Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 19.djvu/98

88 writer, asked if she had a hat with a long white feather, if she had a gold bracelet, if she played on the piano, and had a door-plate on her door; and the latter, as she sorrowfully shook her head, felt the degradation involved in the admission.

Once in a while one of these little ones is stubborn, and, refusing to be taught, closes his eyes. This, of course, throws the teacher upon his mercy; there is nothing more effective he can do.

In cases of great rage, one child indicates, by practical illustration, that its opponent has a father who drinks and a mother who is fat. Insult among them can go no further than this, and the teacher is summoned by the wail of the accused.

Their misfortune keeps them, in a large measure, from understanding the distinctions of rich and poor, differences it is so sad to see, made sometimes by children as soon as they can stand alone. The little dainty daughter of a house whose one great cross is this child's deprivation, admires with loving touch the golden hair of her school friend whose shoes are worn at the toes, and whose dress tells its own story of the mother's poverty and overwork.

We must not turn from this interesting youngest class, without mentioning the pretty, sensitive little girl of four years, who described a ride which a gentleman had given her; standing as she did upon a chair with her audience around her, she made quick gestures with her fingers, her eyes turned brightly upon each face before her, but, as she proceeded, her remembrances went beyond her power in signs, and with intent, serious face she traced, with her forefinger in the air, sketches of the rest she had seen. We did not understand what she meant to tell us, but almost a feeling of awe fell upon us as we looked on at this dumb intelligence which was being led by the mind that is greater than ours.

Nor should the boy a little older be forgotten, a pale, sickly child, who goes regularly to church on Sundays, and seems to enjoy it. One day, when a copy of the "Madonna and Child" was shown, and one of the other children was puzzled by the subject, this boy told his companion the story of the Saviour from his babyhood to his cross in these natural signs, not dreaming that his teacher had seen it all.

For a long time after children enter the school they think their fathers and mothers and teachers are all like themselves, and have learned to speak in the same way as they are being taught. This delusion lasts for some time, but generally fades out gradually. Once in a while, however, it comes as a shock. One of the younger pupils who still had this idea, as she sat watching her teacher and a visitor, noticed apparently that the teacher sometimes spoke to the new-comer without looking at her, and that she answered in the same way. It struck her for the first time, evidently, that these were not dependent upon the movements of the lips. As the visitor departed, the child went up to her teacher, and, pointing after her, laid her finger on her