CLEVER CHILDREN.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5094, 28 February 1927, Page 4

CLEVER CHILDREN.

Miss Peggy Temple, the little granddaughter of the late Archbishop Temple, at the mature age of 13, has had a 15,000-word story accepted for publication. It may sound a precocious feat, but an English critic points Jut that it is entirely dwarfed by examples from the educational process. e,f an earlier age. Once upon a time any sign of early brilliance in a child was made the excuse for cramming its poor little brain with a world of useless knowledge. One of these unhappy infancts was the son of Evelyn, the diarist, who wrote of him : “At 2U years old he could read perfectly any of the English, Latin, French, or Gothis letters, pronouncing the first three languages perfectly.” A little later Greek and mathematics were added to his accomplishments. Again, a younger brother of Montcalm, the defender, of Quebec, could read Latin fluently at four, and two years later

knew Greek and Hebrew also. Probably these were merely very brilliant children “crammed” to the point of cruelty, but Christian Heineckem,

born in Lubeck in 1721, was certainly abnormal. He had 'read the Bible when merely a year old, and before he was three had mastered history and geography and was proficient in three languages,, The results ? Heineckem died when four, Montcalm at eight, and Evelyn’s son before he was six.