Part 9 (2/2)

But had I then known of Frbel's anized by the adult with single aiht hi assiz called ”_the A children to read before they have learned the things signified by words,” which he, like Frbel, believed would produce habits ofa veil between the observer and nature, preventing all freshness of thought, and destroying the inality_ But I had not (at that time) presuinning of education_ was _learning to read_

When, later, ht upon the subject, and showed lish had the misfortune to be written by an inadequate alphabet, whose result was to confuse the phonography entirely, by obscuring the original principle of having but one letter for one sound, and a letter for every different sound, I realized the positive disadvantage of children's being forced through a process which baffles all their natural instincts of classification; and it was then I invented a raphic ones to be first made familiar, and the exceptions classified Yet I could not be insensible to the unnaturalness of beginning with spending sochildren upon this work of the _ies are, rather than on the works of Infinite Wisdom I was therefore well prepared to accept Frbel's s that char by firstto the lahich constitute thethem in all perceptible relations First let us form a mind which can apprehend nature as the standard of truth, before we undertake to _in_form it hat embodies the confusions and errors of ree the written English language does For language stands in the same relation to man as nature does in relation to God The eternal word of Truth ues was the inevitable consequence of the fall of man out of that communion with God in which children are born, and our written language is an ilish, whose so-called orthography is the es; and the acquisition, therefore, ought to be postponed, at least until the understanding is fairly developed by sonition of so s we see and can handle The time comes when the children can understand that exceptions prove the rule, and then those irregularities and ano lessons to children; because if its laws and rules are apprehended first, there is so to them in contradictions of law that so rotesque; children enjoy the _funny_, as they call it, but it is a different enjoyhest element for human activity A predominance of the _funny_ even demoralizes intellectually as well as morally, but it has its own subordinate place in healthy child life

My little friend had a slate and pencil, and immediately inclined to draw froive his he was trying to represent

If we could not guess, I re he would ”_fix it a little_” I had the instinct that he could only be effectually encouraged by success, and I would endeavor to divine what heobjects when I saw hiratulation any part in which he had at all succeeded, letting the rest go But without adequate and legitied with his failures What children do not succeed in, becomes distasteful to them, and they turn their attention from what has disappointed them, and thus their natural tastes die, or are starved out As they have no knowledge ofthe baffled, lose courage to undertake the possible

So young artists accumulate difficulties by their unwise choice of subjects, not realizing the limitations of their oers It is the part of the educated kindergartner to supply this want of judgradualis the squared slate and paper to ensure straightness of line in children's drawing is like the leading strings by which the , which cannot be done without his own personal effort So Frbel's plan of having the kindergartner suggest a sy of lines in opposites, vivifies the sense of sy still another sy of therow under his hands, and feels that he is acting froh the thought was suggested by the words of another) What he _does_ gives hiests other syh fancy is a spontaneous play of the free will a impressions passively received, it is amenable to the lahose exponents are presented to it by nature's works and huestion

F liked to watch , but its very perfection discouraged efforts on his own part It is bad not to _do_ really at once e conceive of ideally It was only in the ious sphere that we really lived with him, and he was properly educated by us We always answered all his questions about ere doing, and how, and why (I wish now I had asked him more questions)

My sister Sophia had a rare talent for talking with children, whose purity and innocence she coination her Christian faith gave ample scope, for it was hampered by no human creeds We had a circle of acquaintances ere only tooof the history of his mind, liked to talk with him His mother had been very much beloved by this circle, and I used to tell him that _for her_ sake, they cared for and attended to _him_, which interested hi himself as a person of tooto see his ”MOTHER'S FRIENDS” If new persons spoke to him kindly, he would ask me immediately if they knew and loved his mother; at all events, the element of personal EGOTISM did not appear, and the affection he at first poured out on me, now freely flowed out in every direction I rereat self-gratulation, ”I think I have a great many friends,” and in a moment after added, ”my mother was so beautiful!” (as if that were the reason of it) A young husband and wife becaht a beautiful infant This was a perennial fountain of delight to F The singular beauty of the little one was a constant subject of observation One day he was looking at her, as she lay on her mother's lap, and presently he burst out, ”Oh, Ellen, your little bright eyes are shi+ning thehted with theHis ear for sounds was fastidiously delicate One dayat soht to her for transplanting As she looked at theet ly _word_! I knohat you elow's _Plants around Boston_ (_Bigeloas the ugly word) But letyou how _prayer_ becaht of his mind, and his spontaneous practice

