, and have two pieces, one for +the face and head and one for the body. The towel should be soft and clean +also. Even in summer the baby should be protected from a direct draft when +being bathed lest he be too suddenly chilled. + +A young baby should be carefully held while in the tub. The mother puts her +left hand under the baby's arm and supports the neck and head with her +forearm. But an older baby can sit alone and in summer may be allowed to +splash about in the cool water for a few minutes. + +When the bath is finished the baby should be patted dry, and the mother +should take great care to see that the folds and creases of the skin are +dry. Use a little pure talcum powder or dry sifted corn starch under the +arms and in the groin to prevent chafing. If any redness, chafing, or +eruption like prickly heat, develops on the skin, no soap at all should be +used in the bath. Sometimes a starch, or bran, or soda bath will relieve +such conditions. + +_Bran Bath_. Make a little bag of cheesecloth and put a cupful of ordinary +bran in it and sew or tie the top. Let this bag soak in the bath, squeezing +it until the water is milky. + +_Starch Bath_. Use a cupful of ordinary cooked starch to a gallon of water. +(If the laundry starch has had anything added to it, such as salt, lard, +oil, bluing, it must not be used for this purpose.) + +_Soda Bath_. Dissolve a tablespoonful of ordinary baking soda in a little +water and add it to four quarts of water. + +_Clothing_. Do not be afraid to take off the baby's clothes in summer. All +he needs in hot weather are the diaper and one other garment. For a young +baby this may be a sleeveless band which leaves the arms and chest bare, +and for an older baby only a loose, thin cotton slip or apron, or wrapper, +made in one piece with short kimono sleeves. Toward nightfall when the day +cools, or if the temperature drops when a storm arises, the baby should, of +course, be dressed in such a way as to protect him from chill. + +Cotton garments are best for the baby in summer. All-wool bands, shirts and +stockings should not be worn at any time of the year, and in hot summer +weather only the thinnest, all-cotton clothing should touch the baby's +skin, unless he is sick, when a very light part-wool band may be needed. In +general, neither wool nor starch should be allowed in the baby's clothing +in summer. Wool is too hot and irritating and starched garments scratch the +baby's flesh. + +The baby should be kept day and night in the coolest place that can be +found. The kitchen is usually the hottest room in the house, especially if +coal or wood is burned for fuel. While the mother is busy with her work the +baby should be kept in another room, or better, out of doors, if he can be +protected from flies and mosquitoes. + +A play pen, such as is described in "Infant Care," a booklet published by +the Children's Bureau and sent free on request, makes it possible to leave +the baby safely by himself on the porch or in the yard, after he is old +enough to creep. + +A screened porch on the shady side of the house is a boon to every mother, +affording a cool, secure place for the baby to play and also to sleep. Let +him have his daytime naps on the porch and sleep there at night during the +heat. + +Do not be afraid of fresh air for the baby. He cannot have too much of it. +Night air is sometimes even better than day air, because it has been cooled +and cleansed of dust by the dew. + +The essentials in the summer care of babies are: + +1. Proper food, given only at regular intervals. + +2. A clean body. + +3. Fresh air, day and night. + +4. Very little clothing. + +5. Cool places to play and sleep in. + +Do not give the baby medicine of any sort unless it is ordered by the +doctor. Never give him patent remedies which are said to relieve the pain +of teething, or to make him sleep, or to cure diarrhea, for such medicines +are likely to do the baby much more harm than good, especially in summer +when the digestion is so easily disturbed. It is so much easier to keep the +baby well than it is to cure him when he is sick, that wise mothers try to +take such care of the baby that he will not be sick. + +Do not fail to give the baby a drink of cool water several times a day in +hot weather. Boil the water first, then cool it, and offer it to the baby +in a cup, glass, or nursing bottle. Babies and young children sometimes +suffer cruelly for lack of drinking water. + + + + +LESSON VI + + +QUESTIONS ON TEXT + +1. What are the chief causes of sickness and death among children during +the summer time? + +2. What are the best preventatives for baby ills during the hot months? + +3. Discuss the importance of bathing and tell how to bathe the child. + +4. What is the best way to dress the child during the heated time of the +year? + +5. What provisions should be made for his sleeping? + +6. Discuss the use of patent medicines. + +7. What should be done regarding the drink of the child? Why? + +8. What can best be done by the well-to-do and by the community as a whole +to protect and preserve the babies? + +_Reference_: Selections from "Child Nature and Child Nurture," by St. John. + + + +CHILD ACTIVITY + + +_This Activity Is Expressed in Simple Reflexes, Complex Instincts, or +Internally Caused Impulses_ + +As already mentioned, the physical needs of the infant are supreme. Proper +nourishment, the right temperature, bathing, and an abundance of fresh, +pure air constitute all of his requirements. The child is endowed, however, +with an enormous capacity for movement which is the outward expression of +his awakening mental life. + +The first great mental fact to note is that the infant is born with the +capacity to respond to stimuli both from without and within. Touch the lips +of the new-born child with the nipple or even the finger, and immediately +the sucking instinct takes place; let a bright light shine into the open +eye, and the iris at once contracts; plunge the little one into cold water +or let it be subject to any bodily discomfort and at once the crying reflex +takes place. The simple, direct responses to stimuli such as sneezing, +coughing, wrinkling, crying, response to tickling, etc., are termed +reflexes. The more complex responses which are purposeful and are designed +to aid or protect the organism, such as sucking, clinging, fear, anger, +etc., are called instincts. Besides the movements which are the direct +result of stimulation, other movements more or less spasmodic and +uncoordinated take place which seem to be the result of internal causes not +easily understood. + +The whole body is usually involved in these movements, and they are at +first extremely random in expression. These are termed impulses and are +undoubtedly due to the fact that the infant is a living, breathing +embodiment of energy, seeking the means of self-expression. In other words, +the infant is active from the beginning, and the slightest kind of internal +disturbance is sufficient at times to turn loose an immense number of +impulsive movements. This activity at birth is entirely uncontrolled. It +seems that in contrast to reflexes and instincts which have prearranged +bodily means of expression, the impulses must be subjected to a long period +of training and education before they are capable of being controlled and +transformed into that voluntary movement which is sometimes called will +power. + +The immense number and strength of these random, impulsive movements in the +infant is in great contrast to the few, instinctive, unchangeable modes of +action in lower animals. As already stated, most animals come to the world +with the few movements necessary to their existence already provided for +and so fixed that future adjustment to new conditions is practically +impossible. The child, on the other hand, has marvelous capacity for +adjustment to new conditions and presents, therefore, possibilities for +training and education that have probably never yet been fully realized in +any child. + +The reflexes and instincts, however, are much more fixed and certain in +their action than are the impulses. No matter what the training and +education of an individual may be, he will sneeze, even in church, if the +right stimulus is present; or he will cry and shed tears in public if the +melodrama excites the proper nerve centers. When the sex instinct is fully +aroused or the sentiment of love completely awakened, no one can foretell +what the action of the otherwise sane person will be. + +All that training and education can do is to inhibit under ordinary +conditions certain undesirable tendencies and instincts and to strengthen +through exercise those that are desirable; and even then when a crisis +comes, the old, hereditary instinct is apt to break through its thin veneer +and actually frighten the individual at the unexpected strength it reveals. +Slap any man in the face and see what chance his life-long education has +against the old barbarous instinct for fighting. But notwithstanding the +strength and tenacity of instincts, training and education may inhibit +some of them and so transform others into useful habits that for most +purposes in life their subjugation seems complete. + +A tremendous, almost divine power rests, therefore, in the hands of +parents--the power to mold and fashion and transform the impulses and +instincts of their children into whatsoever ideals of life and conduct they +themselves possess. Where is the parent who fully realizes his privilege +and completely performs his sacred duty? + + + + +LESSON VII + + +QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT + +1. What are the supreme needs of the infant? + +2. What is the first mental fact to note? + +3. Illustrate reflex movement, instinctive movement, impulsive movement. + +4. Contrast the impulses of children with the instincts of lower animals. + +5. What opportunity is given parents through the impulsive movements of the +infant? + +6. What only may training and education hope to accomplish with the +instincts of children? + +7. What almost divine power is possessed by parents in the training of +children? + +8. Quote from the Doctrine & Covenants also a passage that deals with the +responsibility of parents in teaching the gospel to their children. + +_Reference_: For a further study of _instincts_, selections from +"Fundamentals of Child Study," by Kirkpatrick, will be found helpful. Also +chapters from "Elementary Psychology," by Phillips. + + + +HABIT + + +_Habit Is the Tendency to Make Certain Actions Automatic. It Is a Great +Time Saver, and Forms the Basis for Training and the Acquirement of Skill_ + +Once activity starts in any direction, the tendency is to persist until +satisfaction is reached. If the movement results in pain or even +discomfort, or if the end reached is not satisfactory, the movement will be +inhibited or discontinued and probably will not be attempted the second +time. Whenever the end reached does give satisfaction, the activity is sure +to be repeated, and in these later attempts, efforts will be made to reach +the end more quickly and with less effort. This is done through eliminating +the unnecessary movements and combining the right ones until the complete +process is performed with ease and skill. + +The repetition alone is not so important as the intelligent improvement of +the act through practice until a satisfactory degree of skill is obtained. +After the desired end is reached, attention to the process will cease, but +thereafter whenever the right stimulus is presented the act will be +repeated, and this will be done with much less effort than was first +employed; further repetitions of the act require less and less conscious +effort until at length it will be performed almost with the same sureness +and ease with which reflex or automatic movements take place. Any activity +whatsoever when reduced to this automatic stage is termed habit. + +The importance of habit in the development of the child can scarcely be +over-estimated; in truth, it is the one great process which dominates +nine-tenths of all the activity of the individual throughout his entire +life. Habits ought to be our most helpful and reliable servants, but they +are too often enemies that bind us hand and foot and prevent the +realization of our highest possibilities. + +Much of the training and education of the child consists, therefore, in +acquiring a series of useful habits and in inhibiting acts that might +result in habits that are undesirable. A child left to himself or +improperly reared will acquire all sorts of undesirable habits which may +have the effect of hampering his every movement and which may cause +eventually his disgrace and failure in life. Even the adult who fails to +practice the details of the various activities connected with his vocation +until they result in effective habits of work will usually fail, while the +man who has mastered the details of his occupation through reducing them to +a series of effective habits will surely succeed. Note the ease and +perfection with which the skilled workman performs his labor and compare +it with the slow, slovenly work of the unskilled laborer. + +One important development of the future will be the employment of an expert +in each occupation whose business it will be to teach the workmen the most +efficient and economical way of doing his particular work. Even now in many +factories high-priced experts are secured whose duty it is to teach the +workmen how to eliminate all unnecessary movements in their work and how to +combine the right movements necessary to accomplish each task in the best +way and in the quickest time. In many instances, the output of the factory +has been increased from twenty-five to forty per cent, through this +sensible procedure. + +Theoretically, good habits should be as easy to acquire as bad ones, but +practically this is not the case. Only a few bad habits are the result of +conscious choice and effort; for example, the acquiring of a liking for +tobacco and liquor, the taste of which for most children is disagreeable if +not nauseating at first, but this taste, through practice, often becomes an +uncontrollable craving. Most bad habits, however, come about unconsciously +and are the result of "just letting things happen." This, undoubtedly, is +what the proverb means which states, "Man is born to trouble as the sparks +are to fly upward." + +Most good habits, on the other hand, are the result of conscious effort, +especially on the part of parents and teachers. A reason for this is that +the strongest instincts in children are those relating to self-preservation +and the gratification of personal desires, hence selfishness, greediness, +anger, and the fighting instinct are natural to the child, while +generosity, good manners, respect for the rights of others, and sympathy +require, in order to be properly developed, persistent effort and +education. Parents, therefore, must persevere in training up the child in +the way he should go if they would cultivate in him habits that bless his +whole life. + +Imitation also plays a remarkable part in the formation of habits. The +child learns to walk, talk, use his hands in certain ways, and to eat, +sleep, and dress after the manner of his elders. He uses good language or +bad according to the examples heard; in fact, nearly everything a child +does is the result of copying after others. Whether his habits be good or +bad, efficient or slovenly, therefore, depends largely on the nature of the +examples he has to follow. + + + + +LESSON VIII + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. How are habits formed? + +2. Give examples to show that habit dominates most of the activities of +life. + +3. Why are good habits more difficult to form than bad ones? + +4. Illustrate the power of imitation in the formation of habits. + +5. What is the relation of habit to training and education? + +6. What is the relation of habit to the skilled workman? + +7. In what way can the expert increase efficiency in every vocation and +profession? + +8. How might much time be saved in the home and on the farm by the +acquirement of effective habits in work? + +_Reference_: For further study of habit see "Phillip's Elementary +Psychology." + + + +HABIT CONTINUED + + +_Right Habits Must Be Acquired Early; Wrong Habits Are Broken Only Through +Tremendous Effort_ + +Whatsoever the parent desires in his child in the nature of attainment or +skill, of character or ideal, if not foreign to the nature of the child, +may be realized through attention to habit. But the training in right +habits should be accomplished during the golden age of childhood when body +and soul are plastic and impressions are easily made. Too early the +character hardens like cement and thereafter becomes well nigh impossible +to change. Think how difficult it is for the adult, but how easy for the +child, to acquire skill in music, or facility in speaking a foreign +language. With respect to moral virtue and spiritual sentiment, whatsoever +good fruit you look for in the man usually appears as seed and flower in +the child. + +Among the habits that should be impressed early, habits that are absolutely +essential to success in life, are the following: + +1. Promptness and regularity. + +2. Obedience to right and justice. + +3. Truthfulness and honesty. + +4. Thoroughness. + +5. Industry or the habit of work. + +6. Persistence. + +7. Temperance. + +8. Courtesy and respect for the rights of others. + +Crowning these and transcending them in importance are the supreme +sentiments and ideals of life, which cannot properly be regarded as habits; +they are sympathy, love, faith, reverence for religious convictions, and +the ideal of freedom or liberty. + +Society itself could not endure but for the stability which habits afford. +It is easy to denounce custom and tradition as obstacles to progress and +reform, but it should be remembered that they are the social habits which +society has acquired through registering the experience of the past, and +that while some of them, such as intemperance and sexual vice, are +destructive of society, others, like co-operation, and the ideal of +freedom, are absolutely essential to human progress. + +An example by Oppenheim, in his "Mental Growth and Control," well +illustrates the power of habit. A wealthy woman in New York City became +interested in the crowded tenements of the east side; she believed that +constant sickness, unclean habits, and the vicious characters of the people +were due largely to overcrowding. She secured, therefore, some well +furnished cottages in the suburbs and offered them rent free until such +time as the occupants should become well established. Her surprise was +great when they refused to move into these comparatively luxurious +quarters; they seemed to prefer the dirt and disease, the sickness and vice +to which they were accustomed. "She did not know the force of habit; she +was totally ignorant of the hard and fast condition into which people grow. +She had never stopped to consider how necessary it is for the world at +large to have such repression. Without this control there could be no +peace, no safety, no steady growth in civilized society. The poor would +attack the rich, the lawless and violent would assail the peaceful, the +indolent would refuse to labor, the regularity and studied discipline of +well-ordered life would absolutely cease. In their place anarchy would +reign and each day would make confusion worse confounded. Imagine, if you +can, what animals would be if they lacked restraint of habit. Man's power +over them would cease instantly and their strength would be a terrible +engine of destruction. Men would be as much worse as human intelligence +exceeds brute intelligence. One is quite safe in declaring that habit is +the great flywheel that regulates society." + +Desirable habits, therefore, together with all necessary reforms, must +come about slowly; they should be the result of conscious training and +education in all the factors that make for a higher civilization. + + + + +LESSON IX + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What are some habits essential to success? + +2. When should training to fix these habits begin? Why? + +3. Why do many parents fail to fix right habits in their children? + +4. How may wrong habits be overcome and right habits established? + +5. What does Solomon say in regard to training the child? + +6. Give reasons why community habits are so hard to change? What is the +good side of this strength of habit? + +7. What is the quickest and surest way to bring about desirable social +reforms? + + + +MAXIMS ON HABIT + + +_Professor James Gives Four Maxims to Follow in Breaking from an Old Habit +or in Acquiring a New One_ + +"1. _Take care 'o launch yourself with as strong and decided initiative as +possible_. Reinforce the right motive with every favorable circumstance; +put yourself in a condition that will make the right act easy and the wrong +one difficult. Take a public pledge if the case allows; in short, envelop +your resolution with every aid possible. + +"2. _Never suffer an exception to occur until the new habit is securely +rooted_. Each lapse is like the letting fall of a ball of yarn that is +being wound; a single slip undoes more than a great many turns will wind +again. It is necessary above all things never to lose a battle; every gain +on the wrong side undoes the effects of many conquests on the right. + +"3. _Seize every opportunity to act in the direction of the desired habit, +and permit no emotional prompting in its behalf to escape you_. 'Hell is +paved with good intentions,' hence to have good desires, thoughts, +intentions without actually working them out weakens and destroys the moral +fibre. 'Character is a completely fashioned will,' says J.S. Mill, and a +will in this sense is an aggregate of tendencies which act in a firm, +prompt, and definite way in every emergency of life. When a resolve or a +fine glow of feeling is allowed to evaporate without bearing fruit in +action, it is worse than a chance lost, it is a positive hindrance to the +carrying out of future resolutions. Nothing is more contemptible than a +sentimental dreamer who is carried away with lofty thoughts and feeling but +who never does a manly, concrete deed. Positive harm is done through +cultivating the emotions and sentiments if no outlet is found for some +appropriate action. + +"4. _Keep the faculty of effort alive by a little gratuitous exercise every +day_. That is, be heroic, do every day something for no other reason than +that you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need comes, +it may find you nerved and trimmed to stand the test. The man who practices +self-denial in unnecessary things will stand like a tower when everything +rocks around him and when his softer fellow mortals are winnowed like chaff +in a blast. + +"The hell which theology once taught is no worse than the hell we make for +ourselves by habitually fashioning our characters in the wrong way. Could +the young but realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of +habits, they would give more heed to their conduct while in the plastic +state. We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. +Every small stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never so little scar. +The drunken Rip Van Winkle excuses each drink he takes by saying, 'I won't +count this time.' He may not count it, and a kind heaven may not count it, +but down among his nerve cells and in the muscle fibres, the molecules are +counting it, registering and storing it up to be used against him when the +next temptation comes. Nothing we do in a strict, scientific sense is ever +wiped out; each thought and every deed is registered in the soul and helps +to compose that book out of which we will be judged on that great final day +when we are called upon to render an account of our stewardship." + +Notwithstanding the difficulty, however, habits may be strengthened, or +abolished. The older they are the more difficult they will be to modify; +the chief factor involved is the amount of labor required to make the +change, the possibility of making it need never be questioned. Breaking the +habit of excessive use of drugs, tobacco, tea and coffee, or alcohol, will +occasion much discomfort, hardship, and even functional disturbance, but +these ills are only temporary, and the organism soon returns to its +original normal condition. + +To break a well-established habit requires common sense, decision and +strength of purpose. "If you want to abolish a habit, you must grapple with +the matter as earnestly as you would with a physical enemy. You must go +into the encounter with all tenacity of determination, with all fierceness +of resolve, with a passion for success that may be called vindictive. No +human enemy can be as insidious, as persevering, as unrelenting as an +unfavorable habit. It never sleeps, it needs no rest, it has no tendency +toward vacillation and lack of purpose. It is like the parasite that grows +with the growth of the supporting body and like a parasite, it can best be +killed by violent separation and crushing. + +"Every time we make an unsuccessful attempt, the final crushing is +indefinitely postponed, every time we put off the attempt, the desired +result fades farther and farther away. The habit persists and from time to +time the path becomes deeper and broader. In addition, during such a period +of weakness and indecision, you may be fostering another habit, that of +expecting defeat. From this lack of confidence and little faith in yourself +and destiny, you must by all means escape at any cost. There is nothing +more pathetic than the man who does not believe in himself. No one else +will believe in him. But he who has the enthusiasm of belief in himself +and never loses sight of his high purpose is the one who can perform +wonders." + + + + +LESSON X + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Discuss fully each of the maxims given by Professor James, illustrating +by experiences you have known. + +2. What expression from Professor James is most impressive to you? + +3. What hope is there for those enslaved by a bad habit? How can we best +help them? + +4. What was Christ's way of dealing with such people? + +5. What are the common habits that most trouble us? How can they be best +prevented or overcome? + + + +HABITS OF INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD + + +_The First Physical Habits Acquired by the Child Are of Vast Importance and +Require Heroic Treatment on the Part of the Mother_ + +From the beginning both physical and mental habits will be acquired by the +child. At first, attention must be given chiefly to the regularity of +caring for the physical needs of the infant such as giving food at stated +intervals, and having a regular time for sleeping, bathing, and for being +dressed. It is astonishing how little trouble is caused by the infant when +it is trained in correct physical habits from the beginning, compared with +the babe that is treated in a spasmodic fashion--everything overdone +sometimes and nothing at all done at other times. In the former case the +little one is quiet and peaceful and sleeps, as it should, most of the +time, especially at night; in the latter case the child is fretful and +cross and requires the father to trudge it about at night much to his +discomfort and loss of temper. + +Nature has given the infant a voice which is not only lusty but which is +apt to be used from the first with unnecessary liberality. It is the little +one's only means of responding to stimuli that cause discomfort; at first +the infant's cry is reflex and unconscious; but if every time it cries +something happens, a sort of dim consciousness is soon awakened and the +habit of crying for nothing or on the slightest provocation is soon +established, and thereafter the child will rule the household like a Czar. +If, on the other hand, the mother understands that the crying reflex is +largely unnecessary at the present time, since she has learned to +administer to the infant's every requirement with clock-like regularity, +she will, when assured that nothing ails the child, let it cry if it wants +to without giving it the least attention. One can scarcely believe how soon +the crying reflex will disappear under such treatment. If, on the other +hand, the child is taken up whenever it cries and walked and rocked and +fondled, it quickly learns that individuals were made solely to wait on it, +and the great instinct of selfishness is aroused which is likely to carry +in its wake a world of trouble and disappointment. Who has not heard a +crying child in an adjoining room stop suddenly to listen for the sake of +discovering whether or not the noises he heard are the regular movements of +a person coming to him or merely the irregular noises of the wind or of +moving furniture which do not concern him? Not only is the child plastic, +but too often a portion of the environment is also plastic and yielding and +usually to the lasting detriment of the child. The young mother who would +train her child to right habits must be heroic. + +When the little one is old enough to sit up in his high chair at the table, +his conduct is not apt to be meek and good-mannered. He will snatch at +things and tip them over, plunge his fists into the gravy, and fill his +mouth with food, stuffing it in with both hands until he chokes. His mother +is usually ashamed and grieved at his barbarous conduct; but she need not +be, she should remember that good table manners are artificial, not +natural, and that they are by no means a racial acquirement. She must +resort, therefore, to necessary means to correct the child, even at times +to physical punishment, though she herself must leave the room to shed a +quiet tear over such seeming cruelty. Place the spoon in his hand and help +the child to make the necessary movements and punish him slightly if need +be whenever he departs too far from propriety, and it will be astonishing +how quickly the conventional habit of table manners will be acquired. The +kindest mother is the one who is brave enough to inflict some punishment +when this is the surest way to develop needed habits that are unnatural to +the child. + +Soon the child learns to crawl; he does this because of the primal pleasure +he has in bodily movements and because he has reached satisfaction in +handling objects within his grasp; and since distant objects will not come +to him, he must go to them, and this he does as soon as he is able. If +objects would come to him whenever he desired, it is probable that he would +not learn to crawl for a long time. Sometimes exceedingly awkward modes of +crawling are acquired, which if noted and corrected when first attempted, +would save much labor and pains afterward. + +So long as crawling answers all demands and gives full satisfaction, it +will be continued; but, usually because the child sees others walk, and +possibly also because he himself has the instinctive desire to walk, +crawling is no longer satisfactory. So he attempts to imitate the walking +of his elders and through the aid and encouragement received from them, he +accomplishes this marvelous feat--the greatest physical habit he will ever +require. + + + + +LESSON XI + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What are the first physical habits that the child should acquire? + +2. What results from spasmodic training in these habits? + +3. How should the crying reflex be treated? + +4. How is selfishness early aroused? How can it be avoided? + +5. Why should the young mother be heroic? + +6. How may table manners, and other conventional habits be taught? + +7. Why do the parents fail to implant right habits in their children? + +The following will be found helpful for further studies on this subject: +"The Care of the Baby," by Holt; "The Care of the Child in Health," by +Oppenheim. + + + +THE MEANING OF CONSCIOUSNESS + + +_Consciousness Is Expressed in Knowing, Feeling, and Willing, Each Phase of +Which Should Be Developed Fully and in Perfect Harmony_ + +As already remarked, the chief characteristic of the young child is +ceaseless activity. From the time he is able to walk, or even crawl, the +great instinct of curiosity is alive, and this at first is likely to lead +him into all sorts of places where he should not go and cause him to +investigate and even destroy some of the valued possessions of the +household. This is a critical period in the development of the child and +must be handled with rare judgment. Some knowledge of child psychology is +essential here to guide the parent. + +About this time three types of mental activity will be noted in the child. + +(1) _Feeling_ is one phase or type which expresses itself sometimes in +pleasure or pain and at other times in action or anger. The feeling phase +of consciousness gives color and tone to every act of life; it is the basis +of interest; without it, neither happiness nor sorrow could exist, nor +could there be faith or worship. When fully developed, it culminates in the +emotions and sentiments, the highest of which are friendship and sympathy, +love and duty, patriotism and reverence. The opposite of some of these is +anger, hate and jealousy. Feeling makes heaven or hell a possibility and +sometimes an actuality. + +(2) The _knowing_ phase of mental activity is aware of the outside world as +well as of itself; it forms images of things and remembers; in its higher +aspects it judges and reasons. This phase of consciousness makes possible +invention and scientific achievement. By and through it, man overcomes his +environment and makes himself the master of the earth. + +(3) The _volitional_ or _will_ phase of mental activity is first manifested +in the impulsive, spasmodic movements heretofore described. Later these +random movements are brought under control, then comes the ability to +select a desired stimulus from among several that are possible, and at +length the power to choose between two or more possible modes of action. +This highest form is termed voluntary action or will power. It is extremely +important to note that the will is not a separate power or faculty which +can be cultivated apart from other phases of consciousness. Many foolish +things have been written about the power of the will and its capacity +for infinite development; as a matter of fact, all three phases of +consciousness must be developed together. Every act of the mind of +necessity embraces all three phases, since it is impossible to know without +feeling or to experience feeling or knowing without activity. The will, +therefore, can never be quite so strong as the total consciousness; and +at every stage, it needs the feeling phase to give it motive and the +knowing phase to make it rational. Knowing, feeling, and willing, +therefore, are merely convenient terms that express the varying, changing +modes of consciousness, which at one time may be predominately feeling, at +another knowing, and again willing. The great fact to remember is that +consciousness develops as a unit, and the most highly trained mind is the +one in which each phase is developed not only to its maximum but at the +same time in perfect harmony with the other two as well as with the total +consciousness. + +It is impossible to say which of the three phases develops first in the +infant, nor is it important to know; the significant fact is that all three +evolve together, and whenever activity is strong and well sustained, it is +evident that feeling and knowing also are well developed. + +When the child is two years of age or over, as above remarked, usually an +appalling desire to destroy things is manifested. Dolls will be torn to +pieces, the toy bank smashed, and if a hammer can be had, nothing is too +sacred to be knocked to pieces. This is not depravity in the child, much +as it seems to be, it is a legitimate desire to investigate, to satisfy his +curiosity, and to find a means of satisfying his increasing power to do +something. Up to this time an object is to the child merely the activity +for which it stands; a ball is something to roll or toss, a hammer is to +strike with, and it is a matter of supreme indifference to him what is +struck. At this stage the child has no sense of values and he cannot +possibly know that one object may be hit with a hammer, while another +object, such as a mirror, may not. He must be taught this fact; at first it +is entirely beyond his experience. + +But the child now has considerable capacity for knowing, hence the wise +parent can easily and quickly teach him to discriminate and even to be +careful to avoid injury to certain objects. No attempt should be made to +suppress this new-born power of this searcher after truth; this instinct is +the basis of invention and of scientific research; it must be properly +guided, but not subdued. Give him playthings which can be taken to pieces +and put together, dolls which can be dressed and undressed, horses which +can be harnessed and fastened to carts, blocks which can be built into +various forms, and above all, for a boy, a large, soft block of wood with +plenty of nails, tacks, and a hammer. The amount of energy he will expend +in filling the block with tacks or nails is astonishing. Other appropriate +ways of expressing his energy should also be provided. Give the child +something to do. + +This rule ought to be rigidly observed: _Never cut straight across the +activity of a child, but always substitute some other act in place of the +one not desired_. + + + + +LESSON XII + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. How is the great instinct of curiosity at first manifested? + +2. What three phases of consciousness are there? How do these develop? + +3. What is meant by a well-trained mind? + +4. What explains the child's tendency to destroy things? How may this +tendency be best overcome? + +5. What rule should the parent carefully follow with relation to the +child's activity? + +6. What are some sensible activities that may be easily provided for +children? + +7. Why is it worth while for parents to devote some time, or even money, to +providing for the natural activities of children to express themselves in +the right ways? + +For further study, selections from "Elementary Psychology," by Phillips, +will be found helpful. + + + +POSITIVE VS. NEGATIVE TRAINING + + +_Train the Positive Side of the Child's Nature and the Negative Side Will +Need Little Attention_. + +A negative method trains the child to be hard and critical, and to be +constantly looking for opposition to his wishes; it is the chief cause also +of slyness, ill-temper and disrespect. + +The following illustrations are taken from Mrs. Harrison's inspiring little +book, entitled, "A Study of Child Nature." "A mother came to me in utter +discouragement, saying: 'What shall I do with my five-year-old boy? He is +simply the personification of the word _won't_.' After the conversation I +walked home with her. A beautiful child, with golden curls and great, +dancing, black eyes, came running out to meet us, and with all the +impulsive joy of childhood threw his arms about her. 'Don't do that, James, +you will muss mama's dress.' I knew at once where the trouble lay. In a +moment she said: 'Don't twist so, my son;' and 'Don't make such a noise.' +Within a few minutes the mother had used 'don't' five times. No wonder when +she said, 'Run in the house now, mama will come in a minute,' he replied: +'No, I don't want to.'" + +"Two older children were playing in a room and soon became boisterous. The +busy mother did not notice them, but the little two-year-old child turned +round and called out impatiently: 'Boys, 'top.' Babies, like parrots, learn +the words they hear most frequently. 'Boys, stop,' a negative command, had +no doubt been used frequently in that household. How easy it would have +been to substitute the positive statement: 'Boys, run out in the back yard +and play ball,' or 'Run out into the garden and bring me some flowers for +the table.' + +"A four-year-old boy when he first entered the kindergarten was the most +complete embodiment of negative training I have ever met. It was 'No, I +don't want to,' 'No, I won't sit by that boy,' 'No, I don't like blocks.' +Nothing pleased him; nothing satisfied him. He was already an isolated +character, unhappy himself and a source of discomfort to others. Soon after +beginning our work, I heard a whizzing sound, and Paul's voice crying out: +'Joseph has knocked my soldier off the table and he did it on purpose too.' +My first impulse was to say: 'Why did you do that? It was naughty. Go and +pick up Paul's soldier.' But that would have been negative treatment, too +much of which had been heaped upon him already; so, instead, I said: 'Oh, +well, Paul, never mind, Joseph doesn't know that we try to make each other +happy in kindergarten.' + +"Some time afterwards I said: 'Come here, Joseph, I wish you to be my +messenger boy.' This was a privilege highly desired by the children. Joseph +came reluctantly as if expecting some hidden censure, but soon he was busy +running back and forth, giving each child the proper materials for the next +half-hour's work. As soon as the joy of service had melted him into a mood +of comradeship, I whispered: 'Run over now and get Paul's soldier.' +Instantly he obeyed, picked it up, and placed it on the table before its +owner, quietly slipped into his own place and began his work. His whole +nature for the time being was changed. Continued treatment of this kind +completely transformed the nature of the child." + +Scolding and finding fault are the most common forms of negative training +employed by parents. Such treatment brings out and emphasizes the opposite +qualities from those desired, since they appeal to the very worst side of +the child's nature. Usually, too, the sympathy of the mother and the +affection of the child are separated and coldness takes their place. +Suggest to the child at the right time the act you wish him to do and +usually it will be quickly accomplished; then if a child is praised a +little for his promptness, he will soon grow into the habit of doing +promptly other more important tasks. The boy who dallied over everything he +did was soon cured by the simple device of counting while he ran an errand +and then praising him for his quick return. A little praise goes farther +than much censure. Sometimes a boy's tone and manner are lacking in respect +to his mother, or a girl becomes troublesome and defies authority. This +condition did not come about suddenly; it is the result of continued +negative treatment. Usually, if a boy is disrespectful or a girl impudent, +it is because the parents through neglect or improper training, have +unconsciously fostered such behavior. + +Some children are timid and superstitious, too often they are laughed at +and ridiculed; on the other hand, fun should never be made of such children +and they should be given every opportunity to develop courage and +self-reliance. If a child is irreverent, he should have his eyes opened to +the wonders of creation and to the majesty and power displayed by the Maker +of the universe. So, in all cases, the parents should beware of the almost +universal, negative mode of training which represses, scolds, finds fault, +and results in producing hardness, slyness, obstinacy, and other +undesirable qualities; instead, positive methods should be employed. They +suggest correct action, substitute the right for the wrong, praise for +blame, encouragement rather than discouragement, and stimulate to higher +endeavor. However, if occasion demands, parents may be stern, unrelenting +and even resort to punishment. + + + + +LESSON XIII + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + + +1. What is the main point of this lesson? + +2. Discuss the "won't" child. + +3. Discuss the "don't" boy. + +4. Discuss scolding and finding fault versus judicious praise. + +5. What is the value of suggestion in guiding children? Illustrate. + +6. What often explains disrespect and impudence in children? + +8. Illustrate some helpful ways that give positive training to children. + +Selections from "The Dawn of Character," by Mumford, will be found helpful, +for further studies on this subject. + + + +FOOD, DRESS AND TOYS + + +"_The Body Is More Than Raiment; and Life, More Than Meat_." + +The normal child is born in a state of naturalness with respect to his +tastes and appetites and the endeavor should be to keep him in this natural +state. But too often his senses are stimulated to excess and an artificial +appetite is begun which usually leads to some form of intemperance. Much of +the excess in drinking is due, not to inheritance, but to vicious feeding. +A false appetite leads to physical unrest and uneasiness and this naturally +lends itself to the pleasure and excitement of drink. + +"Why do you not eat the pickles, my son?" said one father; "they are very +nice." "No," said the boy, "I don't see any use in eating spiced pickles, +it doesn't help to make me strong; my teacher says so." Would that every +child were thus trained to prefer wholesome to unwholesome food. Our +schools are doing good work along these lines of personal hygiene; parents +should reinforce the efforts of the teacher by bringing the home hygiene up +to the right standards. + +The clothing of children also deserves some attention. Probably in nothing +else is vanity and selfishness more easily displayed than in dress. How +rare a thing it is to find a beautiful child, simply or even plainly +dressed, who is neither vain of her good looks nor of her rich apparel. The +sweetest object in the world is a beautiful child, tastily dressed, free +from vanity, and perfectly natural and unspoiled. The mother who praises +her child's curls or rosy cheeks rather than the child's actions or inner +motives, is developing vanity of the worst kind--placing beauty of +appearance above beauty of conduct. + +"Fashionable parties for children are abominations upon the face of the +earth." Soon enough the child will come in contact with that which is +unnatural and deceitful without having artificial conduct forced upon him. + + + + +LESSON XIV + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What may result from developing an artificial appetite in children? + +2. What should the young mother avoid in feeding her child? + +3. What evils result from over-indulgence in candy, nick-nacks, soda water, +etc.? + +4. In the dress of children how is vanity often developed? + +5. What may result from constant praise of the good looks of the child? + +6. Discuss proper dress in children. + +For further help on these points read Mrs. Harrison's "Study of Child +Nature," pages 47 to 54. + + + +CULTIVATING THE EMOTIONS + + +_It Is a Serious Mistake to Begin Educating the Intellect Before Training +the Emotions_ + +In the history of the race, art develops before science, just as in nature +the blossom comes before the fruit; so in the child emotions come before +reason, and he is attracted and his sympathies aroused by nearly any appeal +to his senses long before his understanding tells him why. Notwithstanding +this fact, nearly every educative effort is confined to the intellect and +the feelings are allowed to shift for themselves. The result is that many a +child grows up cold, hard, and matter-of-fact, with little of color, poetry +or sympathy to enrich his life. The common mistake is to starve the +emotions in order to overfeed the understanding. The education of the heart +must keep pace with that of the head if a well-balanced character is to be +developed. Even in school the teacher too often proceeds to stuff the child +with information before first awakening interest in the subject. Once +arouse the interest of a child in any subject and he will pursue it to +success. + +Toys are of much value to children not only as promoters of play but +because they appeal to their sympathies and give exercise to the emotions. +The two great obstacles to the exercise of the right emotions are fear and +pity. Toys are great aids in overcoming these tendencies. Through dramatic +play with toys, children exercise their own imaginations and put action +into their own lives; and gradually fear and pity are overcome through the +confidence the child develops in himself. + +"We find the instincts of the race renewed in each new-born infant. Each +individual child desires to master his surroundings. He cannot yet drive a +real horse and wagon, but his very soul delights in the three-inch horse +and the gaily-painted wagon; he cannot tame real tigers and lions, but his +eyes dance with pleasure as he places and replaces the animals of his toy +menagerie. He cannot at present run engines or direct railways, but he can +control for a whole half-hour the movements of his miniature train. He is +not yet ready for real fatherhood, but he can pet and play with, and rock +to sleep and tenderly guard the doll baby." Through toys the child +practises in miniature most of the activities of the adult and thus +gradually bridges the chasm between his small capacity and the great +realities and possibilities of life. + +The heart should be trained as carefully as the head. Our emotions even +more than our reason govern us. Train the child to feel rightly, to admire +the good, the true and the beautiful, and you need not fear. He will +develop a love of home, of country and of God that will carry him safely +throughout all his life. This does not mean that we shall neglect the +training of his intellect; both heart and head should be trained together, +but the heart must not be neglected; for out of it, says the Good Book, +come the issues of life. + + + + +LESSON XV + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What may result from cultivating the intellect in children before +stimulating the emotions? + +2. Which governs us most, our feelings or our reason? + +3. How can we develop best the right emotions in childhood, such as +kindness and unselfishness? + +4. In what ways may toys help to develop the child? Discuss here proper and +improper toys; which are preferable, dolls or Teddy Bears, in developing +motherly instincts? What about soldiers, firearms, etc., in their effect on +boys? + +For further reading on this point, Mrs. Harrison's "Study on Child Nature" +will be found helpful. Let some member report from the book, if it be +available, dealing particularly with pages 66 to 70. + + + +THE INFLUENCE OF LOVE + + +_Love Is the Vital Element Which Transforms Human Nature and Makes Life +Worth Living_ + +The sweetest word in all the language is _love_. Without it life is a +frozen tundra where the sun never shines. Home is beautiful because there +is love. If a planet exists where love is absent, then it contains no +fire-sides, the laughter of children is never heard, flowers do not grow +there, and the singing of birds is unknown. + +If selfishness is ever overcome, if it is ever transformed into service, it +will be when love is triumphant; for love alone is great enough to +sacrifice itself for another. Love only can reach the sublime heights of +faith and exaltation, of reverence and worship. Love alone has the power to +say, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." + +There is, however, a strange contradiction or opposition in love. Sometimes +it is as weak and timid as a bashful girl, at other times, as strong and +heroic as an Amazon; now it is like the harmony in music or the delicate +coloring of a sunset; again, like the thunderous roar of Niagara or the +consuming fire of Vesuvius. + +Love is an instrument with many strings, some so delicate that they catch +the sweetest symphonies of the soul, others so powerful that they resound +to the mighty storms and tempests of life, and some so vibrant that they +throb to the sorrows and heartaches of a bleeding world. + +Affection is awakened in the child with his first smile in recognition of +his mother's face. How shall this budding affection be rightly nurtured and +developed so that it shall flower and bring forth good fruit? It is desired +that he shall be generous and possess good will towards others, that he +shall have sympathy and the spirit of sacrifice for those dear to him; but +too often the fruit of promise is eaten into by the worm of selfishness. + +"Selfishness is the most universal of sins and the most hateful. Dante +placed Lucifer, the embodiment of selfishness, down below all other sinners +in the dark pit of the Inferno, frozen in a sea of ice. Well did the poet +know that this sin lay at the root of all others. Think, if you can, of one +crime or vice which has not its origin in selfishness." + +As already stated, the primary instincts of the child favor the development +of selfishness and the gratification of the appetites and passions. The +utmost care, therefore, must be exercised by the parents, from the very +beginning, if the affections and desires of the child are to be trained +away from itself and not permitted to become self-centered. Happy is the +child whose mother knows how to direct those earliest manifestations of +love. The undisciplined senses and appetites easily degenerate into +indulgence of passion, or grow into that moral control which delights in +temperance. + +The inborn desire for praise and recognition may express itself in bragging +vanity, or expand into heroic endeavor. So, too, there is a physical love +which expresses itself in a mere caress and a higher, purer, more glorious +love which manifests itself in service and self-sacrifice. The tremendous +hug of the little arms and the kiss of the rosy lips are manifestations of +physical love; while the child is in this loving mood the wise mother +should ask of him some little service, slight at first, but sufficient to +make him put forth some effort to serve her. In this way she can transform +this mere selfish love into the beginning of that spiritual love which +Christ commended when He said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." + +The parent stands to his child for the time being, as the one supreme +source of every power and blessing; the wise parent may establish +between himself and the little one almost the same beautiful and solemn +relationship as that which exists between the Supreme Giver of all good and +His children. "Not every one that sayeth unto me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall +enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father +which is in Heaven." + +"Love is to be tested always by its effect upon the will. From the +beginning the will must be made strong and unselfish by repeated acts of +loving self-sacrifice. Contrast the selfish, all-absorbing love of Romeo +for Juliet, who could not live without the physical presence of the one he +loved, with that grandly beautiful love of Hector for Andromache, who, out +of the very love he bore her, could place her to one side and answer the +stern call of duty that she might never in the future have cause for +painful blush. + +"I knew an ideal home where husband and wife were filled with the most +exalted love I have ever known, but the husband died. The wife said: 'All +that was beautiful or attractive in my life went out with my husband, and +yet I know that I must, for the love I bear him, remain and rear our child +as he would have him reared.' As I listened to these words, quietly uttered +by the courageous wife, I realized what love, real love, could help the +poor, stricken heart to endure." + +The child must be trained through love to give up his own will to others, +and, from the beginning, learn to submit to things which are unpleasant. + +If this thought is insisted on from the first, obedience will come easily +to the child; but woe be to both mother and child if egotism, self-will and +selfishness secure a fast hold upon the young heart. + +A mother should never refuse the help offered by the child. If the work is +of such nature that the little one cannot share it, let the mother suggest +as a substitute something else which the child can do. Help turned away +begets idleness and nourishes selfishness. "No, dear, you cannot help dress +baby, but you may hand mama the clothes." + +"A six-year-old boy, who had been taught true love through service, found +his mother one morning too ill to answer his many questions. 