Letters on early education; addressed to J. P. Greaves, esq

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LETTER I Yyerduk, October, 1, 1818.- My dear Greaves

You require of me to point out to you, in a series of letters, my views concerning the development of the infant mind.

I am happy to see that you acknowledge the importance of education in the earliest stage of life : a fact that has almost universally been overlooked. The philanthropic efforts, both of a former age, and of our own, have been directed in general to the improvement of schools, and their various modes of instruction. It will not be expected that I should say anything tending to depreciate such endeavors : the greater part of my life has been devoted to the arduous aim at their 3ombination; and the results and acknowledgments [ have obtained, are such as to convince me that my .abor has not been in vain. But I can assure you, fny dear friend, from the experience of more than half I century, and from the most intimate conviction of □ay heart, founded upon this experience, that I should

10 Letters o^ Early Education, I

not consider our task as being half accomplished, I should not anticipate half the consequences for the real benefit of mankind, as long as our system of improvement failed of extending to the earliest stage of education: and to succeed in this, we require the most powerful ally of our cause, as far as human power may contribute to an end which eternal love and wisdom have assigned to the endeavours of man. It is on this altar that we shall lay down the sacrifice of all our efforts ; and if our gift is to be accepted, it must be conveyed through the medium of maternal love.

Yes! my dear friend, this object of our ardent desires will never be attained but through the assistance of the mothers. To them we must appeal ; with them we must pray for the blessing of heaven; in them try to awaken a deep sense of all the consequences of all the self-denials, and of all the rewards attached to their interesting duties. Let each take an active part in that most important sphere of influence. Such is the aspiration of an aged man, who is anxious to secure whatever good he may have been allowed to promote or to conceive. Your heart will unite with his: I feel it will. I shake hands with you, as with one who fervently embraces this cause — not -my cause, nor that of any other mortal, — but the cause of Him who would have the children of His creation, and of His providence, led to Himself in the ways of love.

The Mothers must be en^listed 11

Happy should I be, if I might one day speak through your voice to the mothers of Great Britain How does my glowing heart expand at the opening prospect which has this moment filled my imagination! To behold a great and mighty nation known of old to appreciate with equal skill the glory of powerful enterprise, and the silent joys of domestic life, intent upon the welfare of the rising generation ; establishing the honor and happiness of those who shall one day stand in their place ; securing to their country her glory and her liberty, by a moral elevation of her children! And shall not the heart of a, mother hound in the consciousness that she too is to have her share in this immortal work f

LETTER II October 3, 1818

My dear Greaves,

Our great object is the development of the infiint mind, — and our great means, the agency of mothers.

A most important question then presents itself at the very outset of our inquiries. Has the mother the qualifications requisite for the duties and exercises we would impose on her ?

I feel myself bound to enter into this question, and to give it, if possible, an answer fully decisive, requesting your attention to the subject, as I feel persuaded that if my views concede with your own, you will agree with the reasoning founded on my statement.

Yes! I would say, the mother is qualified, and qualified by her Creator himself, to become the principal agent in the development of her child. The most ardent desire for its good is already implanted in her heart; and what power can be more influential, more stimulative, than maternal love f — the most gentle, and, at the same time, the most intrepid power in the whole system of nature. Yes: the mother is qualified, for

A Thinking Maternal Love 13

Providence has also gifted her with the faculties required for her task. And here I feel it necessary to explain what is the task I refer to as peculiarly hers. It is not anything beyond her reach I would demand, — it is not a certain degree or description of knowledge, usually implied in what is vulgarly called a ^mW^ed education; though, if she happened to possess such knowledge, the day will come for opening her treasury and giving to her childi'en what she ma}^ choose : but at the period w^e speak out, all the knowledge acquired in the most accomplished education would not facilitate her task ; for what I would demand of her is only — a thinking love.

Love, of course, I presume to be the first requisite, and that which will always present itself, — only modified, perhaps, under various forms. All I would request of a mother would be, to let her love act as strongly as it may, but to season it, in the exercise, with thought.

