CHAP. IV. The Period between a Child's Beginning to read and going to School :-its Importance.-The Objects of Education, and their relative Value.-Commencement of Instruction in Reading.-Rousseau :-Education a Discipline. Choice of Books.-Tones and Articulations. Care in the Use of religious Books:-Selection of them. -Catechisms. : DURING the period between a child's first beginning to read and the time of his going to school, the mind becomes capable of more continued and systematic instruction. Its powers expand and acquire a degree of firmness and a far more regular foundation may be laid for the opinions, dispositions, and habits which ought to predominate in mature age. That wondrous being, man, displaying so many marks of his high origin, as well as of his deplorable fall; whose astonishing progress in knowledge, when his powers are cultivated, and whose more astonishing capabilities of knowledge, clearly point him out as destined to a more exalted state of being; and whose no less astonishing progress in good or in evil, and further capabilities of both according to the course he takes, afford clear indications that that future state will be one of righteous retribution, eminently blessed or eminently wretched :-that wondrous being, at an early age, receives impressions which sink deep into his as yet soft and yielding nature, and acquires habits which take such firm hold of that nature, as almost to become part of it. With what anxious care, then, should this springtime of life be employed in preparations for the future harvest! If there be not a harvest of good, there must be one of evil. The heavenly sickle will most assuredly, in due time, gather either the one or the other: and then with what unspeakable joy or grief will parents look back on their conduct towards their offspring during the years of early childhood! There is a further consideration, which, in the case of boys, adds extremely to the importance of parental exertions in education during the period in question. On its expiration, they usually leave their father's house, never afterwards, during the whole course of their education, to spend in it any very large portion of their time. And whither do they go? To school, where they are surrounded by new companions, and find in abundance new sentiments, new habits, and new temptations. Their parents are no longer at hand; and it is impossible for the master to afford them the protection which parents can afford against the inroads of folly and vice, especially out of school hours. His time is too much occupied, and his family is too numerous to admit of close personal attention to his individual scholars, in their general manners and habits. If they enter this new world without decidedly good principles, and corresponding conduct of some continuance, what is to be expected? Can it be rationally hoped that they will resist their own natural bias to evil, stimulated, as it will be, by bad example and false shame? If the father sees, on his son's return home for the holidays, a change which shocks him, (though parental partiality will often make him in a great measure blind to that which is apparent to others,) how is he to remedy the evil? He will exert himself during the boy's continuance at home. But that is short and to be followed by a much longer period during which his son will be again exposed to the same temptations which he was before too weak to resist ;-temptations now more formidable from not having been resisted. The parent will engage the master to counteract the evils he deplores; but the master, whatever may be his ability and good intentions, cannot perform impossibilities, nor, if the number of his pupils is not extremely small, give the time and attention to the case of this one boy which it would probably require. Supposing, however, his engagements to admit of his executing this task effectually, I confess I should be apprehensive that he will very rarely be found disposed to do so. His affection for the child cannot be expected to be that of a parent, and therefore he will generally be found deficient in the delicate and unceasing duties of an office which requires all the tender solicitude that flows from parental affection. The father also writes frequently to his son. Letters, in such a case, are a very inadequate substitute for occular inspection and viva voce* admonition. Perhaps, however, he adopts what he deems the most efficacious measure, and * Admonition by word of mouth. Is there not rea sends his boy to another school. son to fear that the new school will have its own peculiar disadvantages? But supposing it to introduce him to no new evils, is there any valid reason to hope that it will furnish a radical cure for the old mischiefs? God's grace can do every thing; and his mercy often effects more than we can ask or think; but I cannot avoid looking upon the prospect of a parent, whose child has not taken to school with him a good foundation of religious principles and habits, and enters on bad courses there, as very gloomy and discouraging. Enough, I hope, has been said on the vast importance of making the best use of that period in edu. cation which is now under review. How is this purpose to be effected? Without presuming to give a full answer to that momentous inquiry, I will offer some practical observations on the subject. First, then, in taking a christian view of the objects of education, there can be no doubt that the first is to instil and cherish, in dependance on the divine blessing, true religion, both in the soul and in the daily and hourly habits of life; and the second, to convey general knowledge, and form the mind and the manners. These objects are in no small degree coincident each with the other. Nothing is so conducive to whatever things are lovely, of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy in the various walks and stations of life, as a heart renewed by the Holy Spirit, and a demeanour corresponding with such a renewal. But, so far as they are dis tinct, the first has a decided pre-eminence. Happy is it when in practice it meets with the superior care, attention, and solicitude, which in theory is readily allowed to be its due! Partly from causes which have been pointed out, and partly from the example of that vast majority of mankind which has not true religion really at heart, even christian parents are apt to slide into a system of education, if not directly opposed to the foregoing principle, yet certainly one which, in the opinion of St. Peter, or St. Paul, would be thought too nearly approaching to "the course of this world." Let it be strongly borne in mind, that if we do not set out with a just and distinct view of our objects in the management of our children; and if we do not continually try our practice by our principles, and use vigorous and unceasing endeavours to keep it up to their standard, the stream will be poisoned at the very fountain, and we shall have cause to deplore the consequences. An attention to the relative importance of the objects in education, is necessary, even in the very first step to be taken by a parent in the period under consideration. He must determine at what age it will be best to begin to teach his child to read. Were he to make mere progress in reading his chief concern, I am by no means certain that he might not defer the commencement of his instructions a year or two longer than is desirable, if he considers the acquisition of good habits as of still greater importance, and to be greatly promoted by calling a child to the obedience, attention, patience, self-denial, and |