'Mama cannot +talk to you to-day, Philip, she has a severe headache.' He quietly closed +the door and soon there was a mysterious bumping and moving about of the +heavy furniture in the next room. Soon it all was still, then the door was +gently opened and little Philip tiptoed to his mother's bed and whispered, +'Mama, I have straightened the furniture and tidied up the room; is your +headache better?' + +"A little three-year-old boy running rapidly stumbled and bumped his head +severely against the trunk of a tree. Loud cries of pain at once arose, but +his little brother took him by the arm and pushed him with all his might +towards his mother, saying in the most reassuring tone imaginable, 'Run to +mama, Ned, run to mama, she'll kiss it and make it well. Please run to her +quick.' 'Perfect love casteth out all fear.' Surely the wise mother can +devise a thousand ways by which to kindle the flame of love in her child +until her fond dreams for the little ones are transformed into living +realities. But the doubter may remark, 'What if I ask my child to do +something for me and he refuses or begins to make excuses or asks why his +brother can't do it?' You have simply mistaken the time for stretching the +young soul's wings. Begin the training when the child is in the loving mood +and you will rarely fail to get the desired response; yet, if need be, +command the performance of the deed, so that by repeated doing the selfish +heart may at length learn the pleasure of unselfishness and thus enter into +the joy of true living." + +Let parents take this motto to heart: _Trust not the physical love of your +child, but seek to transform it into that higher love which manifests +itself in service. The real love of your child is measured by the extent to +which he will sacrifice his own comfort and pleasure to serve you_. + + + + +LESSON XVI + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Why has the delicate sentiment of love such a power in shaping the lives +of men? + +2. What may be said of selfishness? + +3. How may the desire for praise be expressed? + +4. Contrast physical and spiritual love. + +5. How may love help to develop a strong will? + +6. How must the child be taught obedience? + +7. Illustrate how loving service may be secured. + +8. How may the real love of the child for the parent be measured? + + + +MORAL TRAINING + + +_There Is No Escape from Wrong-Doing. Mercy Cannot Rob Justice_ + +"Somehow I'll escape," is the fatal thought which blinds the poor fool who, +for the first time, treads the path of self-indulgence or wrong-doing. But +he ought to know that escape is impossible. No cave is dark enough, no +ocean deep enough to hide the transgressor from the consequences of his +misdeeds. A kind heaven may forgive him, and the one he injures may +overlook the offence; but his own body and mind cannot forget; they have +registered the deed once for all and it can never be atoned for or +forgotten. The doing of a bad deed changes the individual in some +particular, slight or great as the case may be, and, pathetic though it +seems, he cannot go back and try it over again; the scar remains, as if +seared by a hot iron, and, if the hurt is serious enough, heredity may pass +it down the ages. + +How easily a bad habit is formed. "It won't hurt me" is whispered by the +siren voice of temptation, because the consequences of the transgression +are not felt or seen immediately, a second offence seems less serious than +the first. Soon habit steps in and stamps the process on mind and body and +before the author is conscious of it, a serious appetite or a degrading +vice is fastened upon him from which neither time nor effort, prayers nor +tears, may ever shake him free. + + "_Vice is a monster of such frightful mien, + That to be hated needs but to be seen, + But seen too oft, familiar with its face, + We first endure, then pity, then embrace_." + + --Pope. + +The child must be trained early to know: "The way of the transgressor is +hard," and "He that sows the wind must reap the whirlwind." It is a great +mistake for the parent to step in and free the child from the consequences +of his first wrong acts. Let the consequences fall on his own head, and +perchance they will teach him wisdom. The true purpose of punishment is to +teach the necessity of obedience to law. Everything that is good and +desirable will come to him who obeys the law upon which the blessing is +predicated; every evil falls on the head of him who constantly violates +law. In the final analysis, the punishments which nature inflicts are kind, +because they are warnings which, if heeded, will prevent serious injury. +The purpose of all discipline is to produce a self-governing individual, +not one who needs to be governed by someone else. Until a person learns to +govern himself he counts for little in this world. + +Two serious mistakes are made in child government. One is the indulgence of +a soft, vacillating policy by the parent which permits a child to shirk his +duties and to escape from the natural results of his misdeeds. Through the +parent's taking upon his own shoulders the consequences of the child's +wrong-doing, the child is lured into the false belief that duty may be +shirked, responsibility set aside, and life be made to yield one sweet +round of pleasure. How will a child so trained be prepared to endure the +disappointments and heartaches of a world which compels each of us to +drink his portion of the bitter hemlock? + +The other mistake is to employ unnatural or arbitrary punishments. Even the +smallest child has an instinctive idea of justice and resents anything +which he regards as unjust. On the other hand, he learns quickly the +inevitableness with which pain follows the violation of law, and how +certain is the working out of cause and effect. + +Mrs. Harrison gives this admirable illustration: "The little one puts his +hand upon the hot stove; no whirlwind from without rushes in and pushes the +hand away from the stove, then with loud and vengeful blasts scolds him +for his heedlessness or wrong-doing. He simply is burned--the natural +consequences of his own deed; and the fire quietly glows on, regardless of +the pain which he is suffering. If again he transgresses the law, again he +is burned as quietly as before, with no expostulation, threat, or warning. +He quickly learns the lesson and avoids the fire thereafter, bearing no +grudge against it." + +When the child scatters her toys and playthings all over the room, the +natural penalty is to require that they be gathered up and the room made +tidy; when the boy scampers across the newly-cleaned floor with his muddy +boots, he should be made to mop up the floor carefully; thus in a thousand +similar ways, the parent may train the child to observe care and order in +everything done. + +Nothing is more beautiful than a large family where each child is taught to +care for and to rely upon himself, and to give a little willing service to +others. But the tired mother will remark, "Oh, yes, that all sounds very +nice, but mothers have no time to spare to eternally watch and train their +children." Hold a moment, there is a fallacy here; she ought to say, "I +have no time to spare because I failed to train the children in the manner +mentioned." In no other way can the mother save so much time as by taking a +little time at first to train the child to be neat, tidy and orderly, or +later to feel the inevitable consequences of violating law. + +Instead of saving time in this sensible way, too often the mother loses +both time and the love of her child through becoming irritable and scolding +the little one for every offence committed. Nothing is worse than scolding, +a sound thrashing administered now and then is far less cruel. Nearly every +evil instinct in the child is aroused through fault-finding and scolding. +How long will it take to teach the parent, once for all, that scolding, +nagging, shutting up in the dark closets, and every other form of arbitrary +punishment arouse in the child a sense of injustice and resentment, which, +if not corrected later, will result in estrangement and loss of love +between parent and child? The child has a right to expect justice from his +parent. Only where this is found will the child develop that sense of +freedom and independence of thought and action which produce the highest +type of individual--one who is able to govern himself. + +"But what shall be done when more serious offences are committed?" The +parent may well ask. In all likelihood there will be no serious offences if +the slight ones are treated properly. A mother came to me with her face +full of suppressed suffering. "What shall I do?" she remarked, "I have +discovered that my boy steals money from his father's purse." "Give him a +purse of his own," I answered, "and give him ways of earning money of his +own." It is asserted that more than half the boys sent to reform schools go +there because of theft. How many of them might have been saved if they had +been taught how to earn and to know the value of an honest dollar? + +But so long as human nature is imperfect, and frailty so common, we must +expect in every family some occasion to arise that will tax the patience +and the love of the parent to the uttermost. No rule can be given that will +meet every crisis; common sense, justice, forbearance, faith and love may +be used in vain; and reproof, censure, and corporal punishment may also +fail in some supreme emergency, the only recourse that remains after all +these are exhausted is to permit the natural consequences of the deed to +fall upon the head of the transgressor. + +Rule: _Parents should rarely punish the child, but should permit the +consequences of carelessness and wrong-doing to fall upon his own head. +Wisdom results from suffering pains and taking pains_. + + + + +LESSON XVII + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Why do evil consequences follow bad deeds? + +2. In what sense are nature's punishments kind? + +3. What two mistakes are common in child government? + +4. Illustrate how natural punishment may be employed by parents. + +5. What may be resorted to in serious cases? For further discussion and +study of this subject the following references will be found helpful: + +1. Chapter on Moral Education, from Spencer's "Education." + +2. "Dealing with Moral Crises," by Cope, from "Religious Education in the +Family." + +3. "Misunderstood Children," by Harrison. + + + +ADOLESCENCE + + +_The Adolescent Period Is a Time of "Storm and Stress," When the Chief +Crises of Life Arise_ + +Most writers on psychology recognize in the life history of the child +several more or less distinct periods of development. The child is almost +a different being at different levels of his growth. Each period is marked +by peculiar physical, mental and moral characteristics which demand +specific treatment. So great and sudden are some of these changes that +they are sometimes likened to a metamorphosis, indicating an analogy with +certain insects as a change from the larvae and pupae stages to that of +butterflies. + +Space will not permit more than a brief account of the most critical of +these periods, namely, the adolescent. This period begins at about the age +of thirteen in girls and fourteen in boys, and continues until about +eighteen. Physically, this stage starts with a very rapid growth which is +frequently doubled in rate within a single year. The girl may, in a few +months, change from a tall, angular, romping tomboy into a blooming, +dimpled young woman, bashful and afraid. + +So much energy is required for physical growth that in the early stages of +this period difficult mental tasks cannot be well done. In a young man +especially, this period is marked by awkward, uncouth movements that +indicate uncertain adjustment. Frequently at this time the boy's voice +varies unsteadily from a high falsetto to a low pitch, which is most +mortifying to the youth, who is now bashful probably for the first time in +his life. The girl is suddenly very particular about her appearance, and +her clothes, and the youth for the first time delights in a starched shirt, +patent leather shoes and bright neck-ties. + +The health of the individual at this time is usually good; susceptibility +to the diseases peculiar to childhood is slight, but there is increased +danger of acquiring adult diseases, and some writers claim that it is +during this time, when there are great physical disturbances, that the germ +of many adult diseases, such as tuberculosis, are apt to be implanted. +During the early part of this period it is unwise and dangerous for girls +to take part in such strenuous athletic games as basketball, or for boys to +indulge in football. Later when strength and equilibrium have been +restored, these games may be practiced without danger. + +But the greatest of all changes, the one fundamental to adolescent life, is +the development of the sex instincts. Fortunate is the youth or maiden +whose parents are sensible and wise enough to instruct them concerning the +nature and purpose of these functions. Good books, such as "What a Boy +Should Know," and "What a Girl Should Know," are invaluable during this +critical time. This sudden ripening of the sex instinct is the cause of the +metamorphosis from childhood to early manhood and womanhood, and is the key +which explains the changes that characterize adolescence. + +Emotionally, there is a tremendous awakening. The individual begins to feel +for the first time that he is actually alive and living; heretofore, life +has been a self-centered, matter-of-fact existence; now it enlarges and +becomes charged with intense feeling and significance. "Fear, anger, love, +pity, jealousy, emulation and ambition are either new-born or spring into +intense life."--James. All of these may be termed social instincts and they +imply a widening of the youth's horizon and include a "consciousness of +kind" that has heretofore been lacking. + +Now, the youth or maiden truly falls in love; up to this time, regard for +the opposite sex has been merely a light fancy, barely skin deep; but now +it takes hold of the heart strings and plays upon them with an agony that +is truly heart rending. Who is there with red blood in his veins that does +not look back upon his first heart conflict with almost pathetic reverence? +Parents should be more concerned than they usually are over the conquest of +the heart of youth. Such affairs may carry with them consequences which are +more serious than could be anticipated. + +At this time the youth or maiden is exceedingly resentful of arbitrary +restraint or punishment. There is a super-sensitiveness and a keen +self-consciousness which cannot brook harshness and coercion. Sympathy and +reasonableness must take the place of censure and punishment. Years ago I +remember seeing a father start to whip his boy who was just emerging into +the adolescent stage, a heavy stick was raised to strike, but the boy +looked his father in the eye without flinching and quietly remarked: "You +may whip one devil out, Father, but I promise you that you'll whip seven +devils in." The stick dropped from the astonished parent's hand; the boy +was never again punished by whipping. + +The runaway curve for boys reaches its highest point at this time, and the +girl is likely to be insolent and unmanageable probably for the first and +only time in her life. The greatest crises of life arise at this time +because of the almost criminal ignorance of parents respecting these +revolutionary changes and also because children who may never before have +caused the parents the least trouble or heartache are now as unruly and +unmanageable as a volcano in eruption. This is the time when the youth is +driven from home by the irate father, the time when the rebellious daughter +is condemned without mercy, the critical period when most vices are begun +and most juvenile crimes committed. The parent is apt to exclaim here: "In +Heaven's name, what can be done?" Not even the wisdom of a Solomon could +answer completely; a few suggestions, however, may be offered which will +help to bridge over this critical period. + +If the child has had positive training up to this time, the period of +"storm and stress" will be briefer and less severe than it would be +otherwise; but if the negative training has prevailed, there is less hope +that the storm will be weathered. The youth may be caught in the stream of +dissipation and whirled to destruction. At the very least, the parent must +expect fitful and obstinate behavior, and unreasonable action. In boys, the +beginning of the use of tobacco and liquor usually comes at this time. This +is the time, too, of sexual temptation, if not actual indulgence. The +temptation to do something startling is almost irresistible; robberies will +be planned, hold-ups thought of, abductions contemplated; the life of a +desperado entertained. The moral character seems to be in a state of +eruption. + +On the other hand, his sympathies and affections may be appealed to as +never before. The parent who has made a confident of his boy or girl, who +has infinite patience and affection, and who fully senses what to except, +may, if other factors are favorable, help tide over this danger zone +without serious results. A steady chum, a little older than the boy, and a +companion more stable than the girl are a most fortunate aid to the parent. +There seems to be a brief time in the career of every youth or maiden when +the influence of his chum or companion is more potent for good or evil than +is the combined influence of parents and relatives. + +The common practice of permitting the, adolescent to sleep away from home +is exceedingly dangerous. Many a youth may trace the beginning of his +degeneracy to the downward, push received when he slept away from home. +Care must be exercised also as to the kind of group he associates with; it +is too much to expect a youth to be better than the gang with whom he +consorts. During the most critical part of this critical, epoch neither +youth nor maiden should, attend parties, picnics, or social entertainments, +without a chaperon. This advice may seem radical, but if it is carried +out, perhaps for just one year, until equilibrium is restored, it may +prevent that _one act_ to which so many unfortunates attribute their +downfall. + +Fortunate, too, is the adolescent who is permitted to attend a first-class +high school taught by sympathetic teachers who understand the needs of +adolescent nature. The imagination is now more vivid than it ever will be +again, the logical reason is beginning to evolve and this period is +preeminently "the breeding ground of ideas." The school more than any other +agency can keep the imagination, reason, and emotions so fully employed +that little time is left in which to indulge morbid feelings and immoral +thoughts. The school affords a moral atmosphere and gives a choice of good +associates which make it invaluable during this critical epoch. It also +disciplines the feelings and emotions and offers opportunity for emulation, +industry, and the display of both physical and mental power. In truth, the +school so occupies the attention and directs the interest that many a young +man and woman passes through this period unscathed, without ever sensing +the dangers which are escaped. + +Finally, a "profound religious awakening" characterizes the early +adolescent stage. It may be doubted that a genuine religious conviction can +exist before this time; at least most writers hold that religious +conversion takes place, if at all, during this period. Previous to this +time, however, religious observance and ceremony should have become +habitual in order that conversion may be most profound. Nothing else is +more powerful than religious conviction and sentiment to reinforce good +conduct and to inhibit wrong action. Religious conviction, together with +the growth of ideals and the employment by the school of the physical and +intellectual capacities, all supplemented by parental counsel and guidance, +should insure the safe passage of the adolescent over this critical crisis +of his life. + + + + +LESSON XVIII + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What are the physical changes that occur during the adolescent period? + +2. What dangers to health are common at this time? What safeguards should +be thrown about the youth to keep him strong in body? + +3. Discuss the mental, moral, and emotional characteristics of the +adolescent. + +4. What is the fundamental cause of the changes that take place? + +5. What may be said about religious emotions and conversions during this +time? + +6. What practical suggestions would you give to help the parents guide the +adolescent safely over this dangerous period of life? + +_Supplemental Studies_: At this point it will be well to take the +supplemental lessons in this book, page 133 to end of volume. These studies +are based on the lectures given by Dr. John M. Tyler. They will blend +beautifully with Professor Hall's discussion and will reinforce strongly +the study of this adolescent age. + + + +TRAINING IN THE HOME + + +_Certain Phases of Training and Education Can Be Best Accomplished by the +Home_ + +There are four great agencies or factors concerned in the training and +education of the child: these are, the home, the school, the church, and +the state, or society. Of these, the home ought to be the most helpful +since it is the most important. The child is a part of the flesh and blood +of the parents; he belongs to them in a vital way that transcends his +relationship to everything else in the world. + +The parent, then, is the natural trainer and educator of the child, +particularly during the dependent period before the age of accountability +is reached. The parent ought not to shirk this duty or attempt to transfer +it to some other agency. But at the present time there is a strong tendency +to shift more and more responsibility to other agencies, especially to the +school. Many habits which the home once developed are now left largely to +the school; religious training is turned over more and more to the Sunday +School and the church, and much more of the time of children is now spent +in social amusements away from home than ever before. + +Then, too, it is certain that the old-time home is passing. It seemed to +have higher ideals and more definite purposes in life than homes now +possess; moreover, it occupied most of the time of the child and taught +him to be industrious and proficient, and to regard life with much more +seriousness than does the home of to-day. The home or the family, +therefore, is not the great superlative factor that it ought to be in +the training and education of the child. + +From the first chapter of Cope in "Religious Education in the Family," +the following is quoted: "The ills of the modern home are symptomatic. +Divorce, childless families, irreverent children, and a decadence of the +old type of separate home life are signs of forgotten ideals, lost motives, +and insufficient purposes. When the home is only an opportunity for +self-indulgence, it easily becomes a cheap boarding house, a sleeping +shelf, an implement for social advantage. While it is true that general +economic development has effected marked changes in domestic economy, the +happiness and efficiency of the family do not depend wholly on the parlor, +the kitchen, or the clothes closet. Rather, everything depends on whether +the home and family are considered in worthy and adequate terms. + +"Homes are wrecked because families refuse to take home life in religious +terms, in social terms of sacrifice and service. In such homes, organized +and conducted to satisfy personal desires rather than to meet social +responsibility, these desires become aims rather than agencies and +opportunities. What hope is there for useful and happy family life if the +newly-wedded youths have both been educated in selfishness, habituated to +frivolous pleasures and guided by ideals of success in terms of garish +display? + +"It is a costly thing to keep a home where honor, the joy of love, and high +ideals dwell ever. It costs time, pleasure, and so-called social +advantages, as well as money and labor. It must cost thought, study and +investigation. It demands and deserves sacrifice; it is too sacred to be +cheap. The building of a home is a work that endures to eternity, and that +kind of work never was done with ease or without pain and loss and +investment of much time. Patient study of the problems of the family is a +part of the price which all may pay. + +"No nobler social work, no deeper religious work, no higher educational +work is done anywhere than that of the men and women, high or humble, who +set themselves to the fitting of their children for life's business, +equipping them with principles and habits upon which they may fall back in +trying hours and making of home the sweetest, strongest, holiest, happiest +place on earth." + +The home or family is, or ought to be, the supreme institution, not only +for propagating the race, but also for the preservation and rearing of +children. + +There are certain things which only the home can do, which if not +accomplished by it, will likely remain undone. The acquisition of correct +physical habits by the child is one of them. It is preeminently the duty +and privilege of the parent in the early years of the child's life to +impress habits that will make for health and strength. The first six years +are more important physically to the child than all the remainder of his +life. During this time the natural tendency to over-indulgence of the +appetite should be inhibited, and temperance should be reduced to a habit. +The other desirable physical habits already referred to should also be +acquired. Furthermore, it is the sacred duty of the parent to see to it +that the child is not handicapped through physical defects of eye or ear, +enlarged tonsils, adenoids, decayed teeth, or by any other common +imperfection which may be easily and permanently remedied if taken in time, +but which, if neglected, may cause untold suffering and contribute to +failure in life. + +The home is responsible directly for training the child to be neat, tidy +and clean in person; it should also train him in good manners, courtesy, +and regard for the rights of others. It also decides whether or not the +boy shall be a brave, manly little fellow or a timid cry-baby; whether or +not the girl shall be sweet, helpful and trustworthy, or shallow, idle and +vain. + +The giving of knowledge and instruction in sex hygiene at the proper time +is also a peculiar duty of parents which they must not shirk. + +The chief moral virtues are also the result of home training. An obedient, +honest, truthful disposition is characteristic of a good home; a sly, +deceitful, quarrelsome nature is the outcome of improper home influence, +Moreover, the first lessons in respect for law, order and justice are +implanted by the home; improper training in these virtues leads to disorder +and license. + +The home, too, must teach the first lessons in industry and impress the +child with the fact that life is made up of work as well as play. Too often +the mother, especially, makes a slave of herself for the children, waits on +them night and day, allows them to sleep late in the morning, stay up late +at night and keep up an incessant round of pleasure while she herself stays +at home and shoulders the entire responsibility of the household. How much +happier the home where each child is trained to do some particular share of +work and to take some responsibility upon himself. + +The boy should be permitted to help the father whenever possible. He +should be required to do things promptly and regularly and to learn through +actual experience the amount of toil and sweat required to earn an honest +dollar. + +A taste for music and reading must be fostered in the home. Every family +should have some kind of musical instrument and at least a few choice books +for children. The influence of music and good literature on the tastes and +ideals of the future man and woman is so great that it can scarcely be +over-estimated. The use of correct and fluent language is largely a product +of the home. Children imitate the speech heard at home; if this is +incorrect, meagre, or coarse, the child is apt to have the same +imperfection follow him through life. + +The family constitutes a most sacred and important social unit, and because +of its intrinsic nature, it can best develop in the child the highest +personal sentiment and social virtue. Among these are affection, sympathy, +love, generosity and good will. If these are not awakened and nurtured by +the home, then there is little hope that they will be acquired elsewhere, +and the child will likely grow into a stony-hearted, selfish pessimist. + +Certain religious habits and sentiments also can be impressed naturally and +well only by the family. Among these are trust in God, the beginning of +faith, regard for ceremony, love of Bible stories, respect for authority, +and above all, prayer. The individual who has not been taught at his +mother's knee to pray is likely never to develop into a prayerful man or +woman. + +The home is the child's earliest school, his first temple of worship, his +first social center. It is the place where everything in this life begins. +Most fortunate is the child that is guided to take his first steps aright +through the loving influence of a good home. + + + + +LESSON XIV + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What four great agencies are concerned in training and education? + +2. Which is most important and why? + +3. What is the indictment of the home? + +4. What change has taken place respecting the relative importance of these +developing agencies? + +5. The home is responsible for what physical habits? + +6. What moral habits and virtues? + +7. What mental habits and virtues? + +8. What religious habits and sentiments? + +9. What is the future outlook for the home and family? + +It will be well at this point to review briefly the three beginning +chapters from "Religious Education in the Family," by Cope. The "Peril and +Preservation of the Home," by Jacob Riis, will also be found helpful +reading here. + + + +TRAINING BY THE CHURCH + + +_The Influence of the Church Is Essential to Aid the Home in Developing the +Religious Instincts and Emotions of the Child_ + +Religious emotions and belief are among the most deeply imbedded instincts +of the race. They are also some of the earliest manifestations of +childhood. They accompany the individual throughout his entire life, +exercising a profound influence over his thoughts and conduct, and they +become the chief anchor of the soul when sorrow or old age comes. It would +be a great calamity, therefore, if religious instincts and sentiment +should suffer eclipse or disappear. + +Rightly cultivated and trained, these natural feelings of religion grow +to spiritual power within us. Without such power, man is of little +consequence. + +Upon the home naturally falls the duty of fostering the first feelings of +reverence towards God. The child who learns to lisp his prayers at his +mother's knee is started aright. The home must give the first lessons in +the love of God and goodness. If it fails, they are likely never to be +learned. + +But the home needs the influence of the church here. It must have it to +round out the child's religious development. The church can do many things +for the child that the home cannot accomplish. It introduces him to +religious ceremonies and observances that satisfy his soul, and it helps +greatly to train him in religious habits. + +One cannot estimate the value of all this upon the character of the child. +As a restraint from wrong conduct and an encouragement to right action, the +work of the church is most salutary. The solemn ceremonies, the sacred +music, the exhortations pointing heavenward, the general spirit of the +group at humble worship--all exercise upon the child an influence for good, +mysterious yet profound. + +Clean, beautiful surroundings and orderly behavior are also very +impressive. The work of our Sabbath Schools is most beneficial. They offer +to parents a strong reinforcement in cultivating right religious habits +and emotions in the child. To go into one of our well-conducted Sunday +Schools, where order prevails, where the spirit of peace and prayer is +uppermost, to join in the singing, to listen to the uplifting instruction, +or, better still, to be given opportunity to take active part in this +religious service--all these make a deep and lasting impression upon the +youthful soul. Parents can do nothing better for their children and +themselves than to support loyally their Sunday Schools and other +religious organizations. + +The habit of attending church should also be impressed during the +habit-forming period. But the supreme opportunity of the church lies in its +ability actually to convert the youth or maiden during the adolescent +period. This is a privilege which neither the church nor the home has +adequately comprehended. When the emotional nature of the individual is at +white heat, as it then is, impressions made are lasting, and conversion, if +made then, will be so deeply impressed that it is likely to last forever. + +Churches in general fail to make the most of their opportunity here. They +too often stuff the heads of children with religious facts and formulae, +feeding them with the husks of theology, instead of giving them the +upbuilding food they need. Children, too, often are starving for real +spiritual food, hungering for the bread and thirsting for the water of +life. + +Parents and teachers generally need to correct their methods of presenting +the gospel to children, especially to the adolescent, if they would get the +results desired. It is their failure to meet the child on his own religious +ground, not his indifference to religion that makes the boy and girl leave +Sabbath School during the time he most needs such an influence. Let them +study and master these problems: Are boys and girls being given ample +opportunity for spiritual self-expression? Are the beautiful lessons of +the gospel being translated into terms that appeal to their lives? + +Our own church, we feel sure, is answering these questions in positive, +practical ways better and better every day; but there is still much left to +do even among us. + +We have in our own church a working system that ministers to the daily +moral and spiritual needs of humanity--a constructive Christianity that +comes close to our lives. Our church is our opportunity to develop our own +spiritual powers and to cultivate those of our children. The church needs +our help to carry forward its ministry to mankind; but we need even more +the help of the church to enspirit and to comfort our lives and to give to +us and to our children the guidance and the training that will keep us all +in the paths of safety and peace: + + + + +LESSON XX + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What have you observed in children to prove that religious emotions are +instinctive? + +2. In what ways can the home best foster the natural religious instincts of +childhood? + +3. What religious habits should the home cultivate? + +4. What can the church best develop in children? + +5. Why should the parents support loyally the Sunday Schools and other +organizations of the church? + +6. What is the supreme opportunity of the church during the adolescent age? + +7. What means have you used successfully to develop the religious instincts +of your own children? + +8. What opportunities for spiritual self-expression and service does our +own church offer? + +9. In what ways are we richly rewarded by our free-will service in behalf +of our church? + +"The Child and His Religion," by Dawson, will be a helpful book to study in +connection with this lesson. + + + +TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL + + +_Certain Phases of Training and Education Can Be Accomplished Better by the +School Than by Any Other Agency. A National System of Industrial and +Vocational Education Should Be Established_ + +The school is a social institution whose functions are becoming daily more +widely understood and more clearly defined. In the history of civilization, +the school, as we know it, is a very recent institution. Nation after +nation has arisen, reached its zenith, declined, and passed away without +dreaming of such a thing as universal education. With the growth of +democracy, particularly during the Reformation, the ideal of education as +the birthright of every child became well defined and during the years that +have intervened, this ideal has become a living reality. + +At first the universal education was advocated for the sake of the church. +Martin Luther believed that every child should have schooling so that he +might be able to read the Bible and study the catechism. For some time the +church had charge of and controlled education, but gradually, as democracy +developed, the influence of the state began to overshadow that of the +church, and education came to be recognized more and more as a function of +the state, and its control was gradually taken over by the latter +institution. + +The chief function of education, therefore, may be seen clearly from the +foregoing. In a democracy it is necessary for every child to be educated +because the existence of free institutions is based upon the intelligence +of the masses. Jefferson once remarked: "If anyone believes that free +government and an ignorant people can exist at one and the same time, he +believes that which never was or never can be." Universal education is, +therefore, a social necessity; its chief purpose is to train and instruct +the child in the duties and ideals of citizenship. He must be instructed in +the history of his country and learn what the ideals are for which his +country stands; he must learn the real meaning of the words: equality, +justice and freedom; he must be taught that obedience to law is the highest +form of freedom, and that license is destructive both of self and country. +Furthermore, he must learn that in a free country every individual must be +taught to be self-dependent, that no one owes him a living, that he ought +to produce a little more than he consumes for the sake of the unfortunate. + +The school, therefore, may teach better than any other agency the habits +and ideals of duty, social service, justice and patriotism. It also teaches +frequently better than does the home, the habits of obedience, +punctuality, regularity and industry. + +A secondary purpose of the school is to assist the home to develop in the +child the physical, mental, moral and social habits and ideals to which we +have referred in previous lessons. To the shame of the home, it must be +said that the school is accomplishing its particular function far better +than is the home. The school rarely fails to exact obedience, regularity, +punctuality, and industry from the pupil; the home, on the other hand, +frequently fails to train children in these habits because of the softness +and vacillation of the parents. The school trains to proper habits of +hygiene and sanitation, and is often under the necessity of acquainting +parents with physical defects in their children which too often they have +overlooked. + +Moreover, the school, as a larger social unit than the home, has some +distinct advantages over the latter: It can teach the obstinate, +quarrelsome child better than can the home the necessity of adjusting his +conduct to the requirements of the social group with which he associates. +In school, frequently for the first time, a child learns what is meant by +the ideals of duty and justice; furthermore, he is usually trained to +habits of industry, perseverance and self-control which the home too often +is not well prepared to teach. + +The home, however, is far more important than is the school; the latter +might be abolished and some other form of education adopted by society +without calamitous results; but if the home were suddenly abolished, it is +probable that civilization itself would be shaken to its center, if not +destroyed. The home, therefore, ought to be better prepared and equipped to +fulfill its function than is the school; but not one parent in a thousand +is specially prepared for the duties of parenthood. The teacher, on the +other hand, is required to spend years in preparation for his work. He is +expected, moreover, to set a worthy example for children to follow. "As the +teacher so the school," is a maxim that has stood the test. + +The school was never before so practical in its instruction as it is +to-day. In most of the junior and senior high schools, industrial work and +agriculture are taught. In the best schools girls are learning to sew, +mend, darn and cook. Many of them make their own dresses and trim their own +hats. In a few schools, uniform dress and shoes are adopted by the girl +students for the sake of economy and to prevent the silly mode of dressing +and the style of some girls. Much more could be done in this direction if +all mothers were sensible, but now and again word comes to the teacher: "I +can dress my girl well and I don't care to have her wear your cheap +uniform and your low-priced, low-heeled shoes." And again: "It's none of +your business how my girl dresses." Now, it must be conceded that the +parent has this right to object, but we surely question the wisdom of her +so doing. Many young girls on graduating from the eighth grade make their +own graduation dresses and confine the cost of the entire costume, +including shoes, to $5.00. Women graduating from the senior school often +make their dresses and confine the cost to within $10.00. + +Most young men are taught manual art of some kind and agriculture. It is +seldom that any father objects to his son taking carpenter work, but once +in a while a farmer smiles at the thought of a "professor" teaching +farming. The results, however, of the good work in teaching better farming +is already seen throughout our country, and the time is not far distant +when "scientific agriculture" will return many fold the price of its +investment. The agricultural department at Washington reports that the +Burbank potato is adding $17,000,000 yearly to the wealth of the U.S. + +The people, too, are well satisfied with this new type of school. They are +beginning to see that education is a very practical and vital matter and +is not merely for ornament. It is a rare thing now to hear the once common +remark that education is too expensive. + +Statistics show that the average wages paid to unskilled laborers in the U. +S. is about $500 per annum; careful reports indicate that the average +yearly earnings of high school graduates is $1000. In a lifetime of 40 +years the high school man will earn $20,000 more than the unlearned +laborer. + +From a financial standpoint it is very evident that education pays, yet +five and one-half years is the average length of time the children of the +U.S. attend school. The nation ought to enrich itself through putting more +money into education. + +The natural resources of the country are largely taken up and the free land +is practically all occupied. What then is to be the future of the great +mass of laborers unless a thorough-going system of industrial and +vocational training is made possible? The Industrial Commission appointed +recently by Congress found that three-fourths of the male laborers in the +U.S. earn less than $600 per annum, yet the U.S. Government has found "that +the point of adequate subsistence is not reached until the family income is +about $800 a year. Less than half the wage-earners' families in the U.S. +have an annual income of that size." + +Now the rich can take care of themselves and the very poor and unfortunate +cannot be permanently helped, but this great middle class, upon whom the +nation must depend in every crisis, can and must be assisted to the extent, +at least, that conditions be made possible through which they may raise +their efficiency and so increase their earning capacity to a point +commensurate with their needs. A thorough-going, national system of +industrial and vocational "preparedness" would solve this problem. + +The marvelous efficiency of Germany is due in large part to the fact that +her great middle classes have been made efficient through a national system +of trade schools. + +The prosperity and perpetuity of a nation rests largely upon its ability to +provide an adequate number of highly trained experts to be leaders, +inventors and executives. In a democracy, these skilled leaders are +especially important. Among the problems to be solved are questions of +government, education, finance, economics, business, industry, health, +manufacturing, engineering and mining. Any nation that lacks guidance in +these particulars is indeed weak and pitiful. The universities, colleges, +and higher technical schools supply nine-tenths of these experts, yet in +the U.S. to-day there are only 250,000 students enrolled in all the +colleges and universities of the country; this is about one to 500 of the +population, a number entirely inadequate to perform the tremendous service +that will be expected of this nation in the near future. + + + + +LESSON XXI + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. State the nature of the school. + +2. How did the ideal of universal education arise? + +3. State the chief function of the school. + +4. Name the habits and ideals peculiar to the school. + +5. What is the secondary purpose of the school? + +6. Contrast the efficiency of the home and the school. + +7. What high compliment may be paid to teachers? + +8. Is the comparison made between the home and the school overdrawn? + +9. Compare the practical school of to-day with the school of the past. + +10. Do you favor uniform dress for high school girls? + +11. What is your opinion of modern style which so many mothers foster? + +12. Have you any boys taking industrial work in school? + +13. Prove that high school education pays. + +14. What is the duty of a nation towards its great middle class? + +15. Do you believe in a national system of industrial and vocational +schools? + +16. Why are experts needed particularly in a democracy? + + + +THE DUTY OF THE STATE + + +_The Social and Civic Institutions of the State (Society) Exert a Powerful +Influence over the Lives of Children. The Citizen Must See to It that this +Great Educative Influence of His Community Is Uplifting in Nature_ + +The vital relationship existing between parent and child is easy to +understand, but the close interdependence of the individual and the state +is much more difficult to comprehend. Yet in a very real sense the +individual and the state are reciprocally related. But just as the body is +more than an aggregate of all of its cells, so is society (the state) +something more than the sum total of its individual units. That a group of +people, or even one individual, may exert an influence over the thoughts +and actions of others is a reality of profound significance; that there is +a social conscience as well as an individual conscience is a fact that +cannot be refuted, and the part played by custom and tradition in shaping +the history of the world can hardly be estimated. + +In view of the close relationship between the individual and society, it is +passing strange that while the individual is expected to possess a high +standard of character, society itself may indulge in all sorts of +questionable practices without so much as a challenge. Many a person winks +at the frivolity and immorality of society, while at the same time he +expects the most circumspect behavior on the part of his neighbor. The +existence of these two standards which ought to coincide but which in +reality are far apart is responsible for many failures in the training of +children. + +As soon as the infant begins to observe and imitate the actions of members +of the household, its social training begins; play with the neighbor's +child extends the process, and the social group or "gang" with which the +child associated, impresses permanently its thought and action. Frequently, +too, the chum or companion chosen by the child has more real influence over +its life than has the combined instruction of parents and teacher. As +already shown, the school is a social institution and the same is largely +true of the Sunday School. The example of adults also makes a profound +impression upon the conduct of children. The home and the school may teach +convincingly the injurious effects of tobacco and alcohol, but so long as +society sanctions the sale of these poisons and respected adults indulge in +them, just so long will the efforts of home and school, be, to a large +extent, counteracted. The same is true with respect to any other virtue or +excellence, the home, school, and church may unite in emphasizing the most +wholesome discipline, but so long as society is a living, seething +contradiction of this teaching, the instruction will fall upon deaf ears +and be but as "sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal." + +The fact is that our nation is yet too young to be fully conscious of its +opportunities and responsibilities. A democratic form of government from +its very nature must develop slowly towards its ideals. It must expect at +first to be much less certain and efficient in its action than is a highly +centralized government. This inability on the part of popular government to +attain its ideals is reflected also in its subordinate civic units; neither +state nor city governments have yet solved the problem of efficient and +economical administration, although it is a pleasure to note that some +cities are making real progress in this direction. In many communities, +however, the weakness of decentralized government is most apparent. This is +particularly true in many towns; here is seen too frequently a lack of +civic pride, inefficient officers and failure to enforce the law. + +The humiliating fact obtains that frequently a few lawless individuals +often not more than from 3 to 5 per cent of the population, are permitted +to set the moral pace, while the 95 per cent, of law-abiding citizens are +either asleep to their duties or else fail to see that the remedy is in +their own hands. In many instances a few persons are allowed to undermine +the morals of the community. In one town of our state a single individual +was permitted for 25 years to corrupt the morals of many young men of the +community through illegal traffic in liquor. + +Parents should realize that next to heredity the social factors in a +community are likely to be the chief influence at work moulding and shaping +the lives of their children, and in the long run they must not expect the +average child to be better than the community in which he lives. + +But the remedy for inefficient, free government is not far to seek; +universal education will solve the problem provided it includes, as it +should, instruction and training in civic and social duties. There is no +need to argue the superiority of democratic government over that of all +other forms; the freedom which we possess is worth all the suffering and +bloodshed of all the patriots that have ever lived. But nothing will run +itself; perpetual motion is a myth, and even a small town to be well +governed, must receive conscious, expert attention. + +Unquestionably, a free government is the most complex and difficult of all +forms of government to administer, but the problem can be solved, and the +secret of success will be found in the individual himself. He must become +educated to realize his full duties and responsibilities as a free citizen, +in other words, he must become socialized. He must get over the notion that +the school is the only educational agency and must understand that every +influence that modifies conduct is educative in nature. Especially must he +learn that the community itself is the chief civic and social educator of +children, and as such it should be consciously organized to perform well +this responsibility. + +Already communities are awakening to the need of perfect sanitary and +hygienic conditions, and clean town contests are the order of the day; this +is one of the most hopeful signs of better times, but there ought to be a +moral and mental awakening and contests for civic righteousness should be +inaugurated. Any community that can say: "In this town no influence is +permitted that could in any way corrupt the morals or ideals of children," +should receive the highest award in the gift of the people and its praises +should be commemorated in song and story. + +In ancient Greece every citizen regarded himself as a parent or guardian of +every child, and if any youth was seen in public to violate any of the +customs or ideals of the nation, it was the duty of the citizen to +chastise the boy and to otherwise instruct him in the duties of +citizenship. At the same time the citizen was careful himself to set an +example worthy of emulation. The result was the most perfect and harmonious +education that the world has ever seen--at once the inspiration and the +despair of all succeeding civilizations. Why should we not adopt some of +the Grecian methods suited to our needs? In Greece no citizen would think +of doing in public, or permitting to be done, anything which was not +desirable for the child to do either in public or private. Why should any +man who walks upright, with his head pointing to the stars, be permitted to +profane the name of Deity, to stagger under the influence of liquor, to +puff at a cigar, to gamble, to run a disorderly resort or show, to enrich +himself through the manufacture and sale of poisons, or to do anything else +that corrupts the community and destroys her children? Surely in our feeble +attempts at free government, the right hand knows not what the left is +doing. + +But the remedy, as I have said, is in the hands of the citizens. While it +is true that certain reforms to be most effective must be national rather +than local, such, for example, as prohibiting the manufacture and sale of +poisonous drugs, tobacco and alcohol, it is, nevertheless, evident that the +initiative must be taken by the individual. His first duty is to convert +himself and then his neighbors before any nation-wide reform can be +undertaken. + +It is one of the chief glories of a democracy that any desired good may be +obtained through conversion and co-operation. But since in most communities +90 per cent, or more of the citizens are law-abiding and would not +consciously do anything to destroy the children of the commonwealth, it +ought to be a simple matter to restrain the few that are lawless and +unsocial. There can be no possible doubt that any community that is fully +alive to its needs and responsibilities can bring about just such civic and +social conditions as it may desire. To help accomplish these purposes, it +is necessary that efficient officers are elected who will enforce the laws +and that public sentiment be aroused in support of these officials; in some +communities sympathy for law-breakers is so easily awakened that justice +cannot be enforced and law and order are placed in contempt. + +The citizen in a democracy should realize that his training and education +are never completed, that life itself is the great school-master and that +one of the chief pleasures of existence is continued study and +investigation. His occupation, no matter what it is, will offer him some +opportunity for study and improvement, and a portion of his leisure time +ought to be devoted to books and magazines. He may, also, if he desires, +take an extension course or correspondence work offered by a higher +institution of learning, some of which are making earnest efforts to take +the college to the people. Every citizen should at least be identified with +some civic, social, or industrial organization in his town, such as a +debating and literary club, an agricultural society, or a commercial club. +If each community would seek out and utilize the talent within its +precinct, it might develop an intellectual and civic consciousness that +would rival the spirit of ancient Greece. + +An old-time prophet uttered the inspiring thought: "The Glory of God is +intelligence," and the great latter-day Prophet added the supplement: "No +man can be saved in ignorance." It is the duty of the individual, +therefore, to be an eternal seeker after knowledge and perfection. In this +blessed age when the sun of education shines so brilliantly, none need to +slumber under the clouds of ignorance. May the sun shine until under its +regenerating influence the home, school, church and state may each awaken +to the full measure of its power and so prepare the way for the coming of +that mightier Son of Righteousness, who promises to reign for a thousand +years over a redeemed world. + + + + +LESSON XXII + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Show the close relationship between the individual and the state. + +2. Account for the two different standards of conduct. + +3. Indicate how social influences modify the character of children. + +4. How do examples of the use of tobacco and liquor affect children? + +5. Compare example and precept. + +6. Why must a democratic form of government develop its ideals slowly? + +7. Why is community government frequently inefficient? + +8. What per cent, of the population usually "sets the moral pace?" + +9. What is the remedy for inefficient free government? + +10. Why is the community the chief civic and social educator of children? + +11. What should receive the highest award in the gift of a people? + +12. How did Greece train her children? + +13. What evil practices should be prohibited in a community? + +14. What reforms should be national rather than local? + +15. How may the few lawless individuals be restrained? + +16. What is the duty of the citizen towards self-improvement and education? + + + + +PART II + + + +SUPPLEMENTAL STUDIES + + + +MAN'S PARTNERSHIP WITH NATURE[1] + + +_Dr. John M. Tyler_ + +_Nature will bear our burdens for us, if we will obey her laws and heed +her suggestions_. + +[Footnote 1: These supplemental studies are based on lectures by Dr. John +M. Tyler, given before the Utah Educational Association, by whose +permission they are used. Parents will find Dr. Tyler's book on Growth in +Education of great interest. It is listed with other books at the close of +this volume.] + +How has all the material progress of the nineteenth century come about? I +think we shall find that it was due to man's intelligently and carefully +and scrupulously going into partnership with Nature by obeying her laws. +Not so very many years ago messages were sent across this continent by +pony-riders; it was a slow process and a very expensive one. Now I step +into an office here and I say, "I wish to send a message to my wife way out +yonder in Massachusetts." The man touches a button and says, "Your message +is in Massachusetts, sir." It is a miracle. The lightning has run with my +message. Electricity not only carries our messages, it lights our houses; +it turns many a wheel of machinery; it serves us beneficiently just as long +as we obey the laws of electricity; but when we offend against these laws, +it thwarts us or very likely destroys us. "Obey, and I will do anything +for you in the world," says Nature, "disobey and you cannot move me one +single inch." Coal hurries our great locomotives and long trains of +merchandise and carries men and women across this continent without any +great amount of human labor. The engineer and the brakeman do not get +behind and push those great palace cars of ours; it is Nature which drives +the train as if it were sport. Man guides and directs the water pouring +down our hillsides, turning wheels of countless factories. A few ounces of +gasoline send the automobile down the street, polluting the air and +endangering our lives. The power of Nature is absolutely irresistible and +unlimited; and furthermore, she is always working towards some great and +good end. + +When I was a child I used to hear that Nature was bad, and we used to have +sermons to the natural man. They were excellent sermons, too, but they +ought to have been preached to the unnatural man. The natural child was +considered a child of wrath, and, having that reputation, he quite +frequently lived up to it; but Nature is beneficient, as long as we let her +be so, and she is always working toward great and grand ends. She has been +working towards a higher and nobler and a better race of men than you and I +are to-day. She is working for a race of men and women who shall tower +above us as the sages and prophets in Athens and Jerusalem towered above +their slaves. Can we not trust her just a little? + +Did you ever think that it is the most marvelous thing in the world that +such a thing as a chicken ever comes out of such a thing as an egg? If only +one chicken were hatched in a century, we would go from here to the +Himalaya mountains to see the miracle of that chicken coming out of that +egg. You put an egg under a very stupid old hen, and all the hen does is to +keep that egg warm, and leave it alone; after twenty days there comes out a +chicken. How in the world did that chicken ever frame that body? How did it +build the skeleton and string the muscles, and spin the nerves? If every +nerve in that body did not make just the right connection, that chicken +would be paralyzed. If you could watch the development of that chicken in +the egg, your hair would stand on end. Isn't it Nature that makes those +chickens? You and I can't make them. Nature puts a shell around the egg +with the express purpose that we are to keep our fingers out and let her +alone. She says: "I am on very important business now and I am going to do +some strange things; if you could watch me you would interfere with me, and +if you interfere with me, you will ruin me or ruin the chicken, so I want +you to stand to one side and leave me entirely alone; and while I might do +a good many things that you don't like, I shall bring a chicken out of that +egg;" and she does; she has been making them for thousands of years in that +same old stupid way, but she brings the chicken out all right. + +Sometimes she seems to blunder still worse. She takes an egg which we +suppose is going to turn into a frog, and she brings out of it a +tadpole--neither fish, flesh nor fowl nor anything else. After a while the +tadpole gets legs and has a long tail; it must lose that tail in order to +become a frog. A benevolent zoologist one day started in to help the +tadpole by snipping off the tadpole's tail; he made a frog of him in a +hurry, but the strange thing was that that frog never was able to leap +properly. Nature had been relying on the material that was in the tail. She +was going to shift it forward and put it in the hind legs, but when the +zoologist cut it off, she couldn't build the hind legs right after that. + +A good deal of our education seems to me like trying to make frogs in a +hurry by cutting off their tails. Nature can make chickens; she can make +frogs. She can make bugs that will eat up everything which human ingenuity +ever tried to raise. She will make weeds which you and I can't possibly +kill even though we fight against them all summer long. We can trust Nature +to form these things; isn't it fair to trust her with the children for a +little while at least? Wouldn't it be well--I never heard of this +experiment being tried, but I should like to see it tried very much +indeed--I do wish that sometime somebody would leave a baby alone for +twenty minutes and see what it would do if it were left to itself. + +What is the great characteristic of all living things? It is that they +grow; we cannot make them grow, but they grow of themselves. The farmer +plants his crop of corn. He doesn't get a jackscrew and put under every +hill of corn, and go around every morning and give the screw a turn and a +twist and hoist the hill up in the air. He prepares the soil as best he +can. He puts in the seed; he keeps down the weeds; he keeps out things and +living beings which will injure the crop as far as he can; then he leaves +it alone to God and Nature to make that corn grow, and in time he gets a +bountiful harvest. + +I believe that education some day will be somewhat like raising a crop of +corn. We shall learn to keep the child under the best condition possible. +We shall learn to keep down harmful and injurious surroundings or forces so +far as they can interfere with him. We shall stimulate growth in every +possible way; that I grant you; and when we have done that, we shall leave +the rest calmly to Nature and to the good Lord who made that child for some +good purpose. + +It is a grand thing to have the child learn to see for himself the glories +of this magnificent world. I verily believe that when you and I go home, +while the good Lord will be very merciful with us because of our sins, I +don't see how he can forgive many of us for not having had a great deal +better time in this glorious world in which He has put us. When you open +the child's eyes to the beauties and the glories of Nature you have done a +great thing for it. But, after all, that is not the grandest thing to my +mind. The grandest part is that every wave of vibration that goes in +through the eyes as the child looks at Nature, and pours into the brain, +stimulates that brain to a larger growth than it would otherwise possibly +have attained, and the child is a larger and a grander child for that +Nature study. + +We believe in manual training because it gives us skilled fingers and +enables us to do deftly and well a great many things which we otherwise +could not do at all, and which most of us men have to go to our wives and +ask them to do for us. But that is not the grandest part of manual +training; the grandest part is the reaction from the finger upon the brain, +stimulating the brain to realize all its ideals, and stimulating it so +that whenever it sees good work of any kind in this world it shall +appreciate it heartily and enjoy it with the joy of the artist. + +We speak of physical training and physical training is brain training in +the end, it is training in growth. It is very evident, however, that the +growth and development of a baby is something different from the growth and +development of a child; and the growth in the child is very different from +that in the youth and that of the youth from that of the adult. In the baby +the vital organs are growing faster. In the young child the muscular system +is coming to the front, and he runs and plays and through the stimulus of +that muscular exercise he brings out every organ in the body and gains that +magnificent health which he so much needs. + +Then, after a time, the brain comes to the front and grows and develops +more rapidly than any other part of the body. Our business as teachers is +always so to stimulate, by proper exercise, the growing organs that they +shall grow faster and further than they ever could without our aid. We are +not to always hasten it. This is one thing we must bear in mind: precocity +is the worst foe of a sound education. It is the boy and the girl who +mature slowly but mature surely that in the end possess the earth. We must +not hasten the process, but when we find the organ is ready to grow and +develop, then we must give it adequate stimulus. In other words, the +stimulus must be of the right kind, and there must be just enough of it, +just enough blood to stimulate the muscles, just as much study as will best +stimulate the growing and very immature intellectual centers in the brain. +Then we will increase the stimulus as the power increases and demands the +stronger exercise, and so stimulating the growing parts by adequate +exercise, we bring one part after another up to such development that we +have one harmonious whole of perfect health. + +You remember that when the old deacon in Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem +started in to build the one-horse shay, he said, "Every shay that has ever +been made has broken down, because there was always a weakest spot in it; +now I am going to make a shay that never will break down, because I am +going to make the weakest part just as strong as the rest." We cannot +always do that, but if we can make that part somewhere near as strong as +the rest, we are past masters in education. + +If we obey Nature's laws, all of her powers will be on our side; and with +all her powers on our side and the very stars in their courses fighting for +us, we cannot possibly fail, there is absolutely nothing which is +impossible to us. We must be strong and of good courage, if we are to guide +these little people into the land sworn unto their fathers before them. + + + + +LESSON I + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What is meant by the expression, "Man's partnership with Nature?" +Illustrate how man makes Nature serve him. + +2. In what way can man enter into a partnership with Nature regarding his +own body? + +3. What can man do best when it comes to making things grow? + +4. What do you think of the "hurry" methods in education? + +5. What is the most we can do in providing for the education of the child? + +6. How does Nature help us in the training process? + +7. What does Nature try to make sure of first in the child? + +8. When does the brain of the child begin to develop rapidly? + +9. What advice would you give about precocity in children? Why? + +10. What should we study in our children to give them a strong and even +development? + + + +CONSERVATION OF THE CHILD + + +_By Dr. J.M. Tyler_ + +When the good Lord sets out to develop a child, the first organ with which +He starts is the stomach. The stomach is the foundation of all greatness. +It is a matter of daily observation if not of experience that a man can get +along very well with very few brains, but a man can't get along at all +without a good digestive system. The digestive system furnishes all the +material for growth and the fuel which is continually burned or consumed in +our nerves and muscles. Now, any furnace requires besides fuel, a good +draught. When we burn the fuel, by uniting it with the oxygen thus brought +in, we get the energy which draws our locomotives and our great ships. +Similarly in our bodies, our lungs bring in the oxygen and the heart and +blood-vessels carry the fuel and the oxygen to every part of the body. But +every furnace requires a smoke-stack to carry off the waste, and, +similarly, we must have in our bodies an excretory system to remove the +waste of the burned-up material and of the used-up tissue of the heart, +muscles and nerves. This constitutes the digestive system; the lungs, the +excretory system and the circulatory system are absolutely necessary to +support the combustion which is going on in nerve and muscle and without +which energy is impossible. + +All productive labor manifests itself through the muscles. Our muscles +directly write the book, speak the word, build the railroads, do the deeds. +Our muscles are of very different ages. In the child the trunk muscles are +developed first; the shoulder muscles next; the arm muscles next; the +finger muscles last of all. The heavy muscles of trunk, shoulder and thigh +require but a small amount of nervous impulse or control, and they react +strongly on all the vital organs, as is shown every time that we take a +walk. The finest and youngest muscles of the fingers require a very large +amount of nervous control for a very small output of muscular energy and +their exercise stimulates the very highest centers in the brain, and this +is the great argument for physical training, that through one muscle or +another you can stimulate and develop as you choose either any vital organ +or the highest center in the brain. + +Never forget the maxim of the old German physiologist that "Health comes in +through the muscles and flows out through the nerves." The nervous system +was created for good and wise ends, but in many people it has become a +nuisance. Its use is to insure that every stimulus from the external world +shall call forth a response suited to the emergency. A fly lights upon my +face; I wave my hand and drive him away. The fly has tickled my face; there +is the external stimulus. A sensory impulse travels to the brain or to some +other center and a motor impulse goes from there to a certain muscle in my +arm which moves my hand and drives away the fly. The impulse has called out +a response suited to that emergency. You watch a cat walk across the lawn; +you will think that fool cat is going to fall down, it is going so slowly +and it can hardly raise one foot above the other, but watch it when it sees +its prey; every muscle seems to turn to steel; it is ready for the spring. +When that spring is made there is no energy wasted. After that the cat does +not move for two hours; no wasting energy there. Wasting of energy is a +sin. + +I awaken in the morning, and the first horrible emergency of the day +confronts me at once, I have to get up. How I get up I have no idea. +Professor James once said that when a man thinks about it he never does get +up, and that's right; but I find myself in the middle of the floor and that +is all I know, and then the cold air or the sight of my clothes or +something reminds me to start dressing, and the putting on of one garment +leads to the putting on of another. The pangs of hunger call me to the +breakfast table; the bell calls me to work; and so all day long response +follows stimulus; the day's work is a success or a failure according to the +response which I make to the stimuli which I receive. + +There is a marvelous picture given in the scripture in the parable of the +poor man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and getting wounded and left +by the road-side. Three men pass that way. They all see the same thing. The +light is reflected from the poor sufferer into the eyes of these +passers-by; a flood of vibration passes on to the brain and then the motor +impulses go out to the muscles. In the case of the good Samaritan, the +impulse went from the brain or the spinal nerve to the arms and he stooped +down and picked the poor fellow up and carried him off; while in the priest +and the Levite the impulses all went down into the legs and the cowards +hustled off for Jericho. + +A healthy nervous system is the rarest thing in this wide world. I have one +illustration in mind, which I always like to think of, which I am going to +give you of a perfectly healthy and normal nervous system. It was possessed +by a good old negro minister. He had been preaching to his congregation for +a long time on the subject of meekness and it had not produced the desired +effect; so he said to them one morning: "Brethren, I'se gwine to give you +the illustration of meekness for a week now and show you what it is," and +the old man did. His congregation naturally rose to the occasion: They +insulted his wife; they abused his children; they stoned his dog; they +stole his chickens; they did everything under the heaven to break down the +meekness of that man; but he went on through the week and came into church +the next Sunday and began to preach. The congregation recognized that their +time was short and they redoubled their efforts, but all in vain. Finally, +about five minutes before the closing of the service, he turned to the +congregation and said: "Brethren, I think I ought to denounce to this +congregation that my week of meekness is just about up, and when the clock +in yonder steeple strikes twelve, I'se gwine to quit preachin', close this +blessed Bible, go down from this pulpit, and then, Brethren, Judgment day +and hell is gwine to break loose on some of you." Now, that old colored +minister had an ideal nervous system. There had not been one single +response all that week long, and not one single stimulus which had come in +from the outside had been lost either, but it was all waiting to leap into +that good right arm when the emergency was to be met, in the fullness of +time, and I commend you to go and do likewise. + +It is only a step, thank fortune, from the ridiculous to the sublime, just +as it is only a step from the sublime to the ridiculous. Another +illustration of a perfect nervous system: You remember how our Lord spent a +whole day in preaching, in healing, working deeds of kindness, in pouring +out sympathy and comfort, the strain of which on a man's nervous energy is +worse than anything else in the world, and how at the close of the day He +went into the little boat, took the hard cushion on which the steersman +sat, threw it down in the bottom of the boat, and laid Himself down with +His head on that hard cushion and slept like a child through the rocking of +the boat and the roaring of the storm, until His disciples came to Him +saying, "Lord, save us: we perish." There is not one man in a thousand who +could do that work or could put out one-tenth part of that nervous energy +and then sleep like that. Anybody who thinks that the Prophet of Nazareth +was a weak or a feeble man has made the mistake of his life. He was perfect +physically or He never could have done His work. + +All this work of developing a steady nerve, of developing the vital organs +for the use of the muscles, has been going on until the child is nine or +ten years old. It has been going on very rapidly, and in as much as the +exercise has been suitable, as his digestion has been good, his growth has +been very rapid. During the first three years of its life the child +increases its weight more than three-fold. During the next three years it +adds over forty per cent. to this amount and between six and nine adds over +thirty per cent. more; and when the boy is about eleven years old, or the +girl is about ten, then the growth almost stops that year. It drops to a +minimum. I call your attention to this thought: the minimum growth is more +in a girl than in a boy. A girl is always more precocious than a boy. She +is a year older than he at nine or ten, and when she is fourteen, fifteen, +sixteen, she is two years older than the boy. When the girl is ten and the +boy eleven, growth drops to the minimum. Why is that? Nature is economizing +her material and husbanding her resources against the trying years which +are to come. + +You remember the story of the time when Pharoah in his dream saw the seven +fat kine followed and devoured by the seven lean kine; he was told that his +dream signified seven years of plenty, to be followed by seven years of +famine, and was advised to store up the harvests of the good years against +the hard times to follow. This is a picture of the child's life. The first +seven years of the child's life are years of plenty, when it is storing up +material for the years of hard trial, the years of famine, which are close +at hand. + +I am going to talk most of the girl because she needs more attention than +the boy. Growth is a very expensive process. It begins in the bone. When +the bones lengthen out, then every muscle, every nerve has to be lengthened +out to suit that extra length, and that means a great deal of waste for +that rebuilding, but it is something worse than that. You know perfectly +well that out of the butterfly egg there comes the caterpillar, and that +caterpillar goes into a cocoon, and during the life of the cocoon every +organ is changed there and it comes out a butterfly. That is what we call a +metamorphosis. + +The girl between ten and sixteen is undergoing a metamorphosis just as sure +as that caterpillar is undergoing a metamorphosis. If you leave town for a +few years and come back, you know all the old men and women haven't changed +any, except to die off. The babies have grown some; but the boy and the +girl seem to be grown all over again. That is, the girl whom you left at +nine years old and on coming back find her sixteen, has dropped down her +skirts, has drawn up her hair, and that is the butterfly cocoon, and it is +a mighty pretty butterfly cocoon. That is waste again. It is waste, waste, +on all sides and all of that waste is going into the blood, no other place +to put it; it ought to be got out at once. But there is another thing +about it; all the food must be digested, and so oxygen must be gained and +waste must be eliminated. All the organs in the trunk between those ages of +ten and fourteen are relatively both larger and smaller in girls than at +any other period of life. + +It looks as though Nature was making a bad blunder, but she is really +making the best of a very bad bargain, doing the best she can under hard +circumstances. With these small vital organs and this tremendous draught on +the body for new material and the large amount of waste to be eliminated, +you are sure to have trouble. That trouble is going to manifest itself +first of all in the blood. The blood is going to be poor blood during those +years, unless you remedy it. Poor blood, first of all, depresses the +nervous system, and the girl feels gloomy and good for nothing; she hates +to go out into the cold air because she chills; yet that cold air is what +she needs more than anything else in the world. She hates to make an effort +and won't take the exercise she needs if she can possibly help it. The +exercise she must have. Her appetite has gone all wrong. She likes to live +on caramels, pickles, and all such things as that. Now, my friends, I want +to tell you, when anything goes wrong with the appetite, then the whole +system goes wrong, remember that. Observations were made some years ago in +Sweden of a number of the bodily disorders that occur between the ages of +thirteen and nineteen. These examiners found that there was one disorder +which attacked, put in general numbers, sixty per cent. of the girls in the +Swedish schools between the ages of thirteen and nineteen, and, indeed, it +never fell below sixty per cent. and was usually a great deal more. In +Denmark, the examination was made in the field where the children are +healthier, and then the figures gave forty per cent. The troubles usually +show themselves in the form of pallor; the girl is pale. They frequently +break out in the form of headache, loss of appetite, resistance to marked +effort and sometimes with a cold. Now, if the seat of the cold is in the +blood, because it is loaded with waste and ought to be removed, there is +one thing sure, that waste never will be removed until it is thoroughly +oxidized. That is the first thing to do, oxidize it. The only way to +oxidize the blood is to get the lungs full of good, pure air. + +The girl wants just as much lung capacity as she can possibly get. We find +that the girl during those years is a little taller and a little heavier +than the boy, and she needs more oxygen to every pound of waste in the body +than the boy does, because the waste is going on faster. The average girl +has about three-fourths as much lung capacity for every pound of the waste +in the body, as has the average boy. What the girl needs is more lung +capacity to get in more oxygen. How is she going to get the lung capacity +sitting in the house? How is she going to get it when she is tied down in +the grammar school room with a book before her eyes? + +The worst of it all is that the girl leaves off playing games in the open +air just about the time when she needs them the most, and not having the +open air play and the open air games, she can't get the lung capacity and +the oxygen. Another thing that hinders the girl is this: there is no place +for her to play where she can do all she wants to and not have people +looking over the fence and finding fault with her for having a good time. +Every girl ought to have a place where she can play in the open air and not +be bothered and we ought to get more and more games for girls of that age. +Another thing, the exercise should not be too severe. Don't kill a girl +with physical training; because you can kill her that way just as you can +kill her with books. Some of our physical training is too severe for a girl +of that age. She must have plenty of the right kinds of games and they +should be in the open air, and they should be such as she will enjoy and +love; if they are not of that kind it won't help a great deal. If you can +build up lung capacity in that way then you are drawing in the oxygen; +then you are getting out the waste, and you will find the girl will come +out all right in nine cases out of ten. + +It is a fact, proved by physical examination, that all during this period +the better scholars have the larger lung capacity. Those of you who have +taught in the grammar schools year after year will know that a bright girl, +one that has been very bright, will have a year when she will come to you +and will be absolutely stupid and can't learn. "What ails the girl?" you +wonder. She will tell you, "I don't know what ails me; I can't learn +anything. I have become a fool and I was not always one." The trouble is +with the lung capacity; it isn't with the brain; the brain is all right. If +you tell that girl to wake up in order to make up that lack of mental +ability by studying harder, you are doing the unpardonable sin. I am +telling it to you straight. That is not the remedy. The remedy is more play +in the open air, then you will find that that girl's brain will clear up. +Many a poor girl has been put in poor condition by being urged to study +hard, when the fault was that nobody knew enough to turn her out into the +fresh air which the Lord intended she should have. + +We ought to have in every school five minutes, it would be better to have +ten minutes, between school exercises, when the girls can walk up and +down, chat with one another and get the blood out of the overloaded head +and down into the cold feet. Better still, turn them out in the open air +and let them run; that would be another blessing. Don't keep the girls +sitting too long at that period. Don't let them sit with wet feet or +skirts. That is just about as bad as getting smallpox. Teach them some of +the sense which you ought to have if you haven't. + +I haven't said a word for the boy, for this good reason: you can't kill him +if you try, thank the Lord. You can't kill him if you try, not because he +is so very tough; boys are not as tough as girls, physically; but you can't +kill them; because they won't let you; but I am sorry to say, some few +women teachers are killing off the future women. Again and again I have +heard it said by the girls: "We can get along all right with Mr. So and So; +we can get on the blind side of him all the time; we can fool him, but when +we try to get around Miss So and So she puts it to us awfully, and in the +neatest way, to get the work done." Now, why the women can't have a little +mercy on the younger people is something I cannot understand at all. + +And yet, while I haven't said a word for the boy, ought we not to regard +him a little? Now and then there is the ambitious boy, and then again there +is your studious boy; there is your bookish boy; there is your shy boy who +does not get into the games. He is the boy you should watch all the time. +There is the boy who has become delicate and finicky, because he has been +doddled at home. I hope you haven't got so many of them here as we have in +the East, but he is here and you must watch him, because his parents are +doing everything in the world to spoil him. You must stand on the Lord's +side of him if you can, for these boys need your help. If you give a little +excess of mercy, a little bit more physical vigor gained by this regime of +open-air exercise and exercise between the school periods, you simply will +be erring on the safe side and doing good to that girl and such boys, +because on these years of metamorphosis depend the life and the happiness +of the girl and the boy. + +Perhaps you are getting ready for examinations. I want to tell you Nature +has her examinations just as well as you do. Does not she examine the baby +and see that baby can't go on, and many babies do not go on. Then the death +rate sinks; at eleven and twelve it is very low, very low, indeed, only +perhaps two or three in a thousand, in many countries. Nature is giving +them a chance to see whether they will get ready for the second +examination. Right after or during puberty the death rate rises. At +eighteen, nineteen and twenty, it has gone up. That is Nature's second +examination, to see whether that boy or girl is fit to send out into the +world to take part in the great drama of life, and if she is conditioned at +this time, then it means invalidism for two, three, four, five years, and +if she is badly conditioned, it may mean death. When you are preparing +those girls for the examination, do not forget your own examination, +because it is coming on very fast. + +I have talked very plainly this morning and I hope you will forgive me. You +may say, "We don't need that talk now." I hope you don't. You will need it +in a generation or two; I don't care how strong that pioneer blood was +which has come down to your first generation here, we had just as good in +Massachusetts a hundred or a hundred and fifty years ago, but we are +getting rid of it just as fast as we can, the Lord forgive us; and you will +do that here if you don't look out. If you have strong, red blood, hold on +to it; because that is the grandest gift of God to man; it is a treasure +which must be handed down unimpaired from generation to generation, that +our boys and girls may be strong and efficient for the work of life which +lies before them. + + + + +LESSON II + + +(General Subject: "Conservation of the Child," read carefully the foregoing +lecture by Dr. Tyler.) + +_The Body as an Instrument of the Soul_ + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What are the teachings of the Latter-day Saints regarding the relation +of the body to the soul? + +2. In the light of these teachings, what is demanded of every Latter-day +Saint as to the treatment of his body? How are we living up to these +teachings? + +3. What are the four essential things we must do to keep the body engine +described by Dr. Tyler, in perfect condition? + +4. What would you think of an engineer who fed his engine dirt with his +coal, or let his draughts and flues clog with soot, or failed to remove the +clinkers, or let his engine get dusty and rusty? In what similar ways are +people neglecting their bodies? + +5. Discuss this as a health maxim: Clean food, clean air, clean water, +clean thoughts, and clean consciences. + +6. What was the Savior's constant command to the sick? + +7. Give one practical suggestion as to training children to take proper +care of their God-given bodies--of keeping them clean, both inside and out. + + + + +LESSON III + + +_The Foundation of Health_ + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +_Reference_: The foregoing lecture by Dr. Tyler. + +1. Discuss Dr. Tyler's remark: "The stomach is the foundation of all +greatness." + +2. Name three home habits which, in your opinion, are doing most to ruin +the stomachs, especially of children? + +3. Discuss the "piecing habit," the "sweetmeat craze," irregularity of +meals, and the "hurrying habit," as applied to disorders of the stomach. + +4. Someone said recently that people are paying more to-day to cure their +stomachs from ills brought on by bad habits in eating than they are to +build churches, schools and all other public improvements put together. +Discuss the assertion. + +5. How can parents save money now being wasted on stomach troubles, and at +the same time lay the foundation for good health in their children and +themselves? Give at least one way. + + + + +LESSON IV + + +"_Nerve Leaks_" + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +_Reference_: The foregoing lecture by Dr. Tyler. + +1. What are two good evidences of a perfectly healthy nervous system? + +2. Physicians tell us that nerve diseases are increasing at an alarming +rate in our country. What is the greatest cause for this increase? + +3. What home habits have you noticed that lead to nervousness? Discuss here +the effects of scolding, hurrying, talking, noise, lack of system, as +"nerve leaks." + +4. What practical suggestion would you offer to parents to help them to +bring control, calm and harmony into their daily lives--to make their homes +more places of rest and peace? + +5. What ways can we take to conserve and strengthen the nerves of our +children? Through what habits of life are we helping to wreck their nerves? + + + + +LESSON V + + +_Child Growth_ + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Discuss the varying stages of child growth, their rapidity, the critical +periods, etc. + +2. Growth means waste. By what means does the body get rid of the waste +that comes with growth and change? + +3. What are some of the ill effects of keeping this waste in the system? +Give your experiences and observations with children. + +4. When is the child's blood likely to be most loaded with the waste caused +by growth? How can we best help the boy or girl to clear the system of this +waste? What mistakes are we making in this vital matter? + +5. What practical suggestions would you give to our parents, teachers, and +communities to help them safeguard their children during dangerous periods, +and keep their pioneer blood clean and pure? + + + +THE ADOLESCENT BOY AND GIRL + + +GROWTH DURING THE HIGH SCHOOL AGE + +_Dr. John M. Tyler_ + +The boy and the girl during adolescence have now attained their full height +and practically their full weight, although the boy has a little to gain +still; they are pretty well grown by this time. If I had to choose between +two questions, the first might be, "Have you a good appetite?" but the +second question I would ask is, "What is your lung capacity?" The lungs +have increased very rapidly at fourteen to sixteen in the boy; in the girl +the increase has been smaller and quite irregular. It ought to be more +regular than it is, I am convinced. The heart has gained greatly in +capacity. The arteries have expanded much less than the heart, and the +result is that there is a much higher blood pressure than there has been at +any time before. The brain has attained practically full size and weight. +The addition now will be mainly in the very highest area, where the +addition of fibres might make all the difference between the possibility of +genius and the possibility of mediocrity. The sensory and the nervous areas +are fully matured. The higher mental area and the higher mental power are +now coming on to stay. + +The boy, you will notice, at this stage begins to argue a great deal more +than he ever did before. He wants to argue nearly every question. He likes +the debating society. His idea of heaven, it seems to me, is a place where +debating is indulged in. A goodly amount of exercise for those +psychological and mental powers will do him no harm. + +The mortality, or the death rate, is low, but the morbidity is increasing +at this time, in the boy at least. Vigorous physical exercise is now +needed. Ordinary play is not enough. Gymnastics also for the development +and training of the hand and the wrist, training in quickness and precision +of movement are all excellent exercise, all the finer muscles should be +trained now, and probably less training should be given to the heavy +fundamental muscles which are all important in childhood. + +Athletics are exceedingly useful. They should be, however, for all, and not +merely for a few who join the teams, who need them the very least of all. I +think our modern college athletics will some day be looked upon as one of +the most ridiculous habits of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. That +twenty-two men should engage in mortal combat, with anywhere from one to +twenty thousand on the side lines,--if you can get anything more ridiculous +than that, I should like to know where you can find it. Athletics should +not be too severe, however, yet, the boy ought not to have century runs and +long halves of football, especially if the heart is still weak. The tissues +of the body have not yet gained the toughness that they will gain at a +later time. Every commander in the field dreads to have boys of eighteen, +nineteen, or twenty sent to him, because, as Napoleon said of his young +recruits, "they die off like flies." The hard bed, with light covering, the +cold room, the cold bath will now aid in toughening the boy, provided he is +healthy; but under no circumstances begin that until the pubertal period is +fully by. + +The danger of over-pressure in the high school, especially after the first +year, is to my mind not very great. The boy and the girl now both stand a +good deal of work; but the greatest danger for the boy and the girl in the +high school is that they will take too much social enjoyment. An evening +theatre party, followed by a supper, a late dance, will take more strength +out of a boy and girl than three days of study. There is nothing that is +so wearing. If you can keep down the social over-pressure, I do not +believe the over-pressure from study will do any great harm in high +schools. + +The larger bodies, the large heart and lungs, well oxygenated blood, and +fresh vitality of every artery and tissue, gives a buoyance, a strength +and a courage, a source of power and sense of it too, a longing for +complete freedom, a revolt against all control, which the boy will never +feel later; if he does not feel it now. I am describing, perhaps, rather +the college boy than the high school boy; but bear this in mind, that I am +describing what your boys in the high school will be a year or two later if +they are not that now, and it is for this stage you must prepare them, +even, if they have not already entered upon it. + +A new, wide world, just as fresh as on the morning of creation, a new fire, +a life of boundless opportunity, which is endless in scope and time, are +opening out before the boy and the girl. They see the parents and the +teachers drag around, understanding, as they think, neither them nor life +itself; and they are right to a certain extent. There is no doubt about +that; we do not hold on to the vision of glory of this world and of this +life which we had in youth as we ought to and as it is our duty to do. The +boy and the girl criticize us fairly, when they think that we don't +appreciate this magnificent world in which we live. + +When a man gets to be my