And 1 should indeed entreat a mother, by the very love w^hich she bears to her children, to bestow a moment of calm reflection on the nature of her duties. I do not mean to lead her into an artificial discussion ; maternal love might be lost in the maze of philosophical investigation. But there is that in her feelings, which, in a shorter way, by a more direct process, may lead her to truth. To this I would appeal. Let it not be

14 Letters ox Earlt Educatiois^, II

concealed from lier, that her duties are both easy and difficult; but I hope there is no mother who has not found the highest reward in overcoming impediments in such a cause: and the whole of her duties will gradually open before her, if she will but dwell upon that simple, yet awful and elevating idea, " My children are born for eternity, and confided expressly to me, that I may educate them for being children of God/'

" Mother!" I would say to her, " responsible mother I look around thee! what diversity of pursuits, what variety of calling! some agitated in the turmoil of a restless life; others courting repose in the bosom of retirement. Of all the different actors that surround thee, whose vocation appears most sacred, most solemn, most holy? ' Doubtless his,' thou art ready to exclaim, ' whose life is dedicated to the spiritual elevation of human nature. How happy must he be, whose calling it is to lead others to happiness, and happiness everlasting.' Well! happy mother! his calling is thine. Shrink not at the idea, — tremble not at the comparison. Think not I arrogate for thee a station beyond thy deserts, — fear not lest temptations to vanity lie hid in my suggestion, — but raise thy heart in gratitude to Him who has entrusted thee with so high a province, — try to render thyself worthy of the confidence reposed in thee. Talk not of deficiencies in thy knowledge, —

The Mothek as a Teachee 15

love shall supply them ; — of limitations in thy means, — Providence shall enlarge them; — of weakness in thy energies ; — the Spirit of Power himself shall strengthen tliem: — look to that Spirit for all that thou dost want, and especially for those two grand, pre-eminent requisites, courage and humility. ^^

LETTER III October 7, 1818

My dear Greayes,

Every mother who is^aware of the importance of her task, will, I presume, be ready to devote to it all her zeal. She will think it indispensable to attain a clear view of the end for which she is to educate her children.

I have pointed out this end in my last letter. But much remains to be said on the means to be employed in the first stage of education.

A child is a being endowed with all the faculties of human nature, but none of them developed: a bud not yet opened. AYhen the bud uncloses, every one of the leaves unfolds, not one remains behind. Such must be the process of education.

'No faculty in human nature but must be treated with the same attention ; for their co-agency alone can ensure their success.

But how shall the mother learn to distinguish and to direct each faculty, before it appears in a state of development sufficient to give a token of its own existence?

Deyelopmekt of the Child's Faculties 17

Xot indeed from books, but from actual observation.

I would ask every mother who has observed her child with no other end but merely to watch over its safety, whether she has not remarked, even in the first era of life, the progressive advancement of the faculties?

The first exertions of the child, attended with some pain, have yet enough of pleasure to induce a repetition gradually increasing in frequency and power ; and when their first efforts, blind efforts as it were, are once over, the little hand begins to play its more perfect part. From the first movement of this hand, from the first grasp which avails itself of a plaything, how infinite is the series of actions of which it will be the instrument! not only employing itself in everything connected with the habits and comforts of life, but astonishing the world, perhaps, with some masterpiece of art, or seizing ere they escape the fleeting inspirations of genius and handing them down to the admiration of posterity.

The first exertion of this little hand then opens an immense field to a faculty which now begins to manifest itself.

In the next place the attention of the child is now visibly excited and fixed by a great variety of external impressions: the eye and the ear are attracted wherever a lively color, or a rousing animating sound, may strike them, and they turn, as if to inquire the

18 Letters on Early Education, III

cause of that sudden impression. A'ery soon the features of the child, and its redoubled attention, will betray the pleasure with which the senses are affected by the brilliant colors of a flower, or the pleasing sounds of music. Apparently the first traces are now making of that mental activity which will hereafter employ itself in the numberless observations and combinations of events, or in the search of their hidden causes, and which will be accessable to all the pleasing or painful sensations which life in its various shapes may excite, j

Every mother will recollect the delight of her feelings on the first tokens of her infant's consciousness and rationality ; indeed maternal love knows not a higher joy than that arising from those interesting indications. Trifling to another, to her they are of infinite value. To her they reveal an eventful futurity; they tell her the important story, that a spiritual being, dearer to her than life, is opening as it were the eye of intelligence and saying in its silent, but tender and expressive language, " I am born for immortality."

But the last and highest joy, the triumph of maternal love, remains yet to be spoken of. It is the look of the child to the eye of the mother — that look so full of love, so full of hearty which speaks most emphatically [I of its elevation in the scale of being. It is now a subject for the best gift bestowed on human nature. The voice of conscience will speak within its breast;

The Birth of Co:n^sciexce 19

religion will assist its trembling steps and raise its eye to Heaven. With these convictions the heart of the mother expands with delight and solicitnde: she again hails in her offspring not merely the citizen of earth: " Thou art born," she cries, "for immortality and an immortality of happiness : such is the promise of thy heaven-derived faculties; such shall be the consummation of thy Heavenly Father's love."

