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Chapter XVI

1. JEHOVIH said: Let the order of the labor of My little ones be increasive; one half hour a day at six years of age, one hour a day at eight years, two hours at twelve, and three hours at fourteen.

2. Nevertheless, these thou shalt temper according to their strength and inclination, making labor itself a delightful pastime.

3. And it was so; all avocations were as a change from one amusement to another. And so great were their capacities to comprehend all things, that, at the age of fourteen, they were master of all trades and occupations.

4. And, of the first thousand children that reached fourteen years, scarce one could be found but was master of horticulture, agriculture (with botany), engineering, surveying, landscape gardening, architecture and general mechanics. They knew how to make shoes, hats, clothing (also spinning and weaving cloth), the mathematics of musical instruments; and they were musicians as well.

5. Tae said: Though they lacked the age and strength of full-grown men and women, yet they had attained to practical knowledge, the like of which had never been known to any adults in all the world. Scarcely anything was known that they could not make, or describe how it should be made.

6. And yet, in all things, scarcely any part had been taught them by means of books, but by practical observations and by illustrations and actual measurements.

7. Jehovih hath said: By My spirit, I move infants to ask questions; answer ye them, and, behold, they shall become as Gods. For this is a door I opened with Mine own hand; whoso answereth them not, shutteth the door against knowledge, and ill-useth My loves.

8. Tae said: With all that our children knew, behold, we still rebuked ourselves because we had not answered half the quesions they had asked us.

9. Now, from twelve to fourteen, they were initiated into the religious rites and ceremonies of the ancients, after the manner as set forth in the Book of Saphah, with explanations of signs, symbols, emblems and the sacred implements; with the ranks of Gods and Lords and Saviors and archangels; with the divisions of the higher and lower heavens; with the first, second and third resurrections in atmospherea, as set forth in the Book of Ben; and with the cosmogony of the corporeal worlds; the position and travel of the solar phalanx; with actual observations of the stars, planets and satellites, with their times and seasons, as set forth in the Book of Cosmogony and Prophecy.

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10. And they could point out the constellations; describe the distances and revolutions of planets; explain the zodiac, the polar lights, and the use of telescopes and the spectrum. And, yet, not one of them had been tired or wearied in learning all these things.


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