THE UNIVERSAL FAMILY PAPER FOR INTER-COMMUNICATIONS ON 



NATURAL HISTORY-POPULAR SCIENCE— THINQS IN GENERAL. 



Conducted by WILLIAM KIDD, of Hammersmith,— 



Author op the Familiar, and Popular Essaks on "Natural History;" "British Song 

 Birds;" " Birds of Passage ; " "Instinct and Reason;" " The Aviary," &c. 



"the OBJECT op our work is to make men WISER, without obliging them to turn over folios and 



QUARTOS.— TO FURNISH MATTER FOR THINKING AS WELL AS READING."— EVELYN. 



No. 50.— 1852. 



SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11. 



Price 3d. 



Or, in Monthly Parts, Price 1*. Id. 



THE WORLD WE LIVE IN. 



PICTURES OF SOCIETY— No. II. 

 EARLY EDUCATION. 



If, with the Children of the Lower 

 Classes, the early part of life be darkened by 

 those under whose control they are unhappily 

 placed; and with the poor, by the hard ne- 

 cessity of labor — such as are more favored 

 by fortune are not exempt from influences 

 injurious to the development of mind and 

 character. 



The greater number of those who are en- 

 trusted with the education of youth, seem to 

 have one type which all must be brought to 

 resemble. To use a hacknied simile, it is the 

 bed of Procrustes applied to the intelligence. 

 A French writer laments, that in the edu- 

 cation of girls at school, no pains are 

 taken to inculcate principles of order and 

 economy ; that the high and generous in- 

 stincts which would preserve them from jea- 

 lousy, envy, and unworthy feelings, are not 

 cultivated ; and that they become mentally 

 dwarfed, untruthful, and frivolous. He sums 

 up their education nearly as follows : — 

 " The participle agrees with the regimen, 

 when the regimen precedes the verb. The 

 children of Charlemagne were John, Peter, 

 Paul, and Louis, — the fox and crow-fable. 

 If one egg costs so much, what are they 

 a dozen ? Mademoiselle, tenez-vous droite ! 

 — et voila." It would seem that, generally, 

 the memory was exercised disproportionately 

 to the judgment, whether in home or school- 

 education. The Queen's Colleges appeared 

 to me a step in the right direction ; but so 

 many objections have been raised against 

 them, and against school-teaching generally, 

 that it would be tedious were I fully to enter 

 into the subject. 



It is argued, that schools foster selfishness, 

 envy, and hatred. Evil passions are not re- 

 stricted to schools, but I think they would 

 there be sooner detected, and more effectual- 

 ly checked than at home ; while, in the larger 



circle of a school, and consequent greater di- 

 versity of character and temper, there must 

 necessarily be more occasion for the exercise 

 of forbearance, patience, kindness, and atten • 

 tion to the wishes of others, than can exist 

 in the more limited one of home. It is 

 also objected, that even " book- learning" can- 

 not be acquired at the Queen's Colleges ; 

 " no girl liking to ask questions before so 

 many people ; and that even writing does not 

 remove the natural shyness of girls at that 

 awkward age" — twelve to eighteen ! I do 

 not think the shyness, or " mauvaise honte" 

 would be found in all girls ; and even if so, 

 there could not be more favorable circum- 

 stances for overcoming it. I always sus- 

 pect something wrong where it is present ; 

 either, that the girl has been discouraged by 

 ill-timed reproof, or that there exists an over- 

 sensitiveness of character, which it is impor- 

 tant for her future happiness should be early 

 controlled. School experience, moreover, is 

 not bought at the price of that of after-life. 



A certain degree of confidence, by no means 

 touching upon unpleasing boldness, may 

 surely be acquired. At home, this timidity 

 is sometimes injudiciously combatted by a 

 girl being required to play or sing to visit- 

 ors. Conscious of her unfinished perform- 

 ance, the feeling which might have been 

 easily mastered, becomes a nervous one, not 

 always overcome even after the attainment 

 of a respectable degree of talent — utterly pre- 

 venting the performer doing herself justice, 

 and rendering her, as I have known to be the 

 case, deaf alike to the sound of her own voice 

 and the good-natured applause of a crowded 

 room. 



It is asked by the advocates of home- 

 education, " Why all girls should not be kept 

 at home, and subjected only to home influ- 

 ence ?" Peace and harmony, content and 

 cheerfulness, do not dwell under every roof- 

 tree. Where there are dissension, difference 

 in religion, — where, from whatever cause, 

 sorrow and gloom abide ; where the father 

 returns home weary and depressed from the 



Vol. II. 