These then are the first traces of human nature unfolding in the infantine state. The philosopher may take them as facts constituting an object of 'study : he may use them as the basis of a system ; but they are originally designed for the mother, — they are a hint from above, intended at once as her blessing and encouragement :

"For all her sorrows, all her cares, An over-payment of delight ! "

LETTEE IV

October 18, 1818.

My Dear Greaves,

When a mother has observed in her child the first traces of development, new questions suggests themselves: — How sJiall these expanding faculties be directed f Which' of them call for the most diligent attention, and which may follow their natural course without requiring any peculiar care bestowed on their growth and regulation ? Which, too, have the most important bearing on the future welfare of the child ?

The last question, I suppose, will be decided unanimously in favor of the heart. I cannot suppose that any mother is so morally and intellectually blind as consciously to decide on providing for the external and temporal benefit of her child at the expense of his inward and eternal well-being. But she may nevertheless be puzzled as to the relative importance of the faculties under her charge, and the consequent proportion of attention they separately demand.

The heart has, indeed, a pre-eminent claim on her attention. But is not the child directed and admon-

Religious Tkainii^g 21

ished by the voice of conscience within? Is he not able to decide the great question of right and wrong, merely by listening to this voice, without any particular instruction from another? And will not the time arrive when he becomes receptive of the truths of Religion, to confirm that voice within, and to give him that moral elevation, the very idea of which is at present so far beyond his reach?

It would not be difficult to answer these questions, and to put the whole subject in its true light. But I would not offer to a mother any detailed plan for her guidance, considering it as highly essential that she should feel herself untrammelled by anything like system, the principles of which, not being her own, might only prejudice and confine her opinions and practice, without convincing her of any fitness or adaptation in the given means to the end proposed. Why should her mind be merely the reflection of another's, whose views, perhaps, she can neither fathom nor appreciate? Is she not a mother? and has her Creator, in furnishing her with the springs of natural life for His children, left her unqualified for administering to that spiritual life which is the very end and essence of all being? Is her relation to humanity of so responsible a character, and shall not her intelligence and energy be concentrated in this one focus? Shall not her whole existence be absorbed in the exalted purpose.

22 Letters on Early Education, IV

the unwearying effort, to accomplish the end of her creation? Xature, benevolence, religion, all demand it! and so unanimously, as to set the question for ever at rest.

I would entreat of every mother to take a general survey of life in all its varieties of aspect : and wherever happiness presents itself, not merely in semblance but in substance, then to pause and examine, if possible, how that happiness is constituted, and whence it originates.

It is more than probable, that she will feel rather dissatisfied with the results of her first investigation ; she will find it almost impossible, amidst such distracting multiplicity of pursuits and of characters, to select any specimens on which her eye might repose as it were from the scrutinizing search, and gather light truly illustrative of the subject. She would fain withdraw her contemplations from this scene of confusion, and direct them again into their former channel, to dwell with unmingled delight on that being so dear to her affections.

But the dearer your child is to you, fond mother! the more urgently would I insist on your examining that life into which he will one day be thrown. Do you find it replete with danger? You must encompass him with a shield that shall preserve his innocence. Do you find it a maze of error? You must show him \

How Men^ gai:n^ Happiness 23

that magic clue which shall lead to the fountain of truth. Do you find it lifeless, and dead, under all its busy superficies? You must try to nourish in him that spirit of activity which shall keep his powers alive, and impel him forwards to improve, though all around him should be lost in the habitual mechanism of a stationary idleness. Again, therefore, enquire what may be the experience life can afford you? Look for a moment at those who have distinguished themselves from the rest of their species. Surely you would not wish your child to be one of the many of whom nothing can be said but that they lived and died, passing through life ingloriously, and uncharacterized by any quality, or any action than can dignify humanity. Your child can be in no class of society where the most honorable distinction is not attainable. The fertile spreading tree, however low may be the valley it grows in, is not the less welcome to the way-worn traveller who hails its luscious fruits and grateful shades.

Even among the inferior stations, you will find many who have really distinguished themselves by the industry and energy displayed in their employment, however little may be its intrinsic dignity; but their skill and perseverance have gained and secured to them the attention and perhaps respect of their neighbors and superiors.

