STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. 
303 
to be pitted against will — you may better abandon the contest 
and trust to lime and the development of mind and a higher moral 
sense —better almost anything than frequent collision. 
When shall a child be taught to read? When the broomstick, 
and the doll, and old Mother Hubbard, and Grandma’s stories have 
lost their zest, and the child becomes restless and begs for “ some¬ 
thing to do.” And it matters little at what age, or what may be its 
physical condition. Give it food. And the little ones whose moth¬ 
ers are neither so ignorant, nor so burdened by poverty and care, 
nor so oppressed by the frivolities of fashionable life, but that they 
can take them in their arms and feed them are “ thrice blessed.” 
.Nature begins to help the little ones right early —to determine 
what is good for the body. Taste says sweet — and the body ap¬ 
proves. Taste says bitter — and the body rejects. Not so with the 
mind. It hungers—but knows not sweet. It hungers — but knows 
not bitter. It will feed on garbage and grow. The body can elim¬ 
inate what does not subserve its purpose, the mind can not. Woe 
to the parent, woe to the teacher, woe to every one who gives it 
unwholesome food. 
No age can be fixed when systematic teaching shall begin, but 
it should begin early — if possible it should begin at home. The 
young brain is too receptive, and has too little power of distriminat- 
ing, to be trusted to large, or doubtful associations. Hence the 
great utility, if not necessity when practicable, of keeping it within 
the sphere of loving hearts and judicious tongues, until it has ac¬ 
quired a habit of right thinking and correct behavior. Then, when 
it falls into the great march of life, when it adopts the street and 
the rough of the school —the little brain, preoccupied by the loves, 
and thoughts, and humanities of home, will resent the intrusion of 
evil thoughts and vicious ways. And although the conflict of the 
following years may be sharp, and the victory at times doubtful — 
yet shall the home bulwarks be impregnable. 
But the time has come, when the most of us must entrust the 
mental weal, and in some measure the moral health, of our children 
to others. Pity the parents whose hearts do not throb, whose eyes 
do not grow dim, as they launch their little ones upon the sea of 
life. 
The common school is the crowning glory of the age. Doubtless 
it is the world’s highest expression of civilization. With us', teach- 
