Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1883 — Developing a Boy's Brain. [ARTICLE]

Developing a Boy's Brain.

A teacher had charge of a school in a country town early in her career, and among her scholars was a boy about 14 years old, who cared very little about study, and showed no interest apparently in anything connected with the school. Day after day he failed in his lessons, and detentions after school hours and notes to his widowed mother had no effect. One day the teacher had sent him to his seat, after a vain effort to get from him a correct answer to questions in grammar, and, feeling somewhat nettled, she Watched his conduct. Having taken his seat, he pushed the book impatiently aside, and, espying a fly, caught it with a dexterous sweep of the hand and then betook himself to a close inspection of - the insect. For fifteen minutes or more the boy was thus occupied, heedless of surroundings, and the expression of his face told the teacher that it was more than idle curiosity that possessed his mind. A thought struck her, which she put into practice at the first opportunity that day. “Boys,” said she, “what can you tell me about flies?” and, calling some of the brightest by name, she asked them if they could tell her something of a fly’s constitution and habits. They had very little to say about the insect. They often caught one, but only for sport, and did not think it worth while to study so common an insect. Finally she asked the dunce, who had silently, but with kindling eyes, listened to what his schoolmates said. He burst out with a description of the head, eyes, wings and feet of the little creature, so full and enthusiastic that the teacher was astonished and the whole school struck with wonder. He told how it walked and how it ate, and many things which were entirely new to his teacher. So that when he had finished she said: *Thank you. You have given us a real lecture in natural history, and you have learned it all yourself.” After the school closed that afternoon she had a long talk with the boy, and found that he was fond of going into the woods and meadows and collecting insects and watching birds, but that his mother thought he was wasting his time. The teacher, however, wisely encouraged him in this pursuit, and asked him to bring beetles and butterflies and caterpillars to school and tell what he knew about them. The boy was delighted at this unexpected turn of affairs, and in a few days the listless dunce was the marked boy of that school. Books on natural history were procured for him and a world of wonder opened to his appreciative eye. He read and studied and examined; he understood the necessity of knowing something of mathematics, geography and grammar for the successful carrying oh of his favorite study, and he made rapid progress in his classes. In short, twenty years later he was eminent as a naturalist, and owed his success, as he never hesitated to acknowledge, to that discerning teacher.