Part 8 (1/2)

”That the o on with the business of the school when visitors who are members of the committee are present, and only to pay particular attention to those who ers, and who require information

”That all applications froh the secretary

”That all orders froh the same channel”

CHAPTER IX

GALLERY TEACHING-MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION

Original intention of the gallery-What lessons are adapted for it-Its misapplication-Selection of teachers-Observations-Gallery lessons an a feather-A spider-A piece of bog-turf-A piece of coal-Observations on the preceding lessons-Scripture lessons in the gallery-The finding of Moses-Christ with the doctors-Moral training-Its neglect in most schools-Should be conorance of teachers-The gallery -Specimen of a moral lesson-Illustrations of moral culture-Anecdotes-Simpson on moral education-Observations-Hints to teachers

There is no part of the infant syste lessons in the gallery; and hence I have thought it necessary to devote a larger space to the subject, than I did in the forinally intended by ive the children such lessons as appealed directly to the senses, either orally or by representative objects: thus the teaching arithmetic by the frame and balls, inas, was suitable for a gallery lesson The saood with respect to a Scripture picture, or the representation of an animal, a tree, or any object that can be presented to the eye We have also found it very useful in teaching the catechis that is to be committed to memory, and this part of our plan has proved so useful and successful, that it has been adopted in many schools for older children of both sexes, I h, the Corporation Schools of Liverpool, and the governealleries, and school-rooms, were made under my especial inspection, and I have no doubt that the use of the gallery, when it becoe schools, will becoht should see the face of the teacher in these lessons, and the teacher should see the face of the taught: it establishes a sye of each The face is the index to the mind, and at times shews the intention, even without words So, the elephant, and her order of animals Children can always read the countenance of the sincere, the wise, and the good Yea! mere infants can Reader! Don't smile! were this the time and place, I could demonstrate these opinions by facts This is not a book for controversy and metaphysical disquisition; but for use to teachers When the children and teachers see each other, as in the gallery, the effect is highly beneficial This may be proved by any teacher As to the cause for this effect, it would be out of place to argue it here I therefore simply state it is true Sy, and hereafter will be better understood

Many friends to infant education, and casual visitors, having found these erections in infant schools, have concluded that the children should always be sitting on them, which is a fatal error, and deprives the children of that part of the systeislates for the exercise of their loco lessons, and theobject lessons, as described in another part of this work: the consequence has been, that the schools have become mere parrot-schools, and the children are restless and inattentive And this has not been the only evil that has attended a allery; for the teachers, for want of knowing the system properly, have been at a loss how to occupy the time of the children, and scores of teachers have ruined their own constitutions, and also the constitutions of so, which, I am sorry to say, too many consider to be the sum total of the system: and I may state here, that the children should never bethe day, in the gallery All beyond this is injurious to the teacher, and doubly so to the little pupils The forenoon is always the best tiallery lessons; the teacher's mind is more clear, and the minds of the children are more receptive After the children have taken their dinner they should be entertained with the object lessons, a s, and the rest of the afternoon should be devoted to round, if the weather will at all permit it The more you rob your children of their physical education to shew off their intellectual acquirements, the more injury you do their health and your own; and in the effort to do too much, you violate the laws of nature, defeat your own object, and make the school a hot-bed of precocity, instead of a rational infants' school for the training and educating infants I have been blamed, by writers on the infant system, for that which I never did, and never recommended; I have been made answerable for the errors and mis-conceptions of others, who have not troubled thes; and, in their anxiety to produce soinal, have strayed from the very essential parts of the plan, and on this account I a unacquainted with the philosophy of o that if I could arrest public attention to the subject, it was as much as could be expected I knew very well at that time that a dry philosophical detail would neither be received or read My object was to appeal to the senses of the public by doing the thing in every tohere practicable By this method I succeeded, where the other would have failed, but it by no means followed that I was unacquainted with the philosophy ofof the thing to the writing about it Believing, however, that the time has now arrived, and that the public ht venture to go a little more into detail, in order to remove some well founded objections, which, but for this reason, would not have existed The infant mind, like a tender plant, requires to be handled and dealt with carefully, for if it be forced and injudiciously treated during the first seven years of its existence, it will affect its whole constitution as long as it lives afterwards There are hundreds of persons ill not believe this, and those persons will eirls to teach infants Let theainst it, and hly improper to do so If ever infant schools are to becos to the country, they must be placed under the care of wise, discreet, and experienced persons, for no others will be fit or able to develop and cultivate the infant faculties aright I have felt it necessary to make these remarks, because in different parts of the country I have found mere children ereat detrie, and the dishonour of the country that permits it No wise man would put a mere child to break his colts; none but a foolish one would es; even the poultry and pigs would be attended by a person who knew so about them; but almost any creature who can read and write, and is acquainted with the first rules of arithht a fit and proper person to superintend infants I know many instances of discarded servants totally unfit, made teachers of infants, hest and most noble of God's creatures! which I contend infants are To expect that such persons can give gallery lessons as they ought to be given, is expecting ill never, nor can take place The public must possess different views of the subject;iven to teachers, and greater efforts made to train and educate them, to fit them for the office, before any very beneficial results can be seen; and it is to produce such results, and a better tone of feeling on the subject, that I have thus ventured to give allery lessons-efficient teachers e nu held out to the placed under the superintendence of experienced persons acquainted with the art The art of teaching is no mean art, and st the other sciences It is a science which requires deep study and knowledge of human character, and is only to be learned like all other sciences, by much perseverance and practice In another work, on the education of older children, I have given soallery lessons; in this I shall endeavour to give a few specimens of what I think useful lessons for infants, and shall also try to clothe thee suited to the infant apprehensions; and I sincerely hope theythis species of instruction to the children, and that teachers ere before ignorant of it, ive my opinion as to whether I have succeeded, but will leave this point entirely to the judgment and candour of my readers; for I know by experience that it is a very difficult thing to put practice into theory; and although this may seem paradoxical, yet I have no doubt thatto explain theoretically on paper what they have with ease practised a thousand tiiven in pure, si and capacity of children It may be well at times to use words of a more difficult or scientific character; but these should always have the proper explanation given; the words used most frequently in coht to be ly impressed on their memories It may, perhaps, be retorted on eoures The answer is very simple Most of theive theeoures are the elements of all forms, and the si I have found thereatest ease and pleasure Pestalozzi, I have understood, was led to the use of the mind, in a similar manner that I was myself This is, therefore, one of the ht and discovery by minds wholly independent of each other, which have been directed to the same subjects This is an evitable result If two ht, and mottled; and if two minds far apart, turn their attention to similar subjects, the probability is that their vieill coincide The most powerful mind will of course make the deepest and siiven chiefly on such things as fall under ht, and then useful knowledge will be accumulated, and frequently rei of the objects

