FALLACIES AND FACTS. 211 



and all precious stones ? Surely the immortal liand 

 is capable of work wliicli no mortal hand can ever 

 copy, and is a proof, if proof were needed, that, 

 long before the birth of man, some strange and 

 wondrous artist Avas occupied, through whose in- 

 scrutable labours alone truth must eventually 

 triumph and angelic knowledge crush out all 

 human m isappr ehen sion . 



As early education exists, and has existed, we 

 amuse with falsehood, and inoculate a wish to 

 lie ; and, in my opinion, nothing can be more 

 pernicious than the system I thus endeavour to 

 condemn. There is no harm in the idiotic noises 

 and verbiage made by a doting mother, or a 

 silly, illiterate old nurse, when they wish to amuse 

 a child. I smiply find fault with the nursery tales 

 which are told to, and put into the hands of, the 

 wondering and fully-believing child. Being on the 

 subject of '^ baby talk" and infant literature, I 

 cannot help laughing at an anecdote lately told to 

 mcj apropos of the former subject. 



A woman carrying a heavy baby sat down to rest 

 by the roadside, and presently an old gentleman 

 driving past in his gig or dog-cart, she asked him 



to '' give her a lifti" 



p 2 



