Part 2 (2/2)
[3] It is sold for ten cents by Hammett, publisher, in Brattle street, Boston
LECTURE III
DISCIPLINE
SINCE the kindergartner is to receive the child froarten is what ought to have been done in the nursery, I will give another lecture upon what Frbel thought the nursery ought to do for religious nurture; since, if it has not been done in the nursery, it arten
We have seen that the soul takes possession of the organs of sense gradually, by tasting, hearing, seeing, sreeable; and that the continuous exercise of the organs develops theh indefinite limit to finer susceptibility of i the lieneral Thus the nursery plays, ied, describing in his _Mother's Book_ various duplicate movements of the lis, have for their end, besides physical health, to make the mind discriminate various parts of the body and know their several for of human education
”Patty-cake” teaches a child that he has hands and fingers; ”This little pig goes to market, this one stays at home,” that he has toes It is the child's own body that first furnishes the objects of his attention to be associated ords Fro it is the instinct of the maternal nurse to talk to the child, which attracts hians of speech; and this proans Speech is a function distinctively hu in the nursery, is carried on carefully in the kindergarten, creating the sphere of the intellectual life; for words support the operation of thinking
From all that I said of the _ possession of his body in the nursery period, you see that childish action is involved in the mother's action It is _her_ wisdouide of the child's will, as it is brought gradually out of the blindness of ignorance; and it is she, not the child, who is responsible for the perfection of this part of the child's life
And is not this, on the whole, the common sense of mankind? Does any sane person hold a baby, up to three years old, and often, indeed, much later, responsible for the state of its tehtfulness of its action?
Nevertheless, the child is a moral person all this time, and it is of the last importance to his subsequent moral life whether or not his te to law, or discordant Discordant action must have a bad reactionary effect upon the terowth of the several organs of sense and of lect to use her poisely as well as gently to prevent these evils, by duplicateabout sorasp
It is instinctive with every one, as soon as he begins to play with a child, whether it be reasonable or not, to talk to it about its being good or bad, although a little child cannot be good or bad, but only orderly or disorderly; and there is no little danger to hisby our words the workings of his conscience before it has the conditions for its development One of these conditions is such a sense of individuality as enables the child to say ”I,” hich it presently combines such perception of relationshi+p to others as will say, ”I ought,”--a phrase that occurs in all languages, and reatest importance to keep this distinction in mind, for an imposed or artificial conscience almost certainly forecloses the natural or inspired conscience,--a truth largely illustrated by the history both of families and of nations, from which we learn that periods of corruption and wild license invariably follow periods of extreme restraint and asceticis_, which is a process that does not begin until aftera reflective act, which associates iy of the word suggests) Mere reception of impressions is passive; but to compare impressions of difference or sis_) is _active_ Therefore thinking and putting thoughts into words includes comparison and inference, and really _produces_ the hu into the world with us, as we do our heart and will Before there is a possibility of conscience or anyof relation with other persons)the heart to turn back and stagnate upon self The more impressible a child is, the artner's providential care of his affections during this irresponsible, pre-intellectual period of his life
I think the s I have ever knoere endoith great natural sensibility, which was left to concentrate upon self, because the claih presented to the irowth of personal affections, the individual intensifies the feeling of individuality, which first co taken such possession of his body as enabled hirohether intentionally directed towards that coins to call his at first as part of hi necessary to his comfort), is cherished by the duplicate action of the mother She moulds his heart in her heart, as she hassy and enerous and devout affections, if she is herself faithful to their proper objects, starting him on the way of a brotherly hu before the understanding has completely discerned the objects of these human and divine affections, which must be blended in order to continue vital and pure But the ion of the child's life, the _holy of holies_, into which ”fools incontinently rush, though angels fear to tread” She can only be the mother of the soul as well as of the body of her child, on condition of being herself rich in love of others and in piety to God
Frbel suggests this in the introductory poems of _Die Mutter Spiele und Kose Lieder_ The first five of these are the s with herself upon the emotions that arise in her heart, as she nurses her baby in her arms, and realizes that to her and her husband has been sent a living witness of the ”very present God,” who is the author of their being, and has united the to themselves, which they are bound to extend beyond themselves The rhys that follow are suggestions to her of theon the developymnastics described And just as she could not be the educator of her child into his individual body if she were a paralytic herself, so, if she be not affectionate and generous herself, she cannot educate hi member; nor unless she loves God herself, can she inspire hinize the Parental Spirit of e are (as heathen poet and Christian apostle alike aver) the veritable children ”We are the offspring of God,” said St Paul, quoting from the Greek poet Aratus in the Sermon on Mars' Hill, which is a ious or secular I think all true instruction, proceeding froious, on the principle that to those who have the seed, can be given the increase
In the first of these s of Frbel, the h another than herself, is in a certain sense one with herself; thus is unveiled (revealed) to her the Divine Fountain of Being, the Person of Persons, from whos of wonder and gratitude awaken the sense of responsibility to row conscious as she is of the common Father,--and thankful as she is for life in such close relation with herself,--who is the first form in which God reveals Himself to the child; for when he first looks away from his body so far as to perceive that his mother is another than himself, she fills the whole sphere of his perception!
