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More habits
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I’ve been a considerable amount of my online time on the blog of Herrick Kimball, The Deliberate Agrarian, since that is where we seem to be going. Anyway, in his archives I came upon this snippet of Samuel Allen, an agrarian who lived at the time of Charlotte Mason. These are the habits he sought to develop in his life. Sound familiar?
Precepts of Samuel L. Allen
(found among his earliest papers)
[slightly edited]
Acquire the Habits of :
Punctuality in everything. Attention. Observation. Patience. Doing things systematically. Finishing everything undertaken. Untiring industry.
Cultivate the Habits of :
Thoroughness in every study. Doing everything well. Learning something from everyone. Thinking deeply, powerfully, and comprehensively. Reviewing — remembering that next to perseverance it is the great secret of success as a student.
Cultivate the Habits of a Gentleman:
Politeness. Cheerfulness. Good humor. The memory, by observation, reading, conversation and reflection. Command over my temper. The conscience.
Cultivate the Habits of:
Daily prayer. Self-control of the tongue. Self-control of the feelings. Self-control of the thoughts. Self-control of the heart. Soundness of judgment. Humility and liberality of heart.
Beware of: Temptations:
Light reading (which enfeebles the mind and corrupts the heart). Silly speeches. Silly acting. Fault finding. Bad company. The first step in sin. Secret sins. Bad books. Indulging in reveries of imagination. Contracting the habit of procrastination. Levity upon sacred subjects.
Do not refuse to walk in a difficult path of duty. Never neglect any opportunity of self-improvement. Strive to improve thoughts when alone. Have a plan laid beforehand for every day. Have regard to the position of the body. Be simple and neat in personal habits. Treat properly my parents, friends and companions. Seek to ” know thyself.” Form fixed principles on which to think and act. Faithfully review my conduct at stated intervals. LiveNever neglect any opportunity of self-improvement. Strive to improve thoughts when alone. Have a plan laid beforehand for every day. Have regard to the position of the body. Be simple and neat in personal habits. Treat properly my parents, friends and companions. Seek to ” know thyself.” Form fixed principles on which to think and act. Faithfully review my conduct at stated intervals. Live to do good and make this my aim in company and conversation. Do not waste the company’s time or my own by talking trifles. Do not endeavor to be a wit or punster. Do not view words in an unnatural light for the sake of smart sayings. Beware of severe speaking. Be careful in introducing topics of conversation. Say as little as possible about myself, friends, deeds, etc.
Thank you. I wish Mr. Allen had written a book for young boys to follow these tips. Is there one?
For others who weren’t sure what an argrian is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrarianism
Blog referred to by op:
http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/
I see many posts on Eric Sloane on there too. We have a few of these interesting books, printed by Dover.
Thanks, Robin!
Sorry… Guess I should have defined terms and included a link. 🙂 I was mainly thinking of how his philosophy of habits was similar to CM.
But The Deliberate Agraian blog is fabulous if you’re interested in that…though Wiki’s definition of agrarianism is terrible..oh my!!! How much further off could they be! And yes, I’m really enjoying the posts of Eric Sloane. His books are very popular in my library.
Here you go…as we go way off topic from the original topic. 🙂
http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-definition-of-agrarian-and.html#links
And here is the link to the original post. Scroll down to the bottom.
http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/2011/02/deliberate-agrarian-blogazine-february.html
Thanks Robin. I did not mean to offend you. I was curious and thought others might also and would like the links. I am so used to touching an unknown word on my kindle to get an instant definition that it has caused me to look up words I don’t know. I like the blogger’s writing style. Here is what he had to say at the end, although I do agree it sounds very similar to CM:” Those precepts remind me of George Washington’s Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior In Company and Conversation, which he transcribed when he was a teenager. I’m thinking it may have once been popular for young men to put into writing some personal guidelines for how to best conduct themselves in life. What a fine idea.”
So I am thinking that it would be a good idea for not only sons, but also daughters, to write down their own personal guidelines. What age is best? Should it be revised yearly? I think my 9 yo could come up with some good ones now. I think I would need to prompt him with some catergories first.
A few months ago I found something along these lines from J. Alexander’s Letters:
http://www.currclick.com/product/43265/Boys-Set-J-Alexanders-Letters-%5BBUNDLE%5D?it=1
I really am glad you shared this Robin.
Oh, I wasn’t offended! Just taken aback at their definition! 🙂 And honestly worrying what some would think of me if that definition was all they had. Funny how some will take a gift of God (such as tilling the ground as He gave us to do from the beginning, going back to the “old paths”) and turn it into such a twisted version.
I think this would be wonderful for our older children to do. Maybe teens? I wonder if it would/could be something related to Charlotte’s Book of Mottoes that she assigned for her students? Maybe list habits and goals of life and record passages, quotes, Scriptures, etc. that exemplify that. What a treasure to take into adulthood!
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