I remember some other instances:
One of the children happened to kick another. The injured party complained to the person who then had the charge of the school, saying, "Please, sir, this boy kicked me." It being time for the children to leave school, the master waved his hand towards the gate through which the children pass, thoughtlessly saying, at the same time, "Kick away;" meaning that the complainant was to take no more notice of the affair, but go home. The complainant, however, returning to the other child, began kicking him, and received some kicks himself. A friend was present, and seeing two children kicking each other, he very naturally inquired the reason. "Please, sir," replied the children, "master told us!" "Master told you," says the gentleman, "that cannot be; I'll ask him." He accordingly inquired into the truth of the affair, and received for answer, "Certainly not." "Yes," said the child, "you did, sir; did not I tell you just now that a boy kicked me?" "Yes," says the master, "you did." "Then, please sir," says the child, "you told me to go and kick away!" The master immediately recollected that he had said so.
This fact shews how improper it is to say one thing to a child and mean another. These children were under the influence of obedience, and in the light of truth, and being in that light, they could see from no other, and very naturally concluded the master meant what he had said.
One day some visitors requested I would call out a class of the children to be examined. Having done so, I asked the visitors in what they would wish the children to be examined; at the same time stating that they might hear the children examined in natural history, Scriptural history, arithmetic, spelling, geography, or geometry. They choose the latter, and I proceded to examine the children accordingly; beginning with straight lines. Having continued this examination for about half an hour, we proceeded to enter into particulars respecting triangles; and having discoursed on the difference between isosceles triangles and scalene triangles, I observed that an acute isosceles triangle had all its angles acute, and proceeded to observe that a right-angled scalene triangle had all its angles acute. The children immediately began to laugh, for which I was at a loss to account, and told them of the impropriety of laughing at me. One of the children immediately replied, "Please, sir, do you know what we were laughing at?" I replied in the negative. "Then, sir," says the boy, "I will tell you. Please, sir, you have made a blunder." I, thinking I had not, proceeded to defend myself, when the children replied, "Please, sir, you convict yourself." I replied, "How so?" "Why," says the children, "you said a right-angled triangle had one right angle, and that all its angles are acute. If it has one right angle, how can all its angles be acute?" I soon perceived the children were right, and that I was wrong. Here, then, the reader may perceive the fruits of teaching the children to think, inasmuch as it is shewn that children of six years of age and under were able to refute their tutor. If children had been taught to think many years ago, error would have been much more easily detected, and its baneful influence would not have had that effect upon society which at this day unfortunately we are obliged to witness.
At another time I was lecturing the children in the gallery on the subject of cruelty to animals; when one of the little children observed, "Please, sir, my big brother catches the poor flies, and then sticks a pin through them, and makes them draw the pin along the table." This afforded me an excellent opportunity of appealing to their feelings on the enormity of this offence, and, among other things, I observed, that if the poor fly had been gifted with the powers of speech like their own, it probably would have exclaimed, while dead, as follows:—"You naughty child, how can you think of torturing me so? Is there not room in the world for you and me? Did I ever do you any harm? Does it do you any good to put me in such pain? Why do you do it, you are big enough to know better? How would you like a man to run a piece of wire through your body, and make you draw things about? Would you not cry at the pain? Go, then, you wicked boy, and learn to leave off such cruel actions." Having finished, one of the children replied, "How can any thing speak if it is dead?" "Why," said I, "supposing it could speak." "You meant to say, sir," was the rejoinder, "dying instead of dead."
It will, of course be understood that in this case I purposely misused a word, and the children being taught to think, easily detected it.
6. WATCH AGAINST THE ENTRANCE OF DISEASE.
It may, probably, be considered presumption in me, to speak of the diseases of children, as this more properly belongs to the faculty; but let it be observed, that my pretension is not to cure the diseases that children are subject to, but only to prevent those which are infectious from spreading. I have found that children between the ages of two and seven years, are subject to the measles, hooping cough, fever, ophthalmia, ringworm, scald-head, and in very poor neighbourhoods, the itch—and small-pox. This last is very rare, owing to the great encouragement given to vaccination; and were it not for the obstinacy of many of the poor, I believe it would be totally extirpated. During the whole of the time I superintended a school, I heard of only three children dying of it, and those had never been vaccinated. I always made a point of inquiring, on the admission of a child, whether this operation had been performed, and, if not, I strongly recommended that it should be. If parents spoke the truth, I had but few children in the school who had not been vaccinated: this accounts, therefore, for having lost but three children through the small-pox.
The measles, however, I consider a very dangerous disorder, and we lost a great many children by it, besides two of my own. It is preceded by a violent cough, the child's eyes appear watery, and it will also be sick. As soon as these symptoms are perceived, I would immediately send the child home, and desire the parents to keep it there for a few days, in order to ascertain if it have the measles, and if so, it must be prohibited from returning to school until well. This caution is absolutely necessary; as some parents are so careless, that they will send their children when the measles are thick out upon them.
The same may be said with respect to other diseases, for unless the persons who have charge of the school attend to these things, the parents will be glad to get their children out of the way, and will send them, though much afflicted, without considering the ill-effects that may be produced in the school. Whether such conduct in the parents proceeds from ignorance or not, I am not able to say, but this I know, that I have had many parents offer children for admission, with all the diseases I have mentioned, and who manifested no disposition to inform me of it. The number of children who may be sick, from time to time, may be averaged at from twenty to thirty-five, out of two hundred, we have never had less than twenty absent on account of illness, and once or twice we had as many as fifty.