The following morning he was absent again, and I sent another boy to know the reason, when the mother waited on me immediately, and assured me that she had sent the child to school. I then produced the slate which I kept for that purpose, and informed her how many days and half-days her child had been absent during the last month, when she again assured me that she had never kept the child at home for a single half-day, nor had he ever told her that I wanted to see her; at the same time observing that be must have been decoyed away by some of the children in the neighbourhood. She regretted that she could not afford to send him to school before, adding, that the Infant School was a blessed institution, and one, she thought, much wanted in the neighbourhood. I need scarcely add, that both the father and mother lost no time in searching for their child, and after several hours, they found him in the nearest fruit-market with several children, pretty well stored with apples, &c., which they had, no doubt, stolen from the fruit-baskets continually placed there. They brought him to the school, and informed me they had given him a good flogging, which I found to be correct from the marks that were on the child. This, they said, they had no doubt would cure him; but he was not so soon conquered, for the very next day he was absent again; and after the parents had tried every experiment they could think of, in vain, they delivered him over to me, telling me I might do what I thought proper. I tried every means I could devise with as little success, except keeping him at school after school hours; for I had a great disinclination to convert the school into a prison, as my object was, if possible, to cause the children to love the school, and I knew I could not take a more effectual method of causing them to dislike it than by keeping them there against their will. At last I tried this experiment, but to as little purpose as the others, and I was about to exclude the child altogether as incorrigible; but unwilling that it should be said a child five years old had mastered us, I at last hit upon an expedient which had the desired effect. The plan I adopted was to put him on an elevated situation within sight of all the children, so secured that he could not hurt himself. I believe it was the force of ridicule that effected the cure. This I had never tried before, and I must say I was extremely glad to witness it. I never knew him absent without leave afterwards, and, what is more surprising, he appeared to be very fond of the school, and became a very good child. Was not this, then, a brand plucked from the fire?
I have been advised to dismiss twenty such children, rather than retain them by the above means; but if there be more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance, ought not such a feeling to be encouraged on earth, particularly when it can be done by means that are not injurious to the orderly, but, on the contrary, productive of the best effects? The child just mentioned afterwards went into the National School, with several others who had been nearly as bad as himself, but they scarcely ever failed to come and see me when they had a half holiday, and the master of the school told me that not one of them had ever been absent without leave, and that he had no fault to find with them. I have further to observe that the moment I perceived a bad effect produced by any method of punishment, it was relinquished. But I feel it my duty here to caution the reader against the too frequent practice of many to object. It may cost a man many years to find out what may be desirable and workable; but to become an objector requires no thought, accordingly the most thoughtless are generally the greatest objectors.
I believe that there was not a child in the school who would not have been delighted to carry the broom, if I had called it play; the other children might have laughed as long as they pleased, for he would have laughed as heartily as any of them, and as soon as he had done, I should have had a dozen applicants, with "Please, sir, may I? please, sir, may I?" but it was called a punishment, and hence I had no applications whatever; they all dreaded it as much as they would a flogging. I am aware that this plan of punishment may appear ridiculous, and perhaps it would be so to use it for older children; but with such young children I have found it to answer well, and therefore I have no wish to dispense with it. I would, however, have care taken not to encourage the children to ridicule each other while undergoing this or any other punishment, except in extraordinary cases, such as the one I have mentioned; on the contrary, we should encourage them to sympathize with and comfort a child, as soon as the punishment is over, and I can truly add, that I do not recollect a single instance when any child has been undergoing the broom punishment, but some of the others have come, and attempted to beg him off, with "Please, sir, may he sit down now?" and when asked the reason why they wished the little delinquent to be forgiven, they have answered, "May be, sir, he will be a good boy." Their request has been complied with, and the culprit forgiven; and what have I seen follow? Why, that which has taught me an important lesson, and convinced me that children can operate on each other's minds, and be the means of producing very often better effects than adult people can. I have seen them clasp the child round the neck, take him by the hand, lead him about the play-ground, comfort him in every possible way, wipe his eyes with their pinafores, and ask him if he was not sorry for what he had done. The answer has been, "Yes;" and they have flown to me with, "Master, he says he is sorry for it, and that he will not do it again." In short, they have done that which I could not do—they have so won the child over by kindness, that it has caused the offender not only to be fond of them, but equally as fond of his master and the school. To these things I attribute the reclaiming of the children I have mentioned, and so far from punishment being productive of the "worst effects," I have found it productive of the best.
