Fives

“ When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three,
I was hardly Me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five,
I was just alive.
But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever. ”

“ The budding vanity of the young student has delighted in “explaining things” to the slim maiden of fourteen who believes all his words and worships all his ideas, the struggling, striving, hardworking beginner has found comfort in the unfailing friendship and devotion of the accomplished young woman whom he still thinks of as a child, and treats as a sister, not realising that the difference between fourteen and seven is one thing, while that between five or six and twenty, and eighteen or nineteen is quite another. ”

“ As you will see, the baby has three inches of physical, three inches of feeling and but one-fourth of an inch of intellect. This makes six inches of physical and feeling pitted against one-fourth of an inch of intellect. The child of six years has six inches of physical and feeling and one-half an inch of intellect. The child of fourteen has six inches of physical and feeling and but one inch of intellect. Even at eighteen the proportion is six inches of physical and feeling and but two inches of intellect. ”

“ Why, yes, you see, then the strongest and best fellows were in the sixth, and the fifth-form fellows were afraid of them, and they kept good order; but now our sixth-form fellows are too small, and the fifth don't care for them, and do what they like in the house. ”

“ He was showing qualities which could not fail, when he grew up, to be of value to the nation. Loyalty, musical genius, determination, patience, industry—never before have these qualities been so finely united in a child of six. Was I to say a single word to disturb the delicate balance of such a boy's mind? At six one is extraordinarily susceptible to outside influence. ”

“ From a five-year-old child to my present self there is only one step. From a new-born infant to a five-year-old child there is an awesome distance. From the germ to the infant an unfathomable distance. ”

“ At fourteen I was as ungainly a lad, with as helpless a sprawl of legs and arms and as staring and shamefaced a surprise at my suddenly realised height of growth, when jostled by a girl or a younger lad, and utter discomfiture before an unexpected deepness of tone when essaying a polite response to an inquiry of his elders, as was ever seen in England. ”

“ Then the mother said, ‘Little Three-eyes, do you climb up; you with your three eyes can see round better than Little One-eye.’ So Little One-eye slid down, and Little Three-eyes climbed up; but she was not any more successful; look round as she might, the golden apples bent themselves back. ”

“ The first appearance before our assembled disciples was formidable. There they were, in full array, every eye fixed in curious and significant inquiry. Most of them were entire strangers. We were known to be young, and would be considered, even by close observers, younger than we were. ”

“ I have an industrious and neat companion, and four dear children—the oldest a girl of nine years, and three fine boys, the oldest eight, the next six, and the youngest four years old. The three oldest are now going regularly to school—two can read and write, and the other can spell, with tolerable correctness, words of two syllables. ”

“ Parts of the body which are double (ears, eyes, hands, arms, shoulders, knees, etc.) , when mentioned in reference to the two ears, eyes, etc. of the same person, are expressed by a compound with the numeral deu, two, prefixed to the singular. The Welsh and Breton grammarians call this a dual. When eyes, ears, etc. are mentioned as belonging to more than one person, the plural is formed in one of the usual ways. ”

“ They raise the hand till the tips of the fingers are on a level with their eyes, then they flutter them backwards and forwards, seeming to invite approach rather than to give an ordinary salutation; and their bright, beaming eyes add to the illusion. ”

“ You cannot settle that matter for yourself, but you can stand up straight, and give your five feet five its—full value. You can help along a little by wearing high-heeled shoes. So you can do something to encourage yourself in serenity of aspect and demeanor, keeping your infirmities and troubles in the background instead of making them the staple of your conversation. This piece of advice, if followed, may be worth from three to five years of the fourscore which you hope to attain. ”

“ I wish to testify to the value of your lecture to boys from 12 to 16 years of age. You have touched a vital subject in a most original way that impresses every boy that hears you. You lead up to your "Secret of Manhood" in a manner that holds the attention, impresses the truth you want to teach, so that it is sure to be of lasting good. ”

“ The boy noticed in an instant that he had turned red, whereupon he turned red himself and pupil and master exchanged a longish glance in which there was a consciousness of many more things than are usually touched upon, even tacitly, in such a relation. ”

“ On both sides we see the disciples in four groups of three each. If we study any one of these groups we will find it complete in itself, yet all four groups are held together by the expression on the faces and especially by the position of the hands. So wonderfully have the hands been painted that some critics have spoken of this picture as “a study of hands.” ”

“ A pupil ofttimes will not fit into a group of his or her own age; physiologically, they may be a year or two in advance of the rest of the class, and are mingling through the week with an older group. ”

“ If there be a greater number of children a longer verse is used; but generally the number of words is greater than the number of children, so that the leader begins the round of the group a second time, giving to each child one word of the doggerel. ”

“ If she is settled between three and five he goes to a first-class heaven, if between five and eight to a second class, eight and eleven to a third class—after that to hells, only to hells! For herself she is content with the most detailed and minute table of procedure, nor questions how it was made. She knows far better than any man the difference between +A and −A. She will tell you also quaint exceptions to the God-rules. ”

“ The first age is infancy, the second boyhood, the third youth, the fourth adult age, the fifth manhood, the sixth fulness of years, the seventh old age. Thus we have the infant, the boy, the youth, the young man, the man, the elder, the aged. ”

“ The communicants gather round—old and young, poor and better off. Boys are there of eleven or twelve years of age, and one little girl about eight, two or three of the small maid-of-all-work type, making the number of the young an unusual and interesting feature. ”

“ The child Margaret begins to write numbers on a Saturday morning, the first numbers formed under her wishing child fingers. All the numbers come well-born, shaped in figures assertive for a frieze in a child's room. ”

