The Infant System Part 8

"That the master be desired to go 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 may be strangers, and who require information.

"That all applications from the master be made to the committee through the secretary.

"That all orders from the committee to the teachers be conveyed through 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 commenced in infancy-Beneficial effects of real moral culture-Ignorance of teachers-The gallery most useful in moral training-Specimen of a moral lesson-Ill.u.s.trations of moral culture-Anecdotes-Simpson on moral education-Observations-Hints to teachers.

There is no part of the infant system which has been more misunderstood, than the system of giving lessons in the gallery; and hence I have thought it necessary to devote a larger s.p.a.ce to the subject, than I did in the former editions of this work. The gallery was originally intended by me, to give the children such lessons as appealed directly to the senses, either orally or by representative objects: thus the teaching arithmetic by the frame and b.a.l.l.s, inasmuch as it appealed to the eye as well as to the understanding, was suitable for a gallery lesson. The same observations hold good 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 catechism, or anything 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 s.e.xes, I mean in the Normal schools of Glasgow and Edinburgh, the Corporation Schools of Liverpool, and the government Model Schools at Dublin. In the two latter the arrangements, both in the fittings up of the play-grounds, galleries, and school-rooms, were made under my especial inspection, and I have no doubt that the use of the gallery, when it becomes more generally known in large schools, will become universal.

The taught should see the face of the teacher in these lessons, and the teacher should see the face of the taught: it establishes a sympathy between both to the advantage of each. The face is the index to the mind, and at times shews the intention, even without words. Some animals can read this index: the horse, the dog, the elephant, and many of the higher 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. Sympathy is a power destined to be of use in teaching, 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 system which legislates for the exercise of their locomotive powers, such as the spelling and reading lessons, and the method of teaching object 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 misapplication of the gallery; 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 const.i.tutions, and also the const.i.tutions of some of the children, by the perpetual talking and singing, 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 be more than one hour at a time, or, at most two hours, during the 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 time for gallery 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 small portion of spelling and reading, and the rest of the afternoon should be devoted to moral and physical teaching in the play-ground, 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 themselves to read my writings; and, in their anxiety to produce something new and original, have strayed from the very essential parts of the plan, and on this account I am charged by several writers with being unacquainted with the philosophy of my own system. I thought three-and-thirty years ago 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 town where 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 of my own plans, merely because I preferred the doing of the thing to the writing about it. Believing, however, that the time has now arrived, and that the public mind is better prepared than it was then, I have thought I might 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 const.i.tution as long as it lives afterwards. There are hundreds of persons who will not believe this, and those persons will employ mere boys and girls to teach infants. Let them do so if they please; I simply protest against it, and merely give it as my opinion that it is highly improper to do so. If ever infant schools are to become real blessings 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 employed as school-masters and school-mistresses, to the great detriment of the young committed to their charge, 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 employ an inexperienced boy to break in his dogs; even the poultry and pigs would be attended by a person who knew something about them; but almost any creature who can read and write, and is acquainted with the first rules of arithmetic, is too frequently thought a fit and proper person to superintend infants. I know many instances of discarded servants totally unfit, made teachers of infants, merely to put them in place; to the destruction of the highest and most n.o.ble of G.o.d's creatures! which I contend infants are. To expect that such persons can give gallery lessons as they ought to be given, is expecting what will never, nor can take place. The public must possess different views of the subject; more rational ideas on the art of teaching must be entertained, and greater remuneration must be given 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 my opinion more in detail. Efficient gallery lessons-efficient teachers must be made. They do not at present exist in large numbers, and can only be made by a suitable reward being held out to them, and by their being placed under the superintendence of experienced persons acquainted with the art. The art of teaching is no mean art, and must, sooner or later, take its proper rank amongst 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 some specimens of gallery 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 them in language suited to the infant apprehensions; and I sincerely hope they may shew in a plain manner the method of giving this species of instruction to the children, and that teachers who were before ignorant of it, may be benefitted thereby. I shall not pretend to give 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 that many have experienced the very same results when trying to explain theoretically on paper what they have with ease practised a thousand times.

