Another World Part 22

TREE-EARTH BATHS.

Where a boy's aversion to study arises from physical weakness, we do not urge him to persevere any more than we urge him against his inclination to leap from a high rock; but, on the contrary, when a boy's bodily strength fails him, and more especially in a case of superior intelligence, his studies are suspended until the weakness is remedied.

Were the boy forced to persevere, he would probably suffer both in body and mind. He is merely placed in a separate department of the college--a kind of infirmary for strengthening the young, and promoting their healthy development.

For giving the desired strength we most commonly employ "Tree-earth Baths,"--that is to say, baths of fresh earth taken from beneath the roots of certain trees, in which the boy is as it were buried, every part of his body being covered, with the exception of his head. This earth bath is placed in another bath containing hot water. The effect of this operation in renewing the boy's strength and repairing the waste of his body is marvellous.

When removed from the bath the boy is washed with tepid water, mixed with a solution of bark, and on the following day a cold _douche_ is administered. The bath, in which the boy is kept for about an hour, is administered at intervals of about ten days, and is so efficacious that not more than twelve are required for the worst cases.

Previously to being immersed the boy is made to walk sharply for half an hour, and, while he is in the bath, warm liquid food is administered.

The pores being opened facilitate the reception of the fresh exhalations from the earth and the expulsion of the impure gases from the body. The boy often sleeps whilst thus immersed, as it is considered highly beneficial to inhale the fresh fragrance of the earth.

The electricities proper to the earth and trees being very sympathetic to the human frame, they readily mingle with the electricity of the patient and a.s.sist in repelling the unhealthy gases and impurities in his body.

Earth electricity is of itself most beneficial, but its curative and invigorating effects are vastly increased when impregnated with tree electricity, which is strongest about the roots.

There are men whose sole occupation it is to collect the tree-earth, and who become skilful in digging and removing the soil from underneath the roots, without in the slightest degree injuring the tree.

The earth under many trees is good for the purpose above described, but that about the roots of the oak, especially when of a ripe middle age, is exceptionally efficacious.

The roots of another tree that you have, viz., the weeping willow, offers a good earth for girls and also for boys of a susceptible nature, for whom the oak-root earth might be too strong.

The elm, horse-chestnut, and lime-earths are all more powerful than that of the oak, and therefore are rarely used, for their exceeding strength would overpower the natural electricity and leave a la.s.situde in the patient. The tree-earth baths are rarely used for adults, except in cases when, earlier in my reign, the mental powers of several persons had been overtaxed at the expense of their physical strength.

x.x.xIV.

THE AMUs.e.m.e.nT GALLERY.

"The simplest electricities are often meet to discover the most precious."

The Amus.e.m.e.nt Gallery const.i.tutes an interesting feature in the child's education, and so admirable have been its results, that the opening of the first inst.i.tution of the kind--recorded, as I have said, in one of the great pictures in my summer palace--is regarded as a memorable event, and is celebrated by the people in a yearly festival.

In a very long gallery, attached to each college, is a collection of instructive toys adapted to all ages and dispositions. Amongst these are harps and other musical instruments, made on a small scale to suit the capacity of children, materials for drawing, painting, modelling, and sculpture; maps, in relief, of cities and other parts of our world, and all kinds of small birds and dwarf animals. I should not omit to state that we have living horses and deer _in miniature_: they are about the size of an ordinary lap-dog, though in many other respects resembling the larger species. These with their little clothes and harness are placed in the gallery, which likewise contains fresh fruit and flowers, indeed almost everything that can be imagined for the recreation and enjoyment of the child.

In the Girls' Amus.e.m.e.nt Gallery there are various kinds of fancy-work, lace-work, and basket-work. Our basket-work is very beautiful, the baskets being elegant in form and elaborately painted. Indeed, elegance of form and harmony of colour are studied in all the objects selected.

Boys, being trained by manly recreations, necessarily have their Amus.e.m.e.nt Gallery separate from that of the girls, though many of the more elegant and refined amus.e.m.e.nts are to be found in both. The girls attend their gallery, whatever may be their age, until they leave school. On the other hand, the boy ceases to attend when the Character divers and Judges think his attendance no longer desirable.

At each of the stalls in the gallery is stationed an intelligent person skilled in some particular art. Of these some play on musical instruments, some paint or model, others give oral instruction, according to the nature of the compartment or the wishes of the child.

There are also "Walkers," who perambulate the gallery, encouraging the child to amuse herself with what she likes, explaining the use of different objects, answering the young inquirer's questions, and noting in her any particular qualities or peculiarities. The results of these observations are drawn up in the shape of reports for the use of the Judges.

No restraint is put upon the children when in the gallery, but they are allowed freely to follow the bent of their own inclinations. I have often observed some of these little creatures ardent for amus.e.m.e.nt responding to their own predilections; others taking interest in frivolous things; others, again, listless, and interesting themselves in nothing. Whilst many would examine with breathless attention, others would ask questions, more or less intelligent, of the persons at the head of each stall.

I have seen some children with an engrossing taste for painting, music, and sculpture, who would rush straight to their favourite pursuit, without being diverted by anything else, and who, if they found the desired place already taken, would show disappointment, and perhaps refuse any other occupation. Many, on the other hand, as soon as they entered the gallery, would simply play with the little animals and birds, or perhaps do nothing but eat fruit till the last minute, when the bell announced that the time allotted for recreation was ended.

Some would do nothing but talk, and, in their simplicity, would find fault with everything, after the too frequent fas.h.i.+on of adults, either imagining they could do most things better than the rest, or depreciating pursuits which they knew were beyond their ability.

