But the special cases which
justify parents in sending young children to boarding schools are
numerous, now that established home life is growing more rare, and
they have to be counted with in any large school. It can only be said
that the yoke ought to be made as light as possible--short lessons,
long sleep, very short intervals of real application of mind, as much
open air as possible, bright rooms, and a mental atmosphere that tends
to calm rather than to excite them. They should be saved from the
petting of the elder girls, in whom this apparent kindness is often a
selfish pleasure, bad on both sides.
For older children the difficulties are not quite the same, and
instead of forcing them on too fast, school life may even keep them
back. When children are assembled together in considerable numbers the
intellectual level is that of the middle class of mind and does not
favour the best, the outlook and conversation are those of the
average, the language and vocabulary are on the same level, with a
tendency to sink rather than to rise, and though emulation may urge on
the leading spirits and keep them at racing speed, this does not
quicken the interest in knowledge for its own sake, and the work is
apt to slacken when the stimulus is withdrawn.
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