Page:A History of Japanese Literature (Aston).djvu/254

238 treatise on education, composed by him at the age of eighty, will give some idea of their quality. They have been somewhat abridged in translation.

"In the houses of the great, good persons should be chosen from the first to be attached to the child. Even the poor should be careful, so far as their circumstances will permit, that their children should associate with good people. This is the teaching of the [Chinese] sages."

"A wet-nurse should be of a gentle disposition, staid and grave of demeanour, and of few words."

"A boy's education should begin from the time when he can eat rice, speak a little, and show pleasure or anger."

"Some nurses make cowards of children by wantonly telling them frightful stories. Ghost stories and the like should not be told to children. They should not be too warmly clad, or have too much to eat."

"Cunning, chattering, lying women should not be engaged as nurses. Drunkards, self-willed or malicious persons should also be avoided."

"From their infancy, truth in word and thought should be made of the first importance. Children should be severely punished for lying or deceit. Let their parents be careful not to deceive them, for this is another way of teaching them to deceive."

"A tutor should be a man of upright life. A child should not be put to learn of a disreputable person, no matter how clever he may be."

"Better for a child to lose a year's study than consort for a day with a base companion."

"Every night the child's sayings and actions during the day should be reviewed, and if necessary, punishment administered."