Natures of this kind, where vanity is so predominant, require the greatest care, for the failing is difficult to eradicate and would, if not cured, be a source of great unhappiness in after life. To prevent such a result, generally, means are taken to refine the taste of the patient (if I may use the word), and call out the quality most opposed to the infirmity, viz., that of looking out for beauties instead of defects.

I have seen a little one change her amus.e.m.e.nts several times during the hour. When a child, particularly a girl, continues to do this during many weeks, it is regarded as a sign that if the disposition be not checked she will grow up a capricious woman, and a treatment is therefore adopted to stop the growth of the infirmity. Many a girl, who would otherwise have proved a misery to herself and to others, has, by the precautions taken, become a reasonable and meritorious woman.

However, children of a capricious temperament, even when seemingly cured, require constant watching during some time, since they are very p.r.o.ne to return to their old inclination for incessant change.

Versatility, it should be understood, is not confounded with caprice, the difference between them being easily detected by the Character divers. I have seen children show a love for seven or eight different things and go from one thing to another, not from caprice, but to satisfy the natural yearnings of their genius. I recollect a girl, and she was but one amongst many, whose versatility was marvellous. One day music would occupy her, and, although untaught, she would give promise of becoming a brilliant performer; another day she would commence sculpture, and at once go readily to work. She first made a ball with the plaster, and then, on the second or third attempt, she would execute something really well. So was it with painting and other arts. This love of variety would formerly have been called caprice, and strenuous efforts would have been made in a wrong direction to the discouragement, perhaps to the ruin of the pupil; but I acted on a contrary principle, knowing, as I did, that in giving varied talents Providence intended that they should be exercised, and that, therefore, it would not be decorous "to care for one part of the garden, and leave the others overgrown with weeds." The girl was treated in accordance with this view, and taking the highest honours and position, became a very remarkable woman.

Judges are not expected to form an estimate of the child's character until a certain time has elapsed and the reports of the different officers have been examined and compared. Their decisions are then registered, to be again examined and compared with subsequent reports.

The results obtained through the medium of the Amus.e.m.e.nt Gallery greatly aids the Character-divers and others occupied with education, in rightly directing the child's steps. The imposition of useless tasks, fatiguing to the children and perhaps injurious to the young intelligence, is thus avoided.

x.x.xV.

PRAYER.

"Forget not the source whence all blessings come."

While stating that the prayers said by girls after their early meal are short, I ought to have added that the same rule is followed with regard to children of both s.e.xes.

We even vary our forms of wors.h.i.+p and services to suit different ages.

Before my reign adults and children went to the same places of wors.h.i.+p, repeated the same prayers, and listened to the same discourses, most of which being perfectly unintelligible to those of tender years, the evils and inconveniences resulting from the practice were very great. The children, finding the routine irksome, the constrained decorum required of them during a time which seemed to them never ending (for the services were then very long) was painful in the extreme, though they were sometimes relieved by turning their thoughts in other directions, perhaps to subjects irrelevant if not opposed to the ostensible object of the meeting.

Thus pain and weariness became then and in after life naturally a.s.sociated with the most sacred of duties, and generally those, who at an early age had been obliged to attend most regularly to an unintelligible and irksome routine, were in after life those who absented themselves most frequently from the place of wors.h.i.+p. I have known some, and this will scarcely be credited, who from an early age had in obedience to their parents' commands attended church with what was to them painful and monotonous regularity, and who, as soon as they were old enough to leave the parental jurisdiction, never entered a place of wors.h.i.+p again until the day of their death, so great had been their stifled repugnance, created by the unnatural surfeit which had been inflicted upon them.

This was not all: the repugnance thus engendered often extended even to the faith itself which the prayers and discourses had been intended to inculcate, and led the way in after life to doubt and disbelief.

There was another though a secondary evil, attendant upon these old formalities. In our climate, where children are very susceptible, it happened that when on rare occasions any striking observation attracted their attention, they would put questions very difficult for their parents or preceptors to answer.

The forms of wors.h.i.+p and service are now adapted to three several ages and cla.s.ses of intelligence. The first series is for children of from seven to ten years of age, the second for children from ten to sixteen, the third for adults. If the children, however, show any deficiency of intelligence, they are kept in the first or second series, though the stated age has been pa.s.sed.

The discourses addressed to the young people are adapted to their age and intelligence, and ordinarily bear reference to their own pa.s.sing actions, and consequently to their hours of play and of study. They are intended to inculcate lessons of self-control, love for parents or a.s.sociates, contentment, and the mode of showing grat.i.tude for benefits received, by cultivating the faculties which G.o.d in His goodness has bestowed. The discourse often points out the mode of contending against any bad feelings that might possibly be awakened. They might be told, for instance, that if during play any dissatisfaction with their companions arose, and they felt they could not control themselves, they ought immediately to retire from the game, in order that their feelings might have the opportunity of returning to their proper channel, and on no account to urge anything against the supposed offender until they had advised with some friendly adult, or more especially a Character-diver.

The children are encouraged not only in their affection to their parents and immediate a.s.sociates, but in brotherly love to all, and the whole discourse, which is very short, is pointed to their duty to G.o.d, being calculated to instil feelings of love and adoration for His goodness.

In the first series, for very young children whose intelligence is undeveloped, we have forms and ceremonies, the tendency of which is to fix their attention and inculcate thoughts and habits of a good tendency.

In the second series the addresses are of a more elevated character, and are accompanied by fewer forms and ceremonies.