SOME CLEVER CHILDREN

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 35, 23 February 1940, Page 34

SOME CLEVER CHILDREN

(From a talk by

Ebor

in the 2YA Children’s Hour)

j HEN children are very, very clever we sometimes call them prodigies — and it is about prodigies I want to tell you something in this talk. There is a story of one of our greatest violinists, who as a boy of seven was so clever at music that he came under the notice of the Queen of Spain. Of course, no one would dream of being presented to a queen after having played to her without having some clear idea of what one had to say. So this little boy was told that he must tell her majesty, if she asked him how he was getting on with his music, that he had spent two months preparing the recital for her, and that he was seven years old. At the end of the little concert which passed off without a hitch, the boy was taken to where the queen sat so that he could be presented and thanked. And sure enough the queen did ask him how he was getting on with his music, and when the boy answered her the whole court roared, with laughter. He very solemnly told her that he had spent seven years preparing the recital for her and he was only two months old! Little Christian Here is an example of a little German boy who, although his life was tragically short, is famous for all time among students of child prodigies. His name was Christian Heinecker. When little Christian was only ten months old he could speak every word which was said to him. When he was two, he learned geography and history, and learned to speak Latin and French. At three he studied religion and the history of the church, and he was able, not only to repeat what he read, but also to reason things out, and say what he thought of it all. The King of Denmark heard so much about this wonderful child that he asked to see him. So Christian was taken to Copenhagen and he was examined before the court, and people said he was the most marvellous child they had ever heard or seen.. When he went home, he learned to write, but by this time he was already worn out and the poor little chap fell ill and died at the age of four years and three months. Of course, his people should have known better than to tax his little brain, because with care he might have grown to be a brilliant man. The Italian poet Tasso spoke his first words at the age of six months: He was so keen to get at his books that he used to get up at four in the morning and was taken to school by torchlight. He could read, write, and speak fluently both Greek and Latin by the time he was seven, and delivered a public speech at the age of eight. French Genius The education of Pascal, the French philosopher, was carefully watched over

by his father. When this boy was ten he knew as much Greek as a great many university professors, but he was not allowed to learn mathematics until he had mastered his Latin. He kept on asking, " What are mathematics, daddy?" until his father had to say something; so young Blaise (which was Pascal’s christian name) was put off with a vague answer and told, "My boy, you must put all ideas of mathematics out

of your head until you have done your Latin." And what do you think the boy went and did? He invented geometry for himself, drawing the figures on the wall of his bedroom and inventing. the terms by which he worked out his problems. He got as far_as the. thirty-second Proposition much on the lines of Euclid -of whom he had never even heardwhen his father found out what he was up to, and was so surprised and really awed by it all that he forgot to scold the boy for disobeying orders. We are told that when Jeremy Bentham was three his favourite book was Johnson’s Dictionary, and at the age of seven he sent long letters to his tutor in Latin, in which there was never even one mistake! Musical Nose-Blowing If we were to talk about the musical prodigies we would be here all night, but before I stop I must tell you about Sir Frederick Ousley, whose story, like all I have told you, is to the best of my knowledge, as true as it is strange. When he was a baby and was teething he stopped crying as soon as he’ heard a tune being played on’ the piano. A. year or two later he always spoke of

the every-day sounds that he heard all round him, in terms of musical keys. Let me explain. He used to say it thundered in G, or that the wind whistled in D, or the clock chimed in B Minor, and the kettle sang in some other key. When Frederick was four years old he was sitting between two young ladies at table. His father, having a bad cold, led him to say: " Only think of it, Papa blows his nose in G!"