When I say the youngest class, it is not with reference to the age of
the pupils, but to the recent period of their admission, for some of
them were as old in years as in the first class, while others were very
young; one of them, a very pretty little Jewish girl with sparkling
intelligent eyes, was indeed a mere child. We had on Sunday seen this
little girl being taught her lesson, which consisted of the simple
words, "I must be kind," and it was very pretty to see the way in which
the notion of kindness was conveyed by signs. This morning she was
writing this on the slate, and she afterwards wrote in a very neat
handwriting a number of short words--cat, dog, horse, &c.--which were
dictated to her by signs which were of so simple a nature that we could
understand many of them; a goat, for example, was represented by the
fingers being stuck on each side of the head as horns, and then by the
man drawing his hand down from his chin to indicate the beard. They thus
became acquainted by signs with almost every object in the first
instance, and are led on by degrees to complex ideas of every kind. Dr.
Stone says that the use of signs is known in England, but he believes is
never practised to any extent, and certainly not in giving religious
instruction. No attempt is made here, as in England, to teach them to
articulate, as he considered the attempt to do this to be a great
mistake, it being a painful effort to the child, which never leads to
any good practical result.
Pages:
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179