Bloomington herald. [volume] (Bloomington, I. T. [Iowa]) 1840-1849, 1843-09-08
From the Bangor Wing and Courier.
Parental Government.

i
| e3sr Parental Government.
/" Train up child in the way he should go, and
when he is old he will not depart from it."-Bibe.
!" Let all the ends thou aim st at be thy countrys,
thy Gods and truths" Shakespeare.
Few words in the English language are
fraught with such grave and valid interest
to mankind as those which stand at the
head of this article; and nothing but a
deep and solemn consideration of the im>
portant bearing of parental government
upon the well being Of society and the in
stitutious of our common country. which
we deem 10 be in imminent peril, could
| induce US to Withdraw from the duties of
our profession the time requisite to write
upon subject SO complicated and mo-
mentoLs. se,seS1Is
| The time was when parents ruled ~
own houses and governed and guided iieir
children when youth were required 10
assist in the labors of the family; 10 re-
strain their passions and submit their wills
to parental judgment: to be courteous and
respectful to their seniors peaceable, quiz
ct and orderly in public places subordi-
nate and deferential to the wise and virtu-
Gus. and cheerfully to submit to the res
traintsl of social order and good govern
ment; when they were required and de-
lighted to devote all their leisure hours to
the cultivation of their mental and moral
powers.-Every discriminating mind must
readily perceive the fitness and salu.ary
influence of such state of things, and
its important bearing upon the character of
society and the destiny of the nation.
The voice of Nature, experience, and
patriotism, all demand the best exertions
Of parents to maintain such condition of
| society; but for some twenty-five years
pas: there has been growing disposition
in our fathers and mothers to relinquish
this salu,ary control Of their offspring, and
to throw off the responsibility connected
herewith; and on the part of children and
youth a corresponding disposition to as
sumo the government of their parents, the
school, the teacher. the lyceum, and the
magistrate, and to lrample upon all laws,
human and divine. This depIorabe state
of things has thus in par, been superindu-
ced by the folly, incidence, and imbecility
Of parents, who, though readily admitting
the duty of parental government, are un>
willing to make the requisite exertions TO
crlng up sisoi, children in the manner
which reason, justice, humanl'ysanstir res-z
gion dictate.
But another prominent cooperating
cause of this great and wide spread evil is
to be found in the insubordnate, lawess,
reckless spirit of the age that radical,
pull down, demagogue spirit which SO la
mentally pervades the United States; that
innova,ing, experimenting. infide and de-
slruc,ive spirit, which would uproot eve-
ry great and we'll established principle,
disregard every vital truth, and destroy all
respect for existing laws and institutions
that spirit which considers rowdyism as
nothing but the lawful exercise OF natural
liberty, with which civilization, social Or
der, and good government have no right
to interfere in fine. that brutal, miserable
mobbish spirit, which can brook no re-
straint, bat would make its own arbitrary
will :. the sole rule and guide Of all It's &C.
tons ;" in other words, that spirit which.
in the French Revolution, characterized
the trio, Robespierre. Danton and Marat.
This reckless spirit, these modern absurd
notions Of personal rights and civil liberty,
and the outrages to which they led. have
| already struck severe blow at the NOR
! ais of the people and the trembling insttu-
lions of America. So
Forty years ago, youth from fifteen to
twenty years of age, properly brought up,
would hardly dare to pass an evening at
! neighbor's house wilhou. special permis-
sion from their parents or guardians; and
they would as soon run their hands into
the fire as to give their parents an insolen!
reply. When their parents and other a
dults were present, those youth would con-
duet in modest, respectful and deferen-
tial manner. looking up to them for inst.uc-
ton and advice. But in this " enlighten-
ed age Of freedom and independece" eve
ry :. spirited youth is expected to have his
own way, think and act for himself, with
out being trammelled by foolish obsolete
notions Of an,iquated parents, teachers and
magistrates !" In this new state of "re-
publican simplicity" boys from twelve to
eighteen years old 60 where they please,
| annoy and insult whom they please, and
"kica up row. when and where they
please; and if any respectable citizen re-
Dukes them for any of their disgraceful
conduct, they turn to and assail and de-
nounce him as 9. an aristocratic old tyrant.'
Not one parent in ten in our villages know
ha'f the time by day or night. where his
boys of ten. twelve, or fifteen years Old
are, or what serape' or sinks Of iniquity