Page:The education of the farmer.djvu/18

 must be said about the home life, which precedes and accompanies schooltime.

Too much importance cannot be attached to the precious years of childhood, when the faculties are budding into life; and though nothing can be worse than some of the false excitement of infant schools, the mother's early training has much effect on the mental power of after years. An eminent French philosopher told me once that he had been commissioned by his government to look into the system of education in this country, with a view to account for what seemed to a Frenchman incomprehensible, viz,, the practical effect of our English education, especially in the higher ranks, considering how very little scientific or methodical preparation for the business of life it includes. I introduced him to various persons, some of whom accounted for the fact by the catechetical method of college lectures; others by the freedom of public schools, but when I mentioned the question to Professor Sedgwick, he answered in his characteristic way—"You should have told him they have English mothers."

It is not for me to teach English mothers how to do their duty; but if I may call to my aid the memory and example of that blessed office as actually practised, the following points may be selected as bearing on the present subject:—

To the mother it belongs especially to train the child's affections, and to mould the character by sowing the first seeds of self-control. The elementary religious training is also her peculiar province, and there is no saying how deep may be the impression left by the reverent reading of the Bible narratives on a mother's knee. Simple Hymns and Scripture prints are invaluable, and of these there is no lack at a very moderate cost. The mistress of a farm-house may not have leisure for much intellectual teaching beyond the first steps of reading and spelling, but she may prepare the way for future instruction by forming good habits, which however cannot be done without taking great pains. She may awaken observation by interesting the child in the habits of animals, the songs of birds, and the varieties of flowers; by pointing out the causes of common occurrences in nature, and the reasons for some of the things she does in the dairy, the kitchen, and the poultry-yard. She can