The whole of the Wesley children were taught the Lord’s Prayer as soon as they could speak, and repeated it every morning and every night. Rudeness was never seen amongst them; and on no account were they allowed to call each other by their proper names without the addition of brother or sister, as the case might be. Six hours a day were spent at school; and loud talking, playing, and running into the yard, garden, or street, without permission, was rigorously forbidden. None of them, except Kezzy, was taught to read till five years old, and then only a single day was allowed wherein to learn the letters of the alphabet, great and small—a task which all of them accomplished except Mary and Anne, who were a day and a half before they knew them perfectly. Psalms were sung every morning when school was opened, and also every night when the duties of the day were ended. In addition to all this, at the commencement and close of every day, each of the elder children took one of the younger and read the Psalms appointed for the day and a chapter in the Bible, after which they severally went to their private devotions. Mrs. Wesley, assisted by her husband, seems to have been the sole instructor of her daughters, and also of her sons, until the latter were sent to school in London; and never was there a family of children who did their teacher greater credit. From early childhood, John was remarkable for his sober and studious disposition, and seemed to feel himself answerable to his reason and his conscience for everything he did. He would do nothing without first reflecting on its fitness and propriety. If asked, out of the common way of meals, to have, for instance, a piece of bread or fruit, he would answer with the coolest unconcern, “I thank you; I will think of it.” To argue about a thing seemed instinctive, and was carried to such a length that on one occasion his father almost chid him, saying, “Child, you think to carry everything by dint of argument; but you will find how little is ever done in the world by close reasoning.” “I profess, sweetheart,” said the rector in a pet to Mrs. Wesley, “I profess, sweetheart, I think our Jack would not attend to the most pressing necessities of nature, unless he could give a reason for it.”[7] With all this meditative reasoning, there was mixed devotion. It is a remarkable fact, scarce paralleled, that such was his consistency of conduct, that his father admitted him to the communion table when he was only eight years old;[8] and he himself informs us that, until he was about the age of ten, he had not sinned away that “washing of the Holy Ghost,” which he received in baptism.[9] Between the age of eight and nine the small-pox attacked him; but he bore the terrible affliction with manly and Christian fortitude. At the time, his father was in London, and his mother writing him remarks: “Jack has borne his disease bravely, like a man, and indeed like a Christian, without complaint.”[10]