It was very early a question of great interest to his mother, and also to me, whether prayer _would_ become spontaneous with hi to God _in human words_ His intense realization of God's _presence_ see so, and I feared to put God _at a distance_ by suggesting what, in ordinary cases, is aHim near If prayer be defined as a communion of the finite and Infinite, as personal as that of _children_ with earthly parents, _his_ whole conscious life was a prayer; for truly God was in all his thoughts from the day he first accepted Hioodness and love_, which involved to the natural logic of his innocentoutward, as well as inward, which gave him any happiness I did not dare to ht in so happy an instance, but watched to learn the true ested to his disciples to do One day when his grandmother, as at the house on a visit, dropped her needle, she called to F, ”Come, and look with _your little sharp eyes_ for my needle” He did so, with his usual alacrity in service, and soon found it Then he ran to ood Friend for givingfor?” He gave hed (as if he had been convicted of saying so silly); but he said no more _then_ Froo into the sky, I shall thankme” this or that; and I would always answer hi out the sa that he loved to renew the occasion for my uniform reply, ”Why do you wait _till then_?”

On one of these occasions he turned from me, and said very tenderly, ”_I thank you, God_” One day, after he went to Sale fro a little tuft of cotton dipped in arnica into his ear Then she asked hiarden,” and she took up a pencil to draw Very soon he began, ”God, I thank you for arden to put away the dead bodies _in_ God, I thank you for round God, I thank you for row” He paused between each co a pencil in her hand, wrote down his words till she had covered a sheet of letter paper with his thanksgivings; for he went on na he could think of; and it was quite wonderful to hear the rateful appreciation of life

One sentence was: ”I thank you, God, formedicine to put into my ear when it aches” He also thanked God for his father, and his father's letters to him, for histhem I hope that sometime I shall find my sister's paper, which I have ical observation The pauses between the thanksgivings becaer, and at last, after one for which he see anything else, he closed with, ”My dear God, I love you very much”

You will observe that in all this spontaneous act of devotion, there was no _petition_ In the fulness of his happy life, and, as I think, in the faith that God was giving hi_ for anything

Te had not yet revealed the need that the progressing spirit always feels of _oodness and love, which I had taken care to represent that God gave whenever the soul acknowledged to itself its need and aspired for more of this, its vital substance For it is ood only, in order that our religion should be pure fro in its aspirations for perfection

A little while after this incident,to hi and evening prayer”

He immediately stopped her and asked her, ”What does that rown up people, when they wake in the ht when they could not take care of theood sleep, feel very thankful, and love to tell God so, just as you did the other day when you thanked God for so ood ives _the love and goodness_, they like to ask Hiood with_ when the tih the day, they like to thank Him for all the joys of the day, and they ask Hi, when they shall be asleep and cannot take care of the and evening prayer” I think she added that when she was little she used to say, when she was going to bed:--

”Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lordprayer ”I think it is a very good way,” said he, ”and I o to bed” And it was true that when he went to bed, he re to his forain in theto thank God for the new day, etc Nor did he forget afterwards, night and ive thanks and utter prayers spontaneously, and see he waked , and as soon as I openedprayer” I said, ”There was a wonderful little shepherd boy once, whose na his prayers”

