|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 38
Next to atmosphere as an element in nurture I place ideals. For these
children are usually dependent on their elders. They reverence what they
are taught to revere. Ideals are placed before them by example and by
precept. Children grow like those whose deeds attract them, and they
seek those ideals toward which they are most wisely directed. Laws are
never as potent in the formation of character as examples. Men are made
brave by the sight of bravery, and honorable by contact with those who
will swear to their own hurt and change not. There is deep philosophy in
the saying that the songs of a people influence their institutions and
history more than legal enactments, for songs are usually of bravery, of
love, of victory. They create ideals; they excite enthusiasm. The
Marseillaise and The Watch on the Rhine send thrills through the blood
of those who hear them because in the most vivid way they suggest
patriotism and heroism. A good man inspires goodness. Philanthropy makes
others philanthropic. One courageous act sometimes makes heroes of a
hundred common men. If a father would have his son physically brave, and
he is a wise parent, he will not waste time in urging him to undertake
some forlorn hope, but he will read to him the story of the Greeks at
Thermopyl�, of Marshal Ney at Waterloo, of Nathan Hale and his holy
martyrdom, of Nelson at Trafalgar. If he would have that son a helper
and servant of his fellow-men he will tell him the story of Pastor
Fliedner and his work at Kaiserwerth, of Florence Nightingale at the
Crimea, of Wilberforce and Buxton, Whittier and Garrison in their
efforts to awaken their fellow-men to the enormity of human slavery. The
strongest force for making a young man brave and generous, honorable and
Christian, is the example of a father possessing such qualities. Men are
usually like their ideals, and their ideals in large part are created by
the examples of those who are most admired and loved.
But example is not all. Training also does much. Conduct is but the
expression of thought. If one can determine what shall be the subject of
another's thinking, he will have gone a long way toward fixing his
character. This is a fact which deserves more attention than it has yet
received in plans for the education of the people. Parents have no
holier privilege than that of directing the thought of their children.
By their own conversation, by the friends whom they invite to their
homes, by the books which are given a place on their tables, by the
amusements to which they take their families, they determine for them
the channels in which their minds shall run. As a man thinketh in his
heart so is he. Boys usually dwell upon the same subjects as their
fathers, unless the fathers by skilful conversation are able to hide the
subjects to which they give most time. Children usually admire what
their parents admire, and shun what they shun. The organic unity of the
household is a large factor in individual and social progress. Both by
direct effort, and by the indirect operation of example, it furnishes
subjects for the youthful mind. The personality, whose seat is in the
will, is never determined, but it is very largely influenced both by the
example of those who are admired and by the thoughts which they
suggest.
Environment in large part is composed of atmosphere, example, and
ideals. All these are provided for the growing child by others. He has
little or no voice in saying what they shall be. And environment has
more to do with the progress of the soul toward full and free
self-expression even than what is called education. Education is more by
atmosphere, example, and mental suggestion than by teachers and
text-books. When we speak of nurture we usually think of the period of
discipline in school and church; but we often make the mistake of not
taking into account the fact that the most effective training is seldom
that which comes directly from teachers. It is rather that which is
derived indirectly from the atmosphere, example, and ideals by which the
child is surrounded in his home. If I could determine those for a child
I should dread very little any malign force in the shape of an
incompetent teacher. Schools, in reality, are only for the unfinished
work of the homes. They may make the child better than his home, and
they may undo the good work which it has done; but, usually, what the
home is the child will be some time.
The agencies of nurture, by which a soul is helped on its upward
pathway, are atmosphere, example, ideals, and direct training. Of these
the least important is the last, although the value of that is
self-evident. By the intellectual and spiritual air that we breathe, by
the sight of heroic and consecrated service, by the possibilities of
noble achievement the best that is in a man or a boy is usually drawn
out. Afterward the teacher may take him in hand and, by training, remove
the impediment and bias and thus make a balance in the faculties, or
take out of his way the obstacles which oppose his progress; but he
seldom does very much toward determining the direction in which the
child will move. That is decided by others in the years which are most
plastic. The soul naturally, and inevitably, grows toward truth and God.
How could it be otherwise, since its being is derived from Him? But a
part of the mystery of growth is the influence of environment, and early
environment is almost altogether composed of the circumstances and
influences into which one is born.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|