 "Schoolhouse in Winter," Maud Lewis “I think we make a mistake in burying the text under our endless comments and applications.” * “Here is an example of how such knowledge grows. I heard a class of girls aged about thirteen read an essay on George Herbert. Three or four of his poems were included, and none of the girls had read either essay or poems before. They 'narrated' what they had read and in the course of their narration gave a full paraphrase of The Elixir, The Pulley, and one or two other poems. No point made by the poet was omitted and his exact words were used pretty freely. The teacher made comments upon one or two unusual words and that was all; to explain or enforce (otherwise than by a reverently sympathetic manner, the glance and words that showed that she too, cared), would have been impertinent. It is an interesting thing that hundreds of children of this age in Secondary and Elementary Schools and in families scattered over the world read and narrated the same essay and no doubt paraphrased the verses with equal ease. I felt humbled before the children knowing myself incapable of such immediate and rapid apprehension of several pages of new matter including poems whose intention is by no means obvious. In such ways the great thoughts of great thinkers illuminate children, and they grow in knowledge, chiefly the knowledge of God. And yet this, the chief part of education, is drowned in torrents of talk, in tedious repetition, in objurgation and recrimination, in every sort of way in which the mind may be bored and the affections deadened.” * “I have often thought that the message of the Gospel can be told in very few words indeed. Learning to live it fully is what takes a lifetime.” ~ Norvene Vest Examen: Can I feel it when I am talking torrents? Did I make any impertinent comment today? ~~~~~~~ I think we make: Charlotte M. Mason, Home Education, 1:349. Here is an example: Charlotte M. Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, 6:65. I have often: Norvene Vest, Preferring Christ: A Devotional Commentary on the Rule of Saint Benedict, First Edition (Morehosue Publishing, 2004), 189. Day 76 Endless Comments meditation/100 Days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025
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