Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children

by Pye Henry Chavasse

360. How can danger in such a case be warded off?

It behoves a parent, if her son be precocious, to restrain him—to send him to a quiet country place, free from the excitement of the town; and when he is sent to school, to give directions to the master that he is not on any account to tax his intellect (for a master is apt, if he have a clever boy, to urge him forward); and to keep him from those institutions where a spirit of rivalry is maintained, and where the brain is thus kept in a state of constant excitement. Medals and prizes are well enough for those who have moderate abilities, but dangerous, indeed, to those who have brilliant ones.

An over-worked precocious brain is apt to cause the death of the owner; and if it does not do so, it in too many instances injures the brain irreparably, and the possessor of such an organ, from being one of the most intellectual of children becomes one of the most commonplace of men.

Let me urge you, if you have a precocious child, to give, and that before it be too late, the subject in question your best consideration.

361. Are precocious boys in their general health usually strong or delicate?

Delicate: nature seems to have given a delicate body to compensate for the advantages of a talented mind. A precocious youth is predisposed to consumption, more so than to any other disease. The hard study which he frequently undergoes excites the disease into action. It is not desirable, therefore, to have a precocious child. A writer in "Eraser's Magazine" speaks very much to the purpose when he says, "Give us intellectual beef rather than intellectual veal."

362. What Habit of body is most predisposed to scrofula?

He or she who has a moist, cold, fair, delicate and almost transparent skin, large prominent blue eyes, protuberant forehead, light-brown or auburn hair, rosy cheeks, pouting lips, milk-white teeth, long neck, high shoulders, small, flat, and contracted chest, tumid bowels, large joints, thin limbs, and flabby muscles, is the person, most predisposed to scrofula. The disease is not entirely confined to the above; sometimes she or he who has black hair, dark eyes and complexion, is subject to it, but yet, far less frequently than the former. It is a remarkable fact that the most talented are the most prone to scrofula, and being thus clever their intellects are too often cultivated at the expense of their health. In infancy and childhood, either water on the brain or mesenteric disease; in youth, pulmonary consumption is frequently their doom: they are like shining meteors; their life is short, but brilliant.

363. How may scrofula be warded off?

Strict attention to the roles of health is the means to prevent scrofula. Books, unless as an amusement, ought to be discarded. The patient must almost live in the open air, and his residence should be a healthy country place, where the air is dry and bracing; if it be at a farm-house, in a salubrious neighbourhood, so much the better. In selecting a house for a patient predisposed to scrofula, good pure water should be an important requisite; indeed for every one who values his health. Early rising in such a case is most beneficial. Wine, spirits, and all fermented liquors ought to be avoided. Beef-steaks and mutton-chops in abundance, and plenty of milk and of farinaceous food—such as rice, sago, arrowroot, &c., should be his diet.