24 Letteks on Early Educatioi^^, IV

Others will arrest your observation, placed in the more exalted ranks of society, whose amazing grasp of intelligence will appear to you as almost supernatural. You may occasionally remark it compassing extraordinary ends, with ordinary and even limited means; directing with facility the helm of national power, or over-ruling the decisions of national wisdom, or stemming the currents of national policy ; and in these, or any other varieties of its character and action, you will have to admire the triumphs of mind.

These prominent actors on the stage of life are to a great number, whose destiny seems to be in their power, objects of terror: but you will scarcely find any one disposed to withhold the tribute of admiration due to their lofty endowments. As their persons are regarded with respect^ or possibly with fmy, by others of their kind, so you will meet with many an individual who inspires his observers and acquaintances with no other sentiment than love : his natural goodness of disposition, and his unvarying kindness of attention, will never fail of producing this appropriate effect : being every man's well-wisher, he has gained the secret of access to every man's affections. •

Your own acquaintance will furnish you with the original of at least one individual in each of these three classes.

Are they all happy, or any one superlatively so?

LETTER V October 24, 1818

My dear Greaves,

I do not mean to anticipate the answer of the mother. Bnt it is highly probable that her inquiries will terminate in sad conviction that none of the individuals in question seem to be invested with that happiness, true, essential, and indisturbed, which she so ardently aspires after as the future portion of her child.

Here, then, she will sigh over the imperfections of human nature, the inconsistencies of human pursuits. Is it possible, she will exclaim, that with all this fertility of genius, all this comprehension of mind, all these charities of heart, happiness should still be unattained?

^ow this is precisely the point to which I would bring her.

" How is it possible r^ is a phrase so common with us, that we quite forget its original meaning. It is a question, but we never fail to evade its legitimate answer. It is a question to ourselves, but we consciously shrink back from the task of meeting it with a fair and open reply. Let it be otherwise in the present in-

26 Letteks on^ Early Educatioint, V

stance. Let the mother go on to examine the nature of this possibility, and she will soon be sensible of her approximation to the truth she is in search of. She must be aware that mere executive talent, however splendid; mere mental capacity, however vast; mere good nature, however diffusive, are still endowments infinitely inferior to the conditions of human happiness. And here I am about to allude to a fundamental error which prevails in education, as well as in our Judgment of men and things.

What, I would ask, can be the true, intrinsic use of the utmost possible exertions unless regulated by accuracy of ideas, elevated and universal perceptions, and, above all, under the control of and founded on the noblest sentiments of the heart, a firm and steady will? And again, I ask, what can be the real use and merit of schemes however deep or ingenious, if the energy of exertion be not equal to the boldness and skill of the conception, or even if the two powers are combined but are not working for an end worthy of themselves and propitious to humanity? It is obvious then, that a mere cultivation of the talents of our animal and intellectual nature will be found absolutely inefficient as a substitute for the heart.

This, then, will appear to be the true basis of human happiness. But I must even here warn you'against a possible mistake, by pointing out the features of a

The True Standard of Activity character likely to mislead you, and which is so often met with in our passage through life that none of us shall dispute the existence of an original. I refer to one whose mind is pregnant with good intentions, his heart overflowing with amiable dispositions, and his zeal ever ready to patronize and promote any worthy enterprize that has for its object the benefit of society. I need not name to you all the admirable points of such a character ; so much kindness, benevolence, and warmth, cannot fail of seeming to you irresistibly attractive. And yet it is a fact, but too often confirmed by experience, that all this constellation of excellencies may glow and sparkle in vain ; that such a temperament, however finely constituted, may yet live and move to little purpose in reference to others, and to itself fail of securing that happiness which is asserted to be the inseparable concomitant of virtue.

The reason is evident : the heart, the grand wheel in the human mechanism, may have been long and actively at work, but for want of being connected in due time with those other powers of human nature whose co-operation is equally essential it has failed of producing that health and vitality which would otherwise have pervaded the system. The faculties of man must be so cultivated that no one shall predominate at the expence of another but each be excited to the true standard of activity; and this dandard is the spirUwd mdure of man.

28 Letters on^ Early Education, Y

And here allow me to expatiate again on the principal results of these important truths; again to touch upon them in order to the character I am addressing.

" Happy mother ! thou art delighting thyself in the first efforts of thy child and they are delightful ; muse upon them; pass them not by, — they are the gems of future action; they are all-important to thee and to him, and should furnish thee with many a long train of prolific thought.