GALLERY LESSONS ON A FEATHER

We will suppose the children all properly seated, the little girls on one side of the gallery and the little boys on the other, as represented on the plan-plate If the iven on an object that the children are not frequently in the habit of seeing; but should the weather be hazy, and the ativen on some object which they all frequently see, say, for example, a feather The feather must be held up in the hand, or placed in a small niche on the top of a pointer, so that every child will see it, and it must be moved about in various directions to arrest their attention The first lesson should be pure developet every idea from the children relative to the object before you Explain to them yours; as for example,

”What is this?” The universal shout will be, ”A feather” You may then ask them, What are its uses? Some little creatures will say, to blow about; others will say, to cover birds; others will say, to stuff pillows and beds to sleep upon Having got all the infore, you have acted according to nature's law, and it is now your turn to infuse additional inforive thee; which may be done as follows:-You have told me that feathers are useful to cover birds, it was for this that they were made by God; they keep the birds war cold; and as the poor birds cannot iven them feathers that they may not be cold when the bad weather co; the long feathers in a bird's wing keep hih if he was covered with any thing else, because feathers are very light Seven of the large feathers out of the great eagle's ould not weigh s of a bird h the air, just as you may see the men steer boats with the rudder; and if you pulled the feathers off his tail, he would not be able to fly near so straight or fast as when they are on When the rain falls on the feathers, they are never soaked through with it as a piece of rag would be if you threater on it, because they are covered with a sort of oil which does not let in the water If you ever look at a duck dive into the water, you can see it when it comes up quite dry; but if you dipped you head into the water it would wet it all over When little birds, such as the sparrow and canary, co, they have no feathers on, but the old ones cover thes to keep the cold away, and the feathers soon grow, and then they can fly away and find food and oose, turkey, hen, and duck, have a sort of soft down on theo and swim as soon as they are hatched, as I suppose some of you have seen

Sooose has not such pretty feathers as the swan, nor the swan as the peacock; but we oose for this, for its flesh is better to eat than either the peacock or swan I aoose The peacock has very pretty feathers indeed, and so has the pheasant, and the drake, and the cock; but some birds that live in countries many hundred miles away from this, have much prettier than any bird that lives in this country This feather that we have for our lesson is the feather of a goose; it is not very pretty, but if we examine it e shall find it is very curious, and all the men in the world could not make one like it Goose feathers are thefor pillows and beds, and the large ones e their feathers often; they drop off and they get new ones; this is called iven the children as much inforest properly, you et it back from them by question and answer; as for instance

