Henderson's
school - Dictation and Recitation; (3) For boys taught exclusively
by their mothers - Arithmetic and Reading.' Prizes were given; but
what prize would be so conciliatory as this boyish little joke? It
may read thin here; it would smack racily in the playroom.
Whenever his sons 'started a new fad' (as one of them writes to me)
they 'had only to tell him about it, and he was at once interested
and keen to help.' He would discourage them in nothing unless it
was hopelessly too hard for them; only, if there was any principle
of science involved, they must understand the principle; and
whatever was attempted, that was to be done thoroughly. If it was
but play, if it was but a puppetshow they were to build, he set
them the example of being no sluggard in play. When Frewen, the
second son, embarked on the ambitious design to make an engine for
a toy steamboat, Fleeming made him begin with a proper drawing -
doubtless to the disgust of the young engineer; but once that
foundation laid, helped in the work with unflagging gusto,
'tinkering away,' for hours, and assisted at the final trial 'in
the big bath' with no less excitement than the boy.
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