The qualities which enable a preceptor to impart literary and scientific knowledge differ widely from those fitted for searching out, discriminating and correcting faults of character, interpreting the real qualities that nature has implanted in the youthful aspirant, and devising the measures to be taken for correction or development.
Even if the necessary qualities for both duties were united in one master, there would be many objections to the duties being entrusted to the same person.
The character-divers are as it were moral physicians, skilled in the detection and cure of the hidden germs of mental maladies; for, as you will see hereafter, I was not content to wait till a disease, whether of the mind or body, had developed itself, spreading contagious poison through the veins and arteries of society, and propagating evil without end; the germ was destroyed before it had acquired force to injure.
In our planet neither the faults nor the good qualities of children show themselves in the same way; the indications vary in each child according to his temperament and the circumstances in which he may be placed. Faults and qualities are often of a kind seemingly opposed to what they actually demonstrate to the character-diver—particularly in children endowed with genius.
Fair and even beautiful outcroppings are sometimes indications of noxious weeds hidden below the surface. Weeds are not unfrequently born from the very richness and exuberance of the soil, whilst many a dark and seemingly sterile stem conceals the embryo of fruit and flowers which a genial sunshine will call into life and beauty.
These and other considerations demand great—almost constant—attention on the part of the Djarke.
Another reason for separating the two offices of fathers of knowledge and character-divers is that the child's peculiarities are generally shown out of school-hours. Hence, for the purpose of detecting or tracing their real cause, and suggesting the remedy, the character-diver is often obliged to enter into terms of intimacy with the children, particularly those of tender age, to obtain their confidence, perhaps to be their playmate and friend, that the little ones may be at their ease, conceal nothing, and almost look upon him as they would upon some tame animal.
The younger children with us require more watchfulness and skill in their treatment than those of maturer age. The defects of the young, like incipient disease, are less obvious, and their intelligence is less developed.