These oral lessons on real objects ought to be given in pure, simple, and plain language, level to the understanding 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 common life, in ordinary and proper conversation, ought to be most strongly impressed on their memories. It may, perhaps, be retorted on me-why then teach the difficult and scientific names of geometrical figures. The answer is very simple. Most of them have no other, and where they have I always give them also, as sloping, slanting, inclined, for oblique. The geometrical figures are the elements of all forms, and the simplest objects which can be presented to the young. I have found them always learned with the greatest ease and pleasure. Pestalozzi, I have understood, was led to the use of them by observing the wants of the young mind, in a similar manner that I was myself. This is, therefore, one of the many coincidences in thought and discovery by minds wholly independent of each other, which have been directed to the same subjects. This is an evitable result. If two men look at the moon, both must see that it is round, bright, and mottled; and if two minds far apart, turn their attention to similar subjects, the probability is that their views will coincide. The most powerful mind will of course make the deepest and simplest discovery.

Object lessons should be given chiefly on such things as fall under more constant observation and are daily coming before the sight, and then useful knowledge will be acc.u.mulated, and frequently reimpressed upon the memory by the seeing 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 morning is fine and clear, a lesson may be given on an object that the children are not frequently in the habit of seeing; but should the weather be hazy, and the atmosphere heavy, then a lesson must be given 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 development, which is to get 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 information out of them you can in their own simple language, you have acted according to nature's law, and it is now your turn to infuse additional information into their minds, and, give them the benefit of your superior knowledge; 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 G.o.d; they keep the birds warm just in the same way as your clothes keep you from being cold; and as the poor birds cannot make themselves clothes as men can, G.o.d has given them feathers that they may not be cold when the bad weather comes. The feathers are useful to the birds also in flying; the long feathers in a bird's wing keep him in the air, which he could not fly through if he was covered with any thing else, because feathers are very light. Seven of the large feathers out of the great eagle's wing would not weigh more than two halfpennies. The wings of a bird make him able to fly, and the tail guides him through 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 threw water 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, come out of the egg, they have no feathers on, but the old ones cover them with their wings to keep the cold away, and the feathers soon grow, and then they can fly away and find food and make nests for themselves; but large birds, such as the goose, turkey, hen, and duck, have a sort of soft down on them when they come out of the sh.e.l.l, and little ducks will go and swim as soon as they are hatched, as I suppose some of you have seen.

Some birds' feathers are much prettier than others: the goose has not such pretty feathers as the swan, nor the swan as the peac.o.c.k; but we must not think ill of the goose for this, for its flesh is better to eat than either the peac.o.c.k or swan. I am sure many of you little children like roast goose. The peac.o.c.k has very pretty feathers indeed, and so has the pheasant, and the drake, and the c.o.c.k; 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 well we shall find it is very curious, and all the men in the world could not make one like it. Goose feathers are the most useful; the small ones make stuffing for pillows and beds, and the large ones make pens to write with. Birds change their feathers often; they drop off and they get new ones; this is called moulting.

Having thus given the children as much information on the subject as they will be likely to be able to digest properly, you may then get 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 them warm. Q. What more good? A. Make them able to fly. Q. Who gives the birds feathers to make them warm? A. G.o.d. Q. Are feathers very heavy? A. No, very light. 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 mean by guiding it? A. Turning it any way it wants to go. Q. What is the reason that birds' feathers do not get all full of wet when 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, come out of the eggs, have they got 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 sh.e.l.l? 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 peac.o.c.k. 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 small ones make? A. They make stuffing 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 come. Q. What is this called? A. Moulting.

Such lessons as this will never be forgotten by the little ones. They will learn to adore the great G.o.d 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 more, it prepares the way, at some future time, for a larger amount of knowledge as to G.o.d's revealed will.

A spider, a living specimen of which may be easily procured, may be made a very instructive gallery lesson; it may prevent the fears and foolish prejudices against ugly yet harmless insects, which often remain through 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 animal's habits may be given, 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 some of you think it very ugly, and say you are afraid of it, but sensible children will not be frightened at a spider, because they will remember that they are very harmless little things, 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 some are very useful, notwithstanding their not being as handsome as others; and spiders are very useful too, although very few people know how to make use of them; but they little think that the poor little insect which they brush off the wall, and trample under their feet, can tell them what weather they are going to have, as sure, and surer than a weather-gla.s.s. 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 stormy weather is going 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 may know the frosty weather is coming; so you see, children, that spiders may be useful to know what kind of weather we shall have.

