The Infant System Part 14

Land or Square Measure.

144 inches 1 foot 9 feet 1 yard 30 yards 1 pole 40 poles 1 rood 4 roods 1 acre 640 acres 1 mile

This includes length and breadth.

Hay.

36 pounds 1 truss of straw 56 pounds 1 do. of old hay 60 pounds 1 do. of new hey 36 trusses 1 load

MONEY.

Two farthings one halfpenny make, A penny four of such will take; And to allow I am most willing That twelve pence always make a s.h.i.+lling; And that five s.h.i.+llings make a crown, Twenty a sovereign, the same as pound.

Some have no cash, some have to spare- Some who have wealth for none will care.

Some through misfortune's hand brought low, Their money gone, are filled with woe, But I know better than to grieve; If I have none I will not thieve; I'll be content whate'er's my lot, Nor for misfortunes care a groat.

There is a Providence whose care And sovereign love I crave to share; His love is gold without alloy; Those who possess't have endless joy.

TIME OR CHRONOLOGY.

Sixty seconds make a minute; Time enough to tie my shoe Sixty minutes make an hour; Shall it pa.s.s and nought to do?

Twenty-four hours will make a day Too much time to spend in sleep, Too much time to spend in play, For seven days will end the week, Fifty and two such weeks will put Near an end to every year; Days three hundred sixty-five Are the whole that it can share.

Saving leap year, when one day Added is to gain lost time; May it not be spent in play, Nor in any evil crime.

Time is short, we often say; Let us, then, improve it well; That eternally we may Live where happy angels dwell.

AVOIRDUPOISE WEIGHT.

Sixteen drachms are just an ounce, As you'll find at any shop; Sixteen ounces make a pound, Should you want a mutton chop.

Twenty-eight pounds are the fourth Of an hundred weight call'd gross; Four such quarters are the whole Of an hundred weight at most.

Oh! how delightful, Oh! how delightful, Oh! how delightful, To sing this rule.

Twenty hundreds make a ton; By this rule all things are sold That have any waste or dross And are bought so, too, I'm told.

When we buy and when we sell, May we always use just weight; May we justice love so well To do always what is right.

Oh! how delightful, &c., &c., &c.

APOTHECARIES' WEIGHT.

Twenty grains make a scruple,-some scruple to take; Though at times it is needful, just for our health's sake; Three scruples one drachm, eight drachms make one ounce, Twelve ounces one pound, for the pestle to pounce.

By this rule is all medicine mix'd, though I'm told By Avoirdupoise weight 'tis bought and 'tis sold.

But the best of all physic, if I may advise, Is temperate living and good exercise.

DRY MEASURE.

Two pints will make one quart Of barley, oats, or rye; Two quarts one pottle are, of wheat Or any thing that's dry.

Two pottles do one gallon make, Two gallons one peck fair, Four pecks one bushel, heap or brim, Eight bushels one quarter are.

If, when you sell, you give Good measure shaken down, Through motives good, you will receive An everlasting crown.

ALE AND BEER MEASURE.

Two pints will make one quart, Four quarts one gallon, strong:- Some drink but little, some too much,- To drink too much is wrong.

Eight gallons one firkin make, Of liquor that's call'd ale Nine gallons one firkin of beer, Whether 'tis mild or stale.

With gallons fifty-four A hogshead I can fill: But hope I never shall drink much, Drink much whoever will.

WINE, OIL, AND SPIRIT MEASURE.

Two pints will make one quart Of any wine, I'm told: Four quarts one gallon are of port Or claret, new or old.

Forty-two gallons will A tierce fill to the bung: And sixty-three's a hogshead full Of brandy, oil, or rum.

Eighty-four gallons make One puncheon fill'd to brim, Two hogsheads make one pipe or b.u.t.t, Two pipes will make one tun.

A little wine within Oft cheers the mind that's sad; But too much brandy, rum, or gin, No doubt is very bad.

From all excess beware, Which sorrow must attend; Drunkards a life of woe must share,- When time with them shall end.

The arithmeticon, I would just remark, may be applied to geometry. Round, square, oblong, &c. &c., may be easily taught. It may also be used in teaching geography. The shape of the earth may be shewn by a ball, the surface by the outside, its revolution on its axis by turning it round, and the idea of day and night may be given by a ball and a candle in a dark-room.

As the construction and application of this instrument is the result of personal, long-continued, and anxious effort, and as I have rarely seen a pirated one made properly or understood, I may express a hope that whenever it is wanted either for schools or nurseries, application will be made for it to my depot.

