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Viola Olerich: The Famous Baby Scholar
"Our chief object for adopting a child was to test, in a practical way, a new theory of education, which we believed to be much superior to any educational system which has heretofore been used."
With the adoption of his infant daughter Viola in 1897, Olerich turned his attention to his "Natural Method" of education, which encouraged child-led inquiry and play-based learning. Olerich toured extensively with Viola around the Midwest, showing off her facility with foreign languages, typing abilities, anatomy, and her prowess in reading and spelling. (She was reported at age four to have defeated six Nebraska Wesleyan students in a spelling bee.) In addition to Olerich’s detailed reports here of methods and philosophical approach to Viola’s education are numerous views of Viola showing off the geometrical terms she knows, the varieties of seeds with which she is acquainted, etc.
With the adoption of his infant daughter Viola in 1897, Olerich turned his attention to his "Natural Method" of education, which encouraged child-led inquiry and play-based learning. Olerich toured extensively with Viola around the Midwest, showing off her facility with foreign languages, typing abilities, anatomy, and her prowess in reading and spelling. (She was reported at age four to have defeated six Nebraska Wesleyan students in a spelling bee.) In addition to Olerich’s detailed reports here of methods and philosophical approach to Viola’s education are numerous views of Viola showing off the geometrical terms she knows, the varieties of seeds with which she is acquainted, etc.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1900
24 people want to read
About the author
Henry Olerich
17 books3 followers[From Wikipedia:] Henry Olerich (1851–1927) was a utopian author from Nebraska. In his most well-known novel, A Cityless and Countryless World (1893), a Martian lands on earth to teach humans how to create paradise. The method was to build houses that could hold 1,000 people, who would collectively farm and work.
Olerich continued his utopian projections in two subsequent books, Modern Paradise (1915) and The Story of the World a Thousand Years Hence (1923).
Olerich was also a lawyer, farmer, teacher, and machinist; he once earned a patent for an improved tractor. He wrote a range of other works as well, including one titled "Viola Olerich, the Famous Baby Scholar: An Experiment in Education," about his adopted daughter who was for a short time a celebrated child prodigy.
Olerich died by suicide, prompted in part by declining health. Yet he left an abundant supply of autobiographical writings that "reveal a persistent desire for the public recognition that always eluded him....The overall impression...is one of desperation on Olerich's part."
Olerich continued his utopian projections in two subsequent books, Modern Paradise (1915) and The Story of the World a Thousand Years Hence (1923).
Olerich was also a lawyer, farmer, teacher, and machinist; he once earned a patent for an improved tractor. He wrote a range of other works as well, including one titled "Viola Olerich, the Famous Baby Scholar: An Experiment in Education," about his adopted daughter who was for a short time a celebrated child prodigy.
Olerich died by suicide, prompted in part by declining health. Yet he left an abundant supply of autobiographical writings that "reveal a persistent desire for the public recognition that always eluded him....The overall impression...is one of desperation on Olerich's part."
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 9, 2024
...about his adopted daughter who was for a short time a celebrated child prodigy.
When a baby begins to cry, it should immediately be put down.
If we do our work well in this direction, we shall never be annoyed with a "naughty cry-baby.'
Viola has never been rocked, carried, nor put to sleep.
To do so soon makes it a crybaby.
Pouting is a fit of sullenness. A pouter, whether child or adult, is a very unpleasant companion; in fact, a pouter is nothing more or less than a modified cry-baby.
1. Baby Viola exhibiting her talents.
2. Viola at her lunch counter.
3. Viola can read books in three languages.
4. Viola taught the digits and colors.
5. Viola learns geometrical figures.
51. Viola and her mathematical toys.
6, Viola knows the faces of many famous people.
67. Viola is familiar with 32 kinds of seeds.
7. Viola is a full-fledged anatomist.
8. Viola at her money-exchange counter.
9. Viola at home with punctuation marks.
10. Viola's spelling proficiency.
11. Viola taking apart the elements of a flower.
12. Viola drawing on the blackboard.
13. Viola at her typewriter.
14. Viola playing with astronomy.
15. Viola undergoing a severe test.
At first she drank milk almost exclusively, but when she was about two years old, she began to prefer water, and now she drinks water almost altogether.
Viola does not eat a great variety of food. Water, bread, oatmeal, crackers, toast and a few cookies constitute her chief articles of diet.
She has a box of candy within easy reach on the side-board; but she eats only a small piece once in perhaps several days.
I invented and constructed much of the attractive educational apparatus with which her keen interest for learning was awakened, and after surrounding her with this apparatus, she has enjoyed complete freedom.
At the age of one year and eleven months, Viola could point to almost all the visible bones of the human skeleton.
Viola knew at sight and could name the twenty-two kinds of lines and angles used in geometry, when she was one year eleven months old.
At two years, Viola knew twenty-two Punctuation Marks.
(Viola sitting at her table analyzing a flower.) She is very fond of flowers, and greatly admires the bouquets which she often receives on the stage.
February 22, 1900, Viola received her typewriter.
Of the many leading machines which we examined and tried before selecting, we found that Viola much preferred The Smith Premier, which responded so readily to the touch of her little hands, that she enjoyed operating it very much.
The use of it has given her a great deal of practical information, which she could not have acquired so well in any other way.
Her attention, her memory, her reasoning and her ability as a critic are as marvelous as her other attainments.
She can quite well classify sentences according to use and form.
We have never teased Viola.
Viola has always manifested a healthy desire for cleanliness.
From the time she was one year old, she very much disliked to have her hands face, and clothes soiled.
Children, from the time they are babies, should be taken out every day. After they are able to walk, they should be as left free to go out much as they desire, even during the coldest weather.