Spiders are very cunning; they live on flies; but they could never catch them, only they are able to weave a strong web, which they do in a place where the flies often come; and when a poor fly gets 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 may not see them; but if an enemy stronger than itself comes to his web, the spider remains in his hole till the danger is all over. Some spiders that live in countries far away are a great 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 harm. Q. Are spiders very ugly? A. They are. Q. Should we think badly of them for this? A. No. Q. Who made the spider? A. G.o.d. Q. Does he not make every animal, whether handsome or ugly? A. Yes. Q. Can spiders be of use? A. They will tell us what weather 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 them? A. By making webs. Q. When a fly gets into their web what do they do? A. They kill it and eat it. Q. Are the spiders in other countries larger than ours? A. Yes, in some places they are much larger and uglier. Q. Who teaches the spider to make its web? A. G.o.d. 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 some merit of its own, and can do many things which we cannot do, although G.o.d has given us the means to become so much wiser than they; and be sure you are not frightened 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 number of regular figures the spider's web is composed of.

Almost every object, however simple it may be, will form an instructive gallery lesson; thus for example, you may take a piece of bog-turf, and after submitting 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 more familiar object for your lesson. When you have got the name, you may then ask its uses, and will soon find that the children are well acquainted with them. You may then proceed to give your own information on the subject in something like the following 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 me it is a piece of bog-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 warm and comfortable, and they burn good 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, Now I will tell you where they get all this turf, they dig it out of the bogs. There are bogs in England; they call them mosses or fens, and in Scotland there are bogs, but the bogs in Ireland are much more plentiful. Some of them are so very large that you cannot see across them, and a great many birds live amongst them, such as wild ducks, and geese, and cranes, and herons, and snipe, all of which I will tell you about some other time. Those great bogs are very wild, lonesome, dreary places; no person can live on them, because they are so wet and soft, and they are full of great deep holes with water in them, which are called bog holes, and if any person fell in they would be drowned. Sometimes in the middle of this great bog you will see a pretty green island, where the land is firm and strong, and the gra.s.s is nice and sweet, so that the poor people make a dry path across the wet bog to these islands, that they may drive their cows, and goats, and horses to feed there; and some of these islands are very pretty places, and look so green 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 gra.s.s underneath; we will read about the stag at some other time. This was many hundred years ago, 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 pa.s.sed they were all down, and the branches rotted, and the gra.s.s and clay became wet, like sponge, and the whole of the nice shady forests of great trees became what we call bogs, 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 men are cutting this turf out, they often find the great trunks of those trees, that many hundred years ago were so green 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 many other things, and they are quite black, and when polished you little children might see your faces in them. Thus you see, my little children, that there is nothing which G.o.d 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 many useful and curious things.

This will perhaps be enough of information for one lesson; and having thus infused it in an agreeable form into their minds, you may proceed in the manner before mentioned to get it back from them, in order to impress it more firmly on their understandings; 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 form in the child's mind the germ of that pa.s.sion for light reading which afterwards, in many instances, prevents an application to any thing solid or instructive. Being in themselves the foundation stone on which a huge and useless ma.s.s of fiction is piled in after years, the philosophical mind will at once perceive the advantage of our system of amus.e.m.e.nt mingled with instruction, and perceive that upon its simple basis a n.o.ble structure may be afterwards raised; and minds well stored with useful lore, and capable of discerning evil in whatever shape it presents itself, and extracting honey from every object, will be farmed, which, when they become numerous, will cause a glorious change in the moral world, the first germ of which will be traced to the properly managed gallery lessons of an infant school. Having asked the children if they are tired, the teacher, if he receives an answer in the negative, may thus proceed:-

Q. What have we been hearing 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 miserable. Q. Right; 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 me, where is the turf got From? A. From bogs. 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 animals live in the bogs? 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 some parts of them? A. Bog-holes. Q. What are they? A. Deep holes full of water. Q. What did I tell you were in some parts of these bogs? A. Nice green islands. Q. Are they of any use? A. Yes; the people put cows and horses to feed on them. Q. How do they get across the bog? A. They make a kind of rough 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 many hundred years ago? A. Beautiful forests of fine large trees. Q. What flowed through those forests? A. Nice bright rivers. Q. What sang in the trees? A. Pretty birds. Q. What eat the gra.s.s? A. Fine large stags and deer. Q. How did those beautiful places become ugly black wet bogs? A. The trees, when they got old, fell into the rivers and stopped them up. Q. What did this cause? A. The water flowed over the banks. Q. What harm did this do? A. It made all the nice gra.s.s 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 become? A. Great bogs. Q. Are any of the trunks or bodies of those old trees ever found? A. Yes; many hundreds are yet far under the bogs. 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 them. Q. What is this wood called? A. Bog-oak. Q. Will you all try to remember this lesson? A. We will. Teacher. That is right; for little children should always remember the pretty things that their teacher takes such trouble to tell them.

