FARMERS'' INSTITUTES. 529 



BEAUTY OF THE SCHOOLROOM. 



ZILIiA WALTERS, GATCHEL, IND. 



[Read at the Perry County Farmers' Institute.] 



This is a subject which is very seldom considered correctly. An im- 

 portant physical condition easy of control is a pleasant schoolroom and 

 attractive surroundings. The connections between physical environments 

 and human conduct is very intimate. Other things being equal, the more 

 attractive one's surroundings the' higher will be his aspirations, and the 

 easier his attainments. 



When a child is of the age to attend school he will astonish us by the 

 admirable precision of his sight and the ease and deftness of his vision. 

 It seems as if he looks at nothing, and yet he has seen everything. 



The mature man, and even the young man, preoccupied with thought 

 o"r with inner emotions often looks only with distraction upon things 

 without; but the child, free from after thoughts, eager and curious in the 

 freshness and power of his nascent faculties, lets nothing escape him of 

 all that is presented by the shifting. scenes of reality; we might say that his 

 whole soul is in his eyes. 



A clever observed of children has called attention to this in a humor- 

 ous vien. The child is all eyes. He has an incomparable power of 

 vision; compared with him we are blind. Take your son with you into 

 a workshop, or a palace, and on coming out interrogate him and you will 

 be amazed at all he has seen. At a single glance he has made an inven- 

 tory of the furniture, the walls, the objects useful and ornamental. A 

 professional could not have done this so quickly. All children are born 

 appraisers. 



We might be tempted to think that the representative imagination 

 manifestly useful to the artist and painter, who need to form vivid repre- 

 sentations of objects, renders no service to the child and plays no part in 

 its earliest education, but a little reflection suffices to prove the contrary. 



A vivid representation of the letters of the alphabet will be of great 

 service in teaching to read and write quickly and well. 



Further on, in the tracing of maps and drawing, children will be en- 

 dowed with respect to the imagination and accustomed to conceive with 

 clearness the material form of objects, and will have no difl^culty in sur- 

 passing their comrades. 



It is not meant that physical environments determine conduct or char- 

 acter; for history is full of examples of high achievement without a favor- 

 ing environment and also of sad failures with the most helpful surround- 

 ings; but while human life has its causal principle within the individual 

 its activity is greatly influenced by external things. It is doubtless within 



34-Board of A. 