I have only to add, that a board is placed at the back to keep the children from seeing the b.a.l.l.s, except as they are put out; and that the bra.s.s figures at the side are intended to a.s.sist the master when he is called away, so that he may see, on returning to the frame, where he left off.

The slightest glance at the wood-cut will shew how unjust the observations of the writer of "Schools for the Industrious Cla.s.ses, or the Present State of Education amongst the Working People of England," published under the superintendance of the Central Society of Education, are, where he says, "We are willing to a.s.sume that Mr. Wilderspin has originated some improvements in the system of Infant School education; but Mr. Wilderspin claims so much that many persons have been led to refuse him that degree of credit to which he is fairly ent.i.tled. For example, he claims a beneficial interest in an instrument called the Arithmeticon, of which he says he was the inventor. This instrument was described in a work on arithmetic, published by Mr. Friend forty years ago. The instrument is, however, of much older date; it is the same in principle as the Abacus of the Romans, and in its form resembles as nearly as possible the Swanpan of the Chinese, of which there is a drawing in the Encyclopaedia Brittanica. Mr. Wilderspin merely invented the name." Now, I defy the writer of this to prove that the Arithmeticon existed before I invented it. I claim no more than what is my due. The Abacus of the Romans is entirely different; still more so is the Chinese Swanpan; if any person will take the trouble to look into the Encyclopaedia Britannica, they will see the difference at once, although I never heard of either until they were mentioned in the pamphlet referred to. There are 144 b.a.l.l.s on mine, and it is properly simplified for infants with the addition of the tablet, which explains the representative characters as well as the real ones, which are the b.a.l.l.s.

I have not yet heard what the Central Society have invented; probably we shall soon hear of the mighty wonders performed by them, from one end of the three kingdoms to the other. Their whole account of the origin of the Infant System is as partial and unjust as it possibly can be. Mr. Simpson, whom they quote, can tell them so, as can also some of the committee of management, whose names I see at the commencement of the work. The Central Society seem to wish to pull me down, as also does the other society to whom reference is made is the same page of which I complain; and I distinctly charge both societies with doing me great injustice; the society complains of my plans without knowing them, the other adopts them without acknowledgment, and both have sprung up fungus-like, after the Infant System had been in existence many years, and I had served three apprentices.h.i.+ps to extend and promote it, without receiving subscriptions or any public aid whatever. It is hard, after a man has expended the essence of his const.i.tution, and spent his children's property for the public good, in inducing people to establish schools in the princ.i.p.al towns in the three kingdoms,-struck at the root of domestic happiness, by personally visiting each town, doing the thing instead of writing about it-that societies of his own countrymen should be so anxious to give the credit to foreigners. Verily it is most true that a Prophet has no honour in his own country. The first public honour I ever received was at Inverness, in the Highlands of Scotland, the last was by the Jews in London, and I think there was a s.p.a.ce of about twenty years between each.

CHAPTER XIII.

FORM, POSITION, AND SIZE.

Method of instruction, geometrical song-Anecdotes-Size-Song measure-Observations.

"Geometry is eminently serviceable to improve and strengthen the intellectual faculties."-Jones.

Among the novel features of the Infant School System, that of geometrical lessons is the most peculiar. How it happened that a mode of instruction so evidently calculated for the infant mind was so long overlooked, I cannot imagine; and it is still more surprising that, having been once thought of, there should be any doubt as to its utility. Certain it is that the various forms of bodies is one of the first items of natural education, and we cannot err when treading in the steps of Nature. It is undeniable that geometrical knowledge is of great service in many of the mechanic arts, and, therefore, proper to be taught children who are likely to be employed in some of those arts; but, independently of this, we cannot adopt a better method of exciting and strengthening their powers of observation. I have seen a thousand instances, moreover, in the conduct of the children, which have a.s.sured me, that it is a very pleasing as well as useful branch of instruction. The children, being taught the first elements of form, and the terms used to express the various figures of bodies, find in its application to objects around them an inexhaustible source of amus.e.m.e.nt. Streets, houses, rooms, fields, ponds, plates, dishes, tables; in short, every thing they see calls for observation, and affords an opportunity for the application of their geometrical knowledge. Let it not, then, be said that it is beyond their capacity, for it is the simplest and most comprehensible to them of all knowledge;-let it not be said that it is useless, since its application to the useful arts is great and indisputable; nor is it to be a.s.serted that it is unpleasing to them, since it has been shewn to add greatly to their happiness.

It is essential in this, as in every other branch of education, to begin with the first principles, and proceed slowly to their application, and the complicated forms arising therefrom. The next thing is to promote that application of which we have before spoken, to the various objects around them. It is this, and this alone, which forms the distinction between a school lesson and practical knowledge; and so far will the children be found from being averse from this exertion, that it makes the acquirement of knowledge a pleasure instead of a task. With these prefatory remarks I shall introduce a description of the method I have pursued, and a few examples of geometrical lessons.