In places where coal is most burned, a piece of it may be made the medium of a very useful and instructive lesson, being so familiar an object, their attention will be arrested by its being made the subject of a lesson; and their curiosity aroused to know every thing about it. When the teacher asks what is this, the simultaneous shout, of "a piece of coal," will convince him that he has arrested their attention; and a few questions will exhaust their stock of information on the subject-they will tell him its uses are to make fires to boil up their dinners, &c. &c. He may then proceed as follows:-You see, little children, this piece of coal; look at it attentively; it is black and s.h.i.+ning; and you all know will burn very quickly. The places from whence all coal is brought are called coal mines; the men who dig it out of the ground, and the s.h.i.+ps that carry it over the sea, are called colliers, and the place where the coals are got is called a colliery. The coal mines are deep holes made very far under the ground, in order to get at the coal; some of them go under the sea. The colliers live a great part of their life, in those dark holes, in order to get us coal to make us fires to dress our food, and very often are killed, either by the falling in of the roof from above, or from a sort of air called fire-damp, which, if touched with any fire, will blow up like gunpowder, and will kill any person that is near it; the poor colliers are also often smothered by the bad air that is in those damp, dark holes; so you see, little children, what dangers they go through, in order to get us coal, which we could very badly do without.

How very good G.o.d is to us; he made this coal under the earth that we might have nice fires to dress our food, and warm ourselves by in cold weather; we should be very thankful to him for all his great blessings, and should never do anything to make him angry with us; he is very sorry when he sees a little child naughty, because he has done every thing to make us happy, and we never can be so if we are naughty and bad. Bad boys and girls are never happy, and G.o.d does not love them when they are so, and it is very sad to make G.o.d angry with us.

Coal is very useful for other things besides making fires to dress our food, and to warm us. Many things that are very useful could not be made without it. The gas that lights the streets is made from coal, and when the gas is taken from it what is left is called c.o.ke, which makes a very bright warm fire.

The teacher that properly enters into the spirit of these lessons, may find in the simplest objects, a never-ending source of pleasure and instruction for his infant pupils. No person who is not qualified to give proper and really useful gallery lessons is by any means fit for a teacher of infants; to learn the mere routine of an infant school is not very difficult, but this will be of no avail if the teacher have not qualifications of a much higher order, which will enable him continually to pour instruction clothed in simple language, into the minds of his pupils; simplicity is the life and soul of gallery teaching; without this, the breath is wasted, and time is spent in vain. To teach infants we must reduce our language to their tender capacities, and become, in idea and words, one of themselves. Having given the children your information on a piece of coal, you now proceed to get it back, as follows

Q. Little children, what have we been speaking about? A. About coal. Q. What colour is it? A. Black. Q. Is it anything besides? A. Yes; s.h.i.+ning. Q. What are the places called from whence coal is got? A. Coal-mines. Q. What are the men that dig it out of the ground and the s.h.i.+ps that carry it over the sea called? A. Colliers. Q. What is the place called where the coal pits are made? A. A colliery. Q. What are coal pits? A. Deep holes dug to get at the coal. Q. Are the colliers in danger down in these deep pits? A. They are. Q. From what? A. From fire-damp? Q. What is it? A. A sort of air that blows up like gun-powder. Q. From what more are they in danger? A. The roofs falling in. Q. From what more? A. From bad air which often smothers them. Q. What is made from coal to light the streets? A. Gas. Q. What is coal called after the gas has been taken from it? A. c.o.ke. Q. Does c.o.ke make a good fire? A. Yes; very bright and strong. Q. Who made the coal? A. G.o.d. Q. What should we be to him for it? A. Very thankful. Q. How can we shew we are thankful? A. By being very good. Q. Is G.o.d glad to see a child naughty? A. No; he is very sorry. Q. Does he love naughty children? A. No; he does not. Q. Are naughty children happy? A. No; very unhappy. Thus every lesson may be made not only a vehicle for conveying instruction, but also of instilling into the infant mind a reverence, a sense of grat.i.tude and love towards that great Being who called us all into existence; this should be never lost sight of, in giving the child those primary sentiments, reverence and grat.i.tude towards its G.o.d, you lay a basis on which doctrinal religion may be afterwards built with more advantage. The child thus early trained in such feelings, conveyed in a manner so admirably adapted to its tender mind, can scarcely fail, unless it possesses a heart of great natural depravity, of becoming a good man, and it is thus that infant schools may become a great and lasting blessing to the country. But where this is overlooked-where the vital principle of the infant system is rejected, and the mere mechanical parts alone retained, as to any great and lasting benefit, it will be a complete and unhappy failure. That the grand object of the infant system may be accomplished, namely, of raising up a generation superior to the last, both in religious, moral, and intellectual acquirements, an immense caution and great experience in the selection of teachers is required; till proper teachers are universally provided the infant system will never be really successful: success does not merely consist in universal adoption and extension, if it did it would be now really so. But another thing is wanting before it can be called successful, that is, it must be understood.

