"After we had our picnic, Mother read to us. She didn't read
like other people; she talked a book.
"I mean if you were where you could hear
her but couldn't see her, you'd be sure she was telling the story from memory
instead of reading.
"And another think different about Mother's reading was that
she didn't care if you watched the book over her shoulder.
"I used to watch her
eyes by the hour as she read. They would swoop across the page like a barn
swallow across a hayfield, then she would look up and recite for a full minute
before she looked back at the book again.
"When Mother read, we children had to
be quiet and pay attention. We could do almost anything we pleased with our
hands, like making whistles, stringing dried berries for beads, or playing with
dolls, but if one of us whispered, Father would snap his fingers. If he ever
got to a third snap, Mother would close the book and we would do something else
for a while."
This happened in 1907 and is recorded in the classic Little Britches by Ralph Moody.
There is
so much to learn from this short verse: For example, the family picnicked for
their vacation. They read for entertainment. Mother knew the books so well she
had much of them memorized.
Deep, not shallow, reading was the norm. The
parents saw reading as an exercise in raising children, not just as
entertainment or academics.
Mother gave extra effort to make learning inspiring
to the youth. The children were expected to apply certain discipline to their
learning.
Both parents were actively involved. The children were encouraged to
multi-task. The children learned initiative to keep themselves entertained
during learning.
Learning was a privilege, to be lost for a brief time if you
didn't treat it seriously. Learning was fun.
In this same place in America, nearly a century later,
teenage gunman walked through their high school shooting classmates and adults.
An entire nation was shocked and later mourned. The tragedy in Columbine High
School became synonymous with much that is wrong in modern America.
Both events happened in Littleton, Colorado.
Each time I
read Little Britches with my
children, I find myself wondering if the two stories are related?
I am certain
they are. In many ways...
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Social Leader Daily by Oliver DeMille