The ill effects of expelling children as incorrigible may be seen in the case of Hartley, who was executed some years back. He confessed before his execution that he had been concerned in several murders, and upwards of two hundred burglaries; and by the newspaper account we learn that he was dismissed from school at nine years of age, there being no school master who would be troubled with him, when, finding himself at liberty, he immediately became a robber. "Hartley's father" (the account proceeds), "formerly kept the Sir John Falstaff inn at Hull in Yorkshire; he was put to school in that neighbourhood, but his conduct at school was so marked with depravity, and so continually did he play the truant, that he was dismissed as unmanageable. He then, although only nine years of age, began with pilfering and robbing gardens and orchards, till his friends were obliged to send him to sea. He soon contrived to run away from the ship in which he had been placed, and having regained the land, pursued his old habits, and got connected with many of the principal thieves in London, with whom he commenced business regularly as a house-breaker, which was almost always his line of robbery."
Should not every means have been resorted to with this child before proceeding to the dangerous mode of expulsion? for it is not the whole who need a physician, but those who are sick; and I strongly suspect that if judicious punishment had been resorted to, it would have had the desired effect. I can only say that there never was a child expelled from the infant school under my care as incorrigible.
In conclusion, I have to observe, that the broom punishment is only for extraordinary occasions, and I think we are justified in having recourse to any means that are consistent with duty and humanity, in preference to turning a child out into the wide world.
Of all the difficulties I ever had to encounter, to legislate for rewards and punishments, gave me the most trouble. How often have I seen one child laugh at that which would make another child cry. If any department in teaching requires knowledge of character more than another it is this. Many a fine child's spirits are broken through the ignorance of teachers and parents in this particular; but for me to lay down invariable rules to manage every child, would be like a person undertaking to describe a voyage to the moon. Every person's own good sense must decide for them according to character and circumstances; and as to rewards, the same discrimination must be used. One child will set much value on a little book, whilst another will destroy it in a day; and though the book might be worth the sixpence, a half-penny worth of what they call good stuff would be much more valuable. I have had more business done sometimes for a plum than for a sixpenny book. It is never necessary to give the child badges of distinction, and to allow it as many orders and degrees as an Austrian field-marshal. Crosses at the button holes, and bits of ribbon on the shoulders are unnecessary; they throw an apple of discord between the young creatures, who have sense enough to see that these things are frequently given away with a wonderous lack of discrimination, and sometimes to please parents more than reward merit. A carraway comfit put into the mouth of an infant will do more good than all the badges of distinction that I have mentioned, as a reward; but with respect to punishment, more will be said on it in my larger work, when we come to treat of National Education. Each creation of the most High is truly wonderful, and worthy of our constant study. We may learn lessons of the truest wisdom from the meanest leaf or insect, if we would regard it as one of His works. But how much more may be learnt, and what an amount of useful instruction may be gained, by a study of the finite mind, the highest work in creation. Many have turned their attention to minerals, plants, and animals, and thus added to our stores of knowledge. If equal attention had been paid to the young mind, to mark the gradual germination of its intellectual and moral powers, how much more accurate would our knowledge be of the proper methods of dealing with it both in instruction, direction, and punishment. Thus to study it has been the aim of my life, and I have made observations on thousands of children. When this great and living book is more constantly read, the contents of this humble volume may have a better chance of being appreciated; and the utter absurdity of many things palmed upon the public for the education of infants made glaringly manifest.
CHAPTER XI.
LANGUAGE.
Means for conveying instruction—Method of teaching the alphabet in connection with objects—Spelling—Reading—Developing lessons—Reading lessons in Natural History—The Arithmeticon—Brass letters—Their uses.