" God has given to thy child all the faculties of our nature but the grand point remains yet undecided ! How shall this heart, this head, these hands, be employed ? to whose service shall they be dedicated? A query, the answer to which involves a futurity of happiness or unhappiness to the life so dear to thee.

" God has given thy child a spiritual nature; that is to say. He has implanted in him the voice of conscience ; and He has done more, — He has given him the faculty of attending to this voice. He has given him an eye whose natural turn is heavenward ; teaching thee, in this alone, the elevation of his destiny; and disclaiming for him all affinity to the inferior creatures whose downward looks speak as expressively of the earth whither they are tending.

" Thy child, then, was created, not for earth, but for heaven. Dost thou know the way that leads thither? Thy child would never find it, nor would any

The Spiritual Xature of Majs^ 29

other mortal be able to lead the way, if divine mercy did not reveal it to him. But it is not enough to know this way ; thy child must learn to walk in it.

" It is recorded, thou knowest, that God opened the heavens to one of the patriarchs of old, and showed him a ladder leading to their azure heights ! Well, this ladder is let down to every descendant of Abram ; it is tendered to thy child. But he must be taught to climb it. And let him take heed not to attempt it nor think to scale it by cold calculations of the head, — nor be compelled to adventure it by the mere impulse of the heart: — but let all these powers combine, and the noble enterprise will be crowned with success.

" All these powers are already bestowed on him : but thine is the province to assist in calling them forth. Let the ladder leading to heaven be constantly before thine eyes, even the ladder of Faith^ on which thou mayest behold ascending and descending the angels of Hope and Love. ' '

LETTER VI October 31, 1818

My dear Greaves,

Had I been more anxious, on some former occasions, to suit my words to the taste of the one, and to the theories of others, I might perhaps have secured the approbation of those who are at present inclined to put upon my principles a less favorable construction, or to reject them altogether. But I have not been taught to refer to systems for the proof of what experience- suggested or practice confirmed to me. If it has been my lot, as I humbly hope that it has been, to light upon truths little noticed before, and principles which, though almost generally acknowledged, were yet seldom practised, I confess that I was little qualified for that task by the precision of my philosophical notions, but supported rather by a rich stock of experience, and guided by the impulse of my heart. If, therefore, I am frequently recurring to an appeal to the feelings of a mother, you will easily conceive that, while I would court the examination of my principles by those who are qualified for it by intellectual superi-

Faith and Love in^ the Infai^t 31

ority, I would yet look for sympathy chiefly to those whose exertions are kindred to mine, — being sprung from the same feelings, and directed to the same end.

Let me then proceed to lay before you my views, not indeed with the elaborate accuracy that might satisfy the criticism of a stranger, but with the warmth that may speak to the heart of a friend.

I would, in the first place, direct your attention to the existence and the early manifestation of a spiritual principle, even in the infant mind. I would put it in the strongest light, that there is in the child an active power of faith and love : the two principles by which, under the divine guidance, our nature is made to participate in the highest blessings that are in»store for us. And this power is not in the infant mind, as other faculties are, in a dormant state. While all other faculties, whether mental or physical, present the image of utter helplessness, of a weakness which in its first attempts at exertion only leads to pain and disappointment, that same power of faith and love displays an energy, an intensity, which is never surpassed by its most successful efforts when in full growth.

1 am fully aware that what I have called just now a principle of faith and love in the infant is frequently, and indeed generally, degraded by the name of a merely animal or instinctive feeling. But I confess that I look upon the instinctive agency of the infant.

32 Letters ox Early Educatiox, VI

in its first stage of existence, as the wonderful dispensation of a benign and all-wise Providence. In this wise, and, I repeat it, wonderful dispensation, we may indeed admire, with feelings of veneration, the free gift of the Creator to man — a gift which, however man may prevert it, is yet, in its primitive agency, an incalculable blessing. And if the feeling I am alluding to, be called animal, I confess that such appears to have been the intention of the Creator, that however low the first state of human existence might rank, it might yet adumbrate, in its primitive forms, the successive development of its spiritual nature.

This principle, however, for the existence of which I cofitend, is by no means absolutely ripened and purified in the child. If it were to remain among the inferior faculties it would fail of acting as a constant preservative of faith and love. It must, therefore, derive its nourishment and increase from nature; it must be cherished by the sacred power of innocence and truth. This must constitute the atmosphere in which the child is living.