age, while I suppose he probably has more +humility, he comes to know and he comes to have a very cheerful, optimistic +view of the world. He has made up his mind that the Lord does not intend +to change the world a great deal anyhow, and, on the whole, he is very much +content to leave it the way it is. That is not so with young people at all. +The boy and the girl must learn and know all about it. That is one thing +they are determined to do at the outset. The boy girds up his loins and he +goes whither he will. He must taste of every experience for himself. He +will meet joy and sorrow with the same frolicking, welcoming spirit. He has +never been saddened by experience nor disillusioned by disappointment and +failure. He will try all the knowledge of good and evil if it costs him +Paradise. + +Nature is loosening every leading string now and is getting him free to +complete his own individual development and to forge his own character. We +cannot stop him if we would. It is very lucky that we cannot. It is better +that we should not stop him even if we could; nevertheless, he has very +little self-knowledge and still less self-control. Impulses well up from +changes going on within him or from stimuli which come to him from without. +He does not understand them. He does not know where they come from. He does +not know what they mean. He is ill-prepared to face them, and now he goes +one way and now the other. He has just about as clear a conception of the +value of time as a child has. He has not outgrown childhood in that +respect. He cannot possibly play a waiting game. That is the last thing +that he can do. If the sun shines to-day it is always going to be bright +weather. If the maiden of his adoration frowns to-day, the sun will never +shine again. He is either on the Delectable Mountain or in the Valley of +Humiliation, and he is far more frequently in the latter than we think. He +is rarely between the two, and he is not going to tell us when he is in the +Valley of Humiliation, nor when he is on the top of the Delectable +Mountain. + +There is a reticence about him at this time which we should learn to +respect and to reverence. I told you at the first meeting that Nature put +the shell around the egg so we would keep our fingers out of it, and Nature +puts that shell of reticence around the boy and the girl at that time so we +will keep our blundering fingers out and leave them to solve their problems +with their help and that of the good Lord who is watching over them. + +Authority has little hold over him at this time, traditions none at all. +The influence of early training which have rooted themselves in his very +life are very powerful and they will hold him, and the Lord have mercy on +the boy whose early traditions do not hold him at that time. Remember it +is not his fault; that is a sad thought for us parents. We must take the +responsibility for these defects in the early training of our children. + +The boy is led by class and group feeling at this time. You take him at +eight or ten and he is an admirable little fellow in many respects. He +wants to play fair, and if the other fellow does not play fair he will +smite him, just as Samson smote the Philistines, if he can, and that is the +occasion of much friction. After a time there is danger that he will not +play as fair as he did when he was younger, for a time at least, because he +is swallowed up in the team, or the society, or the group, or the gang, +whatever it may be, to which he belongs, and he will give himself body and +soul to help that team to win. This has its bad side, a very bad side, I +grant you. If you would understand the boy, every now and then you must +study the psychology of the mob. But there is a very good side also, +because he is generous to a fault. Now is the time in his life when he will +go down with the team, and in order for the team to win he will make a play +when you and I would hesitate to make it. We had better respect the boy. He +is loyal to his leader and to his friends. It is the epoch of the heart, +and out of the heart, remember, are the issues of life. He has a great deal +more heart than he has head knowledge at this time, and I confess I rather +like him for it. + +You remember what Paul says to those knowledge-worshiping Corinthians as to +knowledge: "It will vanish away; for we know in part." Those of us who have +lived more than half a century have seen nine-tenths of our knowledge +vanish away in just that fashion because we knew in part. But, says Paul, +there are some things that abide, and one of them is faith. That is never +done away with; another is hope, and the third and sure abiding thing is +love, which is three-thirds in the heart, and out of the heart are the +issues of life; the heart is often wiser than the head. Do not under-value +and never despise the value of the greatness of heart in the boy; for Great +Heart is the only champion who ever killed Giant Despair. + +The boy at this age is seeking for a king. He is very likely to be like old +St. Christopher, he will serve the strongest if he can find him. Tides of +religious feeling are sweeping in on him now; but if you want to convert +him you must hold up before him no mediaeval example, but the great, +magnificent, athletic life of that Divine Master who has been so often +misrepresented to us. + +He is a very lovable being, that boy is, at times. Oh, you are reverencing +him to-day; well, then bear in mind that probably about the same time +tomorrow morning you will be gripping for the scruff of his neck, and when +you grip him, grip him hard, it is no time for half-way measures. Never hit +a boy at that age with a switch. If you do you are lost. Either don't hit +at all or hit hard. + +A great deal of the child still remains in him, his instability, for +instance. He might well say of himself, "my name is legion." In the +remainder of his young life everything that is trifling and worthless all +comes to the surface, just as it does in the fermenting liquor, the strong +and sweet are all hidden below the froth. You cannot see it. You can very +easily do him injustice. You must sympathize with him. Remember your own +foolish youth when you were his age; remember your own blunders and then +you will have a great patience with him and great admiration for him, +because these blunders are not a great deal worse than they are. If you +can't do this, then leave him to Nature, for you cannot help him. + +We found, during the years of puberty, a physical metamorphosis, when the +body was all made over, and now, during those years of adolescence we have +a mental metamorphosis that is just as complete as the physical +metamorphosis. All things are becoming new. They have not become new yet, +but they are becoming new; hence it must be a time of instability, of +self-education, of the strange mixture of the very new and the very old, +the bad and the good, of that which is passing away and which has passed +away long ago, and that which has not yet come. Look a little deeper into +him; you will find he has a pretty good primitive system of morality; it is +a very primitive one, consisting mainly of loyalty to his friends. Treat +him "square," as he says, and fairly, and then you may purr and curb him +just as you will. + +Remember that tides of religious power and influence have been sweeping +through him. The first one came probably at twelve, if we may trust our +statistics; the second stronger, at fourteen, and then the third--perhaps a +good many don't feel the first one or second--the third perhaps at sixteen. +The one which comes over him at sixteen will affect heart and intellect and +will, and everything, and he will stay converted probably. If you convert +him at twelve, he probably will fall from grace before he is fifteen. It is +rather interesting to notice that those periods when his experiences are +likely to be very deep and very strong, are the years when his chest girth +is expanding the most rapidly. A very good bit of physiology or psychology +or of anything else you choose to call it, to learn is this: + +If you want to convert a man to religion, get plenty of good, fresh air +into his body; you never can do it in an ill-ventilated room. + +It is a period of seeing visions and of dreaming dreams; you know that, if +you remember your boyhood and girlhood. Those dreams and visions are the +most substantial things there are in his life or in yours or mine; for +"where there is no vision the people perish." Wendell Phillips used to say +that "the power which overthrew slavery and hurled it to the ground was +young men and young women dreaming dreams by patriots' graves." There is a +good deal more than rhetoric in that statement. Endless possibilities are +in these dreams and visions. It is a period of promise, of magnificent +promise, which you and I as teachers are privileged to see afar off before +they are even glimpsed by his parents and many of his friends. + +The great question now is, Will the promise and the vision ever be +realized, or will they fade out and disappear and leave him a Philistine? +And lucky if he is not a brute, for the only brute in this world, my +friends, is a degenerate man. When you hear a man say that he has cut his +eye-teeth, and he has got rid of his dreams and his visions, then may the +Lord have mercy on the soul of that man, because he is dead. The +all-important question now is, Can you get that dream and that vision so +burned into his memory, so blazing before his eyes, that he will never +forget it and never lose sight of it, and win it if it costs him his life? +Then you have educated him. + +These visions are far more important than all of the science, even the +biology, that a man can learn in college. It is the business of the parent +and teacher at this time to bring to birth and to sturdy growth high aims, +purposes, ideals, the whole spiritual life. Your business in early +childhood is with the physical, because that is the important thing at that +time, if you can build a very healthy little animal, you have done well; +but during the high school age you must build the spiritual. If you don't +feel this, I cannot explain it to you; and if you don't feel this within +you, if it is all meaningless and mere noise, don't you dare teach a high +school, for you are not big enough nor deep enough to do that. + +The great question, after all, is not how much learning have you been able +to put into him, but how much of the finer ambitions, how much power, how +deeply and strongly they hunger for the very best. An ounce of inspiration +at this time is worth more than a pound or a ton of learning; I am no foe +of learning, either. The high school is and will remain the people's +college. It is the only college that a great part of the people ever will +know. Do not neglect that great fraction who are never going to get +anything higher and beyond in order to put your time on those who are going +on to colleges and universities. You must be the people's support, and you +may well thank fortune that it doesn't seem to be nine-tenths of your +business out here in the West to fit boys and girls for a college +examination. If that ever threatens to become your business, then you +withstand it and face it to the death, for there is nothing will ruin +education faster than that; I know sorrowfully whereof I speak. + +You remember in "Pilgrim's Progress" that when Christian had left the +Interpreter's House, he strayed away and went down into the Valley of +Humiliation, where he walked between the snares and was in danger of +falling into many a pitfall; there he wandered through darkness; there he +could not see the Delectable Mountains any more, and there he fought with +Giant Apollyon for his life; but when Christian passed that way he did not +find it half so bad by any means. He had a companion by the name of Great +Heart, remember, and Great Heart said to him, "Do you know that the soil of +this valley is probably the most fertile that the crow flies over?" + +The Valley of Humiliation, my friends, stretches sharp and clear athwart +the life of every man and woman between the Interpreter's House of his +early education and of his dreams and visions, and the Delectable +Mountains, and we all have to depart to it whether we will or no, and it is +the most fertile soil that the crow flies over, for in that Valley of +Humiliation men's muscles and nerves become steel, and man becomes the +shadow of the great rock in the Weary Land, and through heartaches the man +and the woman are made the soldiers and the choice heroes of Jehovah +Himself. It is into that Valley of Humiliation that the boy and the girl +are going to go from school after they leave you, and you must fit them for +it; many of you know well enough what it is and know what help they need. + +You have read, all of you, a good many times probably, this marvelous +passage from Isaiah: "They that trust in the Lord shall renew their +strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not +be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." I never thought what that +meant until one morning in college chapel our president turned to us and +said: "Most of you think that is an anti-climax," and we would say: "Why, +of course, for a man cannot fly like the eagle. He can walk down hill, what +is the use talking about that walking down hill." The old man shook his +head and said: "No, no. Anybody can fly like an eagle in his imagination; +when we are beginning any new work or any new study or anything new, we +fly; but after a time we cannot fly any more, we come down to a run; and +the man who wins out is not the man who can run, but the man who can 'walk +and not faint,' for that man has the endurance that we want." + +There was a time some years ago--that has gone by too, thank fortune--when +we used to paraphrase things; that is, turn very good English into very bad +English. You wish to have a boy or girl catch the spirit of the poem, do +you not, to find in it inspiration and power, to find a beauty in life that +never was on sea nor land? A sweet voice is a very excellent thing in a +woman, and a very unusual thing in a man. The eye is not the grandest sense +organ we have; the ear is the path-way to the heart, and that is what you +want to understand. Did you ever try reading a beautiful poem or story +aloud to your children at your fireside or to the class and put your very +life's blood into it? I remember some things that a little girl teacher in +Massachusetts read to me a great many years ago, and there is a dent in my +old heart still. Try it some day. They cannot understand the poem, but they +feel it. It has gone deeper than the intellect. It has gone into the heart +and through the heart, it has got hold of the will and it has transfigured +the spirit and the whole being. In this way you are certainly teaching +literature; nobody can deny that. You have awakened a new interest. You +lead and inspire the adolescent to share your very best and highest +enthusiasm. After you have done that a few times your pupils will demand +the best; they won't be content with anything poor. + +The highest human thing in the end is character, and character is formed +very early, very shortly before the boy leaves the high school. Just how it +is formed I do not know, but I know one thing, that while I cannot tell +anything about how successful a man will be intellectually in life from +what he does in college, or, sometimes, I cannot tell very much about how +large he will grow mentally, I know that boy will not rise very much higher +morally than he stands in college when you send him there. If, then, he has +secured a moral training and influence, I firmly believe he will stay so. +If he does not come to us in that shape the probability is that he never +will change for the good, but if he is filthy he will remain filthy still. +His character is made very largely in the high school. + +How can you reach it? I think you can reach it a good deal through +literature. I do not see how anybody can read Mr. Hawthorne or Mr. Emerson, +and not long to be a gentleman, and feel as if he would like to be worthy +to kiss the hem of the garment of those literary gentlemen. You can read +history. You can make history a dreary chronicle. You can learn of kings +who never ought to have been born, and when they died, when they ought to +have been dead fifty years before, and all the long list of battles fought +which never ought to have been fought. You can make it just such a weary +chronicle. You do not, nowadays, thank fortune; I have seen teachers that +did. Or you can make that history the Eleventh Chapter of Hebrews, and you +can write your own Eleventh Chapter of Hebrews, if you will, for that +chapter never was intended to be finished; and if you cannot add to it with +your pioneer history of those who fought their way across the plains here +fifty or more years ago, then you are teaching history to mighty little +effect to this generation here in Utah. The whole story is just this, if +you can saturate your pupils with the character of just such men and women +as that, then you have trained a generation of heroes and nobody can spoil +them. + +That is what, it seems to me, Mr. Martineau means in that dark passage, "We +shall never have a proper system of education until we have a proper +religion." We are a good deal lacking in the study of the Bible nowadays. +We go to it to prove the text, to "break the scales" of our adversaries, +and for other purposes. I do not use it for that purpose myself. If you +will read that old book until you can walk the street arm in arm with +Gideon and David and Jepthah and old Samson, too, yes, heaven bless him, +and Moses and Samuel, the prophets, then we are reading it to some purpose. +Until you know them all as your best friends, you have not begun to read +that book; for that is what it was intended for. The Bible is an advanced +text book of biology, the science of life. If you will train your boys and +girls to walk the streets and live with the heroes of the world, make them +form an intimate friendship with them, then you have trained those boys and +girls to be heroes themselves. + +Did you ever try reading to them the defense which old Socrates makes, +which Plato wrote down for us? I do not know whether Socrates ever said it, +but it was worthy of him. Read it to your boys and girls some day. See what +they say about the Apology. And read the Crito. Let them sit with Socrates +in his prison there on the hillside and listen to his discussion, until, as +he says, he hears the voice of the law ringing in his ears and he cannot +hear anything else, and stays on to die. When the prison door is opened for +him to walk out, provided he would walk out with dishonor, he will not go. +Let them see the old hero die in Athens as the sun goes down. You have not +only awakened a new interest, you have evoked a higher life, and that is +what we are after, that is what you and I are here for, that is the only +way in the end to beat the record. That is the essential power of great +leaders, of great prophets, and of great teachers, and the seat of it is in +their personality. + +I don't know what I am talking about there either, for personality defies +analysis and it defies resistance. It leaps from soul to soul just like an +infection. We hear a great deal about the infectiousness of bad things and +people are always talking about infectious disease and of corrupting +influences in the world and all that sort of thing. Do you suppose the Lord +has made this world so that everything that is bad is contagious and +everything that is good is not contagious? Are you going to slander the +Lord like that? It is about time that we wake up to the fact that the real +genuine article of goodness is a good deal more contagious than smallpox. + +Heroism and hero-worship is the central thought of history from the time of +Gideon to the time of Sheridan, and down to our present time. Virtue, we +must remember, should strike just like electricity from a dynamo. You +remember that was the continual word of that Great Master of ours. Someone +in the crowd has touched me, Virtue has gone over into somebody else. +Virtue has gone out of me; strength has gone out of me and gone over into +somebody else. I am talking about something that I do not understand; but +something that you will know. Have you never, at the close of the day, when +you were tired, discouraged, wondered whether it is worth while to keep up +the fight? When you had been knocked flat and were pretty sure you were +out, and then you sat down for a little time by some strong man or strong +woman, and probably they did not say a great deal to you. They were men and +women of few words, and you did not say a great deal to them, but after a +little it began to come upon you that come what would you would fight +again? Courage had come into you. You do not know where it came from, or +how it came in, but you borrowed it and you go on your way the stronger +because of the infection from that strong man. + +We must be healthy and strong and sympathetic. We must be a child with the +child and a boy with the boy, and yet we must lead and not follow. We must +be firm and patient and hopeful and courageous, and we must infect these +boys and girls with the very best that we have in us and something that is +a little better yet, and how are we going to get it? Why, we must be +continually infected from others; that is the only way. I don't care how +big your reservoir is, your irrigation reservoir, if there isn't a stream +going into it, it is going to be empty sometime. Look out for the streams +which come in from the hills and the heights of glory into your lives. + +This is the glory of our life and our work. You are making the youth of the +twentieth century, as I said to you, and you are doing something grander; +for every bit of good that you give here in Utah will spread back to us in +Massachusetts and you are moulding the race into conformity with that which +is deepest and most permanent and most eternal in environment, and hence +all the powers of Nature are on your side. + +"We are two," said Abbe Bacha to Mahomet, as they were plodding from Mecca +to Medina. "No," answered Mahomet, "We are three. God is with us." We cast +in our efforts with this grand tide of events which is sweeping on toward a +better age and better race, and we cannot fail. Therefore, let us gird up +our loins, be strong and of a very good courage; for, as I have said to you +once before, you shall lead these little people into the land of hope and +promise which the Lord swore unto their ancestors, their fathers, that He +would surely give them. + + + +GENERAL SUBJECT + + +_The Adolescent, or High School Age_ + +Read carefully the foregoing lecture on "Growth During the High School +Age," by Dr. Tyler, for all these succeeding lessons. + + + + +LESSON VI + + +ATHLETIC NEEDS OF BOYS AND GIRLS + +1. What steps have ever been taken in your community to provide for proper +athletic sports for the young? What success came of these efforts? + +2. Give two reasons why wholesome physical recreation is necessary for +growing children. + +3. What games and sports do you consider best for boys? For girls? Why? + +4. What dangers come from uncontrolled athletics? + +5. What do you think about the value of school athletics that develop only +a team? + +6. What can be done, (1) by the parents, (2) by communities, + +(a) To provide for wholesome games and sports for all the children? + +(b) To provide proper leadership and supervision of these things? + +(c) To regulate the excesses and check evils of the athletic spirit? + +(d) To provide proper places in which to play? + + + + +LESSON VII + + +SOCIAL NEEDS + +1. During what years does the desire to be with "the crowd" manifest itself +most strongly in boys and girls? + +2. What difficulties come to the parents in the management of boys and +girls during this time? + +3. In what ways can parents best exercise control over the companionships +of their children during this vital period? + +4. In what ways can the social needs of boys and girls be provided for in +the home? + +5. How far can and should parents go in participating in the pastimes of +their children? What can be done to keep up the spirit of companionship +between parents and children? + +6. What can communities do to put down the "street corner" habits and the +"hoodlumism" that comes of the boy gangs? + +7. What pastimes and practices can be fostered to bring about a +higher-minded companionship among young people? + + + + +LESSON VIII + + +KEEPING OUR BOYS AND GIRLS AT HOME + +1. What are the first indications that our home is losing its hold upon our +boy? Our girl? + +2. What influences are at work in each instance? + +3. Is it because conditions outside the home offer more, or is the home +offering less of that which the boy or girl desires? + +4. When you find your boy going to the pool room do you throw his deck of +cards into the fire and advise him as to what will happen if he attempts to +use such things in or about the house? + +5. When your girl shows a preference for taking her leisure at Smith's or +Brown's rather than at home, do you at once adopt a code of rules and +proceed to make emphatic statements as to your intention to enforce those +rules and also to impose certain penalties? + +6. Did it ever occur to you that "desire" may be diverted, but that it +cannot be destroyed? + +7. Is it not best to divert by substitution rather than by prohibition? +Also to substitute in kind as near as may be? + +8. What are you doing in your home to satisfy the desire which takes your +boy or girl to the neighbors or the public places? + +9. What share are you taking in the interests of the growing boy or girl? + +10. Parents, are you companionable? Do you get into the boy or girl's field +of discussion? Do you talk _with them_ rather than _to them_? Do you get +into their games, their troubles, their pleasures, their life? + + + + +LESSON IX + + +1. What certain acts or omissions entitle a boy to be classified as +"wayward?" + +2. The first sign of waywardness is the breaking of what commandment, if +any? + +3. Under any condition would you let your boy know that you considered him +wayward? + +4. Should your regard for, as shown by your treatment of the wayward boy, +differ in the slightest degree from your regard for your treatment of the +circumspect, dutiful, and obliging boy? + +5. Does the worst tendency of the boy call for any more from us than mere +direction? + +6. Is not the boy's worst offence a bad form of satisfying a good desire? + +7. What is your method of dealing with your boy? Is it "Never do that" or +"Better to do this?" + +8. Do you ever undertake to show the boy how much more of the thing he is +after he can get out of a method that is all around helpful than one that +is all around harmful. + +9. How would it do to substitute jointly planned "Do's" for unqualified +"Don'ts"? + +10. In almost every instance can you not justly ascribe the boy's +waywardness to an unnatural companionship on your part or to no +companionship at all? + + + + +LESSON X + + +SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT IN BOYS AND GIRLS + +"_Training the Child in the Way He Should Go_" + +1. Quote from the Doctrine and Covenants a passage wherein parents are +admonished as to their duty in teaching the Gospel to their children. + +2. Give three first steps in religious training in children. + +3. What difficulties and successes have you, as parents, met with in +cultivating your little ones? proper habits in prayer, in attendance to +Sunday School and in other religious duties? To what do you ascribe your +success or failure? + +4. At what age do boys and girls grow most careless as regards religion? +(Study the statistics of your Sabbath School on this point.) + +5. Is it true that our religious training fails most just at the point +where the boy and girl are in greatest need of it? What are the causes of +this failure? + +6. What can and must parents do to reinforce the Sunday School and our +other organizations in their efforts to guide the boy and girl safely +during their teens? during the critical periods of life? + + + + +LESSON XI + + +LIFE LESSONS DURING THE WAYWARD AGE + +1. Show, by citing examples from history, that youth is a period of strong +religious tendencies. What can be done to keep the "dreams of youth" on +high ideals? + +2. What stories? what lessons? to boys and girls at this time? What books +appeal most impressively to boys and girls at this time? + +3. Recalling the things that left deepest impress on you for good or ill +during the period of "the teens," what advice would you give as to +cultivating in a child right feelings for religion? + +4. Wherein do we as religious teachers most fail to get the boy or girl? + +5. In what way should the Bible be taught during this age? + +6. What individual work with boys and girls can and should be done by +parents and teachers to guide the children past the dangerous places? + + + + +LESSON XII + + +TEMPTATIONS OF BOYS AND GIRLS + +1. What are the commandments children are likely to break first? + +2. In what ways are homes often responsible for habits of lying, stealing, +profaning the name of God, and other sins? + +3. How are the seeds of impurity often sown by thoughtless parents in the +home? Discuss here the vulgar story, and other evil suggestions. + +4. What loose habits in companionship and courtship are being permitted by +parents to lead their children into evil? + +5. By what effective means can parents co-operate to check the looseness +and rudeness and sinful practice that blight our homes and communities? + + + + +REFERENCE BOOKS FOR PARENTS' CLASSES + + +The following list of books will be found very helpful in this Study of +Children. The Public Library should provide these books for the parents, or +the class may be able gradually to build up such a library for class use. +These can be bought at the Deseret Sunday School Union, Salt Lake City, +Utah. + +1. A Study of Child Nature, Elizabeth Harrison, National Kindergarten + College, Chicago, Ill. $1.25 + +2. Religious Education in the Family, H.F. Cope, University of Chicago + Press. $1.25 + +3. The Right of the Child to be Well Born, Dawson, Funk & Wagnalls, New + York. $.75. + +4. The Jukes Edwards Family, Winship. $1.20. + +5. The Meaning of Infancy, Fiske, Houghton, Mifffin Co., Boston. $.35. + +6. Education, Herbert Spencer. $.75 + +7. Fundamentals of Child Study, Kirkpatrick, Macmillan Co. $1.25. + +8. Elementary Psychology, Phillips, Ginn & Co., Chicago. $1.25. + +9. The Care of the Child in Health, Oppenheim, Macmillan Co. $1.00 + +10. The Healthy Baby, Dennett, The Macmillan Co. $1.00. + +11. The Care of the Baby, Holt. $.75. + +12. The Child and His Religion, Dawson, University of Chicago Press. $.75. + +13. Child Nature and Child Nurture, St. John, Pilgrim Press. $.50. + +14. The Problem of Boyhood, Johnson, University of Chicago Press. $1.00. + +15. The Function of the Family and the Recovery of the Home, American +Baptist Pub. Soc. Each, $.15. + +16. The Dawn of Character, Mumford, Longsman, Green & Co. $1.20. + +17. Peril and Preservation of the Home, Jacob Riis, Jacobs Co., +Philadelphia. $1.00. + +18. Training of the Girl and Training of the Boy, McKeever, Macmillan. + Each, $1.50. + +19. The Moral Conditions and Development of the Child, Wright, Jennings + & Graham. $.75. + +20. Marriage and Genetics, Reed, Galton Press, Cincinnati, Ohio. $1.00. + +21. The Coming Generation, Forbush, D. Appleton & Co., New York. $1.50. + +22. Stories and Story Telling, St. John Eaton and Main. $.35. + +23. Our Child Today and Tomorrow, Grunenburg, Lippincott. $1.25. + +24. Misunderstood Children, Harrison. $1.23. + +25. Town and City, Jewett, Ginn & Co. $.50. + +26. After Twenty Years, Middleton. $1.25. + +27. Training of the Human Plant, Burbank. $.60. + +28. Education, Resources of Rural and Village Communities, J.K. Mart $1.00. + +29. Being Well Born, Guyer. $1.00. + +30. Growth in Education, Dr. John M. Tyler, Houghton, Mifflin Co. $1.50. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Parent and Child Vol. III., Child +Study and Training, by Mosiah Hall + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10916 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..68c518f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10916 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10916) diff --git a/old/10916.txt b/old/10916.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b64215 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10916.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4851 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Parent and Child Vol. III., Child Study and +Training, by Mosiah Hall + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Parent and Child Vol. III., Child Study and Training + +Author: Mosiah Hall + +Release Date: February 2, 2004 [EBook #10916] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHILD STUDY AND TRAINING *** + + + + +Produced by John Hagerson, Kevin Handy, Andrea Ball, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +PARENT AND CHILD + +BY MOSIAH HALL + +Volume Three + +Child Study and Training + +1916 + + +FOR THE DESERET SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION, SALT LAKE CITY + + + + +A WORD OF INTRODUCTION + + +Home-making and the rearing of children is the fundamental business of this +world. To make a success of this business we must understand it. The loving +hearts of many parents are suffering for a multitude of mistakes that +loving intelligence might have prevented. We cannot save our children in +ignorance. To perform the duties of parenthood well, we must understand +them more clearly. We need light and uplift. These days demand greater +knowledge than ever before on the part of parents to meet and master the +problems that now confront fathers and mothers. + +Particularly do we need to study child nature. A clearer understanding of +the laws governing the development of children would give parents great +help in guiding their children into paths of righteousness, and in +ministering to varying child needs as they develop. + +To give definite help and new spirit to our work, this volume has been +prepared. The keynote of the book is _a more enlightened parenthood_. It +offers a series of lessons along a line most vital to parents--_Child Study +and Training_. + +These lessons have been written for us by Mosiah Hall, Associate Professor +in Education of the University of Utah, and High School Inspector for the +State of Utah. We feel that he has done for our cause most excellent +service, and we gladly acknowledge our indebtedness to him. + +This should be remembered: A book gives wisdom only in proportion to the +thought that is put into it by the reader. The suggestions of this volume +will become rich only as they are enriched by study. They will become +valuable only to the extent that they find application in our daily lives. +The lessons will be vitalized only as the teacher pours life into them. + +To supplement and enrich the course, references are given with most of the +lessons, and a list of books is offered at the close of the book. Many of +these volumes have already been purchased and distributed through the +parents' class library. Each class should endeavor to procure at least one +copy of each of these books as it is called for in the various lessons. In +this way a good library can be gradually built up. + +Our desire is to make these studies bring lasting returns for good. May God +add his blessings to make our work divinely successful, + +Your brethren in the gospel, +Parents' Class Committee of Deseret Sunday +School Union Board, +HENRY H. ROLAPP, HOWARD R. DRIGGS. +NATHAN T. PORTER, EPHRAIM G. GOWANS. + + + + +A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR + + +This treatise on child study and training has been prepared primarily for +the Parents' classes in Sunday School under the direction of the General +Board. It is well adapted also for study by Parent-Teachers' Associations +and for reading in the home. + +Its purpose is to acquaint parents with the most vital problems of child +life and character and to suggest some methods of solving these problems. +The work is not offered as a complete course in this great subject; it is +intended rather to open up the field of child study for parents. + +The welfare of the race depends upon the proper birth and the correct +rearing of children. That this little volume may add its mite towards +the solution of the problem--at once the hope and the despair of +civilization,--is the wish of its author. + +To the Parents' Class Committee and the General Superintendency of the +General Board, I desire to express my appreciation for the suggestions and +help they have extended to me in the preparation of this work. + +To my wife, who achieves in practice what I imperfectly state in theory, +these studies are affectionately dedicated. + +MOSIAH HALL. + + + + +THE BIRTHRIGHT OF CHILDHOOD + + +_It Is the Sacred Right of the Child To Be Well-Born_ + +If the child has any divine right in this world, it is the right to be +well-born, to be brought into the world sound of body and whole in mind. To +be given anything short of such a good beginning is to be handicapped +throughout life. Education and training cannot make up for the defects +imposed on the child by the sins of the fathers, which, the Good Book tells +us, are visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. + +It is a fact to challenge attention that the child is the product of the +entire past. His essential nature is comparatively fixed at birth and is +beyond the power or caprice of parent or environment to change in any +fundamental particular during the short period of a lifetime. This +assertion must not be wrongly interpreted; the possibilities of training +and education are great, but they can do little to overcome all of the +defects placed upon the child by heredity. + +Science tells us that normal children are born with the same number and +kind of instincts. By instinct is meant the tendency to do certain things +in a definite way without previous experience. In all children, for +example, we find the instinct of fear, the instinct for play, for +self-preservation. These instincts begin to manifest themselves more or +less strongly as the child develops. + +Children also have certain capacities. Capacity may be defined as the +possibility to develop skill in certain directions. One, for instance, may +have a greater capacity to develop musical ability than another; so with +art or business, or ability for any other work. Capacities, more than +instincts, seem to depend on the characteristics of parents or immediate +ancestors. Thus a child may take after father or mother, or grandparent in +this or that particular ability. Instincts, on the other hand, seem to be +his inheritance from the race. But whatever his gifts from parent or past +the child is born a distinct individual. This is true not only with regard +to his physical organism but in respect to his spiritual nature. The +relative strength of his instincts, added to the number and quality of his +capacities determine what is called individuality. This is what makes each +child differ from all others, and this distinctive nature cannot be +essentially changed, within our brief lives, though it does possess +marvelous powers of development and adaptation. For illustration: +Cultivation may develop a perfect specimen of a crabapple, but no amount +of careful training could change the crabapple into a Johnathan. Likewise, +no system of education can hope to change a numskull into a Newton, or to +produce a Solomon from a Simple Simon. + +The first vital concern of parents, therefore, should be to see that the +child is not robbed of his sacred birthright to be well-born. + +It is a matter of regret that the white race generally is such a sorry +mixture of humanity. The good and the bad, the intelligent and the +ignorant, the feeble-minded and the strong, the criminal and the righteous, +have been combined so frequently and in so many ways that the marvel +is that more of the human race are not degenerate as the result of +contamination. Since the great characteristic of heredity is to breed true +and thus perpetuate its kind, and since training and education must take +the individual as he is, with only limited power to change his intrinsic +nature or to develop any capacity not present at birth, it becomes a matter +of serious importance that parents do all in their power to guide properly +the mating of their children. The teaching of the Gospel on this point is +most significant. + +Heredity determines to a great extent the kind and the nature of the +individual, and thereby sets limits, which the environment may not +overcome. Among these limitations are the following: + +1. The relative strength of instincts. + +2. The number and kind of capacities. + +3. The form, size and quality of bodily organs. + +4. Susceptibility to, or power to resist disease. + +5. The possibilities of mental attainment. + +6. The possibilities of emotional and spiritual response. + +7. The possibility to execute undertakings, to control situations, and to +govern self as well as others. + +Heredity also endows a person with his peculiar temperament, with his good +or bad looks, and with the chief components of what is called personality. +On the other hand, training and education have almost everything to say +respecting the relative standing of the individual among the members of his +kind--whether or not he shall be a blighted or a perfect specimen. A fine, +sweet, juicy crabapple is more desirable than a scrubby, diseased Jonathan. + +It is the province of training and education to take the individual as he +is born, and endeavor to make of him a perfect specimen of his kind. "A +child left to himself bringeth his parents to shame." If left alone or +improperly trained, a child is almost certain to revert to a lower type of +individual. The same high possibilities that, properly directed, produce +the superior being, if neglected, or subjected to a vicious environment, +produce the moral degenerate. The child is born morally neither good nor +bad, and while inherited tendencies may make development in one direction +easier than in another, it is possible for a favorable environment, +assisted by education, to develop any normal child into a sweet, wholesome +product of his kind. + +Shearer in his "Management and Training of Children," says: "The child may +inherit instincts, but a kind Providence has ordained that he shall not +inherit habits. He may inherit certain tastes, but he does not inherit +temptation. He may bring into the world tendencies, but he does not bring +with him prejudices." + + + + +LESSON I + + +_Questions for Discussion_ + +1. What does the expression "being well-born" mean to you? + +2. What responsibility is laid upon parents by the fact that the child is +the product of the past? Read the second commandment here and discuss its +significance in application to this point. + +3. What are some of the instincts and capacities given to the child by +heredity? + +4. Explain the difference between an instinct and a capacity. What seems +to be the source of our instincts?--our capacities? + +5. What are the chief limitations placed by heredity upon the child? + +6. What may education and environment hope to accomplish? + +_References_: "The Right of the Child to be Well Born," will be found a +helpful book to study here. It may be well, if the book is available, to +have someone appointed to report on it or to read a few choice paragraphs +from it. Also read "Being Well Born," by Guyer. + + + +IMPORTANT LAWS OF HEREDITY + + +_A Wise Application of the Laws of Inheritance Is the Most Certain Means of +Developing a Superior Race_ + +In the preface of Dr. Guyer's remarkable book, "Being Well Born," we read +the following: "It is no exaggeration to say that during the last fifteen +years, we have made more progress in measuring the extent of inheritance +and in determining its elemental factors than in all previous time." If +this is true, it would seem to be almost criminal for teachers and parents +to neglect to acquaint themselves with the fundamental laws of heredity. +This author says further: "Since what a child becomes is determined so +largely by its inborn capacities, it is of the utmost importance that +teachers and parents realize something of the nature of such aptitudes +before they begin to awaken them. For education consists in large measure +in supplying the stimuli necessary to set going these potentialities and of +affording opportunity for their expression." + +_Mendel's_ law is probably the most important known principle of +inheritance. Through its application practically all of the improvements in +plants and animals have been brought about. This law may be explained as +follows: A certain kind of pure bred fowl is found which is either pure +white or black. If either color is mated with its own color the resulting +progeny will be true to the color of the parents, but if a white and a +black are crossed the result will be blue fowls possessing one-half the +characteristics of each parent, but strange to say, if two blue fowls are +mated the progeny will not be all blue, one-fourth will be white like one +grandparent, another one-fourth black like the other grandparent, and +one-half will be blue like the parents. If this experiment is repeated with +plants and animals having opposite characteristics, the same ratios as +above always result. This indicates that truly heritable traits or +characters are separate units and are inherited independently. The breeder +is thus enabled through selecting the traits or characters that are wanted +and crossing them with a well-known stock, to produce almost any trait or +quality that he desires. This law makes it possible to estimate the results +of cross breeding with almost mathematical exactness. Improved varieties of +fruits, grains and vegetables have been produced in this manner, and with +animals marvelous results have been achieved. + +Luther Burbank, in his little book, "The Training of the Human Plant," +says: "There is not a single desirable attribute which, lacking in a +plant, may not be bred into it. Choose what improvement you wish in a +flower, a fruit, or a tree, and by crossing, selection, cultivation and +persistence, you can fix this desirable trait irrevocably." And further: +"If then we could have twelve families under ideal conditions where these +principles could be carried out unswervingly, we could accomplish more for +the race in ten generations than can now be accomplished in a hundred +thousand years. Ten generations of human life should be ample to fix any +desired attribute. This is absolutely clear, there is neither theory nor +speculation." + +_Acquirements of parents_ during their lifetime, according to the best +authorities, are not transmitted to any noticeable extent to their +children. This appears to be due to the fact that the cells concerned in +reproduction are set aside during embryonic life and from then on are +practically unmodified by the succeeding development and experiences of the +parent. In fact, during the lifetime of the individual, the germ cells are +so completely isolated from the growing organism that nothing but +nourishment in the shape of blood can possibly reach them, hence they can +be affected only by a vitiated or poisonous blood supply. It seems to be +true, therefore, that only the old, deeply-impressed traits, capacities, +or racial characters can be inherited. This is, no doubt, the chief secret +of the power of heredity to breed true. + +It has been a popular belief that if parents acquired skill in music, +mathematics, or special ability in any other particular that such ability +could be imparted to their children, but in the light of the above facts, +this appears to be impossible. Of course, if such ability is a slumbering, +inborn trait of either parent, or of some immediate ancestor, the ability +might be transmitted. + +It is reasonable to suppose, however, that any acquired trait or ability +of the parent, if practised and continued steadily by his children and +their descendants for many generations, will come to be an inborn trait +or character capable of being transmitted. Otherwise, it is extremely +difficult to understand how the human family can progress and become +permanently improved. + +_Galton's_ law is believed to be approximately correct. It may be stated +as follows: Children inherit on the average one-half their characteristics +from parents, one-fourth from grandparents, one-eighth from +great-grandparents, and so on in ever diminishing ratio to remote +ancestors. But owing to the fact that some inheritable traits or +characters are likely to be dominant and others recessive, Galton's law +must be modified, so that only under the most favorable conditions can it +be regarded as reliable. + +Owing to the fact that the primary elements or traits of character +contributed by each parent may combine in many ways in the embryo, +considerable variation in the children of the same parents is +inevitable--one child may resemble the father, another the mother, and +yet another some near ancestor. Variability is, therefore, the rule among +offspring in the same family, and in some instances it is decidedly +pronounced, but in all cases, the variation must be confined to the +possible combinations of characters transmitted from parents and ancestors. + +_The law of regression_ represents the tendency of the extreme elements of +the race constantly to seek the middle or mediocre level. For example, the +children of superior parents are not likely to be so brilliant as their +parents, and the offspring of inferior people are somewhat better than +their parents. This "drag of the race" or "pull of ancestors" is no doubt +due to the fact that selection has never been practiced, hence the +two-thousand nearby ancestors were most likely an average lot of people, +and the "pull" is from the higher towards the lower level. The "pull" is a +help to the children of inferior parents but is a handicap to the superior. + +If long-continued selection of parents were practiced, the regression +would disappear and the "pull" would be upward. Selection of parents +possessing superior elements of character and the prevention of the unfit +and the criminal from propagating their kind, seem the surest hope we have +of producing a permanently higher type. + +It is well known that the extremes of the race are less fertile than the +means; and since fertility is the chief factor in fixing the type, in the +absence of selection and repression, the race appears doomed to remain at +the dead level of mediocrity. The tremendous significance of this fact is +that the welfare of the race--the gradual substitution of a superior for +the present mediocre type--rests absolutely upon the willingness and +ability of the superior class to do their full share in propagating the +race. + + + + +LESSON II + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What is the principle of heredity as discovered by Mendel? Explain by +illustrating how it works out in plants and animals. + +2. What practical application is made of this law in producing better seed +and better breeds? + +3. Illustrate Galton's law. + +4. What significance has these laws in the improvement of the human race? + +5. Account for the variability of children in the same family. + +6. Why are some children inferior, some superior