None can understand it but thinkers, and deep thinkers, and thinkers in the right direction. Merely to glance around and gather sc.r.a.ps of knowledge from the various, "ologies" in existence, which the "march of intellect" has brought into being, and which were unknown to our forefathers; and then to force them on the young memory at random, may be to teach what was not before taught, but it is not to display any new method of teaching; any more efficient way of communicating knowledge. Those who would truly understand the infant system, must think for themselves, and observe the workings of the young mind, mark the intellectual principles which first develope themselves, strive to understand the simple laws of mental action; and all this that they may know how to teach in accordance with them. When this is fairly done, perhaps the whole that is recorded in this book, may be thought more valuable than it is at present, and be found a not unworthy subject to devote a whole life to become acquainted with and elucidate both practically and theoretically. Others then will, perhaps, not be quite so audacious in unjust plagiarisms. When Columbus had made the egg stand on an end all others could then do it. When he had discovered America, every one said they might have done it also. All great and important truths are simple, and when presented to the mind, although unknown before, seem as if they had been well known, there is such an accurate consistency between the mind and them. This leads me to suppose that there is simple and useful truths in my volumes, as every one seems to take them for their own. I can only say that they have cost me many and many an hour of close observation, and deep and independent thinking. I have devoted my whole life for the good of others, and have injured myself and family, that I might do so. To rescue little children from vice and misery, and to have them placed under physical, intellectual, moral, and religious discipline, has been the delight of my heart, and the object of my life. After this labour, to have my inventions pirated, my plans made use of in part, and in the rest spoken against; to have others to reap the fields that I have sown, and at the same time traduce and injure me; to be thus thrust out as it were from my rightful employment, and left in comparative obscurity as old age begins to draw on; requires a spirit stronger than that of man, and a heart more than human, not to feel it, and feel it deeply. I care little for myself, but regret most to see spurious systems of infant education palmed upon the public by ignorant persons, and thus deprive them of a great benefit which they might possess.

Facts recorded in Scripture may be given orally as gallery lessons, taking care to exhibit some picture representing the subject proposed for the lesson-take, for example, the finding of Moses-which represents the daughter of Pharaoh coming down to bathe with her maidens, and also the infant Moses in the ark, cradle, or boat, which was made for the purpose. The subject is then to be propounded to the children as follows, and the teacher is to take care to repeat it clearly and distinctly in short sentences, and to be careful that all the pupils repeat it as distinctly after him; by thus means the essence of the story is infused into the minds of the children, with the addition of their being taught to repeat all the words distinctly and properly, which will a.s.sist their p.r.o.nunciation very much when they begin to read the lesson described in another part of this work.

"And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, and her maidens walked along by the river's side, and when she saw the ark among the flags she sent her maid to fetch it, and when she had opened it she saw the child, and behold the babe wept. And she had compa.s.sion on him; and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go; and the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages; and the woman took the child and nursed it, and the child grew, and she brought hum unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son, and she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water."-Exodus ii.

Q. What does this picture represent? A. The finding of Moses. Q. Who came down to wash herself at the river? A. Pharaoh's daughter. Q. Who was Pharaoh? A. The king of Egypt. Q. What is Egypt? A. A country in Africa. Q. What is Africa? A. A part of the earth on which we live. Q. Where did her maidens walk? A. They walked along by the river's side. Q. When Pharaoh's daughter saw the ark amongst the flags, what did she do? A. She sent her maid to fetch it. Q. And when she opened it, what did she see. A. She saw the child. Q. What was the ark? A. A sort of boat made of rushes, such as grow in the river. Q. Would not the water get into this? A. No; it was kept dry inside by pitch and slime. Q. What were the flags that the ark was among? A. A sort of plant that grows in rivers. Q. Did the child laugh? A. No; it wept, and she had compa.s.sion on him. Q. And what did she say? A. This is one of the Hebrews' children. Q. What did his sister say to Pharaoh's daughter? A. Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women? Q. What is meant by his sister? A. The sister of Moses who stood to watch what would become of him. Q. What did she ask to call a nurse for? A. To nurse the child. Q. What did Pharaoh's daughter say? A. Go. Q. Who did the maid fetch? A. The child's mother. Q. When she came what did Pharaoh's daughter say to her? A. Take this child away and nurse it for me. Q. And what did she say she would give her? A. Her wages. Q. Did the woman take the child? A. Yes; and nursed it. Q. What became of the child? A. It grew, and she brought it unto Pharaoh's daughter, and it became her son. Q. What name did she give him? A. She called his name Moses. Q. What for? A. Because she drew hum out of the water. Q. Look at this picture, what is the girl holding over Pharaoh's daughter's head? A. A sort of umbrella. Q. What is she holding it up for? A. To keep away the heat of the sun. Q. Were there slaves in those days? A. Yes. Q. Is the little girl holding the umbrella meant to represent a slave? A. Yes. Q. Do you know what a slave is? A. A person who is taken from his home and made to work for nothing and against his wills.

