is used only within the family,
among
children,
and between close
friends. There
was
thus something impertinent, but also
something
naive and humorous in little Albert's
way
of
addresing
his music
teacher with "Du, Herr Schmied...."
Music
was
played
often and well at home. Even
though
the
fundamentals
of
the art
were
often
difficult
for the children and
threatened
to
spoil it for the boy, because of his natural
ability
he
soon
developed
a
liking
for
music,
which
even
led to artistic
accomplishment.
His musical
ability
seems
to
have
come
from the Koch
branch of the
family,
the mathematical and
logical
from the Einstein
side.
Incidentally,
it is
not
that
uncommon,
far apart
as
these
two
fields
seem
to lie, for mathematical and musical talent to be joined
in
one
person.
The boy
was
trained
early
in
self-reliance,
in contrast to the
customary European child-rearing method which consists of over-anxious
tutelage.
The
3-
or
4-year-old
was
sent through the busiest streets of
Munich; the first time he
was
shown the
way,
the
second, unobtrusively
observed. At intersections he
conscientiously
looked
right,
then left,
and then crossed the road without
any
apprehension.
Self-reliance
was
already ingrained in his character and manifested itself prominently
on
various occasions in his later life.
The boy entered the public primary
school
(Volksschule)
at the
age
of
seven.
There he had
a
rather strict teacher whose methods
included
teaching
children arithmetic, and especially the
multiplication
tables,
with
the help of whacks
on
the
hands,
so-caled
"Tatzen"
(knuckle
raps);
a
style of teaching that
was
not unusual at
the time,
and
that prepared
the children
early
for their
future
role
as
citizens. His
thinking
process
unerratic and thorough, the boy
was
considered only moderately talented precisely because he needed time
to mull things
over
and didn't respond
immediately
with
the
reflex
answer
desired
by
the teacher.
Nothing
of his
special aptitude
for
mathematics
was
noticeable
at
the
time;
he wasn't
even
good at
arithmetic in the
sense
of
being
quick and accurate,
though
he
was
reliable and
persevering.
Also, he always confidently
found the
way
to
solve difficult word problems,
even
though
he
easily
made
errors
in
calculation.
At
home,
the rule that schoolwork must be finished before
play
could
begin
was
strictly
observed, and his parents accepted
no excuses
for
breaking
this commandment. Very
typical
of
young
Albert's
abilities
were
the
games
he chose to play. He
filled his
leisure time
by
working
on
puzzles, doing
fretsaw
work,
and
erecting
complicated
structures with the
well-known
"Anker"
building
set, but
his
favorite
was
building
many-storied houses of cards. Anyone who knows
how much
patience
and precision is required to build card houses three
or
four stories high will be amazed that
a
boy
not
yet
ten
years
old
was
able
to
build them
as
high
as
fourteen stories. Persistence and
tenacity
were
obviously already
part
of
his character and would become
more
and
more
prominent later
on.
The
same
trait that
helped
to
keep
his mother from tiring of the most tedious and complicated
needlework
manifested itself in her
son
first in his play and
later in his
scientific work.
Many
have brilliant insights
in the
course
of life,
original
thoughts which nonetheless lead nowhere. Only persistence
that does not rest until all that is unclear is
eliminated and all
difficulties
are
overcome
allows
an
idea
to take
shape
and be
recognized
as
truly
one
of
genius.
When Albert entered public school,
his
religious
instruction,
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