Rousseau affirroould think its mother was its creator And Willias) has quite an eloquent paper, setting forth that the natural religion of a child is to worshi+p its earthly parents I have made some observations and had a personal experience which h I do not doubt that the characteristics of parents nearly always deterion But the question of who is his own creator does not naturally coins to ask whoincreate,” and when brought to know that his body grows old and inatively associates his undying self, which is a ”presence not to be put by” with the perishi+ng body What the soul, by virtue of its inherent immortality, fears and hates, is loneliness, absolute isolation! And e think of the body, which we identify with ourselves from the moment that we have taken it up and walked by its instru person that the soul is, shudders, and can only be co to conceive itself wholly detached from the decay, and housed within the bosoa of our life; of Him e have learnt to knoith the spirit and understanding also, by the process of living in human relations For we know ourselves as individuals first by means of the body, and we know ourselves as a coenial intercourse with our kindred, it being revealed to us that we are substantially social, as well as distinctly individual, by our instinctive horror of separation from them Later in life only, there are pleasures of solitude for those feho by iinative act make nature populous with personifications, and consequently the refracting atmosphere of the Divine Personality
The baby that finds itself alone cries for and is comforted by the embrace which restores the sense of union with itsthat a tender embrace and kiss will not completely comfort it
What a proof it is that God is _Love_, that the very embrace that symbolizes to the baby's heart the sense of huives its mind that impression of objective nature which is the first entle pressure of one sensitive body upon another produces counter-pressure, a resistance that is positively pleasurable, whereby the ihtful instead of a frightful revelation to theCreator, as the coeful individuality! It is the first syllable of that word (or speech of God) ible by the various qualities and for to le the first impression of matter with that perception of the _otherness_ of person that makes Love possible! Thus love and the sense of individuality are correlative creations and twin births Later, the sense of individuality becoree is innocent), and the perception of _otherness of person_, hohtful to be in free union, becoenerosity of mankind These opposite principles are at firstno moral character whatever Afterwards, they become respectively hard selfishness or a weak and base servility, or they may rise into a majestic self-respect, and that sublimest love which is to e of God_, not only king over material nature, but one with the perfect Son of Man, also Son of God, ith a hunity equally venerable, is able to say, ”I andquite beyond the nursery
In the earlier years, the growth of the religious life is erinning, itall occasion for self-care and self-defence, and thus prevent the sense of individuality froh fear into inordinate self-will and self-love
The child should be treated with unvarying tenderness and consideration, without having his senses paence, but above all things, never wounding nor frightening his heart, nor repressing the sihts For enforced repression tends to produce ugly te to the child's temperament, which is also in imperfect social harmony, if not absolutely quarrelsome It must be her work, therefore, not only to coanic education, but to take hi the ested to the mother for the discipline of her infants (I use this word _discipline_ in its true sense of teaching; not in the sense of _punishment_ That the word _discipline_ should ever have come to mean punishment is a severe commentary on the ideas and modes of education that have hitherto prevailed in Christendoartner, as well as the rounded in the faith that God has done His part in the original endowment of children; and that He is truly present with her, helping her to res She will certainly succeed in her work if she studies His laith an earnest purpose to carry the the children to self-governs:--
”There are who ask not if Thine eye Be on the is, rely Upon the genial sense of youth
_Glad hearts!_ without reproach or blot, Who do Thy work, and know it not!
And blest are they who in the main This happy faith still entertain, Live in the spirit of this creed, Yet find another strength according to their _need_
May joy be theirs while life shall last, And _Thou_, if they should totter, teach them to stand fast”
Little children certainly, of all persons, are oftenest found in this condition when