to their parents? + +7. Illustrate the "pull of ancestors." + +8. How might this "pull" be made upward instead of downwards, as it now +seems to be? + +9. What sacred responsibility rests upon superior people to propagate the +race? + +10. What are the gospel teachings regarding mixed marriages and the rearing +of families? + +11. What practical steps can and should be taken to prevent feeble-minded +and vicious people from propagating their kind? + +_Reference_: The Jukes-Edwards family by Dr. A.E. Winship. If this book be +available, have some member of the class make a report on it. "Training the +Human Plant," and "Being Well Born," will also be found helpful here. + + + +THE MOTHER AND THE EMBRYO + + +_The Care of the Mother During the Embryonic Period Determines Largely the +Future Welfare of the Child_ + +In common with every organism the infant develops from a single germ cell +of almost microscopic size. Wrapped in this tiny cell are all the +possibilities of structure and character that combine to form the +complicated bodily organism and the particular mental endowment of the +coming child. + +It was once believed that almost any kind of physical or mental change +could be brought about in the cell through appropriate control of the +environment, but the results of careful observation and experiment are +opposed to this view; all evidence points to the fact that no new character +or element can enter the embryo from without. The cell itself holds the +secret of what the future individual shall be. + +The sole connection between the embryo and the mother is the narrow, +umbilical cord which contains no nerves and whose only function is to carry +blood to the growing organism; it may be seen, therefore, how impossible it +is for mental impressions and disturbances on the part of the mother to in +any way reach and affect the embryo. Once started on the road to +development, the embryo is so thoroughly subject to inner laws that nothing +from without can modify or change the direction of its growth except some +physical cause which interferes with the blood supply. An adequate supply +of pure blood is the principal requirement of the growing organism. +Whatever interferes with the blood supply or in any way affects its purity, +has an injurious affect upon the embryo. There is not the least doubt that +lack of nutrition and serious ill-health on the part of the mother have an +extremely bad effect upon the unborn offspring. Severe shock or grief, +worry, nervous exhaustion, disease, and poisons in the blood of the mother +are the most serious sources of injury; they render nutrition defective and +if poison enters directly the blood of the mother or is generated by toxins +through disease, the embryo will be poisoned and may be destroyed. Among +these poisons are alcohol, lead, and the toxins from tuberculosis and the +venereal diseases, gonorrhea and syphilis. To gonorrhea is attributed 80 +per cent. of the blindness of children born blind; it is declared to be the +cause of 75 per cent. of all the surgical operations for female disorders +and of 45 per cent. of involuntary sterility in childless women. Syphilis +is the chief cause of feeble-mindedness, paresis, or softening of the +brain, and of most other mental defects in children. + +From the foregoing, it is evident that the proper care of the mother so as +to insure a pure blood supply for the offspring ought to be one of the +chief concerns of society. This should not be left to the haphazard efforts +of individuals but ought to be provided for by the state. According to the +statements of life insurance companies, "expectant mothers are the most +neglected members of our population." Dr. Van Ingen, of New York City, +estimates that 90 per cent, of women in this country are wholly without +prenatal care. + +Luther Burbank shows that in order even for a plant to grow properly it +must have abundance of sunshine, good air, and nourishing food; but not +many mothers at this time may have even these poor luxuries. Instead, too +many mothers are slaves to an insanitary kitchen where sunshine is scarcely +known and where overwork and worry destroy all appetite for food. + +The welfare of the race demands that the mother shall be properly nurtured +and protected during this critical period. Abundance of sunshine, pure air, +light exercise and a variety of wholesome food are absolutely essential, +and the utmost pains should be taken to prevent worry, excitement, sickness +and above all contact with or exposure to poisons or disease. + +It was once thought that whatever causes a mental disturbance in the mother +leaves its impress on the child. It is fortunate that this old notion is +false, as we have shown nothing but a physical change affecting the blood +supply can possibly influence the developing organism. Now and then a red +"flame" spot or so-called birthmark is found on the new-born child, but +this is due always to some physical cause which may be easily explained, +never is it a result of fear of some red object on the part of the mother. + + + + +LESSON III + + +DISCUSSION + +1. How does embryonic life begin? + +2. What is characteristic of the cell? + +3. What secret does it hold? + +4. What is the principal need of the embryo? + +5. State fully how the blood supply may be vitiated and what terrible +consequences may follow. + +6. How should the mother be cared for during this critical period? + +7. How may mother drudgery in the home be reduced to a minimum? + +8. What directions does Mrs. West give for the care of the mother? (See +bulletin, "Parental Care," by Mrs. West, which may be had free for the +asking. Address Children's Bureau, Department of Labor, Washington, D.C.) + +9. _References_: The following books will be found helpful: "The Training +of the Human Plant," by Burbank; "The Right of the Child to be well born," +by Dawson; "Being Well Born," by Guyer. + +If these are available, they may be circulated through the parents' +library. + + + +THE PLASTIC AGE OF CHILDHOOD + + +_Prolonged Infancy and the Long Period of Plasticity in the Infant Make +Training and Education Possible_ + +The child is born the weakest and most helpless of creatures. Unlike the +young of most animals, which within a few hours after birth move about and +perform most of the movements necessary to their existence, the infant is +so helpless that all its needs must be supplied by parents, otherwise it +would perish. Immediately after birth a colt or calf can walk or run almost +as fast as its mother; the chick just out of its shell can run about and +peck at its food. The child at one year of age can barely totter around and +all of its needs must be looked after by others. Moreover, the infant at +birth is practically blind and deaf and the senses of taste and smell and +touch just sufficiently developed to enable it to take nourishment. + +This slowness of development, or prolonged infancy as it is called, is of +vast significance to the child. It marks at once the chief distinction +between the human infant and the young of all other animals. It makes +possible a long period of adjustment and training which otherwise would be +impossible. Most animals are born with a nervous system highly developed +and with most of the adjustment to the environment ready made, so that +after a short time all the activities of life are perfected and thereafter +automatic action and instinct rule their lives. Because of this lack of +infancy and absence of plasticity of the nervous system, animals are little +more than machines that perform their task with unvarying regularity in +response to outside stimulations. Animals, therefore, are unable to adjust +themselves to a change in environment, and as a result their lives are in +constant danger. In fact, countless millions of the lower forms of life are +perishing every hour because of the lack of possibility of adjustment. + +The child, on the other hand, has an extremely long period of infancy, and +as a result, the nervous system is so plastic that it may be moulded, +fashioned and developed in almost any manner or direction, according to the +will of parents and the nature of the environment. The child, consequently, +may be educated. By education we mean the training and developing of +desirable instincts and capacities and the inhibiting of undesirable ones +so that the child may be able constantly to adjust himself to an +ever-changing environment. + +Fiske, in "The Meaning of Infancy," Chapter 1, says: "The bird known as the +fly-catcher no sooner breaks the egg than it will snap at and catch a fly. +This action is not very simple, but because it is something the bird is +always doing, being indeed one of the very few things that this bird ever +does, the nervous connections needful for doing it are all established +before birth, and nothing but the presence of the fly is required to set +the operation going. With such creatures as the codfish, the turtle, or the +fly-catcher, there is nothing that can properly be called infancy. With +them, the sphere of education is extremely limited. They get their +education before they are born. In other words, heredity does everything +for them, education nothing. + +"All mammals and most birds have a period of babyhood that is not very +long, but it is on the whole longer with the most intelligent creatures. +The period of helpfulness is a period of plasticity. The creature's career +is no longer exclusively determined by heredity. There is a period after +birth when its character can be slightly modified by what happens to it +after birth, that is, by its experience as an individual. It is no longer +necessary for each generation to be exactly like that which has preceded. +The door is opened through which the capacity for progress can enter. +Horses and dogs, bears and elephants, parrots and monkeys, are all +teachable to some extent, and we have even heard of a learned pig, and of +learned asses there has been no lack in the world. + +"But this educability of the higher mammals and birds is, after all, quite +limited. Conservatism still continues in fashion. One generation is much +like another. It would be easy for foxes to learn to climb trees, and many +a fox might have saved his life by so doing; yet quick-witted as he is, +this obvious device has never occurred to him." + +The vital problem with parents is how to fill this period of plasticity, +how to provide an educative environment of the right kind. + +Luther Burbank, in "The Training of the Human Plant," expresses complete +confidence in the power of the environment through appropriate training to +fashion the normal child, just as he could a plant, into a most delightful +and beautiful specimen of its kind. He says: "Pick out any trait you want +in your child, granted that he is a normal child, be it honesty, fairness, +purity, lovableness, industry, thrift, what not. By surrounding this child +with sunshine from the sky and your own heart, by giving the closest +communion with nature, by feeding this child well-balanced, nutritious +food, by giving it all that is implied in healthful environmental +influences, and by doing all in love, you can thus cultivate in the child +and fix there for all its life all of these traits, and on the other side, +give him foul air to breathe, keep him in a dusty factory or an unwholesome +school-room or a crowded tenement up under the hot roof; keep him away from +the sunshine, take away from him music and laughter and happy faces; cram +his little brains with so-called knowledge; let him have vicious associates +in his hours out of school, and at the age of ten you have fixed in him the +opposite traits. You have, perhaps, seen a prairie fire sweep through the +tall grass across a plain. Nothing can stand before it, it must burn itself +out. That is what happens when you let weeds grow up in your child's life, +and then set fire to them by wrong environment." + +Mr. Burbank is probably over-enthusiastic in his belief that natural +education can do everything for the child; but it is certain that +environment does exercise a powerful influence, during the plastic age, in +determining his character. + + + + +LESSON IV + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Compare the helplessness of the infant at birth with the ability of the +young of other animals. + +2. At one year of age, what is the comparison? + +3. What is the significance of prolonged infancy respecting (a) possibility +of adjustment to environment, (b) possibility of training and education, +(c) possibility of profiting from experience, (d) the relation to heredity? + +4. What advantage is it that man is born with the germs of many capacities +instead of with a few activities that are perfectly developed? + +5. What is the chief function of education? + +6. What does Burbank say respecting the possibilities of training? + +7. What common-sense training should every child be given during this +period? + +Good books, for further study on these points, are: "The Care and Training +of the Child," by Kerr, and "Fundamentals of Child Study," by Kirkpatrick. + +If these volumes are in the library or otherwise available, it may be well +to have some member read and give a brief report on one or the other of +them. + + + +THE NEEDS OF THE INFANT + + +_The Infant's First Needs Are Physical, and May Be Summed up in the Word +Nutrition_ + +The new-born child differs in nearly all particulars from the adult. It is +very unfortunate that the child in the past has been regarded as a +miniature adult and treated like "a little man." + +The structure of muscle and bone and the proportion of various parts of the +body differ materially; the bones of the child for some time are soft and +largely composed of cartilages which may be easily bent out of shape and +permanently injured. The ratio of some of the parts is about as follows: + + * * * * * + +Height of head of adult to that of infant--2 to 1 +Length of body of adult to that of infant--3 to 1 +Length of arm of adult to that of infant--4 to 1 +Length of leg of adult to that of infant--5 to 1 + +Besides these easily observed differences, there are others of far more +consequence not easily seen, such as differences in the size, structure and +activity of vital organs, and in the almost total lack of nervous +development in the child as compared with the adult. All of these things +make of the child an individual so different from the adult that he must be +treated in accordance with his own nature and needs and with little regard +to the way in which an adult is considered. + +Practically everything that the infant needs may be summed up in the one +word _nutrition_. A sufficient supply of pure milk from the mother is the +one supreme requirement. If this is assured, everything else is almost +certain to follow. Of course, the little one must be kept at the right +temperature, which is comparatively high during the first few months. An +abundance of pure, fresh air also must be supplied to both mother and +child. It is wise for both to spend much time in the open air and to sleep +on a screened porch. + +The child should be kept quiet and permitted to sleep as long as nature +dictates. It is a positive sin to snatch the child from its bed, toss it up +and down and screech at it for the edification of curious visitors. Kissing +the child in the mouth should also be positively prohibited. The use of +patent medicines likewise, or even many of the "old mother remedies" should +never be indulged except on the advice of a competent physician. The needs +of the child for some time are strictly physical. Inner forces are at work +which cannot be assisted except indirectly through care of the physical +organism. So far as nervous or mental development is concerned the rule +should be, "Hands off, let Nature take her course." + +Immediately after birth certain reflexive and instinctive movements, such +as sucking, crying, sneezing and clinging are manifested; and the sense of +taste and usually smell are also sufficiently active to enable the infant +to take nourishment. No other senses are active and no other movements +possible except the automatic action of vital organs and a few vague +spasmodic twitchings and movements of parts of the body known as impulsive. +Nothing, however, can be done from without to hasten the mental awakening; +Nature in her own due time will do this, and do it much better if not +hurried or interfered with. + + + + +LESSON V + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Show that the infant is not an adult in miniature. + +2. What are some important differences between the child and the adult? + +3. What is the supreme need of the infant? Why? + +4. What should be observed in caring for the child? + +5. What should be avoided in caring for the child? + +6. What should be the rule in early mental development? + +7. What is active in the child immediately after birth? + +"The Care of the Child in Health," by Oppenheim, will be helpful here. If +the book is in the parents' library, let someone prepare and make a brief +report on it for next lesson. + +The following other helps may be had for the asking by writing to the U.S. +Bureau of Education: "Parental Care," by Mrs. West, Series No. 1, +publication No. 4, U.S. Department of Labor, Children's Bureau. The +following chapter is taken from one of these bulletins prepared for parents +by our Government. + + + +CARE OF THE BABY IN SUMMER + + +_Summer Is a Critical Time for the Infant, During This Time It Should +Receive the Most Careful Attention_ + +A baby must be kept as cool as possible in summer, because over-heating is +a direct cause of summer diarrhea. Even breast-fed babies find it hard to +resist the weakening effects of excessive heat. Records show that thousands +of babies, most of whom are bottle-fed, die every year in July and August, +because of the direct or indirect effects of the heat. Next in importance +to right food in summer are measures for keeping the baby cool and +comfortable; frequent baths, light clothing and the selection of the +coolest available places for him to play and sleep. + +A baby should have a full tub bath every morning. If he is restless and the +weather is very hot, he may have in addition one or two sponge baths a day. +A cool bath at bedtime sometimes makes the baby sleep more comfortably. For +a young baby, the water should be tepid; that is, it should feel neither +hot nor cold to the mother's elbow. For an older baby it may be slightly +cooler, but should not be cold enough to chill or frighten him. + +If the water is very hard a tablespoonful of borax dissolved in a little +water may be added to three quarts of water to soften it. Very little soap +should be used and that a very bland, simple soap, like castile. Never rub +the soap directly on the baby's skin, and be sure that it is thoroughly +rinsed off, as a very troublesome skin disease may result if a harsh soap +is allowed to dry on the skin. + +Use a soft wash cloth made from a piece of old table linen, towel, knitted +underwear, or any other very soft material, and have two pieces, one for +the face and head and one for the body. The towel should be soft and clean +also. Even in summer the baby should be protected from a direct draft when +being bathed lest he be too suddenly chilled. + +A young baby should be carefully held while in the tub. The mother puts her +left hand under the baby's arm and supports the neck and head with her +forearm. But an older baby can sit alone and in summer may be allowed to +splash about in the cool water for a few minutes. + +When the bath is finished the baby should be patted dry, and the mother +should take great care to see that the folds and creases of the skin are +dry. Use a little pure talcum powder or dry sifted corn starch under the +arms and in the groin to prevent chafing. If any redness, chafing, or +eruption like prickly heat, develops on the skin, no soap at all should be +used in the bath. Sometimes a starch, or bran, or soda bath will relieve +such conditions. + +_Bran Bath_. Make a little bag of cheesecloth and put a cupful of ordinary +bran in it and sew or tie the top. Let this bag soak in the bath, squeezing +it until the water is milky. + +_Starch Bath_. Use a cupful of ordinary cooked starch to a gallon of water. +(If the laundry starch has had anything added to it, such as salt, lard, +oil, bluing, it must not be used for this purpose.) + +_Soda Bath_. Dissolve a tablespoonful of ordinary baking soda in a little +water and add it to four quarts of water. + +_Clothing_. Do not be afraid to take off the baby's clothes in summer. All +he needs in hot weather are the diaper and one other garment. For a young +baby this may be a sleeveless band which leaves the arms and chest bare, +and for an older baby only a loose, thin cotton slip or apron, or wrapper, +made in one piece with short kimono sleeves. Toward nightfall when the day +cools, or if the temperature drops when a storm arises, the baby should, of +course, be dressed in such a way as to protect him from chill. + +Cotton garments are best for the baby in summer. All-wool bands, shirts and +stockings should not be worn at any time of the year, and in hot summer +weather only the thinnest, all-cotton clothing should touch the baby's +skin, unless he is sick, when a very light part-wool band may be needed. In +general, neither wool nor starch should be allowed in the baby's clothing +in summer. Wool is too hot and irritating and starched garments scratch the +baby's flesh. + +The baby should be kept day and night in the coolest place that can be +found. The kitchen is usually the hottest room in the house, especially if +coal or wood is burned for fuel. While the mother is busy with her work the +baby should be kept in another room, or better, out of doors, if he can be +protected from flies and mosquitoes. + +A play pen, such as is described in "Infant Care," a booklet published by +the Children's Bureau and sent free on request, makes it possible to leave +the baby safely by himself on the porch or in the yard, after he is old +enough to creep. + +A screened porch on the shady side of the house is a boon to every mother, +affording a cool, secure place for the baby to play and also to sleep. Let +him have his daytime naps on the porch and sleep there at night during the +heat. + +Do not be afraid of fresh air for the baby. He cannot have too much of it. +Night air is sometimes even better than day air, because it has been cooled +and cleansed of dust by the dew. + +The essentials in the summer care of babies are: + +1. Proper food, given only at regular intervals. + +2. A clean body. + +3. Fresh air, day and night. + +4. Very little clothing. + +5. Cool places to play and sleep in. + +Do not give the baby medicine of any sort unless it is ordered by the +doctor. Never give him patent remedies which are said to relieve the pain +of teething, or to make him sleep, or to cure diarrhea, for such medicines +are likely to do the baby much more harm than good, especially in summer +when the digestion is so easily disturbed. It is so much easier to keep the +baby well than it is to cure him when he is sick, that wise mothers try to +take such care of the baby that he will not be sick. + +Do not fail to give the baby a drink of cool water several times a day in +hot weather. Boil the water first, then cool it, and offer it to the baby +in a cup, glass, or nursing bottle. Babies and young children sometimes +suffer cruelly for lack of drinking water. + + + + +LESSON VI + + +QUESTIONS ON TEXT + +1. What are the chief causes of sickness and death among children during +the summer time? + +2. What are the best preventatives for baby ills during the hot months? + +3. Discuss the importance of bathing and tell how to bathe the child. + +4. What is the best way to dress the child during the heated time of the +year? + +5. What provisions should be made for his sleeping? + +6. Discuss the use of patent medicines. + +7. What should be done regarding the drink of the child? Why? + +8. What can best be done by the well-to-do and by the community as a whole +to protect and preserve the babies? + +_Reference_: Selections from "Child Nature and Child Nurture," by St. John. + + + +CHILD ACTIVITY + + +_This Activity Is Expressed in Simple Reflexes, Complex Instincts, or +Internally Caused Impulses_ + +As already mentioned, the physical needs of the infant are supreme. Proper +nourishment, the right temperature, bathing, and an abundance of fresh, +pure air constitute all of his requirements. The child is endowed, however, +with an enormous capacity for movement which is the outward expression of +his awakening mental life. + +The first great mental fact to note is that the infant is born with the +capacity to respond to stimuli both from without and within. Touch the lips +of the new-born child with the nipple or even the finger, and immediately +the sucking instinct takes place; let a bright light shine into the open +eye, and the iris at once contracts; plunge the little one into cold water +or let it be subject to any bodily discomfort and at once the crying reflex +takes place. The simple, direct responses to stimuli such as sneezing, +coughing, wrinkling, crying, response to tickling, etc., are termed +reflexes. The more complex responses which are purposeful and are designed +to aid or protect the organism, such as sucking, clinging, fear, anger, +etc., are called instincts. Besides the movements which are the direct +result of stimulation, other movements more or less spasmodic and +uncoordinated take place which seem to be the result of internal causes not +easily understood. + +The whole body is usually involved in these movements, and they are at +first extremely random in expression. These are termed impulses and are +undoubtedly due to the fact that the infant is a living, breathing +embodiment of energy, seeking the means of self-expression. In other words, +the infant is active from the beginning, and the slightest kind of internal +disturbance is sufficient at times to turn loose an immense number of +impulsive movements. This activity at birth is entirely uncontrolled. It +seems that in contrast to reflexes and instincts which have prearranged +bodily means of expression, the impulses must be subjected to a long period +of training and education before they are capable of being controlled and +transformed into that voluntary movement which is sometimes called will +power. + +The immense number and strength of these random, impulsive movements in the +infant is in great contrast to the few, instinctive, unchangeable modes of +action in lower animals. As already stated, most animals come to the world +with the few movements necessary to their existence already provided for +and so fixed that future adjustment to new conditions is practically +impossible. The child, on the other hand, has marvelous capacity for +adjustment to new conditions and presents, therefore, possibilities for +training and education that have probably never yet been fully realized in +any child. + +The reflexes and instincts, however, are much more fixed and certain in +their action than are the impulses. No matter what the training and +education of an individual may be, he will sneeze, even in church, if the +right stimulus is present; or he will cry and shed tears in public if the +melodrama excites the proper nerve centers. When the sex instinct is fully +aroused or the sentiment of love completely awakened, no one can foretell +what the action of the otherwise sane person will be. + +All that training and education can do is to inhibit under ordinary +conditions certain undesirable tendencies and instincts and to strengthen +through exercise those that are desirable; and even then when a crisis +comes, the old, hereditary instinct is apt to break through its thin veneer +and actually frighten the individual at the unexpected strength it reveals. +Slap any man in the face and see what chance his life-long education has +against the old barbarous instinct for fighting. But notwithstanding the +strength and tenacity of instincts, training and education may inhibit +some of them and so transform others into useful habits that for most +purposes in life their subjugation seems complete. + +A tremendous, almost divine power rests, therefore, in the hands of +parents--the power to mold and fashion and transform the impulses and +instincts of their children into whatsoever ideals of life and conduct they +themselves possess. Where is the parent who fully realizes his privilege +and completely performs his sacred duty? + + + + +LESSON VII + + +QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT + +1. What are the supreme needs of the infant? + +2. What is the first mental fact to note? + +3. Illustrate reflex movement, instinctive movement, impulsive movement. + +4. Contrast the impulses of children with the instincts of lower animals. + +5. What opportunity is given parents through the impulsive movements of the +infant? + +6. What only may training and education hope to accomplish with the +instincts of children? + +7. What almost divine power is possessed by parents in the training of +children? + +8. Quote from the Doctrine & Covenants also a passage that deals with the +responsibility of parents in teaching the gospel to their children. + +_Reference_: For a further study of _instincts_, selections from +"Fundamentals of Child Study," by Kirkpatrick, will be found helpful. Also +chapters from "Elementary Psychology," by Phillips. + + + +HABIT + + +_Habit Is the Tendency to Make Certain Actions Automatic. It Is a Great +Time Saver, and Forms the Basis for Training and the Acquirement of Skill_ + +Once activity starts in any direction, the tendency is to persist until +satisfaction is reached. If the movement results in pain or even +discomfort, or if the end reached is not satisfactory, the movement will be +inhibited or discontinued and probably will not be attempted the second +time. Whenever the end reached does give satisfaction, the activity is sure +to be repeated, and in these later attempts, efforts will be made to reach +the end more quickly and with less effort. This is done through eliminating +the unnecessary movements and combining the right ones until the complete +process is performed with ease and skill. + +The repetition alone is not so important as the intelligent improvement of +the act through practice until a satisfactory degree of skill is obtained. +After the desired end is reached, attention to the process will cease, but +thereafter whenever the right stimulus is presented the act will be +repeated, and this will be done with much less effort than was first +employed; further repetitions of the act require less and less conscious +effort until at length it will be performed almost with the same sureness +and ease with which reflex or automatic movements take place. Any activity +whatsoever when reduced to this automatic stage is termed habit. + +The importance of habit in the development of the child can scarcely be +over-estimated; in truth, it is the one great process which dominates +nine-tenths of all the activity of the individual throughout his entire +life. Habits ought to be our most helpful and reliable servants, but they +are too often enemies that bind us hand and foot and prevent the +realization of our highest possibilities. + +Much of the training and education of the child consists, therefore, in +acquiring a series of useful habits and in inhibiting acts that might +result in habits that are undesirable. A child left to himself or +improperly reared will acquire all sorts of undesirable habits which may +have the effect of hampering his every movement and which may cause +eventually his disgrace and failure in life. Even the adult who fails to +practice the details of the various activities connected with his vocation +until they result in effective habits of work will usually fail, while the +man who has mastered the details of his occupation through reducing them to +a series of effective habits will surely succeed. Note the ease and +perfection with which the skilled workman performs his labor and compare +it with the slow, slovenly work of the unskilled laborer. + +One important development of the future will be the employment of an expert +in each occupation whose business it will be to teach the workmen the most +efficient and economical way of doing his particular work. Even now in many +factories high-priced experts are secured whose duty it is to teach the +workmen how to eliminate all unnecessary movements in their work and how to +combine the right movements necessary to accomplish each task in the best +way and in the quickest time. In many instances, the output of the factory +has been increased from twenty-five to forty per cent, through this +sensible procedure. + +Theoretically, good habits should be as easy to acquire as bad ones, but +practically this is not the case. Only a few bad habits are the result of +conscious choice and effort; for example, the acquiring of a liking for +tobacco and liquor, the taste of which for most children is disagreeable if +not nauseating at first, but this taste, through practice, often becomes an +uncontrollable craving. Most bad habits, however, come about unconsciously +and are the result of "just letting things happen." This, undoubtedly, is +what the proverb means which states, "Man is born to trouble as the sparks +are to fly upward." + +Most good habits, on the other hand, are the result of conscious effort, +especially on the part of parents and teachers. A reason for this is that +the strongest instincts in children are those relating to self-preservation +and the gratification of personal desires, hence selfishness, greediness, +anger, and the fighting instinct are natural to the child, while +generosity, good manners, respect for the rights of others, and sympathy +require, in order to be properly developed, persistent effort and +education. Parents, therefore, must persevere in training up the child in +the way he should go if they would cultivate in him habits that bless his +whole life. + +Imitation also plays a remarkable part in the formation of habits. The +child learns to walk, talk, use his hands in certain ways, and to eat, +sleep, and dress after the manner of his elders. He uses good language or +bad according to the examples heard; in fact, nearly everything a child +does is the result of copying after others. Whether his habits be good or +bad, efficient or slovenly, therefore, depends largely on the nature of the +examples he has to follow. + + + + +LESSON VIII + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. How are habits formed? + +2. Give examples to show that habit dominates most of the activities of +life. + +3. Why are good habits more difficult to form than bad ones? + +4. Illustrate the power of imitation in the formation of habits. + +5. What is the relation of habit to training and education? + +6. What is the relation of habit to the skilled workman? + +7. In what way can the expert increase efficiency in every vocation and +profession? + +8. How might much time be saved in the home and on the farm by the +acquirement of effective habits in work? + +_Reference_: For further study of habit see "Phillip's Elementary +Psychology." + + + +HABIT CONTINUED + + +_Right Habits Must Be Acquired Early; Wrong Habits Are Broken Only Through +Tremendous Effort_ + +Whatsoever the parent desires in his child in the nature of attainment or +skill, of character or ideal, if not foreign to the nature of the child, +may be realized through attention to habit. But the training in right +habits should be accomplished during the golden age of childhood when body +and soul are plastic and impressions are easily made. Too early the +character hardens like cement and thereafter becomes well nigh impossible +to change. Think how difficult it is for the adult, but how easy for the +child, to acquire skill in music, or facility in speaking a foreign +language. With respect to moral virtue and spiritual sentiment, whatsoever +good fruit you look for in the man usually appears as seed and flower in +the child. + +Among the habits that should be impressed early, habits that are absolutely +essential to success in life, are the following: + +1. Promptness and regularity. + +2. Obedience to right and justice. + +3. Truthfulness and honesty. + +4. Thoroughness. + +5. Industry or the habit of work. + +6. Persistence. + +7. Temperance. + +8. Courtesy and respect for the rights of others. + +Crowning these and transcending them in importance are the supreme +sentiments and ideals of life, which cannot properly be regarded as habits; +they are sympathy, love, faith, reverence for religious convictions, and +the ideal of freedom or liberty. + +Society itself could not endure but for the stability which habits afford. +It is easy to denounce custom and tradition as obstacles to progress and +reform, but it should be remembered that they are the social habits which +society has acquired through registering the experience of the past, and +that while some of them, such as intemperance and sexual vice, are +destructive of society, others, like co-operation, and the ideal of +freedom, are absolutely essential to human progress. + +An example by Oppenheim, in his "Mental Growth and Control," well +illustrates the power of habit. A wealthy woman in New York City became +interested in the crowded tenements of the east side; she believed that +constant sickness, unclean habits, and the vicious characters of the people +were due largely to overcrowding. She secured, therefore, some well +furnished cottages in the suburbs and offered them rent free until such +time as the occupants should become well established. Her surprise was +great when they refused to move into these comparatively luxurious +quarters; they seemed to prefer the dirt and disease, the sickness and vice +to which they were accustomed. "She did not know the force of habit; she +was totally ignorant of the hard and fast condition into which people grow. +She had never stopped to consider how necessary it is for the world at +large to have such repression. Without this control there could be no +peace, no safety, no steady growth in civilized society. The poor would +attack the rich, the lawless and violent would assail the peaceful, the +indolent would refuse to labor, the regularity and studied discipline of +well-ordered life would absolutely cease. In their place anarchy would +reign and each day would make confusion worse confounded. Imagine, if you +can, what animals would be if they lacked restraint of habit. Man's power +over them would cease instantly and their strength would be a terrible +engine of destruction. Men would be as much worse as human intelligence +exceeds brute intelligence. One is quite safe in declaring that habit is +the great flywheel that regulates society." + +Desirable habits, therefore, together with all necessary reforms, must +come about slowly; they should be the result of conscious training and +education in all the factors that make for a higher civilization. + + + + +LESSON IX + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What are some habits essential to success? + +2. When should training to fix these habits begin? Why? + +3. Why do many parents fail to fix right habits in their children? + +4. How may wrong habits be overcome and right habits established? + +5. What does Solomon say in regard to training the child? + +6. Give reasons why community habits are so hard to change? What is the +good side of this strength of habit? + +7. What is the quickest and surest way to bring about desirable social +reforms? + + + +MAXIMS ON HABIT + + +_Professor James Gives Four Maxims to Follow in Breaking from an Old Habit +or in Acquiring a New One_ + +"1. _Take care 'o launch yourself with as strong and decided initiative as +possible_. Reinforce the right motive with every favorable circumstance; +put yourself in a condition that will make the right act easy and the wrong +one difficult. Take a public pledge if the case allows; in short, envelop +your resolution with every aid possible. + +"2. _Never suffer an exception to occur until the new habit is securely +rooted_. Each lapse is like the letting fall of a ball of yarn that is +being wound; a single slip undoes more than a great many turns will wind +again. It is necessary above all things never to lose a battle; every gain +on the wrong side undoes the effects of many conquests on the right. + +"3. _Seize every opportunity to act in the direction of the desired habit, +and permit no emotional prompting in its behalf to escape you_. 'Hell is +paved with good intentions,' hence to have good desires, thoughts, +intentions without actually working them out weakens and destroys the moral +fibre. 'Character is a completely fashioned will,' says J.S. Mill, and a +will in this sense is an aggregate of tendencies which act in a firm, +prompt, and definite way in every emergency of life. When a resolve or a +fine glow of feeling is allowed to evaporate without bearing fruit in +action, it is worse than a chance lost, it is a positive hindrance to the +carrying out of future resolutions. Nothing is more contemptible than a +sentimental dreamer who is carried away with lofty thoughts and feeling but +who never does a manly, concrete deed. Positive harm is done through +cultivating the emotions and sentiments if no outlet is found for some +appropriate action. + +"4. _Keep the faculty of effort alive by a little gratuitous exercise every +day_. That is, be heroic, do every day something for no other reason than +that you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need comes, +it may find you nerved and trimmed to stand the test. The man who practices +self-denial in unnecessary things will stand like a tower when everything +rocks around him and when his softer fellow mortals are winnowed like chaff +in a blast. + +"The hell which theology once taught is no worse than the hell we make for +ourselves by habitually fashioning our characters in the wrong way. Could +the young but realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of +habits, they would give more heed to their conduct while in the plastic +state. We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. +Every small stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never so little scar. +The drunken Rip Van Winkle excuses each drink he takes by saying, 'I won't +count this time.' He may not count it, and a kind heaven may not count it, +but down among his nerve cells and in the muscle fibres, the molecules are +counting it, registering and storing it up to be used against him when the +next temptation comes. Nothing we do in a strict, scientific sense is ever +wiped out; each thought and every deed is registered in the soul and helps +to compose that book out of which we will be judged on that great final day +when we are called upon to render an account of our stewardship." + +Notwithstanding the difficulty, however, habits may be strengthened, or +abolished. The older they are the more difficult they will be to modify; +the chief factor involved is the amount of labor required to make the +change, the possibility of making it need never be questioned. Breaking the +habit of excessive use of drugs, tobacco, tea and coffee, or alcohol, will +occasion much discomfort, hardship, and even functional disturbance, but +these ills are only temporary, and the organism soon returns to its +original normal condition. + +To break a well-established habit requires common sense, decision and +strength of purpose. "If you want to abolish a habit, you must grapple with +the matter as earnestly as you would with a physical enemy. You must go +into the encounter with all tenacity of determination, with all fierceness +of resolve, with a passion for success that may be called vindictive. No +human enemy can be as insidious, as persevering, as unrelenting as an +unfavorable habit. It never sleeps, it needs no rest, it has no tendency +toward vacillation and lack of purpose. It is like the parasite that grows +with the growth of the supporting body and like a parasite, it can best be +killed by violent separation and crushing. + +"Every time we make an unsuccessful attempt, the final crushing is +indefinitely postponed, every time we put off the attempt, the desired +result fades farther and farther away. The habit persists and from time to +time the path becomes deeper and broader. In addition, during such a period +of weakness and indecision, you may be fostering another habit, that of +expecting defeat. From this lack of confidence and little faith in yourself +and destiny, you must by all means escape at any cost. There is nothing +more pathetic than the man who does not believe in himself. No one else +will believe in him. But he who has the enthusiasm of belief in himself +and never loses sight of his high purpose is the one who can perform +wonders." + + + + +LESSON X + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Discuss fully each of the maxims given by Professor James, illustrating +by experiences you have known. + +2. What expression from Professor James is most impressive to you? + +3. What hope is there for those enslaved by a bad habit? How can we best +help them? + +4. What was Christ's way of dealing with such people? + +5. What are the common habits that most trouble us? How can they be best +prevented or overcome? + + + +HABITS OF INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD + + +_The First Physical Habits Acquired by the Child Are of Vast Importance and +Require Heroic Treatment on the Part of the Mother_ + +From the beginning both physical and mental habits will be acquired by the +child. At first, attention must be given chiefly to the regularity of +caring for the physical needs of the infant such as giving food at stated +intervals, and having a regular time for sleeping, bathing, and for being +dressed. It is astonishing how little trouble is caused by the infant when +it is trained in correct physical habits from the beginning, compared with +the babe that is treated in a spasmodic fashion--everything overdone +sometimes and nothing at all done at other times. In the former case the +little one is quiet and peaceful and sleeps, as it should, most of the +time, especially at night; in the latter case the child is fretful and +cross and requires the father to trudge it about at night much to his +discomfort and loss of temper. + +Nature has given the infant a voice which is not only lusty but which is +apt to be used from the first with unnecessary liberality. It is the little +one's only means of responding to stimuli that cause discomfort; at first +the infant's cry is reflex and unconscious; but if every time it cries +something happens, a sort of dim consciousness is soon awakened and the +habit of crying for nothing or on the slightest provocation is soon +established, and thereafter the child will rule the household like a Czar. +If, on the other hand, the mother understands that the crying reflex is +largely unnecessary at the present time, since she has learned to +administer to the infant's every requirement with clock-like regularity, +she will, when assured that nothing ails the child, let it cry if it wants +to without giving it the least attention. One can scarcely believe how soon +the crying reflex will disappear under such treatment. If, on the other +hand, the child is taken up whenever it cries and walked and rocked and +fondled, it quickly learns that individuals were made solely to wait on it, +and the great instinct of selfishness is aroused which is likely to carry +in its wake a world of trouble and disappointment. Who has not heard a +crying child in an adjoining room stop suddenly to listen for the sake of +discovering whether or not the noises he heard are the regular movements of +a person coming to him or merely the irregular noises of the wind or of +moving furniture which do not concern him? Not only is the child plastic, +but too often a portion of the environment is also plastic and yielding and +usually to the lasting detriment of the child. The young mother who would +train her child to right habits must be heroic. + +When the little one is old enough to sit up in his high chair at the table, +his conduct is not apt to be meek and good-mannered. He will snatch at +things and tip them over, plunge his fists into the gravy, and fill his +mouth with food, stuffing it in with both hands until he chokes. His mother +is usually ashamed and grieved at his barbarous conduct; but she need not +be, she should remember that good table manners are artificial, not +natural, and that they are by no means a racial acquirement. She must +resort, therefore, to necessary means to correct the child, even at times +to physical punishment, though she herself must leave the room to shed a +quiet tear over such seeming cruelty. Place the spoon in his hand and help +the child to make the necessary movements and punish him slightly if need +be whenever he departs too far from propriety, and it will be astonishing +how quickly the conventional habit of table manners will be acquired. The +kindest mother is the one who is brave enough to inflict some punishment +when this is the surest way to develop needed habits that are unnatural to +the child. + +Soon the child learns to crawl; he does this because of the primal pleasure +he has in bodily movements and because he has reached satisfaction in +handling objects within his grasp; and since distant objects will not come +to him, he must go to them, and this he does as soon as he is able. If +objects would come to him whenever he desired, it is probable that he would +not learn to crawl for a long time. Sometimes exceedingly awkward modes of +crawling are acquired, which if noted and corrected when first attempted, +would save much labor and pains afterward. + +So long as crawling answers all demands and gives full satisfaction, it +will be continued; but, usually because the child sees others walk, and +possibly also because he himself has the instinctive desire to walk, +crawling is no longer satisfactory. So he attempts to imitate the walking +of his elders and through the aid and encouragement received from them, he +accomplishes this marvelous feat--the greatest physical habit he will ever +require. + + + + +LESSON XI + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What are the first physical habits that the child should acquire? + +2. What results from spasmodic training in these habits? + +3. How should the crying reflex be treated? + +4. How is selfishness early aroused? How can it be avoided? + +5. Why should the young mother be heroic? + +6. How may table manners, and other conventional habits be taught? + +7. Why do the parents fail to implant right habits in their children? + +The following will be found helpful for further studies on this subject: +"The Care of the Baby," by Holt; "The Care of the Child in Health," by +Oppenheim. + + + +THE MEANING OF CONSCIOUSNESS + + +_Consciousness Is Expressed in Knowing, Feeling, and Willing, Each Phase of +Which Should Be Developed Fully and in Perfect Harmony_ + +As already remarked, the chief characteristic of the young child is +ceaseless activity. From the time he is able to walk, or even crawl, the +great instinct of curiosity is alive, and this at first is likely to lead +him into all sorts of places where he should not go and cause him to +investigate and even destroy some of the valued possessions of the +household. This is a critical period in the development of the child and +must be handled with rare judgment. Some knowledge of child psychology is +essential here to guide the parent. + +About this time three types of mental activity will be noted in the child. + +(1) _Feeling_ is one phase or type which expresses itself sometimes in +pleasure or pain and at other times in action or anger. The feeling phase +of consciousness gives color and tone to every act of life; it is the basis +of interest; without it, neither happiness nor sorrow could exist, nor +could there be faith or worship. When fully developed, it culminates in the +emotions and sentiments, the highest of which are friendship and sympathy, +love and duty, patriotism and reverence. The opposite of some of these is +anger, hate and jealousy. Feeling makes heaven or hell a possibility and +sometimes an actuality. + +(2) The _knowing_ phase of mental activity is aware of the outside world as +well as of itself; it forms images of things and remembers; in its higher +aspects it judges and reasons. This phase of consciousness makes possible +invention and scientific achievement. By and through it, man overcomes his +environment and makes himself the master of the earth. + +(3) The _volitional_ or _will_ phase of mental activity is first manifested +in the impulsive, spasmodic movements heretofore described. Later these +random movements are brought under control, then comes the ability to +select a desired stimulus from among several that are possible, and at +length the power to choose between two or more possible modes of action. +This highest form is termed voluntary action or will power. It is extremely +important to note that the will is not a separate power or faculty which +can be cultivated apart from other phases of consciousness. Many foolish +things have been written about the power of the will and its capacity +for infinite development; as a matter of fact, all three phases of +consciousness must be developed together. Every act of the mind of +necessity embraces all three phases, since it is impossible to know without +feeling or to experience feeling or knowing without activity. The will, +therefore, can never be quite so strong as the total consciousness; and +at every stage, it needs the feeling phase to give it motive and the +knowing phase to make it rational. Knowing, feeling, and willing, +therefore, are merely convenient terms that express the varying, changing +modes of consciousness, which at one time may be predominately feeling, at +another knowing, and again willing. The great fact to remember is that +consciousness develops as a unit, and the most highly trained mind is the +one in which each phase is developed not only to its maximum but at the +same time in perfect harmony with the other two as well as with the total +consciousness. + +It is impossible to say which of the three phases develops first in the +infant, nor is it important to know; the significant fact is that all three +evolve together, and whenever activity is strong and well sustained, it is +evident that feeling and knowing also are well developed. + +When the child is two years of age or over, as above remarked, usually an +appalling desire to destroy things is manifested. Dolls will be torn to +pieces, the toy bank smashed, and if a hammer can be had, nothing is too +sacred to be knocked to pieces. This is not depravity in the child, much +as it seems to be, it is a legitimate desire to investigate, to satisfy his +curiosity, and to find a means of satisfying his increasing power to do +something. Up to this time an object is to the child merely the activity +for which it stands; a ball is something to roll or toss, a hammer is to +strike with, and it is a matter of supreme indifference to him what is +struck. At this stage the child has no sense of values and he cannot +possibly know that one object may be hit with a hammer, while another +object, such as a mirror, may not. He must be taught this fact; at first it +is entirely beyond his experience. + +But the child now has considerable capacity for knowing, hence the wise +parent can easily and quickly teach him to discriminate and even to be +careful to avoid injury to certain objects. No attempt should be made to +suppress this new-born power of this searcher after truth; this instinct is +the basis of invention and of scientific research; it must be properly +guided, but not subdued. Give him playthings which can be taken to pieces +and put together, dolls which can be dressed and undressed, horses which +can be harnessed and fastened to carts, blocks which can be built into +various forms, and above all, for a boy, a large, soft block of wood with +plenty of nails, tacks, and a hammer. The amount of energy he will expend +in filling the block with tacks or nails is astonishing. Other appropriate +ways of expressing his energy should also be provided. Give the child +something to do. + +This rule ought to be rigidly observed: _Never cut straight across the +activity of a child, but always substitute some other act in place of the +one not desired_. + + + + +LESSON XII + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. How is the great instinct of curiosity at first manifested? + +2. What three phases of consciousness are there? How do these develop? + +3. What is meant by a well-trained mind? + +4. What explains the child's tendency to destroy things? How may this +tendency be best overcome? + +5. What rule should the parent carefully follow with relation to the +child's activity? + +6. What are some sensible activities that may be easily provided for +children? + +7. Why is it worth while for parents to devote some time, or even money, to +providing for the natural activities of children to express themselves in +the right ways? + +For further study, selections from "Elementary Psychology," by Phillips, +will be found helpful. + + + +POSITIVE VS. NEGATIVE TRAINING + + +_Train the Positive Side of the Child's Nature and the Negative Side Will +Need Little Attention_. + +A negative method trains the child to be hard and critical, and to be +constantly looking for opposition to his wishes; it is the chief cause also +of slyness, ill-temper and disrespect. + +The following illustrations are taken from Mrs. Harrison's inspiring little +book, entitled, "A Study of Child Nature." "A mother came to me in utter +discouragement, saying: 'What shall I do with my five-year-old boy? He is +simply the personification of the word _won't_.' After the conversation I +walked home with her. A beautiful child, with golden curls and great, +dancing, black eyes, came running out to meet us, and with all the +impulsive joy of childhood threw his arms about her. 