"It is a chestnut burr, sir," said she.
"Do you know what it is for?"
"I suppose there are chestnuts in it."
"But what is this rough p.r.i.c.kly covering for?"
Lucy did not know.
"Does any body here know?" said the master.
One of the boys said he supposed it was to hold the chestnuts together, and keep them up on the tree.
"But I heard a boy say," replied the master, "that they ought not to be made to grow so. The nut itself, he thought, ought to hang alone on the branches, without any p.r.i.c.kly covering,--just as apples do."
"But the nuts themselves have no stems to be fastened by," answered the same boy.
"That is true, but I suppose this boy thought that G.o.d could have made them grow with stems, and that this would have been better than to have them in burrs."
After a little pause the master said he would explain to them what the chestnut burr was for, and wished them all to listen attentively.
"How much of the chestnut is good to eat, William?" asked he, looking at a boy before him.
"Only the meat."
"How long does it take the meat to grow?"
"All summer I suppose, it is growing."
"Yes; it begins early in the summer and gradually swells and grows until it has become of full size and is ripe, in the fall. Now suppose there was a tree out here near the school-house, and the chestnut meats should grow upon it without any sh.e.l.l or covering, suppose too that they should taste like good ripe chestnuts at first, when they were very small. Do you think they would be safe?"
William said, "No! the boys would pick and eat them before they had time to grow."
"Well, what harm would there be in that; would it not be as well to have the chestnuts early in the summer, as to have them in the fall?"
William hesitated. Another boy who sat next to him said,
"There would not be so much meat in the chestnuts, if they were eaten before they had time to grow."
"Right," said the master, "but would not the boys know this, and so all agree to let the little chestnuts stay, and not eat them while they were small?"
William said he thought they would not. If the chestnuts were good, he was afraid they would pick them off and eat them, if they were small.
All the rest of the boys in the school thought so too.
"Here then," said the master, "is one reason for having p.r.i.c.kles around the chestnuts when they are small. But then it is not necessary to have all chestnuts guarded from boys in this way; a great many of the trees are in the woods, which the boys do not see; what good do the burrs do in these trees?"
The boys hesitated. Presently the boy who had the green satchel under the tree with Roger, who was sitting in one corner of the room, said,
"I should think they would keep the squirrels from eating them."
"And besides," continued he after thinking a moment, "I should suppose if the meat of the chestnut had no covering, the rain might wet it and make it rot, or the sun might dry and wither it."
"Yes," said the master, "these are very good reasons why the nut should be carefully guarded. First the meats are packed away in a hard brown sh.e.l.l, which the water cannot get through; this keeps it dry, and away from dust, and other things which might injure it. Then several nuts thus protected grow closely together inside this green p.r.i.c.kly covering; which spreads over them and guards them from the larger animals and the boys. Where the chestnut gets its full growth and is ripe, this covering you know splits open, and the nuts drop out, and then any body can get them and eat them."
The boys were then all satisfied that it was better that chestnuts should grow in burrs.
"But why," asked one of the boys, "do not apples grow so?"
"Can any body answer that question," asked the master.
The boy with the green satchel said that apples had a smooth, tight skin, which kept out the wet, but he did not see how they were guarded from animals.
The master said is was by their taste. "They are hard and sour before they are full grown, and so the taste is not pleasant, and n.o.body wants to eat them,--except sometimes a few foolish boys, and these are punished by being made sick. When the apples are full grown they change from sour to sweet, and become mellow; then they can be eaten. Can you tell me of any other fruits which are preserved in this way?"
One boy answered, "Strawberries and blackberries," and another said, "Peaches and pears."
Another boy asked why the peach-stone was not outside the peach, so as to keep it from being eaten. But the master said he would explain this another time. Then he dismissed the scholars, after asking Roger to wait until the rest had gone, as he wished to see him alone.
11. THE SERIES OF WRITING LESSONS. c.[F] Very many pupils soon become weary of the dull and monotonous business of writing, unless some plans are devised, to give interest and variety to the exercise, and on this account, this branch of education, in which improvement may be most rapid, is often the last and most tedious to be acquired.
[Footnote F: The articles to which this letter is prefixed were communicated for the work, by different teachers at the request of the author.]
A teacher, by adopting the following plan, succeeded in awakening a great degree of interest in this subject, and consequently, of promoting rapid improvement. The plan was this; he prepared, on a large sheet of paper, a series of lessons in coa.r.s.e hand, beginning with straight lines, and proceeding to the elementary parts of the various letters, and finally to the letters themselves. This paper was posted up in a part of the room accessible to all.
The writing-books were made of three sheets of fool"s-cap paper, folded into a convenient size, which was to be ruled by each pupil; for it was thought important that each one should learn this art. Every pupil in school then, being furnished with one of these writing books, was required to commence this series, and to practice each lesson until he could write it well; then, and not till then, he was permitted to pa.s.s to the next. A few brief directions were given under each lesson, on the large sheet. For example, under the line of straight marks, which const.i.tuted the first lesson, was written as follows:
_Straight, equidistant, parallel, smooth, well terminated_
These directions were to call the attention of the pupil to the excellences which he must aim at, and when he supposed he had secured them, his book was to be presented to the teacher for examination. If approved the word _Pa.s.sed_, or afterwards simply _P._ was written under the line, and he could then proceed to the next lesson. Other requisites were necessary besides the correct formation of the letters, to enable one to pa.s.s; for example, the page must not be soiled or blotted, no paper must be wasted, and, in no case, a leaf torn out. As soon as _one line_ was written in the manner required, the scholar was allowed to pa.s.s; in a majority of cases however, not less than a page would be practised, and in many instances a sheet would be covered, before one line could be produced which would be approved.
One peculiar excellency of this method was, that although the whole school were working under a regular and systematic plan, individuals could go on independently; that is, the progress of no scholar was r.e.t.a.r.ded by that of his companion; the one more advanced, might easily pa.s.s the earlier lessons in few days, while the others would require weeks of practice to acquire the same degree of skill.
During the writing hour, the scholars would practice, each at the lesson where he left off before, and at a particular time, each day, the books were brought from the regular place of deposit, and laid before the teacher for examination. Without some arrangement for an examination of all the books together, the teacher would be liable to interruption at any time, from individual questions and requests, which would consume much time, and benefit only a few.
When a page of writing could not pa.s.s, a brief remark, calling the attention of the pupil to the faults which prevented it, was sometimes made in pencil at the bottom of the page. In other cases, the fault was of such a character as to require full and minute oral directions to the pupil. At last, to facilitate the criticism of the writing, a set of arbitrary marks; indicative of the various faults, was devised, and applied, as occasion might require, to the writing books, by means of red ink.
These marks, which were very simple in their character, were easily remembered, for there was generally some connexion between the sign and the thing signified. For example; the mark denoting that letters were too short, was simply lengthening them in red ink. A faulty curve was denoted, by making a new curve over the old one, &c. The following are the princ.i.p.al criticisms and directions for which marks were contrived.
Strokes rough.
Curve wrong.
Bad termination.
Too slanting, and the reverse.
Too broad, and the reverse.
Not parallel.
Form of the letter bad.
Large stroke made too fine, and the reverse.