Q What have we been talking about? A Birds' feathers Q Do they do the birds any good? A Yes, keep theives the birds feathers to make theht Q What is the reason that they are very light? A That they may fly easily Q What part of the body does a bird fly with? A Its wings Q Is no other part useful in flying? A Yes Q Do you remember what part? A Its tail Q Of what use is its tail? A To guide it Q What do you o Q What is the reason that birds' feathers do not get all full of hen the rain falls on them? A Because there is an oily juice that makes the rain fall off Q When little birds, such as sparrows and robins, coot feathers? A No, they are naked Q Are they very long naked? A No, in a few days the feathers grow Q Is it not curious that the cold does not kill the little birds while they are naked? A So it would, only the old ones sit over them and keep them warm Q Are ducks and turkeys and hens naked when the come out of the shell? A No Q What are they covered with? A A sort of down Q Do you know of any bird that has very pretty feathers? A Yes, the peacock Q Is it prettier than the goose? A Yes Q Is it so useful? A No Q What do the goose feathers make? A The feathers in the quill make pelts? Q What do the s for pillows and beds Q Where do the prettiest birds live? A In very warm places, far away from this Q Do the same feathers always remain on a bird? A No, they drop off, and new ones co

Such lessons as this will never be forgotten by the little ones They will learn to adore the great God at the sight of any thing he has made It is hoped they learn to love to read Nature's book when they grow older, as every correct notion obtained by a child, through a natural object, which it is frequently accustomed to meet with, can never be entirely effaced; and what is er ae as to God's revealed will

A spider, a living specimen of which allery lesson; it ly yet harh life Part of a bush may be procured with a real web and spider upon it, so that its beautiful and highly curious web may be also exhibited to the children, its uses may be also pointed out, and a short history of the little aniiven, but not before their opinions have been taken on the object, which may be done in a similar manner as that which we pointed out in the former lesson, and then the teacher may proceed thus:

You have told me that this little creature is called a spider, and soly, and say you are afraid of it, but sensible children will not be frightened at a spider, because they will res, and have not got a sting as the wasp and bee have They are very ugly, to be sure, but every ugly insect is not to be called a nasty creature, for so as handsoh very few people kno to make use of them; but they little think that the poor little insect which they brush off the wall, and traoing to have, as sure, and surer than a weather-glass When the weather is going to be fine it peeps its head out of its hole, and stretches out its legs; and the farther its legs and head are out, the longer will the fine weather stay When the weather is going to be very bad it goes farther back; and when very dreadful and stor to come, it turns its back to the door of its hole and its head inside In winter, when frost and snow is going to commence, they make their webs very fast, and by this you ; so you see, children, that spiders may be useful to knohat kind of weather we shall have

Spiders are very cunning; they live on flies; but they could never catch the hich they do in a place where the flies often coets into the web, the spider runs out and soon kills it, and then drags it up to his den, where he eats it at his ease, and hides the wings and skin, that the other flies er than itself coer is all over Soreat deal larger and uglier than our spiders; but we need not be ever afraid of a spider, because they can neither bite nor sting us, and are very curious insects Q What have I been telling you about? A The spider Q Are you afraid of it? A No, you told us it would do us no harly? A They are Q Should we think badly of them for this? A No Q Who made the spider? A God Q Does he not ly? A Yes Q Can spiders be of use? A They will tell us eather we are going to have Q When it is going to be fine what do they do? A They put their legs and head out of their hole Q When it is going to be bad weather what do they do? A They turn their heads round and go into their holes Q When the weather is going to be very cold and frosty what do they do? A They build their webs very fast Q What do they live upon? A Flies Q How do they catch theets into their hat do they do? A They kill it and eat it Q Are the spiders in other countries larger than ours? A Yes, in solier Q Who teaches the spider to make its web? A God Q Could any man in the world make a spider's web? A No, no one could do it

The teacher may then add thus:-Thus you see, little children, that every living thing has sos which we cannot do, although God has given us the means to becohtened at them, nor put them to unnecessary pain Some other day I will tell you what is the shape of the spider's web, and shew you what a nuures the spider's web is composed of

Almost every object, however siallery lesson; thus for exa it to the inspection of the infants, you may inquire, What is this? If it be in a country where turf is used, a general exclamation will inform you of its name; if not, you may find a better and ot the name, you may then ask its uses, and will soon find that the children are well acquainted with theive your own infor words, taking care that you use no word that the children do not themselves understand, or that you have not explained to them

