Pictures-Religious instruction-Specimens of picture lessons Infant ditties-Songs on natural history--Moral lessons in verse THE INFANT SYSTEM. CHAPTER I. RETROSPECT OF MY CAREER. Days and scenes of childhood-Parental care-Power of early impressions-School experience-Commencement in business-Sundayschool teaching and its results-Experiment on a large scale-Development of plans and invention of implements-Heavy bereavement -Propagation of the system of education, in the neighbourhood of London, and ultimately in most of the principal places in England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland-Misapprehension and perversion of the principles of infant education-Signs of advancement-Hope for the future. "Be it a weakness, it deserves some praise, "What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?"Ecclesiastes i. 3. How came you to think of the Infant School system of teaching?—is a question that I have often been asked; and my friends think it advisable that it should, in part at least, be answered. I proceed therefore, in compliance with their wishes, to give some little of the required information in this place, as perhaps it may throw light upon, or explain more clearly, the fundamental principles laid down and advocated throughout this volume. In few words, then, I would reply, circumstances forced me to it. Born an only child, under peculiar circumstances, and living in an isolated neighbourhood, I had no childish companions from infancy; I was, consequently, thrown much on my own resources, and early became a thinker, and in some measure a contriver too. I beheld a beautiful world around me, full of everything to admire and to win attention. As soon as I could think at all, I saw that there must be a Maker, Governor, and Protector of this world. Such things as had life won my admiration, and thus I became very fond of animals. Flowers and fruits, stones and minerals, I also soon learned to observe and to mark their differences. This led to enquiries as to how they came-where from-who made them? My mother told me they came from God, that he made them and all things that I saw; and also that he made herself and me. From that moment I never doubted His wonderful existence. I could not, nor did I have, at that age, any correct idea of God; but I soon learned to have elevated notions of His works, and through them I was led to adore something invisible-something I was convinced of within, but could not see. My mother, to my knowledge, never deceived me, or told me an untruth: therefore, I believed her implicitly; and to this day I never doubted. So much for the implanting an early faith in the Unseen. But the beautiful world and the things in it which I saw, and with which I came in contact, Oh! how wonderful they appeared to me! They were my companions! Other children were strange to me, and they were not nigh either to help or to thwart me. My mother was my oracle during the first six years of childhood, resolving my difficulties and answering my questions. I was happy-very happy! and still look back to those days with indescribable pleasure and satisfaction. I had no tasks. I was not pestered with A. B. C., nor ab. eb. ib. From things my parents chiefly taught me my first lessons, and they have been as durable as life. For days and weeks did I study such lessons. My parents waited till I asked for information, and when it was required it was never denied. The world and the wonders in it formed as it were a heaven to me. I am told I gave but little trouble at this age. In the beautiful fields and wild coppices about Hornsey, as yet unencroached upon by suburban extension; and by the side of the then solitary banks of the New River, I was always to be found. In cold and wet weather I had a stock of similar lessons in my home. Small live animals were my constant companions; they taught me that love begets love. I did love and delight in them, and when they died I mourned their loss. Every day brought me new information, which my parents perfected. At length the alphabet was mastered, and afterwards spelling, reading, and so forth. My mind being thus previously filled with ideas, the acquirement of words and abstract terms became less irksome, and I cannot remember that thus far it cost me any trouble, much less pain. Information of every kind fit for childhood then really gave me pleasure. No doubt I am greatly indebted to my parents for their judicious management. My father always in the evening, took great pains to explain things to me; he nurtured but never crammed; he knew when to teach and when to let alone. Unfortunately, through very peculiar circumstances, I was removed from the immediate care and superintendence of both parents rather early in life; and, at an age the most dangerous, was left to grapple nearly alone with the wide world and the beings in it, with little of either parental guidance. It was then I saw the immense importance and advantage of early impressions. To me they were of incalculable benefit, and no doubt led, when I became a man, to the thoughts which ended in the development and practical working of the Infant System and method of education. Schools for infants then existed, but what were they? Simply dame-schools, with the hornbook for boys and girls, and perhaps a little sewing for the latter. Their sign was- Children taught to read and work here," and their furniture the cap and bells, the rod in pickle, and a corner for dunces. The finishing stroke was seen in the parlour of the inn, or the farm-house, in the shape of needlework as a samplar ;—"Lydia Languish, her work, done at school, in the year of our Lord, 1809." Such were the schools in country places then in existence, the little ones doing nothing. In after-life, I thought a remedy was required and might be found, and therefore set about working it out. How it was done shall be hereafter explained. me. I knew my own infant state had been a happy one, and I wondered to see children crying to go to school, when learning had been such a delight to me. But I soon ceased to wonder when I was sent there myself. At my first school I can truly say I learnt nothing, except it be that I had especially the sense of feeling. I often had raps with the cane on the head, across the shoulders, and on the hand, and I found it was mainly for not learning what the teacher had forgotten to teach The terms used were 66 master" and "mistress," and they were tolerably appropriate as far as I was concerned, for to me both became objects of terror, so much so, that for the first time in my life, I really fretted when the hour of teaching came. My parents were not long in perceiving this although I did not complain. They told me it was for my good that I should go to school, and I thoroughly believed them. Yet I could not understand why it should be associated with so much dislike and pain on my part, when my first school, the beautiful world of nature, had been so lovely, and my first teachers had always increased the delight by removing my difficulties, and this so much so that I now longed for evening to come to have fresh light and instruction given. My father now decided that I should not go to school, and he became my teacher as before, the world being my great book. I was delighted with Robinson Crusoe, and this work became my companion, and to which was added the Pilgrim's Progress. After these, my great favourite was Buffon's Natural History. I used to go alone, taking a volume at a time, to read amidst the pleasant country around, but most frequently in the quiet nooks and retreats of Hornsey Wood. It seems, however, that I was always watched and superintended by my mother during these readings and rural rambles, for whenever danger was near she generally appeared, but seldom otherwise, so that I had perfect freedom in these matters. I have every reason to believe that the first |