as I have of that which she
taught me at the age of six. The facts crowd upon me so fast that
I scarcely know where to stop. Those lessons were the germs of the
inventions and babyisms--the hand-clapping, arm-twisting, and the
like--with which the infants are so delighted in their schools, and
which, at the time they were developed, about a third of a century
since, were scouted, and the inventor looked upon as a good natured
simpleton, or a well-meaning fool. I have a rather vivid recollection
of this fact, but in the end, as we proceeded, many who came to sneer,
went away with very different feelings. The plans were for infants,
for infants they answered well, but I wish I could say that no
excresences had grown upon them.

Now the ends to be answered in Infant Education, as intended by me,
are as follows. First, to feed the child's faculties with suitable
food; Second,--to simplify and explain everything, so as to adapt it
properly to those faculties; Third, not to overdo anything, either by
giving too much instruction, or instruction beyond their years, and
thus over-excite the brain, and injure the faculties; and, Fourth,
ever to blend both exercise and amusement with instruction at due
intervals, which is readily effected by a moderate amount of singing,
alternating with the usual motions and evolutions in the schoolroom,
and the unfettered freedom of the play-ground. If these rules be
attended to, the following results are certain,--a higher state of
physical, mental, and moral health. Physical health is essential to
mental vigour if it is to come to manhood. If the physical, mental,
moral, and spiritual constitution be properly acted upon, fed, and
trained, it adds to the happiness of the child; but if this is
not done, it becomes miserable, and as a consequence restless,
troublesome, and mischievous. Such facts were made very evident to me
by the infants under my care in the earlier part of my career, and
also have been fully confirmed throughout it, and they have forced
me as it were to that more lively, interesting, and amusing mode of
instruction, which I have through life endeavoured to propagate.
I found children to be highly delighted with pictures and
object-lessons; hence their value and high importance is so strongly
insisted on in all my books, and the best methods of using them
distinctly laid down. The trouble of rightly using such lessons has
caused them to be almost entirely laid aside in very m