'Don't do that, James, +you will muss mama's dress.' I knew at once where the trouble lay. In a +moment she said: 'Don't twist so, my son;' and 'Don't make such a noise.' +Within a few minutes the mother had used 'don't' five times. No wonder when +she said, 'Run in the house now, mama will come in a minute,' he replied: +'No, I don't want to.'" + +"Two older children were playing in a room and soon became boisterous. The +busy mother did not notice them, but the little two-year-old child turned +round and called out impatiently: 'Boys, 'top.' Babies, like parrots, learn +the words they hear most frequently. 'Boys, stop,' a negative command, had +no doubt been used frequently in that household. How easy it would have +been to substitute the positive statement: 'Boys, run out in the back yard +and play ball,' or 'Run out into the garden and bring me some flowers for +the table.' + +"A four-year-old boy when he first entered the kindergarten was the most +complete embodiment of negative training I have ever met. It was 'No, I +don't want to,' 'No, I won't sit by that boy,' 'No, I don't like blocks.' +Nothing pleased him; nothing satisfied him. He was already an isolated +character, unhappy himself and a source of discomfort to others. Soon after +beginning our work, I heard a whizzing sound, and Paul's voice crying out: +'Joseph has knocked my soldier off the table and he did it on purpose too.' +My first impulse was to say: 'Why did you do that? It was naughty. Go and +pick up Paul's soldier.' But that would have been negative treatment, too +much of which had been heaped upon him already; so, instead, I said: 'Oh, +well, Paul, never mind, Joseph doesn't know that we try to make each other +happy in kindergarten.' + +"Some time afterwards I said: 'Come here, Joseph, I wish you to be my +messenger boy.' This was a privilege highly desired by the children. Joseph +came reluctantly as if expecting some hidden censure, but soon he was busy +running back and forth, giving each child the proper materials for the next +half-hour's work. As soon as the joy of service had melted him into a mood +of comradeship, I whispered: 'Run over now and get Paul's soldier.' +Instantly he obeyed, picked it up, and placed it on the table before its +owner, quietly slipped into his own place and began his work. His whole +nature for the time being was changed. Continued treatment of this kind +completely transformed the nature of the child." + +Scolding and finding fault are the most common forms of negative training +employed by parents. Such treatment brings out and emphasizes the opposite +qualities from those desired, since they appeal to the very worst side of +the child's nature. Usually, too, the sympathy of the mother and the +affection of the child are separated and coldness takes their place. +Suggest to the child at the right time the act you wish him to do and +usually it will be quickly accomplished; then if a child is praised a +little for his promptness, he will soon grow into the habit of doing +promptly other more important tasks. The boy who dallied over everything he +did was soon cured by the simple device of counting while he ran an errand +and then praising him for his quick return. A little praise goes farther +than much censure. Sometimes a boy's tone and manner are lacking in respect +to his mother, or a girl becomes troublesome and defies authority. This +condition did not come about suddenly; it is the result of continued +negative treatment. Usually, if a boy is disrespectful or a girl impudent, +it is because the parents through neglect or improper training, have +unconsciously fostered such behavior. + +Some children are timid and superstitious, too often they are laughed at +and ridiculed; on the other hand, fun should never be made of such children +and they should be given every opportunity to develop courage and +self-reliance. If a child is irreverent, he should have his eyes opened to +the wonders of creation and to the majesty and power displayed by the Maker +of the universe. So, in all cases, the parents should beware of the almost +universal, negative mode of training which represses, scolds, finds fault, +and results in producing hardness, slyness, obstinacy, and other +undesirable qualities; instead, positive methods should be employed. They +suggest correct action, substitute the right for the wrong, praise for +blame, encouragement rather than discouragement, and stimulate to higher +endeavor. However, if occasion demands, parents may be stern, unrelenting +and even resort to punishment. + + + + +LESSON XIII + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + + +1. What is the main point of this lesson? + +2. Discuss the "won't" child. + +3. Discuss the "don't" boy. + +4. Discuss scolding and finding fault versus judicious praise. + +5. What is the value of suggestion in guiding children? Illustrate. + +6. What often explains disrespect and impudence in children? + +8. Illustrate some helpful ways that give positive training to children. + +Selections from "The Dawn of Character," by Mumford, will be found helpful, +for further studies on this subject. + + + +FOOD, DRESS AND TOYS + + +"_The Body Is More Than Raiment; and Life, More Than Meat_." + +The normal child is born in a state of naturalness with respect to his +tastes and appetites and the endeavor should be to keep him in this natural +state. But too often his senses are stimulated to excess and an artificial +appetite is begun which usually leads to some form of intemperance. Much of +the excess in drinking is due, not to inheritance, but to vicious feeding. +A false appetite leads to physical unrest and uneasiness and this naturally +lends itself to the pleasure and excitement of drink. + +"Why do you not eat the pickles, my son?" said one father; "they are very +nice." "No," said the boy, "I don't see any use in eating spiced pickles, +it doesn't help to make me strong; my teacher says so." Would that every +child were thus trained to prefer wholesome to unwholesome food. Our +schools are doing good work along these lines of personal hygiene; parents +should reinforce the efforts of the teacher by bringing the home hygiene up +to the right standards. + +The clothing of children also deserves some attention. Probably in nothing +else is vanity and selfishness more easily displayed than in dress. How +rare a thing it is to find a beautiful child, simply or even plainly +dressed, who is neither vain of her good looks nor of her rich apparel. The +sweetest object in the world is a beautiful child, tastily dressed, free +from vanity, and perfectly natural and unspoiled. The mother who praises +her child's curls or rosy cheeks rather than the child's actions or inner +motives, is developing vanity of the worst kind--placing beauty of +appearance above beauty of conduct. + +"Fashionable parties for children are abominations upon the face of the +earth." Soon enough the child will come in contact with that which is +unnatural and deceitful without having artificial conduct forced upon him. + + + + +LESSON XIV + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What may result from developing an artificial appetite in children? + +2. What should the young mother avoid in feeding her child? + +3. What evils result from over-indulgence in candy, nick-nacks, soda water, +etc.? + +4. In the dress of children how is vanity often developed? + +5. What may result from constant praise of the good looks of the child? + +6. Discuss proper dress in children. + +For further help on these points read Mrs. Harrison's "Study of Child +Nature," pages 47 to 54. + + + +CULTIVATING THE EMOTIONS + + +_It Is a Serious Mistake to Begin Educating the Intellect Before Training +the Emotions_ + +In the history of the race, art develops before science, just as in nature +the blossom comes before the fruit; so in the child emotions come before +reason, and he is attracted and his sympathies aroused by nearly any appeal +to his senses long before his understanding tells him why. Notwithstanding +this fact, nearly every educative effort is confined to the intellect and +the feelings are allowed to shift for themselves. The result is that many a +child grows up cold, hard, and matter-of-fact, with little of color, poetry +or sympathy to enrich his life. The common mistake is to starve the +emotions in order to overfeed the understanding. The education of the heart +must keep pace with that of the head if a well-balanced character is to be +developed. Even in school the teacher too often proceeds to stuff the child +with information before first awakening interest in the subject. Once +arouse the interest of a child in any subject and he will pursue it to +success. + +Toys are of much value to children not only as promoters of play but +because they appeal to their sympathies and give exercise to the emotions. +The two great obstacles to the exercise of the right emotions are fear and +pity. Toys are great aids in overcoming these tendencies. Through dramatic +play with toys, children exercise their own imaginations and put action +into their own lives; and gradually fear and pity are overcome through the +confidence the child develops in himself. + +"We find the instincts of the race renewed in each new-born infant. Each +individual child desires to master his surroundings. He cannot yet drive a +real horse and wagon, but his very soul delights in the three-inch horse +and the gaily-painted wagon; he cannot tame real tigers and lions, but his +eyes dance with pleasure as he places and replaces the animals of his toy +menagerie. He cannot at present run engines or direct railways, but he can +control for a whole half-hour the movements of his miniature train. He is +not yet ready for real fatherhood, but he can pet and play with, and rock +to sleep and tenderly guard the doll baby." Through toys the child +practises in miniature most of the activities of the adult and thus +gradually bridges the chasm between his small capacity and the great +realities and possibilities of life. + +The heart should be trained as carefully as the head. Our emotions even +more than our reason govern us. Train the child to feel rightly, to admire +the good, the true and the beautiful, and you need not fear. He will +develop a love of home, of country and of God that will carry him safely +throughout all his life. This does not mean that we shall neglect the +training of his intellect; both heart and head should be trained together, +but the heart must not be neglected; for out of it, says the Good Book, +come the issues of life. + + + + +LESSON XV + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What may result from cultivating the intellect in children before +stimulating the emotions? + +2. Which governs us most, our feelings or our reason? + +3. How can we develop best the right emotions in childhood, such as +kindness and unselfishness? + +4. In what ways may toys help to develop the child? Discuss here proper and +improper toys; which are preferable, dolls or Teddy Bears, in developing +motherly instincts? What about soldiers, firearms, etc., in their effect on +boys? + +For further reading on this point, Mrs. Harrison's "Study on Child Nature" +will be found helpful. Let some member report from the book, if it be +available, dealing particularly with pages 66 to 70. + + + +THE INFLUENCE OF LOVE + + +_Love Is the Vital Element Which Transforms Human Nature and Makes Life +Worth Living_ + +The sweetest word in all the language is _love_. Without it life is a +frozen tundra where the sun never shines. Home is beautiful because there +is love. If a planet exists where love is absent, then it contains no +fire-sides, the laughter of children is never heard, flowers do not grow +there, and the singing of birds is unknown. + +If selfishness is ever overcome, if it is ever transformed into service, it +will be when love is triumphant; for love alone is great enough to +sacrifice itself for another. Love only can reach the sublime heights of +faith and exaltation, of reverence and worship. Love alone has the power to +say, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." + +There is, however, a strange contradiction or opposition in love. Sometimes +it is as weak and timid as a bashful girl, at other times, as strong and +heroic as an Amazon; now it is like the harmony in music or the delicate +coloring of a sunset; again, like the thunderous roar of Niagara or the +consuming fire of Vesuvius. + +Love is an instrument with many strings, some so delicate that they catch +the sweetest symphonies of the soul, others so powerful that they resound +to the mighty storms and tempests of life, and some so vibrant that they +throb to the sorrows and heartaches of a bleeding world. + +Affection is awakened in the child with his first smile in recognition of +his mother's face. How shall this budding affection be rightly nurtured and +developed so that it shall flower and bring forth good fruit? It is desired +that he shall be generous and possess good will towards others, that he +shall have sympathy and the spirit of sacrifice for those dear to him; but +too often the fruit of promise is eaten into by the worm of selfishness. + +"Selfishness is the most universal of sins and the most hateful. Dante +placed Lucifer, the embodiment of selfishness, down below all other sinners +in the dark pit of the Inferno, frozen in a sea of ice. Well did the poet +know that this sin lay at the root of all others. Think, if you can, of one +crime or vice which has not its origin in selfishness." + +As already stated, the primary instincts of the child favor the development +of selfishness and the gratification of the appetites and passions. The +utmost care, therefore, must be exercised by the parents, from the very +beginning, if the affections and desires of the child are to be trained +away from itself and not permitted to become self-centered. Happy is the +child whose mother knows how to direct those earliest manifestations of +love. The undisciplined senses and appetites easily degenerate into +indulgence of passion, or grow into that moral control which delights in +temperance. + +The inborn desire for praise and recognition may express itself in bragging +vanity, or expand into heroic endeavor. So, too, there is a physical love +which expresses itself in a mere caress and a higher, purer, more glorious +love which manifests itself in service and self-sacrifice. The tremendous +hug of the little arms and the kiss of the rosy lips are manifestations of +physical love; while the child is in this loving mood the wise mother +should ask of him some little service, slight at first, but sufficient to +make him put forth some effort to serve her. In this way she can transform +this mere selfish love into the beginning of that spiritual love which +Christ commended when He said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." + +The parent stands to his child for the time being, as the one supreme +source of every power and blessing; the wise parent may establish +between himself and the little one almost the same beautiful and solemn +relationship as that which exists between the Supreme Giver of all good and +His children. "Not every one that sayeth unto me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall +enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father +which is in Heaven." + +"Love is to be tested always by its effect upon the will. From the +beginning the will must be made strong and unselfish by repeated acts of +loving self-sacrifice. Contrast the selfish, all-absorbing love of Romeo +for Juliet, who could not live without the physical presence of the one he +loved, with that grandly beautiful love of Hector for Andromache, who, out +of the very love he bore her, could place her to one side and answer the +stern call of duty that she might never in the future have cause for +painful blush. + +"I knew an ideal home where husband and wife were filled with the most +exalted love I have ever known, but the husband died. The wife said: 'All +that was beautiful or attractive in my life went out with my husband, and +yet I know that I must, for the love I bear him, remain and rear our child +as he would have him reared.' As I listened to these words, quietly uttered +by the courageous wife, I realized what love, real love, could help the +poor, stricken heart to endure." + +The child must be trained through love to give up his own will to others, +and, from the beginning, learn to submit to things which are unpleasant. + +If this thought is insisted on from the first, obedience will come easily +to the child; but woe be to both mother and child if egotism, self-will and +selfishness secure a fast hold upon the young heart. + +A mother should never refuse the help offered by the child. If the work is +of such nature that the little one cannot share it, let the mother suggest +as a substitute something else which the child can do. Help turned away +begets idleness and nourishes selfishness. "No, dear, you cannot help dress +baby, but you may hand mama the clothes." + +"A six-year-old boy, who had been taught true love through service, found +his mother one morning too ill to answer his many questions. 'Mama cannot +talk to you to-day, Philip, she has a severe headache.' He quietly closed +the door and soon there was a mysterious bumping and moving about of the +heavy furniture in the next room. Soon it all was still, then the door was +gently opened and little Philip tiptoed to his mother's bed and whispered, +'Mama, I have straightened the furniture and tidied up the room; is your +headache better?' + +"A little three-year-old boy running rapidly stumbled and bumped his head +severely against the trunk of a tree. Loud cries of pain at once arose, but +his little brother took him by the arm and pushed him with all his might +towards his mother, saying in the most reassuring tone imaginable, 'Run to +mama, Ned, run to mama, she'll kiss it and make it well. Please run to her +quick.' 'Perfect love casteth out all fear.' Surely the wise mother can +devise a thousand ways by which to kindle the flame of love in her child +until her fond dreams for the little ones are transformed into living +realities. But the doubter may remark, 'What if I ask my child to do +something for me and he refuses or begins to make excuses or asks why his +brother can't do it?' You have simply mistaken the time for stretching the +young soul's wings. Begin the training when the child is in the loving mood +and you will rarely fail to get the desired response; yet, if need be, +command the performance of the deed, so that by repeated doing the selfish +heart may at length learn the pleasure of unselfishness and thus enter into +the joy of true living." + +Let parents take this motto to heart: _Trust not the physical love of your +child, but seek to transform it into that higher love which manifests +itself in service. The real love of your child is measured by the extent to +which he will sacrifice his own comfort and pleasure to serve you_. + + + + +LESSON XVI + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Why has the delicate sentiment of love such a power in shaping the lives +of men? + +2. What may be said of selfishness? + +3. How may the desire for praise be expressed? + +4. Contrast physical and spiritual love. + +5. How may love help to develop a strong will? + +6. How must the child be taught obedience? + +7. Illustrate how loving service may be secured. + +8. How may the real love of the child for the parent be measured? + + + +MORAL TRAINING + + +_There Is No Escape from Wrong-Doing. Mercy Cannot Rob Justice_ + +"Somehow I'll escape," is the fatal thought which blinds the poor fool who, +for the first time, treads the path of self-indulgence or wrong-doing. But +he ought to know that escape is impossible. No cave is dark enough, no +ocean deep enough to hide the transgressor from the consequences of his +misdeeds. A kind heaven may forgive him, and the one he injures may +overlook the offence; but his own body and mind cannot forget; they have +registered the deed once for all and it can never be atoned for or +forgotten. The doing of a bad deed changes the individual in some +particular, slight or great as the case may be, and, pathetic though it +seems, he cannot go back and try it over again; the scar remains, as if +seared by a hot iron, and, if the hurt is serious enough, heredity may pass +it down the ages. + +How easily a bad habit is formed. "It won't hurt me" is whispered by the +siren voice of temptation, because the consequences of the transgression +are not felt or seen immediately, a second offence seems less serious than +the first. Soon habit steps in and stamps the process on mind and body and +before the author is conscious of it, a serious appetite or a degrading +vice is fastened upon him from which neither time nor effort, prayers nor +tears, may ever shake him free. + + "_Vice is a monster of such frightful mien, + That to be hated needs but to be seen, + But seen too oft, familiar with its face, + We first endure, then pity, then embrace_." + + --Pope. + +The child must be trained early to know: "The way of the transgressor is +hard," and "He that sows the wind must reap the whirlwind." It is a great +mistake for the parent to step in and free the child from the consequences +of his first wrong acts. Let the consequences fall on his own head, and +perchance they will teach him wisdom. The true purpose of punishment is to +teach the necessity of obedience to law. Everything that is good and +desirable will come to him who obeys the law upon which the blessing is +predicated; every evil falls on the head of him who constantly violates +law. In the final analysis, the punishments which nature inflicts are kind, +because they are warnings which, if heeded, will prevent serious injury. +The purpose of all discipline is to produce a self-governing individual, +not one who needs to be governed by someone else. Until a person learns to +govern himself he counts for little in this world. + +Two serious mistakes are made in child government. One is the indulgence of +a soft, vacillating policy by the parent which permits a child to shirk his +duties and to escape from the natural results of his misdeeds. Through the +parent's taking upon his own shoulders the consequences of the child's +wrong-doing, the child is lured into the false belief that duty may be +shirked, responsibility set aside, and life be made to yield one sweet +round of pleasure. How will a child so trained be prepared to endure the +disappointments and heartaches of a world which compels each of us to +drink his portion of the bitter hemlock? + +The other mistake is to employ unnatural or arbitrary punishments. Even the +smallest child has an instinctive idea of justice and resents anything +which he regards as unjust. On the other hand, he learns quickly the +inevitableness with which pain follows the violation of law, and how +certain is the working out of cause and effect. + +Mrs. Harrison gives this admirable illustration: "The little one puts his +hand upon the hot stove; no whirlwind from without rushes in and pushes the +hand away from the stove, then with loud and vengeful blasts scolds him +for his heedlessness or wrong-doing. He simply is burned--the natural +consequences of his own deed; and the fire quietly glows on, regardless of +the pain which he is suffering. If again he transgresses the law, again he +is burned as quietly as before, with no expostulation, threat, or warning. +He quickly learns the lesson and avoids the fire thereafter, bearing no +grudge against it." + +When the child scatters her toys and playthings all over the room, the +natural penalty is to require that they be gathered up and the room made +tidy; when the boy scampers across the newly-cleaned floor with his muddy +boots, he should be made to mop up the floor carefully; thus in a thousand +similar ways, the parent may train the child to observe care and order in +everything done. + +Nothing is more beautiful than a large family where each child is taught to +care for and to rely upon himself, and to give a little willing service to +others. But the tired mother will remark, "Oh, yes, that all sounds very +nice, but mothers have no time to spare to eternally watch and train their +children." Hold a moment, there is a fallacy here; she ought to say, "I +have no time to spare because I failed to train the children in the manner +mentioned." In no other way can the mother save so much time as by taking a +little time at first to train the child to be neat, tidy and orderly, or +later to feel the inevitable consequences of violating law. + +Instead of saving time in this sensible way, too often the mother loses +both time and the love of her child through becoming irritable and scolding +the little one for every offence committed. Nothing is worse than scolding, +a sound thrashing administered now and then is far less cruel. Nearly every +evil instinct in the child is aroused through fault-finding and scolding. +How long will it take to teach the parent, once for all, that scolding, +nagging, shutting up in the dark closets, and every other form of arbitrary +punishment arouse in the child a sense of injustice and resentment, which, +if not corrected later, will result in estrangement and loss of love +between parent and child? The child has a right to expect justice from his +parent. Only where this is found will the child develop that sense of +freedom and independence of thought and action which produce the highest +type of individual--one who is able to govern himself. + +"But what shall be done when more serious offences are committed?" The +parent may well ask. In all likelihood there will be no serious offences if +the slight ones are treated properly. A mother came to me with her face +full of suppressed suffering. "What shall I do?" she remarked, "I have +discovered that my boy steals money from his father's purse." "Give him a +purse of his own," I answered, "and give him ways of earning money of his +own." It is asserted that more than half the boys sent to reform schools go +there because of theft. How many of them might have been saved if they had +been taught how to earn and to know the value of an honest dollar? + +But so long as human nature is imperfect, and frailty so common, we must +expect in every family some occasion to arise that will tax the patience +and the love of the parent to the uttermost. No rule can be given that will +meet every crisis; common sense, justice, forbearance, faith and love may +be used in vain; and reproof, censure, and corporal punishment may also +fail in some supreme emergency, the only recourse that remains after all +these are exhausted is to permit the natural consequences of the deed to +fall upon the head of the transgressor. + +Rule: _Parents should rarely punish the child, but should permit the +consequences of carelessness and wrong-doing to fall upon his own head. +Wisdom results from suffering pains and taking pains_. + + + + +LESSON XVII + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Why do evil consequences follow bad deeds? + +2. In what sense are nature's punishments kind? + +3. What two mistakes are common in child government? + +4. Illustrate how natural punishment may be employed by parents. + +5. What may be resorted to in serious cases? For further discussion and +study of this subject the following references will be found helpful: + +1. Chapter on Moral Education, from Spencer's "Education." + +2. "Dealing with Moral Crises," by Cope, from "Religious Education in the +Family." + +3. "Misunderstood Children," by Harrison. + + + +ADOLESCENCE + + +_The Adolescent Period Is a Time of "Storm and Stress," When the Chief +Crises of Life Arise_ + +Most writers on psychology recognize in the life history of the child +several more or less distinct periods of development. The child is almost +a different being at different levels of his growth. Each period is marked +by peculiar physical, mental and moral characteristics which demand +specific treatment. So great and sudden are some of these changes that +they are sometimes likened to a metamorphosis, indicating an analogy with +certain insects as a change from the larvae and pupae stages to that of +butterflies. + +Space will not permit more than a brief account of the most critical of +these periods, namely, the adolescent. This period begins at about the age +of thirteen in girls and fourteen in boys, and continues until about +eighteen. Physically, this stage starts with a very rapid growth which is +frequently doubled in rate within a single year. The girl may, in a few +months, change from a tall, angular, romping tomboy into a blooming, +dimpled young woman, bashful and afraid. + +So much energy is required for physical growth that in the early stages of +this period difficult mental tasks cannot be well done. In a young man +especially, this period is marked by awkward, uncouth movements that +indicate uncertain adjustment. Frequently at this time the boy's voice +varies unsteadily from a high falsetto to a low pitch, which is most +mortifying to the youth, who is now bashful probably for the first time in +his life. The girl is suddenly very particular about her appearance, and +her clothes, and the youth for the first time delights in a starched shirt, +patent leather shoes and bright neck-ties. + +The health of the individual at this time is usually good; susceptibility +to the diseases peculiar to childhood is slight, but there is increased +danger of acquiring adult diseases, and some writers claim that it is +during this time, when there are great physical disturbances, that the germ +of many adult diseases, such as tuberculosis, are apt to be implanted. +During the early part of this period it is unwise and dangerous for girls +to take part in such strenuous athletic games as basketball, or for boys to +indulge in football. Later when strength and equilibrium have been +restored, these games may be practiced without danger. + +But the greatest of all changes, the one fundamental to adolescent life, is +the development of the sex instincts. Fortunate is the youth or maiden +whose parents are sensible and wise enough to instruct them concerning the +nature and purpose of these functions. Good books, such as "What a Boy +Should Know," and "What a Girl Should Know," are invaluable during this +critical time. This sudden ripening of the sex instinct is the cause of the +metamorphosis from childhood to early manhood and womanhood, and is the key +which explains the changes that characterize adolescence. + +Emotionally, there is a tremendous awakening. The individual begins to feel +for the first time that he is actually alive and living; heretofore, life +has been a self-centered, matter-of-fact existence; now it enlarges and +becomes charged with intense feeling and significance. "Fear, anger, love, +pity, jealousy, emulation and ambition are either new-born or spring into +intense life."--James. All of these may be termed social instincts and they +imply a widening of the youth's horizon and include a "consciousness of +kind" that has heretofore been lacking. + +Now, the youth or maiden truly falls in love; up to this time, regard for +the opposite sex has been merely a light fancy, barely skin deep; but now +it takes hold of the heart strings and plays upon them with an agony that +is truly heart rending. Who is there with red blood in his veins that does +not look back upon his first heart conflict with almost pathetic reverence? +Parents should be more concerned than they usually are over the conquest of +the heart of youth. Such affairs may carry with them consequences which are +more serious than could be anticipated. + +At this time the youth or maiden is exceedingly resentful of arbitrary +restraint or punishment. There is a super-sensitiveness and a keen +self-consciousness which cannot brook harshness and coercion. Sympathy and +reasonableness must take the place of censure and punishment. Years ago I +remember seeing a father start to whip his boy who was just emerging into +the adolescent stage, a heavy stick was raised to strike, but the boy +looked his father in the eye without flinching and quietly remarked: "You +may whip one devil out, Father, but I promise you that you'll whip seven +devils in." The stick dropped from the astonished parent's hand; the boy +was never again punished by whipping. + +The runaway curve for boys reaches its highest point at this time, and the +girl is likely to be insolent and unmanageable probably for the first and +only time in her life. The greatest crises of life arise at this time +because of the almost criminal ignorance of parents respecting these +revolutionary changes and also because children who may never before have +caused the parents the least trouble or heartache are now as unruly and +unmanageable as a volcano in eruption. This is the time when the youth is +driven from home by the irate father, the time when the rebellious daughter +is condemned without mercy, the critical period when most vices are begun +and most juvenile crimes committed. The parent is apt to exclaim here: "In +Heaven's name, what can be done?" Not even the wisdom of a Solomon could +answer completely; a few suggestions, however, may be offered which will +help to bridge over this critical period. + +If the child has had positive training up to this time, the period of +"storm and stress" will be briefer and less severe than it would be +otherwise; but if the negative training has prevailed, there is less hope +that the storm will be weathered. The youth may be caught in the stream of +dissipation and whirled to destruction. At the very least, the parent must +expect fitful and obstinate behavior, and unreasonable action. In boys, the +beginning of the use of tobacco and liquor usually comes at this time. This +is the time, too, of sexual temptation, if not actual indulgence. The +temptation to do something startling is almost irresistible; robberies will +be planned, hold-ups thought of, abductions contemplated; the life of a +desperado entertained. The moral character seems to be in a state of +eruption. + +On the other hand, his sympathies and affections may be appealed to as +never before. The parent who has made a confident of his boy or girl, who +has infinite patience and affection, and who fully senses what to except, +may, if other factors are favorable, help tide over this danger zone +without serious results. A steady chum, a little older than the boy, and a +companion more stable than the girl are a most fortunate aid to the parent. +There seems to be a brief time in the career of every youth or maiden when +the influence of his chum or companion is more potent for good or evil than +is the combined influence of parents and relatives. + +The common practice of permitting the, adolescent to sleep away from home +is exceedingly dangerous. Many a youth may trace the beginning of his +degeneracy to the downward, push received when he slept away from home. +Care must be exercised also as to the kind of group he associates with; it +is too much to expect a youth to be better than the gang with whom he +consorts. During the most critical part of this critical, epoch neither +youth nor maiden should, attend parties, picnics, or social entertainments, +without a chaperon. This advice may seem radical, but if it is carried +out, perhaps for just one year, until equilibrium is restored, it may +prevent that _one act_ to which so many unfortunates attribute their +downfall. + +Fortunate, too, is the adolescent who is permitted to attend a first-class +high school taught by sympathetic teachers who understand the needs of +adolescent nature. The imagination is now more vivid than it ever will be +again, the logical reason is beginning to evolve and this period is +preeminently "the breeding ground of ideas." The school more than any other +agency can keep the imagination, reason, and emotions so fully employed +that little time is left in which to indulge morbid feelings and immoral +thoughts. The school affords a moral atmosphere and gives a choice of good +associates which make it invaluable during this critical epoch. It also +disciplines the feelings and emotions and offers opportunity for emulation, +industry, and the display of both physical and mental power. In truth, the +school so occupies the attention and directs the interest that many a young +man and woman passes through this period unscathed, without ever sensing +the dangers which are escaped. + +Finally, a "profound religious awakening" characterizes the early +adolescent stage. It may be doubted that a genuine religious conviction can +exist before this time; at least most writers hold that religious +conversion takes place, if at all, during this period. Previous to this +time, however, religious observance and ceremony should have become +habitual in order that conversion may be most profound. Nothing else is +more powerful than religious conviction and sentiment to reinforce good +conduct and to inhibit wrong action. Religious conviction, together with +the growth of ideals and the employment by the school of the physical and +intellectual capacities, all supplemented by parental counsel and guidance, +should insure the safe passage of the adolescent over this critical crisis +of his life. + + + + +LESSON XVIII + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What are the physical changes that occur during the adolescent period? + +2. What dangers to health are common at this time? What safeguards should +be thrown about the youth to keep him strong in body? + +3. Discuss the mental, moral, and emotional characteristics of the +adolescent. + +4. What is the fundamental cause of the changes that take place? + +5. What may be said about religious emotions and conversions during this +time? + +6. What practical suggestions would you give to help the parents guide the +adolescent safely over this dangerous period of life? + +_Supplemental Studies_: At this point it will be well to take the +supplemental lessons in this book, page 133 to end of volume. These studies +are based on the lectures given by Dr. John M. Tyler. They will blend +beautifully with Professor Hall's discussion and will reinforce strongly +the study of this adolescent age. + + + +TRAINING IN THE HOME + + +_Certain Phases of Training and Education Can Be Best Accomplished by the +Home_ + +There are four great agencies or factors concerned in the training and +education of the child: these are, the home, the school, the church, and +the state, or society. Of these, the home ought to be the most helpful +since it is the most important. The child is a part of the flesh and blood +of the parents; he belongs to them in a vital way that transcends his +relationship to everything else in the world. + +The parent, then, is the natural trainer and educator of the child, +particularly during the dependent period before the age of accountability +is reached. The parent ought not to shirk this duty or attempt to transfer +it to some other agency. But at the present time there is a strong tendency +to shift more and more responsibility to other agencies, especially to the +school. Many habits which the home once developed are now left largely to +the school; religious training is turned over more and more to the Sunday +School and the church, and much more of the time of children is now spent +in social amusements away from home than ever before. + +Then, too, it is certain that the old-time home is passing. It seemed to +have higher ideals and more definite purposes in life than homes now +possess; moreover, it occupied most of the time of the child and taught +him to be industrious and proficient, and to regard life with much more +seriousness than does the home of to-day. The home or the family, +therefore, is not the great superlative factor that it ought to be in +the training and education of the child. + +From the first chapter of Cope in "Religious Education in the Family," +the following is quoted: "The ills of the modern home are symptomatic. +Divorce, childless families, irreverent children, and a decadence of the +old type of separate home life are signs of forgotten ideals, lost motives, +and insufficient purposes. When the home is only an opportunity for +self-indulgence, it easily becomes a cheap boarding house, a sleeping +shelf, an implement for social advantage. While it is true that general +economic development has effected marked changes in domestic economy, the +happiness and efficiency of the family do not depend wholly on the parlor, +the kitchen, or the clothes closet. Rather, everything depends on whether +the home and family are considered in worthy and adequate terms. + +"Homes are wrecked because families refuse to take home life in religious +terms, in social terms of sacrifice and service. In such homes, organized +and conducted to satisfy personal desires rather than to meet social +responsibility, these desires become aims rather than agencies and +opportunities. What hope is there for useful and happy family life if the +newly-wedded youths have both been educated in selfishness, habituated to +frivolous pleasures and guided by ideals of success in terms of garish +display? + +"It is a costly thing to keep a home where honor, the joy of love, and high +ideals dwell ever. It costs time, pleasure, and so-called social +advantages, as well as money and labor. It must cost thought, study and +investigation. It demands and deserves sacrifice; it is too sacred to be +cheap. The building of a home is a work that endures to eternity, and that +kind of work never was done with ease or without pain and loss and +investment of much time. Patient study of the problems of the family is a +part of the price which all may pay. + +"No nobler social work, no deeper religious work, no higher educational +work is done anywhere than that of the men and women, high or humble, who +set themselves to the fitting of their children for life's business, +equipping them with principles and habits upon which they may fall back in +trying hours and making of home the sweetest, strongest, holiest, happiest +place on earth." + +The home or family is, or ought to be, the supreme institution, not only +for propagating the race, but also for the preservation and rearing of +children. + +There are certain things which only the home can do, which if not +accomplished by it, will likely remain undone. The acquisition of correct +physical habits by the child is one of them. It is preeminently the duty +and privilege of the parent in the early years of the child's life to +impress habits that will make for health and strength. The first six years +are more important physically to the child than all the remainder of his +life. During this time the natural tendency to over-indulgence of the +appetite should be inhibited, and temperance should be reduced to a habit. +The other desirable physical habits already referred to should also be +acquired. Furthermore, it is the sacred duty of the parent to see to it +that the child is not handicapped through physical defects of eye or ear, +enlarged tonsils, adenoids, decayed teeth, or by any other common +imperfection which may be easily and permanently remedied if taken in time, +but which, if neglected, may cause untold suffering and contribute to +failure in life. + +The home is responsible directly for training the child to be neat, tidy +and clean in person; it should also train him in good manners, courtesy, +and regard for the rights of others. It also decides whether or not the +boy shall be a brave, manly little fellow or a timid cry-baby; whether or +not the girl shall be sweet, helpful and trustworthy, or shallow, idle and +vain. + +The giving of knowledge and instruction in sex hygiene at the proper time +is also a peculiar duty of parents which they must not shirk. + +The chief moral virtues are also the result of home training. An obedient, +honest, truthful disposition is characteristic of a good home; a sly, +deceitful, quarrelsome nature is the outcome of improper home influence, +Moreover, the first lessons in respect for law, order and justice are +implanted by the home; improper training in these virtues leads to disorder +and license. + +The home, too, must teach the first lessons in industry and impress the +child with the fact that life is made up of work as well as play. Too often +the mother, especially, makes a slave of herself for the children, waits on +them night and day, allows them to sleep late in the morning, stay up late +at night and keep up an incessant round of pleasure while she herself stays +at home and shoulders the entire responsibility of the household. How much +happier the home where each child is trained to do some particular share of +work and to take some responsibility upon himself. + +The boy should be permitted to help the father whenever possible. He +should be required to do things promptly and regularly and to learn through +actual experience the amount of toil and sweat required to earn an honest +dollar. + +A taste for music and reading must