Little children, look at what I hold You have told -turf, and it is used to make fires In Ireland turf is more used to make fires than coal, because it is very plentiful there, and many of the poor people in Ireland build their houses of it, and when they keep them well mended and covered, they are very warood turf fires in their turf houses; but some of them are lazy, and do not keep their turf houses mended, so the rain comes in, and they are very miserable, and so will all idle lazy people be I hope no little child here will be lazy, Noill tell you where they get all this turf, they dig it out of the bogs There are bogs in England; they call thes in Ireland are e that you cannot see across thest theeese, and cranes, and herons, and snipe, all of which I will tell you about sos are very wild, lonesome, dreary places; no person can live on thereat deep holes ater in the holes, and if any person fell in they would be drowned So you will see a pretty green island, where the land is firrass is nice and sweet, so that the poor peopleto these islands, that they oats, and horses to feed there; and soreen in the centre of the black bog Those bogs which are now such wet, black, nasty places, were once forests of great trees, as large as any you children ever saw, and pretty bright rivers ran through those forests, and nice birds sang in the branches, and great stags eat the grass underneath; ill read about the stag at soo, and there were very few people living then in Ireland, and by degrees, when the trees got very old, they began to fall down into the rivers and stopped them up, so that the water could not flow on, and the rivers overflowed all the nice forests, and the trees all fell, so that when some hundred years passed they were all down, and the branches rotted, and the grass and clay becae, and the whole of the nice shady forests of great trees becas, and the remains of those pretty branches and leaves, where the birds used to sing so sweetly, has become turf, like this piece which we have for a lesson; and when reat trunks of those trees, that reen and beautiful, quite black and ugly, but still so hard that they can scarcely be cut, and these old trees are called bog-oak, and the cabinet-maker buys them and makes them into beautiful chairs, and tables, and presses, and s, and they are quite black, and when polished you little children ht see your faces in the which God has made which is not very wonderful and curious, even this piece of bog-turf, which you would not have heard about if you did not come to the infant school to learn about so s

This will perhaps be enough of inforreeable form into their et it back from thes; and if this be always done in the proper manner, they will become as familiar with the subject, and learn it as quickly as they would the tissue of nonsense contained in the common nursery tales of ”Jack and Jill,” or, ”the old woman and her silver penny,” whose only usefulness consists in their ability to amuse, but from which no instruction can be possibly drawn; beside which, they forht reading which afterwards, insolid or instructive Being in thee and useless mass of fiction is piled in after years, the philosophical e of our systeled with instruction, and perceive that upon its simple basis a noble structure may be afterwards raised; andevil in whatever shape it presents itself, and extracting honey from every object, will be farlorious change in the erallery lessons of an infant school Having asked the children if they are tired, the teacher, if he receives an answer in the negative,about? A Turf Q What is the use of turf? A To make fires Q What other use is sometimes made of it? A To build houses Q Where do they build turf houses? A In Ireland Q Are they not very cold? Q No; if they are kept mended, they are not Q What do you call people, when they like to sleep in the cold rather than mend their houses? A Lazy Q Is it bad to be lazy? A Yes; very bad Q What do we call it besides being lazy? Q Being idle Q Are idle people very happy? A No; they are always ht; and I hope no little children will be ever idle; they should always try to be useful, and do all they can to help their friends Now tell s Q What are they called in England? A Mosses and fens Q Are the bogs in England larger than in Ireland? A No; the Irish bogs are the largest Q What anis? A Some sorts of birds Q Do men and women live in them? A No Q Why not? A They are too wet and soft Q What very dangerous places are in so-holes Q What are they? A Deep holes full of water Q What did I tell you were in soreen islands Q Are they of any use? A Yes; the people put cows and horses to feed on the? A They h road over to them Q What do they cut the turf with? A A sort of spade with two sides Q What is this called? A A Slane Q When the turf is cut, what do they do next? A Put it in heaps to dry Q What were those great bogs e trees Q What flowed through those forests? A Nice bright rivers Q What sang in the trees? A Pretty birds Q What eat the grass? A Fine large stags and deer Q How did those beautiful places becoot old, fell into the rivers and stopped them up Q What did this cause? A The water flowed over the banks Q What harrass wet and marshy Q What more? A It rotted the roots of the trees Q What happened then? A They all fell down Q In some hundred years, what did all those forests becos Q Are any of the trunks or bodies of those old trees ever found? A Yes; s Q Are they of any use? A Yes; they are useful to make chairs, tables, and presses Q What colour are they? A As black as a piece of coal Q When they are polished, do they look nice? A Yes; so bright you can see your face in the-oak Q Will you all try to reht; for little children should always res that their teacher takes such trouble to tell them