CHILD LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS.

North Otago Times, Volume 1, Issue 13, 19 May 1864, Page 2 (Supplement)

CHILD LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS.

In America I saw many families of settlers -where the ehildnm were vei y stragely circumstanced There was always plenty to eat and drink ; the barns were full of produce, and there were horses in the meadow ; and every child would have hereafter a goodly portion of land. But there were no servants, and there could be no education, because the mother and children had to do all the work of the house. In one of these homes the day was spent thus : — The father (a man ' t' great property) went out upon his land before daylight, taking with him his little sons of six and seven years old, who earned their breakfast by leading the horses down to water, and turning out the cows, and sweeping the stable ; and when milking was done (by a man on the farm, I think), they biouujit up the milk. Meantime, their mother, an educated Englieh lady, took up the younger children, and swept the kitchen, lighted the fire, and cooked the beefsteak for her husband's breakfast, and boiled ihe eggs which the little ones brought in fiom the paddock. Soon after 7, the farmer and boys were gone again ; and then the mother set down in the middle of the kitchen floor a large bowl of hot water and the breakfast things ; and the little girl of four and her sister of two set to work. The elder washpd the cups and dishes, and the younger wiped them as carefully and delicately as if she had been ten ycais older. She never broke anything, or failed to make ail bright and dry. Then they went to make their own little beds ; they could just manage that, but not the larger ones. Meantime, their mother was baking, or washing, or brewing, or making soap; boiling it in a cauldion over a fire in the wood. There were no grocers' shops within scores of miles. In the season, the family had to make sugar in the forest, from their maple trees ; and wine, from the fruit they grew; and there were the apples in immense quantities to be split and cured, and hung up in strings. Every morning in the week was occupied with one or another of these employments ; and in the midst of them dinner had to be cooked, and ready by noon ; another beefsteak, with apple sauce or onions, and hot " corn" bread (made of Indian meal), and a squash pie, or something of the sort. There was enough to do all the afternoon in finishing off the morning's work ; and there must be another steak for tea or supper. The children had been helping all day ; and now their parents wished to devote this time (after six pin.) to their benefit. It is true the mother had now to sew, this being* her only time for making and mending ; but she got the slates and lesson-

books, and put one little girl and boy before her, while the father took the other two, and set them a sum and a copy on the slate. But, alas ! by this time not one of the party could keep awake. They did try. The parents were so extremely anxious for their children that they did strive ; but nature was overpowered. After a few struggles, the children were sent to bed ; and in the very midst of a sentence, the mother's head would sink over her work, and the father's down upon the table, in irresistible sleep. Both had been very fond of chess in former days ; and the husband bade his wife put away her work, and try a game of chess. But down went the board, and oft' (slid the men, in the middle of a game ! Now, what could be done for the children's education here ? In time there was hope that roads and markets w ould be opened, where the produce of the farm might be sold, and money obta'ned to send the children to schools, some hundreds of miles off; or, at least, that neighbors enough might settle about to enable the township to invite a schoolmaster. But what could be done meantime ? So much might be and was done as would astonish people who think that intellectual education means school learning. I do not at all wish to extenuate the misfortunes of these children in being doomed to write a bad hand, if any ; to be slow at accounts; to have probably no taste for reading ; and no knowledge, except by hearsay, of the treasures of literature But I do say that they were not likely to grow up ignorant and stupid. They knew every tree in the forest, and every biid, and eveiy weed. They knew the habits of all domestic animals. They could tell at a glance how many scores of pigeons there were in a flock, when clouds of these birds came sailing towards the wood. They did not want to measure distances, for they knew them by the eye. They could give their minds earnestly to what they were about, and ponder, and plan, and imagine, and contrive. Their faculties were all awake. And the^ obtained snatches of stories from father and inothei , about the heroes of old times, and the history of England America. They worshipped God, and loved Jesus Christ, and were familiar with the Bible. Now, there are some things here that very highly educated people among us might be glad to be equal to; and the very busiest father, the hardest-driven mother in England may be able, in the course of daily busine-.b, to rouse and employ the faculties of their children, their attention, understanding, reflection, memory, and imagination, so as to make their intellects worth more than those of many children who are successful at school. Their chance is doubled if books are opened to them ; but if not, there is nothing to despair about — Alias Mart men u's Household Education.