Parents and childrenMason, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Maria)
Philosophy
Parents and children
Mason, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Maria)
Child rearing; Education -- Parent participation
We hope our readers will continue to study Mr. Ruskin’s exposition of
the “Vaulted Book” in _Mornings in Florence_: it is wonderfully full
of teaching and suggestion. Our immediate concern is with the seven
mythic figures representing the natural sciences, and with the figure
of the Captain-teacher of each. First we have Grammar, a gracious
figure teaching three Florentine children; and, beneath, Priscian.
Next, Rhetoric, strong, calm, and cool; and below, the figure of Cicero
with a quite beautiful face. Next, Logic, with perfect pose of figure
and lovely countenance; and beneath her, Aristotle--intense keenness
of search in his half-closed eyes. Next, Music, with head inclined
in intent listening to the sweet and solemn strains she is producing
from her antique instrument; and underneath, Tubal Cain, not Jubal,
as the inventor of harmony--perhaps the most marvellous record that
Art has produced of the impact of a great idea upon the soul of a
man but semi-civilised. Astronomy succeeds, with majestic brow and
upraised hand, and below her, Zoroaster, exceedingly beautiful--“the
delicate Persian head made softer still by the elaborately wreathed
silken hair.” Next, Geometry, looking down, considering some practical
problem, with her carpenter’s square in her hand, and below her,
Euclid. And lastly, Arithmetic, holding two fingers up in the act of
calculating, and under her, Pythagoras wrapped in the science of number.
“The thoughts of God are broader than the measures of man’s mind.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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