Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 April 1902 — The Country Child. [ARTICLE]

The Country Child.

To develop the reason of the country child special attention ought therefore *o be given to draw out his powers of observation, and particularly in his earliest years. Charles Dickens cultivated in his children this power by walking with them past a shop window, and then requiring each to write down a list of as many of the objects seen as they could remember. Those who have personally conducted parties of children on a holiday excursion will have reuxainca now mticn more ooservant some of the children are than others. The training of the eye undoubtedly gives more trouble to the teacher, but, on the other, hand, it is far more captivating to the child than oral instruction. Kindergarten teaching is mainly based on an appeal to the child’s eye, and its effects on the character are richly rewarding. It is unusual to find in an agricultural population what is called a “handy man, ” a man who is a bit of a carpenter, a bit of a mason, a bit of a locksmith, and resourceful in an emergency. It rarely occurs to a laborer to put tallow on a rusty hinge, to apply soap to a drawer that sticks or a drop of oil to a stiff lock. He does not observe that day after day a gate is coming to pieces when a nail in tiipe would have made it last another year or two.— Nineteenth Century.