subject that possesses educational value. In accordance with this scheme Comenius prepared several guides and class-books for the use of the teachers and pupils in the various classes. The first of these, the Informatorium Skoly Materske, or Informatory of the Mother School, was written in Czech, in which language it was not published till 1858. A German translation was issued at Lissa in 1633 for the Palatine of Belz.[1] This work, which appears in the folio of 1657 as Schola Infantia, or The School of Infancy, was primarily intended for parents, and treats at length some of the points touched on in The Great Didactic, and more particularly in chap. xxviii., Sketch of the Mother School. It is written in the voluminous style characteristic of the author, and the chapters treat of the following subjects:—
1. The greatest care should be taken of children, God’s most precious gift.
2. Why God sends so many children into the world.
3. Children stand in great need of a good education.
4. In what subjects children should be instructed.
5. How their safety and health can be attained.
6. How they can be taught to take an intelligent interest in what they see around them.
7. How they should be habituated to the actualities of life.
8. How they should be taught eloquence and the proper use of language.
9. How they can be brought up in the paths of morality.
10. How they can be imbued with piety.
11. How long they are to be detained in the Mother School.
12. How they are to be prepared for the Public Schools.
No mean scheme this for children under six years of age. Here was a great truth that Comenius was the first to enunciate. Education begins on the mother’s knee.
- ↑ Op. Did. Omn. i. 197.