Christ with the doctors in the temple, forms, when given as explained, a good gallery lesson-thus:

"And it came to pa.s.s that after those days she found him in the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions; and all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him they were amazed, and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business. And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them; but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart: and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with G.o.d and man."-Luke ii. 46-52.

Q. Where did they find him? A. In the temple. Q. Sitting in the midst of whom? A. Of the doctors. Q. What was he doing there? A. Hearing and asking them questions. Q. And they were astonished at his, what? A. Understanding and answers. Q. What did Jesus' mother say unto him? A. Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Q. What more did she say? A. Thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. Q. What did Jesus say unto her? A. He said, how is it that ye sought me? Q. Did he say anything more? A. Yes; wist ye not that I must be about my father's business. Q. What is the meaning of wist ye not? A. Know ye not. Q. When Jesus went with them, where did they come to? A. To Nazareth? Q. What is Nazareth? A. A town in Asia. Q. His mother kept those sayings, where? A. In her heart. Q. In what did Jesus increase? A. In wisdom and stature. Q. What do you mean by increasing in stature? A. Growing larger.

Many books of scripture stories have been written for children, but it is far best to select simple and suitable pa.s.sages from the sacred volume, and have them properly ill.u.s.trated by coloured plates. By this method the children become acquainted with the very letter of scripture. Written stories often leave very wrong impressions; and the history of David and Goliah has been given in an infant school, so that it would make an excellent counterpart to Jack, the giant killer. Surely such things ought never to be! Abundance of historical portions, full of moral and religious instruction, and such as are calculated from their simplicity and beauty, to deeply impress the minds of children, can be selected from both Testaments; but the miracles and parables of our Saviour const.i.tute the richest store.

MORAL TRAINING.

One of the grand aims of the infant system was intended to improve the system of moral training. The great deficiency in our systems of education, with respect to moral training, is truly lamentable, from the highest down to the lowest schools in the land. There is room for immense improvement in this matter, it is hardly possible to visit a school and witness proper efforts made on this important subject; and never will education produce the glorious effects antic.i.p.ated from it, until this subject is legislated for and well understood by the public; and I pray to G.o.d that he will enable me to use arguments in this chapter to prove effective in the minds of my readers, so as to induce them to co-operate with me to produce another state of things. In these days there is much said about education; it has at last arrested the attention of parliament; and through them, the government, and, as it should be, through the government, the sovereign. Thus is truly encouraging and will act as a stimulus to practical men to develop a system workable in all its parts, and thus carry out the views and benevolent intentions of the legislature. Infant education, however, must be the basis, this is beginning at the right end; if errors are committed here the superstructure is of little avail. The foundation of moral training must be laid in infancy, it cannot be begun too soon, and is almost always commenced too late. Mere infants can understand the doing as they would be done by; no child likes to be deprived of its play-things, his little toys, or any thing which he considers his property; he will always punish the aggressor if he can, and if he cannot he will cry, or put himself in a pa.s.sion, or seek aid from his parents, or any other source where he thinks he may get justice done to him. Little children have beautiful ideas on this subject, and would have, if properly trained, correct notions as to the rights of property; to teach them to respect the property of others, and even to respect themselves, is far preferable to cramming their memories with good rules in theory; this was the old plan; we have proof that it has not worked well. The new plan must operate upon the will, it must influence the heart of the child; this is the Scripture plan, which continually refers to the heart, and not so much to the head. Every opportunity must be allowed the child to develop its character; to do this it must be a.s.sociated with its fellows; if the child is a solitary being, his faculties cannot be drawn out, it is in society only they can be beneficially acted upon, and it is in the company of its fellows, that it will shew its true character and disposition; hence the necessity of moral training. There should be temptations placed within reach of the children, such as fruits, flowers, and shrubs. The child taught to respect these will set due bounds to his desire, gardens will cease to be robbed, hedges will not be broken down, turnips and potatoes will not be stolen to the extent which is but too prevalent in the present day. And I am perfectly convinced that every pound the country spends in promoting a rightly directed education, will be saved in the punishment of crime, which in a political point of view, is quite sufficient to induce the country to call for a properly directed system of national education, which must ultimately be based on the oracles of eternal truth. If these ends could be obtained by theory, we have plenty of that in these days. All the writers on education tell us that such and such things should be done, but most of them that I have read, forget to tell us how to do it. They complain of the schools already in existence, they complain of the teachers, they complain of the apathy upon the subject; all of which is very easy. And I regret to say there is but too much cause for all these complaints; but this will not remedy the evil, we must have new plans for moral training; teachers must have greater encouragements held out to them; they must take their proper rank in society, which I contend is next to the clergy; and, until these things take place, we may go on complaining, as talented men will sooner devote themselves to any profession rather than to the art of teaching.