We will suppose that the whole of the children are seated in the gallery, and that the teacher (provided with a bra.s.s instrument formed for the purpose, which is merely a series of joints like those to a counting-house candlestick, from which I borrowed the idea,[A] and which may be altered as required, in a moment,) points to a straight line, asking, What is this? A. A straight line. Q. Why did you not call it a crooked line? A. Because it is not crooked, but straight. Q. What are these? A. Curved lines. Q. What do curved lines mean? A. When they are bent or crooked. Q. What are these? A. Parallel straight lines. Q. What does parallel mean? A. Parallel means when they are equally distant from each other in every part. Q. If any of you children were reading a book. that gave an account of some town which had twelve streets, and it is said that the streets were parallel, would you understand what it meant? A. Yes; it would mean that the streets were all the same way, side by side, like the lines which we now see. Q. What are those? A. Diverging or converging straight lines. Q. What is the difference between diverging and converging lines and parallel lines? A. Diverging or converging lines are not at an equal distance from each other, in every part, but parallel lines are. Q. What does diverge mean? A. Diverge means when they go from each other, and they diverge at one end and converge at the other.[B] Q. What does converge mean? A. Converge means when they come towards each other. Q. Suppose the lines were longer, what would be the consequence? A. Please, sir, if they were longer, they would meet together at the end they converge. Q. What would they form by meeting together? A. By meeting together they would form an angle. Q. What kind of an angle? A. An acute angle? Q. Would they form an angle at the other end? A. No; they would go further from each other. Q. What is this? A. A perpendicular line. Q. What does perpendicular mean? A. A line up straight, like the stem of some trees. Q. If you look, you will see that one end of the line comes on the middle of another line; what does it form? A. The one which we now see forms two right angles. Q. I will make a straight line, and one end of it shall lean on another straight line, but instead of being upright like the perpendicular line, you see that it is sloping. What does it form? A. One side of it is an acute angle, and the other side is an obtuse angle. Q. Which side is the obtuse angle? A. That which is the most open. Q. And which is the acute angle? A. That which is the least open. Q. What does acute mean? A. When the angle is sharp. Q. What does obtuse mean? A. When the angle is less sharp than the right angle. Q. If I were to call any one of you an acute child, would you know what I meant? A. Yes, sir; one that looks out sharp, and tries to think, and pays attention to what is said to him; and then you would say he was an acute child.

[Footnote b: Mr. Chambers has been good enough to call the instrument referred to, a gonograph; to that name I have no objection.]

[Footnote B: Desire the children to hold up two fingers, keeping them apart, and they will perceive they diverge at top and converge at bottom.]

Equi-lateral Triangle.

Q. What is this? A. An equi-lateral triangle. Q. Why is it called equi-lateral? A. Because its sides are all equal. Q. How many sides has it? A. Three sides. Q. How many angles has it? A. Three angles. Q. What do you mean by angles? A. The s.p.a.ce between two right lines, drawn gradually nearer to each other, till they meet in a point. Q. And what do you call the point where the two lines meet? A. The angular point. Q. Tell me why you call it a tri-angle. A. We call it a tri-angle because it has three angles. Q. What do you mean by equal? A. When the three sides are of the same length. Q. Have you any thing else to observe upon this? A. Yes, all its angles are acute.

Isoceles Triangle.

Q. What is this? A. An acute-angled isoceles triangle. Q. What does acute mean? A. When the angles are sharp. Q. Why is it called an isoceles triangle? A. Because only two of its sides are equal. Q. How many sides has it? A. Three, the same as the other. Q. Are there any other kind of isoceles triangles? A. Yes, there are right-angled and obtuse-angled.

[Here the other triangles are to be shewn, and the master must explain to the children the meaning of right-angled and obtuse-angled.]

Scalene Triangle.

Q. What is this? A. An acute-angled scalene triangle. Q. Why is it called an acute-angled scalene triangle? A. Because all its angles are acute, and its sides are not equal. Q. Why is it called scalene? A. Because it has all its sides unequal. Q. Are there any other kind of scalene triangles? A. Yes, there is a right-angled scalene triangle, which has one right angle. Q. What else? A. An obtuse-angled scalene triangle, which has one obtuse angle. Q. Can an acute triangle be an equi-lateral triangle? A. Yes, it may be equilateral, isoceles, or scalene. Q. Can a right-angled triangle, or an obtuse-angled triangle, be an equilateral? A. No; it must be either an isoceles or a scalene triangle.