such notions." A little
thought and reflection would soon tell where, and this thought
properly carried out would display an important fundamental principle
in teaching the young mind.

Our first endeavour is, therefore, to excite a spirit of inquiry,--to
foster that curiosity which is so natural to young children: till this
is properly done, your information will not be well received, and
it is most likely soon to be forgotten; but having once made them
inquisitive, you are more likely to tire of communicating than they
are of receiving. The skilful teacher will, indeed, rather leave them
with an appetite still craving, than satiate them by repletion. I have
frequently found the most beneficial results arise from the sudden
cessation of a lesson or a lecture on an interesting topic. The
children have looked for its renewal with the utmost impatience,
pondering over what they had already heard, and anticipating what was
yet to come with the greatest interest. Give a child a _task_, and
you impose a burthen on him,--permit him to learn something, and you
confer a favour.

Having excited a spirit of inquiry, the next endeavour is to direct it
to proper objects. These, of course, will be things which relate to
the senses of the child; the nature and properties of bodies, which
may be ascertained by the application of those senses, &c. Having
induced it to examine for itself, you are now to elicit its ideas of
each object respectively; and having taught it to use its reason
and judgment freely, and to express its own notions fearlessly and
candidly,--you are to attempt the correction of what is erroneous, by
putting forth your own views in as simple a way as possible: not so as
to induce the child to give up its own opinions and adopt yours, but
in such a way as to direct it to the attainment of truth; to induce a
comparison between its thoughts and yours, and thus to discover its
own error.

The powers of observation will speedily be improved under such a
course of instruction, and in all the subsequent stages of existence,
will not fail to constitute an independent and shrewd observer. But
some may think we are straining the child's faculties by the plan
recommended,--overstepping nature's laws,--and that the result must be
detrimental to the child, both in mind and body. So far, however, is
this from being true, that we have taken nature for our guide. We
deprecate strongly, most strongly, that unnatural system, whi