NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



121 



tacit compliance with the idea that when the school 

 is closed, the studies are also suspended ; books 

 are laid away in some obscure corner, and the en- 

 ergy of thought which has been excited, is suffered 

 to lie uncultivated and wasting. 



Few persons realize how much may be done in 

 a thousand pleasant ways at homo. "Let a pa- 

 rent make a companion of his child, converse with 

 him familiarly, put to him questions, answer in- 

 quiries, communicate facts, the result of his read- 

 in g or observation, to awaken his curiosity, explain 

 difficulties, the meaning of things, and the reason 

 of things — and all this in an easy, playful manner, 

 without seeming to impose a task, and he himself 

 will be astonished at the progress which will be 

 made. The experiment is so simple that none 

 need hesitate about its performance." The first 

 important requisite is, that there be mutual con- 

 fidence between parent and child ; then, in every 

 season, and at every place, there may be such les- 

 sons and recitations as shall benefit both ; impart- 

 ing new facts and principles to one, and elucidat- 

 ing new views and giving them new force to the 

 other. If at the barn, the boy may be required 

 to give the principle of raising water by the pump, 

 or some other question in hydraulics ; if teaming 

 or plowing, why the work is performed easier 

 when the team is near the load than when farther 

 removed ; if in the morning, when the grass is 

 sparkling with pearly drops, how dew is deposit- 

 ed ; or, if in the silent and impressive evening 

 hours, why he is chilled in passing the valley and 

 finds again the genial warmth on ascending the 

 hill? When around the fireside, daughters may 

 state the principle upon which the smoke ascends 

 the chimney, and why the air is warmest at the 

 top of the room. At another time, why the 

 "pitcher sweats" in the hot noon, or the "dough 

 rises" in the pan. 



By thus observing events as they pass, we are 

 always at school ; both old and young, teachers 

 and pupils in turn. A new enthusiasm is daily 

 kindled in the breast of each other, while new de- 

 sires for improvement are awakened, and new 

 sources for it are developed at each recitation. 



Often call the attention of children to the scenes 

 and objects about you. Winter has its impressive 

 lessons in the dreary aspect which nature assumes, 

 and naturally leads into an inquiry of the motions 

 of the planets and the cause of cold. Nearly all 

 the animals, save those dependent upon the care 

 of man, have disappeared. A few tiny birds only, 

 cheer the desolate scene. From whence did they 

 come, and why linger amid these howling winds 

 and driving snows ? Have they escaped from the 

 appalling cold of Arctic regions, and find this their 

 temperate zone ? These are inquiries of deep in- 

 terest to the young, and profitable subjects of re- 

 search. Then look at the forms of snow, exam- 

 ine the flakes with a magnifying glass, and find 



how past all human art, are the crystals of which 

 they are formed, and how the wisdom of God is 

 manifested in all his works. 



The season of Spring is a school crowded with 

 questions demanding answers. The swelling bud 

 and springing leaf; — what secret power impels 

 them'? How gather nourishment, exhale, absorb, 

 respire, digest and assume beautiful colors and 

 forms? The friendly birds return. Where have 

 they been? what oceans crossed and continents 

 visited? how travel, by night or day, or both, 

 and with only their own kind, or associated with 

 others, and why did they leave us while their ac- 

 customed food was still abundant ? 



Summer, has its lessons, too ; teeming with in- 

 sect life, "each after its kind," a new world of 

 wonder to the intelligent inquirer. It has 

 -"tongues in trees, 



Sermons in stones, music in running brooks, 

 And good in everything." 



Then Autumn comes, in sober russet clad, and 

 perfects the work begun, teaching us to perfect 

 ourselves as season after season rolls along. Thus , 

 although the winter may be a season of peculiar 

 privilege, all times afford opportunities for thought 

 and improvement. Some of the most learned and 

 useful men of the country have gained their 

 knowledge midst the tools of their craft, and by 

 diligent study during evening hours. That won- 

 derful man, Kossuth, acquired the English lan- 

 guage in prison, when it was supposed his spirits 

 were crushed by the power of his enemies. Little 

 knew they the iron will that sustained him, or 

 dreamed that in the silent hours of his gloomy 

 dungeon, he would acquire a power to electrify 

 the world. The "Pilgrim's Progress" and "Holy 

 War," of Bunyan, which find their way to every 

 household, were also written in prison ; and Baron 

 Trench, through tedious weeks and months, 

 watched the artistical skill of the spider upon the 

 wall, and wrote a work of wonderful influence 

 over the imagination. 



Thus, with a right frame of mind, with a spirit 

 awake to everything around us, we are ever at 

 school and move in the midst of teachers both 

 earnest and eloquent. Burritt's school was at 

 the forge, and Franklin's at the printing press. 

 A young man by an old-fashioned fire-place, with 

 a log fire, patiently applied himself through the 

 long winter evenings (deprived of the winter school) 

 — became a mathematician and a distinguished 

 citizen, while his friend with equal natural en- 

 dowments, and liberal aid, passed through the 

 forms of learning in college, and fell as it were, 

 still-born upon the world. A college is a good 

 thing, but never can supply the place of a deter- 

 mined will. Without this will, to use the strong 

 expression of Burns, they may pass the halls of 

 learning, but 



"They gang in steers, 

 And come out asses." 