“ Or the associations may all be required from the pupil. The words used as starters should be carefully chosen, of course, to meet the mental condition of the pupil; such words as Baby, Doll, Mamma, Bed, House, etc., being good for children of tender years.
[83]
Another excellent exercise is that of “Contrasts or Differences,” where the teacher says, “Boy,” and the pupil responds, “Girl.” “Black” calls forth “white,” “heavy” is responded to by “light,” etc.
Equally good is “Finishing Quotations” or “lines”—provided, of course, the pupil is old enough for such a mental exercise. ”

“ The two relations of fatherhood and sonship appear in considering the same two beings according as we regard one with reference to the other or the second with reference to the first. The embodiment of the scale from the point of view of which we consider another we shall here call the referred scale, the embodiment with regard to which we consider it the scale of reference. ”

“ Personally I have found it not only possible, but by a curious and entirely fortuitous combination of circumstances almost affectionately unavoidable, to hold three, four—even as many as five and six—women in regard or the emotional compass of myself, at one and the same time, not all to the same degree, perhaps, or in the same way, but each for certain qualities which the others do not possess. ”

“ Like gravitation, love draws all things. Our young man would have to be five feet eleven, or six feet, broad shoulders, light brown hair, deep eyes, soft and suggestive, broad shoulders, a thin neck, long delicate hands, a high instep. ”

“ At the word 'stand' the child in the centre rises to her feet, and when the rhyme [74] is ended she chooses a child to take her place in the centre and returns to the ring. All the children stand still while the choice is being made. ”

“ Yes, Miss Cecilia, these scales are the most necessary point of all, not only for beginners, but even for pupils who are much advanced; and, indeed, the most expert players do and must constantly have recourse to and practise them. ”

“ When a child was born they put its head between two boards, so that at the age of four or five, the head was long and broad, but flat behind. Not content with the heads that God gives them, they thus make them into the shapes that please them most. ”

“ Young men take the hands of girls from six to thirteen years old, kiss them, press them, and play with them so as, in a great variety of ways, to excite their innocent passions, combined, I grant, with friendship and refinement—for all this is genteely done. ”

“ The elder boy was enjoying a lump of putty as big as his head, and the younger, having lately removed the pendulum from the eight-day clock, was gazing fascinated at the venerable thing's crazy performance. ”

“ Make believe that you are the messenger from Ceres. Make the deep bow that he made when he saw the king. Tell the king what is happening on the earth. Give him the message from Ceres.
3. You and two classmates should now play the story. Would it be a good plan to have some one play the dog?
Group Exercise. 1. Now three other pupils [67] should play the story, and then three others. Each group will try to show the class exactly how everything happened [Pg 150] in the story. Each player will try to look and act and speak exactly as he thinks the person in the story did. ”

“ Such words as fourth and eighth can have no meaning for a child who shows no consciousness of difference when shown six, seven or eight objects. At the age of three, an average child recognizes three objects, but when a fourth is added, he proceeds to count one by one, he does not recognize three plus one. ”

“ Three, or the triad, is the image of the attributes of God.191 Four, or the tetrad, is the most perfect of numbers and the root of all things. It is holy by nature. Five, or the pentad, is everything; it stops the power of poisons, and is dreaded by evil spirits. ”

“ She advanced, and the conversation was again interrupted. Nothing more was said during the rest of the quadrille; both were absorbed in their own thoughts.
He led her to a seat, and took another beside her. ”

“ Until now I have been a raw hand, stopping to adjust the harness, talking about what I meant to do, studying the guide books, getting the stiff wagon greased, laying in provisions, fussing around one way and another trying to find out where I wanted to go, and why I wanted to go there, and how to get there when I started.
At fifty a man should feel younger and stronger and more fit than he ever felt before. ”

“ Seven and nine are important numbers in transformation. When seven girls are born of one marriage, one is [Pg 7] thought to turn into a wer-wolf and the seventh child of the seventh child is predestined to the same fate. The spell is said to last nine days. ”

“ The girls of the third class, all of whom could [63] write their ages with two figures, felt themselves very superior and grown-up in comparison with the little ones in the Kindergarten. There were seven of these children, whose ages ranged from six to nine, and as they shared the playroom with the third form it was the fashion to pet them and take notice of them. ”

“ She tried shutting her eyes and saying, "One, two, three, four—I'll count twenty and then I'll open them, and please, will you let the rain stop by then, please, because it's too terribly important, you know why." Yes, she counted twenty; quickly up to twelve, and then more slowly to fifteen, and then sixteen . ”

“ In the fourth grade of a certain elementary school of a Western city there are three backward boys who have been in this grade for two years, though they are bright enough in the things of the street. ”

“ The first one came probably at twelve, if we may trust our statistics; the second stronger, at fourteen, and then the third—perhaps a good many don't feel the first one or second—the third perhaps at sixteen. The one which comes over him at sixteen will affect heart and intellect and will, and everything, and he will stay converted probably. ”

“ If the age standard be used, it would be preferable to group all the boys of twelve years together, then the thirteen-year-old boys in another group, and the same with the fourteen, the fifteen, the sixteen, and the seventeen-year-old boys. ”

“ I obtain my boys as soon as they are eleven, by which age they have been made fairly familiar at my school with the old notation on the movable do plan. Theoretical instruction is continued side by side with special voice-training exercises. ”

“ He does not tell us which is the true one, and in this he is wise. But if he is to have more than one, why limit the number to three? Our Heavenly Father has given His sons more than three rings, and they are not able to discern which is the original, the true ring. ”

“ The good lady taught in the Sunday school a class of boys who were from seven to ten years of age, and although they were possessed of irrepressible juvenile energy, and occasionally, to her distress, seemed to be irreverent ”