We will now endeavour to show how these things are to be remedied, so far as moral training is applicable to infants from twelve months old to six or seven years. In another part of this work, we have shewn what may and ought to be done in the play-ground; in this chapter we will endeavour to shew what may be done to this end in the school-room. In the pages on gallery teaching we have given specimens of lessons on natural objects and scriptural subjects. Moral training may receive considerable aid from gallery teaching also; the children must not only be continually told what they ought to do, but as often what they ought not to do; they must be told that they are not to fight, and the reasons must be given; they must be told that they are not to throw stones, and also told the consequences; they must be told not to strike each other with sticks; they must be told not to play in the dirt; they must be trained in cleanly and delicate habits; they must not only be told all these things; but they must be watched in their private hours, they must be encouraged to a.s.sist and love each other, and it must be proved to them that this is the way to advance their own individual happiness. It is self-love that is the cause of half our miseries. Children cannot be told this too soon; it must be explained and proved to them that evil, sooner or latter, brings its own punishment, and that goodness as a.s.suredly brings its own reward. Opportunities will be continually developing themselves for giving moral training to the children, the judicious teacher will seize these as they occur, and always make the best of them for the good of the children. A school is a family upon a large scale; nay, 'tis a commonwealth, and no day will pa.s.s without facts shewing themselves, to enable the teacher to give sound moral instruction. It is true we want a better race of teachers, but we must have a better sort of schools first; for it is only from these that a better race of teachers can be supplied. The well trained infants of this generation, will make the efficient teachers of the next.

We will suppose the children to be seated in the gallery, the doors of the school closed, and every thing snug and quiet; the teacher must be alone, and there must be nothing to distract the children's attention. He must then bring out his store of facts which he has noted down as they occurred; he makes his selection according to circ.u.mstances, according to the state of his own mind; not forgetting the state of mind that the children may be in, and especially the state of the weather. The following little ditty may then be repeated, the subject being On Cruelty to Animals.

I'll never hurt my little dog, But stroke and pat his head; I love to see him wag his tail, I like to see him fed.

Poor little thing, how very good And very useful too; And do you know? that he will mind What he is bid to do.

Then I will never hurt my dog, Nor ever give him pain, But I will always treat him kind, And he will love again.

If the children do not appear so bright as the teacher should desire, the before-mentioned ditty, after it has been repeated, may be sung. But the tune must be such as would be likely to operate upon the moral feelings; great caution and circ.u.mspection is necessary in selecting proper times for children, and this must be guided by the subject treated of. If the subject is exhilarating, a lively tune must be selected; if the subject is serious, a corresponding tune must also be chosen; but if the subject is intended to operate upon the feelings, what is usually called "a love tune" will be the most desirable. The tune having been sung, and the feelings operated upon as desired, the teacher may entertain the little pupils with some one of the numerous stories written about the dog. But before he does this, he must exhaust so much of the subject as appears in the before-mentioned ditty, by question and answer, similar to the other lessons mentioned before, something like the following:-