be fostered in the home. Every family +should have some kind of musical instrument and at least a few choice books +for children. The influence of music and good literature on the tastes and +ideals of the future man and woman is so great that it can scarcely be +over-estimated. The use of correct and fluent language is largely a product +of the home. Children imitate the speech heard at home; if this is +incorrect, meagre, or coarse, the child is apt to have the same +imperfection follow him through life. + +The family constitutes a most sacred and important social unit, and because +of its intrinsic nature, it can best develop in the child the highest +personal sentiment and social virtue. Among these are affection, sympathy, +love, generosity and good will. If these are not awakened and nurtured by +the home, then there is little hope that they will be acquired elsewhere, +and the child will likely grow into a stony-hearted, selfish pessimist. + +Certain religious habits and sentiments also can be impressed naturally and +well only by the family. Among these are trust in God, the beginning of +faith, regard for ceremony, love of Bible stories, respect for authority, +and above all, prayer. The individual who has not been taught at his +mother's knee to pray is likely never to develop into a prayerful man or +woman. + +The home is the child's earliest school, his first temple of worship, his +first social center. It is the place where everything in this life begins. +Most fortunate is the child that is guided to take his first steps aright +through the loving influence of a good home. + + + + +LESSON XIV + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What four great agencies are concerned in training and education? + +2. Which is most important and why? + +3. What is the indictment of the home? + +4. What change has taken place respecting the relative importance of these +developing agencies? + +5. The home is responsible for what physical habits? + +6. What moral habits and virtues? + +7. What mental habits and virtues? + +8. What religious habits and sentiments? + +9. What is the future outlook for the home and family? + +It will be well at this point to review briefly the three beginning +chapters from "Religious Education in the Family," by Cope. The "Peril and +Preservation of the Home," by Jacob Riis, will also be found helpful +reading here. + + + +TRAINING BY THE CHURCH + + +_The Influence of the Church Is Essential to Aid the Home in Developing the +Religious Instincts and Emotions of the Child_ + +Religious emotions and belief are among the most deeply imbedded instincts +of the race. They are also some of the earliest manifestations of +childhood. They accompany the individual throughout his entire life, +exercising a profound influence over his thoughts and conduct, and they +become the chief anchor of the soul when sorrow or old age comes. It would +be a great calamity, therefore, if religious instincts and sentiment +should suffer eclipse or disappear. + +Rightly cultivated and trained, these natural feelings of religion grow +to spiritual power within us. Without such power, man is of little +consequence. + +Upon the home naturally falls the duty of fostering the first feelings of +reverence towards God. The child who learns to lisp his prayers at his +mother's knee is started aright. The home must give the first lessons in +the love of God and goodness. If it fails, they are likely never to be +learned. + +But the home needs the influence of the church here. It must have it to +round out the child's religious development. The church can do many things +for the child that the home cannot accomplish. It introduces him to +religious ceremonies and observances that satisfy his soul, and it helps +greatly to train him in religious habits. + +One cannot estimate the value of all this upon the character of the child. +As a restraint from wrong conduct and an encouragement to right action, the +work of the church is most salutary. The solemn ceremonies, the sacred +music, the exhortations pointing heavenward, the general spirit of the +group at humble worship--all exercise upon the child an influence for good, +mysterious yet profound. + +Clean, beautiful surroundings and orderly behavior are also very +impressive. The work of our Sabbath Schools is most beneficial. They offer +to parents a strong reinforcement in cultivating right religious habits +and emotions in the child. To go into one of our well-conducted Sunday +Schools, where order prevails, where the spirit of peace and prayer is +uppermost, to join in the singing, to listen to the uplifting instruction, +or, better still, to be given opportunity to take active part in this +religious service--all these make a deep and lasting impression upon the +youthful soul. Parents can do nothing better for their children and +themselves than to support loyally their Sunday Schools and other +religious organizations. + +The habit of attending church should also be impressed during the +habit-forming period. But the supreme opportunity of the church lies in its +ability actually to convert the youth or maiden during the adolescent +period. This is a privilege which neither the church nor the home has +adequately comprehended. When the emotional nature of the individual is at +white heat, as it then is, impressions made are lasting, and conversion, if +made then, will be so deeply impressed that it is likely to last forever. + +Churches in general fail to make the most of their opportunity here. They +too often stuff the heads of children with religious facts and formulae, +feeding them with the husks of theology, instead of giving them the +upbuilding food they need. Children, too, often are starving for real +spiritual food, hungering for the bread and thirsting for the water of +life. + +Parents and teachers generally need to correct their methods of presenting +the gospel to children, especially to the adolescent, if they would get the +results desired. It is their failure to meet the child on his own religious +ground, not his indifference to religion that makes the boy and girl leave +Sabbath School during the time he most needs such an influence. Let them +study and master these problems: Are boys and girls being given ample +opportunity for spiritual self-expression? Are the beautiful lessons of +the gospel being translated into terms that appeal to their lives? + +Our own church, we feel sure, is answering these questions in positive, +practical ways better and better every day; but there is still much left to +do even among us. + +We have in our own church a working system that ministers to the daily +moral and spiritual needs of humanity--a constructive Christianity that +comes close to our lives. Our church is our opportunity to develop our own +spiritual powers and to cultivate those of our children. The church needs +our help to carry forward its ministry to mankind; but we need even more +the help of the church to enspirit and to comfort our lives and to give to +us and to our children the guidance and the training that will keep us all +in the paths of safety and peace: + + + + +LESSON XX + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What have you observed in children to prove that religious emotions are +instinctive? + +2. In what ways can the home best foster the natural religious instincts of +childhood? + +3. What religious habits should the home cultivate? + +4. What can the church best develop in children? + +5. Why should the parents support loyally the Sunday Schools and other +organizations of the church? + +6. What is the supreme opportunity of the church during the adolescent age? + +7. What means have you used successfully to develop the religious instincts +of your own children? + +8. What opportunities for spiritual self-expression and service does our +own church offer? + +9. In what ways are we richly rewarded by our free-will service in behalf +of our church? + +"The Child and His Religion," by Dawson, will be a helpful book to study in +connection with this lesson. + + + +TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL + + +_Certain Phases of Training and Education Can Be Accomplished Better by the +School Than by Any Other Agency. A National System of Industrial and +Vocational Education Should Be Established_ + +The school is a social institution whose functions are becoming daily more +widely understood and more clearly defined. In the history of civilization, +the school, as we know it, is a very recent institution. Nation after +nation has arisen, reached its zenith, declined, and passed away without +dreaming of such a thing as universal education. With the growth of +democracy, particularly during the Reformation, the ideal of education as +the birthright of every child became well defined and during the years that +have intervened, this ideal has become a living reality. + +At first the universal education was advocated for the sake of the church. +Martin Luther believed that every child should have schooling so that he +might be able to read the Bible and study the catechism. For some time the +church had charge of and controlled education, but gradually, as democracy +developed, the influence of the state began to overshadow that of the +church, and education came to be recognized more and more as a function of +the state, and its control was gradually taken over by the latter +institution. + +The chief function of education, therefore, may be seen clearly from the +foregoing. In a democracy it is necessary for every child to be educated +because the existence of free institutions is based upon the intelligence +of the masses. Jefferson once remarked: "If anyone believes that free +government and an ignorant people can exist at one and the same time, he +believes that which never was or never can be." Universal education is, +therefore, a social necessity; its chief purpose is to train and instruct +the child in the duties and ideals of citizenship. He must be instructed in +the history of his country and learn what the ideals are for which his +country stands; he must learn the real meaning of the words: equality, +justice and freedom; he must be taught that obedience to law is the highest +form of freedom, and that license is destructive both of self and country. +Furthermore, he must learn that in a free country every individual must be +taught to be self-dependent, that no one owes him a living, that he ought +to produce a little more than he consumes for the sake of the unfortunate. + +The school, therefore, may teach better than any other agency the habits +and ideals of duty, social service, justice and patriotism. It also teaches +frequently better than does the home, the habits of obedience, +punctuality, regularity and industry. + +A secondary purpose of the school is to assist the home to develop in the +child the physical, mental, moral and social habits and ideals to which we +have referred in previous lessons. To the shame of the home, it must be +said that the school is accomplishing its particular function far better +than is the home. The school rarely fails to exact obedience, regularity, +punctuality, and industry from the pupil; the home, on the other hand, +frequently fails to train children in these habits because of the softness +and vacillation of the parents. The school trains to proper habits of +hygiene and sanitation, and is often under the necessity of acquainting +parents with physical defects in their children which too often they have +overlooked. + +Moreover, the school, as a larger social unit than the home, has some +distinct advantages over the latter: It can teach the obstinate, +quarrelsome child better than can the home the necessity of adjusting his +conduct to the requirements of the social group with which he associates. +In school, frequently for the first time, a child learns what is meant by +the ideals of duty and justice; furthermore, he is usually trained to +habits of industry, perseverance and self-control which the home too often +is not well prepared to teach. + +The home, however, is far more important than is the school; the latter +might be abolished and some other form of education adopted by society +without calamitous results; but if the home were suddenly abolished, it is +probable that civilization itself would be shaken to its center, if not +destroyed. The home, therefore, ought to be better prepared and equipped to +fulfill its function than is the school; but not one parent in a thousand +is specially prepared for the duties of parenthood. The teacher, on the +other hand, is required to spend years in preparation for his work. He is +expected, moreover, to set a worthy example for children to follow. "As the +teacher so the school," is a maxim that has stood the test. + +The school was never before so practical in its instruction as it is +to-day. In most of the junior and senior high schools, industrial work and +agriculture are taught. In the best schools girls are learning to sew, +mend, darn and cook. Many of them make their own dresses and trim their own +hats. In a few schools, uniform dress and shoes are adopted by the girl +students for the sake of economy and to prevent the silly mode of dressing +and the style of some girls. Much more could be done in this direction if +all mothers were sensible, but now and again word comes to the teacher: "I +can dress my girl well and I don't care to have her wear your cheap +uniform and your low-priced, low-heeled shoes." And again: "It's none of +your business how my girl dresses." Now, it must be conceded that the +parent has this right to object, but we surely question the wisdom of her +so doing. Many young girls on graduating from the eighth grade make their +own graduation dresses and confine the cost of the entire costume, +including shoes, to $5.00. Women graduating from the senior school often +make their dresses and confine the cost to within $10.00. + +Most young men are taught manual art of some kind and agriculture. It is +seldom that any father objects to his son taking carpenter work, but once +in a while a farmer smiles at the thought of a "professor" teaching +farming. The results, however, of the good work in teaching better farming +is already seen throughout our country, and the time is not far distant +when "scientific agriculture" will return many fold the price of its +investment. The agricultural department at Washington reports that the +Burbank potato is adding $17,000,000 yearly to the wealth of the U.S. + +The people, too, are well satisfied with this new type of school. They are +beginning to see that education is a very practical and vital matter and +is not merely for ornament. It is a rare thing now to hear the once common +remark that education is too expensive. + +Statistics show that the average wages paid to unskilled laborers in the U. +S. is about $500 per annum; careful reports indicate that the average +yearly earnings of high school graduates is $1000. In a lifetime of 40 +years the high school man will earn $20,000 more than the unlearned +laborer. + +From a financial standpoint it is very evident that education pays, yet +five and one-half years is the average length of time the children of the +U.S. attend school. The nation ought to enrich itself through putting more +money into education. + +The natural resources of the country are largely taken up and the free land +is practically all occupied. What then is to be the future of the great +mass of laborers unless a thorough-going system of industrial and +vocational training is made possible? The Industrial Commission appointed +recently by Congress found that three-fourths of the male laborers in the +U.S. earn less than $600 per annum, yet the U.S. Government has found "that +the point of adequate subsistence is not reached until the family income is +about $800 a year. Less than half the wage-earners' families in the U.S. +have an annual income of that size." + +Now the rich can take care of themselves and the very poor and unfortunate +cannot be permanently helped, but this great middle class, upon whom the +nation must depend in every crisis, can and must be assisted to the extent, +at least, that conditions be made possible through which they may raise +their efficiency and so increase their earning capacity to a point +commensurate with their needs. A thorough-going, national system of +industrial and vocational "preparedness" would solve this problem. + +The marvelous efficiency of Germany is due in large part to the fact that +her great middle classes have been made efficient through a national system +of trade schools. + +The prosperity and perpetuity of a nation rests largely upon its ability to +provide an adequate number of highly trained experts to be leaders, +inventors and executives. In a democracy, these skilled leaders are +especially important. Among the problems to be solved are questions of +government, education, finance, economics, business, industry, health, +manufacturing, engineering and mining. Any nation that lacks guidance in +these particulars is indeed weak and pitiful. The universities, colleges, +and higher technical schools supply nine-tenths of these experts, yet in +the U.S. to-day there are only 250,000 students enrolled in all the +colleges and universities of the country; this is about one to 500 of the +population, a number entirely inadequate to perform the tremendous service +that will be expected of this nation in the near future. + + + + +LESSON XXI + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. State the nature of the school. + +2. How did the ideal of universal education arise? + +3. State the chief function of the school. + +4. Name the habits and ideals peculiar to the school. + +5. What is the secondary purpose of the school? + +6. Contrast the efficiency of the home and the school. + +7. What high compliment may be paid to teachers? + +8. Is the comparison made between the home and the school overdrawn? + +9. Compare the practical school of to-day with the school of the past. + +10. Do you favor uniform dress for high school girls? + +11. What is your opinion of modern style which so many mothers foster? + +12. Have you any boys taking industrial work in school? + +13. Prove that high school education pays. + +14. What is the duty of a nation towards its great middle class? + +15. Do you believe in a national system of industrial and vocational +schools? + +16. Why are experts needed particularly in a democracy? + + + +THE DUTY OF THE STATE + + +_The Social and Civic Institutions of the State (Society) Exert a Powerful +Influence over the Lives of Children. The Citizen Must See to It that this +Great Educative Influence of His Community Is Uplifting in Nature_ + +The vital relationship existing between parent and child is easy to +understand, but the close interdependence of the individual and the state +is much more difficult to comprehend. Yet in a very real sense the +individual and the state are reciprocally related. But just as the body is +more than an aggregate of all of its cells, so is society (the state) +something more than the sum total of its individual units. That a group of +people, or even one individual, may exert an influence over the thoughts +and actions of others is a reality of profound significance; that there is +a social conscience as well as an individual conscience is a fact that +cannot be refuted, and the part played by custom and tradition in shaping +the history of the world can hardly be estimated. + +In view of the close relationship between the individual and society, it is +passing strange that while the individual is expected to possess a high +standard of character, society itself may indulge in all sorts of +questionable practices without so much as a challenge. Many a person winks +at the frivolity and immorality of society, while at the same time he +expects the most circumspect behavior on the part of his neighbor. The +existence of these two standards which ought to coincide but which in +reality are far apart is responsible for many failures in the training of +children. + +As soon as the infant begins to observe and imitate the actions of members +of the household, its social training begins; play with the neighbor's +child extends the process, and the social group or "gang" with which the +child associated, impresses permanently its thought and action. Frequently, +too, the chum or companion chosen by the child has more real influence over +its life than has the combined instruction of parents and teacher. As +already shown, the school is a social institution and the same is largely +true of the Sunday School. The example of adults also makes a profound +impression upon the conduct of children. The home and the school may teach +convincingly the injurious effects of tobacco and alcohol, but so long as +society sanctions the sale of these poisons and respected adults indulge in +them, just so long will the efforts of home and school, be, to a large +extent, counteracted. The same is true with respect to any other virtue or +excellence, the home, school, and church may unite in emphasizing the most +wholesome discipline, but so long as society is a living, seething +contradiction of this teaching, the instruction will fall upon deaf ears +and be but as "sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal." + +The fact is that our nation is yet too young to be fully conscious of its +opportunities and responsibilities. A democratic form of government from +its very nature must develop slowly towards its ideals. It must expect at +first to be much less certain and efficient in its action than is a highly +centralized government. This inability on the part of popular government to +attain its ideals is reflected also in its subordinate civic units; neither +state nor city governments have yet solved the problem of efficient and +economical administration, although it is a pleasure to note that some +cities are making real progress in this direction. In many communities, +however, the weakness of decentralized government is most apparent. This is +particularly true in many towns; here is seen too frequently a lack of +civic pride, inefficient officers and failure to enforce the law. + +The humiliating fact obtains that frequently a few lawless individuals +often not more than from 3 to 5 per cent of the population, are permitted +to set the moral pace, while the 95 per cent, of law-abiding citizens are +either asleep to their duties or else fail to see that the remedy is in +their own hands. In many instances a few persons are allowed to undermine +the morals of the community. In one town of our state a single individual +was permitted for 25 years to corrupt the morals of many young men of the +community through illegal traffic in liquor. + +Parents should realize that next to heredity the social factors in a +community are likely to be the chief influence at work moulding and shaping +the lives of their children, and in the long run they must not expect the +average child to be better than the community in which he lives. + +But the remedy for inefficient, free government is not far to seek; +universal education will solve the problem provided it includes, as it +should, instruction and training in civic and social duties. There is no +need to argue the superiority of democratic government over that of all +other forms; the freedom which we possess is worth all the suffering and +bloodshed of all the patriots that have ever lived. But nothing will run +itself; perpetual motion is a myth, and even a small town to be well +governed, must receive conscious, expert attention. + +Unquestionably, a free government is the most complex and difficult of all +forms of government to administer, but the problem can be solved, and the +secret of success will be found in the individual himself. He must become +educated to realize his full duties and responsibilities as a free citizen, +in other words, he must become socialized. He must get over the notion that +the school is the only educational agency and must understand that every +influence that modifies conduct is educative in nature. Especially must he +learn that the community itself is the chief civic and social educator of +children, and as such it should be consciously organized to perform well +this responsibility. + +Already communities are awakening to the need of perfect sanitary and +hygienic conditions, and clean town contests are the order of the day; this +is one of the most hopeful signs of better times, but there ought to be a +moral and mental awakening and contests for civic righteousness should be +inaugurated. Any community that can say: "In this town no influence is +permitted that could in any way corrupt the morals or ideals of children," +should receive the highest award in the gift of the people and its praises +should be commemorated in song and story. + +In ancient Greece every citizen regarded himself as a parent or guardian of +every child, and if any youth was seen in public to violate any of the +customs or ideals of the nation, it was the duty of the citizen to +chastise the boy and to otherwise instruct him in the duties of +citizenship. At the same time the citizen was careful himself to set an +example worthy of emulation. The result was the most perfect and harmonious +education that the world has ever seen--at once the inspiration and the +despair of all succeeding civilizations. Why should we not adopt some of +the Grecian methods suited to our needs? In Greece no citizen would think +of doing in public, or permitting to be done, anything which was not +desirable for the child to do either in public or private. Why should any +man who walks upright, with his head pointing to the stars, be permitted to +profane the name of Deity, to stagger under the influence of liquor, to +puff at a cigar, to gamble, to run a disorderly resort or show, to enrich +himself through the manufacture and sale of poisons, or to do anything else +that corrupts the community and destroys her children? Surely in our feeble +attempts at free government, the right hand knows not what the left is +doing. + +But the remedy, as I have said, is in the hands of the citizens. While it +is true that certain reforms to be most effective must be national rather +than local, such, for example, as prohibiting the manufacture and sale of +poisonous drugs, tobacco and alcohol, it is, nevertheless, evident that the +initiative must be taken by the individual. His first duty is to convert +himself and then his neighbors before any nation-wide reform can be +undertaken. + +It is one of the chief glories of a democracy that any desired good may be +obtained through conversion and co-operation. But since in most communities +90 per cent, or more of the citizens are law-abiding and would not +consciously do anything to destroy the children of the commonwealth, it +ought to be a simple matter to restrain the few that are lawless and +unsocial. There can be no possible doubt that any community that is fully +alive to its needs and responsibilities can bring about just such civic and +social conditions as it may desire. To help accomplish these purposes, it +is necessary that efficient officers are elected who will enforce the laws +and that public sentiment be aroused in support of these officials; in some +communities sympathy for law-breakers is so easily awakened that justice +cannot be enforced and law and order are placed in contempt. + +The citizen in a democracy should realize that his training and education +are never completed, that life itself is the great school-master and that +one of the chief pleasures of existence is continued study and +investigation. His occupation, no matter what it is, will offer him some +opportunity for study and improvement, and a portion of his leisure time +ought to be devoted to books and magazines. He may, also, if he desires, +take an extension course or correspondence work offered by a higher +institution of learning, some of which are making earnest efforts to take +the college to the people. Every citizen should at least be identified with +some civic, social, or industrial organization in his town, such as a +debating and literary club, an agricultural society, or a commercial club. +If each community would seek out and utilize the talent within its +precinct, it might develop an intellectual and civic consciousness that +would rival the spirit of ancient Greece. + +An old-time prophet uttered the inspiring thought: "The Glory of God is +intelligence," and the great latter-day Prophet added the supplement: "No +man can be saved in ignorance." It is the duty of the individual, +therefore, to be an eternal seeker after knowledge and perfection. In this +blessed age when the sun of education shines so brilliantly, none need to +slumber under the clouds of ignorance. May the sun shine until under its +regenerating influence the home, school, church and state may each awaken +to the full measure of its power and so prepare the way for the coming of +that mightier Son of Righteousness, who promises to reign for a thousand +years over a redeemed world. + + + + +LESSON XXII + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Show the close relationship between the individual and the state. + +2. Account for the two different standards of conduct. + +3. Indicate how social influences modify the character of children. + +4. How do examples of the use of tobacco and liquor affect children? + +5. Compare example and precept. + +6. Why must a democratic form of government develop its ideals slowly? + +7. Why is community government frequently inefficient? + +8. What per cent, of the population usually "sets the moral pace?" + +9. What is the remedy for inefficient free government? + +10. Why is the community the chief civic and social educator of children? + +11. What should receive the highest award in the gift of a people? + +12. How did Greece train her children? + +13. What evil practices should be prohibited in a community? + +14. What reforms should be national rather than local? + +15. How may the few lawless individuals be restrained? + +16. What is the duty of the citizen towards self-improvement and education? + + + + +PART II + + + +SUPPLEMENTAL STUDIES + + + +MAN'S PARTNERSHIP WITH NATURE[1] + + +_Dr. John M. Tyler_ + +_Nature will bear our burdens for us, if we will obey her laws and heed +her suggestions_. + +[Footnote 1: These supplemental studies are based on lectures by Dr. John +M. Tyler, given before the Utah Educational Association, by whose +permission they are used. Parents will find Dr. Tyler's book on Growth in +Education of great interest. It is listed with other books at the close of +this volume.] + +How has all the material progress of the nineteenth century come about? I +think we shall find that it was due to man's intelligently and carefully +and scrupulously going into partnership with Nature by obeying her laws. +Not so very many years ago messages were sent across this continent by +pony-riders; it was a slow process and a very expensive one. Now I step +into an office here and I say, "I wish to send a message to my wife way out +yonder in Massachusetts." The man touches a button and says, "Your message +is in Massachusetts, sir." It is a miracle. The lightning has run with my +message. Electricity not only carries our messages, it lights our houses; +it turns many a wheel of machinery; it serves us beneficiently just as long +as we obey the laws of electricity; but when we offend against these laws, +it thwarts us or very likely destroys us. "Obey, and I will do anything +for you in the world," says Nature, "disobey and you cannot move me one +single inch." Coal hurries our great locomotives and long trains of +merchandise and carries men and women across this continent without any +great amount of human labor. The engineer and the brakeman do not get +behind and push those great palace cars of ours; it is Nature which drives +the train as if it were sport. Man guides and directs the water pouring +down our hillsides, turning wheels of countless factories. A few ounces of +gasoline send the automobile down the street, polluting the air and +endangering our lives. The power of Nature is absolutely irresistible and +unlimited; and furthermore, she is always working towards some great and +good end. + +When I was a child I used to hear that Nature was bad, and we used to have +sermons to the natural man. They were excellent sermons, too, but they +ought to have been preached to the unnatural man. The natural child was +considered a child of wrath, and, having that reputation, he quite +frequently lived up to it; but Nature is beneficient, as long as we let her +be so, and she is always working toward great and grand ends. She has been +working towards a higher and nobler and a better race of men than you and I +are to-day. She is working for a race of men and women who shall tower +above us as the sages and prophets in Athens and Jerusalem towered above +their slaves. Can we not trust her just a little? + +Did you ever think that it is the most marvelous thing in the world that +such a thing as a chicken ever comes out of such a thing as an egg? If only +one chicken were hatched in a century, we would go from here to the +Himalaya mountains to see the miracle of that chicken coming out of that +egg. You put an egg under a very stupid old hen, and all the hen does is to +keep that egg warm, and leave it alone; after twenty days there comes out a +chicken. How in the world did that chicken ever frame that body? How did it +build the skeleton and string the muscles, and spin the nerves? If every +nerve in that body did not make just the right connection, that chicken +would be paralyzed. If you could watch the development of that chicken in +the egg, your hair would stand on end. Isn't it Nature that makes those +chickens? You and I can't make them. Nature puts a shell around the egg +with the express purpose that we are to keep our fingers out and let her +alone. She says: "I am on very important business now and I am going to do +some strange things; if you could watch me you would interfere with me, and +if you interfere with me, you will ruin me or ruin the chicken, so I want +you to stand to one side and leave me entirely alone; and while I might do +a good many things that you don't like, I shall bring a chicken out of that +egg;" and she does; she has been making them for thousands of years in that +same old stupid way, but she brings the chicken out all right. + +Sometimes she seems to blunder still worse. She takes an egg which we +suppose is going to turn into a frog, and she brings out of it a +tadpole--neither fish, flesh nor fowl nor anything else. After a while the +tadpole gets legs and has a long tail; it must lose that tail in order to +become a frog. A benevolent zoologist one day started in to help the +tadpole by snipping off the tadpole's tail; he made a frog of him in a +hurry, but the strange thing was that that frog never was able to leap +properly. Nature had been relying on the material that was in the tail. She +was going to shift it forward and put it in the hind legs, but when the +zoologist cut it off, she couldn't build the hind legs right after that. + +A good deal of our education seems to me like trying to make frogs in a +hurry by cutting off their tails. Nature can make chickens; she can make +frogs. She can make bugs that will eat up everything which human ingenuity +ever tried to raise. She will make weeds which you and I can't possibly +kill even though we fight against them all summer long. We can trust Nature +to form these things; isn't it fair to trust her with the children for a +little while at least? Wouldn't it be well--I never heard of this +experiment being tried, but I should like to see it tried very much +indeed--I do wish that sometime somebody would leave a baby alone for +twenty minutes and see what it would do if it were left to itself. + +What is the great characteristic of all living things? It is that they +grow; we cannot make them grow, but they grow of themselves. The farmer +plants his crop of corn. He doesn't get a jackscrew and put under every +hill of corn, and go around every morning and give the screw a turn and a +twist and hoist the hill up in the air. He prepares the soil as best he +can. He puts in the seed; he keeps down the weeds; he keeps out things and +living beings which will injure the crop as far as he can; then he leaves +it alone to God and Nature to make that corn grow, and in time he gets a +bountiful harvest. + +I believe that education some day will be somewhat like raising a crop of +corn. We shall learn to keep the child under the best condition possible. +We shall learn to keep down harmful and injurious surroundings or forces so +far as they can interfere with him. We shall stimulate growth in every +possible way; that I grant you; and when we have done that, we shall leave +the rest calmly to Nature and to the good Lord who made that child for some +good purpose. + +It is a grand thing to have the child learn to see for himself the glories +of this magnificent world. I verily believe that when you and I go home, +while the good Lord will be very merciful with us because of our sins, I +don't see how he can forgive many of us for not having had a great deal +better time in this glorious world in which He has put us. When you open +the child's eyes to the beauties and the glories of Nature you have done a +great thing for it. But, after all, that is not the grandest thing to my +mind. The grandest part is that every wave of vibration that goes in +through the eyes as the child looks at Nature, and pours into the brain, +stimulates that brain to a larger growth than it would otherwise possibly +have attained, and the child is a larger and a grander child for that +Nature study. + +We believe in manual training because it gives us skilled fingers and +enables us to do deftly and well a great many things which we otherwise +could not do at all, and which most of us men have to go to our wives and +ask them to do for us. But that is not the grandest part of manual +training; the grandest part is the reaction from the finger upon the brain, +stimulating the brain to realize all its ideals, and stimulating it so +that whenever it sees good work of any kind in this world it shall +appreciate it heartily and enjoy it with the joy of the artist. + +We speak of physical training and physical training is brain training in +the end, it is training in growth. It is very evident, however, that the +growth and development of a baby is something different from the growth and +development of a child; and the growth in the child is very different from +that in the youth and that of the youth from that of the adult. In the baby +the vital organs are growing faster. In the young child the muscular system +is coming to the front, and he runs and plays and through the stimulus of +that muscular exercise he brings out every organ in the body and gains that +magnificent health which he so much needs. + +Then, after a time, the brain comes to the front and grows and develops +more rapidly than any other part of the body. Our business as teachers is +always so to stimulate, by proper exercise, the growing organs that they +shall grow faster and further than they ever could without our aid. We are +not to always hasten it. This is one thing we must bear in mind: precocity +is the worst foe of a sound education. It is the boy and the girl who +mature slowly but mature surely that in the end possess the earth. We must +not hasten the process, but when we find the organ is ready to grow and +develop, then we must give it adequate stimulus. In other words, the +stimulus must be of the right kind, and there must be just enough of it, +just enough blood to stimulate the muscles, just as much study as will best +stimulate the growing and very immature intellectual centers in the brain. +Then we will increase the stimulus as the power increases and demands the +stronger exercise, and so stimulating the growing parts by adequate +exercise, we bring one part after another up to such development that we +have one harmonious whole of perfect health. + +You remember that when the old deacon in Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem +started in to build the one-horse shay, he said, "Every shay that has ever +been made has broken down, because there was always a weakest spot in it; +now I am going to make a shay that never will break down, because I am +going to make the weakest part just as strong as the rest." We cannot +always do that, but if we can make that part somewhere near as strong as +the rest, we are past masters in education. + +If we obey Nature's laws, all of her powers will be on our side; and with +all her powers on our side and the very stars in their courses fighting for +us, we cannot possibly fail, there is absolutely nothing which is +impossible to us. We must be strong and of good courage, if we are to guide +these little people into the land sworn unto their fathers before them. + + + + +LESSON I + + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What is meant by the expression, "Man's partnership with Nature?" +Illustrate how man makes Nature serve him. + +2. In what way can man enter into a partnership with Nature regarding his +own body? + +3. What can man do best when it comes to making things grow? + +4. What do you think of the "hurry" methods in education? + +5. What is the most we can do in providing for the education of the child? + +6. How does Nature help us in the training process? + +7. What does Nature try to make sure of first in the child? + +8. When does the brain of the child begin to develop rapidly? + +9. What advice would you give about precocity in children? Why? + +10. What should we study in our children to give them a strong and even +development? + + + +CONSERVATION OF THE CHILD + + +_By Dr. J.M. Tyler_ + +When the good Lord sets out to develop a child, the first organ with which +He starts is the stomach. The stomach is the foundation of all greatness. +It is a matter of daily observation if not of experience that a man can get +along very well with very few brains, but a man can't get along at all +without a good digestive system. The digestive system furnishes all the +material for growth and the fuel which is continually burned or consumed in +our nerves and muscles. Now, any furnace requires besides fuel, a good +draught. When we burn the fuel, by uniting it with the oxygen thus brought +in, we get the energy which draws our locomotives and our great ships. +Similarly in our bodies, our lungs bring in the oxygen and the heart and +blood-vessels carry the fuel and the oxygen to every part of the body. But +every furnace requires a smoke-stack to carry off the waste, and, +similarly, we must have in our bodies an excretory system to remove the +waste of the burned-up material and of the used-up tissue of the heart, +muscles and nerves. This constitutes the digestive system; the lungs, the +excretory system and the circulatory system are absolutely necessary to +support the combustion which is going on in nerve and muscle and without +which energy is impossible. + +All productive labor manifests itself through the muscles. Our muscles +directly write the book, speak the word, build the railroads, do the deeds. +Our muscles are of very different ages. In the child the trunk muscles are +developed first; the shoulder muscles next; the arm muscles next; the +finger muscles last of all. The heavy muscles of trunk, shoulder and thigh +require but a small amount of nervous impulse or control, and they react +strongly on all the vital organs, as is shown every time that we take a +walk. The finest and youngest muscles of the fingers require a very large +amount of nervous control for a very small output of muscular energy and +their exercise stimulates the very highest centers in the brain, and this +is the great argument for physical training, that through one muscle or +another you can stimulate and develop as you choose either any vital organ +or the highest center in the brain. + +Never forget the maxim of the old German physiologist that "Health comes in +through the muscles and flows out through the nerves." The nervous system +was created for good and wise ends, but in many people it has become a +nuisance. Its use is to insure that every stimulus from the external world +shall call forth a response suited to the emergency. A fly lights upon my +face; I wave my hand and drive him away. The fly has tickled my face; there +is the external stimulus. A sensory impulse travels to the brain or to some +other center and a motor impulse goes from there to a certain muscle in my +arm which moves my hand and drives away the fly. The impulse has called out +a response suited to that emergency. You watch a cat walk across the lawn; +you will think that fool cat is going to fall down, it is going so slowly +and it can hardly raise one foot above the other, but watch it when it sees +its prey; every muscle seems to turn to steel; it is ready for the spring. +When that spring is made there is no energy wasted. After that the cat does +not move for two hours; no wasting energy there. Wasting of energy is a +sin. + +I awaken in the morning, and the first horrible emergency of the day +confronts me at once, I have to get up. How I get up I have no idea. +Professor James once said that when a man thinks about it he never does get +up, and that's right; but I find myself in the middle of the floor and that +is all I know, and then the cold air or the sight of my clothes or +something reminds me to start dressing, and the putting on of one garment +leads to the putting on of another. The pangs of hunger call me to the +breakfast table; the bell calls me to work; and so all day long response +follows stimulus; the day's work is a success or a failure according to the +response which I make to the stimuli which I receive. + +There is a marvelous picture given in the scripture in the parable of the +poor man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and getting wounded and left +by the road-side. Three men pass that way. They all see the same thing. The +light is reflected from the poor sufferer into the eyes of these +passers-by; a flood of vibration passes on to the brain and then the motor +impulses go out to the muscles. In the case of the good Samaritan, the +impulse went from the brain or the spinal nerve to the arms and he stooped +down and picked the poor fellow up and carried him off; while in the priest +and the Levite the impulses all went down into the legs and the cowards +hustled off for Jericho. + +A healthy nervous system is the rarest thing in this wide world. I have one +illustration in mind, which I always like to think of, which I am going to +give you of a perfectly healthy and normal nervous system. It was possessed +by a good old negro minister. He had been preaching to his congregation for +a long time on the subject of meekness and it had not produced the desired +effect; so he said to them one morning: "Brethren, I'se gwine to give you +the illustration of meekness for a week now and show you what it is," and +the old man did. His congregation naturally rose to the occasion: They +insulted his wife; they abused his children; they stoned his dog; they +stole his chickens; they did everything under the heaven to break down the +meekness of that man; but he went on through the week and came into church +the next Sunday and began to preach. The congregation recognized that their +time was short and they redoubled their efforts, but all in vain. Finally, +about five minutes before the closing of the service, he turned to the +congregation and said: "Brethren, I think I ought to denounce to this +congregation that my week of meekness is just about up, and when the clock +in yonder steeple strikes twelve, I'se gwine to quit preachin', close this +blessed Bible, go down from this pulpit, and then, Brethren, Judgment day +and hell is gwine to break loose on some of you." Now, that old colored +minister had an ideal nervous system. There had not been one single +response all that week long, and not one single stimulus which had come in +from the outside had been lost either, but it was all waiting to leap into +that good right arm when the emergency was to be met, in the fullness of +time, and I commend you to go and do likewise. + +It is only a step, thank fortune, from the ridiculous to the sublime, just +as it is only a step from the sublime to the ridiculous. Another +illustration of a perfect nervous system: You remember how our Lord spent a +whole day in preaching, in healing, working deeds of kindness, in pouring +out sympathy and comfort, the strain of which on a man's nervous energy is +worse than anything else in the world, and how at the close of the day He +went into the little boat, took the hard cushion on which the steersman +sat, threw it down in the bottom of the boat, and laid Himself down with +His head on that hard cushion and slept like a child through the rocking of +the boat and the roaring of the storm, until His disciples came to Him +saying, "Lord, save us: we perish." There is not one man in a thousand who +could do that work or could put out one-tenth part of that nervous energy +and then sleep like that. Anybody who thinks that the Prophet of Nazareth +was a weak or a feeble man has made the mistake of his life. He was perfect +physically or He never could have done His work. + +All this work of developing a steady nerve, of developing the vital organs +for the use of the muscles, has been going on until the child is nine or +ten years old. It has been going on very rapidly, and in as much as the +exercise has been suitable, as his digestion has been good, his growth has +been very rapid. During the first three years of its life the child +increases its weight more than three-fold. During the next three years it +adds over forty per cent. to this amount and between six and nine adds over +thirty per cent. more; and when the boy is about eleven years old, or the +girl is about ten, then the growth almost stops that year. It drops to a +minimum. I call your attention to this thought: the minimum growth is more +in a girl than in a boy. A girl is always more precocious than a boy. She +is a year older than he at nine or ten, and when she is fourteen, fifteen, +sixteen, she is two years older than the boy. When the girl is ten and the +boy eleven, growth drops to the minimum. Why is that? Nature is economizing +her material and husbanding her resources against the trying years which +are to come. + +You remember the story of the time when Pharoah in his dream saw the seven +fat kine followed and devoured by the seven lean kine; he was told that his +dream signified seven years of plenty, to be followed by seven years of +famine, and was advised to store up the harvests of the good years against +the hard times to follow. This is a picture of the child's life. The first +seven years of the child's life are years of plenty, when it is storing up +material for the years of hard trial, the years of famine, which are close +at hand. + +I am going to talk most of the girl because she needs more attention than +the boy. Growth is a very expensive process. It begins in the bone. When +the bones lengthen out, then every muscle, every nerve has to be lengthened +out to suit that extra length, and that means a great deal of waste for +that rebuilding, but it is something worse than that. You know perfectly +well that out of the butterfly egg there comes the caterpillar, and that +caterpillar goes into a cocoon, and during the life of the cocoon every +organ is changed there and it comes out a butterfly. That is what we call a +metamorphosis. + +The girl between ten and sixteen is undergoing a metamorphosis just as sure +as that caterpillar is undergoing a metamorphosis. If you leave town for a +few years and come back, you know all the old men and women haven't changed +any, except to die off. The babies have grown some; but the boy and the +girl seem to be grown all over again. That is, the girl whom you left at +nine years old and on coming back find her sixteen, has dropped down her +skirts, has drawn up her hair, and that is the butterfly cocoon, and it is +a mighty pretty butterfly cocoon. That is waste again. It is waste, waste, +on all sides and all of that waste is going into the blood, no other place +to put it; it ought to be got out at once. But there is another thing +about it; all the food must be digested, and so oxygen must be gained and +waste must be eliminated. All the organs in the trunk between those ages of +ten and fourteen are relatively both larger and smaller in girls than at +any other period of life. + +It looks as though Nature was making a bad blunder, but she is really +making the best of a very bad bargain, doing the best she can under hard +circumstances. With these small vital organs and this tremendous draught on +the body for new material and the large amount of waste to be eliminated, +you are sure to have trouble. That trouble is going to manifest itself +first of all in the blood. The blood is going to be poor blood during those +years, unless you remedy it. Poor blood, first of all, depresses the +nervous system, and the girl feels gloomy and good for nothing; she hates +to go out into the cold air because she chills; yet that cold air is what +she needs more than anything else in the world. She hates to make an effort +and won't take the exercise she needs if she can possibly help it. The +exercise she must have. Her appetite has gone all wrong. She likes to live +on caramels, pickles, and all such things as that. Now, my friends, I want +to tell you, when anything goes wrong with the appetite, then the whole +system goes wrong, remember that. Observations were made some years ago in +Sweden of a number of the bodily disorders that occur between the ages of +thirteen and nineteen. These examiners found that there was one disorder +which attacked, put in general numbers, sixty per cent. of the girls in the +Swedish schools between the ages of thirteen and nineteen, and, indeed, it +never fell below sixty per cent. and was usually a great deal more. In +Denmark, the examination was made in the field where the children are +healthier, and then the figures gave forty per cent. The troubles usually +show themselves in the form of pallor; the girl is pale. They frequently +break out in the form of headache, loss of appetite, resistance to marked +effort and sometimes with a cold. Now, if the seat of the cold is in the +blood, because it is loaded with waste and ought to be removed, there is +one thing sure, that waste never will be removed until it is thoroughly +oxidized. That is the first thing to do, oxidize it. The only way to +oxidize the blood is to get the lungs full of good, pure air. + +The girl wants just as much lung capacity as she can possibly get. We find +that the girl during those years is a little taller and a little heavier +than the boy, and she needs more oxygen to every pound of waste in the body +than the boy does, because the waste is going on faster. The average girl +has about three-fourths as much lung capacity for every pound of the waste +in the body, as has the average boy. What the girl needs is more lung +capacity to get in more oxygen. How is she going to get the lung capacity +sitting in the house? How is she going to get it when she is tied down in +the grammar school room with a book before her eyes? + +The worst of it all is that the girl leaves off playing games in the open +air just about the time when she needs them the most, and not having the +open air play and the open air games, she can't get the lung capacity and +the oxygen. Another thing that hinders the girl is this: there is no place +for her to play where she can do all she wants to and not have people +looking over the fence and finding fault with her for having a good time. +Every girl ought to have a place where she can play in the open air and not +be bothered and we ought to get more and more games for girls of that age. +Another thing, the exercise should not be too severe. Don't kill a girl +with physical training; because you can kill her that way just as you can +kill her with books. Some of our physical training is too severe for a girl +of that age. She must have plenty of the right kinds of games and they +should be in the open air, and they should be such as she will enjoy and +love; if they are not of that kind it won't help a great deal. If you can +build up lung capacity in that way then you are drawing in the oxygen; +then you are getting out the waste, and you will find the girl will come +out all right in nine cases out of ten. + +It is a fact, proved by physical examination, that all during this period +the better scholars have the larger lung capacity. Those of you who have +taught in the grammar schools year after year will know that a bright girl, +one that has been very bright, will have a year when she will come to you +and will be absolutely stupid and can't learn. "What ails the girl?" you +wonder. She will tell you, "I don't know what ails me; I can't learn +anything. I have become a fool and I was not always one." The trouble is +with the lung capacity; it isn't with the brain; the brain is all right. If +you tell that girl to wake up in order to make up that lack of mental +ability by studying harder, you are doing the unpardonable sin. I am +telling it to you straight. That is not the remedy. The remedy is more play +in the open air, then you will find that that girl's brain will clear up. +Many a poor girl has been put in poor condition by being urged to study +hard, when the fault was that nobody knew enough to turn her out into the +fresh air which the Lord intended she should have. + +We ought to have in every school five minutes, it would be better to have +ten minutes, between school exercises, when the girls can walk up and +down, chat with one another and get the blood out of the overloaded head +and down into the cold feet. Better still, turn them out in the open air +and let them run; that would be another blessing. Don't keep the girls +sitting too long at that period. Don't let them sit with wet feet or +skirts. That is just about as bad as getting smallpox. Teach them some of +the sense which you ought to have if you haven't. + +I haven't said a word for the boy, for this good reason: you can't kill him +if you try, thank the Lord. You can't kill him if you try, not because he +is so very tough; boys are not as tough as girls, physically; but you can't +kill them; because they won't let you; but I am sorry to say, some few +women teachers are killing off the future women. Again and again I have +heard it said by the girls: "We can get along all right with Mr. So and So; +we can get on the blind side of him all the time; we can fool him, but when +we try to get around Miss So and So she puts it to us awfully, and in the +neatest way, to get the work done." Now, why the women can't have a little +mercy on the younger people is something I cannot understand at all. + +And yet, while I haven't said a word for the boy, ought we not to regard +him a little? Now and then there is the ambitious boy, and then again there +is your studious boy; there is your bookish boy; there is your shy boy who +does not get into the games. He is the boy you should watch all the time. +There is the boy who has become delicate and finicky, because he has been +doddled at home. I hope you haven't got so many of them here as we have in +the East, but he is here and you must watch him, because his parents are +doing everything in the world to spoil him. You must stand on the Lord's +side of him if you can, for these boys need your help. If you give a little +excess of mercy, a little bit more physical vigor gained by this regime of +open-air exercise and exercise between the school periods, you simply will +be erring on the safe side and doing good to that girl and such boys, +because on these years of metamorphosis depend the life and the happiness +of the girl and the boy. + +Perhaps you are getting ready for examinations. I want to tell you Nature +has her examinations just as well as you do. Does not she examine the baby +and see that baby can't go on, and many babies do not go on. Then the death +rate sinks; at eleven and twelve it is very low, very low, indeed, only +perhaps two or three in a thousand, in many countries. Nature is giving +them a chance to see whether they will get ready for the second +examination. Right after or during puberty the death rate rises. At +eighteen, nineteen and twenty, it has gone up. That is Nature's second +examination, to see whether that boy or girl is fit to send out into the +world to take part in the great drama of life, and if she is conditioned at +this time, then it means invalidism for two, three, four, five years, and +if she is badly conditioned, it may mean death. When you are preparing +those girls for the examination, do not forget your own examination, +because it is coming on very fast. + +I have talked very plainly this morning and I hope you will forgive me. You +may say, "We don't need that talk now." I hope you don't. You will need it +in a generation or two; I don't care how strong that pioneer blood was +which has come down to your first generation here, we had just as good in +Massachusetts a hundred or a hundred and fifty years ago, but we are +getting rid of it just as fast as we can, the Lord forgive us; and you will +do that here if you don't look out. If you have strong, red blood, hold on +to it; because that is the grandest gift of God to man; it is a treasure +which must be handed down unimpaired from generation to generation, that +our boys and girls may be strong and efficient for the work of life which +lies before them. + + + + +LESSON II + + +(General Subject: "Conservation of the Child," read carefully the foregoing +lecture by Dr. Tyler.) + +_The Body as an Instrument of the Soul_ + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. What are the teachings of the Latter-day Saints regarding the relation +of the body to the soul? + +2. In the light of these teachings, what is demanded of every Latter-day +Saint as to the treatment of his body? How are we living up to these +teachings? + +3. What are the four essential things we must do to keep the body engine +described by Dr. Tyler, in perfect condition? + +4. What would you think of an engineer who fed his engine dirt with his +coal, or let his draughts and flues clog with soot, or failed to remove the +clinkers, or let his engine get dusty and rusty? In what similar ways are +people neglecting their bodies? + +5. Discuss this as a health maxim: Clean food, clean air, clean water, +clean thoughts, and clean consciences. + +6. What was the Savior's constant command to the sick? + +7. Give one practical suggestion as to training children to take proper +care of their God-given bodies--of keeping them clean, both inside and out. + + + + +LESSON III + + +_The Foundation of Health_ + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +_Reference_: The foregoing lecture by Dr. Tyler. + +1. Discuss Dr. Tyler's remark: "The stomach is the foundation of all +greatness." + +2. Name three home habits which, in your opinion, are doing most to ruin +the stomachs, especially of children? + +3. Discuss the "piecing habit," the "sweetmeat craze," irregularity of +meals, and the "hurrying habit," as applied to disorders of the stomach. + +4. Someone said recently that people are paying more to-day to cure their +stomachs from ills brought on by bad habits in eating than they are to +build churches, schools and all other public improvements put together. +Discuss the assertion. + +5. How can parents save money now being wasted on stomach troubles, and at +the same time lay the foundation for good health in their children and +themselves? Give at least one way. + + + + +LESSON IV + + +"_Nerve Leaks_" + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +_Reference_: The foregoing lecture by Dr. Tyler. + +1. What are two good evidences of a perfectly healthy nervous system? + +2. Physicians tell us that nerve diseases are increasing at an alarming +rate in our country. What is the greatest cause for this increase? + +3. What home habits have you noticed that lead to nervousness? Discuss here +the effects of scolding, hurrying, talking, noise, lack of system, as +"nerve leaks." + +4. What practical suggestion would you offer to parents to help them to +bring control, calm and harmony into their daily lives--to make their homes +more places of rest and peace? + +5. What ways can we take to conserve and strengthen the nerves of our +children? Through what habits of life are we helping to wreck their nerves? + + + + +LESSON V + + +_Child Growth_ + +QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Discuss the varying stages of child growth, their rapidity, the critical +periods, etc. + +2. Growth means waste. By what means does the body get rid of the waste +that comes with growth and change? + +3. What are some of the ill effects of keeping this waste in the system? +Give your experiences and observations with children. + +4. When is the child's blood likely to be most loaded with the waste caused +by growth? How can we best help the boy or girl to clear the system of this +waste? What mistakes are we making in this vital matter? + +5. What practical suggestions would you give to our parents, teachers, and +communities to help them safeguard their children during dangerous periods, +and keep their pioneer blood clean and pure? + + + +THE ADOLESCENT BOY AND GIRL + + +GROWTH DURING THE HIGH SCHOOL AGE + +_Dr. John M. Tyler_ + +The boy and the girl during adolescence have now attained their full height +and practically their full weight, although the boy has a little to gain +still; they are pretty well grown by this time. If I had to choose between +two questions, the first might be, "Have you a good appetite?" but the +second question I would ask is, "What is your lung capacity?" The lungs +have increased very rapidly at fourteen to sixteen in the boy; in the girl +the increase has been smaller and quite irregular. It ought to be more +regular than it is, I am convinced. The heart has gained greatly in +capacity. The arteries have expanded much less than the heart, and the +result is that there is a much higher blood pressure than there has been at +any time before. The brain has attained practically full size and weight. +The addition now will be mainly in the very highest area, where the +addition of fibres might make all the difference between the possibility of +genius and the possibility of mediocrity. The sensory and the nervous areas +are fully matured. The higher mental area and the higher mental power are +now coming on to stay. + +The boy, you will notice, at this stage begins to argue a great deal more +than he ever did before. He wants to argue nearly every question. He likes +the debating society. His idea of heaven, it seems to me, is a place where +debating is indulged in. A goodly amount of exercise for those +psychological and mental powers will do him no harm. + +The mortality, or the death rate, is low, but the morbidity is increasing +at this time, in the boy at least. Vigorous physical exercise is now +needed. Ordinary play is not enough. Gymnastics also for the development +and training of the hand and the wrist, training in quickness and precision +of movement are all excellent exercise, all the finer muscles should be +trained now, and probably less training should be given to the heavy +fundamental muscles which are all important in childhood. + +Athletics are exceedingly useful. They should be, however, for all, and not +merely for a few who join the teams, who need them the very least of all. I +think our modern college athletics will some day be looked upon as one of +the most ridiculous habits of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. That +twenty-two men should engage in mortal combat, with anywhere from one to +twenty thousand on the side lines,--if you can get anything more ridiculous +than that, I should like to know where you can find it. Athletics should +not be too severe, however, yet, the boy ought not to have century runs and +long halves of football, especially if the heart is still weak. The tissues +of the body have not yet gained the toughness that they will gain at a +later time. Every commander in the field dreads to have boys of eighteen, +nineteen, or twenty sent to him, because, as Napoleon said of his young +recruits, "they die off like flies." The hard bed, with light covering, the +cold room, the cold bath will now aid in toughening the boy, provided he is +healthy; but under no circumstances begin that until the pubertal period is +fully by. + +The danger of over-pressure in the high school, especially after the first +year, is to my mind not very great. The boy and the girl now both stand a +good deal of work; but the greatest danger for the boy and the girl in the +high school is that they will take too much social enjoyment. An evening +theatre party, followed by a supper, a late dance, will take more strength +out of a boy and girl than three days of study. There is nothing that is +so wearing. If you can keep down the social over-pressure, I do not +believe the over-pressure from study will do any great harm in high +schools. + +The larger bodies, the large heart and lungs, well oxygenated blood, and +fresh vitality of every artery and tissue, gives a buoyance, a strength +and a courage, a source of power and sense of it too, a longing for +complete freedom, a revolt against all control, which the boy will never +feel later; if he does not feel it now. I am describing, perhaps, rather +the college boy than the high school boy; but bear this in mind, that I am +describing what your boys in the high school will be a year or two later if +they are not that now, and it is for this stage you must prepare them, +even, if they have not already entered upon it. + +A new, wide world, just as fresh as on the morning of creation, a new fire, +a life of boundless opportunity, which is endless in scope and time, are +opening out before the boy and the girl. They see the parents and the +teachers drag around, understanding, as they think, neither them nor life +itself; and they are right to a certain extent. There is no doubt about +that; we do not hold on to the vision of glory of this world and of this +life which we had in youth as we ought to and as it is our duty to do. The +boy and the girl criticize us fairly, when they think that we don't +appreciate this magnificent world in which we live. + +When a man gets to be my age, while I suppose he probably has more +humility, he comes to know and he comes to have a very cheerful, optimistic +view of the world. He has made up his mind that the Lord does not intend +to change the world a great deal anyhow, and, on the whole, he is very much +content to leave it the way it is. That is not so with young people at all. +The boy and the girl must learn and know all about it. That is one thing +they are determined to do at the outset. The boy girds up his loins and he +goes whither he will. He must taste of every experience for himself. He +will meet joy and sorrow with the same frolicking, welcoming spirit. He has +never been saddened by experience nor disillusioned by disappointment and +failure. He will try all the knowledge of good and evil if it costs him +Paradise. + +Nature is loosening every leading string now and is getting him free to +complete his own individual development and to forge his own character. We +cannot stop him if we would. It is very lucky that we cannot. It is better +that we should not stop him even if we could; nevertheless, he has very +little self-knowledge and still less self-control. Impulses well up from +changes going on within him or from stimuli which come to him from without. +He does not understand them. He does not know where they come from. He does +not know what they mean. He is ill-prepared to face them, and now he goes +one way and now the other. He has just about as clear a conception of the +value of time as a child has. He has not outgrown childhood in that +respect. He cannot possibly play a waiting game. That is the last thing +that he can do. If the sun shines to-day it is always going to be bright +weather. If the maiden of his adoration frowns to-day, the sun will never +shine again. He is either on the Delectable Mountain or in the Valley of +Humiliation, and he is far more frequently in the latter than we think. He +is rarely between the two, and he is not going to tell us when he is in the +Valley of Humiliation, nor when he is on the top of the Delectable +Mountain. + +There is a reticence about him at this time which we should learn to +respect and to reverence. I told you at the first meeting that Nature put +the shell around the egg so we would keep our fingers out of it, and Nature +puts that shell of reticence around the boy and the girl at that time so we +will keep our blundering fingers out and leave them to solve their problems +with their help and that of the good Lord who is watching over them. + +Authority has little hold over him at this time, traditions none at all. +The influence of early training which have rooted themselves in his very +life are very powerful and they will hold him, and the Lord have mercy on +the boy whose early traditions do not hold him at that time. Remember it +is not his fault; that is a sad thought for us parents. We must take the +responsibility for these defects in the early training of our children. + +The boy is led by class and group feeling at this time. You take him at +eight or ten and he is an admirable little fellow in many respects. He +wants to play fair, and if the other fellow does not play fair he will +smite him, just as Samson smote the Philistines, if he can, and that is the +occasion of much friction. After a time there is danger that he will not +play as fair as he did when he was younger, for a time at least, because he +is swallowed up in the team, or the society, or the group, or the gang, +whatever it may be, to which he belongs, and he will give himself body and +soul to help that team to win. This has its bad side, a very bad side, I +grant you. If you would understand the boy, every now and then you must +study the psychology of the mob. But there is a very good side also, +because he is generous to a fault. Now is the time in his life when he will +go down with the team, and in order for the team to win he will make a play +when you and I would hesitate to make it. We had better respect the boy. He +is loyal to his leader and to his friends. It is the epoch of the heart, +and out of the heart, remember, are the issues of life. He has a great deal +more heart than he has head knowledge at this time, and I confess I rather +like him for it. + +You remember what Paul says to those knowledge-worshiping Corinthians as to +knowledge: "It will vanish away; for we know in part." Those of us who have +lived more than half a century have seen nine-tenths of our knowledge +vanish away in just that fashion because we knew in part. But, says Paul, +there are some things that abide, and one of them is faith. That is never +done away with; another is hope, and the third and sure abiding thing is +love, which is three-thirds in the heart, and out of the heart are the +issues of life; the heart is often wiser than the head. Do not under-value +and never despise the value of the greatness of heart in the boy; for Great +Heart is the only champion who ever killed Giant Despair. + +The boy at this age is seeking for a king. He is very likely to be like old +St. Christopher, he will serve the strongest if he can find him. Tides of +religious feeling are sweeping in on him now; but if you want to convert +him you must hold up before him no mediaeval example, but the great, +magnificent, athletic life of that Divine Master who has been so often +misrepresented to us. + +He is a very lovable being, that boy is, at times. Oh, you are reverencing +him to-day; well, then bear in mind that probably about the same time +tomorrow morning you will be gripping for the scruff of his neck, and when +you grip him, grip him hard, it is no time for half-way measures. Never hit +a boy at that age with a switch. If you do you are lost. Either don't hit +at all or hit hard. + +A great deal of the child still remains in him, his instability, for +instance. He might well say of himself, "my name is legion." In the +remainder of his young life everything that is trifling and worthless all +comes to the surface, just as it does in the fermenting liquor, the strong +and sweet are all hidden below the froth. You cannot see it. You can very +easily do him injustice. You must sympathize with him. Remember your own +foolish youth when you were his age; remember your own blunders and then +you will have a great patience with him and great admiration for him, +because these blunders are not a great deal worse than they are. If you +can't do this, then leave him to Nature, for you cannot help him. + +We found, during the years of puberty, a physical metamorphosis, when the +body was all made over, and now, during those years of adolescence we have +a mental metamorphosis that is just as complete as the physical +metamorphosis. All things are becoming new. They have not become new yet, +but they are becoming new; hence it must be a time of instability, of +self-education, of the strange mixture of the very new and the very old, +the bad and the good, of that which is passing away and which has passed +away long ago, and that which has not yet come. Look a little deeper into +him; you will find he has a pretty good primitive system of morality; it is +a very primitive one, consisting mainly of loyalty to his friends. Treat +him "square," as he says, and fairly, and then you may purr and curb him +just as you will. + +Remember that tides of religious power and influence have been sweeping +through him. The first one came probably at twelve, if we may trust our +statistics; the second stronger, at fourteen, and then the third--perhaps a +good many don't feel the first one or second--the third perhaps at sixteen. +The one which comes over him at sixteen will affect heart and intellect and +will, and everything, and he will stay converted probably. If you convert +him at twelve, he probably will fall from grace before he is fifteen. It is +rather interesting to notice that those periods when his experiences are +likely to be very deep and very strong, are the years when his chest girth +is expanding the most rapidly. A very good bit of physiology or psychology +or of anything else you choose to call it, to learn is this: + +If you want to convert a man to religion, get plenty of good, fresh air +into his body; you never can do it in an ill-ventilated room. + +It is a period of seeing visions and of dreaming dreams; you know that, if +you remember your boyhood and girlhood. Those dreams and visions are the +most substantial things there are in his life or in yours or mine; for +"where there is no vision the people perish." Wendell Phillips used to say +that "the power which overthrew slavery and hurled it to the ground was +young men and young women dreaming dreams by patriots' graves." There is a +good deal more than rhetoric in that statement. Endless possibilities are +in these dreams and visions. It is a period of promise, of magnificent +promise, which you and I as teachers are privileged to see afar off before +they are even glimpsed by his parents and many of his friends. + +The great question now is, Will the promise and the vision ever be +realized, or will they fade out and disappear and leave him a Philistine? +And lucky if he is not a brute, for the only brute in this world, my +friends, is a degenerate man. When you hear a man say that he has cut his +eye-teeth, and he has got rid of his dreams and his visions, then may the +Lord have mercy on the soul of that man, because he is dead. The +all-important question now is, Can you get that dream and that vision so +burned into his memory, so blazing before his eyes, that he will never +forget it and never lose sight of it, and win it if it costs him his life? +Then you have educated him. + +These visions are far more important than all of the science, even the +biology, that a man can learn in college. It is the business of the parent +and teacher at this time to bring to birth and to sturdy growth high aims, +purposes, ideals, the whole spiritual life. Your business in early +childhood is with the physical, because that is the important thing at that +time, if you can build a very healthy little animal, you have done well; +but during the high school age you must build the spiritual. If you don't +feel this, I cannot explain it to you; and if you don't feel this within +you, if it is all meaningless and mere noise, don't you dare teach a high +school, for you are not big enough nor deep enough to do that. + +The great question, after all, is not how much learning have you been able +to put into him, but how much of the finer ambitions, how much power, how +deeply and strongly they hunger for the very best. An ounce of inspiration +at this time is worth more than a pound or a ton of learning; I am no foe +of learning, either. The high school is and will remain the people's +college. It is the only college that a great part of the people ever will +know. Do not neglect that great fraction who are never going to get +anything higher and beyond in order to put your time on those who are going +on to colleges and universities. You must be the people's support, and you +may well thank fortune that it doesn't seem to be nine-tenths of your +business out here in the West to fit boys and girls for a college +examination. If that ever threatens to become your business, then you +withstand it and face it to the death, for there is nothing will ruin +education faster than that; I know sorrowfully whereof I speak. + +You remember in "Pilgrim's Progress" that when Christian had left the +Interpreter's House, he strayed away and went down into the Valley of +Humiliation, where he walked between the snares and was in danger of +falling into many a pitfall; there he wandered through darkness; there he +could not see the Delectable Mountains any more, and there he fought with +Giant Apollyon for his life; but when Christian passed that way he did not +find it half so bad by any means. He had a companion by the name of Great +Heart, remember, and Great Heart said to him, "Do you know that the soil of +this valley is probably the most fertile that the crow flies over?" + +The Valley of Humiliation, my friends, stretches sharp and clear athwart +the life of every man and woman between the Interpreter's House of his +early education and of his dreams and visions, and the Delectable +Mountains, and we all have to depart to it whether we will or no, and it is +the most fertile soil that the crow flies over, for in that Valley of +Humiliation men's muscles and nerves become steel, and man becomes the +shadow of the great rock in the Weary Land, and through heartaches the man +and the woman are made the soldiers and the choice heroes of Jehovah +Himself. It is into that Valley of Humiliation that the boy and the girl +are going to go from school after they leave you, and you must fit them for +it; many of you know well enough what it is and know what help they need. + +You have read, all of you, a good many times probably, this marvelous +passage from Isaiah: "They that trust in the Lord shall renew their +strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not +be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." I never thought what that +meant until one morning in college chapel our president turned to us and +said: "Most of you think that is an anti-climax," and we would say: "Why, +of course, for a man cannot fly like the eagle. He can walk down hill, what +is the use talking about that walking down hill." The old man shook his +head and said: "No, no. Anybody can fly like an eagle in his imagination; +when we are beginning any new work or any new study or anything new, we +fly; but after a time we cannot fly any more, we come down to a run; and +the man who wins out is not the man who can run, but the man who can 'walk +and not faint,' for that man has the endurance that we want." + +There was a time some years ago--that has gone by too, thank fortune--when +we used to paraphrase things; that is, turn very good English into very bad +English. You wish to have a boy or girl catch the spirit of the poem, do +you not, to find in it inspiration and power, to find a beauty in life that +never was on sea nor land? A sweet voice is a very excellent thing in a +woman, and a very unusual thing in a man. The eye is not the grandest sense +organ we have; the ear is the path-way to the heart, and that is what you +want to understand. Did you ever try reading a beautiful poem or story +aloud to your children at your fireside or to the class and put your very +life's blood into it? I remember some things that a little girl teacher in +Massachusetts read to me a great many years ago, and there is a dent in my +old heart still. Try it some day. They cannot understand the poem, but they +feel it. It has gone deeper than the intellect. It has gone into the heart +and through the heart, it has got hold of the will and it has transfigured +the spirit and the whole being. In this way you are certainly teaching +literature; nobody can deny that. You have awakened a new interest. You +lead and inspire the adolescent to share your very best and highest +enthusiasm. After you have done that a few times your pupils will demand +the best; they won't be content with anything poor. + +The highest human thing in the end is character, and character is formed +very early, very shortly before the boy leaves the high school. Just how it +is formed I do not know, but I know one thing, that while I cannot tell +anything about how successful a man will be intellectually in life from +what he does in college, or, sometimes, I cannot tell very much about how +large he will grow mentally, I know that boy will not rise very much higher +morally than he stands in college when you send him there. If, then, he has +secured a moral training and influence, I firmly believe he will stay so. +If he does not come to us in that shape the probability is that he never +will change for the good, but if he is filthy he will remain filthy still. +His character is made very largely in the high school. + +How can you reach it? I think you can reach it a good deal through +literature. I do not see how anybody can read Mr. Hawthorne or Mr. Emerson, +and not long to be a gentleman, and feel as if he would like to be worthy +to kiss the hem of the garment of those literary gentlemen. You can read +history. You can make history a dreary chronicle. You can learn of kings +who never ought to have been born, and when they died, when they ought to +have been dead fifty years before, and all the long list of battles fought +which never ought to have been fought. You can make it just such a weary +chronicle. You do not, nowadays, thank fortune; I have seen teachers that +did. Or you can make that history the Eleventh Chapter of Hebrews, and you +can write your own Eleventh Chapter of Hebrews, if you will, for that +chapter never was intended to be finished; and if you cannot add to it with +your pioneer history of those who fought their way across the plains here +fifty or more years ago, then you are teaching history to mighty little +effect to this generation here in Utah. The whole story is just this, if +you can saturate your pupils with the character of just such men and women +as that, then you have trained a generation of heroes and nobody can spoil +them. + +That is what, it seems to me, Mr. Martineau means in that dark passage, "We +shall never have a proper system of education until we have a proper +religion." We are a good deal lacking in the study of the Bible nowadays. +We go to it to prove the text, to "break the scales" of our adversaries, +and for other purposes. I do not use it for that purpose myself. If you +will read that old book until you can walk the street arm in arm with +Gideon and David and Jepthah and old Samson, too, yes, heaven bless him, +and Moses and Samuel, the prophets, then we are reading it to some purpose. +Until you know them all as your best friends, you have not begun to read +that book; for that is what it was intended for. The Bible is an advanced +text book of biology, the science of life. If you will train your boys and +girls to walk the streets and live with the heroes of the world, make them +form an intimate friendship with them, then you have trained those boys and +girls to be heroes themselves. + +Did you ever try reading to them the defense which old Socrates makes, +which Plato wrote down for us? I do not know whether Socrates ever said it, +but it was worthy of him. Read it to your boys and girls some day. See what +they say about the Apology. And read the Crito. Let them sit with Socrates +in his prison there on the hillside and listen to his discussion, until, as +he says, he hears the voice of the law ringing in his ears and he cannot +hear anything else, and stays on to die. When the prison door is opened for +him to walk out, provided he would walk out with dishonor, he will not go. +Let them see the old hero die in Athens as the sun goes down. You have not +only awakened a new interest, you have evoked a higher life, and that is +what we are after, that is what you and I are here for, that is the only +way in the end to beat the record. That is the essential power of great +leaders, of great prophets, and of great teachers, and the seat of it is in +their personality. + +I don't know what I am talking about there either, for personality defies +analysis and it defies resistance. It leaps from soul to soul just like an +infection. We hear a great deal about the infectiousness of bad things and +people are always talking about infectious disease and of corrupting +influences in the world and all that sort of thing. Do you suppose the Lord +has made this world so that everything that is bad is contagious and +everything that is good is not contagious? Are you going to slander the +Lord like that? It is about time that we wake up to the fact that the real +genuine article of goodness is a good deal more contagious than smallpox. + +Heroism and hero-worship is the central thought of history from the time of +Gideon to the time of Sheridan, and down to our present time. Virtue, we +must remember, should strike just like electricity from a dynamo. You +remember that was the continual word of that Great Master of ours. Someone +in the crowd has touched me, Virtue has gone over into somebody else. +Virtue has gone out of me; strength has gone out of me and gone over into +somebody else. I am talking about something that I do not understand; but +something that you will know. Have you never, at the close of the day, when +you were tired, discouraged, wondered whether it is worth while to keep up +the fight? When you had been knocked flat and were pretty sure you were +out, and then you sat down for a little time by some strong man or strong +woman, and probably they did not say a great deal to you. They were men and +women of few words, and you did not say a great deal to them, but after a +little it began to come upon you that come what would you would fight +again? Courage had come into you. You do not know where it came from, or +how it came in, but you borrowed it and you go on your way the stronger +because of the infection from that strong man. + +We must be healthy and strong and sympathetic. We must be a child with the +child and a boy with the boy, and yet we must lead and not follow. We must +be firm and patient and hopeful and courageous, and we must infect these +boys and girls with the very best that we have in us and something that is +a little better yet, and how are we going to get it? Why, we must be +continually infected from others; that is the only way. I don't care how +big your reservoir is, your irrigation reservoir, if there isn't a stream +going into it, it is going to be empty sometime. Look out for the streams +which come in from the hills and the heights of glory into your lives. + +This is the glory of our life and our work. You are making the youth of the +twentieth century, as I said to you, and you are doing something grander; +for every bit of good that you give here in Utah will spread back to us in +Massachusetts and you are moulding the race into conformity with that which +is deepest and most permanent and most eternal in environment, and hence +all the powers of Nature are on your side. + +"We are two," said Abbe Bacha to Mahomet, as they were plodding from Mecca +to Medina. "No," answered Mahomet, "We are three. God is with us." We cast +in our efforts with this grand tide of events which is sweeping on toward a +better age and better race, and we cannot fail. Therefore, let us gird up +our loins, be strong and of a very good courage; for, as I have said to you +once before, you shall lead these little people into the land of hope and +promise which the Lord swore unto their ancestors, their fathers, that He +would surely give them. + + + +GENERAL SUBJECT + + +_The Adolescent, or High School Age_ + +Read carefully the foregoing lecture on "Growth During the High School +Age," by Dr. Tyler, for all these succeeding lessons. + + + + +LESSON VI + + +ATHLETIC NEEDS OF BOYS AND GIRLS + +1. What steps have ever been taken in your community to provide for proper +athletic sports for the young? What success came of these efforts? + +2. Give two reasons why wholesome physical recreation is necessary for +growing children. + +3. What games and sports do you consider best for boys? For girls? Why? + +4. What dangers come from uncontrolled athletics? + +5. What do you think about the value of school athletics that develop only +a team? + +6. What can be done, (1) by the parents, (2) by communities, + +(a) To provide for wholesome games and sports for all the children? + +(b) To provide proper leadership and supervision of these things? + +(c) To regulate the excesses and check evils of the athletic spirit? + +(d) To provide proper places in which to play? + + + + +LESSON VII + + +SOCIAL NEEDS + +1. During what years does the desire to be with "the crowd" manifest itself +most strongly in boys and girls? + +2. What difficulties come to the parents in the management of boys and +girls during this time? + +3. In what ways can parents best exercise control over the companionships +of their children during this vital period? + +4. In what ways can the social needs of boys and girls be provided for in +the home? + +5. How far can and should parents go in participating in the pastimes of +their children? What can be done to keep up the spirit of companionship +between parents and children? + +6. What can communities do to put down the "street corner" habits and the +"hoodlumism" that comes of the boy gangs? + +7. What pastimes and practices can be fostered to bring about a +higher-minded companionship among young people? + + + + +LESSON VIII + + +KEEPING OUR BOYS AND GIRLS AT HOME + +1. What are the first indications that our home is losing its hold upon our +boy? Our girl? + +2. What influences are at work in each instance? + +3. Is it because conditions outside the home offer more, or is the home +offering less of that which the boy or girl desires? + +4. When you find your boy going to the pool room do you throw his deck of +cards into the fire and advise him as to what will happen if he attempts to +use such things in or about the house? + +5. When your girl shows a preference for taking her leisure at Smith's or +Brown's rather than at home, do you at once adopt a code of rules and +proceed to make emphatic statements as to your intention to enforce those +rules and also to impose certain penalties? + +6. Did it ever occur to you that "desire" may be diverted, but that it +cannot be destroyed? + +7. Is it not best to divert by substitution rather than by prohibition? +Also to substitute in kind as near as may be? + +8. What are you doing in your home to satisfy the desire which takes your +boy or girl to the neighbors or the public places? + +9. What share are you taking in the interests of the growing boy or girl? + +10. Parents, are you companionable? Do you get into the boy or girl's field +of discussion? Do you talk _with them_ rather than _to them_? Do you get +into their games, their troubles, their pleasures, their life? + + + + +LESSON IX + + +1. What certain acts or omissions entitle a boy to be classified as +"wayward?" + +2. The first sign of waywardness is the breaking of what commandment, if +any? + +3. Under any condition would you let your boy know that you considered him +wayward? + +4. Should your regard for, as shown by your treatment of the wayward boy, +differ in the slightest degree from your regard for your treatment of the +circumspect, dutiful, and obliging boy? + +5. Does the worst tendency of the boy call for any more from us than mere +direction? + +6. Is not the boy's worst offence a bad form of satisfying a good desire? + +7. What is your method of dealing with your boy? Is it "Never do that" or +"Better to do this?" + +8. Do you ever undertake to show the boy how much more of the thing he is +after he can get out of a method that is all around helpful than one that +is all around harmful. + +9. How would it do to substitute jointly planned "Do's" for unqualified +"Don'ts"? + +10. In almost every instance can you not justly ascribe the boy's +waywardness to an unnatural companionship on your part or to no +companionship at all? + + + + +LESSON X + + +SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT IN BOYS AND GIRLS + +"_Training the Child in the Way He Should Go_" + +1. Quote from the Doctrine and Covenants a passage wherein parents are +admonished as to their duty in teaching the Gospel to their children. + +2. Give three first steps in religious training in children. + +3. What difficulties and successes have you, as parents, met with in +cultivating your little ones? proper habits in prayer, in attendance to +Sunday School and in other religious duties? To what do you ascribe your +success or failure? + +4. At what age do boys and girls grow most careless as regards religion? +(Study the statistics of your Sabbath School on this point.) + +5. Is it true that our religious training fails most just at the point +where the boy and girl are in greatest need of it? What are the causes of +this failure? + +6. What can and must parents do to reinforce the Sunday School and our +other organizations in their efforts to guide the boy and girl safely +during their teens? during the critical periods of life? + + + + +LESSON XI + + +LIFE LESSONS DURING THE WAYWARD AGE + +1. Show, by citing examples from history, that youth is a period of strong +religious tendencies. What can be done to keep the "dreams of youth" on +high ideals? + +2. What stories? what lessons? to boys and girls at this time? What books +appeal most impressively to boys and girls at this time? + +3. Recalling the things that left deepest impress on you for good or ill +during the period of "the teens," what advice would you give as to +cultivating in a child right feelings for religion? + +4. Wherein do we as religious teachers most fail to get the boy or girl? + +5. In what way should the Bible be taught during this age? + +6. What individual work with boys and girls can and should be done by +parents and teachers to guide the children past the dangerous places? + + + + +LESSON XII + + +TEMPTATIONS OF BOYS AND GIRLS + +1. What are the commandments children are likely to break first? + +2. In what ways are homes often responsible for habits of lying, stealing, +profaning the name of God, and other sins? + +3. How are the seeds of impurity often sown by thoughtless parents in the +home? Discuss here the vulgar story, and other evil suggestions. + +4. What loose habits in companionship and courtship are being permitted by +parents to lead their children into evil? + +5. By what effective means can parents co-operate to check the looseness +and rudeness and sinful practice that blight our homes and communities? + + + + +REFERENCE BOOKS FOR PARENTS' CLASSES + + +The following list of books will be found very helpful in this Study of +Children. The Public Library should provide these books for the parents, or +the class may be able gradually to build up such a library for class use. +These can be bought at the Deseret Sunday School Union, Salt Lake City, +Utah. + +1. A Study of Child Nature, Elizabeth Harrison, National Kindergarten + College, Chicago, Ill. $1.25 + +2. Religious Education in the Family, H.F. Cope, University of Chicago + Press. $1.25 + +3. The Right of the Child to be Well Born, Dawson, Funk & Wagnalls, New + York. $.75. + +4. The Jukes Edwards Family, Winship. $1.20. + +5. The Meaning of Infancy, Fiske, Houghton, Mifffin Co., Boston. $.35. + +6. Education, Herbert Spencer. $.75 + +7. Fundamentals of Child Study, Kirkpatrick, Macmillan Co. $1.25. + +8. Elementary Psychology, Phillips, Ginn & Co., Chicago. $1.25. + +9. The Care of the Child in Health, Oppenheim, Macmillan Co. $1.00 + +10. The Healthy Baby, Dennett, The Macmillan Co. $1.00. + +11. The Care of the Baby, Holt. $.75. + +12. The Child and His Religion, Dawson, University of Chicago Press. $.75. + +13. Child Nature and Child Nurture, St. John, Pilgrim Press. $.50. + +14. The Problem of Boyhood, Johnson, University of Chicago Press. $1.00. + +15. The Function of the Family and the Recovery of the Home, American +Baptist Pub. Soc. Each, $.15. + +16. The Dawn of Character, Mumford, Longsman, Green & Co. $1.20. + +17. Peril and Preservation of the Home, Jacob Riis, Jacobs Co., +Philadelphia. $1.00. + +18. Training of the Girl and Training of the Boy, McKeever, Macmillan. + Each, $1.50. + +19. The Moral Conditions and Development of the Child, Wright, Jennings + & Graham. $.75. + +20. Marriage and Genetics, Reed, Galton Press, Cincinnati, Ohio. $1.00. + +21. The Coming Generation, Forbush, D. Appleton & Co., New York. $1.50. + +22. Stories and Story Telling, St. John Eaton and Main. $.35. + +23. Our Child Today and Tomorrow, Grunenburg, Lippincott. $1.25. + +24. Misunderstood Children, Harrison. $1.23. + +25. Town and City, Jewett, Ginn & Co. $.50. + +26. After Twenty Years, Middleton. $1.25. + +27. Training of the Human Plant, Burbank. $.60. + +28. Education, Resources of Rural and Village Communities, J.K. Mart $1.00. + +29. Being Well Born, Guyer. $1.00. + +30. Growth in Education, Dr. John M. Tyler, Houghton, Mifflin Co. $1.50. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Parent and Child Vol. III., Child +Study and Training, by Mosiah Hall + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHILD STUDY AND TRAINING *** + +***** This file should be named 10916.txt or 10916.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/9/1/10916/ + +Produced by John Hagerson, Kevin Handy, Andrea Ball, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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