The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-07-03 00:00:00

PARENTS AND CHILDREN.

MAKE true sentiment and sound good sense go hand
in hand, and you will mould the child's mind to see
that there is no beauty like truth, no enthusiasm like
that which realities inspire, and that every page' of
daily life contains a deeper interest, and a source for
more elevated poetry, than the most tangled chapter
of unnatural catastrophe pnd startling incident that
poet or novelist ever concocted.
But in the attempt to make children sensible,
nothing should be done which has the least tendency
to rob them of the charm of childish gaiety and enjoy-
ment. There is no gift so invaluable as that of buoyant
spirits ; even the gift of good health is inferior to that
of good spirits. And childhood is specially the period
in life, indeed the only one, when joy springs out of
everything, when mere existence is a boundCess cause
of happiness, and when frolic and laughter seem abso-
lutely necessary to unburden the heart of its super-
fluous and overflowing merriment. There is an
irresistible charm in this ; and since it has no necessary
tendency to make the character unfeeling or regardless
of others, it is too cruel to damp it for the few short
years that we may dare hope it will last. Do not
impose the gravity and the composure that become
the years of manhood upon the bright and thoughtless
head of childhood. So far as amusement is innocent,
let them blow those glittering bubbles while they can ;
and so far as fun and frolic does not infringe upon
duty, and does not make sport with the feelings or
infirmities of another, there can be no doubt that to
give them fair play is more likely to allow room for a
healthy mind and good feelings to grow up, than if
you, as it were, cramp the free supple limbs of child-
hood into the dignified or solemn gait of its elders.
The effect of too much restraint in early years will
always show itself somewhere. Either in childhood it
will produce morbidness and unnatural gloom, or con-
ceit and affectation ; or in youth, when the restraints
of home and education are necessarily diminished, the
mind, long wearied of its shackles and its prison, will
burst forth into excess and error ; and having been in
the habit of connecting principle with dulness and stu-
pidity, will throw it all away, and give itself up to a
delirious and headlong course of folly and pleasure.
Be content with making children good as children, and
do not cramp them into dwarfish representations of
men and women.

At the same time, by encouraging a constant and
unselfish consideration for the feelings of others, and
thereby a due regard for all the proprieties of life, ft
will be quite possible to keep their spirits within due
bounds, and to prevent the little joyous creatures,
whose laughter echoes through the house, from be-
coming a set of wild tormentors whom it is not safe to
approach, and whose presence entails a perfect storm
of noise and uproar, to the exclusion of all comfort and
all sensible conversation. They should be made to
understand that no amusement is innocent which is a
source of annoyance to others, and that even their
merriment and their play must not be indulged self-
ishly. The same principles which direct their more
serious hours must influence their pleasures ; and obe-
dience, and consideration for the comfort of others,
must at no time be lost sight of : but be careful how
you meet the frolic of youth with pompous gravity,
how you make the exuberance of a warm and joyous
heart appear a sin and a shame, lest the flame which
would have exhausted itself in a few harmless flashes,
should smoulder on in gloom and silence, till the re-

SUPPL

straints being withdrawn, it break forth in after-years,
and destroy all that education has laboured to erect.
The fault of childhood, the sin of youth, and the
crime of manhood, in one word, the great error of
human nature, is selfishness. It ()Tows with our
growth, and strengthens with our strength; it chills
every good resolution, baffles every good endeavour,
and prompts and animates half the bad actions of a
man's life. The whole code of Christian morality is
aimed against this fatal and universal evil. "To do
as we would be done by," "to love our neighbour as
ourselves," and to "forgive our enemies," all alike
strike at the root of this great origin of sins, this great
destroyer of unity, and love, and social laws.
And it is against this, therefore, that early educa-
tion should direct its strongest efforts ; teach the
child to think of others, to feel for them, to pity them,
and to yield to them ; teach him to find pleasure in
sharing anything he possesses with his brothers and
sisters ; discourage too strong a desire to have things
set apart for himself alone, to have exclusive possession
or enjoyment of anything ; prove to him how useless
things are when hoarded together, and how they are
only valuable when circulate and made to contribute
to the comfort and welfare of others.

The great object of parents, from day to day, and
from year to year, should be in every way, and in every
minute detail, to prepare their children for their
position in life, both with regard to their highest
interests and to the common events of daily existence.
The healthy exercise of all the powers of the mind,
is the surest way to procure well-developed intellectual
powers; well-balanced feeling, and regularity of life and
habits, and forms the safest precaution against dreamy
inactivity, the listnessess of indolence, and that con-
sequent depression of the spirits which leads to the
indulgence of idle fancies and unemployed feelings.
The cultivation of domestic affection must fill the
heart ; the exercise of charity and the offices of kind-
ness must employ the thirst for activity, and the energy
of benevolence; and steady application, punctual habits,
grave study, and innocent amusement,must all combine
to keep the mind active, but yet peaceful, the imagi-
nation free, but yet unimpassioned.—Early Influences.