THE INFANT SYSTEM, FOR DEVELOPING THE INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL FROM ONE TO SEVEN YEARS OF AGE. BY SAMUEL WILDERSPIN, INVENTOR OF THE SYSTEM or INFANT TRAINING. "Whoso shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me." "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones." Matt. xviii. 5. Matt. xvii. 10. SEVENTH EDITION, REVISED THROUGHOUT, WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS. LONDON: JAMES S. HODSON, AT THE DEPOT FOR AMERICAN LITERATURE, 112, FLEET STREET. HARVARD UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION MONROE C. GUTMAN LIBRARY Nov. 22, 1921 LB1507 W67 1840 7 бо Printed by J. S. Hodson, Cross Street, Hatton Garden, London. ΤΟ HER MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY, THE QUEEN DOWAGER, THIS VOLUME, BY HER MAJESTY'S GRACIOUS PERMISSION, IS INSCRIBED, WITH PROFOUND HUMILITY, AND THE WARMEST DESIRE FOR HER MAJESTY'S PRESENT AND ETERNAL HAPPINESS; BY HER MAJESTY'S MOST GRATEFUL, AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, SAMUEL WILDERSPIN. PREFACE. In again presenting this volume to the world, and especially in doing so under the distinguishing patronage of our beloved Queen Dowager, I trust I feel thankfnl to God for the favour with which the Infant System has ben received, and for all the aid I have enjoyed in my course of labour. Had the measures I originated for the development of the infant mind, and the improvement of the moral character, been sanctioned at first, as many now think they should have been, their progress would, undoubtedly, have been far greater; but when I consider what has been accomplished under the divine benediction, amid greater difficulties than ever beset the path of an individual similarly occupied, I know not how to express the gratitude of which I am conscious. It seems proper and even necessary to remark, that the system explained in this volume, is the result of many years of labour. Thousands of children have been attentively observed, and for the necessities that arose in their instruction, provision has been made. Others have doubtless reached some of the conclusions at which I have arrived, but this is only another instance of the coincidence in judgment and effort, often discoverable in persons far apart; for, with the exception of the elliptical plan, devised by Dr. Gilchrist, I am not aware that I owe an idea or contrivance to any individual whatever. Upwards of twenty-five thousand children have been now |