We do not kill or abuse anything in her presence, if we can possibly avoid it.
So far, Viola has not shown in my presence the slightest signs of desiring to tell a lie, or in any other way to deceive me, and I am quite sure that she never will.
Viola made her first appearance in public on the stage in the opera house at Odebolt, Iowa, April 6, 1899, at the age of two years and two months. She gave universal satisfaction. Since that time, she has given exhibitions of her wonderful attainments in churches, before teachers' meetings, and in large opera houses. Her voice is so strong and clear that she can be distinctly understood in all parts of a large auditorium or theater. On the stage, just as elsewhere, Viola does all her work in the form of play. Her witty sayings, her cute doings, and extraordinary mental powers charm every audience.
Viola is the youngest star actress as well as the youngest scholar in the world. She has received as high as $75 for a week's engagement, giving only a 20-minutes' performance a day. This is equal to 37.50 an hour; or more than double the salary of the President of the United States receives for an equal length of time.
Perhaps no other child of her age has ever before been favored with so many complimentary press notices as Viola has.
"She (Viola) was becomingly gowned, in a fleecy fabric of baby blue, fringed with soft lace, with the brightest blue eyes and the sweetest baby face surrounded by an aureole of golden hair that gave her almost angelic beauty, and there was not a person in all the hall who did not yearn to smother her with kisses."-Council Bluffs Nonpareil.
Viola not only subscribed for the paper, but also earned the money herself, which she remitted for it. This makes her the youngest actual newspaper reader and subscriber in the world.
(THE END.)
When a baby begins to cry, it should immediately be put down.
If we do our work well in this direction, we shall never be annoyed with a "naughty cry-baby.'
Viola has never been rocked, carried, nor put to sleep.
To do so soon makes it a crybaby.
Pouting is a fit of sullenness. A pouter, whether child or adult, is a very unpleasant companion; in fact, a pouter is nothing more or less than a modified cry-baby.
1. Baby Viola exhibiting her talents.
2. Viola at her lunch counter.
3. Viola can read books in three languages.
4. Viola taught the digits and colors.
5. Viola learns geometrical figures.
51. Viola and her mathematical toys.
6, Viola knows the faces of many famous people.
67. Viola is familiar with 32 kinds of seeds.
7. Viola is a full-fledged anatomist.
8. Viola at her money-exchange counter.
9. Viola at home with punctuation marks.
10. Viola's spelling proficiency.
11. Viola taking apart the elements of a flower.
12. Viola drawing on the blackboard.
13. Viola at her typewriter.
14. Viola playing with astronomy.
15. Viola undergoing a severe test.
At first she drank milk almost exclusively, but when she was about two years old, she began to prefer water, and now she drinks water almost altogether.
Viola does not eat a great variety of food. Water, bread, oatmeal, crackers, toast and a few cookies constitute her chief articles of diet.
She has a box of candy within easy reach on the side-board; but she eats only a small piece once in perhaps several days.
I invented and constructed much of the attractive educational apparatus with which her keen interest for learning was awakened, and after surrounding her with this apparatus, she has enjoyed complete freedom.
At the age of one year and eleven months, Viola could point to almost all the visible bones of the human skeleton.
Viola knew at sight and could name the twenty-two kinds of lines and angles used in geometry, when she was one year eleven months old.
At two years, Viola knew twenty-two Punctuation Marks.
(Viola sitting at her table analyzing a flower.) She is very fond of flowers, and greatly admires the bouquets which she often receives on the stage.
February 22, 1900, Viola received her typewriter.
Of the many leading machines which we examined and tried before selecting, we found that Viola much preferred The Smith Premier, which responded so readily to the touch of her little hands, that she enjoyed operating it very much.
The use of it has given her a great deal of practical information, which she could not have acquired so well in any other way.
Her attention, her memory, her reasoning and her ability as a critic are as marvelous as her other attainments.
She can quite well classify sentences according to use and form.
We have never teased Viola.
Viola has always manifested a healthy desire for cleanliness.
From the time she was one year old, she very much disliked to have her hands face, and clothes soiled.
Children, from the time they are babies, should be taken out every day. After they are able to walk, they should be as left free to go out much as they desire, even during the coldest weather.
We do not kill or abuse anything in her presence, if we can possibly avoid it.
So far, Viola has not shown in my presence the slightest signs of desiring to tell a lie, or in any other way to deceive me, and I am quite sure that she never will.
Viola made her first appearance in public on the stage in the opera house at Odebolt, Iowa, April 6, 1899, at the age of two years and two months. She gave universal satisfaction. Since that time, she has given exhibitions of her wonderful attainments in churches, before teachers' meetings, and in large opera houses. Her voice is so strong and clear that she can be distinctly understood in all parts of a large auditorium or theater. On the stage, just as elsewhere, Viola does all her work in the form of play. Her witty sayings, her cute doings, and extraordinary mental powers charm every audience.
Viola is the youngest star actress as well as the youngest scholar in the world. She has received as high as $75 for a week's engagement, giving only a 20-minutes' performance a day. This is equal to 37.50 an hour; or more than double the salary of the President of the United States receives for an equal length of time.
Perhaps no other child of her age has ever before been favored with so many complimentary press notices as Viola has.
"She (Viola) was becomingly gowned, in a fleecy fabric of baby blue, fringed with soft lace, with the brightest blue eyes and the sweetest baby face surrounded by an aureole of golden hair that gave her almost angelic beauty, and there was not a person in all the hall who did not yearn to smother her with kisses."-Council Bluffs Nonpareil.
Viola not only subscribed for the paper, but also earned the money herself, which she remitted for it. This makes her the youngest actual newspaper reader and subscriber in the world.
(THE END.)
Displaying 1 of 1 review