Little children; you have just sung that you would never hurt a little dog, can you tell me why not? Some of the children will be sure to say, Please, sir, because he has got the sense of feeling. Teacher. Right, a little dog has got the same sense of feeling as you little children have, and when it is hurt, how does it shew that it has got the sense of feeling? Children. Please, sir, it will cry out. Teacher. Yes, it can only tell us it is hurt by doing so. A poor dog cannot speak, and so we should never hurt it. Has a little fly the sense of feeling? Children. Yes, sir. Teacher. Right again, and so has every creature that G.o.d gave life to, and we should never give any of them unnecessary pain. In the song that we have just sung, you said you would stroke and pat the little dog's head. What would you do this for? Children. Please, sir, the little dog likes it, and he is not afraid of us when we do it, but loves us. Teacher. So he does, and will always love those that are kind to him; no one but a very bad boy would be unkind to a dog. You told me, little children, that a poor little dog cries out when it is hurt. Now when he is pleased, what does he do? Please, sir, he wags his tail, and his eyes look very bright. Teacher. So he does, which is the same as if he said, How happy I am to be with such good children who do not beat me as some wicked boys and girls would, but love me and pat my head, and feed me; for you, little children, you have said you liked to see your little dog fed, and remember, any of you that have a little dog, or who may have one when you get older and larger, that it is very cruel not to see it fed every day; the poor dog cannot ask for its dinner as a little child can, and that is the, very reason why we should always remember to give it to him. Will you all remember this? Children. Yes, sir, we will. Teacher. You sung in your song that the dog was very useful, tell me how? Children, Please, sir, he will mind the house, and bark when any one comes to steal anything. Teacher. Yes, you see how sensible the little dog is, he knows what a wicked thing it is to be a thief, and so he barks when he sees one. How else is a little dog useful? Children. Please, sir, they often lead poor blind people about. Teacher. So they do, and good faithful guides they are. When they see any danger they will lead their master out of it, and they will bring him safely through the crowded streets; and when they go home the poor blind man divides his bit of bread with his good dog; and dogs are useful in other ways, they catch hares and rabbits for their masters, and do many other things. You said also that the dog minded what he was bid to do, did you not? Children. Yes, sir, and they will often go back a long way for any thing they are bid, or stay all day minding their master's coat while he is at work. Teacher. Right, and little children when they will not do as they are desired are not so good as a little dog, and should take example by one. Do you remember what you said the dog would do if you treated him kindly? Children. Please, sir, that he would love us again. Teacher. Right. When we love any thing, a dog, or a horse, or a little lamb, it will love us again; for you know, little children, that love makes love, and if you all love one another, and are kind to one another, and never beat or strike each other with any thing, then you will all be very happy, no little children in the world will be more happy, or have prettier smiling faces than you will have; for when we look kind and pleasant we always look pretty, but when we look cross and angry, then we look ugly and frightful. Remember then, never be cruel to a dog, or any thing else, but think of this lesson, and the pretty song we sung. Now, little children, shall I tell you a story, a real true story about a very cruel boy? If the children say, Yes, the following may be related.

A poor little dog was once going along the streets of a town, and a carriage which was coming up the street very fast, ran over it, and the poor thing was very nearly killed, but it had still strength to crawl over to a house where a boy was standing at the door, and it began to whine and looked up in the boy's face, as if to say, you see how much I am hurt, so please take me in and try and cure me; but the boy was a very cruel boy, and had no pity on the poor dog, but took a large pot of boiling water and threw it over the poor wounded little dog, so that it died soon after in very dreadful pain. But the chief governor of the place, that is, the person whom the king had put there to punish wicked people, heard of what a cruel thing this bad boy had done. So he brought him up to the market place, and he made a man take off this cruel boy's clothes, and lash him on the bare back before all the people of the town, in order that he might know a little of the pain that the poor dog had felt. From this story, little children, you may learn, that you must not begin to be cruel, if you do, the habit will grow up with you as it did with this bigger boy, and will never leave you, even when you are men.

Such lessons as these, given at proper times and when the infant mind is in a fit state to receive them, will do more to prevent what you wish to avoid, than any thing which could be possibly done at a more advanced age; this is indeed moral training, and when such is given generally in infant schools, we may look forward to a generation very superior to the present, in the genuine parts of Christianity, and in every moral and social virtue.

The beneficial results of moral training have been practically shown in every infant school where the subject has been properly understood and carried out, and numerous anecdotes ill.u.s.trative of its beneficial effects might be here introduced, which would convince those who have any doubt on the subject, of the good effects of exercising kindness and consideration for others, in opposition to reckless mischief, hardheartedness, and cruelty, vices which render the lower orders dangerous and formidable; but as a complete collection of such anecdotes would form in themselves a volume, we will for the present lay before our readers a few taken at random, to ill.u.s.trate the subject; they are from the appendix of the first report of the Edinburgh Infant School Society, the model school of which was organized by the author of this book.