Part 20 (1/2)
There was one of these charlatans as ed the eyes, decreased the size of the thened noses that were too short, and shortened those that were too long, De Sartine, Chief of the Police, called up this charlatan to have him ie to attract so ain so much money?”
”Sir,” replied the other, ”how e in one day?”
”From ten to twelve thousand,” replied de Sartine
”Well, sir, howthem?”
”A hundred,” replied the official
”That's a liberal allowance,” said the charlatan, ”but let us leave it at that I will rely on the other nine thousand nine hundred for ed between those days and our own that there are now ent and fewer credulous persons Education, therefore, should not be directed to credulity but to intelligence He who bases education on credulity builds upon sand
I know of an incident which is perhaps reproduced in our society thousands of tiirls of noble fauard them from the seductions and vanities of the life for which they were destined, the nuns had persuaded them that the world is full of deceit, and that if, when people praise us, we could conceal ourselves and listen to what they say e have disappeared, we should hear very chastening things When they were of an age to be presented in Society, the two youthful princessesreception, to which their uests All lavished praises on the char-rooe curtain Curious to hear ould be said of thereed to slip out and hide behind the curtain
Scarcely had the attractive objects of the general admiration vanished when the praises which had been kept within due bounds in their presence, were redoubled The two girls toldat thethe nuns had ion there and then, and made up their minds to throw themselves into the pleasures of society ”We afterwards had to reconstruct our lives ourselves, eion afresh, and understand for ourselves the eradually disappears with experience, and as the mind matures: _instruction_ helps towards this end In nations as in persons, the evolution of civilization and of souls tends to die_, as is conorance In the void which is ignorance, the fancy easily wanders, just because it lacks the support which would enable it to rise to a higher level Thus the Pillars of Hercules disappeared when the Straits of Gibraltar becaates of the oceans; and no Colureat A schools, that the heavens are obedient to hi the sun at his command; for eclipses are phenomena as well known to theination, based upon credulity, a thing we ought to ”develop” in children? We certainly have no wish to see it persist; in fact, where we are told that a child ”no longer believes in fairy-tales,” we rejoice We say then: ”He is no longer a baby” This is what _should_ happen and ait it: the day will coer believe these stories But if this ht to ask ourselves: ”What have _we_ done to help it?
What support did we offer to this frail ?” The child overcomes his difficulties _in spite_ of our endeavor to keep hinorance and illusion The child overcooes where his internal force of developht, however, say to us: ”Howourselves was hard enough already, and you oppressed us” Would not such conduct be u, because it is characteristic of babies to be toothless, or prevented the little body fro erect, because at first the characteristic of the infant is that it does not rise to its feet?
Indeed, we do so the poverty and inaccuracy of childish speech; instead of helping the child byhim listen intently to the distinct enunciation of speech sounds, and watch the e, and repeat the pri the consonants in thefirst efforts to articulate words Thus we prolong a formative period full of difficulty and exertion for the child, thrusting hi infant state
And we are behaving in exactly the saard to the so-called education of the inorance, and the errors of the immature mind, just as at no very reh_ when it was tossed up and down, a proceeding now condeerous in the extreme
In short, it is _ho are amused by the Christmas festivities and the credulity of the child If we confess the truth, we must admit that we are somewhat like the fine lady who took a superficial interest in a hospital for poor children, but who kept on declaring: ”If there were to be no ht say: ”If the credulity of children were to cease, a great pleasure would be taken from our lives”
It is one of the careless errors of our day to arrest artificially a stage of development for our arowth of certain victims was arrested toSuch a statement may seem severe, but it rests on an actual fact We are unconscious of it, it is true; yet we speak of it continually e say ae of immaturity: ”Really, we are not children” If ould refrain fro the child's immaturity in order to be able to contemplate his inferior state in irowth adher conquests, we should say of him, with Christ: ”He ould be perfect must becoination is the product of ”immaturity” of the mind, conorance in which he finds hi to do is to enrich his life by an environ, and to enrich hisgiven him these, we must allow him to _mature_ in _liberty_ It is from freedom of developination
To enrich the child, who is the poorest a and is the slave of all--this is our first duty towards hies, and pianos to all children? By no means Remedies are never direct when a co is the one who dreas the most impossible of attainment The destitute dream of millions, the oppressed of a throne But he who possesses so attaches himself to that which he possesses to preserve and increase it reasonably
A person without e a prince; but a teacher in a school drea a head master Thus the child who has a ”house” of his oho possesses broo-tables and furniture, is happy in the care of all these things His desires are moderated, and the peace he derives from them opens up a life of expansion to his internal creative activities
It is ”living a real possessions of his ohich cales those desires which consume his precious powers in the vanity of illusion Such a result is not to be achieved by _i possessions of his own Soe once said to me: ”We too make our children perform the exercises of practical life which you describe; come and see” I went Some of the authorities were also present, and a university professor of pedagogy
Sos were laying the table for a doll's meal; their faces were quite without expression I looked in amazement at the persons who had invited ht that there was no difference between laying a table in play and laying it for an actual inary life and real life were the sa May not this subtle form of error be instilled in infancy and afterwards persist as a mental attitude? It was perhaps this error which caused a fa? Pray read Comenius--you will find that it was already discussed in his times” I replied: ”Yes, many talk of it, but the liberty I mean is a form of liberty actually realized” He seeht to have asked: ”Do you not believe that there is any difference between him who talks of millions and hiinary, and to live as if e iine actually existed; to run after illusion, and ”not to recognize”
reality, is a thing so common that scarcely is it apprehended, and the cry of alarm raised: ”Awake to truth, O nawing parasite which has worence
The power to iine always exists, whether or not it has a solid basis on which to rest and materials hich to build; but when it does not elaborate fro a divine structure it forence and prevent the light frothby this error!