Immediately he wanted to know all about him, and I told him the story of David in his childhood and up to the ti Saul; and I ended with saying that I would read to hi prayers were called); and this I did, and the eloquence of the sweet singer of Israel seemed to vivify his idea of the Heavenly Father, and of His connection with the soul within us all and the world without Especially I tried on hi of the glory of God,”

whose rhythm had charmed my own childhood, even before I fully comprehended it; and he liked to hear it, too Before this, I had read considerably from the Bible to hian to be in the first place, and I had said: ”_Yes_, everybody wonders about that But there is a book (pointing to the Bible) where one of the first men told about how it seemed to hian the first chapter of Genesis, without introductory coht_,” he sprang up and shouted, ”Directly when He said 'Let there be light,' there _was_ light _directly_!”

I wished Longinus could have heard the confirreat criticism Immediately he ran into my father's study, which was across the entry, and burst out, ”Dr Peabody, when it was all dark and there was nothing ht_'

directly! directly!” This was not enough; he ran to find ain repeated the simply sublime words

Then he came back to me to hear the rest, and I finished the chapter which he wanted ain, day after day I read afterwards the parable of Jotha how ht have made of that very parable for his ospel of work_ I can hardly bear to think how stupid I was; the effect of not having had the kindergarten education myself

But he was too soon taken away from my observation, not without o to his father, who, I thought, needed his companionshi+p And as it was at a distance that he lived, and, as afterwards my own life was full of vicissitude for many years, I lost the run of hi between his father andI wanted to be free fro he did not desire my personal influence on him, and ere both mistaken, as we found out afterwards When he went to Harvard College, he ca He had a sweet, though it had become a dim, remembrance of a happy time with us, succeeded, as he told loo-school, to which he was sent when he was eight years old, because, as he said, his grand with his solitary father at a hotel But the boarding-school proved h and cruel to hiuided play While he ith me, on the occasion of this call, it happened that my sister Sophia's children came into the room where ere They had a very vivid idea of hi often spoken of hi he had a Heavenly Father, when he had never thought or been told of it

When I said to theht he was a little boy,” looking at hirown-up man I told him they ell acquainted with his childhood It touched hi on several things I have told, brought back the old time more distinctively, and he said he should often come to recall it by my help, and to learn more of his mother, whose beautiful face haunted his dreams But just afterwards I left Boston for soain until after his return froe, and remained till he had completed his medical studies

I promised then to show hiirlhood, and to tell him how much the early experience of his own childhood had ain inexorable circu physician in Worcester, and I went to Concord to live, and we procrastinated a promised visit until at last Deathof his country, for when the war broke out in 1861, nothing would do but he eons of the 15th Regiment, which was terribly cut up For a year and a half he did an incredible amount of work, for he would always have his hospital on the field of battle, and the 15th was in a great many battles, and left but few survivors, most of whom are maimed or halt He took care of those wounded ones who could not be taken from the battle-field, wrote letters for theeon did In the last letter that he wrote to his father, he said that this year and a half was in one sense the happiest time of his life; for it was the only time when he seeh the iment, as was his wont, and his death was instantaneous His patriotism and his bravery were the fruits of his piety Every year his father and I rave until his father's death in 1883-4 He is buried at Mt Auburn by his mother's side, whose body was ree I have a photograph of hie as his mother when she died,--thirty-one years It was the year before he went to the war, a drooping head, pensive as if marked for early death But when I saw him dead, his broas lifted, his whole countenance had becorand and heroic, and it was plain that he had found his ideal vocation His funeral was celebrated in the city of Worcester with ies, and the sidewalks of the city thronged with the multitude of spectators A discourse upon the text, ”No man can do more than lay down his life for his friends,” was pronounced over hi, ”Nearer my God to Thee,” which seeh he had never been far from Him, after he knew a name for Him

After the funeral his father's relatives and friends gathered together, and we talked of him I told my recollections of his childhood, and all of the that the life he had led was in perfect harmony with such an early acquaintance made with the Heavenly Father

LECTURE VIII