38 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



stud3^ I only mention a particular subject of that nature to 

 convey the idea that children should be kept in good heart and 

 interested in their education. For instance, a spelling match is 

 a grand thing for children. It is to them like a game. Their 

 minds are kept continual^ on the qui vive, and they find their 

 school a place which they may love and not hate. Oh ! the 

 awful pictures given us of the schools of olden days ! Charles 

 Dickens did much for the children when, in his own humorous 

 yet cutting wa}', he represented the tyrant school master of the 

 past, and Charlotte Bronte did the same for boarding schools for 

 girls. Unfortunate girls were kept cold and hungry under the 

 idea that it was a useful training for them ! Few departments 

 of humanity have suffered more than children. And yet we are 

 not to suppose that the kindness and humanity and consider- 

 ation with which children are usually treated now was unknown 

 in the past. Wolfgang Ratke, for instance in the year 1571 gave 

 several rules regarding the education of children, which are all 

 full of wisdom. Among them these: "Often repeat the same 

 thing;" "Teach without compulsion;" "Do not beat children 

 to make them learn;" "Pupils must love their masters, not 

 hate them." Rousseau in 1762 threw Europe into anstonish- 

 ment with his ideas on education. He was opposed to using 

 books. Children should be taught from nature. Though many 

 of his ideas were wild and unreasonable yet they contained 

 much that was useful. One Basedow, imbude with the ideas of 

 Rousseau, established a school where knowledge was to be im- 

 parted by means of games. This suited the children well. 

 Eight or ten are drawn in a line like soldiers, their teacher is 

 their officer, he gives word of command in Latin and they 

 obey him, he says ''Claudite ocitlos' and they shut their eyes ; 

 ''Circumspicite,'" and they look around them; "■Imitamini 

 sutorem:' s.n<\ih.ey draw the waxed thread like cobblers. So, at 

 his command, always given in Latin, they roared like Hons, 

 crowed like cocks, mewed like cats, till the spectators were con- 

 vulsed with laughter. Fie had many games, all conducted in 

 the same humorous style, which certainly must have conveyed 

 a good deal of knowledge to the pupils. 



Pestalozzi whose name is well known to those interested in 

 the education of children, gathered a number of homeless Jittie 



